5 more hours!

Only five more hours until Josh comes home! The girls miss their daddy--well, Sierra does, I'm pretty sure Sedona would be happy with anyone who makes milk. He called today and Sierra immediately reached out for the phone and said, "I wanna talk to my daddy" awwwwwwww. I miss their daddy too (see the two parent system post below) but also miss my hubby! The queen-sized bed that's so tiny normally is awfully big when it's just Sedona and I there.

In other news...who else think's it's weird to hear Garth Brooks sing "More Than a Memory"? I mean, here's a guy who's been divorced and remarried (to Trisha Yearwood, no less) and he's singing a song all about still being in love with his ex. Umm...creepy! I think he even co-wrote the song (along with Lee Brice), but even if he didn't write any of it, it's still weird. And then there's Tim McGraw's song "I'm Already Home". I don't even have a hubby in the military and it makes me cry (mostly the part about not being there to see his little girl born). Stupid war. I know a few families who have delivered children while dad was in Iraq and I know motherhood is all about not knowing what you're capable of until you have to do it, but lord those women are strong to do the child rearing while dad is halfway around the world for months at a time and sometimes for multiple tours. I admit I've never supported the war with Iraq (and remember some heated debates back in 2002 when we were living in Utah), I'm much more of the "Support our Troops, Bring them Home" conviction. I've never understood why we are always talking about and sending troops to Iraq while bin laden (who started this whole thing) is still hiding out in Afghanistan. But then, that's just one of a whole slew of things that make us "idiot hippie liberals" in the middle of this very conversative town.

Toxin Free Bug Killer

I started diaper laundry as soon as I got up this morning. After I got the diapers in the washer, I went to the kitchen sink to wash my hands. There was a roach in the sink--ewww!!! Now, Josh's job description reads, "kills bugs and lift heavy sh!t", but he's not here, so I after my initial screach, I had to get brave. Lucky for me, the stupid thing crawled toward the drain. I turned on the water full blast at the same time I flipped the garbage disposal switch. VOILA! eco friendly bug killer.

I decided to go ahead and do dishes just in case it managed to hang out and miss the disposal somehow.

The Time to Hesitate is Through

My midwife has cleared me to start exercising again (finally...I've been asking since week 2, she's been essentially telling me she's the midwife and mother of ten and she knows it takes more than 2 weeks to recuperate from childbirth). More importantly, I picked up the Chariot we had ordered today. It's a cougar 2 and oh so pretty. Take a look:


This stroller is insanely expensive ($500 for the stroller, plus you have to buy accessory kits), but converts for jogging, biking, skiing, hiking, or just a regular stroller. Even just wheeling it out of the store with no kits on it (so no front wheels), it was super smooth and nice. The best part is that when I got to REI to pick it up (we had ordered online and had it shipped to the store), I saw a big sign that said all the Chariot stuff was 20% off!! So I asked about it and the clerk did a price adjustment for me, so the stroller was $400, and the jogging kit we had ordered was $48. They had the biking kit in the store, so I went ahead and got that ($40) and got a new jogging shirt for me ($4.50!!), fleece vest for Sierra ($6) and new Tevas for Sierra ($10...and she's up to a size 10 if you can believe that!!!!!!). I made it out of REI with a $58 CREDIT on my credit card. And here I was dreading picking it up, b/c I knew I was gonna go in the store and spent more money. For their labor day sale all the clearance stuff (price ending in .83) was an extra 50% off--there were some really good deals. Gonna check for what's online if I ever get both kiddos to sleep. Would like a long sleeve jogging shirt and another biking jersey and pair of biking shorts.

Ummm....

I'll be the first to admit I don't have great social skills--I never think to introduce people, never offer drinks when people come over, etc... Counseling skills has by far been the hardest thing for me to learn since I started down the lactation consultant pathway. Tonight though, I came across a really akward situation. I was checking out at a store and had Sedona (in the moby wrap) and Sierra with me. The clerk made a comment that I had a really cool baby carrier and then asked if Sedona was a boy or a girl (she had a pink shirt, but a blue pacifier and only her head was sticking out). I said she was a girl and Sierra chimed in with, "that my baby sister!" The clerk says something about what a pretty baby sister and that he used to carry his baby like that when she was little too. Then he starts crying. Pretty significantly. What do you do in that situation?!?!? I can think of lots of very appropriate reasons for someone to break down into tears in that conversation....maybe his daughter died, maybe her mom has custody and he never gets to see her, maybe he's just a really loving and sentimental dad and she got married recently or something, maybe he and his partner are fighting infertility (he had gray hair, but didn't look old--hard to judge the age), who knows, but it's not completely out there for someone to start crying. But, living in the society we do, I was shocked to have a man suddenly start crying and even if it had been a woman....what on earth do you say to a complete stranger in that situation?!?

In happier news, my box from the milk bank arrived this afternoon :-D It had my packet of info; forms to fill out saying I don't shoot up heroin after the kids go to bed, etc...; a release for them to request test results from my midwife; my pre-paid order for blood test for infectious diseases; my donor ID labels and all my collection bottles. Wheeeee!!!!! I still feel incredibly lucky that we didn't face any life-threatening problems with Sierra even though she was a month early, but was barely getting my milk supply to match her needs through our whole nursing relationship. I'm so very excited that I have a chance to give back and help preemies. I'm looking forward to taking pics of all the filled bottles and putting up a bulletin board at work too. I'm always giving moms info about the milk bank, but I'm hoping a highly visible bulletin board and a "practice what you preach" example will increase interest both for those able to donate and those interested in requesting milk from the bank for their NICU babies.