Hi, my name is Lauren and I'm a vom-phobic

Alternate title: Momma's got a sinus problem... Daddy cleans puke all night....

Name that tune and I'll send you a prize.

Also, when I come up with an idea for a post, I start a draft on my blogger app. I actually started this post on Monday and finished it on my lunch break Thursday. I promptly forgot to post it and am now posting it on the following Monday.

Vom-phobic: self coined title of this author's irrational fear of vomit.

Emetophobia: the real word for author's coined term above.

Backstory: For as long as I can remember, I have had an irrational anxiety attached to vomit. More specifically, the thought of me throwing up. I will literally make myself sick when a stomach bug starts going around. Ironic? Yes.

I really thought that I had recovered from my vom-phobia during two back to back pregnancies, both of which had a fair amount of puke. I REALLY thought I was over it. That's what you get for thinking.

Monday, I went to see my BFF to fill out some paperwork. We have a pretty tight bond because her son was due 5 days after Hadley. She was telling me all about her son projectile vomiting the night before and all my old feelings of anxiety came rushing back. The tightness in my chest, the instant stomach-ache, and the nagging almost compulsive feeling to sanitize things were hitting me hard. In the face.

I was carefully analyzing Hadley's behavior. I was watching her for the first sign of sickness or stomach discomfort. She's been her normal, happy-go-lucky, smiling self. This morning, she woke up talking and giggling. I was getting ready for work when I heard her giggles on the baby monitor. I then heard a cough, and another cough, and a splatter.

Yes, the stomach bug has hit our house. Please pray that it exits as quickly as it entered and effects minimal members of the family.

Don't forget about this little Giveaway.

Also, first person to name the song stuck in my head secondary to writing the alternative title will get a prize.

What I Love About Sunday

I had an amazing idea for what I loved today.  I was going to talk about how much I love dressing vicariously through my children.  Seriously, Hadley was super cute today.  I don't want to spoil it for when I dress her in the future, but I'll give you a taste: 

{hot pink skinny jeans- oh yes!} 

If there were any way I thought that I could pull off hot pink skinny jeans, I totally would.  

After I talked about living vicariously through my children, I was going to hit on how much I LOVE the pool and taking the kids to the pool is even better, but....

When it rains, it pours.  

First off, it literally poured. 

Apparently, Hadley has not fully recovered from her stomach virus.  And I will spare you any more gory details about that. 

Emmalyn has been super happy to be hangin' today, so that's good. 

Today, what I'm loving about Sunday is that both of my kids are napping while I lay on the couch and fix the blog.  

I'm loving my new blog design thanks to Bella Lulu Ink.

Today, I'm ignoring the fact that I desperately need to clean and disinfect my house. 

In fact, I'm thinking about taking half a day off this week to clean.  Hah!

What are you loving this Sunday?

Friday Five

1. Sick kids- It's heartbreaking, but both my babies are sick!! Emmalyn has a cough/cold and Hadley has a stomach thing. Pray for us!!

2. Handmade Bows- I'm hooked on on hair bows for the girls and I've started making my own. I'm so excited.

3. I'm doing my first give away! Check it out: Giveaway.

4. Money, money, money- We got our tax return! I think I'm going to use it to pay bills :(

5.  I bought tickets to see my favorite!! Blake Shelton in Tampa....now to bide my time until August.

Also, I'm aware that I'm posting this on Saturday, but yesterday was CRAZY!!

Just For Fun

I'm giving away a set of 4 handmade chevron print hair elastics!!  I am hooked on these no snag hair elastics that don't leave indentations!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

First Things First

First thing I would do/buy if you won the lottery

 I'd like to say it would be something super responsible, like paying of debt. Fact is, it would probably be something ridiculous, like a $60,000 car or a ridiculous vacation...with booze...and no kids. I wouldn't quit my job either. I like work too much. I would probably focus a little bit more on stuff to do for fun. I would buy a bigger house and hire someone to help me clean, but first, I would definitely take a ridiculous vacation.  

First person I call when I get amazing news

Once again, I would like to say it would be my husband, but it's usually my mom.  

First thing I do when I've had a bad day

That is definitely announce that I'm not cooking dinner or more specifically we're not cooking dinner. Cooking, which my husband usually does, still requires clean up, so that's my department. Bad day = Mexican food.

It's What I Love About Sundays

Sunday morning pj parties are my favorite thing some days. Usually the girls get up between 8:00-8:30. We get a little breakfast and then we get back in bed.... All four of us.... Usually with dogs... We watch an episode or two of "gabby gabby"

What do you love about Sunday?

Friday Five

{naked baby booty} Hadley has decided that pants are now optional. My dear, sweet hubby walked in to her room yesterday morning to find her naked booty up in the air.

{dinner time hot-mess}
These days getting longer has the hubs working in the yard more. We have been up and moving until 6:30 or 7:00 without even thinking about dinner. I am ashamed to admit that my kid may have eaten Greek yogurt for dinner again this week.

{mini-vacation} I bought my husband concert tickets to see his favorite band and we went last night. The show was in Destin, FL. We left the girls with their grandparents and the dogs went to the kennel for the first time. Hubby and I had about 24 hours totally to ourselves.

{gap outlet} I've been buying clothes here and there, but I've been getting desperate for some new clothes since the past 2 years have yielded 2 pregnancies and associated body changes. I went to the gap outlet while we were in Destin and bought some much needed new clothes! I'm so excited.

job opportunities We've had some changes at work and a possible promotion has come up. I'm still undecided about whether I'm going to apply or not, but I am seriously considering it.

Why I Don't Meal Plan

{Alternative Title} The Events That Led to my Kid Eating Greek Yogurt and Sun-chips for Dinner

Please tell me I am not the only person who always has ridiculous series of events on Mondays. We could call them extra manic Mondays?

Well, this week, I picked up my phone as I was getting ready to leave work, and I had about 65 calls from my dear hubby. I also had one text message. The text read, "What time are you leaving work today?" So I called him. No answer. Repeat about 4 times. He finally calls me back and says, "So what's up?" And I respond with "You called me." He tells me he has to go finish moving those limestone blocks.

Remember these?


Yes, and then he explained to me...never mind, just insert ridiculous family drama here....

So I ask, "Well, what do you want me to do? Pick up the girls? Help move blocks?" He said, "I already have Hadley. I just can't take her with me." Instantly what runs through my head is, "Why did you pick her up if you have something to do?" But what I said was, "Ok, I'll be home soon."

I get to the house, we load up both vehicles, go get a trailer and go back to the scene of the blocks. I stayed there for about an hour, but I helped none because I was chasing Hadley around.

We then discussed dinner. Typically, because Mondays almost always turn into a cluster, and we eat Mexican food. Tonight, with the husband loading limestone, I decided to pick up a rotisserie chicken. Well, the hubs decided that because chicken on the bone grosses me out.

I went to the grocery store and in true Lauren style, I came up with about 20 things I needed.

I left the grocery store and picked Emmalyn up. I then ran to my mom's house to pick up a check, and yes, both my kids did scream and cry the whole way home, thanks for asking.

I get home and Emmalyn is screaming for a bottle and Hadley is stomping around the house throwing toys. No harm, no foul. I fed the screaming kid and let Hadley throw her toys.

As soon as Emmalyn is done, Hadley
Is instantly starving to death. Amazing. I fixed her a small bowl of Greek yogurt to pacify her and set to work fixing dinner.




And the the bottom fell out. I turned on the water to wash carrots. No water. Seriously, it was like 2 little dribbles.

I walk on to the back porch and say, "Husband!! We have no water pressure," an he answers, "Well, I noticed that the sprinkles weren't working." Again, seriously??

So what do we do? I mean I'm an adult my all definitions of the word. I'm 20-something, married, and have 2 kids. What should I do? I call my dad, of course.

In the mean time, Hadley is still acting like she's about to starve. I give her a handful of sun-chips.

My dad and husband determine that after power outage in the afternoon, the tank on our pump needs to refill. Thank God.

Hadley sees her grandpa and freaks. She screams and cries until he takes her home.

So that is the Monday madness that resulted in my kid eating sun-chips and Greek yogurt for dinner.



I. Am. Exhausted.

Why I've Been an Absentee Blogger

Well, lets start with the obvious, shall we? I've got two amazing daughters. They are fun, beautiful, energetic, happy kids. They are exhausting. And always going.

And usually one of them is commanding attention if I'm trying to do something else. I'm not even talking about sitting down to try and blog. I'm talking about eating, drinking, showering, or laundry. I jump on all chances to eat a meal, while it's hot, with two hands.

I am trying to maintain a household . And I'm a little bit of a control freak. I keep schedules/lists of what needs to be done when. I don't like getting away from my schedule, but it happens. It really has even a hot mess lately because we're in the middle of some renovations.

That leads me to reason number three that I've been an absentee blogger. At 35 weeks pregnant, I decided it would be an amazing idea to rip up all the carpets in our house. Since that started, our house has been constantly in some sort of disarray. Most recently, we replaced the carpet in our living room. The project isn't quite finished so our couch is in the middle of the room and EVERYTHING else is is stuffed in the dining room and room. The flooring for our bedroom is in the kitchen.

I also am in the middle of a purge cycle. What is a purge cycle? We currently have entirely too much stuff. I'm becoming an eBay diva and just hailed 100 items of baby girl clothing to a consignment sale.

I work.

My goal is always to be a better blogger. I love to write. It provides an amazing outlet for me. I want to write about things people want to read about. I am constantly reading and researching what I think people want to read.

Tell me what you want to read! I'm a very open, honest person. I don't really keep secrets, so just ask!

What I Love About Sunday

 

Today, I am loving my dear sweet husband, and the fact that he felt the need to buy an insane amount of limestone blocks. 

Let me just say that he purchased more of these blocks than pictured.  He purchased enough that we have to make multiple trips....with a trailer....

We made our first trip today. 

Yes, my husband did load a ridiculous amount of limestone blocks..... in the pouring rain. 

It's just one of the things I love about Sundays.  What are you loving?

Life as an SLP...

This cracks me up.  It's from the website http://whatshouldwecallslp.tumblr.com

I've selected a few of my faves: 

A Night Without Sleep

I'm exhausted. Emmalyn whined two nights ago and wanted her pacifier all night. Usually, she sucks on it until she gets good and asleep and then it pops out. She has a lot of trouble keeping it in her mouth because of her cleft.

So two nights ago, she was up all night and last night she was a puker (I know that seems to be a recurring topic).

I was getting ready for bed and the hubs was getting her ready for bed. The husband started shouting for me. The hubs has a habit of commanding my attention for ridiculous things, such as TV commercials, the dog laying on the couch, etc. when he started yelling for me, I didn't get in to big of a hurry, but he had an urgency in his voice. He yelled, "Lauren, now!" So I ran. He met me in the living room with a purple faced Emmalyn who was gasping for breath.


He had her up on his shoulder and was patting her back. Her color returned to normal and so did her breathing, but all three of us were kind of panicky.

The hubs said he was getting her dressed when all the sudden she quit making noise and turned purple. He said he could see the panic in her eyes.

By the time I got to them, she had started making noise and I knew she was ok. It's still scary. My baby girl choked. She couldn't breath. What if DH wasn't there? Would she have cleared it on her own? Who knows?

Last night, I checked her pretty much every time I moved, which is a lot. She's usually a nosy sleeper so if I couldn't hear her, I pretty much had an instant panic attack.

I know she's fine, but I'm afraid I'm going to be living on fear of the what-if from here on out.

Purging

Morning ladies!!

I wanted to throw this out there. I cloth diapered Hadley until she started solids. I planned on doing the same with Emmalyn. I'm just being realistic when I say that that's not happening.

If you have any interest in buying cloth diapers in great condition, please let me know. Most are bumgenius 4.0s, but I also have some rumparooz lil Joey NB AIOs, a few prefolds/covers, and 2 grovia AIOs (pink).

If you are interested, please email me at thislifetheblog(at)gmail.com.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog randomness.

A LIttle History Lesson

Weight is something I have struggled with my whole life. Fluctuations in my weight can also be directly related to major life changes.

Start high school? Gain 50 lbs. Lose 65 lbs. Start working out a ton to manage stress? Get ridiculously skinny. Gym closes? Gain 15 lbs. Move in with your boyfriend? Here's another 30 lbs. Grad school? 15 lbs. Wedding planning? Another 15 lbs, easy.

Finally get a real job, money, and some stability? That's 20 lbs gone. Get pregnant? Have a baby? Come out back where you started 20 lbs heavier. Get pregnant again? Manage to only gain 16 lbs this pregnancy? Have baby? Ooh!! Back down 20 lbs and then 25 and then 30...

Start eating right with the hubby? Lose 10 lbs. Have strong desire to lose weight faster? Add exercise.

And that's where it starts to kind of fall apart. Ugh. I hate exercise. My preferred exercise is swimming. That has some logistical issues though. First, the weather had to be appropriate. Secondly, I have to have time without kids. I mean, if I go for a walk then I can just throw the kids in a stroller. The other problem with swimming is that I get mentally bored and distracted. Its ridiculous.

I like walking and spin classes, but I am not going to join a gym/walk on a treadmill. The weather has to be right and the kids have to be pleasant...

After the kids are home, it's hard to work out. I mean, I miss my kids when they aren't around. So when I get them home, I want to spend time with them.

That's what led me to this morning. 6:30 A.M. Jillian Michaels.

1/30 days of the 30 day shred. Done.