Living The Simple Life

Since having Elise I have really mellowed out a lot.  I'm usually wound up tighter than the girdle on a baptist minister's wife at an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast and over flowing with OCD.  While I still pay attention to every.single.little.bitty.detail, I have also learned to take a step back, inhale and exhale slowly, and take a look at the bigger picture.  While I would love to take vacations or go out, I have learned to enjoy the smaller, simple things in life, and I'm sure I'll probably live longer because of it.

1.  I love that my dog sleeps on the floor next to my side of the bed every night.  On the weekends Jason lets both dogs out to potty, and she comes right back to the bedroom and sleeps until I get up.
2.  I love that my husband laughs along with me when I dump a glass of cold water on him while he's taking a shower instead of getting mad (which is what I typically do).  I'll have to remember to laugh when he gets even with me.
3.  I love that Elise turns her head when I call her name.
4.  When the weather is nice, I like to throw a blanket on the grass at the park and sit with Elise.
5.  When my child starts spitting up while I'm holding her, I don't freak out.  She covers me in puke/spit up and I just hold her until she's done.  My clothes will wash.
6.  I watch HSN and whatever else Elise changes the channel to.
7.  I let my dogs sleep on the furniture because they are comfortable there.  I Febreeze when they get up.
8.  I like watching the birds play in the sprinkler.

Sleepy Baby

I put Elise in her walker to play while I was in the shower.  I heard her fussing and knew she was getting tired.  Then it got really quiet.  When I got out of the shower the poor thing was asleep.

 

 

A New Babysitter

It only took two and a half months for her to get the hang of it, but she finally did.  It looks like a success to me! 

The Girl I Was...

"The girl I was with the business degree probably wouldn't recognize me"

A while back I had two interviews at an advertising company for an account executive job.  I was excited about the possibility of having a solid career that I could really apply myself to, have something to achieve and be proud of.  On the other hand, when I was called back for the second interview, I became increasingly nervous about potentially having to leave my baby.  I know the day will come when I will return to work and be forced to leave Elise in the care of someone else.  I am torn between two worlds.  If I go back to work, I'll feel proud of myself for contributing to my family's income, and proud of myself for working hard outside my home.  I know I'm smart, talented, have good ideas to contribute, and could be a valuable asset to any company.  But how can I validate all that without feeling guilty or sad that I am not the one with my baby.  If I am going to have to leave my baby to go back to work, I don't want a job, I want THE job.  It needs to be worth it for me to justify leaving her.  I had this plan of having it all, the family and the job.  Being Supermom.  I had always envisioned myself as having a career, and never as a stay at home mom.  I faced the fact that my child would be in daycare because I didn't even think it would be an option for us.  I am so glad we have been able to make it work this long.  This is time I can never get back with Elise while's she's so little.  I had so much anxiety over going back to work and leaving her, which I assume is normal.  But, I'm sure that women who love their job find it a bit easier to make that transition.  Even though I don't have a high powered career, I still feel proud of myself for taking care of our daughter and proud of the mom I have become.  It is the hardest job there is, but the most rewarding too.

Poop FAIL

Today Elise was sitting on the couch playing with me.  I started smelling something, but thought she probably just tooted.  I didn't think she pooped because it's usually heard around the world... WRONG.  I picked her up to set her on my lap and noticed on the back of her sleeper a little "residue."  I thought to myself... "oh she pooped up her diaper, again.  Not the end of the world."  I carried her into her room and laid her on the changing pad.  I could not prepare myself for what I was about to encounter.  Words cannot even describe the brutality this child committed.  Luckily I had my cell phone handy because I need physical evidence of this catastrophe for my blog you know I have to keep my husband in the loop about what our child does all day.  So I made sure to snap some cell phone photos to assure him that I was earning my keep around here.  Someone please explain to me how this happens...

After I got the diaper off, I was almost certain I was going to need a mask.  I managed to get it folded up and thrown in the diaper genie without getting much on me.  Then I attempted to start cleaning her up with some baby wipes, but that was a lost cause.  I would lift her up to wipe, but then would have to lay her back down and she just kept laying in it and spreading it everywhere.  This is where my "idea" turned into a FAIL.  I immediately scooped her up and laid her in some water in our bathtub.  Because of course it's much easier to just rinse the poop off her and down the drain.  To my horror I noticed poop particles floating everywhere.  My poor child was laying and splashing in poopy water.  Then I started emptying the tub, rinsing her, rinsing the tub, re-filling, more washing, more rinsing.  It was an environmental disaster to say the least.  After she was done in the bath tub I couldn't lay her on her changing pad for obvious reasons so I left her bundled up in her towel and laid her down in her crib praying she wouldn't violate it (I don't know how she could have anything left inside her after that).  I had to get all the clothes out of the dryer, throw the ones in the washer in the dryer, and start a new load so I could get all the poopy stuff immediately in the washer!

I thought I should just throw her sleeper away, but instead I almost emptied a bottle of Spray & Wash on to it, since I just bought this last week and it's one of the few that aren't too small for her.  Luckily the giant poop stain came out.  And I'm sure my child is five pounds lighter and feels 100% better!

First Mother's Day

Saturday morning Jason went out to get the mail.  He came in with a card for me.  I opened it up, and it was a cute card about a first Mother's Day from my mom.  I stood it up on our china cabinet.  That's where I keep Christmas cards, birthday cards, etc. to look at for a few days. 

We went to Daddy & Lori's Sunday for dinner.  Jason said "what do you want for lunch?  It's your day... Momma's day."  He decided to rename Mother's Day as Momma's Day because he knows how much I hate to be called MOTHER.  For 2 reasons:  It's too stiff and proper for a girl like ME, and that's what he refers to his mother as and she and I are nowhere near the likeness of each other.  On the way over, I was making my "Mother's Day" phone calls when he threw a card in my lap.  I opened it and it was the same card I had opened on Saturday.  He and my mom ended up buying the same card.  Since he never saw me open the first one, just saw it on the china cabinet, he thought I had found his card and taken it upon myself to give it to me.  Then he explained he had also got me a gift card to the spa but that it hadn't come in the mail yet.  He went on to further explain that he did not wait until the last minute to get it, either.  It came in the mail today.

Lucky me, Daddy & Lori bought Elise a high chair and me a pair of jeans and another gift card to the spa!  Looks like Momma's gonna get a much deserved day of pampering!  Even though I'm super excited about that, I'm also really excited about Elise's high chair.  I've been feeding her in her walker and Bumbo and she is very easily distracted (especially by the green light on our Roomba-it's paralyzes her), so I'm really looking forward to the ease of a high chair.

 

They are both thinking "Grandpa is crAAAzy!"

 

"ohhhh I don't think I've pulled this hair recently!"

"Whoa!  He's a big dude compared to me down here!"

He thinks he'll keep her

Chillaxin With My Dog

Riley is really soft to lay and relax on!