Under the Influence

I was at a bible study the other night watching a video discussion about the early church. One of the people in the video made a reference to "the One" and then said she felt like she was in the Matrix. I was the only one who laughed. And if you're familiar with my laugh, you know it's rather loud and braying. One of the moderators in the bible study made it worse by making a reference to the Borg. Yet again, I was the only one who found that amusing (and loudly). As I was driving home, I began to wonder what had happened to bring me over into the geek side.

Before I met Jeff, I did toe the geek line a good bit. I've always loved to read, and I am intrigued by science fiction (but I don't read science fiction, don't ask it just works out that way). I mean, I'd seen Star Wars and Star Trek, and enjoyed them, but I never actively sought out those movies or shows. I've been a fan of Harry Potter since the third book (my all time favorite) was published. I enjoyed 'The Hobbit' which I read in middle school. All the elements were there, but it just wasn't quite enough to push me over to the other side.

Then enter Jeff. He was 25 when we met and I was 22. He definitely was in need of refinement. He once wiped his nose on a linen napkin at a restaurant. We've had many discussions about that incident since, but he still doesn't quite get it. He's  becoming more social since my intervention. I introduced him to the 'Inheritance Cycle' by Christopher Paolini (I still have not read that beast of a fourth book). I also introduced him to the 'Hunger Games'. But that pretty much ends my influence on him.

Jeff has way more influence on my tastes. He introduced me to South Park, which I love, and chicken wings, which I also love. Some of my favorite dates with him were at his house eating wings and watching South Park. Jeff also managed to work in a lot more Star Wars. I'd seen the original trilogy, but only the first of the new trilogy (it turned me off of the new trilogy definitely the worst of the 6, in my opinion). He also showed me the remaining two Lord of the Rings*. I'd only seen the first in the theater and read the first book,  I became uninterested after Gandalf died. And he also introduced me to the Matrix, which I like, but is probably my least favorite of them all. I suppose I am now a geek by marriage.

The other night I asked Jeff if we would be considered 'born again trekkies'. We both watched it  (mostly the next generation) here and there growing up. The summer I was pregnant with Doug the first movie of the re-boot came out and we very much enjoyed it. Last summer we re-watched the movie, and afterwards I said that we should add the next generation shows to our dvr. We forgot about it and by the time we did it, it wasn't available on any of our cable channels. We eventually got a Roku (for internet streaming) and we've been watching the show free from Amazon Prime. We're going episode by episode, season by season. We're almost through the second season.

Doug is our little geekling in training. He is very much into Star Wars. He does a mean Chewie and Vader impression. During the Super Bowl, a trailer for the next Star Trek movie was aired. In the trailer, it was quiet for a moment, except for the beeping of the Enterprise. Doug whipped around, "RD2??!". We told him, no, that it was Star Trek and not Star Wars, and please don't ever mix them up again. Doug hasn't seen Star Trek, but he knows we watch it and has asked to watch it too. The geek is strong with this one. I won't even try to influence it out of him.

This is the back of my car. 

*Watching 'The Lord of the Rings' with Jeff is a serious time commitment. He has the extended edition of each movie, so it takes about 12 hours if you want to watch them all. In fact, I was forbidden to buy 'The Hobbit' when it came out on dvd, because Jeff had heard that there was going to be an extended release coming out before Christmas. 

It's the Law

I thought our next science observation should be about gravity, after all, Doug's fallen victim to it many times. I thought that the most fun way to observe gravity in action would be with water balloons. It was decently warm enough over the weekend, so we gave it a go.

Doug's outfit is a bit eclectic here. He wanted to wear his new crocs and his sunglasses with stars on them. It's very Elton John.

We did experience an odd problem with the water balloons. Some of them were very resistant to breaking. We didn't use actual water balloons, in my experience, the mouths of the balloons are too narrow. Anyway, we really had to abuse some of them to get them to break. Jeff tossed some of them twenty fear in the air only to have them bounce when they landed. They were all over filled with water too.

Doug discovered than the concrete patio under the deck was a good place to burst the balloons.

Doug had a blast. He keeps asking about doing it again. This may become a favorite activity with him! I'm not 100% sure how much he learned about gravity, but it was fun.

Friday Fun

It's been a long week around here. Jeff's car rather unexpectedly needed to be replaced. The air compressor stopped working just in time for our 90 degree weather. We were hoping it was a simple cheap fix, but it was not and the car was 13 years old with over 130 k miles on it. Unfortunately I didn't leave extra padding in my week for 'semi emergency car buying' and I'm kinda pooped. But it all ended well and we have a nice actually new car. Due to the long week and a rainy morning, I decided that Doug and I would make brownies. Doug rather enthusiastically agreed. 

Chef Doug suggested putting mini chocolate chips in the brownies. I'm looking forward to the results.


While we were making brownies, Doug's new car-seat arrived. Since Jeff now has a reliable car, we thought we'd probably take it out as a family now and then and we didn't want to have to schlep the car seat back and forth.  I found a model that can become a booster seat in a few years, I thought it was a decent idea.

As you can see, Sir approves of his new car seat. 

Sir is also very excited about the box it came in.

And like many new home owners, he couldn't wait to make modifications on it.

Happy Friday! 

Am I the Only One....

Who wants to go and put a broom on the end of my cart and joust with other mothers in the store? 

I'm a Monster

I've been microwaving this adorable bear. The bear looks kind of depressed sitting on the plate there. I found these bears around Christmas. You can nuke the bears and they have corn in them which gives off a nice moist heat for aches. I bought one for a friend of mine and I thought about buying one for myself, but at the time, I decided I wouldn't really need it.

Anyway, this is my first winter since my fibromyalgia diagnosis that I have not been taking medication for it. I didn't really think anything of it, but apparently the colder temperatures mean that I ache much more than usual. After several night of hauling the heating pad into bed with me, I gave in and purchased one of these delightful bears.

Doug was very excited when he saw the Amazon box on our porch the other day. The last time we got a package, it had Beta Bet in it, so he was hopeful for another fun thing. I made the mistake of telling him there was a bear in the box. We opened it and Doug claimed the bear for himself. I told him that he could play with it, but that it was mine. I told him that it was a special bear that I could put it in the microwave and it would help me feel better. That just freaked Doug out, "NOOOO DON'T MICROWAVE THE BEAR!!!".  So alas, I feel like a horrible person every time I nuke it. Well, I feel horrible until I put the bear on my shoulder, then I feel much better.

An Open Letter of Apology

Dear Parents of my former students,

I am so sorry that I bribed rewarded your child with stickers (many, MANY stickers). I too, now know the horror of having a child covered in a thousand small stickers. A sticker covered child is still better than one hopped up on sweets though, right?

My sincerest apologies,

A Mommy that has stickers EVERYWHERE! 


This is Doug's potty chart. Every time he uses the potty he gets a sticker for himself and a sticker on the chart. As you can see, about three and a half weeks ago, the whole potty training thing (well, at least half of it) finally clicked for him. We started running out of room on the chart.

 

 The stickers inevitably fall off his shirt though and end up all over the house and in the laundry. Here is Fillmore (from Cars, duh) on my kitchen floor:

Here is Chick Hicks in my living room:

Here is the much sought after Mater sticker on my dining room floor:

And then, of course there is this, which drives Jeff batty:

 the bottoms of my flip-flops that I wear around the house. They invariably pick up all the loose stickers that aren't cemented to the floor. I'd hate to see what the inside of our vacuum looks like!

And That's Why We Have Turkey at Christmas

This is Doug's Nativity set. My mother gave it to him last year to keep him from playing with my nice set and much to my delight, it's kept him from trying to get to mine and he loves to play with it. It's become a nice learning tool for Christmas.

However, it has become a bit unconventional. Most of the things that came with the set are further back in the manger. Doug has been adding other toy animals to this set, as you can see. I'll admit that I placed them more strategically for this photo, Doug usually just lumps them all in there.

Doug's assortment of creatures helps answer some questions while bringing up other important issues. For starters, you can clearly see that in Jesus' time people were concerned about the environment. Case in point, the wise man opted for a compact camel. You will also undoubtedly notice the dinosaur present. Many people are very confused about evolution, Jesus, and dinosaurs. You can clearly see that there was a dinosaur present at his birth. The writers of the gospels left them out, probably because dinosaurs were so prevalent in those times that they were easily forgettable. Another item of note is the ginormous squirrel. Either there was some serious exposure to radioactivity in those times or evolution has made squirrels smaller. I'm afraid that one poses more questions than answers. You have probably also noticed the dolphin. The birth of Jesus was evidently so momentous that sea creatures were drawn out of the oceans and into the desert. I don't imagine the dolphin lasted long once he got there. And lastly, this scene finally answers the age old question, "Why do we have turkey at Christmas when we just had it at Thanksgiving?". The answer is simple: because there was a turkey present at the first Christmas. As you may be able to see, the turkey is standing very close to the cook fire. It may have been intentional to make turkey for dinner that night or perhaps the turkey was accidentally pushed into the fire. We may never know for sure.

The Toddler Strikes Back

Last Friday I yet again cruelly chose to take a shower by myself. Doug started throwing a tantrum by banging on the locked bathroom door, but after a few minutes left to go off and either play or watch the DVD I put on for him (at least that's what he wanted me to think). When I got out of the shower, he ran up to me and said "Mess!". I said "Yep, what else is new?". I had left him with some cheerios and some juice and I was expecting to find cheerios (aka carpet bombs) all over the floor. It's annoying, but not the end of the world.

Instead I found this:

He had over turned his basket of toys all over the floor, but more importantly, he got into the DVD cabinet, which has 'child-proof' locks!

Here's a close up of the cabinet:
Notice the lock casually tossed onto the couch. The lock has a sliding mechanism and loops over the two knobs of the cabinet. My guess is that the lock was left a little loose by our recent house guests and Doug was able to pry it off. I put it back on and told him to take it off and he wasn't able to. Or maybe he was faking... I don't know. We don't even keep his DVDs in there, his are in a drawer in the entertainment center with a different style lock on them. Yet another misadventure in living with a toddler!

Reinventing the Game

Happy Friday!

Douglas James, International Sensation

On Saturday night we decided to go to a local Chinese buffet for dinner. Buffets with Doug are fantastic. Because of his age, we rarely have to pay and he gets to eat a ton of food. I'm pretty sure we're ripping restaurants off when we take him.

When we got there, we could see a large tour bus in the parking lot, but it didn't seem to be too crowded otherwise. We went in and got a table right next to the entrance. Doug was already clamoring for food, so it seemed our choice of a buffet was inspired. I took Doug up with me and had him pick out food (he picked out veggies!) and then dropped him off at the table to get my own plate. After we'd been eating a while, Doug stood up in the booth and flirted with the people standing in the foyer behind us. After a few times, I looked over my shoulder to see that Doug was flirting with some older Asian women. Once in a while they'd smile or wave at him. A few minutes later, one of the ladies was playing peek-a-boo with him and then tickling him suddenly. Doug was enjoying this and he didn't seem to be bothering them, so I let it continue. The very next thing we knew, we were surrounded by at least a dozen Asian people, all smiling and waving at Doug. None of them spoke English. It was slightly over whelming. They gave Doug high fives, held up fingers to see how old he was and pinched his cheeks. Doug was a bit staggered by his sudden audience, but seemed to take it all in stride. They gave Doug kisses and candy, he sent kisses there way too. It was kind of an awkward 'well, now you've said hello, we're eating, but you're still here' sort of thing that lasted waaay longer than it should have. Finally one of the tourists who spoke English came over and was telling us that they were saying that Doug was cute and wanted to take a picture of him. We consented and after a couple more high-fives they went on their way. Hopefully they were able to see that not all American children are brats. Possibly the oddest experience we've ever had as parents.

The Lemon Scented 500

One night last week we went out to Denny's for dinner. As usual, Doug managed to charm the bejesus out of the wait staff. He was making eyes and smiling at all the waitresses there and then sure enough, one of the waitresses came over and offered Doug a toy car from the movie 'Cars 2'. It was plastic and the wheels were molded onto the body of the car and didn't move. At some point during the meal Doug had appropriated the lemon from my drink. He lined up the lemon and the car and then started sliding the lemon around the table, complete with car noises!


The lemon made a few laps around the table along with the race car that Daddy drove.


Then a winner was declared!



And then eaten.

It's Regan's Fault*

We had quite a memorable New Year's Eve. I woke up on New Year's Eve at about 4:30 that morning in Columbus, Ohio. We had stayed the night in Columbus on our way back from Kansas City. I rolled over and over but I could not get back to sleep. See, Jeff has sleep apnea and if he sleeps without his mask, it sounds like some one is cutting down an entire forest of trees! Unfortunately, for us both, his mask broke the first day of the vacation, so for nearly two weeks, neither of us slept well.** Anyway, I wasn't getting back to sleep, Doug was restless between us and Jeff kept on waking himself up. So I decided that since none of us were sleeping we'd at least get on the road and be home by that afternoon. I was able to clam down and blow off some steam in the shower (don't mess with my sleep) and I come out into the room to find that Doug had thrown up all over the place. So there went my nice relaxed mood. I started working damage control. Jeff had done a good job on keeping the bio hazard localized, but Doug was still very upset. I calmed him down and took his temp, which was 102.3. So I dosed him with some Tylenol and called our pediatrician's after hours line. The line told us that Dr. So & So was covering for him and to call her. I called Dr. So & So and the message told us that our pediatrician was covering for her! Epic fail! So I called my mom. Anyway, long story short, we got Doug calm, clean and dressed and put him in the car. I think we left Columbus at about 7ish? I do feel badly for the person who had to clean our room. Doug sure knows how to destroy a hotel room!

For the rest of the day in the car Doug mostly slept. Unfortunately I couldn't get his fever down. I called his Dr.'s office and they were concerned about his high fever too, but as we were in Ohio, not much could be done about it. The nurse said we could take him to the ER or an urgent care facility, but neither of those were available at the time, so our goal was to just get him home. At about 11 we stopped some where in West Virginia for lunch. We wanted to eat quickly so we could get back on the road, so we headed toward a McDonald's. But lo and behold, what was next to the McDonald's!?!? An urgent care facility! I told Jeff that I thought it was a sign, so we took Doug in. We were told the wait was long, but actually we got in an out in a relatively short time. The doctor saw Doug and agreed with us that it was a stomach virus and told us the correct dosage*** of Tylenol for Doug. He also recommended that we try ibuprofen instead. So after the visit we got back in the car and drove to a pharmacy in town, dosed Doug with ibuprofen and headed back to McDonald's.

You know how some times something happens to you, or somebody does something to you accidentally and you really really want to throttle them but you know it's not their damn fault? That's what happened to me at McDonald's. I'd been going on no more than four hours of interrupted sleep the past two nights. I was beyond fatigued and in a lot of pain. I'd been dealing with a sick baby all day. In short, I was thisclose to going over the edge. Doug was asleep on the table in his carrier and Jeff brought the tray to the table with our lunch on it. Jeff reached for something and some how his gigantic Dr. Pepper was knocked over and spilled all over the table. A good portion went onto my lap, and the rest went into my brand new purse. Luckily, nothing in my purse was ruined, but everything was soaked and sticky. There were pools of soda in my purse. Jeff jumped up and helped me mop up and helped me pull things out of my purse. At the time the only thing I could say to him was to tell him to go to the car and get some plastic bags for the contents of my purse.

It was probably really good for our marriage that Jeff left me for that minute in a half. I was able to pull myself together and calm down. I realized that I had some options at hand. Option 1, I could yell at Jeff, which would allow me to vent. However, this will make Jeff feel worse and in the end will make us both miserable. Option 2, I could let it go and we can move on. I chose option 2. We were already both pretty miserable and really needed a break.

Anyway, Jeff came back in and we got resettled and began our lunch. After a few minutes Jeff said to me, "This whole trip has been my fault." I grabbed a french fry while I pondered my response to that. "Well, actually no. It's not your fault that you grew up in Kansas City. That's where your parents lived. They probably settled there in the 80s because of the economy. So, actually, it's Regan's fault. Yep, I think the blame resides squarely on his shoulders." So we had a nice quiet lunch and loaded Doug back up. By the time we got home on NYE, we were all dead tired, but Doug's fever broke. All in all, not a terrible end to 2010.



*I was in Kindergarten when the 80s ended. History classes never covered something as recent as the 80s, so really I have little to no idea what the economy in the 80s was like. Humor me.

**Fibromyalgia symptoms are worsened by poor, interrupted sleep. They've actually done studies in which they've screwed up the subject's sleep, and they have many fibro like symptoms. So seriously, don't screw with my sleep!

***Tylenol, or at least the generic we got, doesn't give you dosage per weight for children under 2. You're supposed to talk to your doctor about it. The last time we got that info for Doug was at least 5 lbs ago. On the other hand, the Advil we bought ONLY gives dosing instructions for children under 2. Go figure.

Disrupted?

This morning I was watching the news with Doug. They were discussing the hostage situation yesterday at the Discovery building. Evidently the police had been sweeping the building all night looking for explosive devices (apparently we don't call them bombs anymore). The police told reporters that they had found several packages and 'disrupted' them (evidently we don't 'detonate' things anymore either). I have to say, the whole thing kind of made me laugh. First the mental image of an officer 'disrupting' a package; did he shake it up? tear it open?. And then I realized it was probably some unfortunate employee's lunch, briefcase or backpack and I felt very sorry for that person. Their poor lunch was probably disrupted, but luckily not detonated. The officers were still combing the building at 6 this morning. I really hope all the employees got the day off, I think they deserve it after yesterday.

Enough incoherent ramblings, I'm going back to bed.

Doug's First Word Document

Doug was banging on my laptop this morning and this is a copy of his first Word document:

"J ,,,,,,,,,,,i.;1\sazddddddddddddddddzsssssssssssssssswa\zeeeeeeerfc \ Uytghgv"



We're so proud.

I'm Kind of a Big Deal

In case you haven't noticed, my son is kind of cute. Unfortunately for us, he's noticed people noticing him. Doug has become accustomed to people, mainly family and friends, gushing and fawning all over him, all the time. He evidently even expects some degree of notice from strangers, which brings us to today's lesson.

Today Doug may have started to realize that the entire world does not revolve around him. My world does, but not every one's. This morning he and I were waiting in a room to have my blood drawn (for my thyroid). This twenty something woman sat down about 2 seats away from us. I had Doug out of the stroller and he was standing on my lap looking around. Eventually he noticed this lady. And she wasn't looking at him. Doug then stared at her very intensely for a few minutes. I've seen him do this to Jeff when he's not looking at Doug. As soon as Jeff looks at Doug, he's fine, he smiles and the world is alright again. But this woman simply would not look at Doug much to his great frustration. He even started to get cranky about it. Eventually another lady came over and made a fuss, but no one else.

After that we went to the Amish Market, which Doug loves. He loves to people watch. He goes there to see and be seen, and oh my, is he seen. Everyone within a 10 foot radius comes over to make a fuss over him every single week. Doug just sits there and basks in their praise and admiration and bestows the occasional smile on his fawning public.

I think we're going to have a big ego on our hands here...

The Quest

Odysseus had the Odyssey, Monty Python had the Holy Grail, and I had my very own quest. For a pregnancy test.

About a week or so ago, I started not feeling well. I was feeling tired, nauseated and dizzy. These symptoms are sometimes associated with my thyroid being under-active, however I'd just had blood work done, and my thyroid was fine. I began to think about it. The last time my blood work came back fine and I felt unwell was last summer, when I was....pregnant. I shoved the idea to the back of my mind and went on with life. That weekend I started having to go to the bathroom all the time. I'd look at a glass of water, and have to go to the bathroom. Again, I decided to ignore it. I was probably just drinking more water. It was hot out after all.

That Monday Jeff and I went out shopping. I swear, I went to the bathroom in every store. I'd gone to Target earlier that day, and I'd meant to get a pregnancy test, but I'd gotten distracted by something or another and failed to get one. Later than afternoon we were out shopping some where else when I remembered that I'd wanted to buy pregnancy tests. We happened to be near a Costco and at some point pre-pregnancy I'd noted that they'd sold pregnancy tests. I ended up going in by myself to get some. I couldn't stand the thought of going into Costco to buy a gross of pregnancy tests with a three month old. So I go to the aisle where they should be. I couldn't find them. I circled the whole section twice. I could have asked the person at the pharmacy, but I couldn't come up with a reason why I'd need a life time's supply of pregnancy tests. Tired and defeated, I left Costco.

Jeff suggested that we head to the Weis that was on our way home. I got out, alone again, and went into Weis to obtain a pregnancy test. I looked in the usual aisle and...not there. I looked in another likely aisle and, not there. They were remodeling the store and some weird things were stuck in the produce section temporarily. Alas, no pregnancy tests among the broccoli. Panicked and tired, I flagged down an employee. She told me that some things had been moved to the meat section. We looked there. No tests. She then guided me to the pharmacy, nope. After twenty minutes of circumnavigating the store, I left before I had a screaming and kicking tantrum in the aisle.

Jeff could now see that my sanity was hanging by a thread. So we went to CVS, it had to be a sure thing. This time Jeff went in, I was going to lose it if I went in, no matter what. After about ten minutes Jeff finally comes out with a pack of tests. Success!

I have to add that this whole time I was dying to go to the bathroom. I got home and raced up the stairs and ripped open the package and... only one line! Phew! I'm not opposed to another child, but uh, not this year. I knew it was a very long shot, but I was paranoid anyway.

I felt I needed to share this because it's just one of those funny things that only would happen to me. Who else would have SO much trouble obtaining a simple pregnancy test?!?!

Super Baby!

It's Super Baby!

His powers include explosive diapers, a spit up volcano and the ability to make you laugh in the wee hours of the morning!

So Long Netflix!

Dear Netflix,
We're sorry, things just aren't working out between us. We know that this is the second time we've broken up with you, but please trust us, it's not you, it's us. We like spontaneity, we want to be able to decide half an hour before we watch a movie what we want to see. We're just not ready for the long term commitment and the premeditation it requires to be with you. No, we won't go to Blockbuster, The Red Box or On Demand either. It's ok, we're not looking to jump into a new video relationship quite yet. In fact, part of the problem is that we're in a movie rut. We watch the same nine movies over and over again. When we finish watching Star Wars episodes 1 through 6, we start watching Lord of the Rings. So, you see, we're boring, you don't want to be with us anyway.

Maybe some day we can be together again, but until then, may the force be with you!

Things Full of the Awesome!

Or otherwise titled "I don't know why we bought him toys".

Here is item one. Note the extreme awesomeness radiating from it.



Yep. That's the ceiling fan from our bedroom. Occasionally Doug is so transfixed by its awesome whirlyness that he actually forgets to eat. Other times when he gets fussy all Jeff has to do is spin the fan with his hand (if it's off) and Doug will settle down and grin at the fan.

The next item's awesomeness is somewhat apparent to all, but maybe I just really like it.



This hangs over our love seat, which is usually where we're sitting when we feed Doug in the living room. And woe onto you if you decided to sit somewhere else where he can't see it to feed him.

Item number three has only recently been infused with the awesome. Either that or Doug has gone several weeks without noticing it.



It's a digital picture frame. We got one after we got married and as we left it on all the time, it burnt out. So this one is on a timer, so it's only on in the evening. Try to explain that to an eleven week old who has a tantrum when he looks over at it and it's not on. Lets just say it's been on a LOT more frequently lately.

The next item I have very mixed feelings about it. I'm not very happy that Doug already thinks it's awesome.



It's Anduril, you know, forged from the shards of Narsil. Needless to say, its something Jeff got before me and will get put away before Doug gets too old.

Maybe we'll save some serious money on toys...

Skeletons Under my Sink

So, I've been cleaning the house (finally). I knew that the area under the sink was going to be a challenge. Sure enough, I open the cabinet and there are endless hair and face products. They were all gathered together, as if to start a riot. Some of them had been under there for so long that they were shocked that the bathroom trim had been repainted. Many of them were feeling neglected, some were jealous and a few were outraged to have been stowed away under there for so long. So, in order to smooth things over, I asked them if they wanted to have their photo taken and appear in my blog. They eagerly accepted my offer.



Quite a motley crew, isn't it?

One might wonder how I could acquire such an array of products. Also, don't pretend that your cabinets don't have a good number of products. I know where some of you live and I've seen the evidence!

So here's the story. I, like just about every other woman, am still looking out for the right products. Unfortunately, some of the things I used and liked as a teenager don't work for adult hair and skin (super oil blasting and skin scraping face wash for instance. Or Mane and Tail. I really don't know what I was thinking there.)So over the years I've collected different products for different needs.

My hair really really needs some sort of leave in conditioner. It gets dry and frizzy without one. However, most leave in conditioners weigh down the curls and make my hair greasy. To top it off, I have to also use a curl scrunching gel, or else my curls flatten out. So those two things right there account for a good third or more of the products. Then you throw in the pregnancy hormones and things get interesting. My hair has always been really thick, but since the pregnancy kept it from falling out for a few months, its even worse than before. Additionally it was exceptionally oily at the end of the pregnancy and is now very dry. So I have to keep experimenting to find the right combination of shampoos, conditioners, leave in products and styling agents.

And then there's my face. In the wake of the pregnancy, it should be declared a Federal Disaster area. Perhaps I should talk to my senator. I couldn't use certain products during my pregnancy, there is some idea that salicylic acid can be harmful, and it was difficult to avoid. Of course, during the last trimester my face was super oily. I was washing it at least three times a day. Now it's very dry in some parts and greasy in others, so once again I needed to find a new battery of cleansers and moisturizers.

I wish the makers of these products would have a return policy if you weren't satisfied. I could return a king's ransom in leave in conditioners. Sigh.

And then there's Jeff's assortment of products:



Yep. A bar of soap and a shampoo/conditioner. Not a bottle of shampoo AND a bottle of conditioner. Nope. Two in one. Before we got married, the shower shelf Jeff had only had one tier to it. Sometimes it must be really great to be a guy. The only other time I envy men is when I have to pee in a cup. Thank God that's over for now.