For the love of the Bunny!

 Sophie has a pink stuffed bunny that she got for Christmas from her Grandma.

She has been so attached to Bunny since then! She carries it everywhere - so much that she has to have a "bath" every weekend when I do Sophie's laundry because she gets stinky.

Bunny is a playmate for her - she will talk to her (Bunny is pink so obviously she's a She), make her bounce and walk, and give her hugs and kisses.

She also sleeps with her every single night.

And takes her to the babysitter's  house every day (but Bunny waits in Sophie's car seat while I'm at work so she stays safe and makes it home every night).

She even tries to eat dinner with Bunny on her high chair, but that isn't a very good idea so she waits for Sophie to finish.

When she's getting sleepy in the evenings, she'll get a little fussy and start her "snuffling" - she holds something soft to her nose and sucks her thumb and breathes in and out through her nose really  hard. We'll tell her "Go find Bunny" and she'll look for her until she finds her, then bring her to us for bedtime cuddles. Bunny's ears are her preferred soft thing for snuffling to sleep.

She also does NOT share her. Sophie loves her bunny.

A brief lesson in customer service

My mother's cell phone is on our family plan. Her phone broke last week, so she gave it to me to take to the AT&T store to be repaired/replaced/whatever. Since I had the foot incident, I gave it to my husband to take care of. He ended up upgrading her phone and brought home her new one. This was on Friday.

Yesterday, I got a text message wanting to ask me two questions for a survey about the "experience." I had Emma give the phone to my husband, since he was the one who was actually there. He answered the question, then about an hour later I got the second text and answered it.

Then another one, another hour later. Ok, by then I was getting annoyed. We were out doing things as a family, and I was hurting and out of patience. So I responded.

That's right - four questions, the final one coming today. Normally, I don't mind things like this. But this weekend, I just didn't have the patience. And they kept dragging it out! Two days for four questions?

If you say two questions, leave it at two questions.

Fit Mama Club Week 2

It's Sunday - Fit Mama Club update day.
I started out the week strong - tons of water the first few days. Until Friday almost no soda (I did finish half a cup of Emma's soda Wednesday night since she was leaving and I was super thirsty. But it really was just a little). I ate healthier. Had a setback at the end of the week, but hopefully I'll be 100% better and able to walk and exercise again.

The breakdown:
Last Week's High - Really upped my water intake and made better food and beverage choices. Started using Sparkpeople.com again, for the first time in way too long.
Last Week's Low - Definitely spraining my foot. I hate not being able to do what I want to do!
Plan for This Week - Once my foot is better, incorportate exercise into my schedule again. I do stay fairly active at work with a lot of walking, but that isn't enough. In the meantime, keep drinking water instead of soda and eating healthier.

I'm a lame duck :-(

Yesterday, it started raining right before I got to the babysitter's house. Not a hard rain, but wet (duh, it's rain. Of course it was wet!). Sophie HATES umbrellas. As in piercing screaming and clinging so tight I can't breathe when I try to use one with her. So I decided to go fast in the house and back out with her. One problem: wooden wet steps and slip-on heels. (So that was 2 problems. Whatever.)

Anyway, as I was going up the steps, my feet suddenly slid under the step on top, I fell forward and my hands slammed down on the steps (couldn't grab anything to hold on, though) and then I fell backwards off the steps onto the sidewalk. In light-colored pants. Luckily the father of two other girls there was also arriving to pick up his girls, and he helped me up from the ground and made sure I was ok. My first thoughts? 1. Oh crap, did I just break my iPhone?? (it was in my hands when I fell) 2. Did my pants just get ruined? I love these pants! 3. Wow - that hurt. Am I really ok?? (Yes, in that order.)

I thought I was just bruised from my feet going under the steps. My ankles hit the edge of the higher step and were scraped and bruised. I was able to walk a little, though, and went in to get Miss Sophie. I carried her back out to the car, and as I was buckling her in I noticed the pain in my left foot was not the ankle, but further down. I looked, and the tendon on the side of my foot was swelling. So I called my husband and asked if he could pick up the milk I was going to stop for, and called Emma so she'd be ready to come get Sophie out of the car and help me in. I iced it all night (apart from the times Sophie thought it'd be fun to grab the towel and ice and run!) until I went to bed, but really had no improvement.

Today, we left Sophie at home with her big sister since I couldn't safely take her down our steps, up sitter's steps, or catch her if she ran off.Or walked off. I went to work, and thought I was going to be ok. I work in a BIG hospital, though. Not a tall one - a wide one. It's very old, and additions have been added over the years and it's a bit sprawling. I made it to the ER to my closetoffice and settled in. I started out to visit the case managers and see how the day was looking since I had a rare lunch date scheduled with my BFF Maggie and I'd actually be out of the building for lunch.

It didn't go so well.

I hobbled over to the Fast Track side of the hospital to see how busy it was over there, and I signed in. I registered easily, called over for triage, and put in a wheelchair and rolled back to xray. I had 3 taken, then wheeled to a room. I waited a little bit, and a PA came in and checked me out. Not broken, thank goodness, but it's sprained pretty well. I had no idea you could sprain the middle of your foot that way! But I did. It's wrapped up and I have to keep it elevated and iced. The PA told me to go home, I argued, said I'd be fine. My boss texted me and said to go home. Then I tried walking in the hall to tell one of the nurses something (I was working while I was waiting) and it HURT. I couldn't make it. So I gave up.

I was discharged minutes before the time my friend was picking me up, so I went back to my closet-office and gathered my things. We ate a great lunch at Nixon's Deli and she dropped me off at my car. I've been home with my feet up and ice on my foot ever since.

Miss Sophie is very entertained, though. She had great fun banging her sippy cup on my ice pack, loving the noise it made. I didn't love it so much. I also got some rare baby hugs and kisses. She's happily playing NOT on my legs now, though. It sure does hurt, though! Hopefully the pain will pass soon. It gets frustrating not being able to do what I want to do!

Dieting 101 - My style

Since participating in Fit Mama Club, I'm paying more attention to what I'm actually putting in my body. The accountability really helps keep me on track and I find myself making healthier choices (like adding fresh broccoli to the Ramen noodles I had for dinner Monday night. I didn't want to cook for just myself - don't judge.) However, I still have some "rules" that must be followed to keep myself sane.

1. If it has caffeine in it, the calories don't count. Caffeine is a stimulant so it's mere presence burns off the calories.
2. The 3:00 afternoon snack doesn't count, because without it I"d never get through the rest of the workday without hurting someone.
3. A dish of ice cream before bed doesn't count, either. Sophie nurses at bedtime and first thing in the morning so she gets those calories. Besides, it's Thin Mint ice cream and the Girl Scout Cookie rule applies - foods for a good cause don't count because they are for a good cause! (Same applies to school cookie dough/candy sales. We must support our children!)
4. The universal rule applies, too - major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Valentine's Day, anniversaries) don't count. Calories don't get holiday pay so they take the day off.
5. The word "diet" is banned. It's a healthier lifestyle, and weight loss is just a fun extra.
6. Anything your child feeds you, or came from their plate in any way, does not count. Their little bodies absorb all the calories by osmosis.

Seriously, though, I have been trying to make healthier choices. I stopped at Sonic on Tuesday on my way to work and got my usual (not everyday but frequent) Mocha Java Chiller. Then as I entered my food later that day on SparkPeople.com, I saw that one cup of goodness I drank contained nearly 800 calories. I think I'm done with that drink! Today I'm sipping a frozen mocha latte made with skim milk and blended with ice cubes instead of ice cream. Not quite as sweet, but still satisfying and delicious. I had a blueberry muffin instead of a chocolate bar. I'll have fruit for a snack, or yogurt. I've been drinking TONS of water every day! In fact, yesterday I had half a glass of soda, and that's the only soda I've had all week long. I've mostly had water, and a little tea and lemonade.
I know I won't see any changes overnight, or even in a month, but I'll get there. And I was (mostly) serious about rule #5 - I'm not "dieting."  Dieting implies that once you get to your target weight you go back to life as before, unhealthy eating and all. I do NOT want to do that. I want to be healthy, but I don't want to torture myself either. That would never last.

Untitled

You are so annoying.
I hate you!
Buzzing yourself around, getting in my way.
I wish I could squish you flat against the wall -
But that would leave a mess.
I don't want to deal with the mess.
I am trying to put on my makeup
Brush my teeth and hair
Get out the door
But you will not leave me alone!
I am in one room - you're there.
I go to another - you're there.
I cannot get away from you!
I hate that you even exist!

Stupid fly.

Fit Mama Club

Another Twitterer/Babycenter mama/blogger has started the Fit Mama Club. After having a baby, it's not always easy to get back into shape without some extra work. It's much easier to put in that extra work with a support system in place!

Oddly enough, even though I gained 40 lbs when I was pregnant with Emma, I lost weight with Sophie the first 20 weeks and ended up with a net gain of only 2 lbs. I weighed the day we came home from the hospital (I stayed 24 hrs after having Sophie) and I was down 30 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight! It stayed the same her first year, but has been creeping up again. And even after losing that 30 lbs I was still 40 lbs above where I wanted to be.

So, here I go again!

I don't own a scale so I can't post my weight each week (I really need to get another one...) but I can tell how I'm doing by how well my clothes fit (or not).

Week 1:
Last Week's High - On vacation! I got great "workouts" this week, much better than I could have gotten in a gym. Raking, push-mowing, tree trimming, lifting, carrying - all in the heat and humidity. I know I burned tons of calories!
Last Week's Low - I ate like I was on vacation. Too much soda and sugary drinks. I did drink more water than usual, though.
Plan for This Week- I go back to work tomorrow, and back to a normal routine. It will be easier to stick with a healthy eating. I picked up a bottle of Mio at the store yesterday, too, to take to work with me. There is a ready supply of water there, I just have to DRINK it.

Blast from the past: Why are we unhappy?

I first published this in 2009. Nothing's changed yet.

I heard something very interesting on the radio this morning as I was driving to work. The morning show host had read a study recently that found women today are overall more unhappy than women of past generations. The host was surprised, because (more or less) "with the whole feminist movement and more options we have, how can we be unhappier? It must be divorce."

I am not surprised at the study, actually. And no, I don't agree with divorce being the cause. True, the divorce rate is higher now than in past generations, but how many women then were hopelessly stuck in unhappy marriages? There isn't a stigma attached to being a divorced woman any more. So no, I don't think that is the reason.

I love that the feminist movement has given women so many options for what to do with our lives! We can have successful careers, go to any college we want, raise a family (or not, it's our choice), and do basically whatever we choose! Heck, a woman could even be president and a few generations ago we weren't even allowed to vote.

But - I think this is the root of our unhappiness. Instead of feeling like we have a choice, too many women feel pressured to "do it all" and do it all perfectly. We must go to college, get regular promotions at work, marry, have children, raise those children to be perfect, maintain a spotless home, cook nutritious, organic meals, and look good doing it. We feel this pressure from television, magazines, our families, and ourselves. Out of these, I don't think our families are malicious with the pressure, but want "what is best" for us. But who knows what is best for us more than ourselves? Unfortunately, if other women are like me, we are our biggest critics. The outside influences, on the other hand, don't care about us as individuals and press their own agenda: Buy our product! You MUST breastfeed or you are a bad mother! You MUST NEVER make mistakes in raising your children or you are a bad mother! You MUST be skinny and have your hair done in salons! Do it OUR way! Your way isn't good enough!

We need to stop listening to all the critics! Including our own inner critics. We are human, not superhuman. One woman cannot possibly do it all and do it all perfectly. Something has to give! If we keep trying, it is our health and our own happiness that gets lost in the shuffle. So stop, take a step back, and relax. And breathe.

My new mantra? I am good enough, just the way I am. 

Staycation repair-cation

This week we've been on vacation from work.

Paying work, that is.

Instead of a relaxing vacation, it's been a home repair-cation. Right now, we have a 3 ft square hole in the bathroom floor where the toilet usually is. The toilet is in the bathtub. And today, we brought home 17 gallons of exterior paint and primer to repaint our house. I have hated the color of the siding of our house since we bought it, but never seemed to "get around to" repainting it.  For some reason, it's striped, too. It's dark brown siding of some sort (not the usual vinyl or horizontal kind) with boards over the seams painted white. We're painting it all one color. A lighter color, too, so that it won't get so hot in our house.

Tonight we're going to start with the primer on one side, at least. We can work on the rest over the weekend.

This evening, I spent a lot of time in the too-neglected front yard. We have too many trees for grass to grow, and it just gets forgotten. I hate how it looked, but haven't had much opportunity to do something about it. So I made time for it. I did some raking, a lot of pruning, and a lot of trimming with the electric hedge trimmer. I even used the tree trimmer blade-on-a-long-handle thingy to cut off several low limbs that needed to be thinned out. It already looks like a new yard!
It will need more raking, and there are some limbs that still need to be carried to the curb, but the improvement is incredible. I even found a few patches of grass I didn't know existed! 

I had to stop, though. I accidentally cut through the extension cord with the electric trimmer. It just stopped working, and I could NOT figure out why. I felt the gash in the cord and saw what happened.

Oops.

We have gotten some enjoyment out of our vacation, though. We've been staying up too late and sleeping in. Yesterday Sophie even slept until noon! Although it was 2:00 a.m. before she fell asleep last night. We'll have to get her back on a regular sleep schedule this weekend or Monday will be torture!

Break time over - time to go put primer on the house! I had it tinted the same color we're painting so it won't look so bad. Should also make it easier to cover the dark brown.

This is the back of the house - this shows the brown siding we're painting. 

Sophie is a California Baby

Sophie has sensitive skin. We have known this for a long time, since last August when she sat in a plastic outdoor chair that had pollen on it and broke out in hives. She has to wear a certain kind of diaper, and every time she gets sick she breaks out in a rash.

This week we are repairing our bathroom floor, and the toilet is in the bathtub. This makes it hard to bathe. So last night, Emma and I put Sophie in the kitchen sink. Since her California Baby tea tree and lavender shampoo/body wash was in the tub still, we used her old Johnson's Head-to-toe wash. We used to use it often, but since she gets random eczema patches and the tea tree wash keeps it under control, I just use that on her all the time now. I had been debating about continuing to use it, though, since it is a bit pricy (but lasts a LONG time).

Anyway, she was confused at first. She hadn't had a bath in the sink since she was a little baby in her infant tub! This was NEW. She quickly realized it was even easier to splash water on her sister, though, and played with her cup while I washed her down. To rinse her off, we stood her up and used the sprayer. As she turned around, we saw her back. And arms. And cheeks. She was turning red and breaking out all over! So Emma ran into the bathroom for the California Baby wash and I quickly washed her down all over with it. Thank goodness she didn't seem to be in pain, but it looked awful.

We dried her off, took her to her room, and Emma entertained her by singing and dancing along to a VeggieTales CD while I put calendula cream on all the spots.  She didn't even notice what I was doing, and clapped and cheered for her sister at the end of the song.

It's settled, though. Sophie is definitely staying a California Baby.

Not guilty

So we just heard the news that Casey Anthony was found not guilty. Not innocent - that is not the terminology. But not guilty, either. I haven't followed this case - I see news reports of course, but I have not been engrossed in the case since the beginning like so many have. I think Nancy Grace is a big reason why - I have never been able to stand her. But regardless, I had my opinion. I think she did it, or at least knew about it and had something to do with it.  However, I also agree with this blog post, agreeing with the verdict. In our society, there has to be no doubt.

Last year, I either read an article, or listened to a podcast (I can't remember which) about the success of the show Dexter in the US.  It seems that even though it is wildly popular show, fans in other countries don't quite understand how we can like a serial killer so much. In our anthropological minds, it makes sense. He kills bad guys. He's like the Wild West sheriff who hunted down the bad guys and made them pay. He is the dark side of us all, who celebrate the reported attitude of other criminals in jail towards inmates who have hurt children.

The general reaction of our nation when we heard the news about the not guilty verdict in this case is exactly why Dexter is so popular.

More from Rockin the Docks

We also took our video camera last night. It's a Toshiba Camelio something-or-other, kind of like a Flip camera but better. I love it - it's mostly pretty easy to use (if I ever read the manual it would be even easier I'm sure) and fits in a pocket. Anyway, we took some video last night, also.

Here is the flyover. I was on the playground with the girls when this happened and couldn't hear the emcee so I have no idea who is in the planes - we have a National Guard place in town so maybe them?

He also got a great video of the fireworks! But I was unsuccessful in loading it directly here, and it's too long for YouTube, so you'll just have to take my word for it.


Happy weekend!

The docks were definitely rocking tonight!

Our town has an event (almost) every Memorial Day and Independence Day weekends called Rockin the Docks. We had only been once in the past, even though we intend to go every year. Usually we forget until it's too late. This year we went for Memorial Day, but not until around 9 (fireworks start at 10). We decided that for the next one (tonight) we'd go early, take a picnic dinner, and have a good time.

We were given a picnic basket and dishes set for a wedding gift 14 years ago, and I really wanted to use them. We dug them out and I cleaned them up, and packed up the dishes and some drinks. We stopped at KFC and picked up a family pack of 8 pc chicken bucket and two large sides. Perfect picnic food! We went to the park and hiked from a parking area to the lake. We found a nice spot behind the stage, under a tree and near the water, and had our picnic. Then Emma took Sophie to the playground and I joined them.

Emma found a friend in the crowd and joined her for the evening, and eventually the rest of us ended up with them also. Since we arrived around 7:30, we had plenty of fun time. Sophie spent a lot of time on the swings, and went down the slide a couple of times, too.

We really enjoyed the music, especially the last band. They played all covers, but were actually really good! There was even a crowd near the stage dancing and singing along.

Finally, it was fireworks time. This time the fireworks were so much better! They were good on Memorial Day weekend, but this time was just "more." Sophie was almost asleep when they started, and she jumped up, captivated. Unfortunately I couldn't remember how to find the fireworks setting on my camera and couldn't find it tonight, so I didn't get any good pictures of the fireworks themselves.

Here are pictures of the evening:

Dancing with Daddy

Picnicking

Lake starting to fill up with boats

American Legion starting things off

Swing time!

Stopping to chat with strangers

More boats

I found the fireworks barge!

Emma and her friend

Hello blue eyes!

They clapped and cheered at the end

I found this interesting tonight - I noticed that someone on stage said there were 13,000 people in the park tonight, not counting all the hundreds on boats on the water. The population of our town is only 8,000-something!

Buzzkill

Wednesday evening, we noticed a football-sized hornet nest in the small tree outside our house. It's very close to our door, the bird feeder is in that tree, and Emma used to climb it all the time. After calling several exterminators (one wanted $200 to remove it!) I finally found a local independent exterminator who, after I described it to him, said he could do it for $40. He came this morning.

After spraying the nest with the chemical for a minute or so, he was all done! The nest broke apart and the bees were flying around all confused. He said they go out foraging during the day so we'll see stragglers coming back "home" today and tomorrow, but they'll either get in the chemical and die or will just leave. After the next rain, it will all be washed out of the tree and off the ground.

What's left

What a way to start a vacation!

My husband and I both have taken next week off for vacation. It's more like "home repaircation" but we won't be at work. (I love my job, but we all need a break sometimes.) We have some necessary repairs to do, and I want to get caught up on general house and yard work that has been neglected lately.

Last night, though, I was on my way to a friend's art show. I couldn't find the right place (majorly important reason why businesses should UPDATE THEIR WEBSITE when they move!) and when I tried to back out of the parking space and drive on, I could hardly turn the steering wheel. It was all I could do to get back into a space (good thing almost all the stores were closed; that was a bad parking job). I called my husband and told him what I knew: my car wouldn't go.

I am so happy with the age difference between our girls. He was able to leave Sophie at home in the care of her sister. She took great care of Sophie - fed her dinner, gave her a bath, and got her all ready for bed while he came to help me.

I tried finding the shop for the art show by walking, but wasn't successful. I did find a fast-food restaurant and waited for my husband there, enjoying their air conditioning and iced tea. As soon as my husband arrived he could tell what was wrong with my car - a belt had broken and could be seen hanging down. He called a tow truck, but of course all the repair shops were closed. We left it at one we'd been to before, finally did the grocery shopping I had planned after the art show, and went home.

This morning, we were at the repair shop bright and early. They replaced the belt, but discovered the problem with my air conditioner was causing it. I can't explain what exactly it is, but it's not good and explains why my air conditioner hasn't been working properly lately. It would be $1200 to fix that problem, but they thought that if I just didn't turn it on, it might be ok.

It wasn't.

When they were backing it out of the repair bay for me to go to work, it broke again! Thank goodness there is a nice older man working there, and he came up with a solution. He had a parts store bring a shorter belt, and they put it on so that it bypassed the bad part of the air conditioner thingy. Finally, after four hours total, I was on my way to work.

Luckily, I had a great afternoon at work, and we are now officially on vacation!