SWW

So What if……

- I still haven’t sent out those damn birth announcements. I’m gonna do it….now that my babe is 15 weeks old. I’m including a recent pic since you know she looks completely different and all.

- I meant to schedule 3 month pictures for TM when she turned 3 months but I’m a total mom fail and it looks like we’ll be doing them closer to 4 months. Don’t tell!

- I’m thinking of moving the babe into her nursery. Yes she sleeps in her crib next to my bed. Go ahead and judge. I’m waiting till hub's next off pattern because I don’t want to sleep alone in my room!

- After the horrendous car ride a few weeks ago we’re considering going back to the beach next weekend. Hubs wants to go in case we can’t go again this summer due to my new job. I’m not convinced it’s worth it but he thinks it’s a fab idea! (and so do the grandparents)

- I’m totally nervous to start a new job. I’ve worked in the same office for 9 years and I hate change.

- We switched to U-verse and I haven’t cancelled our Direct Tv yet. I hate “break-ups.”

What are you saying SO WHAT to? Go link up with Shannon! 

Baby Mama Drama

Being a mother is the hardest and most rewarding experience. And seriously this is not intended to be an overly dramatic post. Just honest and maybe informative.

I love being a mommy and a lot of times I wish I could stay at home with Turner McCartney every day. But then on days where sleep is non existent, I’m thankful for the time I have away from the babe. And honestly I think it makes me love her more!

I always thought the hard part would be getting the baby through the vag and into the world. Wrong. Everyone says that your lives will never be the same and I promise they are right. For the most part. YOUR life will never be the same. You will sacrifice and you will never sleep again. You will spend your free time pumping, doing 17 loads of laundry, and washing bottles and pump parts.

You’ll lose the baby weight because there’s no time for you to eat. And when you find time to snack, your baby will immediately cry. You’ll learn to do things with a baby in your arms. You’ll multi task like never before. And while your life is completely changed, your husband’s life continues like normal. Sure he’s a dad now, but his obligations do not match those of yours.

Playing with the babe while you do laundry, wash dishes, clean the never ending sink full of bottles….all these things are helpful. He’ll change diapers and feed the baby and try to keep her entertained. But if he needs to shower he does. If he’s hungry, he eats. Needs to run to the store, done. You’re going to be lucky to bathe weekly. Trust me there are plenty of other things you can be doing while the babe takes a rare nap.

Bedtime will test your marriage like nothing else. If your baby naps and goes to sleep like a perfect child, please don’t tell me. Jealousy is an ugly thing.

I love my life as a wife and a mommy. I long for the days where I play with a baby all day and I survive on 5 hours of sleep a night. It’s hard but there’s nothing I would rather do. Except maybe eat. A baby changes everything….for the better.

Traveling with a Baby

I thought I would do a post on the things we took with us on our first road trip to the beach….leave me a comment and let me know anything you think would be great for road trippin’ with a wee one.

The first thing you need is a bigger car. What’s that? You have a super huge SUV??? Not big enough. Rent a U-Haul. This is the first thing we realized and my small SUV is no longer cutting it. We are in the market for a new-to-me larger SUV. Just sayin. Plus you know you’re going to buy all kinds of baby stuff while your gone. And where are you gonna put all that stuff???

These are the things that my husband actually let me take made the cut:

Pack n’ Play

*This is not the one I have. I can’t find that one online. Probably because it’s a piece of sh*t. But I suggest getting one with the detachable changing table. This one looks pretty nifty.

I took the pack n’ play for TM to sleep in. Go ahead and laugh. We all did. She definitely did not sleep in it. Ever. But I did use it to change her diaper. I doubt we would take the pack n’ play again. But if your kid sleeps in one it would be worth it. You could also take it down on the beach.

Stroller

Love our Bumbleride stroller. Umm we used it once but we were shopping and it was worth it. And our car seat snaps right in. Love it!

Bouncy Seat

TM loves the butterflies on this bouncer. We used it at the house and we took it out on the beach with us. It was a life saver.

I also took my boppy for nursing and we got a bumbo seat while we were there – at a consignment store.

I pumped before we went and I pumped in the car so we wouldn’t have to stop – but we still stopped along the way.

I suggest taking a baby tent or a canopy to set up on the beach. The canopy my parents had was fabulous and offered excellent shade.

Ours was similar to this one:

We also had a camping blanket that we could anchor to the ground. This was great for laying TM on to change diapers, play, etc. And since it anchored to the ground there wasn’t a lot of sand on it.

I packed a few of TM’s favorite toys and books to try and keep her entertained. I also took lots of gripe water and Tylenol. We The hubs and Poppy had to venture out at midnight for Mylicon because TM was having a major melt down and I couldn’t figure out anything other than her stomach. Maybe it was the oysters I ate??

I packed tons of clothes for TM because we go through so many at home. You need to over pack just in case. It’s also good to keep a couple outfits handy for the car ride in case of any blow outs.

I wish I had taken a dvd player. Suggested by LG, and TM’s tub. It’s hard to bathe her in the sink and she can’t sit on her own for a real bath in the tub so this was difficult for me.

These are the big things we took. I packed tons of diapers and wipes so I wouldn’t have to buy any while we were gone.

Also, bedtime at the beach was 10 times worse that bedtime from hell at home. Sorry Amber….don’t be discouraged. Maybe bedtime at the beach will be better for y’all.

Let me know of things you couldn’t survive without.

Beach Trippin’

I have never been happier for a car ride to be over! Once we arrived I planned to head straight to the beach. But alas, once the babe finally went to sleep and the grands were ready to take care of baby girl, it started storming. So nap time for all!

We did make it down to the beach the next morning and TM loved it! I think. We had a canopy set up, and we took her bouncy seat. We didn’t plan on keeping her down there very long since she’s still too young for sunscreen and we def didn’t want a burnt little baby.

First time seeing the ocean!

This was her favorite beach spot!

Playing in the sand!

Her hair looks red in the sunlight. Love it!

She really liked the sand. She wasn’t so sure about the water. I think it scared her at first.

We kept her out there maybe 2 hours. It was nice and cool under the canopy and there was a great breeze the entire time. We took her out around 6 the next night and that was much better for her. Her face still got a little red even though she stayed under the canopy most of the time.

Yes I rocked a 2 piece with my post baby belly. The beach where my dad’s house is at is pretty private. So in all fairness only my husband and parents were subjected to my post baby belly.

Our little rock star!

 

We had a great time. We had a few rough moments but I’m pretty sure I would do it again….maybe. The car ride on the way home was much better! She slept 4 of the 5 hours and was happy when she was awake. It was amazeballs!

I’m going to do a post on what we took to the beach for those who care. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Road Trippin’

Okay more like trippin’ because we took our 12 week old on a 5 hour road trip to the beach. Go ahead and laugh marvel at our bravery. My parents – dad and stepmom – have a house down there and we decided to join them for the weekend. Y’all I had this fabulous plan to get up with TM when she first woke up, usually between 6 and 7, nurse her and head on our merry way. She would take her 2-3 hour nap in the car and all would be right with the world. :)

I wish I had a picture of our car but by the time I thought about it, it was too late. I had no clue what we would need so we pretty much took everything baby related that we own. I decided to ride in the front – for about I don’t know 30 or 45 seconds. That’s how long it took for TM to start crying. We weren’t out of the driveway and I was already reconsidering. I was also afraid for the safety of my marriage. There’s just something about being trapped riding in a car with the hubs for extended periods of time that completely works my nerves. Maybe its his horrendous driving?

We made it about an hour before we had to stop for a diaper change. I had pumped but I only warmed one bottle – you know because of the long nap she was gonna take. So my 1 warm bottle was gone about 30 minutes in to the trip. After the diaper change we headed on our way. For 15 minutes. We stopped because Turner McCartney was screaming. SCREAMING. I nursed her to try and get her to sleep and we headed back on the road. And she pooped. So we pulled over for another diaper change. *Please note: we are also stopping for JP to pee because of his old man diuretic.

She finally took a nap and we made it 3/4 of the way. Then the meltdowns began. She was tired of being in her car seat and nothing was going to calm her down. It was rough. My dad called because we were slightly behind schedule and he was concerned. My child screamed but we finally made it – and it only took 6 hours. My plan didn’t work but we survived the road trip – barely. And I mean barely….JP probably would have felt better if he had let me out on one of those deserted back roads…and left me for the deliverance people.

I’m gonna post about the fun parts too….later. I just wanted to document our first road trip with the babe. It was rough and I’m still not positive it was worth it. We did have a good time but we also had some rough moments too!

Thanks for hanging in with my no picture post!

So What Wednesday

So What If....

• this is going to be a complete Negative Nancy post....I'm in a bad mood and I'm having my very own pity party. And you're all invited! You're welcome!
• my main Twitter topic lately is my boobs.
• I turn to Twitter for advice on basically everything. I trust my Twitter peeps more than anyone.
• I have days where I'm glad I have a job to escape to....I love being a mommy but sometimes it's so hard!
• I'm bi-polar and I hate working and I want to stay at home.
• I cry because my boobs are incompetent and I'm super dramatic and I want them to make plenty of milkies for my babe.
• we had a couple meltdowns at the beach - at least we were at the beach, right??
• I ignore the lack of cash flow in our account. If I don't look it's really not that bad.....
• I cringe when TM starts screaming and other people are around. I don't want to look like I have no clue what I'm doing!
• we took cash to the beach to eat out and spent 80% of it on clothes for the babe. She needs to look cute at all times!

I'm pretty sure I had lots more to complain about but let's be honest, I'm overly dramatic and hormonal and I'm sure you're tired of my pity party! Thanks for joining in.

 

Now go link up with Shannon and let's hear what you're saying So What to!

*If you’re a new follower and you have a blog please leave me a comment and let me know! I’d also love to follow you on Twitter so let me know if I don’t

2 Months Old!

Look who has internet!!! Yay!!! During this long internet hiatus TM passed the 2 month mark. She’s 11 weeks now but hey better late than never.

Turner McCartney – you are still alive! We are really doing this!

her feet are huge!!

 

Stats:

Weight: 10lbs 11oz – at 10 weeks

Height: 21.5 inches

Clothing Size: A few newborn sizes still fit but mostly wearing 0-3mnths

Diapers: we just moved up to size 1 diapers

Feeding: Homegirl never misses a meal. I’m afraid my boobs are going to fall off or start protesting or something. I’m nursing when I’m with her and pumping at work and some days I’m afraid I can’t keep up. I’m thankful that she still nurses and doesn’t demand a bottle at every feeding.

Hair/Eyes: Eyes are still blue. Her hair is light blonde but sometimes it has a red tint – almost looks strawberry blonde. The pedi said she’d be surprised if her eyes stayed blue so we’ll see.

Sleep: Apparently naps go great at Appy’s (the sitter) and at home she’s taking one good nap – 1-3 hours and a couple 30 minutes naps. Sleep is starting to get better. She sleeps between 5 and 7 hours at night and she gets up usually once a night. This has just started so I hope sleep is here to stay!

Favorites: Loving bath time still and we occasionally have major meltdowns when it’s time to get out. She has a love/hate relationship with the swing. She’s noticing the mobile a lot more but she doesn’t stay in the swing more than 10 minutes at a time. The changing table has been the best purchase we’ve made yet. She loves it. She’ll just talk and coo and smile the entire time she’s on it.

Fun stuff: TM has rolled from her back to her stomach on 3 separate occasions. I’m sure this is a fluke thing but let me be “that mom.” Humor me and tell me my child is a prodigy! :)

Her coos and sounds are getting so much louder and she’s been “talking” a lot more. She smiles and laughs all the time and it’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen! She’s starting to focus on objects and follow us with her eyes.

She absolutely HATES tummy time but she does awesome holding her head up and lifting her chest when she’s on her tummy. Her head control is great.

Being a mom is crazy hard but it’s the most rewarding experience. There’s nothing better than snuggling up with your beautiful baby !

 

If you read all this you rock! Thanks for sticking with me. My bloggy peeps are the best ever!