Works For Me Wednesday: Not Couponing (for now)

It's been a long time since my last WFMW post. I think that's mostly because I wasn't feeling very social added to the fact that I couldn't remember what ideas I'd already posted and was too lazy to go back and check.

But even if I don't participate, Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer always hosts WFMW and there are always _HUNDREDS_ of ideas.

Anyway, so we all know by now that I've been uber-sick lately. Adding my uber ("morning") sickness to my natural non-cleaning tendencies and an extra super-dooper sensitivity to smells and you end up with a house that's even messier than normal, especially the kitchen (opening the fridge to get AJ's juice a couple of times a day was more than I could handle many days - and even walking past the sink is often still a chore).

As I'm starting to feel a little better, I'm attempting to re-tame the beast. I still haven't even thought about cleaning the kitchen (although I sometimes manage to throw out the trash and recycling that has collected), but I've been working my way towards keeping the living room tidy-ish and have done my semi-regular straightening of AJ's room. The dirty laundry is at least in the hamper and the clean stuff is folded, if not put away yet. So I'm getting there, slowly, but surely.

One thing that's helped at least the last few days has been me allowing myself to NOT coupon. I already feel bad enough with the messy house and the days where I could barely keep AJ fed, watered, and dry-ish. I also felt guilty that, when I could manage to get to a store and buy groceries, I wasn't making sure I was getting the best deals. Not to mention the fact that I was collecting coupons to clip, but never clipping them and if I did manage to clip them, they never got sorted and stored....which meant a pile of paper for AJ to toss everywhere over and over again....which meant more mess.

So the other day I made an executive decision. When I feel well enough to keep the house clean, I'll start up with the couponing again. In the meantime, I've absolved myself of the guilt of not couponing (and therefore the mess of paper that comes with it). I've got enough to worry about. I can let go of this for now. And it's ok. Not only that, but it "works for me!"

Creating a Monster

So one of the first things AJ did when he came home from the hospital was sit with his daddy and watch daddy's trains. Apparently that was the first step towards creating a choo-choo monster. Our pediatrician has one of those wooden train sets in her office. AJ _SCREAMS_ when we have to leave the trains to go into her office, even though she has fun toys there too. When we find a Thomas set in a store, he _SCREAMS_ when we have to leave. I'm not talking frustration or upset. I'm talking full-scale 'terrible twos' temper tantrum. At 17 months (or less, we saw the sets in the store last Christmas - he wasn't even one yet!).

Well today we had a little late morning (we (he) didn't wake up for real until 10:30!!!), so he's getting to see shows on PBS kids that he hasn't gotten to see in a while, like Mr. Rogers. The minute Mr. Rogers came on the screen, AJ started pointing and saying "choo choo!" And then got frustrated as it went longer and longer before he saw the choo choo. And now that they're _in_ The Neighborhood of Make Believe, he's upset that the choo choo's gone again! And gets excited when they show the castle with the train track in front of it.

But every time he sees Mr. Rogers himself, he just points and says "choo choo, choo choo." I don't know that we've ever purposely associated Mr. Rogers with choo choos, but obviously AJ has.

Just like he associates the TiVo with Thomas episodes. He gets all excited when daddy comes home and watches stuff on the TiVo...until he realizes that the stuff daddy's watching isn't his Thomas and Friends episodes that he gets to watch when mommy's taking a shower.

My mom sent him a bunch of clothes that we finally got through the wash last week. As it was sorted in piles in the living room waiting to be washed, AJ found all of the various pieces that had choo choos on them (several since my mom knows how much he like his trains). He kept picking those up and pointing to the choo choo. I can't imagine what he's going to be like when he actually wears them. One is a set of Thomas pajamas. I'm not sure he's going to sleep with those on.

Now he's mad because Reading Rainbow is on. And it doesn't have trains. Usually. Yay for a subway episode!

We've created a monster.

Unisom and Vitamin B6 are my Friends

So the over-the-counter anti-nausea meds they gave me are vitamin B6 (50 mg, 3X a day) and Unisom (which I was only taking at night). I started taking them roughly a month ago now. Long enough, that I finished the last of the Unisom two nights ago. Since I'd been feeling better (12-weeks seemed like it really was the magic number this time - a nice surprise given that it was FIVE MONTHS with AJ. Granted, I wasn't nearly as bad with him, but still, FIVE MONTHS!), I'd cut back on the B6 to twice daily (if I took it too late in the afternoon, it made me sick anyway). And since I was still feeling better (better being a _very_ relative term, but still, I was better - I even cooked dinner the other night without gagging at all...of course dinner consisted of a bag of something that I could pull out of the freezer and dump into a skillet, but still, _I_ cooked it with _NO_ gagging!), I figured I could just not restock the Unisom. I mean, "all it did" was make me groggy in the mornings. Plus I was (am) concerned about getting dependent on it.

Yeah, BIG MISTAKE! While I've enjoyed not being drowsy these past two mornings, I have _NOT_ enjoyed the major relapse into constant nausea. Smells that haven't bothered me in a week, now make me puke again. Goody.

The worst part is that since I didn't restock when I was feeling _well_, now I have to go out while I feel barfy. Always fun with the most active toddler in the world.

Maybe I'll try just half a Unisom each night.

And to give him his props, VNB made me continue taking the B6 at night, even though I planned on stopping that too. Who knows how awful I'd feel if I hadn't done that!

A Pleasant Experience?

So I have to share that if one _must_ vomit, vomiting Oreo Cakesters is about the most pleasant experience one can have. They taste almost as good coming back up as they did going down. Now, I can't say the same for the cheddar & sour cream potato chips that came up along with them (healthy breakfast, what can I say?)...but the cakesters. It was almost pleasant. A nice texture, good taste.

Anyway, just thought you'd want to know.

Aren't you glad I'm posting again?

Poor Parenting Moments...Again, Some More...

Ok, so it hasn't been a secret pretty much since the beginning, mostly because I've been so very, very sick. But yes, AJ will be a big brother sometime around Christmas. And this new little one has made me very, VERY sick. Even with drugs, I don't feel very good most of the time.

All of which has led to more poor parenting moments to share! Woohoo! Most have to do with vomit and/or poo, so don't say I didn't warn you.

But hey...at least I didn't plug my kid into the USB port this time. That's improvement, right?

So the other day I was dry heaving. Basically, I was spitting a lot into the toilet. While burping these nasty, deep, guttural burps. And AJ, as is his wont, wandered into the bathroom. Often he does this just to get into the cabinets that I won't let him get into while I'm too busy to keep him from getting into them. But this time, he apparently thought that it was really cool to spit into the toilet. So he started drooling even more than usual and would have tried spitting into the toilet too if I hadn't been monopolizing it. When he saw that there wasn't room for two (three?) in praying to the porcelain god, he decided instead to be supportive. So he walked up, stood next to me, and put his little arm around my neck.

Later that day when it wasn't just dry heaves, he did the same (without the attempt at spitting for himself). He walked in and patted me on the back until I was done.

Sweet boy.

I'm Ba-aaack! (For today at least)

So why haven't I posted since March 14th or so? Well, it wasn't because Brutus and the other conspirators murdered me in the senate on the ides of March.

And at that time, it wasn't because I was pregnant and couldn't keep the secret.

I've just been...introspective? Withdrawn? I dunno. There was so much going on that I just didn't have it in me to talk about it all. I was too busy doing and living it all to write about it.

And I'm not necessarily saying that that's changed completely, but today Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer is giving away 20 sets of CDs and all I have to do to enter is link to this site: www.WOWonline.com. They're sponsoring the giveaway. And that's a LOT of really good CDs. So I guess my greediness overcame my laziness or whatever it was.