Category: Everything Else

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Babies Everything Else

Sick of all the Sickness

I vented some working mom frustration on having sick kiddos on Liberating Working Moms today.

So far in January, between Lucy, Zach, my husband & I, we’ve had bad colds {negative for flu & RSV} along with pink eye, then RSV for both babies & double ear infections for Lucy while my husband had the flu & then a {thankfully only} 24 hour stomach bug.

Out of the 21 working days in January, I’ve worked 12 full days. Twelve y’all. That’s almost less than half.

Join me over on LWM to read the rest of Sick of the Sick.

And as a quick update, we went back to the pediatrican’s office {again} this morning for them to recheck Lucy’s ears. And they were infections free!!!!!

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Reading

BlogHer Book Club: Here I Go Again

IMG_20130216_093328Here I Go Again by Jen Lancaster featured everything I’ve loved about her memoirs & other work of fiction {all of which I’ve just as quickly devoured}. The laugh out loud moments. The ‘I’ve been there’ times. Her characters you wished you knew & yet also glad you maybe don’t.

Jen’s wit kills me. And I love that her writing voice, whether for non-fiction or fiction is so true to herself. Any reader of her past works would immediately know her by her voice.

She makes Lissy, the main character, jump right off the page & kinda into your heart. Even though you want to hate the HS mean girl, I didn’t. I felt sorry for her. I was cheering her on.

Lissy was just a bit older than me, so I don’t share her {& Jen’s} love of David Coverdale {I actually had to google to find out who he is}, but if you share their love of 80s hair bands, you’ll be a fan of Here I Go Again too.

There were definitely parts that make you stretch your imagination, the believability if you will, but it was quirky & fun. To think you could & then actual see a re-do of old parts of life.

This book is very light, chick lit reading. It was perfect for the start of the new year. Perfect reading to escape the craziness & stress of sick babies. Here I Go Again {please tell me someone else starts singing in their head every time you read the title} would be a great spring/summer beach read too.

I can imagine we’ll be having a blast recounting Lissy’s antics & experiences over on the BlogHer Book Club discussion. I’m hoping we cover silly topics like HS memories & deeper questions like would we change who & how we were in HS. Join us there; I’d love to read your thoughts!

I received Here I Go Again as part of the BHBC for review purposes, but all the opinions are geniunely my own.

Categories
Everything Else

Making Us a Priority {eden fantasys giveaway}

I mentioned in my new year’s resolutions post that I really want to make my marriage, my relationship with the husband, a priority in 2013.

We had our first 2013 solo date just a few weekends ago. It wasn’t anything over-the-top: just lunch at Outback with a giftcard. But it was us dining out for the first time since early September. My parents watched L & Z while we relaxed & chatted & filled up on shrimp & flatbread & steak. It was a great way to reconnect & remember we like each other besides the fact that we co-parent the same cute kiddos.

So when I was contacted recently by edenfantasys.com, I thought back to my resolution & checked out their site.

Yes, they do offer a wide variety of sex toys {most of which made me blush}, but I was excited to find they have great bath & beauty products & lingerie that would probably work for my post-partum body.

Things I also loved about eden fantasys: free shipping over $35 {I hate paying shipping} & great sales & promotions. Y’all know I can’t resist a good deal.

Because the people behind eden fantasys want us both to have a happy start to the new year, they’ve offered a $50 gift card to one of my readers to be used on anything of your choice!

sex toy - ednfantasys adult toys store

To enter, leave a comment below letting me know your favorite way to reconnect with your beloved. Is it dinner out? Just relaxing at home watching TV? Movie dates? Massages? I’d love to hear {& maybe get some ideas}.

For a second entry, follow @suzstreats & @EdenFantasys on twitter & tweet about the giveaway. Leave another comment please after you’ve done so.

If you’d like, you can find them on facebook & sign up for their newsletter, but that’s just for fun.

I’ll close the giveaway Feb 8th at midnight & choose a winner via random.org. I’ll announce who won on the 11th just in time for Valentine’s Day! Good luck!

I was compensated for this post with a gift card of my own to EdenFantasys. Happy Valentine’s Day to us all.

Categories
Babies Everything Else

Happy Momma’s Break Day

Oh MLK. Thank you for your dream & for my work believing as I do that you’re worthy of a holiday. Thank you too that our daycare remained open.

Before the RSV diagnosis of last week {also see why I’ve been blog MIA} & husband’s bout of flu at.the.same.time, I had lofty plans for today. To do all the things! Shop! Sleep! Read! Blog from my laptop instead of cell! Catch up on photo editing! Cook & bake & make baby food!

The the sickness came {back} to our house leaving me single parenting two sick babies with the help of my Dad & the my mom. And my doing everything possible to stay well. So today, even though the babies are just starting to feel better, we packed them up at 10a & dropped them at already paid for care. I raced home {after splurging on CFA & stopping for bananas}, to pump & then nap. Nap without an ear out for crying babies & half an eye open watching the monitor. It was an hour & a half of glorious.

Then, because I still wanted to do all things, I ate, pumped again, baked pumpkin muffins & made avocado & banana purées. I didn’t really shop {I don’t really count online right?!} or get to read more of the hilarious Jen Lancaster’s new book & my DVR is still full. But that’s okay. I got my {much needed} break.

And I’m on my way to pick up L & Z on their 8 months old day a few hours early having heard from their teacher that they were fussy & crying most of the day. I’m feeling a bit renewed. My patient momma tank a bit more full. Ready to see how the evening goes & {never thought I’d say this} looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow.

Ever taken a Momma break day for yourself?

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Everything Else

2012 Year in Review

Wow. It’s taken me two weeks to share my favorite posts of 2012. I ended up re-reading most of my posts; taking myself back to that moment & even shedding some {happy & sad} tears. What a year 2012 was for my family. I was trying to limit these to my one-two favorite posts per month. I think I ended up with four {or more!} for each though.

January was almost all happy posts. I shared about being thankful to friends & family, how I was eating for four, my 18 week update, grieving life as I knew it based on ‘triplets’, & a few days of sickness {that ended up timing exactly when the ultrasound tech said baby B stopped forming. I’m still wondering if that’s just a sad coincidence}.

February posts start off hard. I shared the results of our 18 week big ultrasound in two posts: one about the loss of baby B & another about babies A & C. Then my babies showers began later that month. First up was my owl themed friends shower then was my coworker friends shower.

March, we made some decisions.  Then updated them. Family friends in VA threw us a shower. And we ended the month by purchasing a minivan!

April was packed! I had a work shower, revealed the babies’ names, thought I was in labor, made & updated our prebabies to-do list, took a bunch of classes & got ready to cloth diaper.

May was an unforgetable month for our household. We did maternity photos just in the nick of time. I blissfully unaware turned 32 weeks right before pPROM’d the following day. I made it on bedrest to 34 weeks & shared my thoughts on my last pregnant days. Zach arrived at 2:59a May 21st & Lucy followed almost 8.5 hours later.

June was busy at home & slow on the blog. I shared my Bell’s Palsey & a look back at our almost two weeks of NICU life. I also talked about breastfeeding the duo.

July I shared how breastfeeding was going, a day in the life with 6 week old preemies, the nicknames for L & Z & my crazy postpartum issues.

August was when I started sharing our favorites of our delivered food in Make Ahead Meals. Jason went back to work & I vented about elusive sleep & hard breastfeeding days.

September meant beginning to get the hang of being a mom & going back to work. The babies took their first trip to Charlotte for B & Kevin’s shower.

October, I began writing for Liberating Working Moms; posting my decision to go back to work & how I make it work for us. I talked about cloth diapering at daycare, our love of Apple Cheeks diapers & my newborn twin must haves. We took the babies to their first pumpkin patch & I shared thoughts on the best diet ever. We celebrated Halloween at daycare.

November started off with a trip to VA & ended the month with Thanksgiving at OIB. Otherwise it was a bit of a confessional month. I shared my definition of family, I talked about pumping at work twice on LWM, I disclosed that we were no longer a pet family, I confessed that I was feeling overwhelmed, & then I updated after their 6 mo appt & starting solids.

December is one of my favorite months. The babies met Santa, we got their first Christmas tree, I turned 31, & I shared our Christmas card. I posted a Working with Style on LWM {that ended up being featured on BlogHer. I did an updated day in our life. Lucy {& then Zach} got hand foot & mouth & Zach {& then Lucy} got their two bottom teeth & then we ended up spending the last days of 2012 sick.