You Better Back That Thang Up!

So, yesterday afternoon Elise and I head up to United to get groceries for the winter storm that came in today.  Well, it turns out that half the city wanted to get their groceries at 3:22pm also.  Usually the store has buggys galore at the front door, but not yesterday.  There were literally only 6 shopping carts left.  So, I snagged one and thought to myself.. "oh Hellen.... this is gonna be fun."  So I head to the produce section and overhear a couple OLD men discussing the upcoming changes in weather that include possibly 12in. of snow.  I hear one of the guys say "Oh, I have 4 wheel drive!!!"  Well, I think to myself..... "grrrrreat!  You have 4 wheel drive and will try to navigate your old decrepit self out in the blizzard so that my young, muscular, hottie of a husband can come save your dumb ass when you a) get stuck or b) have a wreck."

Anyway, I'm on a mission to get my essential ingredients and get out of there!  When I say "on a mission" I mean, I am driving that buggy through the store like it's the Indy 500.  Unfortunately, the half of the city that came to get groceries was not as diligent as myself.  So, my speed racing was brought to an abrupt screeching halt several times.  One of those times was when I was trying to get my lasagna noodles and this old lady in a scooter stopped in the middle of the isle and seriously jumped up out of her scooter to put her nappy, germy hands all over my clean baby!  She seriously had a grand total of 3 teeth, disgusting fingernails and hands.  I'm not sure what world people live in to assume I (or anyone for that matter) would want them touching our dear little babies all over and contaminating them with God knows what!  Meanwhile, she was clogging up the entire isle with people in front of and behind her trying to get by.  All of the people facing me saw my look of horror when she got up to infest my child... unfortunately she didn't.  And the whole time she kept saying "He, He...He"  Seriously?  SHE is dressed in pink from head to toe.

I spent the remainder of my shopping trip avoiding her like the plague... so I found myself back in the produce section when I really needed bread.  Anyway, I finally got my stuff and got the heck out of dodge.  I ran home and unloaded my stuff.  Elise and I were going to Pampa for the evening, so I had changed her diaper right before I went to the grocery store.  Well, about half way to Pampa I noticed a little bit of her poop on my pinky finger.... OH the irony!

A Day In The Life Of THIS Housewife

I am fortunate enough to be able to stay at home and take care of Elise, and I know lots of moms that aren't but would give anything if they could. I have to say that I think very highly of those women that are able to juggle a full time job, a marriage, a household, and children. While I don't have the full time job thrown into my mix, I have a hard enough time managing all the other things. I know some people would think "What DO you DO all day?" and the tasks of cleaning, cooking, and laundry should all be completed everyday since I'm not working outside the home, but caring for an infant and doing all the other things really is work.

Most days run pretty smoothly, but I feel like I have conquered a huge feat if I have a good meal cooked for my husband when he comes home, have made the bed every day, kept Elise satisfied from the time she wakes up until she goes to bed and the house is still standing. I do manage to complete laundry and try to keep the house picked up, but some days I have a very fussy baby that doesn't nap and refuses to sit or lay anywhere besides in my arms or on my lap. It's those days that the chores don't always get completed. Some wouldn't understand why dinner can't be ready and the laundry all cleaned, folded, and put away, but taking care of my baby is my number one priority.

From the time she wakes up, we start the cycle. Eat (her, not me), burp, change diaper, play. Repeat. Sometimes we throw in about 2 or 3 outfit changes when she spits up all her and me or poop leaks out her diaper, or if she pees mid diaper change. After that, the laundry really starts to stack up. She doesn't really nap, just a little 20 minute dozing here or there. During that time, I try to get a shower. She usually wakes up or is awake and fussing, so my shower lasts about 7 minutes. That's 13 minutes less than I would like. If we have to go to the grocery store or Wal-Mart, I have to make sure she's full and clean before we go and be back in time for her to eat again. I usually throw laundry in the wash and can get it in the dryer, but folding it might come the next day or so.

In the evenings, I try to make a meal for us, get Elise fed and bathed. The kitchen has to be cleaned and she has to be fed again before bed. When Jason is home, he is trying to unwind and shower from his day. Elise doesn't really go to bed until we do, so Jason and I don't really have time for each other. Most of our conversations are about her, and by the end of my day, I'm pretty ready for some kind of adult conversation that doesn't involve singing, funny faces, or animal noises. Sometimes my husband finds that a bit challenging and acts like a 7 year old. So I have then spent my entire day talking in baby talk and making up the words to nursery rhymes that I can't remember - only to deal with a grown man tormenting me because he thinks he's funny. I wish I was living a glorified life like the housewives of Orange County, but those women have nannies and housekeepers.

I am not complaining by any means and do NOT want this to be interpreted that way. I am only intending to say that just from what I do on a day to day basis (which is work for me), working moms need to be given a lot of credit for what they do. I can imagine it's not easy, and even harder to leave your child. My day will come soon enough when I will have to learn to juggle all those responsibilities. I will then feel the enormous guilt of knowing my baby is spending her days in the care of someone else instead of the guilt of not contributing anything financially to my household, and having my husband sacrifice with me to accommodate the choice to be a stay at home mom.

Case & Elise Meet For The First Time

Aunt Debbie, Leslie, Casen, and Meme all came to visit this weekend. Case LOVED Elise. We should have had the camera to take pictures when he saw her for the first time. He wanted to touch her and find out all about her. It was the cutest thing! As much as he loved her, she wasn't quite sure what to think about that little boy. She would pull her hand away from him as if she was saying "Don't YOU touch ME!"

Case & Elise

Dear Elise... When Two Became Three

My Dearest Elise,

Let Mommy tell you a story about how you became to be. It's been almost four years now that your Daddy and I were brought together. While I was going to college and having a blast (doing things you should never do!) your Daddy and I stumbled upon each other through a mutual friend. We communicated via Facebook and on the phone for a while because I was taking trips to Dallas, Austin, starting summer school and working two jobs. And your Daddy was working two jobs too. We finally went out for lunch one day, but then went our separate ways telling each other we would be in touch.

Well, I didn't hear from Daddy for about a week, so I just figured that relationship was a wash, but I wasn't too devastated (because like I said, I was enjoying the single life - possibly too much). Well, anyway... your Father decided he wanted to walk back into my life and said he'd been at Palo Duro Canyon fighting wild fires around the clock and that's why I hadn't heard from him. Well, I agreed to go out with him again, but he wasn't quite prepared for me to invite myself and my friend Ashley along on his "Boy's Night Out" to The Jungle... Do NOT concern yourself with what The Jungle is... just pretend it's like The Rain Forest Cafe and he would not be proud for you to know about that. Well, after a fun filled night with my friends and his friends, it was clear that I was going to become a permanent fixture in his life. He and I were always together. Barbecuing, going out to eat, taking trips and spending as much time as we could together. After a while, it became pretty evident that this was going to be something serious, so Possum and Mommy moved into Daddy's.

Now let me stop here and tell you about when your Daddy told me he loved me. While I had been "secretly" telling Ashley that he was something special and thought I might love him, she was blabbing all that to him (nice friend). But, I guess it turned out for the best, because your Daddy felt the same way but had a time line for when he deemed it appropriate to share that with me. But once he got wind of the fact that I had the same feelings his time line went right out the window. He was working at the fire station one day and came home for lunch. He got ready to head back to work and I was walking down the driveway with him. He kissed me goodbye and then started acting like a complete fool. I could not for the life of me figure out if he was going to leave, stay, or have a panic attack. So, I was really starting to question his sanity when he said (at about 112 mph) "I love you." I said "what?!" and in my head wondered if he said what I thought he said. He repeated himself and I stood there with a blank look and said "okay, me too." He then turned around and left. I don't think he got the response he was expecting and I was just dumbfounded. Well, he came home from work four hours later and we had to have a heart to heart, where Mommy had to explain she felt the same way.

Fast forward to December 2, 2006. While decorating the Christmas tree and watching Love Actually, Daddy decided it was a good time to ask me if I would marry him and spend the rest of my life with him. That was another brilliant response on my part with "Are you sure?" Of course I said yes and on August 4, 2007 we promised to love each other for the rest of our lives in front of lots of friends and family.

We were loving the married life, honeymoon, vacations, buying our first house, spending time with each other...everything was moving in the right directions for us and we couldn't have been happier (or so we thought). We didn't talk much about having a baby, but towards the end of 2008 it was on both our minds. We weren't going to try and just decided what happens happens. Well, in March of 2009 we found out we were going to have you, and that our hearts were going to be filled with an enormous amount of love. We couldn't possibly prepare ourselves for the joy we would come to know a short 9 months later.

When October 26, 2009 came and Dr. Appel cheerfully said "we're going to have a baby today." Daddy and I were very happy we were finally going to meet you. While my labor and delivery weren't the worst, it was very big challenge and accomplishment to bring you into the world. As soon as you were born the nurses whisked you off to clean you up and all I could do was watch and wait for you to be in my arms and wonder if you would know I was your Mommy. After all, you are the only one who knows my heart from the inside. Your Daddy was so proud of you. He was smiling from ear to ear and when he called family and friends to tell them you were here, no one could hardly understand him because he was talking so fast because he was so excited.

I think back about when you were still in my belly. When you were all mine. I wondered what it would be like to have you here and to be your Mom. I could have never expected how rewarding it is and how much you have exceeded my hopes and expectations. No one can ever possibly love you like your Momma. I am happy when you are happy, I smile when you smile (which you recently started doing) and I cry when you cry. I will spend the rest of life thriving in all your joys and happiness, and your existence consumes my entire being. I know there will be times when you will choose paths that I wouldn't have chosen for you and you will make mistakes, but I will still continue to love you unconditionally. I try everyday to be the best Mom I can be to you.

Elise, your Daddy and I are so proud of you, and we want you to grow up to be proud of us as your parents. We will always love you with the same protective, unconditional love we have felt since we first saw you.


With all my love,
Mommy

The Things I Miss...

Let me first start out by saying that I LOVE staying home and taking care of Elise. The things I don't have time to do now are not near as important as taking care of her. With that being said, I knew that staying at home meant we wouldn't be able to go out to eat, go on trips, and I couldn't get anymore pedicures - like we have been able to do in the past.

But the things I have really missed lately are having the time to just shave my legs or be able to take a shower without having to be a one-woman act to keep Elise from fussing. She will fuss when she can't see me, so I set her in her chair in the bathroom while I shower. She's happy for a minute. It lasts about 3 minutes before she starts fussing again. While my legs are starting to rival those of a woolly mammoth, it can be quite comical to see me flinging back the shower curtain every five minutes covered in soap or shampoo talking or singing to Elise. I don't think ever in my life have I taken such fast showers, and I really wish I could enjoy a hot 20 minute shower again.

I never thought I'd want to fold clothes, but stuff in my dryer gets set on the 15 minute wrinkle release about 9 times before it ever gets folded. Just can't ever get a head. Maybe when Elise gets on some kind of schedule I can get caught up.

First Family Portraits