This coming Monday is my first day back to work after twelve weeks of maternity leave. I don't feel ready to go back! It really isn't a bad job, and I really like the people that I work with. It's part time, so it doesn't make sense that I'm dreading it.
Neither child took a nap today! It was so warm and beautiful, so I took them both on a walk. I think that the baby is going through a growth spurt. He wanted to do nothing but eat all day and was very alert. He sleeps almost all the way through the night now, but wakes me up around 5 am every morning to eat. Instead of crying to wake me, I hear him kicking and making cooing noises. When I peek into his crib, he sees me and grins from ear to ear. He's a charmer.
I'm so tired tonight, so I'd better get to bed. I hope that I don't have this weird recurring dream that I've been having. I keep dreaming that we're being attacked by aliens from outer space. I don't really believe in aliens, but they keep showing up in my dream! I hate it when I dream that I'm running around or being chased. My body ends up feeling like it really did all that when I wake up in the morning. I think I've dreamed about the aliens every night this week!!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Terrible Twos
My daughter is definitely behaving as any child her age is expected to. She has entered the "terrible twos". She's so impulsive and tries every little idea that comes into her mind. Anything that she can climb, she'll do it. Last night she climbed up on top of a set of plastic storage bins, took off her shoe and beamed me in the nose with it. It hit so hard that I saw black for a few seconds. It cut my nose and made a bruise. I explained to her that throwing things can hurt people and that she had hurt Mommy badly. She cried, so I think that she understood that she did something wrong.
This all happened last evening around 7:30 pm. That seems to be the crazy hour at my house. The baby is usually screaming from gas pains and the toddler bouncing off the walls. That's when I start feeling panicky and saying things like this to myself-- "Is it going to be like this forever?" or "I'm losing my mind!!" Then it suddenly calms down and we all feel relief.
It's 9:14 am right now and both kids are still sleeping! This makes up for last night, I think. It looks like we might have a pretty day, so I'm going to take them out. I'm so glad that the weather is starting to warm up. Now we can find things to do to get some of that toddler energy spent.
This all happened last evening around 7:30 pm. That seems to be the crazy hour at my house. The baby is usually screaming from gas pains and the toddler bouncing off the walls. That's when I start feeling panicky and saying things like this to myself-- "Is it going to be like this forever?" or "I'm losing my mind!!" Then it suddenly calms down and we all feel relief.
It's 9:14 am right now and both kids are still sleeping! This makes up for last night, I think. It looks like we might have a pretty day, so I'm going to take them out. I'm so glad that the weather is starting to warm up. Now we can find things to do to get some of that toddler energy spent.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Postpartum Blues
My little one is turning me into a morning person! He likes to get up and eat at about 6:00 AM every day. It's actually making me feel better. I get some extra time for fun things. And I get to enjoy a smiling baby! Last evening, I posted on a blog of someone suffering from postpartum depression. Since I've had problems with it myself, I thought I'd write a few lines about that.
After having each baby, I initially was on cloud nine. I was running on excitement and adrenaline. Then after a few weeks after my first baby, I crashed down from the clouds as reality set it. I had postpartum depression.
It's normal to get the blues after having a baby because of hormone changes and exhaustion, but I was extremely depressed. I let it go until about three months. Then one night I cried all night and couldn't stop crying. It was so horrible and uncontrollable. I was also having extremely scary feelings of wanting to hurt my baby. That was the thing that made me call my doctor the next day... I felt that it was an emergency situation. That's when I knew something was really truly wrong. I started treatment for it and got better.
This time, I headed it off at the pass. I'm already being treated for it. I just had a feeling that it would happen again. I'm a little prone to depression anyway. Having a baby makes me a little more crazier than I already am!
I have to go now! Little one is crying for some attention. Have a great day!
After having each baby, I initially was on cloud nine. I was running on excitement and adrenaline. Then after a few weeks after my first baby, I crashed down from the clouds as reality set it. I had postpartum depression.
It's normal to get the blues after having a baby because of hormone changes and exhaustion, but I was extremely depressed. I let it go until about three months. Then one night I cried all night and couldn't stop crying. It was so horrible and uncontrollable. I was also having extremely scary feelings of wanting to hurt my baby. That was the thing that made me call my doctor the next day... I felt that it was an emergency situation. That's when I knew something was really truly wrong. I started treatment for it and got better.
This time, I headed it off at the pass. I'm already being treated for it. I just had a feeling that it would happen again. I'm a little prone to depression anyway. Having a baby makes me a little more crazier than I already am!
I have to go now! Little one is crying for some attention. Have a great day!
Thursday, March 23, 2006
I love listening to people talk and hearing their accents. It seems that here in Maryland there are many who have moved from other areas. Once I was assisting a customer by telephone who had just moved here from New York. He told me that he just loved my Maryland accent...that it was slower and more relaxed than the New York way of speaking. I explained that I had a REAL Southern accent from Tennessee.
About five years ago someone from Georgia called to find out if "The Blair Witch Project" was a true story. It was pure pleasure to my ears to hear her very Southern accent. She left a message on my voicemail that I left on there for a long time. I never could convince her that the story was false. She wanted me to check local newspapers just to make sure.
Here's one more accent story that I thought very interesting. A lady called and her accent sounded so Tennessee. I was sure she had come from my area. To my surprise, she was from Texas! Way back when Sam Houston and a bunch of settlers left Tennessee and resettled in Texas, they carried over their accent and it stayed. Isn't that cool?
I used to work with a New Englander. I loved it when she called in and order to a restaurant and asked for a large "pizzer".
Besides accent differences, there are two phrases that had me a little baffled for a while. Many times when I answer a customer's question, they'll say "Good Enough!" I wasn't sure how to take this at first. Did they mean "Not a perfect answer, but I'll take it" or "That's mediocre research, but maybe that's the best you can do". I've since learned that this is just an affirmation and acceptance of my answer. The other saying is "a couple". Metal Mark is guilty of this one. To me, "a couple" strictly means two. If a customer calls and has "a couple" of requests, I've learned that they very well may have a list of ten requests! If Metal Mark asks for a couple of pretzels, I had better give him at least three. "A couple" means "a few or more" here.
Sometimes I'll talk about some of the fun "hillbilly" terms that I've always used growing up. I was raised in the Appalachian region, so there are some mountain people terms that I sometimes use. Well, I'd better go for now. Now it's time to entertain a toddler!
About five years ago someone from Georgia called to find out if "The Blair Witch Project" was a true story. It was pure pleasure to my ears to hear her very Southern accent. She left a message on my voicemail that I left on there for a long time. I never could convince her that the story was false. She wanted me to check local newspapers just to make sure.
Here's one more accent story that I thought very interesting. A lady called and her accent sounded so Tennessee. I was sure she had come from my area. To my surprise, she was from Texas! Way back when Sam Houston and a bunch of settlers left Tennessee and resettled in Texas, they carried over their accent and it stayed. Isn't that cool?
I used to work with a New Englander. I loved it when she called in and order to a restaurant and asked for a large "pizzer".
Besides accent differences, there are two phrases that had me a little baffled for a while. Many times when I answer a customer's question, they'll say "Good Enough!" I wasn't sure how to take this at first. Did they mean "Not a perfect answer, but I'll take it" or "That's mediocre research, but maybe that's the best you can do". I've since learned that this is just an affirmation and acceptance of my answer. The other saying is "a couple". Metal Mark is guilty of this one. To me, "a couple" strictly means two. If a customer calls and has "a couple" of requests, I've learned that they very well may have a list of ten requests! If Metal Mark asks for a couple of pretzels, I had better give him at least three. "A couple" means "a few or more" here.
Sometimes I'll talk about some of the fun "hillbilly" terms that I've always used growing up. I was raised in the Appalachian region, so there are some mountain people terms that I sometimes use. Well, I'd better go for now. Now it's time to entertain a toddler!
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Intentions
Here I am with some free time before midnight, and I'm not exhausted! I'm finally getting to post. It's nice after the crazy last two days. There's not much worse than a toddler with a bad cold. Metal Mark would probably say that there's not much worse than a crabby wife griping about it. It was pretty awful for a couple of days taking care of a sick child and an infant. Thank goodness things are better now! It feels great to get this time to write after such a horrible couple of days.
The bright spot during all this is that our baby started smiling this week! He grinned and squealed at me today. He's absolutely adorable. I think that's when I started feeling better. Maybe he was thinking "Ha ha... look at Mommy running around in circles".
In my last post I mentioned writing about the differences between living here in Maryland and living down South. Well, I'll start now. When I first started my job here, people couldn't understand me on the phone. I had such a strong accent and it sounded so foreign to some people. I help customers mostly by telephone, so it was interesting making myself understood. I actually had to spell out some of the words for people. I began pronouncing things differently to make myself understood, so now I've lost some of that southern accent...which is a little sad. When I visit family, though, it all comes back! I sure am homesick for a visit!
Now it's a minute past midnight, so I'd better go to sleep and check on baby. Thanks for reading my blog and goodnight!
The bright spot during all this is that our baby started smiling this week! He grinned and squealed at me today. He's absolutely adorable. I think that's when I started feeling better. Maybe he was thinking "Ha ha... look at Mommy running around in circles".
In my last post I mentioned writing about the differences between living here in Maryland and living down South. Well, I'll start now. When I first started my job here, people couldn't understand me on the phone. I had such a strong accent and it sounded so foreign to some people. I help customers mostly by telephone, so it was interesting making myself understood. I actually had to spell out some of the words for people. I began pronouncing things differently to make myself understood, so now I've lost some of that southern accent...which is a little sad. When I visit family, though, it all comes back! I sure am homesick for a visit!
Now it's a minute past midnight, so I'd better go to sleep and check on baby. Thanks for reading my blog and goodnight!
Friday, March 03, 2006
Stress Relief
Thanks for all your comments and to everyone checking out my blog! It is a fun way to relieve stress. Baby #2 is sleeping right now and Metal Mark is watching Scooby-Doo with Baby #1. Then they're going to go outside for a walk. He's a great daddy!
My next post is going to be a little more interesting. I'm from the South, so I'm far away from my hometown. Even though I love living here, I do get homesick for the mountains and for my family. I'm going to write about some of the humorous differences between life here and there.
I have to run now and change some stinky diapers!
My next post is going to be a little more interesting. I'm from the South, so I'm far away from my hometown. Even though I love living here, I do get homesick for the mountains and for my family. I'm going to write about some of the humorous differences between life here and there.
I have to run now and change some stinky diapers!
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Traveling With Two
Hello everyone! This is the first chance I have had to take time to write. My youngest baby is just starting to sleep through the night... Hurrah for a little free time! I'm dying to flop into the bed too. I took both my children with me to run errands and to a doctor's appointment. It was challenging to manage a toddler and an infant at the same time.
Thank goodness I have a stroller for two. The baby's carseat carrier straps onto the stroller, and there's a platform and bench seat for the toddler to ride on. My toddler was wild and running around in circles in the doctor's office. Fortunately, the nurse got her to "help" push the buttons on the reclining examining chair.
Well, taking the kids out together was my big event of the day! The sad thing is that it caused my blood pressure to rise and gave me a headache. I'm sure it will get easier and more fun with practice!
Thank goodness I have a stroller for two. The baby's carseat carrier straps onto the stroller, and there's a platform and bench seat for the toddler to ride on. My toddler was wild and running around in circles in the doctor's office. Fortunately, the nurse got her to "help" push the buttons on the reclining examining chair.
Well, taking the kids out together was my big event of the day! The sad thing is that it caused my blood pressure to rise and gave me a headache. I'm sure it will get easier and more fun with practice!
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