“I can’t wait to just be a mom. I’ll only have to take care of the baby!”

These words were spoken by yours truly while pregnant with Rt. I was working full-time and looking forward to only being a mother and not a “working woman”. I was looking forward to the “time-off” and a break from the stresses of the outside world.

How utterly wrong I truly was.

While my words were slightly on the naive side (um, hello??), there is something quite sad about that statement too. What ever happened to just being a mom? When and why did it get so complicated?

Since becoming a mother, my main “side job” was to save money. I sure as hell wasn’t bringing home the bacon and we had to make due with what hubs was providing. The more I saved, the more I could buy, (or save. whatever.) So, with that, I scoured all the stores and found all the products I needed and bought them according to who had the best price. Not too shabby, right? Wrong.

The tide began to change. Now, it wasn’t just about price, it was about WHAT product you were buying.

First up, Organic.

Now, when I started buying baby food for Rt, two years ago, the “organic craze” hadn’t gone too mainstream, but I somehow bought Gerber’s Tender Harvest Organic anyway. My purchase was first based on flavor selection, then availability. Target, plus most local grocery stores sold it. Fabulous! Then, I stumbled upon Earth’s Best at Walmart. Even better flavors! 55 cents a jar! Sooo up my alley.

So, Rt ate organic, mainly by happenstance.

Due up, Cleaning Supplies.

This is somewhat new in my household. I switched over to a few Method brand items sometime earlier this year, but only recently added more to round out my collection. In all honesty, the prices on most of their items (at Target) are not much more than other cleaners I have purchased in the past. (except for laundry detergent, and wood cleaner, for example) (can someone please tell me where to get their dish washing detergent? Target didn’t have it) The reason I decided to make the switch was envisioning Rt licking the side of the tub that had just been cleaned by the house cleaners (at least they clean the tub, I’m not sure I ever did. eek!) and think that Comet would be stuck on his tongue and then swallowed. Probably not going to happen, but we’re having another little tot who just might be an obsessive licker. Ya, never know.

And lastly, regular everyday crap like baby shampoo.

Ok, so in being a lurker on my “You’re due in April, read about other ladies due then too” board on BabyCenter, I have come across many articles about Johnson and Johnson products containing an ingredient called Quaternium-15. Quaternium-15 is a preservative found in many cosmetics and industrial substances that releases formaldehyde. Now, I am sure there are many “concerning” ingredients in many products we all use on a daily basis, but where do we draw the line? What do we do about it? I went and looked at all the bath products we use for Rt and I would have to throw out his bath wash, shampoo and some random bubble bath we have. I still haven’t decided what I am going to do about it. There really isn’t a need for his bath wash, when a bar of soap can get the guy cleaned, but what about his thick locks? (or fine baby hair that is) Is bubble bath not an “OK” treat for our little ones anymore?

So, I’ll end this with this question. How far are you able to go to raise your children in today’s world? When is believing everything you hear, follow every new guideline out there, and live in totally germy, poison fear taking it too far? When is following last years manual not good enough?

My jury is still out, but I am a mom. I am willing to go the distance. It’s just that, how much stamina do I need? Every choice I make seems to matter so much. It’s truly tiring.

e

The only thing scheduled on my calendar today was an appointment with my O.B.G.Y.N. I had no “real” reason to see him and wondered whether or not I should even go, but I had a few concerning questions. (rated G, not R, so don’t panic you one dude that reads me) Since there weren’t any thorough exams happening, I thought I could get away with taking Rt with me and give my girlfriend a break from watching him so much this past month.

I was running late (totally trying to finish the last 3 episodes of ANTM Season…. “Nicole Winner”) and signed in at the front desk with seconds to spare. Of course, we got to sit there for 20 minutes while Rt ran, jumped, climbed, ate and “worked it” in front of his audience. Luckily, he was quite entertaining and flirty, so the time flew by. Then, my named was called and away we went.

Once inside, the nurse asked for me to step on the scale. (And what was the purpose of that? hello? I have questions, not weight gain.) Once inside the exam room she took my blood pressure. (Again, what is the purpose? I am here for chit chatter, nothing more!) Lastly, she asked me the first day of my last cycle. (Sorry, one guy who reads me, if you are still here) I felt the need to defend my valid reasons for coming to the OB, and all of a sudden, I blurted out “I’m not pregnant!” She calmly said she knew, she just needed it for documentation. Ooops. Sorry Miss Nurse Lady, didn’t mean to shove that down your throat.

Doc made an appearance not long after my altercation and seemed very willing to hear my latest. All I really wanted to know was if the back pain I had been having could have caused my miscarriage. (I have recently read that chronic pain can also be psychological related as well as physical. I needed a mind pick-me up to help me resolve my pain.) He assured me that my ailments seemed more muscular than anything else and didn’t believe my aches were due to anything fertility related. PHEW MO FO EEEEE!

After plenty of other random, hurried questions, I was sent on my way with a new perspective on me and my “flaws”.

Note to self: Continue to ice, heat, and repeat. And get your ass back to that acupuncture wonderboy, STAT!

e

Just thinking about them makes me cringe. I happen to catch a segment on Rachel Ray the other day regarding dust mites. The woman on there was talking about what you can do to prevent mites entering your pillows and mattresses. First off, she said you should only have a mattress for 5-7 years before it is deemed unhealthy in the mite department. For pillows, she said 2-3 years. She even weighed a new pillow at 3 lbs, then weighed the same kind of pillow, 3 years old and it weighed 3.8 lbs. 8 ounces of DUST MITE POOP! Vomit right now please.

Now, I have heard of these dust mites in the past. I have even had a terrible run in with bird mites. I’ll have to save that for another post, but can we say they were on our phone (in our LA duplex), then got into our hair! Double vomit. Double shower. Anywho, I knew about mites. I have even vacuumed our old mattress before thinking it would actually make any mite that may have been in there disappear. Have you ever lifted a mattress and come to find the thing weighs A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT and it hadn’t at purchase?? Well, it just might be the secret poop deposits inside your mattress.

Since moving to our house, we have been able to upgrade to a new bed. Woo hoo! What do you think we did with the old bed? Yep, moved it into our guest room. What, you don’t ever want to come and stay at our house? The pillows are brand new, so don’t freak out too much. I have no hard evidence that anything resides in there, but I can only imagine. Actually, I did a thorough check of our mattress back in LA when I was attacked by baby spiders on a nightly bases while sleeping. Did they ever venture over to hubby’s side and bite his ass? Nope, just me, all of me. I ended up wearing bugs spray to bed to keep them at bay. Once again, another post. Point is, I was on the floor checking out every area or outlet those freakin spiders could have come from. So, I am quite familiar with the underside of our bed.

After watching this segment on mites I thought about how many times I washed my sheets, that I should be washing them on HOT in order to kill anything that happened to be clinging to them. I am usually a WARM washer doing my part to save the earth, but EWWWW! I also thought about how many times I washed my pillows. Um, can we say NEVER? Why haven’t I EVER washed my pillows??? Down comforter, check, decorative bed pillow cases, check, good grief, NEVER! So, I spent all day yesterday washing my goose down pillows in COLD (label instructions) It was a disaster. The pillows retained so much water from the washer, it took me forever to squeeze the water out. Then, they took forever to dry. I have had to run the dryer twice TODAY just to get the wet feather smell out. Ugh!

Hopefully in the future I will have better luck at keeping things around here mite free. I should just purchase some dust mite covers and call it a day.

One great tip I did learn from all of this is to add two tennis balls to the dryer while drying your pillows. You are supposed to have fluffier pillows as a result! However, I wouldn’t know this. Rt was by my side while drying the pillows, so the demand for the tennis balls won out.

e

How did we ever get by without this golden goop? I am not sure when they actually created it or made it available to the mass market, but it has come in handy in our homestead more than once. You see, germs are everywhere. Now, I am a firm believer of building up an immune system to help prevent major sickness in the future, but you have to protect yourself where you can. The amount of germs out there or the abundance of opportunity to obtain these germs is so easy. So, I to try prevent where possible. I even have one of those shopping cart covers for trips to the store.

What was it like for our parents when they raised us? How many playdates/playgroups did they attend per week? How many book studies and MOPS meetings were available back in the day? My family lived in NC for the first 7 years of my life. We didn’t have any family around. I think I recall having a group of friends to play with, but most of our socializing was through my brother’s sporting events. My point is, I don’t think we were around as many kids as Rt and I are in a day/week/month. I can’t imagine going through the winter “sick” season without actually getting sick and I don’t just mean Rt, I am including myself as well. So, every time I can remember to do so, I give myself and Rt a squirt of sanitizer after each social outing just to be extra cautious. You never know when the kid is going to be eating something with his his hands, so you have to beat him to the punch.

However, there was this one time when Rt and I were in the docs office getting a checkup and he put his hand on the doorknob, licked his hand, then placed it back on the doorknob. I looked at the doc in disgust and he said “Worst case, diarrhea”. And what sickness came of it? NADA NOTHING NO DICE. It must be due to his fabulous immune system…

Happy squirting!

e