This Is Happening……

Posted on September 2, 2013 by letterstoreesie

I’m no fan of selfies, but this is what I look like now.

Yup.

Baby number two will be here in February and everyone is pretty excited around these parts.

Three months in, this pregnancy is a little different than with Reese and of course a little more difficult, but I haven’t experienced any nausea or morning sickness. Headaches and exhaustion are the worst of it right now, so I am considering myself lucky.

What’s Different This Time: There were basically no symptoms in the beginning of this pregnancy. Last time the gigantic, sore boobs started immediately, and I felt slightly nauseous in the mornings; this time I didn’t feel any different those first few weeks, until the tiredness set in.

What I’m Craving: SALT. Potato Chips. Cheese and Crackers. Grilled Cheese. Pickles (has anyone ever tried the homemade pickles from Whole Foods? They are amazing and I’m hooked.) Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (no other brands will do, and Andrew learned the hard way that box directions should be followed precisely, i.e. don’t try to skip the butter because I will know, and I will come for you.) With Reese I craved a lot of juices and citrus fruits and still ended up gaining 50 lbs so I can already tell that it is not going to be a good scene up in here in a few months.

What I’m Trying to Force Myself to Eat: Greek yogurt, Luna bars, greens, blah blah blah blah.

What I am Tired of Hearing: “Pregnant women only need 200 extra calories a day; that’s equivalent to about a cup of yogurt.” No wine, no coffee and now no excuse to “eat for two.” Thanks.

Weight Gained: 3 lbs according to me, we’ll see what the doctor’s scale says next week.

What I’m Doing: Still trying to run for as long as I can, and making an effort to get up and walk around more at work. I signed up for a 5K in mid September, so I have to keep running at least until then. Pilates, walking, pregnancy workouts on Skimble. These things are done only when I feel like it. 3 times a week is a great week.

What They Told Me This Time That They Didn’t Tell Me Last Time: No soft serve ice cream. Ummmmmmm, hold the phone. Dairy Queen is delicious and I feel bad for the fetus who doesn’t get to experience it. I don’t remember this being a restriction with Reese but I guess I could have blocked it out. Very sad. Not going to lie, I haven’t been following this one 100%.

What Reese Thinks: Not much. We talk about babies and sharing a lot, and Andrew bought her a book called “What To Expect When Mommy’s Expecting” which, in my opinion, is a little more detailed than necessary. Call me crazy but I’d rather not have my toddler telling people that there is a baby in mama’s uterus. Actually, just don’t talk about my uterus at all. Or know about it.

We are already dying to meet this baby but are taking more time to enjoy moments with Reese that are all hers. Six months to go and three months behind us.

Oh My God, No One Told Us That!

Posted on March 14, 2013 by letterstoreesie

As I’ve said before, the first year of motherhood has shown me that there are a lot of things that people just don’t tell you. In some ways, I get it. No one wants to be the Deb Downer who squashes your pre-baby, blissful ignorance with the gritty details of their pregnancy, birth story, parenting experiences or whatever. Everyone’s experiences are not the same, so why cause someone to worry about something that may never happen? That’s fine and all. But for me, if you are my close friend/family member, I expect a heads up about certain things. Certain things that will remain nameless, but if you have ever had a baby, you probably have a good idea of what I’m talking about.

Although it was never explicitly stated, I pretty much understood (from books, birthing classes, my doctor etc.) that I could be straight up crazy for a couple of months after my baby was born. Overly emotional, over-protective, stressed, tired. Yea ok. I guess these are the socially acceptable feelings for a new mom to have and thus, the ones we hear most about.

Yesterday I came across this article. I will state that I am not a fan of the title. I don’t think it really reflects what the article is about, and in my opinion, it doesn’t provide an accurate depiction of how the mothers in the article seem to feel about motherhood. It did however, provide a brief moment of relief for me.

When Reese was a newborn I had nightmarish thoughts about awful things that could happen to her. Every article about a missing or ill child, a car accident, a fire etc. brought fresh fears and anxiety that reared its head at all hours of the night. Was it irrational to think that someone could lean a ladder against our home, climb up to the second floor window, cut the screen and take Reese? Maybe, but this image ran through my mind more than a couple of times.

Thankfully, I can’t say that I experienced anything as severe as what the women in the article went through, but I can relate to not feeling totally comfortable sharing these feeling with others. At the time I just felt like a paranoid weirdo.

Today, these fears are few and far between, but I doubt that they will ever completely leave my mind. I don’t know many mothers who don’t worry about their kids on a daily basis, regardless of their age. I guess it is the price you pay for having a child, and in my experience so far, it is a small one.

On Scary Elmo Bubblebaths

Posted on March 7, 2013 by letterstoreesie

Nary a day goes by where I do not fear that I have scarred my daughter in some way. Last night was no different.

I bought some Elmo bubblebath this weekend thinking I was the bomb mom, and we tried it out last night.

Apparently, when you have never seen bubbles before, they can be scary. It kind of makes sense I guess. Normally your mom puts you in a bath with clear water where you can see all your toys and body parts, then one day she puts you in a bath full of white stuff and acts like its NBD.

Reese freaked out when I stood her up in the tub full of bubbles. She began saying “No! No! Nooooooooo!”, pointing at the bathroom door and trying to climb out of the tub with a look of panic on her face. Being out of the tub was not enough; the sight of the bubbles was too much and we had to leave the bathroom completely.

Getting back in took a few tries. I mean the bubbles were still in the tub, so I don’t really blame her. She kept looking at me with the saddest face imaginable and saying, “bubbles.” Normally, bath time is one of her favorite parts of the day, so I’m sure she was internally cursing me for screwing with it.

Finally, with her screaming all the while, I charged back into the bathroom and drained the tub of the cursed bubbles. I eventually got her back into the tub with just water, but it wasn’t the same. She was extremely cautious and inspected her bath toys, the water, and the wash cloth suspiciously.

Hopefully one day she will be able to forget this incident and won’t end up being the weird kid in school who is afraid of bubbles.

Here’s Reese in happier bath times.

Holler At Us Nemo

Posted on February 14, 2013 by letterstoreesie

We spent this past weekend snowed in at Gammy and Grandpa’s house thanks to winter storm Nemo (hilarious name.)

It felt pretty good to not have anything to do except to visit with aunties and grandparents, eat, eat and eat, and play in the snow.

We showed off all of our tricks. “Where’s your nose, Reese?” “Where’s Grandpa’s nose?”

Auntie Elyse put her wine aside for a few minutes to play with me! Miles supervised.

There were walks in the woods.

I played with TJ. Check out my “Squirrel” pants!

I inspected Gammy’s produce.

We kind of wish everyone weekend was like this. Maybe without the 25 inches of snow though.

Thirteen Month Update: Us as Parents

Posted on January 14, 2013 by letterstoreesie

And now an update on us after 13 months of parenting.

On occasion, we’ve had a few mishaps which made us question our parental abilities. There was the time that Reese fell out of the bottom of the stroller as we were wheeling it down our steps because she hadn’t been strapped in, an incident with a bee while on a walk that caused me to briefly run away from the stroller, leaving Reese, so I could save myself from the bee; or the time Reese was being “changed”and the dirty diaper was put back on her instead of a clean one. I could go on. But I won’t. Mainly because I am too afraid of what people will think of us.

We are still learning and I feel like we will always be learning; no matter how many kids we have or how old they get. Most days, I still think it’s pretty hilarious that I am somebody’s parent, and I don’t think it will ever stop feeling like a job for which I am severely underqualified.

We have been parents for thirteen months and sixteen days and our list of questions is long. What do we do when Reese starts hitting us? How do we teach her to share? Is there a way to get her to stop chucking her food and her cup around the kitchen? What’s with the biting??

Things I do know: we have a healthy, beautiful daughter who smiles, laughs, gives lots of hugs and kisses and seems to have a thing for us. This makes me think we are doing something right.

Reese at 13 Months

Posted on January 10, 2013 by letterstoreesie

At thirteen months old, Reese is showing us something new every day. Her steps are getting steadier, her words are getting clearer (and louder) and we are getting a glimpse of our girl’s personality. We are beginning to see a sassy/mischievous side to Reese that is delighting us and scaring us at the same time.

At 23.5 lbs she is strong and sturdy and has a belly that would make any baby jealous. She has six teeth (4 on the top and 2 on the bottom), is 29 inches long and still has a crazy big head with dark hair that I cannot wait to get into pigtails.

Here’s what she’s been up to the past couple of months.

New tricks: Walking everywhere, giving kisses to everything (the man on the Quaker oatmeal container is a favorite), making animal noises (we’ve got the cow and the lamb down pat), pointing at the TV and screaming “Elmo” (not our favorite new trick), pretend answering the phone (putting her hand immediately to her ear) whenever we hear a phone ring anywhere, telling us “no” while hitting us in the face (also not a favorite), mimicking things we say with the same inflection/tone we use (this one doesn’t happen very often, but is absolutely hilarious when it does), and incessantly asking for whoever is not there (when Daddy goes somewhere she immediately begins asking for him and then takes your hand and leads you around the house to look for him.)

Favorites: All food (although I still can’t get her to eat meat!), but particularly rice and lentils, BANANAS, crackers, sweet potatoes, oatmeal with raisins, Cheerios, grapes, Elmo, babies, books, and her talking teapot

Words: baby (with a French accent), mama, dada, nana, no, “cruck-a” (cracker), bath, and “myyyyyyyy” (Miles.)

To 2013

Posted on January 4, 2013 by letterstoreesie

I am not one for resolutions. The last one I made, much to the delight of my husband, was to try to do less clothes shopping. But then I got prego and needed a whole new maternity wardrobe so that didn’t last long.

This year I have decided that a resolution is necessary immediately, in order to combat my extreme laziness and insatiable appetite for entire frozen pizzas and Bud Light.

Since I stopped breastfeeding about a month and a half ago, my pants are getting a little tighter and the sad truth that I can no longer eat what I want and nurse/pump off the calories is setting in. It was fun while it lasted.

Pre-Reese, I worked out often and tried to eat semi-healthy. Now, going to the gym is no longer an option unless I want to wake up at 4:30 am (hells no.)

Thus, I have resolved to try to eat a little healthier, try to cook more (heating up frozen stuff doesn’t count) and do some sort of exercise where I can. Notice my use of the words/phrases “try”, “some sort” and “where I can.” Clearly, I am weary of setting myself up for failure.

So here we go.

Cheers to fewer cocktails, carbs and cookies, and more sweating, starving and stir-frying. Ugh.

Happy New Year!

Reese’s First Birthday Party

Posted on December 20, 2012 by letterstoreesie

We celebrated Reese’s first birthday a couple of weeks ago on a snowy Saturday afternoon with friends and family at our house. It was the first birthday party I have ever thrown (not counting one for Andrew that was at a bar) and I had high expectations for myself. Pinterest will do that to you.

I’m neither crafty nor culinary, which I am just going to have to accept and move on, but I did the best that I could. We kept it as simple as possible with pizzas, mac and cheese, meatballs, rice and apps. My sister and I made chocolate and red velvet cupcakes with raspberries and mint leaves for dessert. We used a Duncan Hines box mix after I tried (and failed) to make cupcakes from scratch a couple of days earlier (they turned out chewy and bland and I couldn’t even fool Reese into eating them.)

Decorations were also simple due to my uncraftiness. I made a few paper chains out of printed paper from Michael’s, hung huge paper flowers (Martha Stewart, from AC Moore), some sparkly garland (also Martha Stewart from AC Moore), put out some flowers from Trader Joe’s and some pictures of Reese and called it a day.

Luckily, this was Reese’s first birthday party ever, so she didn’t have much to compare it to, but I know that her day was full of potato chips, naps, hugs, and chocolate cupcakes. What more can a girl ask for?

12/14/12

Posted on December 17, 2012 by letterstoreesie

I’ve been debating writing anything about the tragedy that occurred in Connecticut this past Friday. Although I don’t feel like my words can do it justice, it also doesn’t feel right to make no mention of something that has caused so much suffering.

The news brought us to our knees on Friday afternoon and now, two days later, we go to bed with hearts that are broken and anger that lingers.

The feeling of “what the f, world?!” remains, and the reality that we are living in a world where our kindergarteners know too much weighs heavily on us.

I spent most of Friday in the depressing mindset that this must be our lowest point. This has got to be mankind at its worst.

But I’m sure this has been said before. I’m sure we thought the same thing in Colorado in 1999, or in Virginia in 2007. After all, they’re all somebody’s babies.

And then, you start to hear the stories about what took place in Newtown. They aren’t stories of hate. They are stories of genuine, unselfish love. Stories of a community who loves each other, and stories of teachers who love their students; teachers who remind us why we send our kids off to kindergarten in the first place.

And cautiously, ever so slowly, our faith in humanity is being restored.