Let's Go Jogging!

Well, the day went well. Ardyn and I went to my computer user group meeting at the library this afternoon. She did fairly well, only fussing a little bit. They have a rocker in the children's section so I was able to rock and she fell asleep. Then we went to the Coffee Depot where I had a chicken salad sandwich, cottage cheese, fruit, and cinnamon ice cream for lunch. Then (after making all those healthy decisions) I ate Beef Jerky, Cheese and Cracker Combos, a bottle of water, and a Reese's Crunchy Candy Bar. Yeah. Not all at once, I just bought it all and spread it out from 2pm-8pm. Ha.

Ardyn was SO stinking tired tonight. She refuses to nap for longer than 10 minutes at a time during the day, so most nights by 7:30 she has been awake 12 hours without any more than two 10-20 minute cat naps. It's insanity. She gets SOOO cranky. But you can lay her down all you want, and she wakes up in about 10 minutes or 10 if you are lucky. Then on a rare occasion she will take a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. So today, only that one quick nap at the meeting. So by 4:30 she was a BEAR. Crying, cranky, and fighting sleep. By 6:30 we decided to just put her to sleep. I changed her diaper, swaddled her, nursed her, and put her in bed. Now it's 8pm and I am going to bed so that I can get some sleep and hopefully so that I can get up with her at whatever time she sees fit, if she sleeps for her regular amount of time, that should be 4:30am. Let's just hope that she eats and goes back to sleep, because being awake at 4:30am just plain sucks.

I will leave you a picture of Ardyn today, just for fun. She is wearing a pink Adidas Suit and Pink Puma "tennis shoe" socks. Too cute, eh?

Mail Call!

Well, I got all my packages priced at the post office. That was a treat. Lots of struggling to carry them without dropping them all and opening the stupid pull out doors with both hands full. Damn.

In the mail today we got Ardyn's personalized name labels, for her bottles (and someday for her sippy cups!) We got 4 pink and 4 purple and they stretch to fit all sizes of bottles and cups. You can run them through the dishwasher and sterilizer safely. They have her name on the one side and her name in Braille on the backside. They are wicked cool. I am totally jealous. I really hate the idea of writing on her bottles or cups with permenant marker, because our next babies will need to use them too, and I think this is an excellent alternative.

Also, a couple few pairs of mary janes arrived. I bought them all from one seller on ebay, who obviously had a little girl. The cherry ones are my favorite, because she has the outfit to match them already, but the others are also super cute. I am hoping the two bigger pair will fit around 6-9 months because I have that super cute skirt from Children's Place that matches the houndstooth ones pretty well. And the red ones, well, you just don't need an excuse to wear foxy red shoes, even if you are only a few months old.

Of course the post office had to be closed TODAY.

Well, today I got all 13 of my ebay items packaged and ready to ship, but of course the post office was closed today so I have to go tomorrow.

I got my hair cut. Added some layers. I will get it colored in December.

Unloaded the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen, did two loads of laundry, and organized my hair clips and brushes tonight. Then I washed my white bras and washable breast pads and bleached them. I try to bleach them once a month to kill any residual germs that hot water doesn't get out. Hoping that will help prevent thrush.

I really need to go to bed now. Tomorrow I have a computer user group class at the library. Wednesday Boyd goes to the vet for his tumor. Thursday I pick up a prescription and pay for my health insurance at work ($418 while I am off work, that's my "half" for each month. Insanity.) Saturday I have a Christmas Card Class and potluck.

My 29th Birthday is just around the corner! So is Thanksgiving, and we are hosting per usual, so I need to get a menu together. Ack. I need a good sweet potato casserole recipe. Anyone care to email me theirs? The more the merrier. I know I can google it but I want to say "This is (insert friend's name here) sweet potato casserole recipe" and then I want to add it to my recipe binder.

We had Yankee Pot Roast with Potatoes Carrots and Gravy for supper, and sweet corn. And Apple Pie with Ice Cream for dessert.

Ardyn and Mom

I have so much that I wanted to write about tonight, but it's past my bedtime and I have spent the ENTIRE night uploading photos to Flickr because I was so behind! If you want to see new pictures, it's the place to go. For those of you who don't know, I have made Ardyn's photos all private, and only my friends and family can see them. So if you want to see them from this point forward, you will have to join Flickr (or just login if you have a yahoo account) and then I will have to add you as my friend... so shoot me a Flickr mail once you are logged in and you can see all the new pictures once I add you. There has been lots of recent activity with photos of children on flickr being stolen and posted on websites for pedophiles. Yes. Therefore Ardyn is now private.

We have photos of her being bundled up for winter, playing and laughing, being held by family members, with mom, with dad, and out and about. Plenty to check out.

Tivo shows are getting pretty good. How about The wolves surrounding Marin on Friday night? I think that it's CASH that will be hospitalized, as he walks back to Marin's cabin and tries to save her from wolves. Or perhaps his health issue causes a problem when he encounters the wolves and that's why he goes in the hospital. Speculation. Which I am good at. And How about the Tornado on Wisteria Lane? Victor being found? Lynette Crying and bloody? Whoa.

Today was pretty productive. Ardyn slept through the night in her crib last night. 8 hours. That was the first time I tried putting her in her crib to sleep. She's also been in there since 7:30 tonight when she fell asleep. Poor kid was exhausted tonight as she fought a nap all day and finally took a one hour nap. So she was awake 12 hours with only a one hour nap. Wow.

I picked up a bit around here, loaded and ran the dishwasher. Made myself cereal for breakfast, soup for lunch, and mexican rice for supper. Watched some TIVO. Spent the entire day trying to lay Ardyn down for her nap after she fell asleep 524 times only to have her wake up in 5 minutes. Talked to two friends on the phone. Checked my email. Sold 13 items on eBay. Uploaded all of Ardyn's photos from the end of October and November so far. Organized all those photos into folders on the computer. Damn Firetrucks keep going by here with lights and sirens and so far they haven't woke Ardyn up. Hope they don't.

Evan and his dad finished plastic on the windows. I took a bath. Wrote in Ardyn's baby books. Made a haircut appointment for this week and asked Evan's mom to babysit.

I also had to confront an old friend today. Someone who I have known since kindergarten showed up on my doorstep today to see the baby. Instead of letting them in, I had to ask them to leave and let them know that I never wanted to see them again. That was difficult. I felt badly but I knew that moment was coming. It's hard to see someone that you care about constantly make bad decisions. It's even harder to see those bad decisions become worse decisions. But there comes a time and a place where you realize that you can't jeopardize your family and that it becomes more stressful to be friends with someone than it does to cut those ties. I have never even broken up with a boyfriend, let alone a friend. I think that's the first time I have ever had to do that. But the line was crossed when this person hurt one of my best friends and did something that is unforgivable (not to mention illegal.) Because it's not my story to tell, I will leave it at that. Hopefully having this all over can bring some peace to all of us and I can stop worrying about how it will all play out. I tried to remain calm and just state the facts, and how I felt, and to be very clear that this was the last time we would talk. While I didn't want to hurt an old friend, I didn't really have a choice. I am proud of myself for making a decision for my family and myself and sticking to it despite being uncomfortable.

Oh and this photo is of Ardyn and I tonight, in our pajamas.

Weekend So Far.

Saturday was a BIG day! Ardyn (and in effect, me too) was up at 6am. Awake. So we got up and got dressed in layers and ready to spend the day outside. Then we woke up Evan and he got ready, and we loaded up the truck and drove to Mendota for a daycare auction. The daycare went out of business and they were auctioning off EVERYTHING. We were actually pretty excited, we planned on bidding on a PVC Fence and on some Little Tykes outdoor equipment. When we got there, it was much warmer than it had been at 8:30am when we left home... which was nice, so we were able to shed a layer. The fence wasn't in bad shape but it was cemented in at the corners. The little tykes equipment, and pretty much everything else at the auction, was in ROUGH shape. Rough. Cracked and faded plastic, all the toys and puzzles missing pieces... everything was pretty beat to hell. We were a little shocked at that. Of course they had the entire building, inside and the entire outside hayracks to sell before they even got to the fence or outdoor playthings, so we left bids on the items we were interested in and I bid on a couple of hayrack items. Things were going WAY over what most people would be willing to pay. There were lots of bid happy moms there, paying $20-$40 for a tote of crayons or pom poms or play-doh. It was kinda crazy sometimes. I did end up getting a BIG box full of art goodies. Probably almost 30 boxes of crayons, and about 10 boxes of markers, tons of boxes of chalk, unopened construction paper, unopened glue and glue sticks, that sort of thing. It was pretty cool. Glitter and pom poms and pipe cleaners. It was my one big box and that's all we brought home. The fence went for $100 more than our highest bid, and the little tykes pieces that we bid on went for double what we bid. Insanity. I came home and looked through the step 2 catalog just to refresh my memory on pricing, and sure enough, people were paying dangerously close to retail for outdoor pieces that were rough and faded. Strange.

So we went to the new super walmart in Peru for a bit, to grab some toilet paper and look around. Then we went to Arby's and grabbed lunch for the road and came home. Last night Evan made steak stir fry and we had apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert. My parents stopped by after eating at Cajun Connection. Evan and my parents have both been through the new captain swift bridge (the back way from Wyanet to Princeton) and say that it's really nice. It's a replicated Red Covered Bridge, like the original that is located north of Princeton. I don't know if yesterday was the first day it was open... but I intend to see it myself soon. I instantly thought about how soon it will be vandalized. There are a lot of people pissed about the use of so much money to build the bridge. The only thing I am upset about is the fact that it took them an entire year (or more?) to get the damn road open again so we could use it. I go that way ALLLL the time to Princeton, as it's right in my backyard. What a pain it's been. I can't imagine how the people who live just on the other side of the bridge feel. Jeez.

So Ardyn for some reason did NOT want to sleep last night. We put her down 5 times from 9pm till 12am, and each time she woke up again. Finally I got cranky at midnight and swaddled her and this time put her in her crib in her room instead of the co-sleeper. And she went to sleep. And slept 8 hours straight. In her Crib. For the first time ever. She naps there but has never slept there yet. So that means that I got 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Unheard of. Awesome. So while I am not taking the co-sleeper down yet, I am putting her back in her crib each night to see if this will stick. Before she was sick twice and before she had shots, she was sleeping through the night for a full week.... but then her schedule got all screwed up and she wouldn't get back on it. I hope this is a good sign!

I think I forgot to mention that at her two month appointment she weighed 10 pounds 14 ounces and was 24 inches long. Excellent. She gained 2 pounds 9 ounces in the past month. That's wonderful weight gain. Go breastmilk go!

She is now finally able to wear some 0-3 months clothes... although others are still way too big. But that brings promise that she can wear the Hanna Anderrson dress that I bought for her Christmas pictures and for pictures on Santa's lap. Cross your fingers. Of course if she gains another 2 pounds this month, it seems like she is more likely to fit the dress.

Yesterday marked the "one month" till I go back to work milestone. Whew!

Survived the Shots!

Well, Ardyn survived (and mom and dad survived) her four shots yesterday. She was smiling and happy and kicking and laughing and then about 3/4 into her first shot she INSTANTLY turned red, then purple, and had her mouth open in the silent cry that you know is going to get loud very soon. You can see from the first picture, that the needle is already in and the shot is being given and she hasn't started crying yet. She turned SO red and SO purple SO fast that it shocked me. I didn't expect to cry at all, even though I am (or at least I was) deathly afraid of needles. I knew that she needed to get shots, and I knew that she would be pissed, but of course I cried anyway. I think it's something deep inside that you can't control. When you see someone so small and innocent be so happy one second and then so incredibly upset the next, and you know it hurts her, you just can't help it. I think the fact that she turned so red so quickly really made me feel bad for her. You can see in the pictures that I was trying to comfort her, and I think it helped, but you sure couldn't tell. Luckily I know the nurse well, and she was super at giving the shots. She was so polite! I think Ardyn almost made her cry! Ardyn was good last night until about 30 minutes before her tylenol was going to wear out... and then she flipped out and was inconsolable for probably two hours, right up until bedtime. She slept fairly well at night, only needing one dose of tylenol at 1:30am.

Today we were up at 8am, and I picked up the whole house, did dishes, vacuumed, and took care of Ardyn. She was great today, and took one big 3 hour nap as she seems to do on her regular schedule now. She's not like those sleepy babies. She only naps once a day, and it is usually from 2-3 hours long. Otherwise she is awake, unless she catches a 20 minute cat nap after eating a meal. She almost NEVER sleeps in the swing, or the bouncy seat. I can only think of once she has slept in the bouncy seat, and twice she has slept in her swing, and one of those swing times was tylenol induced, yesterday when we got home from the doctor. She only sleeps in her crib or the co-sleeper... and sometimes on the couch. People always say that babies "sleep all day" but she chooses to sleep all night instead. Fine with me.

Today Evan and his dad put plastic on all of our windows and cleaned the gutters. Then his mom brought over roast with carrots and potatoes and biscuits that she had made, and we all ate supper at our house. It was nice. Tomorrow we are getting up early and going to an auction where a daycare is closing, and hopefully bidding on some little tykes outdoor equipment and a PVC fence for the front yard. I am excited about it, but worried that things will go for too much money because it's bound to attract lots of bidders. Cross your fingers for us! We are taking the truck so I hope that means we can bring something home with us.

Today I paid for our first two weeks of daycare, submitted the last of my paperwork including her vaccination record, and went through a stack of papers and took care of them. I ended up calling a few physician offices and the insurance company to iron out some confusion. I also mailed about 15 things, and paid for Ardyn and My insurance for the month of November.

For those of you who have been here for a while, I am going to be sticking in some baby product reviews here or there, if they aren't your cup of tea, just skip on over them. But since this is my blog, I get to do everything I want. Well, almost everything.

Have a great weekend!

"Summer" Spray Brush and Comb Set

Okay, I admit. This is one of those things that you really don't NEED but I find myself using and being pleased to have. It's the super quick solution to bed head and what Evan and I call "Mad Scientist Hair." Now granted, if your baby is... ummm... not blessed with hair, this might seem like a complete waste. But in our case, Ardyn came out with more hair than some babies have at 1 year old. We love her hair but after a nap, or a while in the sling with mom, or after wearing a stocking cap or cute hat, she gets CRAZY mad scientist hair. And she hates it when I stick her head in the sink to flatten it down. In previous times, I was wetting her baby hairbrush and then brushing her hair down. Not the most convenient when out and about, if you have a vain baby that is. Ha.

Made by Summer Infant Products...This brush has a BUILT IN sprayer! You fill the handle with water or if you have serious tangles, no more tears spray... and then, spritz and brush. I read tons of reviews online, and many moms thought that it didn't spray enough out with each pump. I disagree wholeheartedly... I think it sprays the perfect amount, and I can smooth out her hair in seconds, anytime, anywhere. She doesn't mind it one bit. Quick, Painless, and Convenient enough to toss in the diaper bag. So if your baby brought you lots of pregnancy heartburn... and you turned out to have a head full of hair to deal with, this is a great buy.

Baby Smart Cooshee Tub Guard (Kneeler)

This is one of my favorite products for MOMS! The Baby Smart Cooshee Tub Guard is great for moms and dads who are destined to spend hours kneeled by the bathtub. The price is wonderful, especially considering that I will probably be using it for MANY years to come, and for multiple children.

It is a soft, foamy pad that sits outside the tub to cushion mom's knees, and slips over the edge of the tub for your forearms and elbows. Until this little goodie arrived, I was putting a folded towel on the floor and another over the edge of the tub. And mom's with those annoying shower doors (you know who you are!) this product will work for you too, thanks to a genius little foam piece that you just remove to accommodate shower door rails. The pads can be removed if desired (they aren't stuck down with any type of adhesive) but they don't get in our way, so we tend to leave them where they lie. We just toss our bathroom rug over the top of the blue kneeler when adults take a bath or shower. I like them because it also makes a nice slip free place for little ones to grab and step while exiting the tub.

The only downside that I can see (which isn't really the manufacturer's fault) is that the armrest really needs to be right in the center of the tub to fit properly, because my tub has curved sides, so it's thicker on each end than it is in the center. It works anywhere on the side, but stays put better when centered. This wouldn't be a big deal, except we are using an infant tub right now and I slide the tub close to the front of the adult tub, so that the spigot can pour right into the tub, and the shower hose reaches better.

This is worth the money, and I purchased mine from Leaps and Bounds, I believe for $24.99

Sock Pro Sock Holders

I got a cool new product that I just love. "Sock Pro" Sock holders.

Ardyn's sock drawer was such a mess. I never matched the socks up because then the tops stretch out and they are too big for her and fall off all the time. I needed them to remain in their original non-stretched out state. I saw these in the One Step Ahead catalog, (I love them, and Leaps and Bounds also) and ordered them right away. The order comes with a quantity of 30, that's 3 packs of 10. They sent me red blue and black.

The cool thing is that when you put the socks together you can just toss them in the drawer and always find the match, but the sock thingys also stay on in the washer, and the dryer! Seriously! No more matching socks! None! It's totally awesome. I've put them on from the toes, and from the cuffs, and I think it's easier to put the toes through first. I don't think they are big enough for adult socks, but I haven't tried them. It looks like they use them for adult socks on the package also.... I think for infant and children socks, they are great, but if they are big enough to walk around and get the socks dirty, I would suggest making sure that the sock pro things go around the cuffs and not the feet, to make sure that they come completely clean. Now I know how easy it is to lose little socks in the wash, but I have been using a lingerie bag and putting all her socks in there with my washable breast pads in order to keep them all together in pairs. Otherwise I might end up with a infant sock in one bra cup, and a washable breast pad in the other.

But now I don't even need the lingerie bag for the socks, they are so easily matched. Even with a very full load they don't come apart in the wash. They are inexpensive, and the only thing I can say is that 30 weren't quite enough (Ardyn has lots of socks!) and I need about 10 more. I think it was $9.95 for 30 sock pro holders.

Check out the pictures of her sock drawer BEFORE and AFTER! Neat! Highly recommended.

Mom on the Loose.

Free!! Two hours and 11 minutes! Alone! No car seat to haul. No Diaper Bag! I got to carry a PURSE! LoL. I cranked Pat Benetar about as loud as I could possibly stand it on the way to the meeting and home.

The meeting was great and I didn't even have to skip out early because it only lasted just over an hour. Then I went to Wal-Mart and returned the robe that didn't fit right, and got anotehr two pair of pajamas instead.

When I got home Ardyn was smiling and happy and hanging out with Evan. Ah. Nice. She went right to bed at 9pm and I was able to start a load of laundry, wash breast pump parts and pacifiers, wash all the dishes from today and from making Chex Mix, and sterilize stuff for tomorrow. I also made a cup of mint tea and ate a Johnagold apple. Yum. Watching today's episode of Ellen from Tivo, I was pleased to see Jenny McCarthy. I was never a fan of hers when she was on MTV. Just didn't care for her, but once she got pregnant and became a mom, I read Belly Laughs and Baby Laughs, and really enjoyed them. She seems to have really changed for the better, and I do enjoy her. Her hair is so cute! It's killing me because I keep telling myself I promised.. no cutting my hair after Ardyn was born... and it's so long. I can't imagine cutting it now cuz it's so long.

I checked my email and the weather. It's gonna be 19 degrees tonight. Ack. Tomorrow is a free day, but Thursday are Ardyn's first shots. Advice moms? I have read everywhere that babies who are allowed to breastfeed during their shots don't even cry. But they said that some pediatricians won't allow you to breastfeed during the shots. I wonder why? I think I might ask.
Well, off to change the last load of laundry and go to bed!

Stupid People.

We had a rough weekend. Ardyn was still sick and it peaked on Sunday when she woke up with dry heaves and eventually throwing up. She also had diaper blowouts and was really fussy and upset in general. Today (Tuesday) is the first time she seems to be doing better. Saturday night she was awake every 1-2 hours all night, not feeling good and wanting to be held or nursed for comfort. Sunday night I got her to bed on time but she continued to wake up and want to be fed. Evan then also got sick and it was not pleasant to be the only well one... but I am thankful that I didn't get sick (yet) because who would take care of me if I was taking care of everyone else. I never knew a baby could have dry heaves. It was horrible. I have had some crummy tummy but have just been very careful about what I eat in general. Yesterday I had toast for breakfast, Turkey sandwich for lunch, and Chicken Pot Pie for supper. Today I had toast again (out of milk) and turkey on a croissant with apples dipped in yogurt for lunch. Safe.

Sunday night was the hardest, but luckily I had taken a nap that evening. Ardyn was up and I didn't get to sleep till 2:15, and then it was on the couch with Ardyn's co-sleeper next to me, because Evan was so sick and I had quarantined him in the bedroom and bathroom. Ardyn woke up every hour and ate every hour to two hours... she was fussy and her tummy was upset so she would eat a little bit every hour. By 6:30am I had slept for almost 2 very interrupted hours... but then I got some sleep later that morning, for an hour at a time from 7:45 till 10am. Ack.

Last night I went to mom's and visited her friends who came out to eat supper. My cleaning people came and disinfected our germy house. Thank God. Of course, then today, the day after my house is clean, Hadley peed on the porch and I dropped a whole box of chex upside-down while making Chex mix. I got a hair up my ass and then I had to call Boyd in to eat all the chex off the floor while Ardyn watched amused from her bouncy seat.

So tonight I get to go to my Computer User Group meeting. It's my second "official" time away from her, and I am not counting the hour that Evan took her to his mom and dad's, because it was barely even time away. I am excited, so excited that I think I should be blowing off the meeting and getting some stuff done. Shhh... no one has to know! Just kidding. I will go to the meeting. But I might sneak out early for a pumpkin spice cappuccino all to myself. Drink my latte and pump breastmilk in the car. How romantic!

Ardyn and I went to Wal-Mart today and my main goal was to return a robe that I bought and get a different size, and to get some more milk, bread, etc. $106 and one annoying cashier later, I forgot to even BRING the robe with. Ardyn was getting a little fussy at the end of the trip. I had everything up on the conveyor, although it took the girl FOREVER to clear me off space. Usually I am annoyed because the damn thing is moving too fast... and I can't organize my groceries by size and type (cold, frozen, boxed, bagged, breads and cookies, you know?) and it really pisses me off to have space between my food. (OCD, what can I say) but this time I was constantly standing there trying to have a square inch to put all the crap I was holding in my hands. And she scanned my groceries with the speed of a turtle, I swear she read the label on each freaking item I had, and then would hold it in her hands for 10 seconds before deciding how to put it in the bag. I wanted to strangle her. I was putting bags in my cart twice as fast as she was filling them. Annoying. Then I had already scanned the credit card, put in my pin number, and answered all the questions. I packed it back in my wallet, back in my diaper bag, put the diaper bag UNDER the cart, loaded the cart, put the hat and mittens on ardyn, and was waiting for her to give me my receipt when she goes "scan your card." I said "I did" and she goes "put in your pin" and I said "I did" and she turns around, looks at the receipt printer, gestures to it as though it is god, and OBVIOUSLY if it isn't printing, then I didn't scan my card. If she hadn't been so busy reading every label on every product I bought, she might have SEEN my scan my card. I Said "I already scanned my card, put in my pin, and said NO to cashback. It was approved. I just need a receipt. " She just stared at me. Then she goes "Well what does your screen say?" with a huge attitude. Then I said "It says NOTHING." and she just stood there and stared at me. I wanted to say "YOU are the one who works here, why are you asking me?" She said "scan it again" and I said "I don't want to be charged twice." and she said "scan it again" Oh I was pissed. So I scanned it again, put my pin in again, said NO to cashback AGAIN. I had better not get charged again or it is Cashier Elizabeth's Ass.

Anyway. More later.

Gerber Grins n Giggles Roll On Baby Powder

This morning we tested out our roll on baby powder from the Gerber Grins and Giggles Line. When we took our prepared childbirth class, the instructor (an OB nurse for 23 years and the director of the Women's Health Department) told us that we shouldn't use baby powder for the first year of the baby's life because it poses a respiratory hazard. Interesting. I had seen somewhere previously that they make roll-on baby powder. I was intrigued. I wanted to try it. But once we had the baby (and even before) I couldn't find any, until our Toys R Us trip yesterday.

Last night I had the thought that there would be an issue keeping the roll-on applicator truly "clean" if you were just going to roll it onto her skin. Then I read the packaging (duh) and it recommended rolling it onto the clean diaper to maintain the integrity of the roll-on applicator. Aha! Mom brain!

So this morning I wanted to try some on her first diaper change of the day. I have a routine that every night before bed she gets a coating of A&D Ointment before a clean diaper and her sleep sack. This prevents her from getting any rash or any poo stuck to her little butt from a long night in the same diaper. It makes the morning diaper change much easier, I don't have to rub and scrub her with wipes, it's like a non-stick frying pan in there. So after a greasy wet night, I thought it might be helpful to have a powdery dry morning diaper.

The excitement ended when I opened up the packaging, and screwed off the lid to a dust explosion of baby powder that covered my hands and the changing table. So much for avoiding a respiratory hazard. Overall the roll-on feature worked well. The downside is that you could never carry this in your diaper bag because I am assuming that the transporting to the store and home from the store caused it to leak all over into the cap and when the cap is removed you have about 2 full tablespoons of baby powder that flies all over the place and makes a mess. So this isn't a bad product, if you open it over the garbage and keep it upright on your changing table. But the fact that's it's really just loose powder in a roll-on container, which costs you probably 4 times more than a huge container of baby powder, makes me wonder if this is a product I would recommend to anyone. Packaging improvement is necessary. Perhaps an adhesive seal over the roll-on applicator to prevent leaking before it gets to the consumer. And if it were a perfect world, the ability to unscrew the lid, refill the bottle, and clean the roll-on applicator. But that would probably not happen as that would mean you could refill it with any old cheap baby powder. It makes me wonder if one couldn't find any refillable applicator bottle with a roll-on head, similar to ones used for perfume, and make their own roll-on baby powder.

Would you see this on TV today?

Probably not, and it's a shame!

Tivo Catch-up

Well, today is going well. I am just sitting here in my pajamas catching up on TIVO. I finished Dirty Sexy Money (and can I say I totally knew that Nick and Tripp were conspiring against Simon? The whole time?) and I am watching Men in Trees. Ardyn went to sleep just after 8pm.

I am doing some baby laundry, specifically some sleep sacks that I am doing product testing on for Halo Innovations, the makers of Halo sleep sacks and Swaddle Sleep Sacks. Also bought a Kiddopotamus Swaddle Sack. Just to try it out. She uses the newborn size sleep sacks with swaddle from Halo, but we had two that we bought in August (we bought three total) that I had issues with because they had either NO tabs on the back, or only one tab, and she could pull the swaddle piece up over her face.

So I contacted Halo and got in touch with a marketing rep and she sent me replacements, as well as a proto-type for a size small sleep sack with swaddle that isn't on the market yet. And also a size small sleep sack made of velboa as a gift. So we are getting ready to test the small sleep sack that she sent. Ardyn just in the past week has started to become Houdini and escape all of the swaddle sacks in newborn size, I think because she is too string for the velcro, and because she is too long. They are supposed to fit up to 10 pounds, and she isn't yet, but she is LONG and she is ESCAPING which leads to her waking up about twice a night when she WAS sleeping through the night for a whole week before the escaping started. We MUST get her into the next size! Lucky for me I got to test because they don't even manufacture a smaller size (with a swaddle) by Halo... but they do make them by Kiddopotamus. And their small goes up to 14 pounds... so I bought one for $9.99 at Toys R Us today so that I could see how I like it. What I DID like about the Kiddopotamus ones is that you can wash them without a bunch of exposed velcro, AND the swaddle is attached at the back so it can't be pulled up, AND the diaper changing can be done without unswaddling, AND (one more) they are half the price of Halo's sleep sacks. But we have 7 total Halo sacks. Yeah. So we will have to test and see.

I have the worst luck at Toys R Us. When we went shopping a couple of weeks ago they left the security tag on the Adidas suit and I had to take it back to the store with receipt today to have it removed. What a pain in my ass. I called the store where it happened after calling the Toys R Us Customer service line, and neither one had any real help or even remorse for their screw-up. So also today I went to buy some OxyClean baby and grabbed a spray bottle of stain treatment by OxyClean also, and when we got home it had built up a bunch of pressure and almost exploded, and the bottle had crunched outwards and the bottom pushed out so it wouldn't stand up anymore. What is WITH That? Toys R Us and I don't mix well apparently. And can I just say that they had some "doorbuster" sale today and the customer service desk was SO insane. There were literally only one group of people ahead of me in line and no one behind me, so yeah, two of us, and I waited about 10 minutes before anyone even looked at me. There was one girl working the counter and she apparently had an attitude and was being bitchy to the people she was helping, and never once even acknowledged that I was there. Eventually another woman came up and helped me... but it was rather rude. No one even apologized to me for having to make another trip to the store to have the security tag removed. Whatever.

One good thing I can say about Toys R Us, they have a nice selection of certain baby items that you can't find at stores like Wal-Mart or Target. They carry the Gerber Roll on Baby Powder, and they carry Menthol Baby Bath, which you can't get at Wal-mart here anymore, and also alcohol-free kid safe hand sanitizers. I bought a three pack of travel ones and a two pack of ones for the house.

Well, Ardyn woke up at 10pm and needed to be topped off with some milk. he.
The stupidest commercials. I tell you. How about the one where the woman is at Lowe's acting out all the things she wants to buy as Christmas Decorations. Yeah. Retarded.

Well, this weekend I have people coming to pick up the table from the front porch that I want to get rid of (gonna put the Christmas Tree out there from now on) and a basket full of cans of baby formula that I didn't obviously need to use. The Freecycle network is good for that. Sometimes I know that I am giving away some REALLY good stuff that I could probably make money on, but it's nice to just give it to someone who will enjoy it, and to have it gone fast. The first come first serve nature of freecycle usually ensures that if someone WANTS it then it will be gone right away.

Can I just say that I love on Men in Trees when Annie and Sapphire mud wrestle at the Chieftain? LOL. I am really dying to see if Jack is like LEAVING the show? Hmmm. I mean, going to the Bering Sea, and then next week supposedly getting attacked by a wolf? Dying to know.

Well, that's good for now. Have a great weekend!

Retail Therapy

Well, shopping made me feel better. It always does. Retail Therapy. Even if it's just Wal-Mart I can find shit to buy. We needed toilet paper, and laundry detergent. I needed a tote.

Ardyn was still so fussy... that when I put her in her carseat she was SCREAMING at me no matter if I gave her a pacifier, rocked her, swung her seat around a bit.... nothing. I finally had to get like 1 inch from her face to talk to her because she couldn't even hear me through her screaming. I got her calmed down and then I defrosted 2, 2ounce bottles of breastmilk and fed them to her in the carseat. She was out in an instant. The fastest way to soothe her without taking her out of the carseat, swaddling her, and breastfeeding her. We were on the road by 9:15. spent about an hour in the mart. I bought new super soft pajamas and a new robe. The robe is fitting, but I think I would like it bigger. Must exchange it. I bought brown, tan, and cream socks. All of mine seem to be mismatched now, and even after cleaning the laundry room, I have about 25 tan socks, and only two of them match. Seriously, that is no exaggeration.

Every single time the shopping cart sat still, Ardyn was crying. Cart stops, pacifier goes flying out of her mouth, and screaming ensues. Don't stop to look at anything. I meant to try the robe on before I left the store, but I guess it makes sense that I forgot. I also got a cool thing for the laundry room that I can put each person's foldable laundry and underwear/socks in until I can match them. Or hey, how about husband can match his own socks? Yeah. That's a great idea! So I got to the checkout and had to exit with TWO carts because I had a giant tote that took up one entire cart and another stackable unit that took up another cart. I Was trying to push both carts (with the baby) and a friend Jen (HER husband Evan is friends with MY husband Evan, and she once sold Pampered Chef as one of my recruits) was shopping there and offered to escort me and help by pushing one cart. She did, thankfully, even though I told her no (why do I refuse help? What the fuck is wrong with me? Martyr much?) and then she put the tote and the other stuff IN my car while I got Ardyn snapped in, AND she took both carts back inside the store. Doesn't she deserve like a medal or something?

What I love more than anything is women and moms reaching out to help other women and moms. What I love is when you are shopping and you see another mom and she looks at you with a look of "I've been there!" and it's such a good feeling to know that she understands the exhaustion on your face, or the fact that you are changing a diaper in the backseat of your car, or breastfeeding in the middle of the mall, or trying to contain a tantrum, or anything mom related. I get so sick of moms who compete with everyone. My kid did this and this and this and has this and that and this. It isn't a competition! Everyone is proud of their child. That is natural. But at the same time, be proud of another person's kids. Be happy to help. OFFER to help and I guess sometimes, when I mom refuses or seems overwhelmed or too proud or feels guilty for accepting, insist on helping her. Please. I don't mean overstep your bounds and invade on her privacy, but please offer to help. Two or three times.

Today makes me want to read the book "it takes a village" and Honestly I never even gave a second thought to that phrase or anything in the past. It just made me laugh about all the people that I don't want influencing my kids. But moms have to stick together. And when I think about all the favors that I have done for other moms over the years, before I had kids or realized how much of a big freaking nice deal it was to have someone who gave a crap.... I realize that there are a lot of people out there who owe me. And I mean owe me BIG TIME. And when I also think about it, several of those people have disappeared out of my life. Mostly because we got too busy, sometimes because I get sick of giving giving giving all the time and not getting anything in return. A lot of those people were "users." And I don't do favors to get things in return, but getting respect in return is my number one goal. I think of friends who had kids in high school, and friends who had kids after high school, and I spent lots of my time with those kids. Babysitting for free. Buying BIRTHDAY presents and CHRISTMAS presents! Giving them rides to doctor appointments and family member's houses. Helping decorate for parties and dress up for Halloween. Taking them Trick-or-Treating. Taking them shopping. Taking them to movies. I bought their parents baby shower presents and bridal shower presents and wedding gifts. And those people have taken advantage of me and disappeared. I never saw a shower or wedding gift from them, not even a card. And here I sit with a 2 month old and I can literally count on one hand the people who would do anything for me in return. And two of those people live in Alaska and Chicago respectively. Isn't that crazy? I guess this makes me realize that while it takes a village, I still need to start looking out for my own family. And how lucky I am that some of those people aren't in my life anymore. Because I don't need things from people who aren't truly my friends. I don't need the hassle... and I don't need to be used.