kapachino

Author: Kathleen

  • It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas?

    Don’t stone me, but even though it’s not even Halloween I am about to talk about Christmas. Some of you probably shun all things Christmas until after Thanksgiving but it’s my favorite holiday, I want it to last as long as possible, so as far as my blog is concerned Christmas has arrived!

    I like almost everything about Christmas including the gifts, shopping, delicious food and cookies, holiday music, lights, and family getting together. I also really love sending and receiving Christmas cards. One of my only serious crafty hobbies is making cards, and I actually have done that several times in the past for Christmas, but it’s a huge undertaking and I obviously do not have that kind of time anymore. Besides, all anyone cares about now is Meredith, so we want to send out a photo card with her picture on it.

    I’m so happy to be partnering with Shutterfly this year for my holiday cards. I’ve heard great things about them (my mom used them to make a photo book from our wedding), and they have so many choices it’s kind of ridiculous. I have spent WAY too long picking out our design, choosing pictures, and editing.

    I had specific criteria for my card: one main photo, must be flat because I don’t want to have to write anything (hey, it’s either that or don’t send cards at all), stationery paper, simple. These were some of my finalists, but it was hard to narrow it down. I’ll be placing my order this week!

    What’s even better is that I have a code for three of you to win 25 free cards of your own! Use it for your own holiday cards, or even for regular greeting cards or birth announcements. To enter, fill out the form below. (If you have trouble seeing it, make sure you have Javascript enabled.)

    Oh, and merry Christmas. ;)

  • my brother got married

    I have two awesome younger brothers, David and Barry. David is only 14 months younger than I am, while Barry and I are separated by 3 1/2 years. They are best friends, and while I don’t see or talk to them as much as I’d like, we still have a great time together and lots of wonderful memories.

    David always said he’d be a lifelong bachelor. He claimed he was too selfish to get married. My husband told him over and over that all he needed was the right girl, and he’d change his mind. He was right. Basically, my brother is a walking cliche.

    He and Maggie got engaged earlier this spring, and their wedding was a couple weekends ago. They wanted something small, laid-back, without all of the traditional rituals. I think they pulled it off wonderfully.

    Now for some pictures! Once again, my aunt took all of these. I was too distracted. Thanks, Marchar!

    This is the little outfit Meredith wore to the rehearsal:

    They had a bunch of props out for the photobooth, and since my brother is a South Carolina grad, this was one of them.

    Later at the rehearsal dinner Maggie’s sister’s daughter Stella (now David’s niece too) was fascinated by Meredith. She’s 2 1/2 years old. She wanted to hold Meredith, so I set them up but kept my hand there for safety. Stella took my hand and pushed it away and said, “Take your hand off.” She wanted to do it all by herself!

    The newly-married couple! Maggie looked amazing.

    My youngest brother Barry gave such an amazing Best Man speech. I wanted him to keep going! It was personal, funny, touching, and emotional. Seriously, some girl needs to snatch him up. When I got married he wrote me a 3-page letter full of memories. He brought Meredith a birthday gift in the hospital and makes special trips to see her. He’s sensitive, hilarious, and extremely smart. Any takers??

    And of course, here’s Meredith in her wedding outfit. Their colors were black and red, so it was perfect.

    Getting tired.

    After a week of being sick and a weekend full of family and festivities, we were relieved to get back to our regular routine last week and enjoy a low-key weekend at home.

  • Smart Thinking Lifestyle Tips For A Working Mom

    Thanks to Tervis for sponsoring my writing. Visit their website http://www.tervis.com to learn more about the world’s first smart cup.

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    In the course of a year I’ve gone from being a newly-married, career-oriented infertile to a working, breastfeeding mom. It’s been a big change. I’m still adjusting every day, but there are some things that have made the transition a lot easier.

    >Cultivate balance. I know that working full time doesn’t make me a bad mom and the fact that work isn’t my #1 priority doesn’t make me a bad employee. While I’m at work I try to be there 100%, but I make time to pump and if I finish early I leave early, and I definitely don’t think about work while I’m at home.

    >Establish a routine. This has been THE biggest help. Since I have to leave for work so early I do everything I can at night, that way getting out the door in the morning is a breeze. After letting myself sleep in on Saturday, I do a quick general clean first thing and get laundry done. That way Sunday can be a true day of rest.

    >See your partner as your teammate. My husband loves doing errands, so I let him do all the grocery shopping. He’s also in charge of taking care of the dogs by feeding them and giving Eddie her nightly pill. When I need some time to myself (to shower or get things done) he takes Meredith for awhile, and often bathes her.

    >Use lists. What works best for me is the amazing “Things” app for iPhone. It’s the best, most intuitive to-do list I’ve ever found. Through it, I keep track of daily tasks, projects, and ideas. I’d be lost without it.

    >Prioritize your “me” time. I make sure to do something I enjoy every day, like reading a chapter in a book, watching a TV show, taking a walk, or socializing with my family. I have a lot of hobbies and interests, and if I’m not careful I’ll let even those fun things overwhelm me. When I have free time I think about what will really give me the most pleasure at that moment, and I do that. I don’t do something (even blogging) if I don’t feel like it.

    There are more, but I thought hard about it and those are the biggest, most important things that keep my life relaxed, manageable, and fun. Now, tell me your smart lifestyle tips!

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    I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about Tervis, visit their website http://www.tervis.com.

  • How I Conquered Mastitis

    This is kind of like a weekend recap, except that I’m going to be talking about LAST weekend, and the week before that, so it’s pretty much ancient history by  now, and I wouldn’t even bring it up but that a couple important things happened that I want to tell you about.

    (Also, I had a really good weekend THIS weekend including sleeping, reading, working on the blog and reading blogs, bookstore browsing, a trip to Target with my husband where I bought these for the second time since my first pair got chewed up and a couple adorable outfits for Meredith because I couldn’t resist. But all that is nothing compared to the weekend before, which is what I’m about to tell you about now.)

    Let’s start on a Tuesday, almost two weeks ago now. I had been feeling a bit congested for a few days, and since Meredith had been too I figured she passed something on to me and it would either be gone soon or get worse and I’d stay home a day or two and rest and then it would go away. That day at work I was training to be charge nurse so I was helping to make the next day’s assignment. We were overstaffed, so my manager suggested I take the next day off, and who am I to refuse such an offer?

    Literally as we were discussing this I became acutely aware of a pain in my left breast that had been steadily increasing over the past hour. It was the end of the day and my first thought was that I needed to pump and SOON. I went to do so, and while I was pumping I began to feel a mild chilling sensation. I took my temperature and it was normal, but the breast pain was worse.

    I left for the day, and since I park remotely it takes me about 20 minutes to get to my car. During that time I began to chill harder and harder. I became so weak that it took all my strength to keep walking, and my skin began to crawl. Stepping into my hot car that had been sitting in the sun all day was relief; in fact I even wanted to turn on the heater. But I still had an hour to drive.

    The breast pain was excruciating, the chills left me in agony. At the time I was almost as miserable as I was during labor. I could barely stand having clothes on and I think I nearly passed out several times. Looking back I should have pulled off the side of the road and had someone come pick me up, but I made it home safely somehow. The first thing I did was take my temperature. It was taking too long to finish so I pulled the thermometer out early. 103.17. I already had a hot shower running but at that point I reconsidered. Instead I just got in bed and had Meredith nurse on the affected side.

    That night was a blur. My mom came over, and I know that she and David worked tirelessly to get a doctor on the phone to call me in some antibiotics. I slept, took Tylenol, kept a heating pad on my breast, and nursed Meredith. In the morning I felt better but still mildly feverish. It got better, but then came back in the evening. But by Thursday night I felt mostly recovered, only congested again, and I went in to work on Friday. It still took several more days and lots of heat and massaging for the redness, swelling, and hard knot to subside in my breast, but I came out on the other side and I didn’t give up on breastfeeding.

    After the infection, I noticed that my supply took a drop. Not a drastic one, but I was worried because I had slowly used up my freezer stash and I needed to keep pumping enough to send to daycare with Meredith. But not pumping often enough was probably the reason I got a blocked duct to begin with, which is what put me at risk for infection coupled with some cracks in my skin. So for a few days I had to spend some extra quality time with the pump and even brought it home to pump in the middle of the night once. I redoubled my efforts to pump three times while at work, and since then I have noticed an improvement.

    So that’s how I conquered mastitis. It was way worse than I ever imagined, and I really hope I’m not one of those women who are just predisposed to it. I’m going to work hard to prevent it in the future, and I’ll be hyper vigilant to the signs.

    I was going to tell you about my brother’s wedding, which happened right after I dealt with this, but now that I think about it I don’t want to associate the two things. So that will be another post, coming soon. :)

  • Workplace Happiness

    Going to work is kind of necessary for most of us. Unless you are independently wealthy, have a sugar daddy, are still in school, or just make a lot of sacrifices and frugal choices to stay at home, you probably work. Usually it’s around 40 hours a week, some more, some less. That’s a huge chunk of time, so it makes sense that how you feel while at work is going to have a big impact on your overall happiness.

    I’d say the best way to stay happy at work is to love what you do. I’m a registered nurse, and I’m really glad I can say that I do love it. I work in outpatient oncology, and the bulk of what I do is administer chemo, blood products, and other IV medications. It’s different every day so I don’t get bored, challenges me mentally, and best of all allows me to meet people and affect them positively in the midst of tough circumstances. I’ve started making it my mission to give them a good experience in our clinic and hopefully begin or continue a positive relationship with them. When my patients are happy, it’s easy for me to be happy too.

    Sometimes, however, I’m running late, I run into a lot of snags with a patient, things get hectic, I forget to drink water or don’t have time to eat lunch, I didn’t get enough sleep, etc. It’s during those times that I have to take extra steps to get through the day happily. They include:

    >Coffee. I drink some every morning on the way to work, but if that’s not enough I’ll turn to the clinic pot for an extra boost.

    >Gum. Sometimes it’s all I need to get a little burst of energy until I have a chance to sit down and eat.

    >Ask for help. I’m not the only nurse there, and we’re a team. Lots of people are glad to help ease my burden.

    >Vent. Whether it’s calling my husband or talking to a coworker, sometimes I just need to get out my frustrations and I feel better.

    >Positive self-talk. I remind myself that I’m only there until 4 p.m., put myself in the place of my patients (immediate perspective), or remember all the great experiences I’ve had at work. I also try and think about something I look forward to, like picking up my daughter from daycare.

    These are just some examples. How do YOU stay happy and engaged at work?

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