Wife to Wife Link-Up

What are some things/topics that you do not see eye to eye on?

Do you have a compromise or just forget about them?

 The biggest thing that we don't see eye to eye on is Jack's sleeping or lack of sleeping. Being that J is a man and he has a son he wants him to be tough and not so clingy to mama. Well at bedtime that is all our little man wants. Of course, it gets hard being the one he always wants and has to have but I also love it that I'm the one he wants. 

My husband thinks, and I might add strongly thinks, we should do cry it out. I , Mama Bear, does not. I hate the idea of him crying. I hate the idea of him being sad before he goes to sleep. I hate the idea that he wasn't happily rocked and sung to before he was put to bed. 

How do we resolve this? Mostly I win. I can go in there and rock him to sleep faster than he will stop crying. I want a happy well rested baby. There have been times that we have done a modified CIO. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The thing that has done the best is rocking him to sleep. When it doesn't work that is when my husband starts spouting about letting him cry. Since the doctor backed him up he thinks he has all the backing he needs to make it happen. Usually, if he persists, I will say I'll give it 10 minutes and then I'm going in. It pacifies daddy and gives mama an out to run in there. 

I know everyone who is all about CIO are screaming at their computer for me to do it but I just can't. I've read the benefits but I'm just not ready to go there yet. 

Cara Box Time!!!!

I took a little break from the Cara Box Swap during the summer and I'm so glad I joined back up this month because I met two wonderful women. I sent Tanya her box. She is super sweet and a reader like me. She has 3 kids and a great husband. Her family does fun things together like camping. I received my wonderful box from Holly. 

I absolutely love coming home from work and having a box full of goodies waiting for me. Once I got Jack settled in his bouncer I tore that box open. First I saw that she left me a super sweet note and I know that she and I will stay blogging buddies. Here are pictures of the awesome items I got.

I love owls!!!

Picture frame to decorate, coffee, organic dark chocolate, fall decor, and a magazine. 

Closer look at the cute fall decorations.

I love all the fall decoration ideas in here!

I'm gonna use my decorations to make a cute "First trip to the pumpkin patch" frame.

I love everything I got and I'm ready to start decoration this frame. I have a couple ideas of what I want to create. I'm also thinking about using those owls to make some type of bunting for my library. I've already eaten some of the yummy chocolate (I'm sure you can tell it has been open from the picture). Thanks Holly for all the great stuff!!!!

Practice Makes Habit

This week wasn't easy. I wrote about my hectic weekend on Monday. Sticking to things is hard for me and when you add lots of stress-I totally suck. I'll break it all down for ya.

1. Drink 64 oz of water a day. Have not done BUT I've still had more water than in the past. Plus, I find myself craving water more now that I've started drinking it more. I have completely given up Dr. Pepper and have had only a few Sprites. 

2. Wash the dishes before bed every night. They haven't been done every. single. night. but for the most part this has become a habit. I'm very glad that this one has become second nature to me now. It makes it become not a chore but just something that I do. 

3. Write a to do list every night. This one has been done when I've had to do it. I've decided not to write a to do list every night. Now I only write one when I feel overwhelmed with lots of things to do.

4. Balance checkbook at least once a day. Total fail! I hate looking at our money. It depresses me. Although I know the responsible thing to do is to know where every penny is and what we are doing with it, but I hate it. I still need to do this one though. Maybe one day. Hey if we were rich it probably wouldn't be so hard. 

5. Make bed. Win!!! This one is now a complete habit and I love it. I can do this quick and easy now. It doesn't even suck anymore, it is just something I do. 

From this experience I have learned that when I get stressed I don't hold on to the things that could make the stress more stable. Throwing all of my goals (even for a day) out the window doesn't make things less stressful-just more. So why would one do that? Holding on to the comforts during stress is what I need to continue working on. Just because I'm having a bad day doesn't mean that I need to forget the dishes. Doing those dishes just makes the next day that much less stressful.

   

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Had to Talk to Myself Today

This weekend sucked majorly. Although I managed to tackle a few things I wasn't able to do everything I wanted to do. J got home yesterday morning but he was sick. Although I knew he didn't feel well, I was really hoping he would find the energy to do some tasks around the house. 

When I am stressed I can be a complete B. I really don't want to be that person but I am and I do not like that person. I tend to let the stress of life take over and I end up not appreciating what is in front of me. So I gave myself a pep talk on the way home from work.

"Ashley you will not get mad if he has done nothing all day. Ashley you will not stress if everything doesn't get done. Ashley you need not to stress if Jack whines too much. Ashley you will be happy to see your husband and not mad that he has only watched too much tv today. Ashley you need to enjoy this afternoon and not stress about the house". 

I literally traveled those 23 miles home talking to myself. All the stress was waiting for me. J was sick on the couch. Bottles needed washed. Supper needed cooked. The laundry still pilled at the end of the couch waiting to be put away. My treadmill still waiting to be used. 

I had to give myself more mini-pep talks throughout the afternoon but I did it. I didn't express my stress or let it be seen. I was even able to enjoy time with my family. 

The laundry never got put away. Jack didn't get his bath. Supper dishes didn't get done. Yes, I was feeling some stress from not doing it all but I handled it well for me. 

I'll talk to myself whenever I need to if it means learning to just let things go. 

Do you ever talk to yourself? 

One of those weekends

Where every emotion was heightened. The days were long and the nights were short. J was working so I was doing the single parent thing. Not the best weekend for that. I couldn't seem to get it together. Forgetting the details. Jack clingy and whiny with teeth popping up everywhere. Refusing baby food. Refusing naps. Hold me but I want down. No toys were good enough. Meltdowns with every nose wipe. Thankfully it's Monday and I have the refugee of work. Never thought I would love a Monday as much. Bye bye weekend-you sucked! 

Why I LOVE and HATE Daycare

Love: Jack plays with other kids and it makes him so happy.

Love: Jack learns so much from the other kids.

Love: His face when I pick him up is precious.

Love: They clip his nails which is great because I hate this task.

Love: Those ladies love him and spoil him like he is one of theirs.

Love: He eats better for them which makes me happy that he is getting more food now.

Love: Getting pictures sent to me during the day.

Hate: He has gotten use to sleeping in a quiet house during the summer and is only napping about 30-45 minutes during the day.

Hate: Being overly tired is making him not sleep at night.

Hate: Germs...he is sick. After 2 days at daycare he has picked up a cold. 

Hate: That he sometimes falls down and hurts himself and I'm not there to love him all up. 

Hate: Staying on top of making sure he has everything he needs at daycare and home. We basically have to have 2 sets of everything. 

Jack is such a messy eater that I decided to feed him in the sink the other day. It worked out great! Don't you just love that face? He really does like it.

Practice Makes Habit Link-Up

I'm learning so much from this link-up. Of course, I have not done as wonderful as I had hoped but I also think that is okay because what I'm learning is all worth it. 

Make the bed: This one has become a habit already. Having the bed made just makes the whole room look better. It also has been really nice not having to do that chore right before bed. Having it made also gives me that flat surface to work on during the day.

Drink 64 oz of water: I haven't done this everyday but I have drank more water than ever before. Having that water bottle in the fridge has my husband reaching in and drinking water too which is major for him. The other day I was really busy and didn't get to drink as much water and I was so thirsty by the time I got home. My body is really craving it now. 

Dishes done before bed: I have done fairly well on this one except for Sunday night. I had to come home from the first day of school and tackle them and I was mad that I didn't do them the night before. Having the dishes done at night has just about become a habit which makes this gal happy. 

To do list before bed: I have not done so well on this one. Sometimes J goes to bed before me so the lights are out when I go into the bedroom. My list is beside the bed so I just put it off. I really want this one to become a habit. 

Balance checkbook at least once a day: Horrible! I hate dealing with the money. Sitting down once a week is really when I do it and that isn't a good thing because it becomes overwhelming. I really need to get this under control and start doing it every single day. It's our money and I need to see where it all goes. 

Make sure to check out Leslie's progress at Violet Imperfection!
                                            
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What I Learned From Lohan's Interview

Last night I settled in to watch Oprah's interview with Lindsay Lohan. I had just gotten off the phone with my BFF Jessica. We had discussed Lohan a little as I told her what I was about to watch. Honestly I was thinking this crazy girl is just some rich B who has had too many chances and is doing this interview for even more publicity. I watched it to criticize it. Ouch!

Even if it is Lindsay Lohan, I shouldn't be waiting, watching, and hoping for her to fail. I should be cheering for her. She is a person like me and I wouldn't want someone waiting for me to fail. I really gave this some thought once the realization hit me. I literally was laying in bed with a grin just waiting for her to sound like an idiot. I'm that person and I don't like it. 

I don't want to want my loved ones to fail but there have been situations where I have wanted them to fail and that's sad. I just never realized it. For example, we have all had that girlfriend who went back to that bad boyfriend. You say don't do it but she doesn't listen. You wait and watch for it to fail so you can be right. You aren't sitting up at night praying for it to work or for her to find the truth in who he is. What you do is wait for it to go wrong and then enjoy your "yeah I was right" strut. 

I love being right but I should love people being happy more. I'm going to challenge myself not to cheer for failure but to cheer for success for everyone, including Lindsay Lohan.

Why Jack is NOT Having a Big Party

Saturday was my nephews second birthday. My sister did a train theme and even had the party at the train depot in our town. Everything was really cute from the party favor boxes (they said two two) to the cake. 

Bennett was dressed in his cutest conductor outfit and all the kids got their own conductor hat. Jack's was way too big.

Okay yeah things were super cute but boy did that poor child have some serious meltdowns. First we ate and my sister was trying to feed him the pizza so he wouldn't get it all over himself....meltdown.

He wanted to go in and out of the building instead of be with the party. We were scared he would fall down the steps so we had to keep him inside....meltdown.

Time to open the presents. He had a LOT of gifts. Samantha had Bennett in her lap to let him open them. The very first gift excited him and he really wanted to play with it but everyone was sitting around waiting for him to open gifts so we had to put the toy away....meltdown.

There were many meltdowns during the opening of presents. He wanted down. He wanted to stop. He wanted to play....meltdown.

Time for cake. We light the candle and we sing Happy Birthday. It is time to blow the candle out and he wants to grab it which of course his dad stops him....meltdown. 

My mom was feeding him cake and she gave him a bite that didn't have icing on it...meltdown.

My mom ended up taking him home before all the guests left because he was done with it all. 

When it is time for Jack's birthday it is going to be just a few people. Yes, he will get less presents. HOWEVER, he can take as long as he wants to open and play with stuff and get as messy as he wants. 

Things I HATE To Do

There are things in life that we as adults just have to do even if we hate it. One of those use to be dishes but now that I've done them so much it isn't all that bad. However, there are still some things I really hate to do. It doesn't matter how much I do it because I still roll my eyes, put it off, whine about it, get secretly mad, and just despise it. 

1. Take my car in for an oil change. 

2. Pull the trash. 

3. Fold anything bigger than a towel.

4. Clean out my car.

5. Clean out the fridge.

6. Do my taxes.

7. Balance the checkbook. 

8.  Dust ceiling fans.

9. Mop.

10. Making chit-chat.

What are some things you hate to do?

One thing I love to do?

Take pictures of this munchkin. 

To Spank or Not to Spank

Obviously it's a little early for much discipline with Jack being that he is only 9 months old. For now we say "no", "not for babies", and "don't touch". It's amazing that he has already learned what these phases mean. More and more he is leaving alone what we tell him not to touch. I really don't want to have to put up everything in our home.

So spanking. I'm trying to decide on discipline now and do my research. Being from the south, spanking is highly used. When out in public I will often see a child misbehaving and then usually I hear "he needs his butt tore up". I'm so on the fence and have talked the subject over with many people. Most parents that I've talked to said it just depends on the child. One lady who just turned 66 said her daughter needed spanked and her son needed time out or just an explanation. She went on to say "if you love your children you will give them discipline". I was spanked as a child. It was rare and for bad offences. Usually from my dad for being ugly to my mama. I had a mouth on me. 

My husband was essentially beat as a child and does not want to spank. I don't want to spank. I'm sure no one wants to spank. My younger sister never once got a spanking. Why? Because I would beg and cry for her not to get a spanking when she was bad. Of course they couldn't do it then. Maybe if she did get spanked as a child she would be more disciplined. 

One thing I don't want to do is say to him "I'm going to spank" and not follow through with it. I just don't think I can do it. I talked to a lady I work with about it and she told me "when the time comes you will be able to". I'm not sure. 

Jack, please just be a really good boy who corrects his behavior from time-outs and talking with us. Please. Please. Please. 

Practice Makes Habit (Link-Up)

Well it has been one week since we started the Practice Makes Habit link-up. For the entire week I would give myself a solid C. Things got quite chaotic. Chaos should not be an excuse because really that's the point. I need to be able to tackle my goals even during craziness. 

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Day 1: I did great! I crossed off all of my goals and went to bed filling positive.

Day 2: Things were still going well except that I realized my pedometer broke. This was the second one so I decided to cross that one off my list because I am not buying a new one right now. I think I get up and down too much which causes it to come loose and fall off. I'm sure a more expensive one wouldn't break as easy but I'm not buying a new one right now.

Day 3: Things started going downhill. J was actually home and he slept in right up until we needed to leave the house. I didn't have time to make the bed but on the plus side we weren't home so it kinda didn't matter. Since we were gone so long that day I didn't drink all of my water. I did get the dishes done and the to do list made.

Day 4: Saturday sucked. Jack got up at 4 am. J's alarm went off at 4:50 am for him to go to work. When he tried to leave his car wouldn't crank. We knew it was on the fritz but we wanted a little more time without having another car payment. He had to take my car to work. I was on the phone most of the day calling dealerships while Jack was being super fussy. I made my to do list, did the dishes, finished my water from Friday, and made my to do list.

Day 5: Sunday my parents came over to get Jack mid-morning because my mom was going to watch Jack for me while I went to in-service at the school. I had the house to myself so I enjoyed myself. I did do a little work but mostly I watched lots of tv and took a nap. I didn't finish my water but I drank a lot. I did not make the bed or do the dishes. I will say the house was in complete disarray because all of the living room furniture was in the kitchen so a few dishes didn't seem to matter. I also didn't make a to do list because all I really had to do was go to work.

Day 6: Going back to work was hard. I've been looking forward to it and overall I enjoyed myself but it was hard on my body. Hard on my body because of all the sitting we had to do. I do a lot of moving so sitting in those hard chairs was not fun. I drank a lot of my water but would have finished it if I would have actually taken my bottle with me. I drank most of it while helping J move furniture back. I still haven't done the dishes because the computer desk is in front of the sink and will not be getting moved until tomorrow. The bed also didn't get made until bedtime. The to do list got made!

Day 7: We bought J a new car today. We needed something that he could use just for driving back and forth to work so we wanted to get something good on gas mileage. We ended up buying a Chevrolet Sonic which gets really great gas mileage. It sucked so much doing all the paperwork and blah blah back and forth. I was still able to do the dishes and drank my water! I also made the bed and did the to do list.
What I've learned:
-I missed drinking water and I'm glad this is one of my goals.
-I hate pedometers that break.
-Making a to do list is easy but accomplishing the items on the to do list...not so much.
-Making the bed each day is something I have to stick to because I enjoy having that done each night.
-The dishes is not a fun task but waking up to having them done just makes the day start off on a plus. 

I've decided to add another goal since my pedometer broke. My new goal is I will enter and balance my checkbook once a day. I have a tendency to let those receipts pile up in my wallet and then I write them and balance only when I am about to spend a bigger amount.

If you want to join in you can. Just write up your goals and link-up. start InLinkz script -->

Summer In Review

Monday I officially start back to school. Most teachers dread the end of summer. I am looking forward to getting back to a routine, seeing my students, meeting new ones, and being around adults again. Of course, I will miss seeing my little dumplin as much but he loves daycare and I love my job. Plus, financially I need to work. We are trying to get a handle on all this debt. Over the weekend I sat down and wrote it all down. Seeing it in black and white really opens your eyes up. My husband and I at least have a plan now. 

I wanted to take a moment to look back at our accomplishments over these summer months.

Jack and I have had a lot of fun together.

I completed 2 weeks at the State Department of Education in Little Rock working on frameworks for media specialists. Jack crawled for the first time in that hotel room. My mom and Jack got to really bond during those long hours.

We got flooring in the living room, hallway, Jack's room, and the guest room. We excites me more than you could know.

Jack began pulling up.

Jack got to spend some quality time with his cousin Bennett. They are finally getting to an age where they can play together a little more. 

 I read a couple of books.

I did a lot of cooking.

J worked a lot and completed another semester of school.

Overall it was a good summer. My first summer as a mama and I think I did okay. It was hard-long days and long nights and then sometimes long days and really long nights. With J being gone a lot with work and school it all was on my shoulders. Some days I handled it like a champ and sometimes I cried and whined to make it through the day. 

I'm Not a Clutter Gal

I've never been a person who likes a lot of stuff. Some people can pull off the collections look and still make their home look clean and organized. In my home I feel like things look overall better when there isn't stuff everywhere. But you now how life is? Things just accumulate. 

Something inside of me gets agitated and flustered when our home gets filled with stuff that isn't needed. I'm constantly fighting against the hoarding of my husband and the "maybe we'll need this" inside of me. 

This past week I started purging our home. My first stop was Jack's closet. I pulled all the clothes that are too small and stored them. I then hung up all his clothes that he can currently wear and then stored the clothes that are too big. Next, I sat down in front of the bathroom cabinet and threw out everything we don't use, that had expired, or was broken. Next I went to the kitchen and cleaned out the drawers. We don't need 3 can openers. The kitchen items will be donated. My last stop was the bookshelf. I hoard books. I love seeing all the books I've read. The reality is I probably will not read them again. I took a few minutes and pulled the books that I've read and don't have an emotional connection to. I was able to fill 3 boxes with books. 

Once we get this new flooring put in and everything put back into place I plan on doing more. We are in a transition period where some baby stuff is getting just too small (for example: his baby swing and Bumbo). We have to decide whether to store or sell. I would like to sell just because we are trying to get rid of debt and really don't have the room to store. I may sound silly but I am not sure if I can sell it. Those things feel like his things, my baby's stuff. I don't want another baby in it. Okay, I told you I would sound crazy. 

We are reaching a new point in our home where things are coming together. I want our home to become perfect for us.The cleaner and the more organized our home is the better I feel about everything. 

Reasons to Rave

This has been a pretty decent week. No complaints here so I thought I would rave a bit. 

We got the carpet pulled up in the living room and hallway. We are getting new flooring on Monday!!! I have been waiting for this fo-ev-er! Super pumped to get this done. Our carpet has needed to be replaced for so long. We are getting vinyl in the living room and hallway. The carpet will be replaced in Jack's room and the guest room. Oh the things that make me excited now!

Jack's healthy report on Wednesday and him turning 9 months. Month 8 was so much fun that I'm excited to see what the 9th month will bring.

Starting the link-up  Practice Makes Habit. I am soooo accomplishing things and it feels good. Being accountable is a must for me and being accountable to myself just isn't enough. I need cheerleaders! 

Winning this AMAZING giveaway! When I checked my email and saw that I had won I was shocked. I've won a few giveaways in the past but nothing this wonderful. I seriously won all of those amazing prizes at once! So thankful!!!

Jack is 9 Months Old and an Awkward Story

Yesterday Jack turned 9 months old. He is getting a little big personality. He laughs at the most random things. Yesterday he was playing with his bottle and cackling. Sometimes when he watches tv he will start laughing like he gets it. He is crawling like crazy.  I seriously can not take my eyes off of him. He is also pulling up on everything which scares me to death because I'm afraid something will land on him or he will fall and hurt himself. We have disassembled his bedroom to make it safer.  

So yesterday we took Jack in for his 9 month check-up. As we were going in a new mother was walking in with her freshly born baby. We were standing close to each other as we waited to sign-in. All of a sudden blood starting hitting the floor. The woman was bleeding from between her legs. It got all over my legs and shoes. I'm talking a LOT of blood. I quickly grabbed the baby from her. I told J to grab her a wheelchair. No one came to help us. My husband screamed to the women (who were just standing behind the window) "why is no one helping us". The woman was clearly embarrassed. We got her in the chair and then a nurse came to take her back. I asked if she was okay to take the baby and she said she was. There was blood everywhere. I've had a baby so I know about post pregnancy bleeding but this was way too much. I really hope she is okay. I cleaned the blood off me the best I could and even talked to her doctor to make sure it was okay that her blood got on me. 

The doc said Jack is the picture of healthy. Score one for mama! He now weighs just under 18 pounds and is 26 inches. I've been worried about his ears but the doc said they are just fine. He produces a lot of earwax and the doctor said that was normal. We asked about his gagging while feeding his anything other than baby food. He said babies who had acid reflux will often do this. For now he said to feed him cheerios soaked in milk and to work him slowly into more textured food. 

Now to the sleep issues. So we talked to the doctor about Jack not sleeping and he recommended that we do crying it out. Ugh! J has been pushing for this for awhile so hearing the doctor say it really has him throwing the "I told you so" around. I'm not happy about it at all. I'm going to try. Everyone has their opinions on it. I fall in the category of "I'll try it but if he cries for too long then I'm going to get my baby".  We tried it yesterday for his nap. After 30 minutes of fussing and a little crying he napped for 2 hours. Last night he cried 10 minutes and is still asleep. So maybe it is working. I'll keep doing it but if I ever feel the need to go get him then I will. I can't help but hate the idea that he went to sleep crying. I love the idea of him falling to sleep happy.

Have you ever tried crying it out? Feel free to post if you are totally against it. I'm on the fence. I really think it depends on the baby and person who is getting up with the baby. Our doctor said I recommend crying it out but we have never been able to do it so I figure if the doc can't do it then it really is hard.

Practice Makes Habit Link-Up

I've given my goals A LOT of thought. My overall goal for this link-up is to get into the habit of no longer quitting. I want to be a finisher! If I did all the things (even half) I planned to do as I'm going to sleep each night I would feel great. The next day always looks very promising. I want to stop planning on what I will do tomorrow and start rejoicing in what I've done that day.

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So here are my goals:

1. Drink 64 oz of water a day.
I've dehydrated numerous times because although I don't really drink sodas often, I don't drink much at all. Water has so many benefits and I'm ready to make water a part of my daily schedule. I've purchased a water bottle that holds 64 oz. I want to fill it up each night and drink it during the day.

2. Use my pedometer every day, track my steps, and increase my steps every day while aiming for 10,000 steps.
I've used a pedometer sporadically in years past and one thing I know is that when I have it on I move more. There is just something about seeing those numbers go up. The recommended number of steps is 10,000 but I know I shouldn't make that my goal from the start. 

3. Do dishes every night before I go to bed (excluding bottles because I sterilize them once we reach about 5 bottles).
Who hates waking up to dishes? Me! Me! Me! It can ruin my mood just seeing that dreaded task before me. Who wants to start their morning like that? No me. Not anymore. 

4. Make our bed every morning.
When your bed is made it just makes the room look clean. When it is unmade the room feels very uninviting. I want to walk into our bedroom and feel peaceful. 

5. Make a to-do list before bed every night. I spend a lot of time before bed thinking about what I need to do the next day. It is such a burden trying to come up with and then store what I need to do. Instead writing it down may help me let it go so I can sleep. 

I really hope that after 21 days of practice that these goals will become habit. These are good habits for me to have.

Fighting Naps

At the beginning of the summer Jack was a great napper. He took 2 two hour naps a day. One at 9 am and another at 3 pm. We would put him down for the night at 8. Things were really going well. Three weeks ago he started napping once during the day around 11 am and then going to bed for the night at 6:30. When I say "going to bed for the night" I don't always mean that he'll sleep all night. It is always a crap shoot. 

Three days ago he started fighting naps. For nap time we just lay him in his bed and he'll go to sleep on his own with no crying. Sometimes if he has had an overstimulated day we would have to rock him to sleep. Well three days ago not even rocking is getting it done. It's a full on fight. 

It is so aggravating. I know he is so sleepy and will be so happy if he would just sleep. I've tried every rocking position that he likes. I've patted the butt. I've sung every song I know and made up a few. I've even stuck him in his bed to cry for a few minutes. Now that he can stand, there is no going to sleep by just laying him in the bed because standing is way cooler than sleeping. 

I really hope that this is just a phase. Fighting the sleep is no fun for me or him. Oddly enough he doesn't fight it as much with Jeremy. I guess babies know daddies mean business and mamas are pushovers. 

After one hour and fifteen minutes he finally went to sleep. At this point I'm worn out myself. (update: he only slept 30 minutes and is back to whining)

Does anyone have any suggestions for babies that are fighting naps?

Love of Your Husband: Fact or Fiction

As I am sitting in bed I turned to my husband and asked him what I should write about for tomorrow. He said the love of your husband: fact or fiction? He is so silly. So to answer his question-fact (at least today...haha). He hasn't gotten on my nerves today but he has also been gone most of the day. 

No idea why he looks so serious-we were on our way to see Rascal Flatts

Here are some things I love/hate about him-I'll let you guess which is which:

1. He can never turn the tv off right. He always turns off the receiver instead of the tv and then it makes that horrible loud static noise. Then he doesn't turn the satellite receiver back on so when I turn the tv on in the morning the static is a shock.

2. He will come up behind me randomly and rub my back. 

3. He will always apologize first which works well because I have too much pride. If he takes too long then I will just cry so the fight can be over. (okay he seriously can't read this now).

4. He never washes all the dishes. When he washes the dishes he always leaves a few over. Why? I have no idea.

5. When he watches tv he can't hear when you talk. If it is American Dad, Family Guy, or King of the Hill forget about it. We are watching King of the Hill right now. 

6. He'll do anything if you ask but I HATE asking people to do stuff.

7. He takes showers so hot that when he comes out of the bathroom the fire alarm in the hall will go off. 

8. He LOVES his job. He uses all of those medical terms and it gets hard not to nod off.

9. He is horrible with money. You give him 5 or 100 dollars and either way he'll blow it. The good thing is he knows he is bad with money and he has gotten much better.

10. He isn't a big sweets eater but he loves Reese Cups, strawberry ice cream, and coconut cream pie. I got him a huge container of Reese Cups for Father's Day. He put them all in the freezer. 

11. He keeps saying Big Brother is stupid.

12. He will rub my arm at night until I fall asleep. He says he does it for me but I know that he does it for himself. It always helps him fall asleep also. 

He keeps trying to hit the different keys. Okay he is getting on my nerves now. I tell him to quit too much because he is always agitating me for his own amusement. 

Even the things that drive me nuts I love (okay not all the time). I love them because I can just roll my eyes and say "that's my husband". I know him and love him the way he is (well I wouldn't mind changing a few things). 

How Parenting Gets Easier

You adjust. 

In the early days of just having a newborn you live on euphoria. The smell and the happiness is just all so wonderful. It fills you up and keeps you moving. Eventually exhaustion wears you down but you have to keep going. Your precious baby needs you. You start dragging and wish for a shower and a nap. Things get hard. You start thinking surely all new mothers don't feel like this. Maybe we'll just have one baby. You start imaging your family of three. 

Slowly you start making a routine that works for your family. Your precious screaming baby starts to sleep longer than two hours at a time.  During those early days you would never imagine being in the shower while your sweet baby was out there all alone. Then you take baby steps, realizing you can walk into the other room and they will be fine. Eventually you learn that you have just enough time to shower and brush your teeth until your little one gets bored with their bouncy chair. 

Things get easier with time. You start to feel like you have this mother thing down. You start dreaming of baby number 2. You think back to those long sleepy days and they start to not look so bad. You start telling yourself that it won't be as hard with baby number 2 because you know so much about parenting now. You wouldn't have to spend so much time on google. Plus you already know they will live if you let them sleep in their own bed. You think you got this. 

See parenting does get easier. It is never easy but it does get easier. Just give yourself time. There will be days when you are simply nothing short of miserable but those days will pass. Believe me, I know. 

Be sure to link-up with me and Leslie from Violet Imperfection next Wednesday for our new series Practice Makes Habit. It's all about making goals and reaching those goals together. Get ready to be a Finisher!