musings of Mother Hood

a.k.a. Possibly The Most Important Conversation I Had At Work Yesterday

Because this has become a place I feel comfortable over-sharing, I think it's only fair to tell you about my ChapStick thing. It's one of those brands that has become synonymous with the product itself - like Kleenex or Q-tips or McNuggets. And it's not hard to see why. I personally take great care of my ChapStick. After years of trial and error I am now fiercely loyal to the blue tube - Moisturizer, though there was a fairly significant phase in college during which my friend Jenni and I scoured every possible store for the coveted STRAWBERRY.  I buy them in the triple pack and keep the extras in a kitchen drawer beside other essentials like flashlights and rubber bands. I have blue ChapStick EVERYWHERE - purse, diaper bag, car, winter coats, bedside table, office desk drawer. I try to be prepared. And when I open a new tube I am really careful to peel off the little plastic seal so that there's a clean break and a smooth edge on the remaining plastic. I go to more trouble than I should probably admit to get this just right. And after I get the little white cap off I spend some time shaping the top of the tube so it's nice and round. Again - just right.

See? Over-sharing.

I can't help it. I love ChapStick. And apparently I'm not alone. I spent some time last night doing all the appropriate research. And you're looking at the newest member of the Official ChapStick Fan Club. Benefits of membership are a little vague, but we'll see what happens. Next, naturally, I checked it out on Facebook. There are 193 pages about ChapStick on Facebook and over 1100 groups. And (what appears to be) the Official Fan Page has over 160,000 fans! And I'm one of them.

And where did all this nonsense come from? I'm so glad you asked. My very serious, grown-up job of course. Yesterday, the following all-important question was discussed, at length, at my office: Do you share your ChapStick?

Well? DO you?

I will reserve my answer so as not to sway the vote, but I want to hear your take. I will tell you that I think there's more to it than a yes/no. The question is wide open. Shades of gray. Disclaimers everywhere. What if this? and What about that? and Only if it's my wife/child/boss/roommate/total stranger. I want to hear it all. Bring it on. Leave a comment making your case. Do you share your ChapStick?

Separately, I'm thinking of submitting an entry to Urban Dictionary and would like your help with that, too. One of my disclaimers is that it depends on whether or not it is a "ChapStick Emergency", and I need some help fleshing out my definition. Determining a ChapStick Emergency is tricky. And subjective.

So here's my first attempt:

ChapStick Emergency -

1. A sudden, urgent, usually unexpected occurrence requiring immediate relief - that which can only truly be provided by ChapStick.
"Woah, the wind is brutal today. This sudden storm is going to cause a ChapStick Emergency."
2. Any situation which impedes the process or progress of applying ChapStick.
"I have lotion on my fingers and can't get the tube open. This is a ChapStick Emergency!"
3. Any circumstances whereby one has not made the necessary ChapStick preparations and finds oneself without an adequate supply.
"Man, I can't believe I'm halfway through this movie, all alone in a dark theater with a bucket of salty popcorn, and no ChapStick! This is a ChapStick Emergency!" 

Thoughts? You may or may not be surprised to know just how many entries in the Urban Dictionary contain the word "chapstick". I counted eleven. With your help, I could be number twelve.

Ok, I'm done. Now feel free to go find something that will restore those IQ points that just slipped away. 

Let's Try This Again

By this time last week, I'd already been vomited on. More than once. And the week didn't improve much from there.

First, you should probably understand that Winter Weather in Northwest Arkansas takes on a life of its own. One minute the Weatherman is predicting a chance of winter precipitation and the next thing you know we're expecting 2-4" and schools are closed 24 hours in advance of the first flurry. It gets out of hand really fast. 

And we'd all been off our school/daycare normalcy for two solid weeks and I was enthusiastically looking forward to getting back to, you know, normal.

So last week. *sigh*

Sunday. 

• Weather forecast not looking good, but I was optimistic.
• Colt woke up early from his nap so we went for a drive. As we walked back in our house, Colt staggered toward me, wrapped his arms around my neck - and threw up his afternoon snack on my shoulder.
• Poor guy. He settled down, I cleaned us up, and I gave him some water.
• The rest of the evening was more of the same. The poor kid couldn't even keep water down. 
• Colt finally fell asleep, and we were hoping he would feel better by morning.
• By the 10 o'clock news they were already posting school closings for Monday morning. And sure enough - Fayetteville Schools were closed. This meant that daycare was also likely closed, so I made plans to take my Cabin Fever Vaccination and stay home Monday with the little guy.

Monday.

• High - 21. Low - 8.
• Got up at 2am with Colt. He gulped down an entire cup of Pedialyte then pointed back to his bed. No pleasantries, woman. It's the middle of the night! Back to bed he went and slept until morning.
• Woke up to discover that the University was closed so Jeff had the day off. 
• But upon calling to confirm daycare was closed, we found out they were open at 10! So we got the little guy out of bed to see how he felt.
• He ate his Cheerios like a champ and had no fever, so we made plans to take him to school.
• Had an appointment to get an MRI (long story, separate post) at 10:30.
• Came out of MRI in time to get a call from daycare that Colt was running a fever and we would need to come pick him up. Geez. He'd been there for ONE. HOUR.
• So Doctor's Office #2 for the day. Turns out, there's nothing they can do. Just a stomach bug. But since he had a fever, he can't go back to daycare for 24 hours. So I started gearing myself up to stay home. Again.

Tuesday.

• High - 23. Low - 6.
• More cold. More winter weather. All schools closed again. Colt and I stayed inside with Barney and Fireman Sam, and did not change out of our sweats.
• Had big plans to take a nap when Colt went down at 1:00 so I took a nice long shower and cozied up under the electric blanket.
• ...turns out the stomach bug was contagious.
• Spent Colt's entire naptime running back and forth to the bathroom.
• Made promise to myself that Wednesday. Wednesday would be normal.

Wednesday.

• High - 36. Low - 15.
• Felt like crap upon rolling out of bed in the morning, but vowed to get to work by lunch.
• Colt had his 18 month well-child checkup at 11, but he went to school all morning.
• You know how the checkup went... And the subsequent events...
• I WENT TO MY OFFICE THAT AFTERNOON. Felt like crap. But I was there!
• Held my breath for school closings.

Thursday.

• High - 26. Low - 6.
• Schools closed - AGAIN. Daycare closed - AGAIN.
• Attended Doctor's Appointment #4 for the week to get results from Monday's MRI. Waited 45 minutes for a 4 minute appointment. Figures.
• Drove home on DRY roads while silently cursing whoever cancelled every school between here and Kansas because it was COLD OUTSIDE.

Friday.

• High - 12. Low - 1.
• Could it be? Fayetteville Schools are open! Daycare is open! I get to go to work!
• Looking forward to a normal day. And a Friday, to boot.
• Walked to my car at 1:45 to drive to a 2:00 meeting at P&G. Car is dead.
• After Jeff came to jump me, I drove home shivering with no radio/heater/headlights so as not to use additional battery juice. Held my breath the entire way as the lights on the dash flickered. Mentally prepared myself to steer my dead car off the road should it give out mid-trip.

Saturday.

• High - 21. Low - 3.
• Stuck in the house again, but did make a trip to the Honda dealer for a new car battery.

So if you've been paying attention, that makes 1 stomach virus, 4 trips to various doctors, 1.5 days of work for me, around 2 cumulative days of daycare for Colt, 1 dead car battery, and an average temperature of about 7.

Crossing my fingers for a "normal" week. We need it.

So - from the top!

A grip. Get one.

This week has been, well, a long one. I won't bore you with excuses for my lag in posting. I won't even bore you with the details of my "long" week, because I'm certainly aware that everyone is busy and everyone is tired and everyone has "stuff" going on. 

But! This week I decided enough is enough. Alright already. My life is busy. But I need to get it together.

So I bought some school supplies. Duh. Isn't that everyone does when they need to feel In Control of things? Whatever - you people are the weird ones. Some people take time off, read a book and relax. I color code. I buy new pens. I buy notebooks and organizers and cute pads of paper. 

This week, I decided that the start of a new month and the nagging and increasing feelings of disorganization were good enough reasons to take action. 

• I took some good advice and decided to try Sharpie Pens. They're growing on me. 
• I made a call on a recent dilemma. To Levenger or Not To Levenger. I decided to take the imposter route and download the templates from our share drive at work, saving me a ridiculous amount of money but not sacrificing the brilliance that is Levenger.
• I dusted off my Label Baby Junior. And wondered how I'd lived without it for the last year.
• I started filing the 500+ emails in my inbox. When I left work on Thursday, it was under 200. SERIOUS progress. For reference: I would prefer to have no more than 10 emails in my inbox at any given time. 500 emails were giving me a little panic attack.    

It's been a big week. Please don't make fun of me to my face. I might make you a file.

____________________

In other news, the little guy is loving his new school. He fell on the playground yesterday and busted his lip. And he gets positively filthy playing outside, requiring an average of two outfits each day... But we love the new school. A good choice.

A few pics from the last week--

  

The red rocking chair belonged to Colt's Grandpa Martin as a little boy. It's a new favorite destination in the living room.

Last Saturday afternoon we went to a housewarming party for friends Teresa, Ryan and Chaz. They have a beautiful new home in Fayetteville. Chaz - who's almost 2 - shared his toys with Colt (and taught him how to make a big wet mess in the kiddie pool!) and this toy lawnmower was a favorite. It made a little gurgling noise when it moved, so he would push it about a foot - far enough to start the noise - then giggle. All over the yard! He never walked behind it for more than a few seconds at a time. Just long enough to hear the gurgling noise and have a good laugh. Weird kid.

And last night, since Paw was out of town, we had a rare treat. Bath Time!

 

Have a great weekend and a safe holiday.

You've Heard of "Falling Off The Wagon"

This is what it looks like. 

Count them. Three Sonic cups. Three. LARGES. In my defense, I think one of them was still on my desk from the day before. I think. But I know I got one on my way to work and one during Happy Hour. I don't even want to do the math on that. 

I quit drinking Diet Coke two years ago - even before I was pregnant. I can't remember why exactly, but I remember that it sucked. It took weeks before I didn't get daily headaches and months before I was truly quenched by plain ole water. But I got there. And I stuck with it throughout my pregnancy and then the entire time I was nursing. But about a month ago I took a diving leap off the proverbial wagon and into a nice, convenient cup of DC. And I have not looked back. 

Each cup is equal parts guilt and satisfaction. Neither is winning out at this point so I continue to have my daily dose and rationalize it to myself as something I "deserve". An intervention may be necessary.

The Walmart Experience

That's right folks. It's Shareholder's Week here in NWA. And for the first 8 summers I lived in Fayetteville that meant staying as far away from campus as I could manage during the first week of June. But this year I decided to brave the craziness. My team at work created two different booths - one for Iams and one for Pringles - so I went today to check in on them. I have been TOTALLY missing out all these years! 

The Iams booth was a game show -- that's me in the middle, and my Creative Director as the host (in shorts - go Andy!) -- and it was fabulous. 

All of the pet booths were together inside the Tennis Facility on campus, and this one was by far my favorite. These pictures do not do it justice - it was the cutest thing EVER.

Yes, that's what you think it is. Dog poo. The idea of this game was to use the pooper scooper to fling the brown bean bags into various buckets for various points. Kinda like dog poo skee ball.

Tuesday night - before the vendor fair - I met up with my friends Mary and Autumn for some free Brad Paisley and Sugarland action in Bud Walton Arena. SO fun. Sugarland opened and was amazing. They were truly studio-quality -- which is hard to come by with live music. That girl can SANG. The only weird part of the concert was when she had an abrupt and confusing costume change with the addition of a red sequin stocking cap thing. She was dressed all hippie chickie cute with her long tunic and slept-in hair -- then all the sudden BAM. Red sequins. It was so distracting. And I wish I had a picture of it. But they were wonderful. And Brad Paisley is just adorable. And the man can play. The. Guitar. Wow. Gotta love a free concert! 

It worked out well that there were two nights of concerts -- one I wanted to attend, and one that Jeff wanted to attend -- because this year, with Colt, we had to switch-off. So Wednesday night Jeff went with some friends to see Foreigner. I honestly don't think I could name a Foreigner song if my life depended on it. But Jeff said they were awesome. Good choice, Walmart.

Also of note, there were several non-singing celebrities in town for the event. AT&T brought in Darren McFadden and Nastia Liukin, and though I didn't see him, I heard tell that Chad from the Alltel commercials was lurking around. Is he a celebrity?

Here I am with Nastia - who has the special honor of being the first celebrity I am following on Twitter. Slippery slope, my friends.

Paper and Plastic are SO 10 Years Ago.

• 100% recyclable
• Made from 85% recycled materials
• Made from approximately 4 plastic soda bottles
• Can replace 50 plastic shopping bags
• Can carry the same weight as 2-3 plastic shopping bags

Where have you been all my life?!

As you know, I vowed to adopt a PSP and settled on reusable shopping bags. And I couldn't be happier. I've waited a few weeks to blog about them because I not only wanted to be sure I'd stick with them, but wanted to be able to appropriately report back to you about all aspects, i.e. remembering to take the bags back to the store every time.

I don't know where to start. They've changed my life. Well, my grocery shopping life, anyway. I used to come home with between 20 and 30 bags of groceries every week. Now I have 3. Maybe 4. And unless you get Joe Teenager Checkout Boy, the cashiers are fairly good at bagging everything - cold stuff together, bread on top, etc. The reusable bags are wide and flat on the bottom so they stand up in the car -- no more hunting for stray jars of baby food in the depths of the trunk. And an unexpected perk -- shoulder straps! I can put the bag(s) on my shoulder and have my hands free, which is especially important now that I am perpetually wrestling a munchkin.

They fold flat, can be completely smashed and crushed into a ball, and double as a light-weight and convenient way to schlep clothes to the dry cleaner. What's not to love? One day last week, I had to buy a new one at the store because I ran to Walmart at lunch and didn't bring my gear. But I now keep a few in the trunk of the car for just such a shopping emergency.

I will even go so far as to say I think the government should mandate the use of reusable shopping bags. Yes, that's right. Why not? It's a SUPER easy way to be more sustainable and doesn't cost any extra time or energy. Maybe I should write my Congressman. (And as far as laws go, my Reusable Shopping Bag Law should definitely be in line ahead of the crazy Digital TV Transition Law. What. Ever. It's really a separate rant, but do we really need 18 months of public service announcements to help us "prepare" for the switch to digital television? Did the government subsidize CD players for the American people when the compact disc was invented and we all made the "transition" from cassette tapes? *aggravated sigh*)

So there ya go. They're more than Reusable Shopping Bags. They're a way of life.

It's Not Easy Being Green v 2.0

For the most part, I am pleased with the suggestions I received regarding my PSP. The good news is that I don't have to pick just one. The bad news is that - on the record - Laura suggested "The Keeper" (Google at your own risk) and - off the record - Jeff proposed a One-Flush-per-Day Rule at our house! Neither are bad sustainability suggestions, technically...

But the PSP I gravitated toward most genuinely was the reusable shopping bag idea. And let me tell you why. Dad suggested reusable shopping bags in an email early yesterday and it intrigued me. Then Nancy sealed the deal with her comment about how much they hold. Yes! My single biggest issue with Walmart (and let's face it there are several) is that the cashiers only put one or two items in each bag. I painstakingly put my groceries on the conveyor belt in a VERY orderly manner. I put all cold items together, all boxed items together, all toiletries together, all cans together, I save eggs and bread for last, and I place everything up there RIGHT SIDE UP so they can easily find the barcodes for scanning. Bagging should be a snap. Pile all that cold stuff together! Double-bag it and pile in the cans! But what I end up with is 40 bags each holding a bag of chips or a tube of toothpaste -- and it takes me an hour to unpack the car and get everything put away.

(It's worth mentioning that I actually prefer the Self-Checkout, but I respect it like I do the Express Lane. If I have enough items to warrant more than a handheld shopping basket -- I forego the Self-Checkout. It should be reserved for those with a few items. It's not a rule. Just my opinion.)

Nancy hit the nail on the head when she mentioned the capacity of reusable shopping bags. Sold! My new PSP is reusable shopping bags.

The One-Flush-per-Day Rule is tied up in committee.

It's Not Easy Being Green

I need your help.

Though I am fairly cynical regarding the new "Green" movement I would like to try and look past the trendiness and do my part. It's not that I don't want to save the planet, I just don't know that ridding the Earth of plastic water bottles is the answer. Anyway.

Everyone at my office has been tasked with identifying at least one PSP. PSP = Personal Sustainability Project. I think the term was originally coined by Walmart. Not sure. But PSPs are commitments made by individuals to do their part in any small way to help the cause. Examples of PSPs I have heard around the office include:

• Biking to work (This won't work for me for obvious reasons.)
• Not printing emails (I think this is a no-brainer.The whole point of email is that it isn't printed... I think that one is cheating.)
• Eating a vegetarian diet (I believe in the food chain. I think Mother Nature understands that. She did invent bacon after all.)
• Only putting out one trash bin per month - recycling all other waste (This one intrigues me. Though I think I fill our kitchen trash about once a DAY.)

None of those work for me.

I try! I wash all of our clothes in cold water (in a non-HE washer...), I carefully wash and dry every single empty (Organic!) baby food container so that my family can reuse them to hold buttons and nails and such, we use those damn inconvenient compact fluorescent light bulbs -- I even wash all my dishes by hand so as not to run a half-empty dishwasher!  But I use disposable diapers, leave the TV on when no one is in the room, and I loooooooove to take long showers. Is that wrong?

I need some help on this one. Any suggestions for my PSP?

I am playing hooky today.

And had to look up both the spelling and the actual meaning of the word 'hooky.' Best I can tell, it originates from kids skipping school to go fishing-- something like that.

Anyway, I'm taking a mental health day. No plans. Thought about going to get a massage - but then thought I would be just as rested if I stay at home, find some Jon & Kate reruns on TLC, take six or eight naps, and maybe start my online Christmas shopping. I'm pretty excited about it. And my family will no doubt reap the greater reward - a rested and happy Mama!

What's so funny?!

Smiling! Laughing, really. I think God knew what he was doing when he decided when babies would smile. It just so happens to be about the time they start crying real tears. While I am learning to handle the tears -- the smiles are making up for it!

7 weeks! This week has been a big one - and I mean BIG. Last Wednesday, after my update, we got a scale so we could keep up with the chubby little guy. He weighed 10 lbs 9ozs!  That's over 4 pounds in 6 weeks!

We go to the doctor in a few weeks for an official weigh-in, but I weighed him again this morning and he tipped the scales at just over 11 pounds!

Jeff was the unfortunate victim of our first diaper "failure" this week -- and has been a little gun-shy ever since. Thankfully it's only happened the one time so far -- though I'm sure my time is coming...

This week brought Colt's first bottle, which didn't seem to slow the weight gain at all - thank goodness. The first few were a little traumatic - for both Colt and Dad - but they are getting a little easier with every attempt.

Dad is especially proud of one of the gifts we received from a coworker of mine -- and at the rate he's growing, this kid will be playing for the Hogs in no time!

I talked with my boss this week about my going back to work -- which only makes me realize how fast time is flying. I have so enjoyed being home with Colt this summer and can't believe how much he's changed in just the few weeks he's been here. Never before had I noticed all the babies and kids that are everywhere I go -- though Jeff pointed out that I really never ran errands at the "Mom" time of day before -- and I find myself getting excited about a time when he's old enough to do fun things like go to the zoo or give me a hug or track mud in the house. I'm trying hard not to "wish away" his babyhood -- he'll never be 7 weeks old again -- and every time he falls asleep on my chest I think, "someday he'll be too big for this" and it makes me smile and enjoy every minute of every day with him.

Happy 7 weeks, Little Man.