And How Do You Do That?!?

I am getting ready to travel back to Japan with my two boys. Justin is 25 months and Ryan is 7 weeks. My mom is going with me, which is a HUGE help. Traveling with Justin can be hard enough! I have read some helpful hints about making traveling less stressful. My favorite tip is to get a flight that is during your child's nap time so he will sleep through the trip. So it takes me an hour to get to the airport, I need to get there an hour early, the first flight is an hour, I have a couple of hour layover, the next flight is nine hours, figure another hour to get luggage and move through customs, another hour to get home. Obviously neither of my kids will sleep that whole time. Even for a "short" flight how would you manage it. That is a ridiculous suggestion.

I am SO not looking forward to this trip. I hate lugging a carseat (or two), a stroller, a diaper bag, a carry-on, and two boys. I don't know which is harder, the one who can't even sit on his own or the one who will alternately run and fling his body on the floor. I will have some baby formula too, which is fun to pull out for security. Sigh. At least I don't have to go through Seattle this time. I had the WORST experience going through customs and re-entering security. The TSA people were rude, impatient, and the opposite of helpful.

Thanksgiving

I know the pie post probably sounds like the Thanksgiving post. In a way it is. Thanksgiving was a good meal, but not very exciting in terms of puke. The tastes kind of mix together. I expected to have strong cranberry overtone tastes, but did not. I had turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, corn, cranberries, rolls, sparkling cider, pie, and ice cream. So sad that there is nothing to report. I suppose I need to give Thanksgiving Dinner a green rating because to be able to eat that variety and quantity without any negative feedback is truly amazing. Nothing came out the nose either.

I hope not to have any puke experiences for awhile. After the birth of my first child I went almost 14 months (when I got pregnant again) without throwing up. That likely means the end of the Daily Barf Bucket, unless someone else wants me to add them on to add their own tales.

It was suggested that perhaps recording Ryan's birth on the Daily Barf Bucket (as opposed to noodlesandrob) would be fitting. Ryan came out from the other end though. Oddly enough, once I got my epidural not only did the pain go away, but so did the nausea. I didn't vomit through labor with this one. Once the epidural kicked in I felt better than I had for nine months. If only I could have gone through pregnancy drugged up.

To anyone with morning sickness I wish you good luck. The baby is worth it. Two boys is enough for me. I am done with the adventure of pregnancy.

Hurrah for the Pumpkin Pie!

Did you know that if you have pumpkin, apple, and cherry pie at the same time and then throw them all up that cherry is the strongest flavor? Even though I saw evidence of the others, I could only taste the cherry pie. It receives a green. It was pretty tasty both ways.

Crackers, Cheese, Chocolate, and Nuts

Okay, more reviews from the food gift basket my brother sent me. Last night I was really puking up a storm. Makes me wonder if he had the stuff laced with something so I would definitely throw up what he gave me and be able to review it. Sometimes I can't tell what is coming up, but last night there was major puke volume. Don't know why sometimes I heave and heave and only get bile and other times so much comes out in such force that it spews out my nose too. But I digress...

Crackers and cheese. Let's be specific: Haute Cusine brand certified organic stoned wheat roasted garlic with sun dried tomato crackers and Brie cheese spread. This is tough to rate, but I am going to say blue. The crackers were horrible going down so what do I really expect when they come up? Cardboard tastes better. They did have a nice texture though, and with enough Brie on them, you couldn't taste the crackers, just get the crunchy texture and the cheesey taste. Coming up the crackers had that mushy texture that balls together and can gag you, but that is common for me and crackers. The cheese was pretty tasty though.

Lindt Excellence Intense Dark 70% Cocoa Chocolate is a definite green. I love chocolate. It comes up almost as rich and dark and chocolatey as it is going down.

Evergreen Oregon Hazelnuts rate a blue. They didn't taste bad coming up, they didn't really taste period. They were good going down and the texture coming up was a little gritty, but not something that you need to avoid.

I still have the hot chocolate to try and review. I am sure my brother is holding his breath hoping that it comes up. Wouldn't it be said if it stayed down and I couldn't review it?

I'm Back

Okay, so I haven't done any reviews in awhile. Give a sick pregnant lady a break! Plus it is hard to get them in with my lovely helper, Justin, awake. He would rather watch children's songs on YouTube. In preparation for the new baby we have moved Justin's bed into the computer room. It can be a bit tricky to get much computer work done now. Enough excuses though. My brother sent me a gift basket with foods to review. How ungrateful would I be if I didn't let him know how they come up?

Chocolate Creme Wafer Cookies rate a blue. The taste is rich and chocolaty, but parts of the wafer weren't completely moist (not sure how that is possible) and have a bit of a rough texture.

Seattle Chocolate Assorted Chocolate Truffles are a green. Yum! I enjoyed the texture better while chewing them to go down, but coming up the texture was fine and the taste just as delicious.

There are still other things for me to eat, puke, and review, but that is what I have so far. Note: Included in the basket was some smoked salmon. That I will not review. I don't want to eat it and definitely don't want it to come back up. Yuck! I don't like fish. My father has offered to take it off my hands. While he will enjoy eating it, he has no plans to puke it back up in order to rate it.

Oh, in case it isn't obvious, tootsie rolls and pink lemonade are a definite red no-no. If fact, pink lemonade in general is not so great coming back up. Halloween candy in general is a green. If you like it going down, you will probably enjoy it coming up, just chew well.

And now a little deviation from food reviews, but still puke related. The other day I was puking in a public restroom and remembered how much I hated having to do that in China. It is so nice to have a nice toilet instead of a hole in the ground. Puking (and peeing) in public restrooms in China and Japan can be difficult. When you squat it can be difficult to get up without losing your balance. Plus the up and down can make me nauseous and cause a vicious puke cycle. The smell in some of the toilets in China was pretty rank too. So, if you are puking your guts out and have a "normal" toilet, remember how lucky you are.

What Color Are Your Veggies?

As a child what color broccoli is and you will probably be told that it is green. I beg to differ. Raw broccoli is most definitely red. I don't know that I have to explain that one. Chances are you have burped up raw broccoli taste. Puking it up is much, much worse AND the little green parts feel yucky and get stuck in your teeth. If you are going to eat broccoli and puke, go for cooked or at least make sure you have a good dipping sauce!

Random Rambling: Philosophy of Puke

I am five weeks from my due date and have gained 40 pounds. First trimester I lose weight, but then I pack it on. How is this possible with so much puking? I think I have made it an art form.
(1) After first trimester needing to puke is a lot like needing to pee. You know you have to, but it isn't necessarily urgent and can be put off for a certain amount of time. Try not to puke right after eating. Wait as long as you can, but not too long. Also, just like you might go to the bathroom before a long car drive even though you don't necessarily need to, a good pre-meal puke can help delay the next puke in many cases.
(2) Avoid eating and drinking at the same time. I don't know why, but for me this is a recipe for disaster.
(3) Try carbonated drinks. For me this works better. I think it is because I don't drink them as fast. I also don't tend to drink as much because the carbonation fills my stomach. If you have good self-discipline you are probably fine with just drinking slowly and little bits at at time. I have a hard time with that though.
(4) Go for the "good stuff" if you want. Pie tastes a whole lot better than broccoli when it comes up. Enjoy!
(5) Have that second (or third) piece of cake. Hey, some is going to come up anyway, right? Might as well.

A1 Is Not Always #1

I didn't think it was possible, but A1 is not always so great. I have had steak several times while pregnant, and pour on the A1. I am all about the sauce on things. In fact, sometimes food is just a means to get the sauce into my system. I haven't had problems with A1, but last night I was puking up dinner and A1 came spewing out my nose. It burned! Hopefully this will not be a recurring problem. I fear that A1 is yellow because I have learned you have to use a little restraint. So sad.

I was hoping to be able to review puking up of Wendy's Buffalo Chicken sandwich. I quite enjoyed it going down. When dinner came up I saw and tasted fries, ketchup, lettuce, and cake. Remarkably I could find no trace of the chicken. I don't understand. They were all eaten together, why wouldn't they come up together? Yet another mystery of puking.

A Rainbow of Reviews

My brother gives me a hard time about not posting more regularly. I don't think that he understands that (1) when I am puking more than usual I don't feel up to posting and (2) that I tend to eat the same kinds of things over and over. How many reviews should I write on swiss cake rolls or enchilladas? I do have some new puke picks from the past week.

Homemade Oatmeal Cookies I was craving oatmeal cookies, so I finally made some. I don't like raisins at all, and I didn't want chocolate chips or nuts in my cookies. I can only imagine that any of those things would not be so good coming up. The cookies were good coming up, but a little bit rough. Maybe I should have put them in for a minute less or perhaps it is the oatmeal, but they were a bit scratchy. I wouldn't mind more though.

Pink Frosted Sugar Cookies No, I didn't make these. I bought them at the grocery store. They are the big, sugar cookies with pink frosting and sprinkles that come ten in a box. I LOVE these cookies and they were good coming up too. The sprinkles would sometimes get in my teeth which is a bit gross. I don't like the sprinkles much to begin with. Can't really taste them and they can fall off and make a mess. I continue to be a big fan though.

Quizno's Honey Bourbon Chicken Sandwich I thought I had reviewed this before, and perhaps I have. I don't see it right off though. Delish! I love this sandwich. Coming up it seemed a bit spicy and I think I had too many onions on it for something coming back up. Will I eat it again? Yes. Will I puke it up again? Probably. I will know what to expect though.

BBQ Ribs When I had these the other day they were borderline between yellow and red. Fine going down, but coming up... The meat seemed stringy coming up and the flavor was too strong. I think it will be awhile before I try it again.

BBQ Chicken Hot Pockets I like BBQ, but this just didn't work for me. The BBQ flavor with the crust was spicy and pasty. I'm feeling a bit off just thinking about it. Guess I won't have the other one for lunch today. Probably not the whole week.

Blue Cereal

I don't know what was going on last night. I woke up (thanks to a screaming toddler) and puked and puked and puked! For dinner I had eaten ham, broccoli with cheese, and scalloped potatoes. Before bed, I had Little Debbie swiss cake rolls and milk for a snack. Nothing resembling that or tasting like that came up. Whatever it was seemed to be a greenish black color, mostly liquid texture, and tasted like skunk spray smells. Yum! Lots of backsplash too. I don't know WHAT that was all about. Today I have been puking up bile and not having much of an appetite. I did manage to get down some yogurt this morning. Just now I had a very late lunch of Cinnamon Life Cereal. It didn't stay down. Taste, not bad, but texture is very mushy.

What Was I Thinking?

Many of you (meaning the two or so people bored enough to read my blog) are probably thinking that this is a no-brainer, but I thought I would go ahead and give a big red rating to the crystal light lemonade and double stuff oreo combination. The texture was okay, but as I am sure you can imagine, it just was not good in any sort of way. Usually I am a fan of the oreos when they come back up, but I don't think that this is a mixture that is meant to be. In fact, I think it was bad enough that it might have grossed me out enough to produce additional vomit.
Maybe regular lemonade with the oreos would have been a better combo. Sure it would have tasted just as bad, but crystal light lemonade coming up does nothing for reducing calories. I suppose the oreos makes up for that though.

Black Angus Steak with A1 Sauce is tasty coming up. You have to chew well though. I have found that to be a common theme with many of my foods. I am all about sauces--BBQ, A1, sweet and sour, etc. Yum! They make the food tastier down and up again. I guess it is a bit sad to have steak come back up though. It is more expensive than a lot of the food I puke. Plus losing meat doesn't help me get over being anemic. With the prenatal vitamins AND the iron pills AND the large size servings of meat my mother serves, one would think that anemia wouldn't be a problem. What do I know though? You got to remember I had lemonade with oreos!

Less Fattening Potato Salad

I have a recipe for potato salad that is less fattening for you. You get fewer calories too. Basically, take your favorite kind of potato salad and vomit after you eat it. I happened to have some of my mom's potato salad, which I quite like. Coming up, it rated a blue. It is definitely much better going down, but up isn't so bad. I should have chewed the potato chunks better though. They were still a little big. The celery was chopped small enough that I didn't have any problems with those little strings. The onion wasn't too strong, but just strong enough to give it the full flavor coming up. I am not sure how the mayo would have been if it had stayed in my stomach a little longer. As for the vegetable medley and the Italian flavor shake and bake chicken, well I think the color coding speaks for itself. In all fairness, the chicken wasn't good going down so I really shouldn't expect much when it comes up.

The Good and the Bad

My wonderful husband sent me a box of Leonidas Belgian chocolate. It is my favorite kind, and if you haven't ever had it, your life is not complete. I LOVE dark chocolate, and this was a dark chocolate assortment. Yum! I was wondering, what will this be like coming back up? Still heavenly! The texture is not the same and I can't slowly savor it, but the taste is still delicious. Could tasting the same chocolate twice be a perk of being pregnant? I wonder how many of the calories I lose? While those are positive aspects, I still hate being pregnant. I can't wait for this baby to be born!

I also ate some mashed potatoes and gravy recently. Yuck! They came up all stuck together even though I didn't have big bites. They felt like they got stuck right at the top of my throat and then would finally come out with a big splashback effect. It's really close to a red, but I guess I will go with yellow because the taste wasn't that bad.

Red or Green, No In Between

Ice Cream Sandwiches, good (both ways)

Ice Cream Sandwiches with Orange Juice, bad coming up.

Guess that shouldn't be any big surprise.

Betty Crocker Cherry Chip cupcakes with Cherry frosting are good, especially the frosting. I love the cherry frosting and have been excited to see it in stores again. For awhile it was hard to come by and I really don't like strawberry. Another great combo (both ways) is double stuff oreos with the cherry frosting on it. I know, sounds odd and probably way more sugar and fat than any person needs in a snack/dessert/breakfast :) but YUMMY! It has been one of my longtime guilty pleasures. I highly recommend it. If you want to cut back on the sugar and fat a little there is always the option of regular oreos instead of double stuff, but do you really think that makes much of a difference? I say go for it.

Thumbs down on the yucky glucose drink they have you take for the gestational diabetes test. It is nasty going down and even worse coming up. I bet it would taste better if they let me have one of my double stuff and cherry frosting cookies. You would think that if I can process that okay I wouldn't need to go the gross drink route. I wonder if anyone has thought of making different options for that test. So stupid anyway because my results are going to be off since I can't keep the gross stuff down. Does anyone listen to me though? No, I am just the barfing pregnant lady.

Spinach and Pepperoni (not together)

If you showed people spinach and asked what color it is, chances are they would say that it is green. That is not the correct answer. Let me assure you that spinach (cooked) is most definitely red. It is the kind of food that makes you wish you had some really long tweezers that you could use to help you reach down your throat and pull it all the way out when it feels like it's stuck. Cooked spinach is kind of a tangled glob of leaves going down. Coming up isn't any better. Not much taste though. I don't put any vinegar or butter or anything on my spinach. Don't know if that would make a difference in taste coming up, but I can't imagine that vinegar would be a good thing.


Red is also the rating for Pepperoni Pizza Lean Pockets. I already knew that pepperoni on pizza (with OJ to drink) wasn't good, so why did I think that it would be okay in a lean pocket? I think it is safe to say I should avoid spicy meats in general.

You Are Feeling Sick...

This morning as I was puking more of the same old, same old, I was watching how some of the stuff floated to the left, some would sink down, some would float... Some things seem to stick together with other things and some things separate. It made me wonder if people use vomit to tell fortunes. Wouldn't that be even better than tea leaves? Vomit is coming from inside of you. Very personal thing.

A quick check with Google didn't bring anything up. Looks like a new field that could be a financial dream come true. In the meantime, here is something to amuse the amateur pukers.

http://www.triggur.org/sick/sick.html

Elephants

Okay, so what do elephants have to do with barfing?

A couple of weeks ago, my dad's brother called to talk to him. Since I answered the phone I was able to chat with my uncle for a bit before passing the phone on to my dad. We chatted about my pregnancy and how long nine months can seem. He told me that at least I wasn't an elephant. Twenty-two months would be a very long time to be pregnant.

Yikes! I can't imagine 22 months of pregnancy, but then again... I really didn't see a lot of info on the Internet about elephant pregnancies. What I did find seemed to indicate that until the last few months there aren't any real symptoms. Of course if I were an elephant, I imagine that my pregnancy would be a lot like my human pregnancy.

Obviously I would have to be a zoo elephant. In the wild I would be shunned and forced to leave my herd (group, pack, whatever) because they wouldn't be able to stand me. Me as a pregnant human is bad enough, but as an elephant it would be intolerable. No one could put up with my moods for an entire elephant pregnancy. Alone I would die, end of story. No, I would definitely be a zoo elephant.

Though I can't find any reference to elephants having morning sickness, I know I would have it. That has got to be gross. I am not sure how much an elephant's stomach can hold, but it must be a lot. I think I would make the most of it. I would love to get as close to zoo visitors as I could and puke on them. I don't know how far I could get it to shoot out of my mouth, but I know some of it could spray over. Since as a pregnant human I sometimes get vomit out my nose, I suppose I would sometimes puke out of my trunk if I were an elephant. I would try hard to develop that skill. I even have my primary targets in mind: perky pregnant women. As a human it is not acceptable for me to go up and assault women who seem to actually enjoy being pregnant, but as an elephant I could puke all over them. Those who seemed to feel sorry for my plight would be sprayed with a second round. I wonder if elephants laugh? I would be laughing on the inside at least.

I bet the zoo keepers would pamper me too. I would have great medical benefits and no travel to appointments because they would come to me. I would have free room and board and could probably sleep as little or as much as I wanted. It would be expected for me to gain a huge amount of weight and I am pretty sure that elephants don't have to worry about stretch marks. Who would notice?

Maybe being a pregnant elephant wouldn't be so bad. I bet I wouldn't have to take care of the baby after I gave birth either. People would be lining up to do that. Free daycare... I wonder if I am big and wrinkly enough to pass as an elephant.

Orange Soda

My brother keeps nagging me to update the blog. I tried to explain to him that when I am puking up bile or mixtures complex enough that I can't tell what is what, that it is hard to think of much to say. Puking sucks? Bile is icky? Do you really want to know if I have a preference between cherry and wild berry toaster strudels on the way up (I don't)?

Today I puked up some diet sunkist orange soda. It was like orange flavored bile. Better than plain bile, but not enjoyable, refreshing, or noteworthy enough for a rating. Tonight we are having a chicken taco salad type thing that I do not want to have to review. I love it, but coming up it would be not so great.

I do eat ice cream when Justin does, so obviously this doesn't gross me out. Not exactly related to puking, but something for my brother to watch in this update.

Updates, Revisions, and More

Enchilada Upchuck Update: I recently had some of the best cheese enchiladas that I have ever had. They were actually some of my sister's leftovers from the previous night. They were super cheesy. :) I had refried beans and rice with them. Unfortunately, I learned that super gooey cheesy enchiladas can come up as super big gooey globs of cheese that can be difficult to get out. Add to that rice that sticks to your tongue and you have to scrape it off and well, it just isn't very pleasant. I guess that means I vote yellow for super cheesy enchiladas with refried beans and rice. That being said, I went back to the restaurant and had them again only a few days later. Some things are good enough going down that they are worth the risk coming back up.

Granola Bar Update: I had another granola bar experience as well, once again with the sweet and salty peanut granola bars. I chewed them VERY well this time and I think that was worse. It meant scraping the nut fragments off of my tongue. Yuck. I won't change the rating though. I will probably even eat them again.

Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream: Not bad coming up, but I was surprised that I didn't taste any of the mint, just chocolate. I am not a big fan of chocolate ice cream, but as far as puke flavors, it isn't bad at all.

Popcorn: Okay, this one should come as no surprise, but it was the first time I had been to a movie theater in 2 1/2 years, how could I not get buttery salty popcorn and eat way too much?

Catching Up

My brother has pointed out that I have not updated for awhile. He also added that baby names are not related to barfing. My husband had pointed that out too. Of course I am going to think about the baby while I am throwing up and I might as well try to come up with some names that are kinder than "the little parasite" or some of the other things I have thought. I do admit I have fallen behind, so here are some new reviews.

Sweet and Salty Peanut Granola Bars: Not the worse thing ever, but I think that in general nuts are something to be avoided.

Nachos: This rating can vary based on what you have on them and what kind of chip you use. Sharp pointy chips can make the rating go red very quickly, especially if you don't choose each bite a million times. There are some nice rounded tortilla chips and some smaller sizes that make the rating more of a blue. Adding anything besides cheese, sour cream, and salsa can drop the rating quite a bit too.

Chili Cheese and Onion Dogs: Suprisingly not as bad coming up as a regular hot dog with ketchup and mustard. Go figure. Still, caution should be used.

Cyrus O'Leary's Kahlua Cream Pie: I realize that the brand is regional, but probably most Kahlua cream pies would receive equally high marks. Yum! You can either eat half as much since you are enjoying it twice, or you can eat twice as much since you lose half of it. Decisions, decisions...

Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich with a TON of Arby's sauce: I think it is impossible to have too much sauce on an Arby's sandwich. I love the sauce so much that I hate it when the bun or meat interferes with the taste of the sauce. When it came back up, I tasted bun and meat. Is it possible that I didn't use enough sauce?

Ground Beef Enchiladas: Do yourself a favor and go for something other than the ground beef. Just does not come up very pretty.

Flavored Carbonated Water: I have tried the brands from Safeway, Albertson's, and Target. All have been most favorable coming up. Much better than plain water, especially on a mostly empty stomach. It helps mask the stomach bile quite well.

Well, that's it for now. I am getting hungry. I think I better have a pre-eating puke though because I am about to blow. I had wheat toast for breakfast and I am guessing it is going to be a blue.

Baby Names

Okay, while I am NOT puking I am looking at names for Baby Boy Weber the Second. I am primarily looking for names that I think sound good, but when the meaning of the name is listed right beside the name, I can't help but look at it. While I may like some of the names and how they sound, do I really want to choose a name that means Hostage or Heathen? I haven't gotten to any that list the name meaning as Loser--yet.

Some of the names listed as a boy or boy/girl names have me puzzled. I think they have gotto be kidding! Some sound so girly that I think my poor son would be teased to death before making the fourth grade. I had to keep my fingers crossed as I got closer and closer to Justin's name. Had we chosen a name that meant Lumpy, round barrelmaker? Thankfully not.

Then I look at some of the spelling variations. Some suggest non-English origins and that is okay. Some might be a parent's attempt to have the child's name stand out a little and that's fine too. I am sorry to report that some just scream out illiterate parents who don't know how to spell OR typo on the part of someone. Poor kids.

I guess Justin the Second would be hard on the kid's self-esteem. Talk about living in your brother's shadow. So I will continue my quest for a name.