Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas is over

Whoohoo!

I admit, I have never been a huge Christmas fan. This year I was slightly more excited for the kids sake and Aaron totally got the idea of presents this year so it was nice to see him so excited.

I finally got Ivy some two piece PJs. One pieces don't work for her because either the torso section is too short or the legs are WAY too long and she ends up tangled. Silly child and her super long torso! So I used a pair of two piecers last night and it went much better. I am excited for that because the other options all looked so uncomfy. However finding two piece PJs wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, I ended up finding them at Carters outlet, $20 PJs for $4.79 each!

Last night we also figured out the best cloth diaper solution for Aaron overnight. Finally. I was getting so tired of spending $45 every 40 days for the kids diapers for overnight, doesn't sound like much but it is still really annoying. We used a BG AIO 3.0 (new) and stuffed it with a leobaby mightier nighty insert. It was SOAKED this morning but HE was dry and the diaper didn't leak at all. Very exciting.

I can't think of anything else even semi-important that happened...pretty boring in general around here!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The pedi is going to think...

That I am dodging them!

Last time we had an appointment it was SUPER cold (10 to 15 below zero) and Aaron was sick so I had to cancel.

Today, it is Zero degrees, I put the carseats in the car gather up the children, drive away...and make it 1.5 miles before the car DIES. Just driving along and chug chug die...crap.

I try a few times to restart the car, it wants to, but won't. Pull out the cell phone, call Pete...uhhh hi, we are dead beside the road, wanna help?

So he leaves from work and I try to start the car again. Yay! It starts. Okay good, maybe I can nurse it back the 1.5 miles to home. Start to turn around, sputter, sputter...kaput. Dead. With the whole hind end of the car in the middle of the road and both kids in the backseat.

Lovely. I get out and assess the situation. We are taking up the entire right lane of the road and the roads themselves are still covered in snow and a bit slick. I try and push it more off the road. Its not budging..not a chance. Between the thick snow on the road and the hard tires from the cold...not.a.chance.

So I look around and notice a garage that is open and a brushed off jeep in the driveway and go begrudgingly and ring the doorbell. An older gentleman answers the door and I explain myself..."Hi, my car died in the middle of the road and I was wondering if you might be able to help me get it off the road a little more. There are two kids in it. My husband is on his way."

He thinks for a minute and says he would rather not push it but that maybe his jeep can help push it off the road a little more. Okay, cool, that works, fine. He gets his jeep up and we make sure the bumper of the jeep doesn't obliterate the bumper of my Subaru and we get it enough off the road that its not blocking the whole lane.

I thank him and he asks how long until my husband gets there. I tell him probably 5 or 10 minutes because he only works downtown, so he invites the kids and I inside to sit in the livingroom and stay warm while we wait.

Husband shows up, starts the car, he gets it another half mile before the stupid thing dies...again. So I pack up the kids in the running car that the husband brought and we drive the last mile back home. I get the kids out and feed them etc and hubby grabs the book to fix the car...and leaves to go try and fix the car.

He has since returned twice for a few other things and I am guessing made a trip or two to the car part store. I am still not sure what is wrong with it other than something to do with the car not getting gas, even though it has half a tank.

The whole ordeal started at 12:20 with my car dying and it is currently 5 after 3pm. Car still isn't home an hubby is still working on it.

In the midst of all this I had to call the pedi to tell them we weren't making it to our appointment, again, because my car died.

*Sigh*

Monday, December 22, 2008

Did you notice? (and other randomness)

Yea, probably not. I did though. Today was 4 seconds longer than yesterday, a whole 4 seconds more of sunlight today than yesterday.

My little girl can scoot now. 7 months old already and I can't believe it. I was thinking about her pregnancy and birth today and it was just perfect. I am still in awe that I got to have such a wonderful waterbirth and that I got to let my baby girl decide when her birthday was.

I feel sort of like I short changed my little man though. I had no idea what I had "signed up" for when I was pregnant with him. No one warned me of the heartburn and the aches and the lack of sleep and all that with his pregnancy and I wasn't even slightly prepared for them. With Ivy I knew what to expect and how to deal with it so it was generally much easier. I also didn't know a lot of things with him that I did with her.

I sort of feel like maybe I sabotaged our chance to bond or something. He is a very independent child, always has been, from the day he came home he would rather be on the floor alone playing rather than playing with me. Even now at 2.5 he will go upstairs by himself to play alone.

When he does finally cuddle or sit and read with me it is wonderful and he is so sweet and lovey. Maybe he is just like his Dada, I am not sure.

Tomorrow is Ivy's 6 month (7 months) doctors appointment. I will get to see how much she weighs which will be fun. Poor babe has to get her second batch of shots though. Even though I am selectively vaxing her, she still has to get 3 separate shots because the vaccine I really wanted isn't available locally. She gets the Hib, Prevnar, and DTaP. I am hoping that she does as well with this round as the last round because it is so close to Christmas and a sad baby with a fever etc is not how I want to mark her first Christmas or our first Christmas as a family of 4.

I am also hoping tomorrow is sunny. If it is the kids and I will be playing in Aaron's room all day because it is the room that gets the most sun. I can handle the cold and I can handle the snow that winter brings, the sheer lack of sun is what gets to me.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Clogs, Free Stuff, and Snow

Yep, that was pretty much my day.

Got myself a killer clog this morning. Around noon I noticed that it was getting *Really* sore and I was getting the tell-tale headache body aches and chills that I get before an onset of mastitis. Ewwwww.

So I pop a tylenol and inform Ivy that she is getting no solids today in hopes that she would nurse more frequently and help pass the clog. So far so good but it is still really sore. I am going to do a really hot shower later and massage too. When I have a clog is probably the only time I ever *hope* Ivy will wake up several times at night to eat.

On another note, I had a bunch of free stuff up on CL today. Stuff that needs to go away. I got several responses of people that wanted it, several that I emailed back never emailed ME back to say they wanted it, then the ones that did, several didn't actually even show up to pick up FREE stuff. Good free stuff even. It is so fun when that happens.

And the snow storm, the one we were supposed to get 2-4 inches? We got 9 inches and now word is by Monday afternoon we will have another 9-13 inches. I am not a snow person, really I am in the wrong state but we are sorta stuck here for now, someday, someday.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Today

So we got more snow today. 2-4 predicted inches turned into 6-12 inches predicted with 7 already on the ground by about 8pm. Gotta love that. Latest word is another 6-12+ storm on Sunday, we will see how much we actually get.

Aaron also had quite the language explosion today. I was making Ivy her dinner in the kitchen and Aaron comes wandering in, looks at me, and as if he has been saying it forever says "Aaron is very hungry too". HAHA! Where on Earth did that come from?!

Tonight was also night 2 of teaching Ivy not to nurse to sleep and it went MUCH better. It took her an hour of rocking and swaying and such last night to get her to sleep. Tonight it only took 10-15 minutes. HUGE improvement. Plus she actually opened her mouth and was *excited* to get the bottle instead of just gnawing on it like last night. Once we get through the regular transition I am going to start sending Pete in to put her to bed once in awhile and see how she does.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Teaching to sleep

Tonight was night 1 of teaching the baby to go to sleep without nursing herself to sleep. I figured if I wanted her to be able to go to sleep for Pete by the time I go back to class on the 12th then I had better start now.

So I thawed a bag of mama milk, put it in the bottle and started the process. It took her a good 25 mins to decide to eat the bottle, once she figured out she wasn't going to get to nurse right then.

Once she had finished the bottle I swayed with her, and swayed with her, and swayed with her...you getting the idea here? The whole process took about an hour to get her to sleep and then I had to come downstairs and pump.

Ideal? No, not at all but it sorta has to be done.

I am in high hopes that within a few days she will figure it out and not take so long to go to sleep.

She still gets to nurse overnight and during the day, just a bottle of mama milk at bedtime.

Mama Cloth

So before I start let me warn you this may not be for all readers and is all about feminine hygiene products.

Ok, disclaimer out of the way women know that the monthly cycle is a needed evil. After I got into cloth diapering I found a website for other moms that cloth diapered. One post there talked about mama cloth, reusable cloth pads to use during your monthly cycle.

Now I admit, when I first heard about it, *EWW* was my first thought. I was curious though and after an unfortunate event with a disposable pad and the adhesive I decided to give it a go. I found a WAHM (work at home mom) that made them and had great reviews, placed an order, and hoped.

I had heard stories that using mama cloth would help lessen cramps and flow, I had heard of women that had heavy 7 day cycles that shortened to 3 days and were very light just from switching to mama cloth, the theory being that keeping the absorbant chemicals away from their body kept them from aggrivating the body. I had heard that women often forgot they were wearing a pad because it felt just like normal panties (you get get them topped in fleece, flannel, bamboo velour, cotton velour, athletic wicking material, etc).

Imagine my surprise when I first used them and found it to all be true! I only had a few cycles between Aaron and my pregnancy with Ivy but I was sold on mama cloth in those few cycles.

They are easy to use, easy to wash, easy to take care of. I can even wash them right with the cloth diapers.

Here is my new order that I had made for me by the same WAHM that made the first set. I wanted some fleece topped ones because I didn't know when I ordered my first batch that fleece was even an option and it is very good at wicking away the moisture.





You have to admit, they sure are a lot prettier to look at!!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

How did they get their liscence?

No, seriously?!

Every time I drive I end up thinking this for one reason or another. Today it was on my way to and from class. On my way home from class I was following a car that was going 25mph down a 30mph road. Okay, whatever, annoying since the road was totally clear not raining or snowing or anything, but whatever. Then we get to the section of road that is 35 mph...they start going FIFTY mph, not joking, I was going 5 over the speed limit and they left me in the dust. Why is it that when you want the cops to be around they aren't?

On the way two and from class I found a whole mess of people that don't understand 4 way intersections. I am pretty sure no one in this city understands that if you get there first, you go first. To me not a very hard concept but apparently for many of these people it just hasn't sunken through yet.

The kicker? The best one of the night?

On the way to class I was behind a huge line of cars. We were going 35 mph. Yes it was dark but there was no snow, no rain, no ice, nothing, just dark. The speed limit on the road is 50 mph and traveled by most people at 55-60mph without a problem. I try and get a look at the offending vehicle, old school Volvo with Deadhead stickers on it...see where I am going? I bet you do.

So we get to the end of the road and I am in a different lane than the slow car and we end up at a stop light together. The guy pulls out a big FAT joint and lights it up. Now I am not going to bash anyone's recreational fun as long as they are adults and not endangering anyone else...but really, is it 100% needed to toke up in the car? I think not. No wonder he was driving so slowly.

Who knows what will be next! I am sure as the snow starts flying more regularly I will see all KINDS of fun stuff out there. I actually miss being downtown and being able to watch people try and drive up the big hills there, it always was very entertaining.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Books are on the way!

I like to buy books. I really do. I am not a library person, though I know its cheaper, its just not my thing. I like to not worry about what happens to my books and with library books + toddler + infant I would worry, a lot.

I had been wanting a copy of the Bible to read as I have never actually read it and figured it might be interesting. Plus it can be hard to have religious debates if I have no idea what the book actually says. So I ordered the King James version as I wanted the one closest to the original translation rather than another one that translates it how they think it should be and takes out all the fun of interpreting it. If I could read hebrew or greek I would have gotten that version but alas, I know french and english, and thats it.

I figured while I was at it I might as well get Amazons "free super saver shipping" so I ordered a few more.

Eat, Pray, Love (for my moms night out group book club)

Twilight ( the new trendy Vampire book)

The Husband (Dean Koontz, one of the first adult horror writers I ever read)

Before You Know Kindness (by a local author that has written a lot of wonderful books that I love)

Right now I am reading The Long Walk by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman) and it is very good. I am very curious as to how it ends and read about 20-30 pages every night before bed. I have always read horror books right before bed, they are very good at taking my mind completely off things that might have happened during the day and leaving it clear so I can sleep at night. Seems very strange to some people that I can read such things and then sleep but they are really the only kind of book that fully takes my attension off the day or whatever I might have been thinking about and refocuses it so I can sleep.

What are YOU reading?

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Random thoughts of the day

We are watching Whale Wars right now (well when I started this post about 4 hours ago). The Captain of the ship wanted to send two people from the "save the whales" group to be taken "hostage" on the whaling ship. Then he got all SURPRISED when the whaling ship people were treating them badly. THEN they called the media and only told them half the story (that the people were being held hostage, not that they were SENT there on PURPOSE for that). The whole made me very angry. I greatly dislike when people only tell half truths to get what they want.

On a lighter note my son was confused by Ivy's doll the other night. He wanted to change her diaper so I got out the proper cloth diaper items for a doll smaller than a newborn and took off her "old diaper". Well imagine my surprise when Aaron grabs the diaperless doll and inspected her...and turned to me and said "Where's winky?"

We had our first talk about how Nora (Ivy's doll) doesn't have a winky because Nora is a girl. Isn't 2.5 too young to figure this stuff out?! I am not ready for the plethora of questions that come after this! And the inevitable talk that it isn't really a "winky". *Sigh* They grow so fast!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

My thoughts on thrush

1. It is evil
2. I don't like it
3. It is evil, oh wait, did I say that already? Yes I suppose I did.

Fun things about thrush?
1. It gets worse before it gets better for some people (I am one of those people).
2. You can have NO signs of it then all of a sudden it feels like your breast is on fire while you feed your kiddo.
3. You can have no signs of it at ALL except lots of clogged ducts.
4. You have to treat you AND the baby at the same time until all signs of it are gone completely. See #2 and #3.
5. Getting rid of it can be VERY hard if you have a baby that puts *Everything* in their mouths.
6. One of the treatments for it require turning everything purple. Nothing is better than being in Walmart and someone thinking you fed your 4 month old a grape lollipop.
7. As it starts to die off you can get some pretty fun side effects if it has invaded the whole body including but not limited to stomach upset and headache.
8. You can't stop treatment until all symptoms are gone for TWO WEEKS, again see #2 and #3.

This concludes my current thoughts on thrush.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Well I didn't fall off the wagon...

Cause I never got on it *blush*.

I woke up at one of the 10 feedings Ivy had last night and had a clog, a painful evil clog so I used today to rest and relax and take care of the clog and will just have to start tomorrow. If I started today then the yeast would end up flaring more and the clog wouldn't be able to pass. Yeast is such a finicky little thing!

In other news we are expecting up to a foot of snow by tomorrow. Which means in reality we will probably get about 4 inches. Should be a blast. I will have to get pictures of the kids in it tomorrow and post them up for everyone (well, whomever is reading my blog I suppose).

I am hoping someday Ivy will sleep again, the 6 month growth spurt + teething is killer. Someday I will sleep I am sure but at this point it is looking to be awhile I am afraid!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Okay, here goes...

So I can't wait until the new year to do the yeast free thing. Blarg! My body is screaming at me to get rid of the yeast so I have to start it now. I am going to need some serious support. No fruit snacks, no twizzlers, no cookies (specially the evil, evil oreos), no juice, no smartwater, no ice cream...all those things I love to eat and snack on.

In the long run I will be better, I know. Plus it will likely help my wasteline too because heaven knows oreos are not good to it.

Things I *can* have are HERE. In addition to those things I am also adding those allowances I made before:

1. One cherry coke a day (42 grams of sugar)
2. One Kashi bar (35 grams of sugar)
3. One tsp of sugar in my morning coffee (4 grams of sugar)

It is going to be a really rough few weeks. I am going to be taking my 250mgs of GSE 3 times a day with probiotics in the AM.

Tomorrows meal plan:
Breakfast: Oatmeal + tea
Lunch: Quisadilla on corn tortillas
Snack: Kashi Bar
Dinner: Rice with spicey PB sauce
After dinner snack (if needed) handful of nuts

I am also going to try to get 60oz of water (in addition to the herbal tea) in me to keep everything flushing through.

Also, does *anyone* know of any yeast free/ wheat free crackers/ breads? I know, its a long shot, but being able to have a grilled cheese or a PB sandwhich for lunch would make the worldo of difference as well as having crackers I can snack on if I need to.

Monday, December 8, 2008

I need some AP support

So after a second rejection by a great AP support board I have given up. I know, they are busy etc and there are lots of people but I am a little sad. Lots of people I know are part of that group and they are a great help for me as I try and figure out how to parent my children gently without loosing my cool. With a 2.5 year old that has discovered "no" and a 6 month old that currently doesn't believe in sleep it can be hard!

Whats hard is there really isn't any support for that locally. I thought there would be given the area I live in but apparently not. I don't even know how to go about finding people that parent the way I want to. Now where the problem really lies is that I don't always manage to parent AP the way I would like so I feel like I would be a bad example for people new to the idea.

So far I haven't had to drag my child screaming out of anywhere but with how he is currently we might be getting close if I don't figure out what to do. I would read parenting books but with school work to read I don't have a lot of time for that I am afraid. I wish I did.

Does anyone know of any good AP groups that I could get in touch with? Whether it be other yahoo groups or whatever? It is just very hard to do this alone right now with a toddler that has suddenly decided he doesn't agree with anything Mama says and seems as though he wants to be as difficult as possible.

Oh and the 6 month appt for Ivy was a no go. The toddler had melted down about 5 times between 8am and 10am so I canceled the appointment and rescheduled it for later in December when I can have Pete or someone here to watch him so I can go with just her. He needed a nap far too much to skip nap to go to the Drs and possibly spend an hour there before the Dr even saw us.

Uh?

It is currently -1 outside. In Fahrenheit. Wednesday is supposed to get to 52...And I wonder why my sinuses and body are all confused...

Ivy has her 6.5 month appt today. I will be back later with the update and stats on that as well as my take on vaccines. Whoohoo, should be fun right? Right?

Off to eat breakfast and play with the kidlets.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Need to be held accountable!

Anyone up for the job?

I am prepping for this now. I need to rid my body of yeast and that means going 3 weeks on a very limited diet. I am planning on using this diet . It is a little more lax than some but I need it because I can't currently eat meat due to some adrenal insufficiency and I need to get my protein somehow. That diet allows for cheese/ milk in at least some quantities.

There are 3 things I am allowing myself a day though that go against the diet.

1. My daily coke. I need this in the afternoon if I intend on making it the rest of the day a sane person.

2. 1 Tsp of sugar in my herbal tea that I have in the afternoons/ evenings to help stave off the sugar craving.

3. 1 Kashi go Lean bar for protein, fiber, and to help with the sugar cravings as well.

Are these things the best ever to keep in my diet? Nope, they aren't that healthy at all, however they are more healthy than many of the alternatives that I would like to eat.

I am planning on starting this diet after Christmas because I simply can not forgo the yummy Christmas treats. Peanutbutter balls, and pies, and chocolate, and my personal favorite, candy canes!

One thing I really need to work on is my water intake. It always starts to fall off during the winter months as it gets cold and cold water no longer sounds appealing, yet another reason for the addition of tea, warm and liquid.

I plan on taking 250mgs of GSE 2 or 3 times a day as well as probiotics and my prenatals during this diet time. I need to also figure out what to treat the baby with. Maybe I will start a round of GV too at the start of all this. All of this together is likely to create a horrible flair with the yeast which will create a few rough days for me so I will need people to help keep me strong and help keep me away from the sweets when I want nothing more than a box of oreos, my true weakness.

What do you think? Are you up for the job of keeping me accountable for my actions? Could I do it on my own? Probably. Would it be easier with support? You betcha.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Suggest Blogs...

I have a few that I read but mostly just friends. What blogs do you recommend? I am into reading, breastfeeding, animals, health, stay at home mom's, AP stuff, food ideas, cloth diapering...open to other stuff but that's what I can think of at the moment.

I was pudeo-tagged (meme)

The Rules

1. Post the rules on your blog.

2. Write 7 random things about yourself.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post.

1. I hate feet. I can't stand having mine touched and I hate touching other peoples.

2. My favorite color is red.

3. I have an associates degree in Liberal Studies (aka McDs degree).

4. I am about to watch Shawshank Remption on Blu-ray.

5. I just got a bag of Aaron's old toys together to give away on freecycle.

6. I had a kashi go lean bar for lunch. It was yummy.

7. I am thisclose to getting a nostril piercing if I could find a place that doesn't charge an arm and a leg to be pierced with a stud instead of a hoop. I dislike hoops.

Afraid I don't know anyone to tag....new to the blogging world.

PS

How on EARTH do I follow other blogs?! Where is the "I want to keep track of this blog" button?

Here ya go...

Here you go Casey. I have had a blog for awhile, just never wrote on it and forgot about it, since February apparently.

Lets see, whats going on now, anything interesting enough to share with the internet world? Yea, probably not, but going to share anyway.

I have a 6.5 month old little girl that is currently in a growth spurt. What this translates to is her pushing and pulling while she nurses. A little less than comfortable for her to do that as my feeding devices are not made from silly putty. Yes it will help make more milk, yes she needs more milk, I think I would prefer that she just eat more often.

I also have a 2.5 year old little boy. He is currently acting like a 2.5 year old little boy. Not a huge fan of listening or sitting still for 5 seconds. I love him a whole lot though and I know it will pass eventually, just need to give it time. Soon enough he will be doing other things, like trying to push over his sister or stealing toys from her, then I will forget all about this little phase.

I am at the end of my school semester right now. Only two more weeks left and I think I might go insane. I don't even have that much to do but its enough that I just want it to be over with. Real Property Law is not so fun in particular. For some reason that stuff just doesn't sink into my thick skull and I end up with poor grades, something I am *not* used to. I am a goody goody that doesn't get bad grades.

Last night as also the first night we really successfully used cloth diapers on both children. That is very exciting as a package of overnight diapers is very expensive and they just smell terrible in the morning. I am hoping if I get a few more inserts I can avoid having to use disposables at all ever.

Anyway I must go rescue the husband from the toddler while the baby sleeps.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Hello

First post. Yay.

Little about me. Mom and student in the frozen north. 20 month old toddler and one babe on the way due in May. Going to school for paralegal studies, with no end in sight so it seems. Doing my best to keep the toddler happy and entertained when going outside all the time in the winter isn't an option.

I am what you would call an AP mom I guess. Nursed until 14 months, use slings and carriers, don't use CIO, delay vaccines as we see fit, usecloth diapers ...that sorta thing.

Young mom too. Oh the looks I get when I go to the mall or the store with my belly and toddler in tow...No I am not 16, I am actually 23 and happily engaged to my boyfriend of 6 years.

Anyway, thats a little about me. There is a whiney toddler misbehaving that I should attend to.