Wordless Wednesday

Time to Catch Up

I've been remiss in writing for a little over a week. I was out in Indiana visiting my parents and siblings. It was nice to get away from it all for a week. Even the drive out - just me and the two kiddos - wasn't terrible. We did have our trials and tribulations but we all survived it. So now it's back to, well, life - back to school, back to work, back to daycare issues, back to volunteering, back to blogging, back to cleaning the house, back to laundry - have I left anything out? Probably, but you get the idea. First on the agenda is to solve Budha's daycare issue. I actually have an appointment tomorrow with another center (right in town so she won't be doing the hour commute with me and it's another center that Bug went to for preschool). I hope this one will be different, but I think it will be better. After spending so much time with her traveling and at my parents' house, I do realize that Budha does need some kind of daycare, at least a day or two a week. I know she's just 8 months old, but she's so dependent on me to the point that she doesn't want anyone else to do anything for her. She fussed and cried whenever someone else tried to feed her or change her. Only one person - my BIL - was able to get her to go to sleep. She needs to start socializing with other babies and other adults, and so does Mommy for that matter.

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Weigh In (two days late)

Not going so well, but I'm not throwing the towel in. I haven't been below the 170 mark in years!
Current: 168
Lost Last Week: 2 lbs.
Cumm. Lost: 3 lbs.
Goal Weight: 130 lbs.

One of Those Weeks

I'm having one of those weeks. It never fails. It always seems like when I'm trying to prepare everything to go on vacation all hell breaks lose. Buddha has an ear infection (which she's doing well getting over) but the medication is making her have diarrhea. Bug got in trouble at school, and has been late every morning this week - could that be due do Buddha's blood curling screams at all hours because of the ear infection?
The insurance company called today and said that they were paying on a claim from a car accident back in February that wasn't even our fault. As it turns out the copy of the police report turned into our insurance company and the copy that I had from the police department had differences. Tune in for that one; it could prove to be an interesting story.
Because Buddha's been getting sick so much from daycare - we went all winter with one kid in school and no big sickies; 3 months in daycare and stomach flu and now an ear infection - we've decided to pull her out of daycare. The director informed me that even though Buddha's only there one day, I need to give 4 weeks notice. Yeah right! I'm pulling her out because it's costing me money. Like I can afford to pay 4 weeks! Then I told the director that someone deposited my post-dated check before the date and screwed up my checking account. Her response was "Well, it cleared on our end." No *hit, Sherlock. My bank charged me 33.00 so they could clear the check.
To which I responded, "Well, it wasn't supposed to be deposited until Friday. You deposited it on Wednesday, which caused an overdraft on my account and my bank charged me $33.00."
"Well, you should have put a Post-It on it."
"Well, your bank shouldn't have accepted it." Can you tell how this conversation was going? "Consider this notice that [Buddha] will no longer be coming there."
"You'll have to provide that in writing and pay for 4 additional weeks."
"I'll send you something in writing. Bye."
And that's everything that's only happened since this morning. Can't wait for the next two days!

Changes Going On

You may have noticed that I've changed the name of the blog. The new name will be Of Cheerios and Conference Calls. I really think this name change is more reflective of where I am right now. I was preparing for a conference call with a client and in pulling files out of my bag I also found a small Tupperware container of Cheerios for Budha. I thought that was a perfect analogy of being a WAH mom and freelancer. I'm hoping to change the design of the blog too wihtin the next couple of weeks. I hope everyone will like it.

So Frustrating

Budha only goes to daycare 1 day a week - 6 hours to be exact. That's all. I work at a client's office that one day and she makes the commute with me. Part of me is glad that she's there beginning to socialize with other babies, and learning to adapt to her surroundings. But a bigger part of me is so frustrated because she's been getting sick since starting in late January. She's had the stomach flu - that took about two weeks to get over. Now she has an ear infection. She went all winter without getting sick - little sniffles here and there - but nothing major, no fevers. Even with Bug in school, he didn't bring anything home over the winter. What's even more frustrating is that I feel like I'm paying daycare for her to get sick, and I have to pay if she misses because she's sick. So let me get this straight, I'm bringing her to a daycare center and paying them; she picks something up there and gets sick, misses a day because she's sick and I still have to pay. What's wrong with this system?! Between having to pay the cost for daycare that's not being used and then the doctor visit and medicine, it's not really cost effective for me to work for this client.

Great American Photo Contest

I've posted a picture of Amy on the Great American Photo Contest. If you are so inclined, please clink the link below and vote for her. (Luke's too old otherwise I would have posted a nice one of him, too.) You can vote every day!!!!
https://www.greatamericanphotocontest.com/voter1/index.aspx?referid=EmailFriends&p=457580&x=.JPG

Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Weigh In

Okay - so I missed posting yesterday. Weight loss was only 1 pound the first week. At least it was something considering the week I had - sick, 3 leftover birthday cakes, Amy's first trip to the ER. So the cakes are in the trash. I'm feeling better. And Amy survived a fall off the bed. No more excuses; time to get down to business. I'm scheduling work out time like I do my clients.


Beginning weight - 171
Current weight - 170
Goal weight - 130
Total lost to date - 1 pound

Bad Mommy

Let me begin with Wordless Wednesday - Budha's giggle fit was caused by Bug hitting himself on the head with a small catalog. She's taking pleasure from her brother's pain. Go figure. I wanted to test this theory, so naturally, I hit myself in the head with a paperback book. She laughed. So she takes pleasure in anyone else's pain! Great!

I know in my head I'm not the worst mommy on the planet. But when your child gets hurt, no matter how unintentionally, you feel like the scum of the earth. Last night Budha rolled off the bed onto the hardwood floor. She was sound asleep in the middle of our king size bed - we co-sleep, especially since she's still nursing through the night - when I checked on her. Not 15 minutes later, as I was cleaning up in the kitchen, I heard a loud THUD! I knew immediately what it was and went running. I found her face up on the floor on the side of the bed screaming her head off. It took her a while to stop crying, but when she did she wouldn't look at me and if I laid her down she'd start to cry again. So erring on the side of caution, I took her at 9:45 pm to the local emergency room. Long story short, she's fine. A little bump on her head, and probably a little sore, but fine. Mom on the other hand feels like shit. No one got any sleep last night. Bug tried to stay awake to make sure everything was okay, but finally conked out at around 11:00 p.m. The Husband stayed up and waited for us; Budha and I finally got back from the ER around 1:00 a.m. Then about 2:00 a.m. Bug came in our room, crawled up on our bed, gently touched Budha's head, gave her a kiss and cuddled up with us. Needless to say everyone over slept this morning, and I think afternoon naps are in all our futures today.
I know in my head that this happens. Babies roll and get bumps; kids get hurt. I know in my head that I do the best I can for my kids. But my heart was telling me a different story last night. Bad Mommy.

Wordless Wednesday

"Out of difficulties grow miracles."

When I switched my calendar over for the new month yesterday morning, I saw that quote for April. It reminds me of one of my favorite movie quotes – “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger” – from Steel Magnolias. That’s how I try to live my life. I try to take each experience – good or bad – and learn something from it. We all have had some adversity in our lives; some more than others, but we’ve all had bad experiences, rough times whether medical, financial, emotional. Sometimes we have no control over those things. What we do have control over is what we choose to take from that experience. Do you wallow in self-pity? Or do you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back to life? I know it sounds a little cliché, but it is true. You have to choose how to live your life. You have to choose how to deal with problems. You have to choose what’s really important to you and whether you want to fight for it or not. No one else can do that for you.