The sexiest fashion accessory to date...NOT

I've figured out the essential accessory all women should, no MUST, NO NEED to have! A splint!

I'm being completely facetious of course.  Yes, folks- at the ripe old age of 30 I've had a "first"- I've broken my first bone.  Only I could have pulled such a bonehead move as I did yesterday, crushing the bone at the tuft of my right thumb (yep, my dominant hand).

I have to say- it all started with my ambition to be efficient in my personal time management (ie- wanting to stick to my To Do list!!).  We left for pre-school about 40 minutes early to stop at ShopRite and pick up a few odds and ends (the nug LOVES a good grocery store outing but not so much the unloading process- it seemed like a good compromise at the time...).  After I dropped her there, I returned home to unload my groceries and get a few household chores done before I had to go back to get her.  Once I was done unloading, I closed my trunk...with my thumb stuck in it.  If it sounds painful and gross, that's because it is really painful and gross.  Unfortunately, for me, my car keys were in the front door of my house...just laughing at me from 30 feet away.  We just got this new car on Saturday (did I mention that? Yeah, we're not getting along so far...), and from what I could tell, there was no button on the rear of the car to easily pop the trunk back open.

Unable to move and seeing stars, I resorted to the only thing I could think of- yelling "HEEEEEEELLLLLPP!!  ANYONE!!! HEEEEEEELLLLPP!!"  Sadly, no one answered.  My next door neighbor's car was in the driveway and I'd just seen another neighbor checking the mail a few minutes prior, but whether they didn't hear me or thought I was playing around, no one came out.  Every bad thought ran through my head- if no one came soon, I could lose my finger- I could be there for HOURS before kids got home from school and people emerged from their houses to get them.  The pain was so so bad just thinking about being there that long made me feel faint.  Low and behold (and by the grace of God) a neighbor I never met happened to be driving by and saw the crazy, frantic, pregnant woman flailing her left arm in the air.  He retrieved my keys, popped the trunk and saved the day (and my  finger!!!)

Of course, from there, I had to get to a doctor (once I stopped shaking and felt a little less like I was going to puke), and figure out how to do that, AND get the nug, and stop my hand from throbbing (my thumb looked like a cartoon of a thumbs up...except black, blue and bloody).  Thank goodness -as always-- my in laws were there in a flash to help and the hubs got home as soon as he could (in NYC commuting time, that means a couple of hours).  The orthopedist took one look and said he had no doubt I'd crushed the tip of the finger- but being pregnant, preferred not to do an X-ray unless my thumb was hanging off (which thankfully, it wasn't).

So, for the next 4-6 weeks my thumb will be wrapped up tight.  I might not regain total feeling but mobility shouldn't be a problem (which I'm okay with considering how much worse it *could* have been).  I got lucky in so many ways yesterday that the it's hard to even be upset about it happening.  If Cam had been home she could have hurt herself inside the house if I was stuck outside; or if she was outside with me she could have wandered into the street without me being able to grab her.  If my neighbor hadn't come by I could have been there a very long time, and not but 10 minutes after he rescued me it down poured something crazy outside.   If my in-laws hadn't been nearby and quick to help, I might have spent a lot of extra time in unnecessary pain and wouldn't have been able to get in to see a great orthopedist as quickly as I did.  On a silly side note, apparently I'm also lucky that I'm a quick left handed typer!

That's not all that happened yesterday....in an interesting related (but separate) side story, the hubby decided a few weeks ago that he really likes the name Brenden (for the wee man).  Being the lover of options that I am, I liked the name but continued on checking the baby name message boards (yes, they exist!), looking up names online and "trying on" names I really liked.  However, all this time, he's been steadfast on his love of the name Brenden.  It's a common enough name- I've met with a few "Brenden"s my age or older, but haven't really heard it on a baby or toddler in recent years.  Yesterday, in the midst of my dizzying pain, I said thank you to my "rescuer" a dozen times, introduced myself, and in return he told me his name....you guessed it...it was Brenden.  While I find the coincidence serendipitous (and the hubs says it MUST seal the deal now), I'm still not 100% sold...although it's reaaaaallly growing on me....little Brenden, the pregnant lady finger saver (hehehe).

So that's it- the tale of my first broken bone.  I think it's safe to say my "To Do" list might be shot to hell for a little bit, but I guess maybe I'll make next week's challenge "Change poopy diaper without accidentally dipping my splint in the poo."  That alone has been a challenge!

Happy (almost) end of the week! ;)

Hello from my NEW new blog...

Well hello there!  Unfortunately, after much trial and error, the hubby and I realized that my attempt at transforming my previous blog into something more appropriate had a few errors we couldn't fix.  Without going into a three paragraph description, I'll just say we are trying out a new blog site to see if it fits my needs a little more :)

So having gone through pretty much my entire previous blog site (just for giggles), I realized how much I really enjoyed that little challenge I put on myself last year.  I wasn't entirely successful, but the challenge itself was great- being in public forum it forced me to actually TRY to accomplish these things, and helped me to at least attempt a few things I hadn't done before.  I enjoyed it so much I've decided that going forward (until little man is here), I am going to start weekly challenges with myself.  I'm sure doing as such with a whacked out toddler and baby in the belly sounds a bit overzealous, but really, I think I NEED to do it...

Why? Well, in all honesty I've been feeling a little bit defeated lately.  I know I've said before how I thought being a sahm would be this big ball of laughs (and it's not) so I don't need to re-hash that; however, lately, with so many changes and my hubs finding so much personal success, I'm REALLY feeling a need to form some of my own personal success.  Now, obviously I'm SUPER psyched for my husband's success, he works his tooshy off, totally deserves it and obviously good for him = good for me (well, I guess that isn't ALWAYS the case but in this instance, it is).  I really am so happy for and proud of him- anyone who knew him way back when wouldn't even recognize him anymore, he's grown into such an amazing man (sorry for the mush fest, my hormones have me all gushy and my hubby is a huge source of pride for me, he's so terrific).  Yet somehow I feel a little bit like I've become a bystander in the success of my own life and it's a feeling that leaves me bummed and annoyed and any number of icky adjectives.  I'm guessing this is a pretty typical side effect of being a stay at home mom.  I do think, however, that it's something I CAN fix easily, if I just apply some effort.

I don't think that personal success is mutually exclusive of being a sahm- I don't feel that all sahms get this feeling or that all working moms feel totally fulfilled.  I am one of those wacky people that think that happiness is all about balance- if you teeter too far in one direction, something else WILL suffer (a point I think has been proven time and again, in multiple facets of life).  It's easy to get caught up in the day to day of laundry, toddler activities (aka spending a good portion of your day avoiding a meltdown), and find yourself doing things like shopping and playground hopping as your extra activities when you're home 7 days a week (and there's nothing wrong with those activities per se).  I've decided instead of letting myself become Phil Connors (Bill Murray; Groundhog Day), I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and do something about it.

I've talked endlessly about things I "want" to do.  Some of them are sahm/house related, some are personal, but they're all things I excuse away or tell myself I don't have time to do.  Feeling as I have lately, I figure it's wholly worth it to make the push to try.

SO,  this week I'm going to give it a little whirl!  I'm going to start small, with a silly habit I've had my whole life.  Almost as long as I can remember, I've been a huge writer of "To do" lists.  I have notebooks filled with weeks worth of to do lists- just every day tasks to complete or errands that need running (I'm sure when I was little it was "play with barbies, do homework, talk to mom about Barbie ice cream parlor").  Sounds organized and productive, right?  Sure, if you follow them...I have never once referenced my task list once written, and I doubt highly I've ever actually completed a list.  My challenge to myself this week?  To complete every task on all of my daily lists.  Might this alter how I write my lists this week? Sure- but I'm really going to try to make my normal list and stick to it.  How this is going to make me feel more personally successful?  Like I said before, I don't really think that personal success HAS to be in the form of making money, but in feeling more accomplished.  I don't feel accomplished right now because I never seem to be able to complete what I start, or even get started in some instances.  So for now, my biggest  (small) goal is to be able to complete some every day things.

I'll be back later this week with how it's going!  Happy Monday!