Moms Club May 2010 Newsletter

MOM OF THE MONTH: ANN DOOLEY

Who is in your family? Myself, my husband of 8 years, and our 21 months old son Oliver.

When and where were you born? May 10th 1975, in Taipei, Taiwan.

What brought you to LA? My parents moved me and my sister here to go to school. I was 10 years old at the time.

Where did you go to college & what was your major? I graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. I majored in Advertising.

What was your first reaction when you found out you were pregnant? I thought "Is this for real? Now what?" unfortunately I had a miscarriage that time, so with the second pregnancy, i was excited but nervous at the same time.

How did you tell your husband or other family members you were pregnant? The first time we invited everyone to dinner and told everyone at the same time. The second time we bought pictures frames that you can put 2 photos facing each other. On one side we put a photo of my husband and myself. On the other, an ultrasound image of little Oliver.

How did you choose your child’s name? We both just really liked the name Oliver. And it just felt right. We used his grandfather's name as his middle name.

What kind of work do/did you do before becoming a full time Mom? I was an art director at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. I designed posters and other marketing materials for feature films. I also designed and sold a line of tshirts that have positive affirmations printed in reverse so you can read it while looking at your reflection.

How would you describe being a mom? It's the hardest thing I've ever done. You are exhausted all the time, but you find the energy to keep going. You can be anywhere, with anyone, and still work your baby into the conversation.

What are your favorite hobbies? I like to decorate: cakes, houses, parties.

You will often find me in the backyard with Oliver.

If you were stranded on a desert island what book, movie & TV show would you want to keep yourself entertained? A history text book because I was never good at it in school and I'd have no choice but to read it. And I'd watch LOST.

Always had a crush on? Sean Connery...but I think it's time for me to move on.

I will never give up My microwaveable heat pillow. I use it around my neck, lower back, my feet, and even warm up the bed before I go to sleep.

If you could spend the rest of your life with access to one delectable dessert what would it be? Chocolate cake, the really dense kind that takes a long time for the fork to sink into.

What is your favorite activity to do with your child? We love going to the zoo together, but when we are home, I love it when we act silly and play together on the bed.

What is your biggest parenting challenge nowadays? Get Oliver to eat something other than blueberries.

How would you like the world to change for your kids? I hope people will put more focus on being giving, and being understanding and accepting of people different from yourself.

Have your interests changed since becoming a parent? Definitely. I personally don't enjoy dirt or insects, but it seems like it's in a boy's nature to gravitate towards them. I do admit it was fascinating to see a snail almost standing up to move across from one leaf to another.

What are some of your guilty pleasures? Reality Tv. Survivor, Project Runway, Real Housewives from coast to coast.

What defines you as a person and a mom? I am a very patient person. It comes in handy being a mom.

What would be the perfect weekend for you if you could leave the kids with the perfect nanny and money and distance were no object? I'd love to go to some remote island with my husband and just get spa treatments and eat fresh fruits all day long. 14

What would you like to do when the kids are a bit older and you have more time to work or pursue hobbies? I have a few book ideas in mind. I'll be publishing my first book Quick Tips For First-Time Moms: Finding Balance In Your Fourth Trimester. I will continue to do graphic design, cake decorating, and I'd also love to do some event planning work.

Any tips you wish to share with other moms? A scrapbook is nice, but who has time for that these days. So I started a blog when Oliver was only a few weeks old. I write letters to him and include any milestones and photos. I also have found it to be therapeutic when we've had a tough day. I look forward to the day when I can share those letter with him.

May 5th at the zoo

On Wednesday night I asked Oliver if he wanted to go to the zoo. He said yes. So here we are, being photographed with our new friend Paul, a free little gorilla stuffed animal for being a member at the zoo.

That day, we brought along a spray bottle to help water the plants at the zoo. It was perfect for the hot weather.

Oliver was also being really silly. He wanted to sleep on the ground in front of the zoo! Needless to say we had a great time that day.

Happy Birth+Mother's Day to Me!

This year's Birthday/Mother's Day celebration was a weekend long event. It started out with Chris taking Oliver to the the train station to pick up my mother-in-law, which gave me a chance to take my time to get ready in. That morning was the Moms Club Mother's Day Brunch, hosted by our friend/neighbor Carla. The 4 of us walked just down the street to enjoy a nice backyard get together with the other moms and their babies. I brought over some cupcakes I've made. I've never made any simple graphic decorations like this, but I was very happy with the results. On the way over, we taught Oliver to say "brunch" and he seemed to really like the sound of that word.

Maybe it was the excitement of that morning, but Oliver did not want to take his nap. So it was back to driving him around, which still took exactly an hour of driving before he fell asleep. It worked out that it gave Chris and his mom a chance to hang out a bit. Then when Oliver woke up, we all played in the backyard together. After we put Oliver to bed, Chris and I headed out to the movies to see Iron Man 2. We were early, so we had some appetizers at the restaurant outside the theater. We ate mostly fried foods, and they were delicious!

The movie was great! We had really good seats, and enjoyed all the candies I brought along in my purse. We had a dinner reservation made, but by the time the movie was over we decided to skip it. We were both still full from all the food we had earlier, and we were tired. As part of my gift, Chris had arranged that we stay over at a really nice hotel in Hollywood and booked me a spa treatment for the morning. He woke up early to return home to Oliver and take his mom back to the train station while I got to enjoy a relaxing morning.



I started the day with some coffee while wearing a bath robe. How much more relaxing can I be? Well, I had brought along with me my own spa treatment with a deep conditioner for my hair, and a facial mask. It was the perfect amount of time to relax before my massage.





The spa was great. It was just down the hall from the room. And super nice facility. I had a nice massage, but was also looking forward to getting back to the room. Chris was bringing Oliver to the hotel to meet me. So before I left for my massage, I left post-its all around the room with happy faces for Oliver to find. It was funny that later Chris told me Oliver didn't really know those post-its weren't just part of that room.

The three of us went downstairs to have brunch. It was a really nice restaurant and the food was really yummy. I even got a complimentary mimosa! Oliver had some fresh berries with granola that he shared with me.






Then we just walked around the hotel where Oliver discovered more places to relax and hide.







It was so nice to be able to go for a nice quick get away that's just minutes away from the house, yet feel like you're really on vacation. Oliver took a nap in his own crib this time, then we went to the Grove to do some shopping.

Today is my birthday and I decided to skip all chores and only focus on playing with Oliver. We played all morning, blasting the music and played drums by beating on the pillows on the bed. We had a blast! And Oliver, in his little voice wished me "happy birthday" I can't believe how perfectly he says it. And it just warms my heart. And the best gift he gave me, was that he took his nap without any fuss. It was the easiest bedtime ever! He must know today's a special day. And I'm the happiest mom to be able to spend my birthday just having fun with my baby. Here he is demonstrating we're just "hanging out" together. He says "two hands!"

"Fun!"

April 15th Zoo Visit

This is the first time at the zoo where Oliver did a lot more walking around than in the stroller. He got to play with this big water fountain by the petting zoo that's actually used for washing your hands. We also did some sneaking around peaking through the bushes to look at some llamas. And had a great time taking a snack break with other school kids on a field trip. It was a wonderful day.

Baby Milestone - 21 months update

Today Oliver had his 21 months check up. He has managed to not catch a cold in the last three months. Not only that, he has put on 4 lbs, grew 1.5 inches, and his head grew 1 cm...which seems small compared to the amount of knowledge he has gained.

According to the doctor, it is normal for a two year old to know about 50 words and put 2 words together to form a "sentence". He may prefer one hand over the other, and become more adept to using a cup or fork.

Well, I am so proud to share with you that Oliver understands a few hundred words in both English and Chinese. He counts to 10 and is getting more familiar with the alphabet, both sound and letter recognition. He can put together 4 word sentences like "I see mommy car" and sometimes mix both languages to get his point across.

He hasn't shown a preference of one hand over the other, and seems comfortable using both to draw and throw the ball. Now he can draw circles and tells me he is drawing a circle. Or "string" when he is drawing a line. He can throw a ball pretty straight, and is great at hitting it with a bat, or a drum stick, or any other kinds of stick that he can find.

He uses forks and spoons, and knows how to wipe his mouth. And sometimes drinks right out of a water bottle using just one hand holding it!



These days he still loves watering the plants. He is more careful holding the watering can to keep it from spilling. And knows to walk in an exaggerated slow walk to be careful. He likes playing basketball, but also enjoys reading. I can pause before the end of a sentence, and he either has memorized the sound or knows it from looking at the picture. If we are out, he looks for and points out all the trucks and buses on the road with a color description. He recognizes the Santa Monica lines of Big Blue Bus. He also notices that there are "many cars, lots."



We also are working on being polite and he says please, thank you, and excuse me when he needs our attention or need us to move out of his way. We are learning to label our feelings, so sometimes a cry means sad, other times frustration or disappointment. He showed his sense of empathy when a boy took a ball from him and the ball rolled away. I explained it's because he also wanted to play with the ball. Oliver not only didn't get upset, he went and got another ball for the other boy.

Oliver is a great helper around the house. He wipes any spills on the floor, throws away his own dirty diapers, sweeps and vacuums, and helps me wash the car. He is the most hard working baby I know. The other day he was in the back yard washing rocks.

Needless to say I think he is amazing. He is a wonderful loving happy baby with a great sense of humor. I think if this was a personal ad, ABC would sign him up to be the next Bachelor, and girls would line up around the corner to meet him.

I love that kid!!!!

Ann's projects in progress

So I've decided that I need to publish my new mom's tip book. I found that you can self publish through Amazon.com and all I need to do is reformat the book to their standard size. The goal is to have the book published by my 35th birthday. It's mid March now, i think I can definitely make the deadline.

I just got our taxes organized and after looking at our finance for the past year, I thought it's time to take more responsibility on managing the money for our future. I've always been a saver so now it's just finding out more ways to make that savings grow. At the same time, hoping we can spend some money to take a real family vacation. It's been many years since we've done that and since Oliver will be starting school this fall. This summer feels like the right time for that.

Things are going great with the Moms Club. I've volunteered to redesign their website, but at the moment I'm making my book and home stuff top priority. The website is designed, I just need to work with another mom in the club to program it. So maybe that'll be done by May also.

I'm still not getting any freelance design work, but I've been more serious about getting the word out that I am available. Hopefully the freelance job with the church will return. That was nice to get a regular paycheck. I'm also thinking about trying to sell my RubyLove business on CraigsList. Although I can see myself turning that into something else later on, I feel like I won't have the same energy or drive for it. Maybe I'll put in an ad and see what happens. It sure would be nice to get the cost back and clear some space in our storage.

And last, I'm trying to plan a neighborhood brunch to meet some of our neighbors. Our street has become somewhat of a community for us. It's nice to know who lives near you, and maybe help each other out sometimes. I just found a neighbor who is also in the Moms Club who can do a babysitting swap with us. Yeh!

Baby Milestone - Twenty Months

Two-word sentences!!! These days Oliver is talking all the time. He knows quite a few words in both Chinese and English, and mixes them when he talks. He seems to like the contrast between big and small things, on and off, open and close, push and pull. Those are all very useful. His favorite movie changed from Winnie the Pooh to Toy Story. And I think his favorite color is blue. And favorite fruit is blueberry. He hasn't been the best eater because he can't stay in his seat for very long. Although if you give him a cup of water, he'll make soup out of anything and eat it.

We found out a few days ago that Oliver got accepted into the preschool we really liked. It was the only one we applied to so we took a big risk and hoped for the best. And can't be more excited about this fall. I'll be going to school with him 3 days a week, for 2 hours a day. It won't be much different from our days now being together, but it will be very interesting to see him in a school environment. Three of our friends' children will also be going to the same school, so that's really wonderful.

The weather has warmed up and we are back to going to the zoo. Now he knows the animals really well and can say their names and make their sounds. It's fun to see him almost having a relationship with the animals since we go there so often.




The temper tantrums comes and goes, and mostly under control if I have the time and patience to "reason" with him. Often I just need to keep repeating my message and eventually he'll hear me and stop acting out. He does seem to know and anticipate my reaction and it feels like he'll do things on purpose to get a reaction out of me. Luckily all the times we've spent together I've learned to not be so serious and just be goofy and make him laugh, which makes me laugh too.

Oliver continues to be helpful around the house when asked. I've started to draw on his chalk board with chores for the day and cross them out as we do them. I'm in the process of making a sign with rules such as no throwing things or pouring water on the floor. We'll see how that works out.