working mom

We need to talk about Prime Now.

| cheriarmour

Hi!

My son is 6 months old.  How in the world…

I like to think about the fact that 6 months ago, which sometimes sounds like the longest time and shortest time ever, I was not yet a parent.  I was big and fat, and waddling around in the late summer heat, but not yet a parent.  And now I like try to balance the fact that I’m a parent and I have some very adult responsibilities with the fact that I feel like I’m totally faking it as a grown-up.

Which brings me to Amazon Prime.  Specifically Prime Now.

So, I work full-time, which turns out, is really freaking hard when you have a kid.  Moms of multiples (I’m friends with this dude who’s a triplet), and moms of more than one, how in the world do you get anything done?

I really do love my job, and part of what makes it a great gig for when you have a kid is how flexible it is.  I work really hard, and I work STUPID hard during our campaign season, however, when I need, I can come and go, I can bring the baby to work with me when daycare isn’t open and let him hang out in my office, and I get to teach, one of my favorite parts of the job.  But, since I’ve been back, I’ve managed to forget something huge at least, at least once a week.  I’ve forgotten parts to my pump, the really important parts.  My lunch, brown bags for milk, storage bags, running shoes for when I’ve been teaching, socks, really, the limit does not exist as far as forgetting things goes.

So, Monday was a total Monday.  Once I got settled at work, it was time to pump.  I headed downstairs, took off my shirt, slipped on my pumping corset thingie, and then realized that in my haste to get dishes washed, I’d washed pump parts, stuck them in the dryer, and then left them there.  I had no bottles and no phalanges.  And I was already pretty uncomfortable by that point in the day.

Enter Amazon Prime Now.

I was kinda of running between meetings, and didn’t have time to run home, so I quickly g-chatted my husband, told him about my mistake, and asked him to look on Prime Now to see if we could find phalanges and bottles for my pump.  They were there, and he ordered them and had them sent to my work address.

I shit you not, within like 40 minutes, just before another meeting was starting, the stuff showed up at the front desk in a brown paper bag, and I was able to bust into it, wash it, and pump, very much to my relief.

I honestly think every time something something cool comes out, like when GPS because readily available to everyone, that technology truly cannot get any better, and then something like this totally blows my mind.  And it wasn’t like it was super expensive either, it was normally priced emergency stuff for moms whose brains haven’t yet returned to its normal size.

Side note: the next day, I forgot sneaks to teach my 12:15 cycling class, and I had to pull some major major major strings (I am so grateful for this friend) to get a pair of sz 10 shoes to the branch just in time for me to teach, then teach again, and then teach one more time.

I’ll get this working/momming thing down pat one of these days.

Have you ever used Prime Now?  What do you find yourself ordering off of there?

Hey!

| cheriarmour

Haiiiiiii!

I’ve been gone a few weeks.  I started back at work a little over a month ago and it’s been hard.  Super hard.  I will talk more about that soon, but I’ve struggled endlessly with balance since going back to work.  I like working, I like earning, I do not like feeling completely unmoored every day of the week.  I forget something every day.

Last week was no different.

So I’m breastfeeding baby Liam.  It’s gone well, we both are enjoying the process, but when I’m at work, it involves a lot of time spent in the supply closet.  I have feelings on that by the way, but it’s not the time nor place for me to rant on women in the worksplace right now and how we are seriously undervalued.  Okay, I’m done.

If you’ve never worked and breastfed at the same time, it’s sort of a complicated dance.  It kinda starts when your baby is between 3-4 weeks old, the sweet spot, I learned, when your baby will decide if he or she is going to take the Dr. Brown’s bottles you received at your shower.  You make your partner deliver the bottle, and leave the room (maybe the house) so baby can’t smell you.  For me, I started with just an ounce or two until we figured out that Liam was a little more of a 3-4 ounce kind of kid. And then there’s the pumping.  The bane of my entire existence.  It just sucks.  It’s loud, it’s not comfortable, and as someone recently reminded me, it’s the shitty reminder that your baby isn’t around for a big chunk of the day.

I pump a few times a day at work, usually twice on a loose schedule, or when I feel my boobs tell me that it’s time.  It takes a good amount of time, and a production.  If I’m in my nice fancy work clothes, I strip off my nice shirt and set it aside.  I strap on a pumping corset.  I hook up the phalanges. Screw the bottles into those.  Attach the tubing.  Plug my machine in.  And finally, get to pumping.  (And pouring and labeling and sneaking milk into the fridge in the kitchen blah blah.)

But guess what last Tuesday?

I went through most of those steps before I realized that, sitting there half naked in the closet, that I’d forgotten the bottles and the phalanges, and my boobs were really at the end of their rope.

FACK!

I could try and stick it out until the end of the day, but risk a clogged duct.  I could run home, but today just wasn’t a good day to escape home – I had a lot to do.  I could see if I could convince my dad or my brother to go home, but they didn’t really know what they were looking for.

So I waited to see if I could make it to the end of that day, and then one small stroke of whatever genius I have left struck me.  Rite Aid was down the way.  I could see what they had in the way of pump accessories, and take it from there.

I have never driven so fast (within my legal limits) to a Rite Aid in my LIFE.  IN MY LIFE.  So I get into the parking lot, and…

The Rite Aid has moved.

I’m not kidding.  Around the corner, but it had totally moved.

I raced around the corner, and into the store, where I found a single electric pump.  I put it on my HSA, designated it for my car, and proceeded to pump like thirteen ounces before a meeting.  Ridiculous.

All that to say – I’ve started working.  My brain still hasn’t returned to it’s normal size.  I’m not sure when I will start functioning more normally.  But I am making it work!  Trying to at least.

 

 

 

Uh oh, hot mom’s in trouble again.

| cheriarmour

You guys remember hot mom, Maria Kang right?  After she posted this photo in October to her Facebook page….

Hot

 

…she was slayed in the media. I contend this, that she looks great, and that the only thing that I could see folks having a problem with was the tagline, which could be construed as a little aggressive.  But the haters were pouring in a-plenty, and the poor woman seemed like she could not catch a break. And then she wrote this, which got her banned from Facebook for hate speech (?!) for a few days.

Here is my deleted post:

WARNING VENTING AHEAD:

I woke up this morning to news stories about how overweight nearly obese women should be proud of their bodies (as they posed in lingerie). I think we should all accept how any healthy body through good nutrition and exercise manifests but I’m starting to get annoyed and here’s why:

1. We have a health issue in America with over 2/3 overweight or obese.

2. We have a healthcare crisis. We spend over 3 trillion in healthcare yearly!

3. We have a childhood obesity issue, with many children suffering from adult diseases like diabetes.

4. We have magazines everywhere praising the celebrity (with all her resources) for being fit after months of giving birth and scorn the “real every day mom” who is able to be successful.

5. We keep blaming the culprit (school lunches, fast food, etc) when the real change starts at home – ESP those who lead, which are the parents.

There are some serious contradictions in our society. I know many people still get riled up with me and my convictions but the truth is I KNOW how it is to work your ass off and not have energy at the end of your day. I know how it feels to be overweight and not drop an ounce after years of disordered eating. I know how difficult it is to raise multiple children – all born a year apart – and make my fitness and nutrition a priority. Lastly, I know how it feels like to grow up with an unhealthy mother wondering if she will live to see your wedding day.

I know it’s hard. I know it’s not easy to break habits and build new ones. I know your environment challenges you and I know making your health a priority amongst the many priorities to stay afloat in today’s world is difficult. But I will tell you this: IT IS WORTH IT.

We need to change this strange mentality we are breeding in the U.S. and start celebrating people who are a result of hard work, dedication and discipline. I’m not bashing those who are proud and overweight, I am empowering those who are proud and healthy to come out and be the real role models in our society. (Vent done)

I understand what she’s saying, I really do.  And she totally means well, as do I.  But the fact that she’s attractive and thin makes some of us girls prickle, and to some of us, automatically invalidates anything she says.

But the fact is she did this.

mariabeforeafter

 

And she seems like me – a few pounds lighter (in her case, like 25,) she’s worked really hard for it, and she’s tired of our society. I get it.

My only advice to her?  Maria, put your hater blockers on, and stop responding.  Just keep doing your thing, and don’t let comments, or Yahoo Shine Articles, or mean nasty people make you feel “misunderstood”.  I only hope to look as good after three kids.

Remember our friend, Maria Kang? Maria, on #tbt

| cheriarmour

Maria was our hot mama who posted the photo on the web that created a viral firestorm.  If you missed my post on the action, click here.  I wasn’t sure that I loved her tagline, but I still am pretty impressed that she looks so great after 3 kids.  After working so hard at fitness before kids, I imagine it must be difficult to get back there after you have not one, or two, but three critters to chase around after.  It definitely makes me think twice before making an excuse to skip the sweat session.

Maria KangWell #tbt came around, and Maria posted this old photo of herself.  And I have to say it now, I’m now 100% jealous, and motivated to work a little harder.  Her “before” photo is really nothing to be ashamed of, she looks fabulous.

From her original photo, I’m still not sure I loved her tag, but kudos, our hot mom quite obviously made some steps to get where she is.  So Maria, kudos.  You were obviously a very pretty girl before, and obviously very hardworking after.  (She seems intelligent and well-spoken too, so she rocks.)