Wow

Okay, last night's title was a bit overdramatic; today I would say something more like "Coming Up for Air," or "Surfacing."

I am amazed at how much better I am doing after three things changed over the past few days:

1.) I stopped eating so much sugar - I could watch it destroy my mood and sink me into a depression each day when I was eating way too much

2.) I finally refilled my prescription for prenatal multivitamins after not having any for the past month. No, I am not trying to get pregnant, I am nursing. That's why I'm still taking those. And wow do they make a difference.

3.) I have internet access again! I knew that was important to me but I thought of it as a frivolous thing until I saw how depressed I got when I couldn't keep in touch with family or friends very easily for two months. I am really amazed at how much better I feel after having internet access back for just one day. Who knew that e-mail and blogging were actually keeping me sane? I truly feel almost back to normal now just because I can reach out so easily again.

On another subject - HUGE potty breakthrough tonight! It finally occurred to me the other day that Sweet Pea has liked to be alone while pooping for some time. So I started to mention to her that if she wanted to poop on the potty she could do that while I was in a separate room if she wanted. I have the powder room downstairs set up with her kid-sized potty ring on the toilet seat and her little plastic potty chair, which has a lid, set in front of the toilet so she can use it as a step stool to get up there by herself. Until today she moved her little potty away and insisted that I lift her up onto the potty seat.

Well, tonight I had to take The Bug upstairs to change one of her poopy diapers and I figured that Sweet Pea would tag along like usual and whine about wanting me to carry her upstairs too, and want to "help" me change The Bug's diapers, etc. But just to be thorough I showed her the powder room, turned on the light in there, told her that the potty was set up for her, etc.
She didn't come upstairs with me, or whine, or any of the usual stuff. I was just starting to wonder what had become of her when she came up the stairs and ran to me in her room, me standing at the changing table, and said, "I go'ed poopie in the potty! All by myself!" I told her I was so excited and asked her if she would show me when we got back down stairs. I wondered if it was a whole poop, if you will, or if she had just gone pee pee and a little poop had slipped out. But no, it was for real, and I am still really excited. Hey, this is my life, whaddaya gonna do? I get excited about these things. REALLY excited. This is the first time she has gone on the "big potty," AND she did it alone (for those of you who worry about these things, I did wipe her bottom as soon as she told me she had pooped on the potty, and we washed her hands as soon as we got back downstairs and she flushed the toilet).

I feel as if we may have turned a corner tonight. I really hope so. I was just feeling really discouraged about the potty thing at dinnertime, and then this happened - hopefully we move on to full potty functioning from here. I know she can do it if she would just decide that it's time. So hopefully that's what she is working toward or maybe has already decided.

Clawing My Way out of Hell

I'M BACK! FINALLY! It was awful in hell. I'm so glad to be here again.

So we moved in August, as you read, but the first place turned out to be a pit with a clueless slumlord, so we had to move again. The new place is beautiful and in a great neighborhood and here we have very nice and responsible landlords. This place is actually what we were looking for the first time around, but it wasn't available then - I guess things work out for a reason, though we really went through awful crap to get here. Bleh.

The events of the past two months sank me into quite a depression and I am unable to ascertain if said depression is solely caused by that or if it may also be post-partum. The hormones definitely factor in as nursing demand increases, I think. However, over the past two days I have begun to feel as if I am pulling out of the dark place I was in, so hopefully I will continue my journey out of the hole and be a useful person, mother, wife, etc. again soon.

This move was supposed to help us see more of Slipshod but has had the exact opposite effect. Most of that is because of the other things we had to wrap up, though, with which I was unable to help. Once we moved the first time, Slipshod had to finish getting us moved out of our old house and get it ready for our renters to move in. When we had to move the second time, he had to finish things at that house as well, and deal with the movers and make sure we got EVERYTHING out. He also dealt with the correspondence (legal) between us and our first landlady, and on top of all of those things work has been a waking nightmare for him for the past month (though when you work in customer support, I think that's always the way it is...). Anyway, my point is that I have been parenting almost entirely alone for two months and I don't know how single mothers do it. It's awful.

So a large part of my depression has been due to feeling incredibly isolated. We barely moved half an hour away from where we were, but I might as well have been on the other side of the country! I've gotten in lots of trouble with Slipshod for racking up the minutes on my cell phone but I couldn't call out on the house phone either because it only had basic service - we were waiting for internet... blah blah blah. And besides the phone issues, my computer was only hooked up part of the time at the first house and not until recently here and that's where my address book lives, so I didn't have all the numbers I needed.

Anyway - worry not, dear friends, though the past two months were fraught with nastiness which I may or may not elaborate on tomorrow (not sure if I should really get into details until all the legal stuff is settled), we have ended up in a very nice place and are settling in quite happily.

Sweet Pea is really into the "why, why, why" thing now which along with her 3-year-old need to test my limits EVERY WAKING MOMENT and refusal to potty train are driving me INSANE. But I love her anyway. Actually, she decided during the height of chaos at the last house (the first place we moved, I mean) that she needed to start using the big potty. I was thrilled to help but moving again seemed to have turned off the interest. So now we're forcing the issue, because she clearly knows what she's doing and just needs to be pushed. If she is wearing anything on her nethers, she will pee and poop in that. So while we are home, I make her go naked. We have had two pee-pee accidents, but honestly I'm not sure they were accidents at all. This is all rather frustrating and I am concerned about her holding the poop - she doesn't want to put that in the potty. Yes, we've been through this before, the last time she was interested in potty training. And she got over it that time. But not yet this time. Whatever...

The Bug is growing like a weed and is as cute as ever. She started laughing about 6 weeks ago and is now grabbing everything that comes within reach - and putting it in her mouth if possible (can't actually keep her grasp on anything for long, so stuff doesn't always make it to the mouth). She seems to have been teething for a month or so already. I can't feel anything coming up in her gums, but Sweet Pea started teething at 4 months and popped her first two teeth at 5 months. I have a feeling we'll be seeing chompers soon. She is very competent at holding her head up while on her tummy and all that jazz, and rolled over from her tummy to her back last weekend. Hasn't done it again since, but often when she wants to see somebody who she can hear while lying down, or if she's trying to grab something that's out of her reach, she will nearly roll over (like tonight in the bath tub - YIKES).

I must get to bed, but had to pop a little note on here in case anybody was looking - though you're probably all on my e-mail list and have already had a bit of an update anyway. ha ha!

It's All Take-Out and Paper Plates Now

I'm still waiting to see what kind of magic Slipshod is going to pull out of his bag of tricks to make this move happen this weekend. Because if I am not the least bit confident that we'll be moving this weekend. I really really want to, but no single room in this house is completely packed up. We've packed a ton, but we're almost out of boxes and besides everything inside the house, we've also got to pack up all of our crap in the garage and on the screened-in back porch, and a few things outside that porch. And maybe some big stuff around the side of the house (like a kiln... yikes) .

Tonight we're going to have to pull out the things that we DON'T want packed in the pod, like our software. Oh yeah, and my big huge tub of candles. Can you imagine what that would look like after being packed in a pod for a couple days during August? A 30-gallon-sized ball of wax with sixty three little wicks sticking out willy nilly, I imagine.

"So why aren't you packing right now instead of blogging," you ask? Oh, shut up. I guess I should go do that. But the answer is - because my priorities are all screwed up sometimes. I go for a little "me time" over packing, even though we're down to the wire. The girls are asleep and the only reason I'm not snoozing away with them is because while they are both sleeping I can go outside and bring the garbage can & recycling bins back in without having to make sure that Sweet Pea does't run out into the street (not that that's ever been a problem; even though she hasn't learned to look both ways, she is very aware that she might get squished by a car if she runs out there, so she stays away from the curb like it's diseased - but a mother still worries). And then I had a couple cookies. And as I walked through the living room with purpose and a plastic tub toward the bathroom, all set to clear out the cabinets, my computer chair beckoned and the screen lured me in, and here I sit, sucked in, typing because I'm here and I'm tired so it's nice to sit.

I guess I should go throw a few things in the tub and then catch some Zs with the girls. That's probably the best course of action. But maybe I'll stop by the kitchen for a couple more cookies first. And I wonder why my body's such a funky shape.

*Editor's Note:* I rock. The bathroom is packed, I've done three loads of laundry, and I even managed to catch a little shuteye during the girls' naptime!

Meet Christina!

So, last weekend BlogHer had its conference in downtown San Jose. I didn't go, even though I live here, and I am sorry to have missed meeting many women whose blogs I read. Although, to be honest, I have not really been keeping up with anyone's blogs lately, mine obviously included, due to all the packing and stuff going on around here. Plus, it's difficult to find a moment alone to write before midnight. Argh. Right now as I type Sweet Pea is watching a recorded Miffy special, and The Bug is still asleep in her bouncy chair in the bathroom, where she napped while I took a shower.

HOWEVER - one blogging mama whose page I was reading every day until last week (again, my not reading only being due to the chaos in our house and lives), not only attended the BlogHer conference, she also came over and had dinner with us Sunday night before leaving town Monday morning. I can honestly say that Christina is my first online friend who I have now met in person.

We bonded first through both of our comments on the Queen's blog, found out we both used to work at Renaissance Faires, and now I read her blog every chance I get! It was such fun to meet Christina in person, and I already felt that I knew her to some extent through reading her blog. It was like having a long-lost friend come and visit. I'm so glad that she agreed to come over for dinner - it's not every day that she's in town from Columbus, Ohio, you know!

Our visit was of course a bit overpowered by the demands of a nursing baby and an attention-starved toddler. Earlier in the day we had had friends helping us pack and move furniture, so I had not been able to play with Sweet Pea at all and kept leaving room after room with her trailing me, so by dinnertime she was desperate for attention.

We were supposed to have a visit from the Queen and her family as well, but unfortunately during the weekend Count Waffles came down with some nasty bug that gave him a fever as well as the requisite runny nose. Maybe next time!

Oh, and Erin, I'm right with you - this is what I have to say about the hoopla over that Baby Talk magazine cover photo:

But wait, maybe I'm not clear enough; this is what's actually going on in that photo, in case you can't tell.

Better yet, check out my bitchin' nursing bra! It's always good for a laugh - Sweet Pea thinks it's hilarious. I always swore I would never wear animal print even on cotton, but this was too funny to pass up. Me Jane. Me feed baby.

My Baby's Growing Too Quickly!

Timing has never been my strong suit. So I'll have to report after the fact.

Sweet Pea turned 3 years old on Monday.

Before The Bug was born, I talked with Sweet Pea about her birthday and asked what sort of party she wanted to have this year. I was completely unsurprised by her expected response, "I want a kitty party!" I sat her on my lap and we looked online to find kitty birthday plates and stuff, and she chose her theme. As you can see, in lieu of party hats, she opted for the kitty ear head bands - hee hee!

So on Sunday, she got her dream kitty party and had a GREAT time.
















Thank goodness another 3-year-old showed up. They had SO much fun together. Omigosh, they were so cute.



But the day of the party, during and after, I kept having flashes of her growing up. Could have had something to do with having a 13-year-old in the house, whose family I lived with for 10 months, beginning when she was only 1 month old.

Some day she won't want me to play with her every day. Some day she won't want to sit on my lap and fiddle with my hair to comfort herself when she's upset or tired. Some day she won't want to tell me every single thing that pops into her head. Some day she won't be so interested in what I have to say. Some day... it sounds like a long time away, but it's just around the corner!

Anyway - it's late and I'm tired so this is probably really boring and not making much sense, but before I go, here's another cute picture to enjoy.

Do They Still Make Calgon?

But more important is the question, does it still work the way they showed in the commercials way back when?

I'm actually feeling a lot better today. Why? Because I managed to get my first shower since Monday! Thank goodness. I was feeling (er, smelling) RANK. And I never did get out of my jammies yesterday. It's nice to be in daytime clothes again.

Sweet Pea still has that 99.2-ish fever, but I'm starting to wonder if we just have another useless thermometer. I don't know. She is whining a lot, which continues making me feel a bit crazy, but I think that's just because she lost a lot of sleep earlier in the week and hasn't caught up yet. Otherwise she's acting normal.

Tomorrow we're going to have an outing to Costco to get some stuff for the birthday party. Wahoo! Thank goodness we have family nearby, because I haven't been able to get near the party supplies (don't want to take them out while Sweet Pea is awake; they'd never last until party time) and Slipshod has been at work so late almost every night lately that nothing is happening around here. Zero packing, even though we've had a pod delivered, and zero preparation for the party. Oh my god, that reminds me, I was supposed to order the food today... augh! Gotta go call Togo's and our local bakery. Wish me luck making it through a phone call; The Bug is calling from her crib.

What? That didn't make any sense? Oh yeah. The comment about family is because we'll have a bunch of them here before the party helping us decorate and set out the food, etc.

All I Want is an Effing Shower!

What the hell is it - is it where we live, or is every place as nasty and virus-filled as our area? It seems like whenever I take Sweet Pea out, she gets sick. Costco? Strep Throat. Tot lot at Alum Rock Park? Unidentified really nasty scary-high-fever-causing virus. Target? Apparently we're about to find out. I've just determined that she has a low-grade fever (in the low 99s). WONDERFUL. Now nobody with kids is going to want to come to her birthday party this Sunday.

Yesterday we took my niece to the Winchester Mystery House and all the nap Sweet Pea got was maybe 20 minutes on the drive home. Last night she awoke in the wee hours (3ish or 4ish) and didn't get back to sleep until 6am-ish, and I'm not even sure she was really asleep because she was talking a bit. Then she woke up for the day around 7:30am. Today, yet again no goddam nap. I'm going fucking insane. Because I get less sleep than EVERYONE around here, ALWAYS. But I have to take care of them all. Such is the life of a mother and wife, eh? Okay, I can't complain that it's ALL me... While it is true that I am the one whose sleep suffers, Slipshod has been doing all of our grocery shopping for months, and helps as he can with the girls (meaning, in the few hours that he's not at work each week).

Anyway... the upshot here is that it's nearly 3pm and I am still in my pajamas, feeling ultra-nasty because it was Africa hot yesterday when we were out, and as you might imagine with a house so big, the Winchester Mystery House is very much NOT air conditioned. And I was wearing a hot little baby in a Baby Bjorn during our 1 mile + hike through said landmark, and carrying Sweet Pea part of the time too. So people in Sacramento can probably smell my armpits. FYI, it's a 2 1/2 hour drive from here to Sacramento...

There is no point in trying to write more. Sweet Pea wants to sit on my lap and The Bug is waiting for me to get her out of her co-sleeper and we all could use some lunch.

Quick And Big Update!

First, let me just say, I have NO idea what was going on with my blog last week; it's much better now, whew. But the lilypie baby tickers seem to have lost a day and I don't know why. I redid them and everything. Oh well.

Secondly, I'm renaming Petal on my blog: From now on she shall be known as "The Bug," or simply "Bug." Because that's what I find myself calling her. I nearly named her Peanut because when she needs a bath she smells like a little peanut (seriously!), but I don't actually call her Peanut, and besides, the Queen of Spain is already using that name.

Now - we've been so busy lately, and I now have very good things to report.

1) We have renters for our house!

2) We have a place to move to!

We will be moving as soon after we get the keys (August 1st) as we possibly can. Our renters will officially be moving in here September 1st. YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! This is big stuff.

Our new place is just a short drive (about 10 minutes on back surface streets) from where Slipshod works. It has a big back yard which features a shaded grass area, a deck with a hot tub built in, and another area with some concrete and some grass/dirt area which is mostly covered by raised planting beds. Cool! The main indoor area where the girls and I will spend our days is made up of a huge open kitchen and a nice living room which has a sliding glass door which leads right out onto the deck in the back. The new place is more than twice as large as the tiny house we currently live in and is two stories rather than one (not sure if that's a plus and we will immediately be installing baby gates at the top & bottom of the stairs, but it puts all the bedrooms upstairs which is kinda cool). This place is a duplex, which is not what either Slipshod or I had pictured, but we're just renting for a couple/few years, so it should be fine. The person who lives in the other side is a single woman in her 60s and is reportedly very quiet. The house is in a nice safe neighborhood with parks and schools nearby-ish. Our side of the house is close to an intersection, but it is pretty quiet due to lots of trees between the house and the intersection, and we've been told that the town we're moving to rolls up its sidewalks around 9pm and traffic is rare later than that.

In case you can't tell, I'm very excited that we finally have these two things taken care of. I've been mentally moving into the new place for a couple days now. ha ha! As for moving, we're going to get one of those pod things and pack ourselves, though we may hire some mover folks to pack the furniture.

At home, we have a visitor: One of my teenage nieces. She flew in this Monday from out-of-state and is staying until the afternoon of the 26th. My sister sent her out to help us for two weeks. SWEEEEEEEEEEET! We're loving having her. Sweet Pea is especially loving having a live-in playmate, and I am temporarily spared the stress/guilt of not being able to play with her much. :o) Although, The Bug sleeps so much that today my niece, Sweet Pea and I were able to get a good start on making some sock puppets. ha ha! Sweet Pea started asking a few days ago if we could make sock puppets because Steve on Blues Clues had one, and also because the creatures on the in-between things on Noggin often have buttons for eyes and she thinks that's cool. She wanted to make a blue sock puppet and as luck would have it one of her little blue socks had holes in the toes, so she got her blue sock puppet! it's a kitty with blue foam ears. Her cousin's sock puppet is a doggy. ha ha! We don't have any pictures of mine yet, but it's a beige kitty with bright green foam ears. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to give our kitties red felt tongues, but for now they're serviceable enough. Sweet Pea was so cute making hers talk to her cousin's doggy. Ha ha!

Sweet Pea continues to adore her baby sister. YAY!

The Bug continues to be adorable and sleep well. She smiles more and more every day, and has dimples on both cheeks! SO cute! She has already been responding to me as Mommy for a while. You know, quieting when she's fussing with somebody else (even her daddy) and they hand her to me. I didn't remember how early that happened with Sweet Pea and was quite surprised to find her recognizing me so early. It's quite gratifying, really, but I also worry that I'm the only person who will be able to quiet her, like I'm the only person who can quiet Sweet Pea. Gratifying but also a lot of work and sometimes a very stressful place for me to be. Eep. But she's still sleeping tons and nursing tons and is just plain doing very well. We're excited to see her smiling at us so early too. She responds to both visual and auditory stimuli. She will grin when we grin at her and raise our eyebrows or sometimes if we just stick our faces in front of hers. She also loves high voice noises and grins when I talk that way. She loves to hear and see Sweet Pea as well. And her daddy, of course. Even though Slipshod can't talk as high as Sweet Pea and I can, she grins at him all the time too. I guess she just knows her family.

We took her to the doctor for her 1 month well-baby checkup yesterday (at 5 weeks) and she is growing very well. Her weight is up to 9lbs. 13oz., her head now measures 15.75" around, and unfortunately I just realized that I didn't hear how long she is now. But like Sweet Pea at this age, her head size is in the 95th percentile and her weight and length put her in the 75th. We grow 'em big.

We like our doctor so well that we're not going to leave him, even though it will be a bit of a drive to get to him. We know we'll be moving back down here in the next 2-5 years anyway, so we're going to keep going to him for regular checkups for the girls and whatever Slipshod and I need. Since we have a PPO we'll be able to also see a different doctor closer to (the new) home for more pressing situations like fevers and other things in the girls.

Smarty Pants

Well Sweet Pea may not be potty training, but three days ago she started to WRITE! As in, LETTERS! She has known her alphabet since before she was 2 and for the past many months has been working on learning what words start with what letters. She now tells me every day that her cats' names start with C and L, and that Daddy starts with D, Mommy starts with M, etc. So, the other day she announced to me that she was going to write a T, an I, and a C, and then she did just that! Color me amazed. And proud, obviously. ha ha! Since then she has demonstrated her new skill for her daddy and her grandma, and is having a great time with the letters. Sweet!

Since she is just starting out (and possibly also because she's left-handed and learning from a right-handed mama) some non-symmetrical letters come out backwards, and when she's writing her cat Lois' name (she hasn't tried any other words yet) she'll put the L on the right side of the page, backward, then the I, then put an O in between and skip the S altogether - but daggone, people, she's WRITING! Wahoo! :o) :oD

It's Pronounced "Big BooTAY."

Well, dammit, yesterday I took the plunge and tried to wear non-maternity clothes. The belly's down quite a bit (though I sure hope it goes down a bit more before stopping...) so I figured it might be safe. I have some shorts that are made for women whose waists are the same size as their hips, and since I actually have a waist I figured my belly would fit into the extra room up there in the shorts.

The problem was not my belly. It was my huge ass and hips. AUGH! At that point my mood took a nose dive that lasted for at least an hour. I do realize that I spent most of this pregnancy sitting on the couch eating ice cream, whereas the first time around I was cooking and eating healthy vegan meals every day and working out at the gym six days per week for at least the first two trimesters. But I gained the same amount this pregnancy as I did the last, and talked myself into believing that the weight was all in my belly, even though I did notice my bootie getting that "pregnant ass" look this time around. I guess I'll have to start doing some exercise... not that I wasn't planning to anyway, I'm just bummed that I can't just improve on what's there, rather than having to work out in order to fit into my regular clothes in the first place!

So here I am, stuck in my huge maternity clothes until further notice. I can't imagine taking both the girls clothes shopping, especially since I'd have to try things on. But I guess I could do that next week when Auntie comes to visit and she could run around with Sweet Pea while I tried things on. Maybe we'll do that. Yesterday I had a checkup with one of our midwives and she said that I am healing up very well and can start exercising. I can now sit cross-legged and move around as I please without worry of pulling out my two little stitches, and the skin is healed back together. Her recommendation on the clothing was to buy a couple pretty things that make me feel good so that I have a couple nice things to wear during this bodily transition period.

Oop - Petal is calling. Poor thing was having a nice nap in the baby swing and then our more annoying feline went and rubbed against the swing and it stopped moving and the baby woke up. Grr.

I Hate the Cars - the Cars That Go, "BOOM!"

I'm neither Bunny nor Tigra, and I HATE the "BOOM!"

Just wanted to say that. We have all-day-long boomage in our neighborhood. What cracks me up is the cars themselves. The guys driving them usually look really tough and gang-member-like, and they probably are, but the cars they drive vary from little primered falling-apart jalopies to - seriously, I just saw this yesterday - minivans. I'm not kidding.

Go figure.

Pillow Talk and Pictures

Were you a fly on the wall in our bedroom last night you would have heard all manner of cute sentiments coming out of Sweet Pea's mouth. She was feeling quite talkative at bedtime and how can you tell a kid to stop talking when she's telling you and your husband how much she loves you both, and things she thinks she remembers from when she was a baby?

But Slipshod and I were thankful that the lights were out when the following conversation was uttered, so that we could laugh silently without her seeing us:

Sweet Pea: "This is my poopie hole."
Me: "Do you have your hand down your diaper?"
Sweet Pea: "No. I took it out."

And on that note, I change the subject entirely:


Nobody reading this will understand, but I have to say: Gheeeeee!
She's just so cute, isn't she? If I do say so myself... hee hee.


Sweet Pea looks so LONG! And she is... she's a tall girl. But dang, Mom was right - she looks amazingly huge next to her newborn sister.


I ask you this: Has there ever been a cuter swimsuit? EVER?


I thought this might make you laugh as much as it does me. This is one of Slipshod's cousins. We gave the hat, and a little dress that matches, to this man's niece (Slipshod's other cousin's daughter) for her birthday last weekend. It's definitely cuter on the toddler, but SO FUNNY on her uncle!

Haste Makes Waste(d Mama)

To finish off my postpartum picks, I have to say that Lansinoh brand lanolin and Lansinoh nursing pads are absolutely essential. I used the lanolin every day for the entire 2 years and 2 months that I nursed Sweet Pea. Kept the ole nips moist, healthy and crack-free.

As for the breast pads - well, we tried store brand and others as well as the Lansinoh ones. Store brands tended to fall apart and leave fluff on my nipples, which if I wasn't watching would probably have been ingested by my sweet little babe, and who wants a baby drinking paper/cotton or whatever those things are made out of? Ugh! Some other brands didn't fall apart like that but were too thin or didn't have a plastic barrier to protect clothing. The Lansinoh pads just plain rock. I was completely sold on them the night when I had a plugged duct that let go while I was sleeping. I had nursed Sweet Pea with her chin toward the plug, as suggested, which made for amusing nursing, as the plug was at the top of my breast. Then we went to sleep for the night. Even though it hurt a lot I was able to get to sleep and didn't notice when the plug let go. In the morning when I got up and took off my nighttime bra to take a shower, the nursing pad which had absorbed the unplugged duct fell to the bathroom floor with a ten-ton "THUD!" I was shocked and then remembered the plug the night before. The Lansinoh breast pad had absorbed a whole ton of milk that had come out when the plug let go during the night, and held it all. I was amazed, and totally sold. Now that's the only brand I want.

Now, as for haste making waste - I find that 8 days after giving birth, I am impatient for my body to go back to normal. My belly is shrinking every day, but I want it all the way back to normal and not sore anymore. My pelvis is still sore, but I want to be able to move around quickly and easily again. I do feel better every day, so I find myself doing too much and not just sitting and nursing like I should be. Slipshod is home and we've got family visiting on and off, so I really don't need to bust my butt around here, but I am one who craves accomplishment every day. I measure that accomplishment more in visible things like clean laundry, clean dishes, thank you notes written, etc. than in more important things like well-fed baby and rested Mama. Somebody glue me to the couch! Because my increase in activity is sometimes leading to more bleeding and today, sudden abdominal pains (after none since day of delivery). Argh.

Violet's Postpartum Picks

The wee one has been sucking me dry all day. Yesterday I was engorged and had fountains of milk for her, but I guess I didn't drink enough because today I was all squishy all day and she just couldn't get enough of the boobs!

Anyway, I think she's asleep now - oh, nope, she's staring at the ceiling. Oh well. We'll see how much I can type here before she figures out I'm not holding her and she has a wet diaper. Everyone else is asleep and I really should be too, but I wanted to pop a little something up here that I've been thinking about.

It's a list of things that I find extremely useful and possibly even indispensable after having a baby. Enjoy!

FROZEN PADS - made with (1/4 cup per pad) witch hazel poured onto big, thick maxi pads and then frozen. SO awesome for a week or more after labor. Thayer's witch hazel with aloe vera smells really nice, too. Store brands - not so much.

DEPENDS - frickin' awesome for holding said frozen pads and keeping your clothes and furniture dry. Love 'em.

AFTER PAIN TINCTURE, SITZ BATH HERBS, and GOLDENSEAL ROOT POWDER from Herb Lore. Pam, who owns Herb Lore, is awesome, as are her products. The after pain tincture works instantly in my case to relieve uterine cramping pains after birth. The sitz bath herbs just kinda make things feel better down there, and give you an excuse to have to sit in the bath tub and relax after you have a baby. ha ha! The goldenseal root powder dries up the baby's cord stump very quickly and is an infection fighter. Good stuff!

Oops, that's all I have time for. Baby crying. Must change diaper and once again try to get her to sleep so I can get my sorry ass to bed.

Pictures For You

Wow, the anticipation almosted killed blogger!

The demand for news of Laboring Mama was so intense that it brought all of blogger down this morning. Wow, I didn't know there were so many of you out there, and you should really lay off the refresh button. If you hit that button too often you'll go blind.

Anyway, here's some stats on the new family member:

8lbs 6 oz.
21 inches
BIG head (runs in the Slipshod family - drove Mama nuts when she found out about it. Of course that might have been because she was several months pregnant when she found out about the genetic traits in the family... )
Red Hair, just like her sister (though you can't see it in the picture)

It's a GIRL!!!

Our new daughter was born this morning, and everyone is happy and healthy. Spectacular waterbirth - Mama finally got her home birth. The family is happy and healthy, and Sweat Pea is excited to finally meet her sister.

More later. Daddy is HIGH on the birth-juju right now and can't sit in one place for long!

Mama went into labor, and it's for real.

More later, kind of busy.

Back to Normal Around Here

Okay, I SO feel like the boy who cried "wolf!" Apparently this baby is not going to come until we totally ignore the fact that I'm still pregnant and just go back to life as usual. I'm sending Slipshod back to work today, and I'll go about my usual routine with Sweet Pea. Dirty dishes, here I come. ha ha!

Maybe the baby's waiting until we finally choose a name for her... Geez, I don't really think that's going to happen until she's born, though, so she'd better just come on out.

We have to go for a prenatal visit tonight. I don't want to be in the car, especially not on the narrow, winding Santa Cruz Mountain roads, particularly the one with speed bumps. ARGH... Oh well, maybe those will help things along.

Julie, you're right, I don't think I'll get to MNO tonight - ha ha. Would love to see you, but going out in the car sucks - and we'll probably be just coming home from our prenatal appointment around the time that you all are getting together.

On the plus side, all of this "gearing up" has gotten me to sleep a LOT more in the past couple days. I've taken naps with Sweet Pea and gone to bed with her at night, which means I've added 3 to 4 extra hours to my time in bed, and I'm feeling the good effects of that.

Sweet Pea is so difficult to wake up (gives me hope for her not waking when the baby does after she's born) that we opted not to give her her 1:30am dose of Tylenol. It was hard enough to wake her up for it at 5:30am! She is fine again today. I haven't taken her temperature but she's EATING, YAY, and drinking, which she has been doing pretty well all along except for a couple hours on the bad bad day.

Slipshod did a ton of work around the house yesterday and the place looks awesome. I just hope he didn't hurt his hands & elbows too much. Somehow he even managed to move large pieces of furniture!

Well, we slept nice and late and now it's time for Sweet Pea and I to have some breakfast. Sorry about all the ups and downs with this, I'm really not just trying to get attention - ha ha! Our midwives think that this gearing up work my uterus is doing is really good, and that I should just go about my days as I'm doing today, ignoring it. One of the midwives said, "I always think that any contraction that can be ignored should be ignored."

Last night's contractions were much stronger than the previous night's, which is why once again I truly thought labor was starting - but oh well... it was nice to be able to go to bed early and get some sleep and not be in labor all night. But the baby's really got to come out soon. Really. I insist.

*** By the way... *** Yes, I did notice my husband's not-so-subtle infiltration of my blog. Yeesh. Geeks. Can't keep your computer safe from 'em, but they sure are handy when your computer hangs or crashes. Hee. My favorite part, besides that right on my blog he wrote, "shh, don't tell her..." was that I received an e-mail telling me that I had invited him to join my blog. ha ha ha! Dork.

OK, maybe not...

Laboring Mama has gone to sleep, and I'll be following shortly. The contractions settled down, but it did get my Mom to come down and bring us dinner! :)

That's all for now - maybe we'll have some good news tomorrow...