by selfmademom on January 25, 2010 · 1 comment
I whittled the day away today going to the gym, lunching with a friend, and putting the baby down for a nap. This left me just enough time to catch up on my emails and the latest episode of Nip/Tuck. (While I’m sad the show’s ending, the fact that I’m still watching it during nap times two years later is quite pathetic, no?)
Seriously, I’m a walking SAHM cliche. I didn’t even shower after I went to the gym today.
And if it wasn’t bad enough, I turned on Ellen (cliche!) and she brought out these hairless wonders called “Thunder Down Under” who wowed various audience members with their chiseled bodies and I actually laughed through the entire segment.
Clearly, I’m losing it.
While there’s nothing wrong with a little R&R, I occasionally worry that I’m going to lose all my brain cells to the guilty-pleasure shows on FX. (Damages starts tonight.)
I’m not lamenting my choices. I would rather be home with the tube, a laptop and a napping infant than at a desk any day of the week. (Well, maybe except for Friday when I’ve already watched all my shows.) But I’m sure there is a balance out there between my SAHM vegetative state and reality. Shows, that is.
Back about 8 weeks ago, I was singing my own praises about my abundant milk supply and breastfeeding prowess. Now, I’m just a regular-old nursing pro. But while I have mastered the hooter-hider, (I highly recommend the Bebe Au Lait ones, and I’m not being paid to say that.) I have not mastered the attractive or comfortable other nursing gear.
Tempted not to spend a lot of money on a product, like a nursing bra, that I might have only used for a week or two, I bought a few cheapie ones at Target. Ten weeks later, they are still highly unattractive and not very comfortable.
Which is why I jumped at an offer by my friend Beth to test out (and giveaway) a new nursing wardrobe by Bravado. (I am being compensated to say this.) Bravado, apparently a well-recognized brand in the lactation nation but unknown to a rookie like me has come out with an affordable line of nursing gear at Target called Basics by Bravado. Yay! Just one more thing I need to add to my cart.
The stuff looks totally comfortable, and I like how on their website Bravado itemizes each item’s use and purpose.
See? She didn’t cheap out on nursing gear like I did.
I’ll tell you how it lives up to its promise when I get my gear to test out.
But, in the meantime, you can enter to win $500 worth of must-have baby items by entering the Basics by Bravado “Spot a Mom” by following these easy steps:
- Find the nearest Target store in their area offering Basics by Bravado nursing wear.
- Visit the store and snap some pics of themselves finding the Basics by Bravado store display.
- Email their photo, along with their name and contact details to basics@bravadodesigns.com.
Let me know if you decide to do it! If you do, I’ll put you in a pool to win Bravado nursing gear plus a DVD. I NEVER do contests like these, but now I’m like a member of La Leche or something. Well, not quite, but who doesn’t like free stuff? Good luck!
Disclosure: I am being compensated for writing a review of Basics by Bravado and conducting the contest. Not for breastfeeding, although if I was I’d be a bizillionaire right now.
I saw the grand possibilities of having a baby again… more sitter hours, portability, and having a child who wouldn’t talk back to me. What I didn’t realize was how impossible it would be to do the little things I had gotten accustomed to as being a mother of one. So, herewith, a list:
- It’s impossible to blog anymore. I’m pretty sure that my baby burrito has memorized the QWERTY keyboard. He even smiles when the Windows “musack” comes on after I power on.
- I haven’t peed alone in 2 months. I finally got to the point of “Peeing in Peace“ and now everytime I have to go, someone cries.
- I can’t remember diddly. Calendar appointments are now reserved for remembering to call my mom.
- It’s virtually a miracle if my clothes are clean. At least when I had one, I could change my top if it had spit up on it. Now, I don’t notice the spit up until I’ve already been out to a lunch date, play date and kiddie soccer class. And noticing it on my new cashmere sweater was not appreciated either.
- Having a conversation. I’m happy now if I can talk to someone either in person or on the phone uninterrupted for 3.5 minutes.
- I have no trunk space left in my car. Putting the items I buy from Target away in the trunk around the double stroller requires a degree in spatial relations.
- I can’t get anywhere at the time I intend. I book appointments at least 15 minutes after my desired target arrival time.
- My beloved well-manicured nails are a total thing of the past. And the do-it-yourself jobbies just don’t cut it.
- I’d add sleep to this list, but my 3 year-old has decided not to sleep through the night anymore, so I wouldn’t be getting much anyway.
- Finally, though, it’s impossible to have thought that after only two months of being a mother of two, I’d love my kids this much. Even without the sleep, the well-preserved nails, the phone conversations, it’s so worth it.
Lest you think the Sears Willis Tower swallowed me whole, it didn’t. But winter break with two kids, a non-stop working husband and sub-zero temperatures nearly did.
Not that I didn’t have fun touristing around Chicago amidst the snow, slush and rain. I We thoroughly enjoyed the My Gym Holiday camp where you get to drop your kids off for three hours. And I did a hallelujah dance every time my sitter showed up for a few hours. Which didn’t happen nearly enough to keep me sane, but with school starting up again tomorrow, I’m hoping to get some of it back.
I’ll never forget the moments of joy we had eating fast food (twice). I found I like Wendy’s food, but McDonald’s fries better. Nor will I forget the pissing away ung-dly amounts of money on attractions and events. We drove all the way to Schaumburg to pay $30 to go to Legoland. (And, no, Schaumburg didn’t feel all that close to the city.)
I went to Legoland and all I got was a piece of plastic.
We had some down time, though. I owe a lot of my “quiet” time over break to Lilo and Stitch and the crazy cool graphics of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Thank you dear friends at Sony Pictures for the complimentary copy! Out for the rest of you on January 5!) I never knew how grateful I’d be to animation until I really needed it.
But beyond the bad eating habits, crappy weather and crummy souvenirs, I know this much is true: I survived winter break. Barely.
Did you?
