Friday Fun

Friday night was my 10 year high school reunion. I did not attend, and neither did three of my dear friends from high school, so we had our own reunion. We had such a good time hanging out with each other!
Also, the peanut was looking extra cute in one of his new outfits.

So what about you all? Did anyone attend their 10 year high school reunion?

Yeah! Part 2

After my mom and I got the tree up, I set up our nativity. While I was setting it up I noticed that Jesus was missing! With the move and everything, somehow Jesus got lost. So I was running around the house saying, I can't find Jesus! I can't find Jesus! It was all rather funny.
Luckily I did find Jesus. He was in a tote in the basement. Thank goodness! Then I was going around the house saying, I've found Jesus! I've found Jesus! Once again, I found it rather funny.
So for your enjoyment here are some pictures of our nativity.

Yeah!

We have a Christmas tree!!! And its decorated and up! My wonderful mother bought us a pre lit tabletop tree for our living room. She also brought all of my childhood ornaments that she had at her house.

My mom and I had a great time decorating the tree together. (well, I decorated the tree while my mother held the peanut, and told me where to put the ornaments.)

Shall we take a tour of the tree? Here we go.
All growing up I took ballet. I loved ballet, as I still do today, so I have MANY ballerina ornaments.
Growing up I also danced in the nutcracker ballet for many, many years. So I also have many nutcracker ornaments.
In the ornaments that my mom brought there were also many babies first Christmas ornaments. I think it will be so fun to have my first ornaments on the same tree with the peanuts first ornaments.
Also, under the tree I have my first stocking.
Does anyone else have their tree up?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Did everyone have a good thanksgiving? Donnie and I headed over to his foster parents for a wonderful meal. Everyone was most excited to see the peanut.
So what is everyone thankful for? I'm thankful for all the prayers of God's people these past few months. I don't think I would have made it if it was not all the prayers of you all! Thank you!

Father Knows Best

Yesterday I was trying to get the peanut down for bed for well over an hour. Needless to say it was not going well. I asked Donnie to come and swaddle him. (Donnie does, what I like to refer to as, the death swaddle. He can swaddle the peanut SO tight, and the peanut loves it. I can't ever get it as tight as he does.)

So Donnie swaddles him, and he is still super upset, so I thought I would rock him for a bit. I started to rock him, then Donnie told me to just put him down because rocking him will just prolong the crying.

I did not tell him this, but I was thinking that he was a complete moron. I have been working with kids for the majority of my life, and I know what works and does not work. Or at least that was what I was telling myself.

Being the good, and submissive wife that I am, I put the peanut down. I only mainly did this to prove Donnie wrong. But you know what happened? I put him down, he gave a couple of whimpers and then he slept for 6 hours! 6 hours people!!!!! How crazy is that.

So I had to eat humble pie, and tell Donnie that father does know best.

Too Funny

The other day I was browsing a catalog, that we got in the mail, when I can across this add.
Please enlarge, and look at the father. He makes me laugh SO hard! It looks like he just won the Superbowl! I don't know about you, but I have NEVER seen someone so excited about kids riding bikes before.

Crying Update

I posted before that we are letting the peanut cry himself to sleep. Its been two weeks now, and he is still crying, and crying and crying.

When we went to the doctor on Friday I talked to her about it. She told us to keep doing what we are doing, and at some point he will learn to sleep. I secretly hoped that she would have some magic trick that would get him to sleep, but that was not the case.

This is what he does, we put him to bed drowsy, he is quite for about 10 min, then he starts to cry. Then the cries for 10 min, sleeps for 10 min, cries for 10 min, sleeps for 10 min, and so on. It could drive a person batty I tell you.

I keep telling myself that this is just a season that will not last forever, and that makes me feel better. I also know that the good Lord will equip me for everything that comes my way. :-)

Sad Peanut

Yesterday the peanut had his two month well baby visit. He is weighing 11 pounds 2 ounces, and is 23 inches long. The doctor is very pleased with how he is doing.

Then came the shots. We are only doing a few select shots, so he only got two yesterday. He was SO SO SO cranky ALL day after the doctor. He looked like he was in so much pain. Very sad. We held him all day long, and he was still upset!

I hope he is feeling better today!

Happy 1/2 Birthday to Donnie!

Yesterday was Donnie's half birthday. As I have talked about before half birthdays are a big deal around here. Now we don't have money in the budget for half birthday celebrations, so I had to think of something to do for free.
I made him a card that I taped on the door for him when he got home. The peanut and I were at stroller strides when he got home, so I wanted the card to greet him.
We still had Donnie's decorations up from his birthday, so I decided just to add a 1/2 to them to make them appropriate this celebration.
As you can see in the pictures, there are some little presents that are taped to the wall for him. What are they you ask? They are dark chocolate bars. Donnie LOVES dark chocolate. Now how did I get them for free, you wonder? Well, CVS had them on sale for $1, and I had a $1 extra buck, so it was free!

Does anyone else celebrate half birthdays?

Life

As I posted about before, I had been suffering with a large case of postpartum depression, and I wanted to update you all on how I have been feeling.

With the prayers of many of you, I'm happy to report that I have been feeling 200% better now. I feel that the Lord has healed me through medication, and therapy. I'm still on medication, and still seeing a therapist.

Looking back I feel that I have come along way. The first month was really hard. Donnie was doing almost ALL the child care, and taking care of me. I thought I would never be able to be alone with the peanut, but now all that has changed.

Thanks for all your prayers!

Chef Stacey

Seeing that I'm now a stay at home mom, I feel I should be cooking dinner. Now I'm not a cook by any stretch of the imagination, so it has been interesting.

I'm happy to report that cooking is going well! The other night I made lasagna, and I was shocked how well it came out. Then last night I made a veggie pot pie. (pictured above) I'm telling you, pretty soon I'll have my own restaurant. hehehehe

So how about you? Do you all like to cook?

To cry, or not to cry?

Let me tell you a story. A few weeks back I noticed that the peanut was sleeping during the day mostly in my arms. This was not working for either one of us. The peanut was not getting good sleep, and was very cranky. My arms were killing me, and I was not getting anything done.

I called the peanut doctor, and she confirmed what I was thinking. The peanut needs to sleep in his crib after every feeding. She told us to put him to bed drowsy, and then let him cry. She also told us that within a week he should get the hang of it.

Well...its been a week, and things are still not going well. He gets drowsy, we put him to bed, he screams...and screams...and screams. There have been many times this past week that I have wanted to pull my hair out! There is only so much screaming one can take!

I'm going to give it another week. At some point he has to start sleeping on his own, right? On Friday we go back to the doctor, and I will see what she thinks.

So what do you think? Should babies cry themselves to sleep, or should the parent get the baby to sleep?

Stroller Strides

Has anyone heard of Stroller Strides? Let me tell you, its the coolest thing ever!

I remember along time ago my mom mentioned something about it, but at the time I did not really think about it. Then Niki was talking about it on her blog, and I thought I would check into it. I have now been to two classes, and love it.

Its a workout program that you do with your child and stroller. There is walking, cardo, arm work and more. After the first class I really thought I was going to die! Right now the class is inside because of the weather, but in the spring and summer, its all done outside.

The best thing about the class is being out with other moms. Mom's who know what its like to have a two month old who does not like to sleep. Mom's who know that staying home all day with your baby can drive you a bit insane! :-)

Peanut

I have come to a new conclusion. The peanut has personality. When I mentioned this to both my mother, and Donnie they both just laughed at me. They claim the peanut does not have personality traits this early. I highly disagree. I see distinctive personality traits.

So what do you think? At two months does our peanut have personality?

Book Review

As I posted about before, I got the book "I was a really good mom before I had kids" for my birthday. I was very excited to read it, and I was not at all disappointed.

Everything in this book I could totally relate to...the guilt, the judgment of others, just saying no and so much more. I really felt like everything I have been feeling these past two months was in this book. The good, bad, and ugly.

What I will take away from this book is that moms tend to have unrealistic expectations for themselves. This creates guilt, and guilt is not a good thing.

If you are a mom, I would totally recommend this book!

Faces of Mad

I feel that the peanut spends a good amount of his day screaming. If he is not eating or sleeping, chances are good he is screaming. So the other day (election day) Donnie decided to document his screaming. Donnie says that these pictures will be coming out once Josiah brings girlfriends around.

Enjoy!

Happy 2 Months!

Today the peanut is officially two months old! Time flies when your having fun!

Problem

The peanut has a problem. He is too long and skinny!

He has a lot of sleeper type outfits that are one piece with feet. Now these are all sized 0-3 months but they are too short for him! I think two piece outfits will fit him much better from now on.

(please ignore the red eye on the peanut!)

More Birthday Fun!

This past Saturday I got to have more birthday fun! My friend Katie has season tickets at the Fisher Theater, so we went to see Avenue Q. It was SO funny. When I got home I made Donnie watch all the clips of it I could find online. If you are in the Detroit area I would definitely recommend going to see it!
After we saw Avenue Q, Katie and I met our friends Courtney and Emily for dinner. We ate at Pronto in Royal Oak, and it was really yummy. The hummus was out of this world!

It was so nice being out with friends! Although I love the peanut, it is nice to get away for a bit.

Presents!!!!

This past weekend Amy, Donnie's cousin came to visit! She was very excited to meet the peanut, and she brought presents!

Look at this shirt she found! Is it not perfect? I LOVE it!
She also got him a baby book. This is not something that I had, and I have had a great time filling it out!
There is even more! She gave me all the fixings to scrappbook! She gave me SO much stuff. There are even stickers that light up! How cool is that?
Thanks Amy!

Did You Vote?

Yesterday we went and voted as a family. Did you vote?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my 29th birthday! Sadly the day did not start off to well. I fed the peanut around 2:30am, but he would not go back to sleep. He did not really fall asleep till like 9am. That means mama was up from 2:30am on.

I was SO tried all day I thought I was going to fall over. My mom came over so I could run a couple errands, and everything that could go wrong did. As I'm sure you can figure out I was not in a real good mood.

On Monday nights we normal have bible study at our house, but I was feeling to crummy so we canceled. We did however, have cake! My mom had bought a cake, and some icing to write happy birthday on it. The icing came out really thick so all I could get on the cake was the word happy. It was sorta sad.

My mom even brought candles for it! (there were not 29, they would not have fit!)
So Donnie and the peanut sang happy birthday to me,
and I got to blow out my candles.
Then I promptly went to bed. :-)

Guilt

I have discovered something that I think comes along with motherhood, and that is guilt. I find myself feeling guilty ALL the time. I will make a list for you.

1.) I feel guilty that the house is not clean. I think if I stay home all day I should have time to clean the house.

2.) I feel guilty when Donnie helps with the baby.

3.) I feel guilty when I leave Donnie alone with the baby, even if I'm just going grocery shopping.

4.) I feel guilty that my mom is helping so much. I feel that I should be able to do everything on my own, and not need any help.

This is the short list. I'm sure I could come up with more if time permitted. However, I'm saying NO to feeling guilty. (or at least trying to)

Its okay that the house is not clean.

Donnie likes to help with the baby (most of the time), and he is fine when I leave him alone with the peanut.

I do need extra help and that is okay. I'm not wonder women, and I love having my mom here to help out.

So I'm saying no to guilt. What about you all? Any ones else experiencing guilt?

Happy (early) Birthday to me!

Today Donnie and I celebrated my birthday! (its Monday)

The day started with a present! Donnie and the peanut wrapped and presented me with a wonderful gift. Please note in the picture that the present is wrapped with paper from our printer, and held together with painters tape. I love my hubby! :-)
Also note that in this picture that the peanut is holding onto the present! How cute!!
And what was the present? The book "I was a really good mom before I had kids". I was so happy to get this book! I had seen it in Target, and even blogged about it. My hubby remember all this and bought me the book. How sweet is that!?!
Then it was off to church. Because it was cold out, we put the peanut in a winter coat for the first time. He is SO cute in it. And you know what? He was quiet all during church today! What a blessing that was.
My wonderful parents met us at church to take the peanut so Donnie and I could have some time alone. They are SO good to us! So after church we headed to my favorite restaurant, Sweet Lorraine's for lunch. It was very very very yummmy.

After that we headed home for a bit. Donnie was planning on taking me to see High School Musical 3 (I have really wanting to see it), but being home with no peanut was so nice I did not want to leave. So we ended up sleeping, and enjoying the peace and quite. It was wonderful!