I love thinking about family traditions. We had a couple when I was growing up that may not have even been a true ‘tradition’ but now that I’m older I miss them. Especially now that we have a child, in the back of my mind I am always thinking about what traditions we can create with him. Christmas Eve One thing I absolutely loved was on Christmas Eve. My two sisters and I would sit on the floor in front of my dad (or I would be in his lap when I was very young) and he would read us ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Then the three of us…
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My Favorite Things (January Edition).
Smart SweetsI actually get these from our grocery store because it’s cheaper than the website. I wish our grocery store carried more of them, but so far they only have these, and we’ve tried them all: Peach Rings: I love these! Sweet Fish: We loved these, but eventually started to get tired of them Sour Blast Buddies: Still obsessed with these. They are so freaking good!! Sweet Chews: These were disgusting. Seriously. Gross. We spit them out in the trash. Sheila G’s Chocolate Chip Brownie BrittleHeaven in my mouth. That’s all I can say. I tend to buy more than one bag of this at a time so I know…
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Our Decision to Formula Feed.
When our baby was born, he had a problem with sucking and swallowing. The medical personnel struggled to figure out what was going on because apparently that is more of a preemie problem, and our guy was full term. Because of this, after spending about 48 hours in the hospital trying to breastfeed the lactation consultant asked if we could do some formula to just get him fed because we were starting to see complications from him not getting nutrients. Fed is Best. Period. Fed is best, so I didn’t care that we used formula so soon, even though I still really planned on breastfeeding. When we left the hospital…
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Pregnant in a Pandemic.
This was never how I envisioned my first pregnancy going, especially after waiting for it this long. Instead of get-togethers, celebrations and visits from our family and friends watching our baby grow inside me, I spent about 7 months in complete and utter fear. Instead, we went into quarantine before we told anyone our news so we didn’t get to see the excitement on their faces in person. Most people were told over the phone or via video chat. I was terrified anytime I would go out in public (which wasn’t very often: doctors office, picking up groceries in a parking lot, getting gas). I was terrified anytime I would…
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5 am Wake-Up Call.
Now that I am done with maternity leave and back at work (which means I’m really missing naps), I have started waking up at 5 am. And yes, ‘started’ is the correct word choice since I’ve only been doing this for a week (maybe longer by the time I actually publish this post). The getting out of bed part is difficult some mornings. We have a very comfortable bed. I’ve discovered the secret for me is to not turn off my alarm until I am standing next to said bed. Said bed. Boom. Poetry. Also, I should probably stop saying ‘boom’ all the time…. Anyways, once I’m up I absolutely…
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Snow Days
Snow is coming in Kansas. Most likely. I mean, it’s about time. I have realized that since I have a child, snow days as I’ve known them no longer exist. Even if I wanted to work from home, I would still have to leave the house to take him to daycare. That’s stupid. These are the things no one tells you about having kids ….
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I Failed at Being Fancy.
Welp, I made a mom boo boo this morning. In order to feel more….adult-ish and put together, I purchased some ‘silk’ pajamas after our son was born. And by silk I mean that I have zero idea what they are made out of and they were $30 from Amazon but they have a silky feel to them. When the kid woke up around 3:30 this morning, I went in to feed him. He’s bottle fed so I never have to worry about what I’m wearing. (And does anyone else just refer to their child as ‘The Kid”?) Anyways, halfway through the bottle I propped him up on my shoulder to…
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First Sleepover.
Silas got to sleepover at his grandparents this weekend (J’s parents). I am going back to work on the 18th and it was great to have a weekend to replenish myself. We went out for dinner. We played video games. I took a bubble bath. We went shopping, a couple times, but didn’t buy anything. I got things ready for daycare. I got things ready for me to return to work. I figured out my personal schedule. I meal prepped almost a months worth of food We slept!!! I got so many things done! Yes, I missed my little guy, but I knew I would be getting him back on…
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Sometimes It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.
Last night was rough. S (our 4 week old son) fought sleep for about 4/5 hours and didn’t go down until after midnight. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to drop him on our bed and walk away. I wanted to curl up into a ball with headphones and just let him cry/scream until he passed out from exhaustion, but J had already reached his limit so it was my turn. Instead of doing any of those things, I went to a quiet corner in my brain and just let my body take over until silence happened. Eventually he did go to sleep, by some miracle. And then…
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Labor & Delivery.
We went in to Via Christi to be induced on Sunday, October 25th at 7 am. I didn’t want to go past one week of my due date and the schedule for inductions was crazy busy, but luckily my doctor was more than happy to induce on a Sunday, and so was the hospital staff. That last night of sleep was a rough one. I couldn’t really sleep due to nerves and just being super pregnant in general. That means that Justin didn’t really get much sleep either so we were off to a great start! Once we got up to my delivery room I took off my mask (pandemic,…