It's Finally Friday!

Thank you, Lord! What a week it's been. I am so happy it's Friday - I have a half day today but Charlotte has a full day, Thank you, Rita!

So, let's rewind for a second back to Wednesday night, Charlotte's second baseball game. The weather was PERFECT for a ball game. Just perfect. Baseball is one of the few things that I enjoy about summer - I've never been a big fan of the hot, sticky weather, and I get sunburn very easily so it's kind of just a miserable (physically) time of the year for me. But, Baseball has a special place in my heart. I played softball from the time I was 5ish until high school and I loved it. Then at 14 I got my first job at a baseball stadium and worked there each summer through my first year of college. Love the sport, love the stadium, love the atmosphere, love the beer and the burgers. It's great. Adam also loves baseball so I expect we'll be raising some ball playing kiddos and seeing our fair share of games over the years. Here's a pic of Charlotte & I and Charlotte meeting her first mascot, Mugsy. She's so brave...

Thursday came and went quickly, the sleep deprivation was tough and Adam worked a special event last night so Charlotte and I went up to Gigi and Papa's house for dinner so we wouldn't be lonely. She fell asleep on the ride home but then was wide awake once we got back to our house which  led to a long night again. But it was a bit better...in that Charlotte slept in her crib for a whopping 5 hours from 11:30ish until 4:15ish - so I got to sleep by myself for almost five hours, score for Mama! I know that this is a rough patch for us and only temporary, at least until her next tooth/teeth start coming through. I also know how lucky we got with Charlotte's temperament. She eats well, sleeps well (normally), hasn't had any major issues, and is extremely affectionate and happy all the time. We are so thankful for that. I think that makes these rough nights and fussy spells harder. I feel helpless - like we're doing something wrong to bring this on and there is nothing to be done to fix it except time. It's so nice to hear from other parents, and our awesome sitter that no, we're not doing anything wrong - this is just teething, and this is actually pretty normal for babies in general so basically, just deal with it. That's life with a baby. So to all you parents out there whose babies have never slept through the night, have reflux, food allergies, health issues, colic, etc. GOD BLESS YOU. You are an inspiration and I wish I could have your patience and strength.

I was thinking while driving home after dropping Charlotte off this morning how prior to children I thought I knew what tired was. I used to go out with friends, drinking and having a good time and CHOOSE to only get 6 hours of sleep and then complain the next day of how tired I was. Pre-Baby Me - shut up.

So - after this long week of sleepless nights and showers on only 4 out of the five days, I treated myself to a latte this morning. Happy Freaking Friday.

I also have a few things to celebrate this week - small things but worth celebrating. Last Friday I felt like I had reached the end of the road on being able to pump/breastfeed Charlotte for much longer. I thought we were closing in on the end and we supplemented her bottles with some formula - she had probably a total of 8oz of formula from Friday to Saturday. And since then, none! I don't what changed but we've been able to meet her demands this week! Score for Mama again!

My friends and I have also started a Weight Loss Challenge in the hopes of motivating and encouraging each other to get healthy. We started on Monday and weighed in today. So the first week was a short one, four days, and I didn't get to work out as I'd hoped but got in two out of the four days and dropped .6 lbs. Not a big change but a change nonetheless and I'm really ready to see some big changes on the scale over the coming weeks.

We've got a very busy weekend ahead with lots of family. Though I may be the most excited about trying out a recipe I found online today, Lactation Lemonade. LOL, can't wait!

Hope you've had a lovely week and are looking forward to a fun and safe weekend!

Hump Day!

It's been a rough week so far and it's finally Wednesday, which makes me excited! Finally Wednesday?! you might say? Yep! Wednesdays are my favorite - you've made it through the beginning of the week and now you're heading towards the weekend - It's all down hill from here! I love Wednesdays. Only two more mornings of chaos and peeling myself out of bed to get moving. This weekend coming up is a particularly special one to look forward to! It's Memorial Day weekend which means I get off work early on Friday and we're off on Monday, we're BBQing with my parents on Sunday, my sister and her boyfriend are visiting from out of town, we're hiking on Monday, and it's my husband's and my two year wedding anniversary! It's gonna be a fun one!

The past few nights with C have been rough. Teething is a big, stinking bitch. Can I say that in a blog?

Charlotte doesn't want to sleep in her crib (granted I know that's my fault as we've been bed sharing for too long now anyway) but when she wakes up in the middle of the night and I get her to go back to sleep the second her head hits the mattress shes up and screaming - and this happens multiple times before I give up and just bring her back to my bed. She just wants to be near me. Which is super super sweet and makes me feel really great. But it also makes me really tired. I got another round of late night/early morning mid-sleep-strike kisses last night. Love it. But also, love sleep. Good news is last night she didn't have an episode of inconsolable screaming in pain - so I think/hope we're over the hump of the teeth breaking through as well.

Just found out we've got free tickets to the baseball game tonight. Woohoo! Happy Wednesday!

Weekend ReCap

Oh my goodness, how is it the 18th already? Broken record, I know, but sheesh - time just doesn't stop does it?

What a lovely weekend we had! Friday evening Charlotte went to stay with her grandparents for the night so we could have a date night! It was awesome. We went to Macado's for cheese fries and a pitcher of beer and then saw the new Mad Max movie. Date Night with my hubby AND Tom Hardy...perfect. He's seriously so handsome I can't stand it. Saturday morning we took full advantage of Charlotte being at her Gigi and Papas and slept in til 8!!!!! WHAT?! We're crazy, I know.

After we got our lazy bones out of bed we headed up to Gigi and Papas house. Even though it hadn't even been a full 24 hours I missed my baby fiercely! My sweet little girl had a rough night, she somehow got a black eye, stood on her own and took one step, and her two bottom teeth cut through the gums! SO MUCH happened while we were away from her :( It was so nice to have her in my arms again and listen to her squeals and repeat "mama" over and over again!

We had a nice little lunch, walked around the yard and looked at all the work my parents have been doing - Dad is doing a lot of work landscaping and leveling the yard and they both have been working really hard in their garden. We looked at all the new trees Dad has planted and picked some fresh strawberries - I can't wait to taste the rest of the bounty throughout the summer.

Sunday we finally got around to doing some Spring Cleaning at home! I'd say we're 50% of the way to my idea of a clean house, haha! I have high expectations and not a lot of free time. I was able to clean out my closet, purge some more clothes, clean out Charlotte's closet and box up some of her old clothes, move some furniture, dust, sweep & MOP upstairs, and give the dog a bath. It was a good day...then the night came...and my sweet baby decided it was a party all night kind of night. She did a good job tricking me, I got her tucked into her crib around 8 and she gave us time to finish a movie. But then she woke around 9:30 and refused to go back to sleep until after 2 am.

I've learned this year that parenting is really a long lesson in patience. And, for me at least, it's a tough lesson. Those five hours in the middle of the night were so rough - and I guess Charlotte knew how hard it was on me because in the middle of her rolling, crawling, & flailing fit she sat up, crawled over to me and smothered me in kisses. It went like this....lean in - big kiss - lean back & smile, repeat. Like ten times. And just like that my heart melted into a puddle and I resolved to being up all night if that's what she wanted to do. I. Am. So. Whipped.

Long story (kind of) short  - she did eventually fall asleep but not with nearly enough time before our alarm went off to make this morning any semblance of "good." But - the day has only just begun so I'll keep reminding myself of the sweet kisses I got last night and try and make it through the day and pray that tonight is a different story.

Have a Happy Monday, Friends!

Mama Confessions

So, it's Friday! Woohoo! I want to get some things off my chest, I'm a little embarrassed - but life isn't always perfect and I don't want you to think we've got everything figured out. I need to confess some things from our life lately:

1. Charlotte is STILL sleeping in our bed....I had lofty goals for May - and getting Charlotte back in her crib was one of them. Now, I know it is only May 15th - but, it's also already May 15th! haha Well, we're getting better at establishing a night time routine that we do each night and she does a great job going to sleep in her crib, it's the middle of the night where we have issues. Honestly - I have issues. When Charlotte wakes up anytime between 11pm and 2am I really don't have the patience to put her back in her crib and in my weakness she ends up in our bed. Every. Night.

2. 30/30 Running Program - Ugh, another May goal that is failing to lift off - I did the 30/30 thing once and then personal things came up and I couldn't force myself out the door. So today's the day then right?! Hopefully I can get at least 30/15 done in May!

3. Ravenous Hunger and Cheat Meals - I would like to fully admit that I am not, have never been, and probably will never be a good eater - I have no self control. When I'm hungry I don't care what it is, I gotta eat. And nothing has made me more hungry than nursing. Seriously - I have never been more starved for food in my entire life, including the 9 months of pregnancy. It is a big deal. I'm hungry all. the. time. So confession - I feel like the drive thru lady at Chick-Fil-A probably knows my name by now and my order for breakfast and lunch. Terrible. I gotta get a hold of this.

4. Taylor Swift - It is so embarrassing, but I cannot stop listening to Taylor Swift's album. Love it.

5. Supplementing - This is not really a bad thing but my Mommy Guilt is working hard on me. Today we started supplementing with formula. Over the past month its been really challenging for me to get enough milk pumped during the day for Charlotte's next day at her sitters, much less be able to store any up for our once a month date night when she stays at my parents. So, in an effort to keep her little belly full and my blood pressure down - we're adding in some formula. I'm still nursing when she's with me and pumping and giving her that milk but we're adding in a few ounce of formula to each bottle she gets when she's away from me. I know this is not a bad thing. But I feel somewhat defeated.

Well that was fun to get off my chest!

Happy Friday, friends! I hope you have had a great week and are looking foreword to the weekend with your loved ones!

Happy Thursday

Why Hello, Blog. It's been a while, how are you?

I'm doing OK, thanks for asking. It's been a little hectic this week and I'm sorry I've lost touch. I'm back - and ready to update you on the past few days...

We had a very busy weekend - FIL was here beginning Friday afternoon - he and Adam grilled up dinner for us and we had a nice night at home catching up. Saturday morning we were up early with Charlotte - had ourselves a yummy sausage gravy breakfast and then relaxed until it was time to head over to our friends for a birthday party. This was Charlotte's first birthday party and so many of her friends were there. It was very exciting and very exhausting....by the time we got home Saturday evening we were all wiped out. Bath time and bedtime came quickly for everyone.

Sunday morning we were up early again and packing our car for a day trip to my grandparents in West Va for Mother's Day! FIL heading off to NoVa and Gigi and Papa Steve showed up to join us for our day trip. We made in to West Va. had a nice lunch on the porch, relaxed, caught up, baked some pies and then headed back home. On the way home we stopped for dinner at a nice little restaurant in Paint Bank. Charlotte had her first taste of mashed potatoes and was not a fan! at least not of the consistency, we'll try those again later. It was a beautiful day, spent with lots of family. A great first Mother's Day for me.

Monday morning came quickly and I learned that we will no longer (as long as I can control it) be having such busy, fast paced weekends. We need at least one day to relax as a family together at home and recoup for the week ahead. I ended up with a migraine Monday afternoon which left me pretty incapacitated for the rest of the evening. Too bad Charlotte didn't get the memo...

Tuesday and Wednesday were better and less hectic. Now that we're over the hump of the week and the weekend is staring us in the face I can't help but get excited. It's date night tomorrow night! Charlotte will be staying with her grandparents while Adam and I get a night to ourselves! YES! I can't wait.

Hope you're having a great week also!

Wordless Wednesday

Thankful Thursday

Let's talk about my Mom. With Mother's Day coming up and my life being turned upside down being a new Mom myself - it's hard not to think about my Mom every day and how THANKFUL I am for her!

Isn't she beautiful? (WARNING) It gets mushy OK...

Thank you, Mom, for everything. The word everything means every thing or particular of an aggregate or total; or something extremely important - but "thank you for everything" just doesn't seem to do justice to how thankful I am to you (and Dad) and everything you've done for me. I've always known that I am extremely blessed to have the parents and family that I do. And I've always felt extremely loved. My parents are wonderful, happy, loving, supportive, smart, strong, healthy, encouraging parents - and I know how special that is. But, the thing is, I never truly understood how much my Mom (and Dad) loved me until now. And WOW, it's a whole new world.

Thank you for bringing me into this world, for rocking me to sleep at night when you were exhausted and I was fussy, for chasing me around when all I wanted to was crawl away from you, for holding me even when you had things to do (like pee) and all I wanted was my mama. Thank you for giving me two amazing sisters. Thank you for showing me how to be a wife, how to love and support a man and expect the same in return. Thank you for showing me how to respect, love, and value myself and to stand up for what I believe in. Thank you for teaching me that true beauty comes from inside.

Thank you for teaching me to work hard and play hard.  Thank you for teaching me that practice makes perfect, that not much is more entertaining than a good book, that cooking and cleaning with music playing loud is the best way to do it! Thank you (?) for my slight OCD that helps me to keep my life organized. Thank you for teaching me to love Led Zeppelin and to keep sitting in the car even when you get where you're going so that you can hear the end of a killer drum solo.

Thank you, Mom, for being my biggest supporter, cheerleader, ally, my Mom. I know that whatever I do, I have you behind me. If I need a word of encouragement, I can always count on you. Thank you for always being there for me, my husband, and now my daughter. I hope that I will be able to be as great of a Mom as you were to us to my children. I hope that my daughter values my opinions and input as much as I value yours and that one day she will consider me her best friend, too. I can't wait to give you more grand children because you are the world's best Gigi. I am so thankful for you, Mom.

Take a moment today to think about what, or who, you are thankful for friends! It'll put a smile on your face I promise!

Wordless Wednesday

Book Review

I'm very happy to say I was able to finish one of my books this weekend.

Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty

Now that I've finished this book I can definitely say that I really liked it. Not quite loved, but it was very good. It took me until about 60% (I know 60% exactly because my fancy new Kindle Fire tells me my progress while reading, kind of love that) of the way through it to get into it, but once I got there, I couldn't put it down. And I genuinely let out an audible gasp at one point! I also teared up in pride for these human beings coming together in support of each other - which was really surprising considering the beginning....

The beginning was slow, very slow. Maybe it's because I'm not really a mystery reader - I'm not used to being lead into something - I kind of like learning a character and going through the drama with them; but in this book it was obvious that something happens in the end - and you get the background along with bits and pieces of characters' accounts after the fact at the same time. A weird way to read for me - it challenged my desire to be in control of everything, not knowing what it was that happened - not wanting to get too attached to certain characters, wishing ill on others - maybe that's why it was hard for me to get into? I'm not sure.

I also, really disliked a lot of the characters at the beginning. This book does a good job of showing a lot of different personalities in a small town and how they interact with each other. It also made me think of how I would react to certain types of people and situations. To be honest, it kind of makes me worried for when my children start going to school. I truly hope that there's not really this much drama and ridiculousness amongst parents but I guess you never really know what you'll get!

Once the mystery started unfolding I was so excited. I was so excited to know that things were finally being resolved, secrets were coming out and surprisingly - all those people who were acting so ridiculously stepped up for each other. It was beautiful. Without spoiling the ending, I hope, here are my favorite quotes from the whole thing:

"It occurred to her that there were so many levels of evil in the world. Small evils like her own malicious words. Like not inviting a child to a party. Bigger evils like walking out on your wife and newborn baby or sleeping with your child's nanny. And then there was the sort of evil of which Madeline had no experience; cruelty in hotel rooms and violence in suburban homes and little girls being sold like merchandise, shattering innocent hearts."

"Your children see! We see!"

Read it. Push through if you have a hard time at the beginning like I did. It's good. You'll like it.

Onto my next to finish up, The Book Thief.

ALSO! This was my first reading experience on my Kindle Fire (on any electronic reading device, actually). For the longest time I fought it - I LOVE reading and I LOVE my books. I felt like the electronic reader was cheating and that I would miss having the actual book. With this first book I now know, that it was very nice. I liked being able to read it in the dark, with one hand, while nursing/rocking my baby to sleep. If I come across a book that I love so much that I cannot live without then I will buy a hard copy. But, I'm converted now! All future books will be on the kindle. Thanks hubby for the awesome Christmas present.

Weekend ReCap

Happy Monday! I'm running a little behind this morning, hoping that isn't the way the week is going to go - so I'm trying to get caught up quickly! We had a lovely weekend! Though not exactly as we planned - it turned out being great!

Friday we started the weekend off right but putting on our fancy shoes from Uncle Mate - girlfriend was looking sassy and in a great mood!

 
That night we started a new family tradition - Pizza Fridays! I've been wanting to try french bread pizzas for a while now and we finally got around to it. I took some pics of the prep - before we made our pizzas -

But, they were too good and we were too hungry to even snap a pic of the finished product. YUMMY!

Saturday morning we had a family snuggle party in bed. It was so nice to have everyone there together, just happy and relaxed, we didn't want to get out of bed!

Once we did, Charlotte had bananas for breakfast...

which she loved! And that afternoon we went out and about in Roanoke visiting downtown and the Strawberry Festival, then Charlotte took a turn driving us around...

 

When we got home, Charlotte was giving Zekers lots of love while she waited for Gigi and Papa to arrive.

Gigi and Papa came over and we had a great evening sitting on the back porch under the awning just hanging out and listening to music. We tried a really great new recipe that we had seen on tv recently and I WISH I had taken a picture of the finished product because it was so pretty! It was basically fresh veggies, shrimp, and baguette baked on one sheet (the show called it a Cheat Sheet because everything was cooked together on one sheet) - and I made some chicken thighs to go with it. DELISH! After dinner I made some chocolate hazlenut biscotti (because I totally had a craving for biscotti all week). This was my first time making it and it came out pretty good - much better than I expected.

Looks good right!? We had that with some black raspberry ice cream for dessert. I need to take more pictures of the food we make because Saturday Night's food not only tasted wonderful but it was beautiful too.

Sunday morning was a slow start for sure! But around noon we all got to take a nap so that helped a lot. We then were able to get up and out to our first baseball game of the season and Charlotte's first game ever! (which was free to Salem Residents, score!) It was a gorgeous day, we had seats in the shade, we were there with some great friends we haven't seen in a while, Adam caught a foul ball with one hand (two fingers) while sitting in his seat, and Charlotte got to meet my very first "boss" whom I've known and loved for a long time now! With a Salem win, it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Because the weather was sooo nice, when we got home after the game we fit a walk/jog in. I started the 30/30 program and Charlotte and Adam joined me. It was rough, and I've got a ways to go before I'll be able to jog for longer than say, 20 seconds! but we're going to do it!

This is us, post, walk/jog - I'm all hot and red faced and Charlotte's practicing her new favorite look...the duck face.

I hope you all had a great weekend, too! 

Happy May!

Welcome, May, we are so happy to see you!

May is a big month for us! It is the month that Adam and I were married; it is the month that a lot of our friends celebrate their birthdays (including my Dad!); and it signifies the beginning of summer - with Memorial Day weekend at the end of the month! I've never been much of a summer girl - I'm much more partial to Fall and Winter weather. But this year I'm actually looking forward to summer! Charlotte truly inspires me every single day in so many ways, and having her makes me want to get out and celebrate life every chance we get. So you better believe we'll be out and about this summer, hiking, watching baseball, maybe seeing some museums, going swimming, etc. which is very different than how I spent last summer...pregnant and INSIDE - soaking up as much air conditioning as is humanly possible.

So with all of these big ideas in my head I wanted to set some goals for myself for this month. As we all know, life moves pretty fast and sometimes it passes us by while we're not looking. I want to make sure I get some things accomplished so let's get to my goals for May:

• HIKE! - We are actively working on one of my 40 Before 40 Goals: Roanoke's 7 Summits. We completed Mill Mountain a few years ago, we will be doing Poor Mountain (which is right in our back yard) tomorrow morning and we plan on finishing the rest up over the next few weeks.
• Complete Hal Higdons 30/30 Plan for Beginning Runners
• Get to at least one Salem Red Sox Game
• Have a date night with my Hubby
• Celebrate our 2 Year Anniversary
• Get Charlotte back in her crib at night
• Complete another month of Breast Feeding

As hectic as having a baby is on our schedules, it's actually helped me to hop to it and get stuff done when I have the time instead of putting things off like I used to. It also means that I have a few extra hours at night before I go to bed and after the munchkin goes to bed at 8:30ish - which means.....I'm reading again! Oh, how I've missed reading! I love books and books love me. Usually, I read 2-4 books at a time for a number of reasons - sometimes I get ambitious and set myself up to read a really challenging book which prompts me to give myself a mental break with a less "literature-y" book before I can finish the first; sometimes I just get excited when I hear from a friend that a book is great so I pick it up and start it right away instead of finishing what I'm reading first.

Currently, I am finishing up Big Little Lies by Lianne Moriarty; am halfway through The Book Thief by Markus Zusak; and am about a third of the way through The Virgins Lover by one of my favorite authors Philippa Gregory. So, I'd like to get all of these finished up (I'll post a book review when I'm done!) and then get started on a highly anticipated read in May:

• Outlander - This series is on my 40 Before 40 list and has been on my "to read" list for a long time. This is straight up my ally - historical fiction with fantasy (time travel, what?!) mixed in..it doesn't get much better than that. I hope it lives up to my expectations...my Mom is now reading this also and I can't wait to discuss with her!

Whew! That's a lot! I'm looking forward to a very busy exciting May!

Happy Friday, friends!