To Buy or Not To Buy: Part 1

In honor of holiday shopping season, I decided to make my "must have" and "must not have" lists in attempt to help you spend or save your money wisely. I worked with my husband on this and we had a great time thinking back to the olden days of summer 2010 when Carter was an itty bitty thing. It is amazing how fast they grow and how quickly their favorite things become obsolete.

There are so many different aspects of a baby's life that require purchased items, so this "series" will have multiple parts separated into categories.

Now obviously all babies are different, so this comes directly from my personal experience and might be all wrong for you. I can only write what I know!

Today's list: Brand New Baby!!

MUST HAVE:

1.) Bassinet! That is if you plan on your little one sleeping in your room. We had a pack-n-play with the "bassinet" attachment (not the new fancy one with an infant sleeper, just the kind that raised the floor up to the top so baby wasn't on the ground)... Epic fail. He was not having that!! He needing something smaller and more cozy.

2.) Swaddle blankets... BIG ONES!! It's much easier to swaddle with the larger size. I read something that made me laugh which is very true, "When in the hospital, watch the nurses swaddle your baby very closely, and when you get home remember that you'll never be able to do it as well as they did." So true!! The bigger blankets help though, plus they grow with them so you aren't having to replace them a month later when they're too big for the little receiving blankets.

3.) Sleep positioning incline - Some people disagree with me on this which is totally fine, every baby is different. Carter had bad acid reflux so sleeping on an incline helped tremendously. This worked like magic for us.

4.) MAM pacifiers... AND CLIPS!! If you have an oral baby (which is a seriously stupid phrase if you ask me), pacifiers are a must and I'm personally in love with this brand.

5.) Boppy Pillow - This is more for the men strangely enough. My husband loved holding our baby man with Boppy assistance. I used it for nursing quite a bit as well.

6.) Vibrating Chair - The only place Carter would lay other than on someone. This device allowed me to shower, for which I (and everyone else) was very thankful.

7.) IPod/CD/Normal Person Stereo - All of the baby sound machines last about 20 minutes. We downloaded an ocean sounding track, burned it to a CD, put it on repeat, and used that. Constant calming noise = happy baby without a fancy gadget.

MUST NOT HAVES:

1.) Arm and Hammer Diaper Pail!!!!! You probably need a pail of some sort, but not this one. At 3 months I would have sworn by it, now it's worthless. It broke about a year ago and doesn't close easily, the door isn't tight so smells escape, and I can't find those special garbage bags anywhere.

2.) Swing - Now I'm not saying your baby won't like a swing, some adore it! For me, it was a decoration. My advice if possible is to borrow one or buy a cheap used one first to see if your baby takes to it. They aren't cheap, so why waste the money if you have a vibrating chair baby. If your little one likes it then it's certainly a worthy investment. My nephew lived in his!

3.) Bottle Warmer - Maybe others like these, mine was sold in a garage sale in its original packaging.

4.) Crib Entertainment Things (ie aquariums, music makers...) These did more harm than good. Since they only last 20 minutes or so, the lack of sound and light woke Carter back up. Sure some have remotes so you can restart them from outside the door, but doing that every 20 minutes all night makes for one grumpy mommy!!

5.) 74 Bibs - Do you need bibs? Absolutely! I received 74 at my showers... You don't need 74.

6.) Newborn clothes - Do you need these? Well, obviously, but if you have a baby shower, chances are you will get all you need. They grow out of these SOOOOOOO FAST!!! We had so many cute outfits that were passed down to my nephew with tags because there simply wasn't enough time to wear them all, so I'd say that you yourself shouldn't have to purchase many, if any at all.

This is a short list, I have much more to come!! I'd love to hear you itty bitty baby needs and not-so-needs as well.

Moms are Weird

I made this discovery the other day with the help of my husband... Moms are weird. I know I didn't have to group other moms into this phrase but I also know that I'm not alone in this, so why isolate myself?

You see, at the end of a day, we are exhausted, right? We want a break and a little time to reboot. At least I do. I love staying home with my little guy, but it is tiring! So you'd think we would be thrilled at the thought of an EXTENDED break, right? Like an entire day or over night even? Maybe some moms are, but I know a lot of us aren't, because it's too hard to leave our babies for that long. I'm not saying I never do it, I certainly do. I think it's healthy, but it's hard! Case in point, moms are weird:-) We are confused beings who long for breaks and hate having to take them.

The past few weeks have been long at times because my husband has a strange work schedule. There will be weeks that he's gone most evenings and weeks where is home more often than not, day and night. I love the 2nd option, and the first is a bit harder, especially when it's teething and "I have a cold" time, which has been lately. Going along with this, I have been crazy busy lately and have had to leave Carter 5 times last week, and will have to three 3 times this week before Thursday. You'd think this would even out and I'd be thankful for the breaks, but no... I hate them. So here is my confession: I am a weird mom.

Recipe Day!

Since I started this blog I have been wanting to incorporate recipes into some of my posts. Since my son is sick today and doesn't want me to do anything but hold him, I figured today was as good of a day as any!!

I don't love Red Lobster, but I do love their cheddar biscuits. I could eat a dozen of them and still want more. This recipe is AMAZING! Exactly like the restaurant. The only thing I do differently is I also brush the biscuits with the melted butter mixture once they come out of the oven. Don't over cook them!!!!!!

ENJOY!:-)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
1 cup Cheddar cheese finely grated
3/4 cup Whole milk
2 tablespoons Butter
1/8 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/4 cup Butter
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Dried parsley flakes
1 dash Salt

Preparation:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine Bisquick with cheddar cheese, milk, 2 tablespoons of butter that has been melted in the microwave, and 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder in a medium bowl. Mix until well-combined.

3. Drop approximately 1/4-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Combine 1/4 cup butter with 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, parsley flakes and salt. Brush this mixture over the tops of each unbaked biscuit.

5. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown. Serve warm.

Truth Behind the Silence

Do you have those days where you desperately need your little one to give you time to take care of things without interruption? Whether it be work, laundry, or even just a little time to relax? Well I do. Lately it has been because I'm actually very busy with work right now and nap-time isn't long enough to accomplish what needs accomplishing.  In my "About Me"section it states that I am a stay at home mom, and that is correct, 90% of the time.  I do, however, have a job.  I'm lucky enough to have a job that allows me to only work a few times a year, and this time of year is the busiest! It's very random, but I'm a choreographer for competitive cheerleading squads, show choirs, and dance teams, and since Illinois starts their cheer competition season soon, November is my heavy month. Creating these routines requires more than 3 minutes here and 3 minutes there, because I then forget what I was doing and have to start over, which is counter productive. (Seriously? Cheerleading isn't a word according to spell check? I feel like I just jumped back in time a few decades...)

Carter has been nice enough these last few days to give me some brief pauses during his play time to allow me to brainstorm and create.  The problem is that I know when he's quiet, he's being mischievous!! I'm always scared to look to see what he's doing because I don't want him to stop and want mommy time when I'm being productive, but I know deep down that this "brief pause" will cause more work after the fact. 

Example number 1: On Sunday night, Carter and I were hanging out in the church nursery during youth group. My husband is the Youth Director at our church so that ministry is something I've always been heavily involved in, until recently when Carter decided I'm not allowed to leave him (see 11.11.11 EPIC WISH post). ANYWAY I had a routine to teach the next day which I of course had not started.  Carter walked to the other side of the room to a table which was conveniently hidden by a tall dry erase board. He was over there the entire service, which was AWESOME! I knew I should check on him, but I let it be, only to find that this table, which at one point shelved about 20 wooden puzzles, was now bare, and the puzzles were in a giant pile on the floor... and not in one piece.  I won't lie, it was kind of funny... and even more embarrassing, it was kind of fun putting them all back together! (THANKS MICHELLE!)

Example number 2: Today I'm just exhausted.  I have a ton to do, but the thought of doing it makes me even more tired, so I want to rest. Carter went into his room for a bit, and though he was mysteriously quiet, I once again let it be. Later, this is what I found... Every diaper out of the hanging rack thing in piles across the room.  This is one of 3, but he magically managed to separate them all by corners so I couldn't get more than one in a picture. He did help me clean up though... by putting them in the hamper,  the trash can, the crib... Love my helpful little man!

Oh the orneriness of little boys!!!

p.s. Ornery, when pronounced correctly (which I never do), might be the ugliest word in the English language. Dang you Carter for making me use it so often! :)

My Best Friend is ORANGE!

If you are a parent, you know that there are moments when your little one will do something so darn cute that it makes your heart swell. Being the "I cry at anything" type person that I am, it makes me tear up. I've had a couple of those moments in recent days.

Carter has chosen a buddy. Growing up I had my blankie that I called Nigh Night. Nice name, right? I had issues naming things... I also had a white cat named Purple Terreda. Anyway, I loved that thing and could not sleep without it. My husband had a special pal as well, Ernie. We have both been hoping that our little guy would latch on to a best friend because we both have fond memories of ours... And like I said, he did! Ernie! Like father like son I guess. It's so cute!!! He carries him around, sleeps with him, tries to share his pacifier with his giant, "I cannot close" mouth, which never works, and when he's tired of carrying him everywhere he sits him up in a chair to rest.

My favorite though is that he hugs him and says "Awwww!" It's so stinking cute! He has inflection in his voice as well, which makes it even funnier. He almost sings it! It's so fun watching him play with his new found, somewhat creepy looking, orange friend.

The picture is of my tear up moment. He put his two buddies up in the chair, climbed in, put them both in his lap, and sat their hugging them while of course saying "Awwwww!"

Maybe Ernie will help him learn to share, because he has certainly not mastered that skill yet!!

Do your little ones have a favorite toy or blankie?

11.11.11 @ 11:11 - EPIC WISH

I do a lot of work with teenagers, and I have heard many of them say that today is the day to make the most epic wish of your life… 11/11/11 at 11:11. So here it is, my epic wish:

I wish that my son would stop having separation anxiety issues! Yes, I’m going to waste the most epic wish of my life on this because it would be worth it should it come true!  Carter had never had any issues with me leaving him with others until a few weeks ago. He had spent time in the church nursery, had baby sitters, we had even left town for 2-3 nights at a time without him and he was totally fine. It’s like the screaming child monster flipped a switch in my happy little boy.

To clarify, Little Dude didn’t all of a sudden become an angry baby, as long as he can see me he’s perfectly happy! Handy, right? He plays, laughs, watches TV… he’s perfectly content until I walk out of the room.  I’ve heard moms say to just let them cry it out… fail. One night I ran out of options and just left only to come back an hour later to him STILL screaming and standing by the door!!! Poor babysitter!!!

Everything I read says to just allow it, that it’s a phase that they will get through. I know it is. I know he’s not going to be 12 and scream when I leave (unless it’s a celebration), but that doesn’t make now any easier. 

I also read to leave him with familiar people. That works! He is totally fine staying with grandparents! Yay? No… one set is an hour away and the other is 5 hours away, so though it works, it’s not very practical most of the time.

I know it will pass. Most of the time I can let myself relish in the fact that he has such a strong bond to me, which I love. Soon I’ll be the one crying when he leaves, but in the mean time… any other advice? Or even just a hint at what age he might outgrow this?

Once upon a time...

When I was pregnant, I always loved to read other’s birth stories. Strangely, it made me even more excited, not scared. I always thought that once I had Carter I would write mine and post it on the message board I frequented, because I just knew other moms would want to read it.  Well, I never did. So today, I’m going to write mine. It’s a strange thing to do considering my audience is primarily MOMS not MOMS-TO-BE, but we all like reliving those days every once in a while, right? So here it is, my birth story (actually, Carter’s birth story… my end of pregnancy story): ß That is an end parenthesis, colon, not a sad face.

Carter was predicted to join us on May 18, but I was really hoping I would have him on the 14^th since that’s my birthday and our anniversary, so when I woke up with contractions on the 14^th I was SO EXCITED!!!! They were very light and about 15 minutes apart or longer, so nothing serious yet. Then to my disappointment, they stopped. Later that day, hoping to hurry him along, we went out to a Mexican restaurant (my fav)… didn’t do anything; I think the whole spicy food thing is a fib. We then went to see a movie… something manly that I didn’t like too much, but that was ok because I was too busy waiting on contractions to pay attention anyway.

I don’t remember much about the rest of the day.  I know someone from the church had made us dinner that was waiting for us at the house when we got home, which was very nice. We finally gave in and went to bed. I got to sleep for a whole 30 minutes (little did I know that 30 minutes was going to have to carry me through labor and a boat load a visitors the next day!) before waking up again with contractions.  This was about 11:30 pm. I woke Ben up to tell him, but insisted he stay asleep because they were so far apart.  He got up and got me a drink and put a movie on for me before I made him lay back down. I woke him up again around 1:30 am when it was obvious things were getting serious. We worked through it together until about 3:30, which is when things sped from getting serious to “I’m going to skip the next 6 hours worth of progress and jump to I want to come out now.” My contractions went from 10 minutes apart to about 4, but not consistently, which is when we called the doctor.  She said since it wasn’t consistent we could wait for an hour or go now. We chose option 2, and it’s a good thing we did.

When we got to the hospital I was “getting sick” out in the parking lot and could barely walk, so my husband ran to get a nurse who met me outside the doors with a wheel chair. When we got to the room, we found out that I was 8.5 cm dilated. The nurses were running around like mad.  I had one desperately trying to find a vein for my IV quite unsuccessfully (turns out I was extremely dehydrated and my body absorbed 4 bags of fluid instantly... so I blew up like a balloon... attractive) while another was asking me questions for paperwork and another was getting things set up in the room. I said yes to the epidural even though it was pretty much too late already. TERRIFYING!!! I hate needles so the tube in my spine thing freaked me out quite a bit. Also, no one warns you about the strange and scary nerve sensation that you feel when it’s done… I thought I was paralyzed. 

The epidural allowed me to rest for about 15 minutes before it got temperamental and decided it only wanted to help my right side, so they rolled me over to attempt to share the love, which is when it decided to get moody and be too stubborn to help at all. They tried to increase the dosage, which made me nearly pass out, not an exaggeration, so that was the end of my drugs.

Another thing I didn’t remember from my birthing class was the warning of trembling.  I trembled the entire time I was at the hospital. Not painful, but certainly annoying!

The nurse told me we were going to start pushing at about 6:30. Actually, she did a few pushes with me then said she was going to go get the doctor.  She left the room and said, “You know what to do!” Ummm…. NO! I’m not going to push with no one here crazy lady!

Once everyone was ready to deliver Carter, I got a strange fear of waking everyone in the hospital, so I asked if they would be able to hear me scream. The nurse said “No, but if you scream I’m going to tell you to stop because that means you aren’t putting all of your energy into pushing.” On we went… and eventually came a scream, to which everyone promptly replied, “STOP!” so I did… I stopped screaming. They meant stop pushing so they could “clean” Carter off and hold onto him. They should have been clearer. Let’s just say our doctor had to turn into a catcher! OOPS!

J I’m still working on catching up on my sleep…

The Joke's On You, MOM!

Yesterday Carter learned a new trick... he learned how to march. He was copying me as I marched around the house saying "MARCH, MARCH, MARCH" and he would say "MAR, MAR, MAR." I won't lie, it was really stinking cute.  I used this to get him to come out of our room without crying, which is a big success for Mommy.  For some reason our bedroom is my little man's favorite room and the only room he's not at allowed in at any time (and yes, I know these two facts are related), so normally getting him out is a fight.  Not while mar-ing. I was very proud of this accomplishment and was so excited to show my husband when he got home from work. Finally the time came to show off this new skill that we had been perfecting all day, and nothing. I'm mar-ing around the living room, very exaggerated mar-ing I might add, and he stands there perfectly still. So Ben, being the supportive husband he is, starts mar-ing as well. Carter just stands motionless and laughs at us. This got me thinking... how often does this brilliant little 18 month old dude make me do things just so he can laugh at me? We came to a conclusion at that moment that babies are a lot smarter than we think they are. I just have a feeling that in his head he's saying, "Man, my parents look like idiots right now.  You guys think I'm going to join in? You've got to be kidding me! Not going to happen!" He might not be able to say this yet... but he's thinking it. Makes me wonder if he's going to have a nice little file cabinet of Stupid Mom Moments stored away in that brain of his that he's going to whip out when he's older to embarrass me.  Try it little Carter man! Lucky for you, you have two parents who will not hesitate to reciprocate the embarrassment! Just wait until you start liking girls... I'll whip out something like this:

'Tis the Season to be Thankful

I had planned on writing a very light-hearted and entertaining post today, but when I got on Facebook this morning (like most of you do as soon as you wake up, let’s be honest), I was moved to change my approach. After reading a few “thoughts” or “announcements” I felt like I needed to go in a different direction.  The first thing that inspired this change comes with a back-story:

Though I live in Illinois now, I grew up in Indiana in a small interstate town about 30 miles from Indianapolis. I love it there. The town is great; the people are great… it’s just an awesome, tight-knit community. I’m sure by now you’ve all heard of the tragedy that struck during the Sugarland concert at the Indiana State Fair this past August.  When my mom told me what had happened, I was a bit panicked.  Living in a small town, entertainment is limited, so when something like this concert comes around, a good percentage of the town attends… including many friends and a lot of my family. Luckily (and a bit strangely) I found out right away that no one in my family went to this particular concert. What I did find was that many friends were at the fair grounds waiting to see this country duo rock out that night. People kept posting “I’m alright!” or “Scared but not injured!” or something along those lines to keep everyone from worrying… but not everyone.  It came up about an hour later that a girl that I went to high school with was still missing. It turns out Andrea had been hit with a steel beam that crushed her skull. To be quite honest with you, and her family has said this themselves, she should not have lived.  She suffered a traumatic brain injury and is still in the hospital today.  SO many things about her recovery, her family, and our little town have been more than inspiring over the past few months, and I could fill page after page of stories that make me so proud of her and of my hometown, but I won’t right now.

 

I did not know Andrea incredibly well. She was a senior when I was a freshman. I remember the summer before my freshman year, her and her best friend, Kendra, took me and a friend of mine out to lunch… ALL THE WAY IN INDIANAPOLIS! This is a big deal when you’re 14 and you’re in a car with other teenagers for the first time! They were incredible to us and we had a blast… and of course I thought I was super cool. Honestly, as I learned 3 years later, is this how a senior wants to spend a summer afternoon? Taking two incoming freshmen out to lunch? No, but that’s the kind of people these two were, and still are. Everyone else comes first.  I’m incredibly blessed to have this memory with these two people. I ended up running track that year with Andrea and she became like my “big sister” on the team. Some people just have a way about them that encourages you to strive for more, and that's Andrea. I remember thinking that I wanted to be like her when I was an upper-classman. I know for a fact that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

ANYWAY… throughout this ordeal, Andrea’s brother has shared update after update to the hundreds, maybe thousands (no lie) of people that have in one way or another been touched by Andrea or her family, and every update, from day one, has been filled with faith, hope and joy. She is now awake, alert, talking, walking… it’s all a miracle. This morning she had another surgery and her mother’s post was, “Andrea is in surgery. She was smiling all the way down the hall.” A lot of my Facebook friends are posting what they are thankful for this month and all of this made me realize how much I have for which to be thankful.  Andrea has a 4 year old daughter and a husband who she hasn’t been able to be home with for months now, an injury that she has had to fight every second of every minute since that night in August, and she had surgery this morning to replace a part of her skull that had to be removed, and she’s smiling. That thought put a lot of things in perspective for me.

How often to we take for granted what we have? Personally, I know I do quite often, so today I’m thankful for my life. I’m thankful for my adorable, healthy baby boy whose smile and laughter can cure anything; for my husband, the love of my life, who loves us both so dearly and works so hard to take care of us; my family who gave me this amazing life and made me who I am today through their never ending love and support; for the opportunity to spend an evening at home with friends; for health, happiness, and love; for the chance to get up today and document this crazy life and knowing that tomorrow, Lord willing, I’ll be able to do the same. Things aren’t always easy. Money gets tight, our babies get annoyingly fussy, we fight with those closest to us, but if that’s the main cause of stress in our lives, man are we lucky. Shortly after having Carter, someone told me something that I have never forgotten… The days may be long but the years fly by, so cherish every moment. I hope I never forget that. So thank you to you for taking time out of your day to read this novel of a blog, and I pray that today you are able to be thankful, and not take for granted the many ways in which we have all been blessed.

***This is just a tiny tiny glimpse at the amazing story of Andrea, her family, and a tiny town that has rallied behind one of their own through prayer, fundraising events, and lots and lots of pink. To read more, please visit www.fortheloveofandrea.com.

That!

My son is very smart. I know most mothers say that, but I'm serious! He has always had phenomenal problem solving skills from a young age. For example, when he was about 8 months old, crawling and pulling himself up to a stand, he and I would go into the infant nursery during church. When Daddy got done with worship team, he would come in there with us until it was time to get back on stage. Carter always hated the moment that Daddy had to leave, so one day he crawled over to the door, knocked the trash can over, pushed it up to the door, crawled on top of it, and pulled himself up to standing so that he could reach the door nob! After all that was the magical handle that Daddy pulled to disappear, so in order to find him again, little man had to pull it too. It obviously never worked but it's the thought that counts, right? This became a weekly occurrence.

Another example of his superior intelligence is that he managed to figure out the one word in the entire English language that would allow him to communicate with us without having to learn any more words... "THAT!" Well, it's more like "DAT!" This one syllable, accompanied with a finger point, enables him to tell us anything... And he knows it. Because of this, he refuses to say any other words. He says the typical Dada, Mama, baba, wow, Boom (that's what he calls my dad), and more, but DAT is used most often. I try and try to get him to use the correct word in order to get what he's "asking" for but he just gives me this ornery, knowing smile and says DAT! If that doesn't work, he knows how to play me and will give me a hug or a kiss until I give it. It works every time, I'm an admitted softy. He understands what we are saying and is able to follow commands and answer questions, he's just stubborn and thinks he's funny. He gets that from Boom (the thinking he's funny part)... And maybe his Mama, just a little bit.

Has anyone else had issues getting their little one broaden their vocabulary? I read to him multiple times a day, point out the pictures, use real and full sentences with him almost all of the time... Any other advice? I know he's secretly laughing at me and one day when I ask him what he wants to do he's going to whip out, "Today I'd really like to do something more thrilling, Mother. Perhaps the zoo or an art museum if the weather is poor."

Confessions of a blog-aholic?

Ok so the name needs work, but I'm going to make Fridays my confession blog days. This confession is something I just realized a few days ago while running errands with my little man. You know those moms that you see at the store in the mornings who have their little one in tow and they look like a picture out of a magazine? Flawless makeup, not a hair out of place, and every item on their bodies, including the diaper bag and spit up, matches and fits perfectly? I hate them. Not because I think they're bad people and not because I'm jealous, but because I always thought that would be me! You know when you're pregnant and you picture what your life will look like once you enter mommyhood? That's what I pictured for me. I was also going to be back in shape in 6 weeks... I'm still working on that 18 months later, but that's beside the point. I thought I would be out and about daily looking adorable at all times. NEVER HAPPENS! I spend a lot of my time in sweats, and I love it. My little dude is a constant mover, never slowing down for a second, so I figure if I'm going to be on the move with him, I should at least be comfy, right? If I'm having a good day I'll throw on a pair of jeans with my hoodie to go to the store! :-) I guess it makes those days in which I actually do get dressed up a lot more exciting! I'm proud to be a comfy mommy!!

TOUCANS!

Funny story….

So one of Carter’s favorite pastimes is to sit on my lap facing me, and learn the names of the strange things protruding off my face.  He can now point to both his and my nose, eyes, mouth, ears, feet, and of course, bellybutton (which is his favorite) on command. He loves to life up his shirt and point to that interesting hole type thing and I think it’s cute.  What isn’t cute is that he’ll now lift up either my husband’s shirt or mine and point to ours.  I’m just waiting for that awkward moment when he does this in public or in front of company.

ANYWAY yesterday we were playing this little game. He’d point to his nose, I’d say nose.  He’d point to my mouth, I’d say mouth.  You get the point.  He then started venturing out from the normal… I’m guessing he was bored with facial features. He started pointing to my neck and chin and shoulders and belly… and then… somewhere else.  Well I don’t really want to teach my 18 month old a word for that part of the female anatomy yet so I looked down and realized that I was wearing a souvenir t-shirt my mom had brought me from their favorite vacation eatery, Toucans. There happened to be a picture of a toucan and the word Toucans written right where he was pointing, so I said TOUCANS! Then the game continued… neck, chin, shoulder, belly, TOUCANS! Dear Future Carter, I’m sorry if this moment somehow affects you later in life.

Have any other moms out there had similar… “moments”?

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Even though my son is only 18 months old, I can promise you that when he gets older, he’s going to be a very hard working man.  I think employers should be lining up at our door now offering top dollar to hire the Carter of his 20’s. When he finds a job that needs done, he gets very serious and works with no distraction until completion. No matter what’s going on around him, which Veggie Tales episode you turn on, he is all business until business is done. It’s actually quite entertaining. The only problem is that these jobs he finds are not exactly helpful. His favorite is to come into our bedroom and get all of the toothbrushes and toothpaste out of the drawer (we have a vanity in our room, we don’t just randomly keep these items in a bedside table, I promise) and take them, one at a time, into the living room where he places them in his toy box with the rest of his prize possessions.  He also likes to take each of my curlers into the kitchen and hide them in his highchair. It makes me wonder what is going on in his head while he is doing this. Why does a hair curler belong where he eats? I think he saw the hole in the bottom and has decided that’s the perfect place to secretly store the food that he doesn’t want to eat (vegetables!), which is why I’m sure to remove them before mealtime.

My favorite use of his skills was yesterday after we got home from the grocery store.  I usually do one large shopping trip each month and this was that trip!  There was bag after bag lined up on the floor.  Most of the time I have to wait until he’s napping to put everything away because for some reason my being in the kitchen is an automatic cue to scream… who knows. Yesterday was different! He didn’t mind at all that I was in the kitchen without him putting the groceries into their oh-so-organized (HA!) cabinets. He wanted to help. We have a galley kitchen so I could see him coming and taking items out of the bags and walking away, but I couldn’t see where he was going or what he was doing with them when he got there.  I decided to keep on going without checking for fear of testing my “he’s not screaming” luck. When I finished I walked into the living room and found a bunch of items lined up neatly on the coffee table. The amazing part? Only HIS food was on the table, the rest of it was against the wall on the floor. Coincidence? Probably, but I prefer the “genius baby” explanation.

My least favorite example of his organization? PACIFIERS!!!  I HATE PACIFIERS!!! He finds hiding spots and puts ALL of them in this secret location when we aren’t looking. Then, without fail, something will happen that makes him cry. Pacifiers have always been instant relief to almost any tragedy.  Knowing this I instantly start scanning the room to find one, only to realize that he’s hidden them… again. SO FRUSTRATING! He’s good too, because once we have found his secret spot, he doesn’t use it again. You have to understand, that we live in a small, two-bedroom condo. It consists of two bedrooms (obviously), one bathroom, a living room, and an eat-in kitchen (kind of)… that’s all. I love it, I’m not complaining, my point is that there are theoretically few places that these magical objects could be. Sometimes it will take HOURS to find them! I’ve found them in drawers that we thought he couldn’t reach, in the window behind the curtain, behind the couch, in the bottom of his stuffed animal basket, in the bottom of a giant vase, and once, yes, in the toilet. These things need a tracking device.  I’m currently working on this and will let you know when it makes me rich! (This is published with a date, so consider that my copyright.  If you steal my idea, I’ll come after your earnings.) 

It’s funny how daily tasks change when you go from working wife to stay at home mom. A few years ago I was worrying about the success of our products and companies in China and now I spend my days searching for pacifiers and putting bathroom items back in their correct location… the bathroom. It’s certainly more fun and more rewarding than any other job on the planet… if only the pay were a little better!  In all honesty, I wouldn’t change a thing!

Why, oh why, would I do this?

So the question bouncing around in my head at the moment is "Why start a blog?" Honestly, I don't know! I don't think I really have any interesting thoughts, nor do I have worthwhile stories that strangers would care to read.  I'm not a particularly entertaining person (well... on purpose anyway), and I CERTAINLY wouldn't consider myself an expert at any one thing... especially parenting, which is the topic of this new venture of mine. So why? I have found that anytime I look online for another mother's words to help solidify a particular choice of mine, or just to make me feel like I'm not completely alone in this clueless world of mommyhood, all I find are mothers who I feel are far superior to me.  They have read book after book after book and have being a mommy down to a science.  Their kids are perfect, they eat perfect things, they have perfect diapers, and I picture their house to look like a perfect picture out of some sort of home magazine in which no toy is EVER out of place.  I envy these moms and their orderly lifestyle, but that is not now, nor will it ever be, me.  Those posts never make me feel better. Actually they have the opposite effect. So here I am, entering into this unknown and scary world of blogging, in hopes that other "not-so-perfect" mommies out there will feel comforted knowing that they are not alone. 

A little bit of my mommy back-story:

My husband and I had been married 2.5 years when we decided we wanted to start a family. I was 25 and he was 27. A lot of people were shocked by us coming to this decision so early, but we wanted to be young parents and have been so incredibly happy that we did.  Our little man, Carter Joseph, came into this world in May of 2010 and we were forever changed.  Who knew that this one, itty bitty, slimy, and beautiful creature could create so much love and happiness?  He came out smiling and has been a pretty happy baby ever since. (As I’m writing this he is screaming in the other room thinking I should come rescue him from his crib, so not all of the time.) 

Carter is ALL boy.  From the time he could crawl it has been go go go! Everyone says that when babies start to walk, everything changes.  Either that’s a lie or we had an expert crawler because there wasn’t one thing that he started doing after becoming a two-legged creature that he couldn’t do on all fours.  He’s exhausting at times, but there is nothing more fun than watching him explore and try to figure out this huge unknown world on his own. Our little guy has brought so much joy and laughter into our lives and we feel incredibly blessed to be his parents.

Now that all of the introductions are out of the way, I will be able to start writing “The True Tales of Mommyhood.” I will share stories, questions, and thoughts as a fellow mom, not an expert.  My goal isn’t to teach others the correct way to parent (sure, there might be advice here and there, but I’m warning you now that anything I offer I learned on my own and have no education to back it up), I just want to connect us all through real life parenting experiences. The glorious struggles, embarrassing moments, joyous successes, and stressful days of being a mom are felt by every single mother, perfect or not, so let’s share, laugh, learn, scream, smile, and cry together.