No more na-na at nigh-nigh Part 2

So with much guilt and tears I started telling my daughter on Saturday that Wednesday would be the last day that she could nurse at night. I chose Wednesday because that was the day that she has ballet class and I knew that day would stand out. I wanted to give her fair warning but not dwell on it. Each day I spoke to her about it and answered any questions she brought up. She was worried about still being my baby. She really wants to still be my baby so I assured her that she will always be my baby even when she is old. She was worried about falling asleep and I told her that she will be safe and we will all be there to help her.
On Wednesday she asked to nurse very frequently. I bet she nursed 10 times that day, just for comfort. I sewed her a little pink satin pillow cover that she could hold on to at night. We read several books then I sang lullabies to her. That night she cried for about a half an hour but went to sleep clutching the pillow. She woke up once around 3am and it started all over again. I sang to her again and she cried for another half an hour before falling back to sleep.
Thursday was worse. She cried several times during the day about not being able to nurse at night and she woke up three times during the night and it took 20-30 minutes each time to get her back to sleep.
Friday was better. She still nursed during the day but that night even though she cried to go to sleep initially when she woke up during the night she was comforted just with the lullabies.
By the following Wednesday, she was not asking to nurse at night at all and not waking during the night either.
Finally after 4 years, I got 8 hours of continuous sleep.

No more na-na at nigh-nigh Part 1

So I found myself starting to feel depressed. It really wasn't sudden. In fact, it had been a gradual decline. I knew that I was becoming more and more depressed by how easily I began to cry. I have always cried easily AND I cry when I am happy and when I am sad. I had been crying any time music was playing. At first, I noticed that the Beatles' "Happy Birthday" song brought me to tears. But honestly, did I have some sad memory from my childhood that only the song could surface? I just didn't know. But when Smash Mouth 's song "Hey Now You're A Rockstar" brought me to tears. I really started to wonder about my sanity or at the least my stability.
Luckily, I thought, I need to talk to someone and I did. I called a friend who listened and then innocently asked, "hey are you still nursing at night?"
Well, I certainly was, and nursing every 1 to 2 hours every night sure was tiring. My daughter is 4 years old. I had no idea that at 4 she would still be nursing this frequently and for whatever reason I cannot sleep through her nursing. So...
I'll right more tomorrow.

Life on Life's Terms

One thing that really bothers me is how important it is for me to find like minded individuals. Especially when many of my ideas are a little outside of the box. My education is in Engineering so these are just my personal observations. I have noticed that there are people like me who need groups and people who don't. I am married to someone who I believe could live in a cave. I need daily interaction with other adults. I need to have interaction where no one is tugging on my shirt tale or asking me where their shoes are.

Missing Soy Sauce

If you knew me, you would know that food is a comfort item and one of my favorites is sushi. I love to make a thick paste of soy sauce and wasabi and dip each piece gingerly into that loving "sauce." Traditional soy sauce was making me sick so I asked around. I have several family members who have also found themselves avoiding wheat. We have found ourselves to be braggarts. We love Bragg's Liquid Amino. I had my brother-in-law compare it to soy sauce. He thought the soy sauce was thicker. I can agree with that too but that doesn't bother me in the least. If it does bother me at some point I will just thicken it with some cornstarch. It was just the taste that I wanted.

Going Gluten Free

It seems that maybe I should go Gluten Free. It seems to run in my family as well as other allergies. I have already proven allergies to dust, cashews, mangoes, some milk products, and penicillin. My dad has serious poultry allergy and pretty severe sinus allergies to hay, pollen and dust.

My mom mentioned that some of the things that I was working around may just go away without Gluten. An example, I had already "figured out" that if I ate pizza and spaghetti with red sauce in the same day, I would be awakened with heartburn. What I didn't realize was that it was the bread that gave me the heart burn. I thought it was the tomatoes, I never dreamed it was the gluten. I also thought that I was becoming allergic to soy, because it seemed that some soy products caused me either heartburn or diarrhea. Well the soy products I was using had wheat and Maltodextrin in the ingredients list.

So I gave it a try. The first day, I just ate things I already have in my home: grapefruit, rice and beans, salad with home-made dressing. When I woke up on the second day, not only did I not have heartburn or diarrhea, I woke up with very little pain. I had been waking up with more and more pain. I used to describe it as "you know that feeling that you were hit by a bus yesterday" but no one seemed to understand that. That pain that I had when I woke up had been becoming more and more frequent over the last 15 years, until it was a daily feeling.

Hectic Month

For some reason March Madness really hits home for me. It isn't that I spend all of my waking time choosing my pick for the final four. March just always finds me pressed for time. We have birthday invitations, family commitments, extra work, bookkeeping and tax documentation, The 12 Hours of Sebring, Camp-outs and other sundries pulling me in a 100 different directions. This particular year, I am out-of town all four Saturdays and three Sundays.

I just cannot remember. Didn't I make choices so that my life wouldn't be so frantic?

Cutting Back

Everywhere I go my friends and family are talking about cutting back. I have been able to maintain a similar grocery bill over the last 4 years despite the increased costs by doing a few things.

1. Try to not overbuy: if there are items that you inevitably throw away, (for us Fruit Loops comes to mind, it always becomes stale before anyone wants to eat them) stop buying them. It sounds simple but it isn't always. I was also having bread go stale. Shopping more frequently but buying less has helped that. My family seems to go in spurts with bread. They eat 2 loaves in two days then they don't eat any bread for a week. Also, bread can be frozen and I have 2 half loaves in there now. One is my gluten-free loaf that I leave in there and the other is just plain bread.

2. Try to buy the cheapest size. There are several items that I buy that it is cheaper to buy in the smaller size. Bring your calculator and check the per-ounce price.

3. Try the no-name brand or store brand. Most items will be just fine. My family actually prefers some store brand items over the more pricey advertised national brands.

4. I started buying all my staples at a cheaper store. I alternate, one week at Aldi's and the next at Publix. Aldi's is small but clean and has cheaper basic staples but may not have my son's favorite cereal or my daughter's favorite cheesy turkey dogs. Publix is a huge supermarket but it has a homey feel and has had many of the same employees all 15 years that I have been shopping there.

5. Save coupons. We read the paper online, so I grab the coupons from my mother and father-in-law. I don't bother with coupons under a $1.00 off. I don't bother with things I don't use; just the brands of items I am already buying. I put the coupons with my dollars. Some weeks I don't take any coupons, other weeks I'll grab three or four. It only takes a few minutes to look through them.

6. Buy the meat that is on sale. When whole honey-baked hams were on sale I bought two. One was for right then, and the other went into the freezer for a month. I also kept the fat (for seasoning beans) and the bone (to make broth for soup) in the freezer. The whole fryer chickens are an easy meal too. Just bake, add a few favorite sides, and the family meal feels like a feast. My family likes these sides: sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes, carrots or peas, and salad as the sides. I bake the chickens and everyone is so happy.

7. When either grocery has sales on items we always use, I grab a few. When the cereal is on sale I grab two boxes not just one.

There are plenty websites and articles on how to save money these are just the things that I use.

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