Mathematical Mama

I didn't have an OBGYN set up when I needed to go in for my first exam. I didn't really think about needing a separate doctor for that type of of thing, so I went to my family doctor. It was exceedingly awkward. The nurse stayed in the room per my request and I ended up kicking the doc (not on purpose) when I went to "dismount". My mom suggested the next year that I see the OBGYN she had been seeing for years. I made an appointment and actually saw her for several years. I don't really remember what she said to me when I asked to be put on birth control. It had a lot to do with responsibility. My mom loved this doc, but even after I was married, she still talked to me like I was a kid. (I was only 23 when I got married, but still) Matt and I started talking about kids after we had been married for a year and a half or a so. I didn't want mom's OBGYN to deliver my baby, so I started asking some girlfriends at work. One office that got a good recommendati...

Tuesday was the day parents dread. The 2 month well baby check up. Complete with shots and inevitable tears for the mommy. Z was a complete trooper. She did not shed a tear when getting her temperature or measurements taken (lil miss gained 3.5 lbs and over an inch in length).  She cooed and smiled when the doc checked her out. She started getting a little hungry right before the nurse came back in to give her the first set of vaccines. I'm so glad the nurse was quick. I remember when JP got his first ones, it seemed to take forever. Like, well over a minute. Z was done within a matter of seconds and stopped crying the second I picked her up. Of course we had to hit CVS to pick up some Tylenol, then back home to snuggle and nap for the majority of the afternoon. I'm not going to get on a soap box and grind down every parent that decides not to vaccinate their kids. It's a choice that we made, and I'm confident that it is the correct one for us. My best friend has c...

Its about that time. My daughter is 2 months old and I have not yet started to shed the extra weight that stuck around after her delivery. Until yesterday. I decided to start the couch to 5k program (c25k) from the beginning. It had been almost a year since I have been on the treadmill. I decided that I was going to kick up my run speed, so I set the walk portion at 3mph and the run at 5mph. When i was running before I conceived Z, I was only running 15 minute miles, but i could do 2 miles at once. I know, barely a run, right? So I thought if I started the program running 12 minute miles, I wouldn't have to kick up the speed as much later. Worst. Mistake. Ever. I only finished half of the workout. Not only that, but 20 minutes after I suffered thru the cool down, my lungs still burning, I schlepped into the shower, almost unable to stand. The rest of the day, I got progressively more sore and unstable. I finally understood the term "over doing it". Today, I'm s...

I wanted to start watching the show Mad Men when it first came out. For whatever reason, scheduling conflict or whatever, we didn't. It recently popped up on our instant Netflix, so we decided to give it a try. I have to say I'm having issues with watching the show. Not because it's extraordinarily old fashioned and based on a late 50's world where guys rule and it's unheard of for a woman to be unmarried and have a career. Nope. It makes me miss smoking really bad. I know, it's completely gross and yucky and everything else. I started thinking about the days before I was married and Mommy. When my husband and I were dating, going out to dinner every night, drinking and smoking with friends and not worrying about the long term effects of such actions. Once Matt and I were married, we tried to curb our habits of eating like crap and consuming alcohol more than once every week or so. The smoking stuck around, however. We started talking about the poss...

Seriously. I wish that I was a big, milk producing cow! Alright, strike that, I wish I could keep up with my little piglet of a daughter! I used to giggle when the nurses at the hospital or our pediatrician talked about nipple confusion. JP had jaundice his first week that resulted in an extended stay at the NICU and under the lights. IV in the head and everything. Our options were stay another X days in the hospital with him trying to get him to nurse for 30 minutes every 3 hours... not an easy task when your little one is very fatigued and the atmosphere is less than comfortable. Or we could supplement with formula and go home the next day. I'm a hardcore advocate for breast feeding, but the decision was a no-brainer. We started JP on formula and once we got home he continued to nurse, only taking a bottle when it was offered, which was several times a day once I returned to work 6 weeks postpartum. Now the piglet... She was quite upset at me starting with day 2 after we lef...

Now that I have been home for a little over a week, we are finally falling into somewhat of a routine! The reality of my situation hasn't fully sunk in. I still feel like I'm on vacation. Or perhaps a leave of absence. The first week was most excellent! Matt was on vacation from work, so we were able to get the house clean and in proper order first thing. It felt so good to get everything cleaned without stressing out about then having to get ready for work, and then work 8 hours.I think that's what really made working difficult... aside from leaving my kids, never seeing my husband, and existing in a consistently filthy house. It was that I felt like I spent the day caring for the kids, getting myself together, getting the kids together and getting us to my mom's house. Then my work day began, and I spend 8 hours on the phone, putting out fires. Not to say that I hated my job...quite the contrary! I loved my job. I loved being able to fix people's problems, e...

My little girl is 8 weeks old! Here is the beginning of her story! My pregnancy was horrible. Don't get me wrong, I loved every kick and stretch and hiccup. I enjoyed every moment I could, knowing that this was the last time I would be pregnant. I had migraines horribly for the entire 9 months. They got so bad that my neurologist finally took me off work early. I was at home from the middle of April, and I wasn't due until June 22nd. It was nice to be able to nap and hang out with my son and not stress out about whether or not I could be productive for long enough to justify the 30 minute drive to work. However, I was still in pain what seemed like all the time. I started to get really antsy about giving birth, even though it would have meant cutting my maternity leave short. My sister in law came into town from Florida to be here for the birth. She wasn't able to be up here when I had Jack, so she decided to come visit for a month as not to miss it this time. She came p...

My husband played for a charity golf tournament this weekend. What came along with this adventure was a ridiculous beard. He decided that for this tournament, he needed a wicked handlebar mustache. Why, do you ask? I wish I had an answer. So, beginning with Thursday this week, he began systematically shaving down the full, bushy beard that he had been working on for weeks. First, there was the Chester Arthur: Then, there was the fu-manchu: Finally, he trimmed everything else down, and we were left with the handlebar... Doesn't it look like a fake? Like he went to Foy's and got a costume facial hair kit? It's almost too good to be true! The 'stache has since gone... maybe it will come and visit again one day. Also... I'm trying to get him to send the other pictures he took of the process... of course I will post such nuggets of joy upon receipt.

I'm not trying to be cute... I'm totally serious. I'm over the whole thing. We started talking potty training with JP before I started my maternity leave, around February or March. He would go if it was incidental, but we weren't very consistent. I wasn't waking up until 10:30 at the earliest, which made staying dry at night impossible as he was up at least an hour before me playing in his room. We were at the house until 3 or so before heading to NeeMa's so I could get to work by 5 (NeeMa... My mom... Only lives 20 minutes from us, but then I would have to leave her house at 4:30 to get at work a little early to be ready to rock by 5) She has a potty, but they always seemed to have too much fun to stop and try to potty. The whole situation was extraordinarily inconsistent at best. Once I started my leave, we pushed the subject more. I would have him sit on his potty whenever I had to go, which since it was the tail end of of my pregnancy, seemed to be every ...