It's been a busy 2 weeks...

So here is an update of the last two busy weeks. Yes, my life is that important that you need an update or better yet, my son is just that cute that he is worth showing him off with all his new pictures and accomplishments.

Christopher is now in the crawler stage! He is still doing the army/mountain crawls but he is on the go & fast! He of course started the forward crawl when Tim & I were both at work but luckily he was with Aunt Kasey so she was able to capture some video for us! 

I came home from work on Friday to a messy kitchen & the baby gate set-up and immediately I stopped and thought to myself, what happened here? Not in regards to the mess but what happened to my little itty bitty baby boy. He is crawling all over my house, eating various fingers foods all by himself (or dropping on the floor for the cat to eat but still, it is all in good fun & practice!)

I am sure there are so many other Mommies out there that have these exact moments as well. Whether there child is 8 months old, 8 years old or even 28 years old...it is crazy to sit back and watch your own child grow & learn so fast. I swear that song "Don't Blink" explains the life of a parent so well. You seriosuly stop to blink and next thing you know your little baby is doing things that you kept thinking about or explaining to people "no, he is not crawling forward yet but he is trying." Or "he is still eating puree food because I am a new Mommy and too scared to give him even puffs just yet." 

These monumental moments that my little boy has been achieving what seems to be a new one each week really are not just changing him but also my parenting style. I will be the first to admit that I was super crazy, over-protecting, by the book Mommy when Christopher first came. I was just so nervous for him to be touched, held, fed, thrown around, etc. I am sure there are many other Moms out there that were exactly like I was. Many first time Moms are just like this. The sense of control that you have over that itty bitty baby and how he/she grows up really kicks into high gear when they are brought into this world that it really hit me head on. By this I mean that I was in need of being in control of everything in regards to my son. The way he ate, the time he ate, how to change his diaper, how he should be held, when and where he should sleep, what his favorite toy or blanket was, and the list could go on & on. Yes, I was that kind of Mom. 

Key word, WAS! It is really amazing that you start out as neurotic, over-protective and even mean Mommy and as your child shows you that he/she is able to accomplish things such as eating on his own, you slowly make your way out of that shell and start allowing your baby become who he/she really is. Obviously as a Mom of an 8 month old I am not like sure go ahead, have a party, smoke a ciggarette, drink a beer but I am making progress on things like, go ahead crawl around the living room and if you bump your head, I promise I won't cry as hard as you do. Or sure go ahead Dad, feed him a little bite of your sandwich, it won't give him some "House type disease" that can/never will be cure-able. See, I am making progress...

Yes, you are seeing correctly. My child is eating a pork rib bone that did contain small pieces of very delicious & tender pork ribs with bbq sauce on them.  The second picture is a pickle & he was in love. So much in love that he sucked 3 pickles dry and HAD to do it all by himself. 

I call these pictures evidence that I am slowly coming out of my "new Mommy" shell and making my way into the "I am about to have another baby" shell. I am sure there are some parents that don't ever come out of the new Mommy shell or takes them a bit longer, which does not make them a bad parents. Or for that matter, me a bad parent. But our family tends to move fast on things, hence the new baby on his way in just 11 short weeks (hopefully not a day sooner!!!) So I define the "I am about to have another baby" shell as this (with the held of other Mommies with multiple children): You are about to have 2 children, which will then mean that you don't love your 2nd or 1st child more or less, you just have learned the tricks and trades of being a Mom. This meaning that rice cereal may have waited until the doctor gave the okay for Christopher, but with still nameless baby boy #2, he might be getting rice cereal a bit earlier. Or an example that many Moms may relate to very well with is: yes the doctor said to wake your healthy baby every 3 hours to eat but if he/she is sleeping, let them until 5 hours (note: I know this is only for healthy babies, I would never starve or harm my child for the joys of getting extra hours of sleep!).

So in conclusion to my update of two weeks, I would like to say that I am learning to be a calmer & a more trusting Mommy all the while still keeping that "I am his Mommy" title in the background just in case I need to whip it out if someone gets out of line.  Also, I am starting to get ready for my new role as a Mommy of 2, and by 2 I mean 2 boys! As the lady said in line behind me at Acme this weekend, "God bless me & enjoy every moment because before you know it, they will be grown up and be out of your control." -That woman to me is a very wise lady!

Kerplunk

Finally a weekend where it is nice and my husband is actually home. & it was a holiday weekend, double score! What better way to stay cool & enjoy the weekend then a trip to Walmart for some outdoor fun stuff. 

Mommy scores a new patio set, Daddy scores the satisfaction of putting it together sometime soon (hopefully) and Christopher scores a new chair & a POOL! 

I am a fish. My husband tells me all the time. If there is a body of water & I can swim in it, I will. So why not start Christopher young with becoming a fish just like his Mama? He already loves bath time so a pool is similar. Daddy blows up the pool, starts filling it up & in Christopher goes with his swimmy diaper, bathing suit compliments of Grandmom & Coach and his favorite starfish toy he uses for tubby time. Remind you, the pool is still filling up with freezing cold hose water and do you think my child cares, nope not one bit. He shivers, gasps a bit but still persist on wanting to be in the water. I was in all my glory realizing how much my child is actually my child since his looks don't always show it but his love for water does. 

Well about 20 minutes until playing he realizes that the top ring around the pool would make for an awesome teether. It is like 1 giant teething ring. Christopher was so proud of himself and got a bit too daring for my liking. I told him "no" three times when he tried to pull himself up so then he scooted his little butt closer to the edge and started gnaw-ling on the top ring of the pool again. Well that lasted all of 30 seconds before my son thought he could do this hands free. In he slithered like a snake and KERPLUNK! My heart jumped out of my chest and Christopher was flopping around like a fish. Poor guy went under and Mommy went diving in the pool, cell phone and all. There were some tears shed from him & I  and even a nice spit up of water but do you think that stopped my daredevil of a child...nope! He was ready for more...as you can see in the picture next to this post. 

My child is a fish, just like his Mama. Sometimes he gets a bit scared but he is a little daredevil. I am currently online shipping for some swimmies for his guns and a float for when he goes into a big pool because I am sure we are going to have to keep a close eye on our little daredevil fishy.

A situation like this really made me scared but also made me think of how grown up my little baby boy is already. I cannot believe all the new accomplishments he is making each & everyday. It really is amazing watching this once teeny tiny baby he  grow up to become such a fun, loving, crazy, happy little boy. 

Now if only we could get some teeth to try some new foods & get him to stop grunting at us due to frustration  of crawling backwards, we'd be set! But for now, I will enjoy my little daredevil fishy just the way he is and realize that pictures like above, new experiences like swimming in a pool (regardless of the almost drowning experience) really make being a Mom so amazing. 

oh & p.s. check it out, Christopher already got haircut #2 from Daddy just in time for the hot Summer! :)

 

CRAP!

Yesterday was a day full of crap. Literally for one instance. 

The morning started out like usual. Alarm sounds at 6am and my husband and I groan that we have to get up and most of all get up & go to work. I find that being the worst part of my day, getting up to wake up my baby boy just to feed, burp & change him and then leave him. The life of a working Mom sucks but bills don't pay themselves & we don't have a money tree in our backyard (yet) so for now, this is life. Get over it Kerin, it is only 10 hours away from home. No big deal. Okay, I am done complaining (for now).

So we go on with the morning routine of warm bottle, change baby, make coffee, feed baby while taking turns getting showers/dressed and watching Christopher. He has been getting to that age where watching him is now where you need to be at his side at all times. He is so curious and active even for 6:30am!!! So did not get that from his mother. It was just about time to head out the door and CRAP! It happened. The thing that everyone warns you about but like mostly everything in life, you need for it happen to actually realize that it can/does happen to me. 

Christopher fell off the bed! My poor little man not only fell off the bed while going after the remote, he planted the side of his head on the base of a lamp. All those parents that told you about this happening and how it feels like your heart jumps out of your chest were right. I am pretty sure I caused the excess of tears because my initial reaction was worse then Christopher's. This moment was the scariest moment of my life (which I am sure is the first of many other moments like it). Thankfully there was only a small red lump hidden in his excessive crazy hair that went away before he even got to the babysitters. The conclusion to the first crap moment of the day is that Christopher just got bored with watching the news and wanted to change the channel but next time he will need to learn to stay on the bed to do this or better yet, he will watch TV from the ground from now on, just in case. This Momma doesn't need a heart attack or early labor just because the news is too boring. 

Luckily the next crap moment had nothing to do with endangering my child and was the complete opposite.  When I got home from work, you would have never known my child jumped off the bed in the morning. He was the happiest little man ever. We followed our night routine with playtime, dinner, bath, more playtime, a bottle then bed. He didn't whine or cry once. It was such a nice night, especially since this Momma got a new fridge! Christopher was asleep without a fuss, my husband/dad/sister's fiance brought me a new fridge and I got to eat leftover apple pie while watching my TV shows. Overall, that is a pretty awesome night. I am pretty sure you are jealous. My husband and I also stayed up late, 10pm, don't judge!  It was time for bed so I went in Christopher's room to check on him and thats when the CRAP smell literally hit me. 

Poor kid was sleeping with squashed up poop in his diaper. I could not let him sleep like that & knew my husband didn't get to say goodnight to him so what better way to say goodnight then to change a poopy diaper on a sleeping baby. He He He, I am a smart lady. Well, my child didn't really cooperate with my evil little plan. He actually slept through it all. I don't know many people that could sleep through something like a diaper change, but my son has just been added to that list and I have just made note of this. 


For a day filled with CRAP, amazingly it was nice, relaxing and rewarding. I guess in the end I have learned that even if you are given CRAP, it doesn't always have to be classified as a CRAPPY day. 

Look at my happy little man, how could I ever classify a day to be CRAPPY ever again when looking at him??!!

Queen of the "Castle"

I am now officially going to be the Queen of our home aka "my castle." We found out on Monday that we are having another boy! We are beyond happy and most of all pretty much ready for him to come, just not yet since it would not be safe for medical reasons and for bills to be paid.

Here are a list of reasons why this Mama is so happy that I got to hear the words "It's a boy AGAIN!"

1.) We have all the boy stuff ready and many friends/family are already willing to give us more

2.) I cannot do hair so I need to master that prior to having a baby girl

3.) My house is not ready space-wise for a baby girl's clothes to fit anywhere

4.) Our bank accounts would not be able to handle my tutu and headband obsession

5.) Two big brothers instead of 1 to protect my non-existent but hope to be baby girl for baby #3 one day will make her life so much safer (even if she hates being bossed around or her boyfriends being threatened.) (yes, I am talking about baby #3 already. I live my life by planning and this is my life plan.)

Drum roll please.....my favorite reason of all is.... 

6.) Seeing the smile on my husband's face the moment the lady said it was a boy was priceless. I wish I could have whipped out my cell phone and took a picture of his face but I am pretty sure the X-ray Tech did not want me jumping off the bed with my pants down just yet.

I think regardless of the sex, and how crazy our lives are about to become, it is amazing how many times a baby can make you laugh, smile and even cry tears of joy in just the few short months being here on Earth. (I say the on Earth part because I am a firm believer that yes an ultrasound is all good and nice but truly, all babies in them look like aliens to me. Especially the creepy waving hands.) So I cannot even imagine how much joy and happiness Tim & I will get from Christopher and his little brother. Aaahh..I get chills every time I say big or little brother. I am just so in love with the fact that Christopher will have a little brother to love, push around, teach new things to (probably both good and bad) and most of all be best friends with. Tim has always said he wanted a Tim & Nate. For all of you that are unfamiliar with who Nate is, it is Tim's little brother. They share such a special bond like most big & little brothers do and ever since I found out I was pregnant again, I just knew that is what I wanted for Christopher and for my husband. 

Words cannot express the adventures that our lives are about to embark on but so far the adventures have been nothing but pure happiness. Yes, there were bumps in the road where I felt like giving up or just needed a break but I would not trade the feeling of being a Mom and having a family of mine own in for anything in the world. I now know what it feels like when I used to hear my parents tell my siblings & I how much they loved us and let me just tell you, it is the most awesome feeling in the world!

So for all of you out there thinking or even saying (behind my back) that we are crazy, go ahead, keep laughing or talking, because not a word or a thought could change the happiness I have in my heart right now. I am and will always be the Queen of my "Castle" in a house full of boys to protect me and love me every single day.

Christopher after he was told by Aunt Kasey & Grandmom that he was going to be a Big Brother in a few months.

oh teething, i hate you

Let the teething really begin. Christopher has been drooling since about 3 months but not 1 tooth has popped through yet but I think those teeth are stepping their game up because not only is my little man drooling but now he is refusing to eat after a few bites or ounces of the bottle. The worst part is that those stupid teeth are turning my happy little baby into a cranky monster. I say monster because anything in sight must be put in his mouth for comfort. For instance this morning, he decided to use my fresh out of the shower hair as his comfort. Did I mention yet how much I hate these little stubborn teeth? I mean yes I am sure the pain is so much worse when those suckers come through but how much easier would life be for Christopher?

A lot easier! He would have no issues with chomping on all the things Daddy wants to sneak him, like bites of pizza, limes and even crushed garlic (YUCK) He would also look even cuter with little white shiny teeth showing in pictures instead of still looking like Baby Grandpa! And maybe when the teeth come my child will stop thinking that all smiles must be with his tongue sticking out. Since I am the Mom that stalks my child for pictures, this does bother me. Yes it was cute the first couple times but the tongue out and panting like a dog is just not acceptable when you are a human being, even if you are a baby. Or maybe I am just expecting too much from my 6 month old? I mean shouldn't he be walking and potty trained within the next 3-6 months. He does have a little sister or brother coming right behind him and we have been so good to him that he could re-pay the favor by doing all these things much sooner instead of waiting for Mommy to be 9 months pregnant trying to chase his little wobbly legs everywhere while dodging the break-ables that are getting thrown across the room since we are the "will get around to it" type when it comes to baby proofing. oh, what did we get ourselves into???!!!

okay, back to teething. Another thing I hate about this process and those still non-existent little suckers is that my once perfect sleeper now decides that 3am is perfectly acceptable time to wake up and cry for his pacifier that is clearly right near his head where he left it back at 8pm when he fell asleep. Yes, we are a pacifier family and if you have a problem with it, I do not care! It makes life easier for all of us and no we do not care to hear how hard it will be to get him "off the pacifier" (like it is some sort of drug & my child could actually overdose on it.) When the time comes, we will take care of it, I promise.

Those teeth think they are some tricky little buggers waking my child up but little do they know the power of the pacifier. Yes, I may be a tired Mama that does not feel like getting up but I know all it takes is the all mighty pacifier and we have won. Teeth - 0 Pacifier -1 So take that teeth. Sleep may be disrupted for Christopher and I (Tim usually sleeps right through it, lucky man!) but you have not won the battle or the war.

The war on getting teeth I am sure is a sucky process. I have never had really bad tooth pain before and I knock on wood & count my blessings that I never do encounter these issues. Mainly because the dentist is my mortal enemy. I will not get into my complete fear of the dentist as this would take up a whole blog about me whining like a baby and I am not about to put myself out there like that. I like the title of Super Mommy - dubbed this name by Alexa since that has been my title for her for years now & I am feeling pretty darn high up there and I am not letting anyone knock me off my that horse just yet. Let me publically mess up instead of putting myself out there to be the coward that probably will never step foot into a dentist office willingly or without a fight.

So in conclusion, mad props to my son (& all those other teething babies out there)! You little guys (& girls) are some strong little suckers. Taking on the pain like champs by chomping down on anything edible or not. To those teeth, you shiny, little white creatures, you need to stop torturing my son and pop on through so I have some new milestone to blog about soon!

oh yeah, how could I forget an adorable picture of my son..so here ya go!

Story behind the picture is that he needed a daytime bath from my my sister right after he pooped all up & down himself. Because again, I hate you teething & all the nastiness you bring along with your annoying bad self!

Spring is in your steps

Aahhh..Spring is in the air! I never have admitted this to anyone, let alone myself before but I am pretty sure I have come to the conclusion that Spring is my favorite season. The sight of flowers blooming, sun shining when leaving for work and still up when I get home, families out for an evening walk, kids playing in the playground and most of all, the smell of bbq's. It just puts a smile on my face no matter how terrible the day is. I think my child shares this same feeling. 

My son is so calm, curious and happy when he is outside. He LOVES going for walks in his new car, just sitting watching the big kids play on their bikes or basketball and really loves watching our crazy cat climb trees and get stuck. It makes evenings after work and weekends so much more fun. I mean come on, who likes being cooped up in their house watching the same old TV shows (in our house it is usually the news so you can see why I have this rationalization.) I have learned that my son loves the outdoors so much that he actually will take his naps outside. I really wish my husband would have gotten a picture to post because the visual I get is enough to make me smile yet laugh. 

Apparently my husband had a lot of yard work to do on his day off while waiting for potential roofers to come so his plan was to have my son enjoy the beautiful weather with him so he could get his work done. My son was ready to go with is new Nike hat & Nike sneakers, blanket, toys & get this- a rain umbrella for coverage (since we are slacker parents and have yet to get him sunblock!) My husband came up with the brilliant idea that he can play and nap on the front lawn under a rain umbrella. Are you getting the visual I am? I am sure my neighbors got a short giggle at the sight of my son just napping out on the front lawn under an umbrella. But hey, as a parent, you always find methods that work best for your child even if it may be frowned upon by other parents. Doesn't make you a bad parents. I in fact think it made my husband a very smart parent. We may patent the idea so stay tuned - hehe!!

So not only did my son have an adventurous day with hanging outside with Daddy but he has learned two new things. Prepare yourself, these are not the typical he said this word, he crawled kind of things. They are a typical my child kind of thing to learn. You know, the only my child would do this kind of thing. Yes, that is the best way to describe his new actions. 

You know the baby on e-trade? Well yes, he better put in his termination letter soon because Christopher is taking over that job ASAP. He now moves his mouth open and closed for long periods of time without any sound coming out. We think it may be him mimicking us when we are saying things are yummy or the constant pressure of my husband and I each trying to get him to say Mama or Dada first but the E-Trade baby scenario just works and sounds so much better. We could make money off this kid. E-Trade better get ready for us! Unfortunately there is no way to post a video of this but I think you get my point and if you don't, commercials will be airing soon on your TV so better not spend too much time outside in the beautiful weather, I don't want you missing my child being all famous E-Trade baby style. Side note: We also refer to these actions as his fat baby syndrome and it is just him making motions that he is hungry but this doesn't make money so we will stick with E-Trade baby instead. 

Christopher's second trick is pretty darn fancy too. Nothing we can make money on but still makes him probably the smartest baby EVER! I am biased but so what. In my opinion, every parent has to be their child's biggest fan! He now recognizes foot steps. He hears foot steps coming down the stairs from any room of the house and he  goes into full curious/I am waiting mode. He turns his head directly to the stairs waiting for a face to match with the foot steps and once he sees your face, you get the best smile EVER! A grin from ear to ear, arms going and sometimes it is followed but some baby conversation that just melts your heart. See, I told you my child was super skilled and of course this goes without saying, the cutest little guy ever. 

On that note, lets end this by saying Happy Friday to everyone! I hope the Easter Bunny treats you well, you get to eat lots of delicious food with family and/or friends and most of all GO PHILLIES! 

 Christopher on a walk with Aunt Kasey

 Christopher and his cousin Nolan. (My son  looking guilty for causing Nolan's unhappiness. Makes me laugh every time I see this picture.)

Happy Friday!

I know I am sure glad it is not only Friday but that we will hopefully despite the weather forecast be able to have a weekend with family & friends instead of hugging the toilet, laying vertical while not wanting to speak to each other with the baby quarantined at my parent's house. Oh the little things in life.

As I filled everyone in with the last blog, Christopher got the sickness which then started an epidemic. I am not lying here, it was pretty much Outbreak 2 all around us. Outbreak the movie was one that I watched time and time again and every time it still gives me the chills on how sick everyone got but also left me feeling so bad for the poor little monkey. So in comparison to this movie, luckily no monkeys were injured in our Outbreak and there is a happy ending, we are all sickness free! Woo hoo!!!

I think despite the sickness the end of the week turned out to be pretty awesome. In summary, this Mommy got pretty much all my chores done without yelling at Tim every single night due to pure exhaustion. This baby #2 sure is taking a lot out of me compared to Christopher did, or maybe that is because I didn't have Christopher around and could be a fat lazy mess, aahhh those good ol' days!  Also on the awesome side, Christopher has learned to love my "special avocado" Recipe follows- mash with a dash of formula & a pinch of applesauce and your child will tear it up! Oh & the best part, besides not being sick anymore, Baby #2 is doing great, Mommy is doing great at 17 weeks along ALREADY and the sex will hopefully be determined on April 30th!!!! We are Team Boy, what are you?! 

So all in all, avocado loving in a clean house with clean sheets, clean clothes and clean dishes to eat on are all not only pretty awesome but a great success. Pat on my own back. Now I am ready to start our busy weekend and I don't even care if mother nature wants to cry a rive on us. We are sick free and going to enjoy ourselves, gosh darn it! 

Tonight it is Mommy & Christopher time while Daddy takes a Midterm so I am hoping mother nature lets us get a short walk in after work.  See below for a picture of why Mommy & Christopher can't wait to go for another walk soon. He lub, lub, lubs his car!

But if mother nature decides to start her crying fest all early, like I said, she is not raining on my parade. Plan B: We will just watch a little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, rock out to rap music, eat some avocado & carrots, sip on some beverages (non-alcoholic for the both of us of course) and then get some rest so we are ready for fun with Daddy, family & friends on Saturday and Sunday! Can you already tell how excited I am not to be sick and to actually have a weekend where my husband is not kidnapped by the Army and we can have family time? 

The rest of the weekend is going to be spent watching Daddy play softball, a little bridal shower talk, catching up with old friends, chit chatting with Family of their adventures across the world, well really the U.S.A. but hey, it is much more exciting then being stuck in boring PA, and eating some delicious food which always puts a smile on a pregnant lady's face. 

So this blog has absolutely no point but to express how utterly excited I am not be down with the sickness anymore and most of all getting some well overdue, very appreciated and deserved Family time. I just adore my little family and hope mother nature decides to be on our side so my husband can get his BBQ on because I am craving a hot diggity dog (We watch a bit too much Mickey's Clubhouse in our house). 

So, Like I said, Happy Friday everyone!

p.s. Is it Opening Day yet? I REALLY NEED a hot dog! 

Ghostbusters to the rescue?!

The days when the birds are chirping, sun is shining and my baby boy is giggling & talking with a obnoxious goofiest & cutest smile ever planted on his chubby little face...those days I love. 

The nights that he just wants to cry and be held when I have 16 loads of laundry to wash/fold, a sink and dishwasher full of dishes and not one pair of clean underwear to wear to work the next day...those nights really suck! 

But mix those two together, I will take it any day over watching my baby boy be sick. The feeling of complete helplessness hits you right in the gut and all you want to do is scream, cry or throw up right with him. 

My baby boy was diagnosed with RSV when he was about 2 1/2 months old and watching him receive breathing treatments from my husband had to be like getting news that I needed to cut off both of my arms & legs. I could not give the treatments because I just could not do that to my baby boy, even know I knew it would make him feel better. The real tears just made my heart break that sometimes I could not even watch. Well just when I thought the news of getting my arms & legs chopped off A.K.A. RSV was the worst thing in the entire world, my son then turned into one of the ghosts in the movie Ghost-busters or for those of you who have not seen this classic movie, how about the girl from the Exorcist only it was not as green. 

Yes, I am talking about projectile puke. And lots of it! My poor little baby boy finished his green beans (hence the green Excorist puke) then his night bottle and was just going over to say goodnight to Daddy. Poor Hubby/Daddy got slimmed. Literally. He brought Christopher in for a kiss and out came the puke. My initial reaction was holy crap, what the heck is wrong with my baby boy? Then it followed with asking my husband if he was okay since he was sitting there with puke all over him. Luckily I do not have a weak stomach because if I did, I would have puked on my husband, too. My reaction then went straight to what the heck did he eat. Did I poison him with my homemade green beans? Did I make the bottle wrong? Crap, I am crappy Mom. I went back to reality quickly, changed my baby only for Daddy to pick him back up to see how he was doing and BAM, puked on Daddy again! Now I was beyond worried & part of me was ready to fess up and say I did something wrong. My husband was amazing. He just got changed, stayed calm and put him to bed. 

I was pysco Mom for at least an hour after he went to bed watching him over his crib and constantly feeling to be sure he was breathing. I was brought right back to when he was an itty bitty baby and was always worried he would stop breathing (Damn Lifetime movies!). Finally after my husband convinced me to go to bed I laid down and knew it would be so difficult to sleep so stalking the baby monitor began. Just when I started to doze off and BAM coughing followed by finding my son covered & laying in his own puke in his crib. Looks like Mommy & Daddy's bed would be the sleeping spot for the night. The rest of the night was a blur of about every hour or two sitting him up, getting more puke out and him passing right back out. 

I felt absolutely terrible. I felt helpless. I still feel terrible and extremely helpless. I hated walking out the door to go to work and leaving my baby boy home sick. My poor baby boy was not only sick but he was a trooper. He didn't even shed one single tear. When I left the house he was still sick but giving Daddy & I lots of giggles & smiles while the sun was coming up & the birds outside are chirping and starting their day, too. 

When I was on my long train ride this morning, I realized today that being a Mom is the best yet most challenging experiences ever and what makes it even better is having an amazing husband & daddy for my baby boy. I always knew this but in times like this, it really makes you think how precious & life changing someone so tiny can be. Now please pray that the Ghost-busters don't need to come back to my house and kill the Exorcist child inside mine anymore today or tonight and we all are able to get some rest tonight.

Weekends with Mommy

Well it is that time of the month again...not the time you ladies are thinking of though. After all, I am still pregnant and have been for the last year & a half, remember?!  It is drill weekend time. I REALLY despise drill weekends when the weather is nice. That means no man to bbq for me, mow the lawn or just enjoy their company outdoors. It depresses me even more now that we can have family fun activities with Christopher & Tim. Yes, I am complaining like I am sure most Army wives do but I think we are allowed to do this after all we have to go through so just deal with the complaints or ignore them, i don't care. Just don't voice your opinions on my complaints and how hard you have it, too because in my little head during drill weekends, I will always have it worse. I mean no BBQ while being pregnant is a BIG deal in my life. 

So I retreated to my parents for the weekend, where I knew I would get good food, great company and most of all, a free babysitter! I mean how do you beat that?! I warned Christopher Friday morning that he had a busy yet fun filled weekend ahead so he better get his rest. Like usual, he listened to his Mommy and was a very good boy for his Aunt Kasey & Uncle Joe while I had to do some FRG stuff. Nothing felt better to go home Friday night and get  some cuddles and smiles from my little man before an early bedtime. After all, we had lots of errands to run Saturday morning. 

We start our Saturday morning off with some nanners which of course is always a good start to the day since they are Christopher's favorite! We get him all changed into his 3rd outfit of the day (already) to go see his Great Grandmom. I realize about a block from my Grandmom's house that I am such a slacker Mom. I guess the pregnancy brain is in full effect already. Not only did I forget his St. Patrick's Day gear but I guess I figured my child would not need to eat or not need a diaper change either. I did at least remember my child & his keys, those are two keys items so it was not a total fail. Yes I know this happens but of all days when we had a laundry list of places to go & people to see. Well we had a short visit with Great Grandmom which always puts a huge smile on my face and melts my heart. Seeing him with her makes me realize how precious life is and how special it is for him to be able to spend time with such an amazing woman. I am not just saying this because she is my Grandmom, she truly is such an amazing lady that just touches your heart no matter what. 

After a quick pit stop at my house for all the items I left at home we were off on our busy day. First stop was Marshall's to look for a dress for me for Tim's Army dinner dance that is next weekend. Last minute, as always! Of course we stocked up on some new Phillies gear for Christopher, too. My child already has more Phillies gear then Tim & I do combined. Can you say spoiled? Next stop was lunch.

We decided to go to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. Christopher was wide awake and seemed happy. Well little did I know that my child decided that inside a very quiet Ruby Tuesdays would be the perfect place to try his best to get his poop out. If you know my son then you will understand this without any explanation. He is a grunt-er. A tomato face, loud grunt-er. He was bearing down and grunting with all his might that I am pretty sure every person in the place heard him trying to do his business. Well his business decided it wanted to give him some issues. Silly Mommy, carrots for dinner then nanners for breakfast just don't mix for Christopher. The grunts then led to whining which then led to crying that shortly followed with full on tears and screaming crying. Remind you that we are still in Ruby Tuesdays. I jumped into action and scooped him up and headed for the bathroom to give my little man some assistance with his business. Thankfully my pregnancy brain didn't stop working once I got that diaper off and pushed down on his legs because his business decided to shoot out luckily on the diaper that I was using as a shield for myself. I am sure this is sounding super gross to those of you who do not have children but I am just getting you ready for what is in store and poop, a lot of poop in all sorts of colors & sizes in what you get.

After Ruby Tuesday's and his business was done, it was time for a nap and quick trip to BJ's since we were almost out of formula and I can't mess up twice in one weekend and neglect my child of things he needs. Next stop after that was the Duffy house. See, we did have a lot of things to do and people to see. He is such a flirt and loved seeing everyone but it was finally time to go back to my parents. After the day he had with shopping, pooping, eating & watching people eat..it was time to go home and relax for the both of us. Not only did we go home and relax but my amazing parents watched Christopher so I could go out. 

I was feeling very daring and decided that on Sunday I would get to finally spend time with my sister & best friend, Meg. I am so glad the weather cooperate as well as Chrsitopher and his business because we took a nice walk outside which resulted in Christopher passing out almost instantly and long enough for us ladies to catch up over a late lunch. 

This weekend with Mommy thing was absolutely amazing, even if we were missing Daddy and had to rush around Sunday afternoon to get done all of the chores that were neglected all weekend. Sometimes I think you just need a weekend away from all the laundry and dishes and live on the wild side. And yes, not doing laundry or dishes for two straight days is the wild side for me. Don't hate.

Here are some pictures from Christopher's weekend with Mommy.

My sleepy lil lad

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Just relaxing outside with Mommy

oh & p.s. Happy "belated" Birthday to my amazing husband & baby daddy! Love you Tim!

 

Donald Trump or Buzz from Home Alone?

Donald Trump Comb over

Or

Buzz from Home Alone???

You take your pick! My husband took his already...

My husband decided that the Donald Trump comb over look was just not cutting it for my little man anymore. For about a month straight I was threatened, by words only, that my husband was going to buzz my child's hair. As any other Mom, the anxiety of having my son's haircut this soon set in and I sent verbal threats right back at him. Then the anxiety of actually coming home to a baby that is bald really freaked me out. If you refer back to older posts, my son was born with a full head of wild hair. He looked all cute and hairy and I wanted him to stay that way. 

Yes I joined in on the fun of making a few jokes here & there about how hairy my son is but the truth of the matter is, I was starting to feel the same way my husband did. Only like any women, you have to wait a few weeks to finally admit they are right because admitting defeat too soon can totally mess up any plans of ever being right in the future. Right? Or is that just my crazy thinking?

 Not only am I a girl but I am girl that has no idea how to part a comb over on a guy let alone an adorable baby. Every attempt looked worse then the first time. I usually rushed my shivering child straight from his bath to his Daddy so he could correctly part the comb over. I got accustomed to referring to my child's hair "the something about Mary look," which is no way in any shape or form adorable. Also, His hair was starting to dry so fast & I know when that happens to me it usually means I am well overdue for a cut so I decided to give in....

Well my husband, if I don't say so myself, did an amazing job. Especially working without any clippers. It is still a work in progress but my little baby boy looks so fresh & grown up with his new big bog haircut. And he did remember to save it safely in a sandwich bag to now sit in a pile of items to be put into the baby book that I have yet to officially start. 

It took awhile get used to me but it is so much easier to work with and now shows off his uni-brow so nicely. Boy am I in trouble if this next baby is a girl. Especially a hairy little sucker like Christopher is. She will definitely be that girl with the bad haircuts and lop-sided pony tails. Maybe if I am lucky those styles will come back in...

Okay 1 more picture of my handsome little man with his new do...

Avocado Lovin'

This Mama loves avocado. I am pretty much always lovin' on anything Mexican related but avocado, especially as guacamole in my absolute favorite! oh how i love guacamole with chips. okay enough about the Mama since I wasn't the one trying it for the very first time.

Christopher is nothing like his Mama. Well at least not for the first time. His first time with avocado was last night and let me tell you, the look all the parents have told me about when giving babies new food have finally made its appearance. Not only did Christopher make that yuck face we even got shaking from his whole body, spitting green stuff right back at me and even tears. I felt bad. Well I actually felt bad for a minute but then found it very comical on how dramatic the event turned out to be. I mean come on. If my Mom gave me something to eat and I ever attempted to spit it back out, shake like I was having a seizure or cry I would have been told to sit there and finish my meal and no tv. But then I was brought back to reality very quickly that it was his first time and I was dealing with a 4 1/2 month old, not a 4 or 14 year old.

I decided that laughing at him was probably not the Mom of the year thing to do at all. This was my first experience with trying to hold back laughter when my child is doing something absolutely hysterical. I was semi-successful but I got plenty of time to try and master this skill since right now I got a screaming, crying, tear-streaked, green faced baby that has just had enough. I was very sad since I just wanted my little boy to share the love of avocado with me. I guess there is always tonight...against his will...and most likely more tears and green spit flying back at my face.

oh I just love avocado, especially when it is sucked on then spit back in my face.

Sorry no pictures today. I decided that tending to a baby that was truly horrified of the avocado experience was a better plan then snapping away in his face for mine (& yours) entertainment in this blog or for Facebook. But no worries, since it was only day 1, I will be snapping pictures tonight on the avocado experience, day 2 trial. 

Aaahhh the joys of being a Mom and doing all the things to your children that you hated when your  own Mom & Dad did to you.

Unexpectedly Expecting

I will bring you back to roughly 11:50pm on December 31, 2011. What were you doing on this glorious New Years Eve? Well as I have said before, you are about to be jealous of my new lifestyle yet again...

My husband, Christopher & even the annoying cat were all cuddled up in our bed flipping channels to catch up on all the trendy crap we missed in 2011. If you know me well enough you will understand that I NEVER listen to the radio and rarely ever keep up with the celebrity gossip so I figured what better time to play catch up then 10 minutes before the ball drops to ring in a New Year with all new crap & gossip. We were all introduced to what Nicki Minaj actually looked like & just as we expected, she was pretty scary looking. We all still were really confused as to why Kesha had to spell her name with a dollar sign as an S but I guess that is the cool celebrity thing to do. I will not say we for this next one since my husband strongly disagreed & Christopher had no idea who the heck he even is but to this Mommy, Justin Bieber was still super freaking cute & talented. After about 5 minutes of playing catch up on the crap game, I decided it was time. Time for what you ask?

Well it was time for my future to be revealed on a tiny little pee stick. That thing has been burning a hole through the Walgreen's bag for the last 24 hours so it was way overdue. Not like you can get UN-pregnant by putting it off but I am sure there are a lot of people out there that sure wished this was possible. I at the current moment had no idea what to think and just thought what better way to ring in the New Year then this? Pee stick in hand waiting for not only the ball to drop at midnight but for either 1 or 2 pink lines to show up. 5, 4, 3, shit "I got 2 lines!"

That is how my husband, my 2 1/2 month old son & annoying cat rang in the New Year. Well not really all of us, minutes after the ball dropped, my son fell asleep & my husband started watching "back in the day dance party" without a worry on his face. I on the other hand carefully laid down and stared at the ceiling thinking holy crap!!! I better make a doctors appointment right away. Then I thought crap again because I wouldn't be able to make a doctors appointment for two whole days since it was Sunday & then a Holiday. Just my luck. What a way to ring in the New Year. See, told you that you were going to be jealous!

Me being me, I demanded an Emergency appointment for that Wednesday. I arrived at the appointment super anxious and even more terrified to here the words "You are pregnant AGAIN!" I feel like the doctor and nurses knew of my high stress level which was raised even higher since my son had to come to the appointment with me & was extra cranky. I waited for almost an hour before being seen. Finally it was time to pee again. Isn't it funny how something as strange as pee can determine your future? Well this pee determined mine. Those words I was scared yet sort of anxious about were the exact words I heard from the nurse and doctor over a screaming crying baby. I knew at that moment that my life was about to change and those screaming cries are going to have to be something I learned to tone out & tolerate sometimes without stressing out because not only was I going to listen to 2 cries (the other one besides my son, Christopher is my annoying cat always wanting to go outside or come right back in.) but now there would be 3.

Despite the very rough round with many ultrasounds, blood draws & check ups I was more then relived and happy to receive confirmation that everything was finally normal and right on track for a healthy pregnancy. We were so happy to finally hear good news and that we could officially announce that "1 more makes a family of 4" (we do not include the annoying cat in this total as sometimes we don't really mean it but he is forgotten, sorry Rufus!). So if you read my previous blog, the pictures were our ever so clever way of announcing to the world that yes it is true, we may be crazy but we are crazily happy. (For those of you that thought you were just too cool, too busy or just plain lazy to read the previous blog I have posted a re-cap of the pictures for you.)

Baby #2 is due September 3, 2012 and our son Christopher will become a BIG Brother much earlier then him, my husband and I expected but it is only normal for a twin that is Irish to have Irish Twins, right? And what better time to announce then on Leap Day & the day before the best month to be Irish (March that is for all those "pretty" people out there!")

Rewinding with short stories.

Before I fast forward to the current day I decided to add some funny stories about Christopher before the big announcement (that is no longer a secret thanks to the Facebook world!) We don't want him to already start feeling shafted (& hopefully he never will..)

Pee on you

This story is luckily not about me due to the title. I mean yes as a Mom of a little boy, I have gotten peed on but my reactions were usually "ugh! okay, lets get a new diaper, new clothes, etc." Now my husbands reaction will make you laugh so please stop eating or drinking anything while reading this. I nearly choked on my Gatorade when this actual event happened. I was in the kitchen doing dishes while my husband was proceeding to change our adorable baby boy & BAM, he shot pee right at him. This was his 1st pee on you episode so I think he initially was shocked then he screamed "Damn it!" I ran in the family room to see pee on over my husband shirt & on our nice new hardwood floors. My words "I will get it and proceeded to clean up the floor." My husband's interpretation of this was I will take care of the baby & the floor so I am out of here. I look up & no daddy, just a screaming naked baby boy laying on the changing table. My husband went upstairs to get a shower & change after he got peed on. I nearly peed my pants laughing when he came down all fresh & clean with a "whats the problem" look on his face.

No food for you

My first outing for longer then an hour happened when Christopher was pretty young. I was dying to get out on a Saturday morning like I used to. My parents took me out shopping then to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. Christopher was an angel the whole day. He was either sleeping or just staring at all the new things. Well this was until it was time for his feeding. I was all like yeah I got this. Mommy has a HUGE diaper bag ready to go. Well silly me remembered the pre-made formula but no bottle. My Dad had to go to Target to buy a bottle which of course only came in a 3 pack, ask the waiter to boil the bottle to disinfect it and finally about an hour later, my son was fed with his brand new bottle. This was my first "oh shit" moment. Trust me, if you are a Mom saying wow, how could she do that then just you wait, your moment will come soon! 

 I Scream, You Scream

Christopher is a screamer. He used to just babble like most babies but one Sunday afternoon he found his voice and decided it was all over from there. No more being ignored. Everyone will hear me now. My husband and I thought it was hysterical and decided that the best way to keep getting him to do it was to scream back at him. Well about a month later we are very sorry we thought that screaming was cute. Now instead of the cute "I scream, you scream" pattern he decides that all day long he is going to just scream when he talks. If anyone knows me (or my family) you will understand that he finally picked up something from his Mommy, his loudness & excessive need to talk.

 

Poop & Play

My son LOVES his exosaucer. Once he finally figured out that it spins and he can jump & bang on it like a mad man to make noises of animals and songs he was in his own little baby heaven. He was banging, humping and screaming up a storm. Mommy & Daddy were in the kitchen making dinner, doing dishes, you know the typical household things that get put off until you finally get a minute of peace (can't say & quiet at our house anymore). I go out to the family room to check on him and I smell stink. Straight up nasty stink. I am like great, he pooped AGAIN. (He is a pooping machine now that he is eating solids & teething. Pampers loves us I am sure.) Well I pick him up from the exosaucer and just as I got him out of those tricky leg holes I heard plop. Yes, poop plopped out of his adorably cute jean overalls and onto our thankfully brown throw rug. This was my 1st poop accident/emergency. I no lie stared at my son and kept asking him, "What do I do?" Luckily I listen to other Mommy stories and remembered to take him to the sink to wash him off. Crap, the sink is filled with dirty dishes I did not finish. So then I ran by my laughing husband holding my baby boy like Simba's father did in Lion King upstairs to the tub. The first thing I could think of was to turn on the water and hose him down. Well I was so worried of getting poop in his eyes or mouth I hosed my son down in the tub with his clothes still on then proceeded to peel soaking wet clothes off a screaming stinky baby. Finally I got him all cleaned up, lotion-ed, changed into PJ's, tub cleaned up, wet poopy clothes in a bag to take down the the washer and still no husband. I proceed downstairs with the now super happy, poop free baby and the very stinky bag to see my husband sitting on the couch watching TV, eating his dinner and laughing.  You see, we play the you touched him last in our house. This means if you touched Christopher last then you are changing him. Needless to say, next time I smelled pooped and just knew he had to have it up his back & down his leg I decided to play nice & share and told my husband that he could hang with Christopher while I went to get changed. From my bedroom I heard the same reaction as when he got peed on for the first time (refer to pee on you above). Well guess what, paybacks a B****, Daddy dearest.

I am witnessing a pattern here, seems like all the funny stories with babies refer to eating, pooping & peeing. In the words of my husband "When are you going to do something fun, Christopher?" I guess to Christopher, like all babies, this is fun to them. Not so much to Mommies & Daddies but it is rather fun to look back and laugh out the funny reactions that we have at these "fun moment."

Stay tuned for more funny stories about being the wonderful life of being a new Mommy & Daddy to our amazing son, Christopher. (Current picture of him below, wink wink!!!)

 

all by myself...don't wanna be..all by myself!

The day has finally came. The day I was dreading from the moment we got home with Christopher. Tim had to go back to work ALREADY!  I mean someone in the house needs to make some $ to pay the bills let alone the new expenses in our life..diapers, wipes & formula. The 3 MUST have's when you have a baby (& your are not breast feeding of course.)

I gave myself a pep talk before bed that night which consisted of me going to bed at 7pm in order to prepare myself to be the sole night caregiver. Yes, I went to bed before my child actually went to bed. It was hard not being the one to officially say goodnight but I figured with his sleep schedule, I would be able to say goodnight 2 more times before the sun rose anyways. So I slept for what felt like 30 minutes and went about the nighttime routine...put bottle in warmer, picked up the baby, change his diaper, get bottle, feed, rock to sleep then back to bed. Sounds like a piece of cake, huh?! Well don't get too jealous just yet because we were going to get to do it again 3-4 hours later.  My snoring ever so peacefully husband was not jealous one bit. I on the other hand felt like I wanted to pinch his nose to make him stop snoring or shake him and make him wake up, too. Instead I just gave him my death stare in hopes that this would wake him up and he would not be able to go back to sleep for the rest of the night. I know I sound like the evil wife but for those of you who have the same issues with falling back to sleep like I do, you would totally understand. For those of you who do not, you suck, just like my husband.

Luckily this complete and utter hate for my husband went away the next morning when we had to say goodbye to Daddy & become the Mommy & son team. I had no issues expressing my feelings of concern to Tim about how I was freaking out a bit on how I was going to be able to get everything done while caring for this new member of our family. I mean I had a baby to feed, a cat to feed and my mouth to feed. So, yes, I cried the moment the car pulled down the driveway but the tears didn't  last long. I knew I had a job to do & the boss of this job, aka my son, he would not let me sit there and sulk all day.

The first week or so went by like a blur. I am pretty sure I forgot to feed the cat, shower, brush my teeth and change out of pajamas on more then one day. Tim was beyond supportive and did not comment once on my forest legs, stank breathe or the fact that dinner was not on the table. Since you know, all stay at home moms have super powers to do everything and still look amazing. Well wherever you heard, read or seen these ladies..they are all lies. Well not complete lies, just liars for the first week or more until a routine was set in motion.

I knew that establishing a routine was key to my success of being this temporary SAHM (This means Stay at home Mom. Don't worry if you did not understand it. It took me a Google search or two to finally understand what the heck that meant). My routine each day became easier and easier. I mean some days when the baby was extra cranky, took a massive explosion up his back or just did not want to leave my side, those days were exceptions. Every Mom (or Dad) needs exception days. They also need awesome supportive husbands like mine.

Being a SAHM all alone can be categorized 2 ways. Sucky or Amazing. Lets start with amazing. It was amazing to have the 1 on 1 time with my son. I got to snuggle with him without sharing. I was the person to console him when he cried. I was his savior. His Super Mommy. I loved being his Super Mommy.

Now to the bad side of being alone. I am sure some people are wondering how in the world can it suck being a Mom. Well if that is you, then you are not being honest with yourself or anyone else. Being a Mom is the best thing in the world. I wholeheartedly agree but not everything is rainbows & sunshine. I mean come on. Who likes being alone with a baby that just won't stop crying even after you fed him & he spit up on your only clean shirt, changed his diaper that brought him to then pee on your shirt that you just put on after the spit up accident. If you can honestly say you love being peed or spit up on, then you are Mommy God and I bow down to you. I will call you and have you come take care of my son who just started crying again while the dinner in the oven is burning, the phone is ringing and the stupid cat is crying because he probably hasn't eaten in a day.

So in summary, being a Mommy all alone is amazing and sucky at times. Like everything, I learned to take the good with the bad, established my routine and on days I just couldn't shower or get dinner in time I learned other methods like at least changing my clothes to appear like I showered or having a take out menu ready for when my husband got home. See, even if I thought I sucked at being a Mom all alone, I at least was smart enough to come up with a back up plan.

So here is to all those Moms that are SAHMs everyday, single Mommies, single Daddies or the Grandparents that have taken over being Mom/Dad to their beautiful bundle of joy. Some days are sucky & amazing but in the end you realize from here on out, you are never alone. You will always have that beautiful face staring back at you and loving you unconditionally (until they become a teenager and hate you for every reason in the book.)

To boob or not to boob...

I know, 2 blogs in 1 day..I am really living on the wild side today! I figured I have a lot of catching up to do since I have to catch up to how fast my baby boy is growing. Which as every Mom will say, too fast!

I never once questioned whether I wanted to breast feed or not because I knew I really wanted to from the moment I found out I was pregnant. I heard it is a fabulous bonding time with your baby so I figured that was exactly what I needed. I was all "I am Pro Breast Feeding" to all the nurses and doctors the whole pregnancy and in the hospital when my son was born. I could not wait to start. The problem then occurred to me that I had no idea how to start. I thought you could just put the baby's mouth up to the boob and they will just start sucking away. Nope, I was wrong. I don't think I knew what I was getting into at all but I was ready to give it a try.

Day 1 of trying to "offer the boob" started out that night the moment my son was brought to me because my little guy's tongue was going a mile a minute. I am pretty sure if he could speak he would have screamed "Damn Mom, I am freaking hungry. Give me the boob or something NOW!" Thankfully he could not speak & the nurses (& my extensive Googling) told me that he was one hungry kid. Me not having a clue and silently kicking myself for not taking breast feeding classes decided I will let my son cling on & see how it goes. Well my boy was no fool, he starting sucking right away and I was one very happy Mama until about 2 minutes went by and he started screaming crying and then fell asleep. Great, I already pissed him off and he would rather be sleeping then seeing me. No Mom of the Year award receiving today but we will try again tomorrow.

Day 2 of breast feeding was my day. Or that is what I kept telling myself before the breast feeding specialist AKA nurse that breast fed all her children came in my room. She was exactly what my "I can totally do this" butt needed. She was a no mercy, cry until you get this right type of person. I know to some people this would be the wrong answer but I needed someone to snap me out of I am a new Mommy la la land and put me back into perspective. My baby was hungry and the nurses informed me that formula was not his favorite thing to slurp down. Step 1 of her training was showing me something I never ever related to my favorite sport before, the fabulous football hold. This was genius. Only I have tiny hands, small arms and she expected me to hold my fragile new baby while making she he was latched on and sucking. Wow, my head was about to explode and tears were welling up in my eyes. (I blamed the hormones so I didn't look like a total chicken "poop"!) I gave myself a mental pep talk after my husband proceeded to stare at me and the baby proceeded to cry. I knew I could do it but needed Nazi Nurse to yell & stare at me with her mean eyes to have the confidence to swoop my fragile bundle of tears up and put him on that boob.  My little man started sucking like a champ so I knew Nazi Nurse was now Genius Nurse. Who knew football & breast feeding went hand in hand?!

Me being all "I got this," went home thinking my baby was a champion at eating from the boob and I was the best Mom he could have ever asked for. Well then my world came crashing down at Christopher's first week well visit. Debby Downer Doctor told me we had to come back for a weight check because my little man has lost some weight. Some weight was actually almost 2 full pounds. I am pretty sure I cried that whole day/night. I just had no idea what the problem was but I knew I needed a solution & I need one fast before my perfect baby boy wasted away to nothing due to my lack of keeping him full & healthy. Debby Downer Doctor did have a piece of advice that kept playing in my mind. She suggested we supplement with formula. Since I was all "Pro Breast Feeding" we did not buy any formula so this then drew more tears. Well Grandmom (AKA My Mom) came to the rescue and stalked our cabinets for all the free formula that every company sent us throughout my whole pregnancy. I had no energy at this point from crying the past almost full 2 days, no sleep due to trying to pump every ounce into my now super hungry & very angry baby. My Mom put formula in 1 of the only bottles we received at my shower and started feeding my son. Usually I HATE when people step on my toes and do things without my okay but my Mom was my hero at that given moment. My son chugged down a full 2 1/2 ounces, burped like he has been chugging bottles the whole 9 months in the womb and passed right out. Aaahhh peace & quiet. This super tired Mama went upstairs and passed out. Of course as all you Mommies know, this only lasted for about 3 hours before it was time for his next feeding. I decided we would try the boob first then the bottle. Well needless to say, my son was a very impatient and hungry kid (he inherited these traits from me, too! He was shaping up to at least be like his Mama since he looks just like his Daddy.)

Even though Debbie Downer Doctor was probably right, I scheduled the follow-up appointment with another doctor to find out how everything went with our new feeding pattern. Well that appointment made me realize something I think I knew the day my baby cried hungry tears and I had no idea what to do, because he gained almost a full pound back in just 3 days. After many attempts, Google searches, help from my Aunt, talking with other Mommies, the endless hours of pumping that seemed to only get me less time spent with my son & not even enough for a full feeding, tears until I am sure my tear ducts dried up and countless questioning in my head and to my husband what was right for my son, I finally gave up. I knew what was best for my son & knew that I needed to stop kicking myself in the arse and stop thinking I did something wrong, that would be the moment I would start doing what was best for my son. That night I said "bye bye milk filled boobies & breast pump, see you for the next baby" and moved on with my formula feeding ways.

So in the end, Boob- 0, Bottle- 1. To not boob was my answer. My answer was to make sure my baby boy was healthy and gaining weight back and as his Mommy I knew I was capable of doing this. Well my baby boy that was originally pissed & hungry is now happy & full. I was an emotional hot mess and now I am just a hot mess that learned to trust my Mom, advice from the doctors and most of all, my new found motherly instinct.

*I know some people may have opinions to my "what is best for my son" answer but I am going to say what my Dad used to always tell me "If you have nothing nice to say, please do not say it at all." 

Thank you!*

Home Sweet Hospital?

Well like mostly all new parents, we were soooooo ready to say goodbye to the uncomfortable hospital beds, the lovely nurses that felt the need to turn on the lights at all hours of the night & then proceed to tell you to get some rest and most of all the same old cheerios for breakfast & dry turkey sandwich for lunch. Time to say goodbye seemed like we were waiting FOREVER! I think the hospital wanted to keep my little cutie because they did not seem to want to discharge him even after they discharged me five hours ago after politely pulling the staples out of my soon to be sexy bikini line scar right there in that oh so lovely hospital bed. I was pretty sure my husband was about to vomit watching this process but I guess he has seen it all after witnessing a C-section and then the after effects of having a baby. (I won't go into detail as I am sure some of my readers have not experienced this yet and I don't want to ruin the awesomeness for you.) Finally after waiting 6 hours, it was time to put the little guy in the car seat for the first time & take him HOME SWEET HOME. (As pictured below)

The car ride went fine. Little man slept pretty much the whole way. We pull up to our HOME SWEET HOME anxious to begin our journey of being new parents all alone. Well not exactly all alone. We had what seemed to be a new addition to the family that is still nameless and unknown of whom the previous owner or gift giver was. Sorry but there are no pictures of this large, furry & stuffed Melissa & Doug dog. Sorry for the lack of pictures but if anyone knows how (& why) we received this dog, please contact me so we can do the right thing & thank you for the dog that sits creepily in the corner of our family room.

Okay, back to what it was like to be home with a new baby...I am not going to sugar coat it, I was beyond terrified but I knew that with my husband we would make the best Mommy & Daddy Team. Well our team rocked. Christopher was so well behaved and we were even able to get some things straightened up and sit down for a minute to relax. We were both like yeah, this is a piece of cake. I wonder why all these parents complain or tell horror stories of their first day (& couple weeks home)??? They must really suck at being parents! Well I am pretty sure Christopher decided that we were way to relaxed, over confident & needed to suck at being parents, too. Let the non-stop, no freaking idea why crying begin. Crying not just from him but from me as well. We fed him, we burped him, we changed his diaper 13 times (total exaggeration), we cuddled with him, we left him alone, we repeated all these steps over & over and still had a child that looked like he laid out on the beach too long and just realized he had a set of lungs he had to use. We were pretty sure our new neighbors hated us already. After about the 1 hour mark my husband & I realized he felt super warm. We being the previously great Team were now in total panic mode.

Panic mode led to super panic mode which then led to us scrambling around for the thermometer that we knew we bought but could not remember where we actually put it in his spotlessly clean nursery. Finally after finding the thermometer the panic mode set in more because we had no idea how to get an accurate temperature from a highly pissed off little boy. We said forget it, lets get him all geared up and in the car seat, we are going to the hospital, something has to be wrong with our once sweet, pleasant little boy. Well Christopher had a change of plans up his tiny little sleeve, the moment we put him in the car seat, he literally turned back to his beautiful olive complexion, stopped crying and stared at us like we were the crazy ones. Excuse me kid but you are the crazy one that just cried for the last 2 full hours for no freaking reason!!!

So yes, Team Mommy & Daddy- 0, Christopher- 1. We were so going to be those parents that showed up at the hospital with a baby that just would not stop crying because we just knew that he had like cancer, liver disease, pneumonia, etc. Thankfully Christopher loved us to much to let us be completely humiliated at the hospital and only took it as far as him getting to laugh at us on the inside. I know as a parent you can't ever be too cautious but come on, Team Mommy & Daddy really need to get their game up because crying in our HOME SWEET HOME is about to happen for the next 18 years of our lives...