I just put an old lady's maxi pad through the wash and all I can think is this is my life...

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Saturday, December 31, 2011

Jumping on the Yearly Recap Bandwagon

It seems to be a trend in blog world to end the blogging year with a nice little recap. So, no need for me to disappoint.

January - We had to put down our sweet kitten Rocco. We cried. I celebrated my 26th birthday in Cottage Country with Turkey Butt.
February - We found out we were expecting our little pumpkin on the 16th.
March - Celebrated our 1st anniversary at my in-law's very cold camp.
April - Turkey Butt celebrated his 27th birthday with a homemade ice cream cake.
May - Moved to a new apartment.
June - Found out that our little pumpkin is going to be a girl.
July - Went to the zoo.
August - Had an unpleasant run-in at work that led to a few days off of work - funded by Worker's Compensation.
September - Got beautiful maternity photos taken by RavenDawn Photography. Attended my first baby shower - and it happened to be my own.
October - Turkey Butt & I got hitched on the 1st. On the 18th we welcomed our Little Miss Elle into the world. On the 31st we celebrated our first Halloween as a family of 3 (+dog) with cuddling and horror movies.
November - Took holiday photos of Little Miss Elle for our Christmas cards.
December - Found our dream house and put an offer on it. Celebrated Christmas as a family. Officially bought our dream house - now we wait for the closing date.

All in all it was such a wonderful year. I feel so very blessed to have had such an amazing year! I can only imagine what will happen for us in 2012. Will be so hard to top 2011! This is my life!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Ten Weeks Old

My sweet squishy face is now ten weeks old. My how time flies! This is my life... :)

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Baby-o is 9 Weeks

This is my life.

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

I've got to be honest... juggling caring for a newborn, keeping house, going through the process of purchasing a house, the holidays and a marriage is hard! You're bound to drop the ball on something. Sadly, in my case, I let my marriage falter for awhile.

The stress of everything had been piling up on my shoulders. I was cranky and frustrated. I felt more like the nanny/maid/chauffeur than a wife and mother. I made the mistake of taking my frustration out on Turkey Butt. We ended up fighting and arguing on a daily basis. Heck, most days we weren't even speaking to each other because saying nothing was better than saying something we might regret.

The low point came one morning when neither of us could remember if we had ever been happy together. Believe me when I say this was the worst because we've had such an amazing relationship full of so much happiness! We were just becoming blinded by the bad. For awhile that day I honestly thought we might not make it. But then Turkey Butt, after awhile of nothing being said, told me loved me!

Well folks, that woke me up! Why was I getting so frustrated and pessimistic? I have an amazing husband who is so in love with me he bawled at our wedding. I have the most perfect baby girl whom I have waited my whole life for. I have an adorable, lovable dog. We're in the process of buying our dream house. I have wonderful family and friends who fill my life with joy. So why was I so angry all the time?

Enough was enough! After that low point, I vowed to take a deep breath and relax. My life is absolutely amazing and I plan to enjoy every last second of it. It's only been a few days since I vowed to see the glass half full instead of half empty, but I can already feel the difference. I talk to sweet hubby respectfully, I can laugh about all the house buying hoops that I jump through daily, and I'm enjoying my time with Little Miss Elle!

Instead of trying to end my maternity leave so that I can go to work and feel as though I'm accomplishing something, I'm taking the Little Miss out into the community to meet new people. Yesterday we visited my Great Great Aunt and her husband. They don't get many visitors and have been under the weather lately so it was truly amazing to see how much they adored their visit with Little Miss Elle. We also stopped in to the Nursing Home I used to work at yesterday. The little old lady's all got a kick out of holding the squirming baby and giving her lots of kisses! Having one of the Alzheimer's patients ask me who I was really made me appreciate my life. I think after the new year, the babe and I will have to visit more frequently. It is wonderful the joy ten minutes with a baby can bring!

As always, thank you for listening to my rant. This is my life....

Saturday, December 17, 2011

A letter to Little Miss Elle

Dear Elodie,

Choosing to vaccinate you was an easy decision for me. The possible side effects of the vaccinations were easier for me to accept than the consequences of you contracting a serious disease. We were lucky that you didn't experience any side effects with your first set of needles. In fact, the most notable part of that day occurred that evening while your Daddy was changing your diaper...

I was in the kitchen and I heard him holler for me to come quick. I dropped what I was doing and ran into your room. You were lying on the change table and smiling up at your Daddy. Everytime that he said, "Hi Lady" in a high pitched voice, you would squeal with laughter. The joy on both your face and his was enough to melt your Mama's heart.

We love you sweet baby-o. Forever and for always!


(This is my life...)

Friday, December 16, 2011

Added Holiday Stress

Ohhh the stress of trying to purchase a house. Now I remember why I've rented all these years. Being not a very patient person, the waiting is literally killing me. Okay, okay not literally but still. Gah!

It all started off innocently enough - doesn't it always? - with me casually perusing MLS listings. I saw a couple nice ones and one amazing one that was shocking priced reasonably. But still, I knew we were in our lease til the end of April 2012 so it was all just for fun. But then our bedroom closet sprung a leak. By bedroom closet, I really mean the bathroom of the aparment upstairs sprung a leak. I'm talking serious water damage and an increasingly alarming mould outbreak. Turkey Butt and I had to clear out the closet, move our clothes and bed into the (already crowded) nursery and close up the room. Our landlords solution? A few days later they stopped the leak but have yet to address the fact that the closet will have to be torn out and redone, the mould issue will have to be dealt with, and the carpet will have to be ripped up.

All of a sudden, Turkey Butt and I are thinking we should fast track our home buying plans. So we contacted sweet hubby's bank and a real estate agent to get the ball rolling. Cut to a week later. After looking at 4 houses, we had my father-in-law come up to inspect our top two picks. Pick number two ended up having structural damage to the tune of approx. $50, 000 so scratch that off the list! Pick number one (a.k.a. dream house) needed a new roof ($3,000 to $5,000) and my father in law had a few questions about the spray foam insulation in the basement.

So, we put an offer on our dream house last night. We offered $7,000 less than the asking price. We felt this was generous considering the house had been on the market for a year and was located within spitting distance to a busy street. They counter offerred at $2,000 below their asking price at about the same time we found out the insulation needs to be covered to meet building code regulations and insure it isn't a fire hazard. Father-in-law estimates this would cost another $2,000. Oye.

Here's my dilemma, I am not moving my family into a house that has unsafe, flammable materials in it. This is a given. But at the same time, do I really want to add another out of pocket expense onto an already expensive home? So far we're looking at a minimum of $5,000 of work and this doesn't even include the little things (like bannisters need to be built for both staircases). This is my dream house and it is magically, just barely, in my budget due to the poor location but there has to be some give. If the Seller's agree to fix the basement and install smoke detectors ( there are none in the house), then we will accept their counter offer. If not, we may up our offer by $1,000 but that will be our final offer.

Soooo much stress over the holidays. My patience is wearing thin. Oh, and did I mention that the bank was supposed to get back to us "by the end of the week" with the amount that they'll preapprove us to borrow for a mortgage? But look at that, the bank closed forty minutes ago and it's a Friday. Now we'll have to wait til Monday to find out if we'll even be approved for enough money to purchase this house. Sigh. This is my life.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

8 Weeks Old!!

Wow, does time ever fly! My little miss is eight weeks old now. She smiles, babbles and coos, and sticks out her tongue. She usually only wakes once during the night (anywhere from 3am to 5am) and goes back to sleep til 7 or 8am once she has eaten. When she gets up at 7 or 8, she usually falls back to sleep til 10am or so, after she's eaten. She loves bouncing on laps, being sung Baby Love by The Supremes, and staring at lights of any kind (especially if they're reflecing off a picture frame). She's super serious when she's pooping and when she's in the bath tub. She grasps onto our fingers so tightly when we're feeding her a bottle. She loves to talk to her fishy's (on her swing) and yells at them when they stop spinning. She always falls asleep in her car seat, though sometimes I have to sing a few verses of the ABC song first. She's just beginning to enjoy spending time in her carrier, and typically falls asleep while in it. Her hair sometimes looks dirty blonde, sometimes looks brown and sometimes looks red. She's got the biggest dark blue eyes that I have ever seen on someone so little. She's pretty much perfect and we're madly in love with her.

This is my life!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Stalking the Mailman: Day 7

4 new packages today!! Only had to wait in line for 45 minutes to get them... Sigh.

Bringing our grand total up to:

11 packages
24 items
3 cards

This is my life!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Stalking the Mailman: Days 5 & 6

Yesterday I received 4 headbands for Little Miss Elle, a gift for Turkey Butt, and 2 gifts for my sister Aych.

Today I received Little Miss Elle's first Christmas tree ornament.

Bringing the grand totals up to:

Packages: 7
Items: 14
Christmas Cards Received: 3

This is my life.

P.S. It is super difficult to type with an over-tired, crying baby in your arms!

Little Miss Elle at 7 Weeks

This is my life!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Stalking the Mailman: Day 4?

So, finally my stalking has paid off a little. Yesterday, a.k.a Day 3, there was nothing. Sad. So sad. After waiting all weekend (Canada Post doesn't deliver on Saturday or Sunday), to find nothing waiting for me yesterday was a huge disappointment. Luckily I had 2 packages and 2 Christmas cards in the mail today. One is an oufit for Little Miss Elle while the other consists of a few scrapbook supplies for me (Project Life). Which brings our total up to:

3 packages
6 items received

This is my life!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Growing.

My, almost, 7 week old babe just moved up to Size 1 diapers! Yikes, how did she get so big? I'm amazed by all of the little changes that have been occurring in her. She loves hanging out with her fishy's in her swing! And she's babbling up a storm!! She has many story's that she shares with her fishy's - including yelling at them when the swing times out and the fish stop spinning.

Oh, and you would not believe the leg muscles on this kid! She stands on Turkey Butt's lap and can hold up her own body weight. Well, she leans her body against his chest but he doesn' hold her up at all! Less than 7 weeks old! She's amazing!!!!

This is my life!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Stalking the Mailman - Day Two

Yesterday (a.k.a. Day One) I received 1 package in the mail (from Amazon) that contained three items. All three items were gifts for others (two for Turkey Butt, one for Little Miss Elle). Today, Day Two, we had an empty mailbox. Sigh. This brings our grand total to:

1 package
3 items purchased

This is my life!

My List To Santa

It may or may not be a secret that I'm expecting 20+ (okay, more like 30+) items to arrive in the mail over the next week or two. What with Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday occurring shortly after I got some extra moolah (5 weeks of EI, paid out over a 2 week period), I was bound to do a little online shopping. Of course we all know that moderation is not something that I often practice so that little became a LOT! Oops.

That being said, I am quite positive that not a single item soon to arrive in my mailbox is actually for me. It's the sad fact of life for a Mama. Well, that and I just love buying gifts for people (esp. sweet hubby who acts like a kid in a candy store when you gift him a used t-shirt). Of course I do have my eye on a few enjoyable things for myself. I store them in my Favorites area on Etsy just incase I ever feel like splurging on myself.

So Santa, incase you were wondering what you could buy me this year (from Etsy of course) - here is a handy list for you:

Vintage Ornament Xmas Frame from Mmim
Love Dishtowel from Brookish
Mini Calendar from KaydenAshley
Airstream Notebook 3 pack from Red Tile Studio
I Love You Mug from Retrogalusa
Peas in a Pod Bracelet from Aden Creations
Thanks Santa, you're the best! This is my life!

P.S. Oh Santa, you didn't honestly think I would forget to include something for you did you?
Xmas Tree Cookies from Broken Road Farm

Protection

Let's talk about birth control. Personally, I have never been a fan. Perhaps this is because the only option that was ever offered to me was the Pill. I am thoroughly annoyed by the Pill. Seriously, if you can remember to take it at the exact same time, every single day - good on ya. But me? Not a chance in hell.

As I got older I started researching other options and, at the time, the IUD seemed like the best option for a forgetful girl like me. Have it implanted and forget about birth control for five years. Woot! Of course the eventual downside to this was no baby for the next 5 years. At the time that I was pondering this conundrum I was with a ho-hum (a.k.a. boring) boyfriend whom I didn't plan to have kids with, EVER! But upon further consideration, I didn't plan to spend the next 5 years of my life with him either. So, I decided against the IUD.

Then I met Turkey Butt, fell madly in love and thanked my lucky stars that I didn't shell out the big bucks for an IUD. I could definitely see a future with this man. One that included many, many babies!

Cut to present day. I just got home from my 6 week appointment with my OB-GYN. At this appointment he asked me about birth control. Now personally, I am SO ready for baby number two. Sweet hubby on the other hand says we have to wait a year before we start trying again. Fair enough. So, now I'm sitting here with a sample of the NuvaRing, prepared to do a little research on it before I put it to use.

Anyone out there in blog land have any luck with a certain method of birth control? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! This is my life...

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