Gonna Wash that man right outa my hair....or not. because I like that man...so instead, how about I don't wash at all? .I have done it. I have gone shampoo free. I am 6 days in and it is a greasy situation. strike that. it isn't greasy at all. It's actually more, um...waxy? Yes, I think waxy is much more accurate. So far, the results have not been so stunning, but I come from a long line of women with hair that thins early and I'd like to take care of what I've got. so. there it is. I am a hippie.
I DO clean my hair. Hot water, lots of brushing and combing and baking soda. We shall see what happens.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Sunday, August 7, 2011
My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard
Well, actually, it just makes the kids stare when I am breastfeeding, but you know what I mean. .
When you decide to have a kiddo, and then you decide how the food delivery is going to work, there are some things that nobody tells you. The Nugget and I were super duper lucky to give birth in a very pro-breastfeeding hospital that helped us avoid supplementation from day one. Even with that, there were hurdles at home. If we hadn't had the support postpartum and a lot of encouragement from pro breastfeeding family and friends, I don't know how far we would have gotten. We were just very lucky.
Stuff we now know:
1) Buy some nursing bras and sleep nursing bras before you go into labor. Do not buy the medela nursing bra. It sucks and is not at all supportive. Buy the Bravado Bliss and your boobs will thank you. They don't pay me to say that. it is just plain true.
2) Lily Padz...they are amazing, but be warned if you are in a heat wave. the little drops that leak out that get held in by the lily padz will go sour. quickly. grody.
3) Get the off brand lanolin from the pharmacy. A little goes a very long way.
4) Go ahead and use the pacifier. Your nipples will thank you.
5) Fill a sock with rice, microwave it for 30 seconds and use it to warm your engorged boobs before a feeding.
6) Never go anywhere without a shirt to change into, and something to soak up the excess.
7) covering up while she is latching and eating is a lot harder than it seems it should or would be. I have to dive under there with her and then she quickly gets super hot which is no bueno. No matter how cavalier you expect to be about breastfeeding in public, the social pressure to hide even with the cover in place, is pretty intense. Good thing you lose almost all sense of modesty the first three days.
I still haven't figured out how I will even have enough of a stockpile built up to send The Nugget to day care in 8 weeks. I am hoping I figure that out very soooon.
When you decide to have a kiddo, and then you decide how the food delivery is going to work, there are some things that nobody tells you. The Nugget and I were super duper lucky to give birth in a very pro-breastfeeding hospital that helped us avoid supplementation from day one. Even with that, there were hurdles at home. If we hadn't had the support postpartum and a lot of encouragement from pro breastfeeding family and friends, I don't know how far we would have gotten. We were just very lucky.
Stuff we now know:
1) Buy some nursing bras and sleep nursing bras before you go into labor. Do not buy the medela nursing bra. It sucks and is not at all supportive. Buy the Bravado Bliss and your boobs will thank you. They don't pay me to say that. it is just plain true.
2) Lily Padz...they are amazing, but be warned if you are in a heat wave. the little drops that leak out that get held in by the lily padz will go sour. quickly. grody.
3) Get the off brand lanolin from the pharmacy. A little goes a very long way.
4) Go ahead and use the pacifier. Your nipples will thank you.
5) Fill a sock with rice, microwave it for 30 seconds and use it to warm your engorged boobs before a feeding.
6) Never go anywhere without a shirt to change into, and something to soak up the excess.
7) covering up while she is latching and eating is a lot harder than it seems it should or would be. I have to dive under there with her and then she quickly gets super hot which is no bueno. No matter how cavalier you expect to be about breastfeeding in public, the social pressure to hide even with the cover in place, is pretty intense. Good thing you lose almost all sense of modesty the first three days.
I still haven't figured out how I will even have enough of a stockpile built up to send The Nugget to day care in 8 weeks. I am hoping I figure that out very soooon.
Baby, Baby I love you
and it's a good thing too, because you never let me sleep. Shortly after my last post, my water broke and I was induced. a whirlwind 15 hours later marked by a bad encounter with Ambien (hallucinations, anyone?) and and halvsie epidural complete with oxygen mask so I didn't stop breathing, they totally handed me a baby. My baby. And we started the journey that has been the last month. Breastfeeding, Not Sleeping, Not Cleaning, Accepting all Help that is Offered, Not Sleeping, Bouncing, Cooing, Shushing, Not Sleeping, Crying, Laughing and Not Sleeping. Things I have learned:
1) A woman's body has limitless potential to do all sorts of things that it never did before having a baby.
We are hardwired to know our child's cry and respond with a single minded NEED to make that cry stop no matter what. We can Stretch without breaking. And if we break, it can be fixed and we can survive it. We are also built with a need to protect that verges on sheer panic. ( Some of us were afraid to put our baby down in the bassinet for three days after arriving home because something might happen to her if we let go. At the time, that was a super rational thought)
2) Breastfeeding. it hurts and it is hard and then, all of a sudden, it is not hard anymore. For the first two weeks, I cried every time fed my daughter and I was convinced I was doing it wrong. Every book you read says it doesn't hurt. They lie. It freaking hurts. Then, one day, you have the hang of it, you stop crying, and it is ok. Now, it is still a little cumbersome when you leave the house because you never really know when the babe will want to eat. You pretty much have to be cool with whipping your boobs out anywhere.
3) It is incredible how little sleep you really need to survive. You really only need naps. You won't be pretty, you won't be clean, you won't be completely rational, but you will live.
4) You know why people have babies in hospitals? So they don't DIE. I actually considered a home birth very seriously. Good thing I didn't do that. I am very glad that we were in a hospital now, though I can safely say I DO NOT recommend voluntary induction or epidural. I was induced out of medical necessity and I was pressured into an epidural after 12 hours of active labor with no sleep. The epidural went very badly and I am still a little traumatized. Hospital? yes. Epidural? no thank you.
5) When someone offers you help, you should really really take it. Your friend of a friend wants to clean you kitchen? say yes. Your mother in law wants to wash your underwear and scour your shower? The answer is Yes. Your neighbor wants to mow your lawn? (this is wishful thinking on my part ) Yes, please.
6) No matter how tired, hungry, thirsty, angry, sore, sad, wild-eyed you are, seeing your little nugget open their eyes after a nap and look at you is worth every nit of it every time. I would totally do this again in spite of the difficulties. And I still have a fairly good recollection of the pain part.
So now. I know a lot more, but still I feel like I don't know a thing and we are a family of 4. The Little Man, The Nugget, Daddy and I are all working it out and couldn't be happier.
1) A woman's body has limitless potential to do all sorts of things that it never did before having a baby.
We are hardwired to know our child's cry and respond with a single minded NEED to make that cry stop no matter what. We can Stretch without breaking. And if we break, it can be fixed and we can survive it. We are also built with a need to protect that verges on sheer panic. ( Some of us were afraid to put our baby down in the bassinet for three days after arriving home because something might happen to her if we let go. At the time, that was a super rational thought)
2) Breastfeeding. it hurts and it is hard and then, all of a sudden, it is not hard anymore. For the first two weeks, I cried every time fed my daughter and I was convinced I was doing it wrong. Every book you read says it doesn't hurt. They lie. It freaking hurts. Then, one day, you have the hang of it, you stop crying, and it is ok. Now, it is still a little cumbersome when you leave the house because you never really know when the babe will want to eat. You pretty much have to be cool with whipping your boobs out anywhere.
3) It is incredible how little sleep you really need to survive. You really only need naps. You won't be pretty, you won't be clean, you won't be completely rational, but you will live.
4) You know why people have babies in hospitals? So they don't DIE. I actually considered a home birth very seriously. Good thing I didn't do that. I am very glad that we were in a hospital now, though I can safely say I DO NOT recommend voluntary induction or epidural. I was induced out of medical necessity and I was pressured into an epidural after 12 hours of active labor with no sleep. The epidural went very badly and I am still a little traumatized. Hospital? yes. Epidural? no thank you.
5) When someone offers you help, you should really really take it. Your friend of a friend wants to clean you kitchen? say yes. Your mother in law wants to wash your underwear and scour your shower? The answer is Yes. Your neighbor wants to mow your lawn? (this is wishful thinking on my part ) Yes, please.
6) No matter how tired, hungry, thirsty, angry, sore, sad, wild-eyed you are, seeing your little nugget open their eyes after a nap and look at you is worth every nit of it every time. I would totally do this again in spite of the difficulties. And I still have a fairly good recollection of the pain part.
So now. I know a lot more, but still I feel like I don't know a thing and we are a family of 4. The Little Man, The Nugget, Daddy and I are all working it out and couldn't be happier.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Kick off your Sunday shoes....
...because your feet are too swollen to wear them.
We are on the countdown for sure. and now, the swelling begins. I know this means I should sit down and rest, but all I want to do is clean like mad between lots and lots of naps. I suddenly feel that nothing is as prepared as it should be and there is no way to get all of this done. Since there is no way to get it all done. I tried to sleep and forget about it. Not so much. That just makes me a cleaning zombie. a onesie folding, laundry doing, bag packing and repacking zombie.
We are on the countdown for sure. and now, the swelling begins. I know this means I should sit down and rest, but all I want to do is clean like mad between lots and lots of naps. I suddenly feel that nothing is as prepared as it should be and there is no way to get all of this done. Since there is no way to get it all done. I tried to sleep and forget about it. Not so much. That just makes me a cleaning zombie. a onesie folding, laundry doing, bag packing and repacking zombie.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Baby I've been waiting, I've been waiting night and day
I am currently locked in a battle of wills. With an almost 5 year old. My husband and I sit staring across at him as he chews at a truly glacial pace....because at this point in the vegetable portion of his meal...his back hurts, his teeth hurt, his tummy hurts, he has to potty (we let him have that one and marched him straight back to the table).
side note: This meal has been going on for over 2 hours before you start judging the computer that now sits in front of me.
We have explained that, no, he is not an 80 year old with bad teeth,. Nor is he in his 40s with a bad back. He is 5 and he will be finishing his carrots and celery. It's not even gross vegetables. It's raw carrots and celery for god's sake. What is baffling is that he TRULY truly believes that if he delays or just doesn't want to, then eventually, he will get to have some dessert and be done. How could he have come to this conclusion? That just seems ridiculous to me...and so the battle continues.
I have to say that moments like this are probably the hardest part for the hubs and I in not having the primary custody we so badly would love to have. It's just impossible to not go to the crazy place where you say, Well, if he was here all the time, he'd be more disciplined or he'd understand the rules or yadda yadda yadda.
In the logical part of my brain, I know this probably isn't the truth. kids are kids after all. This emotional part of me constantly wants to reconcile these moments with some parental failing that could not have been ours. It's not fair, I know, but, hey, that's just how it is.
I have a feeling we are in for some serious reality checks when the wee pea arrives. If she is rotten, if she lies, if she won't eat her dinner and has all manner of fictional ailments...there will be no other parents to blame. It will be the two of us who look at each other, shrug our shoulders and then stare at her across the dinner table....waiting.
side note: This meal has been going on for over 2 hours before you start judging the computer that now sits in front of me.
We have explained that, no, he is not an 80 year old with bad teeth,. Nor is he in his 40s with a bad back. He is 5 and he will be finishing his carrots and celery. It's not even gross vegetables. It's raw carrots and celery for god's sake. What is baffling is that he TRULY truly believes that if he delays or just doesn't want to, then eventually, he will get to have some dessert and be done. How could he have come to this conclusion? That just seems ridiculous to me...and so the battle continues.
I have to say that moments like this are probably the hardest part for the hubs and I in not having the primary custody we so badly would love to have. It's just impossible to not go to the crazy place where you say, Well, if he was here all the time, he'd be more disciplined or he'd understand the rules or yadda yadda yadda.
In the logical part of my brain, I know this probably isn't the truth. kids are kids after all. This emotional part of me constantly wants to reconcile these moments with some parental failing that could not have been ours. It's not fair, I know, but, hey, that's just how it is.
I have a feeling we are in for some serious reality checks when the wee pea arrives. If she is rotten, if she lies, if she won't eat her dinner and has all manner of fictional ailments...there will be no other parents to blame. It will be the two of us who look at each other, shrug our shoulders and then stare at her across the dinner table....waiting.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Sippin on Gin & Juice
Being knocked up is a whole lot like being drunk. Think about it....
Food: it either makes you puke or it is the Best Thing you EVER Tasted and you need a LOT of it.
Country music: It makes you weep, nay, sob....or it makes you feel reeeal perty and kinda sexy.
Driving: you may nod off, you will be easily distracted
Pee: two times in life I have wanted to pee in an alleyway. Once I was drunk The other time I was pregnant.
I did it both times. Also, there was that incident at Burger King of which we do not speak.
Sleep: You know how when you drink too much you "fall asleep" so quickly (I think they might call it passing out.) Same when you are pregnant.
Flatulence: need I say more?
Recall: wait, what was I just saying?
Emotional State: When in your life have you started crying, laughing, hitting people, yelling within moments of the preceding emotion? A the bar....or when you are pregnant. Ask my hubs. I may have hit him in the car. not hard though, that's abuse. I may have been laughing about 3 seconds beforehand. It may have all been about a song I didn't like on the radio. Obviously not country because then I would have been crying or horny. Do you think he saw it coming? he did not.
Food: it either makes you puke or it is the Best Thing you EVER Tasted and you need a LOT of it.
Country music: It makes you weep, nay, sob....or it makes you feel reeeal perty and kinda sexy.
Driving: you may nod off, you will be easily distracted
Pee: two times in life I have wanted to pee in an alleyway. Once I was drunk The other time I was pregnant.
I did it both times. Also, there was that incident at Burger King of which we do not speak.
Sleep: You know how when you drink too much you "fall asleep" so quickly (I think they might call it passing out.) Same when you are pregnant.
Flatulence: need I say more?
Recall: wait, what was I just saying?
Emotional State: When in your life have you started crying, laughing, hitting people, yelling within moments of the preceding emotion? A the bar....or when you are pregnant. Ask my hubs. I may have hit him in the car. not hard though, that's abuse. I may have been laughing about 3 seconds beforehand. It may have all been about a song I didn't like on the radio. Obviously not country because then I would have been crying or horny. Do you think he saw it coming? he did not.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
I'm so tired my mind is on the blink
Now that we are officially in TRIMESTER THREE (imagine you heard that in stereo with a booming man-voice like the guy on MoviePhone), I will spend the next month growing the wee pea into double her current size. You may ask yourself if one can tell if this is happening. Well, only if a sudden total plummet in ability to think, walk, sleep and/or remain awake are signs and symptoms of that growth spurt.
three new levels of fatigue have been discovered in the last 7 days.
the least of which is...
COMPUTER of the TYPING DEAD
this happens when you are typing away and suddenly feel your head sway forward and hit the screen and/or keyboard. When you lift your head, you find a series of letters like this: "judddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd"
Next on the hierarchy of exhaustion is a personal favorite, unparallelled because it involves frustration, hunger and sleepiness all at once.
SANDWICH FATIGUE
Due to the ravenous nature of myself and wee pea, such effort and skill will go into making the Best Sandwich Ever that upon sitting to eat it, I find that no, I will no be finishing this sandwich. Why? Because I am too tired to chew and swallow. Literally. This usually involves tears because hunger and fatigue have to then duke it out to either get through the sandwich or pass out super hungry and wake up in the mood of a hibernating bear.
In pregnancy, some people say that they are more conservative. They take fewer risks. Not me. I live on the wild side. because I participate in...
SLEEP DRIVING
Not on purpose, mind you.. Let's be honest though: you never know when an attack of sleep driving is around the corner. There you are, listening to All Things Considered when suddenly you are waking up as you careen away from the guardrail you almost hit while driving 80 down the freeway. You might find yourself sliding into a parking spot and closing your eyes as you simultaneously put the car in park so you can take a nap before actually 1) driving farther or 2) exerting the effort to open the door and walk into your place of business. Hopefully David Bowie or Marketplace will have you back and wake you up in time to get where you are going.
I advise you all to eat happy, wear your seatbelts, and ignore incomplete emails, blogs texts you receive from this lady. Weariness could strike at any moment. Beware!
three new levels of fatigue have been discovered in the last 7 days.
the least of which is...
COMPUTER of the TYPING DEAD
this happens when you are typing away and suddenly feel your head sway forward and hit the screen and/or keyboard. When you lift your head, you find a series of letters like this: "judddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd"
Next on the hierarchy of exhaustion is a personal favorite, unparallelled because it involves frustration, hunger and sleepiness all at once.
SANDWICH FATIGUE
Due to the ravenous nature of myself and wee pea, such effort and skill will go into making the Best Sandwich Ever that upon sitting to eat it, I find that no, I will no be finishing this sandwich. Why? Because I am too tired to chew and swallow. Literally. This usually involves tears because hunger and fatigue have to then duke it out to either get through the sandwich or pass out super hungry and wake up in the mood of a hibernating bear.
In pregnancy, some people say that they are more conservative. They take fewer risks. Not me. I live on the wild side. because I participate in...
SLEEP DRIVING
Not on purpose, mind you.. Let's be honest though: you never know when an attack of sleep driving is around the corner. There you are, listening to All Things Considered when suddenly you are waking up as you careen away from the guardrail you almost hit while driving 80 down the freeway. You might find yourself sliding into a parking spot and closing your eyes as you simultaneously put the car in park so you can take a nap before actually 1) driving farther or 2) exerting the effort to open the door and walk into your place of business. Hopefully David Bowie or Marketplace will have you back and wake you up in time to get where you are going.
I advise you all to eat happy, wear your seatbelts, and ignore incomplete emails, blogs texts you receive from this lady. Weariness could strike at any moment. Beware!
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