Last week, I bought a jogging stroller. And it rocks.
Now why, you might ask, would a non-runner like myself need a jogging stroller? The very name implies that it's not for me. But let me tell you, most regular strollers suck for anything but strolling. When I'd go out for a walk and pick up the pace, my feet would hit the wheels, so I'd have to adjust my gait and kinda push the stroller far out in front of me. Not so fun. Plus, most strollers typically don't hold more than a 40-pound kid, which means my walking companion is limited to Nora, who often wants to get out and walk herself, which really puts a crimp in plans to get in a quick 2-3 miles in the half hour I've stolen away for a walk.
So, I started looking for a used jogging stroller. The new ones tended to retail for $200 and up, which was outrageous considering I'm not even a super-serious walker. I just want to have the option if I choose to take a kid with me the once or twice a week I walk at home. I found a few on Craigslist, but never took it beyond window-shopping
Then last week, I walked into my favorite emporium of used kid stuff and there was this jogging stroller for $40. It looked good, but since I'm the kind to research EVERY big purchase when it comes to the kids, I wanted to look it up on the ole' Internet first to see how it rated. Turns out, it was a $275, very well-rated stroller. I could hardly wait to get back there.
After plunking down my $40, and figuring out the nifty way it folded down, I realized it was a little too long for my trunk, so the end stuck out about 6 inches. No matter. I'm a resourceful former farm gal, so I tied down the trunk using the strap from a baby carrier that has been in my trunk for awhile (and I was kicking myself for not still having bungee cords in the trunk the way my dad taught me to). It worked fine enough, though anyone who is familiar with the potholes on the West Allis stretch of Hawley Road will have a fine picture of the discomforting amount my trunk lid was bouncing.
When we got home -- everything intact -- I wanted to take it out for a spin. Owen was excited to join me, since it had been awhile since he had actually been invited to sit in a stroller. And let me tell you, this thing is FAST! I was just going to go on a quick walk around our long block, but I ended up going five blocks before forcing myself to turn around. The stroller moved with almost no effort and the big, rubber wheels took the bumpy sidewalks like they were a roller rink. At one point, heading downhill, I even had the uncontrollable urge to run, and so I did...
Yah, it rocks.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Paging Dr. Ross
So, tonight, we reached another milestone in our journey as parents -- our first ER trip with one of the kids. It was Owen, with an especially bleedy cut to his lip. And, since I'm writing about it now and trying to be a little flip, you know it all turned out OK.
We had friends over for supper and while the boys manned the grill, the rest of us were in the kitchen. Then I hear Steph exclaim to Owen, what happened!, and when I turn around there's blood dripping down his chin and all over his hand. We go into triage mode with paper towels while trying to ascertain what happened. But the sharpest object in the vicinity is a tortilla chip, and Owen claims to have no idea how it happened. No matter, right now we're concentrating on his cut.
Well, the blood keeps coming, and after several towel changes, adding an ice compress and having him lay down on the couch, it's about 20 minutes later and this thing is NOT STOPPING -- barely even slowing down. So decide to head to the ER to see if he needs stitches.
It's only takes us about 10 minutes to get there (our proximity to the hospital always made me feel secure during my pregnancies) and the bleeding still isn't slowing down. We check in and the nurse asks to see the cut. Still bleeding. We walk over to the registration desk, where a different nurse asks to see the cut. So I remove the towels..and it has stopped bleeding. Seriously. In the 1 minute and 5 feet between the two desks, it has stopped completely. So completely, in fact, that we can't even SEE the cut. If I didn't have a handful of bloody paper towels, we'd just be the crazy parents standing in the ER with their kid who's obviously right as rain.
We end up having the triage nurse take a peek at it, and she informs us that they don't usually do stitches on a lip anyway because the cuts bleed a lot but close up very quickly on their own. If only we'd known that 30 minutes ago! So, when we get our ER bill, we'll see how much we'll be paying for that little nugget of knowledge.
And, as a post script, we did determine what caused this cut and launched this whole adventure. It was a baby spoon...with a little jagged edge. Yup, the most innocuous utensil around landed us in the ER. Sheesh.
We had friends over for supper and while the boys manned the grill, the rest of us were in the kitchen. Then I hear Steph exclaim to Owen, what happened!, and when I turn around there's blood dripping down his chin and all over his hand. We go into triage mode with paper towels while trying to ascertain what happened. But the sharpest object in the vicinity is a tortilla chip, and Owen claims to have no idea how it happened. No matter, right now we're concentrating on his cut.
Well, the blood keeps coming, and after several towel changes, adding an ice compress and having him lay down on the couch, it's about 20 minutes later and this thing is NOT STOPPING -- barely even slowing down. So decide to head to the ER to see if he needs stitches.
It's only takes us about 10 minutes to get there (our proximity to the hospital always made me feel secure during my pregnancies) and the bleeding still isn't slowing down. We check in and the nurse asks to see the cut. Still bleeding. We walk over to the registration desk, where a different nurse asks to see the cut. So I remove the towels..and it has stopped bleeding. Seriously. In the 1 minute and 5 feet between the two desks, it has stopped completely. So completely, in fact, that we can't even SEE the cut. If I didn't have a handful of bloody paper towels, we'd just be the crazy parents standing in the ER with their kid who's obviously right as rain.
We end up having the triage nurse take a peek at it, and she informs us that they don't usually do stitches on a lip anyway because the cuts bleed a lot but close up very quickly on their own. If only we'd known that 30 minutes ago! So, when we get our ER bill, we'll see how much we'll be paying for that little nugget of knowledge.
And, as a post script, we did determine what caused this cut and launched this whole adventure. It was a baby spoon...with a little jagged edge. Yup, the most innocuous utensil around landed us in the ER. Sheesh.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Furgit About It
I swear, I am losing my mind. OK, not really, but I sure am losing track of A LOT of things lately. Is there too much going on? Am I not getting enough sleep? Is it a post-35 brain cell exodus and the calendar-keeping ones are the first ones to say "ciao"?
For instance:
Last week, Jon was working late and at 6:00, Owen, Nora and I were sitting down to supper when the phone rang. It was Owen's school -- I'd forgotten to pick up my items from the PTA fund-raiser and could I please get down there before 6:30? At first I was pissed that they didn't just offer to hold them until the next day...especially considering it meant I had to quickly finish supper and pack both kids into the car...but 20 minutes later when I picked up my box I remembered, oh yah, they're frozen pizzas! That's why they couldn't hold them.
When Nora was sick last week and I spent the afternoon at home with her, I knew it meant canceling my 1:00 dentist appointment, but I completely forgot to do so until about an hour AFTER my appointment.
On Monday, I was in a meeting with my boss when he mentioned the Brewers game that night, which is when I suddenly remembered that Jon and Owen were scheduled to go to that game. So I dialed up Jon, thinking he'd forgotten, too. Oh no, he remembered. It was just me. It was even written on our new family calendar that's supposed to help us keep track of such things.
And tonight I almost forgot about my salon appointment. It wasn't until I was walking by the salon -- which, luckily, is at the end of our block -- on the way to the park with the kids that I remembered. Then, when I arrived 5 minutes later (on time, I thought), they informed me that my appointment had been at 5:45 YESTERDAY.
We also had do a late in-person registration for Owen's t-ball league this summer because I didn't look at the deadline (who would have thunk, an April deadline for a June league!?). And I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have missed my every-4-months rheumatology appointment. Maybe it was last week, maybe yesterday. I think my appointments usually are on Tuesdays. Who knows?
Ah hell, I guess I'll find out one of these days...when I remember to call about it.
For instance:
Last week, Jon was working late and at 6:00, Owen, Nora and I were sitting down to supper when the phone rang. It was Owen's school -- I'd forgotten to pick up my items from the PTA fund-raiser and could I please get down there before 6:30? At first I was pissed that they didn't just offer to hold them until the next day...especially considering it meant I had to quickly finish supper and pack both kids into the car...but 20 minutes later when I picked up my box I remembered, oh yah, they're frozen pizzas! That's why they couldn't hold them.
When Nora was sick last week and I spent the afternoon at home with her, I knew it meant canceling my 1:00 dentist appointment, but I completely forgot to do so until about an hour AFTER my appointment.
On Monday, I was in a meeting with my boss when he mentioned the Brewers game that night, which is when I suddenly remembered that Jon and Owen were scheduled to go to that game. So I dialed up Jon, thinking he'd forgotten, too. Oh no, he remembered. It was just me. It was even written on our new family calendar that's supposed to help us keep track of such things.
And tonight I almost forgot about my salon appointment. It wasn't until I was walking by the salon -- which, luckily, is at the end of our block -- on the way to the park with the kids that I remembered. Then, when I arrived 5 minutes later (on time, I thought), they informed me that my appointment had been at 5:45 YESTERDAY.
We also had do a late in-person registration for Owen's t-ball league this summer because I didn't look at the deadline (who would have thunk, an April deadline for a June league!?). And I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have missed my every-4-months rheumatology appointment. Maybe it was last week, maybe yesterday. I think my appointments usually are on Tuesdays. Who knows?
Ah hell, I guess I'll find out one of these days...when I remember to call about it.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Long Time, No Blog
Oh, dear blog, please forgive me for ignoring you these past few weeks. The last month has been a blur of either so-much-to-post-that-I-don't-know-where-to-start OR my-god-is-my-life-really-this-boring? And so, I'm going to dedicate this return post to a quick catch-up. Because there actually were a few cool things that happened in the last month, and that's not even counting my annual participation last weekend in the world's largest trivia contest.
First of all, last month I won this fun award from a local radio station. They do a Working Mother of the Week, and in mid-March, that was me! I even had an on-air interview. Course, I was so distracted by the guy's crazy radio voice when he called that it wasn't until halfway through that I realized he was using his I'M TOTALLY EXCITED radio voice because he was recording our conversation...for the radio. Oh well. Thank you to Stacy, my amazing co-worker and friend, for thinking of me and writing such a nice nomination letter...even though I did kinda sound like a dork on the radio.
Last month, we turned Nora's car seat around. Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but it has allowed me to do something that I haven't done in almost 5 years -- ride in the front passenger seat of the van on trips. The way it always worked on longer trips is that I sat in the back with Owen...and when Nora came along, she and I sat in the third-row. They spent their first year and a half or so riding rear-facing, and I rode in back so I could see them and keep them entertained. But with Nora facing forward, there's no reason for me to stay secluded in the back. I can simply turn around in my seat to offer both her and Owen crackers, books, crayons..you name it (but oy, the neck cramps). It's weird. Jon and I actually get to have conversations while driving again.
Owen no longer wears a pull-up at night. That started around his 5th birthday, when he asserted that he was old enough to just wear underwear. It's still not 100%, er, successful, but most of the time it's just fine. And it resulted in a funny new saying around here. We once told him he could "go commando" for bed, so when he woke up the next morning, he informed me that he had a "dry commando." He also sometimes "wears a commando," or has a "wet commando." I tried explaining the finer details of the term, but it seems lost on a 5-year-old.
Wow, is that really all that has been going on? Maybe I'll just end with a few cute pictures of the kids and leave it at that. Until next time!
Nora in her new Girls Rock t-shirt. (Check out the new documentary!)
Owen finding a quiet respite at Trivia
First of all, last month I won this fun award from a local radio station. They do a Working Mother of the Week, and in mid-March, that was me! I even had an on-air interview. Course, I was so distracted by the guy's crazy radio voice when he called that it wasn't until halfway through that I realized he was using his I'M TOTALLY EXCITED radio voice because he was recording our conversation...for the radio. Oh well. Thank you to Stacy, my amazing co-worker and friend, for thinking of me and writing such a nice nomination letter...even though I did kinda sound like a dork on the radio.
Last month, we turned Nora's car seat around. Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but it has allowed me to do something that I haven't done in almost 5 years -- ride in the front passenger seat of the van on trips. The way it always worked on longer trips is that I sat in the back with Owen...and when Nora came along, she and I sat in the third-row. They spent their first year and a half or so riding rear-facing, and I rode in back so I could see them and keep them entertained. But with Nora facing forward, there's no reason for me to stay secluded in the back. I can simply turn around in my seat to offer both her and Owen crackers, books, crayons..you name it (but oy, the neck cramps). It's weird. Jon and I actually get to have conversations while driving again.
Owen no longer wears a pull-up at night. That started around his 5th birthday, when he asserted that he was old enough to just wear underwear. It's still not 100%, er, successful, but most of the time it's just fine. And it resulted in a funny new saying around here. We once told him he could "go commando" for bed, so when he woke up the next morning, he informed me that he had a "dry commando." He also sometimes "wears a commando," or has a "wet commando." I tried explaining the finer details of the term, but it seems lost on a 5-year-old.
Wow, is that really all that has been going on? Maybe I'll just end with a few cute pictures of the kids and leave it at that. Until next time!
Nora in her new Girls Rock t-shirt. (Check out the new documentary!)
Owen finding a quiet respite at Trivia
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