Good Thing I Took Management In College

I have often (jokingly) asked Jason "where would you be without me?!"  Although, I already know his answer... the same place he was before I came along.  Doing his own laundry, paying the bills, making his own meals, cleaning up after himself (?)...

But now...  I am the manager of this house.  That's not to say that I am the "boss."  I am a manager.  I manage the bills, the inflow and outflow of Jason's income (he makes the money, I spend it), plan the weekly menu, write the weekly grocery lists, do the grocery shopping (Jason usually joins me and pushes Elise in the cart), wash the laundry, make sure the sheets are clean, make sure we have toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.  I clip coupons, make decisions about the interior design of our home,I know when anyone in this family eats, sleeps, or poops, I keep up with everyone's appointments... you get the point.

But, I also manage Elise.  Diaper changes, nap time, bath time, play time, doctor appointments, feedings, preparing her food in mass quantities, keeping an inventory of her necessities.

Most days, I feel pretty awesome about the fact that I manage to keep track of all these things and not have my head spinning around like a scene from The Exorcist.  But, then the other small percentage of the time I feel like I can't make one more decision.  If we go out to eat, Jason refuses to decide where to go and my decision making has reached it's brink.  We will proceed to go back and forth because I physically cannot pick for him what he wants to eat.... I already do that when I sit down to make the weekly menu with little or no help from him.  If I say "I don't care" it's because I don't.  I've spent all day caring about everything else on God's green earth that picking a restaurant is at the bottom of my to-care-about list.  Then comes the complaining... "I never make any decisions around this house."

I would love for Jason to decide what we are going to eat for dinner every night, decide what Elise is going to eat for all of her meals, decide what she should wear everyday, decide which bills need to be paid today or can wait until the next pay check, decide on activities for Elise and us, and so on.

I stay home with Elise everyday.  We rarely "go" anywhere.  In all the hours of the day, the busiest part is between 5-9pm.  Jason comes home from work between 5 and 6pm, I start cooking dinner, we both try to eat while watching Elise (who is into everything), then I have to make Elise something to eat, feed her, get the kitchen cleaned up (luckily I get help from Jason when he's home), I give her a bath, get her ready for bed, nurse her, and put her down.  I'm not really sure why all that has to be crammed into 4 hours when the rest of our day is a much more relaxed pace.

Now let me explain how things go when Jason isn't home, like last night for instance...

I am cutting up raw chicken to cook dinner, Elise is having a fit because she doesn't want to swing, I can't immediately pick her up because I'm up to my wrists in salmonella.  I finally am able to set her on the floor while I continue to cook.  She's opening my cabinets, pulling all my trash bags out and onto the floor, playing in the dogs water bowl, managed to get her hands on a disgusting fly swatter, hid my cell phone from me, called someone from the house phone, and left her paci right in my path between the sink and the stove so it would ram up the bottom of my foot.  All while I continue to cook dinner and pray the house doesn't burn down.

I sat down to eat and put Elise in her walker so she could scream until I was done eating.  Then it was time for her to eat.  I just left the kitchen a mess so that Jason could help himself when he got home and I could get Elise fed.  Most nights that he doesn't come home, I don't bother to cook and sometimes I don't bother to eat.  If I do, it's at 10pm after Elise has gone to bed and I can eat a bowl of cereal.

I wonder if the entire house would fall to the ground if I quit micromanaging everything?  If I quit caring about the laundry or our dinner menu would we starve and be forced to wear our clothes over and over again?  If I just blew off picking up the toys everyday would anyone notice?  Would I be more inclined to make those less important decisions about going out to eat or what to do on a Saturday night?  Would Jason start making decisions or managing aspects of our home life besides the yard?  No one will probably ever know because I'm too much of a control freak to let everything roll with the punches in fear of the world coming to an end because we're out of toilet paper and milk.

10 Month Photos

The 10 month photos I took didn't really turn out either.  She was NOT into a photo shoot today, but I gave it a whirl.

She wasn't crawling around everywhere and getting into everything, but she wasn't smiling or looking at the camera either.... oh well.  Some days chickens, some days feathers.  Maybe I'll try again before she turns 11 months old!

9 Month Photos

Elise's 9 month at home photo shoot did not turn out very well.  She was crawling all over the place and playing with her toys.  I thought I would try again later, but later came and went and she turned 10 months old.

Waking Up to A Nudist

Dear Elise,

I very much appreciate the amazing sleep you let us both have this morning.  Sleeping until 11am is something I haven't done since I was in college after a night of binge drinking.  I forgot how much I loved it!  It surely isn't right that I can go to bed at 10:30pm and sleep until 11am... of course that's not straight sleeping, I was up with you for about an hour or so this morning at 7am.

When I picked you up out of your crib at 7am your arm was through the neck hole of your pj's.  I assume they are getting too small for your long frame.  I put your arm back in, you ate, snuggled with me, and snoozed off and on until Daddy left to go to work.  Then back in your crib you went.  I didn't hear a peep out of you until a few minutes before 11am.  I heard you begin to stir, so I slowly drug myself out of bed while staring at the clock in disbelief.  I abruptly snapped out of my groggy state when I walked into your room to find this.

Those would be the jammies you slept in last night.  Next to the jammies....

And I must point out how happy and proud you were....

Dear Lord, please do not let this be foreshadowing that I am going to raise a nudist!

Patty Cake

You may want to turn your volume down before you watch this video... my voice will make your skin crawl!

Juice-a-holics Annonymous

Hello, my name is Elise and I'm a juice-a-holic.

I must have my prune juice as soon as I wake up and drink it all day long. 

Update On Returning To Work

I previously posted about possibly returning to work part-time.  I was able to get in touch with a lady that would be able to keep Elise, so Jason and I set up a time to go to her house to visit with her.  The last time Jason and I went to meet a potential baby sitter I had an emotional break down in her drive way after we were done visiting with her.  I'm sure it was in part, due to the crazy postpartum hormones, but the other part was anxiety over leaving my brand new baby.  So, this time I knew would be different.  It was only part-time and she was older.

We went and met Darcie.  She has a 4 year old and an almost 3 year old.  She doesn't keep many other kids, just a couple a few days a week.  She has a large, clean home and informed me she's a big fan of Lysol... music to my ears since I'm borderline OCD with germs.  Everything was going great, I wasn't having an overflow of emotions until.....................................

Jason told her and her friend (who happened to stop by the same time we did) that I had never left Elise anywhere and that she has been by my side for the past 10 months.  Then the tears start flowing...  They both said it was ok because they could relate and understood how hard it would be to leave her for the first time. 

We left her house with the plan of me bringing Elise over today for me to start back to work.  We were driving down the road, and I didn't break down and start bawling and pleading with Jason to not make me leave her.  Everything seemed on the up and up.  I was comfortable with leaving her with Darcie, Elise would get some interaction with other kids, and I'd be making a little extra money. 

I went by the doctor's office to talk to her about what I had found out.  She had wanted to know what I came up with about 5 days prior to, so I was in kind of a time crunch.  I did my best to find a sitter asap so that I could help them out by coming back to work.  She told me she would have to call me.  So I waited 2 days before I heard anything from her.  When she finally did call, she informed me that the girl who had taken my place had some issues going on.  I guess they were planning on letting her go and bringing me on to share the job with the other part-time girl.  Then she said they were going to give her another chance and wouldn't be needing me after all.  Then she went on to say she didn't know how long that would last and she might be getting in touch with me again soon.  Needless to say, I wasn't very happy after I had gone through all the trouble to do them a favor. 

So, I won't be going back to work.... at least not there anyway.

A Girl Of Many Talents

It's common knowledge that Elise is advanced for her age (just like every parent thinks).  But, this video goes to show that she and I are on a whole different level.  We have created our very own language to communicate in.  See for yourself!


It's so funny because when she hears herself on the video doing it, she starts doing it again!  That's what I hear all day long!

The Phone Call...

A week ago today, one of my former employers at the doctor's office called me.  She asked me if I would be interested in coming back to work part-time.  She went on to explain that I was and am a valuable employee and an asset to their practice.  I told her I would have to look into a babysitter and would get back in touch with her.  She told me she wanted me to start within the next week or week and a half.  Not much time to find a sitter... let alone wrap my mind around the fact of returning to work and leaving Elise with a stranger.


Anyway, I called the lady that lives down the street from us that we met back in January.  She had room for a part-time baby then, so I thought she might still.  I left her a message, but never heard back.  I called her again yesterday, and finally spoke to her.  She was full, but gave me the number to another lady that she knows that keeps kids out of her house.  This lady used to work at Mother's Day Out.  So, I called her today and talked to her.  She has a space for Elise.  I am planning to go over there on Monday afternoon to meet her.  I guess then I will have to make my decision. 


I know Jason would like for me to go back to work, and returning to a job that I'm familiar with part-time is the best way to ease back into it.  I just have to overcome my anxiety of leaving Elise......

Is There An Easy Button For That?

How in the world did I ever survive living alone?

Today I went to Discount Tire for my routine tire rotation and balance when the dude started telling me about how much tread is on my tires, that the tires are possibly being recalled, they've been known to fall apart, blah blah blah.... so of course my response is this...

"Hang on a second."

Get the cell phone out, call Jason

"Hey, I'm at the tire store and you need to talk to the tire guy."

They spoke and reached an agreement about the tires.  Now, had Jason not been accessible I would have just called my Dad.  But, then I started thinking... how come they don't teach you this crap in school?

How to purchase tires?
How to buy a house?
How to buy a vehicle?
How to do taxes, 401K's, retirement accounts, stocks?
How to kill a wolf spider when you're home alone?

I'm not kidding about the last one.  Jason was gone one Saturday morning when I saw this monster wolf spider.  You don't know what that is?  Now you do...

Freaking disgusting, right?  Anyway, one of those bad boys was hightailing it across my living room so I went into panic mode.  I cannot pick them up with a paper towel and flush them because I might feel them in the paper towel and DIE, and then Elise and my dogs would be motherless.  So, I put on Jason's shoes

 

And decide I will just step on it and leave the shoe on it until Jason gets home.  Problem solved.  I step on the vile creature, slip my foot out of the shoe, and go on about my business.  Twenty seconds later the freaking thing is crawling out from under the shoe.  Panic ensues.  I put the shoes back on, grab my cell phone, step on it, and call Jason.

"Are you almost home?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because I'm standing in the living room with your shoes on with a wolf spider underneath because the little bastard won't die!!!!!!!!!"

Five minutes later he comes home to find me standing on top of the spider, leaning on the entertainment center, and watching TV.

What in the world did I do before I had Jason?  Well, for one thing, I never dealt with Wolf spiders, and any other insect I usually just sprayed with hairspray until it reached its agonizing death and could be vacuumed up or picked up with a roll of paper towels.

As for the tire situation, I am in no position to be making decisions regarding tire purchases because I know nothing.  This also applies to changing flat tires.

I noticed I had a completely flat tire one day when I was leaving the mall (of all places).  This was before Jason's time, so I called my dad and told him the situation.  He asked me what I wanted him to do about it since he was an hour and a half away.  Well, I didn't know what I supposed to do about it, it's not like I was required to know how to do that prior to graduating high school.

His response "call OnStar."

I call OnStar and explain to them that I am sitting in my vehicle in the mall parking lot and need someone to come change my flat tire.  Forty minutes later I was on my way again.  OnStar is like the EASY Button.  If only I could have one of those for all the other situations in my life that can NEVER just be simple.

9 Months

Dear Elise,

How is that you have now been outside my belly as long as you were in?  Everyone always says kids grow up so fast but you never realize it until you have your own.  You have gained so much independence over the last month.  Since taking off with crawling you are very busy exploring every inch of our house.  You are a speed demon up and down the hall.

You did the sweetest thing the other night... Daddy came inside from mowing, rubbed the top of your head as he walked past you to the bathroom, he shut the door and jumped in the shower.  Little did he know you were following him, so you sat on the floor outside the bathroom door.  You put both hands up on the door and stuck your fingers underneath in attempt to get in.  But then it occurred to you that through our bedroom was another door to the bathroom... so you were off.  I followed you as you made your way down the hall, through our bedroom, through the other bathroom, and finally into the bathroom where Daddy was.  You sat down and waited.

You are pulling up everywhere and getting your little hands on anything you can!  You "talk" to me and to yourself all day long.  When you really start to form words, we are never going to be able to get you to stay quiet.  You are such a happy baby all the time!  Well, except when you are teething.  It's so disappointing that teething robs me of my sweet little girl!

You actually turned 9 months old while we were down in Tyler for a week.  You got to spend some time with your 2 cousins Addison and Case.  You weren't too fond of Case since he accidentally smacked you in the face out of excitement when he saw you (last time you saw him, he rubbed your butt!).  You are a much more reserved baby.  You enjoyed playing with Case when he was a safe distance from you..

We spent some time with Meme & Dan and played with Kara, Melissa, Addison, and Aunt Debbie.

You are still a skinny little thing.  You wear mostly 9 month size clothes, but even 6 month is too big around your little waist.  Your hair is growing longer, and lots of people say "is there red in her hair?"  We aren't really sure where the red comes from, but there seems to be a tiny bit mixed in with the blonde.  We are still doing good with nursing (for the most part).  Just when I thought I you had quit biting me, you surprised with 2 bites yesterday with one drawing blood.  OUCH!

You are still doing good with sleeping in your crib every night.  It's almost impossible to let you sleep in the bed with us because you are a bed hog.  You fell asleep in our bed the other night and when I woke up around 1am you were horizontal in between me and Daddy and he was barely on the edge of the bed.  He picked you up and moved you to your crib so everyone could sleep comfortably.

One of your most FAVORITE things to do is climb in and out of your car seat.  You love to play with the straps and buckles.  These pictures make me laugh because you have your overalls on and it looks like you are working on the car seat.

Then there are these pictures...

I have found one way to keep you entertained when we go out to eat... lemons!  I'm not sure why, but every time we go out to eat you act really good until MY food comes and then when I start eating it's GAME ON!  I usually inhale my food so that we can hurry up and leave because of the scene you are on the verge of causing.

The last nine months have been a whirlwind, but I wouldn't trade them for anything!

Love,

Momma

*9 Month Photo Shoot to come*

Cleaning & Exercising

I turned on my Roomba yesterday and Elise is infatuated with it anyway (it's the green light) so when it was on the move, so was she.  I guess she got her exercise chasing after it.

Updates Galore 2

As I mentioned Jason and I bought some new bedroom furniture.  We had it delivered last Tuesday and we love it!  Jason moved our old stuff out of the bedroom the night before so we had to result to sleeping on just the mattress.  On the floor.  In the living room.  Since it was my idea to move into the living room, and I climbed in bed (after jumping on it for a short time before a near interaction with our ceiling fan) in a ratty T-shirt and holey underwear - Jason deemed me "white trash."  Oh well, he married me!

I have some pics of our new furniture, but want to wait to post them until I'm finished decorating in there!

As Promised, Updates Galore 1

So last week Jason went down to College Station for the annual Texas A&M Fire School.  Since we knew he was planning to be down there a week, we decided that he would travel with me and Elise to Dallas and then jump in with the guys from the department and Elise and I would drive the rest of the way to Tyler.  I would spend the week there with my family.

Jason and I met back up the following Friday in Dallas and spent the night at a hotel.  We went out to eat at all my favorite places that we don't have here and went to do a little shopping at The Galleria...  We went to Tiffany's and Jason bought me a new necklace for our anniversary.  I love it!  I've only taken it off once since!  We went to Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel... I needed to return some bedding I ordered online from Crate and Barrel and when we pulled up to the store I was smitten...  it was 3 floors!

"I'll just run in and return this stuff real fast since Elise is sleeping"

"I can see that you will be easily distracted in there, so if you think you are gonna be a while call me and we'll come in."

I walked in the front door and it was like "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Luckily an employee spotted me immediately and asked if he could help, so that saved me from turning the store upside down in my excitement!  I made my return and walked back out to the truck.

"Well, that was quick"

"OMG!  It's 3 floors and while I was making my return I saw this square wood bowl that I thought I might need but then I was looking at the prices, but then I saw this... blah blah blah."

Jason probably thinks he needs to stage an intervention.

I decided it would be best to steer clear of Crate & Barrel since we were planning to go to Pottery Barn, unfortunately Pottery Barn was a bit disappointing, but I didn't want to push my luck and ask Jason to go back to Crate & Barrel.

Our Anniversary

Jason and I got hitched 3 years ago, yesterday!  August 4, 2007.  We have been together for 4 years, and in those 4 years I could have never imagined that we would accomplish so many things together.  Look how far we've come!

I have the best husband any girl could ever ask for!  I can't wait to see what all the years to come will bring.  I have the sweetest, most beautiful baby girl in the world and couldn't be any happier.  We are truly blessed and These Are The Best Days Of My Life!