Month: May 2011

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FF

Friday again! And it’s warm outside! Last night while I was doing a little weeding after mowing the lawns, I noticed something really cool in one of the back gardens. On the leaf of one of my tulip plants was the most spectacular water droplet I’ve ever seen. At first I thought it was a drop of nectar or sap or something, it was just so perfectly still and round, but after studying it for a bit I poked it with my finger. Nope, just a really awesome water drop. So the FF this week is my attempt at some artsy nature shots. You can be the judge on how well I succeeded with that.

View from the top

 

Getting closer

 

Nature

 

More nature

 

And here is the great picture frame R got me for Mother’s Day. Sorry for the crappy photo – I took it with my phone since the picture frame is sitting on my desk at work. That’s why there’s a glare and we both look pale as ghosts.

<3

 

 

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Follow the rules

I went for a run again tonight, since I have that 5k on Saturday morning and I wanted to keep my legs loosened up.  Well, as loosened up as they can possibly be after the first week in approximately 52 weeks (if not more) in which I have worked out 4 times. The 5k will make 3 runs, plus 1 workout with my trainer. Youch.

So anyway, tonight’s run started off horridly. My legs hurt, my ankles were stiff, my whole body just felt tired and lacking any semblance of speed. I even crossed the street at one point so as not to run up behind a couple pushing a stroller with my dinosaurish plodding and gasping for air. I seriously considered giving up and heading home at the halfway point, but then I thought, you ass, you’re only going 2 miles. Keep moving!

As I lumbered along in misery, I determined rule #1 of the universe. Even more important than the Golden Rule. Do unto others is great and all, but this one trumps even that. If you see me jogging toward you on the sidewalk, even at a ridiculously slow rate of speed, all out of both shape and breath, please, for the love of god, please, do not step / walk / fall / ride a bike / ride on roller skates / push a baby stroller / push an adult stroller / push a wheelbarrow / throw a toy or ball of any sort / sweep / or even try to glance across the sidewalk in front of me, for I am so out of both shape and breath that I will be unable to maneuver in time to avoid tripping over you and breaking my leg and possibly yours in the melee. Just stay out of my way! Mkay? Thank you ohsomuch.

Also, can we discuss the scents in the neighborhood while I run? I won’t even go into the extent to which my smells became fucked up while I was pregnant, because that’s an entire other post in itself, but let’s just say it’s taken me this long to finally be able to wear perfume and smell meat again without verging on vomiting. However, if I run through a cloud of smell when I’m having a particularly bad run, that gag reflex comes roaring back into action. So to those of you grilling burgers and doing laundry, let’s save it until I am safely past your house next time.

Fortunately I made the whole run again without walking (oo wee, all 2 miles of it), and after about the first half my joints sufficiently loosened up so that each step didn’t involve something locking up on me. I ran 2.09 miles in 18:56, a 9:02 pace. It definitely felt like about a 20:00 mile pace. I was glad I kept my butt moving there in the middle. I even had enough energy left to mow the lawn when I got done. Coolness.

 

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I dare you

Not to laugh your ass off. I almost died silent laughing at work yesterday reading some of these I got in an email. I would paste the whole email here because they were some of the funniest ones I’ve ever seen, but it would take up way too much room. So just read through on there and try not to laugh. I dare you.

 

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Picture pages

Yesterday morning as I was getting ready for work in the bathroom, I heard D’s usual morning wake-up noises – rustling around in her crib, kicking the projector on the side of her crib up and down, random thuds as she wiggles around in there grabbing for her toys and blankets. When I finally went in to get her out, however, I was met with quite a surprise. She was fully standing, grabbing stuff out of the hanging fabric shelves on the side of her crib! My jaw dropped, because I’d never seen her standing all the way up in there before, just kneeling when she was first starting to learn to pull herself up on things. I knew she could pull up to standing now, as we’ve seen her do it countless times on everything else in the house for weeks, but for some reason seeing her standing there so much taller than the side of her crib was quite a shock. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t tipped over the edge. And I had just said the night before to R that we needed to lower her crib mattress soon, since it was still on the highest level for newborns. I must be clairvoyant, as all mothers are.

I was kicking myself that I hadn’t gone out to grab the camera when I saw D standing so tall in there yesterday morning, but I really was afraid she was going to flip over the edge as she kept grabbing for stuff. So I reenacted some shots last night right before I lowered the mattress to the lowest of the 3 levels.

Picture her in duckie pjs, and this was what greeted me yesterday morning

 

Oh hi, Mom. No big deal, just hanging out here, standing

 

I really really love it in here!

 

Um, Mom, what have you done? I don't like it as much down here

 

Oh wait, what is this I can do now?

 

Mm nom nom, crib sides. Ok, it can stay down here

 

And just for fun, D playing with Daddy’s new Indiana Jones hat.

C'mon, Dad, let's go raid some lost arks!

 

Super model adventurer

 

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Just one more

Sorry folks, I’m apparently full of it today. (please feel free to insert whatever definition of “it” you would like in that sentence 😉 )

But this one’s too good to pass up. R just sent me this description he found on one of his bargain sites:  Amazon has the Mangroomer Do It Yourself Electric Back Hair Shaver for $23 with free shipping. Features 135 degrees of motion, and an extendable and adjustable handle that can lock in place. [Compare]

My reply:  um, what? i didn’t even know they made those

Then he sent me the link. Ha! It’s essentially a shaving back scratcher. 🙂 I particularly enjoy the 6th photo in the row of images. Why this struck me so funny, I have no idea. Something about the word “Mangroomer”. Guess it’s just one of those days…

 

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Holy shitballs! & More random

“Holy shitballs!” Those were the exact words that flew out of my mouth and into D’s ears on the way home yesterday when I saw that gas had dropped to $3.89 per gallon at the cheaper of the two stations near our house. $3.89 per gallon and I’m getting excited? What is wrong with that picture?

The other weekend we were at R’s brother’s house to drop D off to be babysat for a few hours, and R went upstairs to use the bathroom. No big deal, that is a common occurrence at their house. This pit stop was taking longer than usual, however, and finally R’s sister-in-law asked where R was. R’s brother said, “He’s upstairs taking a dump.” Again, no big deal, that is also a common occurrence at their house and we’re all close, so who cares if that is announced? Well in the meantime, I proceeded to use the downstairs bathroom. R came back downstairs before I returned and now asked where I was, and our 5-year-old nephew proclaimed, “She’s in the bathroom taking a dump.” 🙂 (no, i wasn’t really. that bathroom is right off the kitchen and only has a curtain for a door right now as they’re remodeling, so no dumping occurs in that one)

You know what really bugs me? When I get logged off a session on a website I’ve been on for a while and have to log back in to do something. Just leave me signed in. I’m on my own computer, so you don’t need to shut me out every 47 seconds. I realize this is simply a security measure for my information’s protection and we all know the importance of security on the interwebs these days and all, but come on. It just irks me. I have enough stupid log in IDs and passwords to keep track of without you booting me out willy nilly when I come back to your browser window. (i literally have a spreadsheet containing all my log ins and passwords because there’s no way in hell i can remember them all. and then when i have to change one and update the spreadsheet? ugh)

You know what else bugs me? Unread emails in my inbox. I just can’t stand seeing the little new mail icon and the number of unread messages next to the word “Inbox”. Why? Who knows. Maybe it’s my organizational nature and innate disdain for clutter. And if an unread email accidentally finds its way into the deleted items folder? Holy shitballs, the humanity!

 

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Adventures in babymilking

Seriously, SM, another post about milk and your boobs? Yep, seriously. These things happen to have become a large part of me over these past 9 months and this blog is all about me, so it kind of comes with the territory. So there you go. A different version of my boob talk disclaimer. 🙂

But moving right along… Since we decided to switch D to whole milk sooner rather than later as she was not fond of formula in the slightest, I have been getting anxious about running out of our frozen breast milk reservoir too early. Which is kind of unsettling for me, because I’m really not an anxious person. But I just keep feeling like no, it’s too soon, I didn’t want her to stop breast milk completely this far before 1 year, I’m a horrible mom for not continuing to pump to keep up my supply when I probably could have, is she getting enough nutrition, is she eating enough other foods to compensate for the lack of good stuff she gets from my milk, will her weight be ok without breast milk since she was only in the 25-50% for weight at her 9 month appointment, and on and on and on.

I was talking to one of her daycare teachers about making this switch the other day, and she recommended mixing the breast milk with whole milk to start off, just to make sure she’ll take it and to help get her used to it. DUH! That most obvious of thoughts hadn’t even crossed my mind. I mean not even a tiptoe through the gray matter to clue me in on such an apparent notion. Here I was fretting myself silly about using up the very last drop of our precious breast milk then flat out pouring whole milk into her bottle. How can I bring myself to do that?? How can I possibly cut my baby off from my sweet river of milky goodness in one fell swoop, never to be drunk again?? Um, psst, SM, you don’t have to. Just mix them, and she’ll be fine. Whew!! Praise the lord and hallelujah all in one, I’m not failing my baby after all! That one simple wondrous tidbit of parenting advice just saved this first-timer from a possible nervous breakdown. Sure that may sound utterly ridiculous and unfounded, but such are the worries of a still relatively new mom. It’s not my fault.

And the best part? She loves the milk combo! She had it first at daycare yesterday and they said she had no trouble whatsoever, so I picked up a gallon of whole milk last night on my way home to give it a shot. I even splurged the extra $2 and bought the organic whole milk. R and I can subsist on the paltry contaminated regular milk, but nothing but the best for Queen D! I just pour half a bag of breast milk in her bottle, fill what would have been the other half of the bag’s amount with whole milk, shake it up, then warm it as we normally do. And she doesn’t even blink an eye. Success!

I know it sounds crazy, but this whole milk substitution half-and-half episode has lifted a weight off my shoulders. Not only is it just plain easy, but this should help extend our frozen breast milk stash out for at least another week if not all the way through the end of the month. Before I stopped pumping as often after D stopped nursing, I figured I could continue easily to the beginning of June, when she would be 10 months old. I knew I didn’t want to pump all the way to 1 year in August, but I did want to make it as far as possible with my milk reserves. Then once I realized how quickly that supply was dwindling as my pumping sessions became fewer and farther between, the double digit months became my target. So when I saw that we might not even be able to make it that far, I got nervous and started beating myself up mentally. Whole milk mixing has saved Mommy’s sanity.

As for the whole pumping routine, it’s pretty much finished. I can now go well over 24 hours between pumps. My last time was yesterday morning at 5:30, where I got one bag of 5 oz. and one bag of almost 4 oz., and I’m nowhere near feeling like I need to express any again yet. Plus I’ve noticed it takes longer and longer for my milk to let down, so maybe yesterday’s session was the grand finale of pumping. Gone are the days of rock-hard boobs that could spray milk like fire hydrants (i’m not kidding. on multiple occasions D got a face full of milk after pulling away from me while my milk was letting down). Gone are the days of feeling like my chest was literally going to explode after just a couple hours. Gone are the mornings of waking up with a soaking wet shirt because my boobs had gotten so engorged they leaked overnight. Ah, goodbye sweet full, leaking, perky boobs. It was fun while it lasted.