Full time mom with a part time job

“You must be well rested since you only work two and a half days a week.” or “Work must be a vacation for you.” are two things I hear when people find out that I work part-time… Both assumptions are incorrect.

Stay at home moms have the most demanding job ever! You’re a teacher, a nurse, a chef, a maid and a taxi driver. You don’t get a lunch break to run errands by yourself; heck, you don’t get a bathroom break by yourself! You fight picky eaters and kids that don’t want to take naps and you watch Caillou again and again on Netflix (tell me that isn’t just us). I am not well rested when I head into work, I’m exhausted! People that say,”What do you DO all day?” are just asking for a smackdown. I want to respond with, “Raising my children, not eating bon bons and watching soaps all day.” Being at home is a gift that I truly cherish but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t exhausting.

Work is not a vacation. I am still at work, away from my children and dealing with other people. When was the last time you got up after a sleepless night with a nursing baby and headed into work and said, “This is the life, what a vacation.”? That is just silly talk!

No matter what you do: Whether you work outside the home full-time, part-time or are a stay at home mom, YOU are important and appreciated! You work hard and deserve a huge pat on the back. Moms that work outside the home usually still come home and have a house to run and dinner to get on the table; while stay at home moms sometimes go days without ever leaving their house. It’s hard work either way but so rewarding!

I look at my baby girls and wonder how I ever lived without them! How was I not sure I would ever want to have kids? I’m tired 99% of the time but I am happier now than I ever was when I was well rested!

These are a few of my favorite things

One of the most anticipated Oprah shows of the year has always been her “Favorite Things” episode. Well I’m no Oprah and you aren’t getting a free car at the end of this post but it could still be a fun read. You might even decide to try one of my favorite things!

Here we go:

My monthly Birchbox

It’s like Christmas every month! You fill out a little online profile, and then they send you a box of beauty products to sample. After receiving your Birchbox, you can get online and review the products for points that you can use to order products! The cost is $10 a month.  I’ve received several full sized products in my monthly Birchbox. I love sharing some of the products I get with my mom and sisters.

The Tool Turn-About by Pampered Chef

It keeps all of my cooking tools at arms reach and it spins so I can easily get to what I need!

Yes to Cucumbersr Trio

The wipes are great for a busy mom like myself.  The face cream feels really great and smells amazing. I use the eye cream when I remember and it does seem to help a bit.  I like that Yes to Cucumbers is more natural than most of the other products on the market. It smells great and my skin feels great afterward!

Thirty One Inside-Out Bag

The two inside pockets and two outside pockets make it easy to have your keys, money, sunglasses and phone super handy! The bag is all cloth so it is easy to wash if you spill coffee in it (whoops) and it is of course really cute!

Copco Travel Mug

I love this because it is less than $10, it works well and it lasts (I’ve had mine for about 5 years). *BONUS* It is Microwave AND Dishwasher safe!!!

Aden + Anais Soothing Ointment

I wrote a review for this product a while back and it makes my favorites list FOR SURE! It works great for lips, cuticles, bug bites and scratches. It smells amazing and is free of: phytoestrogen, parabens, petroleum oils, phthalates, gluten and soy. The soothing ointment is good stuff!

Okay, there you have it! A few of my favorites.

Eat your heart out Oprah!

Mastitis & Milk Blisters are not for the faint hearted

Over the last week I have had quite the issue with my left breast. Normally that is the favored side for nursing because it produces about three times as much milk as righty does.

I woke up last Monday morning to a heavily engorged and sore breast. I tried nursing the baby on it more but it just hurt! I pumped several times but it didn’t seem to help at all!

Now, I’m no stranger to mastitis; I had it when my Izzie was about 4 weeks old. I had the fever, chills, body aches, the whole shebang. This time around I never had fever but by Tuesday I was at work and in a lot of pain. I felt like I had been hit by a train!

I also started noticing a severe pain in my nipple during latch on (think back to the first weeks of nursing and multiply that by about five) and I noticed a white bump… The dreaded milk blister :-/

So what has brought me some relief? Moist heat, Epsom Salt soaks, Hydra Gel packs, Lansinoh cream, Triple Antibiotic ointment, nursing & pumping often, olive oil soaked cotton balls, Tylenol (one desperate night) and as much rest as I can get with two wild girls in the house. Finally things are back to normal, THANK GOD!!!

What works for you when you have mastitis and/or milk blisters?

Candy crazy!

Sometimes I get teased by friends or family because I don’t want my kids eating junk food or sweets, especially too close to mealtime or bed time! I think we have become so indulgent in our culture that we have a “dessert first” mentality. “Let kids be kids” they say when I don’t allow a cupcake half an hour before dinner or, “It’s only a couple of M&Ms, that won’t spoil her appetite.” Well, it does! When you give a child candy soon before meal time they don’t want to eat their meal because they have had a taste of sweets and they want more.

A prime example is the other night somebody gave my daughter half of a peppermint right before supper. I put her in her chair and gave her a plate and she pointed to the counter where the other half of the peppermint was and kept asking for that instead of her supper. She kept saying “I don’t like this. I want peppermint,” while one of her favorite meals sat in front of her untouched. She eventually got down and waited an hour or so before eating.

I have noticed that the days where my daughter snacks more, she hardly touches her supper and I think it’s partly because she isn’t as hungry and partly because she has been “spoiled” all day with snacks.

I try really hard to serve balanced meals and some days are a lot harder than others. There will be days when they don’t want what you serve for dinner. On those days I offer yogurt and either a graham cracker or a piece of fruit before bed so she won’t wake up in the middle of the night starving (she is only 2 after all).

We have candy and junk in our house and my kids won’t be sheltered from the good things in life, like chocolate! I just want them to have a healthy relationship with food.

Airing my clean laundry!

Here is the recipe for my laundry detergent…

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax

1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean

1 (14.1 oz) Bar of Fels Naptha Soap (grated)

1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

Grate soap with either a hand grater or food processor (the soap dissolves just fine, even in cold water). I use a large dry wall bucket that I got from my Mother-in-Law and just start layering each ingredient little by little (like a soap lasagna), I mix it up with my big stainless kitchen spoon as I add each new “layer” so that it is well mixed. I use the scoop from the Oxy Clean and fill it up to the 1 for normal loads and the 2 for really dirty stuff. I usually use the “soak” setting if I’m not in a hurry but you don’t have to. A batch of this stuff lasts about 8 to 10 months in my house with laundry for four. Happy washing!

Dehydration education

As a nursing mom I have let myself get dehydrated way too many times! You get busy taking care of your children and you go all day without a drop of fluids. You eat a sandwich with a baby on your hip and think, “I’ll get some water when my hands are free”, but that never happens and before you know it you are SICK!

Dehydration presents differently in everyone but for me it usually starts with (or I start noticing when) an awful, pounding headache and nausea with vomiting. That is when I start thinking back to how tired I was all day and how I haven’t been to the bathroom in hours…

FACEPALM!

Web MD lists the symptoms of mild to moderate dehydration as:

• Increased thirst
• Dry mouth and swollen tongue
• Weakness
• Dizziness
• Palpitations (feeling that the heart is jumping or pounding)
• Confusion
• Sluggishness fainting
• Fainting
• Inability to sweat
• Decreased urine output

Urine color may indicate dehydration. If urine is concentrated and deeply yellow or amber, you may be dehydrated.

Call your doctor if the dehydrated person experiences any of the following:

• Increased or constant vomiting for more than a day
• Fever over 101°F
• Diarrhea for more than 2 days
• Weight loss
• Decreased urine production
• Confusion
• Weakness

Take the person to the hospital’s emergency department if these situations occur:

• Fever higher than 103°F
• Confusion
• Sluggishness (lethargy)
• Headache
• Seizures
• Difficulty breathing
• Chest or abdominal pains
• Fainting
• No urine in the last 12 hours

Oops, I’ve never gone to the hospital for it, but my husband and family that are local know how to jump into action when I am down for the count with the flu, a cold or dehydration and usually I have a stock of Gatorade within half an hour of feeling it. I start out with Gatorade and ginger ale (in different glasses) and as that starts to kick in and my headache eases, I continue with fresh fruits (watermelon is the best) and crackers. I usually have to take extra care the next day and not over do it while I deal with a dehydration hangover.

My last episode with dehydration was in May and I have been vigilant about fluids since then. I keep a pitcher of water with lemons in my refrigerator, Gatorade and bottled water are usually within reach so I can grab and go.

Kellymom.com says that nursing moms need about 24 more ounces of water per day than women that aren’t nursing. That is a total of 104 oz per day! Now, this varies depending on the woman,but it is a good starting point. Sometimes “Drinking for thirst” isn’t a good way to monitor (at least not for me) because you don’t always get a chance to have a glass of water whenever you are thirsty.

The best advice I have to give is:

• Keep bottles of water and Gatorade handy.
• Have a pitcher of water in your refrigerator.
• Keep fruits that are easy to eat on hand (grapes, cut up watermelon, apple slices).
• Keep track with how much you are drinking (Waterlogged is a free iPhone app that helps track intake).
• homemade popsicle (spa pop recipe here)

This post isn’t intended to replace medical care and if you feel like you are getting dehydrated you should seek medical help as quickly as possible. Dehydration can turn bad quickly, so drink up… to your health 

Aden + Anais review

When I was pregnant with Izzie, I sent an email to Aden + Anais to ask about getting some samples to try out. They obliged by sending me some samples of their Soothing Ointment and their Hair + Body Wash. I was so excited to try it out that I immediately used them + fell in love!

The soothing ointment has a nice, soft, vanilla scent and is amazing! I use it on my and my daughter’s lips (I am a lip balm snob and this is by far one of my favorites), cuticles, dry skin patches and even on my nipples when they get sore from nursing. If my oldest has an old “boo boo” or a bug bite that is a little rough, I will put it on there to soften it up and soothe it. Zoey LOVES it and asks to use it whenever she sees the container.

The Hair + Body Wash smells so good that I used it more on my own hair than as a baby wash (mom fail)! I did use it on the girls, and it left their skin soft and smelling delicious! I caught myself sniffing them the rest of the day. I have pretty wild and unusual hair that doesn’t react well to some shampoos, but it worked well with this. I was very pleased!

One of my favorite parts of the Mum + Bub line is all the stuff that ISN’T in their products! Mum + Bub is free of parabens, added hormone disrupters, petroleum oils, phthalates, dioxanes from sulfates, gluten and soy, petrochemicals, DEA and artificial colors.

After I fell in love with the Mum + Bub line, I decided to try their swaddle blankets. I went to Target and got a four pack and haven’t used another swaddle blanket since (I even talked a stranger at Target into getting them as a gift for a friend when she was looking at another swaddle blanket). I used them in a photoshoot I did of the girls and, at 6 months old, I still swaddle Izzie in them. Sometimes it’s the only way to get her to sleep. I like them because they are soft, bigger than other swaddle blankets, cute and the fabric has just enough give to get a good snug swaddle. I am able to write this review right now because she is swaddled up taking a nap in her bed (thank you Aden +Anais).