Wotion

Do you read O Magazine? This month the cover says in large letters. DE-CLUTTER YOUR LIFE! Well, there's nothing I like better than a little decluttering so I read with eager anticipation.

Oprah started with her shoes and weeded out a few pairs. It got me to thinking. Where might I have, um, more than enough of something and suddenly it hit me...

WOTION!

For those who don't know this about me, I had a small obsession with lotion when I was a tot. I think I asked for it for Christmas when I was about two and paraded around the living room with my pink bottle of Johnson's Lotion, saying "wotion, mommy, wotion". That obsession has never really faded and it was joined when I became a teen by a love of shampoo, but that's another story. It still makes me happy to go to CVS and smell all the lotions before picking one out (BELIEVE ME, I recognize just how lame I am). This morning while putting things away, I decided to amass all the lotion I have in the house. It is featured in the above photo. Just so you don't have to count, there are 13 different containers of lotion.

Now my disclaimer is that one is for Ella and one is for Ben. The other 11, mine. All mine! Some are to go in a handbag. One lives in the bathroom for use after showering. One lives on my nightstand to put on my feet if they need tlc. One is on my dresser so I can use it if I forgot to put the one in the bathroom on after showering. One was on my desk when I had an office. Well, I won't spend any more time justifying my 11 lotion containers (yes, one is unopened - it was a gift and I don't really like the scent of lavender).

How to organize and de-clutter your obsession? I started by throwing away two purse sized Jergens. They were both old and I have found that Jergens becomes a bit like glue after it has been around for too long. Okay, so that was as far as I got with it. I couldn't part with any of the others (*). But, I have committed to using up all lotion before buying more.

Would anyone like some lavender scented lotion? It comes with shower gel....

(*) While pregnant I struggled with nausea triggered by smells. I was given shea butter lotion by a friend to prevent stretch marks. It gave me hives so I chucked it. I bought a nice smelling shea butter based lotion from the Body Shop, but within minutes of putting it on it became very chemical smelling and made me nauseous, so I threw it out. I'm counting those in as decluttering work. There WOULD have been 15 if I hadn't been proactive months ago.

Humpf

I totally had a blog entry drafted in my head yesterday. And, today, I can't for the freakin' life of me remember what it was about. Oh well.

Today is Ella's four month appointment. We are a week ahead of her 4 month birthday, but she's been with us for 16 weeks. Go figure, I know, the math is weird. I am so excited to see how much she weighs - not that it matters, she has clearly gained weight and grown, but I'm curious. Given how small she was at birth she'll probably still be 10th percentile for weight. Also, we can talk about when to start her on solids - the lovely rice cereal goop that babies get. Once she starts eating solids that means the demands on my boobs will be slightly less and I think that'll be the boost I need to get through breast feeding a little longer.

I read a blog entry yesterday on Ain't No Mom Jeans about the political-ness of breast feeding and it does fascinate me how yet another female function has moved from the personal to the political. The Lactation Consultants, heretofore, to be known as the Nipple Nazi's, shove it down your throat in such a way that when you think about not doing it, you immediately feel guilty. Studies have shown the benefits of breastfeeding range from better immunity, lowered diabetes risks to fewer allergies to increased intelligence. For the mother there are benefits of losing weight faster, and lower cancer risks for your lady parts. All good, but can anyone really point to people in society and say "oh, she was formula fed", as though those people have a scarlet letter on their chest? No, of course you can't. And, exactly how much lower are those risks for the child - 1% or 50%? No one ever seems to say.

I admit guilt is part of what has kept me nursing her this long. I have milk galore, but getting it out of me and into her is the challenge. She is a great eater, but a craptastic nurser. I pump (painful, painful, painful) at work so I can provide bottles. I do see how comforting it is to her to be able to mangle my nipples on a regular basis. I also like the idea of feeding my child food, not manufactured stuff that is basically a bunch of chemicals you mix with water.

The bottom line is this is one topic that has me more conflicted than I've ever been. I long to stop, but I don't know how to (no Nipple Nazi will help you figure that out), but I also long for it to become what I had hoped it would be and suddenly be easy, painless and fun. So, I plug away, setting little goals for myself and see how I feel when I reach them.

well, since I couldn't remember what I was originally going to write about this will have to do...

Lesson Learned

Here's the lesson I learned this week: When I have a conundrum, call someone else.

My brain just doesn't problem solve so well these days. Not sure if it is fatigue, hormone craziness or that I am suffering 3-6% brain loss because my omega 3's go to build Miss E's noggin.

In any event, two situations arose that left me feeling as though I was standing around with my thumb up my butt, unsure of what to do....

First, we had our first post-baby date Friday night (woot!). We were going to symphony which required being moderately dressed up. Earlier in the day I went to the Mommy and Me class at Healthworks that turned out to be a 45 minute step aerobic class (ouch) that made me sweaty. I'd worn my last clean nursing bra, not knowing I'd be bouncing around (ouch, again) and it needed to be washed so I wouldn't smell on my date. Fast forward to the late afternoon. After nursing Ella I did a quick calculation of time to wash and dry and decided I should start laundry and get the thing clean. After coming up from the basement I looked at the clock and realized it was 10 of 4, not 10 of 3 as I'd thought. Umm, so I needed to leave at 5 and was not going to have bra to wear. Honestly, I had no idea what to do. So, I will admit, I wore my sleep bra, which really is like no bra at all and called it a night. In the car on the way, I called Kat to chat and she said I should have just handwashed and thrown it in the dryer. Right. Next time I'll remember.

Second, I offered to bake some things for our friend's Kelly and Evan who were having their daughter baptized this Sunday. Meanwhile, I also asked my friend Lisa to come for dinner Saturday night and I was going to make lasagna. Dilemma number two I realized while on the way to the grocery store: both food items needed the 13x9 pyrex dish and I had only one. Fortunately, I was then on the phone with my mother and mentioned the issue, which at that point had started to stress me out because I was running late and didn't want to be up until midnight again because of baking things. Her response: get one of the tinfoil pans at the store to make the lasagna. Again, right.

Okee dokee. Be on the lookout people. The next time I have a problem, I may call you and you can tell me how to solve it because clearly I am completely incapable at this point.