My turn for diet changes!

Anyone who knows me and DH know that I still eat like a college kid, while DH eats healthier. Like, he's two steps away from being vegan. Now me, I will likely never give up meat. Or dairy. Or eggs. So I would make a terrible vegan. :) But for the past year or so, I've noticed every now and then that I eat a whole crap load of sugar. At one point, I was pretty sure that if I got my blood drawn, it would be mostly made up of sugar. And it started to cause a problem. I will go ahead and warn you that if you don't want to know gross things that people go through in life, just leave now. I'm not shy about it, and I don't mind if the world in general knows. But you might not care to know. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

Back to this problem. It started about 6 months ago, and has been a pain in my butt ever since. Almost literally. I am a victim of almost constant yeast infections. Monistat clears it up for maybe a week, two tops. Went to the clinic to see what was up and make sure I didn't have vaginitis or something else (nope), and they gave me some meds to get rid of it. It lasted a month. Tried more Monistat, and same old story. So I looked up recurring yeast infections, and the term "candida overgrowth" popped up quite a bit. That's where the naturally occurring candida in your gut, well, overgrows. It can spread to other parts of your body and cause lots of problems if it's not controlled. Ever heard of thrush? It's most commonly found in nursing babies, but it's basically a yeast infection of the mouth. If you have candida overgrowth, you might get thrush. I don't have thrush, and I hope to not get it. Migraines and acne are also on the list of things it can cause. I have problems with both of those. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

Anyway, in researching it, I've learned that OTC meds and even meds that they prescribe you to get rid of a yeast infection don't actually cure it. They only really get rid of the main physical symptoms of one, like itching, burning, & discharge. But the yeast, or candida, in your gut, is still there and flourishing. It will quickly reestablish itself, as I can attest.

Now, I'm not saying I for sure have candida overgrowth, because I'm not a doctor, nor have I been to one about it. And the cynic in me believes that if I even went to my doctor to talk about it, she'd give me a weird look and pat me on the head. But regardless of what I may or may not have, I know for an absolute fact that I have a serious sugar addiction and that needs to be broken. So about a month ago, I did something crazy and didn't buy any more Mountain Dew when the last one was gone. I no longer buy candy whenever I go grocery shopping. Not only have I NOT bought sugary things, I have greatly reduced my consumption of them. Some days I only have 1 glass of orange juice and then maybe something small later on in the day, like a cookie. Some days it's just orange juice. Some days I get lax and drink orange juice for breakfast, a pop at dinner, and some ice cream for dessert. The next day, when the symptoms reappear, I immediately regret my transgressions the day before.

But the surprising thing is, it hasn't been too terribly hard. I expected sucky withdrawals, but then again, I still consume some sugar. Just not tons of it like before. At some point, I'm going to try a hard line kill off diet, where there's NO sugar in any form (((orange juice))) for a week or two. After that I'll add some back in, in moderation, like now. It'll be like Phase 1 of South Beach. There are other things I'm doing for the yeast infection, but this is just about getting the sugar under control for now. But never fear, if things don't work out like I hope, I will go in to the doctor and get some more testing done to see what's up.

Do little details matter in casting a movie?

This summer, my world will most likely be rocked by the Starz release of the drama series, Outlander. Outlander, the first in an epic 8+ book series written by Diana Gabaldon, is my all-time favorite book. It's the book I would choose to bring with me should I ever be stuck on a deserted island forever more. I've read it countless times already, and anticipating the series premier this summer, I recently picked it back up again, just for a refresher, though I'll probably be done with it months before the premier.

Anyway, for years, there've been blog posts by the author which stated that the rights had been purchased by this company or that, to adapt the story for screen, all of which came to nothing. So it's always been a tease. And then one day, she announced that Sony had purchased it! I immediately knew it would be on screen for sure, if a huge company like Sony bought it. Sure enough, it was announced that the story was being adapted and they were bringing in some big names to work on it! I was so excited, although once I found out it was going to be on Starz, I was *slightly* less excited, as we don't even have cable, let alone a premium channel like Starz. But a friend is also a big fan, and she has cable, so I think the plan is that I'll go halfsies on Starz with her, and we'll have Outlander dates every week.

Back to the main topic though... the casting details. The two main actors cast, Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, have obviously drawn a lot of attention from fans. So many love the story of Jamie and Claire, and everyone has a mental image of what each one looks like. No one actor was ever going to fit the image of every reader, so some were going to be disappointed. The funny thing though, is that many are choosing to focus on one little insignificant detail found in the books, which won't happen on screen. And that is the color of Caitriona/Claire's eyes.

Caitriona Balfe as Claire

In the books, Claire's eye color is often referred to. They are whiskey colored, or golden brown, or hawk-like. Caitriona's eye color is blue. She is not wearing golden colored contacts, nor is the production team going to go in after filming and alter the color in editing. And some are swearing off the whole thing over this. Not the acting. Not the screenplay. Not because it's going to be on Starz. Because of eye color! It boggles my mind. Honestly, I don't think the eye color has any importance in furthering the plot. None. It's a nice minor detail that we get reminded of often in the books, but I doubt a production company is going to waste precious time and money over it.

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter

This reminds me of another eye color switcharoo that didn't turn out so important after all, even though some thought it would ruin the movie. That's right. Harry Potter. In the books, we're often reminded that Harry's eyes are green, and that they look exactly like his mother's. It's actually more important later on in the series, what with Snape still holding a flame for Lily. Anyway, the actor cast to play Harry, Daniel Radcliffe, has blue eyes. Big bright blue eyes. And further more, the actor cast to play Lily, Gerladine Somerville, has blue eyes as well. But they're not exactly like Daniel's. The shock! How could Snape look into Harry's eyes and see Lily's when they're not even the same? Yeah, I don't know either. Yes, my sarcastic font is on.

Jonathan Rhys Myers as King Henry VIII

But you know when it does kind of matter? When you cast a famous historical figure. The most recent mis-cast, besides apparently Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher (which I've never read nor care about), is that of Jonathan Rhys Myers as King Henry VIII on the Showtime series, The Tudors. Jonathan is listed at about 5'10", and based on his body, I'd hazard a guess that he's less than 200 pounds. The real Henry was about 6'2" and later on in life, was a very portly man. Completely different body types. Very early on, the production team said that Jonathan was not going to gain weight. Nor dye his hair red, as Henry's actually was (red, not dyed). For a long time, this mis-cast bothered me a lot. Jonathan just was not physically imposing on screen, something which I'd always assumed was needed when Henry VIII was involved. But he acted the hell out of the character, so he eventually made me forget it. Mostly, anyway. Either way, THAT'S when details matter... not when the actor has a different eye color than was originally written.

In the end, I don't want to sound like I'm not valuing the opinions of other people. I do. Really. It's just that *my* opinion is that it's silly to focus on something so little, and of not great importance. So I'm saying so, as is my right. Hopefully, the series will rock and will make people forget whose eyes are what color, or that that shade of red isn't red enough. Only a few more months! Oh, and if you haven't read it yet, now's the time to start!

Swimming 03/24/2014

Today was one of those rare awesome days where you feel great, have lots of energy, and you accomplish more than you set out to do. I went into the pool feeling "meh" because I was crampy and according to DH, bloated. Thanks :P

But as usual, I started out with an easy breaststroke, and as I was nearing the wall for my 50, I was feeling up to going for a 100. So I made the turn and kept going. At the end of that first 100, I was still feeling it, but didn't want to kill myself so early. I made myself stop. Next up was freestyle, again aiming for a 50, but ended up with a 100! Same with the rest of the workout... I did no 50's the entire workout, which is amazing to me, because I only just started swimming again not that long ago. It might just be a fluke, and that's okay. But I'm so happy! I ended up doing 1,000 yards/meters/whatever, and I was still feeling energy at the end. Alas, I needed to get back home, so I couldn't do more. Also, my breaststroke kick seemed to go back to normal, so that's a plus.

Here's my set:
100 breaststroke
100 freestyle
100 breaststroke
100 backstroke
100 breaststroke
100 breaststroke kick
100 freestyle
100 backstroke kick
100 backstroke
100 breaststroke

Fingers crossed that my next workout keeps up with the 100's!

Swimming 03/17/2013

Today felt really good! I changed things up just a little bit, and ended up at 800 yards. There also was a cute guy doing laps in the next lane over, so that helps, too. ;)

4x50 alternating breast, free & back
100 breaststroke kicking
4x50 alternating breast, free & back
100 backstroke kicking, without board. Worked on breathing and position of feet.
4x50 alternating breast, free & back, with emphasis on back

But during my breaststroke 50's, I noticed that I have slightly changed my position in the water, so now when I kick, my feet break the surface of the water. This is desirable in the other 3 strokes, but not breaststroke. Your hips need to be lower, so that your legs can catch more water to "push" off of. Breaking the surface means that your kick isn't as effective, and you slow down. Slowing down = more work. I kind of noticed it last time I swam, but I thought that since I was thinking about it too much, it was just messing with me. Now that I've noticed it 2 times in a row, the next few swims will have more focus on keeping my hips down.

Just keep swimmin'...

I've recently started swimming again, so I thought I would jot down my workouts, such as they are. I'm seriously out of shape, so the first few times, I've not gotten as much yardage as I would have liked. But I also like not drowning, so it all works out in the end. :)

The past few workouts have been pretty much what I used to do when I swam laps 3-4 times a week, before Bubba was born... minus a few hundred yards and modified for my current ability. It's basically alternating 50's of breaststroke, freestyle, and backstroke, with 100-200 yards of kicking mixed in. All in all, my max is about 700 yards in about 30-45 minutes. At my non-teenage peak, I was at 1,200 yards in 45 minutes, with more 100's. So I have some work to do, as well as needing to research better swim sets. What I do now is a little boring.

I'm also toying with the idea of joining Masters Swimming, which is run by the same association that governs swim clubs commonly found in thousands of communities around the country. Except those clubs are focused mainly on youth swimming up until age 18, and all are competitive. Masters is the same thing, but for people 18 and older, and it's more focused on swimming for fitness. There are Masters competitions, though there aren't many, and travel would be required. But my only hangup, is that the closest club that offers a Masters program is 100 miles way. It is possible for me to be unaffiliated and to only work out by myself, but heck, if I'm going to pay the same fees, I kind of want some coaching out of the deal, ya know? But on the flip side, it'd be nice to feel as though I'm a part of something, even if I'm working by myself. I don't know. More thinking to do.

Before I forget

I always tell myself that I will always remember what cute things Matthew does or how he acts because that's what moms do, right? Wrong. There are things I swore I'd remember when he was smaller, but for the life of me, I can only call up a few things instead of the big list I know is in there, somewhere. So hey, I have this blog... it's for, you know, writing stuff down. Kind of like a list, but more public, and probably more coherent. Probably. Anyway, here's my Matthew List at around 18 months old. :)

He is always on the go. I think the only time the kids sits still is if you strap him into his high chair, or when he's sleeping. And the being still while sleeping is debatable. I don't know for sure, because I try not to go in there if he's sleeping. Because...

He wakes pretty easily, and almost completely. Occasionally, I have to wake him from his nap since I kind of want him to have his normal bed time. I just have to say his name, and he's up. He goes from sleeping soundly, to eyes open, to standing up. All within 3 seconds. And if I set him down, he immediately starts to play. I'm kind of jealous actually. I'm useless for the first hour that I'm up.

He is soooo sweet around other kids. Especially the younger ones. He loves babies, and wants to hold them. Wants to have them sit in his lap. Wants to share his pacifier. Loves to pat their heads and give hugs, which often times looks like he's trying to smother them. He will bring his toys over to them so they can play, too. He will gladly share his food & drink... even going so far as to put food in their mouth (done with a girl his age, and NOT a baby baby). With the older kids, he loves to run after them to see what they're up to. Most of the time, they're just running in circles or playing hide & seek. Doesn't matter... he loves it all. So through all this, my initial impression I have of him is that he's going to be that kid in school who likes everyone and everyone likes him.

He is super helpful already. If there is a crumb on the floor, he will pick it up and take it to the trash. If you ask him to throw something away, he will. His first actual chore has become refilling the extra toilet paper roll holder. It holds 3 rolls, and if we're not replacing a roll right away, we'll put the 4th on top. He's so excited to put the rolls in the holder, that he'll eagerly point to it if there are no more rolls in it. And while we're in the bathroom, if the used washcloths that we use to clean him with after a meal are dry, I'll hand them to him, he'll run to our closet where the dirty towel basket is located, and add them to the collection. He's also taken to help me carry laundry baskets full of folded clothes back to the closet to be put away. He also does this with the small basket I use to store his cloth diapers. He'll grab one end and I'll grab the other, and together, we take our load to where it needs to go... with me carrying most of the weight, obviously. He will put his shoes back where they belong, generally pretty straight. He will try to put the tray to his high chair back on after a meal, though he's still a little too short to actually get it up on top the arms. He also likes to put clothes in the washing machine/dryer, though he's a little too short for this chore, too. I love that he loves to help, and I realize that it may be just a phase, especially since we're heaping on the praise when he does something helpful, and that it probably won't be heaped on as he gets older. But something tells me he has gotten his daddy's sense of helpfulness and orderliness, and so he will always be this way.

He's very thoughtful, too. In this dry winter air, the tops of my legs tend to get itchy, so I scratch them a little. He'll come over and start lightly scratching, too, helping a girl out. It actually kind of tickles, it's so light... so I can't say it helps matters. But it's the thought that counts.

If DH & I hug, he insists on being involved, too. I'll be holding him and he'll put his head on my shoulder. Then DH will put his arms around both of us and lay his head on Matthew's shoulder. Then I'll lay my head on DH's shoulder. It's adorable, and we love doing it.

At night after I nurse him, I cuddle him for a bit before I put him down. He'll lay his head on my shoulder and after a bit, I start to feel him rubbing my arms and patting the back of my shoulders. It just makes my heart melt and not want to put him down.

Anyway, there is more, I'm sure. But it's late and I don't want to gush too much. :) So I'll end this post by saying I have one lovely little dude on my hands!
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*I'm still in the process of finding the perfect blog template, so things might be a little wonky as I try new templates out. Have patience!

Goals for 2014

A friend of mine recently came out of blog hibernation to post her goals for 2014, and it has spurred me into doing the same thing. However, I will not call them resolutions. To me, calling something a resolution makes it seem as though I HAVE to do it or I'm a failure. But a goal implies that you're working towards something and the path might not always be perfect, but as long as you get there, that's all that matters. If you look up the two words though, the definitions are essentially the same. So anyway...

#1) Get more active, somehow. I say somehow because I don't know exactly how I want to go about it yet. I love swimming, but there isn't much to work towards while swimming besides getting in shape and losing weight. Joining a masters program online might help, as it would give me opportunities to compete every once in a while (not that I've ever been a good swimmer, but I like competing). I'm also contemplating taking up running, as 3 of my friends have now taken it up and are having fun working towards 5K's and half marathons. The only hitch is that it involves me actually running. Last time I ran, I didn't think it was a whole lot of fun. But if I had something to work towards (races!), maybe it could become my new crack? I don't know. All I know is that I need to do something.

#2) Eat better. I'm the first to admit that I eat like crap. Yeah, I don't eat a lot of fast food, but just because I make it at home doesn't mean it's better for you. Things like ramen noodles, Mt. Dew, shells and cheese and frozen pizza are things I eat very regularly. It bothers the heck out of my husband, who is trying his hardest to become vegan. Maybe I eat this way as a silent protest to his dietary changes. Either way, it's not healthy, period. I aim to cut most of the crap and eat more wholesome foods, including veggies. There's no way I could become vegan, or even vegetarian. But that doesn't mean I can't eat healthy.

#3) Re-connect friendships. Not saying I've lost any friends, but for the past 6 months or so, I've felt myself pulling away more and more from pretty much everyone. I don't want to say I'm depressed, but I'm certainly not happy, and when I'm not happy, I seclude myself. But I'm tired of it. I feel as though life is going on and I know nothing of it. So I aim to get out more, or have the girls over more, or both. And hopefully with me adding exercise and better food to the mix, maybe I can shake the funk that I've been in.

#4) Find another hobby besides the internet. Let's face it: I love the internet. Even some of my hobbies are on the internet. But I think I spend a little too much time on it. So maybe it's time to re-teach myself how to knit/crochet, or pick something else up? I'll have to think on it, as there are lots of things I could do.

#5) Find a workable solution for housework. I'm very sporadic about what I clean and when, although it does get done eventually. It just needs to be more on a schedule, I guess. Yay. But it needs to happen, no matter how I feel about it.

I think 5 goals are more than doable. Of course there are more non-me related things I could add to the list, but focusing on Matthew got me to this point in the first place. This is all for ME!

So, when's the next one?

There are a ton of common questions people get once they get to certain ages, and they are mostly super annoying after a while. There's the "when are you guys going to get married?", then once that happens, it becomes, "so... when are you having kids?" And now I'm finding out that once your baby turns one, I'm fully expected to pop another baby out.

DH and I went to his former place of employment last week, and pretty much everyone asked this question. Okay, yes, I'll let you, a virtual stranger to me, know that DH & I are planning on having sex... lots and lots of sex. Because you know, you have to have sex to make a baby, and since we're working with PCOS here, it pretty much means that it'll take a while again. I realize that when people ask this question, they're not really thinking about the sex part. But it feels like everyone is nosy about our sex life... from my perspective anyway. And yes, I realize the irony from complaining about this nosiness and then writing about it for all to see. But we're all friends here, right? Right.

Anyway, the whole point of this post is just to get it out there, officially.

No, we are not "trying" for another baby yet. Maybe some time soon-ish, but at this point, I'm not so eager for another c-section so soon after the first one. It sucked, yo. I wouldn't classify it as a traumatic experience, but until I want another baby super badly, which I don't yet, then it can wait. That, and I am really enjoying my solo time with Matthew. Yes, I'm sure he'd love a sibling to pick on.... I mean, play with. He'll probably get one. Just not right now, and that is okay.

Cloth diaper total costs after 1 year

Probably the main reason why I wanted to cloth diaper in the first place, was saving money. I mean, who doesn't like saving money? But little did I know, was that buying cloth diapers can easily become addictive. There are so many companies, so many color and prints, so many different kinds of diapers to try, that it can get out of hand if you're not paying attention. It's kind of like this for me, but I try to keep my diaper purchases limited to only co-ops and Black Friday. I've talked about Black Friday before, but co-ops are a true revelation. For real.

When I was first researching the best brands to get, I'd heard the brand "Alva" mentioned quite a bit. Alva is a diaper made in China, and sold ultra cheap... about $5 a diaper, which is amazing. But I assumed the quality was lower and didn't want the hassle of cheap diapers. However, we were gifted an Alva, and once it started fitting Matthew, it quickly became one of my favorites. Don't get me wrong, it is a lower quality diaper when compared to one that was made in the US, but it works and has held up great so far. So I started looking in to buying more of them, and came across a co-op group on Facebook. The hosts regularly hold a buy where the members can order diapers/inserts/wetbags, and the more items purchased, the prices drop. On some of the bigger buys, the diapers get as cheap as $2.50! Insane!

And how it works, is once the buy is closed, every person who ordered sends money through Paypal to the host, and then the host orders everything. The diaper company then sends all the packages (usually about a dozen big packages) to the host, where then they sort, package, invoice for shipping, and then ship all the individual orders. The whole process takes a month or two, so you can't go in with an immediate need and expect it on your door in 3 days. I haven't bought any Alvas yet, but I have bought 2 other kinds of cheap Chinese diapers... JC Trade (aka Cartoons) and Happy Flute. The Cartoons have mostly been a flop, as they leak through the rise snaps, which should NOT happen. The Happy Flutes are awesome though, so I might look into buying more at some point. But next up on my list are the Alvas. There will be a buy coming up in the next few weeks, so I'm making my list!

Anyway... I've been lax in keeping up with my total cost list, but I've finally finished my inventory sheet and came up with how much I've spent so far. The number is about where I expected it to be, and while cd'ing could have been cheaper had I done things a bit differently, I'm fairly happy with my stash.

The total was $781.66. But I'm at the point now where I'm starting to sell off the ones I don't like enough to use constantly, so within the past week or two, I've gotten back about $80 of that. So the total is right around $700 now. I'm pleased with the rate of return on the diapers... averaging about 80% return, which is pretty good for used diapers. I have more waiting to be listed, too, so that total number should drop even more, although when I buy the Alvas, what I make back might be mostly negated. We'll see.

I'm here

So in true Jaime fashion, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon again. A lot of stuff has been going on, but that's life, right? And then, every once in a while, I'll think of something fun to write about, but when I get the time to sit down and write it all out.... poof!... there goes my motivation.

I can't guarantee a timeline of my return, but I do promise to try to write when I have things to say. :)

Groceries, week 4

So, after not posting the last 2 weeks, I'm back with how I'm doing in trying to save money while grocery shopping. I'm realizing that using coupons to achieve this isn't going to be as easy as I thought. Coupons don't roll over all that often, and the ones that do come out, we don't use the product being promoted. I realize that it would be a good way to try new things out, but I'm really not that adventurous in meal making. Sometimes I'll try out something new, but on the whole, I know what I like and I like knowing how to make it.

Anyway, my week 4 experience is also a little out of the ordinary, as we're going to be shopping around what we get as part of our share from the CSA we signed up for this summer. So the whole summer's shopping trips will be a little out of the ordinary. But we'll be eating out of the freezer this week, so there is no meat bought this week. Also, DH has decided he didn't want sandwiches.

The total for this week's trip was $54.85. It could have been significantly less had I not had the craving for puppy chow as I was making the shopping list. Or not bought detergent. Or the Powerades. But my justifications are good. One, I need my chocolate, so I was going to buy it in one form or another. The total for all the ingredients are kind of pricey, but this will make a ton of puppy chow. Two, the detergent was buy one, get one free, and we use that brand. Three, with DH being outside a ton in the summer, he'll go through Powerades quickly. And the sale was buy 15 for $10. So it was a great deal. Oh, and the box of pancake mix was free with the purchase of the syrup. I was going to buy syrup anyway, so I figured why not?

On the bottom of the receipt, it says I saved $14.28, so I consider this week a win, even if I didn't go into the store with any coupons.

Non-produce purchases: 15 bottles of Powerade, 2 laundry detergent jugs, 1 jug of maple syrup, 1 jar of spaghetti sauce, 1 jar of peanut butter, 1 package of pancake mix, 1 frozen pizza, 1 bag of chocolate chips, 1 box of cereal, 1 quart of milk.

Produce purchases: 1 container of strawberries, 1 container of raspberries, 3 spaghetti squash, 6 bananas, 1 red pepper, 1 head of cauliflower, 1 mango, and 4 ears of corn.

Challenge accepted!

Something needs to be done. Seriously. It shouldn't cause me this much stress, but it does. And I have to subject myself to this 4-5 times a month, every month, forever and ever. What is it? Grocery shopping.

Funny thing is, I used to L.O.V.E. grocery shopping. I used to go multiple times a week. But that was back when I worked, and for the most part, DH & I each got our own groceries with our own money, and made our own meals. Once we started living off of only one income, we consolidated our lists and money into one, and I began shopping once a week, and cooking most meals. And then once we started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, the whole ballgame changed. I now H.A.T.E. grocery shopping. It stresses me the F out.

Our budget for groceries is a strict $400 a month, which seems quite high for only 2 people. In our defense though, we eat very little packaged, processed food, which is usually pretty cheap. Most meals are made by scratch, and we spend a little more to get better cuts/quality items. So that accounts for most of our $400 a month. The thing is, some months, that $400 is gone super fast. I try to keep each week's groceries to $100 or less, but sometimes I fail to realize that there are occasionally five Sundays in a month instead of four (I shop on Sundays), or special events take place which requires me to spend a little more in a trip. Groceries are also getting more and more expensive. So by the time the last Sunday of the month rolls around and I look in the grocery envelope, I often find only $50 or so. DH's sandwich stuff alone takes up about $25. Like I said, it stresses me the F out.

So one day a few weeks ago, I watched an episode of TLC's Extreme Couponing on Netflix, and it got me thinking that perhaps I should start couponing a little more to help even out my weekly stress levels. I have to point out, that at this time in my life, I don't have the time to dedicate to full-on couponing like you see in those episodes. But I do have time to look through circulars and clip the coupons I want, and I also have time to look at online coupon offerings. I wouldn't get huge stockpiles, just one or two of an item, and since no store in my town doubles coupons, the chances of me getting anything for free is slim to none. Perhaps later on down the line, it'll be worth the trip to Fargo every 2 weeks so I can shop in a store that does double. But for now, I'll stay in town. Anyway, I just want to cut $10 off my weekly trip. More would be nice obviously, but let's start small, shall we?

To keep track, I'll post weekly shopping updates. This week's trip is a little different, in that DH is going to try a mostly fruits and veggie diet. So the produce is about double of what I normally get, and there are no sandwich ingredients. And I didn't go full-on couponing. I did get a few things though. I spent $93.18, and I saved 4.30 through coupons. A nice trial run.

Non-produce purchases: Gummy cola bottles, 2 pounds of extra lean ground beef, 2 packages of shredded cheddar, a bottle of Italian soda, a gallon of orange juice, a half gallon of milk, 4 things of baby food, 3 cans of peaches, a bottle of hot sauce, a package of fish sticks, a bag of rice, a container of puppy chow, a microwave meal, and a Sunday paper (I want to see if it'd be worth buying every Sunday just for the circulars).

Produce purchases: a cantaloupe, a container of strawberries, a zucchini, a cucumber, an avocado, 2 bunches of celery, a bag of spinach, a bag of sugar snap peas, 2 pounds of carrots, 5 pounds of potatoes, 2 green peppers, a spaghetti squash, a head of green leaf lettuce, 6 ears of corn, a bag of organic lemons, a head of cauliflower, 3 roma tomatoes, 7 bananas, 3 oranges, 8 gala apples, and 8 kiwi.

Woulda coulda shoulda

Every once in a while, I get brief flashbacks of random things that have happened in my life. I think this happens for everyone to some extent. Anyway, I had one of those occasions tonight while washing dishes. I was thinking of one of my high school friends who is about to report to Army boot camp at the age of 31, and it got me thinking of all the times I was thisclose to joining one branch of the armed forces or another. And college. And both. So this post will be about both.

As the final quarter of my public school education was starting, I had the sudden jolt of panic when I realized that I'd been completely ignoring the fact that colleges have application deadlines, and depending on which college, essays to write. I still had a little time, so I wasn't screwed, but I think that it made me narrow my focus to colleges that had easier application processes. So I poured over the multitudes of college brochures that'd been showing up in my mailbox, and I was so excited. I was most excited by George Washington University in St. Louis, but the price tag per year was (and most likely still is) appalling. At the time, I believe it was somewhere around the $50,000 mark. Per year. Um. No. If I were going to spend that much, I would go to Notre Dame (my absolute dream school at that point). Then I came across University of Central Florida. But while I wanted to leave Montana, I wasn't quite ready to go all the way down to Florida, even if the school sounded amazing.

Being more realistic, I only looked at colleges that were in Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota. So application #1 went to Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, application #2 went to University of Montana, and application #3 went to Jamestown College in Jamestown, ND. I was accepted to all three, mostly because I'm awesome. Unfortunately, I had to turn down Concordia because I'd missed the scholarship application deadlines, and it's quite pricey per year. U of M and JC were comparable in price, and while I loved visiting U of M, JC was offering a lot more in terms of scholarships and there was a great chance that I'd graduate in 4 years, as where if I went to U of M, the average was 5 years, so I ultimately chose JC.

But throwing a monkey wrench into my plans was my interest in becoming a Marine. There is just something about serving in the military that draws me in. I don't want to romanticize it, because I know it's a buttload of work, peril and the life isn't for everyone. But something deep inside has always told me that I would be good at it and that I would love it. However, I was never man enough to take that leap. It's one of my regrets/non-regrets in life. What I mean by that is that I regret that I never took that chance, but at the same time, I can't really regret the choices I did make, because then I wouldn't be where I am now. And I kinda like where I am now. Does this make sense?

And why the Marines? I don't remember exactly why. It could have been that I had a friend who was one, or that they have the best bands (would have been my MOS), or maybe that I liked their uniforms better. It's all pretty hazy now. Anyway.....a friend of mine, who had graduated 2 years ahead of me, was a Marine, and she was stationed in Billings as a recruiter. She knew of my interest, and really worked at me to get me to enlist, but even though she assured me it (BTW, if I'd had easy access to the internet back then, I'm pretty sure I would have worked out my fears of boot camp and enlisted. So I'm not sure whether to thank my parents for not having internet, or curse them :/ )
wasn't all that horrible, the mere thought of boot camp scared the crap out of me. So I turned her down and packed my bags for North Dakota.

As my freshman year was drawing to a close, I was seriously unhappy at JC. I yearned for a larger school/community setting, so on the encouragement of an internet friend, I applied to Montana State University in Bozeman. Of course I was accepted. And while I was figuring out what to do once there, I was playing with the idea of joining the Air Force ROTC they have on campus. But the whole MSU thing fizzled pretty quickly... maybe because I am an optimist and thought "just give JC one more semester". I don't know. All I do know is that if hadn't gone back to JC the next semester, I wouldn't have became friends with the guy I would later marry, and is the father of my adorable baby.

And finally, my last brush with the military came after I graduated from college. I was struggling to find a decent job, and by some chance, I saw a brochure for becoming an officer in the Army... which being a college graduate is one of the very few ways one can be commissioned. And this was the one time in which I was probably the most serious about joining the military... because with the Army, I could have joined the National Guard and stayed here. There would be no moving around, and I could have a regular civilian life, too. It was all doable, and going though boot camp no longer scared the crap outta me, thanks to tons of research and message boards.

But throwing the monkey wrench this time was my BF... now DH. He'd grown up an Army brat, and knew what it would all entail... and he wanted no part of it. He didn't tell me I couldn't join, but that if I did, there was no way he could support me, which in my mind meant that we would have to break up. Because there's no way I could NOT have his support in something I did, and be at peace about it. So I chose him over the military. I don' regret it one bit. Yeah, every once in a while, I'll think, "what if?", and dream up some scenario. But I'm happy with how things turned out, so these are always short-lived.

First destashing

So after much thought, I've decided to unload the diapers I don't like or work well on Bubba. Kinda exciting, but kinda not. I mean, what if no one wants them? I know I'm not going to make my money back on any of them, but what if I get hosed? I guess I can control that one, but still...

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting some money back so I can buy more of what I do like, and try out some cheaper Cartoon diapers (which I've totally bought already. But hey, they were like, $3 per diaper through a co-op).

Here's the cut list:
Swaddlebees Simplex OS
BumGenius 4.0's
Kissaluvs Marvels OS fitted
GroVia NB AIO

And I've already sold my GroVias! I got pretty close to what I paid for them, and if it weren't due to shipping costs, I would have made everything back. So I'll take making 95% of my money back!

First days at home

As Bubba hits 9 months old, I'm all of a sudden remembering the first few days out of the hospital. It seems so long ago, but really, it wasn't. I mean, it was less than a year ago. But when your baby comes out a tiny little peanut and 9 months later is over 20lbs, it just seems like time has flown. Anyway, 2 of my sisters-in-law are pregnant, and are both due in August, so that also adds to my nostalgia.

I remember the day we brought him home. It was blazing hot out, as it typically is in July. It just seemed hotter because they keep the hospital just a touch above Arctic temperatures. So we walk out, and WHOOSH... a blast of humid heat. It was so surreal to me (aka I was drugged up pretty good). Then as soon as we started to drive away, Bubba started screaming and didn't stop almost until we got home, by then he'd fallen asleep. DH brings the carseat inside as I settle on the couch. He looks at me and asks, "now what?". Exactly. It's funny because you think you're ready for a baby, but when it's time to leave the hospital with one, you're struck with this overwhelming fear because you really have no idea what to do now. It's like, "Crap. They let me leave with a baby!" But as I'm writing this 9 months later, I can assure you we figured it out that day. Just let the baby sleep in the car seat. When he wakes up, take him out. Change his diaper. When he cries, pop a boob in his face. Stuff like that.

It really helped that prior to having Bubba, my mother-in-law gave us a DVD called "Dunstan Baby Language". DH & I watched it a few times, and again brought it to the hospital for a refresher. Those first few weeks, we had this crying thing down. Oh, he's hungry. Fixed. Oh, he needs a new diaper. Fixed. And all the while on my mommy due date group, the new moms were constantly in a flurry of panic because they didn't know what their babies wanted. So I felt ahead of the game. Sucky thing though, is that their cries change after about 3 months. THEN we had to re-learn, and I was in a flurry of panic. Humble pie was eaten.

Okay, I've gotten a little off track. Where was I?

Oh, first days at home. Right. So, it pretty much sucked for me. Having a c-section is no joke. I can't understand why someone would elect to have one unless they have to (I will have to in the future unless I want to risk it and go for a VBAC in Fargo). It sucks, and isn't worth the "convenience" of having a baby on a certain day, or choosing to have one just to avoid labor. My opinion of course.

Anyway, I couldn't freely move around, and it made taking care of Bubba more difficult than it should have been. DH took a week off of work, and he helped a ton. But he had to go back to work eventually, so I set up camp in the living room. Nursing pillow, laptop, food, meds, camera. He slept on me during naps those first few days, and then we got a Rock n Play sleeper, and that came into the living room, too. Only times I really had to get up were to go to the bathroom, or to change his diaper. I did walk around a bit, but I had to be careful, as one day, I did too much, and then I was in pain the rest of the week. Lesson learned.

I also learned these gems...

Do not try to be brave and think that you don't need your meds. Because by the time you realize that you do need your meds, the pain is back and it's so difficult to get it back under control.

Do not disregard the recommendation that you take a stool softener after you get out of the hospital (where they make you take one every day). For realz, yo. I'll leave it at that.

Mesh panties are awesome. I stole some from the hospital. I'm sure they would have given them to me had I asked, but I was feeling rebellious, so I snuck some into my bag.

The incision site will be numb for a long time. I'm pretty sure mine was numb for about 6 months. And even now it still doesn't feel "normal". The incision also makes your tummy look like it has a pouch. It's awesomely attractive when combined with the gnarly stretch marks. And yet, I will still probably wear a bikini this summer. Battle scars aren't anything to be ashamed of.

I also learned to NOT sleep on my right side. For some reason, I could only get out of bed if I were on my left side. It hurt about 1,000x worse if I tried the right side. And forget about rolling over. One day while Bubba was napping, DH & I were cudding/resting on our bed, and I foolishly laid down on my right side. DH being DH, he fell asleep. About 20 minutes later, I needed to get up, and found that I absolutely could not. It hurt sooooo bad, I was crying. But I was also too proud to wake DH up so he could help me. Nonetheless, in my struggle to get up, he woke up, saw my predicament, and helped a girl out.

And the most important thing I learned, is that there is a horrible hormonal reaction when your baby cries. It is almost physically painful to listen to. I suppose it's because mothers are supposed to respond to their baby's cries, and this helps ensure this. It's something I still struggle with, even though DH logically explains to me that deep down, I know they're safe, so it's okay to take a shower while they scream in the crib. Yeah, easier said than done.

As I wrap this up, I can't help but scold myself that I didn't write this stuff down while it was happening. In my defense though, it's only recently that I feel like I've been able to take a breath of air for myself. Breathing is good. For realz, yo. :D

Matthew @ 6 months

Getting into trouble

I thought I would be writing one of these things every month, but obviously, I haven't. I still mostly feel as though I'm on survival mode, and just when I think I'm getting the hang of it, he goes and switches things up on me. So maybe sometime in the next 5 years I'll get the hang of it. IF I don't go and get knocked up again (topic for another day).

Anywho... my Bubba is 6 months old! It's hard to believe, as it's gone by super quick. I know that's cliched and everything, but it's true.

And he is such a good, sweet baby. Of course he's difficult sometimes, too, but mostly not. I count myself lucky that he hasn't had any health problems, reflux, colic, milk intolerance, etc. Just a normal little boy.

For his 6 month birthday, we started him on solid foods. At this point it's just to get him used to eating non-liquids, and not for nutrition. And that's a good thing, because it appears he's not too fond of bananas. Then he had some oat cereal & pureed sweet potatoes, separately of course, neither of which he likes. So wanting him to like something, anything, I sucked it up and bought baby food. But I bought the ones that I know are good... like apricots (yummy). And apricots are a success! I even mixed a baby spoonful of it into the oat cereal, and he tolerated that better. DH also gave him a stalk of celery to nom on, and he likes that as well, but I'm not sure if it's the flavor he likes, or the fact that it feels good on his gums.

He's not crawling yet, but I think it'll be soon. He's trying to get up on his knees, but hasn't yet figured out that it works better if he doesn't mash his face on the floor. :)

He LOVES to walk around with us holding him up, which is super cute, but uncomfortable for us, as he's still small and we have to bend over. We'll walk around the living room, down the hall and into different rooms. It takes a while, as he's still a little unsure about his feet and balance. But he's 6 months old, so for where he is right now, I think he's actually ahead of the game. Do I think he'll walk before 1? Probably. But I don't think he'll be a super early walker either. Maybe 9 months. Maybe.

He also graduated to the bath tub for baths. Up until that point, we'd been bathing him in the kitchen sink. But he learned how to splash and he was getting grabby. He LOVES it! Well, he loved it until he turned over onto his tummy and swallowed some water. Now he's kind of over water.

And lastly, he's started to reach out for me, which makes me feel all warm and gooey inside. :D He's my favoritest person in the world. And today I get to subject my favoritest person to pain in the form of more shots. Sorry dude. You'll thank me when you don't get polio or diphtheria.

Cloth diaper review: Swaddlebees OS AIO

Swaddlebees Simplex OS AIO
Monster print

When buying more diapers this year, I wanted to include a couple AIO's (all-in-ones). About 85% of my current stash is made up of pockets, and once he grew out of his Ragababe AIO, he didn't have any AIO's that fit. So after going over reviews, I decided upon 2 different AIO's... Peachy Green and Swaddlebees. I'll review the Peachy Green in another post.

Most of the reviews given loved the fact that the soaker part wasn't completely sewn in and that it had a stay-dry side to it, as well as just a regular cotton side, which is the same cotton the inner fabric is made of. I was drawn to the cotton inner, because I really believe that when babies can't feel when they're wet, it takes longer to potty train later on. And all of my pocket diapers have stay-dry inners, much to my dismay. So while I won't be replacing all my pocket diapers, I at least wanted to add a few diapers that don't have a stay-dry inner.

Anyway, the soaker. I had wondered how one would take out this soaker to be washed, and saw that there was no need to fish it out... that it would agitate out in the wash cycle. Score. Anyway, these diapers got great reviews on function as well.

I loved the prints, too. My favorite was the Dino, as we have a burp cloth made from the same print, but in flannel. I wanted to match. Alas, on Black Friday, that print sold out pretty quickly. I settled on a new print, Monsters, which is cute, too.

So once it arrived, I quickly prepped it (as quick as diaper prepping can go, anyway). The feel of it is a little different than I expected. The inner cotton is thick and kinda stiff. The outer layer is more plastic-y than fabric-y. It feels cheap. But at the same time, it feels substantial... if that makes sense? Anyway, point being, it doesn't feel like any of my other diapers.

Once it was done prepping, I noticed something... the soaker didn't agitate out. I'd intentionally left it in on a clean load, just in case it didn't come out (then I wouldn't worry that it didn't get clean). I figure it would agitate out in a top loader with lots of water, but not a front loader with far less water per load. So I'm a little disappointed that I have yet another thing to fish out of a dirty diaper. Yeah, I could leave the soaker out and have the stay-dry side facing up, but I like the fact that he feels wet, and I like the fact that he doesn't like feeling wet. And I can live with it seeing as though I have to fish inserts out of the pocket diapers all the time anyway.

As far as functionality, it works just fine. He's worn it a handful of times and pooped in it a few times as well. No leaks or blowouts. Due to the nature of a OS diaper, it's kinda bulky on the small setting for the rise, which is where it is on Bubba. We'll see how it holds up the older and bigger he gets.

Hmmmm... I dunno.
Matthew @ 5.5 months, about 17 pounds

Sorry it's blurry. Wiggly babies make getting clear pictures difficult.

All in all, I can't say it's my favorite diaper, but it serves its purpose. I can't help but feel that this will be resold at some point though.

Happy New Year!

It's been a momentous 2012. Hope 2013 is just as awesome!

Quiet book ideas

Because I totally have more time on my hands than I know what to do with (eye roll), I've recently been thinking of making a quiet book for Bubba. So I've been casually pinning ideas on Pinterest, and it's made me realize that should I make everything I've pinned, Bubba will have numerous quiet books to choose from. Yeah, chances are I won't make all of them, and I'll actually congratulate myself if I even get one done. But if I work on it a little at a time, maybe it'll get done by the time he's ready to use it. Here are the ones that I LOVE:

Needs Dr. Crusher and Troi to be complete, but aren't these adorable?

That's right... a Star Trek quiet book! This is a complete book, and the picture above is just one of the pages. Those are finger puppets, by the way. How awesome of a mom would I be if I made this? But never fear... I will make them with the correct rank pips. Imagine Captain Picard being demoted. As if!

The cloud is the pocket to hold everything

This cute rainbow has snap-in pieces to help kids work on their snapping as well as their color recognition and matching abilities.

It's like Mr. Potato Head, but not.

 Build your own robot. Enough said.

Sand castles!

This double pager lets you make your own sand castle. All the bottom pieces are interchangeable, so he can really have fun with it.

My head just exploded from the awesomeness!

And finally, yes, a Harry Potter quiet book. Made by the same chick who did the Star Trek quiet book, this one is also a complete book instead of just a page or two. Now you can see why I say I will be making quiet books for the rest of my life. :) Oh, and this chick also has a Star Wars one, which is also cool. But of the 3 she has, it comes in last in my list of awesomeness.

But now that I've listed them all out, I realize I better get on it. Bubba is almost 5 months old, and it can take me a long time to get a project done. So I'm not kidding when I say I hope I get one done by the time he's ready to use it. I shall start with the Star Trek book. Wish me luck!

On the "ability" of being a SAHM

Last night, DH had his company Christmas party, where employees from all the branches come to town to have a nice meal, free alcohol, door prizes and free hotel rooms. It's a huge deal, and they go all-out. Anyway, before the party, DH told me that some of his co-workers are jealous that I am able to be a SAHM. And indeed, a handful of them mentioned to me and DH that they wished they could stay home.

The thing is, they CAN.

Now, I've thought this way long before Dave Ramsey entered my life. So I won't turn this into a "take a Dave Ramsey course" plug, although I'll admit that his program has made it a little easier to be a SAHM. But soooo many people don't realize that if they really really wanted to, and both the husband and wife agreed, one of them can stay home and raise children for a living. They just have to realize that they'd have to sacrifice on some of the more creature comforts Americans have grown to "need". And yes, it is hard. But again, if they really wanted to, they'd find a way.

Here's a list of things we've sacrificed a bit on which makes it possible for me to stay home.

1. Our mortgage is modest enough that I don't need to bring in any money to help keep the roof over our heads. And a modest mortgage means that we have a modest house. No McMansions here.

2. Both our vehicles were bought used, were paid for in cash, and are creeping up on 10 years old. We have no plans on getting a new "used" vehicle anytime soon, as we haven't saved up enough to pay in full, and a car payment would take a big chunk of our budget.

3. DH's cell phone is mostly paid for by his employer, and mine is just a simple TracFone. I can make a call and text. That's it. No camera, no WiFi, no games. It's maybe $100 a year. (No, I don't talk on the phone a lot). If DH's employer decided to stop paying for his cell phone, he'd get a TracFone, too. And like the vehicles, we don't get the newest phones that hit the market.

4. We eat out once a week. Sometimes twice, depending on what's going on. But eating out is expensive, and it's sad when you spend more on eating out than what you spend on groceries. We used to eat out a ton, but when we added up everything we spent, it gave us a wake up call that we were wasting money.

5. We no longer have cable. If DH had his way, we wouldn't have internet, either, but a girl's gotta put her foot down sometime. :) Out of everything I've listed so far, this one is by far the hardest. I liked the background noise it offered, and the trashy MTV shows I got addicted to. But when it comes down to it, we really don't need to spend $60 a month on trashy MTV shows that I could watch for free online.

6. We don't do a lot of shopping. And this might be a product of where we live, where Walmart is the best place to get stuff, but really, we take one or two big shopping trips to Fargo a year. But otherwise, there is very minimal amounts spent on clothing, shoes and whatever else other people like to buy.

7. We don't take many vacations. And by vacations, I mean "go somewhere that's more than 1 state away". We'll take an occasional weekend trip to see friends in Minnesota or go see my family in Montana. But besides gas, those are pretty cheap as we don't pay hotel costs. Maybe some day we'll take a big vacation... and of course we'd save up for it.

Anyway, those are the big things that most people don't want to give up. Not saying that everyone does all those things, but just one or two of them alone can make it impossible for someone to stay home with the kids. But if they really worked at it, I bet they'd find that they COULD stay home.