Life Cycle of a Mommy Blog

So now I've done the reveal, the symptoms-log, the naming post, the birth story... oh, wait, I didn't do the birth story? Here it is: my water broke all over the WORLD (at home actually, at 10:30pm), we went to the hospital, where my water continued to break all down the halls, I got hooked up to an IV with saline, antibiotics (StrepB positive), then later my glorious epidural and pitocin. I was itchy and they gave me Benadryl or something, I was sniffly and they gave me Claritin, I labored comfortably for 8 hours or so, pushed 3 times during one contraction and poof: Baby!... I am PRETTY GOOD at birthing babies, aren't I? AJ's delivery was equally easy.... anyway, the next thing I'm supposed to post as a bona-fide Mommy Blogger is

The Auspicious Beginning of My Diet and Exercise Regime.

Yeah.

Last weekend I went to Publix with a specific list in my hand, the list that included V8 juice, hummus, smoked almonds for gosh sakes, and celery. Who even puts CELERY on a LIST? Someone on a diet, that's who. Except I'm not quite ready to be on a Diet, and I'm not quite sure how it works when you're breastfeeding a little bit.

I'm trying to not to hurry things too much as I know you have to allow plenty of time to lose the baby fat that took 9 months to put on. Everyone says that. But not everyone has a beach vacation planned in June, harumph. I have a feeling I will want some faster results than "9 months off."

I believe in the "Change One" method, where you don't begin a diet full-on, but little by little. I had already been eating fairly good breakfasts and lunches -- balanced with fruits and veggies, and reasonable portions -- but dinner and snacks are where I need to make changes. I need to kiss regular Coca-Cola goodbye (sob!), and donate the 2nd bag of Oreos to AJ's daycare for THEIR snacktime.

I also like the idea of the "Just One More" healthy living promise. Hence, the V8. I love salad, so it really shouldn't be too hard. Hopefully those dietary changes will move the scale a bit to get me motivated. And then I've GOT to figure out a way to get more exercise in. My cable package includes some ExerciseTV On Demand, and it's cool because there are lots of workouts in 10, 16, and 22-minute increments. I bet I can do those for starters.

I just made Weight Watchers' Pumpkin Muffins, the recipe for which I found at SundryBuzz, in the comments section of this handy post. I thought you all should see it live and up close since I know some of you are on health-kicks, too, so I'm posting it here. It is a WEIRD recipe. Who in the world thought of this combination of ingredients? But put 'em together and they're pretty damn tasty with a virtuous spread of non-butter butter, like Smart Balance.

WW Yummy Pumpkin Bran Muffins

3 cups all-bran cereal
2 cups warm water
MIX together… let sit for five minutes

[seriously.... weird. I even felt weird buying All-Bran.]

1 box dry cake mix (SPICE flavor)
1 can pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
MIX well.
ADD cereal mix.

1 TBSP vinegar

[even weirder!]

Hand mix this into batter.
Spoon into muffin cups sprayed with PAM.
BAKE 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
Makes 24 muffins.

Natal-ity = done

Just had the 6-week checkup. My days of pre-natal and natal at the doctor are over. I was a little bit sad when the doc left the room! KT is all done being gestated, she's here, and my medical life now goes back to being my very own, and not scrutinized every month by the OBs. Kinda weird. End of an era, too, since our plan is to not have enough kids to outnumber us.

AJ is feeling better. He had a strep test but no strep, so it's just been a bad cold, whose fever finally ended in the middle of the night last night. He's fine to go to school tomorrow, but I kinda want to complete the "week off" and keep him home on a day when he feels good. We'll see. His Dad's pushing for taking him to school tomorrow, so he won't be completely "ruirnt" for it, as they say here in Georgia. I also want to make a lasagna tomorrow, so it may serve me better for him to go to school, too! Selfish, who? Me? I'd pick him up early though. Now that I'm better at this gig, I feel like I can get us out the door pretty much any time of day.

I was composing a post on my way home that I thought I'd title, "Me and The Girls," with a mention of Book Club tonight, deceptively on-topic, and then casually turn to the metaphoric topic of breastfeeding. (Oh, who am I kidding, I can't ever casually turn into a topic; it'd be an abrupt paragraph change like always.) It was going to be a touching history of the difficulty I had trying to nurse AJ, and my subsequent hesitation about nursing this time. But I don't have time for all that. The Girls, they have performed pretty well for KT. I can tell you it still satisfies me when she first starts a feeding and swallows after every suck, like there's actually -- a lot of -- liquid coming out of those babies! It's hard for me to believe, honestly. Anyway, I was relieved to hear from my OB today that she continued to b'feed her son 'til he was nearly a year, without having to pump at work. THAT would work for me. Because people, I do not have the energy or drive to pump at work. I have alternately wanted to absolutely quit breastfeeding when it was still painful, and then want to maybe hang on just a bit longer, these last six weeks. In fact, my only goal was to get to 1 month, and my hope was to get to 6 weeks -- both accomplished. *golf claps for me!* Of course I know I'm going back to work and so at this point we're doing every other feeding with a bottle of formula. I wonder how my supply will handle a further weaning, and if I really CAN hold onto one or two feedings for a while. Like everything I ever say, I guess We'll See. (I should have named my blog that.)

I gotta go because it's 70 degrees out and AJ needs fresh air. :) Tomorrow's Friday, hooray!

Day 2 at home with 2 kids

Pssst..... hey, over here:

O.M.G. HOW does this work???


(AJ is home sick(ish) today.But well enough, thanks Motrin, that he wants to play. All. day. I am.... let's see... flummoxed? Is that the right word? It's too cold and he's too sick to play outside, we can't go do errands because of baby's eating schedule.... he refuses to color and has already watched 5.79 hours of TV at least......p.s.? He played at the sink in the bubbles -- oh, yes, I tried it -- for approximately 5 minutes.)

SAHMs are truly, truly my heroes.

Pride (In the Name of Easter)

(Notice how suspicious KT looks! Ha!)

I was not certain we'd be able to pull off any semblance of an Easter celebration, but we DID! The bunny came, and his cleverness was appreciated, both in toy selection ("Wow, the Bunny KNEW I wanted a yellow RACE CAR!") and candy options, which included a Nerds Rope and some Sweet Tarts. We managed to get ourselves out the door and to the 9:00 AM Mass (I KNOW! NINE A.M.!), with both kids dressed and hair combed, and even better, we stayed in our seats the entire service. I don't think my Husband has spent a whole Mass next to me in at least a year. He usually carts a fussing toddler out to the narthex, and stays there.

It helped that we attended the Family Mass in the school gym, complete with children's choir and songs that clap. That kept AJ entertained a bit, and he even came home singing, "This is the DAAAY, This is the DAY-AY, This is the DAAAY that the LORD HAS MADE." (More on that in coming post but you KNOW my chorister heart was smiling!) Maybe we'll have to do the Family Mass more often. I've tried to avoid it because it's all Drums and Electric Guitar. Gah. But... sometimes you gotta lower your standards. I lowered them in one other way that helped our cause: brought AJ a Ziploc'd snack. Now, I have long abhorred the idea of snacks in church, because HELLO, WE didn't have snacks and yet we managed to behave most of the time (and walked uphill both ways). But... again, I just decided why fight it.

Smartest thing we did -- saved Easter Egg Hunting for After Mass. Brilliant way to convince AJ to sit still. Not that we'd THREATEN to skip the Egg Hunting of course. Ahem. But the opportunity was there just in case.

I even made fancy Easter dinner -- or, more to the point, served it fancily on good china with linen napkins. We hardly ever eat in the dining room but you know, there has to be a Special Occasion once in a while that you HARNESS, and Make Special. Plus, using china and silver makes ME feel good (and it's all about me, after all). Dinner was a roast chicken breast, steamed asparagus with lime sauce, and Uncle Ben's. Actually not that exciting, but the whole presentation gave me great satisfaction.

What did you guys do to celebrate?

Oh gosh, yes, we're FINE

Melessa asked if I'd update to say that we're okay after the I-guess Famous Atlanta Tornadoes of 2008 -- Yes, we're perfectly FINE. Funny that she's the Oklahoman, asking about MY tornadoes. :) It was quite a weird weekend, though, with our local ABC-affiliate broadcasting their greenscreen and 3D maps all day. DH got pretty good at understanding the meterologists' mumbo-jumbo about BTIs and F-numbers. I was happy for them, getting their Big Day. I just love when meteorologists take off the sports coats and roll up their sleeves, like, "We've got to get down and dirty here, folks, this shit is SERIOUS." Secretly they're in the breakroom high-fiving each other and saying, "WOO HOO, AIR TIME!!"

My big event of Saturday, between warning sirens, was a birthday party at where else? Chuck E. Cheese. I went with AJ and left KT baby at home with her daddy, and it was really fun. AJ and I haven't gotten to spend a lot of quality time together, just us, in the last 4 weeks. Sure, we play the occasional game of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when he's in the bathtub, and I've been reading a lot to him (only thing you can do with no hands), but as for going out together? Like we used to? Not so much. (Don't be fooled, I'm not talking about appletini and pedicure dates. We just used to go to Publix or Target together after I picked him up from school on weekdays. Special time on the cereal aisle, y'know.)

So, Chuck E. is still the same ridiculous beeping and flashing place it always has been, in case you're wondering. You'd be wise NOT to schedule your kids' birthdays there, but you probably will; people always do. So of course we're now thinking about AJ's next birthday -- we've only done small parties at our house so far, but since his classmates seem to be having Parties now, capital P, we probably will, too, come July. I'm thinking one of the jumping places.

If you can believe this, I'm also already dreaming about our summer vacation at the beach. Simply can't wait. Guess my Oreo habit will have to be terminated before swimsuit season, but I think I'll give myself two more weeks ('til my 6-week OB visit) before cutting down to one lousy cookie per day. THAT will sure be a buzzkill.

SPEAKING of buzzkills (I am all over the place with 2-sentence paragraphs today) --! Holy crap, did I have a meltdown last night. After 2 hours of rocking, walking, rocking again (my back hurted, waaa), letting her suck on my finger, her pacifier, her hands (she'd already had both b00b and bottle at 10:30pm), she STILL wasn't falling asleep. Meanwhile, I WAS, and at 12:40 I went crying downstairs with her, and actually told her to "Shut Up and go to Sleep." Sigh. I hate those kind of (perfectly normal) feelings. Gawd, they make you hate yourself 2 seconds after you say them out loud, don't they? After five more minutes of me snuffling and her nursing, thank goodness she settled.

Hey, ONE last thing -- I LIED to our pediatrician yesterday. "Does she always sleep on her back?" *Nods head convincingly* "Oh, yes." (Anyone else? C'mon, I can't be the only rebel out there.)

One, two, and three

My father, being the fine, upstanding fellow that he is, bought me something to replace some somethings he had helped polish off, when he was here last month. I am both thrilled and horrified with him for this, because

THESE are the somethings;


because they were on sale TWO for ONE;

and because I like to eat them THREE at a time.

Tasks and Outings

This is my game plan these days: Tasks and Outings.

Tasks include things like emptying the dishwasher. Doing a load of laundry. Addressing birth announcements. Cleaning toilets. I try to do one per day. If more are accomplished, good for me, but there's only a self-imposed requirement of One.

Outings are self-explanatory. I can mange about one outing per day, either in the 10 o'clock hour or the 1 o'clock hour (but usually, we are nursing at 1 o'clock, and watching Anthony Bourdain on the Travel channel). I don't always have an outing, taking the opportunity to nap if needed instead. We go to the grocery store one day, the toy store another (for Easter basket stuff), Target or Staples or wherever is mission-critical at the moment. On my list for the future: A trip to Old Navy for summer clothes for AJ, Wal-Mart because I have a gift card and we need Easter candy (NEED!), Babies R Us to return a few gifts (why didn't more people include gift receipts?), and a lunch outing or two in the works.

I'm enjoying this part of maternity leave. Going back to work is on my mind all the time, not only because the HR people KEEP calling me to confirm all my dates and such nonsense, but also because I'm considering how exactly I'm going to approach it. I'm almost wishing I had only taken 6 weeks off, and could plan to use the other 6 weeks for every Friday off. That would have been smart. I suppose it's not too late to change to that plan, but it would mean more dealings with HR and NO THANK YOU.

I ended up leaving KT baby at home when I went to the shower on Sunday. It was not about MY baby, it was about my friend, plus the drive was really long. Based on her schedule from that morning, I'd have had to either nurse KT on the side of Georgia Rt. 400 or arrive at the party with a screaming infant, and neither option seemed good. ("Hi, I'm so happy you're having a BABY!! They scream, isn't it cute??") So I left them with the Fabulous DH. When I called to say I was on the way home, and asked how things were going, he whispered, "Everybody is asleep." He rocks my world, to say the least.

She's crying, so I've got to go for now. I really miss reading all of y'all every day.

Who likes paperwork?

Here's what I don't want to be doing these quiet milk-toast days: Driving all over town to get Short-Term Disability forms filled out by my doctor (*additional forms, never before mentioned by the short-term disability people and yet suddenly "DUE TODAY, MRS. EL-E-E-OMG," upon penalty of me never getting my rightful pay*), then to Staples to fax them appropriately. And yet, that is what I did today. With a side-item of sitting in the OB/GYN's inadequate parking lot fuming at a lady who exited the office, got in her car, then promptly SAT THERE not leaving for 10 minutes, while a line of 6 of us were very obviously WAITING for just ONE parking spot to open up. Rrrrr. Road rage is even better when the 3-week-old is in the back seat crying and you can't do anything about it.

Blah! I also enjoyed re-faxing some paperwork to a freelance client -- for which I sent an invoice more than a MONTH AGO. Hello, client, you are annoying. But I want my $250 so there ya go.

This morning at 7, I felt quite guilty lying on the couch with the precious sleeping baby as my husband scurried around, doing the HARDEST part of the day -- Getting (AJ) Out The Door -- all by himself. So next week, that's the end of that. I've had three weeks to be sleep-deprived and overwrought, and now I'm just going to have to suck it up and re-insert myself into the morning routine. Unless, of course, it's been a particularly awful night. But we haven't had one of those in a few days now, so it's time. I have a sling, a bouncy seat, a pack n play, and, oh yeah, her crib -- if KT's still sleeping I just need to plop her gently into some device and go about the business of getting juice and waffles and backpack items for AJ.

On the upside, I did submit an article I have been meaning to write (for pay -- peanuts, but still pay). It's been hanging over my head forever. And it's not the best work I've ever done, but who cares, it's DONE.

I would like to please go back to diapers and nipple soreness (still) now kthanxbye.

(I'm not ALL grumpy. Am looking forward to the weekend and planning to attend a baby shower -- eek, my first possible nurse-in-public situation EVER. Glad it'll be with friends who have baby on the brain already. Maybe I can give lessons for the mom-to-be, HA!! Anyway, it was fun buying a gift since I'm all about baby items lately. I got her Boudreaux's Butt-Paste, Purell, a multi-use lap pad, and the receiving blankies she registered for, and also unloaded a couple of duplicate "The Poky Little Puppy"s and "Thomas & the the Big, Big Bridge"s I have had laying around. So that's all GOOD! Also? It's Friday night and "Lost" is on TiVo. Big party for me!)

Yellow blanket

Taken yesterday. I think she's already changing and filling out. Her cheeks are, unfortunately, not edible.

On my own

My parents left yesterday. Bittersweet. Today has been alright but I had to make my OWN sandwich for lunch. Such a chore. I think I need a nap from doing that... or possibly from being up from 11 pm to 4 am last night. One or the other.

KT baby slept in her sling today. W00t! The first time I tried her in it, she was displeased, so today was a victory. Then I was an idiot and tried to take her out of it, and place her gently in her crib. "HAHAHAHAHAhahaha, oh ha, Mother," she said. Seems she is a bit spoiled by all the holding and loving we have been doing (even through the night). Yes, I have allowed this to happen -- she and I have slept on the couch, tummy to tummy, most every night. At this point I guess I've cared less about the future "cry it out" question and more about the present SLEEP question. If we are sleeping, it is GOOD. Tell me I am not going to regret this later. Please, tell me.

I am enjoying a root beer at the moment (did not know all this time that it is caffeine-free! I could have avoided all that dang SPRITE during pregnancy!), and she is happily bouncing in her bouncy seat. Awake. During the day. Good girl.

When will I feel I have something to post other than Baby-N-Me updates? I don't know. You, beggars, can't be choosers. :)