Sentimental

As everyone knows – time goes so fast. My little one is almost 11 months. At the moment I’m more sentimental about our trips to San Diego and New York City. I absolutely loved being in San Diego. It was a new experience having the baby on vacation. Really it was nice being away from the dirty dishes and laundry. The quality family time was nice too.

We spent a long weekend at Hotel Del Coronado. Highly recommend it to everyone traveling to San Diego area. The place was an easy drive to the San Diego Zoo, USS Midway Aircraft Carrier, Whole Foods, and its located on the beach. (In another post I will let you know how much I love Whole Foods. Yes, we did plan a trip there.) Did I mention the perfect weather? We were also able to see all the animals at the zoo. Baby Grady will thank us later for it. 

Beachfront at Hotel Del Coronado

Polar Bear - Have you watched them lately on the Polar Bear Cam? Love it. Go here to get you fix Polar Cam

Hodad's Burgers: Where a burger is bigger than my baby's head.

Momma & Baby Elephant

Lots of Crying

Lately I feel more like the Pillsbury Dough Boy than the trophy wife who stays at home, runs the house, and pops out babies. I’ve always imagined that perfectly toned body that comes with having extra time for the gym. Only now in the midst of laundry, dishes, and cloth diapers do I realize I have no time. The “to-do” list is really just an excuse. I’ve gone to the gym a few times post-birthing. I was ready for it to be hard. But I went all fancy and have a trainer who is pushing me to exercise even harder. It’s so easy to get out of shape and downright depressing to realize I can’t manage one full push-up. Now I reminisce of the days that I was a machine. Remember those times? Right before you get married and way before you have a baby. Remember when you could do 80 pushups in a minute and run half-marathons for fun.

I’m ready to shed this baby weight. Why is it the last 10lbs are the hardest? Here I am making the commitment to exercise harder and eat less crap food. Guarantee there will be some crying involved when the hubby eats whatever he wants and I get a carrot stick with hummus. 

Nothing Nice to Say...

I love my mother dearly. She has ingrained in me a few wise sayings. Her most famous was "take some Tylenol and suck it up". But I had let one slip my mind the past few days, "if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all". Amazing how God can remind us to be kind to others. I ran my mouth about another persons travel preferences. Thinking mine are superior because they consisted of less delays and cost only a few more dollars. 


And this is what happened... Before we even leave for our vacation, our flight is delayed. The ticket person checking us gives us the chose to wait 5 hours in Detroit, wait here for a later flight OR change our destination. We opt for better layover and change our airport. Thankfully we had several family members at our arrival area. They arranged to pick up our car at another airport and drive to meet us 2 hours away. Ha. You thought that was it. 


Here is the break down of delays. 
OKC to Scranton: We are delayed in OKC and miss our connecting flight in Detroit. We are now flying into NYC. Once in Detroit we are bumped from our NYC flight and instead we fly into Newark. 


Scranton to OKC: Our flight in Scranton is delayed. So we are bumped to the NEXT day at 6am. On top of that lovely news. I left my iphone at the gate. Of course security was gracious enough to go "check" the gate for my phone. 


The added bonus to all of our flight delays, staying one more night, my iphone and nursing cover stolen was that Grady has the biggest poop while landing in OKC. We are descending in the air. Green poo is seeping out of his diaper and through his clothes. I can do absolutely nothing for 20 minutes but watch it soak through.


It was a wonderful trip between all the flying. I'll save that for later and leave you with the poo story.

To Be a Blogger

The future seems to be in blogging. I have started to wonder about what type of blogger I want to be when I grow up. It’s highly unlikely that I will start renovations on our house considering my husband is a home builder. We start working on an area and then he hires someone to finish. I do love my new desk. I’m not complaining. I also will not start a cooking blog. I could only teach you how to ruin a pan by boiling water. It never fails that I’m boiling water for pasta and it overflows all over the stovetop. I’m not crafty. I’m not witty. But I have ideas floating around in my head. The brainstorming has begun. Stay tuned for my next adventure. In the meantime I’m staying away from all things DIY, afraid I might sew my fingers together.

0-6 months

The moment I was sewn up and wheeled out of the surgery room; I was in love with this little guy. I have done unspeakable things that I didn’t know where possible of a mother. Including nursing 0-6 months. He is precise as a clock and every 3 hours he wants to eat, unless I can distract him otherwise. I have surprised myself and not squeamish about diapers. Also, taking it one step further I chose to participate in the cloth diaper movement. They are super cute. Plus very easy to clean and maintain. I would recommend going cloth to anyone.

After the baby thing, the biggest change in my life is working from home. I absolutely love being at the house and watching him grow. It has gone so fast from a little baby that barely smiles. Now, he is rolling all over the floor playing with toys. But what has happened to me.

I am by nature a quite person. But seriously I can only login to Facebook and check out my friends’ status so many times a day. I need actual face time with friends. I want to visit with people past the pleasantries of the weekend. I get frustrated with the baby. I need to vent about how little sleep I’m getting. Or that I have no time to exercise because I’m working, putting the baby down for naps, and tending the house. I’m sure all this will be better once I stop having the “sleep lady” stare down at 4am with said perfect happy baby that I love more than life itself.

I find it strange that most of my life was spent at daycare, school, and work. Now I am at home all day.

Cloth diaper baby. 

Confessions After Dark

It happens every year. I know about if for at least a week. But I always forget how sad it makes me after it happens. The time change depresses me. I'm never prepared for the darkness. I go to work, sit down at my desk, and notice the sun blinding me in the eyes. The sun is shinning in on me. This only irritates me because I'm not a morning person. It makes me really sad when I leave the office and its completely dark outside. It feels as if my day is over and all I did was work. I'm not that exciting after work. But I don't want to feel like I've worked all day long and now its time for bed. Its just so sad. 

Now, a small confession. I'm ready for the new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie to be in theaters. Its only a week away and I can't stop thinking about it. I already have my ticket purchased. But at least I'm not the only Harry Potter nerd. Thank you office mates for keeping me updated on the latest. We even had a little meeting at the end of today. Someone had found out where the movie ends at part one. Please don't ask if you are confused about the meeting. 

This past weekend a few of the ladies from my family attended my MRCC baby shower. It was very special to have them here. Below is my grandma. Thank you for coming family and friends. Thank you friends for the wonderful shower. Its great to have the support and love from my church family. I really appreciate it.  

Ready for the Cold Weather

I have never been so ready for the cold weather. The summer was too hot for me and this lil' bun in the oven. Even today at 60 degrees, I just feel like a normal person. The girls in the office have been freezing all this time because I've taken over the air conditioner. They constantly wear blankets. I should be nice and buy them all snuggies to help them work more efficiently. More than likely not going to happen.

The fall weather and leaves turning color is the perfect time to take maternity photos. Thanks to Mandy Stansberry, we had the chance to get outside and capture this moment. I'm 7 months pregnant and feeling great at the moment. If only it will last. The anxiety of holidays and the baby coming is starting to creep into my head. Its hard to believe we are already in November. This year has gone by fast.

Below is a select few of the photos from the shoot with Mandy.