Here we go Again

Hey all! Since finding out that I am pregnant again, I have been both nervous, and excited. I have also been very tired, pretty cranky, and down right impatient at times. Being pregnant, while having another child to care for is no picnic!

When I found out I was pregnant with my sweet baby boy Nathaniel, things were different. I only had to worry about me, myself, and I. If I didn't feel well, I could rest. If I was tired, I could take a nap. If I had a headache, again, I could rest. I didn't have any one depending on me, except my husband, who is pretty self-sufficient. This time around, I find myself having to care for not only my self, but for the cutest, sweetest, little boy ever. But lets be honest. No amount of cuteness is going to get rid of that nagging fatigue, that just doesn't go away, or ease your throbbing head.

How, for example, do you communicate to a fourteen month old that he can't run around the house screaming, because Momma's head might simply explode? Or, that no matter how cute and fun it is to play chase, Mommy just doesn't have the energy to keep up? Or my personal favorite, how do I explain to Nathan that I can longer be his jungle gym, because it just plain hurts too much? Sadly, you can't. So, I find myself loosing patience over the most simple, and silly things that are harmless, yet so unbelievably irksome nowadays.

Our conversations go something like this, "Nathan! Do NOT turn your sippy cup upside down, and pour the water out!!! How many times do I have to tell you?!" Nathan replies, with a very innocent look on his face, "Dada?" "No son. Dada is not here. That's it. Time for a nap!" And so, more often than not, my escape is putting him down for a "nap," in other words,"Momma needs a break, and you my child, need to not be in the room so I can calm down. I love you, but right now, you're killin' me smalls..."

And so? More often than not, I am a bit more snappy than I mean to be, or lose patience over silly little things. My escape? Naptime or time outs, with Netflix or Pottermore. Works every time.

Mama Llama

Hey friends. Have you ever noticed that when you become a momma, or are taking care of someone's child, that you turn into a llama? Well I have. There are about a million and a half extra things you have to carry with you! Traveling used to be so easy! Grab your purse, or whatever it is that you normally take with you, and off you go! Easy peasy. Well not anymore my friends! Times have changed, and so has your load.

First, you have to make sure that you have the child with you. In this case Nate. Then you have to make sure you have the diaper bag filled with the essentials. Here is a list of the essentials that I try not to leave the house without. Diapers, wipes, formula and bottle filled with water, baby food and spoon, cereal or some other type of snacky food, butt paste, or desitin, toys, a change of clothes, my wallet, keys, cell phone and the every important pacifier. There are usually some other floating odd balls in the bag, but these may vary. Like hand sanitizer, a plastic bag, theremometer, nose drops, bulb syringe, tissues, a blanket and make-up. My point? There is a LOT to carry!

Now imagine me, carrying my 22+ lb son, with a daiper bag that weighs anywhere from two to five lbs depending on the day, or where we are going; add to that the tasks of locking the front door, getting in, and out of the car, and carrying additional items into the house.

Here comes the fun part. Try bringing in groceries with that much to carry already! Its like running a marathon, while wearing ankle, thigh, bicep, torso, and wrist weights. Its a joke! Imagine me slowly taking steps toward the door, gradually sinking lower to the ground, one hand out stretched and saying, "I c-can m-m-make it! S-so very c-close!" and then collapsing into a broken heap, just a few feet from the front door.

Ok. So this may be a huge exaggeration, but sometimes it feels like we momma's should be olympic weight lifters. Or llamas. Either way we have a large load to carry.    

Job Perks

Being a Momma is difficult sometimes. Especially when you have to soothe a crying child at three in the morning, or comfort an upset baby who is teething. But, like any job, there are perks! Here are just a few of those "perks" that I have come to love.

The first perk I like to call, "the after nap time glow." Everytime Nathaniel gets up from a nap, or wakes up for the day, he smiles at me. This is not a small smile either, its a face eating, smile up to your forehead type of smile. He also starts to bounce up and down in his crib, and make happy noises. It warms my heart that he is so happy to see me, and so glad to be alive! He stays pretty happy for about a half hour or so, in which time, there are lots of giggles, and tons of smiles.

The next perk is called, "casual fridays, everyday!" When you're a stay at home Momma, there is no dress code. As long as you're wearing clothes, you are good to go! Nathan has no idea what I wear everyday, and it doesn't matter him. Heck! He doesn't even care what he is wearing most days!

Do you remember The Three Stooges? Well, this next perk has a lot to do with how silly they were. I like to call it, "Larry, Curly, Moe, and Me!" This perk in a nutshell? I can be as silly as I want to be, and I don't get weird looks. In fact, the sillier the better! I could look like a complete idiot, and all Nate would do is laugh. Not out of judgement, not out of spite, not out of embaressment (yet), but out of sheer enjoyment. I treasure these moments where all the walls come down, and we are just our silly selves.

The last perk I would like to talk about is, "baby loves, and nap time snuggles." This is one of my personal favorites. In the last month or so, Nathan has started to cuddle with me again, which is kind of a big deal. He only does it when he is ready for a nap, but hey! I'll take what I can get. He likes to sit with me, while we watch a movie or tv show, and just cuddle until he falls alseep. There is nothing sweeter than holding a sleeping baby, or a tired one at that. It makes me feel so needed and loved to know, that when my son is tired, and needs some loving, he turns to me for snuggles, and love.   

So, you see? Even though Motherhood can have its downs, there are plenty of ups to make it all worthwhile. Just look for the little things, like the smile you weren't expecting, or the hug you didn't know you needed. Life will bless you if you let it.

Wait! What just happened?!

Hello friends!

Yesterday, I was sitting on the couch reading a book. Nathaniel was crawling around over by our back door. Our back door is a sliding glass door, and he likes to stand up on it, and look out. Our make-shift pantry sits right next to the door. Well, Nathan can now stand up on things, and likes to get into things he shouldn't.

As I said, yesterday Nate was crawling around by the back door, and all seemed quiet. Of course, that's when you expect trouble right? I heard smacking noises. Like someone smacking their lips. I asked Vince to see if Nathan had anything in his mouth. Vince starts laughing once he gets over to Nathan, and says that he needs to take a picture. Of course I am very curious now, and Vince proceeds to tell me that Nate has gotten into the Nesquick. It is open, on the ground, and there are finger marks. Nathan had been licking his fingers, and sticking the Nesquick in his mouth.

Needless to say, he was very proud of himself. A cute little ball of messy chocolate smiles. :) Its hard to be mad at someone who is so cute! :)

Naptime, aka, the Warzone

Nathaniel has entered this phase as of late, where he doesn't want to take a nap, no matter how tired, or cranky he may be. You can imagine how frustrating this could be to a new mother. All that's going through my head while we fight is, "please go to sleep son! You need a nap, because you are tired, and this is going to help you feel better. I only want what's best for you I promise!" What's going through his head? Well, who knows, but what it seems like he's thinking is, "no! Must. Not. Give. In. I cannot fall asleep. I will miss something! There is so much to do, learn about and explore! I cannot miss a SINGLE moment! I won't go to sleep! I WON'T!!!"

Ouef. There I was again, earlier today, having fed my son, wrapped him in his favorite blankie, and given him his pacifier, and he STILL wasn't going to sleep. I was done. At my wits end. Not sure what to do anymore, I took him upstairs and put him in his bed, to see if he would just pass out on his own, and to give myself a break. (All momma's need a break at some point during the day). My plan failed. He still wasn't asleep. I went upstairs, after taking a few deep breaths, and decided to re-wrap him in his blanket and let him fight/cry it out. Well, this time, it worked. After a few minutes of squirming, he was out! O-U-T out! Finally!

You would think I would be relieved right? Yes and no. Yes because Nathaniel was finally asleep, and I had some time to myself, but no because despite all my efforts, snuggling with him, feeding his bottle, wrapping him up, and giving him the pacifier, he still fell asleep without my help. Grrr... After HOURS (I'm not even joking) of fighting with him, he fell asleep of his own accord, making me feel completely useless. Needless to say, not my favorite day in the land of Mommahood.

Well played, Nathan. Well played, indeed. Until the next naptime my son. You are a worthy opponent.

The Mommylimpics

Hey! Its been a while! I haven't been posting due to a media fast that my dear husband and I were doing, but that is now over, and we are back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I have been thinking a lot lately, in honor of the recent Olympics, about how mommies should be considered Olympians. We would compete in the following catergories: weight lifting, endurance, and track and field.

The first event would be weight lifting. Here's why: from the moment our precious little bundles are conceived, we start to carry extra weight. This is not the kind of weight that you get to set down, or rest from for a while. It is a constant weight that only gets heavier and worse on your body throughout pregnancy. Once our little ones are born, they are no longer a constant a weight, but require lots of holding/lifting. Once again, these little weights only get heavier, not lighter people, as time goes on. Who wins the gold medal? Moms of multiples. I can't imagine having to bear that much weight during pregnancy, or afterwards for that matter!

The second event is a trial of endurance. There are many little sub-events in this catergory, as with track, but we will be dealing with the ability to endure whinning, crying and moaning. This includes any kind whinning, crying, or moaning. From temper tamtrums, to fighting sleep, we mommas have to be prepared for anything, and willing to help our loved ones through their tears. Hopefully someday we will all be masters of patience. The gold medal in this catergory goes to all the moms who have more than one child. Dealing with one fussy baby is enough, but having to deal with more than that? I can only imagine...

The third and final event is track and field. Have you ever noticed how quick, and agile mothers can be when saving their little ones from disaster? We have to be able to drop everything and stop the disaster before it happens, or save the child from themselves, before a real disaster takes place. We also have finely tuned ears to listen for silence, AKA mischief. I think the gold medal in this catergory definitely goes to moms of twins or multipules. Having to save my crawling, standing child from himself is exhausting enough, let alone having to do it with two or more!

There is so much more that mommas do for their babies. Don't even get me started on multi-tasking. Long story short (too late...)? Mommas are Olympians in my book. Nothing has opened my eyes to that more than being one myself.

The Things That Daddy's Do

Every child has a father, and sometimes they do silly things. This post is all about funny, sweet, and odd experiences, all involving one man, and one boy. My sweet husband Vince, and my smiley baby Nathaniel.

This first experience is by far the most recent, and hilarious experience yet. One morning, Nathaniel decided to wake up at four am. I went to his bed and put the pacifier back in his mouth, and climbed back into bed. After a while, Nathan was up again. Vincent got up with him this time, which was very sweet, and proceeded to change Nate's daiper, and put him back in bed. Problem solved. Seems pretty routine right? Just wait. It gets better!

A couple of hours later, when I went to get Nate out of bed for real, I found something hilarious, yet distrubing. My 6 month old son was up on his hands and knees, bare bottom exposed, diaper off to the side, and a giant grin on his face, as if to say, "oh hello Mommy! You're up! How nice to see you this morning! Look what I did!" Needless to say, I questioned Vince about what had occured at four in the morning to see I could make sense of what had happened. Come to find out, Vincent had changed Nathan out of his onesie, because he had wetted through his diaper and onto his onesie. Ok. That I could handle. My next thought was, well why didn't he put a new onesie on Nathan after changing him out of his wet one? I guess it was four o' clock in the morning though, Vince hadn't slept well.

I later found out that Nathan had reached down to his diaper and played with the velcro that holds the diaper in place. My husband thought to himself, there's no way Nathan can take his diaper off! He's too young! Low and behold, Nathaniel surprised us all later that day when we discovered that a 6 month old can indeed take off his diaper. Thank goodness there was no mess left behind.

Fathers sometimes have to get children dressed. Vincent had to get Nathan dressed not too long ago, as I was gone somewhere having a little me time. I finished my errand and went home to my husband and son. Everything seemed to be in order, so I settled in. When I looked down at Nate, however, I realized that his romper was on backwards! I pointed this out to Vincent who promptly and sarcastically said, "What?! The buttons don't go on the back! Who thought of that!" We both got a good laugh out of this one. In my husband's defense, Nathan has other rompers/onesies that have buttons or snaps on the front. It was only natural that he would be confused.

Lastly, my husband likes to make Nathaniel "work-out." Picture this: Nathan, lying flat on his back, with a half pound weight (yes, a weight), in his hand, and Vincent close to by to catch it if anything goes wrong. (The weight was one of those long skinny ones that you put into an ankle or wrist weight).  Well my first thought is, I hope he doesn't drop it on his little face and hurt himself, or drop it into the back of his throat, and choke himself on it. Vincent is thinking, oh man! This is going to strengthen his arms/wrists like crazy! My baby is going to be so buff! Silly, silly. He will get buff by holding himself up on his hands and knees, trying to crawl, and sitting up. Vince also does all sorts of other random exercises with Nathan that when asked about, his response is, "I'm making him work-out! Our little boy is going to be so strong!"

Well, that's our life with Daddy in a nutshell. There are other random happenstances that I could write about, but that would require a whole other post, and a lot more room. Daddy's do the things they do because they love their babies, so Vince must love Nathaniel a lot.