So….

is it tacky to open an anonymous blog just to gripe about people in your life whom might stumble across your “normal” blog? You know, hypothetically speaking, of course.

Soy. It does a body good.

Thanks to all of you for the “no dairy” tip. Maddie’s been on soy since yesterday afternoon and we’ve had no horking. Hallelujah! I got her some Silk and some soy yogurt and we’ll keep that up for a week and see how she fares.

We’ve got nasty tornadoes and hail on the way, so I’m off to sit in front of the TV for the next few hours. Have I mentioned how much I hate living in Texas lately?

This time it’s personal

Maddie’s throwing up again. It’s been three days since HorkFest 2008 ended and here it is, back for an encore. I was feeling all super-momish because I didn’t wig out over it the first time around. I was all “meh, it’s a virus and it’ll run it’s course.” And it did. And I was happy. Now? Not so much. I’m all scared that it WASN’T a virus and I’m a horrible mom because I didn’t take her to the doctor.

Guess who I’ll be calling at 8:30 sharp tomorrow morning?

Catch Up

Sadie is home from the vet’s office. (She had surgery on Wednesday.) She’s hopping along and seems to be feeling all right. We go back to the vet in two weeks to have her stitches removed. The vet says she ought to be feeling pretty good in a month or so. Fingers crossed.

I got a reply email from Evenflo. They apologized for my inconvenience and offered to send me a free replacement cover that can be removed without unscrewing anything. Any of you who also have the Triumph can email me and I’ll give you the specifics of the email so that you can get your own replacement cover, if you want to. (erica @ andnoplacetogo . com) I’m pretty impressed that they not only replied, but offered a solution. Evenflo doesn’t totally suck.

I had my pysch eval yesterday. Well, the second half of it, at any rate. No #2 pencils were required. We talked for an hour and the psychiatrist said that she’ll be recommending me for the surgery. I’m super happy, as you can imagine. I was 100% honest with her about what’s going on with me. I thought about saying what I thought she’d want to hear, but vetoed that idea. I really want this surgery to work and the only way that’s going to happen is if my cards are all on the table. I’m so relieved that she deemed me mentally stable enough for the surgery. Not that it’s going to be smooth sailing or anything. I definitely have my work cut out for me. But at least I know I’m on the right track.

HorkFest 2008 seems to have passed. However, we’re now into PooFest 2008. Maddie’s little system is all out of whack. I’d like very much for her to be better. All this cleaning up of vile substances is wearing thin.

Erica Revealed

UPDATED AGAIN!

Tessie asked “I would like to know about your college experience. What was it like?”
Hellish. I went to a small private religious college in Ohio. Quaker, of all religions. There were fines for swearing on campus. It was SO the wrong choice for me, but I didn’t know it. I made it a whole semester before leaving. I hated my roommate, mandatory Chapel and my 8:00am MWF math class. I went home for Christmas break and never went back. To be fair, I should also tell you that I was at the peak of my “evil incarnate” period. I was probably hated by many a person on campus and justifiably so.

I lived the dropout life for the rest of the school year and then enrolled at St. Louis Community College (Meramec campus (shout out to Bananafana and MOTY!)) I went there for two years and did really well. It was a great school, especially for a community college. Then, my parents moved to Idaho after my dad graduated from Seminary and I moved here to Texas. I’ve been a dropout ever since. I’m considering going back this fall, but have yet to decide fully.

The New Girl asked: “If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?”
I’d have to go with mind control. Can you imagine how great that would be with a toddler? You WILL nap now! You WILL eat! You WILL stop whining for crissake! Not to mention the benefits with husbands…

Love asked “if you could be a flavor of ice cream…what would it be?”
Something decadent made with real cream. I’m not for the feint of heart or for those who just need a “little taste of something sweet.” I’m more overwhelming. Maybe Haagen Daz Creme Brulee.

Bananafana asked “did you post tattoo pics and I missed it? I want to know what you have and why . . .”
You haven’t missed it. I need Gerald to take a pic of one of them for me, and I keep forgetting to ask him to do it. I have four of them and in chronological order they are: a gecko on my inside left ankle, the Eye of Horus on the left side of my chest, a butterfly on my right shoulder blade and a small fish on the top of my right foot. I’ll take pics and give explanations in my next post. (I still haven’t decided what to get to commemorate my initiation into motherhood.)

SemiDesperate Housewife asked “Oh, I have one I have ALWAYS wanted to ask you and never had the guts: are your tubes tied? Because I always thought, based on a comment you made in one of your posts right before Maddie was born, that you planned on getting your tubes tied right after the C-section. And then you’ve also made comments about knowing you were done having kids. But then lately, it seems like maybe you’re open to the idea of having more? So am I confused about the whole tubes tied thing, or are you just considering having them UNTIED or something?”
  I’m not surprised that someone asked this question. I was sort of vague on the whole thing.  Here’s the story: When I first met with my OB, I told him I wanted a scheduled c-section and to have my tubes tied. Gerald and were both only children and we had agreed that we only wanted one child ourselves. My OB agreed and off we went. Fast forward to my 32 or 34 week check up. My OB said that he wouldn’t tie my tubes because I’m too young and he was pretty sure I was going to want more children. So, he proposed the Mirena IUD for five years. He said he’d tie my tubes at the end of the five years if I wanted him to. I agreed because, frankly, I was already having second thoughts about having them tied. At the time, I emphatically did not want more children or to EVER be pregnant again, but the tying seemed too final for me. I had my c-section at 36 weeks and 6 days and at eight weeks postpartum, I got the Mirena. It’s been almost a year now and I really like it. It’s thoughtless birth control and it was CHEAP. I paid my $25 copay and that’s it. For FIVE YEARS worth of birth control. My only complaint in that I break out a lot now, but I think that’s the lack of birth control pills and not the Mirena.

As far as other children go, I’m not sure. When Maddie was four or five months old, I went through a huge hormone surge where another baby was all I could think about. I mourned Maddie getting older and not being my little newborn anymore. This lasted for maybe six months. Now, I’m pretty sure I’d like one more, but I’m ok if we don’t have anymore, too. I love being able to devote all my time to Maddie and not having to juggle multiple kids with their multiple demands. But, I think about how much I love Maddie and wouldn’t it be great to make another child that I’d love just as much?

finefornow asked “I don’t think I know your age, or Gerald’s for that matter!”
I’m 31, almost 32. Gerald is 39, almost 40.

Jana asked “I know you’re not too fond of Texas, so where would you live if you had the choice?”
Pacific Northwest. Or Alaska. I’m a mountains and pine tree kind of girl.  If we’re talking leaving the U.S., I’d have to go with New Zealand.

Shelly asked “Other than a mom, what would your dream job be?”
Archaeologist/Egyptologist. I went to school for this, but never finished. I ended up working in the finance/investment world. I’d also love to be the director of acquisitions for the British Museum in Cairo.

Jenna asked “How did you and Gerald meet?”
eHarmony. The first time we talked on the phone, we talked from 8:00 at night until 6:00 the next morning. Our first date was a whole weekend long and we were engaged three weeks after we met. We were married six months later. We’re about to celebrate our fourth anniversary next month.

mom of the year asked “I’m dying to know if you were punk-ish in high school or college, or if you had punk tendencies.”
Totally. I had Manic Panic blue hair, a pierced nose and the de rigeur doc martens. But I was kind of a poser. I wanted to be really punk, but my dad was in the Seminary and so I had to be respectable looking. Plus, we were completely poor when my dad was at the Sem, as most familes are, so there were limited funds for things like clothes and makeup. I had to buy all of that myself with my after school job which paid crap per hour.

Mommy Daisy asked “What were your pre-Maddie days like? What types of things were you into? Were your days carefree and wild?”
I got into a serious relationship when I was 20 and it lasted for almost seven years. I never did any of that typical 20 year old stuff. No partying, no drinking, no living on my own and “finding myself.” When the relationship ended, I sort of went a little crazy. I was living on my own for the first time in my whole life and I had great friends who loved to party and drink. I spent about six or eight months in an alcohol haze. Then, I met Gerald and things tapered off to normal shortly thereafter. When we were newly married, we still went out to bars and took frequent road trips. We were pretty care-free, but not wild. Then we settled into our new house and got to be home-bodies. By the time Maddie came along, we were really sedate and ready for the responsibility of being parents.

jmc asked “What’s the best vacation you’ve ever been on?”
That would have to be my honeymoon. Does that count as a “vacation?” Gerald and I took a cruise out of Miami to Grand Cayman and Jamaica. It was SO. MUCH.FUN.

This was great! Thank you for asking : )

Q & A

Updates: I have yet to get a reply from Evenflo on the email I sent them yesterday. I’m most anxious to hear what they have to say.

Maddie’s feeling better. She slept through the night and ate some plain toast for breakfast. It’s been an hour and there’s not been any horking. Praise jebus. She’s still feverish, but is acting much more like her normal self.  I’m hopeful that she’s on the mend.

It occurs to me that I have yet to do the whole “ask me any questions you want to” post. I always enjoy it when other bloggers open the door for questions, but it seems too narcissistic for me to do it. Like you could possibly find me SO INTERESTING that you MUST ASK! Anyhow, while our household recovers from HorkFest 2008, I’m going to bite the bullet. If you ask it, I’ll answer it.

Actual letter sent to Evenflo

Dear Evenflo,

We have your “Triumph” car seat for my daughter. Before I purchased said car seat, I did quite a bit of research first. Your seat had some of the best safety ratings of any other seat. This is very important to me, as you can imagine. I also noticed that the “Triumph” was well-padded and comfortable looking. This is important to my daughter, and therefore important to me.

However, I am asking myself why in the hell you would design a car seat that requires EIGHT screws to be unscrewed before the fabric cover can removed. Did you realize that you were designing a car seat for small children who frequently do Very Messy Things in their car seats? For instance, vomit. Did you stop to think that when a parent is faced with a child who is Very Sick and covered in vomit, the last thing they want to do is unscrew EIGHT screws in order to wash the car seat cover? Did you ever think that this act may push a parent over the edge they had been teetering on all day? That perhaps this car seat full of vomit was the most recent in a long line of things that she had been cleaning vomit off of that day?

Let’s not even talk about the fact that the straps CANNOT be removed AT ALL. Or the fact that I had to use my garden hose in order to clean vomit out of the straps because of this design flaw. It’s almost enough to make me purchase a new car seat from a competitor.

Sincerely,
Erica

Easter Candy, I wish I could quit you.

I bought Easter candy. I knew I shouldn’t do it, but I had all sorts of justifications in my head. It’s only once a year! You can’t get Cadbury Creme Eggs ANY OTHER TIME OF YEAR! If I don’t eat it now, I’ll have to wait A WHOLE YEAR to have it! A YEAR!

So, I caved. Even though I knew it was wrong. Even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to control myself around it. Even though I knew I wouldn’t “just have a few pieces,” or “throw it away if I’m tempted to binge on it.” WHATEVER. Did I even believe any of that for one tenth of a second? No, I did not. So why did I buy it? Why did I eat so much yesterday that I felt queasy and disappointed in myself? What’s the point of eating it if it makes me feel bad, both mentally and physically?

I think I feel some sort of entitlement to it. Like I’m supposed to eat it just because it’s Easter and it’s available. That just isn’t right. If I was eating it because I really enjoyed it or it made me feel good, that would be something else entirely. This is just unhealthy and destructive. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me if I’m going to make this WLS work for me.

For Nana

Let’s Get Naked

Those of you who have been with me for the long haul know that I pink puffy heart Barenaked Ladies. I just found out they’re releasing a children’s album. With this and some They Might Be Giants, I may never have to listen to kid’s music that makes my ears bleed.