I Need a Nap

So, the ten days has been.. interesting. I was talking about it with my mom and decided to type it out. I can't make this shit up guys. I would love to even be able to tell you that this week was extraordinary but this craziness happens to me all the time. (Except the moving bit. That won't be happening again for a long, long time.)

~Found a rental house we liked. Finally. After 3 months of searching.

~Tried a McDonalds pumpkin milkshake. Verdict: meh.

~Attended a parking lot carnival. I had fun. D screamed like we were pulling his toenails out on most of the rides and then asked to ride them again. So we did. Over and over and over again.

~Slept 36 hours straight.

~Took my youngest to the emergency room after my husband tried to poison him* with ibuprofen.

~Damn near punched my husband in the face and threatened divorce for being an idiot.

~Took myself to the emergency room after developing a high fever.

~Inconvenienced my whole family and my best friend because of emergency room shenanigans.

~Recieved two liters of IV fluids, a shot for nausea and two different fever reducers by IV (the second finally made a dent). I also got a pretty cool bruise from the idiot that placed the IV. Looks like a battle wound.

~Was prescribed 4 different medications for various ailments. None of which I could take within 2 hours of each other.

~Spent two days eating nothing but pills every two hours.

~Found out after two doses that the antibiotics were on the "absolutely do not ever take while breastfeeding or it may kill your baby" list even though the doctor saw me nurse Kai and then I asked him again before we left if it was safe.

~Freaked out and hyperventilated while resisting the urge to throttle an ER doctor.

~Flushed an almost full bottle of expensive antibiotics.

~Packed my whole house in boxes, while sick, in less than 24 hours.

~Moved most of my house in the back of my van. Seriously, it took me about a million trips.

~Inconvenienced two more friends to help us move the rest of our crap. Took them one trip. Not fair.

~Had a mental break down and hyperventilated in the middle of the night because of the move. T consoled me even though he thinks I'm nuts.

~Checked the time of the birthday party we were supposed to attend Friday about 25 times a day, all week so I could be on time (for once).

~Showed up three hours late to a birthday party because the time on my invitation was wrong and no one decided to send me a text or call to see where the hell I was.

~Had a good cry. Again.

~Realized there is no Starbucks on every corner in the new town and hit Twitter with my disbelief.

~Apparently offended a couple of friends with my Starbucks freak out. They have no. idea.

~Got excited about going out with the lady friends. So excited in fact, I decided to take a celebratory nap before I got dressed.

~Was late meeting lady friends because of celebratory nap.

~Got a dog hair in my newly non-pinkeyed eye on the way out of the house, scratched it and made it swell up and be gross for night out with lady friends. It finally looked normal again about the time I got home.

~Drank a $7 martini that tasted like water with a splash of cranberry.

~Complained about watery drink to an ugly and unfriendly bartender.

~Drank a $7 martini that tasted like rubbing alcohol with a splash of cranberry (touche ugly bartender).

~Saw the band Good Charlotte live. Well, two of them. It was an acoustic set and was actually pretty good. Was almost close enough to grab their feet but didn't try.

~Realized I know more Good Charlotte songs than I thought I did.

~Had another glass of rubbing alcohol (Jerk).

~Danced my patootie off for a few hours courtesy of DJ 2nd Nature. Damn I needed that.

~Made a fist bump pact with the girls over a "got dick" t-shirt at a male strip club.

~Watched as my bestie was tricked into her first male lap dance which immediately backfired. Touche.

~Ate McDonald's nuggets at 3am.

~Got home and went to bed at 5am for the first time since my early twenties.

~Woke up in a surprisingly good mood for the first time in a long time.

~Did some grocery shopping. Finally.

~Realized there is also no Dunkin Doughnuts close, cried about that for insanely too long. (Also hit Twitter with that bit of info but no one got offended.)

~Treated K's fifth busted lip since birth. D, my supposed wild child, has never busted his lip. K got Mama's clumsy.

~Sprayed D with a hose for the first time ever. He was not impressed.

~ Realized K has two new teeth. He has a total of 8 now.

~Got a deep, black bruise on my thigh that I have no clue where it came from. Looks scary though.

~Had a long conversation with my three year old about why we don't play with our private parts in public. We also don't pull our pants down to hold ourselves in stores because we need to potty. No matter how bad we need to go. Sigh.

~Decorated for Halloween. Twice. In two different houses.

*My husband didn't really try to kill the baby. He is just an idiot.

Wearing My Babies: A Story and Call to Action!

I have written before about babywearing. I have always been an advocate for it and know first hands its benefits. I started wearing D when he was about two weeks old. He was tiny and so snuggly but I needed to get some stuff done. The automatic answer to me was babywearing. I could put him in the wrap we had at the time and I could do everything I needed to do, skin to skin with my precious little man.

Over the next year, there were days where I would wear him and he would cry when I took him out. We went from wrap to meitai to ring sling as he grew. Each time it took a few days for both of us to get used to the switch but it worked out just fine. He so much preferred to be worn than to sit in the nasty carts and sometimes he preferred the comfort of the carriers to just being carried.

I continued to wear D while I was pregnant with K and never slowed down. With a huge belly and a 30 pound toddler strapped to my back I definitely drew a lot of attention. Why would I give up something that we both loved? I didn't give up nursing him while I was pregnant, why would I give up wearing him. Not to mention it was way easier on my back to wear him than have to jut my hip out to hold him that way. It just made sense.

When K was born, he took a turn in the NICU. He spent almost all of his time snuggled up to my chest doing Kangaroo Care and he got quite used to being there, all snuggled up and warm, listening to my heartbeat. When we got home, he expected the same rock star treatment and he got it. I wore him a lot more in the first weeks that I did D. Every morning when we would get up he would go straight into the wrap. I could tend to his brother, and he got the snuggles and kisses he wanted. Everywhere we went, everything we did, K was worn.

He still is for the most part but now that he is getting bigger, he likes to be down. He enjoys sitting in the shopping cart more than D ever did. Mostly because that way he gets to watch and play games with his brother. Still though, if we are going somewhere as a family, one or the other or both of the boys still gets worn. Strollers are just too cumbersome for a family on the go.

Baby-wearing has always just been the norm for us. Its not something I talk about too much here although I have in the past. Its just what we do with our babies.

So, why bring it up now? Well, it is under attack. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is trying to regulate the baby-wearing industry. By doing so, they are taking away our options. They are trying to take away the small carrier makers that are the heart and soul of the practice. They are trying to undermine the research that shows that baby-wearing is beneficial and safe.

They have attacked a (so far unnamed) baby carrier company and forced them to stop production and have ordered them to destroy their inventory without any reasons or cite-able studies as to why. The scary thing is, they don't need a reason. They can do this just because they are the CPSC. The further problem is if they can do this to one company, they will do it to them all in time.

I know I speak for a lot of families that can say they stand firm behind baby-wearing and every thing that goes with it. One of those things is safety, yes, but that is something that lies with the parent using the product correctly, not something that can be mandated by a meddling government program.

So, what can you do? Same as I am doing along with lots of other awesome bloggers.

1. Join the Baby Carrier Industry Alliance on Facebook and join together with other outraged parents and see what you can do from there.

2. Blog, blog, blog. Tweet, tweet, tweet. Spreading the word is the best thing anyone can do right now. Even if you are not a baby-wearing parent, this is still something that can affect you, your readers, or your family. This is small business under attack and being bullied. Also, you can link up your post with Stephanie at Adventures in Baby-wearing for the chance to win a Sakura Bloom sling. Spread the word!

I hope that you can all understand why this is important to me. Baby-wearing isn't just how I carry my babies. Its a bonding thing. Its a trust thing. Its a safety thing. It has been safe for generations of parents around the world. Its a choice that I have made for my family and it is something that is in danger of being revoked by a program that refuses to give answers as to why it is taking that stance. Is that something that anyone would be okay with?

Feel free to add in your own stories in the comments, or if you do blog about this let me know! I would love to come by and read your stories. Also, don't forget to link up your post with Adventures In Babywearing to enter for your chance to wim!

Music Monday

 Music is a huge part of Tommy and I's relationship. Its something we bonded over in the beginning and still connect with now.  I will be posting the lyrics to a song and what it means to me every Monday (hopefully). At least until I run out of interesting things to say (Or I forget). Make sense? Feel free to do your own but please link back to me and add your site to the comments below!


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Baby Mine from Dumbo (Disney)



Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine
Little one when you play
Don't you mind what you say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine
Never a tear, baby of mine
If they knew sweet little you
They'd end up loving you too
All those same people who scold you
What they'd give just for
The right to hold you
From your head to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Cute as can be, baby of mine


These little boys. They just don't know how much they are loved. How much they make their Mama swell with pride. How much it hurts me when they cry. How much it melts me when they smile. They are my loves, my meaning. Babies of mine.