Cuckoo for Box Tops

I hope I'm not alone on this one!  But ever since Brady started school I have gone a little nutty for these things. 

It all started when the letter came home announcing the class with the most box tops turned in would win a pizza party  Now who doesn't love pizza?  It is my favorite food in whole entire world!!  I called the relatives and got them involved too.  Brady's class won and ever since, this momma likes her box tops.  Sometimes it is the deciding factor between buying generic or store brand and the name brand!  But shhhh don't tell. 

I set a goal of saving 100 over the summer and I topped it!!  136 in all :)

Let's hope Brady's class is the one eating pizza this Fall too!

Duh...that hurts

I don't work out.  If I did it would look like this:

I have tried it a few times in my life but it really wasn't fun.  That being said, I have no idea what muscles do what things.  So, obviously after getting a boob job using your chest muscles HURT but since I don't know what things require chest muscles, everything was kind of a surprise for me.  Here's a list of (surprising for me) things that hurt after a boob job:

1.  Opening the very pill bottles that are supposed to help you - damn kidproof lids!
2.  Round brushing your hair
3.  Driving! or even closing car doors in general for that matter.
4.  Brushing your teeth.
5.  Closing sliding glass doors.  Just don't do it.
6.  Playing the game Trouble with your 6 year old - damn pop'o'matic bubble!  Stick with Candyland.
7.  Cleaning? yeah forget it.  Vacuuming and scrubbing - just say No.

And this is a disclaimer. but Drs. lie about pain.  I know this and yet I still ask them if something is going to hurt.  Like when I asked my male ob/gyn if getting a tubal would add pain.  Um hello - the man doesn't even have fallopian tubes.  And by the way it does! 

In nursing school, they teach you not to lie to your patients ever.  Apparently, the same is not taught in med school.  Again, not having learned my lesson, I ask the Dr. if getting the drains pulled will hurt.  She said no its just weird.  Liar!!  It was weird AND freakin' hurt all at the same time. 

A 2 year old was helping me write this blog today and he wants an image of his fave doctor in here.
Now I ask would Doc McStuffins lie?

So I'm plastic

OK so here's the post that I am not sure I really want to share but here's to being real! Haha (pun intended) 

or Plastic!

 



I have always joked with Steve about how after breastfeeding all 3 boys I was gonna get and deserve a boob job :)  I wasn't sure if I would ever go through with it but then after some things happened in our personal life, Me and the girls could really use a pick-me-up so to speak.  Working in the medical field, especially the OR, you hear who is good at what.  I had heard Dr. Anain was really good at lifts. I pretty much knew I would need one.  I have been a C cup since the 7th grade.  I really wanted the fullness back at the top.  My boobs after all they had been through in the last 6 years looked like someone let all the air out. 

They weren't this bad, but this is hilarious!

Who would have thought I would want my college boobs back?  I wasn't a fan of those in 1998 but before surgery they sounded pretty great.  I chose to get a breast lift and small implants to get the fullness back.  I stressed to the Dr. that I did NOT want big boobs. 

No

I have had boobs since the 4th grade and was pretty much sick of underwire and being a slave to the bra.  You don't realize how much you shop for clothes based on wearing a bra.  I do not own one thing that is spaghetti strap.  And those clear bra straps??  Yeah, I still see them but nice try Victoria.  I also stated I kind of wanted the fake boob look.  I know - what?  I figured I had natural looking ones for 20 years why not have a pair that look real nice!!  You get to make a few decisions: silicone vs. saline, under the muscle or over and size.  The Dr. does the rest.  So after 3 different appts. to try on implants I decided on saline.  Saline because they look more round than silicone and that was the look I wanted.  Silicone is more expensive by the way and is recommended to be changed (hello another sugery?) after 10 years.

The Dr. makes you bring a bra that has nothing to it, absolutely nothing, no lining or padding.  Well, that meant I had to buy one because all my bras have lining, no one wants to see the THO.  So I bought a cheap one at Target and brought that and a colored cotton crew neck shirt to my appt. just like I was instructed to.  So there I am trying on all these fun implants (wondering how they clean them the whole time) and I literally CANNOT decide.  First, she tells me that after the lift I will be smaller?  She makes no guarantees on bra size or cup size, which is pretty much how women see boobs!, she will overfill the implant anyway? and to make matters worse my one boob was bigger than the other so which one are we starting at??  Yup I was super confused!  Who knew getting new boobs was such a hard decision.  I changed my mind a few times to say the least.  I finally decided on 210 implants that she would overfill to 240, under the muscle and not to fully cut the muscle to release the implant.  That's a lot of words but for my friends who have had this done before me - you know what I mean. 

Heck Yeah!!



And then since we were getting on the table why not a little liposuction - right?  I threw the liposuction of the abdomen on there too!  After gaining 45 lbs. with the 1st, 26 lbs. with the 2nd and 21 lbs. with the 3rd baby, this abdomen could use a little suction.  1000 ml's of fat er Mcdonald's gone!

I made sure we had a fun Summer and made it to the fair twice before the big day.  Steve took a week off from work to care for the kids because I knew I would be in no shape for that.  I took a leave of absence from work to re-cooperate and had it done Thursday, August 14th.  The first 3 days were absolutely horrible.   I like to think I'm a big shot because I come home the next day after having a c-section but this was so much worse than that!  It hurt to breathe, or move and felt like an elephant sitting on your chest and like someone ripped your arms off at the armpits.  The Dr. wanted to give me lortabs but I get a rash and barf from those.  I asked for percocets because I took those with my first c-section and knew they didn't make me sick.  She gave me tylenol with codeine #3 instead (biotch).  I should have said "no percocets - no cut!"  Luckily, a good friend came through and helped me in my time of need. 

Here's what I learned through this fun experience.  It wouldn't be my style if I didn't find the humor in surgery.

1.  Narcotics are not your colon's friend.

2.  Even smart nurses who have taught 100's of patients about constipation and narcotic use are not exempt from the same fate!
3.  Raisin Nut Bran and water are not a solution.
4.  Advocate for yourself to the Dr. and don't be afraid of looking like a bitch. 
5.  Love yourself - it's way easier and cheaper than surgery.   

I really do cloth diaper

I think sometimes people really don't think I cloth diaper.  Well we do on a daily basis, trust me!  I have the laundry to prove it.  Big and little Steve, (papa and the hubs) are in on it too!  Now I admit those 2 do like to leave me dirty diapers upstairs in the bathroom but I can deal with that.  I spray a mean diaper anyway with the least mess.  We have a designated spray toilet.  That means a toilet that has a sprayer attached to it. I don't know why the tubing looks gold in this pic.  Its clear and I can use it whenever, I don't even have to flush the toilet. 

We are lucky enough to have 3 bathrooms in this house and the toilet in the boys bathroom is it!  I am not going to lie, the spray toilet is yucky but that's because it really only gets used for this purpose.  I don't even keep toilet paper in the bathroom because no one ever goes in there.  Sometimes a little boy might pee in the toilet before getting in the tub but that's pretty much all the action it ever sees.  I keep a wetbag on the bathroom door to put the dirty diapers after they are sprayed till laundry day. 

I keep a diaper pail in the family room.  I know, weird. 

But no one carries these boys upstairs to change their diapers.  We keep a blanket in the family room and that is the changing place.  I wash every other day and line dry.  If the diapers are still damp in the morning and we need them, then I tumble dry that last bit.  We have Bumgenius, grovia and bottombumpers AIO's. 

I am not one of those cloth diaperin' gamma's who has cute displays for her diapers when they are not in use.  I know people who buy cute decorative boxes for their walls.  This is how you can catch my poop catchers most of the time. 

Now does this mean you won't catch these kids in a disposable from time to time?  No way! these kids wear disposable diapers to picnics, all day affairs, sickness, vacation, etc.  But in the bubble: home, target, wegman's - they have fluffy butts!! 

Remember that bathroom remodel

Yeah that one we started at the end of April!  Well it's done!!  I guess that's how long projects take when you have 3 kids and its Summer time.  Our master bath had some pretty heinous wallpaper and these big sinks that had a huge overhang and ate up all the counterspace.  Oh and I forgot to mention the brass light fixtures that I have hated since 2009.  We got new corian sinks and counters, changed out the lights, peeled that wallpaper and painted the walls a shade of gray.  It was called Gray screen, it was a pottery barn color from Sherman Williams.  New towels, bars and accessories and we are calling it done!  My hope is to move in the next year or two so I am putting up with the mirrors stuck on the walls for now.  My husband is thankful :)  With this bathroom, hubs has repainted the entire house in 5 years.  Except for a glass shelf for Steve's colognes and deoderant, we are finished.  And I hope he doesn't think I am not making him remove the back of the toilet and paint behind there - because I am! Here's some pics, before and after which I think are the best kind!! 

Before!

After