JTOK Chatter > 2009 > Page 10

Year: 2009

Advice from Facebook Friends

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I posted my status as REALLY REALLY wish Owen would just take a freakin’ nap already. He’s soooo cranky. and received these responses:

Dayna C.—Put him to bed, and let him bawl. He’ll go to sleep, and be just fine. Tough love, mama, tough love!!

Jennifer M.—I agree with Dayna. He will learn to self-comfort and it will make a HUGE difference in his sleep habits, and yours:)
FYI- babies who don’t need much sleep are more intelligent. LOL

Me—Well, we just started real naps—putting him in the crib or pack-and-play (vs. letting him sleep on us or sit in his bouncy chair) so we want to give that a week or so first, before letting him cry. Besides the fact that it KILLS me to hear him cry (of course).

Robin W.—Man, I remember having that problem as well. I spent many afternoons just driving in the car while he slept. I didn’t get anything done, but I kept most of my sanity. Best of luck, Jen. Hope he starts taking some good naps soon.

More nightly frustration.

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I am starting to think I am not cut out for being a parent [of a non-sleepy baby]. The no-sleep thing is enough to make me lose my mind. And I’m not even getting up every 2 hours anymore…

Last night he slept for a five-hour stretch, which has been about his usual lately (gone are the days of the 6-8 hour nights—what the hell happened, I have no idea). He usually goes back down for another 3 hours or so, but last night he decided he wasn’t tired, and pretty much just laid in his bed and chattered for a few hours—but it was enough to keep me up (coupled with hubby’s snoring) and then he wanted to eat again, so the process started again, but by then it was light and he obviously wasn’t sleeping anymore…

It’s just SO frustrating. And I know it will be over soon enough…but in the meantime, I feel like a horrible parent for getting so frustrated over it. Especially when he’s just being cute and smiling and cooing at me. I tell him “How dare you be so damn cute to me when I am mad at you for not sleeping!” 😛

So I am one exhausted mom this morning—I’ve been up since 2:30. 🙁

A great first Mother’s Day!

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Technically my day started at 4am when I got up to feed the boy, but I’d say my day really started when Tom took the boy so I could sleep in—which I did until about 8:30! 😀

Then Tom made me a breakfast of scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese, and said he was going to head to Lowe’s to get planting soil and more basil—and he was going to plant everything for me! The boy’s eating and napping schedule changed that slightly, and we ALL ended up going out for errands. We talked about maybe going somewhere for lunch, but figured that since it was Mother’s Day, every place was going to be packed—so we thought we’d just play it by ear.

On the way to Lowe’s, I remembered that we had to stop by Michael’s to check on our frame job (two weeks ago we finally took in our canvas photo from the cruise and apparently the frame was messed up, and we either had to pick another frame or wait for the frame to come off of backorder).

After we took care of that, we were walking back to the car and I happened to notice across the parking lot that Fuji Japanese Buffet was open. What’s Fuji Japanese Buffet you ask? An all-you-can-eat sushi and Asian food buffet! We have talked about going there before but have just never made it. So over we went! (So the boy had his second restaurant outing in as many days!)

And WOW was it yummy! They had a Mother’s Day special running which was a few dollars more per person than their normal price, but they had more specialty items as well. (We said we’ll have to go again to see what a normal service includes.) I stuffed myself silly on sushi—but only managed to eat two plates full! I still got my money’s worth, though, so it was all good!

Then it was off to Lowe’s where we picked up the gardening stuff we needed, and then it was back home—just in time because Owen was ready to eat.

It turns out Tom didn’t do the planting because it is supposed to frost tonight—so that will come tomorrow. But I did get in a nap!!! YAY!!! And then Tom watched the boy so I was able to make dinner! (He apologized for me having to make dinner but I was more than happy to do it since I hardly even have the time or energy to do it anymore!)

So it’s been a WONDERFUL first mother’s day!!!

Owen’s first restaurant!

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We wanted to go out to eat with mom (Gramma Jean) before she left, so it was going to be Owen’s first meal out! I know, I know…we could have taken him out before this, but I was just always afraid it was going to end badly…yes, I’m a wussy first-time parent!

But it went very well—he slept almost the entire time, and we had a nice meal to boot!

He was still sleeping (or awake but calm!) when we left, so we decided to go grocery shopping as well (to show mom one of the great stores around here—Nino Salvaggios). He did well through that, too…good boy!

It’s a small world!

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So a few weeks ago we learned (realized) that an old friend of my mom’s lives somewhat close by (maybe 30 minutes away)…and that we actually lived in their old neighborhood! (Lyssa and my mom have been friends since before I was born and they lived down the street from each other in Grayling.)

Since my mom was here helping out with Owen (while Tom was away at training) we thought it would be the perfect time for Lyssa to come visit. Of course we were talking about babies and doctors and whatnot, and she asked who my OB was. I told her, not really thinking anything about it—I mean, she’s been in the area for 15 years so maybe she had heard of her—but thinking most likely it was just general conversation. Until her eyes widened and said “No way!” Yep, it was her OB, too! And my doc had delivered one of her kid’s babies!

Small world!

In honor of Mother’s Day

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This was an email forwarded to me by my mom!

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn’t worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn’t want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body..
I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment,
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom…

How? Why? The stinker!

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So I get up for a middle-of-the-night feeding, and he scarfs down like 5 ounces and he’s out. OUT.

I still attempt burping, for up to 10 minutes sometimes, and even burp standing up and jiggling a little in hopes of getting a burp so I can put him down.

But I get nothing.

So I figure he’s out for the count—and I gently lay him in the crib. And before I can even step back from the crib—like within 5 seconds—he has spit up!

EGADS.

So then I have to start the process over, because he’s now awake again.

Stinker!

I’m getting back to normal…

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So during my pregnancy I looked forward to taking prenatal vitamins so my hair and nails would be great. But it never happened. I never noticed a change in either my hair or my nails. Fast forward to now, three months after the birth, and I guess the prenatals did SOMETHING for me—or maybe it was just normal pregnancy hormones—but my hair is falling out…again.

What do I mean by this?

Well, prior to getting pregnant, every time I washed or combed my hair, I would pull out handfuls of hair. After every shower, I had a huge glob of hair on the shower wall to dispose of (sounds gross, but I’d rather have it there than clogging the drain). It was no big deal—I considered it normal.

It wasn’t until waaaay after the birth that realized I hadn’t been pulling out ANY hair during washings OR combings…for most of my pregnancy!! And then my mom friends warned me not to freak out if I started losing my hair—it’s a common post-pregnancy hormonal effect—and by the power of suggestion (LOL) I started losing (pulling out) hair again!

In other news, I am finally pooping without the aid of pills and I have started taking birth control pills again.

So things are getting back to normal…

Great sleep!

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So the first night Lin took duty, Owen slept for about 7 hours (for the first stretch anyway)!! YAY OWEN!

The next night we were a bit more worried, because he took a THREE HOUR NAP from about 6p-9p!!!! I gave him a bottle at 9:15 and he was out cold by 9:45—totally off his normal schedule—so it was either going to be very bad or very good.

I was in the basement again, so didn’t find out until the next morning that…Owen slept for 7.5 hours!!! YAY OWEN!

And then last night, when I was back on duty, I was SURE that Owen would keep me up all night…but he didn’t! He slept for EIGHT HOURS!

Of course *I* didn’t sleep for eight hours because 1) I got up to pee three times and 2) I was sleeping more lightly, sure that he was going to wake up at any moment. When I did get up to feed him, he wasn’t even really awake awake, but he had been making noise for a little bit, and I figured I might as well go in and feed him so *I* could get back to sleep. Unfortunately, he only slept an hour afterwards, so we were both up at 6:30.

But hopefully this night trend will continue!!!

Nursery pics–finally!

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We weren’t going to decorate the nursery at all because I just didn’t see the need. Owen won’t know any different, and we didn’t want to spend any money on anything special.

But then I saw monkey decals at Babies R Us. And I had to have them! They are SOOOOO cute!! And in a neat twist, the crib bumper that a good friend (thanks, Katie!) sent us matched the dots perfectly (as you can see in the first picture)!!

A close-up of the mommy, baby, and daddy monkey! SOOOO CUTE!!!

See, this is more like it.

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So Owen didn’t nap much today…and Lin had offered to take the nightly duties…so when 7:00 rolled around, I suggested she try putting him down.

Then I went downstairs to not listen, LOL, and read a magazine.

I went up at 8 or so to check (i.e. listen at the door) and to my surprise, Lin was already done and reading a book!

She said he ate the whole 6oz bottle and didn’t even burp and didn’t even move or make a peep when she set him down. He was out COLD.

YAY!

So now we’re both wondering just how long he will sleep.

And hopefully I won’t find out until tomorrow morning at a decent hour, since I am sleeping in the basement to try and avoid hearing him at all so I can get a decent night’s sleep.

Stay tuned.

FRUSTRATION!

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So the grandparents got here about 6:30 and were of course sad when 7:30 rolled around and it was Owen’s bedtime…but I wanted to keep to our sorta-schedule.

So we went upstairs and he ate like he normally does and burped like he normally does and fell asleep on me like he normally does and woke up and fussed a little when I layed him in his crib like he normally does…

But then…he was awake. And I mean WIDE awake. Like eyes wide open and legs kicking and totally squirming wide awake.

For two hours. ❗

(Well, two hours total including feeding.) It normally takes 45 minutes to an hour, so I was losing my mind and getting VERY frustrated as it approached the 2-hour mark. I mean, nothing was out of the ordinary. He should have been going to sleep the same as always.

Except he wasn’t. :no:

So I brought him back down and jokingly thrust him at them and said “You take him, I’m done!” Then I went up to bed and promptly fell asleep.

I felt bad for getting frustrated with him…I mean, he’s really a good baby and he just happened to not be tired (it happens to all of us, right?) but…I’m a new mom. Cut me some slack—I get used to how things work and get thrown when things suddenly change for no apparent good reason. 😐

That said, I am sure it probably wouldn’t have been so bad had I not been so exhausted from the previous night (morning?)—remember, I was up at 2am and only got about a 2-hour nap! The last thing I needed was a kid who refused to go to sleep!

So they kept him up and (as I found out the next morning) Lin put him to bed…at 1am!!!!! The little bugger stayed up another three or so hours!!!! 88| Of course, I had no idea what time he went down, so when I heard him squawking at about 4:30am, I got up to feed him. So he had only slept about 3.5 hours!!!

WHAT ON EARTH WAS GOING ON? I wondered. But who knows with babies.

2am

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It is currently 4:15am as I write this.

Yes, 4:15. >:XX

Owen decided he was hungry at about 2am, which meant I was up until just after 3am.

And then I had to pump, which I did in semi-darkness to stay sleepy.

But then I wasn’t really tired, so my mind wandered to some things I needed to remember to do today, so I turned on my phone and emailed myself some reminders. I thought that would be enough and my mind would be clear so I could fall asleep.

Then Bella decided to puke, so I got up to clean that…because the last thing I want to do in the morning is step in wet cat puke unexpectedly.

And then since I was up, I thought “Well, I will just go downstairs real quick and grab a protein shake since I am suddenly hungry.” (This often happens after I get up with the kid, although the need for sleep usually outweighs the need for sustenance.)

So I was doing everything in the dark to try and keep me sedate, so I didn’t really wake up too much.

And once I was downstairs, Bella threw up again. Which, obviously, necessitated turning on lights to clean it up.

So now I was really quite fully awake.

>:XX

So decided to check my email and do a few things I had been thinking about (that I didn’t email myself reminders for).

And now it’s 4:15. Well, 4:20 since I’ve been typing steadily for five minutes.

I really do need to try and get back to bed because Owen will surely be crying for me about 6 or 6:30 if the past few days have been any indicator.

At least Grandpa Mike and Grandma Linda will be here later this afternoon and I might be able to catch a nap…

Homeowners Insurance – Part 5 – THE END!

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Looking at the figures again, we still thought it just wasn’t right. There seemed to be an extra payment in there that shouldn’t have been.

Long story short, it took another few calls to Farm Bureau and Farm Bureau did some digging and then called Wells Fargo to get it straightened out.

So what happened?

The original homeowner’s policy we had with Farm Bureau BEFORE WE HAD RENTERS was in two separate policies: a windstorm policy and a homeowners policy. When we got renters and the policy changed to an all-in-one, only the homeowners portion got cancelled—the wind somehow was still in place. So, Wells Fargo was expecting to have to pay that $1100 in October (the anniversary of when we actually started that policy).

Farm Bureau assured us we only had the one premium to pay, and called Wells Fargo to tell them. I then had to call Wells Fargo to request yet another escrow re-analysis…and YAY! Now our mortgage is only going up about $15/month!! Much much better than the originally anticipated $350/month!

So, thankfully, this issue has been resolved.

/knock on wood

Michigan Weather!

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So yesterday it got to be probably 85°.

Now, you would think that after the yucky cold winter we just had that we would have loved yesterday. Well, we really didn’t because it was just too warm.

And this house is (we just learned) annoying when windows are open and it’s at all breezy. You see, the windows open from side to side and upstairs? The blinds all open up and down…meaning that you have to have the blinds all completely open so that the breeze doesn’t hit them and bang them around. And even if you do that, the cord/cabling system is not hooked down, so that then flies around and smacks the wall as well. Very irritating.

That said, most of the downstairs get good cross-ventilation—except, of course, for the room we are in the most: the living room (kind of like our house in NC where the living room got the worst A/C flow of the entire house). There is a nice big window in the living room, but of course the big heavy couch is in front of it so you have to climb on the couch to heave open the window (because, of course, that window doesn’t slide easily). But it is under the awning, so we can leave the window open when it rains.

But this house gets WARM. It wasn’t really even THAT warm or humid yesterday—and the day even got cooled off by a thunderstorm mid-afternoon—but the house was WARM. And upstairs was worse. Poor Owen—first his room is too cold so we buy a heater…now it’s too warm and we’re NOT buying a portable air conditioner so he will have to make do with a fan. We got out a fan for our room, too—as well as a fan in the living room.

Needless to say WE MISS CEILING FANS. This house would be a lot more bearable weather-wise with ceiling fans.

We are not looking forward to warmer weather. We do have A/C, but we’re sure something will be wrong with it, LOL.

My morning (and night)!

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Here is what Owen looked like this morning when I went in to check on him! Obviously I didn’t swaddle him tight enough during his 5am feeding/diaper change! So cute!

And then this is what happened the next time I went in, when I heard him making noise…just listen to the noise when he sucks his fingers!

And then this is what we looked like after mom had her shower and Owen was dressed (Go State!)!

And of course he was totally adorable this morning, because he was a total PITA at 4am when I got up to feed him. Fussed and squawked and fought me every step of the way when I tried to lay him down again. Ugh.

But the good thing? He slept about 7.5 hours. ❗

But the bad thing? He went down EARLY—at 8:30!—and we weren’t tired at all, so we didn’t go to bed until almost 10:30…so I really only got about 5 hours of sleep. |-|

But wait. I didn’t even get that much, because we had the windows open trying to cool down the house (since it got to 80° yesterday) and it started blowing so fiercely about 1:30am that it woke me up and kept me up (along with hearing Little Mr. Noisemaker down the hall in his room—we left his door open and opened his window to cool it off, since it was 78° in there when we put him to bed…plus having his door open let the noise travel much easier).

Then I started worrying that maybe it was too cool in his room or it was too noisy with the window open—and maybe he was making noise because he really was hungry (he had been sleeping 5.5 hours at that point, after all)—so after tossing and turning for 20 minutes thinking about it, I finally got up and shut his window. Oh, and he had fallen asleep again so he really wasn’t hungry.

Of course, then I probably didn’t fall asleep for another half hour. And then guess who wanted to eat at 4am? And then wouldn’t go down? And then finally went down about 5am? And then guess who was up bright and early, totally wide awake and cooing away at 6:30am??

Good mornings!

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Mornings are nice (as opposed to nights, where I usually get frustrated). I love waking up and Owen is making noise in the crib—but not enough so that I have to rush in there to feed him. So I can leisurely wake up, go to the bathroom, and then stroll in there.

This morning he was just laying there, eyes open, looking up at me. I unwrapped him from the swaddle and he stretched soooo cutely… Then I put him on the changing pad where he just laid there and smiled at me. Then he started cooing and smiling and cooing and smiling…and my heart just melted. Like it does most mornings.

He’s such a sweet thing when he wants to be. 😀

Stupid Freaking Comcast.

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So I get up this morning and go to check my email and see that there is no connection. That happens, so I rebooted…and nothing. Rebooted the modem…and nothing.

I turned on the TV and there was no cable—which meant a serious problem. I called Tom to see what he did the last time this happened (somewhat recently) and he said he had to call them. He said he would call again since he had their number already.

So he calls me back while on hold with Comcast to fill me in…and you will NOT believe what it was. Someone requested that our service be disconnected!! And he was on hold while they tried to figure out the details. He called me afterwards to tell me—are you ready? That he had to go to the main office to PROVE WHO HE WAS in order to have the service turned back on!!

So apparently someone can just call up and have service disconnected WITHOUT PROOF OF WHO THEY ARE, but now we have to prove who we were? :crazy:

So Tom had to come home to get his social security card. I had to dig through boxes in the basement to find the combination to the safe in order to get the card (which, as an aside, wasn’t there, so I pulled his passport instead). I also gave him our recent bill with our address on it.

Now, are you ready for the pièce de résistance?

Apparently someone faxed in a death certificate for Tom and requested the cable be turned off! ❗ ❗ ❗

True story.

Of course it must be a case of mistaken identity, but how freaking bizarre is that?! Tom said that they told him the name of the person who faxed it in, and it was something like Paul Thomas or Hudson Paul—some combination of his name, so that it was obviously just a transposing of names. But to not confirm the address? Or maybe they did? Who knows.

So Tom apparently read them the riot act and they are “working on” getting us a copy of the document, they gave us a free month, and said they would have our service turned back on today.

It took them a few hours, but they did come out and get us going again. And now we have to watch to see we get credit for this (or next) month.

What an ordeal.

More Facebook Updates

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  • Jennifer Hudson loves all her Tivo friends sooooooooo much!
  • Jennifer Hudson hates that it’s impossible to cut a baby’s nails. What cruel joke is that?
  • Jennifer Hudson wishes Owen would just nap already. He’s tired, I can tell.
  • Jennifer Hudson hates hates hates online “coupon printers” because if you’re not connected to a printer (i.e. laptop) you can’t print to pdf. GRRRR.
  • Jennifer Hudson isn’t sure why her scanner thinks a newspaper clipping is a color document. /confused
  • Jennifer Hudson is on her third shirt of the day and it’s only 11am.
  • Jennifer Hudson is prepping to give Owen a bath by herself. I am not good at that alone part yet.
  • Jennifer Hudson says Facebook is irritating me. I keep getting emails about applications I have specifically said NO EMAILS from.
  • Jennifer Hudson is attempting to watch Back to the Future 3—simply to complete the trilogy.
  • Jennifer Hudson says whoops, my sneeze just woke up the boy AND surprised the cat right off my lap.
  • Jennifer Hudson just fast forwarded through the rest of Rachel Getting Married. Oh well.
  • Jennifer Hudson misses her 21″ widescreen monitor since she’s on the laptop 99.95% of the time.
  • Jennifer Hudson is hoping Owen has a better day today—he was Mr. Crankpot yesterday.
  • Jennifer Hudson has the beginnings of a chocolate headache. /damn that easter candy
  • Jennifer Hudson knows she should keep the babes up, but she is enjoying getting some stuff done around the house.

Typical bedtime and nighttime routine

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So, for those interested, this is what it takes to take care of Owen during the night. Well, starting at bedtime, actually.

Anywhere from 8 to 9pm he gets his last bottle. It’s six ounces of 100% formula, with the hopes that it will make him sleep as long as possible (since formula is harder to digest, it should “stay with him” longer). This bottle is given in his room in the dark and quiet. We no longer even use the white noise (rainfall) alarm clock because I read that after a few months, it can actually start to be detrimental to their hearing (or something along those lines, I’d have to look it up again). We let him eat as long as he wants, which is usually a good 4oz, at which point he gets burped, then swaddled, then he usually eats the rest.

The fun part comes when trying to actually put him in his bed to sleep. I would say that a majority of the time (six nights a week) it doesn’t just happen. For example, last night, after the feeding and burping and swaddling, he was OUT. I mean OUT. I had patted his back trying to get a burp for almost 15 minutes and nothing. So I gingerly get up and lay him in the crib and…his eyes fly open, he’s wide awake, and starts fussing. |-|

I give it a minute to see if it’s just a startle reflex, but no—he really seems to need attention. I pick him up and…BURP! Okay, cool. So I try to get another burp for a while longer, and sense it’s not coming, so I get him settled again, with rocking and patting and swaying, then put him down again and—eyes come open, wide awake, fussing. Are you sensing a pattern here? Again, I give it a moment and no, he’s not settling down. So I pick him up again and get another burp. Egads.

Sometimes after one of these burps, he wants to eat again, so we give him whatever was left from his initial bottle. At this point, he usually falls asleep while eating (if he even eats anything) and then we can put him down.

I know it doesn’t sound that bad, but it is frustrating and does get tiring. Especially when I know I will be up in about five hours to go through the entire process again.

Oh yes, you read right. About five hours. We had a good stretch of time where he was sleeping 6-7 or even 7.5 hours a night. Not anymore. Now it averages 5-5.5—which, yes, I know is still good, but is hard to get used to after those WONDERFUL 7-7.5 hour nights.

So, about 3:30am or so, I get to go through this entire routine again. Except that this time, he will only sleep another 2-3 hours. Again, not terrible, except I don’t get another 2-3 hours sleep, because by the time I get back to bed, Tom’s alarm is going off (and off…and off…and off) and I have usually been up for an hour or more by that time (45+ minutes of feeding and whatnot, plus the additional time before I got up when I was listening to the little noisemaker to determine if I need to get up or not) so I might get another 1-2 hours.

And what usually happens when I am getting frustrated? He smiles at me and I just melt. 🙂

Ugh. Periods.

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I seriously hate them now.

Well, wait. That implies I may have liked them before, which was NEVER the case.

But now? Yuck.

No one ever told me—not even the pregnancy books that claimed to tell you everything no one ever told you—that post-childbirth periods tends to be WORSE than you had them before.

❗

SURPRISE!

❗

So, add the surprise of actually getting my period again (because I was breastfeeding/pumping, I was thinking I wouldn’t get it for some time longer) to the surprise of how VASTLY different (i.e. read: heavier and messier) it is, and well, it’s just a big YUCKFEST. Worse than the post-childbirth bleeding, almost!

If there was any way to avoid this part of being a woman, I certainly would.