There's a first time for everything!

Despite Joshua's rough start in the world, he has been an especially healthy child. He has had maybe 3 colds and 1 fever in his entire 21 months of life - praise Jesus! Last night we had our first stomach bug. I was about to go to bed and heard this whimpering coming from Joshua's bedroom. I opened the door and immediately knew something was wrong. I turned on the light and was shocked by the large amount of red grossness all over Joshua and all over his crib!
As a side note, those of you that know me well know that I have a huge phobia when it comes to puke. I haven't thrown up myself since I was 12 years old and can't talk about it, see it, smell it, or have anything to do with it or I freak out a little bit. So, to make this discovery last night was a huge challenge for me.
At first, I wasn't sure what had happened - it looked like blood at first so I yelled for Josh who was sound asleep but came running in and was quick to point out that Joshua must have thrown up all the blueberries he ate for dinner. So, I start to freak out a little, but get myself under control to do what I had to do. Josh put Joshua in the bathtub to clean him up and I started changing the crib sheets. Joshua seemed to be feeling better so we put new pjs on him and put him back to bed. Before I left the room he started whining again and rubbed his belly which was soon followed by - you guessed it - more throw up. Poor baby was so scared by what was happening and was crying - it really broke my heart. I cleaned him up again, changed the sheets again, and he went back to bed for a little while. He woke up a few hours later after having gotten sick in his bed again. So, by now we are out of sheets and pjs. I put a huge beach towel in his crib, cleaned him up again, and then he goes back to bed for the rest of the night - thank the Lord!!
I was proud of myself for making it through the ordeal in one piece - a momma's gotta do what a momma's gotta do, but I still didn't know if Joshua had eaten something bad or just had a stomach bug. He woke up this morning asking for food and hasn't gotten sick again so far. So my questions are these: 1) How can you tell when a toddler is about to barf if he can't tell you his tummy hurts or that his tummy feels better? I have been feeling like I should follow him around all day with a bucket or something just in case. 2) I was terrified all last night that he was going to puke in his sleep and choke so I am wondering what the best thing to do with a sick little one is - I didn't want to put him in the bed with us because I didn't want him to puke in our bed. He got freaked out every time we went and sat by the toilet, so I was just completely at a loss as to what to do with him. It was such a helpless feeling - I felt completely incompetent! Any advice from you momma's out there would be of great help!!

Trying Two's

Although Joshua wont' turn two until April, he has already started "acting the part" if you know what I mean. I think part of his drama is due to the fact that he is not the center of attention anymore with the recent addition of his baby sister. He is really sweet to her directly, but has been acting out to me and Josh a lot more. Overall, he is a really good boy, but he has been having more and more moodiness and temper tantrums and I just can't figure out the best way to deal with them. Thus far, we have been doing time out in his crib when he throws a fit or blatantly disobeys. He has started to get a little attitude when you tell him no and will look right at me and do whatever I just told him not to do - oh this makes mommy unhappy! He comes by it honestly because both me and Josh are stubborn people so it is only natural that Joshua would be a stubborn little boy as well. I know I need to be more consistent with whatever method of discipline I choose, but it is so hard to know what works the best for a two year old who may or may not really understand what is going on. So, I just thought I would reach out to the masses for some helpful advice on how to best deal with the behaviour that is often associated with two year olds!!

War with Weight

So, as everyone knows I just had a baby and although my precious baby girl is an absolute joy and I wouldn't trade her for the world, she has left me quite a bit of weight to lose. It is always a little bit depressing for me after my babies are born because I no longer have an excuse to be fat. I was much more conscious of my weight gain during Julie's pregnancy than I was when I was pregnant with Joshua. I worked out until my 8th month and ate pretty well, but let's be honest here, pregnancy makes you hungry and I loved to eat before I got pregnant so putting the two together doesn't make for being one of those skinny pregnant women who walk out of the hospital in their pre-pregnancy pants - grrrhh!

Anyway, I managed to lose all the weight that I gained when I was pregnant with Joshua, but for some reason I am more discouraged about it after having Julie. It is probably due to the fact that I was just starting to look like my normal self again when I got pregnant with Julie and the fat cycle started all over again. The thing is I am really disciplined about exercising, but not so disciplined when it comes to eating healthy. I, of course, love all things bad for you and if I have a choice between a cheeseburger and a salad, I am most likely going to go for the cheeseburger. I also love to cook and have growing boys (my husband included) to feed which makes dieting a bit of a challenge. I recently tried the South Beach diet. I made it through one week of phase 1 on the diet and was so constipated (TMI - sorry!) from eating all that protein that I couldn't stand it. Josh was not to happy with the menu either - he kept asking me why the rest of the family had to suffer just cause I was on a diet - he followed this complaint with the statement that I look great and don't need to lose weight. He was being sweet, but I know he really just wanted to eat something other than broccoli and chicken :)
I was just wondering if any of you moms out there have any good weight loss tips that will help me shed the pregnancy pounds, but not jeopardize my milk supply (breastfeeding momma)? I just want to get back to my old self (and my old pants) as fast as possible! Any insightful tips would be much appreciated!!