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Miracle Blanket Winner!

Thanks to everyone for putting their name in the hat!  I used Random.org and it selected comment #16, which is Carolsue who is expecting in September.  Double congratulations!

Hopefully I'll be having some more contests in the future and then everyone can win.  I honestly feel bad that I only had one blanket to give away since all of you need them so much.  They truly do give you the gift of sleep.  For those of you who didn't win, may your babies be free of colic and rock a 12 hour sleep cycle :-)

Eye of the beholder

While driving to work today I was listening to the radio.  The hosts created a hypothetical and asked callers to weigh in on their thoughts.  I was blown away by the response so I thought I'd pose it to you and get your opinions:

You meet the perfect guy.  EVERYTHING about him is perfect: great job, great sense of humor, attractive, polite, nice parents, he volunteers for a children's charity, all that good stuff.  But!  He wears insanely bright green contacts (and for the sake of this argument they can NOT be removed ever ever ever.  And we're talking crazy bright green).  Is this a deal breaker?

Overwhelming majority said yes.  Yes!  I couldn't believe it!  He's perfect in every other way imaginable and you walk away because of the color of his eyes?  Granted, I'm married and know I will never run into this situation, but still.  I have a hard time thinking that I'd leave solely based on his eyes.  A few callers agreed with me.  One lady said, "I wouldn't want a guy to not give me a chance because of something like that so why would I do it to him?"  Right on sister!  Another caller wanted clarification: "Um, are they so bright green they glow in the dark like an alien?"  Fair question.  And honestly I think that is when I needed to get out of my car and go into the office because I had been sitting in the parking lot too long.  So I don't know the answer to that one.  If yes then hey, I'd be creeped out by that too.  I'll admit it.

But really.  Would you walk away because of something like that?  I just keep thinking of all the times I've heard my friends/other people say "Well, I didn't think he was that cute until I got to talking to him and now, because of his personality, he's totally hot!"  I'm a firm believer that personality can trump some physical flaws (Not you honey--you've got the whole package!  Kisses!) so I'm applying that to this situation.  So what say you?   I'm totally curious and won't judge you as long as you provide a reason for your answer.

The Awesome

Theo's new favorite thing is to stand at the window ledge in our bedroom and watch the people, cars and trains go by.  He waves and comments, and is very engaged with the world outside.  It's now MY new favorite thing as well.  He and I were at the window last night after dinner and before bed and he just gave this contented sigh and rested his head sideways on my shoulder.  Then I asked, "Give Mama a kissy?" and he picked his head up and kissed me on the mouth--the softest, wettest most wonderful little boy kiss in all the land.  That is now ranked as one of the greatest moments ever in my life. 

This 'being a year old' thing RULES.

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Don't forget to enter my Miracle Blanket Giveaway!  Contest ends Friday!

Miracle Blanket Giveaway!

I was given a free Miracle Blanket from the company to do with what I wanted.  And instead of being greedy I decided I'd offer it as a giveaway because seriously, this thing saved our lives and if you don't have one, you need one.  And if you don't have a baby then win it and be a hero at your next baby shower.

I had heard of this blanket prior to Theo being born and after looking into other swaddle blanket options, knew I wanted one.  Had you asked anyone at our baby shower they would have told you that this gift was the one that I was the most excited about.  I believe I may have even danced in my chair, but this can't be confirmed.  We used it right off the bat since Theo responded well to the swaddle and it was super easy to use.  I loved that it didn't have any Velcro (noisy and scratchy), and that one size fit all (my child grew at the speed of light).

I didn't think this blanket could get any better. . .and then colic set in.  Theo became a different child from 5-8 p.m.  He would scream and look around wild-eyed and frantic.  Nothing soothed him and it was horrible to watch.  Until it dawned on me one day--remember, I was sleep deprived!--to swaddle him during his colicky times and lo, angels started to sing and my son was comforted.  I was truly shocked.  It became our nightly prescription--as a preemptive strike we'd swaddle him at 4:45 and mentally prepare ourselves just in case it didn't work that night.  But it always did.  Then I read that gentle pressure on colicky tummies helps them feel better, which is a key component in this blanket.  Here are a few other benefits from their website:

Here's another testimonial from my Internet BFF Pocklock:

"My daughter wouldn't tolerate the swaddle during her first few months of life, but at 16 weeks she came down with a horrible cold.  She fell asleep in my arms one afternoon and when I put her down, I wrapped her blanket tightly around her.  She slept for almost 2 hours - unheard of until that very day.  When I realized swaddling might work for us, I borrowed a friend's Miracle Blanket and before I knew it, my baby was happily sleeping 6-8 hour stretches at night and taking two 3-hour naps during the day.  She's 6 months old now and on the nights she can't seem to settle herself down, we wrap her in the Miracle Blanket and she dozes off within minutes.  It is definitely one product that is true to it's name and claim!  My only suggestion?  We need them in bigger sizes!  I'm not ready to give it up, but her little toes are starting to curl!"

I recommend this blanket to anyone who's pregnant, and I might even go so far as to say get two.  There's nothing worse than having a diaper blow-out at 2 in the morning that makes its way onto the blanket.  You need to swaddle your precious wee one but what do you do?  WHAT DO YOU DO?  You hit your reserves and bust out the second one and once again, sleep and sanity are saved.  I would never admit that Theo peed through his blanket and we didn't have another one so we lined the wet one with receiving blankets and put him back to sleep.  Because that would be gross.  *cough*

Anyway!  So I have one to give you!  It's cream with green trim so it's not gender specific, and it's got your name on it.  Here are the ground rules:

1). The contest will run until 5:00 pm Central Time Friday March 27th.

2). I will use a Random Number Generator to select the winner and will notify them via email.  Winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will select another.

3). Comment and tell me why you'd like to win a Miracle Blanket.  Please make sure you have a valid email address.

4). Additional entries: Twitter this contest and come back and leave a separate comment with the link so I can verify. 

5).  Follow me on Twitter (@samanthajcampen) and come back and leave a separate comment to let me know.

6).  Mention this contest in your Facebook status update and leave a separate comment telling me you did.

7).  Stumble this post and leave your stumbleupon user name in a separate comment.

8). Twitter about my Children's Memorial fundraising page: http://www.kidsmiracles.org/samanthajocampen and come back and leave a separate comment with the link.

9). FOR AN ADDITIONAL THREE ENTRIES: DONATE any amount of money to my Children's Memorial fundraising page and come back and leave three separate comments telling me so!

That's nine ways to win!  Good luck to everyone!

20/20

Have you ever looked at someone else's life and wondered how in the heck they do it?  Either they are surrounded by chaos at every turn, or they seem to have the worst luck and always have horrible things happen to them.  I do that sometimes and in some cases can't even fathom living the life I am analyzing.  But in most cases the person doesn't have a choice and they just. . .go on because, well, there is no other alternative.

It hasn't been until the past few weeks that I'm beginning to wonder if people view MY life that way.  There are some crazy things going on all up in here, the majority of which I can't share at this point, but man.  People look at me with sympathetic eyes and say "Well, God Bless you Sam for chugging along" or "I don't know how you do it every day."  Wow.  Um, thanks?  But when you're living it it's hard to feel it. You just have to keep on keepin' on.

I remember having horrible (well, horrible to ME though I know many others who suffered worse) morning sickness when I was pregnant with Theo.  I still had to go to work and I felt like I was going to die.  But I did, because I had to.  And in a supportive email a friend of mine told me she worked with someone that suffered from crippling nausea and had to take TWO BUSES to work each way.  And she did it because she had no other choice.  And that blew my mind.  I also look back at having to go to work after having only had a grand total of three hours of interrupted sleep.  I was dizzy with exhaustion but I went.  Looking back now I have no idea how I managed but I did.  Because I had to.

So now, when I look at other people's lives I will be more apt to explore deeper into their circumstances and realize that they are just trying to make it to the next day as we all are.  And I sure won't be the one to give them a sympathetic eye, pat them on the shoulder and say what a good job they are doing 'hangin' in there' because it's insulting.

I know this now.

[EDITED: Okay everyone I totally didn't mean to freak you out.  I'm sorry for being so cryptic.  I really am.  To put your minds at ease: we aren't getting divorced, no one is dying and I'm not going to end up in a mental institution. But other than that it's anyone's guess :-)  Thank you for your concern!]

Of COURSE I did

Theo has been sick since Wednesday: high fever/cough/lethargic/inhaler/Motrin rinse repeat.  To say we haven't gotten any sleep is an understatement--it was worse than when he was a newborn and believe me I didn't think that was possible.

So the weekend was rough.  We were all going out of our minds with exhaustion, germs, crabby and boredom. Until Sunday.  Glorious glorious Sunday.  It was in the mid-60's with a rejuvenating breeze that seemed to wash the blech away.  Theo and I took a long walk outside and then hung out at the park for a while.  It was a perfect day.

We got back and Theo was acting close to his old self so we were playing and goofing around--I'll do just about anything to get that kid to laugh which really isn't hard but it's still fun.  I was playing the RAWR! game where I sneak up on him and say, appropriately, RAWR! and scare him which he loves.  Well, while doing the ninja-like sneaking part I tripped, fell into the coffee table and broke my toe.

Theo clapped for me.

Oh Sunday, you could have been all that I wanted and more.  Sigh.

So now we have an almost healthy child and a crippled Mama.  Dare I ask, how was YOUR weekend?

Belated birthday pictures

Here are some pictures from Theo's party two weeks ago:

 

Happy fambly

 

Cakes! I made the one on the right to match the invites.  Oooooh, savvy!

 

Good news: now we know what he'll look like with a 5 o'clock shadow.

 

Theo made us open all the presents because he was too busy eating the paper and playing with the boxes. (photo credit goes to pseudostoops !)

And cake eating action video here.  I still can't believe he's a year old!

Confessions

(I don't know why)

1. I sometimes use a baby wipe to wash my face before I go to bed.  Because I'm too lazy to stand at the sink and engage the faucet.

2.  I'm such a horrible speller that I type the word in question in an email to see if it's correct (thank you auto spell check!), and then write it down all smart-like at work.

3.  Theo has already had a taste of cat food because he was faster than I was.  Crawling, you are on NOTICE.

4.  Our Christmas tree is still laying on our balcony to be disposed of. (BUT IT IS NO LONGER UP IN OUR HOUSE.  I just wanted to make that clear).

5.  I really don't find The Family Guy funny or entertaining. There I said it!

6.  I say I like red wine but I really don't. 

7.  There is an area of carpet in our living room that hasn't seen a vacuum since we moved in.  It's all the way in the corrrrrrner!  Too haaaaaaard!

8.  I think that if I liked sushi I'd feel more grown-up.

9.  I will be 30 in less than a month and I have some age spots around my left eye.

Ahh.  Much better.  Now it's your turn--trust me, it feels good to get it off your chest.

Nipping it in the bud

It seems as though having a child turn a year old is the precise moment that people come out of the woodwork and ask "So, when is Theo getting a little brother or sister?" at least eight times a day.  Who knew?

So, as a bit of a Public Service Announcement, I thought I'd answer that question here in case any of you were wondering the exact same thing:

NO TIME SOON THANKYOUVERYMUCH.  And the reasons are threefold:

1).  I'm not emotionally ready.  Oh no no no not yet no.
2).  We couldn't afford another child even if we wanted to right now.  Not by a long-shot.  (There is a subsection of the aforementioned Blurty McNoseypants who respond to this with "Oh, the money will always turn up somehow."  Really?  And would that be in the form a check from YOU every month, or a direct deposit?)
3).   A little thing I happen to remember called High Risk Pregnancy.  That whole pre-term labor/bed rest/NICU thing wasn't as much fun as I know I made it sound.  Not looking to provoke those circumstances if I can help it, so a MINIMUM of two years was recommended prior to getting pregnant again and I'm only too happy to comply.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Happy birthday baby boy

Theo:

I have wanted to be a mother for as long as I can remember.  It was never a conscious decision I sat down and made, but it was more like an organ or appendage that never left me and that I couldn't possibly function without.  In high school my class was asked what our goals were and I said without hesitation "To be a wife and mother."  Some scoffed and rolled their eyes that I didn't aspire to be a CEO or well-regarded career woman but to me, that would just be 'on the side' and never in the forefront of my mind.  Sure I'd work to support myself and my family if needed but that was always the grey area.  I could fill that in as needed.  But being a mother?  Never negotiable.

Your father always supported this, which is why I married him.  But the agreement when we got married was that we'd wait five years to have a baby. "Okay fine" I thought.  "Maybe he'll change his mind sooner" I hoped.  But no.  Throughout those five years I sobbed when friends got pregnant, became depressed looking at the baby section in Target, and longed for a surprise along the way: to have a baby sooner.  The ache in my heart was something I had never before experienced and it was a pain I don't wish upon anyone.  But we waited.  And when the time was right you came along.

You brought with you a world we had never known.  The worry, the love, the fear, THE EXHAUSTION.  Honey, to this day I don't think a proper word exists for how sleep-deprived we were.  And you were a pretty good sleeper!  Like clockwork you'd get up every three hours, nurse, and go right back to sleep.  I was suffering some pretty intense anxiety and couldn't sleep when you slept so things got kinda crazy for a bit.  Not to mention your colicky hours between 5-8 every night.  We finally came to our senses and wrapped you in your Miracle Blanket and that seemed to improve things dramatically.  My heart broke for you during those hours because you became a different kid--frantic and wild-eyed.  I worried that it would affect your personality later on and I'm glad to report that I WAS WRONG (shocking, I know) and you are now the jolliest kid I've ever met.  Please don't change.

Throughout this past year you've accomplished a lot, the biggest thing being that you've more than quadrupled your weight.  You've been a medical marvel in that you were a moose at five weeks premature and you gained, on average, three ounces a day when the average is one ounce a day.  You'd shock strangers on the street.  I remember walking with you in the stroller when you were around four months old (around 16 pounds) and a guy we'd never seen before passed us and said "Protect the Quarterback!"  Yup.  That pretty much summed it up alright.

From the beginning you've loved being around people.  Restaurants and the bowling alley were, and still are, some of your favorite places.  You've never been afraid of someone you don't know and usually reach out your arms to be held by then.  You take a few minutes to study them, and then after that you're chatty and smiley like you've been best friends for years.  I love love LOVE that about you.

Once you started solid foods your world changed and you've been eating us out of house and home ever since.  To date your favorite foods are blueberries, pasta wheels, blueberries, pot stickers, chicken fingers, blueberries blueberries and oh yes, some blueberries.  You clearly get your love of fruit from your father and your pasta addiction from me.  Upside: no scurvy!

You are finally crawling all over the place now and I honestly thought you never would.  You favored the highly effective butt-scoot mode of transportation and we figured you’d then move on to walking.  Well, in classic Theo fashion you crawled when YOU wanted to and not a minute sooner thankyouverymuch.  Now we can hardly keep up with you.  Watching your diapered butt crawl away is seriously one of the most darling things I’ve ever seen, especially coupled with your sideways glance to see if one of us is in hot pursuit.  And we usually are. (By the way, how are your knees not KILLING you?)

I need to thank you for learning to clap because I am finally getting some validation around here.  I put my shirt on? You clap like it’s the most poetic thing you’ve ever seen.  I unload the dishwasher?  Your pudgy little hands are doing double-time.  But the best though is just walking into a room and getting a standing ovation.  I gotta say, that rocks.

My favorite things to do with you are make you laugh like a maniac and snuggle with you while you suck your thumb.  Making you squawk and squeal is the best feeling ever, and I love having a still moment with you while you seek comfort in my arms.  Plus you smell nice, so there’s that.

Oh Theo.  There is still so much more to learn and experience, and I hope I do right by you in being your guide and encouraging your loves and passions.  It pains me to admit it now, but when I found out you were a boy I was scared.  I was terrified I didn’t have what it took to mother a son.  I didn’t grow up surrounded by a lot of men so this felt like a monumental task handed to me.  I needed to learn how to tie a tie, figure out the different names of heavy machinery, wrap my mind around the appeal of mud.  I didn’t feel ready!  But then I met you and everything was as it should be.  I can’t imagine things any other way.  You don’t frighten me.  I’m at home with you and we’ll learn together as we go.  If it weren’t for your father we would have had a baby sooner and everything would be different. 

And Theo, it has always been you.

Happy Birthday my darling boy.  I love you bunches.

Love,

Mama