6 Things I’ve Learned in Baby’s First 6 Months

1) Baby’s gonna do what baby’s gonna do

I had a lot of expectations when I found out I was pregnant. I thought my pregnancy would go a certain way… It didn’t. I thought my labor would go a certain way… It didn’t. I thought my life postpartum would go a certain way… It didn’t. And I thought my baby would be a certain way… Nope. 0-4. She has a mind of her own and a set of very specific preferences, just like every other human on the planet. I never thought that she would be so strong willed at two hours old, but I really should have known since she is my daughter. I just try to embrace her stubbornness and passion because she knows what she needs better than I do (for now ;)). We’re all much happier when we go off her needs rather than trying to change her mind.

2) I really don’t care what you think

Pre-pregnancy I had all sorts of thoughts on how to parent. Now I’m a parent and find myself clueless 95% of the time. Talking to fellow parents, I’ve realized that most of us feel that way. We’re all just trying to figure it out as we go, so I’m not going to stop to worry what some mom in Kentucky thinks I should do, or a working mom, or a mom of twelve. Not to be rude, but I just don’t care. I’m too tired to give anyone’s preferences for how I parent my child consideration. You parent your way, I’ll parent mine. As long as we’re all happy and healthy, does it matter if we use bottles or pacis or hold her a lot? Nope. Parent on, fellow parents. We’re all in it together.

3) Everything really can wait

House a mess? When was the last time I showered? Take out for dinner again? Still have a few extra pounds from pregnancy? Oh, well. Seriously. I’m busy snuggling my baby, watching her take in the world and process it, something she’ll never be doing like this again. That is more important than if my pants fit in a flattering way. If nothing else, we’re helping the local economy by ordering take out so much, right? ;) Eventually things will fall into place, I’ll get back into shape, the house will be fairly clean (HA!), and I’ll cook dinner most nights again. For now, though, I’m trying to sleep and enjoy my babe. If you have an issue with this, please refer back to #2. :)

4) I can do a lot more than I ever thought I could

As someone that has had health issues my whole life, parenting was a terrifying thought. But so far, despite the epic lack of sleep that has crept into my bones, we’re all still alive and thriving. I can parent when I’m sick. I can parent when I’m tired. I can do a lot more than I thought. Take that! Mommy super powers are real. I’m living proof!

5)  Community is key

Sometimes I need help, even though I’m capable of a lot. Sometimes I need to know when to call the doctor or how to get crusty sweet potatoes off of the high chair. In these situations, having some sort of community is vital. An online group is awesome, having a group of real people that you actually can get together with is awesome, too. It’s also important to have someone you can text or call when you think you’re going to lose it—because that happens every couple weeks so often.

6) Don’t judge

As I said before, we’re all just doing the best we can in our situation, so I try hella hard to not judge other parents. We all have stuff going on that others can’t see. Also, there’s that old adage about saying your kid will never do something or you’ll never parent a certain way and then, BAM, you have the baby that won’t sleep unless she’s being held (who me?) or whatever. So, it’s kind of selfish… If you don’t judge, maybe you’ll have a super easy baby. Ha! Can’t hurt to try, right? ;)

(Bonus #7)  My baby girl is amazing.

Seriously. When I was pregnant, people would seem shocked when I told them that I didn’t really like kids. I would tell them, “I’m sure I’ll like my baby.” They didn’t seem convinced. Apparently being pregnant and not loving kids is not socially acceptable. Please don’t let there be any confusion: I am totally smitten with my daughter. She’s awesome. So fun. So cute. Such an adventure. So if you were one of those people that thought I may not like her because I’m not a super-happy-always-loving-kids-eternally-maternal-type, rest assured. I. LOVE. MY. BABY.

What have you learned from having kids? What did you judge other parents for that you ended up doing yourself?

30-Week Update

This update is about a week late--oops. Chalk it up to third trimester lack of energy and motivation, but honestly, I feel like every other week is frequent enough for updates since there's really not a whole lot to say. I think the main interest in these updates is the bump watch. People love to see pregnant bellies. Weird, but it is what it is.

Anyway, we celebrated Norma Gene and Boomer's 10th birthday with a fun little party this week, as we tried, in vain, to wrap our heads around the idea of being two months away from the babe's due date. 

As you can see, I'm pretty much ready to be launched into space to orbit the sun… Days away from generating my very own gravitational field. It's always a matter of time as a pregnant person. The good news is that no strangers have come up to me to rub my stomach--yet. Hopefully, it stays that way. 

The nursery has been painted, but is far from done! We have about a million other household things that need to be tended to, though. 

I've gotten more aches and pains, especially in my back. I'm sure that it's just a taste of what's to come. 

Flipper is all over the place, moving a ton! She is about three pounds and 15-16 inches long, which is hard to believe. I feel like, with how big I am, she should really be bigger! But she's definitely getting there. :) 

I finally seem to have managed to kick that epic cold--it only took three weeks! Yikes. But I'm glad to see it gone. I still have a bit of congestion, but that seems to just be one of the many perks of pregnancy. 

Other than that, there's not a whole lot to report. So far, there haven't been a whole lot of new developments baby-wise. I am definitely getting more excited, though! I am so ready to not be pregnant anymore and just have this precious baby. 

Hope you're all doing well and are ready for the holidays! Can you believe they're already here? The past six months have FLOWN by. I can't believe it's already time for Thanksgiving. Time to figure out Christmas!

A Big Problem?

This past week has been pretty intense and stressful, hence no pregnancy update. That’ll come tomorrow, but today I just wanted to share [part of] the insanity.

In the past month, a huge neighborhood by our house has had several attempted break-ins. As someone who is home all the time with loud, obnoxious pups that bark at everything that may move, I don’t worry too much about it, but I have been more alert than usual. So, when I heard a weird noise coming from the front door last Wednesday, I thought someone was trying to get in the house. The kiddos were out back, but I “ran” (I use that term loosely) to the door to see what was going on.

We have a million windows, so I could easily see the front porch and, to my surprise and momentary relief, no one was there. I was obviously a little confused about what I could have possibly heard if nothing had happened, but I was happy I wasn’t going to have to lay anyone out (protective maternal instincts for the win!). As I was turning to go back in to the living room, though, I saw something made my heart sink and stomach flip all over again… the huge tree in our front yard had cracked down the center and most of it had fallen all over the place.

I went outside to see how extensive the damage was… The tree was about 40 feet tall and probably a good 20-30 feet in diameter. About 2/3 of the branches had fallen toward the street and were taking up over half of the street. Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed. The summer before last, this same tree had broken a bit and about 1/5 of it had fallen on our house (the damage was minimal and required no repairs, fortunately, be we inspected the tree and it seemed like it was okay).

This time, though it had not fallen on the house, it had fallen INTO the street in front of us, making it a huge risk to people driving. Not to mention, there were only two pieces left of the tree, each on opposite sides: one would fall on our house, the other looked like it would fall into our neighbors’ driveway where they park their car. Can you imagine that I was a little stressed and overwhelmed?!

Drew was at work, so I texted/called him, but he didn’t really get the extent of the situation. My next thought was to call my mom, who always knows what to do, but she was in a spot with barely any cell service, so I couldn’t tell her what was going on. I called my dad and was able to talk to him and he helped calm me down a bit (did I mention that I was a little stressed and overwhelmed?) Neighbors kept driving by, inching past the top of the tree, looking at me like I had done this on purpose. I should also mention that I’m visibly pregnant and I might have been in my pajamas. Whatever.

After a few minutes (and me changing clothes), our next door neighbor got home and saw the tree. He came over and started talking to me about what I should do, because I really didn’t have a clue. I couldn’t move it at all (it weighed tons, literally). I didn’t know who to call, money is tight and tree removal is expensive. I didn’t want to make a decision until talking to Drew or my mom to know what the best course of action was. But our neighbor started telling me about how he had some friends that could come over and chop the tree into smaller parts and help get it off the road. By this point, it was about 5:00, meaning the sun would be setting soon and we’d lose our light and our warmth. A decision needed to be made soon. My mom got to our house within a few more minutes and we decided it was worth having our neighbors’ friends come over. He made the call and his friends agreed to come over for a very small amount of money.

The Blessings

Within about 30 minutes, a few more neighbors had stopped by to offer help and chainsaws. Drew got home early to help (I don’t handle stress well and needed him to help me figure out what to do and manage the people at our house). Our neighbors’ friends arrived. All the guys and my mom got to work, chainsawing up a huge tree and hauling ginormous branches off the road and into our front yard.

After a couple hours’ time, the tree was completely off the road. However, it was in our front yard and the remaining tree that was still precariously standing, each side threatening to fall and do some level of damage that we could by no means afford (financially or emotionally) to handle. I was so relieved to have the tree off the road. I was so relieved no one had been walking or driving by our house when the tree fell. But, honestly, I was still on edge knowing that that chunk of tree could still fall at any time.

One of the guys that came over had mentioned that he knew a guy that could remove the tree and may give us a good deal, something we pretty desperately needed. We went ahead and looked at other people and asked around, though, thinking we would go with whoever could get rid of the tree for the least amount of money. The guy who had come over had already done SO much to help us, and while we were (are) so grateful, we just didn’t have huge expectations for him to come through with a huge deal for us. We weren’t upset or unhappy with him, just didn’t want to take advantage of his kindness or put all our eggs in his basket (so to speak) just in case something didn’t work out… Keep in mind, we’d never met this guy before Wednesday and our only connection to him was a neighbor we don’t know very well.

After a couple days, though, we found out this guy had been making calls and working with his friends to come chop down this tree… and it would likely be free. Yes, FREE. The two guys are really good friends and the tree remover owed the guy that helped us a favor. Let me spell this out a little more—this young guy (our age), that we had never met or heard of or come into contact with before, came over at the last minute to help us with a huge task for little money and then cashed in a favor he was owed to help US get a normally expensive service done FOR FREE.

I can’t even put into words how Drew and I felt (and still feel) about this. We are pretty used to things going wrong with our house. We are, unfortunately, accustomed to find out that fixing these issues will be expensive and stretch us. We are not used to strangers going so far out of their way to help us. This is the kind of thing you hear about on the news or in church, it’s not the kind of thing that actually happens to you.

Anyway, on Saturday, this amazing-hearted guy came back with his friend and they worked to cut down the rest of the tree. They left but we still had a front yard full of logs and branches—a total mess! (In case you don’t know, trees are ridiculously heavy, so this wasn’t something Drew and I could just go out and take care off, especially with me being seven months pregnant.)

The guy said he would come back for a THIRD time to help us clear out the wood the next day (this past Sunday), but Drew got off work Saturday and wanted to get as much done as possible, so he started texting and calling friends to see if they’d be willing to come help. Saturday night, one of his friends came over and the two of them worked for a couple hours, until it was very dark and chilly, hauling logs into our back yard (which is big and full of wood) and a different neighbors’ backyard (who graciously offered to allow us to put some logs in his yard, saying he’d burn them later).

Sunday rolled around and over came Drew’s dad and more of our friends, armed with chainsaws, tools, and coolers, ready to help and work! They were able to finish up with the hauling and get the tree stump nice and small, so it only stuck up a couple inches from the grass. (Drew told our new friend that he didn’t have to come back out, he had already done so much for us!)

A Blessing in Disguise

When this whole debacle happened, I’m not going to lie, I couldn’t help but think things like: Seriously? Why us? Of course this happens now, when we really don’t have the means to handle it. Of course this happens when we have a baby on the way. When it rains, it pours…

I knew in my head that we were so fortunate that it didn’t hit anyone in the road (kids had just gotten off the bus), no accidents were caused (people were coming home from work), and it didn’t hit the house (it would have likely hit right above our room). In my spirit, though, I was just exhausted, overwhelmed, stressed, and irritated. This year has been far from easy, so it seemed pretty typical but still unwelcome that something like this should happen. It’s so easy to see things through our own lens, how we are affected by life’s crazy happenings, and lose sight of the ripple effect. I knew we had been so lucky that people were just willing to come over and help, that there were two guys we had never heard of before who were willing to drop their plans and come do hard labor in the cold weather for complete strangers (I should mention, they were willing to come over for free, but we were not okay with that and offered them money for their time/effort). And it also crossed my mind that we were lucky to get rid of this problem tree now, before the baby is born and things get really crazy. It could easily have fallen while she was playing in the front yard or something.

The tree drama, plus a couple other big issues that happened this week (I’ll post about them later), made for a very emotional and stressful week. Combined with pregnancy hormones, I’ve been a little bit on the teary side. So, it really shouldn’t have been a surprise when I went out Saturday evening to grocery shop and came home early, in tears, needing a hug from my hubby (though I’m sure I freaked him out pretty royally—sorry, Drew!). Anyway, Drew and I were sitting in the driveway and he was texting his friends about coming over to help out, when he received a text that put this whole situation into a totally new perspective.

The guy that had gone above and beyond for us texted Drew, telling us what a blessing we had been to his friend (the one that came with him the first night to do the bulk of the work). He told us that this friend had had no money, no food to eat, until our tree fell and he came over to work. (Please keep in mind that this is the same guy who was willing to come over and work for free.)

We had been so concerned and preoccupied with our own situation and the issues we were having and spending money, it never occurred to us how this event affected anyone else. It seriously (unfortunately) blew our minds to see how good people can be, how selfless and generous people can be, and it totally changed the way we thought about the tree falling.

Before, we thought about how this happened to us, but now it seems like it happened for someone else… and we are completely okay with that.

It was an emotional and trying week, but it turned out to be such a blessing to us, too. It meant so much to see our friends come out of the woodwork to help us, to see the goodness of strangers, and how other people are impacted by random events that we can only see from our perspective. Overall, I’m so grateful to have had this problem arise and be resolved.

We truly are blessed and so fortunate to have so many wonderful, caring people in our lives. 

26-Week Update

26-Week Update

Hello, friends! I hope the last week treated you well and you accomplished all you sought to do.

We had a reasonably productive week! Yay! We got "nursery #1" cleaned out and put a lot of the baby stuff away. The room had previously been occupied by a bunch of random junk that didn't have a place. We sorted through dozens and dozens of books, and other things. Some got put away, others are off to Goodwill, some are off to storage. We now have all the baby's stuff in that room (except some of the furniture, which is still in "nursery #2"--it's a long story!).

We also got registered at the hospital. Woop!

It's so nice to have gotten some things done. I'm so grateful to have the help of my wonderful family, because otherwise this probably wouldn't have happened (yet). :)

We finished up our birth classes, too. Another yay! 

I'm still dead tired. I have been sleeping less and less and worse and worse the past few nights. Yuck. I feel like I've gotten no rest, despite sleeping in really late. No fun! Especially since there's still so much I need to be doing. 

I think I've officially gotten my first actual pregnancy craving/obsession: veggie burgers. I'm not going to tell you how many I've had in the last week. It's in the single digits, so I think I'm okay. No 12-step program needed (yet), though, admittedly, they do occupy a lot of my thoughts. What can I say? I'm in love and I don't care who knows it! (Name that movie!)

I also took some time today to play with my new dSLR. I'm determined to master manual and aperture priority, but they're no joke! My hats off to those skilled photogs who create such gorgeous images on a consistent basis. I'm in awe of you. Hopefully I will learn this skill set quickly so I can take top notch photos of Flipper when she makes her debut. (Any tips welcome!)

Anyway, here are a couple of my favorite from the day--

Have a good week! :)

23-Week Update

I’ve been meaning to post a 23-week update for the past several days now. I wish I could tell you that I’ve just been too darn busy to write anything, constantly doing productive things or going on titillating adventures, but that would be a total lie. No, I haven’t been too busy. There’s been a bit of productivity, but definitely no adventures. Instead, I have just been seriously lacking in motivation and inspiration to do a whole lot.

That’s not to say that I haven’t done anything or that we don’t have things going on, but just not enough to really excuse the lack of an update. I suppose, then, I’ll fall back on the “but I’m pregnant!” excuse. You just can’t argue with that. ;) Anyway, here’s a quick look at what has been going on around here:

Norma Gene health issues. Party. Didn’t feel well. Norma Gene doctor appointment. Drew went to a movie with Roddy White. Birthing class. Doctors appointment. Cleaning.

Whew—I think you’re all caught up now.

I haven’t done one of those silly pregnancy updates in a while either, so why don’t we just throw one in for fun?

23 weeks

Maternity clothes: Sometimes. They tend to be more comfortable than the alternative, but they aren’t necessarily necessary yet (so I tell myself, at least).

Sleep: Difficult. Getting comfortable is almost impossible.

Best moment this week: Probably our class or doctors appointment. The next appointment will be the gestational diabetes test (yikes!) and after that, we’ll start going every 2 weeks instead of every four. Holy moly. I feel like it’s flying by!

Movement: All the time. I have given her the nickname Flipper because she is always flipping around like a little dolphin. She kicks, punches, flips, and flops pretty consistently at this point. It’s such a crazy feeling, but it’s so nice to feel like there’s a level of communication there.

Food cravings: Nothing! Honestly, my appetite still doesn’t really seem to be there. I wonder if I’m getting enough calories in because nothing sounds good. Even when I am hungry, the idea of eating is unappetizing (go figure) and nothing sounds worth eating. I cooked about 3 different things today and ate none of them, because ICK.

What I miss: Motivation. Sleep. Eating. Being able to do things consistently (like cook, clean, exercise, etc.). Not having to worry about food! Ugh. Everyone has random rules for pregnant women that are just impossible to follow. Oy.

What I am looking forward to: Getting a bunch of the smaller details figured out. Getting the house clean.

Milestones: She is all over the place, so getting to feel the movement pretty regularly and having Drew be able to feel her, too. J

There are many other things to discuss, but I’ll keep this one on the shorter side and just update in another day or two. Plus, a recipe is coming your way sooooon.

Have a good week! 

22 Weeks

Hellooooo, friends! Happy Friday! Only, it's Wednesday. I'm not sure how, because I've been operating under the notion that it's Thursday or Friday all day. I don't know why. Chalk it up to summer/pregnancy brain, I suppose. It happens. :)

Anyway, today marks the 22nd week of pregnancy, according to one estimate by the doctor. The other estimate says that Friday will be 22 weeks. I like to go back and forth between the two due dates because then I'm less surprised or irritated when the doctor tells me a new date. It happens.

Nothing much has changed since the last few updates. I feel like when I read other blogs when pregnancy updates, there are weekly changes, but it seems that things have been pretty stable throughout. The main variables have been my energy and nausea levels (both of which have continued to improve--YAY).

One new thing worth mentioning, though, is that we have officially started our child birth classes! We had our first one this week and it was definitely interesting. About 99% of what we talked about what stuff that Drew and I already knew from our reading, but we also did breathing and relaxation exercises. I have to say, they were uber cheesy! As someone hoping to have a natural birth, I really want to learn as many of these techniques as possible, but listening to a woman say, "My left arm is heavy," is a little ridiculous. 

I'm still very interested in the class, though! At the very least, it's a nice way to spend time with Drew and connect over something that is sort of a weird situation. I know a lot of guys feel a little left out and helpless while their ladies are pregnant and delivering, so having a specific time for us to just focus on dealing with it all together is nice. :) 

And, crazily enough, I am actually a bit excited about labor. (Did I really just say that?) I realize it's a bit early, but as a Type A planner, it's been on my mind for a while. Plus, it's never too early to prepare, in my opinion, and mental/emotional preparation is just as important (if not more so) as physical. That said, she's not going anywhere anytime soon. She's not even close to be done "cooking" yet! 

I have a lot of other things that I want to talk about regarding this line of thought, but in the interest of keeping posts from becoming books, I'll leave it at this for now. 

Have a great weekend (in a few days)... because it's still Wednesday! ;)