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My One Word for 2010

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The past few years I’ve resisted much in the way of New Year’s Resolutions. I always felt mine were so trite, like I just HAD to have some resolutions that by March were in the crapper anyway.

So this year, I’m taking a different approach. In my day job, I’m a marketer and one of my fave blogs is Chris Brogan’s. He talks about having three words to guide your efforts through the year and help set goals.

I love the concept but got to thinking… why couldn’t I just have one word? One single word that will embody what I strive for in 2010. I like the idea of one word that could stick in my head. One word I could hone in on as a reminder of my year’s “goals.” So for 2010 I chose the word…

NURTURE

It’s quite fitting since I’m currently growing a human that’s due in about 9 weeks! And it extends even further than that too. Here are the ways I plan to center around the word “nurture” throughout 2010:

Nurture my newborn… through breastfeeding longer this time around.
Little Roo is planning his debut this March and I’m strangely calm about it. Oh wait, maybe that’s just denial. Denial of the inevitable sleepless nights, jealous first child, whacked out hormones and lots of baby poop. Yep, that sounds about right.

Seriously though, I will be the mother to a newborn all over again and with that comes a great deal of nurturing. The area I really want to focus is breastfeeding longer than I did with Big Roo.

With Big Roo, my intention was to breastfeed exclusively for at least 6 months. I have nothing against feeding my child formula but breastfeeding was something I really wanted to do. But (boys, you may want to cover your eyes) after mastitis with a 102 degree fever my first week post-partum, pumping milk tainted with blood and feeling little knives stabbing me every time he nursed, I only hung on through 2 months before I started converting him to formula. I admit it had started to get easier, but by then I was headed back to work full-time and I used going back to work as an excuse for not sticking with it.

For some reason, I just think it’s gonna be easier this time. And if not, I’ll hire a lactation consultant before I relent. I’m hoping to make it to at least the six-month mark.

Nurture my family.. with both patience and attention.
2010 is going to be a BIG adjustment with a newborn in the house again. I worry how Big Roo will handle all the attention I’ll need to give the wee one. I worry that I’ll get too snippy with wonderful Daddy Roo. I also worry that my patience will be even more thin than usual.

So, I plan to nurture my relationship with Big Roo through some devoted one-on-one time. Patience is one of my vices so I’m hoping to remember to center myself, take a deep breath and calm down when things get deliriously hectic. With Daddy Roo, I hope to continue the monthly date nights we just started back up late last year and to make sure we spend time together other than sitting tandem on our laptops. In fact, we just finished some awesome duel in Wii Resort so I plan to make sure that game isn’t collecting dust by spring.

Nurture my creativity… through scrapbooking our life stories and building my blog
2009 was the year of the insanely busy me. I started freelancing on top of my full-time job, became Chair of the local MS Society’s PR & Marketing Committee, took on role as Craft Day Planner for my mom’s group and a bunch of other little commitments I got myself into. After Big Roo went to bed, evenings weren’t for me anymore – they were for everyone else. So, I’ve let go of some of my commitments and hope to have more time to nurture that creative spitfire in me. This means two specific things:

– Spend more time developing this blog: writing consistently about the things that I don’t get to write about in my day job: the outdoors, my family and being a mama

– Spend more time scrapbooking: I used to be an avid scrapbooker. But then I started freelancing for a well-known scrapbooker and the time I had to spend on it went downhill. Scrapbooking is about bringing out the graphic designer and writer in me to capture our life stories. And while some may think it’s cheesy, I enjoy the creative outlet.

Nurture my body… through more frequent exercise.
My body is headed through the ringer this year. I’m 30-weeks pregnant and am already sore and uncomfortable. By March, I’ll be healing from delivering Little Roo (rather it ends up being another C-section or VBAC) so I’ll be nurturing lots of soreness in places I’ll spare you from mentioning. Once I’m on the mend, I’m anxious to get back to working out.

I’ve been an aerobics instructor for 10 years now (I stopped teaching about mid-way through this pregnancy though). After Big Roo grew more and more active, I got less and less. By the time he turned one, most weeks the only workout I was getting was the one class I taught (and an occasional hike).

This year, I want to be more active. I’d like to teach at least one class a week, workout at least 2-3 other times and hike once or twice a month. I think that’s more realistic than sadistically signing up for a marathon or something nutty like that. Baby steps, Mel, baby steps.

Nurture my career… through networking and social media.
When Little Roo comes, I’ll be going down to part-time at my Marketing Director job at a small software company. It’s a great set-up– working from home, still get benefits, etc. BUT the job doesn’t challenge me creatively like previous jobs have nor do I have an awesome team of marketing creatives to work with (it’s just me and the tech guys).

My gig on the MS Society’s PR & Marketing Committee and the people I’ve met on Twitter and at marketing events have given me some of the connection that I’m craving but I want even more. Especially since I’ll be quarantined in a house all week either working or taking care of the Roos. So, I’ll dig deeper into networking and try to develop some lasting relationships… someone I can call on for creative advice when I’m stuck on something at work. And someone to have lunch with every so often on the days that I work. I even got a silly Poken for Christmas to get me started.

Dang, if you read all the way through, kudos to you! I just wanted to get my rambling thoughts down on “paper” so I can reference them later. Choosing one word is cloaked as a simple concept, but as you can see, there’s a lot you can delve into based on that single word.

I’ll revisit my word NURTURE every month and see where I’m at in regards to my goals. And post about it too of course (though I promise the posts will be shorter than this). I’m truly curious to see what happens.

Do you have any resolutions, goals or whatever you call them? What is your word for 2010?

Pregnant Adventures in… Bloodwork?

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Do you know your blood type? Well, I thought I did until last week. And since it’s especially important when you’re 28 weeks pregnant (ever heard of RhoGAM?), this was a problem.

When you’re pregnant with your first child, you seem to be obsessed with knowing what’s happening to you week-by-week. At least I was. This time around, I haven’t even broken out my “Great Expectations” book. Instead I got hi-tech and sporadically check my Expecting iPhone app and even more sporadically look at Babycenter.com.

It was at Babycenter.com’s site that I decided to read up on my 28th week a few days before my doctor appointment. It was here that I discovered I was actually in my THIRD AND FINAL trimester (which cracks me up since last pregnancy I counted the days until I reached each trimester). Then the day after my appointment I ventured to the site again for no real reason but boredom, then read that women with a negative blood type may receive their RhoGAM shot at 28 weeks. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, take a second to skim over this.)

Wait a second. But I’m Rh Negative (O- to be exact) and they didn’t even mention the shot! I remembered getting the shot with Big Roo both at 28 weeks AND after he was born since he had a positive blood type.

So thinking the doctor forgot, I called to ask the OB nurse and things got more confusing.

She calls me back a couple of hours later. Even through the courteous hi-how-are-yas, I can hear her voice dripping with confusion. The lab results showed I’m O+ so there’s no need for a shot. I assured her that I received the shots with Big Roo and as she flipped through the patient history sent from OB in Phoenix, she confirmed that indeed I had been marked as having O- blood and received all the shots as any O- pregnant lady would.

Funny thing is that I remember sitting in the doctor’s office being told my blood type was negative last pregnancy. I whipped out my old blood donor card and pointed out that it said I was O+. They chalked it up to a typo and I honestly never thought too much of it. After all, typos happen.

Faulty blood tests apparently happen too. A couple of days after speaking with the OB nurse, she calls me to say she flagged down the ACTUAL lab results from Phoenix and get this: my 2006 bloodwork says O+ and my 2007 says O-. Um, who didn’t catch this before now?

So last Wednesday, I had to pop into the doctor’s office again for yet another blood test. At this point I was pretty sure I was indeed O+ but we may as well be certain.

Today I got a call from the doctor’s office. The results were in and I was FOR CERTAIN a pregnant lady with an O+ blood type.

Sheesh!

I had a couple of people ask me if I was mad as hell that my old OB got it all wrong a few years ago. Honestly, I’m a little irked but nothing really more than that. I was told that it wasn’t damaging to get the shot when I didn’t need it. The biggest proof of that is Big Roo, who’s healthy and smart as can be. I mean, how can I be angry at something that happened three years ago and didn’t cause me any lasting damage?

I guess the lesson is to trust your gut, however quiet it’s whispering. The blood donor card said O+ so even though I did ask about it, I should have pressed further as to why it would have been different. Call the blood bank. Or ask for a do-over on lab work. I didn’t do either and it’s only three years later that I got it straightened out.

O+, O+, O+.

I surely won’t be forgetting my blood type anytime soon!

Why I Almost Lost It Over a Pink Lovey

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Saturday was trouble in loveyland.

Not even a week after writing this post about my son’s slowly-withering companion – a pink bear named Burt – we almost lost him forever in the cramped, crowded aisles somewhere in Toys R Us.

The plan for the day was for Daddy Roo, Big Roo and I to drive to the nearest Toys R Us to finish our toy shopping. I live in not-the-middle-of-nowhere-suburbia but for some reason the closest store was 12 miles across town. Our main mission? Get Big Roo this awesome (and majorly on sale) V-Tech Digital Camera and pick up some miscellaneous things to finish off Santa’s duty for the Roo house.

After Big Roo’s nap, we packed up and headed out on a dreary, drizzly and cold afternoon to Toys R Us. When we arrived, Big Roo as usual wanted to take Burt inside (along with the red AND blue Lightning McQueen). So we stuffed the cars in his pockets and I tossed Burt in the shopping cart.

While we were in line to check out, Big Roo started peering into the cart a wee bit too much so Daddy Roo decided to walk him around the store while I paid. As I waited in line, I heard Daddy Roo say, “We’re going to go search for a bathroom. He has to pee pee.”

I think it was here that it all went downhill.

As I was annoyingly rattling off my last three phone numbers hoping desperately that one of them was THE number I used for my Toys R Us Rewards Card (man I hate being THAT person but there I was), Daddy Roo huffed past me and muttered, “We didn’t make it.” He took Big Roo over near the exit to wait. As Big Roo turned around I saw the tell-tell sign of a kid who “didn’t make it”– a big dark spot right in the crotch! I was so flustered trying to pay and feeling hurried to get the kid home for dry pants that the cashier had to remind me to take the bag of toys!

We rushed out into the cold drizzle, strapped Big Roo in the carseat and shuffled into the car to warm up and get home. It was starting to get dark, we were getting hungry and – oh yeah – Big Roo is sitting in wet pants. We hop on the highway and sit painfully through stops, starts and red brake lights a plenty. About 15 minutes later, Big Roo proclaims “I want Burt.”

My heart sank.

My stomach dropped.

Somehow I KNEW Burt wasn’t in the car, even before I turned around. I twisted my preggo body around to scan the back seat. Then I checked the abyss between the carseat and the door. I looked everywhere but Burt was gone. He was lost somewhere among all the shiny, new toys at Toys R Us. Ah, crap.

Daddy Roo zips into the next exit lane. Time to turn around and see if Burt was a goner or not. The whole drive there my senses were acutely aware of our surroundings and it threw my annoyance level into overdrive. The rain hitting the windshield, the traffic, the fact that we weren’t quite able to go the speed limit– it was all slowing us down. My mind was racing, simultaneously trying to remember when the last time that we actually saw Burt was as well as picturing how Big Roo would go to sleep tonight if Burt wasn’t in his bed. Or the next day when Burt wasn’t there for him to squeeze when he woke up. Big Roo didn’t quite understand the severity of what was happening in loveyland, but me, well, I was freaking out. Panicking.

You can’t just buy another pink bear, roll him in the dirt, wash him a zillion times and call it Burt. No, that would be an impostor. Burt was a one-and-only. And he was currently somewhere in or near a store full of hurried December shoppers.

I tried to call Toys R Us but kept getting a busy signal. And the worst… Big Roo, a rare complainer, starts whining that he’s gotta pee pee, totally in agony trying to stop himself from going again. Miserable.

An eternity later, we arrived at the store. We drove slowly past the cart return to make sure he wasn’t lying in the wet parking lot. Nope.

We pulled into a spot then walked up to the store planning our attack: Daddy Roo would retrace our steps through the Lego aisle, PlayDoh and more, while I would ask customer service about Lost and Found. As I was waiting for someone to help me, Big Roo locks his knees together and squeals “I gotta pee pee!”

I screwed waiting and picked Big Roo up to situate him around my preggo belly. I didn’t want anyone to see his pants soaked in the front. Plus, we can get there faster this way. I start walking somewhere, anywhere hoping to spot an employee who can point me to the bathroom that eluded Daddy Roo just 30 minutes earlier. I grabbed the first person I saw, asked for the bathroom and told her we lost a pink bear. She points me to the potty and said she’d go see if someone turned him into Lost and Found.

As I was hustling to the bathroom, I swear I felt it get warm around my waist. Not sure, but I think poor Big Roo peed again.

If he did, he still managed to go again once we were in an actual stall. As we walked out of the bathroom and turned the corner, I saw the most relieving sight in recent mommy memory.

The Toys R Us employee stood there, shoulders up straight with her hands behind her back.

I just knew by the stance.

She slowly pulled a tattered pink bear known as Burt out from behind her. “Were you looking for this?” She asked Big Roo.

He grinned and grabbed Burt for a big ole hug.

My eyes watered as I gave her the thank you of all thank yous. I was pretty sure she’s returned loveys to their rightful owners before, but in our world, she was our heroine.

We ventured off to find Daddy Roo who was still on the search, collectively sighed with relief and then headed home for some dry pants. We never found out exactly where Burt was discovered or what adventures he had been on. But it really didn’t matter. The separated were again inseparable.

Whew. That was close.

I'm Still Thankful… Even Though It's Monday

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After an extended weekend of rushing around my hometown to see friends and family, we’re back home… unpacking, unwinding, settling down. With all the hubbub, I neglected to write a “What I’m Thankful For” post on Thanksgiving. Not that I’m breaking any sort of rule but not posting one, but I enjoy actually sitting back and reflecting because usually I’m a non-stop, what-can-I-cross-off-my-checklist sort of gal.

But hey, what better day to reflect on what I’m thankful for than the dreaded, unproductive Monday after a holiday? So here goes:

– Despite the delay the traffic accidents caused us on the drive back home, I’m thankful that our car wasn’t involved.

– I’m thankful that my dad is recovering well from a heart attack just two weeks ago.

– I’m thankful for my rambunctious, hilarious, sweet, question-asking son… my favorite part of the day is seeing him walk into our bedroom with his pink bear tucked under his arm in the mornings.

– I’m thankful that my hubby is my parent-in-crime. We share the best and the worst of parenting together. Oh yeah, and he’s more patient than I am but I’m working on it.

– I’m thankful that I have a little wonder growing safely inside me, even if he is already causing me to lose sleep.

– I’m thankful that I can visit home for the holidays and not have to pop Tylenol because of all the family-drama. We’re a pretty mellow group.

– I’m thankful for silly things like my iPhone, Christmas decorations and the fact that Scrubs seems to keep resurrecting itself.

– Something’s gotta be said for Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks- I’m thankful a friend suggested I get addicted try them.

I’m sure I missed something uber-important so, just in case, I’m thankful for that too.