My yearbook pictures!

Lisa pointed out this website and I just couldn't resist! Here are mine:

1964


1966


1968


1978 (this isn't too far from my actual hair!)


1982


1996


And like Lisa, I couldn't resist doing Madeleine.

So Upsetting

An elderly man was injured in a hit and run in Hartford, CT and no one stopped to help him. Article here.

Warning: This video is disturbing, but unfortunately real life.



In the article, a witness said he didn't know how to help the man since he was bleeding an unconscious. For those who would react as this man did, here are a few things you SHOULD do:

Instruct someone to call 911
Immediately check the victim to see if they are ok
Comfort the victim
If you know CPR or any first aid, apply those techniques
Instruct someone to run after the cars that hit him to get the license plate
Have cars stop on both sides of the road to create a road block instead of driving around him

Most of all, be present in the situation. This isn't a movie. This isn't a video game. This is a man who was hit and severely injured. One minute and 35 seconds passed and NO ONE helped him.

What is wrong with people?!

House of Destruction

We're redoing our kitchen! Yay! No more orange counter tops!


































Now I'm left with no kitchen and a heck of a lot of dust!

Stumble Upon it!

Check out this cool site. You can add an add-on to Firefox and find brand new websites based on your interests. You can also give your opinion and read others opinions about your favorite websites. There's so much internet and so little time, this helps you find things that interest you faster.

Stumble Upon

What's the Bzz?

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's either update Madeleine's blog or update mine, and quite honestly, most people would rather read hers.

But I did want to let my friends in on this cool things I've signed up for. It's called BzzAgent. It's completely free, and all you have to do is give you opinion (good or bad) on products they send you as well as surveys online or websites you visit.

I've already received a free Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner. All I have to do is use it and talk to people about it and then report "buzz" about what others said. A friend in my mommy group told me about this, and she has received a free sonicare toothbrush, bottles of coppertone sunscreen, 1 Eucerin Lotion, 10 tv guide magazines, a bunch of chapstick, listerine whitening strips, 3 jars of grey poupon, a shower radio, etc.

Anyway, it's totally legit and not some crazy pyramid scheme or anything. I'll probably be posting things here on this blog when I see or use cool things from it. You know, to create bzzz. (Actually I already did it with the Free Rice website).

Help feed the hungry and expand your vocabulary!

Every time you get a vocabulary word correct, you donate 20 grains of rice to feed the poor!

Free Rice!

Yay!

Madeleine finally likes her sling. I think it's because she can sit up in it unlike before where she had to be in a cradle-like position (never a favorite of hers). So when she gets fussy I just slip her in there and do things around the house.

Only bad thing is she won't let me sit down with it.

WW update

I meant to update this sooner, but well... I didn't.

Anyway, I lost 1.2 pounds over Thanksgiving! Not my ultimate goal of 2 pounds, but hey any weight loss over Thanksgiving is good enough for me.

I have another weight in tomorrow. We'll see how it goes, I haven't been able to get much exercise in this week.

I did it!

I've joined Weight Watchers.

I managed to lose all 30 pounds from my pregnancy with no trouble. I was already back to prepregnancy weight by my 6 week postpartum check up. It's easy to do when you have a fussy baby and no time to eat or sit down.

So now I want to lose at least 20 pounds that I had gained somewhere between my late 20s and now. Last years miscarriage did a big doozy on me. So I decided to join WW since so many of my friends and my mom had great success on it.

It's been a week and a half and I lost .8 pounds. Ha! But that's ok because they only want nursing moms to lose 1 pound a week.

I did set a ridiculous goal for myself this week, though. I want to lose 2 pounds over Thanksgiving. Yikes! We'll see if I can do it. I have three Thanksgiving dinners to eat. Two have already gone by and I did pretty well. I have one more tonight. The biggest of them all, but I'll keep the ultimate prize in sight and hopefully not over do it.

P.S. By the way, Donnah asked for an update on the whole gallbladder situation. Really there isn't much of an update, which is good. I've had no episodes since the middle of September, and I don't think it's because of my diet either because I know I've had fatty meals since then. Who knows what's going on. If I'm still episode free until my next appointment on Dec. 18 then I'm not going to have the surgery yet.

The Computer is finally here!

I love it! It has Windows Vista which allows me to use Google Gadgets, which are like the Widgets on Mac computers. I always liked that feature. It runs so much faster as well, and it has a card reader so I can easily upload my pictures. Oh and it's GREEN! Yay!

Yesterday was a great day!

First, I became an auntie! Mathijs Lucas Tague was born at 10:02 pm (I think) by c-section. He's 8.08 lbs and 20.5 inches. Alicia is doing well, but sore and a little drugged up. I hope to post pictures soon!

Second, Madeleine was baptised yesterday. She did very well during the actual baptism, but pretty much needed walking around for the rest of the time. She just didn't want to stare at the back of someone's head the whole time. Good thing though is pretty much every baby cried at some point, just that Madeleine was the first to do it.

Third, the Red Sox won the World Series for the second time in four years. It's pretty amazing. Although I have to be honest, between the Red Sox and the Patriots, not to mention Boston College right now, these huge wins are almost commonplace now. It's a great time to be a Boston sports fan.

Lastly, I got a free mattress last night. Yup, I am one of the Jordan's customers that bought something last March while they had the promotion that if the Red Sox won the world series the furniture would be free. The only thing that is a bummer is that I wish we bought the more expensive mattress now!

Yay.

Well it looks like I have gallstones. Yuck.

I have an appointment with a specialist on Friday so we'll know more then. Right now, I haven't had an attack for almost three weeks. I really don't want to have surgery nor am I really able to have surgery right now.

Oh well. We'll see....

Breastfeeding for 11 weeks!

I've made it to 11 weeks with breastfeeding Madeleine. It took a lot of hard work at the beginning, but now it's cake, and I love it so much. I'm so glad I was determined to make this work no matter what. And we did have our issues with flat nipples (TMI), nipple shields, books and message boards making me feel guilty about the nipple shield, weaning from the nipple shield, talking and meeting with three different lactation consultants, over a month's worth of thrush, acid reflux, overactive letdown (and for those of you who don't know what that is, just watch out when you're sitting across from me when I'm nursing. You might get milk in your eye!) oversupply, and let's not forget a somewhat colicky baby.

But things are great now. And I love the moments where I'm lying there with her and she's looking at me with so much love in her eyes. I can't imagine anyone NOT wanting to have that amazing bond with their child. Only I can give her this experience, and I'm going to take full advantage of it.

Let's Add to the Craziness

I'm getting old. I've been having these "attacks" of nausea that turn into a backache and make my chest feel kind of tight. It's happened 6 times in the last month and a half. I finally went to the doctor on Friday since it's obviously something that's not going away. She said that it suspiciously sounds like my gallbladder and I could possibly have gallstones.

So now I get to have an ultrasound in two weeks to see if I have this. And if I do, I then need my gallbladder removed. I guess it's common to get them in fertile women especially those who have been pregnant recently because I guess the extra estrogen in my system aggravates things.

I have no idea how I'm going to have surgery with a young infant. She said I'd be out of the hospital the next day, but man that's a lot of pumping I'll have to do. Luckily I've built quite a stash in the freezer.

So I'll keep you updated on what happens next. Until then, I have to eat a low fat diet. Yay.

Update: Good news and Bad news

First the bad news. The praying mantis was discovered by the cats yesterday. Although I'm afraid of bugs, I never want to see something tortured and eaten. Domino just get flinging it around. It put up a good fight though because I saw Domino jump back a couple times. My mom and aunt were over and we kept having to look away though because we felt so bad.

The good news is that Matt found it this morning hanging out on the screen again! It survived all three cats! Matt took it outside and let it go because he says they're good bugs. They get rid of bad bugs.

So I'm glad the praying mantis is safe, but I'm also glad it isn't on my screen porch anymore!

And then I saw this...

I was holding Madeleine on my screened in porch yesterday because she likes being outside and looking around. So I'm walking around with her and then I saw this:


Don't see it? Here's a closer look:


A praying mantis. I said "Oh Holy Mother of God" and quickly went inside. Having a fear of all things buggy, when I first saw this I immediately imagined it jumping 20 feet from where it was and pecking my eyes out. Even though it's not a bird and hence would not be able to peck....

I have become an attached parent....

Attachment parenting is something I never thought I would do. I often found AP parents to be somewhat militant about their beliefs. Always hold your baby, never let your baby cry (if you do, you're a bad parent), breastfeed your baby on-demand, sleep with your baby at your breast through the night, never give your baby a bottle/pacifier only the breast, etc.

But you know what? I might not be an attached parent, but my baby is an attached baby. I now co-sleep with my baby, I nap with my baby at my breast, I hold her the majority of the day, I respond immediately to her cries, I own a sling (although she only stays in it for about a half hour), I didn't introduce a pacifier until 5 weeks old (although she's really not interested in it), I didn't introduce a bottle until she was six weeks old, and she is only bottle fed if I'm not around.

Madeleine is a "sensitive" baby. She is always alert and wants to take in the world at all times. She is so open to all sensations that she has no ability to calm herself to go to sleep. Therefore, she becomes so overtired that she begins to fuss. Here's what I think she's thinking when she's alert and starting to become tired:

"Oh wow! Look at that! Look at Mommy's face! She's talking to me! *Smiling* *Cooing* Oh I'm so excited I need to move my hands and feet around! Ooo! Those arms and feet are really going now! It's too much! I need to slow them down! Ah! I can't slow them down! Oh no! They're going faster! Ack! I just hit myself in the face! Oh no! Mommy's still making faces at me! She's too close! TOO CLOSE! Ah! I just let out a poop! It felt too weird! TOO WEIRD! Oh no! I have the hiccups! Ouch! They hurt too much! Ouch! The reflux! *Starts whimpering* Ack! What's the noise! Oh no! It's me crying! It's too loud! TOO LOUD! *Crying louder* Ahhhhh! There's too much going on! I'm tired! I need to sleep! I can't slow down! Make the noises stop! Make Mommy stop! Help! HELP! HEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP! Someone hold me! Stop the arms and legs! NOW! PLEASE! It's getting out of control!"

So we hold Madeleine. We swaddle her tight. In fact, she's too wiggly and strong for the simple "Swaddle Me" blanket. We had to go straight to the "Miracle Blanket" that actually wraps her arms up inside the swaddle before wrapping the whole blanket around her. She's pretty much swaddled 90% of the day because the sensation of her arms and legs are just too much for her. We use the exhaust fan over the stove as a white noise to calm her. The running joke is she needs the sound to quiet the voices in her head. Although that may be funny, it's probably pretty true!

I read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and although I like the idea of not letting her be awake for more than two hours (she stays awake one hour tops!), I am completely unable to put her down in her crib/pack 'n play. We tried to put her down in her pack 'n play for three days, and you know what? She got worse. We're only now reversing the side effects of her becoming overtired by this. She needs movement or someone close. Leaving her to "cry it out" will never work (and I didn't believe in this for an infant as young as her anyway). While some infants may whimper and protest a little and then fall asleep, she'll whimper and protest and then that overstimulates her so she'll whimper and protest louder which overstimulates her more and then she's full on crying and now we're in a vicious circle. So although I like the ideas in this book, it probably won't be much use to me until she's about 4 months old.

I also read (still reading) "The Happiest Baby on the Block" (thanks Lisa!!!) and this is probably what is going to work for Madeleine at least for the next month or so. She needs tight wrapping, loud shhhing, lots of jiggling, and lots of sucking. She's not a big fan of the 4th "S" which is side lying. She likes to be up on our shoulder most of the time. Could be the reflux problem. This book says you might have to hold your baby 12 hours out of the day (hello! *raising hand*) but this is a 50% decrease in what she was used to in the womb.

So my baby needs a fourth trimester. Which means I've now become an attached parent, but you know what? Madeleine is happier, more rested, and so are her parents!

Let me show you my crib!

So poor baby Madeleine has had a tough go of it since about two weeks old. She's had thrush for over a month now and we're finally on Diflucan to hopefully clear it up for good. My milk supply has also been very "abundant" which causes her to gag, choke, cry, and have a lot of gas. Because of these two things, she hasn't always slept well, and we eventually started holding her in our bed at night so she could stay asleep.

I've been to my pediatrician about seven times in the last month because of these two things. They also diagnosed her with reflux and she's on medication for that.

But here's the thing, I don't think she has reflux now. I've gone from two doses of medicine to one a day and she's perfectly fine. I actually think we've misdiagnosed my oversupply/forceful letdown that was giving her trouble.

So today, after reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, she's finally taking a nap in her pack 'n play. Something she hasn't done in a long time. Of course, it took me 45 minutes of me sitting with her and patting her and putting her pacifier back in her mouth, but she's finally asleep. We even have a whole color coded excel spread sheet showing her awake and sleep times.

Here's hoping this works and we have a much more rested baby (and rested parents) very soon!

Madeleine finally has a blog!

She's been begging and we finally let her have her own blog! Check it out!

Sling!

I bought a sling yesterday! We're hoping this will help me get around the house more since Madeleine has reflux and really doesn't like being put down. Of course I love holding her, but my back doesn't.