Mummy's staycation

This weekend was action packed! We had an awesome time at the wedding on Friday! Everything went smoothly. The family was so excited to meet Emerson. We had so much fun hanging out with everyone. We stayed for almost 4 hours (5-9pm). It was awesome seeing how happy my cousin is. The wedding was beautiful. They planned it kind of last minute, so I was shocked to see all of the beautiful décor and everything that was set up. Everyone looked so nice! Afterwards, Emerson and I went home. He had a bath, then we both went to bed. It was such a nice day. It was so fun dressing up too. That doesn’t happen very often! Emerson was the best wedding date a gal could ask for! We were both beat by the time we went to bed and slept very well!

On Saturday, we slept in a bit. I was so shocked to wake up seeing 8:00am on my clock! That never happens. Emerson was all smiles and absolutely adorable. I love waking up to that smile! We headed over to my parent’s house around 2pm. They were having friends over for a cookout. Before we went to their house, we went to Kmart to buy Emerson a float for the pool. ADORABLE! It’s a rescue boat that has a canopy to shield the sun. I got it for $9.74! I couldn’t beat the price. We swam all day. It was awesome and he absolutely loved it. I’m so glad we have a float for him for the rest of the summer. It makes pool time a lot better because he can go in with me now. We had a great time hanging out, eating, and catching up with my parent’s friends. We stayed pretty late. It was nearly 9pm when we left. We headed home, took care of Kodie, bath, boob, bed. Not too shabby for a Saturday!

Sunday, Emerson and I headed to a wedding reception at the park near my parent’s house. We went with my sister and nephew. It was a lot of fun. Em and I only stayed for 3 hours though. Afterwards, we headed over to my parent’s house for dinner. We had a nice time. Dad grilled out and we played and talked to my mum. Afterwards, we headed to Walmart. I had to buy diapers. Emerson had sweet corn casserole for dinner when we got home. He absolutely loved it!

We did have a few hiccups this weekend…

On Saturday, I dropped my IPhone and cracked the screen. I’m due for an upgrade in October, so I guess I’ll just deal with it until then, but man. It does suck. I’m not going to lie. After that, I had the biggest blonde moment. After going to the grocery store, my sister and I came out to get into my car. I noticed a new dent. I immediately blamed it on my dad and assumed it happened when he was driving my car. My sister noticed an old dent had been fixed. At the same time, I couldn’t get into my car. The keychain lock wasn’t working and neither was the key. We were both scratching our heads until Britt realized…DUH, THIS ISN’T YOUR CAR!!!!!!! Lmfao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 minutes of trying to get into the wrong vehicle. Thank goodness the owner didn’t have an alarm. Too funny!

There has been another weird thing happening since Friday night. I’ve been getting text messages from someone named “milk”. I have no idea who “milk” is. On Friday night, I got a text asking where I was. I ignored it. Later, I got a text asking if “we” made it okay. Um, no idea. I didn’t have that number stored in my phone. The sender said “It’s milk” Last night, this person called my phone FOUR times. I was PISSED. Clearly, my phone doesn’t need to be ringing off the hook at 1am. I have a baby that is sleeping! So, this morning, I asked the sender who they were. “Milk” I wrote back and said, “Well Milk He apologized. I took to facebook and asked if anyone knew who this mysterious “milk” was. My cousin’s wife responded and said her son’s nickname is milk, but she doubted that it was him. I told her the first 6 digits of his number…BINGO. Mystery solved. ”Milk” ended up being my cousin. LOL I gave him my phone number on Friday when he came to my parent’s house to pick up cookies and drink dispensers for the wedding. I guess he must have had me confused with his friend. I am still laughing. I feel bad for reaming him out, but I don’t mess around when it comes to Emerson’s sleep!

Today, Britt is babysitting for me. My mum is also here, so it’s nice. They can both help each other out. Britt didn’t start watching Emerson until 10am. I fed him and he slept for over 2 hours. He’s due for a nap pretty soon though. I hope they put him down for one, so he’s not cranky. Anyway, this week isn’t going to be too exciting. I’m in the office on Tuesday, but home on Wednesday. I’m doing laundry and grocery shopping that day. Friday, the office is closed for the 4th of July. I took off Monday and Tuesday, so I literally have 5 days in a row to spend with Emerson! I am so excited! We’re kicking off our staycation at my parent’s house for the 4th of July. Swimming, food, fun, and fireworks. I cannot wait. Emerson has four 4th of July outfits too. My mom went a little overboard. LOL She also bought me a really cute tank to wear, so we’ll be all festive. They have a lot of fireworks and décor too. I’m so excited. I can’t wait!

We’ll probably log more pool time between Saturday and Sunday too as long as the weather is nice. I’m going to see if my best friend wants to take the babies to the animal park on Monday. Tuesday, we’ll probably log some more pool time and maybe go down to the waterfront to walk around. I can’t wait to spend all of these days with him! My mom is off of work too, so she’s going to babysit him a few times next week for me, so I can save on daycare. I’m just really excited and cannot wait for this week to be over, so we can begin our mini staycation!!!!

Alright, that’s about all I have for now. Have a great week, all!

Mummy's tired!

I can’t explain how overly happy I am that its Friday. This week has seriously beat the crap out on me. I feel like I’ve spent no time with Emerson outside of bathing, feeding, and putting him down to sleep. We did visit my parents after work yesterday for a little bit, but by the time we got home, it was bath, dinner, then bed. I feel like we’ve had zero playtime this whole week. Tonight, we have a wedding to go to. Tomorrow, we have a cookout. We might skip the wedding reception on Sunday that we were invited to. I just feel like with how busy it’s been all week and with things going on this weekend, it’ll be nice to just hang out with him for the day instead of having to talk to people at another wedding reception. I don’t know many people that will be at this. I was just going to see my friend from Nebraska, but we can coordinate and have a real playdate with the kids. It doesn’t have to be at her mom’s wedding reception. I’m just exhausted. Usually, this feeling only lasts a day, or so. It’s been all week. Work has been extra demanding lately too, so I know that’s taking a lot out of me. It’s so hard being two people. I need to figure out how to shut off my work brain when I get home and to shut off the mom brain when I’m at work. Double duty is not working out very well for me!

This morning, I woke up at 5am. I pumped, packed the diaper bag, packed my work bag, took care of the dog, got ready quickly, dressed the baby, and dropped him off at daycare. I had to send extra clothes on top of the extra clothes I already was sending. Now that he’s eating solids there, he’s going through more clothes. Anyway, directly after, I went to the Laundromat. Holy laundry! I am almost done drying it all at home. I still have to fold it and put it all away. So much laundry! I shoved 4 loads into three washers because I thought I didn’t have enough quarters. I’m glad it’s all done and I hope I don’t make the fatal mistake of waiting nearly two weeks. Brutal! On a positive note, I am so freaking happy to have clean clothes again. I was wearing the goofiest stuff and so was the baby!


I’m done working early today, so that I can get ready for the wedding, head to daycare to pick Emerson up, then take him home to change, eat, and then head back out the door. I am over-the-moon excited for tonight though! I just hope he isn’t rowdy during the ceremony! He isn’t one to just sit still. He likes to be talked to and played with, so watching a wedding quietly probably isn’t going to happen. If he starts getting out of control, I’ll just take him out of the room until it’s over. Luckily, the couple getting married has a brand new baby too. She’s 8 months old, so I’m sure she’ll be rowdy herself. It’s a no-kid reception, but my cousin made an exception for me. Plus, her 8 month old daughter will be there too, so she’ll have a pack and play, etc for the kids. Emerson is going to be the BEST wedding date ever! I have an adorable tuxedo mustache bib for him to wear. I haven’t figured out what he’s going to wear with it. My friend had it made for Emerson. It is absolutely adorable and he hasn’t worn it yet, so it’ll be perfect for today!

The cookout tomorrow is at my parent’s house. Our friends from Texas are in, so we are going to cookout and swim all day. Emerson and I are going to run to Walmart before heading over, so that I can buy a baby raft for him for in the pool. I fill up his little baby pool now, but it would be nice to be able to push him around in the big pool. The water has warmed up A LOT, so hopefully he’s okay with him. I guess we will have to wait and see tomorrow!

Alright, I am ending this for the day. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Mummy's planning on a budget!!!!

I’ve been so busy that I’ve barely had time to really blog at all. Sorry, guys! You aren’t missing out on too much. Just more of the same! Emerson and I taking over the world..muahahahaha  Jk (sorta)

Let’s see, Emerson’s half birthday party planning is in full swing. The entire party is only going to cost $88! This is absolutely KILLING me, but I don’t want to miss out on celebrating because of money. I’m able to divide the $88 up between the next three paychecks though, so that helps. I put together an amazing party with an even more amazing budget. I’m so excited. August 2nd will be here before I know it. I can’t believe my little man is going to be ½ a year already. Today, he turned 5 months old. Crazy! I am working on picking out pictures from the last 5 months to have printed. I plan on creating something really adorable for the party to show his growth. It’s so hard picking out pictures! I want to print EVERYTHING! I’m trying to hold back though. It makes me a little teary looking back though. He was so tiny. He’s growing way too fast! I know everyone says that about their kids, but it really is true. It’s like you blink and they are grown! He is so beautiful though! I can’t help, but to brag!!

Daycare asked me today if they could start feeding him solids throughout the day. I gave the go ahead for breakfast and lunch. I’d rather not have him eat solids later in the day because I usually feed him when we get home. I don’t want to mess up our routine. Plus, I still want his main source of food to be from my milk. I hope it doesn’t start to decrease. I want to add in a few more pumps to compensate for the loss from what he’s eating in solids now. I still can’t believe he’s already five months old! Okay, okay, I’ll shut up about it now!

Last night, I put together my cousin’s wedding gift. I made some art for her. Her wedding is on Friday. Considering I’m always on such a tight budget, I couldn’t afford to do more than make something. It turned out so well though. I took adorable wedding paper that I bought at Michaels for 79 cents and framed it into two 4x6 frames. I bought brown, textured paper from Michaels for $1.00 and made a tree that extends into both frames. I extended a tree branch and cut out a sparkly heart from paper that was also purchased from Michaels. I connected both frames with adorable pink ribbon that I purchased as well. I was VERY shocked at the outcome. I think it looks beautiful! I guess I should thank Pinterest for the idea!


In other news, I still haven’t been sleeping very well. I hope tonight is different. It’s making me feel sick throughout the day. Let’s hope things turn around tonight and I get a ton of sleep. I let myself sleep in until 5am today because I was so absolutely exhausted. The baby is sleeping very well though. That’s what I care about most. Let’s hope that trend continues! Tonight, we have no errands to run, which is nice. We went to Michaels after daycare yesterday. Emerson slept the entire drive up there, but was wide awake to shop. (Side bar, that wedding gift only cost me $9.17 to make) Anyway, he cried at the check –out, but ended up fall back asleep during the drive home. He slept until after 6. We played for a bit afterwards, but he got a bath, some guava, and the boob all before bedtime, which ended up being around 7:45pm. After he was asleep, I headed downstairs to put together the wedding gift, have a snack, and let the dog run around outside. I didn’t make it to bed until about 9:30pm. I didn’t fall asleep until sometime after 11. That doesn’t seem so late, but when your alarm is set to ring at 4am, it seems insane going to sleep that late!

I have to do laundry on Friday, which is going to SUCK! It’s been almost two weeks since I was able to get to the Laundromat. I have so much laundry to do. Usually I only have ONE load.. Doing 4 loads is going to suck! Luckily, no one is ever in the Laundromat that early, so I can load everything all up at once and hog all of the washing machines. I’ve been thinking lately about getting a washer. Obviously, it would take me awhile to save up for one, but the luxury would be nice. I know we need other things though outside of a washer. Going to the Laundromat is fine for now, but later on I really do hope that I can get one though. After this half birthday, we have two baby showers. I have some cute, crafty gift ideas for those, so that shouldn’t be too bad. Alright, That’s about all I have for now. Happy Hump Day, All!

Mummy's not ignoring you!

Well, the weekend was really nice. Friday, we did nothing, but hung at home. We went to bed early, so that was nice. On Saturday, we went to a graduation party. We had such a good time. Emerson was a charmer during the party. Afterwards, we went to my parent’s house and hung out until about 9pm. Sunday, we swam all day and brought the dog with us. She swam too! We were all three pooped last night by the time we got home around 7pm. It was bath time, boob, then bed!

Today is the last day that my sister is babysitting Emerson this month. I brought over all of his swim stuff, so she could take him swimming today. His stroller is here too in case she wants to take him on a walk. I’m so appreciative that she’s been helping me out, so that I can save a little money on daycare. Next month, my mom is babysitting 2 days, I’m off two days, and I have Britt down for two days. This way, I only have to send him to daycare for 13 days. We will save a little bit of money!

We have a busy week ahead! Tomorrow, Emerson and I have to run to the craft store to buy the supplies we need to make a gift for my cousin’s wedding on Friday. We’re making the most adorable gift! I’ll take pictures, but you print out the wedding song lyrics and frame them. Then, over top of that, you cut out a tree and then hang two red hearts from it with the first letters of the couple’s name! I found it on pinterest and will literally cost me $5.00 to make, but it looks more expensive than that. Then, we are buying two pillow cases/pillows (very cheap from Walmart) and iron on letters. I’m going to put You complete me across both pillows! Adorable! I’ll package it up very nicely in a gift bag for them. I know it’s DIY gifts, but they are very adorable. I think my cousin will greatly appreciate the gesture.

On Saturday, my parents are having a cookout at their house. Their friends from Texas are coming in! It’ll be a fun time. Everyone is so excited to meet Emerson. I can’t wait! We aren’t doing anything for that aside from showing up all ready to swim! On Sunday, friends from Nebraska are coming in, so my sister, nephew, Emerson, and I are all heading to our friend’s mom’s wedding reception. It should be fun. It’s at the park right down the street from my parent’s house. Busy weekend! Lots of fun coming up. Aside from shopping tomorrow for our supplies, we don’t have too much going on. I need to do laundry so badly. It’s been about 1.5 weeks. I’m working from home on Friday though, so I’ll go after I drop Emerson at daycare. By that time, we are going to have about 3-4 loads. I need to wash sheets and blankets too. Sigh. It’s going to be a big laundry day!

I wanted to address something that happened yesterday. I received SEVERAL rude comments because apparently someone thought I was ignoring them after they commented on photos of Emerson that I posted. That isn’t the case at all. Most of the time, I post and I don’t check back for days at a time. I get busy with Emerson and honestly, social media is very low on the priority list. Google+ is lower than my Instagram and facebook because I personally know the people following me on there and I use it to communicate and coordinate plans. I hope no one else is taking it personally when I do not personally respond to your comments. When I post pictures of Emerson, I get a lot of “he’s cute” comments, which I really appreciate, but I don’t personally address each and every comment that I get. There are some moms/people that I met while I was pregnant with Emerson that helped me through a rough time. I do usually respond directly to those people. That doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate your comment. I do. I just don’t dedicate THAT much time to my social media. Again, I do appreciate all feedback and comments that I get. I respond when I have time. Along with this, I do not use hangout. I had it installed in my phone, but I honestly uninstalled it because A. it was taking up unnecessary space on my phone B. I don’t use it C. I can’t keep up with all of those conversations. Between text messages, emails, and facebook messaging, I barely keep up as it is. I wasn’t keeping up with hangout, so I deleted it. If you message me on there, chances are, I will never respond, so please do not take it personally! I hope I’ve cleared the air here. The person that was upset with me apparently deleted every nice comment she ever posted and blocked me. I just don’t want anyone ever thinking that I am being rude to you on purpose! With all of that said, I am going to end this now. LOL

Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!

Mummy's nightmare

TGIF. I am so happy it’s finally Friday. It’s been nice sleeping in the past couple of days because I’ve been working from home, but I am so ready to just not set an alarm. On top of that, I always wake the baby well before he’s really ready to get up. I’m sure he can’t wait to just sleep until he naturally wakes. Let’s hope we both get to sleep in the next two days! Britt is babysitting again today. Emerson just took a large poop too. What a way to say “good morning” I was glad because he hadn’t pooped the last few days. With giving solids, it concerns me when he doesn’t. So, he’s all emptied out again. I’m sure that means he’ll want to eat sooner rather than later, but he truly isn’t due to eat until about 11am. He’s having carrots for lunch today. Yum!

Tonight, we have absolutely nothing planned. I just want to go home, play with the baby, let Kodie run around in the yard, and hopefully get a good night’s sleep. I’ve been having the scariest dreams all week about being murdered. It is so strange. I have no idea what the hell is going on, but it has made sleeping nearly impossible. I didn’t want to bring it up because talking about it solidifies that I’ll end up having another one tonight. It scares me to no end though. I do live alone. Thank God Kodie is a psycho and will freak the hell out even if someone just drives by the house. She always has me on high alert. Sometimes, it scares me when she barks like that. Yesterday, we were all sitting on the couch. The baby ate and then fell asleep. It was only about 6:00pm. All of a sudden, Kodie started flipping out and barking directly at the front door. I did hear something outside, but it didn’t sound like anyone was actually on the porch. She went on and on for about 20 minutes. I never got up to check it out for fear that I’d wake the baby for absolutely no reason. It turns out, a car was outside of my neighbor’s house. She just is so neurotic at times. I appreciate her protection, but sometimes it does scare me. I wish she’d just do that when it’s necessary!

Tomorrow, we have a graduation party around 4pm. I plan on laying out in the morning, while Emerson naps. Lately, he’s been doing this weird, whiney/cry thing when he’s tired. In fact, I can hear him doing it right now. He talks A LOT when he’s tired, but then will bust out in hysterics, or just whine and moan. It does make me giggle sometimes because he sounds so cute, but then again, I want him to take a nap because it makes him cranky when he doesn’t. Let’s hope he has a couple of decent sized naps today. Yesterday, he only had 3 naps. That all totaled out to be about 2 hours. Not enough!

My friend is coming in to visit at the end of July and I CANNOT wait! She is a co-worker that works at another location about 5 hours away. She’s actually the first person that knew I was pregnant and knew when I thought I was pregnant. Anyway, we’ve become very good friends since we started to work together a few years ago. She’s bringing Emerson a lot of her son’s old toys, etc. Her son just finished kindergarten. I don’t think she plans on having any more children, so she’s giving everything to us. We so appreciate this! I’m excited because he will have more things to play with, but my wallet won’t have to suffer. I received my first sewage bill in the mail yesterday. $75! Ouch! I didn’t anticipate it to be that much and I also had no idea when it was coming, so that threw a wrench in my entire budget. I’m going to pay half next week and the last half when I get paid in July. Anyway, hand me downs will be great to have. It’ll be one less thing I need to worry about! On top of that, I can’t wait for her to meet Emerson!!!!!!!!!! She planned a happy hour too, which I actually am attending. It’s a Thursday afternoon, so my mom and sister are going to babysit for me. I’ll be home by 7:45pm, but it’ll be so nice to hang out with the old crew for a few hours. It’ll be my first outing since I had the baby!

On Sunday, I’m bringing Kodie over to my parent’s house for the day. She has been more hyper than usual. She has never ever touched one of my television remotes in the two years that I’ve had her. I leave them lying all around and she has never chewed one up. This morning, that changed. I caught her demolishing my bedroom remote! I am so pissed. Luckily, I think all I need is a new battery and we’ll be all set. I have a converter box upstairs, so without a remote, you literally cannot change the channel. Now, with how often I have to breastfeed, it’s nice laying down with the baby, feeding him, and being able to watch television. Television is literally the ONLY luxury that I have for myself. I know, that sounds really, really stupid, but it’s also true. My cable bill is $65 a month. It’s actually one of the cheapest bills that I have. Considering I never go out, or do anything, I allow myself this luxury. If need be, it would be the first thing cut though. Anyway, I am so pissed off at Kodie for doing this! When I was lying in bed, I heard her chewing on something. I NEVER leave anything out at all because she is so destructive. I had a bad feeling it was something “important”. I got up and the first thing I saw was a battery on the ground. I’m glad it wasn’t my phone, but damnit! So, if it doesn’t work after the battery is replaced, I’ll have to call comcast to get a new remote.

Alright, I think that’s about all I have for now. I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

Mummy's Planning

Sweet peas are going so well. Emerson loves them. We’ve been using the jarred version. I was afraid about the skin on the actual canned/frozen peas, so I’d rather use the baby food version for this particular trial. Tonight, he’s getting apple sauce. He had peas for lunch, so a little variety will be nice. Brittany is babysitting for me today, tomorrow, and Monday. So far, its going pretty well. Here is what our day has looked like so far:

Breakfast @ 7:45am (6oz milk)
Nap: 8:20-9:00am
Playtime: 9:00am-10:30am
Nap:10:30-11:30am
Lunch: 11:30-11:45pm (sweet peas and 4oz milk)
Playtime: 11:45-12:15pm
Teeny nap: 12:15-1:10pm (he was only in a very light sleep.)
Playtime 1:15pm-?

So, we will see how the rest of the afternoon goes. Today has been so busy with work. I’m finally taking a break right now. Of course, I am using it to blog because I never have time for anything and I actually enjoy this. It probably won’t be too long because I have a huge list of things to finish before my last meeting of the day at 4pm. Britt is babysitting until about 4pm, so hopefully Emerson is quiet for this last call. It shouldn’t be too long though. He will definitely be hungry around that time though. The boob always seems to keep him quiet. Can’t talk with your mouth full! Bad joke, sorry!

Anyway, I started to plan Emerson’s half birthday, which will be August 2nd. He turns 6 months a few days prior, but I wanted to have it on a Saturday. We are doing an entire camping theme in my backyard. I’m so exciting! It’s going to be frickin adorable. When I have some time, I’ll post the food we’ll be having and some of the décor. Prepare yourselves though. It is so ridiculously adorable. Plus, very inexpensive. My family are huge campers, so we have a ton of things I can use for decoration. I plan on making my entire backyard look like a campsite. Love it! We are keeping it small. I only invited 20 people. It isn’t his actual birthday, so I didn’t want to go overboard. It’s more for the kids to play and have a good time. On another note, can you believe my baby is going to be 6 months old?!

Alright, that’s all that I have for now. I am so glad this week is almost over. We’ve been having some INSANE storms lately and I haven’t been sleeping very well as a result. Kodie has been so freaked out, so it’s hard for her to sleep at night, which means it’s hard for ME to sleep at night. The baby seems to have no troubles though. I put him to bed at 8pm last night. He slept until about 11. He was up again around 2 and then again around 5. Not too bad. Of course, I didn’t get to sleep until well after midnight. Sigh. I’m hoping tonight is better for me.
Okay! Have a great rest of your Thursday, all!

Mummy's playing catch up!

It feels like FOREVER since I last wrote. I guess it was though. Friday was the last time that I blogged. Four days without me! How did you guys manage? Kidding. Kidding. I guess I’ll break it down by days. That’ll be so much easier for me to remember what all has transpired over the past few days.

Friday

We had planned on going to see Frozen in the park, but because of all the rain, it was canceled due to “wet ground” I was pretty upset. I was really looking forward to it. Instead, we did nothing. We went to bed early. It was okay though because I ended up being really sleep and the baby seemed very sleepy as well.

Saturday

We slept in a bit, which was so nice. Saturday morning snuggles are my favorite! I cleaned up the back yard, so that Kodie could finally run around outside. She was in her glory! I saw no signs of skunk either, so I felt confident letting her out there. I felt so confident that I even hung out in the yard with the baby too. Anyway, the baby and I had A LOT of errands to run for father’s day. We both got ready and headed to the store. Boy, was I in for an absolute treat! It was nearly impossible to shop with Emerson. We went to a few dollar stores and the shopping carts are TEENY! So teeny that the car seat took up the entire cart and I couldn’t fit anything inside. I had HUGE lists. It wouldn’t have been an issue if I only had one or two things on the list, but I had about 25 items on my list! I tried, but finally gave up. I went to my parent’s house and waited until my sister was done working. The baby and I picked her up and she helped us get our shopping done. It’s so much easier with a second person. We can have two shopping carts. If I was a baby-wearing mom, it wouldn’t be an issue, but Emerson never liked the baby wrap that I had and he was very uncomfortable in it. I was so happy Britt came along with me. It was so much easier with her. Afterwards, we dropped Britt off and headed back home. While the baby napped, I made buffalo chicken pasta salad, which turned out absolutely AMAZING! I am definitely making that again. It was delicious. After he woke up, we hung for a bit and played. He had his first taste of apples for dinner and really enjoyed it. After bath, it was bedtime. After I put him down, I got back up and made a strawberry shortcake/cheesecake dessert for father’s day to go along with the buffalo chicken salad pasta. It came out so good! Yummy! I also made a root beer float kit for my dad and an adorable card from myself and Emerson. All adorable might I add?! I also enjoyed a small glass of wine, while I let Kodie run in the yard. It was nice.

Sunday

Sunday was the big day! Father’s Day! I woke up, cleaned the house, took care of the dog, and made breakfast. After the baby got up, we played a bit, he ate, and then took a small nap, so I got ready for the day. We were heading over around noon. I wanted to make sure he had a decent nap in beforehand. I loaded up the car with all of our goodies and the baby and I headed over to my parent’s house. We left Kodie at home this time. She was not happy. I’m going to bring her over with me this Sunday though. She loves going for visits and I feel bad when I exclude her. Anyway, when we got to the house, I had to make a store run, so my parents/sister watched Emerson. I was only gone for about 20 minutes, but I needed to pick up gelato to go with our root beer floats. Anyway, when I got back, Emerson was in his brand-new baby pool! Adorable! It’s a huge shark mouth that has a canopy to shield out the sun. My mom bought it for him the prior day. He absolutely loved it. Of course, we had to fill it up with warm water, or he would have freaked. He had on his cute, little swim trunk too. Love him. We took so many pictures. He was so excited! After his big swim, he had peas for lunch and devoured those suckers! He was such a tired boy after he ate, so I put him down for a nap. About 25 minutes later, I heard a knock on the bedroom window upstairs. My dad was holding Emerson and they were both looking out the window. I guess dad went upstairs to use the bathroom and Emerson woke up. He said he wasn’t even crying. He was just lying there talking to himself! My kid! Hehehe. Anyway, it was such a nice father’s day. We all ate and the pool was nice. I actually am a bit sun burnt from being out in the sun all day. I had a blast though. Emerson and I slept very well on Sunday night!

Monday

Daycare was closed because of mandatory training, so I took the day off. I originally planned on bringing Emerson into town to visit my co-workers, but it didn’t pan out so well. By the time the lawn person came to cut my grass, Emerson was due for a nap. So, I put him down. I didn’t want to wake him up. The day just crept on and I wasn’t risking being stuck in rush hour traffic, so we nixed those plans. Instead, we picked Britt up and the three of us went to walk around the mall. We were going to head down to the waterfront, but of course, RAIN was in the forecast. That damn rain. I swear, it ruins everything. We still had a really good time though. We dropped Britt off, then headed home. Emerson was in rare form last night. I think he’s teething again. He was so miserable and just crying/whining all night. I finally gave him some teething tabs and a teething ring right before bath. He was still unpleasant during bath-time, but we managed through it. For how fussy he was, he slept very well. I made the fatal mistake of staying up until 11pm to watch all of my shows. I’m extra tired today, but managing.

Today

I have to go grocery shopping after work. I’m trying to make myself stay motivated enough to WANT to do this, but I’m thinking of skipping until tomorrow. I have enough food at home to make it through. I made chicken soup in the crock pot yesterday too. Who makes chicken soup on an 85 degree day? THIS GIRL! Other than that, we don’t have too much of an exciting week. Britt is babysitting for me on Thursday and Friday. I’ll be working from home on those days, but she’ll be in charge. They rescheduled Frozen for Friday night. It’s supposed to rain again all week though, so we probably won’t make plans to do that. Emerson and I are going to a graduation party on Saturday with my parents though. On Sunday, we are cooking out and swimming at my parent’s house again. Not too much excitement, but we have some fun plans on the books  Alright everyone. I hope you all have a super awesome day!

Happy Father's Day, Single Moms!

The food trials are going well, but Emerson had some kind of weird rash this morning. I wouldn’t even call it a rash. It almost looked like bug bites. I’ll see how it is after daycare today, but we might be making an unplanned visit to the doctor tomorrow. I really hope we don’t have to, but I don’t want to take my chances. I don’t think it’s a food allergy though. I’d assume if he was allergic to the carrots he had last night something would have shown up sooner. We will see. Sigh. He’s going to give his mother a heart attack!

I just finished paying some bills. Ouch. Rent, water, electric, gas, and one day of daycare that we were behind. We have one more day to pay before we’re caught up with daycare. I’m waiting until the end of the month to pay that though. They have enough of my money already. They want to begin billing me full-time instead of part-time, but at the end of the month, you only end up paying for the number of days that he attended. That’s fine with me. I don’t really care as long as I am not paying for more than what he’s going. Mummy can’t afford that!

Tonight, we are watching a movie in the park. I’m excited. After I’m done working, I’m heading to pick Emerson up, feeding him dinner (carrots again), putting both of us in jammies, and then heading to pick up my sister to go to the park. I know he’s too young to really understand movies, etc, but it’s nice for us to get out and do things together. I thought this was a good opportunity. It’s also free. I like that part!

After I picked Emerson up from daycare yesterday, we headed to my parent’s house for a bit. That’s where he had his first taste of carrots. He absolutely loved them and basically inhaled every bite. Afterwards, we went home, he had a bath, boob, then bed. He slept from about 8:15pm-1am. He was up for a small bit, but then right back down until I woke him at 6am. Not too bad. Apparently those carrots filled him enough to sleep two long stretches! I wasn’t complaining!

I feel like we have so much to do tomorrow. We have a lot of errands to run. We need to pick up the ingredients for the dishes that I’m making for father’s day, pick up the veggies and fruit for the rest of Emerson’s food trial, pick up a few household items (garbage bags, toothpaste, shampoo, etc), and pick up the supplies to make my dad’s father’s day gifts. After we get home, I need to clean, plus we need to cook the food for Sunday and make the gifts. I know it doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you have to stop in between to take care of a baby, the smallest tasks turn into huge ordeals. I want to get a pretty early start, so after Emerson has breakfast, we’re heading out. We’ll be back for lunch, then hopefully he takes a nap, so that I can clean up the backyard and house. I need to dust, clean the bathroom, vacuum, and mop the floors.

I dread going into the yard and letting Kodie out there. I’m still so freaked out and disgusted over the skunks. We’ve had a lot of rain over the last few days, so I’m hoping it washed away anything that might have been left behind from the skunks. My grass is being cut on Monday. I can’t wait. With all of this rain, it grew so much. I can’t wait until Kodie can run freely in the yard again. I’m still going to block the shed off, so she can’t crawl underneath of it. She is getting a bath tomorrow too, so I don’t want her getting all dirty outside. (I sound like such a mom!)

I still haven’t figured out exactly what I want to do for Emerson’s half birthday. I definitely think I’ll invite the family over to my house for a cookout. We’ll do cake, let him smash into it, and just hang out for the day. It’ll be nice to have my family over to my house. They don’t really stop by often. We usually come to them. My friend is coming to visit me and the baby on Monday, so that’ll be nice. Daycare is closed on Monday, so I took the day off. I’m bringing the baby into work to visit though. I haven’t quite figured out our timeline for that. I hate driving into the city. I want to go when traffic will be light. Parking will definitely be scarce. If we go too late, all of the garages near my building will be full I’m sure. I don’t want to park too far away. I want him to be happy when we arrive, so that means after he eats in the morning, we need to jump in the car and head down. I don’t plan on having a very long visit. I’d like to get down there and visit before his next feeding. I’m excited though. He is such a cutie, so it’ll be nice to show him off a bit. I do worry though. His father is friends with this mean bitch that I used to be friends with. She works right next to the people that I am coming to visit. She’s a weirdo, so I just don’t want her relaying everything back to him. Not that I keep anything secret from him. I send pictures and updates, which he continues to ignore. I just think she is a fucking bitch for staying friends with him and being rude to me, yet he abandoned his own kid. I don’t want her looking at Emerson at all! I fucking despise this bitch!

ANYWAY, I’m hoping to log some pool time on Sunday. It’s supposed to be 83 degrees! The baby still isn’t ready for pool time yet. That water is still freezing. We need some HOT nights before the water warms up. I’ll put him in his swing in the shade though and he’ll be good to go. He loves being outside! He’s just like his mama. Alright, that’s about all I have for today. I hope everyone has a really nice weekend. Happy Father’s Day to all of the mom’s playing both roles! You gals deserve it more than anyone!

Mummy's skunked- NO MORE!

Well, the landlord caught all of the baby skunks. We all went to bed very early last night. Around 8:45pm, Kodie started freaking out. I looked out the window and saw my landlord and a bunch of other guys hanging around the yard. I guess the neighbors came out to see the skunks. They were in two separate traps. Let’s hope that’s the last of this! He’s coming back this week to fill in the holes around the shed. I hope Kodie doesn’t re-dig them up. After they are filled in, I’ll work on getting a cute, decorative fence to go around it. I just hope no more animals shack up in there. The only true way to know is if something bad happens. I don’t want anything bad happening. We’ve had enough lately! I do need to clean the yard up though Moth balls are lingering, which will make Kodie sick. Plus, it makes me want to puke thinking of her walking around the yard where the skunks were. I’m sure the yard smells up there. My grass is getting cut again on Monday. It definitely needs it. No one is going to want to cut it though until I reassure them all skunks are gone and the yard has been disinfected (however the hell I’m supposed to do that).

I picked Emerson up from daycare and noticed a letter in his mailbox. It was a bill notifying me that I owe $124.50 to the daycare for three days. What?! Of course, I was livid. I just paid for the entire month of June, which was $604! Obviously, I cannot afford $124.50. Remember when I went to pay for May and they told me I had a $75.50 credit? I knew they were wrong, but instead of just overpaying at the time, I let it go. Now, that is coming back to bite me in the ass. I am being billed for that because they made an error on their end. I’m not sure where this additional day is coming from though. I broke out a huge billing summary of what I paid versus how many days he actually went to daycare. Not including June, I do owe them $75.50. If you include my latest payment, I don’t owe anything right now. Instead of having a credit of $302, I will have a credit of $226.50 after the $75.50 is deducted. In any event, I’ll end up owing the $75.50 at the end of the month, but I do NOT owe $124.50. I’m talking to the daycare about this today. I pre-pay for the entire month because it’s easier for me. It pisses me off. I’m barely scraping by as it is and then their error costs me more money. It’s so annoying. I’ve paid $1,925.25 to daycare since Emerson started going on 03/25/2014. That’s for a total of 45 days. The numbers are so baffling and make me sick to my stomach. On top of that, I have to pay to get to work too. I either have to pay gas/parking, or pay to ride the bus. It’s costing me so much money just to work. I can see why people live off of welfare. It’s cheaper! I know that I have to pay it regardless, so I’m going to split it up between this paycheck and my next one on June 27th. This way, I’ll be all squared away before the end of the month. Thank God I keep such good track of everything. I even included a page that has every single date that Emerson has been to daycare. With that, I have every “daily summary” that is provided when I pick him up to correspond with those days.

I’ve paid $1925.25
He’s attended daycare 45 times at $37.75/day/=$1698.75
Credit balance: $226.50


I had my health screening today. My company offers incentives, which drive your cost of healthcare down. Now that Emerson is on my insurance, my rate is higher, so any bit helps. I also get a credit for being a non-smoker. It equates to about $2400 a year off of your premium, which is A LOT. Every paycheck, I get almost $92 deposited back in for the health screening and the non-smoker program. If I didn’t do that, I’d have well over $130 deducted just for our health insurance. With the $92 being credited back, I’m only losing out on about $40.00, which isn’t too bad. Now, next year, the premiums will be higher, but this will still greatly help. Anyway, my numbers looked great. All cholesterol was amazing, blood sugar, blood pressure, bmi, and weight were spot on. Speaking of weight, WOW…I lost another few lbs. I don’t know if I should celebrate, or be a little bit concerned. The last time I was weighed, I was around 116lbs, which was a few weeks ago. Today, I was 112lbs. I’m NOT doing this on purpose. Before I got pregnant, I weighed 130lbs. I am now 18lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m just worried I’ll end up losing more. I can’t really afford to. I don’t want to end up looking nasty. Again, I realize this is a better problem to have than being heavy, but it scares me a little bit. I do run myself pretty ragged, but I do eat. I eat A LOT. I try to at least get whatever I can in because I don’t have a lot of time. Between running around and breastfeeding/pumping, I guess more is going out than coming in. We’ll see how it goes over the next month, or so. I’d be okay if I plateaued right now. 112lbs is very small. It’s not underweight-yet, but I’m getting pretty close. I just wonder if its normal to lose at this rate??

Father’s day is this weekend. I’m so excited. On Saturday, Emerson and I are going to craft and put my dad’s gifts together, plus make the dishes that we’re bringing over for our Father’s day cookout. We’re making buffalo chicken pasta salad and this amazing strawberry shortcake dessert. Along with that, I bought an adorable iron on decal that says “I love my pap” for Emerson to wear on a white onesie (Let’s hope it comes in the mail soon), a homemade card with Emerson’s hand prints that says “I love you this much”, a Rita’s gift card (he’s addicted to that place), and we are going to buy the ingredients to make root beer floats, but with gelato because dad is absolutely addicted to gelato (hence the reason he’s addicted to Rita’s Italian Ice) and has been dying to try this. We didn’t spend too much money at all, but I know my dad will appreciate everything. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right? Let’s hope so. My dad is awesome, so I just want him to feel like we all really appreciate him. He’s such a great dad and a wonderful pap/role model/father figure to Emerson!

I believe we still have plans to go see the movie “Frozen” in the park on Friday night with Brittany and Isaiah. It’s free and something fun to do. I thought it would be cute if we all put our jammies on, made popcorn, and headed over to the park with blankets, chairs, etc. Emerson will probably nurse himself to sleep while we are there, which is fine. I loved the movie when I saw it the first time, so I am excited to see it again. Let’s just hope it doesn’t rain! While Emerson is awake, we can sing along to the songs! “Do you wanna build a snowman?” (Love that song!)

Alright, I am going to end this now. I’m feeling very tired. I went walking with my friend this afternoon for lunch. He and I walked around the art’s festival, which is in town for the next couple of weeks. Any additional exercise really wears me out. I came back to work and was STARVING. I thought I was going to pass out. Luckily, I didn’t. I just overdid it a bit. It was a nice walk though and I enjoyed getting out for a bit. Anyway, I hope everyone has a fabulous Wednesday  Smooches!

Mummy's landlord to the rescue: HE CAUGHT ONE!

So, let’s get the skunk talk out of the way first. Yes, we are still having this issue. All of them were inside of the trap yesterday. Of course, the trap never tripped, so they had a free meal, and then were all back underneath of my shed! The landlord said he will work on this. I’m hoping he does because every day they are getting bigger and more brave. They started to venture out closer to the house yesterday. The last thing I want is to not be able to leave the house because I open the door and see a skunk in my front yard, or worse, on my porch. He needs to catch these fuckers, while they are still small and clumsy. I don’t think he realizes how quickly they are growing and developing. They looked almost twice the size as they were when I first noticed them on Friday! UPDATE: The landlord just texted and told me he caught ONE skunk last night, but none others were around! Let’s hope they were just full from their huge dinner and snoozing it off!

Last night, the baby skipped bath. I gave him bananas around 6:30pm. I guess that really filled him up because he conked out by 7pm and was down for the night! Bananas cause constipation pretty quickly, so I’m not giving him a lot. I’m also trying to space it out. He didn’t poop at all yesterday, so I’m hoping he does at daycare today. After this next round of bananas, I’ll rule out the possibility of him being allergic and we can move onto avocado. I don’t think avocado backs them up so much, so it’ll be one less thing to worry about! It’s really exciting introducing him to new foods though. He eats off of the spoon like a champ! It’s like he’s a natural!!

Today, I got a refund check for $24 in the mail from the pediatrician. I guess they overbilled me. I feel rich. When you only have $3.93 in your bank account, $24 feels like a million! As long as all of our bills are paid, that’s all that really matters. We have each other, food to eat, and a roof over our head, but $24 is so nice. I’ll sock that away for a rainy day!

While driving yesterday, my mom’s brakes gave out. So scary! They are having them replaced today, but I had to take my mom to work this morning. I’m working from home, so I didn’t mind. I’m just glad that everyone is safe! That is so horrific and absolutely terrifying. Before I took her to work, I went to the Laundromat. We didn’t have too many clothes. I had to wash the sheet from his crib at daycare and one of my throw rugs. I’m glad that’s done and over with for the week.

Alright, I won’t bore you guys anymore. I hope your Tuesday is great!

MUMMY'S MOTHER EFFIN SKUNKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m going to try to make this quick, but it might end up being very long! The weekend was QUITE eventful. Friday, I came home from work, picked the baby up from daycare, and we headed to get him an exersaucer. You guys have no idea how happy I was that I could buy him one! He is so adorable. He fell asleep on the way to the store and slept all the way until we hit the checkout. When we got home, I set out to build the exersaucer, which was no easy feat! In the mist of building, the dog was in and out of the yard a bunch of times. I picked up an additional baby gate, so that I could block her from going underneath of the shed. I wasn’t sure if there were still lingering skunks after we found a dead one, so I didn’t want to take my chances...

This is where things became very interesting…I built the exersaucer and plopped Emerson into it. Oh man! He loved it! This kid is just absolutely adorable. I cannot brag enough about him. He’s such a sweetheart and gave me the perfect reaction. He played in his exersaucer for at least an hour. Right before bathtime, I asked Kodie if she had to pee. Thank GOD I looked out the screen door first. THERE WERE A TON OF BABY SKUNKS OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I freaked the hell out and immediately called my landlord. He told me he’d be over shortly to check out the situation. I was absolutely baffled. Apparently the dead skunk was their mother. I obviously felt TERRIBLE. They were wandering around looking for their mama  I can’t have them living in my yard though. It isn’t safe with the dog and baby. The landlord came over and let me know he’d be contacting animal control to trap the skunks. I was paranoid all night thinking the skunks would find a way into my house. They didn’t, but I was still afraid!

On Saturday, the baby and I woke up and started to get ready for our very first playdate! I was so excited. I bought a ton of capri suns for the kids and I made an adorable snack: Fish n Rods! I bought gold fish crackers and pretzel rods, put them into a zip lock baggie, and wrote “Goin Fishin?” on them. Too cute! The baby skunks were still out and about, so I had to take the dog out on the leash to pee. After we were all ready, the baby and I set off to my parent’s house to pick up his stroller. On the way, I noticed there was a huge bike race, which closed all entrances to the park. Great! My first playdate was going to be ruined!!!!!!!!!!! I immediately posted in my mommy group to let everyone know, so they could prepare accordingly. It didn’t ruin anything. We all made it there and had a great time. There ended up being 10 adults and 12 kids! I cannot wait for the next one!

After the playdate, Emerson and I headed back to my parent’s house. My mom was taking us shopping, so that she could buy Emerson a few things. He ended up getting some toys and clothes, which he really needed. We really appreciated this! On the way home, my mom stopped at my house, so that I could grab Kodie. With the skunks running around, she hasn’t been able to play in the yard. We brought her back to my parent’s house, so that she could burn off some energy. I ate dinner and hung out for a while, before we all headed back home. It was a great day!

Sunday…Oh Sunday. Sunday is the day I broke. I cried. I was just so overwhelmed and reached my breaking point. I woke up well before the baby, took care of the dog, and checked for the skunks. I saw none, but that didn’t mean they weren’t out there. After I finished eating breakfast, cleaning, and making brownies for a work function today, I took a shower and started to blow dry my hair. The neighbor started to knock on my door. I answered and she immediately started to complain about the skunks. Well, I didn’t bring them here. I notified the landlord. I want them gone just as much, if not more, than anyone else! I can’t use my yard and it makes my life 10 times harder. She wouldn’t leave until I ASSURED her that the landlord was sending someone out to take care of the problem. She did compliment my house and décor though, so I can’t say it was an entirely BAD visit. It’s always nice to hear that your creativity and hard work is appreciated. LOL

After that, the baby needed fed. The dog, baby, and I ended up falling asleep until 3pm Whoops! We woke and immediately set out to my parent’s house. Once there, we just hung around for a couple of hours. The dog was able to utilize the yard once again. Shit really hit the fan when we were ready to leave. I put Kodie on the leash, so that Britt could take her out to the car. I was grabbing Emerson and the diaper bag. Kodie was so panicked that I wasn’t coming with her, that she busted out of her collar/leash and took off. I FREAKED. I saw Britt run, so I knew something happened. All I could envision was Kodie being pancaked by a car. I ran outside screaming “Open the car door, Open the car door now, just open the car door!!!!!!!!!!!” I REALLY SCREAMED. Like freaking out screaming. My dad yelled at me for yelling! Britt started to cry. I felt awful. Once she opened the car door, Kodie jumped right in though. I was just so panicked and worried if she ran past the car, we’d lose our shot! I know she just wanted to make sure I wasn’t leaving her, but damn! I had just had it at that point. All of this because of these fucking skunks in my yard!!!!!!!!!!!! After all of the commotion, we went home. I texted Britt immediately, apologized, and explained that I knew it wasn’t her fault. She was still mad at me though. I still feel bad. I know she didn’t do it on purpose. The dog is honestly like my second baby. It drives me absolutely insane though! Sometimes she makes my life so much harder, but I wouldn’t ever want anything to happen to her.

When we got home, I just felt so overwhelmed. I started to cry. The baby isn’t even what is hard! It’s the house, the issue with the yard, the dog. I just wonder all the time how the hell I keep my head above water and handle everything. I make it work and I’m damn proud of that too, but sometimes I just want a break! I swear, I take 1 step forward to take 95 steps back. In the midst of crying, my landlord texted me and said he was coming over with traps. Finally, the clouds parted and I felt I was being helped. He came over, tried to wrangle in a couple of skunks, but they got away. He left the traps out there. They were empty this morning, but we’ll see if we get anything later. I’m so glad he took initiative though and is handling the situation. I have just about had it! I have such a sunny disposition and outlook on life. It’s incredible how much one little baby can change you. I just had such a shitty day yesterday. I’ve been so positive throughout this skunk thing, but after an entire month, I can’t take it anymore. I’ve had it and I want my damn yard back and some normalcy! Let’s hope this is the solution I’ve been waiting for with these traps.

Completely unrelated though, I was on the radio this morning! A girl called in for advice. She is 9 months pregnant and the baby’s father just dumped her! Right up my alley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I called in, shared my story, and gave her some advice. I said to focus on the baby and forget about him. I said that’s what I do and my baby and I are happy and better off! I also said it’s a lot less stressful when you don’t worry about trying to reel someone in who doesn’t give a shit. Accepting it and moving on is the best thing you can do!! The djs were absolutely baffled at Emerson’s father though and they ripped him apart. The word they used was “coward” I liked that. Hahahaha Too bad he doesn’t listen to country music. That should have been my first tip off! Never date a man that doesn’t like country music because something must be wrong with him-ha! I did send Chris some updated pictures of the baby, which he ignored. I also told him that I know he doesn’t give a shit about the baby. I’m sick of always being the nice guy and pretending that he isn’t a lame ass mother fucker skipping out on his child. I want him to know that I KNOW he is a piece of shit mother fucker. He knows that now and I feel a lot better that he does. I didn’t say it exactly in those words, but it was implied. He’s kind of stupid though, so I’m not sure if he entirely got the message, but I’ll pretend he did for my own sake! I hope he shits the bed and rolls in it twice…BOOM!

Alright, it has taken forever to write this because I’ve had to start and stop so many times. Sorry that it’s so long guys! I did leave out a few things. Emerson had bananas for the first time yesterday, which he loved. We have to do a few more days of those to ensure he isn’t allergic, but then we’re moving onto avocado, then sweet potatoes. I’m making my own baby food too! More healthy and definitely cheaper! I’ll let you guys know how this goes! I do know that is dad is allergic to cinnamon. I wonder if those kind of things are genetic. I guess I’ll ask the doctor. I have no food allergies. I’m not sure if his dad has any other food allergies. It sucks that I can’t ask him, so I’ll just have to be VERY careful, especially with cinnamon because I 100% know he’s allergic to that. My luck, Emerson will have inherited his fucked up allergies. Gah. I’ll just be VERY, VERY careful. Okay, I am done with this today!

Mummy's baby is on the move!

I’ll try to not stink up this blog with more talk of the skunk, but my landlord disposed of it yesterday. So far, I haven’t see anymore. I am so sick and tired of having to take Kodie out on the leash though, so when I get home tonight, I’ll be in triage mode ensuring she can no longer go underneath the shed, or behind it. She should be able to use the yard, so as long as I can see her and she isn’t underneath of it, I am happy. I don’t know if there are skunks still inside/underneath of it though. I guess we will find out. I still will be very cautious and not let her outside when it’s dark. I’ll reserve the leash for those times, but I’m sick of having to take her out during the day. It’s hard with the baby because he’s on the move. I can’t leave him in his chair anymore. He rolls right out of it. He is a rolling machine. Yesterday, he rolled from his back to his belly and then smashed his face into his blanket that was the floor. Tears galore! I have no idea why he did that. He holds his head up so well usually! Needless to say, the baby came with me when I took Kodie outside and it was just a mess. Kodie was pulling on the leash. At one point, I put Emerson in is crib, so that I could take Kodie out. I figured it is a contained area and safe, so I could step out front for 2-3 minutes to let Kodie pee. Emerson rolled in his crib and was stuck on his belly. What the hell?! So, that ended that idea. The only place I feel he is safe is in my arms. That can’t occur 24/7.

When I picked him up from daycare yesterday, he was having a ball in the exersaucer. He was playing, bouncing, giggling, and just having a great time. He was holding himself up so well too. I didn’t think we were ready for anything like that, but clearly we are. After daycare today, we are heading to Walmart, so that I can buy him one. I priced them and found a few for around $40-$45, which is within our budget. I wasn’t worried about toys for him because he was too small to really play with anything. Aside from his activity mat, chair with dangling toys, and a few rattles, he has nothing. Now that he’s rolling, he’s entirely too big for the mat and the chair doesn’t hold his interest anymore. It’s time for an upgrade. The exersaucer will be a great edition!

When I saw him playing in it yesterday, I felt sad for a few minutes. I honestly felt like the world’s worst mother for not having enough toys at home. All I kept thinking was “I cannot afford to buy you one of these, buddy” My budget is so freaking tight. I’m lucky I even have enough food in the house for myself to eat. (I went grocery shopping last night and spent $40.00). Anyway, I pulled up my budgeting spreadsheet today, moved a few things around, and found that I do have enough to purchase the exersaucer. I’m so glad. He deserves the world and I know I won’t always be able to give it to him, but if I can at least give him a few things here and there, I’ll be happy. I can’t expect him to just lay on the floor playing with a rattle for this rest of his life. I do my best. Daycare is so costly. It literally costs more than my rent and I’m not even sending him every day. Typically, there are 20 working days in a month. I can only afford to send him 17 days. I can’t even really afford 17 days, but I have no choice. I’ve been taking off 1-2 days a month and then there has been at least 1 holiday a month when my company is closed. That’s the only way I’m able to save on daycare.

I know I talk about money and finances a lot. I’m just being honest. These are actual challenges a single mother faces. I realize couples face these same hardships, but this is all on MY shoulders. I don’t have someone to collaborate with to come up with new solutions. I have to figure it out for myself. I am not looking for a handout though. I feel very prideful that I’m able to put a roof over our heads and to pay the bills. It isn’t always awesome knowing I can’t buy him everything that I want to, but I’m happy that he has what he needs. He does need activities and toys that aid in his development though. I won’t back down from that. I can’t expect him to lay on the floor staring at the ceiling all night. The kid needs something to play with. At least I know he won’t be spoiled!!!! Bad joke. I’d absolutely love to spoil him. I had to buy him a pair of pjs this week and an outfit because he’s running out of clothes fast. I’m trying to at least buy him one of each every paycheck, so that I am at least keeping up a little bit. He still needs a raft for the pool, but I’m holding off on that until the water warms up. It’ll be at least a month before that happens.

Tomorrow is my first playdate. I’m so excited. We’re just meeting at the local park. I thought it was an easy ice breaker. A lot of us don’t know each other that well. While the kids play, the parents can split their time getting to know each other and playing with their kids. The weather is supposed to be nice too. I’m going to bring some blankets to put down, so that the little babies can roll around. I hope it goes well and everyone is on board to having more!! Aside from the playdate, we’re just going to my parent’s house. The pool is officially up and running, so I’m anxious to get some sun. Emerson won’t be sun bathing though. He loves being outside, so I’ll put his swing in the shade, while I sit in the sun. While he takes his nap, I’ll utilize the pool. It’s a win for everyone! I plan on bringing Kodie over with us on Sunday. She deserves a little playtime herself.

Alright, that’s all I have for today. I hope everyone has a really nice weekend!

MUMMY'S MORTUARY

There is never a dull day in the life of Ashley! I swear! I’d be so happy to think “Wow, today was boring!” Fat chance there. Anyway, when I was done working yesterday, my sister and I headed over to my house. I wanted to walk the dog before I headed to pick Emerson up from daycare. There was a huge threat in the sky with rain, so I was trying to beat it. As we all know, I’m avoiding letting her into the backyard because of the skunk issue….

When we got to my house, I suggested that we head out to the yard to see if there was a possible solution to block the shed off from Kodie accessing it. We were about 3ft from the shed when the aroma hit us. Skunk. My sister was convinced at that point that the skunks were taking shelter underneath, or within the shed. Against my better judgment, I let Kodie into the yard with us. I guess it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Had she not backed away from the back of the shed, I would have never discovered the HUGE, DEAD SKUNK LYING BACK THERE! Well, at least not right away until it’s rotting corpse started to smell. (I love painting a picture for you guys!) I freaked out! Brittany took a closer look and confirmed, “Yep, he’s dead!” I hurried to get the dog in the house. She’s such a curious girl. She would be all over that thing. I’m not sure if it’s diseased, or what, but I want my yard completely sanitized now. Ew! My beautiful yard tainted by death!

I immediately called my landlord. He answered and said he’d be up that night to remove the skunk. He never showed up! Instead, I got a text telling me he’d be there tomorrow (today) and that he was pretty sure the skunk would still be dead then. I didn’t really appreciate the joke. I don’t want that dead, stinky thing rotting on my property!! I’m hoping he doesn’t flake on me today. I have to grocery shop after work too. I just don’t want him going to my house and possibly going inside without me being there. Kodie will flip the hell out if some stranger walks through the front door. I am 100% sure she’d attack his ass. If he does come over, then hopefully he just removes the skunk and leaves it at that for right now. He needs to rectify the issue. They are taking up residence, rent-free, underneath of that shed. I hope the landlord burns the damn thing down. LOL That’s a bit drastic, but DAMN! I haven’t even lived here for more than 2 months and half of that time I’ve been battling skunks!

Another concern is how the skunk died. My mom suspects that someone put poison down in their yard and the skunk ingested it. Wow, how lucky am I that he decided to die in MY yard?! I doubt the moth balls caused death to the skunk. They are just a deterrent. They aren’t meant to actually kill anything. They smell so awful, that I doubt a skunk ate one. I just hope there is no poison in my yard. I’d be absolutely devastated if anything happened to Kodie. The people across from my yard are kind of weird though. They don’t have a dog, so I don’t think they’d care too much about mine. I hope they didn’t throw poison into my yard. I don’t know if the skunks are terrorizing anyone else, but if they are and someone decided to handle it on their own, I don’t want it killing my dog. I would absolutely lose it if something happened to Kodie. In the meantime, I’m going to continue taking her out front on the leash to do her business. It sucks because the luxury of letting her out in the yard was amazing and a time -saver. Now, I have to give extra time in the mornings to take her out. She isn’t used to the leash anymore, so we burn like 10 minutes just to get her to pee! 10 minutes is a lot when you only have about an hour to do 25 things before leaving the house at 5:58am! I’ll be happy if this was the only skunk, but something tells me this isn’t the last of these sightings.

Mummy's 4th month old!

Emerson did so well at his 4 month check-up. Even with having shots, he only cried for a about 2 minutes. I was shocked. I still hated to see him in pain, but he handed it quite well. He is now 15lbs 10oz and 25 inches long! He’s such a big boy, but right on track with his growth. They expected him to grow 2 inches, but my little overachiever blew that by adding another ½ inch to his height. He is such a cutie pie and was all smiles and giggles in the doctor’s office. One of the most frequent comments I receive about him is that he is such a happy baby. It’s true. He really is! Another comment I receive more than any other is that he and I look so much alike. I see so much of myself in him. He truly is my little twin. It is absolutely hysterical too. It’s like looking at a mini mummy! I love my baby boy so much!!

After the doctor’s, we needed to get Tylenol. My sister (she came with me for moral support), baby, and I headed to the store. We ended up shopping around for about an hour. Emerson was so pleasant and content even after having shots. He hadn’t eaten for about 4 hours either, so I was very shocked he wasn’t freaking from hunger. He was such a good boy! He got a new outfit and a new pair of jammies. Last week, he blew through 5 diapers at daycare and ruined 5 outfits. Ugh. I absolutely cannot get enough of those one piece short romper outfits. There is no guess work in finding matching pants and a shirt. It’s just one piece. I was upset knowing 5 of those were ruined. I ended up getting him a really adorable one for $6 yesterday. He still needs a few more. By the time I can get anymore, he’ll probably have ruined another 5!

Afterwards, we hurried to drop my sister off, so we could let the dog out before dark. I am not messing around with these skunks! I bought some moth balls to put around my property. I scattered them where Kodie does not have access because they are toxic to dogs. I put them inside of my fire pit too. I plan on hiding them inside of my solar yard lights as well. Let’s hope this works. Someone told me to sprinkle vinegar. I like that idea because it won’t bother Kodie. Once I let her out to pee, that was it for the night. I turned on all of the outside lights, shut all of the windows, and put towels at the base of the doors just in case a skunk decided to spray. That would at least contain it, so that the house wasn’t compromised for a third time. It makes for a longer bedtime routine, but I don’t want issues. After I prepared the house, I gave the baby some Tylenol, then a bath. At that point, he was getting very hungry. Kodie has been left alone a lot lately, so I brought her a big bone to chew on last night. After Emerson’s bath and jammie time, Kodie got her bone and Em got the boob! Kodie chewed on that bone pretty much all night. Emerson was passed out, arms over his head, and in a deep slumber for hours. It was very nice. I got some great sleep!

This morning was busy. It was garbage day. Because of the skunks, I can’t do this the night before. I have to put it out in the morning. I got all of the garbage together and took it out to the curb. Of course, I was petrified a skunk would sneak me on the way! All was clear though. I had to wash and sterilize bottles this morning too because I didn’t have a chance the night before. That’s a pretty time consuming thing. I had to wash the bottles I pump into as well. Afterwards, I had to get all of the laundry ready and taken out to the car to head to the Laundromat after I took Emerson to daycare. An additional task was walking Kodie because I was afraid to let her in the backyard. I could smell a small hint of skunk! These skunks are running and ruining my life! In between of all of that, I got ready and got Emerson ready, then we were off to daycare!

After daycare, I did the laundry, but I took it home to dry in the dryer. I do have a dryer, but no washer, which I honestly don’t even mind. My water bill was so small! I am so happy about that. It only cost me $1.25 to do the laundry today. We only had one load between the two of us. After the laundry, I logged onto work. It was a very busy day. I’ll leave it at that. The last thing on the list today is grocery shopping. My dad is using my car today and is picking my sister and nephew up around 3:30. As long as they are back by 3:45pm, I’ll do my shopping. I want to be able to shop, then take everything back to the house to put away before I grab the baby from daycare. Whew.

Sometimes I reread my blogs and I can’t believe I do all of these tasks in one day. I leave out A LOT. Trying to cook and eat are crazy tasks sometimes. The dog and baby both want my attention at the end of the day too, so splitting my time is sometimes hard. Now, I have an extra task of walking the dog (well sorta walking her. I only take her out in the front of my house) because I can’t let her into the yard. I have a high suspicion that the skunks burrowed underneath of my shed. I want to get something to block her from going near it/digging, but I haven’t had time to actually look for a solution yet. My landlord has yet to get back to me either. If they did burrow underneath of the shed, it should be his financial responsibility to pay to have them trapped and removed.

I bought Emerson an iron on transfer today from Etsy for $5.00. It’s his father’s day gift to my dad! It’s an adorable blonde headed baby with “I love my pap” and Father’s day 2014 around it. I’ll post pictures when I get it in the mail. I’m going to iron it onto a onesie for him to wear on Father’s day! Too cute! Okay, that is about all I have today folks. I’m hoping we have a nice evening. I’m actually pretty tired!

MUMMY'S SKUNK

So, after daycare yesterday, the baby, dog, and I hung outside awhile. I was able to push bedtime all the way to about 9pm! This hardly ever happens. We are usually all in bed by 7:45pm, so I was delighted to say the least. Around 9:45pm, the baby and dog were sleeping, and I was watching tv. I smelled something and instantly jumped up to shut the air conditioner off. THAT DAMN SKUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I opened up my bedroom door and the smell hit me like a ton of bricks! I wasn’t sure if it sprayed, or just walked really close to the house. I didn’t think it sprayed because the smell wasn’t as bad as I know it would be. It was BAD, but not so bad that it permeated every single room in the house. I was able to contain it to the bottom floors. I immediately closed all windows and put towels at the bottom of every door, including my bedroom. I shut my bedroom up pretty tightly, so that we could sleep in peace without skunk filling our noses. I turned the fan on over the air conditioner, which turned out to be fine. I still have some of the de-skunk spray left from the last debacle, so I sprayed around the house. I called my mom to prepare her for our arrival, but I was able to contain it enough that we didn’t have to leave the house. I flipped on the front light and back light too. I’m hoping keeping the lights on every night will help to deter the skunks. After about 45 minutes, I finally crawled back into bed and slept.

This morning, I was so afraid to open up my bedroom door. When I did, I smelled NOTHING. Of course, I could have just been used to it by that point. I put the dog on the leash and took her out front to pee. I wasn’t risking her going into the yard until I had a chance to inspect it. Afterwards, I slowly opened up the back door, stuck my nose out, and sniffed. Nothing. Whew. I did notice a dog treat of Kodie’s on the porch, which is probably why the skunk even came onto our property. I had NO idea she didn’t eat it yesterday and brought it outside  From now on, I’ll be triple checking the yard/porch to ensure she doesn’t sneak any treats out behind my back. Every night before bed now, I’ll be closing up the entire house and putting towels at the foot of the doors just in case another skunk happens to pass by. I am so not happy with adding additional steps to our bedtime routine, but I’ll do anything at this point. I have the number for animal control, which I’ll be calling later. I’m hoping they can set a trap to catch this fucker. I’m also going to be looking for some plastic, decorative fencing to put up around my shed. Kodie has been digging holes around it and I have a hunch that skunks might be living underneath of it. I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t want to risk it. I just want Kodie to stay the hell away from that shed until we have it checked out.

This entire thing is so stressful. I contacted my landlord to see of any known skunk issues. He hasn’t responded yet, but I’m hoping he can shed some insight. There is no way in hell I am going to continue living here after our lease is up (in two effin years) if we are constantly battling skunks. It is absolutely insane and makes me miss city living. I’m trying to work with the situation though to accommodate that we do live near a wooded area and these things will happen. I just can’t believe it hasn’t even been three weeks and we’re dealing with it AGAIN. I’m just glad the dog wasn’t hit and the skunk didn’t actually spray. I can’t afford to continually de-skunk my house. It takes an entire day and I can’t constantly miss work to de-funk my home. Let’s hope by taking additional precautions, we can avoid another attack!

I’m going to go grocery shopping after work and then head up to see if I can get a cheap solution to keep Kodie away from the shed. The baby has a doctor’s appointment at 6:15pm. I’ll need to hurry to get him home, changed, and fed before we head out. Before I get him from daycare though, I want to go home to ensure the house is still okay. I left the windows closed when I left this morning, so it probably needs aired out a bit. All I know is I am so freaking glad that I made the rule to NOT let Kodie outside after dark. Luckily for us, it stays light until 9pm, so she gets to pee one final time before bed. I have the leash now to take her out front in the early morning hours with the lights on outside, so she isn’t in the backyard. Sigh…Let’s just hope this is the beginning of the end of this nightmare!

Mummy's boring

This weekend was really nice. Busy, but nice. On Friday, we did absolutely nothing after I picked the baby up from daycare. It was a long week, so we went to bed early. On Saturday, we headed over to my friend’s reveal party. She’s having a little girl. It was really nice. My old roommate was there and ignored us the entire time. Awkward. Oh well. I’m glad it wasn’t that bad with her there. The girl is 37 years old. She needs to grow up already. Anyway, after the reveal party, we went over to my parent’s house. I ate dinner while my mom and dad played with the baby. We hung out there before going home to let the dog run in the yard for a while before bedtime. On Sunday, we headed back over to my parent’s house. They set their new pool up. It is huge! It took pretty much all day, but the pool is being filled now. I can’t wait to see it completely done and ready to go! It was a nice weekend though. I got some sun too! I also made everyone dinner: Chicken salad sandwiches and tortellini pasta salad. Amazing!

We didn’t started the week off very well though. I woke up late this morning. Ugh! I ended up getting on a later bus. I was only 30 minutes later than usual, but I’ll end up having to make that time up tomorrow when I work from home. I have no idea why the hell my alarm didn’t go off at 4:20am. Instead, it started ringing around 6am. I hope this doesn’t happen tomorrow. If it does, at least I’m working from home with no commute.

I sent the baby to daycare with 4 5oz bottles today. I decided to not send 6oz bottles. He has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow night for his 4 month shots, so I’ll ask about rice cereal and all of my food related questions then. I just wonder if sending 6oz is okay to span his feedings out to 4-5 hours instead of doing 5oz bottles and having him eat every 3oz. The only bad thing about 6oz bottles is that I have to entertain him longer between feedings. That’s not always easy to do. He does end up napping some of that time, but with breastfeeding, I can’t tell what he’s getting anyway, so he usually eats every 3 hours when he’s with me. The hardest part about being a new mom is anything food related. Knowing if I am giving too much and too often always seems to be such a challenge. He’s a chunker too. He’s probably over 14lbs at this point. I’ll just make sure that’s okay and we aren’t on the fast track to obesity. I’m sure it’s okay. He’ll end up losing it when he starts moving around. I just want to make sure I am not overfeeding him. I heard you can’t overfeed a breastfed baby, so we will see about that!

Aside from the doctor’s, we don’t have much going on this week. I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow after work. I’m doing laundry before I log in on Wednesday. Our first play date for my mommy group is on Saturday. I can’t wait! I need to pick up some snacks for that. We are all meeting at the local park. I hope I get a decent turn out. Emerson can’t really do much at the park, but hanging out with other mommies and talking will be nice! Afterwards, we are just heading over to my parent’s house. It’s going to be beautiful this weekend, so I definitely want to log some pool time.

Alright, that’s about all I have today. I like when things are mellow like this. I’m hoping we have a pretty docile week. Let’s hope these shots on Tuesday night do not make him sick and super cranky. Tylenol and motrin will be my new best friends!