5 Things I cannot live without...

One of my friends posted a blog about this and I thought it was lots of fun to read so I decided to steal it from her for my blog.  Thanks Rebecca!!


1.  My calendar.
I use one called 'Christian Family Organizer'.  Click here to see it on Amazon.com.  I love, love, love this calendar.  It has a grocery list, menu, space for to-do lists and a weekly memory verse.  I would be LOST without it!

2.  Facebook
I know, I know, this sounds very junior high of me...but it is truly the main way I keep up with friends and family (especially those who live out of state).  Perhaps I should pick up the phone more often...but that's probably not going to happen so I rely heavily on this social application.

3.  My Moby
Now that I have 2 boys...my hands are FULL.  Zachary is young enough to be in a baby carrier and I LOVE IT!  It gives me hands-free time to go shopping, get things done around the house and outside and still spend time with and interact with Luke.  I would be very frazzled without it.

4.  My schedule
Since I have been a mother of 2...my schedule has been all out of whack.  I am searching for a 'new' schedule that will fit my needs.  Consequently, I feel all out of sorts because I am never quite sure what I will be doing today.  I feel very 'reactive' no longer proactive.  Will I do laundry today?  Will I dust and vacuum today?  Oooo, the floors haven't been done in 2 weeks...better pay them some attention.
The hunt for a new, workable schedule begins...

5.  Quiet Time
I should write an "Ode To Quiet Time".  Without this hour to hour and a half block of time in my day...I may just fall into the abyss of Complete Craziness!!  During this hour I get to regroup, actually have some 'quiet' in my house and just take a deep breath.  It is a REQUIREMENT for me.  Without it...life is bad.  LOL!

Well, there you have it folks.  What are YOUR 5 things you cannot live without???

Transitions

So I have officially been the mother of 2 boys now for a month and I still don't have the hang of it.  I'm lucky to get out of the house in under 2 hours.  I feel like I can't get anything accomplished in the day.  I am simply reacting to whatever befalls us all day long!!  LOL!

I used to have a laundry 'day'...now I have a laundry 'time of day' as I do laundry almost every day.  Crazy!  How in the world does a newborn create so much more laundry???

I am sure it will get easier with time...but right now I am tired, cranky and my perfectionist side is NOT HAPPY!

I need a long nap and some better organizational skills ASAP!  ; )

Going Backward...

I stole this idea from one of the blogs I follow:  All That Is Good.  I thought it was a good idea so I will attempt my own version:

1 Year Ago:  Still reeling from the loss of our son Daniel, Darren and I are working on getting our lives back together.  We have learned the value of family and friends in times of strife.  I make a personal decision to always aide any family or friend during tough times (if at all possible) with a meal, help with the house or just a sympathetic ear.

2 Years Ago:  Our first year of vegetable gardening.  We have NO IDEA what we are doing.  We plant a HUGE garden and hope for the best.  We decide if we can get ANYTHING to grow...we will have succeeded.

5 years Ago:  Newly pregnant with Luke, we are not even aware yet that in the next month I will be offered a job in OK and we will move to a condo we have never even seen before and Darren will move to a state he has never even visited before.

10 years Ago:  I was still single, working for Avaya (or was it still Lucent at that time?  I can't remember when the name changed) and making good money.  I enjoyed my job and hated all the red tape.  I was clueless about relationships (both same and opposite sex) and was blissfully unaware of the trappings of life.

Short, sweet and to the point.  Fun little trip down memory lane.  Would YOU like to give it a try??

Adjustments

My eldest son Luke is having a rough time adapting to new baby Zachary.  He loves Zachary and is very kind and gentle toward him.  It's Mom and Dad he is no longer kind and gentle to.  LOL!

I can tell he is having a rough time.  He is whining (more than the normal 3 1/2 year old whine) and pretty clingy.  I have been so ill, I don't have the energy or the health to play outside with him.  I know this is frustrating for him because we usually spend a lot of time playing outside.  He is also very defiant and mouthy.  "No." (In a hateful tone) is his new favorite saying. 

Darren and I are very frustrated with the whole thing.  We know he is just going through an adjustment period and we are REALLY trying to be patient with the whole process...but the defiance and disrespect just cannot be tolerated, regardless.

Any suggestions from you veteran parents of more than 1 child?   I am doing my best to be accommodating and loving through this process and yet not bend the rules.  I am not finding a good balance here and would appreciate any suggestions.

Preeclampsia Postpartum???

Did you know that one can have preeclampsia postpartum?  Yeah...me neither.  Well...it has come to my attention that women can have preeclampsia up to 6 weeks postpartum.  I was one of the unlucky few.

The last day I was in the hospital after giving birth to Zachary, my blood pressure was up higher than normal.  They watched it for a couple of hours and it didn't go up any further so they released me with no medication.

I have a blood pressure cuff at home and because of my history with high blood pressure during pregnancy (although I didn't have any trouble with it for THIS pregnancy) I decided to watch it.  Steadily over the last 2 weeks my blood pressure was going up.  Should I have called the Dr. sooner...perhaps.  But I didn't want to.  Last Wednesday I had a headache I couldn't get rid of.  I checked my blood pressure and sure enough...it was in the 170's over 90's.  NOT GOOD.

Friday morning I called my Dr.'s office and they told me to come right in that morning.  Darren took me to the Dr. and after taking my blood pressure (it was now 180's over 90's) and realizing that in my urine sample I spilled protein, they admitted me straight to the hospital at 10:00am for a day and a half.  They put me on Magnesium Sulfate (which is Epsom Salt delivered intraveniously) which is supposed to keep me from seizing.  They also gave me Lebatelol (oral pill) for my blood pressure.  I was to have no food or water for 24 hours.  UGH!

They put me on a catheter even after I asked if I could decline.  The Dr. said he wanted to watch my I's and O's (In's and Out's) closely.  The WHOLE TIME I was on the catheter not ONE nurse or Dr. checked my catheter bag to see what the level was.  I was LIVID!  Oooooooh.  I could go on and on about this, but will stop here for sanity sake.

Finally they got my pressure under control and I was allowed to leave the hospital at 7:00pm Saturday night.  With all the poking and prodding they did to me in the hospital, I felt worse after leaving the hospital than I did before I went in.  So ridiculous!!

It WAS a blessing however that my Dr. worked out with the charge nurse that I could have Zachary in my room during visiting hours so I could at least nurse him during the day.  I only had to pump at night.  This was REALLY helpful as the hospital policy is that NO CHILDREN under the age of 16 are allowed in the hospital.

So, I am back home now with my guys and very grateful.  Just another bump in the road I guess...SO GLAD it's over!!

Cloth diapering a newborn

Ok.  So Zachary is now 12 days old.  For the first couple of days (until his cord fell off) I did not use cloth diapers regularly.  I found that because they are a little bigger than the disposables I couldn't keep them off his cord.

After his cord fell off I have been using exclusively the workhorse diapers (link to see them here).  They are the only diapers I could find that actually fit a NEWBORN.  The prefolds are WAY too big (even the small ones) so I will try them again in the next couple of weeks.

I LOVE them!  I had forgotten how fast newborns go through diapers and I could almost FEEL my pocketbook shrinking every time I changed a disposable diaper!!  LOL!

I have been rinsing out and washing the cloth diapers, covers and cloth wipes every night (I have a total of 24 diapers and 4 covers).  I then have enough to 'bleach' the stained ones the next morning in the sun.

I will say to my diapering adventure...so far, so good!