My 2 second metamorphosis into a germaphobe

In the grand scheme of cleanliness, I consider myself to have a reasonable tolerance for dirt, grime, and clutter, falling somewhere just right of about average but no where close to a neatnik. I can handle a certain amount of messiness without stressing over it, especially now after having a young child, but it's rare that I let my house get to a state where I couldn't at least find a closet to toss everything into on my floor in about 5 minutes should an unexpected guest decide to come over. I also don't tend to mop my floors or vacuum everyday except in the case of a spill/mess that needs immediate attention. So based on this confession , you could reasonably assume that Jack is not necessarily walking/crawling around on freshly sanitized floors everyday, and I'm reasonably comfortable with that. Of course in a perfect world (like if someone else cleaned my house), those floors would be spotless at all times, but since that's not the case, I've given up a certain level of germ paranoia in exchange for maintaining sanity at the end of the day when the last thing I want to do is pull out my Swiffer.

I'm noticing though that my "reasonable tolerance" for cleanliness quickly gets chucked out the window now when I take Jack to his doctor's appointments. There is just something about walking into a room full of other children sniffling and coughing and then getting down to play with the books and toys in the waiting room that morphs me into a germaphobe in about 2 seconds. I don't think the "well/sick patients" signs help matters in my mind either, as I somehow envision this invisible barrier that keeps all the germs in higher concentration in the sick patients room. You'd think that working in the church nursery would bother me just as much since sneezing and coughing abound there as well, but at least I know the toys get wiped down regularly...I'm not so sure about the doctor's office!

The biggest reason for this sudden, acute germaphobia probably stems most from Jack's desire to be down exploring his world and my lack of ability to contain him now without some serious resistance on his part. Luckily, while we were sitting on the sick side the other afternoon, he was quite content to sit and have a snack in my lap without any wiggling. That all changed though as we waited back in a private room to see the doctor. He wanted to be down exploring everything in the room, and finally settled on this swivel chair he could push round and round. Of course to further make me squirm he then zeroed in on the old gum smooshed down on the chair leg, followed by a few trips to check out the trash can, followed by a close-up inspection of the floor. Uggg....

After we left, I promptly wiped him down with one of those antibacterial wipes I keep in the car, but who knows how much good that really does, right? Oh well, the best way to keep my germophobia at bay is just to remind myself he has to build up immunity somehow. Then again, I thought that's what our dog was for :)

Cruel and unusual punishment

Well, I believe summer is just about here now in Houston given the warm, humid afternoons and temperatures that don't fall out of the 70's at night anymore. Bob and I both mentioned that it "felt like Texas" yesterday as the air conditioners in our cars took a while longer to cool the car down, and of course it's just going to get warmer from here. Anyway, my parent's pool is starting to look mighty good now, so you know what that means...time to shop for a bathing suit, oh boy!

Typically I've just gone with the usual suit that I've used for the last, oh, number of years which shall remain nameless so that I avoided the dreaded swimsuit shopping excursion that is quickly becoming inevitable this year. Think about it...how many of us enjoy looking for a suit even during our most glamorous years when everything is located in the right position vertically on our body? Even then it can still feel like a daunting task to find something allowing us to hold onto some shred of modesty while still looking at least a little hip and stylish.

Ok, so now let's talk about not only shopping for a swimsuit any old time, but during the first trimester when you're 1) not feeling especially great anyway and 2) know the belly women so often seek to minimize in a bathing suit is only going to get bigger and more unminimizable (I believe I made that word up) from here on out. So maybe this wouldn't quite hold up in a court of law as cruel and unusual punishment, but hey, on a very small level it sure feels that way!

I'm exaggerating here, but you get my point: pregnancy and eagerly awaiting the swimsuit shopping experience just don't go together in my world. Of course I realize that the blessing of a growing baby way outweighs any insecurity over how I will look in a suit, and this really isn't something I'm dwelling on, I just thought someone out there could probably relate. Plus, I've seen lots of beautiful, pregnant women at the beach who looked great (though I wouldn't have made some of the same suit choices). And buoyancy is a beautiful thing when the belly gets large, so that alone makes me realize I just need to get out and find a suit so I can start enjoying the pool with Jack soon! Bring on the one-pieces :)

Big Tent Revival

For me the most awkward time of pregnancy is that approximate 10-14 week span (give or take a little depending on body type) where you start getting uncomfortable in your regular clothes, but don't quite have the cute belly going yet to start to fill out maternity clothes. As a result, you look like you either a) have never looked in a mirror, b) don't know how to size your clothes correctly, c) take "comfortable clothing" to an extreme, d) prefer wearing a tent, or e) some combination of the above.

I'm approaching week eleven and yes, the clothes (really my pants, jeans, etc) are starting to get a wee bit tight. So my big-tent-revival moment came this past Sunday morning when I hauled out my box of maternity clothes that had been blissfully stored away in the recess of my closet. Of course right now, just about every one of those shirts looks like a fancy tent with a tieback just hanging off my body. Am I really going to fill these things out again?

Thankfully tentware has come quite a long way since our moms had to wear it. At least now we can looked reasonably stylish throughout pregnancy, well, most of pregnancy! After nine months you're just big, and there's no getting around that fact with cute clothes. But until that time, once you begin to really look pregnant, at least there are a lot of options out there to help you feel a little less moo-moo-ish.

I didn't try the belly bands when I was pregnant with Jack...anyone out there have good luck with them? I might just have to invest in a few pieces of regular clothing a size bigger until I get more of a belly :)

Mommy Time

I think I'm officially running back on "mommy time" now. I say that I'm back there because I believe I had successfully gotten off mommy time for a while, but I'm quickly reverting back to old ways.

Mommy time is the phenomenon all moms, well maybe I should say most moms, experience after children are born. No matter how hard you try to be on time with a baby, there will always be a last minute diaper explosion, bottle/sippy cup to fill, nursing session that runs long, or spit-up resulting in a clothes change that causes even the most punctual person to run late.

Realizing this, I just learned to compensate when Jack was young and start my morning routine (or any routine before leaving the house) about an hour earlier then when I started pre-Jack. I would estimate this probably helped most of the time, but when I say "helped" I just mean that I barely arrived on time instead of 5-15 minutes late. For someone who likes a little cushion time to get where I'm going, this was tough to deal with in the beginning! And you just never know when that last minute incident will blow all your precisely laid plans to pieces, no matter what time cushion you allow.

Well, mommy time is striking again, just for slightly different reasons now that Jack is older. I'm finding myself running later and later because I'm trying to hunt down a matching pair of shoes, an elusive baseball cap, pack a lunch, and manage to get out the door with everything I need on the first try. On top of this, I always try to have some kind of snack or candy in my purse in case hunger/nausea strikes, or at the very least a Diet Coke.

I think on average I make about two trips back into the house following my initial attempt to get out the doo (you'd think I would have learned by now NOT to lock my back door after the first try). I get Jack, his backpack, and my purse in the car only to realize I either didn't pack myself a snack, or I've changed my mind about what is appealing to me at the moment, or I forgot a few extra diapers for Jack, or my cell phone, or something. I just never get it all the first try, and so once again I'm tending to run about 5-10 minutes later than I like to. I can only imagine how this is going to get worse once baby Looney #2 comes along!

I'm thinking the solution is a wheelbarrow because I just don't have enough appendages to carry the above mentioned items. I could take a short jaunt through the house each morning looking for spare shoes, hats, granola bars, Jolly Ranchers and toss these in with Jack, his backpack, and my purse. Then it's just a simple dump into the back of the van to have everything I need with me. Maybe then I could make it out the door in one try...

Random Thought #5: My love/hate relationship with the sun

I realize this post will probably sound like some public service announcement you see on TV or hear on the radio, but it's something I think about pretty often so I thought I would share some of these thoughts on my blog. Plus, it's about time for another random thought anyway.

I have always had a love/hate relationship with the sun. Basically, I love the sun, it just doesn't love me back. While I spent numerous hours as a child and teenager enjoying the outdoors and playing under sunny skies in the pool or beach, I was typically rewarded with some form of sunburn (a few were pretty bad) to my fair skin despite a faulty optimism that I could/would someday achieve a tan. Now that I think about it, I believe the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Hmmm...

Anyway, in a nutshell those years were followed by high school marching band, which meant lots of time outdoors, plus, and I shake my head at myself as I say this, a few trips to the tanning bed in college. Now I'm not about to unleash some anti-tanning bed rant, though I don't believe they're safe to use at all. I just seriously regret ever using one because of the additional damage I did to my skin for no good reason.

So I bring all of this up because my mom unfortunately developed a small basal cell precancerous lesion on her nose that had to be taken off today. It wasn't very big at all, in fact you'd hardly even know it was there except for the fact she had mentioned a small place on her nose that just wouldn't heal up. It would seem to get better, then bleed a little bit, try to scab over, but never fully go away. She dealt with it for a long time, probably close to a year, before getting a dermatologist to look it because it seemed so insignificant. A while back her brother had developed a melanoma (the most serious form of skin cancer) on his arm after lots of time on the golf course (go figure, red-heads and the sun just don't seem to jive either). And her mom, my grandmother, had also had a basal cell skin cancer taken off of her nose after many years of sunbathing with oil back before everyone knew how dangerous it was. It had gone deep enough that the doctor had to remove a considerable portion of the skin around the affected area.

Thank the Lord (and I don't mean that flippantly) that what my mom had removed was easily done today and that hopefully that spot should now heal up on her nose without further need for medical intervention. Just thought I would encourage everyone out there to pay attention to your skin (and to encourage your family to as well) and any changes in it, and to please not put off a dermatologist visit to get something checked out. I remember seeing a cross-stitched sign in my dentist's office that said "The five most dangerous words in the English language: Maybe it will go away". Isn't that the truth!

And with summer coming up and our kids wanting to hit the pools, remember that those early years of sun exposure can make a big difference! My mom's surgeon said about 85% of a person's skin cancer risk can be attributed to the number of bad sunburns in early childhood. And tanning beds are a big no-no too.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox now :)

Mmmmm...popcorn!

Well I've discovered that the "every pregnancy is different" mantra certainly seems to be true in my case. I can't say I've seen major differences yet, but I've noticed at least a few subtle differences so far at nine weeks, mostly centered around my eating habits.

With Jack I don't remember any specific cravings, I just loved any and all food. My biggest problem was eating enough to not feel hungry; it seemed like that time in between feeling full and a growling stomach approached about an hour, and once I hit those hunger pains my sole focus was the quickest way to nibble on something again. Granola/breakfast bars were great, but I felt like I could often eat a pretty well-rounded meal five to six times a day. Spicy Thai was my favorite (man I miss that restaurant) and was even the last meal I had before Jack was born.

This time around, I don't really have any specific cravings either, but I'm noticing a tendency to want salty foods like chips, pretzels, and popcorn. I usually avoid eating the original Lay's potato chips because they taste WAY too good and are so high in fat, but I've found myself a few times now partaking of them with a sandwich and boy do they hit the spot! Popcorn has also become my new best friend. We keep some in the pantry, but typically don't eat it very often, that is until I found myself pregnant again! Which brings me to my title....

While I love shopping in Target, it has become public enemy numero uno for me because of the huge vat of popcorn they always have in the front of the store. I mean how am I supposed to avoid eating too much of this stuff when that nice, salty aroma meets me as soon as I walk in the front door (where I'm usually heading for the 50th potty break of the morning)? I will say I was good this morning and walked right on by with just a longing glance, but I feel my resistance is quickly become a futile endeavor...

The other change I've noticed this time around are more pangs of nausea. I say "pangs" because it's not typically a feeling that lasts a long time, it just comes and goes, typically in the evening. I have noticed one trigger though that I've started avoiding: foods with a heavy onion or garlic flavor to them. Bob took me out for a nice dinner at P.F. Chang's the other evening, and while I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner, I was miserable the rest of the evening because of a lingering garlic taste in my mouth. I must have brushed my teeth and tongue four or five times hoping to get that taste to subside, but to no avail. As a result, I felt nauseated just about the entire evening, and even woke up a few times in the middle of the night feeling that way. So for now, heavy garlic and onion (and my spicy Thai food) are out, I'm very saddened to say. Guess I'll have to stick to the blander popcorn, pretzels, and chips (but not too many).

The big D

I have really enjoyed Jack during his 12-16 month stage, but looking back it's felt like a long road to get to this point sometimes!

The 0-4 month stage was tough trying to balance breastfeeding, sleep deprivation, crazy hormones, sleep deprivation, the bewitching hours of 5-8pm when he cried every night for no good reason, oh yeah, and sleep deprivation.

4-6 months got a lot better once he started sleeping longer and became a little more interactive, but then the next hurdle so to speak was transitioning to solid foods. That always brings it's own set of issues for each child, like exponentially stinkier poopy diapers and lots more mess at dinner time. But overall, for me I began to find motherhood a lot more enjoyable.

Then the 6-12 month range set in, where mobility became the next big adjustment as he learned to pull up and crawl (and for some of you, your children began walking). That stage also brought with it a new set of adjustments for us, like plastic outlet covers, baby-proofing the kitchen cabinets, and of course our "baby jail", the affectionate term my husband coined for our gameroom upstairs that has been sectioned off with a winding baby gate. And again, as he got older, I found myself enjoying being a mom more and more each day.

So this 12-16 month stage has been a ton of fun, especially now that he's walking and talking quite a bit. We can get out and do a lot more, and my back has been much happier as well. I'm beginning to foresee though the next big adjustment that's coming with this stage (or the next): discipline. That's not to say there haven't been times up until this point that we haven't told him no, or redirected his attention to something else, but he's not doing those things out of outright defiance yet, so I haven't really looked at it as discipline in a formal sense.

I was having lunch with a friend on Wednesday who's son is a few months older than Jack. She mentioned giving him time-outs when he kept doing something over and over again despite her telling him no. I admit to being skeptical that time-outs would really work on an 18-month old (or in Jack's case almost 16 months), but she says it definitely got his attention and at least for a short time stopped the behavior she was trying to change. That got me thinking about trying it myself for those times when "no" and redirecting just don't seem to work.

So my questions for those of you out there with older children are: 1) When did you start time-outs, 2) How does a typical time-out work for you (where is the time-out spot, how long, etc), 3) Do/did you find it effective for a child under 18 months, and 4) Looking back would you do anything differently? Could you also compare-contrast time-out effectiveness for under versus over 18 months......Just kidding, didn't mean for these questions to read like a test :)

Thanks!

Our expanding Looney Bin

We're looking at approximately T-minus 217 days until the Looney Bin officially gets a little looney-er around November 10th!

I cannot tell you how hard this news has been to NOT share for the last three weeks until I could get an accurate due date from an ultrasound. We got taken a little by surprise at how quickly this pregnancy happened, but are quite thrilled that it did! This will put Jack and LittleEgg (Bob's current name for the baby...this shouldn't be a surprising name choice for those of you who know Bob) right about 23 months apart assuming the baby comes around the due date.

I was trying to think of some new ideas to write about on the blog, and boy this news sure got me over my writer's block fast! We heard the heart beat today and you can kinda make out the little leg "buds" in that circle on the left side. Now that I look at the picture again, it sorta looks like the child is doing the splits. Hmmm....perhaps this means a girl?

Anyway, I am happy to join the ranks of many of my friends right now who are also pregnant. It's a lot more fun when you have others to share it with!

Is this day over yet?

I'm sure thankful that the can't win, pull-your-hair-out days are few and far between, because I got a nice reminder today about why those days are so aptly named.

This has definitely been the roughest teething patch Jack has had thus far with at least 3 of them (that we can see) coming in at once. It seems as if my sweet child had been crying just about the entire day today complete with fever since yesterday afternoon. We hit 4 bibs by 1pm this afternoon because he kept soaking through them with drool, so I was left scrambling trying to find dry bibs which have been scattered between the van, his backpack, the washer/dryer, the kitchen cabinet, and a few random restaurants along the way. He won't let anything frozen near his mouth, which rules out teething rings, popsicles, and any other things which might give him some relief.

The one thing I was completely, whole-heartedly looking forward to was naptime today so that he could get some rest and a break from his mouth pain and I could get a break as well. Naptime came, and then went, in the span of oh, say, 15 minutes. I figured since he got up early this morning and was worn out from the crying that he would surely sleep a good three hours, but I guess his teeth wouldn't let him sleep either despite both the Tylenol and Advil.

So the afternoon literally crept by. Jack is a pretty snuggly child, but it's rare that I have to hold him all the time to keep him happy. This was one of those days, and I got to the point where I was whipping out Baby Enstein DVD's he hasn't watched in months just to keep some peace. Luckily that worked for a while! My work schedule also added a layer of multi-tasking to the mix that was a little tough to juggle, so I think the stress knot I often get in my upper shoulder grew about 100 times today!

I think one of the worst feelings in the world is not begin able to comfort your child when they're sick or teething. I remember some of those first days after Jack came home from the hospital that I felt so bad when he cried that I would cry too. Now I know that those bad days do pass and the best we can do is to try and provide as much comfort as we can, but boy today was really hard!

The fever without a cause

We have been very blessed with a healthy child during the first 15 months of his life who has managed to escape many of the nuisance childhood sicknesses like the cold virus and ear infections. Now sure, he's had a few minor colds, but nothing too severe and so far he's yet to have an ear infection. Of course, having said that, I'll now be on the lookout for him to start tugging on his ear any second now.

He has, however, had a few of what I call "fevers without a cause", which are basically the low grade fevers that never seem to have any other symptoms associated with them, are generally gone within 24 hours, and don't require a doctor's visit. Obviously, if your child has to be sick, this is just about as ideal a situation as you can ask for, but it does make Mother's Day Out (and I imagine daycare) a little tricky because of the guidelines that often want children to be fever free for 24 hours prior to attending. Since these little fevers sometimes come and go within 24 hours, sometimes it's hard for me to decide what to do.

I often chalk it up to his teething, which is in full force with the molars coming in right now, and probably explains why I'm seeing this fever crop up again today. I've heard some doctors say the two aren't connected (same with teething and blowout diapers), but since I'm not a pediatrician, I guess I don't really know one way or the other! I hesitate to even refer to him as "sick" since I'm not even sure he really has something that is contagious (Erin, if you're reading this I'd love your opinion).

Of course these things always seem to crop up when you either want to leave town or have friends or family coming into visit. Bob's parents called last night to say they are coming into town this weekend, so I hope this otherwise symptomless fever doesn't morph into something more!