I Hate Goodbyes

Where has time gone?  I know it has been a little while since my last random thought and maybe its a good thing I haven't been on.  Seriously!  Last week, our sixteen year old kitty went downhill quickly due to kidney failure and on Thursday we decided to put her down.  It was probably the most difficult thing I have had to do in about five years.  My husband travels for his job and so I literally spent almost every single day with her.  I was completely crushed I had to say goodbye and if you have lost a pet you have had a long time, you end up grieving for them.  I am still grieving for her, but the reality that she will never be here again is starting to sink in.  I know this is not the most happy post, but I think I needed time away from my blog and to come to terms with everything.

Her litter mate stopped eating for two days which did not help and only started when we came back from the vet office without her sister.  I have been trying to give her extra attention and to make sure her appetite is back.  They had a love hate relationship which I found entertaining.  They could sleep next to each other and later they could fight and hiss at each other like crazy.  If you have never heard a cat fight, the best way to describe it would be a bar brawl at full tempo.  Although my favorite fight scene would have to be between Colin Firth and Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones's Diary.  Most fights are not so comical, but this one is.  I really am going to miss the ruckus that my two fuzzballs would make when attacking each other.  They never harmed each other and in sixteen years I never had to take them to the vet for their love fights.  It was love, right?!?

Anyway, I have traveled down memory lane these past few days and I think the memory that keeps coming back is the one I was making a road trip from Colorado to Texas.  I had a jeep back then and it was loaded to the gills with even the spare tire on top.  I probably looked like a traveling hoarder although in reality I was just a college student headed home.  The two fuzzballs were with me and I was traveling 80 mph when all of a sudden my passenger back tire comes flying off past me.  I watched it go up the side of the on ramp and stop.  The jeep literally just came to a halt and I think I was in complete shock.  Apparently, the people who had rotated my tires did not tighten the lug nuts back on very well.  I heard quite a few times from people I was lucky my vehicle did not roll over and that I survived.  Well all three of us survived that day.  Now I have to live without one of those kitties and this just proves to me we went through so much together.

Random Thought of the Day

Yes, I think I have more random thoughts these days with having a newborn than an entire paragraph.  I am still trying to remember my name at times.  If sleep deprivation equaled love then I would definitely win the love award for the year.  Seriously!  What do you call sitting up trying to not doze while you put your daughter back to bed?  You know the head bobble that we all do as parents.  I think last night I might have gotten a full hour of sleep and I'm not sure how I functioned without coffee.  Maybe my body remembered what it was like just a year ago.  I am abiding my time to actually finishing a whole tv episode without falling asleep in the evenings.  Yes, I know I will get achieve a whole hour someday again.  I have so many Dr Who episodes to catch up on though that I'm not sure if I'll get through them before summer is officially here.  By the way, who is NOT loving the new Dr Who?  I really miss those Ponds.  I think I miss sleep more though!

The New Parent TV...Baby Monitors

As a new mom, I researched baby monitors very carefully and finally threw my money down on a product called AngelCare Baby Movement and Sound Monitor.  It got great reviews and I kind of ignored the not so positive reviews on Amazon.  I should have read them and I wish I had.  As I recall, the monitor was closer to 200 dollars when we purchased it.  They no longer cost that on amazon anymore as I have noticed.  It is probably because they are too complicated to use.  Hubby even said he considers himself a pretty savvy technical guy and I would have to agree with that, but when something frustrates him then its definitely not a good product.

So what was frustrating about the AngelCare you might ask.  Well we were definitely excited when we got it.  It was the after getting it that was when the trouble started.  We had a heater in her room and a sound ocean machine to help her sleep.  We didn't think those would be an issue, but the AngelCare was so sensitive that it picked up the slightest noise and we had to go back to looking at the settings.  We fixed the setting so it wouldn't pick up the ocean sounds and heater and go off, but then you couldn't hear it at all.  We would test it and couldn't hear the other even speak in a reasonable tone.  So it was either going off all the time or not going off at all.  By the way, when it starts beeping, it is the most irritating sound.  

With all the hassle of trying to set it up for sound level, we did not even make it to the motion detector phase.  Although some of the reviews of having to turn it on and off in the middle of the night because you picked the baby out of the crib to change their diaper made me realize it was not the most convenient monitor.  Amazon was fantastic about having this item returned and it is one of the reasons I enjoy shopping with Amazon.  I had waited quite some time to finally box it up and send it back and Amazon did not give me any grief about it.  

Our next baby monitor was the Motorola 3.5 inch video screen with night vision and zoom.  It did not have the baby motion detector, but definitely had video which AngelCare did not.  I absolutely loved it!!!  Now the life of the battery is not my favorite part of the Motorola baby monitor and they really need to increase battery life because it seemed like I was always grabbing the electrical adaptor for it and plugging it into an outlet.  You can definitely get another battery which is something I need to do now, but sometimes you just don't have the time or keep forgetting you need to get one.  

We started using it right after we stopped using the co-sleeper in our room and put her in the crib.  So far it has been going strong for almost a good year.  I have had no issues with it and yes I can hear the heater, but its not so sensitive that it the only thing I can hear.  It is more of a background noise and the sound of my daughter is very clear on the Motorola.  The video is the best part I think and we watch her with this parent glee and it has become our newest entertainment.  There are buttons on the monitor so you can position the camera and keep up with your young ones movements in the crib.  Our daughter was not a fan of the music option on the monitor, but maybe yours will enjoy it.  Of course they have a volume control and I believe we have ours set on the second lowest one and that is enough for me to wake up.  I am a pretty light sleeper so it really depends on how deep you sleep.  Motorola even has a walkie talkie feature on it so if you need to speak to your child through the monitor you can. Overall, a very cool set up for us.

I recommend this baby monitor pretty highly.  However, I have a friend who purchased one through Babies R US online and paid for it by a paypal account.  Motorola guarantees the purchase for a year.  Well Babies store only will accept returns I believe for 30 days after purchase.  Her Motorola worked great for awhile then started to have lines at the top of the screen where she can no longer see the temperature setting on it.  Motorola had been giving her a bit of a run around because she used her paypal account.  Well finally I took it upon myself to get a hold of corporate regarding my friend's issue and they did help her with this issue, but it should not have taken this much effort to get such a simple issue fixed.  So if you plan to buy their baby monitor I would NOT use paypal as a form of payment.

You Must Do This!

I have been quite sick with the stomach flu this past week.  I'm just starting recovery mode as of today and life with a newborn and toddler have been crazy.  Sleep deprivation, fevers, and intestinal upset have been what I'm working with.  I thought I would be blogging to help the sanity with having two babies, but with the added benefit of the stomach flu I was barely holding on.  Of course I blame going to the pediatric clinic a billion times so the docs could tell us my daughter was under her birth weight.  Breast fed mommies I am sure have been pressured just like we were to supplement and that is another issue I'll have to address.  I so wonder what people did a hundred years ago when formula wasn't available.

Anyway, I digress about the real reason for this post and what I find very important this week.  Since I was in the germ filled pediatric clinic I have thought what other germy (yes that was not a typo) things we come into contact.  I just saw a news program too about this same subject.  They were discussing how often we clean our phones.  They found some nasty germs on user's phones that they had collected.  I didn't think much of it and never cleaned my phone.  Well after getting the stomach flu, I took a damp cloth with some soap and wiped my phone down.  If you do clean it, don't go drenching it with water.  I don't want to be the cause of your phone to kick the bucket.  However, do look up the best way to clean your phone and then clean it.  I really think this is important and you should try to get it done today.  I might not be able to save the germ filled pediatric clinic, but I can save your phone!  Right?!?

Life has definitely changed!!!

I know I know you probably think I have stopped blogging for good, but trust me I just became a smidge more preoccupied.  Yes, all my time has been devoted to finally giving birth to a tiny precious baby girl.  I promise once the constant check ups on her weight and life settles down here, I'll be back to more of a regular basis.  Well I'm counting on being back!  I'm hoping to sound just as coherent as I did before too.  Sleep deprivation has become the norm these days and when I have a free moment, naps are on the agenda.  You might be wondering if I'm happy and yes I am.  All the struggles of her putting on weight and lactation consultants overstepping their bounds cannot put a damper on our joy of having a new baby girl.  Ha I'll have to blog soon about that lactation consultant!

Tip of the Week

Lets go through our wallets this week.  I'm game to see what receipts I no longer need.  Are you?  Now I didn't say go crazy and dump out your entire purse.  Lets save that for another rainy day.  Our wallets seem to start bursting at the seams the longer we put off this tiny small chore.  That person who gave you their business card in hopes you will call them might be stuck in there and it is probably never going to happen.  Now if your wallet has seen better days, I give you permission to find yourself a nice Fossil wallet.  Okay guilty as charged!  I'm a bit addicted to Fossil, BUT and here it comes...I have had my own Fossil wallet for about five years and its still in good shape.  There is no need for you to toss or replace something that is still useful just because you crave buying something new.  Anyway, if you are like me you become a bit attached to it and prefer to know where you usually put that coffee punch card.  Have fun getting rid of receipts and other useless items that you no longer need!

Vitamin C packets as Juice?!?

Have you led your kids down the path of sugary sweetness that knows no bounds?  Are you amazed by them begging for the good stuff?  I, myself, never got juice as a child and I'm lucky that it was not a staple in our diet.  However, hubby's mom bought it for them all the time and he says he craves sugar as an adult as a result.  So is this true?  Will giving your kids what you think is an innocent drink of juice lead to problems later in life?  Our daughter loves water which I'm very happy to oblige.  I don't think kids get enough of just plain simple water.  I was watching a friend's little girl one day and another mom offered her some apple juice.  I regretted giving it to her and realized that sugar is in everything, but its up to us as adults whether or not we are going to give it to them.  As my hubby just stated "juice is soda without fizz."

My best advice is to not give into those darling little looks and smiles.  You don't have to buy it just because they want something off the grocery shelf.  My earliest memory in a grocery store about juice is my mother getting cranberry juice off the shelf and me begging her to not buy it.  I had a kidney infection I think and to this day I still am not a fan of cranberries.  Thanksgiving meals where they serve that glob of cranberry sauce was never very appealing to me.  Now my daughter loves dried cranberries  and that is fine with me.  Most cranberry juice though is filled with sugar and if you are looking to help your kidneys then you need to look closely at what you are buying.  Knudsen's has one that is called Pure Cranberry and wow that stuff is definitely something to desire.  Hubby drinks it just fine though.  I, on the otherhand, have to down it when I need some in my system.  It is literally that bitter and so if you have a nice glass of cranberry and it tastes yummy, it is probably loaded with added sugar.

Besides preventing colds, vitamin C though helps with your kidney and bladder system and to flush out
any impurities.  I drink one packet of emergen-c packet every morning and I think this helps me to have the most energy and if you are low on iron, vitamin C is your ticket.  It actually helps your body to absorb the iron your body needs.  People with anemia who are reading this could probably go into deep detail about iron and vitamin C and the absorption rates.  Anyway, these little packets give me enough vitamin C and yes I have been using them while I have been pregnant and it has helped with my energy level.  Now here is my warning about vitamin C though.  Of course there has to be one!  Please be careful about how much you are getting especially while you are pregnant.  Too much vitamin C can actually cause miscarriages from what I have read.  I think you have to be in the 3000-5000 mg scale though for this to occur.  Yes, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

Kids too have a recommended amount and yes we give our daughter some of the vitamin C packet and we do call it juice.  It is loaded with vitamins and she loves it.  We do dilute it more than what it calls for and it can take her a couple of days to finish just one packet.  The MAXIMUM dose you can give a toddler is 400 mg and so please be aware of how much you are giving your child.  Also you don't have to give it to them every day.  The safer recommendation is to use the kids version of emergen-c and so you know you are not overdosing your child.  If you are trying to switch your kids from sugar laden juices, maybe try the packets to see if your little one will take a liking to that instead.  It is worth a try!

The paleo world is all about not giving into sugar and processed foods and I think its rather genius for them to promote vitamin C as juice.  They are not setting up their kids for failure and a lifetime of craving for sugary drinks.  Now I would be a hypocrite if I didn't admit drinking soda as a child, but we didn't get it very often.  I think it was easier for me to quit them than my husband.  We tried the Atkin's diet about a decade ago and I was able to kill that habit for good.  Remember that diet?  Well it served at least one purpose and got me off the soda drinks.  Now I admit I have craved root beer in this pregnancy and have indulged here and there, but of course I have to buy the one that is all natural without any preservatives and is filled with spices and herbs.  Most root beer on the market has high fructose corn syrup, but Virgil's Root Beer does not.

The best part about about not buying juice or pop for your kids and yourself besides your health would be the extra money you will be saving each week.  How much money do you put down to buying that kind of stuff?  Say you buy two gallon apple juice containers for 4.50/piece each week at your local grocery store.  One month that is 36 dollars of pure sugar down the drain or even more frightening to think about it is 432 dollars a year.  Trust me I can find better use for that money than buying juice with it.  In comparison, the vitamin C packets cost about 8 dollars for a 30 day supply and that is if you are using it on a daily basis.  A year supply of vitamin C will cost you 96 dollars instead.  Doesn't that sound more of a win win situation for you, your budget, and your child?