Well, I know it's been a little while since my last post so you have successfully figured out that I am a champ when it comes to procrastinating. It's not that I didn't want to write, or didn't have any ideas, it's just a little tricky to find a good hour to write when your six month old starts crawling and continues to hate sleeping. If it comes down to sleeping or writing, I'm going to choose sleeping every time. So, Danny, here's your entry, now GET OFF MY BACK. :)
Half of a year has gone by since Cece came into this world, and I wanted to celebrate those months by listing some of my favorite things about being a stay at home mom with our sweet insomniac roommate.
I need this mug, pronto.
1. Coffee. All day, everyday. This is what I drink. I don't have to wait until I have a free period to go get some, I just have a mug full of it all the time. You might say, 'hey, you should probably put something that you like about Cece first.' I would say to you, 'hey, coffee allows Cece's mom to help her have all of her greatest moments.' I've started to have to really tolerate lukewarm coffee as it is impossible to play with your child and drink an entire hot cup of liquid euphoria.
Can you believe we look this good in the morning?
2. Morning snuggle sesh. There's something about the morning that makes Cece really lovey. I've heard this is true for many other babies as well. There's nothing better than snuggling and morning kisses in pjs.
Nobody is ever this happy when wearing khakis, Gap.
3. I don't have to wear khakis. Ever. Khakis remind me of going to work. I used to wear khakis a lot when I was teaching. My work now includes a boss who spits up on me multiple times a day, so I keep it simple and comfy. The majority of my outfits include yoga pants and multiple layers for easy shedding after being spit up on.
This is typically how I celebrate not having to wait in lines at the checkout.
4. Family dates. This year, Moose has Wednesdays and Thursdays off. I was a little sad to see our Thursday and Friday days off go, but it's been really nice to have two days in the middle of the week for us to hang out. He's able to go to all of Cece's appointments and able to watch Cece when I need to head to an appointment too. It's also nice to go to the grocery store, mall, or out to dinner and miss the Friday/Saturday rush everywhere.
This is what car duty at CKS looks like.
5. No car duty. When I was teaching, one of our responsibilities was to partake in a blood pressure screening called car duty. Your job was to corral Kindergarten through 8th grade students into the appropriate cars at the end of the day. When this mess was orchestrated, somebody was under the impression that having gobs of students sitting together after the school day was over and 3-4 supervising teachers was a good idea. 'We'll tell the kids to look for their cars, and not to talk.' Brilliant, I bet it works. I'm so glad I only have to worry about getting Cece in my car on a daily basis.
Cece's first playdate with sweet Grace. They found out they have similar interests in redecorating Mommy's clothes.
6. Playdates. This is also known as a Mommy therapy session. It's so nice to spend time with another mom and share success stories and stories about when you accidentally let your dog lead your child in her first gymnastics class(refer to 'the tricky business of taking a walk'). It's also nice to see your kids play together. Cece's at the fun age where she's starting to really interact with other kids. When playdates are coupled with coffee, it's pretty much the best day ever.
There are plenty more of my favorite moments, but it will have to come in the form of a 'part 2' as Cece is sitting next to me trying to start her own blog.
This post is sponsored by the letters S, L, E, E, P. I'm writing this post in hopes of gathering a host of ideas and experiences that revolve around a baby sleeping. Remember when I told you that I loathe writing? I feel the opposite way about sleep. If sleep were a restaurant I would eat there three times a day, everyday. If sleep were a favorite color, I would paint my entire house and purchase all of my clothing in that color. If sleep were a career, I would be the CEO of a very successful sleepatorium. If sleep were a game show, I would be the all-time superstar reigning champ. Ok, that last one would actually have to go to my sister-in-law, Jennifer. She recently slept until 2:40 in the afternoon and she wasn't hung over, sick, or writing a paper. She's my hero.
When you have a baby, they can sense that you like to sleep. They want to teach you that you're being a glutton for sleep and the way they teach you is to dabble in vampire-like tendencies. My sweet Cece has had a smorgasbord of sleep patterns over the past 5 months. She has helped me become a very capable internet researcher of all things baby sleep related. Here's what the internet told me: nothing. The interwebs have many different theories about what Moose and I are doing wrong when trying to get Cece to sleep at night. We actually do a really good job of getting her to sleep, it's the staying asleep part that's tricky.
In her first month of life, she slept for 45 minutes at a time. Day and night, night and day we tried to survive on multiple periods of rest. We rested, because it's impossible to get to the REM cycle in 45 minutes. I'm still apologizing to people that called, texted or came to visit me during this first month. I remember wearing maybe 2 different outfits and treating a trip to the mailbox like I won a vacation to St. Maarten. There was one day where a family friend came over and said something like, " You two go sleep for 4 hours, I'll watch your baby." I was so excited by the fact that I was going to have 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep, that I couldn't sleep for the first hour.
Months two and three went beautifully, Cece fell into a rhythm of falling asleep by midnight and waking up at 7. We had 7 hours in a row of pure sleep. I was able to do things like form coherent sentences when speaking to people. I could find my keys in seconds instead of wandering around the house looking in every possible idiotic place. I wore more than 2 outfits. Life was getting back to normal. Then, month 4 arrived. Cece decided she wanted to party at midnight, 3 AM, 6 AM and 8 AM. These are unacceptable partying hours. Some people say to me, "well at least you can nap during the day when she naps!" These people don't know that Cece only naps for 20 minutes at a time during the day. Maybe I need to start researching about how to fall asleep efficiently in 1 minute so that I can have 19 full minutes of rest. I don't want you to feel sorry for me, I want you to come over and watch Cece so I can sleep. Just kidding! I would love to hear your own stories and experiences with baby sleep patterns. I know that this too shall pass and I will miss the days that she wants to party with her parents at all hours of the night.
Now that the holidays are over, it's time to get back to work. Cece has been logging some long hours at the office over the last few days so I thought I'd share her place of business with you.
This is Cece's business chair. It was loaned to us by my good friend Ali. When Cece sits in this chair, you know it's on. She will be all work and no play for about 15 minutes. If you reach the 16th minute and she is still in this chair, watch out because this chair may be thrown at your face.
This is Cece's business office. She typically starts her day with a smile on her face. She can't drink coffee yet, so it's amazing to me that she is in such good spirits without being filled with liquid happiness.
This is business associate number one, bird. From what I can gather, bird always shows up for work on time and never misses a deadline. If Cece has a favorite employee, bird is it. He's only been punched in the face once, but it was because he didn't brew a fresh pot of coffee after taking the last cup. That is a well deserved punch, if you ask me.
This is business associate number 2, yellow cow. Notice how she is reaching for this associate, this is because she is about to strangle yellow cow. It seems to me that yellow cow is the weak link in Cece's business. If someone is getting punched in the face and strangled, it's going to be yellow cow. Cece may just be offended by the pure appearance of yellow cow. She's smart enough to know that yellow cows don't exist and she doesn't want imaginary beings representing her company.
It looks like this is going to be a good day.
Cece on the job looking for new recruits to fill a certain yellow cow's position.
Sweet Cece, such a beautiful gift. Aug. 9, 2013. Hospital gowns, the opposite of a beautiful gift.
Today, we're talking about a potpourri of pain. Don't worry, I'm not going to get into graphic detail about labor pain, delivery, etc. Over the last 5 months I've had some pretty bad luck in the health department and have had the not so happy fortune of visiting 4 different hospitals. At one point, I think Moose was wondering if I was just trying to win the contest for most hospital bills in a five month period. I imagine at this point, our insurance company has a picture of me up on a corkboard in their lounge with the caption 'most likely to be in the hospital next week.' There is always some sort of take away from our good and bad experiences. God helps us learn about ourselves and others through these situations, and these visits are no exception.
If you can have a favorite hospital visit, the first one would have to be mine. It was around midnight on a Thursday, and I woke up with this pretty intense back pain. Moose and I had been trying everything to get labor started, and we had taken a pretty vigorous walk the night before so I just thought that I was sore from our evening stroll. I thought I might as well get one of my many night time bathroom breaks out of the way, so off I went. Well, the back pain turned out to be back labor and my water broke. I called Moose from the bathroom. He had been downstairs getting ready to sleep on the couch. You see, in the last month of pregnancy you don't need a bed, you need a cruise ship covered in pillows in order to be comfortable. Because we can't afford a cruise ship pillow bed, Moose was kind enough to let me have our entire queen size bed to myself. After I told him what was going on he raced up the stairs and was able to get both of us organized and ready to go. When I think about that night, I think about seeing our daughter for the first time, and our drive to the hospital. It was late, dark, and no one was on the road. It was one of the most relaxing car rides I've ever taken. I had always pictured that we would be in a frantic panic, stuck in 5 o'clock traffic where all four of our tires burst leaving me to give birth on 465. Completely reasonable, no? Instead, it felt like we were going on a date, full of excitement and just so glad to be in each other's presence. Except this date ends with very expensive mediocre food, and another human to take home.
We made it to the hospital, and many hours of labor later ( combined with 4 hours of pushing, so many hours) we had the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen. There is absolutely no exercise book on this planet that can prepare you to stretch your heart wide enough to fit all of the love that you feel the moment you first see your baby. I remember telling Moose during labor to really enjoy this baby, because it's the only one he's getting. That thought vanished immediately the moment I saw Cecilia. She is my proudest accomplishment and I still well up in a pool of blubbery emotion whenever I think about that day.
Fast forward to November. I had been back into a workout routine and feeling really good about regaining my strength and running endurance since the 6 week postpartum visit. I registered for the mini in May, and was ready to start training with my friend Sara. Then after a delicious meal of turkey chili, made even more delicious because I didn't have to lift a finger to make it, I started to feel sick. Ok, maybe I overdid it. It's one of my favorite meals that Moose makes, and I'm never shy about helping myself to the cheese and fritos that go along with it. After a night of intense stomach pain and studying the brand of our toilet too closely, I chalked it up to a 24 stomach bug. What I didn't know then was that my gallbladder was trying to jump ship. Apparently, it was trying to get up enough courage to do what my appendix did twelve years ago. Side note, after my appendix was removed, I looked it up in our World Book Encyclopedia at home and I kid you not, it said you 'probably' don't need it. PROBABLY? Well, maybe your gallbladder ABSOLUTELY needs it to stay in good shape.
Hospital visit number 2 includes an ER trip, and an ultrasound to determine whether or not my gallbladder needs to be removed. At one point, a Physician's Assistant tried to get me to leave the hospital with the diagnosis of a UTI. This stomach pain was about as intense if not worse than labor, so let's try that again. The ultrasound confirmed that I had a very sick gallbladder with stones and it needed to join my appendix in the heaven for expendable organs as soon as possible. I was told this procedure was pretty typical after pregnancy.Once again, after two weeks of recovery, I was able to start running again and eat my favorite foods, things were looking up.
Hospital visit number 3 and four include two different hospitals, one for a CT scan and one with surgical capabilities. The day after Christmas I started feeling stomach pains similar to those that I had experienced when I had a gallbladder. How could this be? They took my gallbladder out, and I'm pretty sure I need the rest of the organs that are floating around in there. After a few more nights of intense pain, yellowing skin(hawt, right?) and ER visits, they determined that a my gallbladder had left a parting gift of a stone lodged in my common bile duct. This is the part where you just laugh and then hope and pray that this is it. After an ERCP to remove the stone a week ago, I'm starting to feel stronger again.
So, what's the takeaway here? I host an uninhabitable environment for good organ function? I hope not. I've never been great at letting people take care of me, it makes me feel bad to put someone else out. When my husband and I first began dating, I had a hard time letting him do things for me all of the time. When you have a few surgeries and have a baby to take care of, you have to let people take care of you. Thank God that I have such a wonderful husband and group of friends and family that didn't waste a second to help me. The really beautiful thing is that Cece was able to spend so much time with people that love her so much. A special thanks to my mother-in-law, my sister, Danny and Jennifer for staying with Cece for 3 days while I was in the hospital. Also to my parents for helping take care of me and Cece this weekend. My incredible neighbors, as well as the countless friends and family that made their thoughts and prayers known to me. I adore all of you, and feel so blessed. Let's pray that the rest of 2014 is one free of hospital visits.
There was a day a few weeks ago where I was feeling particularly adventurous. The sun was out, it was still cold, but not this -24 business. I really wanted to go for a walk and our dog Bella was looking at me like she was going to institute a free pee zone if I didn't take her along with us. Ideally, my walk includes me, Cece in the stroller, Moose(my husband) and Bella on a leash held by Moose. This way, I only have to worry about operating a stroller with a baby inside. This alone can be a scary thing when sidewalks are uneven and street curbs are the size of small hills. What's even more daunting is that sometimes other dogs roam freely outside of their residences and guess what? Maybe they have an invisible fence and maybe they don't. I've been chased while running a few times in our neighborhood by dogs that I've hoped and prayed would eventually hit the invisible fence, but never did. This is what we call the poor man's speed training.
Moose was at work on this particular day, but I wasn't going to let that hold me back from going on my walk. I could handle a stroller and a dog, right? I had seen all kinds of other people do this on my trips around the neighborhood. They made it look like a breeze. It's actually silly that I should be afraid to take both Cece and Bella on a walk. Jogging with both of them? Impossible. Walking? No problem. So, after diaper changes, feedings and Bella potty breaks, we were ready to go. Bella happens to be a very excitable dog when it comes to walks. When you mention the word she immediately runs laps around the house and whines with excitement. It looks like the dog version of if her name was called on The Price Is Right. Ok, leash on, baby strapped in stroller securely, garage up, phone in the bottom of the stroller should this take a nasty turn, and go.
Ahh, it was so nice to be out of the house. It was one of those days where the air just seemed to clean all of the junk out of your mind and body. Our walk was going really well, at one point I was able to waive at neighbors while simultaneously pushing a stroller and walking a dog.
Then, it happened. Bella had to do her number 2 business. First of all, gross. Second of all, why has no one invented some sort of zapper deal that eliminates the poo after you spray it? No worries, I remembered doggie baggies because I thought of every possible scenario before I left. Insert pat on back here. Ok, so I need to clean it up, and I need both of my hands for this job. What I decide to do is put the breaks on the stroller and tie Bella to one latch on the stroller. She's really good when I tell her to stay, so she'll probably do that. Nervous yet? Well, you're probably thinking that it was a pretty dumb decision to tie a dog (especially excitable on walks) to a stroller with a baby in it. I wish I would have thought that at the time too. What happened after that replays in my mind on loop when I think of my dumbest moments hall of fame. Bella decided she had enough of the 'stay ' business and took on the role of walk leader and over goes the stroller. I know. Terrible mom. I wish I could tell you I caught it mid fall, but I didn't. I did, however, have her strapped in tightly and both of the canopy parts up. I screamed and bolted for the stroller picking it up as quickly as I could and braced myself for a screaming baby. What I got from her when I opened the canopy was a smile and a look that said 'Mom, I hope you learned your lesson.' Thank God. No crying, no injuries, and nobody saw. "Is everything ok over there?" Shoot, somebody saw. "Yep, just your grade A moron trying to be normal and walk a dog and a baby at the same time."
What I then remembered was that those people I saw walking had frew frew dogs, basically cats on leashes. Not 70 pound dogs that love walks more than life itself. I learned that we need a new plan when Bella has a code brown. I couldn't imagine what Moose was going to say when I told him that Cece got a really close look at the sidewalk today. Of course, because he is a dreamboat of a man, he laughed and took it pretty easy on me. I'm sure we'll have plenty more walks in the coming years, let's just hope we don't run into that neighbor
So, here's my blog. As I mentioned in my introduction, I've always hated writing. I mean, I loathe it. When I was in school, I dreaded any assignment that had to be longer than a paragraph. I worry that some of my English teacher friends will read this blog, and will immediately take away our imaginary best friend necklaces based on the fact that my grammar and writing skill set is equal to a second grader's. I had rough drafts in elementary school that were saturated in red pen marks(thanks Dad) because I was such a terrible writer. That being said, everyone should have some sort of goal to work towards. My goal is not to be a better writer. My goal is to start doing a better job of documenting my favorite moments. There are so many wonderful memories that have happened since August 9, 2013 and I don't want to waste another second playing memory roulette.
I'm also writing because I have made numerous phone calls to my mother over the past 5 months. She has been an incredible gift in guiding me through this brand new chapter in my life. My mom raised four children and has a great memory . What's even more impressive is that my mother raised four children without having the luxury of calling her own mother when she had questions about raising them. Sadly, my grandmother was killed by a drunk driver before my parents were even married. I want to write because I would like for my sweet Cece to be able to read about all of the funny and not-so-funny things that happen as her Dad and I try to navigate our way through parenthood. I, unlike my mother, have a pretty poor memory so hopefully this blog will serve it's purpose down the road.
Whew, episode 1 done and only one red squiggly line on the page. It's under Cece's name. I'm pretty sure I know how to spell my daughter's name, but thanks.
Hi! I'm Annie, a former teacher, and aerobics instructor. My current position is as a stay at home mom. I'm married to my dreamboat Josh(Moose) and we have a sweet baby girl Cecilia Marie (Cece) and an incredibly loving and needy dog, Bella. I'm slowly navigating my way through this beautiful adventure called motherhood. I've never particularly enjoyed writing(especially when I know it will be lousy with red marks when I think I have my final product) but I love to laugh. I've gotten pretty good at laughing at myself, and motherhood has brought about many of those moments. I'm writing this blog so that you can laugh at or with me throughout my journey. I hope you enjoy your time spent here!