Category: Me

Sick Yet Again

I am getting so tired of getting sick! Yesterday evening when I arrived at my in-law’s house, after work, my mother-in-law said that Ryan had gotten sick after breakfast, but he was fine now.

He ate some of his dinner, was playing, and whatever he had, wasn’t bothering him anymore.

About three hours after dinner, I started feeling terrible. My stomach was cramping, and I just got that sick feeling. I knew I was going to be vomiting at any time. I managed to put Cole to sleep, and then it hit me about 9:30. At 2 AM, I vomited for the last time, in between Cole waking up. He wasn’t sick, but he just kept waking up, which was ironic. He has been sleeping through the night now, for about a month. He goes down, and doesn’t make a peep until 6:30 or 7 in the morning (pending that he isn’t teething)- except for last night- he kept waking up every hour, and only wanted me.

I felt so sick, I just sat in the glider with him, with a big bowl near me, in case I couldn’t get to the bathroom in time. Then I tossed and turned the rest of the night, until I got up at 7, to call our child care provider to tell her I wasn’t going anywhere today, and to call in to work. I begged Joe to stay home today, but he just couldn’t- he had a big meeting.

I told Ryan he had to be a good boy today, and he was so good! Around 10, Cole wanted to take his nap, so I snuggled in bed with him, while Ryan played in his room, right next door to us. I didn’t fall into a deep sleep, but I dozed, and Ryan was so quiet and told me he had been playing with his blocks, and reading his books. He kept asking me if I felt better, and told me he was sorry I was sick. He would say, “Don’t worry Mommy, you’ll feel better in a few days.”

I managed to keep some toast down at lunchtime, and took a nap. I feel better tonight, but feel weak, cold, and clammy. I thought I might have gotten food poisoning, but my in-laws, Joe, and I, all ate the same thing for dinner last night, and they were fine. Thinking back to Ryan, there probably was some bug that I caught, although I’m glad that Ryan didn’t get as sick as I.

So hopefully, no one else around here will come down with that bug. It was awful. Fortunately, Joe is taking tomorrow off. It is SO hard to take care of your kids, when you are sick. We have had so many bugs and viruses since the summer, I really think we have payed our dues. No more sickness! 🙂

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Cole Family & Friends Household Me Mothering Parenting Ryan

Five Years Ago Today

Five years ago today, Joe and I were married. All of my wedding pictures are in storage right now, so I took a picture of the two pictures we have in the house of our wedding. Interestingly, the photographer told us our wedding was the last wedding he was shooting with traditional 35mm film- after our wedding he was upgrading to digital. I remember thinking that sounded so technologically advanced, and never thought I would have a digital camera- how things can change in only five years.

Yes, how things can change in five years. Looking back at our wedding day, it almost seems like it was another lifetime ago! At times it seems like that our lives five years ago was the “calm before the storm,” and the “storm” being the wonderful two children we are blessed to have. Some of the obvious big differences between our lives in September 2002 and September 2007-

2002: I was a compulsive neat freak.

2007: Now if there is a teeny, tiny path, through my house, which I can walk through without stepping on a toy, I think my house is clean enough.

2002: Three loads of laundry a week was a lot.

2007: If I don’t have three loads of laundry a day, it has been a “light” day- (no one threw up, or covered themselves in jelly, dirt, mud, etc.)

2002: I thought tired meant not getting 8 hours of sleep. I actually have a degree in floral design (a new fact about me!), and I did the flowers for our wedding. I stayed up until 4am the Thursday night into Friday morning doing them. I got up around 9 or 10 the next morning- the day before the wedding, and I was just dragging all day.

2007: Getting five or six hours of sleep at a time is a GOOD, FULL night of sleep. I don’t plan on getting 8 hours of sleep in a row until the boys move out.

2002: Joe and I go out every weekend- usually starting around 8pm on Friday night for dinner, and a movie. Who cares if it was the late movie? We could sleep in as late as we wanted on Saturday.

2007: At 8pm Joe is usually giving the boys a bath, while I am doing the bedtime prep for Ryan and Cole. We have eaten hours ago; in fact when we go out to dinner now, we are usually eating with the senior citizens at the early bird special, because our kids like their dinner at 5.

Sleeping in on Saturday means 7am IF Ryan decides to sleep that late. Otherwise he wakes us up at 6:30, telling Dad especially he needs to get up and make him waffles.

2002: Joe and I had time for dates and quiet dinners at our favorite restaurants, sometimes with family and or friends.

2007: A date now is dinner with the kids at Noodles, and the only time we see friends is if I run into another Mom I know at Noodles, while she is trying to juggle her kids and food! Quiet dinner- yea right! I guess if neither boy is talking, screaming, laughing, crying, or banging their silverware against the table for more than 10 seconds that would count.

2002: I thought my life was complete- children would only add to it.

2007: My children are my life- I could not have imagined how much I love them- not only do they add so much each and every day, they are the best of Joe and I.

2002: I didn’t think I could love my husband more than on our wedding day.

2007: I love my husband more than on our wedding day. He is the best father I could have hoped and dreamed of for my children. I never considered my love would grow for him, when he became a father.

2002: I thought I was so fortunate to be marrying Joe, who I loved with all my heart. I thought I was pretty lucky!

2007: I am so fortunate to be married to a man, who I still love. Even when we are stressed, sleep deprived, and argue, we always manage to make-up, and get back to where we are “okay.”

Happy Anniversary!

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Social Weekend

On Friday night, I met up with my very good friend, Mary, We used to work together, and now she is an RN and lives about 40 miles away. I wish we could say we are great staying in touch, but we are both so busy, we don’t get together as often as we like, but when we do, it is like we pick right up from where we left off, from the last time we talked. I have two sisters, but Mary feels like my “third” sister.

We met for dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant- we sat outside on the patio and it was just a lovely evening. At one point the wind started up, and it looked like it was going to rain, and there was no room inside the restaurant for us to be reseated, but it never did rain. We got to visit for about three hours, and when I arrived home, just past the boys’ bedtime, I expected to find Joe trying to put one or both boys to sleep. Instead, he was watching TV, and there were no little boys in sight. He got them both down, and they were soundfully sleeping.

On Saturday night, my dad and step-mom generously treated my sister, my two teen-age cousins, and myself to a musical-The Little Mermaid, produced by Disney (of course) and it was wonderful!

I really didn’t expect too much, but it had everything-good story, exceptional singing- wonderful characters, excellent music, awesome dancing (there is even a tap dance number in it- I love tap dancing, and it doesn’t seem like you see very much of it any more), and very touching song lyrics and dialogue. This was different from The Little Mermaid movie, allthough they “borrowed” parts from the movie. There was a lot of added dialogue that frankly made it more “adult” and less for kids. There was a scene at the end, where Ariel’s father, King Titian, talks about loving your children and how you love them so much you can’t let them go, but because you do love them, you have to let them go. It was so moving- there wasn’t a dry eye in the place, especially among the parents!

Of course they had all of classic songs from the movie, like “Under the Sea,” and “Kiss the Girl.” Another cool aspect was there was not a drop of water on the set, and the actors were not on lines, trying to make them look like they were swimming- they used the Healey shoes- to roller blade across the stage, to mimic the swimming, and it worked! It was very creative.

It was so entertaining, and there was something for everyone. It was a wonderful night!

When I was getting ready to leave, Ryan gave me the once-over and asked me, “Where are you going dressed like that?” As I was walking out the door, I called goodbye to him. He was in the kitchen with Joe, and he called back, “Okay, good-bye, have fun, and be careful.” Sometimes I think he is 3.5 going on 30!

I got home rather late, and of course Joe had the boys bathed, and sleeping once again. Should I have expected any less? He was terrific with them, and it was very nice to actually go out for two whole nights kid free. I’m very fortunate Joe is such a terrific father and hubby.

Today we went back to the same town to visit Joe’s brother and help him with some household projects. The boys did great visiting their uncle and playing with their two doggies. They were asleep in the car five minutes after we left. They briefly woke up when we got home, but they both fell back asleep within minutes.

Joe has to work tomorrow, and I have to go grocery shopping and get things ready for the week. We had a very nice weekend, and I hope everyone has a great Labor Day tomorrow. Here are two pictures from last night:

Me with my niece, Maelin, who is five months old.

(L to R) Maelin, Me, My sister, & My sister-in-law. We all three ended up wearing black (and very dark navy) lacy outfits, but did not plan this. I guess we were all on the same wave length! 🙂

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We Are All Sick Now

Thanks for all the kind comments, and just to update- Ryan was sick today, Cole seemed better but still had some very runny, messy, diapers that leaked out all over the kitchen floor (oh joy)- Ryan started puking at 5 am, and again at 4:30 pm, right AFTER I had just finally got the room cleaned up from his first round- had to wash everything and start all over again.

Joe said he is feeling sick, and I have been sick twice now myself. I still feel awful and feel like I am going to be sick again- it actually helps sitting up- when I lie down it is worse- what kind of ‘sick’ (pardon the pun) irony is that? I am so bone dead tired, but can’t lie down, or I feel worse-

Anyway, this does seem to only last a day, so hopefully Ryan will be feeling better tomorrow, Cole will be over it, and by tomorrow night, I’ll be over it too. What a terrible couple of days!

Cole Health Me Mothering Ryan

Body By Babies

I have been feeling pretty good lately about getting back to my BBW (before baby weight). With Ryan, I lost all my baby weight within 6 months. I didn’t exercise or try- it just came off, by itself (lucky me!)

Cole just turned 14 months, and I *still* haven’t quite lost all the baby weight. I seem to be stuck at those last five pounds. However, I have heard that when you nurse, your body will usually hold on to ten extra pounds so your body will have something to make milk from if you don’t get enough food. (I suppose this is back from cave-man days). I am still nursing Cole, so perhaps this is another reason I can’t lose the rest of the weight.

I also notice on days that he wants to nurse more, like when he is teething, sick, or tired, the next day I am very hungry. On days when he doesn’t want to nurse much, I am not as hungry.

I am guessing since I am older the second time around my metabolism slowed down a bit, and I also had a very stressful year with Cole, and I know I ate more during the past year.

I am happy though, that my weight is where it is, considering I gained 50 pounds with Ryan, and a whopping 60 pounds with Cole! (I get so hungry when I am pregnant- what can I say?!) I have been able to get into some of my pre-pregnancy clothes again, but not my shorts!

I have been reduced to wearing two pairs of shorts when I go out in public that don’t fit- they are too big, and I have to constantly be pulling them up, but then next size down, is too small. Of course I have about 20 pairs of pre-pregnancy shorts, that I spent a small fortune on, that as my sister says, “taunt me from the closet.” Amen. Oh yes, I could squeeze my mama hips into them, but can’t button them over my new friend- “mama pooch” on my stomach.

I always had a flat stomach before having babies. I think those days are gone. My pooch doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, anytime soon. I have one pair of pre-pregnancy shorts that I can actually fit into, but they button higher on the waist, and let me tell you- it is a struggle to get them buttoned. I never liked the below waist, shorts or pants, but now they are my best friend, because the button below “mama pooch.”

I look at all my shorts folded in the closet that I can’t wear. I don’t want to get rid of them because I just know one day I’ll be able to wear them again (yeah, right) but I don’t want to buy a lot of new ones because 1- summer is almost over, and 2- I am hoping that when I do lose the last five pounds, maybe a few inches from “mama pooch” will disappear too, and I will be able to wear *some* of them again.

That brings me to my next point- I am going to have to get rid of the shorter shorts- because let’s face it- NO ONE, me included- wants to see this much of my lower thighs. Before babies- I liked shorter shorts, and wore them all the time. After babies- no way- there is enough suffering in the world without me subjecting people to that view. 🙂

However, we are going on a beach vacation next week, and I have had it! I want some shorts that fit me as I am now. No more “baggy butt” shorts. I don’t want to spend another small fortune on shorts that I hopefully will never wear again, so a few days ago; I went to a nice consignment shop in town with Ryan, after his swim lessons.

I grabbed all the pairs of shorts I could find in one size up from the stash I have at home, and was confident out of the 50 pairs I had- a few would fit. After trying them ALL on, NONE fit! What was worse was I would sit down in them, and my friend “mama pooch,” would show up, outlining herself from within. Even Ryan noticed- he poked her, and said, “You got chubbies there.” Uh, thanks son. But he was telling the truth- I looked like I was 3 or 4 months pregnant in these shorts.

We left soon after, and I wondered if I was doomed to a life of “baggy butt” shorts, or looking like I was pregnant. I marveled at the time I could walk into an Old Navy store, walk right up to the shorts, know exactly what size I wore, know they would fit, and would buy them without trying them on. I knew those days were over- when you allow babies to live rent free in your body for nine months, your body will never be the same.

I tried a few more stores today, and nothing-nada-ziltch. Same problem. Shorts one size smaller were too small, and the size I have now are too big. I was feeling really depressed, as I went into the last store in my town that sells shorts. Cole was with me, and he was in a really good mood and happy. I found a few pairs to try on, but in all honesty they looked like mom shorts. Not the cute styles I like. 🙁

On a whim, I decided to go over to the juniors department to torment myself further. Talk about *major* depression! The size large shirts I doubt would even cover one side of me. But then I saw them… they were taunting me like the shorts that sit in my closet, but these came in more than one size. In a moment of insanity, I picked up two pairs of some cute cargo jean shorts with an “at below waist” style with a drawstring (not that I would need to pull them tighter over “mama pooch”), that didn’t look too short, or too long. They were the same style, just two different sizes.

Back to the dressing room we went. I felt like I was getting ready for a first date! I actually had butterflies in my stomach, and I started talking to the shorts.

“Please shorts, fit. Fit. I don’t ask a lot out of life, but you would make me very happy if I could have one pair of shorts that don’t have “baggy butt,” or show “mama pooch.”

The first pair was the larger size, and I had to actually pull the drawstring in. They fit!- well sort of. As I sat down, they crept down. Less attractive than “baggy butt,” or “mama pooch,” is butt crack.

Well, I knew there was no way the smaller size would fit, but in another moment of insanity, I pulled them on. Wait…they buttoned. Good sign. I tied the drawstring- not to hold them up, but to just tie them. Another good sign. Length was nice- hides upper thighs, but aren’t down to my knees, and “baggy butt” was nowhere to be found. Okay, now came the test. I slowly sat down, not wanting the moment to end. I forced myself to look in the mirror, and she was not there!

“Mama pooch,” was not making an appearance! I turned around, and butt crack wasn’t there either! Then I heard the angels sing “Hallelujah, Hallelujah!” I did it! Three days, 6 stores, and probably 100 pairs of shorts later, I did the near impossible. Found ONE pair of shorts that fit, and I actually look nice in.

I can’t believe in the end it was the junior shorts that fit, but it makes sense now, because I was shopping in women’s and I guess that one size up from the woman’s size that wouldn’t fit, is the size I ended up with in juniors! Who would have guessed?

I do know that I never want to shop for another pair of shorts again. Hopefully it will stay warm for a while, because frankly, the thought of having to go jean shopping terrifies me. But for now, I’m happy.

Beach here I come, sans my three “friends,” “baggy butt,” “butt crack,” and “mama pooch.”