my pillow

So I have this pillow. We shall name it little pillow. My mom got it at her baby shower for me with a matching blanket. For some reason, I adopted that pillow as my lovely. Some people have security blankets growing up, Zoey has her cow. I, my friends, had a pillow. I couldn't sleep without it growing up. I used to take it everywhere with me in case my house caught on fire. Literally, that's what I thought of. It was pretty important, and I knew my parents wouldn't think to grab it for me if I was gone. When I got to the point that I was going on sleep overs I learned to do without it for a night, but it was hard. And I never slept well.

It has been so used and loved that my grandma resurfaced (? is that the right word) it several times. So as it is now the original whatever it was is under 3 layers of newer material.

I won't lie, I still have it. However, I have a small pillowcase on it to hide the dinosaurs. lol. I can sleep without it no problem, but I am always more comfortable with it. I guess that's what I get after 24 years with the thing.

Anywho, I come to the point of this blog....

 My dear dear daughter has decided that she too must sleep with "Mommy's Pillow." I try to hide it so she doesn't see it, but she generally remembers it and screams for it. And so my little pillow is now my child's. And I'm jealous. And I feel bad, because I don't see her sharing with number two when she is old enough. And so that means she doesn't get the comfort and love that I have grown up with.

And so most nights when I go in and check on her I always see if my pillow is in a place I can steal it. Sometimes I can take it and life is good. Other times I can't, but life is still good, because my little angel is sleeping. And there are few things more precious that a child sleeping just like you did when you were her age.  Besides, this way if there is ever a fire at night I can save my two precious babies in one sweap.

It's like being underwater...but not.

In my 14 months of being a mommy I have discovered my super power of being able to breath only through my mouth. Why is this unique or blogworthy you may ask? Well you see, it is very useful.


See these examples:

1-THE diaper.

     You know the one I'm talking about. Like when you are at the grocery store and there is a screaming child on the other end of the aisle. It's not the screaming that notifies you that there is a unhappy 1 year old down there, but rather the stench she left behind when she was sitting right where you are standing looking for the butter beans. It just so happens that that poor, unhappy child will soon get her diaper changed. And her poor, unhappy mother will unleash the fury within the diaper. This is the moment that being able to breath solely with one's mouth is a servival skill.

2-What goes down, tends to come up.

     Chrildren throw up. It happens. And when it happens it just so happens to get all over your hair, feet, shirt, airmpit.... And cute, sick baby decides its squishyness is fun to play with and rub in the carpet, and then do it again. Yay more squishy stuff!!! Obviously,  you can't rely her to clean it all up. And so you must do so without throwing up yourself. And so mommy survival skill comes up again...pardon the pun.



3-The husband

     Husbands do silly things. My husband likes to take a lot of left overs to work. He also likes to come inside our house as fast as possible once he gets home from work. This makes him forget his tuperwear containers from his lunch, and so every Friday he cleans out his car and brings them all in for ME to clean. Some smell kinda grose. But tolerable, especially with my new skill.

Sometimes when it snows he takes my car because it is 4 wheel drive. And so his weekly car cleaning doesn't involve my car. And my car is full of clothes and baby bags and snacks and school stuff. (I basically live in my car). Things tend to get pushed to the side to make room for something else. Well sometimes, like today, I have enough time to reorganize my car and Chris's little prizes show up. Sometimes, also like today, Tupperware with a whole chicken from almost 2 weeks ago makes its appearance. Lucky for me it has been pretty cold so it wasn't as nasty as it could be. But opening the Tupperware container was done the correct, non-nosed way.

There are many other times this comes in hand, such as throwing away the garbage with said diaper or chicken. Or sleeping with a husband her just had the butter beans he was looking for. I'm not too sure when I acquired this mommy superpower, but I'm sure glad I did.

Baby Hungry

Yesterday we found out that 2 of my husband's friend's wives are expecting a baby. They are 3 weeks apart from each other. I am really happy for them. They deserve to have the blessing of a baby. Especially with the unique challenges they both have faced in the last couple years.

As soon as Z Dawg turned 1 I kinda got bit by the baby bug and can't wait for another. One might even say I'm baby hungry. But, I really don't like that phrase. It reminds me of this...

And since I don't want that guy running around, I'll just congratulate the lucky girls who defeated this monster, wish them luck in this amazing journey, and hopefully wait until I'm done with school in 5000 years to see him again.

What I learned today...

If your child spills baby food on the floor at breakfast, clean it up right away. Even if you plan on mopping within the next 20 minutes. Because something will get in your way and you won't get to mopping for another 7 hours. At that time it is now stuck to the floor and is relentless to get destroyed. And so you must get on your hands and knees and manually get it off. However, the only way you can keep your child happy is to put her in her high chair with food. Which, is directly above where you are scraping away. And so you are left with a clean floor, but who knows what in your hair from the sweet thing dropping everything she has on you...after it has already got mushy in her mouth.

tender moments

We put Zo down to bed at her general time and I went off to school to study for a bit. I got home around 10 and went straight upstairs to study some more.She woke up around 10:10. I thought Chris was sleeping, so I let her cry for a little bit to see if she would go back down on her own. But Chris ended up getting her and brought her to our room. I decided to go downstairs and take her since he gets up at 4:30. We ended up staying in bed for a little while and had some good family time. I may regret it tomorrow night when she decides its fun to hang out in the big bed instead of sleep again but this is why it was worth it:

She cuddled next to Chris and started to play with his beard for 5 minutes.

She decided it was pretty funny to head butt him for another few minutes.

She was all cuddles. (besides the head butting).

My favorite part of the night...She was busy doing who knows what when this commercial came on.



She then stopped what she was doing, turned to the TV, started dancing and had the biggest smile on.

I love this commercial anyways, she just made it that much better.

Times like this make the crazyness of life worth it, and so much more.

Best Job EVER

This week I have been kind of discouraged. I'm trying to find a job teaching dance and I totally had it, except they needed me to work at 3:30 and my last class ends at 3:30. I've just been thinking I'm going to be stuck where I am forever. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and everyone I work with. And when the day comes that I actually do quit I will be a total wreck and bawling like a baby. But, really, I make next to nothing, and a set work schedule will be amazing.

I got rejected into the nursing program. Which, honestly I would have been in shock if I made it because I haven't taken the pre-recs and don't have my cna yet. I took the class when I was preggo, but haven't done the test yet. silly me. So that added to my pity party of being stuck, for a better word.

Then today I had the day off to be alone with Zo while hubby was working. We just had breakfast, and I had pandora running. When I was cleaning up I started dancing. She started laughing like crazy. So I did a little performance for her. Let me tell you, it was the best time dancing I think I've ever had. Best audience. Not worrying about anything. Just dancing. While I was shakin my stuff I realized I don't need to find a better job, I already have the best one--Mom.

So for now, I'll keep my hopes up and keep trying. But in the meantime, I'm going to go dancin with my baby.

Camping Trip Chapter 1

(I'm writing this for a class in school. its 99% true and 1% could very well be true, just not in this time frame)


I had planned to wake up early, pack, shower, and get my homework done before my baby, Zoey, work up in the morning so I can be on time for our camping trip. But, naturally, she wakes up 30 minutes after I do and doesn’t go back to sleep. I try everything: a clean bum, two bottles, a few cuddles. And nothing. She is wide awake trying her new trick of standing while holding onto the crib. So instead of working on my to do list, I bring her to bed with me. We cuddle some more, and she finally dozes of. Unfortunately, so do I. The next thing I know, the little princess is pulling my hair. She let me sleep in until ten in the morning. She never sleeps in that late. Naturally.


The morning is spent running around like a drugged fly. I decide to forgo the shower, an often occurrence in my life. Who has time for daily hygiene? Definitely not a full time student and worker with two children, one she birthed and the other her mother-in-law did.

My mother-in-law is taking Zoey for the weekend so my husband and I can go camping at the lake. We live two hours away, so the plan is to meet half way by 1 o’clock. That doesn’t leave much time. Somehow I get Zoey fed, dressed, and packed in time. I still have a billion things to do for myself, but at least she is all taken care of so I can drop her off in time.

Naturally, they aren’t on time. This is a reverse from normal. So I wait in the Chevron parking lot and just watch the people. A man in a polo shirt and plaid pants runs to catch the bus that is slowly driving around. I look at him closer. He has tattoos all over his legs, and is holding a brown stuffed animal. I think it is a dog, but he is too far away and I don’t have on my glasses to tell for sure. I wonder if he is giving it to his child? Isn’t that a twisted fate? He is late to go see his son or daughter and my in-laws are late taking mine away.

With that, I go sit in the back with her. As I open the back door, she gives me the biggest gummy grin. As I take her in I realize she is wet. That can mean a few things, and all of which I don’t want to deal with at this gas station. As I get closer my nose gives me a good idea of what I’m dealing with—major diaper blowout. Naturally. I unbuckle her from her car seat and get a better look at what I’m dealing with. My aunt calls dirty diapers, muddy diapers. Well, Zoey has a freaking mudslide on her back. I clumsily try to fish out a diaper and a change of clothes to go deal with this avalanche. This is a hard task one handed anyways. Now, add a wiggly baby I don’t want to get too close to me in the other hand. I can feel my pants settle a centimeter too low, yet I don’t have an extra arm to fix it. So here I am trying to magically shimmy my pants to the correct location, holding a smelly, dirty, now crying baby, and digging in my diaper bag I swear Marry Poppins made because I cannot find the diapers for the life of me. My phone is vibrating in my pocket, but I don’t even bother to worry about answering it. Instead, I just yell to my pocket. Not right now! I look like a crazy woman, for sure.

I eventually find her diaper and change of clothes and go in the store and take care of the issue. As I walk back out to my car, here comes the in-laws. Naturally, they get here 5 minutes too late to help the crazy woman screaming at her pocket. We make the exchange without a hitch.

dilemmas

Zo has been on a mommy fix lately. With EEEEEVVVVEEERRRYYYYY thing. I can't even put her down to wash my hands without her screaming for me. I try to give her to the hubby and she just squirms her way to try to get back to me. While I love the fact that I am the greatest person in the world to you, there are other great people that love you too, Zoey. I have this constant dilemma when I'm home alone: do I cuddle and play with Zoey all day and keep her happy, or do I leave and do the dishes, potty, laundry and let her cry and cry. I generally choose the first one, but then I get a husband who doesn't understand why dirty clothes are literally crawling out of our bedroom.

On another mommy/daughter note, Zoey has started to give kisses. However, basically every kiss involves her biting our lips. Those little teeth hurt!!! I don't know what to do. Do I tell her no, and then have her not give kisses anymore until she understands there is no teeth involved? Do I not do anything about her biting kisses of death? (Seriously, you should see how big her mouth gets when she is going in for the kill.... I mean kiss.) But, I'm afraid if I don't do anything that she will start biting at other times besides kisses. She already has started this, and I try to discipline her accordingly. And the random biting, and giving kisses started around the same time. So, it could be her random bitings are supposed to be kisses, and to her she is just doing what we have taught her. Can you see how this is a huge dilemma in my life?? Who knew parenting could be so hard. Ha ha ha ha

Advice of any kind is greatly appreciated! :)

Learning

My baby started throwing up last night. The nurse told me to go buy pedialite. So I ran to the store. They had three flavors, grape, orange, and unflavored which was a clear color. I went with grape because she loves her grape tylanol. Well, I give her an ounce when I get home. She seams to be handeling it ok laying down. I pick her up, and she nussles her ehad in my shoulder. Then it hit. There goes the grape. ALL over mama and baby. Its dripping down my legs. I'm sticky with purple puke. I now understand why they make the clear kind. It comes up clear. So in the moments when your child explodes all over you, you will at least not look like a slimy grape dripping from head to toe.

Rolling with the Babster

Soo.... I'm not doing so good in this blog thing. Nor am I really doing much better in the being a frugal, coupon clipping mama thing. But this is me, I get great ideas, start them, but generally fail to complete them. I am learning, now, that that is ok. Every day is a blessing. I can't spend my life stressing about the little things, when I have this little thing called Zoey who is growing at warped speed. I also need to remember this when she is throwing a fit and not letting me put her diaper back on that this too will pass, and I'll want it back. Motherhood has been an amazing ride. Each day I learn a little more. One day I will be able to accomplish everything I want to, but until then I'll just spend the day rolling around on the floor with my baby.