Can You Hear Me Now?

Well, I'm just a blogging fool this week, aren't I?  Believe it or not, I've actually been sick (the kind where even your hair hurts) so I'm not sure why I'm spending more time on line.  I think it has to do with the fact that the mints are napping in their pack-n-plays now so for about 2 hours every morning  I have to do laundry, clean the upstairs, or be on the computer so as not to rudely awaken them.  Guess which one I choose?  Yes, I know you're supposed to make noise so they learn to sleep through anything~and I don't try to muffle the creaking of our wood floors~but I think trying to load the dishwasher with E sleeping in the breakfast nook is just asking for trouble.

Speaking of E, I watched my poor little muffin puke 8 times in 2 hours last night.  It was awful.  At first I was just bewildered because she rarely spits up but then I smelled it and realized that it was real live puke from my baby.  MY BABY!!!  It was awful.  For a couple of hours she was all pale and limp, just looking at me like, "Why do I feel like this?  Why do you hate me?" and when I picked her up she would lay her head on my shoulder and sigh heavily.  She would wretch and I could actually hear her stomach churning.  Gah.  I waited a while and then offered to nurse her which she did eagerly and promptly puked it all over me.  I changed clothes 3 times.  Meanwhile, the S'more was happy and kicky and laughing.  Anyway, it must have been a bug? food poisoning? a fluke? because she nursed before bed last night and then later on (very unusual but she puked 2 feedings earlier so it makes sense) and was fine this morning.  We tried peas for the first time yesterday, but around 9 am (oh, they don't care when they eat vegetables!) and she started puking at 4.  I don't think the 2 are related, but we'll hold off on peas until next week and then try again.

Edited to add: I was just thinking last week that we have made it to 7 months without any ear infection, cold, cough, flu or sickness of any kind.  When I was done patting myself on the back I realized that I probably just jinxed myself.  Pride and fall and all that.

Anyway, I am currently on hold with our phone company since I realized that we are paying $60/month for a buttload of services that we never use.  Seriously, do any of you use 3 way calling?  Call Forwarding?  Speed calling?  Automatic callback?  When we set up our service I was suckered into ordering the big package because it saves us money!  Uh huh.  I called this morning to cancel everything we don't use and only order voice mail and caller ID and the nice young man read his script accurately and tried to talk me into another package that would save me money and cost more.  Sheesh.  I talked him down and he countered with 2 free months of DSL followed by free long distance if I switch from our current carrier.  I just want to call and have my wishes magically done and not have to keep saying, "No, I think I'll just stick with what I originally said."

So A and I are thinking of canceling our landline (land line?  Land-line?) altogether and just going cellular.  It seems like a waste of money to have both and cells come in handy a lot more often than the home phone.  We have some friends who are all-cellular-all-the-time and seem to enjoy it.  I have a few concerns about it, though.

First: what about 911?  Currently they can't pinpoint your location via a cell phone; they can only find the nearest tower.  If there's an emergency at my house and someone calls 911, I want them to be able to find us quickly and efficiently.  Plus, we'll have to remember to bring a phone upstairs every night.  Otherwise I'll constantly worry about hearing someone break into our house and head upstairs to murder us in our beds and not be able to call the police.  Shiver.

Second: what about babysitters?  So someone comes over to watch the girls and I say, "Call me on my cell if you have problems."  Well, what are they going to call me with?  They'll have to have their own cell phone and can I guarantee that?

Third: if I have a cell phone, does that mean that I always have to answer it?  I hate the phone.  I rarely answer it.  I now have the excuse that I'm busy with the girls and before I couldn't make it across the room in time because my belly was keeping me from flitting and floating like a fairy.  But those are just excuses.  Before babies and before pregnancy I would still ignore the phone sitting just inches from my hand.  I don't know why, but I hate it.

Anyone out there all-cellular-all-the-time?  What do you think?

Comments

[Chris]

My sister and BIL are all cellular and they love it! She rarely returned my calls before and still doesn't now that she just has the cell phone. :) You can just say that the phone was A: Dead or B: You were changing diapers and couldn't get to it. We are also thinking of going without our land line as well. One of my concerns was that the pediatrician's pager sometimes has issues if you call from a cell phone.

Sorry E was so sick. My little one was about 6 months old when she got her first bug last winter. I remember how awful I felt for her.

I hope she is over it now and your girls stay healthy the rest of the winter.

[Sarah]

My husband and I go back and forth on going all cellular. We currently don't have cell phones, but we have in the past and have enjoyed them.

I know they make this phone cradle thing where you can hook it up to your house phones when you're at home and then all of your house phones will work through your cell. So it's like you don't even have a cell phone then.

Can't help you with the 911 thing. That is a cunundrum (spelling?).

One possibility with the baby sitter is that you could have one of those "family plans". P and I had one of those. We had two phones, two phone numbers, but one pool of minutes we each pulled from. You could have a third cell phone to keep at home for baby sitters and such. Just an idea.

[Jane]

When I lived in a city (I now live where it's so rural we don't have cell towers!) I did all cellular for long distance and it worked very well. I kept a regular line at home for 911 and any calls I did not want to receive at inconvenient times, like at work. (ie my realtor who drove me CRAZY with my cell). I just made them give me the bare minimum, which does not cost much at all (I'm thinking $10/month?). I found it much more cost effective.

The biggest problem I've had is that I signed a contract increasing my cell minutes for two years when I did that, and then when I moved here I've been paying for a lot of minutes I can't possibly use since I can't use the cell phone much of the time. But that's up in a few weeks and I get to talk them into a better package. Great.....

[heather]

i'm all-cellular-all-the-time, but then again it's just me, my boyfriend, and my roommate here at our place and we all have our cells. no kids thus no babysitters (or dog sitters, sigh) need to call us from anywhere. people (family) used to complain that we didn't have a land line, but they're getting used to it because honestly, it was just another bill we didn't need for a service we didn't use.

[Kristine]

We do what Jane does- just a regular line at home, no long distance. So we can call 911 (that's my husband's work number). We also each have a cell phone so if we have a babysitter without a cell we just leave one of ours. It works pretty well for us.

[Sierra]

Poor little baby! I'm terrified about getting through Aidan's first sick spell. Sounds like you both made it through without any meltdowns. I hope you feel better soon.

Cheers to a happy and healthy new year!

[MOT]

I am so sorry your baby is sick! Poor one, actually vomiting and not just spitting up. I don't think I have had a vomiting baby yet, or maybe I'm so fried I can not tell the difference. We are in our second week of endless crying suddenly becoming running around screeching as the Tylenol kicks in, then crying again. It means we have had no time without some kind of baby noise unless they are asleep. The DH just took them out so I can bathe and go on line and listen to my own self breathe for a while.

Is E feverish, or just vomiting? Have you noticed any mouth blisters or ulcers? What about under her tongue? That's where the first of the boys' nasty mouth things was hiding. That's why it went unnoticed. If you get worried about her drinking enough, try pumped breast milk in a cup with a straw. They seem to think it's quite fun - even Baby B, who has the bad ulcers now, will drink it that way. In a cup you can measure how much she gets. From the boob, she may not be drinking a lot, just sipping, because it's so nice to be near Mama.

She may be allergic...My Baby B is allergic to eggs and blueberries, I hope nothing else. Most pediatricians think an egg allergy (yolks esp.) is odd. Maybe she had a reaction to the peas, or something she got with the peas. Butter? pepper? what oil do you use? Corn oil can be an allergen...

I hope she's better soon!

Clare

[Jody]

I would keep a barebones landline for emergencies--power outages just when your cellphone is down to its last bit of battery power, random acts of nature against your local cell phone network (lightening, flood, complete tech snafu), or future toilet experiments involving cell phones. But I'm one of those people who makes sure to have a single corded phone hooked up at all times "just in case" (all the cordless phones stop working when the power goes out) so I may be paranoid.

Hope everyone is feeling betters soon....

[Becky]

We still keep a land line too, mostly for emergencies and a few local calls (and because all our family members know our phone number). One problem with all cellular is that if you forget to charge it, you won't have anything to call with!

Becky