Monthly Archives: March 2011
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.
| March 31, 2011 | Posted by Lisa under Uncategorized |
You know whats not fun? Getting a migraine at work, having a co-worker take you to the store for medicine because you can’t see to drive, just making it back in time for a meeting with your boss and your bosses boss while still having aura, calling your husband to come get you because the medicine isn’t working, sitting in the back of his truck on the way home because the baby won’t stop screaming, barfing in your husband’s beloved truck (yay pizza buffet for lunch!) while baby keeps screaming, finally getting home and only having enough energy to get as far as the bathroom floor where you barf again, give up and just lie there for 3 hours so that you miss dinner plans with some of your favorite people.
But, maybe even less fun is going to get your wife at work because she has a migraine, having her barf in your truck while your baby screams in rush hour traffic, getting home in time for the baby to blow out a diaper, cleaning up baby and diaper, cleaning the barf in your truck, having the baby throw up on you as soon as you feed her, and missing dinner plans with some of your favorite people.
Oh, the Hoyts were in fine form today. Don’t be jealous.
Almost never.
| March 31, 2011 | Posted by Lisa under Uncategorized |
Its not often that I think of my other babies. The ones that I never got to meet or hold or kiss or smell.
I was reminded of my children that might have been this morning when I got news that a dear friend lost her baby. My stomach dropped, my heart ached, and I cried for her and her family and the baby that they won’t get to meet. Then it all came back. I remembered the feeling that I got when I looked in vein for that beautiful flicker of a heartbeat on that little screen. Disbelief followed by excruciating sadness.
The road to Alice Pearl was long and hard and so deeply painful. But, she’s here at least for today, to have in my arms. And I thank her and God every day that I have with her.
I hope that my friend’s sadness doesn’t linger. I hope she knows that I love her and that I am here for whatever comfort she might need. And I hope that this never happens to another mother again.
4 months.
| March 10, 2011 | Posted by Lisa under Uncategorized |
I am no longer the mother of a newborn. I have an infant. She gets bigger and better every day. We suffered our second cold together (Daddy was spared) but this one just gave us a ton of snot and not much else. The work/daycare routine is getting easier, and I dare say, I am liking it more and more. The best parts of my day are waking Alice up (because she just can’t stop smiling) and walking over at lunch to visit with her. Some days I nurse her and all days I snuggle her close and smell her head and tell her how much I love her. I am so fortunate to be able to have a working situation that lends ample opportunity to squeeze in some good cuddle time in the middle of my day.
She learned a new trick: she rolls over from back to front. She lifts her legs up, hoisting her chubby buns into the air and whips them over to one side, and her torso has no choice but to follow. Its easily the most amazing thing that any baby has ever done, ever. She’s also vying for the title of Most Smiley Baby In the World. She wakes up and smiles for 30 minutes. She loves for her diaper to be changed. She smiles when she breastfeeds. Her dad calls her Chuckles. (The fastest way to get erase that smile is to point a camera at her. I’ve yet to capture one of her big smiles!) This month she started holding on to me when I pick her up. Feeling her tiny little hand on my shoulder is so sweet. She started reaching out, grabbing, and holding on to toys. Anything within reach and small enough is put into her mouth and gummed to death. We couldn’t possibly be more in love.
10.
| March 8, 2011 | Posted by Lisa under Uncategorized |
Today’s 10 has a theme: Baby products for use with a 0-3 month old babe that I love. In no particular order:
1. Das Boppy. Its a perfectly shaped pillow that hugs you when you feed your baby. If it was legal, I would marry mine.
2. Miracle Blanket. I love these more than the boppy. A loves to be swaddled. These are foolproof (key for when you are bleary eyed at 4am and need to re-swaddle) and almost impossible for baby to get out of (A is almost 4 months and just now started to get her arm out by morning). Tragically, we have to stop swaddling Alice because she recently taught herself to roll over (yesterday!) and its unsafe to have baby swaddled and face down. There is a hole in my heart in the shape of a miracle blanket.
3. Medela Pump-In-Style Advanced (PISA). I have a love/hate relationship with my breast pump, but if this one wasn’t so awesome, I would hate it a lot more than love it. Its nifty, does the job, and sucks like its nobody’s bidness.
4. Lansinoh Breastmilk Storage Bags. After you spend some naughty time with your PISA, you are going to need a place to put your milk. I’ve tried other brands and these are the best. The hold more milk than others, lay flat to freeze, and they used to say “My Mommy’s Milk” which I thought was cute. Now they just say “Mother’s Milk” which is decidedly less cute, but I still recommend them.
5. Fisher-Price Rock-n-Play Newborn Sleeper: This thing saved our lives in the early days. Alice didn’t take too kindly to her crib, or her pack n play, and we didn’t feel like spending $bajillion on batteries for her swing, but she would sleep in this like a champ. I was terrified to transfer her from this to her crib, but we did it at about 2 months and she didn’t seem to notice. I think when she was teeny this sleeper helped her feel cozy unlike her crib. Its also nice that its portable and could be taken back and forth to Grandma’s house.
6. Amazon Mom. Not a product, per se, but a site that has saved us oodles of cash. Sign up for their subscribe-and-save program for free delivery of diapers every month at 30% off of the list price. You can also get a free subscription of Parenting magazine (look on the google) that often has a coupon for Amazon that can be stacked onto the 30% discount. Believe me when I say that I am disturbed that the following statement is the most definitive truth in my life: Saving money on diapers gives me a deep and profound feeling of accomplishment.
7. Gerber Cloth Diapers: These aren’t for the hiney, although they could be, and most certainly used to be. These are the best burp cloths, hands down. They aren’t fancy, but they are the perfect size, wonderfully absorbent, and if you lose one (or if your pitbull decides to eat one) you aren’t all sad about it because you can just buy some more. They are also reportedly useful for dusting, but I wouldn’t know anything about that.
8. Circo socks. These are the only socks that I’ve found that have more than a snowball’s chance in hell that they will stay on Alice’s cute wittle feets. We’ve only lost a few of these. Buying socks is a calculated budget item.
9. White Noise machine. Any one will do. We borrowed ours from a dear friend and I think it helps Alice know that its time for the big sleep when we turn that sucker on. We keep it on all night to muffle any noises that we may make in the family room just on the other side of the nursery wall. Also good for drowning out the incessant barking of dogs when squirrels are within a 3 mile radius of the house.
10. Fisher Price 2-in-1 Projection Crib Mobile: This mobile was recommended to us by several friends and I think saved our keisters when we moved A from the rock-n-play to the crib. She looks up at it and is just mesmerized. Since its lighted, she can see it in the dark, and I actually like the music it plays. When she gets bigger the mobile part comes off and it projects onto the ceiling. Totally rad.
And, your prize for making it to the end:
So, now that I’ve shown you mine… what are some baby products you can’t live without? Do tell!
My one-minute man.
| March 7, 2011 | Posted by Lisa under Uncategorized |
Get your head out of the gutter, I don’t mean that. Well, not this time. Yes, I have been known to disparage my husband’s skillz in the sack, because what’s more funny than publicly humiliating your husband over some beers with your closest friends? Nada.
But, not today. Today its all I can do to think of anything else other than thanking God for him and for patting myself on the back for doing such a great job in partner-choosing. Last week I had some family dramz, and not the fun kind. This was the drain me of all emotional and mental energy until I just want to curl up in a little ball and rock for a few hours kind. G called right in the middle of it to tell me he had to fly out in a few hours for work and wouldn’t be home for two days. He was busy, busy, busy and things were heating up even more at work. And then he stopped to ask how my day was. I told him briefly, but summed it up as the same ole’ shit, nothing worth bothering him about, especially since he was so busy. “Of course it is,” he said. So I told him, every last bit of it, all of the details, which ended with me in tears and him saying all the right things like he always does. And in less than a minute I felt so much better, especially when he reminded me to never, ever think that he doesn’t need to hear things that are bothering me: “I want you to always tell me whats going on. Your problems never stress me out. You don’t make me stressed, you make everything better.” Cue the tears again, Ms. Waterworks.
He had to go home and pack a bag for the trip and while he was there cleaned the house. He called our friend who lives nearby to tell him that his wife and baby would be home alone for a couple of nights and ask if he would he watch us and the house. He made sure that I stopped by his office after work so he could kiss his girls goodbye. We made a scene on the corner of 6th and Guadalupe and embarrassed the hell out of Alice with our blatant PDA. I was so grateful to be reminded of how kickass my husband is and how lucky I am to have such an awesome person to be in the foxhole with. (I like to imagine us on a literal battleground. His gun is bigger but I’m the sniper, obviously. Oh, and my gun is pink.) Because no matter how crazy the outside world gets, no matter what makes me grit my teeth and hold my breath, I always have this when I come home to help me relax and exhale. Oh, and to make gorgeous babies with. And, damn, that’s nice.
10.
| March 1, 2011 | Posted by Lisa under Uncategorized |
I’ve seen other bloggers do this 10 on Tuesday thing (posting 10 things on…Tuesday), and as I was driving in today I thought, “Hey, why don’t you walk on the wild side and give it a whirl. Try the 10 on Tuesday.” So, as I always do what I tell myself to, here I go. To the person who still reads this blog (HI MOM!)… Let’s dance. In no particular order:
10. Pain. Its back, baby, and not in a good way. I’ve suffered from chronic back pain since I started back at law school in 2005 and put my bag full of books on after a long summer of laying around and not emulating a packmule. Then it went away for almost my entire pregnancy and the three months after. It started creeping up this past weekend and today, at 4:30 am, decided to scream that its back and seems to be here to stay. I’ve made an acupuncture appointment for tomorrow, an ortho appt for Thursday, and a proctologist appt for Friday, so all of my bases are covered.
9. Alice. Alice rocks. She’s sleeping very well during the night, aside from last night when she got up at 4:30 for a lil snacky. It was her dad’s night to get up, though, so it doesn’t count. And, besides, when she does wake up she rewards her feeder with tons of gummy smiles and sweet coos. How can you be upset about night waking when its so delightful?
8. The more I realize what an awesome baby Alice is, the more I wonder if I really should have any more kids or just quit while I’m ahead. There was some mix up whereby I was given a baby who rarely cries, who is easily consoled when she does, and who sleeps like a champ. I would be out of my mind to tempt fate again. It would be like that time I bought Loft pants in the biggest size they had, which is unfortunately a size smaller than I wear, because I was thinking that I would lose weight soon and they were having a sale of sale items (thats a double sale!), therefore guaranteeing that I will never, ever lose another pound. Not that I did that. This morning.
7. I am bringing back the 3 day work week. Wait. Was it ever here? Well, it should have been, and I am bringing it back. Let’s stop this Monday nonsense and get back to Tues-Wed-Thurs. Because if we are all being honest with ourselves and each other, does anyone really get anything done on Monday other than bitch about the fact that its Monday?
6. To deal with my back pain I have a very special stand up workstation. The problem with it is that I have to stand up to use it. Which generally means a little less back pain, but also that I can’t sit. Sucky.
5. Best thing about returning to work? Being able to eat lunch with G again, with TWO hands. Oh, and, BONUS! I am also not getting thrown up or peed or pooped on while eating. Everywhere we eat lately is getting one more star than usual because of the two-handed-ness of the situation.
4. For real the best thing about coming back to work, though, is getting to walk over after lunch to see A at her daycare. I walk in, pick her up, and give her a good sniff and it takes all I have not to walk out with her to my car across the street and head for home. Its nice knowing she’s literally a block away, though. Sometimes mama needs a little hug and a slobbery, open mouthed kiss in the middle of the day.
3. I am really trying to thing of some breezy things to write about, but all I am thinking is, PAIN OH GOD THE PAIN IT HURTS. I’m in a bad way, y’all. So, allow me to bow out of this 10 thing and make it a 7 thing. [edited: I miss numbered. I was one ahead of myself. So, its more like an 8 thing. Or a 9 thing. This counting backwards is making me dizzy.] Thanksinadvance.
2. To reward you for letting me off the hook, here is a really cute video of the Boobin.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSYS-V2xa6w&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube]
