What I've learned since becoming a mom...

I have learned a lot of things since becoming a mom....here are some of my thoughts...

1) Patience is the most valuable virtue when you bring baby home. You will spend nights awake for hours at a time with a screaming baby...who screams for no reason at all, and you will get mad and frustrated, but patience is what gets you through it all.
2) The difference between a good parent and a bad parent, is that a good parent can walk away for a few minutes, a bad parent doesn't walk away.
3) You can be furiously annoyed with your child one moment, and then madly in love with them the very next. Parenthood is an emotional rollercoaster.
4) God made babies adorable for a reason. :)
5) The most adorable thing in the whole world is your child's first smile.
6) People give you advice on how to raise children, and what is best, but only you can truly know your own child and their needs. Take every word of advice with a grain of salt, but know that what you decide is what is best for your child.
7) My name is not Wonderwoman, nor is it God. I cannot get everything done everyday. BUT my child doesn't care if my house is clean, or if dinner consists of more than a microwaved dinner...all my child cares about is that she is loved and cared for.
8) Don't judge other parents for something that they do that you don't think you agree with. You will find yourself doing the exact same thing 3 months later.
9) A Marriage takes work, being a married couple with a new baby takes A LOT of work. Take time for each other. Your child won't die if they spend an evening with grandma while the two of you take time out together.
10) There is always another load of laundry to do. LOL
11) There is nothing wrong with a little drink in the evening before bed...haha.
12) You can never have enough baby blankets, burp cloths, or outfits on hand. Chances are that if you have 2 outfits on hand...you will need 3.
13) When you are pregnant, they tell you not to lift over 20 lbs...when you leave the hospital with your new baby, you walk out carrying over 50 lbs.
14) A diaper bag can never be too big.
15) 13 bottles is still not enough
16) Never turn down help or free items. Coupons are wonderful as well.
17) You can want to breastfeed for the first year of your child's life all you want, but it comes down to what you can and cannot manage as a human being. I am not a bad mom for not breastfeeding for more than 4 weeks. I did what i could and what was best for my baby and myself.
18) I am a good mom
19) Boppy's really are as wonderful as they say
20) Moms really do have eyes in the back of their heads, 8 arms, and can see the future. You gain these talents the moment that your child is born into the world.
21) No matter how tired you are, how sore you are, how sick you are, or how frustrated you are...hearing your child cry for you...you will immediately jump up and run to them. You forget yourself and focus on them, no matter what.
22) Make-up becomes optional
23) the 'mom hair-cut' that occurs after you have a baby, really is neccessary. LOL
24) Mom ALWAYS knows best :)
25) Love and adore your baby every moment that you get because before you know it, they are grown up. I cannot believe how big Mackenzie already is. I love watching her grow, but sometimes i wish it would take a little longer.

Mom and Me!

This is a little phone snapshot of me and my girly on our road trip. I look like i've been hit by a bus but she's a cutie!

trying to post from my sidekick

Ok see how dedicated I am? I am trying to post from bed on my sidekick, lol.
Anyways....I think we may have found a sitter today. One of Joel's mom's friends knows this woman who does a daycare from home. She seems really nice and watches a few other kids ranging from 2 to 6. We will go and meet her on friday but she is charging the same as our last sitter. She will watch Kenzie until June, when Joel's mom takes her for the summer. Then she may take her again if she can...or we'll get into the daycare that we are waitlisted on now. So anyways...I'm excited.
I'll have to post some pics of Kenzie tomorrow if I can for everyone. She's so big!!!!!
I just finished my mudslide drink but oh how I want another. Oh mudslide...how I love thee....let me count the ways.....

I suck at blogging

I've gotten horrible about posting on here but I do try!
So we had a fun weekend at my mom's house in TN on Friday-Saturday. The drive felt like it took forever, but kenzie was really good almost the whole time both ways. I'm such a proud momma when my girl is good like that. It was nice to play with her and watch her smile the day away in the car. While she was good however, we will not be taking another road trip for a while because it was rough.
Joel and I are doing well. Still trying to re-discover our routine and make time for each other. Mackenzie's schedule is getting better though and by about 8:30 every night she is down, until midnight or 1am. She then doesn't wake up until i get up for work so i'm not losing near as much sleep. Our mini-milestone this week is that we have officially switched to a medium flow bottle nipple! YAY! Now she can down about 5-6 oz in 15-20 mins with burps included. It's absolutely crazy how fast they grow up. Part of me is glad because i love how responsive she is now, but the other part of me knows how much i will miss this tiny time of her life.

Ooops! she's up....gotta run! The life of a mom!!

EEK Sorry!

Ok so having a baby and being back at work has proven to be very time consuming! I feel like i have so little spare time in the day to do anything, so i haven't blogged....sorry my faithful followers!

So update....the meeting with my dad went well...no real awkwardness or anything so crisis avoided. It all went well and Joel was wonderfully well behaved too. We hung out for about 4 or 5 hours altogether and just talked and caught up. I met his new wife too and she seems nice enough. I'd like to start talking to that entire side of the family again soon so i think this is a good step in the right direction.

As for Mackenzie's updates....she went to the doctor last week and got 2 more shots (poor baby girl). She was measuring at 11lbs 13oz, 24'' long. She is in the 97th percentile for length which is CRAZY....and about 50-70th % for weight. So basically she is a long string bean like her daddy!
She is really getting good at her 'cooing stage' and smiling all the time. Now when i tap my fingers over her mouth she'll talk and smile at the funny sound that it makes.

Joel and I are doing well...just stressed over lack of sleep and time alone together but we are adjusting well i think. We spent last weekend celebrating both of our bdays as well as St Patty's day and had a blast. We both got to go shopping and get whatever we wanted which was great, and we ate out at Cheesecake factory with the family.

Our new stress this week is finding a new babysitter since our current one won't be able to keep Kenzie anymore. It's a little too overwhelming for her i think to have so much to do and care for. So we are praying and hoping to find something else in our price range.

Nothing else really to report on i guess....we do have plans to go back down to FL in November for the USMC ball so we are looking forward to seeing everyone and introducing the Kenzinator to you all!

Well i should get back to work. I'll try and post more often, but really guys...it's Mackenzie's fault!

hmmm....

Ok so i haven't posted in a few days...sorry.

Nothing too much to report on.
This past weekend brought us some nice weather so on Friday night Kenzie went to grandma's and so Joel and I got some time alone. On Saturday we went out to Madison with grandma in tow and walked around the town all day. It was gorgeous out and we had a great time. I took some cool pics of the downtown scene and have been having fun editing them.
Sunday was the norm...church and then home.
Kenzie is doing great and growing like a weed. She is pretty well out of all of her newborn stuff, save but a few onesies. I just realized that there are things that she never even wore! I knew it! So Hettie i hope you have a girl because i have SO much stuff...some still brand new!!
She is doing well at the sitter's house and i am so proud to get the good reports. She is beginning to get really interested in things and look around a lot. Today she actually discovered the tv and was in awe of it for a few mins. She loves lights so i'm not surprised that she'd be impressed by the tv. She is officially in size 1 diapers now which is a big help since we were gifted at least 2 or 3 months worth of size ones so no more buying diapers for a while. HURRAY!!
Although....i did get 4 coupons off of coupons.com for $5 off a pack of huggies diapers...so i will use those before they expire and buy some more. But anyways....
This weekend is going to be an interesting one. Friday night we don't have anything going on that i know of so we'll probably relax and clean house a little. Saturday we have a fundraising event at Joel's mom's school to attend....basically she wants to show Kenzie off so we'll be with her most all day long for that. Then Sunday is the big day. I've decided to meet up with my dad. He was going to Nashville this weekend anyways which is only 3 hrs from us...so he is going to come up here on Sunday and we'll hang out. I'm excited and nervous, scared and can't wait!! It's very odd. I haven't seen him since he moved to GA so it's been what...3 yrs maybe? I'm excited for him to see Mackenzie, but also thankful that she will be the big attention grabber...takes some of the awkwardness away.
So anyways...i'll let everyone know how it went later...little one is in bed waiting for me so i should get in there before she wakes up and discovers that i left!! eek!

GOODNIGHT!!

QUICK UPDATE

Well this has to be quick since i'm at work but i got an update on my j-o-b that i applied for and they filled the position that i had interviewed for but the lady said that both her and the first woman that i met really liked me and wanted to get me on board with them. She said that another position may be opening up this week and if so then they will push for me to fill that one...but she won't know probably until Friday...so now i get to wait until Friday. Ugg. At least i made a good impression right!?

Post #91

It's kind of amazing that i've only posted 91x since i started this blog but that's what the info says so i'll believe it i guess. Weird. Anyways...another uneventful weekend has come and gone. We didn't do too much...Friday was spent at home...Saturday was my 2nd interview and then Angel Food. We then had dinner with some friends at TGI Fridays...and Sunday was church, grocery shopping and NASCAR. See...nothing that you'd want to continue reading about...but yet you are pulled to continue reading on anyways. :)

My 2nd interview went really well and she said that i should get a call back by Tuesday at the absolute latest...so here it is Monday afternoon and nothing yet...but i'm really hopeful.

I just have to comment on my dorkyness real quick...i just grabbed a quick lunch at McD's (the worst place to eat i know) and i grabbed a happy meal because they are doing 'Littlest Pet Shop' toys and when i was little i LOVED these things so i keep getting them and just putting them on my desk for fun.)

Anyways....like i said nothing too new to post about. Kenzie is doing great with her soy formula still and i did find a generic of it for less than 1/2 price which makes mom and dad VERY happy. She's smiling and 'talking' more and more every day and loves to look at lights and her teddy bear mobile still. She loves to talk to the teddy bears best...i guess they have a lot of good stuff to say, LOL.

Joel had his first full day home alone with Kenzie on Friday and it went surprisingly well so i'm glad for that. She was great for her dad :)

Well....that's about all i have to say so i'm going to go and wait for my all important phone call. Come on.......ring.....ring.....ring!!!! or actually i'm at work so vibrate! vibrate! viiibrraaaaaate!!!!