-image-Mastitis blows

March 31, 2008 | bitterness, Me, friends, Ollie

Yesterday, after an excrutiating latch-on in the backseat of our minivan and noticing that despite the 70 degree temp in our house, my teeth chattered relentlessly…not to mention the painful red boob, body aches, and fever, I realized I may have mastitis. Oh yes, I do.

Last night, Ollie didn’t sleep at. all. I didn’t sleep at. all. Do you know what the number one recommendation to relieve/cure mastitis is? Cut off your boobs? Right. Yes, but second? Sleep. Right…good one. Oh that was funny. I’m slapping my knee. Can ya hear it?

This morning, I could barely walk without stumbling or talk without interjecting something nonsensical. Mr. Squirrel “couldn’t” take the day off (bitter? yes.), so I begged a couple friends to take Jojo so I could focus on painfully feeding, then pumping then trying to subdue the SCREECHING infant formerly known as “he really only cries when he’s got gas.” Yeah, I should just shut my mouth.

My neighbor called right after my friend, Nic, offered to take Jojo, so my neighbor took Jojo to Nics, then picked him up from there after lunch and kept him at her house until after 5pm. Of course, Mr. Squirrel came home early (2pm…some redemption on his part), but he assumed Jojo was napping in his room, not running rampant at our neighbor’s house (see…I was FINALLY asleep).

Anyway, I have an antibiotic (1 down…39 to go– let’s hope it kicks in IMMEDIATELY), am drinking fluids like a maniac (who enjoys drinking lots of water and apple juice) and am now off to bed. If this mastitis turns into an abcess, I’m giving up the breastfeeding, cuz draining pus from my boob sounds like a good quitting point.

My milk supply is noticeably dwindling anyway, which I’m rather annoyed with, since despite the pain, I’ve been nursing on the affected boob and pumping afterwards to drain it completely. Left boob, you’re letting me down.

My friends, on the other hand, are stepping up and being nothing less than I expected — fantastically supportive and assuming the role of ‘family.’ I love you guys.

-image-Lost: My Header

March 28, 2008 | bitterness, blog business

What the F? If found, please return to Mrs. Squirrel.

-image-THIS went well

Deep Thoughts Friday

exactly as I had planned, which is why I’m going to apply for a small-business loan to open up my new childrens photography studio.

Now you, too, can send the grandparents awesome gift photographs like THIS (I’m a photographer, child wrangler AND artist*!):

Call now to book your appointment! No sitting fee when you reference this blog post!
*artwork costs extra. Please allow 2 minutes for drawings.

-image-Where I Totally Judge Strangers

March 27, 2008 | bitterness

Ya know how you’re at the grocery store and two adult sisters and their mom, each with separate orders, stand ahead of you in line…taking their precious, sweet time? And two of the three attempt to use their debit cards, but they’re declined? And they act incredulous and say “oh just make it credit then” and then head over to the ATM to get cash back from the debit part after taking up like 10 minutes each going through the same scenario with the cashier? And all the while you’re Edy’s Slow Churned American Idol inspired ice cream is melting and the newborn you left at home is probably crying for the milk which is painfully filling up your boobs?

And then…you notice the first daughter heading back from the ATM and making straight for the Lotto tickets machine. And then your head explodes?

I know it’s not my business, my life, or my money. So my head shouldn’t explode… but it did.

-image-Bad, Worse, Worst

March 25, 2008 | random randomness

Not in that particular order:

1. I just loaded up the kids to go through McD’s and my order included: a cheeseburger happy meal (for Jojo), a Filet o’ Fish value meal, three chocolate chip cookies and a double cheeseburger (yeah, all for me);
2. I didn’t realize until we were home that the double cheeseburger didn’t make it into our bag and am terribly sad; or,
3. I’m totally excited to see that the next happy meal theme will be American Idol…what kind of prizes will they create for this? I’m intrigued.

-image-look past the pole

March 23, 2008 | Uncategorized

to see my new haircut. I know…a great picture, but the up-close pics highlighted my triple chin. I need to lay off the potato chips. UGH.

-image-I really shouldn’t be driving

Uncategorized, Jojo

That’s what I said outloud to myself yesterday when I saw a person walking one of these…

Nothing unusual about seeing a person walk their dog, except that to myself I thought “oh look, a baby llama.” Yeah, it wasn’t one of these:

-image-I have a new haircut.

March 22, 2008 | Me

I had to do something about my crazy-growing bangs, so I scheduled an appointment with my fabulously hilarious hairdresser.

I was really tired and sick of not having the energy to blow it dry, so I got a short cut.

No really, I did. I’ll post a picture tomorrow after I wash and “style” it. I don’t really “style” my hair, so that just means “use a round brush when blowdrying then maybe wipe some spit on it to keep the flyaways down.”

In the meantime, I kind of look like this, but without that freshly washed looked. I also don’t have a nice shirt on…mine has a trail of spitup down the left shoulder and big dried dollops of guacamole smack dab in the middle of my faded black shirt. hott.

-image-Cute Weeds

March 20, 2008 | Jojo, Ollie

I noticed Jojo’s growth spurt a few days after Ollie was born…and I’m sure some people will think it’s only because now Jojo seems huge in comparison to our new baby. But no.

I know my son, and Jojo’s spurt was virtually overnight. Suddenly, his legs have MUSCLES. And his butt? It’s no longer a baby/toddler butt, it’s like a boy butt. His thighs lengthened, his calves lengthened and he gained several pounds.

I noticed in my last week of pregnancy that he gained enough weight that I couldn’t just toss him up onto my hip– he actually required knee bending. Whew.

Then there’s Ollie. Born at 8lb, 7oz, he lost the typical post-birth weight and went down to 7lb, 12 oz.

At his one week appointment, he went up to 8lb, 1oz and despite being jaundiced and requiring FOUR separate trips back to the hospital for heel sticks, the pediatrician was satisfied that Ollie is perfectly perfect.

At his two week appointment, she marveled at him having gained THIRTEEN ounces in one week. And that’s after spitting up seemingly endless amounts of liquid gold. He’s filling out quite nicely. Perhaps that’s in part to him eating parts of my poor nipple with every feeding…or it just feels that way.

-image-BABY WEIGHT WINNER alert!

March 17, 2008 | Uncategorized

Hi. Remember me, the one who used to have contests and then announce the winners? Well, I forgot to, so let’s not waste any more time.

In the Guess Baby Cletus/Ollie’s Weight Game category, I’m thankful to say that OPH’s guess of 15.2 pounds did not win! Instead, the prize and honor goes to BECCA! Congrats Becca on a fetal guess well-done! Bravo!

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I would post more, but I’m wrecked and heading to bed. Eventually, I will share stories of the birth and post pictures of the boys and tell you just how incredibly much Ollie spits up. Jojo didn’t spit up; or, if he did, the entire amount was less than what Ollie has given back in the past 2 weeks. Just look at the crustiness in my hair and on my shoulder for evidence.