Our Experience Eating Out

Last night Kalyn and I were starving after going to the gym so we decided to go out to dinner.  It's been a long time since we've been on a date.  Although we were bringing our little guy with us, we still consider it a date.  This is the story of why you should get a babysitter when you want to go on a date.

We arrive at Applebee's and Rex is calm as can be.  I just fed him before we left, but we were silly to think he didn't know when his bedtime was (even after the daily fight to actually go to sleep at 8). We were seated and Rex began to fuss before we even got our appetizer.  I was starting to think we might not make it.  I took him to the restroom where I was relieved to find that after two days of not pooping (we just started him on solids) he finally had.

A diaper change only calmed him for about 3 seconds after I sat down.  I had to hold him while I ate.  He was momentarily distracted by the baby girl at the next table over.  This gave me time to get at least half my food down before I heard the noise that no parent wants to hear during a dinner out: a poop bomb exploding out of their child's bum.  It didn't stop there.  He kept going every 30 seconds or so for the next couple minutes.  A wet spot was appearing on his back.

Now we knew we had to get out of there, because he can't stand being wet for more than a minute.  We asked for some boxes for the rest of our food and the check.  While we were waiting Rex decided to yell to the whole restaurant about who-knows-what.  He has just discovered recently that he can use vocals and I think he likes hearing himself talk.  He was yelling the only word he knows: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaa... aaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaa."

Putting him back in his car seat made him scream and that's when I felt like everyone around us was staring with that look of "control your child."  I have a feeling that he is going to embarrass me very often, but at the same time it will be one of the funniest things I've ever seen.  He'll make me laugh.  He sure is developing some personality.

Monsters in My Room Last Night

Last night Rex finally slept for more than 3 hours at a time.  Instead of waking up at midnight with that feeling that it was going to be another long night of frequent wake-ups I blessedly got to sleep until 2am.  This being said, I actually fell into a deep sleep for a while.  At 2:01am I woke in a pitch black room to the sound of sucking.  My first thought was, "Oh my gosh! There is a monster in my room and it is taking a taste of my baby!"  However, sense returned to me as I woke up a little more and realized that Rex was simply awake, sucking very enthusiastically on his fist.  Hoping he would roll over and go back to sleep, but knowing he probably would just wake me up pretty soon, I drifted back to sleep.

At 2:05am I was startled awake again by another frightening sound.  "Oh my heck! There is a pterodactyl in my room!" Oh wait... it was just the baby again.  When he is happy he makes this squealing noise that sounds an awful lot like a hungry dinosaur.  With heavy eyelids I again decided to fall asleep, even though I knew that noise meant the little guy was fully awake.  

Again, at 2:07am, I woke to a little baby whimper.  It was the quiet cry that is a warning before he decides I need a little more prompting to get out of bed and go get him.  The one before he yells.  Finally, I left my bed and walked over to Rex's crib.  In the dark I saw a wad of blankets and baby in the corner, but couldn't tell where his head was, so I felt around.  Somehow he had gone from the middle of the crib to the corner with his feet in the corner.  His butt was almost all the way into the corner as well, with his legs sticking up above him.  He was wiggling around, trying to escape.  Luckily I was there to rescue him, and with a feeding and some cuddles we both fell right back to sleep.

My Health Experiment

I mentioned in the post before this that I just experienced my second UTI in a row.  It also happens to be the second one I've ever had n my life.  So why would I suddenly get two back to back?  Well I would love to tell you, but I'm not a doctor and there are so many reasons that could happen and so many ways you can get one that there isn't really a way of knowing for sure.  However, after feeling a second one coming on I decided to do some research, because although a 7-day course of antibiotics seemed to zap the infection pretty quickly the first time, I wondered if it really went away entirely or if I had an altogether new infection.  I already knew the basics of how antibiotics work.  They kill bacteria causing the infection.  My research brought me to many opinions of people who believe that antibiotics aren't necessarily good for you, because while killing the "bad" bacteria in your body it also can kill the "good" bacteria.  Having lower amounts of bacteria your body depends on for a time after taking antibiotics can actually weaken your system's defenses against getting another infection.  

Of course there is research both for and against this theory, so who knows whether it's true or not.  Again, I am no doctor.  I did think that it was worth a try to take probiotics instead though. Probiotics do exactly the opposite of antibiotics (if you didn't already work that out for yourself).  They increase the amounts of "good" bacteria because they are made from live cultures that can help fight off an infection.  You can buy probiotics at most health stores.  I happen to work for a wellness company that sells probiotics.  Lucky me, because they can be kind of expensive.

I made a deal with myself that if the infection didn't clear out within a couple of days or got rapidly worse than I would go to the doctor.  The first infection I got had been so bad that I was peeing blood, so I knew this time it had some time to go before reaching that point.  After two days of taking the probiotics and drinking mass amounts of water I hadn't improved or gotten worse.  I thought about going to the doctor, but then realized that I had let my couple days go into the weekend.  My doctor's office was closed.  Oops!  Since it wasn't worse I decided to stick the weekend out.  But guess what! By Monday I was actually feeling better.  It took until today for me to feel like it was completely healed, but it worked out.  

So my conclusion to this little experiment is that antibiotics seem to work much faster, but the probiotics worked too.  Certainly if I got a bad infection I would go to a doctor, but there are ways to take care of ourselves from home too.  It's important to use good judgement.  I have often had the mindset that I can't afford going to the doctor much.  It's expensive sometimes!  However, I have also learned that no matter how much anxiety it causes me to go, there are times when it is important to see a professional.  For example if you are bleeding badly and need to get stitched up, break a bone, are so sick that you can't heal on your own, or in some cases when you have a feeling that something is very wrong.  Follow your instincts.  

My mom worked in a profession for several years that teaches people to have an awareness of their body.  Did you know that just by slowing down and paying close attention to how you feel on a regular basis you can heal yourself?  The reason for that being that you can feel when something you do feels better or worse.  Plus, you learn to use your body more efficiently.  This can keep you healthier and help you to know when something feels really different.  My challenge to you is to take just a little time each day to be aware of how you are feeling; physically and mentally.  The more you pay attention, the easier it will get to solve problems, because you won't spend as much time trying to figure out the source. 

My Health Goals

I am currently enjoying my second UTI (urinary tract infection) in a row. What a joy! It takes something as natural and ordinary as peeing and turns it into something you dread because it's painful.  On top of that, it makes you have to pee about twenty times more often than usual and much more difficult to hold it in.  Sorry if this is too much information, but just imagine going throughout your daily activities and having to take a break every half hour at a minimum to go pee.  Yeah... not the most efficient of time for me.  However I have to marvel a little at how the body knows how to heal itself.  My body senses the infection and turns my bladder into overdrive to get it out.  It's like getting a high fever to kill a virus or getting a scab to protect the new skin that is forming underneath it.  Our bodies are miracles!

This is why I am amazed that so many people (myself included at times) put take this gift from God and abuse it so horribly.  Some go as far as using drugs that research has proven can cause severe brain damage with a single use. My weakness is sugar-loading.  I have a sweet tooth that can be compared to the hulk.  One of my goals, as I mentioned in the post before this is to cut down on my sugar intake.  The difference between this time and other tries is that I actually told people that I was doing it.  That way my people-pleasing self kicks in when I am eyeing that dessert and want it so badly, and I can't take it because people would know I am failing at my diet already.

I am having some success so far though! My rules are that I can't have any dessert except for one a week only IF there is some sort of occasion such as a party, dinner with friends, etc.  If there are two occasions I can only have dessert at one.  No candy or anything related to it (like fruit snacks or things made of pure sugar) are allowed either.  My diet is going until Christmas.  By then the sugar cravings should have depleted severely and that is my goal for when to get back to almost my pre-pregnancy weight again.  After only a week and a half of cutting back junk food I have lost almost 3 pounds. Hooray!

Of course diet must come with exercise.  I have very low amount of physical endurance right now. I think less than I have ever had in my entire life, which frustrates me very much most of the time.  So most days I just go on a walk.  This week I hope to add some strength training into it too so that when I run it won't feel as horrible.

Seven more weeks of this to go! I know I can do it, but it sure isn't easy.  I have to lose almost two pounds a week and my goal will be met. I can't wait to fit into my pants and skirts again.