Mummy's busting out!

I have no idea what the last thing I wrote about was, so I’ll just start from yesterday. I had the day off to take Brittany to her driver’s test…again. The baby and I woke up so early and headed over to my parent’s house. We got there around 6:30am. Her test wasn’t until 8:30am, but we needed to take my mum to work, plus the DMV isn’t exactly close. We had my nephew and Emerson with us too. 45 minutes in the car at 7:30am is no joke. The baby was an absolute angel though! I pumped him full of a yummy breakfast before we left, so that I wouldn’t have to feed him until we got back. He slept most of the way up there and most of the way back. He was awake and watched Brittany PASS her test. YES, I SAID PASS!!!!!!! I am so happy. You guys have no freaking idea!!!!!!!! I could have cried when she parked the car, put her hands in the air, and started smiling. We gave her a big hug and congratulated her. It’s about damn time! Afterwards, I drove us to Walmart, so that I could pick up the last set of prints that I ordered for Emerson’s party. I didn’t let Britt drive. The road we were on is much too aggressive and we had the kids in the car. She was okay with it though. After that, we stopped to get lunch, then headed to her boyfriend’s house, so that she could pick up his car. He is on the road for work, so she is using his car. I thought that was awfully nice of him. I was so nervous about leaving her alone to drive! She did fine though! I am so proud of her!

Emerson and I hung at my parent’s house the rest of the day. He napped quite a few times. I can’t tell if he’s spurting again. Throughout the night, he is now waking 3-4 times. I don’t mind too much because he goes right back down, but it is really out of the blue. I just pumped and got 6oz like it was nothing, so I am thinking I might need to increase his bottles from 5-6oz. We’ll see though. My supply seems to be up, which I am completely fine with. I do feed him solids right before bed. I’d assume that would keep him nice and full, but for some strange reason, he is waking up several times throughout the night. In addition to that, he’s now biting me A LOT. It hurts. I try to not make a reaction though. Instead, I tell him “No bites. That hurts mommy” I unlatch him at that point. I’m hoping he realizes the correlation between biting and being unlatched. If you bite, you cannot nurse. I know it’ll take a while, but I can see the cues that he is going to bite, so I have been able to stop it before he really chomps down. The other night, I wasn’t paying attention and he bit me so hard. I screamed and then literally cried! I startled him, which I do NOT want to do. I don’t want to scare him into a nursing strike, so now, I just fully focus on him while nursing. No TV, no cell phone. I know it’s just a phase and will pass. I’m hoping I can teach him that biting is no good in the process though. He did very well last night at bed time. He didn’t bite me at all. He did bite me 10-15 times earlier that day though! LOL

Aside from that, he is just moving and shaking right along. He is so mobile. It’s funny. He isn’t crawling yet, but he does get around with his arms. It won’t be long now! There is now a 40% chance of thunderstorms on Saturday, the day of his party. I hope it doesn’t happen though. Cramming 40 people into my house does not sound like a good time, especially when half of those people are kids! I know they will be running around all over the place. If it does rain, we’ll all just have to suck it up and deal with it, but I hope it doesn’t. I’ll be so sad! I pulled out some of the stuff for his party yesterday and started to set it up. Man, it is going to look so freaking adorable! I cannot wait! Brittany is driving over after work on Friday night and sleeping over. She’s going to help me cook and set things up. It’ll be a lot easier with an extra pair of hands. That way, one of us can do party stuff, while the other takes care of the baby. We can swap out depending on the task at hand. Obviously she can’t breastfeed! Tomorrow, I have to grab the last few items we need for the party at the grocery store. I also realized last night that I need another sleeve of cups and another pack of tiny bowls for the s’mores bar. I just have to make sure I add those to my list. I want to have everything ready to go on Saturday. I don’t want to be setting up, or having to do much of anything 5 minutes from party time. I hate rushing around!

Tonight, I am going to happy hour. This is my very first outing away from the baby aside from the day I moved since I had him. Yes, I take him to daycare, so that I can work, but I never do anything outside of work hours without him. This is going to be so strange. My friend, Johanna, is in town, so we are having a huge happy hour. I can’t wait to see all of our friends!! I am working from home today, so afterwards, I’m running home to let the dog out, picking Emerson up from daycare, then dropping him off at my parent’s house. My sister and mom are going to babysit him from about 3:30-7:45ish. I probably won’t make it downtown until about 4:30. I might only end up staying until 630-7ish. It just depends on how many people stay. I will probably try to have 1 beer. I cannot stand the taste of alcohol. That includes wine. I have no idea why. I think I brainwashed myself to not like it because I can’t really drink. I have to take care of the baby and I have to breastfeed, so it’s never really worth it. I try, but I always end up abandoning my drink, or dumping it out. I had a couple sips of a beer during our fire the other night. It wasn’t THAT bad. I figure I can just nurse it the entire time I’m there.

Alright, that is all I have today. I hope everyone has a great night! It’s almost the weekend. WOOHOO!

Mummy's busy week!

I know I haven’t updated in a while, but I figured since I didn’t have anything Earth shattering to report, I’d just keep quiet. We had a really nice weekend. We didn’t do much on Friday. After I picked the baby up from Daycare, we just went home for the night. After he went to bed, I was going to get up to make his birthday party banner, but my stomach was bugging me, so I went to bed early. On Saturday, we had big plans to go to the spray park. Emerson slept until almost noon. I got him up and ready, then we headed over to pick Isaiah and Brittany up. The spray park was absolutely adorable! We all had such a good time. Emerson loved the water. I was soaking wet from running him through everything. We will definitely be going back there. The spray park is free, so you really can’t beat that! Afterwards, we went back home to get changed out of our wet clothes. Britt, Isaiah, Emerson, and I headed down to the waterfront, so that Isaiah could get school clothes and shoes. Emerson got two outfits too compliments of his auntie! We had a really good time shopping around. Afterwards, we stopped at my house to let the dog out, then headed back to my parent’s for dinner and a fire. We got rained out at first, but once the rain passed, we were able to have our fire. Emerson and I didn’t get home until 10pm! Sunday, we slept in a bit. Emerson slept in about 1.5 hours longer than me. I cleaned, made coffee, ate breakfast, and made the shirt he’s wearing to his half birthday party. We headed over to my best friend’s house for a little visit before we headed over to my parent’s house, picked my sister up, and headed to the store. My sister bought him a really adorable toy to entice crawling. He loves it! We ate dinner at my parent’s then went home around 6pm. Not too bad of a weekend!

This week is going to be NUTS! We have so much going on. Today, we don’t have much. We’re going to my parent’s house tonight to trade cars with dad. We’ll end up hanging over there for a bit before heading home. Tomorrow, I am working from home, but my mom and sister are going to watch Emerson for me, so that I can save on daycare. It’s always more of an exhausting day when I work from home with him there, but saving $37.75 is nice! Wednesday, I am taking the day off of work. Britt’s driver’s test is on Wednesday at 830am. We have to take the kids with us, so that oughta be a great time. It isn’t a real close drive either. During rush hour, it’ll end up taking us about 45 minutes. I’m hoping to pump Emerson up with some fruit/oatmeal and milk before we leave, so I get a good 4 hours on him without having to feed him while we are out. I’m not too worried about Emerson. It’s Isaiah I worry about. We have to leave the house so early just to make it on time. Even then, we might still be late. I know he’s going to be grouchy and I don’t really want to hear it. I have to take the day off just to take her to her test. I was only taking half days, so that my vaca days last me longer. I can’t do this again, so if she doesn’t pass, she’ll have to schedule her test around my mom’s schedule. I just know he’s going to be bitching the entire time and I seriously am already exhausted thinking about it. He was pretty ungrateful during the entire school clothes shopping trip. He got whatever he wanted. It’s like nothing is ever good enough for him and it absolutely KILLS my sister. It’s so bad that it makes ME want to cry. I told him this too and I asked him what his problem is. Why are you always so miserable?? He just gave me attitude back. I tried being open and honest with him explaining that it really hurts his mom when he behaves that way. He didn’t care. It pisses me off so bad, so I am NOT going to deal with any bad attitudes on Wednesday morning.

My friend, Johanna, is coming in on Wednesday too! I hope we can go see her after the test is over! I cannot wait for the baby to meet his Auntie Jo Jo! I can’t wait to see her!!!!!!!! We haven’t figured out our plan yet for Wednesday though. On Thursday, we have a happy hour planned. I’m so excited to hang out with all of my work friends. I’m working from home on Thursday. My mom and sister are going to watch Emerson for me after I pick him up from daycare. I won’t be at happy hour long. I’ll probably be gone from 330pm-730pm. Not too bad. I don’t really like the taste of alcohol now. I think it’s disgusting. I can’t even handle the taste of wine, so I probably won’t drink at all, but I don’t care. I just want to hang out and see everyone. This will be my first outing since I had Emerson!

On Friday night, Emerson and I are picking Britt up from work. She’s staying the night to help us prepare for his big birthday party on Saturday! I am so excited! I have pretty much everything. I do have to make a store run to grab the ingredients for a couple dishes I’m making. Aside from that, we are all set. I can’t wait. I hope everyone has a really good time. I feel like I’ve been planning this half birthday party forever! We did a mini photo shoot yesterday. I think the pics came out cute. They aren’t professionally done, or anything, but I don’t care. I still like them. His eyes look so blue in all of the pictures. Gorgeous. I can’t believe my baby will already be six months this week. It doesn’t feel like six months has even passed. I am still so baffled that I had a baby. I still can’t get over that!

Alright, I guess that’s all the updating I need to do for now. I hope everyone has a quick Monday!

Mummy's baking!

Well, Britt failed her driver’s test, which was complete bullshit. I watched her parallel park and she did it beautifully. I actually SCREAMED out oud when I saw her pull in between the barrels to park. The instructor got out of the car, walked to the back of the car, and wiggled one of the barrels. I had a bad feeling this lady was going to screw with my sister. She was so far from the back barrels and did NOT hit anything, yet this woman failed her and said she did. The people that work at the DMV have such God complexes. They think they hold all the control and power because they determine who gets to drive on the road. I was so pissed! Britt was bawling. It’s one thing to fail on your own accord, but to be sabotaged and failed for no reason is absolutely ludicrous. She scheduled another test for next Wednesday. If she gets this same woman, I will be livid. I’ll be sure to record next time. I am not above calling this bitch out if she pulls this again. She had this snarky grin on her face too. I knew she was going to be a bitch.

After the devastation of the test, Brittany and I headed to run some errands. I finished up the rest of the loose ends I had for Emerson’s half birthday party. Additionally, I bought diapers, and a few odds and ends that I needed for the house. I replaced the membrane on my breast pump, but found that it wasn’t the membrane at all. There was a piece on the pump that was bent preventing the membrane from lying flat. I bent it back and I was good to go again. The membranes were $6.00, so I’ll have some back up if they ever do break. I feel like I’m getting more suction though, so that’s a good thing! I dropped Britt off at home and headed back to my house to clean up a bit before I had to pick Emerson up from daycare. When we got home, it was so hot. The only room in my house that is air conditioned is my bedroom. Typically, the rest of the house is cool, but yesterday was so sticky and hot. We retreated upstairs to avoid the heat. Ten minutes later, Emerson was down for the count. He napped from 5:30pm-8:50pm! I was a little worried that he was napping so long close to bedtime, but I didn’t want to wake him. I let him sleep. When he woke up, I put him in the tub for a bath. We skipped jammies. I let him wear just a diaper to bed. Even with the air on, it was still on the warmer side. He had sweet peas and pears for dinner. Aftewards, it was boob, then bed. During our bedtime nursing session, he bit me pretty hard. He was almost asleep, so I don’t know if it was because he was more so asleep and not paying attention, or what. I screamed “Ahh!” It caught me off guard and hurt pretty badly. He was startled for a second, starting sucking again, and then conked out. He didn’t bite me again. I hope that was just a fluke. There was no trauma to my nipple though. Both are on the sore side today, so pumping hasn’t been a real treat, but I’m not getting any less than I usually do, so I think we’re okay.

While he was napping, I whipped up a batch of scones. I don’t really know what else to do aside from lending an ear/shoulder to my best friend, so I bought a really nice card and decided to make up a basket of scones to send over to her house. I ended up making caramel/chocolate, chocolate chip, and chocolate chip with drizzled chocolate. They turned out so amazing and taste great. I’m going to take them over after work today. When I went to bake them, I lined my baking sheets with wax paper. Anytime I do this, the wax burns off the paper, creates smoke, and the detector goes off. Sure enough, while I was bathing Emerson, the smoke detector starting blaring. It was the one that was in the bathroom too, so it was SO LOUD. I ended up taking it off of the ceiling. Don’t worry, I put it back up when I was done baking! Anyway, I baked half of the scones while I bathed and fed Emerson dinner. Before I took him upstairs to nurse him to sleep, I shut the oven off. After he went to bed, I went back downstairs to bake the other half. I wrote the card out and got the basket ready. All I have to do is put the scones inside before I head over today. I just hope the chocolate doesn’t melt off of them too badly. With this heat, I think it’s inevitable, but I don’t want to hand her a gooey mess.

After the scones were done, I headed up to bed. Emerson slept from about 9:30pm-2:30am. He was up for about 10 minutes to nurse, then back down until I woke him around 6:00am. I almost missed the bus today because I slept in a little late. Luckily, I made it on time. Whew! Close call! We don’t have too much going on. Tonight, after I put him to bed, I plan on trying to go through his party stuff, so that I can start making his sign and his party banner. I only have ten days. I know that seems like a lot of time, but with how limited I am on free-time, I need to take every opportunity to get things done. I don’t want to have to do much the day of the party either. I’d rather have mostly everything set up and just have to set the food out. Can we tell how absolutely excited I am??

Well, I don’t have much else to update on. I hope everyone’s week is going fast. I cannot wait for the weekend. I feel like I spent no time with Emerson yesterday because he fell asleep and napped for so long almost immediately after we got home from daycare, then it was bedtime. His top teeth are cutting through now, so I’m sure that just makes him want to sleep more to avoid the pain. My poor baby!

Mummy's half day!

Today, I have a half day. My sister is taking her driver’s test again. I hope she passes. This will be her third try. It took me three tries before I passed. I took her practice parking on Sunday. She did so well! I hope she can put aside her nerves, focus, and pass this damn thing today! I know she will be absolutely devastated if she fails again. I have no problems taking her again and again until she passes. She is a very good driver. Now, if she does pass, I’m still not letting her drive home! The roads we have to take to get there and back are really aggressive and I am even nervous driving on them. After we make it back to our neighborhood though, she can do what she wants. I have such a good feeling about it though. I just want her to pass. I’m sick of watching her bawl her eyes out of the disappointment. She’s been trying for a few months. She’s had her permit for about 3 years too! It’s just time! I told her I’m cashing in about 8 years’ worth of rides once she passes too! She just laughed. She seems in good spirits about it. I just hope her nerves don’t get the best of her. She has pretty bad anxiety and I think that’s why she fails every time she takes the test. She gets herself so worked up and then it screws with her head! I’ll be cheerleading her on the entire drive up there today!

After she passes her test, (miss optimism over here) we have a few errands to run. One side of my breast pump broke last night. Well, not broke. The membrane finally wore down. If you don’t know anything about a breast pump, it is the smallest piece on the entire thing. I was wondering when it was going to finally bite the dust. Most of my friends have had to replace that piece several times. I’m sure if I had replaced it months ago I’d end up getting better suction thus getting more ounces when I pump. Anyway, I can get a pack of 6 or 12 for around $8. It isn’t an expensive fix, but it’s a necessary one. I can only pump one side at a time now! It’s so annoying! Additionally, we have to grab diapers for Emerson. We also have an appointment at the Sprint store to see if we can switch over to them for free from at&t. Our contract is up in October, but Sprint is offering a deal. If you switch over to them, they’ll give you a free phone. Now, I think I might only be able to get 1 free phone. Obviously, we don’t want to have to pay for anything, so we are going to go and see what the details are. If we can’t do it, then we’ll just stick with at&t and upgrade for free to new phones in October. We are both over the iphones and now that mine has a cracked screen, I really am over it! Aside from that, we have just a few more things to grab for his party. Emerson is at daycare today, so we have some time to get all of this done. Her test isn’t until 11:45am. I’m hoping she’s passed and we’re out of there by 12:30pm. You all know how the DMV can be though! I’d like to pick Emerson up early if possible.

Yesterday after work, we came to my parent’s house to switch cars. My sister is taking her test in my mom’s car, so my dad took my car to work today. The baby and I hung out for a while. He absolutely loves my dad. It is so freaking adorable. The second my dad walks into the room, he’s fighting to get over to him. It cracks me up. He’s obsessed with my mom too, but there must be something more special about my dad that he loves. Even through teething and being grouchy, my dad always can make him laugh and smile. I love it! After we left my parent’s house, Emerson fell asleep in the car. He continued to sleep for nearly two hours! He woke up a little after 8pm. We did bath, dinner, boob, then bed. He slept 9pm-2am, woke up, ate, and was back down from 215am until I woke him around 6:10am. Not too shabby! Daycare was able to stretch his bottles out yesterday. Thank God! He did so well and went about 5 hours in between. They did feed him solids in between those 5 hours, which is normal, but I was glad 3 bottles worked. I sent 4 today, so we are back on track! After I put him to bed last night, I went back downstairs and pumped just to make sure I really did have enough for today. I watched The Real Housewives of Orange County too. So obsessed with the Bravo! Network. LOL I ended up going to bed a little after 10. I feel pretty refreshed today!

On Saturday, my sister and I are taking the boys to the spray park. It’s free and absolutely adorable! We haven’t been up there yet, but a lot of my friends have and posted pictures. It’s supposed to be really hot on Saturday, so hopefully the water isn’t freezing. The only sucky thing is that I’m going to have to get wet too! Emerson can’t exactly run himself through the water. LOL I don’t mind. As long as he has a good time that’s all I care about. Afterwards, we’ll probably just come back to my parent’s to get into the pool. Aside from that, we don’t have much going on.

On a sad note, my best friend’s grandmother was given weeks to live. It started out as months, but was decreased after they found more issues yesterday. She’s had cancer for quite some time and was receiving treatment for it. They found that it spread, so chemo was stopped. She’s going to stay with my best friend’s sister and hospice care will be provided. I feel so terrible. They are REALLY close to their grandmother. I think a lot of people look at it as an older person that you might have grown apart from over the years, but their relationship with her is not like that. Her grandmother walked her down the aisle last year when she got married. When she called me yesterday, it took everything in me not to cry. I feel so horrible. I can’t imagine what they are going through. On top of that, my best friend just had a baby 3 months ago. Thinking that her grandmother isn’t going to see him grow up makes me want to puke. My mom started crying yesterday when I told her all of the details. She said it reminded her of when her mom (my gram) died. It literally is playing out identically. The worst is there is no RIGHT thing to say either, so I hope I can just be there for her and help in any way that I can. It is going to be a rough few weeks for them. My mum and I were talking about making some dinners and such for them. Maybe lighten the load. My best friend’s sister has a husband, plus three kids. I’m sure having a little extra time with their gram over having to cook for everyone would be nice. I’m going to pick up a cupcake mix today and make some cupcakes to send over. I know it isn’t much, but to let them know that we are thinking about them and we care seems like an appropriate gesture.

Alright, I will update everyone on the test tomorrow. Cross your fingers and toes!

Mummy was in need

The weekend was pretty mellow. Friday, we did nothing aside from hanging out at home. It was nice knowing that we didn’t have to wake up early on Saturday morning. We slept in until about 9am too. It was amazing. The only plans we had on Saturday were visiting my parents. They hadn’t seen Emerson in about 4 days at that point. He took such a big nap though. He slept 10-1pm. After he woke, we headed over to my parent’s house. We had dinner and hung out until about 7pm. There was a frozen sing a long on the Disney Channel at 8pm, so I wanted to get home, have him bathed, and give him dinner before it started. He fell asleep, but I stayed up until about 11pm and watched.

I have to say how amazing my parents are. I know sometimes they drive me insane, but they truly are the best people in my life. I am the type of person that refuses to ask for help. I’d rather just figure it out for myself. Even if I am going without, I’d rather just cut something, or figure it out before reaching out. Lately, things have been kind of tight. Getting a water and sewage bill unexpectedly kind of threw me off budget a bit. It’s been really hard to get caught up since I had to pay that bill. Anyway, I haven’t really had much food in my house lately. I’ve been making it work, but the other night it was pretty bad. I was absolutely starving. I couldn’t eat the soup I had because the soup is what I eat for lunch at work. I ate all of my cereal, so that wasn’t even a go to. I ended up boiling some plain pasta and eating that. It’s really embarrassing for me to admit that things are so tight that my grocery budget is the first thing to be cut. The only thing I’ve bought outside of paying my bills are a few party things for Emerson’s half birthday. I got the sewage bill after I bought those items, which totaled out to be $65. His party is not expensive, but if I had to go back, I’d probably end up not throwing it to save that money. When I got to my parent’s house on Saturday, my dad handed me money to buy groceries. I immediately told him to take it back, but he insisted and told me it was fine. I felt SO BAD. They just won the lottery for the second time in a month, so I know it wasn’t a hardship for them, but I still felt extremely bad. Almost like a failure of a person that things are so tight that I can barely afford to feed myself. On top of that, they fed me dinner that night and sent me home with juice and snacks to have during the Frozen sing a long. I cried on the drive home because I am so lucky to come from such a good family who really cares about me. I also cried because I am so sick and tired of money being so tight that I can’t even afford to fill my fridge and cupboards. My cousin just brought me a ton of babyfood, so Emerson has everything he needs. I’m just worried my breastmilk supply will suffer if I don’t start upping the calories. As much as I think it’s amazing that I can now fit into a size 3 jeans, It is a bit concerning to me. I know I’m only losing this weight because I’m not eating sufficiently. Things should start to get back on course now. I was trying to make it until I got paid on Friday to grocery shop. Now, I don’t have to do that and I can save the money I was using to avoid this happening again.

On Sunday, I woke up early, cleaned the house, got myself ready, made coffee, and hung out with Kodie while Emerson slept. I was taking my sister practice driving, so my mom was babysitting for me. After Emerson woke up, I dressed him, then fed him pears. He ate the entire jar and loved them! After he was done eating, I heard a car beep outside. It was my dad with so many groceries. He bought me so much stuff that my cupboards and refrigerator cannot hold another item. I was so mad at him for doing this because he just gave me money to buy groceries the day before. I tried giving him the money back, but he refused. I can put that in savings to use during the next hardship. I am so grateful for them. I can’t even type this without getting teary-eyed. I’ll leave it at that.

After dad left, I finished getting the baby ready and we headed over to my parent’s house. I dropped Emerson off, then my sister and I hopped into my parent’s car and headed to the DMV to practice parking. She did really well. I hope she passes her test tomorrow. I have a half day at work, so that I can take her. Everyone cross your fingers. Afterwards, we picked the baby up and went to the park. It was so fun. Then, we came home to swim and had dinner. Emerson and I headed home shortly after.

Emerson has two teeth. It is so adorable! His two bottom teeth came through! The top two are getting there. I can’t believe he already has teeth! He has been very miserable from it. I hope after these first 4 are in, he gets a little break. I feel so bad for him! I can only do so much to soothe him too. His chompers are razor sharp though. I hope he doesn’t bite down on me while nursing! I am so petrified that’s going to happen!

This week, the only thing I have going on is taking my sister to her driver’s test and doing the laundry tomorrow. Otherwise, we are having another mellow week. I’m okay with that. I’m going to bring his baby pool over to our house tomorrow. We’re using it for his party, but we’ll have it at home now to use after work/daycare if it’s really hot this week. It’ll give us something to do too. Alright, I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far 

Mummy found her phone!

I found my cell phone. It was in my car the entire time. I’m so glad because I really don’t have the funds to purchase a new one. I hadn’t thought that far ahead yesterday either. I just kept an optimistic attitude that it was hanging on the seat all day. Whew! I really dodged a bullet there, huh?! Let’s see, after I resolved that debacle, I called my parents to let them know. They were relieved to say the least! My mom was panicking about not being able to talk to me. I’m so loved, huh?!

Emerson and I had a pretty chill evening. He was red faced and crying when I picked him up from daycare. His teacher said he started crying out of nowhere. Poor baby. He has some bottom teeth coming in, which I can now feel. Until they cut through, I’m sure he’s going to have more crying episodes like that. I sent him to daycare with a dose of Tylenol. They can’t administer it throughout the day, so what I give him in the morning is all he gets all day. It is supposed to last 8 hours, but because you can give it every 4, my guess is it doesn’t last much longer than that. He fell asleep on the car ride home and took about a 40 minute nap. I was pretty tired, so I literally did nothing. I didn’t clean, do dishes, NOTHING. This is so out of the ordinary for me. Instead, I did my little black dress work out, and laid down with Kodie. It was nice to relax for a bit. When Emerson awoke, he was still a bit crabby. We played for a bit, he got a little boob juice, then napped again for another half an hour. Afterwards, we played for about an hour, then it was bath, dinner, and bed. Not too shabby. He only woke 1 time last night. I haven’t been giving cereal with his dinner. Just a fruit or vegetable. I’m thinking I need to either up his ounces of fruit/veggie, or add in some cereal. I’ll test out both ways to see if I can get him to stay asleep the entire night.

At bath time, I noticed my water pressure was non-efxistent. It was so annoying! It took forever to fill up Emerson’s bath tub. I reached out to some friends that live in the same area, but their pressure was fine. I thought we were going to have a real issue, but it ended up resolving itself by about 9pm last night. It was still fine this morning, so I have no idea what was going on. Maybe there was a water main break in my neighborhood that I didn’t know about. I’m just glad it’s working again!

I’m so glad it’s finally Friday. This has been such a long, exhausting week. It isn’t that we did anything out of the ordinary, or extra. I think it’s just catching up to me with waking up so early. I know I’m sick of getting up before 5am. I’m sure Emerson is sick of me waking him before he’s ready to get up. I can’t wait to sleep in a bit tomorrow. The weather has been so chilly lately, so I’m not sure any pool time will be going down this weekend. At least not in the big pool. That water is probably freezing now. I think we’ll take Emerson’s baby pool over to my best friend’s house to let the boy’s swim together. We can make the water a bit warmer too, so the kiddos won’t be freezing. It’s insane to think that 70 degrees is chilly, but it really has been cold out, especially at night and in the early morning. We haven’t really need to turn our air conditioner on either.

Okay, I am going to end this now. I hope you guys all have a super awesome weekend!

Mummy's thoughts

Well, I seemed to have lost my cell phone between the time that I was in the car this morning waiting for the bus and actually getting onto the bus. I swear I put it into my laptop case before I started to collect my bags to exit the car because the bus was coming. The bag did sort of slide off of the seat, so it’s possible that my cell is laying on the floor of my car. I guess I’ll find out later when I get off of the bus. I had to log into my cell phone bill account to retrieve my sister’s number to call to let her and my parents know what happened. If they text/call me and I don’t answer, they’ll worry something happened to me. It’s so strange with no cell though! I feel naked! I haven’t thought too much about what I’ll do if it isn’t in my car. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there!

Anyway, Emerson was such a good boy last night. He slept from about 9pm-3am. Of course, I randomly woke up at 2:15am and ended up not falling back asleep until I fed him again. Then, I slept in until 5am. I was completely ready on time too and was even able to straighten my hair! I took a selfie in the car this morning, which is how I know I 100% had the darn thing with me when I left the house! Anyway, he had peas and some applesauce for dinner last night. He seemed to really like them. Tonight, he’s having sweet potatoes. I’m going to make real mashed potatoes for him over the weekend. I gave him some at my parent’s house one night and he absolutely loved them! It’ll be nice for us to eat dinner together. Well, sort of. I’ll have to feed him first.

Day 2 of the LBD Challenge wasn’t too bad. I have no idea what day 3 entails until I find my cellphone. My sister is also doing this challenge. It makes it a lot easier for me to feel motivated from another person. She’s already lost 11lbs since beginning a diet back in June. I’m so proud of her and absolutely baffled. She’s never been one to work out, or diet, so the fact that she is sticking to this AND lost weight is so amazing. I cannot wait to see her transformation. Her birthday is in 2 months. If she sticks with this, I’m betting she can lose at least another 10lbs by then. A 20lb weight loss before her birthday would be the best gift of all! She doesn’t have much to lose though. I’d say she’ll be pretty happy with about 20-30lbs. Her pants were extra saggy yesterday from the weight she’s already lost. I am so extremely proud of her though. I just want her to feel happy and good about herself again.

So last night, I decided to go through some boxes that I still had packed from our move. I went through them initially, but nothing sparked my interest at the time, until now! I found adorable sandals that will fit Emerson. They were way too big before, but are finally his size. I also found about 4-5 bibs packed away, which are definitely needed! I have to send at least 2 bibs to daycare every day. We go through bibs like crazy. I can’t get to the Laundromat more than 1 time a week, so having extra is so beneficial. I have a plastic one that I use for his dinner. I just wash it in the sink and hang dry every night. I love it though because it wipes right off. Anyway, I also found a ton of toys and books! When we moved, he wasn’t too interested in either, but he is now. We read one of the books last night and he played with all of the toys. I felt like we went shopping! On top of that, I had some glassware packed away that we used at my shower for the popcorn bar. Now, I can re-use those for the s’mores bar at Emerson’s half birthday! I also found a really cute tote that I can use to put my pump and bottles in when I’m going to and from work, and my white bikini bottoms! I honestly felt like I hit the lottery last night. I am such a goof!

Yesterday, I ordered my friend’s baby shower gift. It is REALLY adorable. For fear that she reads my blog, I’m not going to post what it is, but I will after the shower is over. It’s on August 16th. My mom is going to babysit for me, so that I can go and enjoy the day myself. I took Emerson to her reveal party though, so she was able to meet him. The baby shower is a different story though. It will be nice to go and hang out with the girls for the day. I have another baby shower on September 20th. Both of my friends are having girls, which is crazy to me. When I was pregnant, everyone was having boys. Now, it seems all anyone is having is girls. It’s fun to buy girly things though, so I don’t mind! I was talking to one of my pregnant friends yesterday. I told her it is so wild thinking that we have kids. Well, soon enough for her. We used to go out all of the time together. It’s so insane how things change, but I honestly think life is so much better now. I have an actual meaning and a purpose. I think people say that, but don’t really mean it. I think they think they HAVE to say that. I actually do mean that. I think back all of the time to things I’ve done and I realize how superficial my life was. I am nothing like the person I used to be and I think its honestly for the better. Sure, I am still goofy and silly, but I definitely am a lot less superficial, materialistic, and dramatic. I have that Timehop app on my phone (I have never blogged so much about my cellphone until I lost it!). I can barely stand to read the updates that I used to post. I annoy myself! I swear, I just sounded like I thought I was cooler than everyone, which I am not. Everything was so superficial, or over the top. I was always posting about going out, shopping, how cute I thought I was, etc. The worst were the passive aggressive, read between the line, posts. Now, all I post are pictures of Emerson, or something funny he did, or things he’s learning. No boy drama at all, which I cannot stress how much I do not miss that!

One of my best friends is dating now. She is divorced, has 2 school-aged children, but is ready to get back out there. Her oldest is 9. Her youngest is around 7. She’s ready to get back out there and she’s trying to take a different approach, which I think is good! She texted one day telling me she wishes I was ready to be out there with her and a sort of wing woman. I’m just not there yet. Aside from my priorities and main focus being on Emerson, I just don’t have it in me. I really do believe that most men are fucking assholes. Everything is a game and once they get bored, that’s it. It becomes one bullshit line after another and I honestly don’t feel like dealing with it. Perhaps that is my bitterness seeping through, but I have never been so happy in my life. I have always dated and had someone around. That person was typically a piece of shit who made me feel like a piece of shit. Who has time for that? Certainly not I. I should have never let myself be treated that way to begin with. I just won’t put up with, or stand for anyone disrespecting me. If someone would disrespect me, then they certainly would disrespect my son. So until I meet someone that I feel isn’t a complete piece of shit that wants to make my life miserable, I’ll just stay solo. The dream of meeting someone amazing, getting married, and having another baby is certainly there, but it doesn’t have to happen right now. I realize I probably sound like such a bitch, but honestly, I don’t care. I am finally living my life for ME and not letting someone dictate my emotions. I think I was put through quite enough during pregnancy. I will NEVER ever let someone treat me like that ever again. End Rant!

Our grass was cut yesterday. I’m so excited. It looks good. I swear I smelled skunk when I woke up around 2:15am, but it smelled like it was really far away, so it might have been out in the woods. I do NOT want that issue again! I’ve been letting Kodie out at night and even early in the morning when it’s still dark out. I started to get brave a few weeks after the baby skunks were removed. I don’t want that biting me in the ass! Also, I don’t want any issues before Emerson’s birthday party. We’re having it outside in the yard. No Skunks Allowed! In fact, no animals allowed period! Kodie won’t even be there. I’m taking her to my parent’s house that day. I’m just nervous one of the kids will accidentally let her out, so this is just the safer way to go. I won’t need to worry.


Okay, I am ending this. I hope everyone has a nice Thursday. I’m so glad the weekend is almost here. I can’t wait to sleep in a little bit!

Mummy's working out

Well, I started a 30 Day Fitness Challenge. It’s called The Little Black Dress Challenge (LBD challenge for future reference). Anyway, yesterday was pretty easy. All I had to do was 10 pushups, 10 mountain climbers, and a 30 second plank. Today doesn’t seem too bad. 20 jumping jacks, 10 burpees (ew), and 10 high knees. As the days go on, it gets harder. I’m hoping this is a nice transition back into working out for me. 30 days will fly by. It literally took me under 5 minutes to complete the work out yesterday. I should be able to complete this challenge with no issues. Cross your fingers for me. I’m not trying to lose weight. I just want to tone up a bit and be able to start transitioning back into eating better and working out now before I stop breastfeeding and all of the weight I lost comes flooding back. I plan on breastfeeding up until a year before I start weaning him to just night time feedings. Then, I’ll slowly work to weaning him off of those. I have some time, but I don’t want it to be a big shock one day where I have to immediately jump back into working out, so I think a slow transition is best. I just weighed myself (after I had a cup of coffee though) and I was at 113.6. I’m not sure that coffee added too much onto me. I haven’t pumped yet either, so I’m sure that’s adding something. I’m probably closer to 113 than 114.

I would have absolutely loved nothing more than to weigh this amount before I got pregnant. It was always a goal of mine. It’s so weird thinking I’m sitting at my ideal weight right now, but I really don’t even notice it. I guess it’s just different when you aren’t dressing up and going out. I think I do more to myself than the average mother though. I still make sure I put on some make-up even if I’m just dropping Emerson off at daycare and working from home. I think it’s important to at least do something small like that to feel a little human. I don’t do my hair every day, but I at least TRY to make it look half decent even if I just leave it to air dry. With the amount that falls out, I’m kind of afraid to put heat on it more than I have to, so I save those days for when we have to actually go somewhere that’s important. I don’t think of myself very often these days. Right now, I’m totally wearing the same clothes I had on yesterday. Sweat pants and a tee. I woke up late today though and had to rush around to get the garbage all taken out before the garbage man came. Plus, I had to get all of the laundry together, so I could go to the Laundromat this morning. I didn’t have the diaper bag ready at all, and I needed to pump to get one last 5oz bottle before I dropped Emerson off at daycare. It was a busy morning for me already!

Emerson had so many naps yesterday. He had a total of 5 hours’ worth of naps, which he rarely does. I was glad. He had some Tylenol for his teething, so I’m sure that helped ease him a bit. He slept very well last night. I recall only waking once to feed him. I can’t complain about that. It does suck that I slept in, but at least I didn’t have to get on the bus, so all is well. I got everything done and I still managed to log in on time for work.

Well, I guess that’s all I have now. I hope everyone has a super-fast Hump Day!

Mummy's such a planner

Emerson slept so soundly last night and went down without a fight. He took two naps yesterday evening, so I was a bit concerned that we’d have an issue at bedtime, but it was fine. Around 7:45pm, I put him in the tub. He played for a while. Around 8pm, it was jammie time. Afterwards, he had sweet potatoes for dinner, then it was boob and bed. He conked out around 9pm. Kodie and I hung out downstairs, while I watched The Real Housewives of Orange County. I love that show. Okay, I love any Real Housewives shows. Anyway, I crawled into bed around 10pm, but had a hard time falling asleep myself. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep before 11pm though. We slept in today until around 6am. It was a work from home day, so I had that luxury. I’ve been more run down than usual lately, so a couple extra winks did me some good. I feel a lot better now.

During our fire the other night, my dad told me what a good job I’m doing. It was so nice to hear. He doesn’t open up and get too mushy very often, so when it happens, you know he means it. He said “I never ever hear you complain” He’s right though, very rarely do I complain. Via blog, yes, I vent at times, but this is for my own sanity. In the real world though, I try to keep a sunny disposition. I’m happy though and I can tell Emerson is too. Everyone is always reminding me how happy he is and that he hardly cries unless he needs something, which is very true. I think if I am happy and upbeat, then that’ll feed down to him and he will be the same way. I don’t want him to feel stress, or have to worry either. I try to keep any negativity away from him.

Anyway, I am going to attempt to make my own high chair banner for Emerson’s party. I’m hoping it comes out nicely. I have a vision in my mind. Let’s hope that translates onto construction paper! My older sister isn’t coming to Emerson’s party. I’m not sure why. She just said she probably wouldn’t be there. She came to our nephew’s birthday party in April, so I thought she’d definitely want to come to Emerson’s party. She doesn’t really have a relationship with him, so maybe that’s why she doesn’t want to come. She said she bought him a gift, but I’d rather have her come over having a gift. I’d rather everyone be able to come rather than bringing gifts. I think it’ll be a super fun day for everyone to just hang out and be a part of a pretty cool memory for Emerson. For his first birthday party, I want to put together a book of pictures from his 6 month party and then repeat that trend every year for every party to show his growth. So on his 2nd birthday party, we’d have a book of nothing but pictures from his 1st birthday. Get it? She’s going to be missing from the 6th month birthday party pictures. She is already missing from my baby shower pictures, the day he was born pictures, the day he came home pictures, and all newborn photos through about 4 months old. That’s a lot of time. I have printed out so many pictures from his first 6 months of life, and I have NONE with her and him. I even looked through Britt’s Facebook to see if maybe she took a picture that I missed. I didn’t see any. I have a million pictures of Emerson with my mom, dad, Britt, Isaiah, me, and even Kodie. I can’t find any pictures with her and him. I’m making this huge collage. Thinking she isn’t going to be in not one picture is sad. I swear there has to be at least one picture of the two of them. If not, then hopefully we can remedy that. I know she isn’t there for day to day life, or really involved, but being there for milestones is a good compromise. At least I think it is. Emerson is really important to us though, so I just thought maybe he’d be a little bit important to her. Maybe someday.

My mum and I were talking about holidays a few weeks ago. I’m so excited to be able to do a Christmas Eve get together at my house. Finally, I don’t live too far away to have my family over for the holidays! Plus, I have an entire house. I cannot wait. I’m so addicted to Pinterest and have been collecting adorable ideas that are all very festive. I didn’t want to take on Thanksgiving because that seems a bit over ambitious. We always go to my parent’s house on Christmas day, so I couldn’t take that away from them. We’re going to my parent’s house on Halloween. It’s tradition that we hand out candy over there, so I couldn’t exactly take that from them. They get 100’s of trick or treaters too. I live on a dead end street, so I’m sure it isn’t booming. I can’t wait. I am so excited. Now that I have the baby, holidays seem even more exciting. I know they’ll want to make sure they get to see him the night before Santa comes, so having everyone over seems like so much fun! Last year, I was super pregnant at Christmas time. I didn’t think I’d make it much past New Year’s (boy, was I wrong). It was extremely sad to be excluded and have to spend Christmas Eve without my parents. I don’t want to have to feel that way again this year, especially with the baby. If anything, they’ll be super upset if they don’t get to be with the baby on Christmas Eve. They were really upset last year without myself and Britt. I’m chopped liver now compared to the baby, so I’m sure they’d be even more upset if they don’t get to spend it with him. It’s so funny, the second the baby and I walk into their house, my dad is the first one to steal him from me. Dad didn’t hold the baby for the first 4.5 months of his life aside from once in the hospital after he was born. He was too afraid because Emerson was so small. Now, he has him all of the time. Yesterday, he walked in, took the baby, and they played for about 30 minutes. It was adorable! So, to think that they wouldn’t spend the entire holiday with us seems silly. My mum and I were already talking about where I can put up my tree, decorations, etc. I know Christmas isn’t for another 5 months, but can you blame me for being excited?! Hot Chocolate Bar!!!!!!!! That’s happening! I am at my parent’s house for every single holiday and about 4-5 times a week. It’s only fair that I host them at my house!

Okay, that’s about all I have for now. I hope everyone has a super fabulous Tuesday!

Mummy won a prize!

This weekend was very nice. On Friday night, we didn’t do anything. My mum took the baby swimming because she watched him for me, while I worked. He had a really good time. After work, we hung out for a bit, then went home. My parents took my nephew miniature golfing. We were invited, but it was really hot out and since Emerson can’t golf, I decided to just skip going. He was pretty tired after hanging with my mum all day. He fell asleep early that night and slept until about 7am on Saturday morning.

Saturday was a lot of fun. We got up and dressed and headed over to my parent’s house around noon. My mum babysat for me, so that I could go grocery shopping. I was able to finish up grocery shopping and to get some of the items on Emerson’s half birthday party list. I got the water balloons, spoons, paper to make 3D hanging trees (which came out adorably), and drinks for the kids. Today, I ordered the most adorable iron on for Emerson’s shirt. It’s a picture of a blonde little boy sitting at a campsite with a tent/fire and it’s personalized with “Emerson”. I’m going to iron it onto a tee for him to wear for the day with camo shorts. He’s going to look absolutely adorable. The entire iron on plus shipping only cost $5.00! With that, I am also ordering food tent labels that have a camp fire, animals, and acorns on them for $13.00. I was going to attempt to make them myself, but the time and money spent into supplies would have been about $8.00, so I decided to just order those too. It’s a small, but adorable added touch. It’ll make the food table tie into everything. We aren’t having much décor outside of the balloons, hanging 3D trees, the food tent labels, camp signs, plus the tent that I’m setting up. It’ll still look REALLY adorable though. I ordered a ton of pictures to make a HUGE ½ picture sign as well. I can’t wait to see it all come together! I’m buying all of the ingredients for the food when I get paid in two weeks. In the meantime, I’ll be working on my ½ picture sign.

On Saturday night, we went back to my parent’s house for a bon fire. It was awesome!!!!!!!!! We had such a good time. The baby and I swam for 2 hours! I even took him out of his float and put him directly into the water. He absolutely loved it. I think all of the swimming tuckered him out because he fell asleep at 7pm and stayed down until almost 10pm! While he slept, I hung with my parents at our fire. We made s’mores and ate dinner. It was so nice just to have some adult time. When the baby woke up, my dad brought him outside to the fire. He loved it! He was laughing. It was so adorable. We went home around 10:45pm.We skipped bath and went directly to bed. He ended up sleeping 11pm-8:50am. It was awesome!

Sunday, we woke up, and hung at home for a while until we headed over to my parent’s house at 2:45pm. We had dinner over there and just hung for a bit. Emerson has been a bit grouchy lately due to teething. He refuses to nap and that just adds into the grouchiness. One minute, he’s laughing and having a good time, then the next, he’s whining. He fell asleep in the car on the way back home. I was glad because he needed a nap. He ended up sleeping until about 7:45pm. When he woke, we did bath and jammies, then he had dinner, Tylenol, then bed. I was glad he went down rather fast. He slept from about 8pm-1am before waking for some boob juice. He then slept all the way through me changing his clothes and diaper and dropping him off at daycare this morning! It makes me sad though because when he woke I wasn’t there.

This week, we don’t have too much going on. We’ve been out of routine since I was off last week, so establishing that again is my goal. Brittany is babysitting him tomorrow, while I work from home. He’s going to daycare the rest of the week though. I’ll do laundry on Wednesday morning at the Laundromat. My friend wants to get together with us this weekend, which I think will be fun. My best friend will probably end up meeting us too, so that our mutual friend can just kill two birds with one stone. I’m going to bring Emerson’s pool over to her house, so the boys can swim together. Her son is 3 months younger than Emerson. I don’t think he is quite ready for the fun of a big pool yet, so I figured it would be nice to let the kiddos swim together in Emerson’s baby pool. Aside from that, we’ll probably just head to my parent’s house to swim this weekend. My mum is buying a slip n slide for Emerson’s half birthday though. I just hope it doesn’t end up making my yard a mud puddle, or making my water bill outrageous! The kids will absolutely love it though!

I was on the radio again today. I called in to win free prizes by telling the radio station why I was up so early! I ended up winning a $50 gift certificate to a maternity store, which I can use to get something for two of my pregnant friends who are having baby showers really soon. I also won 4 free passes to the science center! I am so excited. I’m thinking my sister and I can take the baby and my nephew. The baby will get a kick out of seeing some of the stuff. Anything that makes light and sounds interests him. There is enough of that over there, so it should be a good time. I’d like to go during the week though, so it’s less busy. I was so excited to win though! I never win anything, so you can just imagine my surprise. Plus, it’s something fun I can take the baby to do for free. I think there might be a parking charge, but that’s okay. I absolutely love the science center, so I can’t wait to take him.

Well, I think that’s about all I have to share for now. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Mummy's Teething Monster!

Well, Emerson is teething pretty badly, which explains his bear-like attitude these last few days. My poor pumpkin. I feel so bad for him. He had a pretty rough day at daycare. He ended up dozing off on the way home and slept for about 45 minutes after we got home. I was able to put all of the supplies away that I bought for his half birthday party. (Plates, napkins, cups, forks, table cloths, goldfish crackers, and the supplies for the s’mores bar) I also was able to make and eat dinner, which was nice. When he woke up, I gave him some teething tabs, which seemed to work pretty quickly. He was still cranky, but due to eat, so I fed him, which resulted in him falling right back asleep. I laid him down and he ended up taking a 2 hour nap! He was exhausted. More tears followed when he woke up around 830pm. I put him in the tub, which brightened his mood. He played for a bit, then it was jammie time. Afterwards, he had a jar of chicken and rice dinner, boob, then bed. He slept from 9-12:50am before waking. I fed, he slept, I fed, he slept. I didn’t sleep much though. I couldn’t get comfortable. As a result, I ended up sleeping in by 45 minutes. Luckily, it is a work from home day, so I didn’t have to rush to catch the bus. I dropped him at daycare around 6:30, headed to the Laundromat, then home to work. To say I’m already beat would be an understatement.

I hope Emerson feels better today. The teething tabs and some Tylenol did the trick last night. I feel so bad. I gave him a cold wash cloth too. He has teething rings, but isn’t really interested in them, so the wash cloth seemed to help. He’s been biting me lately during nursing, which I’m sure is in relation to the teething. For all of this damn teething, I thought he’d have a tooth by now! I at least want to see some fruits of his labor!

My parents aren’t going camping this weekend, so I don’t need to dog, or babysit. I’m kind of happy about that. It seemed like a lot of effort on my part to drive all around to drop my sister off at work, pick her up, then drive up to the lake on Saturday and back. The lake is about an hour away. It just exhausted me thinking about doing all of that, so I’m glad we can have a more mellow weekend now. Saturday, we’re splitting time between the park and pool. The weather is supposed to be hot, so I thought that would be a good way to spend the day. Sunday, I saw showers in the forecast. I’m not sure what we’ll end up doing. Maybe we’ll just have a lazy day at home. I can make a good dinner in the crock pot and we can laze around all day. I guess I’ll see what my sister is up to. Now that I have the baby carrier, I wanted to test it out by walking the dog, while carrying the baby. I just don’t want her to get wild and try to get away from me. I can’t exactly chase after her with a 20lb baby attached to my chest. Fund are EXTREMELY tight these next few weeks. I have everything tied up into Emerson’s half birthday party, plus I had to send him to daycare an extra day, or I’d have an additional $40. We’ll see. I don’t need to plan everything out ahead of time all of the time, which I’m trying to tell myself! Not always an easy thing to do! My friend, Jess, is in town from Texas with her new baby, so I’m hoping we can make plans to hang out with them. We’ll see what they are doing this weekend. I’m hoping we can meet up with them soon! Tomorrow after work, Emerson and I are going grocery shopping. That’s about all of the excitement we have going on.

As I stated above, I bought some items for his half birthday yesterday. Today, I ordered some camp signs for décor and pictures from the past 6 months. I’m making a huge ½ sign to hang, but covering it in pictures. Adorable. The party is only costing $90, which feels like a million, but it’s a memory that I want to give to Emerson. This is something I REALLY want to do for him. I think 6 months is a big milestone. Not only for him, but for me. I can’t believe it’ll be 6 months that I’ve been breastfeeding. It’s such an accomplishment for me. I’m so proud of myself. Thinking back to day #1 in the hospital when I wanted to quit makes me feel even prouder that I’ve come this far. I remember the nurse bringing in a bottle of formula to use to squirt some liquid on me to coax Emerson to latch. I kept asking myself why I didn’t just switch to bottle feeding because it seemed easier. The bottle was sitting right there! All I had to do was give it to him. Instead, I kept at it and I am so glad I did! I remember my sister being right next to me trying to help me too. She didn’t breastfeed and never imagined that it was as hard as it was turning out to be. She encouraged me to continue and when we finally heard him swallowing, we were both so proud. I can barely type without tearing up. It was just so freaking hard! When I got home from the hospital, I felt like all I did was nurse. My milk still hadn’t fully come in, so Emerson was hungry all of the time. Again, my sister was there for me. She’d bring me snacks, water, juice, anything I needed. I remember one day being confined to my bed nursing the baby. My phone was dead, I was famished, and the remote was nowhere in sight. She came to the rescue with a gallon of juice, cup of ice, crackers, phone charger, and got down on the floor to find the remote for me all while being extremely quiet, so she didn’t disturb the baby.

Honestly, I feel like it’s a celebration for her, myself, the baby, and my family too. Everyone pulled together. While I stayed at my parent’s house during maternity leave, my dad did all of our laundry, all of our shopping, and cooked all of our meals. My mom would watch the baby for me, so that I could have a few minutes to shower and pump.(even when I felt like she wasn’t doing enough, she has REALLY stepped up her game and steals the baby from me any chance she gets now) She’d come home during her lunch breaks too in case I needed help. My sister was absolutely incredible though. She did so much for me and she still does. When I need her to help babysit, so that I can save on daycare, she does. She lent me $1,000 (which I paid every cent back), so that Emerson and I could move into our house. We were going to lose the house if we couldn’t move in April. My apartment lease wasn’t up until June, so I had to be able to pay double rent, plus pay my security deposit on the new house and the utilities. She was right there and made sure I was able to do it. I’m so appreciative of that. I was able to pay her back, but it did take me a couple of months. I’m glad she was there to rescue me when I needed it. If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t have such a great home to live in. Yes, I take care of Emerson 100% myself, but my family is there for me when I need them. We come to dinner several times a week, are here every weekend, and they have my back even when they drive me crazy. We’ve all been in this together since the day I got pregnant, so I just feel like we need a big, positive celebration for everything we’ve been through. I do love them so much and I honestly don’t know what I’d do without them sometimes. As much as they tick me off, we do need each other and I really do need this crazy bunch of people in my life!

Going through all of the pictures and choosing which ones to print has been so much fun! It’s so cool to see how much Emerson has grown. I’ve picked out all of my favorite pictures of himself, pictures of he and I, pictures of himself with the family, and pictures with Kodie! He is such a doll even when he’s grouchy from teething. I just hope he always knows that I’d do anything for him and that I am trying so hard to just make a great life for the two of us. It isn’t always the easiest thing in the world, but I swear, I am trying my hardest. With all of that said, that’s my justification for having a half birthday party. I feel like people raise their eyebrows at me all of the time if I mention it. It isn’t some silly, superficial, trendy thing that I’m doing. It really does have a deeper meaning than that to me. This kid truly deserves to be celebrated…

MUMMY'S STAYCATION!

Where to begin?! Staycation was awesome, but I must admit, I am really beat. We had a lot of things planned, but we also had some nice, lazy time too. I guess I should break this down by days. That seems easier.

On Thursday, I left work at my typical time, but the bus was PACKED. Everyone was leaving early for the holiday. It was absolutely ridiculous. We smashed 3 times the allotted amounted of people onto a tiny bus. I ended up standing and being nearly crushed every time we turned a corner. The bus was late dropping us off, so I had to take Emerson with me to the grocery store. We didn’t get everything on our list, but I did get all of the ingredients to make taco dip for the 4th. We headed home afterwards. Emerson and I played for a bit, then it was bath, dinner, and bedtime. I don’t know what motivated me to put him in his crib, but I did, and he slept for 8 hours! I was absolutely baffled! I could not believe he slept so long. I was able to make my entire taco dip while he slept. I crawled into bed around 9:30, but barely slept. I woke up at 12:50 and 3:00am to check on Emerson. Still snoozing! He finally woke around 5am. I let him sleep with me in bed after I fed him. He slept until almost 9am!

The 4th of July was so much fun. It was a bit chilly, but we still got in the pool for an hour. Emerson loved the fireworks. He was mesmerized by the big ones that were set off from the neighboring park and the ones that my dad set off in the yard. It was such a great day! We took a lot of photos too. We stayed until about 10:45pm, then headed home. I tried the crib again, but Emerson only lasted about 2 hours. I was beyond exhausted, so when he cried around 1am, I let him in bed with me, so we both could sleep.

We slept in on Saturday. It was so nice. After I had coffee and Emerson had breakfast, we dressed and went to the park. It was just the two of us. We had the entire park to ourselves. I put Emerson in the baby swing, which he loved! It was so awesome. I wasn’t sure if he’d be too small, but he fit perfectly. I parked a distance away from the park, so that I could walk with him in the stroller. The weather was absolutely beautiful. After the swings, I took him down a few slides, and then we laid out a blanket and played awhile. Afterwards, we headed over to my parent’s for a quick visit, then home. I put Emerson in his crib for bedtime, but he only lasted a few minutes. Exhausted from the day, I wasn’t ready to put up a fight. I’m wondering if the 8 hour stint was just a fluke.

On Sunday, we planned on swimming, but the rain ruined our plans. Instead, we headed over to my parent’s house once again. My best friend stopped by with her son, so that he and Emerson could have a play date. They seemed to have a good time. Emerson just stared at him and grabbed onto his onesie. We had to make sure he didn’t pinch, or pull too hard. He’s very aware of his hands now and he loves squeezing any and everything! Emerson began to get VERY fussy after my best friend left. Moaning and whining with tiredness. He was so overtired and not able to sleep. I rocked him until he finally dozed off, but rocking a 20lb baby for an hour is exhausting. He was a bit of a bear that night too. I have no idea what has gotten into him. I hope it’s just a small phase!

On Monday, we woke up early and piled into the car. We picked up my nephew, nephew’s cousin, and my sister. We were meeting my best friend and her son to go to the animal farm. It was so much fun! They had little baby piggies and a baby calf too! Emerson loved the animals and just stared while smiling in between. It’s so cool watching him see things for the first time. He is already very curious, so I thought the animal farm would be the perfect activity for us. It turned out to be a gorgeous day. The rain held off until we were home. Emerson was a bear again though. He refused to nap even though he was dreadfully tired. After another rocking stint of nearly an hour, I was able to get him down.

Tuesday was our lazy day. I had nothing planned for us and it looked like rain. We played all day. Emerson, again, was quite a bear when it came to naps. Rocking and rocking has become a theme. I put him in the baby bjorn carrier, which seemed to help get him down, but then I was trapped with it on me. I was able to slide him out of it and lay him down for a nice 3 hour nap. Of course, for bedtime last night, the bear came out again! I really am hoping this is just a phase. I know babies change and grow so much. By the time you get used to one thing, it’s done and gone, but getting him to sleep was always so easy for me. The boob was magical. Recently, I’ve been separating the boob and sleep, so that he isn’t so dependent on it to go down. Now, when he is on the boob, it has lost a lot of its magical power. It makes nap and bedtime not so fun for mum! We’ll see how it goes tonight. I’ve been avoiding the crib because after I work so hard to get him down, I don’t want to risk waking him again!

Our staycation was great though. I’m so glad we had 5 days to spend together. We might not have done as much as I would have liked, but what we did do was a lot of fun…and free. I don’t want to talk financials because it is quite depressing, but after having 5 days off and not being able to spend more than $15 to put gas in my car, I am so sick of being poor. I get paid on Friday, but every cent is already accounted for. One day, I’ll be able to be a little frivolous and spontaneous…I HOPE!

On Friday, my parents are going camping, so Emerson, Kodie, and I are heading over to their house to dog sit. My sister works until 10pm, but also has my nephew. I’m going to babysit him from 4-10pm, pick her up from work, drop them back off at home, and then head back to my house with the baby and dog. We are all heading up to the lake on Saturday to swim for the day. I’m very excited. My nephew and sister are camping with my parents. The baby and I are heading back to their house to dog sit on Saturday night. Kodie will already be there, so we won’t need to go home to pick her up. I’m just trying to figure out the best plan for Friday night. Should I just watch my nephew at my house, so that if the baby is sleeping, I won’t need to wake him? My sister says her boyfriend might be able to pick her up from work. If he can, then I might just do that. I’ll have Isaiah come with me to pick up Emerson after we drop Brittany off at work. My parent’s dog will be fine between 4:00pm-10:00pm. I’m sure they won’t like the idea of her being there alone, but it’s 6 hours. She will be fine. I’m just trying to do what I think would be best for the baby. I have a few days to figure it out though! Alright, I’m ending this. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week!

Mummy's staycation!

Today is my Friday and I couldn’t be happier! I’m so ready to get my mini staycation started! After work today, I have to go grocery shopping. I forgot my list when I left work yesterday. I didn’t want to wing it because my budget is so tight with very little wiggle room. I decided to just hold off until today. I did do the laundry yesterday morning though. It isn’t folded, or put away yet, but it’s all clean!

Emerson almost crawled last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Adorable! He was able to pivot and turn himself completely in a circle. It was hilarious. He scooted a little bit. It won’t be long! We’ll continue to practice every night. I stretched bedtime out until about 8:30pm last night! He was due to eat around 6:30pm, but ended up taking a nap until almost 7. When he woke, I fed him just enough to satisfy him. We played until about 7:45, then did bath. By the time bath and jammies were done, it was a little after 8pm. He had some oatmeal mixed in with peas and carrots. Around 8:30, he got the boob and bed. After I put him down, I went downstairs, cleaned and sterilized all of the bottles, pumped, and cleaned up the house. Kodie was loving it. I let her in and out until we finally went back to bed around 10pm. I feel a little better letting her out in the dark now that I know the skunks are gone. The thought always crosses my mind anytime I open the door, but I’m trying to not be crazy about it. I went to fill her dog bowl this morning and all of the food was moldy. I have no idea why. Probably because it’s been so humid and the box felt a bit damp. I’ll have to add that to my list today. I only need groceries for the next week, so I can deduct some things off of it to make up the difference. Anyway, I think all of that scooting wore the baby out. He only woke once during the night. It was great!

My cousin messaged me on Facebook last night and let me know that she’s going shopping today. She gets WIC, so she’s given such a huge allowance for baby food and she never uses it all. Instead, she gives it to me. She gave me over 30 jars of baby food, plus 2 huge containers of cereal and then 2 smaller ones two weeks ago. I still haven’t gotten through all of the food she gave me. I am so appreciative though. I don’t qualify for any assistance. I’m so glad I’m being cut a break from her giving me some of her stuff. My mum was at her house last week and was shocked when she showed her the stock pile of baby food she has! Her daughter will be 9 months old. I think she’s eating some regular, table food too, so she isn’t using as much jarred baby food. On the flip side, I’m saving all of the empty baby food jars because I plan on making the most adorable DIY Christmas gifts for my department at work. Yes, I am aware that Christmas isn’t for months, but we all know what a planner I am. You take three baby food jars and you stack them like snowman. In the first jar, you put mini marshmallows. The second jar is powdered hot chocolate. The third jar is filled with peppermint. You put a face on the first jar and buttons going down and finish it off with a top hat and scarf! Adorable! I’ve seen another version of “adult hot chocolate”. You add a mini bottle of Kahlua, peppermint schnapps, or baileys and attach to the side of the snowman. I love this idea and I fully plan on running with it.

Speaking of Christmas, It’s going to be a complete DIY theme. I’ll be making everything. Some will be real gifts mixed in with homemade items, but I already have ideas reeling. I think everyone will love what I come up with. I’m trying to be money conscious though. I don’t want to blow all of this unnecessary money on Christmas gifts. It stresses me out. I know my family doesn’t care, but I want to at least still be able to do something nice for them. I’m compiling my list of ideas now.

Alright, that’s about all I have to offer today. I am REALLY busy and I need to do A LOT before I’m off for 5 days. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday. I probably won’t update for the next week!

Mummy's Prenatals

I started taking my prenatal vitamin again. I shouldn’t have ever stopped taking it, especially since I’m breastfeeding. I just got lazy with it and seemed to forget. Plus, I left them at my parent’s house and kept forgetting to grab them when I visited. Today will be day three of taking them. It might seem a bit premature, but I already feel better. I had this awful, tired feeling last week that I couldn’t shake. I just didn’t feel well. I didn’t feel sick like I had a cold, or flu. I just felt extremely fatigued. The baby is taking most of my nutrients. With how little I am eating at times, I’m not replenishing what I need for myself. My mantra is I can’t take care of him if I don’t take care of myself, so back to the prenatals it is! I’m hoping the extra vitamins make me feel less deathly. I lost 2 more lbs. I was 116. I’m down to 114. It’s actually probably less than that. I weighed myself after I ate and with clothes on. I’m probably sitting somewhere around 113lbs. I used to have to KILL myself to ever be this low. I’m not complaining because it certainly is nice, but I do look sloppy and weird because my clothes are all swimming on me. Before I got pregnant, I’d usually fall somewhere between 124-130lbs. If I really killed myself, I could get down to around 120-122lbs. That was always a struggle to stay that low though. There were times in my life where I’d diet and be very strict and I’d be able to get down to 118lbs, but it never lasted very long. I’d always sky rocket right back up to 125. This is very strange. I used to think it would be awesome to weigh this little, but now I am so petrified to become even thinner. I don’t look disgusting, or anything, but because I know my body, it is extremely weird. The baby fell asleep on my chest last night and it was absolutely disgusting feeling his head on my bony collarbone! It actually hurt me to have him lying on top of me. So, I just hope the prenatal gives me what I am missing, makes me feel better, and I hope that I just stay at this weight. I don’t want to lose anymore. I definitely don’t want to end up gaining a bunch either though! I can’t talk about this with any of my mom friends because I realize how absolutely annoying it is. A lot of my friends that had babies aren’t having this struggle. I think they are experiencing quite the opposite. Figuring out how to lose the weight and how to find time to do it. I’m sure it is very annoying to see me who just had a baby lose all of this weight so quickly. To hear about me complaining about the quick weight loss will probably get me smacked, so I’ll just post my thoughts about it here and keep my mouth shut!

Emerson sat by himself last night! Absolutely adorable! He’s been trying to pull himself up. We aren’t quite there yet, but when I sit him up the floor, he can hang out without being propped up. It’s more of a hunched over seated position, but I am so proud of my baby. He is growing and learning so quickly. Such a proud mom moment. He turned 5 months old yesterday too, so it was neat to celebrate him sitting solo and turning 5 months. I made sure I got numerous videos and many, many pictures. It makes me sad to see how quickly he is growing. I always thought it was so cliché when people would mention how quickly the time goes and to cherish it now. It’s true. It goes by so quickly. As much as I love watching him grow and discover new things (he can grab his toes now too), it makes me want to cry. I wanted him to get out of the infancy stage so badly because of how demanding it was, but now, I’d absolutely love to go back to maternity leave when he was just a newborn. I just wish I could go back with the knowledge I have now! haha Now wouldn’t that make life easier?!

I feel like time is going entirely too quickly. It makes me immediately start thinking about my future and having more kids. I really hope that I have the opportunity again someday to give Emerson a brother, or a sister. I love our little family, but I definitely wouldn’t mind expanding it. Obviously, I’d like to do it a much different way next time. It would be a godsend to meet an actual decent person. The problem with that is I never give myself the opportunity. I turn down every invitation now because I’m not ready. I think it’s okay to not be ready. My priorities are different and I don’t have time to dedicate to another person right now. I don’t want to and I don’t feel like it. I swear, I’ve been through it all and I just don’t want to end up with another asshole. I don’t ever want to expose Emerson to that, so I’m just hanging back and waiting. I don’t want to wait TOO though long because I want to be able to have the option of more children one day, but right now seems a bit too rushed to me. I think I’m a bit petrified as well because this experience is enough to turn a woman bitter for life. I don’t want that to happen to me. I realize I just got caught up with the wrong person who ended up not being a good man. That doesn’t mean all men are like this. I just don’t want to risk having another child out of wedlock and having two children to two different men who wanted nothing to do with either. I don’t feel like repeating history! I have to be 100% SURE of the person. Right now, I’m not sure of anyone. That’s very sad, but sadly true! Being a mom is for sure the best thing in the world though. I had no idea what I was missing out on before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright, that was my small rant of the day. I don’t have very much more to offer outside of that. I hope everyone has a lovely Tuesday 