Tuesday, May 22, 2012

It's A Crazy Life, But I Love It!


           Well it's been awhile since I did a regular update type blog post, a lot of stuff has been going on and it's just been crazy. The little monster is growing up so fast! He is trying so hard to roll over on his own now. He gets himself onto his side but just can't quite make it all the way over. He is loving his toys now, especially this one firefly made by a company called Lamaze. You'll see it in a lot of the pictures! He likes to grab it and chew on it. He likes to chew on a lot of things now, especially my hands or shoulders. Of course this results in a very soggy shoulder or hand but I don't mind. Roxas recently got to meet his great uncle for the first time and also got to go swimming for the first time too! He had a blast playing with great uncle Gary and swimming and splashing in the pool.
       Since my last "regular" post we went to get our first round of immunizations and boy was that traumatic- more for me than Roxas I think. He had to get poked three times and drink this liquid vaccine stuff. Nothing breaks your heart quite as much as seeing this look like "this hurts mommy, make it stop!" and you can't. He had a reaction to them later on in the day. His legs swelled up and became very red and warm around the injection sites. A little baby tylenol, some ice packs and cuddling and he was feeling better. Other than the shots the appointment was rather uneventful. He is over 12lbs now and his head is still off the chart for size. It's all those textbooks I read him- they've made his brain so big and smart. We don't go back until he is 4 months old which seems like a long time but I know it will be here before I know it.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Plus que ma propre vie.

Plus que ma propre vie. It's French and it loosely translates into "More than my own life". Why am I flashing back to my high school French class right now? Two words: Mother's Day.

Ok, now that you're really confused I will explain.

This quote, to me, is how I feel about my family. I love both my husband and son more than my own life. I would gladly step in front of a bullet for either of them. Yesterday was Mother's Day, my first. I looked back at the past year yesterday and just took it all in. About a year ago is when we started discussing the possibility of having a baby, and now I am getting to celebrate my first Mother's Day. It's crazy how time can change in just a year. I have always wanted nothing more than to be a mom and getting to be a part of Mother's Day as an actual mom is a dream come true for me. I love being a mom, even the crappy stuff seems so trivial when you look back at it all. The discomforts of pregnancy, the pain of delivery and the sleepless nights filled with frustration all melt away when you look into the eyes of your child.and your heart swells with love you never imagined possible. 

 It was kind of weird thinking that I actually get to be a part of the celebration from the other side. This holiday is forever going to be different for me. I had a great day that started with Roxas technically sleeping through the night from 12:30 to 7:00! It was fantastic. We went out for brunch with my in-laws and brothers-in-law. Of course I ended up eating one handed because Roxas wanted to be held and nurse but hey, it was fun anyways. After spending some time with the in-laws we went to my parents house for some really yummy kabobs and good times. All in all it was a great day and I will remember it forever as being very special to me.

So to all the mommies out there:

Thank you for all you do
Thank you for your love and endless patience
Thank you for sacrificing so much just for us
Thank you for always being there when we need you
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.


Thursday, May 10, 2012

Are You Mom Enough?....Are you kidding me!?


This is the cover of the most recent TIME magazine. It has popped up multiple times in my various social media feeds (it actually just got mentioned on the news channel that is on right now) and I am going to share my opinion on it. Opinion being the operative word. I apologize in advance if anything I say offends you, but it is just my opinion and that is that.


My first issue with this article is the title: "Are You Mom Enough?" My response: Are you freaking kidding me? As any new mom with the internet knows there are all out battles going on over ways to raise your children. If you end up in the wrong forum and mention something against what the majority believes, well...God help you. Mothers are tearing each other to shreds over things just like this article. Do we really need to fuel these fires? NO! C'mon moms...just agree to disagree and get over yourselves. You are not right. I am not right. Deal with it. Mothers have a hard enough job trying to figure out how to care for and raise their children, why attack them over a choice that they probably put a lot of thought into. From "attachment parenting" (the subject of the article) to homeschool vs. public school there are wars in motherhood and it needs to stop. If you don't cloth diaper you are nothing more than an environmental terrorist to some of the "hippy mammas" and if you even mention babywearing to some "CEO moms" then you get called a tree-hugging hippy. If you practice attatchment parenting you could be accused of raising a needy, clingy, child. If you go back to work and utilize a daycare then you are raising an emotionally mute and cold child. You just can't win. If we could just get it through our heads that *gasp* other mothers have different ideas on how to raise children then maybe we could get along a bit better. Each child and each family has a different dynamic and last time I checked parenting is not a one size fits all kind of thing.So my message to all the mommies out there from the "hippy earth mammas" to the "CEO mamma"...stop the fighting, stop the judging and just rejoice in the fact that we have happy, healthy babies.

Monday, May 7, 2012

The Day my Fairytale Began

Why is there a picture of me and Kenny from oh about 8 years ago? Well 8 years ago today I began dating this tall and handsome guy, eventually fell in love...and the rest is history.

I remember opening the door at my parents house to Kenny standing there in a gray tee-shirt. We went to my room and watched a movie. There is still a debate as to which one it was, but we watched The Lord of the Rings (I say it was two towers he says otherwise). I don't think we said one word the whole movie, and those are looooong movies. I had the typical new guy jitters and was terrified of making myself look like an idiot. A little while later my best friend came over to help me out. I finally got a little bit of courage and we began talking. It wasn't the first time we talked though, no, we had been talking for weeks on Yahoo! Messenger (oh yeah, old school). Later that night I asked him if he was going to ask me out. He said that depends on if you say yes. Of course my answer was yes.

The years went by filled with going back and forth to each others' houses. He would ride his bike down to my parent's house in the middle of summer sometimes to see me. We went on trips, we went on dates, and somewhere along the way we fell in love. He got to see me graduate from high school, not too many husbands can say that!


On the night of his 20th birthday I got quite the surprise of my life. His last present came in the form of many, many little boxes inside other bigger boxes. When he got to the last box the lights went out and when they went back on what I saw was wonderful. Kenny was on one knee in front of me with an open ring box and a gorgeous engagement ring. It was one of the best nights of my life. 


So there I was...18 and engaged. We set our wedding date and I began planning, but that's not all that we were up to. We began to look for a house, after all we didn't really want to live with our parents forever. We finally found a house the November before we got married and it needed a little love. We proceeded to gut the whole thing and re-do it. Remodeling a house was quite the experience and I hope to never do it again! The end result was fantastic though, I love our house more now because we made it the way we wanted it.
That brings us to the wedding. On February 7th, 2009 I said two words that forever bound me to my "high school sweetheart". I do. Two tiny little words. Two little words that change everything. This day was also one of the best days of my life.

We went on an amazing honeymoon to where else...Disneyland! This trip was the first of many, many, trips in our first few years as a married couple. We both love Disneyland and if we could just live there, we would. The next 2 1/2 years flew by and things were perfect. 
 
 Things were perfect but we decided to add a little cherry on top: a baby. Now we have come full circle back to the beginning of the blog and I'm sure you know the rest. We are now parents and although it is tough at times and has already tested us as a couple I am happier than I ever dreamed I could be. The past 8 years have been amazing and I can't wait to see what the next 8 years brings...and even more than that. We have grown up together and learned so much about each other as we went through the akward, the funny and the terrible times that the late teen years tend to hold. It's been a wonderful 8 years of memories.


Friday, May 4, 2012

2 Months Old- Eek!

Wow...2 months...2 whole months have gone by
I'm amazed at how much our baby has grown both physically and developmentally in such a small amount of time. I can practically see the neurons making new connection after new connection. My days are consumed by gummy smiles, all kinds of new and interesting noises, and just marveling at him. He is so social and loves to be talked to.I had this series of books called the magic castle reader series that I LOVED when I was little, I can still remember all the stories to this day. I want to read Roxas these same stories that I loved so much so I found the entire set on Ebay and we pick a new one each day to read and both of us love it. He loves pictures too. If he sees a picture of somebody he recognizes he will usually smile really big! I even made him a special little picture book with pictures of all his family. He is learning new skills each day. His newest accomplishment is being able to reach out and grab for things! Of course the first time he did that I just about threw a party to celebrate, because this is a sure sign he is a genius right? I know it's silly to get all excited over the smallest things but it's hard not to find myself practically jumping for joy when he does something developmentally new.