Cara Mama - Doing It Myself

Cara Mama,

I waaaaannnnaa do it myseeeeelf!!! I don't waaaaaant your help! I waaaaannnnaa do it!

But I caaaaaan't do it! I don't waaaaaant your help! I'll figure it out myseeeeelf!

I won't woooooorrk! I can't do it! Nooooooo. Don't help me! Whyyyyyy can't I do it myself?

Fine! I won't do it. But you can't do it either! Nooooooo! Waaaaahhhhhhh!

Ti amo,
Pumpkin

Of Childbearing Years

Hey, I won the Parent Bloggers Network Blog Blast I Live in a Zoo for my entry All the Monkey's Aren't in the Zoo! I was randomly selected as a winner, but let's pretend it was due to my excellent writing, m'kay? It was a fun topic, and there are tons of other great posts. You should check some out!

And now onto today's regularly scheduled post...

It is tough to be of childbearing years, especially the time period between children. There are so many things I can't do just in case. There are all these things that I can't give away, from my maternity clothes to baby toys. I find this time period difficult in many ways, from caring for my body (or "The Vessel") to finding places to store everything.

I miss drinking and dancing and late nights. I really do. This last weekend, I was at a wedding were I actually DANCED! It was so fun and I missed it. I know many people will say that you can still drink and dance and have late nights. But I can't. I know me and my body. I can't handle it anymore. Not only that, but the amounts I used to drink are not compatible with breastfeeding or trying to conceive, so it's been a long since I really truly got WASTED! I suppose that's a good thing, because I know my recovery period will be much longer now than it was in my early 20s. But I still miss it sometimes.

As for dancing... Do you know where I'd have to go to go out dance? To clubs and bars and places that I don't frequent because of smoke and single guys and Lord knows what else. It's just not part of my lifestyle anymore. It's not what a mom does, or even wants to do. Now, Londo and I did used to take dance lessons where we learned everything from the waltz to swing, and we loved it! But that costs money that we don't have anymore, and it would require a babysitter. We are just not in a place in our lives where we can do that. We will again some day.

Because of trying to conceive, I am trying to take care of my body. Which means no late nights, not a lot of junk food, trying to cut down on stress (although that doesn't always happen), giving up coffee (OMG, I miss my coffee!!!) take care of my skin and hair, not taking most medications, and so much else. The Vessel needs to be in prime condition, after all. We are spending time and money on the fertility treatments, and I am trying to make sure to do everything I can to help.

Except exercise. I really just can't find the time or energy to exercise. I've lost all my pregnancy weight and some of the weight I gained last round of fertility treatments, so that's awesome. But my body has definitely changed, and my clothes don't fit exactly right. But I just don't have it in me to kill myself fitting in a workout routine when I am hoping to pregnant again soon. I stopped exercising last pregnancy because of spotting issues, and I didn't want to chance another miscarriage. I won't want to exercise this time either, just in case.

Which leads me the fact that I have all these clothes in a variety of sizes! Where am I supposed to store them all? I do have a good-sized walk in closet, but I'm running out of room. I've got the maternity clothes, two sets of in between sizes for going up and back down from pregnancy, my clothes that fit me now, and my skinnier clothes for when I am done with kids and ready to exercise and get back my smoking bod! And for most of these sizes, I have summer and winter clothes. I can't get rid of them, because I'm not done with the childbearing (I hope), so I will need them again. I am NOT going to buy all new clothes each time I go up or down a size. So I have to find somewhere to put them.

I also need to store all the sizes of childrens clothes. Everything from the newborn to the 12 month size that the Pumpkin has grown out of. She's got a lot of clothes. (Should I mention that I don't like doing laundry often, so I like to have at least 2 weeks worth of clothes for her. And me.) These clothes will likely be handed down to the future child. I like to buy some things that are girly and pink but also other things that are neutral, so even if we have a boy next there are a lot of the clothes we could reuse. And we still don't know if we will have 2 or 3, so I will have to continue to store them for a while.

Also, the baby toys and equipment. We got A LOT of hand-me-downs from my sister's daughter and my brother's twins. We had 3 bassinets and 2 exersaucers (not that she really used any of those), as well as three swings (she would only use one, but that was the one that let us sleep at night), two bouncy chairs and tons of little rattle and squeeze toys. It was way more than we needed, but when it's free, how can you say no? And now I worry that the next child (or two) will be do different and need even the things that the Pumpkin did not. I also worry that we will have twins next, since our chance of multiples does go up with the fertility treatments (Lord, help me!). So I don't want to get rid of any of it. Just in case.

But where oh where do I put all this stuff? Our storage room is overflowing and my closet is stuffed to the gills! I think it's time for an overhaul of the storage room, but I'm not sure we can make more out of what we have. If only I had Mary Poppin's carpet bag...

But once I'm out of these childbearing years and done with having children? You better believe we are having the most amazing yard sale! Come one, come all! I'll make deals and deals galore! You won't want to miss it! Everything must go! And what doesn't sell will go straight to a cause in need.

Question of the Week - Free Day

Happy Rosh Hashanah, to those who celebrate!

Well, I'm late with my QotW post. This is par for the course for me lately. You see, my big project at work had taken over my life. I was working long hours at work, and continuing to work after putting the baby to bed. I was averaging 6 hours of sleep not because the child woke up (cause she's maybe 60/40 with sleeping through the night lately, thank goodness), but because I was up late working.

There was one problem after another, and one meeting after another. It was crazy. But it's done--mostly. We released the new version of the software Friday night. I spent 7 or 8 hours on Saturday updating documentation. And yesterday, I spent the day catching up on all my other projects at work, to the best that I could.

Today, other than calling in for a couple meetings, I'm taking the day off!

Which segues nicely into our Question of the Week:
If you had a day off, a day where your child is being cared by someone else and you don't have to work, what would you do?

I'll tell you what I'm doing! Now that the babysitter is here and I've made (and ate) pancakes, I'm going back to sleep. I am! I'm exhausted, and as soon as I post this, I'm going back to dreamland. Then, I have to call in for one of the meetings. Then, I'm taking a nice, long, hot bath. Maybe with bubbles! Definitely with a light romance novel. Once I'm out, I'm going to do my nails. Then I'll call into my second meeting.

After that, I haven't decided. I'm either going to the mall to shop for some clothes for the Pumpkin since she's grown out of her last size and she doesn't have enough pants to see her through a week in the fall. Also, I need new pants that actually fit me. (As a side note, I've found a diet on which I have lost a few pounds within a week or two. It's called the Stressed Out Diet. I don't recommend it.) I might just wait to go to the mall until the weekend, although I have no idea what the toddler will wear on her bottom half for the rest of the week. I wonder how dirty those purple pants that she wore on Saturday are...

The other thing I might do all afternoon is blog. I've missed my blogs! I've got almost 400 posts in my Reader! I have some serious catching up to do, and I would love to spend the afternoon just online reading and maybe some writing and definitely some commenting.

Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. Blog. So for now, I'm going to sleep. But I'll see you all later! For now, please tell me what you would do with a precious free day just for yourself.

All the Monkeys Aren't in the Zoo

When I heard that this week's blog blast from The Parent Bloggers Network was I Live in a Zoo to promote Generation Next's brand-new product - iKnow Animals, Letters & Sounds (which looks like a really cool product!), I thought of a few different ways I could run with this topic. There's the fact that we have a toddler, a dog and a cat, all of whom are constantly into things, underfoot and making messes that Londo and I have to clean up. There's the fact that my daughter could likely become a zoologist when she grows up given her love for animals and their sounds. But then it occurred to me how my life is most like a zoo...

My daughter is a monkey.

The Pumpkin is so clingy so much of the time. I'm not exactly complaining, because I do love to hold and cuddle her. She has always been clingy and needed to be held a lot. Goodness knows I would not have made it through the first year without the myriad of slings we got! But occasionally I need to put her down for some reason. And now, she holds on with her legs in addition to her arms when I try to put her down. When she realizes I'm lowering her, she wraps her legs around my thigh and holds on as if for dear life with legs and arms. Do I need to mention she is also fussying/whining when she does this?

When we read one of her animal books that talks about the baby orangutan and how it clings to its mommy's neck, I often joke that its just like what the Pumpkin does to Mama. Like a monkey, she just wants to hold on to me while we walk around, while I cook, while I do dishes, while I do just about anything. Except when she wants to walk and climb herself.

Which brings us to the next resemblance. My child doesn't just walk around and run a bit, she CLIMBS EVERYTHING!! Just like a young simian who is learning how to navigate the trees in its forest environment, my girl sees the couch, chairs, tables, counters and even baby gates and immediately figures out how to climb up. Stairs? She's up them! Playground equipment? To the top faster than you'd think an 18 month old could move. Beds? Picnic tables? Stools? Up, up and up.

My child's monkey-like qualities really have kept me on my toes. I have to figure out creative ways to do things while holding her, and I have to baby proof things I thought were already baby proofed as she figures out how to reach higher by climbing. This makes my life more exciting than I was used to, especially when added to the dog and cat and the animals noises that my daughter loudly shares.

Yep, my life is a zoo. But at least the Pumpkin is not as hairy as a monkey.