(MommyJD) Hump Day Randomisms

I used to call this series "The Bump's Hump Day Randomisms" but seeing as how I am no longer sporting a bump, I'll stick to the generic "Hump Day Randomisms" (until I think of something more clever). Here are a few things on my mind that are not long enough to be their own post.

• If my husband rolls over with his back to me when he hears the baby crying in the middle of the night ONE MORE TIME...he will be rudely awakened with a foot to his backside.

• Why do people (usually of the older persuasion) avoid the self-checkout line at the grocery store like it's the plague? There will be a line 10 deep (along with 10 full carts) and no waiting at the self-checkout and I will see people peek over and then end up choosing the longer line. Why, just because there is a human touching your groceries and taking your money? Don't be afraid of technology people!

• I recently redeemed a Groupon for a facial at a spa near my home. The facial was great but I could only chuckle on the inside at the esthetician who recommended that I 1) buy these expensive ass products because that's what my face "needs" and 2) come in at least once a month for a facial. Trick, if I could afford to do all that would I really be shopping on GROUPON! 

• "As Seen on TV"- I am a marketer's dream come true. I do not often watch commercials or informercials, but I will occasionally catch them while at the gym. And I must have every thing I see. I have a wish list a mile long for everything from Pajama Jeans to Wen to Slice-O-Matic. Hide yo phones, hide yo wallet.

• Anyone out there watch The Office? It hasn't been that funny since Michael Scott left but Pam (and sometimes Darryl) keep me watching. The episode where she was talking about texts and question marks was HILARIOUS! My synopsis would not give it justice so here's the video: Pam and the Art of Texting 

Two questions marks is kind of aggressive. It's like "WHA WHA!" lmao

Happy Hump Day!

(2 Karats and a Kid) The Good News Is...

Mommy-ism #23:  The good news is that babies are more durable than we think.

I read somewhere that a parent's sole responsibility before a child turns five is to keep them alive.  As the mother of an active and vicarious boy, I can attest that in the past 16 months of his life, I am convinced more than ever that this adage is true.

He has fallen off of sofas and out of beds.  He has jumped out of his crib and his high chair.

He likes to suck on computer cords that are plugged into walls.

Thankfully for me, the geniuses who design laptops make the voltage too low to harm a person who touches (or sucks) on the other end of the cord.

Jesus be a fence...

Within thirty minutes of child-proofing my house, my son broke into one of the cabinets and was looking for his favorite remote control.  If he can beat "the system" before the age of two, I wonder what my little Baby MacGyver will be able to do by the age of ten.

I write this because I know many mothers out there who, like myself, worry consistently about the danger that is awaiting our kids.  What I have began to learn, through my child who likes to complete death-defying stunts, is that we can only protect our children so much.  Despite our efforts, there will always be something that we didn't see, something that we didn't catch or notice.  It doesn't speak to our ineptitude as mothers, it simply reminds us that we are human...and it's okay.

It also reminds us that there is an invisible presence that protects our children.  As they grow older, the scenarios will change but the need for this presence will be same.  Be it God, Christ, or angels, I am grateful for the consideration that divine beings have afforded my child and the children of those that I know (as well as those I don't know).

We can look around at the times that we are living in and be afraid.  There are rumors of wars, violence, and other frightful things that we can not explain.  Yet, just like God has protected my son from concussions and electrical zaps, I can only trust that he will continue to do the same regardless of the size or the scope of any situation.  So every morning, I close my eyes and tell God that I am putting my son in the only place where I know he will be safe, and that is in God's arms.

But I'll keep fighting the good fight of trying to keep him as safe as possible, even if he mocks my efforts...cause hey, that's what a mom is supposed to do.

(2 Karats and a Kid) Developmental milestones and why most of them can kiss my a**

Mommy-ism #22:  Screw milestones...just screw them!

I know what you are thinking...uh oh...her baby must be behind...but that's the farthest thing from the truth.  My kid has been kicking ass and taking names - rolling over, crawling, standing, cruising, walking, and operating his iPad months before any milestone chart said he should.

But it's the little milestones that you will drive you nuts. 

Oh no!  My baby isn't waving.
Jesus Christ!  My baby isn't clapping to the beat!
Heavens Lord!  My baby has been calling everything, "daddy" for about six months!

Never mind that most of the time when the baby is lagging behind on a milestone that it's because you forgot to teach him or her to do it! 

And either way, more times that not...babies just operate on their own timing.

After months and months of walking my son down our long hallway to try to encourage him to take steps by himself, I felt like I had dropped the ball somewhere.  But just as I accepted that he would take those steps when he was good and ready, one day out of nowhere he looked at me while he was holding on to my parent's coffee table, held his hands up, and took his first steps as if to say, "see, I just needed you to give me some space!"

I know more than anyone that it's very nerve-wrecking raising a child.  Especially with statistics that scare you about Austism, ADHD, and other medical ailments that we don't know much about.  But the best thing we can do is trust and pray that our children will grow into healthy, happy, talking, walking, and intelligent adults in their own time.  And as they grow, they will be appreciative of the love and acceptance that they receive from their parents more anything else.

(MommyJD) Kiss the Cook

In addition to my kids, hair care, and coupons, cooking has become my latest and greatest hobby. And Lord I never thought I'd actually say that. But yes, since becoming a bonafide homemaker and mother of two, I have gone from microwaving easy mac to making gourmet dishes from scratch. Lately my recipe collection has grown tremendously and I really am enjoying my creations, such as chicken empanadas, red velvet cupcakes, and tikka masala, just to name a few.

The desire to learn to cook better stemmed from my acceptance of the old school gender role of women as the household cook. As a newlywed I could only rotate my staple dishes of catfish, lasagna, mexican lasagna, spaghetti, fettucini alfredo- hmmm I guess all this pasta is the reason why I gained so much weight during my mid-20s. I digress.

Anyway, a slight nudge and a few subtle hints from my hubby and I realized I needed to expand my portfolio. So over the last 5 years I have come up with some awesome concoctions. My most recent claims to fame, including homemade pizza, fish tacos, and crab cakes, are courtesy of monthly rendezvous with Trader Joe's. That store screams yummy goodness.

Fortunately my husband likes just about everything I cook. He's a gracious eater, even when my experimenting goes awry. My son however is not so gracious. He's the type of child you have to sneak vegetables to by cooking them with other foods. Lately I've been putting ground flax seed in his oatmeal and applesauce and telling him that it's cinnamon.

My goal is to mold my baby girl into a more adventurous eater. I can already tell she loves to eat. I make her food from scratch as well and we haven't found a food she doesn't like. Even when she was sick, loss of appetite was not one of her symptoms. I recently started reading a book called Hungry Monkey that I saw Neil Patrick Harris talking about on The Chew. It's a good read about giving babies more than just fruit and vegetable purees. Now I can't wait for KJ to eat a pureed version of my enchiladas and spicy stir fry!

Check out our Recipes and Meals page to see some of our favorite foods and cooking tips!

(MommyJD) Along with a Fence, I Need a Bubble

If my baby girl gets sick one more time, I just might hire someone to design a plastic bubble for her to live in. I have a feeling Michael Jackson desired the same thing for his kids but settled on masks. That will be my back up plan if the bubble is too expensive.

You see, KJ is 7 months old now and and currently experiencing "Strike 2" as her pediatrician calls it. Strike 1 occurred in February when she caught a bad cold from her brother. After 3 days of her looking miserable with a fever and cough, my husband and I finally

got a clue that this was serious business. Since my husband was the only one in our house not sick, he took her to After Hours care as soon as it opened that Sunday morning. They were gone for 4 excruciatingly long hours. When they returned I found out that my baby had been through quite an ordeal- they gave her shots, an x-ray, and lots of drugs to get her 104 temperature down. I was told to take her back to the doctor first thing Monday morning to see her regular pediatrician, which I was happy to do as there was no real improvement in her condition. She was still wheezing and coughing and her x-ray showed pulmonary consolidation- basically there was lots of gunk in her lungs because she didn't know how to get rid of mucus.

Sitting in the doctor's office while the doctor debated over how to treat my little ladybug was more than overwhelming. But when he told me that he wanted to admit her to the hospital I nearly lost it. I didn't want to get on the phone while still waiting for clear instructions so all I could do was start texting my husband, sister, and mother-in-law. I'm sure my one line of "she's being admitted to the hospital" was scary for them as well. I managed to gather myself, hold in my tears, and make my way to the hospital to make sure my baby got better fast.

After 3 very long days in the hospital, KJ was discharged with a diagnosis of RSV, bronchialitis, and pneumonia. We came home with a nebulizer for breathing treatments and a can of Lysol to disinfect our entire house. My son began a new regimen of scrubbing his hands as soon as he got home from school.

Fast forward 4 weeks and my preschooler comes back from his germ-infested school with another cold and a low grade fever. He loves his baby sis to death and has to always be near her, up under her, next to her, across from her, etc. He has a conniption if she is not sitting chair to chair next to him at the dinner table and throws a tantrum if she cannot sit in his room to watch him play. So needless to say, I was nervous about her catching his cold. Despite my attempts to keep my two kids apart, baby girl got sick. Again.

I watched her cough develop for 2 days until one particular bark sent me straight to the phone to call the doctor. I took her in the next morning and, after examining her, the doctor applauded my instinct to bring her in before this advanced into something worse. So here we are with more meds, more breathing treatments, and a new pre-diagnosis of childhood asthma (which comes with even more expensive meds). This kid is determined to single-handedly reach our family insurance deductible for 2012.

Thus, for the past week I have been praying for Jesus to be a Fence around my sickly child and to heal her quickly. Before even reaching her first birthday KJ has stressed me out by testing coombs positive (jaundice), having an umbilical hernia, spouts of eczema, fevers, wheezing, RSV, bronchialitis, pnemonia...sigh, I definitely need a bubble.

(MommyJD) My Very Own Amazing Race

I do not claim to be an extreme couponer by any means. My basement doesn't look like a Walgreens and I don't have a year's supply of toilet paper. But I would call myself an above average coupon shopper. For the last three years I have saved an average of 50% on all household purchases, including groceries, toiletries, and even clothes. Already this year I have used $675 in coupons. How do I do it? I read (or skim) a lot of coupon blogs and try to only buy things that are 1) on sale and 2) something I have a coupon for. I post the best deals that I find on my Tumblr, To Save or To Spend, which are also posted on our Momma Deals page.

A few months ago, I was talking to one of my good friends from law school about couponing and how some people hoard things that they don't even use. It seemed to us that the better alternative would be to use our coupon knowledge to spend little to nothing on items and donate them to charity. I mentioned that some of the blogs I follow do like to donate their excess purchases to the Samaritan's Purse international project, Operation Christmas Child. As our conversation evolved, we both got excited at the prospect of each of us shopping year round to pack boxes for OCC. To put an extra spin on it, we decided to make it a competition between the two of us to see who could pack the most boxes. Our monthly budget is $10 and our budget per box is $2.50. Using those numbers we set a goal to pack 48 boxes each. The only kicker is that every box needs an additional $7 for shipping. Any tips on how raise that money would be greatly appreciated!

Read more about our shopping adventures and frugal finds on our blog, Operation Amazing Coupon Race!

(MommyJD) Hair Overboard

My earliest hair memory is when I cut off my long side ponytail in the bathroom when I was six years old. I was under the supervision of my sister and she did a piss poor job of supervising. My mother was devastated.

My next memory is 4 years later later when I was invited to a swimming party sleepover. Since I could not bring my mother, the pressing comb, and our kitchen stove along with me, I insisted that my mother let me have a relaxer. To this day I cannot believe that she went along with this plan just so that I would have "manageable" hair and not look like a mini wildebeest in front of my caucasian friends. But in her defense she was probably tired of our hot kitchen sessions with the pressing comb.

After 9 years of getting regular relaxers I finally ceased putting creamy crack on my scalp and decided to go natural. One workshop from an older Spelman sister and I was convinced that my hair could do without the chemicals. I've never doubted my decision, but there have been some bumps along my journey to long natural hair.

I wish there had been blogs back when I was a freshman at Spelman to guide me through my hair woes. Perhaps there was and I just couldn't find it or didn't seek the information. But these days there is an overwhelming presence of hair blogs from Curly Nikki to Black Girl Long Hair that provide tons of tips and advice about keeping natural hair healthy. And this is my latest obsession.

Recently KJ and I sat down in my bathroom and inspected every (and there are several) hair product underneath my bathroom sink. Like I said, this hair business can get overwhelming, but from the few blogs I do read I have learned what ingredients are good for your hair, which are not so good, and which are absolute no-nos. I ended up throwing away half of my supply to make room for better products that will feed my hair. I'm such a product junkie! My newest products are currently in the mail and are courtesy of VAiN, a new company by another fellow Spelman sister. She has turned me into a bona-fide ingredient snob, lol!