Pregnancy Book Reviews

I typed up some information for a newly pregnant friend of mine, and figured I would post some of it here, too. This list is about Pregnancy / Breastfeeding books that I read.


Your Pregnancy Week by Week

 Charlie and I read this one together every Sunday when I reached another weekly milestone. I loved reading that book – it was a nice ritual and was very informative without being scary. I liked the weekly measurement numbers and the “what is your baby doing this week” sections. It was nice to be able to follow along on the development track every step of the way.







The Complete Organic Pregnancy

This book has a lot of great information for those of us who are interested in natural living. It's presented in an easy-to-read way and includes information on both macro and micro levels - from the chemicals in our environment to the food that we put in our bodies. I enjoyed some of it, especially the recipes and the section on food, but it's a little over-the-top in terms of what it tells you to avoid. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to recarpet and repaint the entire house :)







What to Expect When You're Expecting

I know this is one of the most popular and well-known books for pregnant women. I remember seeing my aunt’s copy on their coffee table 15 years ago when she was pregnant with my cousin. I bought a copy at a used book store and returned it a few days later – I hated it, though. I thought it was pretty alarmist and ended up stressed out about things I didn’t know I needed to be stressed out about. Apparently they recently released an updated version, so maybe that one is better. If you’re only going to buy one general reference guide I would go with the Week by Week book, instead. (as a side note, what is with the pregnant lady graphics on these books? you've got the crazy frumpy hat in Week by Week and this lady looks like one morose mofo)


The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy

This book has tons of practical information, but it's very funny, I would almost call it light reading. Vicki has a great writing style and is brutally honest about the good, the bad, and the really really ugly about pregnancy and the whole labor & delivery process. I learned more about the reality of pregnancy and birth from this book than any other. (She also wrote The Girlfriend's Guide to Surviving the First Year and The Girlfriend's Guide to Toddlerhood, both of which I also recommend.)






Baby Bargains 

This book is a must-have for picking out baby gear. It includes ratings and information on all of the brands who make baby-related products. They release a new edition every so often so that they can keep you up-to-date on changes to products and manufacturers. I learned a lot about the differences between brands and lines in terms of materials and quality. They grade every company that makes every product you can imagine and have a section that talks about exactly where products fall on the need vs. want continuum. They maintain a blog for updates between additions and notifications on product recalls.




Magazines – There are two free magazine subscriptions that you can sign up for – American Baby and Baby Talk. They’re both just kind of average, but free is free, and what pregnant lady doesn’t love reading about pregnancy and babies?


So That’s What They’re For

I would recommend reading this before your baby gets here. Actually, if you're planning on breastfeeding I would recommend getting your hands on as much information as possible before the baby gets here. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that when it comes to breastfeeding, the more information you have, the better. Everyone assumes that it’s something that comes naturally and should be easy, but it’s not. I learned a ridiculous amount of information that I never knew before. Even though BFing didn't work out for me and I had to EP I still used it as a reference for breast issues. It also has a lot of good info on the benefits of breastmilk, which inspired me to keep EPing even though it sucked sometimes.


The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding

 This book also had a wealth of knowledge, but I liked the style of So That’s What They’re For a lot better. This one wasn’t as easy to read, and I liked the informal, almost jovial tone of the first book. This one was a little too serious.








The Milk Memos

This one is about working, breastfeeding mothers at IBM (?), who share a pumping room and start a journal where they write notes back and forth to each other about how to deal with being a working mom and how much pumping at work sucks (no pun intended). It was a good read, but I wasn’t able to relate to it all that much, maybe because I don’t work in such a serious corporate setting and because my company is so much smaller. There were A LOT of things that didn’t apply to me. Not a ton of practical info, more good to have for the feeling of not being in it alone.




The Happiest Baby on the Block

This one helped a lot for us. GREAT suggestions for calming pissy babies! The 5 S's work like a charm on Baby Charlie. He loved being swaddled. We had a few of the SwaddleMe wraps, 2 lightweight ones and a fleece one for when it got colder. Once he was done with the swaddle I was still too paranoid to put a blanket in his crib, so we bought Halo Sleepsacks - they're wearable blankets (he does have a blanket in his crib, now!).

Memo Monday

One Year Ago

I was in the hospital watching Mike & Mike, waiting to meet Baby Charlie. It's interesting how I only remember bits and pieces of how the day went. I think the most vivid memory I have of the L&D process was the car ride to the hospital, which really sucked. It was horrible to be in that much pain and have nowhere to go. The other things that stand out are how freaking thirsty I was and how glad I was to see the anesthesiologist when I got the good drugs :p

I can't believe how fast time has gone by. Everyone always tells you that it goes by so quickly, but you just kind of blow it off as unasked for advice. Unfortunately, everyone who told me that was 100% correct. It's really unbelievable.

I want to catch the sand running through the hourglass and just hold on tight. Where is Dumbledore with his time turners when you need them?

I have a lot more I'd like to say, but what was the week from hell last week has spilled into this week, so it will have to wait.

Memo Monday

It's been that kind of week

You know, the kind where Friday seems to take forever to arrive, and you're so mentally exhausted by the end of it that you start to hurt physically, too? I'm mentally drained. I guess that's the flip side of being a numbers person. Sometimes you look at numbers and thousands of columns of data and hundreds of pages of output and statistics that you just want to pitch everything off the top of a very tall building.

I still struggle with the fact that I sold my soul to the corporate world. I wonder, if I was in an industry that was more meaningful, like policy research, would I enjoy it more?

To add to the irritations of my week, I have a huge amount of mommy-guilt right now. I really wanted to take next Thursday off to spend Baby C's birthday with him, but at this point it doesn't look like it's going to happen. I try to remind myself that he's too young to really know what day it is, and he'll have so much fun at his birthday party that it won't matter, and it's not like he's going to remember it, anyway. Maybe I'm more disappointed for myself than I am for him. I'm sure he'll have a fine day at "school" with his friends.

Donnie D is a Closet Yankee Fan

That's good stuff! If I was a single girl I would follow him everywhere.

Really NKOTB?

One of the only halfway decent songs on the album and you go and make a super cheesy video starring the ugliest MOFO possible?

The video is two actors playing out the entire story that the song tells. The story telling is interspersed with random shots of the guys swaying jerkily along to the beat in the green-screen created fog. It looks like the vocals are mostly provided by Donnie and Jordan, so every time they cut to one of the others they're just looking goofily at the camera as though they're not sure what they're supposed to be doing. I guess they're supposed to be looking soulful? Mournful? Danny and Jon provide the occasional "yeah" to go along in the background, but they're mostly seen from the back as the fab five spend the video dancing in a circle with their backs to each other. Of course, the focus is mainly on Donnie D (understandable) and Jordan (not so much), with some Joey Joe to mix things up a bit. Jordan's whispers of "wake up wake up" and "get up get up" are a little creepy, as is the scene with Ugly MOFO sitting in his car staring at this girl's house.

I happened to see an interview with the kids about shooting the video, and I guess it's supposed to be a work of art or something.

Not so much.

Breastfeeding is Offensive

Breastfeeding is Offensive

Posted using ShareThis

I'm always shocked to hear expressions of disgust when it comes to women breastfeeding in public places. This post by LilGirlLost on CafeMom does a great job at highlighting the hypocrisy of our society. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Memo Monday

We're "Those" Parents

Baby C uttered his first word last week! Well, I guess it's not a word, per se, but it's a verbal communication, nonetheless. He dropped a blueberry during dinner, looked down, and said "Uh oh." C and I looked at each other, not really sure whether it was an actual utterance or just some babbling. Those syllables aren't part of his normal babbling repertoire, but we decided we'd wait for replication. On Wednesday night he did it again! He doesn't say it when he's intentionally throwing his food (apparently the universal baby signal for a meal being over), only when he drops something he still wants, so he's actually using it in context.

Of course, the proud parents had to drag out the camera to catch it on film. What follows is a not-so-proud moment where we turn into babbling idiots trying to get Baby C to display his excellence for the world to see. Of course, it's much cuter when he does it unprovoked. (don't worry, it's short!)


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Memo Monday

Fake Blogs

I was Googling reviews on the book "Deceptively Delicious" and came across this nifty website full of fake celebrity blogs. If you need to kill some time, check it out.

My two favorites:

Deceptively Delicious, the book about nothing, by Gordon Ramsay

I Hate the Playoffs, by Alex Rodriguez

Secondhand Shopping

I'm a big proponent of buying secondhand baby gear, toys, and clothes. I don't understand why people insist on buying everything brand spanking new, when it's ridiculously overpriced and will only be used for a short period of time. I regularly scour Craigslist and yard sales for clothes and toys. We've gotten some great deals - brand new (with tags!) baby clothes from Gap, Old Navy, The Children's Place, etc. for 50 cents each! I scored a Fisher Price Laugh N' Learn Chair for $10. A Leapfrog Learning Table for $15. I have no problem putting in 20 minutes of cleaning and sanitizing to pay less than 25% of retail value.

Charlie doesn't usually have a problem with it, until yesterday when I went to the neighbor's garage sale. I scored 3 pairs of like-new shoes for Baby C, including a very cute pair of Adidas sneakers, for $1 each. I also sorted out some pants for the fall, also at $1 each. All name brand, all in like-new condition. Now he feels weird about it, because it's the neighbors. I guess it just doesn't bother me that much. They have twin boys a few years older, so why not take advantage of cheap but quality clothes?

I felt completely vindicated when I came across this article on The Consumerist from last week's New York Times, talking about how parents of all income levels are going the secondhand route for their baby gear.

Not only does it save cash, but it might even have a small impact on the amount of waste ending up in landfills. Communities like Freepeats (mostly baby stuff), Craigslist, and Freecycle make it even easier to shrink your consumer footprint. You can always sell it to someone else when you're done :)

Recipe Wednesday - Lilypad Pancakes

(From Whining and Dining)

Lilypad Pancakes

8 ounces (about 1.5 cups) of frozen peas, thawed
2 Tbsp water
1 egg (I doubled the recipe and used 1 egg plus 1/4 cup applesauce)
3 Tbsp flour (white or wheat)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
Vegetable oil (or olive oil), as needed


Set aside 1/3 cup of peas.
Add the rest of the peas to a blender (I used a stick blender, and you can probably use a food processor, too) with water and egg; blend until smooth.

Pour mixture into a medium bowl and stir in the flour, salt, and baking powder and gradually mix with a fork or whisk. Stir in the reserved 1/3 cup of peas and let batter rest.

Place about 2 Tbsp oil in a saute pan and warm over medium heat until shimmering. Drop 1 Tbsp (or more, I made larger cakes for lunch portions) of batter into the pan. Cook for about 3 minutes until you see bubbles forming around the edges. Flip and cook the second side until lightly browned.

Optional: Serve with yogurt. (you can add a touch of curry powder to the yogurt for a little kick)

These were a big hit in our house. I decided to take a risk and double the recipe, since Baby C likes his peas so much to begin with. As I mentioned in my previous post, veggie consumption has gone way down lately, even when peas are involved. There was some initial hesitation when I handed him the fork, probably because they're green, and therefore must be veggies. I distracted him and shoved a piece in his mouth when he wasn't looking. It worked, and he chowed through the rest of it in less than a minute.

Memo Monday

NKOTB Redux

The Fab Five visited Cincinnati 2 weeks ago and I was in attendance, along with a few of my interweb friends.

Because I'm a big dork I decorated a shirt for the occasion (I stopped short of saying "because we're big dorks," I wouldn't want to speak for anyone else, but if the shoe fits....).



We had lawn seats. It was really freaking hot that day, and it had rained the week before. The wet lawn soaked through the blankets everyone brought to sit on, making it look like everyone had wet their pants from excitement and anticipation. I had never heard of the opening act, Jesse McCartney. I thought it was a girl until I heard the voice. Jabbawokeez also performed before the kids took the stage. I think they're pretty neat to watch.

There was plenty of people watching to do, from the girls who wore things they didn't need to wear to this interesting undergarment sported by some poor guy who had been dragged along by his girlfriend. Do you think she made them just for the concert?



As if it's not bad enough that he's wearing undies that have his name on them, he's also sagging a pair of khaki pants. I can't believe he left the house looking like that, and I can't believe I just typed the word "sagging" in regard to pants. What, is this 1992?

The concert itself was enjoyable. Not as good as the show in Columbus, but fun nonetheless, mostly because of the company. There was no removal of shirts by any of the guys, and we were sad about that. They also played Popsicle, which freaking rocked. It was an old favorite of mine that lots of so-called NKOTB fans have never heard of.

The seats weren't as good, partly because there were no seats at all, and there was a crazy beeotch in front of me who kept inching backward on her blanket until she stepped on my toes. I asked her to step forward, and she got in my face because she was still on her blanket, blah blah blah. I could have gone Jersey on her ass, but I decided to just move to the other side of the group so I didn't get arrested. Other than that, a fun time was had by all!

Memo Monday

Memo Monday

Recipe: Cheese Crackers

I found these on the blog of a fellow nestie - Toddler Treats and More - and tried them out yesterday.

Jude's Easy Peasy Cheesy Puffs

1/4 c old fashioned rolled oats (If you don't have oats, use 1/2 c flour)
1/4 c flour
2 tbsp cold butter, chopped
4 oz shredded cheese (I used cheddar this time, but any hard variety should do)
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp water

Grind the oats in the food processor. Add the flour, butter, cheese, and salt to the work bowl and pulse until combined into a course mixture. Slowly pour in the water until the mixture starts to come together (I didn't need all 2 tablespoons). At this stage you should be able to press it into a ball with your hands. Wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper and chill for 20 or so minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough into 1/8 -1/4 inch thickness. If you don't have a non-stick baking sheet it would probably be a good idea to line it with parchment paper.

Cut the dough into 1" squares using a pizza cutter or dough scraper, making sure to go all the way through (original recipe also mentions tiny cookie cutters, but I have to agree 100% with her take that would be a PITA to transfer and re-roll scraps). I separated my squares so they weren't touching, but you should be able to bake them in one big piece and then break them apart later. Transfer the dough onto the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.


They were very simple to make and they were really good! They actually tasted just like Cheez-Its. If I had poked a hole in the middle of each piece they would have been pretty much dead on. I want to try another batch this week with Parmesan instead of cheddar.

NKOTB

I'm getting all geared up for tomorrow's concert and just realized that I never blogged about the first one! It was everything I hoped it would be. Granted, I set some pretty low expectations for this one, but still....

First of all let me start by saying that I can't believe it's been almost 20 years since I saw them at the Meadowlands. I remember little bits and pieces about the whole event - it was my first concert without an adult. I was going with my supercool teenage babysitter/neighbor Jeanette and her friends. I selected my outfit carefully - my black NKOTB shirt with black leggings, high tops, and green visor perched on top of my permed hair. If only I had a picture....

Oh wait! I do!



I also had an NKOTB-themed 9th birthday party with my old BFF Jaclyn. (I wonder what she's doing these days? Maybe I should look her up on Facebook)

This was our cake:








Anyway. So before the show we went to check out the bar next to the arena. OMFG I don't think I've ever seen that many girls packed into one place. It was like all of the girls who were BFFs in elementary school who grew up to hate each other in high school came back together for one magical night when everyone lived in peace and harmony. Seriously, for not one single cat fight to break out in a place with that many women in such close quarters is pretty impressive.





Wouldn't be an NKOTB show without the cheesy ballad with them all decked out in white.



I wonder how much that guy with the guitar hates his life?



The downside of the random assortment of women in the crowd? This lady, sitting behind me.



All in all, it was a pretty badass evening. It was such a novelty to be at a New Kids concert, but aside from that, Donnie is still a hottie and those boys can put on a show!

Hippie or Not?

So over the weekend it was brought to my attention that some people think I'm "hippie-ish." I was shocked to hear this piece of information. Not because I think hippies are bad, on the contrary I admire the individuals who were part of that subculture - their respect for individual rights and their unwillingness to blindly follow authority. Apparently the idea of "me-as-hippie" was inspired by a few characteristics of my life. Perhaps the better term would be "Crunchy," rather than "Hippie."

The Pro-Hippie/Crunchy List
1. Eating habits (Natural/local/organic/homemade)
2. Breastfeeding
3. Eco-Friendly/Sustainable Living
4. Baby-Food Making
5. Cloth Diapering
6. Craigslist/Thrift Store Shopping

I'm not saying that I'm really good at everything in that list. I sneak a soda here and there during long and boring days at work, I don't think Dunkin is organic OR natural, I can't bring myself to use cloth toilet paper, and we use disposable wipes on the really awful diapers. I also don't think these behaviors need to be limited to the "crunchy" set. If we all made an effort to live a little more sustainably we could have a huge impact on our environment. Breastmilk is the most natural and beneficial food you can give an infant, so to me that was a no-brainer.

I also like to think that I'm not pushy when it comes to these things. If I'm out to dinner at someone else's house, am I going to refuse to eat the meal that's been prepared if the ingredient list includes processed cheese food, high fructose corn syrup, and conventional veggies? No, I won't. Do I judge moms who don't breastfeed? That's a trickier one, because I'll admit that I do believe that everyone should at least consider it, and that the "it's gross" excuse is just flat out wrong. If you've tried it and you either can't do it or decide that it's just not for you, then that's your decision and I won't say a thing either way.

I do like to discuss politics, lean more liberal than most, and if you handed me tickets to Bonnaroo I wouldn't turn them down, but let's think this through realistically, shall we?

The Not Hippie/Crunchy List
1. The car in my garage
2. Satellite TV
3. Occupation
4. Skill set
5. Daily Life

I like deodorant, and I don't mean the natural crystal deodorant. Give me the aluminum-filled antiperspirant deodorant any day! I work in market research, which is probably one of the most anti-crunchy/sustainable occupations out there. Do I question my decision to sell my soul regularly? Yes, but I'm still there, which means that a paycheck can buy me away from my principles.

In summary, when's the last time you saw a HDTV-watching, Real Housewives-obsessed, KitchenAid mixer-loving, sports-car driving Hippie?

Memo Monday

I Suck

I fell down the stairs tonight while carrying Baby C. It was only the last two steps, my foot just slipped right out from under me. It all happened in slow motion, I tried to keep him up in the air but I just couldn't keep him upright enough to stop him from hitting the ground and he banged his head on the floor. I hit my back on the edge of the step so I have a nice bruise and he has a goose egg.

After the drama he ate dinner, we played on the floor, went for a walk, and he had his bath. He seemed to be ok, but I decided to be "that mom" and called the on-call pediatrician. They said to watch for vomiting and lethargy, and if he presents with either of those symptoms I need to call back. Unfortunately, he went to sleep at bedtime so I can't really watch for lethargy, but he hasn't vomited at all and he seems like his normal self. It looks like I'll be enjoying a sleepless night of worrying and checking.

I'm so freaking lucky, these things always seem to happen when C is out of town. Fevers, ear infections, vaccinations, the whole gamut. I feel like such an awful mom :(

Sweet Potato Rice Pancakes

(From the Wholesome Baby Food website)

Sweet Potato Rice Pancakes

1 cup basmati rice (not pre-cooked)
1 ½ pounds of Sweet Potato, about 2 cups pureed (use orange not white ones!)
¾ cup frozen baby peas
¾ cup zucchini
⅓ cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 garlic clove
1 egg or 2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley
freshly ground black pepper (optional)
olive oil


Cook the rice in a large saucepan of water according to directions.

Chop & steam or boil the sweet potato until tender, drain well. Mash until almost smooth. Cut the zucchini into small dices - add zucchini and all other ingredients to mashed sweet potato and mix well, season with pepper if desired.

Divide the mixture into equal portions and cook in lightly oiled frying pan for approx. 3 minutes each side, until golden. Drain on paper towel. Great warm or cold!


I have a bag of these in my freezer right now - I made them about 3 inches in diameter, so he gets one pancake for lunch or dinner and fruit or veggies on the side.

Applesauce Cereal Snacks

(From a random Google search that brought me to Qwerty Kitchen)

Applesauce Cereal Snacks

Ingredients

2 cups cereal (Cheerios, corn flakes, Chex, Kix, etc)
1 cup raisins (or other dried fruit)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1-2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup applesauce


Directions

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Lightly grease pan (9x9 for bars, pressed / jelly roll for snacks, loosely spread). Bake at 350 20-30 minutes until crisp and golden--watch the snacks, they cook faster. Cut or crumble, store in an air tight container.


I haven't tried freezing these but I can't imagine it would work out very well. I made them in "snack form" because I thought tiny pieces would be easier for Baby C to handle. I also made sure that the dried fruit I used was cut up small enough that it wouldn't be a choking hazard. Like the cheese logs, these also make a good adult snack. I think they'll be a staple in our house for years to come.

Cheese Logs

(From the Wholesome Baby Food website)

Cheese Logs

½ cup all purpose flour (could use wheat flour but may be gummy)
¼ cup of butter (I use ¼ cup applesauce instead)
½ cup of shredded Cheddar
1 egg (or 2 egg yolks)
pepper & garlic powder, to taste (optional)


Mix the butter (applesauce) and flour, then add the cheese & egg (spices are optional). Mix until a rough dough forms (will be very wet). Roll dough into thin logs and & bake for about 10 mins (longer for thicker segments) @ 375 F. If you notice browning on the bottoms, turn the logs over 1/2 way through the cooking time.

I could eat these myself, they're a very tasty snack. I do wish they were called something other than "cheese logs," though. These freeze well.

Broccoli & Cheddar Cheese Nuggets

(From the Wholesome Baby Food website)


Broccoli & Cheddar Cheese Nuggets

1 16-oz Package frozen broccoli, cooked, drained, and chopped
1 cup Seasoned bread crumbs
1 ½ cups Shredded cheddar cheese
3 Large eggs or 5 egg yolks (can substitute fruit or veggie puree)


Pre-Heat oven to 375. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Add seasonings if desired - garlic powder, pepper, extra basil & oregano for example.

Shape mixture into nuggets or fun shapes and place on baking tray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turn nuggets over after 15 minutes. (I shape the nuggets with two teaspoons as though I'm making cannelles. For lunch he will eat 2-3 teaspoon-sized nuggets with some veggies on the side.)


I usually make only half a batch - even half the recipe makes a ton of nuggets! These freeze well.

Baby Finger Food Recipes

A friend of mine asked for my collection of baby snack/finger food recipes, so I decided I'll post them on the blog as I try them out. Eventually I'll get some pictures of them, too, so you can see what they look like.

I'll cite the source where I'm able, but a lot of these have been copied from random websites over the past few months. My general routine is to pick one Sunday each month to make a few different foods, then I freeze them and pull them out as needed. This lets me offer Baby C a variety of foods throughout the week without a lot of work. It also lets me control the ingredients going into his meals.

Memo Monday (on Tuesday)

30 Day Shred Day 1

So I had every intention of starting The Shred last night, but my good buddy Stephanie came over for dinner and conversation. We ended up talking on the couch until past 9:30, by which time I'm usually in bed. After she left I still had to make bottles, lunches, and milk, and by the time that was all wrapped up it was pushing 10:30, so I decided I'd get up at 4:00 and do it in the morning. C was positive I'd change my mind when the alarm went off. I almost did, but forced myself out of bed.

Three main thoughts of the day:

1. I started out on Level 1, thinking I could just ease back into exercising. Not so much. It's either not as beginner as I thought it would be or I'm more out of shape than I thought I was. Probably a little of both. Can I tell you how much I hate push-ups? My arms feel like jello.

2. I need to get a better sports bra, but since I only have 18 days left as a dairy cow I'm not going to buy one right now. I guess that means modified jumping jacks with my arms crossed over my chest for a while. Holy cow I hope these things shrink soon.

3. This is probably an unpopular opinion, based on the huge numbers of people I see extolling her virtues, but I don't really like Jillian Michaels. I thought she was kind of annoying and tried to be too funny and clever. I've decided that I'm going to mute the DVD and use the awesome XM stations that came with DirecTV instead. I'm also going to replace my mental image of Ms. Michaels with the Real Shredder, instead.



Much more motivating.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

I'm one of the lucky ones who lost all of the extra pregnancy pounds and then some relatively quickly after having the baby. I'm sure breastfeeding had a lot to do with it, and since we're about to wrap that up I know I'll have to readjust my eating and exercise habits again. To be honest, I haven't exercised in MONTHS, outside of the walks we take around our neighborhood after work.

While I've lost the weight and the number I see on the scale every morning makes me happy, the pounds that belong on my body have redistributed themselves in a way that I'm not very happy with. Certain areas jiggle when I'd prefer them to remain static and other areas look more like cottage cheese than I'd like to admit. Either way, I'm not doing this to lose weight but to redistribute the weight that I have and maybe build up some muscle so that I don't feel like I'm going to die by the time I get to the checkout with the monster package of baby wipes.*

Since all of my (internet) friends are doing it I picked up the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD at Target last night. I was originally going to wait until I was done with the whole pumping thing (19 days!), but I'm going to start tonight, instead.


* Yes, for the most part I only use cloth wipes, but there are some diapers whose contents require a cleaning by something more easily-disposed-of. Still 100% cloth diapers, though.

Memo Monday

What chaps my ass

(One of the many, many things, I guess)

It irritates the hell out of me when people complain about how broke they are and then talk about how they spend money on all kinds of frivolous crap.

If you're flat freaking broke and can't survive on one income then GO GET A FREAKING JOB. Plenty of women (and men!) would love to stay at home or work only part-time, but we don't, either because we can't or because we like having a career of our own and financial stability. This is doubly annoying if the individual in question doesn't have any children. WTF are you doing all day, anyway?

If the situation is really as dire as you make it out to be, then suck it up and go find some way to make some money. If you're still going to complain about not having enough money for basic necessities then yes, people will crawl up your ass when you brag about your latest purchase of more clothes, shoes, electronic equipment, etc. when you really need to be buying food, toilet paper, and diapers.

I'm not going to feel bad for you anymore and I'm not going to offer you free stuff.

/rant

Memo Monday (on Thursday)

Memo Monday

Cringe-Worthy

So I posted before about how baaaaaaaad the new NKOTB CD is, but I've noticed a few sets of lyrics that just strike me as either very very cheesy or very very wrong. I'll just share my thoughts on the whole thing.



As you can see from the cover, Donnie is the only one who has aged well. Must be that Whalberg thing. Danny still looks like a monkey, no surprise there. At least the hair has improved all around. Shall we refresh what the Fab 5 used to look like?



The cheese starts with the first track on the album, "Click, Click, Click." Good old Donnie D goes into this pseudo-rap session at the end, which opens with this classic line:

Click, click, click with my Nikon/ Click with my Sony. Girl I ain't no phony.

Really? Now that's just desperation for words that rhyme. Just leave out the funkiness altogether. Maybe they should have called on Marky Mark to come up with something a little more genuine.

I haven't found anything wrong with the second song, "Single." It's actually my favorite one on there. I also like "Summertime," if only for the tribute Joey Joe makes to the 1988 Jones Beach crowd. Kind of takes me back to the days of the Pepsi Magic Summer Tour (or was it Coke?). My BFF Erica got to go to that show, but I had already seen them once so I didn't get to tag along. The whole song smacks somewhat of LFO, but it's cute nonetheless.

Perhaps the most disturbing selections come from "Big Girl Now," track 3, featuring Lady Gaga (I have no clue who that is)

I'm big boy, you're a big girl now
I'm a big girl, you're a big boy now
I've been waiting too long for you to get naughty
Beat me, spank me daddy, come on, touch my body
They say that good things come to those who wait
Come take me on before it's too late

Really? That's just plain weird. Is this song written for the previously-underage fans from the early 90's?

That brings us to track 4 - "2 in the Morning." Nothing overtly awful about this one, either, but I find this line puzzling: Will this ever end? Girl, it's almost ten/ Gotta know if you're mad at me before Grey's Anatomy 'cause we could drag this out all night...

I've never seen Grey's Anatomy, but for some reason I'm not thinking it's a guy show. Am I wrong on that?

Keeping with the "look at me I'm all grown up" theme, these come from a song called, what else? "Grown man." Yo, check out Adidas band I don't even know what to do with this. What's an Adidas band? And again, this is just weird. I'm-a give you some grown man (hey)/I'm-a give you some grown man (oh)/ I'm-a give you some grown man.

Next up we have "Dirty Dancing." It's a catchy tune but I can't help but laugh at the chorus Oh, it's so crazy, she's like Baby, I'm like Swayze. It's also a walking contradiction when they start off talking about the "shorty" with the "leanest body," and then go on to describe the same as having "big 'ol hips" and "big 'ol thighs." So which is it? A lean body or a muffin top?

Track 8 provides another fine example of bad rhymes. It's like they were channeling Avril LaVigne or something. Really gotta concentrate and now we're gonna consummate/ So, lets conversate. Is that even a word? I'm certainly no prude, but I am a stickler for real words and proper grammar.

The last few songs on the album just seem like a random collection of tracks that didn't really fit anywhere else. I have a hard time forcing myself to listen anywhere beyond track 8. Track 9 is certainly "Twisted." Tell me where does it hurt/ Tell me where to kiss it. As they've reminded us numerous times thus far, we're all "grown up." So why spew this kind of infantile crap?

"Twisted" is followed by "Full Service," ostensibly a song written about how in New Jersey you don't have to get out of the car to pump your own gas. You ain't gotta do it yourself, baby/ I'm-a give you that full service, you'll see/ You ain't even gotta get out of your seat/ I'm-a give you that full service, you'll see.

"Lights, Camera, Action" is a little ditty about trying to convince your girlfriend that it's a great id to make a DIY adult movie. "Put it on my Tab" sounds like it could belong in the earlier (better) section of the album, until you hear this line - Hey Mr. Bartender, please make a pina colada/ Hold the alcohol, please/ And whatever baby girl, is sippin' on,/ You can tell her, drinks on me. You might initially think that they're requesting a pina colada for the chick at the bar, but then you learn that he's willing to pay for "whatever she's drinking," which means that the fruity beverage is actually for himself. Not only is he ordering a frou-frou drink, but he's ordering it without the alcohol. Finally (on the US album), we come to "Stare at You." Now that I think about it, I can't recall actually listening to this one.

Those lucky UK fans are treated to FIVE additional tracks. I haven't bothered to check them out online yet but I'll report back at some point.

All that being said, I still CAN'T FREAKING WAIT for the concert in June.

Memo Monday

Memo Monday

Piggy Flu

It just sounds nicer to call it "Piggy Flu" than "Swine Flu" or H1N1.



Hearing about piggy flu is pretty much unavoidable. It's been one of the main topics of discussion on the message boards I frequent, all over Google News homepage, and what seems like every other story on MSNBC and CNN. Thankfully it hasn't crossed over to ESPN yet, but I'm sure it very well could. The online discussions mostly center around whether or not we should be worried about piggy flu.

The first piggy flu-related post was on Monday, asking if we should be worried about it now that there has been a confirmed case in Ohio. At the time, I said no, I'm not worried about it. Rational discussion followed.

On Wednesday - Oh Noes! WHO threat level went from a 4 to a 5! The sky is falling! This is where rational thought processes seemed to break down. Discussions turned from "should I be worried" to:

"What kind of facemasks should I buy?"

"What if they shut down the city? Will I be stuck at work?"

"It's a liberal conspiracy! They want to make sure what's-her-face gets confirmed as whatever-position-it-is so they're causing a health panic!"

and my personal favorite - "It is man-made (bio engineered), and is a conspiracy to bring the world to its knees. This flu is like part II of the Black Plaque: no cure and lots of deaths to come."

So because this is MY blog, I'm going to share MY thoughts just because I can. First of all, the only thing that a level 5 alert means is that "human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region, signaling that a pandemic is imminent".

Not that we shouldn't be paying attention to what's going on, but it's not like hundreds of people are suddenly being stricken dead. The "regular" flu also reaches pandemic proportions and kills hundreds of thousands of people, but you don't see people freaking out about that all the time.

I'm not saying to stick your head in the sand and pretend it's not happening, but am I about to go buy hospital masks for me and my family to wear? Not likely. Just use common sense - wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, and I guess stay out of Mexico. I'm not worried about it AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME. Things could happen that would change my mind and cause me to rethink the situation, but to this point nothing has. That doesn't mean that I won't adjust my thinking accordingly when new information is released.

The other argument that's come up is that the health officials have "cried wolf" at other times (i.e. SARS, bird flu, etc) and that this is just another overreaction. I don't necessarily agree with this. I don't think these outbreaks were necessarily "crying wolf," same with the flu pandemic of 1956-57. I think these were (are?) legitimate threats, but the proper steps were taken and a crisis was avoided. Of course, it's nearly impossible to prove a non-event, but the data suggest that the inoculation program developed in the 1956 pandemic staved off the massive spreading and lethality of that flu strain. Same with bird flu, the precautions that were taken (e.g. quarantines, killing infected animals, travel restrictions, etc.) may have likely quashed the whole thing before it got out of hand. We also know that the bird flu strain didn't transmit easily from person to person, so we may have gotten lucky that no mutation occurred before we were able to put safety measures into place. Yes, there may have been some serious overreaction in all of those cases, but I wouldn't call it "crying wolf."

Guilty Confession

I'm totally addicted to the new NKOTB album. I'm a rational person, I know it's not great music, not well-written, and not inspired. In fact, from every angle I can see that it clearly all around sucks. It's just so damn catchy. It was manageable 2 weeks ago when I only had the MP3s on my desktop at work. I would listen to the mindless noise while writing SAS code. Eventually that wasn't enough. I was craving it at home. I copied the files to a jump drive and transferred them to my home desktop. Well last week that wasn't good enough either. I found myself seriously jonesing for some Summertime while driving home from work. I burned the MP3s to a CD. Now I have it at work, at home, and in the car. The soundtrack for my drive into work has gone from Mike & Mike and Rene Montagne to the 5 hardest working kids in show business. How sad is that?

Maybe when the Yankees stop sucking ass I'll be able to bring myself to tune the dial back to 1360.

I think about you in the summertime....

Memo Monday

I stole this idea from another blogger that I "know" through the Nest - Baby Rabies. The idea is to write a short open letter every week - funny, sarcastic, loving, whatever. I'm not so creative that I could come up with that idea on my own, but I'll unashamedly steal it from her and start my own series over here.

Without further delay, I present the first installment of Memo Monday.

The Countdown is On!

Looks like I'll be finished EPing and ready to destroy my PISA no later than June 27th. I'm actually thinking it will be a little bit earlier than that, but that's the absolute latest.

I think I'm going to have a party for myself. It also happens to be the date of the NKOTB show! What better way to celebrate than a night out with the Nesties?

I'm compiling a list of ways to dispose of the pump, so let me know if you have any suggestions to add to the list.

MamaMade

Nifty little blog I just found - MamaMade...for your little one! - full of very cute eco-friendly craft creations for you to drool over.

In time for Earth Day she's holding a drawing for a sandwich bag I've got my eye on. If I don't win one, I'll try making one myself. I'll build up my crafty confidence, then curse and throw things in frustration when I remember that I'm really not crafty at all. After that I'll photograph the monstrosity and post the disastrous results over here for your amusement. Finally, I'll just buy one from her, which I should probably do in the first place.

New Ben & Jerry's Flavors!

I spied an unfamiliar looking pint at the store last week - Triple Caramel Chunk - Caramel Ice Cream with a Swirl of Caramel & Fudge Covered Caramel Chunks. Oh. My. God. Where was this during my 40 weeks of misery?! I don't even feel guilty about eating it, since I'm actually below my pre-pregnancy weight at this point. I'm seeing numbers on the scale that I haven't seen since 2001!

I went to the Ben & Jerry's site to get the scoop, and learned that there are a few other newbies in addition to the caramel heaven on Earth; Chocolate Macadamia, Mission to Marzipan, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, and Orange & Cream. I can pretty much guarantee that I won't feel the need to try Mission to Marzipan, and Peanut Butter Cookie Dough doesn't elicit much more than an "eh" feeling, but I'm dying to get my hands on Orange & Cream. I freaking LOVE creamsicles. Unfortunately, I've checked out four local groceries and haven't found it yet. There's no flavor locator option, either. I'm going to be hella-pissed if it's a "scoop shop only" variety.

Baseball Post (a few days late)

If I had actually written this post on Monday, opening day of the 2009 baseball season, it would have been full of optimism and excitement - after all, the Yankees added CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett to their starting rotation, and Wang was back in good health and ready to take his place as the #2 starter. Four days and two ugly losses later, and I'm already cursing at the TV. Figures that the first two games I'd be able to watch on my own TV were just horrid. Even Baby C was upset at the opening day fiasco.

Mooooom, why is Sabathia sucking sooooo bad?



Oh well. It also figures that the game they actually won with dignity was a day game, me being stuck at work watching the gameday dots move around the bases.

Regardless, it should be a fun and exciting season! At least as of this moment we're tied with that other team from the northeast, at one win and two losses. Even better, the boys in blue are headed out to Kansas City today for a three game series. Hopefully we'll be over .500 by the time we're down in Tampa.

On a sad note, today we're all Angels fans. Their rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a hit-and-run accident on Wednesday night, just hours after pitching 6 shutout innings in his season debut. He was only 22. Such a tragedy definitely puts things in perspective.

Ferber Update

This has been a great week! He woke up around 4:00 on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, but kind of whined to himself and then went back to sleep. Yesterday and today he didn't wake up until we went in to get him ready to go. Yay!

Yesterday I visited a friend of mine to see her 6-week-old baby boy. I was shocked to find that I could barely picture Baby C being that tiny. I know they always say it, but it goes by so freaking fast!

I'm going on my first overnight adventure without the Charlies tonight - going to see NKOTB in Columbus!

Ferber Night 7

We have success. Since Windows sucks and my PC was stuck in a continuous reboot loop yesterday I'm just getting to this now.

On Saturday night Baby C slept ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Yay! He made a repeat performance last night, only getting up once to whine for a minute. I hope this is the end of our sleepless nights!

Ferber Night 6

Last night we reached the Holy Grail - Baby Charlie slept through the night! Went down around 7:45 with a little bit of whining, but it's now 5:30 and he's still sleeping!

Unfortunately I can't take advantage of the situation because I'm headed off to the goat rodeo that is the Mom's of Multiples Semi-Annual Used Baby Crap Sale. I'm planning to get there by 7:30 and that makes me a straggler. Moms line up for this thing at 6 o'freaking clock! I'm not hoping to score anything huge, so I don't need to punish myself that badly.

My Initiation

I completely forgot. Last night after dinner C was flying Baby Charlie around a little too quickly, which isn't something you should do when he has a full stomach. Of course, some of the contents of his stomach came back up, and I caught them. IN MY HAND. Ew.

Ferber Night Five

Bedtime: No crying!

Night Waking 1: No crying!
Night Waking 2: 15 minutes
Night Waking 3: No crying!

Hmm, I'm not too sure what went on with all of the waking up at night, but at least he went right back to sleep 2 out of 3 times. I had to go back in his room after he was asleep to get the diaper laundry and I noticed that he's taken to sleeping scrunched up in the corner of he crib. I suspect that he's bumping his head against the crib bars and waking himself up.

Ferber Night Four

Bedtime: No crying!

Night Waking: 3 minutes!

This is better than I ever could have hoped. It seems like he's really learned how to put himself back to sleep and he's also eating better during the day - not as many of the 2-3oz "snack bottles" that he used to take. He's also doing it all without the help of the pacifier! It almost seems too good to be true. Charlie is just amazed at how quickly it's working. His night waking wasn't even at 2:30, it was at 11:30, so even after getting up to check on him I still got 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep!

I don't feel the mommy-guilt anymore, either. Based on his quick progress I'm looking at this as a nudge in the right direction rather than a complete unlearning of everything he ever knew to be true. I still believe that doing everything on demand is the best course of action for at least the first 6 months, but I'm glad he's learning how to sleep.

Ferber Night Three

Bedtime: 10 minutes!

Night Waking: 10 minutes and 10 minutues!

Wow, we definitely had some improvement last night! At bedtime, Baby Charlie fell asleep pretty much right away. He whined for a few minutes but that was it. We didn't even have to go back in once! His 2:00 night waking was also better than usual - I went in after 10 minutes and talked to him and rubbed his back, then left again. He was still upset, and I thought for sure we'd be back in there after the second wait period, but to my surprise he fell asleep before the second 10 minute mark!

I hope this wasn't just a fluke and that tomorrow goes just as well, if not better.

I also got to watch the Yankees beat the crap out of the red sux in a spring training game. I know it doesn't mean anything, but it's fun nonetheless :)

Ferber Night Two

Bedtime: 5-5-10

Last night's bedtime went better than the previous night's. We started his routine a little bit later, and I think he was tired anyway from all of the crying he did the night before. He had his bath, got his PJs on, and read a book (The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats. Definitely a classic). We put him in the crib and said our goodnights. I stuck a small stuffed animal in there with him, hoping that he might latch onto it for comfort if he woke up during the night. He played with his crib toy for a few minutes, then the whining/crying/screaming began. We waited 5 minutes, then I went upstairs and sat with him for a minute, rubbed his back and talked to him. Still crying. At the next 5 minute mark C took his turn to go in and comfort him. Still crying. Thankfully, sometime in the 10 minute wait window he fell asleep.

Night Waking: 5-5-10-10-15-15

This was an absolutely miserable hour. He woke up around 2:00, which is his normal wake-up time. I went in to check on him and he didn't need to be changed, so we waited 5 minutes and then did the comfort routine. He would scream at the top of his lungs for a minute, then whine for another few minutes, then calm down. A minute later it would start all over again. We took turns watching the clock and going in to sit with him. Having the tag team effort made things easier. He finally fell back to sleep shortly after 3:00.

Those 15 minute overnight wait periods were torture. I questioned the decision, questioned myself, came very close to breaking down and going in to grab him. It was so hard to let him cry, but I know when all is said and done with it will make everyone much happier. All three of us will be well-rested and he will know how to fall asleep on his own.

Ferber Night One

So we decided to bite the bullet and start the Ferber process. Last night was night one. I don't want to start a debate over whether or not sleep training is "right" or "good." I've already done my research, read the books, consulted the journals, and decided on the course of action that I think is best for us at this point in time. Baby C will still eat when he needs to, have clean diapers, and get lots of love and cuddles. I feel bad enough as it is, I don't need negative comments from random interweb peeps going all Judgy McJudgerson.

I suppose you could say that what we're actually doing is more "Ferber Lite" than the full-on Ferber method. I'm not 100% comfortable with the prescribed waiting period and their incremental build-up, so we're going to start smaller and work our way up.

That being said, on to night one. I think we got off to a bad start because our bedtime routine was altered right from the beginning. Our usual routine starts around 7:20 - bath (as needed), change diaper, get into PJs, read a book, bottle, and then into the crib. Unfortunately, there was a massive diaper issue* around 6:30 so he was already in his PJs. Is that enough to throw things off?

Anyway, we do the rest of the activities and then get him settled in the crib. We "plug him in," turn on his sleepy sheep and the fan, and then leave the room, closing the door behind him.

I swear, the squeaky hinges on that door are going to be the death of me. We need to WD40 the damn thing because that is always his cue to have a mini-meltdown. He wasn't hungry because we fed him until he was full and his diaper was clean. Baby freak-out, nonetheless. We went downstairs and set the timer for 5 minutes. I didn't even bother turning the monitor on, that would have just made the situation worse. When the timer went off I went back up to assess the situation. He was a very unhappy baby. Gave him back his plug, rubbed his back, talked to him, got him calmed down. Thought he was drifting off to sleep, so I turned to leave. Begin baby freak-out number two. Closing that door was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

I'll spare you the rest of the details, but it took 3 5-minute rounds and a 10-minute round before he fell asleep. It really sucked, and I didn't think it could get any worse.

I was wrong. He got up to eat around 2:00, which was fine. He almost always gets up to eat, and I'm not in the business of starving the poor thing. I gave him his bottle and tried to put him back in the crib. He wanted no part of going back to sleep. Thankfully this time it only took 3 5-minute rounds. He was up again at 4, but back to sleep within 10 minutes (I made sure he wasn't hungry or dirty). It's so much worse in the middle of the night - the agony seemed magnified in my half-asleep stupor. I don't know if it's easier to continue with the program and hope for improvement or to just give in :P

Tonight we'll try again, but I want to see if a slightly later bedtime helps. Maybe he's just not tired enough when we start. I do have to say that I'm surprised to see how much support I've gotten on this issue. Whenever the sleep training debate comes up it seems like people are reluctant to admit to using the method, so I was relieved to find that many of my mommy friends have tried it and succeeded. If nothing else, at least Dunkin will make some profits off of me until we're finished.


* The issue in question was miraculously contained within the BumGenius. Unfortunately, no diaper has yet been created that can keep a baby's hands out of his own mess.

Mommy Brain Strikes Again

I get up to get something and forget what I need when I get there. I've developed what I refer to as "web-ADD," where I open a tab on Firefox intending to visit a specific website and forget where I'm going by the time I get through the www. I read an article that reminds me of something else I need to look at and then by the time I'm done reading I've forgotten where I said I needed to go. I need a mental note pad.

All of that is bad enough, but then this morning I stopped at a light and forgot how to drive. The light was red, and I was sitting there waiting, listening to Mike & Mike while Baby C slept in his carseat, and all of a sudden I realized that I didn't know which pedal was the clutch. It was a momentary lapse, and luckily muscle memory is a powerful force, because I didn't actually forget how to drive, but at that moment there was no way I could tell you which pedal was which. I also forgot how to shift through the electronic display menu. I'm a geek, and I like numbers and data, so I routinely flip through the stats of my current trip - average speed, average fuel consumption, miles remaining on tank, etc, while performing mental calculations to see how off base my fuel gauge is. I flip through the menu a few times each drive, and I drive at least twice a day, so there was no reason to forget how to switch the display. I tried everything - every button, every lever, every switch, and just could not for the life of me remember how to change it.

That's something else no one tells you. The lack of sleep seriously affects your short-term memory and ability to function normally.

What is that?

That little graphic, there, on the bottom of my screen?



Is that...? Could it be...?



The YES Network!! The DirectTV guy is my new BFF. Now I have unlimited access to the pinstriped boys of summer. Woot!

I <3 my car

Yes, I "carrot three" my car. I drove to Toledo yesterday for Angi's baby shower. It was a great party and I got to spend time with the fabulous Nesties again. I love them, and wish we didn't live so far away. There's a certain passive-aggressive snarkiness that we share that I just haven't found anywhere else (with the exception of two lovely Cincinnati ladies who will remain nameless for their own protection).

It was only a day trip because I'm having an overnight trip in April for the NKOTB concert and I can only handle so many nights away from the house. More accurately, C can only handle me being away so many nights, and I miss my Charlies when I'm gone.

I made it, round-trip, in just under 5 hours. Heading up I was able to tail some idiot who was pushing 100MPH, easily. I passed one cop the whole way. There were more cops on the way home, but I still averaged 85, thanks to the caravan of SUVS who were hauling ass to Cincinnati. The problem (?) with my car is that it doesn't feel like you're going as fast as you are. I'm always shocked when I catch the speedometer out of the corner of my eye.

I've decided that I'm adding another dream vacation to my list: Bonneville Salt Flats. Oh my god, I would love to get my car out there. Might even top ESPN: The Weekend, which is currently leading my list of places/events I want to go to.

On a side note, there is NOTHING on the radio between Dayton and Toledo. Not even a fuzzy NPR station. Another reason why Ohio blows.

Random Musings on Parenthood, Installment I

Since it seems like all of my friends are either pregnant or soon-to-be-pregnant, I've decided to dedicate part of my blog to the following topics:

Things no one tells you about being a mom/parent

Baby gear I can't live without

Things I said I'd never do, but did anyway

Random BS

So to kick things off, I realized yesterday that I have become "that parent." The parent who talks about their kid to anyone and everyone, without first asking or thinking whether that person might care, just assuming that everyone finds their child as cute as they do and wants to hear all about them.

Case in point: I was at a baby shower in Toledo yesterday and the mom-to-be opened up a pack of peepee-teepees. For those of you who aren't schooled in baby gear jargon, it provides the diaper-changer protection from projectile peeing. There was brief discussion about the product, and then, for no reason I can think of, I turned to my friend Susie and shared with her that I've never been peed on. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I remembered that no one really cares or wants to hear about baby pee habits. I turned back around to apologize for the verbal vomit.

This isn't an isolated incident, either. I'm trying to be conscious of the fact that not everyone thinks my baby is the cutest thing on earth and not everyone wants to see pictures or hear stories or watch a 2-minute long video of him playing with an empty bag of tortilla chips. (but if you're so inclined, you can see it here)

How I'll Celebrate My EPing Goal

I've been fantasizing about this for months now. Replace the copier with my Medela PISA, and you've got what I consider to be a perfect celebration.



I'm so tired of being tied to the stupid pump. I dropped to four times a day a few months back, which felt life-changing from 5 times, but now it's getting old again. The next step is to drop to three, which I'm planning to do at the end of this month, but that's not going to change my early morning or pre-bed sessions, and those are the two that I hate the most.

Poor baby C has an ear infection, so I was home with him Monday afternoon and all day yesterday. C was out of town (working!) and it was really hard to pump and entertain him at the same time. He boycotted his naps, so that made it even worse. Luckily he's feeling much better today. I thought that nothing could possibly be more difficult than getting a cat to take a pill. I was SO wrong. Baby C is on the "pink stuff," a medication that I remember not-so-fondly from my own childhood. It still smells as bad as it did then, like a mixture of chalk and bubble-gum. You'd think they would have come up with something better by now.

Another sign of the times

An NBA team is offering "no-risk" season tickets. If you buy a package and then lose your job you're off the hook.

Interesting times, these are.

The Crap Economy on our Doorstep

C got laid off yesterday. It wasn't 100% unexpected, but we thought we had a few more months and I think we were both kind of optimistic that it wouldn't happen at all. Not so much. Thankfully, we've made good decisions along the way and we'll be ok. So that's that.

If anyone knows of any materials/chemical engineering / six sigma positions, let me know. Location doesn't matter.

Daycare Fundraiser

AYFKM? Do we not pay enough in tuition every month? Now they want us to sell cookie dough and popcorn, too?

I thought we wouldn't have to worry about this for at least another 5 years or so. Where do they get off asking us to sell this junk to our family and friends? Even if I didn't have an aversion to asking people to buy stuff from our 6 month old baby, the food is probably loaded with trans fats and HFCS.

::grumble, grumble, grumble::

A-Roid

I feel compelled to comment on the news story that's sweeping sports nation 48 hours before pitchers and catchers report to spring training (!). I'm not a fan of Alex Rodriguez. I never have been, always thought he was overpaid and arrogant. I don't think he's overrated, he clearly has the talent to put up the numbers. Personality-wise, he's certainly no Jeter. I wasn't thrilled when he put on the pinstripes. Since he came to New York, he's done nothing but prove that he's big man in the clubhouse for the 162 games leading up to the playoffs, but meeker than a mouse when it counts.

That being said, I'm starting to feel sorry for the guy. It's complete BS that his name was leaked to begin with. When the player's union agreed to the steroid research it was under the condition that it was 100% anonymous testing - no names would ever be linked to the samples, no names would ever be released, and the data would be destroyed as soon as the results were in. As we know now, that never happened. While this seems like a trivial topic to get pissy about, the reality is that it undermines all research being done anywhere in the world. Good, quality research relies on upholding confidentiality agreements. Why would individuals respond honestly to questions when the real answers might get them into trouble? In the research world, a breach of contract like this would certainly lead to lawsuits. I hope A-Rod (or the union?) sues the shit out of everyone involved. He could certainly call on HIPAA guidelines as a basis for the lawsuit.

A friend of mine argued that they should release the names of the other 103 players who tested positive. I think this is the absolute wrong way to look at the situation. Releasing those names doesn't make the situation fair to anyone. Someone was clearly out to damage A-Rod's reputation. Yes, it's unfortunate that the information was leaked at all, but two wrongs don't make a right.

Baseball isn't the same anymore, and not just because of him. I'm sad that the game I'll be introducing the Minion to is tainted and ruined in so many ways, not just by the "steroid scandal" but by free agency and the wild card rule. Where are the franchise players? The loyalty to the home team? The asterisk-less record books?

While A-Rod's personal life is in the toilet, the name still sells tickets, and I'll still go see him play in the new Cathedral this summer. Hopefully they'll get things back on track by the time the Minion is old enough to understand.

cognitive dissonance

Have you ever seen yourself in a picture and wondered who let you out of the house looking like that? I went to a wedding in November. I wore a dress that I borrowed, since my proportions are all out of whack and I didn't really fit all the way into my own. I really didn't think I looked all that bad. I got a thank you card yesterday with some pictures of C and I in it that had been taken at the reception.

Oh. My. God.

Who let me out of the house looking like that? I'm not about to post the picture, but trust me that my mental image of what I looked like that evening was nothing remotely close to what the photographic evidence showed. I had a similar incident on Saturday, when we were grocery shopping. We were buying some grapefruits for breakfast. C held up one and commented that it was about the same size as a certain part of my anatomy is now, post baby. I laughed, and said no effing way. Held it up to compare, and sure enough, dead on. WTF?

I should start taking pictures of myself before I leave the house every day, because clearly my perception is flawed.

Even Closer to Home

C's work buddy was laid off yesterday morning, along with a few others. No warning whatsoever.

Sign of the Times

We don't generally watch commercials in our house, thanks to the magic of DVR, but I happened to leave them on the other night and I heard something that really caught my attention. Hyundai is running an offer where you can buy (lease?) a car and then if you lose your job within the next year you can return it. Return the car. To the dealer. Before your financial obligation is up.

While this sounds like a good idea, what does it say about the current state of our economy? The house across the street from us is now in foreclosure. Everywhere I look these days good, hard-working, decent people are being laid off. Friends and their spouses were forced to take long "vacations" during the holiday season so that their companies could save some money, some were even laid off the week before christmas.

One of the bad things about frequenting national message boards is that you get the chance to really see how bad things are for every day people in situations similar to your own. There's a girl on The Nest who was pregnant when I was, her son was actually born the same day as Baby C. Her and her husband have both lost their jobs in the last few months and have been unable to find new work. They've had to cash in 401(k) plans to make rent and are on the verge of moving in with her parents (!).

Closer to home, things don't look any better. There are regular posts about local companies laying off hundreds of people. Lots of "fingers crossed" and "thoughts and prayers" for these families, many of them with small children, most of them well-educated and experienced. Now they have to worry about feeding those children and getting them the health care they need without insurance benefits.

It can happen to anyone, and that's what makes it scary. These aren't random high-school fry-cookers at McD's. They're professionals, people like us. As much as C complains about how bad it is where he works, and as much as I have my moments when I wish I didn't have to work, it's times like these when I'm so incredibly thankful that the economic slowdown hasn't pounded down our door. We're very lucky to have the jobs we have.

Here's to hoping for a brighter tomorrow, and good news for some certain people who are in my thoughts today.

How cool is this?

It's Here!

The inauguration of President Obama. I'm fortunate enough to be tuning in from work and I can't wait to get home and show Baby Charlie the taped ceremony. Part of me was tempted to go grab him from daycare and let him watch it with me live, but I'm sure it will have the same effect if we just watch it later :)

Not that I expect him to remember this whole event, just that I'd like to one day be able to tell him that he was a witness to history. I can't even find the words to describe how hopeful I am today.

Closed-Mindedness Grinds My Gears

Disclaimer: This post was prompted by the discussion I heard on the radio this morning about the Ann Coulter appearance on The View yesterday. I'm not trying to stir the pot with anyone I know in real life, just stating my own opinions and beliefs. To be perfectly clear, political party is not the issue here.

There are certain words in our society that have very negative connotations and awful history behind them. The type of words that elicit a reaction of shock each time you hear them, because they are used so infrequently today. I'm not talking about the F-Bomb, which I, myself, am guilty of using excessively, I'm talking about a select few words that are so offensive and so disgusting that I'm not even going to tell you what they start with. I'm sure you can guess.

It baffles me that these words are still tossed around so casually by some people. When I think about the world that I have brought a child into I want to be hopeful that we're on our way to making it a better place.

The morning after Obama's election my great Aunt Carol (great as in ancestral, and great as in awesome) sent a beautifully-written email to her friends and family expressing how emotional this political milestone was for her. I read it over and over, so amazed that this new feeling of hope was not just limited to my own generation, but shared across many generations, the young and the old(er) alike. Reading her words about how far our society has come since she was a little girl gave me chills and increased my excitement that maybe we could all work together to have a positive impact on future generations. I'm hopeful that we will someday live in a society where gender/race/religion/sexuality are only afterthoughts.

When I hear the kind of filth I discussed above slide out of someone's mouth today, especially by an individual not much older that I am, some of that hope is lessened.

I suppose it's naive to think that a child born even today can grow up without ever hearing these words. As much as we like to think about how far we've come, there will always be those who refuse to bend and insist on tainting future generations with their hate-filled ideals. Maybe Baby Charlie's future Baby Charlie will have a linguistic repertoire that doesn't include these terms. The cynical side of me finds it hard to believe, but there is still a part of me that hopes....

sleepy

So both Charlies have colds. I'm lucky enough to have been spared the sickness, but we all know how men and babies are when they're sick - exactly the same. (no offense to my male readers, or to my husband, who is generally awesome, but for some reason a case of the sniffles renders you basically helpless)

Where does that leave me? Trying to pump at 10:00 at night, an hour past when I'm supposed to do it, and having to do one side at a time because I'm trying to hold the baby upright so he can breathe through his nose. It also leaves me still awake at 11:00, because it took twice as long to pump as it should have, with a still awake baby who still can't breathe through his nose but really wants his pacifier. Obviously, a stuffed-up nose is incompatible with a pacifier.

Around midnight, after an hour of snorting, coughing, and pacifier-spitting-out while sitting in my lap, I decided to prop up the crib mattress and try to get some sleep. I successfully created an incline that I hoped would allow the snot to drain out, put him down in the crib, turned to leave the room, and he decided that he was hungry. Again. Much in the same way that pacifiers don't work so well with a stuffy nose, bottle-feeding is also pretty much impossible. So from midnight until 1:00 we worked on getting the bottle down, interrupted by snorts, coughs, and breathing breaks. He finally fell asleep while eating, so I put him in the crib and snuck back to my own bed.

10 minutes later he was up again, so I decided to just camp out on the floor in his room for the rest of the night rather than bothering to get comfy in my own space and then having to drag my ass back down the hall every time the monitor started screeching. He was up every 10 minutes or so, miserable without the pacifier, miserable with it because he couldn't breathe. Someone needs to invent one that doesn't restrict mouth breathing. He doesn't usually even need the damn thing, he's been sleeping without it for weeks now.

Hopefully tonight will be better.

Baby C's Blog (again)

I need your email addresses to set up permissions. You can leave them in a comment, I won't publish it here.

Privacy Issue

Given an unfortunate circumstance that has arisen I've decided to make The Minion's blog private. Email me, comment on this post, or contact me on Facebook if you'd like a blog invitation. If this particular individual does not cease contacting me, lurking on my blog/facebook account and googling my name for information I will also make this blog private and invitation only.

Holiday Update

I've been off of work since December 23rd. It was a nice, long holiday break but I kind of feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. It seems like there has been a steady stream of people in and out of our house since around thanksgiving. After turkey day we started getting ready for christmas. We (I) dragged the boxes out from the basement, put the lights up, got a tree, did the ornament thing, et cetera et cetera, and now it's time to take everything back down and pack it away until next year. The OCD in me loves packing boxes, but I'm just not in the mood.

Christmas with the baby was lots of fun. C told me that when he was little they would read a story from the Tall Book of Christmas every christmas eve. Of course, he didn't tell me about this until two days before christmas, so I surprised him and overnighted a copy from Amazon so he could continue the tradition with his own child. Katie made him a really awesome Yankees stocking - we kind of draped it over the mantle this year, but next year we'll find a suitable hanging place. The minion didn't really "get" the whole idea of presents, but he had fun chewing on everything, so it was all good :)

We have had some sleep regression lately, which has definitely been trying my sanity at work. Thankfully the last few nights he's been back to "normal," only waking up once to eat around 5. I get up at that time anyway, so I can handle it.

I don't usually do new year's resolutions because I never keep them and then I feel guilty when February comes around, but I will get back into blogging. I need to complain somewhere, and at least online you have a choice over whether or not to listen to my kvetching and rambling.

Finding Time to Blog

Given that I still haven't started christmas shopping or ordered christmas cards I don't feel too guilty that I haven't posted anything new in nine days. I think that's the longest I've gone.

The Minion has stopped sleeping through the night so I'm tired and cranky, plus I've been fighting a cold since before thanksgiving. Fun times in our house, really.

I have two things to brag about today - pants and milk donations.

First the pants - I still had one pair of old jeans that I hadn't fit into since I found out I was pregnant. They didn't have as much "give" as my other pairs, so they were folded up and shoved in the closet as soon as the bloat set in, which was right around week 5. We FINALLY got a new dresser delivered on Saturday (I've only been waiting 3 years to have a dresser) so I did some cleaning out of the closet and decided to try them on again. They fit! I'm now officially back to where I was before. (size-wise. mentally, I don't think there is any going back!)

Of course, I was so excited that my pants fit that I stopped all organization of the closet. 5 days later and the clothes I dragged out are still all over our room, waiting to be filed into their drawers. Maybe I'll get to it this weekend.

Second, the milk donation. What do you do when you have a freezer full of milk at your house, a freezer full of milk at your mom's house, and some borrowed space in a deep freeze at a family friend's house because you have too much milk? You donate it, in my case to the Mother's Milk Bank of Ohio, which is a member of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. I went through the screening process, did the blood tests, and dropped off a little over 300oz last Tuesday. I'm so excited to be involved with this project - I haven't given blood since I got pregnant, so I'm happy to be doing something that helps someone else. If you're a lactating mother with a freezer full of milk or you know someone who is, you should consider becoming a milk donor.

Vintage Jene

I found this when we were unpacking the ornaments. It's from 1988 - I was in 2nd grade, 7 years old, and that was my catholic school year, hence the plaid :)



We got Nintendo that year and I had chickenpox for christmas.

As if the grays weren't enough

I've begun the postpartum molting phase. I never got the thick, luxurious hair that everyone swore I would while I was pregnant, and now the thin and lifeless stings that I'm lucky enough to have are swirling down the drain at an alarming rate.

One Year Ago Today

We saw those two pink lines. C didn't believe them, so we had to get digital proof. I remember buying the tests at lunch, then having to sit through an afternoon at work and presentation night for the class I was teaching. It was the longest evening ever. I found it very difficult to care about the research reports my students had so carefully prepared. It's amazing how the time went by so slow and so fast at the same time, and we could go from here















to here



in only a year.

Office Bathroom Mirror is NOT My Friend

I hate the flourescent lighting in my otherwise comfortable office building. It's the absolute worst in the bathroom, where the lighting perfectly highlights the growing number of grey hairs sprouting out of my head. I pulled out a bunch last night but I guess I missed most of them, because there they were, glistening in the soft, yellow, artificial light.

Maybe it's time to do something different. Start dying my hair maybe? Any suggestions? I know absolutely nothing about fashion or beauty, so I need someone to school me on the subject of hair color.

I hesitated to write this post because I know someone will throw it back at me and say "See? THIS is why women should stay at home. You can't do both things at once. I was right all along."

I'm less than a month in as a working mom and I've already had two absolutely horrible mornings. Two weeks ago I managed to forget my pump parts and didn't discover the problem until I was about to head to the library for a pumping session. That left me with boobs on the verge of explosion, having to borrow my co-workers SUV to drive to the lactation center at the hospital and invest in a THIRD SET of pump parts, one of which now permanently resides in my office.

Then there was today. It started out ok, prodding a sniffly C along so that we could get ourselves together, get the baby ready, and get out of the house on time. I got out of the shower and found that my hair dryer was fried. Luckily, my crappy hair is just long enough for some pigtails. Unfortunately, with my hair pulled back I look like walking death without makeup, so I had to put some on.

Poor Baby C has a cold, so I had to suck his snot, give him his eye drops, change him, feed him, and get him dressed while C was slower than freaking molasses getting out the door. We were already off to a late start, then we got stuck in a traffic jam because Cincinnati peeps can't drive when it's raining. We get to daycare and I find that he didn't grab the diaper bag like I asked him to on the way out the door, while I'm juggling my stuff for work, pump bag, and baby in his carrier. Too much stuff needs to get out of the house with me every morning.

We need to go home to get the bag with the bottles, but C needs to go to work first, so we drive all the way to the factory. I finally get on the highway to go home and there's a huge pile-up. I make it home, run in to get the diaper bag, and head back to daycare, crossing my fingers that Baby C doesn't wake up, because I know he's hungry by this point. I have bad luck, so he wakes up SCREAMING. By this time I'm on the highway and can't do anything about it.

We finally get to daycare and I stay to feed him, so he doesn't think I'm evil mom. I roll into work at 9:30, two whole hours late. Thankfully, the pres decided to take the week off. Whew!

Because of perfect timing, Baby C is experiencing a growth spurt and hasn't slept through the night in about a week. He was up TWICE last night. What's up with that?

I need a system. Mornings are crazy, our house is a disaster area, and laundry has been folded but not put away since my last weekend of maternity leave. It gets better, right? Thank god it's a 2 day week.

Keeping the Holiday Weight Off (worthless advice)

Every year I read the same articles that tell you how to avoid gaining weight during this festive season. Every year I read the same couple of tips that just stare out at me as being completely unrealistic. I'm going to share my favorites with you. You're so lucky! These were spotlighted on MSNBC.com.

1. Avoid Temptation

Avoid constantly putting yourself in situations that tempt you. For example, don’t walk through the break room at work 10 times a day when you know it's filled with holiday treats and candies. Spend a few minutes in the morning packing a healthy snack (like almonds, a piece of fruit or a yogurt) so you'll have a healthy weight-loss alternative.

And don't place treats on your kitchen counter to stare you in the face or take four desserts off the buffet vowing to take only one bite of each. Remember, EAT before you meet. Have this small meal before you go to any parties: a hardboiled egg, apple, and a thirst quencher (water, seltzer, diet soda, tea).

This is a great idea in theory, but who the hell can actually do this in practice? In reality you know that the almonds, fruit, and yogurt are going to be left to languish in the back of the workroom refrigerator in favor of cookies and other such niceties. As for the second tip, if you eat that small meal before the party you're inevitably going to end up eating the equivalent of two meals by the time all is said and done. So what if you had a hardboiled egg? Are you still going to be passing up chocolate? May as well skip the calories in the egg and apple altogether and just have chocolate for dinner instead.


2. Liquid calories count

Holidays are notorious for tempting us with drinks we wouldn't normally consume. Alcohol offers no nutrients — just empty calories, and we often forget to count them. Eggnog coffee drinks with whipped cream, hot toddies, spiced rum, these drinks can have as many calories as a personal pan pizza! Limit your consumption and order sparkling water with a splash of cranberry juice instead. It'll look festive and save calories. If you want to go for the alcohol, alternate alcoholic drinks with diet-friendly, calorie-free sparkling water.

This is all true, but what they're forgetting here is that "sparkling water with a splash of cranberry juice" isn't going to help us deal with those difficult people in our lives that come out of the woodwork around the holiday season. It also won't help you handle hosting a holiday with grace, or ensure that you're relaxed enough to keep you from grinding your teeth down to nothing while you clench your jaw to avoid saying something in the heat of a discussion that you might regret later (please see previous post entitled "If you can't say anything nice..."). Please understand that I'm not in any way shape or form saying that alcohol is necessary to make it through the holiday season, just that it can go a long way in maintaining quality family relations.


3. Save it for something special

Indulge only in new, interesting foods; have one taste of each. Avoid feeling deprived and distracted by food all evening long — allow yourself one dessert or holiday truffle per event. When you’re done, destroy the plate. If you've had enough to eat but others are still picking, dump salt over any food you have left.

Sure, I'll just have one bite of chocolate. Like I said above, I would just make that the whole meal. That's my personal issue though, instead of giving up on the dessert part I just won't eat any "real food" to make up for it. I do that during work potluck lunches pretty regularly. Who needs chili, soup, or appetizers? Pass the dessert, please.

I do like the salt idea, but I suffer from "leftovers guilt" and can't bear to throw away food. This is why at any given time you will find a random collection of neatly packed tupperware containers stacked in our fridge. What's in there right now? Leftover calzone filling? Check. Leftover corn tortilla strips? Check. A tea bag that I can reuse because the flavor is so strong? Check. Half of a green pepper that I know I have little intention of actually finishing? Check.


** edit -- I was just informed by a co-worker that there are oatmeal raisin cookies available at her desk. You bet your ass that a cookie will be taking the place of my apple as my afternoon snack. **

Mastitis

really really sucks. I had to waste a personal day yesterday because by the time I got to work I thought I was going to die. My OB couldn't see me until 11, so I locked myself in the library at work and slept. I have horse-pill antibiotics that make me feel like I'm going to puke, which probably doesn't really matter because I can't eat anything anyway. My right boob and arm hurt like hell and I can't even pick up Baby Charlie :(

Luckily my fever is gone today so I came to work. I'm trying to force down a bowl of cheerios and strawberries, but it's slow going and now they're a little soggy.

If you don't have anything nice to say....

Then please just STFU. I don't understand why people have to be so judgemental and can't stop pick, pick, picking at the same tired old issue. Yes, Baby Charlie goes to daycare. Yes, he seems to like it there. He smiles and plays and is always in a good mood. No, they don't just stick him in his crib and leave him there all day, and no, I don't feel like I'm "letting someone else raise my child."

We Did It!!

I feel somewhat better about being stuck in Ohio now that it's a blue state.

What an exciting moment in history! I'm so glad I was able to be a part of it. I was so anxious all day yesterday, then tortured myself by watching the coverage all evening long. It was pins and needles all the way! I was so overcome with emotion when they declared Obama the winner, more so than I thought I would be. McCain gave a fantastic concession speech - it definitely restored some of the respect that I had lost for him since 2000, when I actually liked him. Obama's speech was truly inspiring and brought me to tears. It's amazing to see how far our society has come in such a short period of time. I'm beyond excited for what this development means for our country.

Unfortunately, it was evident in other places that we still have a long way to go, as a few states passed amendments that ban gay marriage and one even passed a law that bans gay couples from adopting. Because that's all we need, fewer opportunities for children with no place to go.

Hopefully the closed-mindedness that we're still seeing will continue to disappear in the coming years. Yay for everyone who supported Obama, and yay for everyone who didn't. I'm sure you'll see great, positive changes during the next four years. I just hope everyone who supported the "other side" can remove the blinders and give the new administration a fair chance.

Election Day

Baby Charlie says get out and vote!



Unless you're voting for McCain, in which case you can just stay home :)

Just kidding!

(kind of)