Monday Day Book

Taken from my friend Molly who found it here.

Outside my window...the world is beginning to wake up - it's a little blustery out there again today and it's supposed to be another hot one.  Hopefully I can find my way to the pool this afternoon.


I am thinking...about giving up on breastfeeding.  I absolutely LOVE the act of feeding her...how Natalie snuggles in close and gives that little contented sigh.  But it is killing me - as in almost screaming pain when she latches on.  If I don't find a solution quick, we're done.

I am thankful for...quiet evenings with my family.  Craig and I had two nights in a row of just hanging out at the house with no major plans except dinner as a family and watching a movie cuddled in bed with both of our daughters.

From the learning rooms...the kids are getting antsy, but I really enjoyed my week back with them last week.  They were all super excited to see me and I was even able to pull off a flawless 6th grade Field Day with the help of one of the 6th grade World Geography teachers.

From the kitchen...Craig insisted on making dinner last night and he made shrimp and sausage jambalaya last night!  It was very good and very spicy but was somehow perfect on a hot *almost* summers night.

I am wearing...lots of mosquito bites.  I hate those little creatures because I don't even realize that they are around until AFTER they bite me and I'm scratching like crazy.

I am creating...pretend storylines in my head of conversations that will probably never take place and it's driving me absolutely bonkers.

I am going...to Vegas in August for my birthday with Craig.  Yes, I will miss Natalie and Angie...but we need a mommy-daddy vacation.

I am reading...Sweet Valley Confidential.  Don't judge. 

I am hoping...that these last two weeks of school go by very easily and quickly.

I am hearing...Natalie's grunts, coos and cries as she sits in her swing and chews on her hands.

Around the house...it's a little messier than I would like but maybe my lovely mother can help me tidy up when she comes over this morning?!

One of my favorite things...is Natalie first thing in the morning when I look into her pack n play.  She is all wrapped up like a little burrito in her swaddle and she just looks at me very seriously, studying my face carefully and then breaks out into a big grin when she realizes that it's MOMMY.  When I start unwrapping her her arms reach way up over her head into the cutest 3 month old full body stretch.  Love it.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Not too much.  We will probably watch the NBA finals game on Tuesday since the Mavs are playing but we really don't have anything specific scheduled...that I know of!

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

These are my friends Amy (left) and Heather (right).  We have all been best friends since Amy moved to Texas in the middle of sixth grade.  Heather and I have been so blessed to have Amy living in the same vicinity this past year while her Navy husband Michael was stationed in Bahrain.  Amy is moving onto the next Naval post for Michael - Woodby Island in Washington State - on Tuesday and we will miss her dearly.  I am very blessed to have a friend like her in my life and I couldn't have made it through my pregnancy and the first few months of Natalie's life without Amy's constant stream of compassion, advice, encouragement and laughter. 

Tomorrow

I return to work.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. 

On one hand, I love my job...I love the kids, I love my coworkers and I love the feeling to accomplishment that I have at the end of the day. 

But those are all things that I felt before I knew Natalie.  Maybe now my love for her will trump any love I have for my career and I will be miserable for the eight hours a day that I'm at school.

Or maybe...and this is the even scarier thought...I will enjoy my eight hours away from her during the day.  Will that make me a terrible mother?

I'm not sure which is worse - being miserable because I'm away from her, or guilty because I'm NOT miserable that I'm away from her. 

And so the working mother conundrum begins.

Two Months Old!

 

Sunday, May 8th, 2011: Two Months Old

Vital Stats:

10lb. 12oz. - 50th percentile

23.25in. - 90th percentile

She is really starting to smile and interact with people by grinning and cooing...and sometimes screaming.

She goes to bed around 9:30 and sleeps all the way until 7:00 in the morning!

We are in the general routine of "eat, play, sleep" and repeat those three things several times a day - her favorite part of the day is when Daddy gets home and gets on the floor with her and Angie to play in her little baby gym thing. 

She is wearing 0-3 month clothes with the exception of her full body pajamas - she is in 3-6 months of those because her body and feet are so long!

Here are some pictures of things she has done in the past month:

 She met her Uncle Tim (Craig's dad's younger brother) and Aunt Sheryl who drove in from Abilene and met us at Texas de Brazil in Ft. Worth for dinner.  We will see them again next weekend when we drive out to Abilene for their eldest son's wedding.

 She took lots of naps and looked very cute while sleeping.

 

She celebrated her first Easter with TWO special new outfits!

She helped Daddy recover from his shoulder surgery by taking a much needed nap with him on a Saturday morning.

She helped me to celebrate my very first Mother's Day by giving me two new books to read while I rock her to sleep!  Tina Fey's Bossypants and Sweet Valley Confidential.  Angie gave me a Vera Bradley travel wallet for when Craig and I go on our vacations - I have a place to put all our boarding passes, our IDs and all other paperwork that I seem to be responsible for when we travel!  Craig gave the greatest gift of all - he gave me all the fun Bath and Body Works stuff AND took care of Natalie and Angie while I enjoyed a bubble bath complete with lit candle and while reading Tina Fey's book!

This is my refrigerator.  It was free, given to us when we moved in from his mother who had moved into a new home and bought herself a brand new fridge.  It provides a necessary service - it chills my orange-strawberry-pineapple juice and preserves our leftovers.  In the freezer it holds my sacred ice cream and there are always frosty glasses for Craig to pour his beer into. 

But it's small.  And cramped.  And I feel my food gets lost in the back and on the bottom shelves.  I like things organized and visible and yes...I'm the person who likes all the labels facing forward.  As of now, my fridge is not MTV Cribs-worthy. 

But I have a plan to change all that and it started one afternoon last week in front of the television while I was nursing Natalie.  Two words: EXTREME...COUPONING.  Now, let me be clear - I am NOT crazy.  Well, at least not in the sense that I'm going to buy 47 bottles of deoderant, but if I were going to do that...at least all the labels would be facing forward (see above).  So this show got me to thinking...I might not use coupons the way the people on the show do, but I certainly can get a newspaper every Sunday and check out the websites of products that we use frequently and see if I can start saving the family some money.  I proposed a plan to Craig with the end result being...

Sigh.  It sure is pretty isn't it?  The clean white shelves...the eerie UFO blue lighting...all the labels facing forward.  This is what I'm working towards with my couponing.  The deal is that everytime I go to the grocery store and use coupons, we will keep track of the "savings" and put that money towards a new refrigerator.  When we have saved up enough money, I get my new fridge.  My goal is to be serving Christmas dinner out of a brand new stainless steel beauty like the one you see above.  This is a monumental task for me...I'm a little leery of coupons - they seem a bit time consuming and then there is the actual act of buying what I have a coupon for which has to be cross referenced with my grocery list of stuff I actually need and then divided by the time it takes me to locate said coupon and read the fine print - I have to buy four bottles of shampoo and then turn around twice at the register followed by a curtsy to the queen topped off with blood from my newborn child...all to save $0.50?  Like I said...it's going to take some work on my part to get this ball rolling and figure out a good organizational system for keeping track of coupons, things I need and how much money I'm saving towards my fridge.  I'll keep you posted.

Monday Day Book

Monday, May 9th at 6:29am...


Outside my window … it is dark and windy but I don't think it's supposed to stay like this all day.

I am thinking … about how I only have two more weeks at home with my daughter until I go back to work for the last three weeks of school.  I think that if I didn't know that summer vacation was around the corner and I was going back to work indefinitely I would be struggling more than I am.  But I can do three weeks away from her during the day...it might even be good for both of us.

I am thankful for … Craig - he was able to put together a wonderful Mother's Day...even with one arm in a sling from shoulder surgery.

I am hoping … that Natalie survives her shorts today with minimal side effects and that she is still measuring in the 95th percentile (or above!) on height.

On my mind … a quote from Tina Fey's new book Bossypants: she writes about all the things that working for Lorne Michaels on SNL taught her and one particular thought stuck out to me.  "The show doesn't go on because it's perfect, the show goes on because it's 11:30."  Hmm.  As I was reading this part in the book last night, I was fully immersed in the Mother's Day bubble bath that Craig had prepared for me and I really had to sit and chew on these words.  I'm a planner with high expectations.  If I'm going to do something, I'm going to put 100% of me effort into making sure everything is perfect and fantastic.  BUT...sometimes when it comes right down to it, you have to just leave it be and walk away and let things fall as they may.  And that is something that is really difficult for me.

Noticing that … more often than not, Natalie is sleeping from about 10:00 every night until somewhere in between 6 and 7 in the morning.  If she keeps this up, it will be the absolute PERFECT routine for when I go back to school.

A few plans for the week … Natalie has a doctor's appointment today, Craig has his post op appointment tomorrow and I'm getting a massage on Thursday.  I have a volleyball clinic Wednesday night and am having breakfast with a friend on Saturday morning to celebrate her birthday.

From the kitchen … I did a lot of cooking last week - I made a big lasagna for a friend of mine whose husband underwent surgery on Wednesday to remove the thyroid cancer from his neck (yikes!) and then I made some sausage, potatoes and green beans for Craig the night after his surgery.  Yesterday for Mother's Day he took me to my favorite place to eat, Agave Azul for a margarita and shrimp fajitas!

Around the house … we have a ton of laundry to do today because Craig didn't let me do anything around the house yesterday.  Good man.  :)

One of my favorite things … yesterday afternoon I had a sleeping baby laid out across my chest and propped up by a pillow on my side with a puppy dog curled up right beside her.  On Saturday afternoon before we went to a crawfish boil, Natalie was asleep in her Boppy and Angie had her head resting on the arm of the Boppy and every so often Natalie would stir in her sleep, lift up her hand and place it on Angie's head.  The dog didn't make a move.  I have a feeling Angie will tolerate more shenanigans from Natalie than she will from any other human being.  I know that some people downplay the role of animals in our lives but I have truly witnessed something evolve in Angie - from a mischeivious and playful puppy dog to a constant companion and caretaker to a mommy with severe morning sickness and now to a protective and loving "big sister" to Natalie.  The two of them really seem to have some weird connection with each other and I think that has been the most wonderful surprise of bringing Natalie home from the hospital and incorporating her into our lives.

A picture I am sharing … This was taken the first day we brought Angie home from the shelter.  She was a bit more skittish, a lot more chubby and I had no idea at the role she was going to play in our family.

Monday Day Book

Monday, May 2nd at 7:29 AM...
Outside my window … it is raining and it has been since last night.  We had a little bit of lightning and thunder throughout the night but no weather that was threatening our safety or our property.

I am thinking … that my feelings of relief are hesitant because I'm afraid of the new set of attacks that the death of Bin Laden will invoke. 

I am thankful for … being able to raise my daughter in a country where she is free to be whoever she wants without a threat of violence everytime she leaves the house.

I am hoping … for Craig's shoulder surgery to go smoothly on Thursday and for him to have a short recovery time.

On my mind …a former coworker of mine had her baby last week very prematurely and the little one weighs four pounds and is in the NICU.  My heart breaks for her but I am thankful for my healthy daughter but humbled at the same time.

Noticing that …my daughter is long - she is sitting in her swing wearing 3-6 month pajamas and she is not even 8 weeks old.
A few plans for the week … a baby shower for a friend from my former school tomorrow, lots of prayers for my friend whose husband is having surgery to remove cancer from his thyroid on Wednesday, Craig's surgery on Thursday and our friend Doug's crawfish boil on Saturday!
From the kitchen … We had basic tacos on Friday night - I have been planning meals that are easy for Craig to make in the event that I am busy with the munchkin and he has to make dinner.  I made his favorite macaroni salad for a birthday party on Saturday and I think since it's so cold out today that I'm going to make Taco Soup with cornbread for dinner tonight.  Yum.
Around the house … I got bored yesterday while Craig was at the basketball tournament so I went to my parent's house for the afternoon.  When I got home he had picked up the whole house, made the bed all pretty and moved around laundry loads.

One of my favorite things … This time right now.  Craig is still asleep in the spare bedroom (he snores), Angie is curled up under the covers, Natalie is happily swinging in her swing, I get to blog in the semi darkness of my bedroom while eating a delicious bowl of Cream of Wheat with cinnamon and drink my coffee.  Sigh.  Contentment.

A picture I am sharing … Craig and I are taking our first trip away from Natalie in August to go to Vegas for my birthday.  I had a dream...or more like a nightmare...last night that we tried to take Natalie to Vegas with us but we couldn't ever gamble together because one of us always had to be up in the room taking care of the baby.  This is a picture from our most amazing trip to Vegas where we stayed in the luxury suite at the Wynn for my 25th birthday.