25 things, or how I over-think everything.

1. I have moved over 50 times. But, I have lived with my husband for the longest of any single place.

2. I never wanted kids until I met my husband. Something about finding my perfect companion changed my mind. I love being a Mom to my 19 month old son and now want 2 more children.

3. Breastfeeding my son for 15 months was the most rewarding, empowering, self sacrificing thing I have ever done.

4. I have a short attention span, and have trouble staying focused. I am easily distracted.

5. I never wonder what the future holds. I just trust that it will work out as it should. It always has.

6. I am extremely impatient. I have a hard time waiting for anything. Which makes #5 difficult.

7. I hate surprises and I hate being scared (think: Halloween). I don't see scary or horror movies.

8. I only applied to one college and got accepted. I cried when I got my acceptance letter because I would so shocked and proud that I didn't know how to process the overwhelming joy. I am the first person in my family to attend and graduate from a 4 year college. My niece is applying this year and my Grandmother went to Secretary School. 

9. I love the outdoors, but get very agitated when my hands or clothes are dirty.

10. I have never had a traffic ticket or a DUI. But, I have been pulled over more than 10 times.

11. When I was 14 years old, I 'borrowed' a car from a friend, who 'borrowed' the car for someone else. I kept the car for a month until a 3rd friend got it impounded.

12. My sister and I have a bond that I can not explain. No matter what she does, not matter what I do-and there has been A LOT-we will always be there for each other. No questions asked. 

13. I have dyed my hair since I was in 6th grade. But, 2 years ago I decided that I wasn't going to subject myself to the patriarchy any longer and I stopped dying it. I feel better emotionally, but looked better before.

14. My brain is very literal. So, please, say exactly what you mean or I will misunderstand you. I don't get jokes easily and I nit pick language and word choices. But, sarcasm I do understand.

15. A week before Thanksgiving 2008 I was laid off from my job. While I mourn the loss of my income, I love being at home.

16. I occasionally struggle with my self esteem. Some days I feel confident and attractive, some days not so much. But, what I have learned is that no matter how I feel the most important thing is how I act. 

17. My home and work area need to be clean and tidy. However, my car hasn't been washed or vacuumed in months (perhaps years). 

18. I had a lovebird as a pet when I was in grade school named Peaches. I loved that bird to death. Literally. I was a negligent 8 year old pet owner and didn't feed it often enough, and I suspect it died from starvation.

19. I follow 38 blogs and 27 people on Twitter. Yes, I need to get a life of my own.

20. I weigh myself --just about every day. Except when I know that I am gaining weight--and then I avoid the scale and go into denial. The denial stage is happening now.

21. I don't mind sharing my experiences, feelings, or thoughts with people. But, I feel like my privacy is being invaded if people ask me direct questions about my feelings and I don't know the answer.

22. Being a Mom has put me out of comfort level more times than I can possibly count--and my son is only 19 months old. 

23. I once interviewed for a job at a car wash and the interviewer asked me if I wanted to be his 'assistant'. I asked what the job entailed and he said minor office responsibilities and sex with him a few times a week, but assured me it was a well paying position. I declined the job. 

24. I hitchhiked with another girlfriend to and from Santa Barbara when I was 14 years old.

25. I am very competitive, but don't mind losing.

Diaper Doublers

Dear Internet:

I have been searching everywhere (both on and off line) for Diaper Doublers--and finally contacted the company only to receive this email in reply:

Thank you for contacting us about the diaper doublers.   Unfortunately we are no longer manufacturing that product.  At this time you can still purchase the Diaper Doublers through:

Nationwide Enteral 

www.diaperdoubler.com or by calling 1-800-335-4434

If you have any further questions?  Please call us at 1-800-262-0042 between 10am-4pm EST Mon-Fri.

Thank you,

Consumer Representative

I placed an order for a case this morning!

Milestones-yeah!

Brag time for this Mama.  Wow, when the child development books say that kids language abilities simply explode--I took it with a grain of salt.  However, the last couple of days have been magical for Lil E.  

He wakes up in the morning talking in (short 3 word) sentences.  Some of the words are only understood by me, and some not at all.  But, I can understand alot of what he is trying to communicate.  It is awesomely amazing.  I don't have the  words to express how excited I am about this development.  It makes my heart swell with pride to have a 2 sided conversation with my son.

Other things that are making the list of development milestones -- he can take his shoes and socks off, he can unzip his jammies and take the top part off (which is how I found him this am in his crib), and if I send him for a specific pair of shoes he can bring both of them back to me. 

I taught him the itsy-bitsy-spider and sometimes I catch him singing and doing the hand motions by himself.  When I ask him about it-he gets very shy, turns his head to the side, avoids eye contact and denies it.  Then when our eyes meet again he laughs a big laugh-like a little jokester.

He also 'reads' books to himself when he thinks we aren't paying attention.  He will open a book and 'read' the words out loud.  One of the most adorable things I have ever seen.

He loves to imitate--if Mommy is vacuuming, he needs to mimic me.  When we read Maisy Cleans Up and Maisy is vacuuming- he points at the picture and says Mama, and then points to the vacuum and says it.

If I have a shovel, he wants one (and wont settle for anything else).  If Mommy is cooking--he wants to help.  Same with Dad--if Dad is looking through the vinyl he wants to help.  

A few of the words I heard him say today are:

blue whale, Obama, no more pee pee, penis, Elmo,

guitar, fire truck, trash,

truck, yogurt, cheese, outside, poop, apples, eye, cat, ball, big brown, Dr. Seuss, butt.

And because I have a terrible memory--I also wrote a list of signs that he knows.  The picture is him signing cookie--a sign he does about 25 times a day.  

More, eat, all done, milk, water, butterfly, pacifier, green, blue, red, yellow, play, cow, horse, play, spider, sheep, frog, elephant, dog, cat, bird, duck, carrot, banana, orange, apple, airplane, helicopter, car, ball, book, fish, boat, ice cream, grapes, strawberries, yogurt, cracker, work, tree, flower, pear, shoes, socks, cheese, bath, brush teeth, brush hair, hat, wash hands, sun, tiger, pig, skeleton, snake, mouse.

Oh, and lets not forget that he now runs, climbs, and gets into EVERYTHING!

80's shocker

On our drive home from the family holiday extravaganza in December I was telling hubby that I was feeling bloated and unhappy (read: fat and ugly).  This was likely because my underwear were cutting off the circulation to my brain.  I gained 5 lbs while home for 9 days during Christmas.  4 of the 5 lbs I attribute to See's candy, and the other 1 lb is the fault of Peppermint Lattes.  I do not take any personal accountability for the weight gain of course, and despite my efforts I have yet to loose it.  This is a different post topic altogether though.

In any case, I was feeling unattractive which forced me to proclaim that I felt like my hair looked bad (particularly after seeing it in 100's of photo's that week unwashed or combed) and I was shocked at the amount of wrinkles I had on my forehead.  I was on vacation people!

While stewing and brewing during the drive home I came to an epiphany--I would get bangs. This solved 2 of my problems at once!!! I am a genius.  

A few days later I went to the hair salon, persuaded the hair stylist that yes, indeed this was what I wanted and walked out with fringe.

I liked it for the first few days.  Then, as the days went on I became increasing more insecure as a result of my new bouffant.  I was certain that they made me look like I haven't had a 'new' hair style since the 80's.  All of my friends were very complementary and have only offered positive feedback.  The most frequent complement I have received is that it makes me look 10 years younger.

I could infer that I look younger because my fringe covers my wrinkly forehead--that would make me feel 100% justified in my decision.  However, my personality dictates that I analyze it to nth degree.  Therefore I have determined that the reason I look younger is because I actually DO look like I am from the 80's.  And the similarity and familiarity to the 80's is actually what is making me look younger.

You decide.

Facebook

Hi followers.  In case you have missed me...its because I am now addicted to Facebook.  Yes, you heard correctly.  The youth that I tried to get as far away from as possible-I am slowly rebuilding via my friend list.  What am I thinking.

Oh, and by the way-Happy 2 year blog anniversary to me! 

Bye bye housekeeper, hello backache

As I posted earlier, I am spoiled.  Well, make that was spoiled.  This week we decided to suspend the services of our wonderful housekeeper of 5 years, at least until I find a job or we make more money.  I know that most readers of this blog likely clean their own house.  But, let me have this moment to grieve the loss as well as absorb the fact that I am now the housekeeper.

We have whittled the budget down almost as far as it can go.  The only *extra's* are netflix and XM radio-for a total monthly amount of $22.  I am extremely impressed with our ability to go from an extravagant lifestyle where we once had a $500 monthly spending allowance for entertainment (ahh, the good ole days!!!) down to one income and no revolving debt. 

**Sniffle**

Period.

As many of you know, we are wanting another child.  **if this is already TMI--you are advised to stop reading now**  I had my IUD removed in April of last year, and after some waiting and regulating --I regained my period.  We have been without birth control from several months, and I havent conceived yet. 

With Elliott, I got pregnant the first month we tried.  Quite a shock, really.  We only talked about having a baby for a week or two, and the next thing we knew the pee stick was positive.  Talk about a shocker.

I thought that it would be easy to get pregnant again.  But, it has taken more time than I thought.  And, I have a hard time waiting for things, hate surprises, and want things to happen NOW.  So, you can imagine that my frustration level is high.  To make matters worse--my cycle is all out of whack.  This month I ovulated early, and got my period after only 21 days.  Darn you mother nature.

I have been exceptionally tired the last 2 or 3 nights.   And along with being impatient and tired--I am also a worrier.  Naturally I started wondering what could be wrong with me.  Did something happen during my C-section and now I am unable to conceive.  Of course, nothing is physically wrong with me, but I discovered something interesting.

You can break a woman's menstrual cycle into 2 parts--the first part being different for all women. And, the second part beginning on the day of ovulation.  It is in this second half we are all similar. From the time you ovulate until you start you period is 12-16 days*.  This is according to the FAM method book I am re-reading (since I apparently didn't read it thoroughly enough  the first time around).  

This is an awesome discovery for me, as it allows me to identify exactly when I will get my period each month so long as I track the day I ovulate (which also explains why my cycle is so short this month).  It will also tell me how many days each cycle will be.  You may be wondering why I don't already know this being a mature woman of 34 (advanced maternal age in OB speak)!!!!  Well, since I have been on birth control my whole life; I never needed to track my cycle since it was chemically regulated.  

Lets hope that this awesome discovery will help me get knocked up this month!  Yeah for biology.

*as with all things in nature there are occasional exceptions