Technically Yours

I've been spooling for months, okay, closer to a full year.  I just didn't know where to start.  My life has changed drastically since I was last talking to all of you on a regular basis.  The kids are growing up, fully potty learned, and gaining independence.  My attention has been focused on finishing a degree in a completely new career field for me.  And because of all this, I have left you all in the dark.

I wasn't exactly sure how to proceed with this adventure that I started 5 years ago.  I watched it grow, worked hard to market it, worked with some really wonderful people/companies/fellow bloggers.  It was amazing.  I don't want to let that go, but at the same time, my life is different now.  When I first started OTTW, I specifically named it so that it could grow with me as my life grew.  I never expected to be a "mommy blogger" or "cloth diaper blogger" specifically.  That's just what filled my attention at that time.  And, of course, I still have a lot to say on a lot of different subjects.

So, it is time for OTTW to evolve.  I hope you all stick around, meet new people, explore new adventures with me.  I'll still talk about kids, and family life.  I'm just letting you all know that it could be filled with some more technical information too.

I am set to graduate this May with my degree in Computer and Networking Security with an emphasis in Information Assurance.  As I've been learning more and more about this field and getting a chance to meet some industry giants, I've learned that the biggest hurdle to this industry is social awareness.  So, that's what I'm going to do.  I will strive to not get too techy, geeky, technical.  (I have a knack for speaking in lay terms from working in the automotive industry for over a decade.)  But there's some really, really important stuff that all of you should know.  Stuff on how to protect yourself, and more importantly, how to protect your family and your kids.

We're all reaching a turning point in our lives where, like many years ago, we had to learn to lock the door of the car when we walk away, or lock up the house when we leave.  It's simple stuff that people just don't quite think about all the time.  But it's important to make it a part of your everyday online life.  But, I'll get more into that as we go along........

McDonald's Healthy Choice Hoax

Fast food eating is something that is a part of our American culture.  We try very hard to stay away from most fast food chains, but once in a while it's a fun treat for the kids to go to their favorite one...McDonalds. Sometimes we can convince them to go to our favorite, Culvers, but we do give in from time to time.  But when you go to a fast food restaurant, how many of you look at the receipt (or even get a receipt)?

Yesterday was a crazy busy day.  I finished three major assignments for my summer classes.  I am taking a full load this summer and it's really intense because I'm packing 3 months worth of full time class curriculum into 5 weeks.  I got finished early and we decided to take the kids swimming.  After swimming, it was very close to lunch time, so we decided to let them have a treat and we hit the McDonald's drive thru on the way home.  We ordered 2 Happy Meals with milk for the little ones and a Mighty Kids meal with chocolate milk for Sweet Pea as a super special "First Day of Summer Vacation" treat.  We usually don't let her indulge in the unbelievably sugar filled chocolate milk that they pre-package.  As I pulled ahead to pay, I noticed on our receipt an "upcharge" for the milks.  The regular milk was $.30 and the chocolate milk was $.20!  When I asked the cashier what this "upcharge" was, he said, "Milk is more expensive, so they charge extra for it.  The Happy Meals have a small soda in their price.  Anything else changes it."  I told him that it wasn't listed on their menu that milk is an additional charge and that it was strange that chocolate was cheaper than regular milk.  He looked at my receipt and said, "No they're the same.  You got two white milks at $.60 and one chocolate milk at $.20."  I knew then, that I should probably bring my concern to a higher authority in the company.

So, I emailed McDonalds.  I got on their website, went through the maze of options until I finally found a form.  I emailed the situation to them and my concerns that they are upcharging for the healthier option.  I explained that they don't mention on their signs that milk is not factored into the price of a Happy Meal and that there is no warning before hand that milk would be extra.

Now, don't you thing that a company that has been slammed for creating unhealthy choices for food and are working so hard to bring back their reputation would support the healthier option?  I think it's ridiculous that they don't automatically factor the charge of milk into their price, but instead support children drinking sugar filled carbonated soda drinks.

Here was the response that I got back from McDonalds.

Yeah...So, this didn't really answer my question.  I didn't choose to make my drink larger or "upsize", I chose a milk.  It just made me feel like they weren't listening.  And of course, I couldn't reply to this email, so I called them.  The representative that I talked to on the phone basically gave me the same spiel that the cashier tried to give me....that milk is extra and that small soda is the drink that is factored into the price.  I raised the same question with her.  "Why does a company that has had so much bad publicity about promoting unhealthy food to children support the unhealthy choice by factoring soda into the price of the meals instead of the healthy option of milk?"  I mean, I know that parents are the ones that get to choose for their kids and some DO choose soda for them.  But at the same time, hasn't McDonalds been working to provide kids with the healthy choices?  Hence putting both fries and apples in the meals.  The conversation ended with me getting very quiet because I realized that this was just how it was.  The representative said that she was very sorry for my displeasure and that she would pass on my idea about promoting milk over soda to the appropriate department.

I personally will not be taking my kids back to McDonalds until they change their policy of either including milk in their meals instead of soda or specifying on their menus that milk is an additional charge.

Trials of a Parent

I have been trying for months now to figure out how to dip my toe into the proverbial pool of controversial subjects.  It started over a year ago with talks of vaccinations causing autism and then the staggering evidence that the doctor conducting that study was out right falsifying all of his information...to the point where he was including subjects that were not even real people.  I really wanted to voice my opinion on vaccinations, and I have here and there hinted on my stance with that subject....but I didn't know how to approach it so that both sides would be able to read and understand my points without being offended.  Same with the subject of circumcision.  That came up when we were pregnant with Little Man.  I would love to tell you my reasoning behind my personal decision, but I don't want to sway anyone's decision one way or the other on it.  Basically because it is just that....a personal decision.

So now, this post has come up to choice and judgement.

Croup

I tell you what....croup sucks.  Anytime your kids are sick is just no fun for anyone, but croup sounds so scary!  Of course, now that we've experienced it, it's not quite as scary anymore.  We have had miscellaneous viruses floating around our family for the last few months.  With 4 adults, 3 kids (one of them school aged), 3 cats and 2 dogs living in one house, it's bound to happen.  Especially since my parents travel for work so often.  Well, one of those viruses happened to hit Little Man.  Started with a cough and a stuffy nose.  He was breathing fine, but his voice was hoarse.  It was just like the last virus he had a month before.  Then it turned into full blown gasping for breath at 11 pm, whooping sound.  I swooped him up and took him straight to the ER.  I was terrified that he caught whooping cough or RSV or some horrific thing.  It turned out to be croup.

Toddlers and Babies

There is a real finesse when it comes to having babies so close to each other.  Little Man and Peanut are only 19 months apart from each other.  While there is 8 years in between Sweet Pea and Little Man.  We were excited when we unexpectedly found out about Peanut.  Having our two little ones so close together meant that they would grow up not knowing life without each other.  This made me very excited because, while there will be some forms of sibling rivalry, for the most part they could be two peas in a pod.  It also means that their schedules will be fairly similar.  We were also worried too because that means there will be two little people who will depend on us for almost everything at the same time.  We knew we'd have our hands full!

Questions Answered

Hello I had a question for you. Will a baby naturally end up sleeping through the night? Like my 11 week old daughter is on a pretty normal 3 hour schedule. She eats around 5 and then I end up waking her up at about 8-9ish to eat one more time before I go to bed, and she ends up waking up around 3-4 to eat and again between 6-7. When will she eliminate the 3-4 feeding? I just mainly want to breastfeed and not do cereal or anything. She has only had breastmilk so far. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I love your blog. :-) As a young 22 year old wife and mother I appreciate the wholesomeness that is here. Thanks again.

By MrsLucas

Ah, yes....the age long question implored by all of us sleep deprived parents.  I can assure you that sleep will come again and it gets better with age (and then worse as they get to be teenagers, but that's a whole different story!).    Every child is different, just like every family is different.  It just takes some time to figure out what works for you.

To answer Mrs.Lucas' questions specifically, I will say this.  It is amazing that your 11 week old little one has a pattern already!  That is a very good sign.  Have you ever tried just letting her sleep without waking her up at 8 or 9?  I only ask this because our second child would go to bed at 6:30pm and would sleep until about 2am or 3am.  The middle of the night feeding will eventually work itself out of the schedule and usually it's the first one to go.  As for timing, it is different with every child.  You will be able to see cycles soon though.  The middle of the night feeding will go away for a night or two and then come back.  It is perfectly normal for regression to occur just before a good change happens.  I would never worry about middle of the night needs until at least 6 months.  After that point, then you can start working towards establishing good sleep patterns.  I always refer to this website when I have questions.  I am also a very schedule oriented person (and my kids are too, luckily), so I love to refer to this website too.

On a side note:  Be wary of people that urge you to start cereals, especially when you don't want to.  It won't help your little one sleep through the night, that just happens to be a coincidence that when they are ready to start solids that they are also ready for longer night sleep periods.  Talk to your doctor about it at her next appointment.  (If the advice that you get just doesn't sit right with your instincts, then I urge you to get a second opinion from another doctor.)  Exclusively breastfeeding until 6 months (give or take) is a very healthy way to go and it's supported by the APA.  Our Little Man had to start on cereals at 4 months and it was a very difficult decision because I was determined that he wasn't going to have anything but breast milk until 6 months.  The reason we started was because he was ready for it.  He was reaching for my spoon, making mouthing motions with his mouth and more importantly his digestive system was ready for it.  He needed the additional nutrition.  (We have been blessed to have such an amazing Pediatrician work with our children!  He is full of amazing advice and is very conscience of nutrition and breastfeeding.  Plus, he loves our cloth diapers too!!!)   So, follow what you want for your child, trust your instincts, and get good advice from a doctor that will help guide you on your journey.

And we're back to sleep:  An important thing to do for starting good sleep habits is to get a good bedtime routine down.  This will help your little one learn the cues that bedtime is near.  We would do a little bath followed by a nice rub with lotion.  Then I would nurse my little one to sleep (and rock to sleep if they didn't fall asleep while eating). I would then gently tuck them into bed.  When nursing stops is when we start to introduce stories (mainly so I could still get some cuddle time in, but it's also good for them too).  We would start the routine at the same time every night.  I am an insomniac and the one thing that I've learned (which applies to babies too) is that a night time schedule is very important to stick to.  Even getting off by a half an hour can make a difference; maybe not that night, but definitely the next and it will affect nap time too.

As she gets older, then it will be time to decide what you and her need from your sleep routines.  I personally have the middle road belief of 'parenting to sleep'.  I rock and nurse my babies to sleep and then tuck them in, and we do this until they are a year or two old.  I don't like the Farber method of 'crying it out', but I also don't agree with co-sleeping either.  We learned that with our son, he has to cry himself to sleep.  Once we figured that out and kept our night time rituals the same, it was an easy and painless thing for all of us.  He puts himself to sleep very easily now, even when he wakes in the night.  That first week of figuring this out was agony, but just stick with your plan (whichever one you choose) and it will work.  The important thing is consistency and patience.  If you give in once, it is that much harder to get back on track.

Thank you so much for the very kind compliment.  I greatly appreciate that you felt comfortable enough to ask me these questions.  I will never claim to 'have it all figured out'....in fact, I really don't.  I just know what has taken us years (and a couple kids) to figure out and if some of my experiences can help someone else, then I love to share them.

I would love to start doing a question and answer post routinely.  If you ever have any questions or are curious about something that you think I might have some interesting information on, please feel free to email me at obsessionsottw at gmail.com.  I know that most of the time it will be a parenting, kid, or marriage question, but I will even try to help if it's something odd, like your car, pets or jewelry.....

Overwhelmed

I do not normally complain about the goings on in my life.  I figure that there are other people out there that have it worse than I do, so why complain about my trivial things.  But, I am feeling a little overwhelmed right now and would really love to share it with all of you.  We have had an intense six months!

Raconteur Daddy lost his job on Thanksgiving....yep that's right, nice boss huh?  So, it has been a very stressful time for us.  We have been doing OK by utilizing all the resources we could from assistance to unemployment, help from family and using what little savings we had.  Plus my mad budgeting skills came into play.  During this time, we also found out that we were unexpectedly expecting our third child!  It seems no matter how hard we try to be careful, we never get to decide when our children will come.  I guess God likes to keep me on my toes!  We are so very excited to be able to have another baby though.  Through this time, RacDad and I have really relied on each other.  We have turned to our faith to help us through, especially when it seems like too much.  I just keep remembering that God will never give us more than we can handle.  This time has been precious too.  It's been a blessing to have RacDad home to watch Little Man grow and change as he becomes a toddler.  He's also been able to appreciate our Sweet Pea and the wonderful young lady she's becoming.  We've had the time to be more active in our community and our church.  Even though our pocket book has been tight, we've been able to help and contribute with our time and work to help others.  We've been able to sit back and view our path and really take a deep appreciation for each other and our wonderful kids.  I don't know if I've ever been more in love with him!

Now, we are leaving our house to head back home to South Dakota.  This is bittersweet for everyone because we finally feel like we belong here, but we are excited to be closer to family too.  We will miss our closest neighbor and her family, and our friends from church and school.  We will miss our house, church, school, doctors and dentist.  On the other hand, we are looking forward to reconnecting with our friends and family in South Dakota.  We are looking forward to the new job that RacDad has and the exciting opportunities there.  We are overwhelmed by the thought of finding a new house, but we know that it's just another hurdle to jump to get back to being settled in.  I look forward to day trips to the zoo, hanging out at the Falls, going hiking in the Palisades, and allowing my kids to experience a childhood like I did.  Being around family and close friends is what is priceless in this transition.

So, Sweet Pea is on her way to Nashville to visit my brother and his family.  This is her birthday present this year from her Grandparents.  I still can't believe that she's going to be a Tween!!  Nine years old is quite the milestone....her last year as a single digit.  RacDad is starting his job.  Little Man and I are putting finishing touches on the house and it will be listed on the market within the week.  Well, I'm trying to get finished and Little Man is getting into the boxes.

We are blessed to have a family that supports us through this transition.  They have been wonderful to remind us that everything is going to be OK.  The most important thing is the emotional support that they give, not what they can provide.  That hope and optimism is what gets us through the day.

Thank you so much for also helping me through this too.  Being able to write and have something to focus on has been a great outlet for me and I appreciate each and every one of you that follow my journey.  I have made some wonderful connections and learned a lot of new things.  I'm looking forward to the exciting things that are going to happen this summer and in the future on OTTW.

A Breastfeeding break

Well, as many of you know, we are pregnant again with Number Three.  I am 14 weeks along and finally in the blissful second trimester.  Little Man is now 13 months old and Sweet Pea will be 9 years old in a few weeks.

The original Nummy lover.

I am naturally a tall, slender person.  In fact, my fight to gain weight can only be described as a similar struggle as those who try to lose weight.  So, this makes the first trimester of pregnancies very difficult for me.  Keeping up with my battle of caloric intake for myself and then adding another person into the mix can be difficult.  History has shown that I usually lose about 8-10 lbs. in that first trimester.  (I know, I shouldn't complain...right?)  But it is very difficult.

I nursed Sweet Pea until 9 months.  That is when she decided that she was done.  I knew that I wanted to allow Little Man the same privilege of weening himself.  But, not all children will do that.  Little Man was still nursing 6 times a day (a scheduled nurser) when we first found out that we were expecting again.  We kept going and I was determined to let him nurse until he wanted to stop.  But, I had a very difficult time keeping up my supply.  Through morning sickness and constant queasiness, the added 1500 calories a day were very difficult to get.  My supply was starting to fade.  We found a recipe for amazing Galactagogue Cookies.  They were great until I couldn't stand chocolate, oats and nuts for a few weeks.  After seeing both my doctor and Little Man's doctor, we all decided that it would probably be in the best interest for all of us to start introducing cows milk and start weening from breastfeeding.

Last nummy.

Weening actually went a lot easier than I thought it would.  Even though Little Man loved his "Nummy time", he was getting so active and enjoys having his snack and sippy time now while playing on the floor.  In one month, we successfully weened.  We started by introducing his afternoon nummy time with snack and sippy.  He wasn't too interested in this nummy time for a few weeks, so it was an easy transition.  After a few days, we replaced second morning nummy time with a snack and sippy.  About a week later, we started to replace his nap time nummy with milk at lunch.  Surprisingly, he still goes down to nap easy...and now Daddy gets to cuddle him to nap!  Then we replaced morning nummy with milk at breakfast.  Just three days ago, we replaced nighttime nummy with a little cereal and milk.  So, we have successfully started giving Mommy a break.

I miss the cuddles.  I love the freedom!  For both of us!  He loves being able to play and not be interrupted or getting to be out with other people and not have to have Mommy there all the time.  He is enjoying afternoons with Neenee and Bonka when they come to visit and getting that much needed one on one grandparent time.  I am enjoying being late from a meeting or running errands and not feeling guilty for being late and making him hungry!  I know that, at the end, I was just not giving him what he needed.  Now I can tell that he is content and full.  He's become such a big boy!  I have also gained 2 lbs, which is a very good sign!!!!  Another perk, is that it won't be so hard for him to adjust once the baby comes.  Hopefully, Nummy envy won't be an issue.

Parenting Joys.

Oh the joys of parenthood.  Those times where the simple pleasures can tickle our funny bones.  I want to share with you some of the little things that have been happening around our house the last few weeks.

Little Man

* He has been getting mischievous lately.  His favorite thing is squeezing around the ottoman to get his little fingers onto the keyboard of our laptop or playing with the buttons on the TV.  He gets this wide eyed look, his mouth is a wide open smile and he does this breathy pant.  Then he watches us to see how we are going to react.  It's a fun cat and mouse game.

* He has been enjoying play time with Big Sister.  He knows when this is going to occur because she gives him a funny look and he gets so excited that his arms flail and he shrieks with joy.
*  He is teething again.  So this time he has decided that there is no more need for socks on your feet.  Instead, as soon as he is set down, his socks come off his feet and straight into his mouth where they stay while he crawls and plays on the floor.  I figure that he can't hurt anything and they are never on his feet long enough to become dirty.

*  We had my parent's dog stay with us the last 12 days.  She is a Border Collie/German Shepard mix.  She was a very sweet dog to have around.  Sean got so comfortable with her around that if she was laying on the floor and he wanted to get around her....he'd just climb right over her!  She didn't mind at all because she didn't have to get up to get out of his way.  They had a mutual understanding.

Sweet Pea

*  My little lady is three quarters of the way through her 3rd Grade year.  She is learning the finer points of socialization.  While sitting around the dinner table one night she starts talking like a 'Val Gal'..."Like, that is, like, SO cool Mom!".  I looked at her and asked what she was doing.  She told me it was the new thing to do at school.  So I replied (in my Val Gal style), "Ugh, gag me with a spoon...that is SO, like, 1980's!"  Her mouth dropped open and she was perplexed that I was able to respond.  She asked where I learned to do that because it was the 'new thing' at school.

*  She has been excited because she just saw the Star Wars saga.  There was a little boy in her class who has been shy all year, but when he found out, he was enjoying talking to her about the movies.  So, she came home one day asking me what it meant to have a 'boyfriend'.  I guess the other kids in her class were teasing them because they sat together at lunch and talked Star Wars one day.  So after our chat, she decided that it was better to just have 'guy friends'.  Hahaha.
*  I love how she really allows my husband and I to entertain ourselves.  We have an ongoing inside joke about the Jonas brothers and their long lost brother, Scrappy Doo.  This came about when her godfather was giving her a hard time about liking the Jonas brothers.  So now there is a whole story about what Scrappy Doo Jonas is up to these days.  I love hearing about the different situations he finds himself in.  She's very creative.

I just love the little ways that our kids brighten our days.  If you want to hear more about the adventures of Little Man and Sweet Pea; check out The Raconteur Daddy.