Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Floods, Oh My!

So last week was pretty eventful in Stafford, VA. Not usually one of the biggest natural disaster ridden areas of the country, we had an earthquake on Tuesday, and hurricane on Saturday, and floods Saturday and Sunday. WTF, mother nature. As if a screaming baby is not enough to make you nervous 24/7 lets throw in a shaking house, flash flooding, and tropical storm force winds. Oh did I mention we didn't have power for about 15 hours. Yeah.

So on Tuesday, elementary teachers everywhere would have been proud of my tornado drill execution, the only problem is that I was NOT in a tornado, we were experiencing an earthquake. I live in Stafford, VA......we are not supposed to have earthquakes, but apparently they occur all the time in this area, they are just not strong enough to be felt all the way to Chicago as this one was. I was home alone, working away when the house started shaking. Now often this can be caused by the marines blowing shit up on Quantico. It rattles the house a bit, the dogs bark, and it's over. Not this time. The dogs start barking, the shaking gets stronger, and I almost crapped in my pants when I saw my ceiling fan swaying!

I had no idea what to do, but my first thought is get in the bathtub. I grabbed the dogs (Sadie Marie was at daycare) and got in the bathtub, then I thought if the top level comes down, I'm screwed.....I get out of the tub and run for the basement......then I thought if the top level comes down, I'm screwed like aunt jemima pancake flat, so I just stood in the hallway with my cell phone, that would not work, and the house phone. I call the baby daddy........here is our conversation and mind you at this point I'm shaking and freaking the F out:

Me: Did you feel that?!!!?
Him: Yep we are all outside....
Me: Should I go outside?!!!?
Him: I guess, You OK?
Me: I'm fine.....
Him: I didn't say you I said she.....Sadie Marie is she OK?
Me: OH, yes she's fine, I got a text from the sitter.
Me: Thanks buddy, I'm glad you are worried about our daughter, but a little concern for your wife who is home alone doing a freaking tornado drill would be nice too.
Him: You OK?
Me: Oh, yea. I almost crapped my pants when I realized it was an earthquake but I'm OK. Thank you for your concern.

Everyone was worried about Sadie Marie. A coworker read an email I sent and asked me where the baby was? Really? I automatically grab my dogs and not my baby. She was at the sitter. Geez. I know for sure now it's never going to be about me again, I'm just glad it'sall  about Sadie Marie at least she's a part of me :)

Anyway, funny story. Right after the quake I got a work related phone call and I'm sure the nice lady on the other end was SO EXCITED she got me. I don't normally answer the phones since I'm a supervisor but I was filling in that day and my phone automatically answered. I am the manager for planning my university's commencement ceremony so I deal with graduation things Here's the conversation:

Caller: Hello?
Me: Hello?
Caller: Hello?
Me: AH, UH American Public University System, This is April.
Caller: AH, Hi I have a question about tassels for my husband.
Me: Ah, Ok, UM what kind of question do you have?
Caller: About tassles?........she's thinking WTF of course.
Me: OK, I'm sorry, I'm kinda out of sorts, we just had an earthquake.....
Caller: Oh, where are you
Me: I'm home alone.....
Caller: Where are you
Me, Stafford, VA/Manassas, VA. I don't usually answer the phones. I'm sorry what did you need?
Caller: TASSELS!
Me: Ok, give me your email address and I will send you the link.
Caller: Thank you

So as you can see I could not put a sentence together to save my life and I NEVER did get her name. I'm real sure she was glad she got me on the phone. In the email, my salutation was Hello. Awesome. I'm such a professional.

So if the earthquake was not enough excitement last week, throw in Hurricane Irene on Saturday. The baby daddy was out of town, but Cunnie did come into town on Thursday so even though my husband, who is throughly trained in emergency response was not here, having your mom in town always helps. Luckily, he did send me a list of things to do before he got back on Saturday morning. Here's the list:

Ice
Move grill to garage
TP
Water enough for 3-5 days
Beer
Liquior
Wine
Flashlights
Batteries
Generator
Extension cords
power strips

Now please note, three of the items are alcohol related. We were supposed to go to Jimmy Buffet on Saturday night. Instead I spent that night asleep on mattress on the floor in my basement, with the baby daddy and baby. One big happy family. Luckily Sadie Marie slept through the whole thing however I did not. It was not because of the storm although I did wake up when I heard the power go off and the transformer popped and I could not go back to sleep because I had about three chainsaws going in the room with me and when I say chainsaws I am referring to Cunnie, Bailey, and the baby daddy. Holy moly it was terrible. The power went out at 2 AM and this was the rest of my night.

Cunnie would start snoring, I would say mama......she'd stop. Bailey would start snoring, I would say Bailey......she'd stop, Theron......he'd stop. Cunnie, Bailey, Cunnie, Baby daddy, Bailey, Cunnie!!!!. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.........Sadie Marie is the only one who did not make any noise that night. She woke up at 6 AM and wanted to eat and so at that time the AERP went into action. AERP stands for the Airhart Emergency Response Plan devised by the baby daddy and I must say we executed it perfectly. Well, he did anyway. For the most part, we all watched as he set up the generator, plugged the frige and freezer in, got us lights on, set up fans, and assured we had coffee to drink. It's SO nice to have a husband who knows how to do that kind of stuff. Fifteen hours without power is not so bad when you have a generator that keeps everyone happy.

Sadie Marie may only be 3 months old, but she is already a seasoned traveler, she has weather her first hurricane, and survived an earthquake. Thank goodness we live on high ground, I don't think she's ready to swim just yet. She's already ahead of me but I can tell you if they don't do earthquake drills in school with her, we will have them at home!

Here are some pictures from this weekend:

Our makeshift shelter. It was a hot mess down there but it was very nice to have a basement to go to just in case a tree fell on the house!

I also had a really awesome picture of Jules and I with our headlamps on but it would not post! :/

 I feel the same way about Bailey's farts Sadie Marie! This was Sunday after the storm.

Too Cute!

For some reason this won't save right side up. Anyway, you can see Sadie Marie was not excited about Hurricane Irene! This was Saturday night!

I made this rocker for her.....I don't mean I whittled it or anything, but I painted it and put her name on it. I love arts and crafts! I figured since we could not leave the house I needed something to do.

Love y'all

A





Better to be Pissed off then Pissed on.....Oh Wait. That was Pee.

So my friends, I have a few moments tonight to reflect on the past few days and all I can say is WTF.

Yesterday we had an earthquake in Mineral, VA. It's about 30 miles I guess from my house. It was not awesome. I was home all alone working and everything started rumbling. I'm thinking man! They are really blowing shit up on Quantico today and then the rumbling got stronger and louder, the light fixtures were shaking, and it dawned on me.....EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, as many of you know I'm a take charge kind of gal and this situation was no different, however, my emergency responses do not include what to do in the event of an earthquake so I go into tornado response mode. I grabbed the dogs (Sadie Marie was at daycare) and we headed down to the basement, then I thought if this house collapses I'm screwed so we headed back up stairs to the tub. Then I realized if the top floor collapsed I was screwed, so then we just stood in the hallway. If I had thought to grab a book I would have been on the floor, indian style, facing the wall with a book over my head. Thank you elementary school for teaching me a book might save my life in the event my house is destroyed by a tornado.

I got through to the sitter and Sadie Marie was fine thank goodness. Cell phones were down and it was a great eye opener to what it will be like if some serious shit really did go down in this area. If you don't have a satellite phone you are effed.

Anyway, apparently tornado ER reponse and earthquake respose are NOT the same. I should have stayed put and got in a doorway. Why? If my house had collapsed do you really think standing in the doorway was going to save me. Maybe I should have gone outside, but the idea of falling into a sink hole does not appeal to me. When I picked Sadie Marie up from daycare, her infant gram told me that she was not bothered by the earthquake, but it was proabably becuase her hiney makes that sounds sometimes!!!!!!!!! HILARIOUS! I totally put this in her baby book so I can embarass her in about 15 years.

We survived, but it was not fun. I'm currently looking into earthquake insurance because apparently earthquakes are NOT covered in your normal policy.

On to today.......it was a doozy. When I have to go to work I get up at 5 AM. Sadie Marie usually eats at this time and after I feed and get myself ready it's 615 and time for me to head out the door. Work was good yesterday, I was tired because first, I was notified that one of my best friends was in labor when her water broke at 1015 PM and I of course I was excited and it was hard to fall alseep. :) AND the little peanut has decided she no longer needs to eat at night but is not going to let me sleep just to keep my honest. She was up every hour wanting her pacifier to be put in her mouth, which she promptly spits out once she goes to sleep, but then and hour or two later wants it back. I guess she was excited about little Isabelle's arrival too!  I should probably duct tape her pacifier to her head......that's legal right?

So after work, I'm tired but because I'm also over these last 10 lbs of baby weight hanging out around my midsection like a spare tire, I went to the gym and worked it out and so our adventure begins......

I get home and don't even get a hello from the baby daddy.......
Him: "She ate 2.5 hours ago"
Me: OK
Him: You need to hurry
Me: Fix her a bottle I need to shower!

I get a look of how, why, and what from him all at the same time. I had just walked in the door from a 12 hour day. FIX HER A BOTTLE. Then my mommy skills kicked in and I decided I would rather nurse her since I'm home than have to pump SO I proceed to take a quick shower and feed the baby while he packed to go to Virginia Beach for work. If there was every a time I wanted to drop kick someone it was at that moment.

And then the screaming commenced........I have never seen a child who eats, is happy for a hot second, and then screams for an hour. We burped her, we walked, we swang, we rocked. NADA. She was angry, why I have no idea, but I was too exhausted to really care about the why, I just wanted some quiet so we all took turns trying to pacify this poor child and finally she dozed off. SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH......no body move. she's alseep. :)

After a little power nap Sadie Marie clearly felt better and plus it was bath time. Have I ever mentioned Sadie Marie LOVES bathtime. We read, we play with her toys, and we mostly talk about her day and mine. So I take her to her changing table to get her undressed and we sing a little song about her being naked because she loves it and BOOM. I felt something kinda warm and realized........I got peed on. I knew it was bound to happen at some point in my life but as I'm hollering........OHHHHHH, she just peed on me the baby daddy starts cackling. Thanks Buddy I hope she poops on you.

So! Lessons learned.

1. In the event of an earthquake. If you are inside stay inside and get in a doorway. Probably won't save your life, but when they talk about you later, they can at least say you did the right thing and it was probably just your time.
2. When transporting a baby. Diaper, Diaper, Diaper even if it's only for 15 seconds from her room to the tub.
3. Duct taping a pacifier to a baby is not legal. I checked.
4. Coffee is the best thing since sliced bread.
5. I LOVE my little peanut more and more each day even though she really does seem to be plotting against us. I think that is why I love her so much, she keeps us on our toes and is giving me plenty to talk about.

Love y'all!

She has just discovered her feet! She looks at them all the time!

She has also started rolling over and pushing up.

Crawling is next. Yikes!

Weekend Adventures and Sadie Marie Milestones

So we have had a pretty exciting weekend. On Friday I took Sadie Marie out for her first APUS Company Picnic. The baby daddy had to work so John Rob and Jules were on Auntie and Uncle duty helping me with the baby, because let me tell you it almost takes all three of us to get all her shit together, out the door, unloaded at our destination, and to keep it together while we are out. We went to the Marriott Ranch in Hume, VA and luckily it was not 110 degrees so it was a nice day out with a few minor speed bumps......

We arrived and of course missy needed a diaper change. Good Luck. We are on a Ranch. I find the bathroom and ended up having to change her on a triangle shaped table in the bathroom. Thanks Marriott, I know babies can't ride your horses but com'on man, you could have at least pretended to care and put one of those changing things in the bathroom. Luckily Auntie JuJu was there to man the stroller and watch the baby while I got a bottle ready becuase you know this baby was hungry!

The rest of the day was pretty good, it was only mildly hot so we got some grub, fed the baby, and then sat....still. My coworkers were all around and you don't realize how immobile you can be until you have a stroller, diaper bag, and a baby who hates to be hot. She only had one minor meltdown, with looks of sympathy from those around me, before she passed out for about 45 minutes. Whew. The upside is that I got a ton of compliments on how cute my little peanut is. Thank You. I think she is the coolest thing since sliced bread, but it always feels good to have those thoughts reinforced by those who don't HAVE to love her. :)

Anyway, it started to threaten rain so we peaced out of there. It was like a herd of strollers leaving that place when it started thundering and lightening and I could actually see the wall of rain coming towards us. Sometimes it's good to have a baby. I can use her as an excuse for almost everything. Uh oh, it might rain better get to the car. Uh oh, it's hot, better get to the car. Uh oh, misquitoes....better get to the car :) We got home early before the traffic was unbearable. Thank You Sadie Marie for being little and cute.

On to Saturday. We had some friends over and that's when you realize you life has really changed. It was nice to see a new baby, and I have already forgotten Sadie Marie was EVER that little! Another friend is ready to burst! So it was to get in one last BBQ before her little peanut arrives! She is due next Sat and SO ready. I remember that feeling and I'm rooting for her to go ASAP so she does not have to be induced next Monday. I cooked some burgers, Auntie JuJu made her fantastic buffalo chicken dip, and Sadie Marie was good entertainment.

First, as soon as I had changed her clothes, she spit up all over herself and me. Sadie Marie 1, Mommy 0. She sat in her swing and everyone played with her then I got her out and sat her in my lap while I was shooting the shit with my lady friends and all of a sudden I noticed show she had been sitting in my lap for over a half hour, cooing, talking, playing with my hands and chewing on them, but most markedly she was holding her head up with zero bobbles. She was in full control of her head and mid sentence I stopped and pointed it out. She has been holding her head up since she was born, but last night was the first night she was in complete control of it for more than a few minutes! Sadie Marie Milestone 1

The great thing about having a baby is when you mention it's bathtime and then bedtime, folks will peace out of your house like you have the plague. Sadie Marie starting getting a little whiny and I knew it was about that time so we saw our guests out and it was time for a parental milestone. Daddy was going to bath the baby. Sadie Marie gets a bath every night. She LOVES bathtime and it was about time her daddy learned to bath her. I could see it in his eyes. Shit.........I can't tell her I'm too tired tonight. I napped for 3 hours today and the baby mamma didn't. HA, gotcha!

On to the bath......it was a lot of fun. The baby daddy was surprisingly good at bathing the baby. I guess he honned in his military expertise of thinking on his feet and did what he hears me do every night. I supervised to be sure played with her and read to her enough and I must say, A+ Airhart, A+.

On Sunday, we were up around 7 AM and after she ate we put her in her swing while we got coffee and ate breakfast. Well, miss thing has decided she can also now control her hands and start reaching for things!!  I put her rattle in front of her and boom. She slowly took both hands and grabbed either side of the froggies head and proceeded to shake it to death! I think she likes the eyes on it. She did it time and time again and it's so cute to watch her learn to control her movements! Sadie Marie Milestone 2!

Then after a little coffee and breakfast, Sadie Marie was still up so TUMMY TIME commenced! She has just recently started liking tummy time more and more. She also has started pushing up with her arms and looking up at 90 degrees! Well this morning she rolled over! She was rocking so I hollered for the baby daddy to come at watch and she was talking, pushing up, and then boom. She rolled over. I'm thinking fluke.....but after we gave her a little rest she did it again! I could not believe it! Sadie Marie Milestone 3

Now my thought is Shit. The more mobile she gets the more attentive I'm going to have to be!

She's napping now, she had a BIG weekend and I'm so proud of my little peanut. I'm reading what to expect the first year and we are ahead of the curve. My baby is a genius I know it! Hahahahahah! Yea right. If she's anything like me, which it's already pretty clear she is going to be just like me, we will be lucky if she just stays out of trouble long enough to graduate from college! We have already started her college fund so she better!

This that good sleep when you drool and your mouth is wide open.  She looks like her daddy. He still sleeps like this.

Alright, the baby daddy is outside cutting grass, thank goodness because our backyard was starting to look like a jungle. Since I did all my shit yesterday, it's nap time.

Love y'all,

A

Bathtime Nursery Rhymes

Sadie Marie loves a bath.....thank goodness. One less thing we have to fight her about. This child already has pretty strong opinions and will fight you tooth and nail when she disagrees with your choice in clothes or activities. She HATES sleeping unswaddled, but I'm sticking to my guns. She hates getting undressed, but then loves to be naked.......I will be glad when she realizes, undresssing leads to the nakedness....and eventually bathtime.

Bathtime has become one of my favorite times, even though I need to wear a rainsuit to stay dry, bathtime is hilarious. Sadie Marie has gotten to the age where she responds to us. She laughs when we laugh, she laughs at us, and she LOVES a bath. A few nights ago, we decided to video tape her in the bathtub because she squeals and laughs and interacts with us. It cracks me up to see her splash, kick, and get so excited about a tub of freaking water. I wish I got that excited about a shower. I will admit I get much more excited about a shower than I used to. It's one time of day I get to spend ALONE. I never thought I would love my workout and shower so much :)

In addition to bathtime fun, Sadie Marie will also sit still long enough for me to read a book to her. We have a favorite book. It's easy to read and it has a lot of red in it, which is why I think she likes to look at it. We also video taped me reading to her, she beats on the books during storytime and bathtime. She's going to be hell on wheels I can feel it.

Also, I know video tapping is not what we are doing, but I'm a product of the 80's and I call it video taping. I don't even know what else to call it, but I do know there is no tape in there and the little thing we use to do the taping looks like one of those lint removers that has a blade in it.

Anyway, I attached is a video for your viewing pleasure. I think its funny, the baby daddy thinks they are funny, and I KNOW her CiCi will think they are funny. She's my first child, if you don't think they are funny........suck it. :) My child is the next Lucille Ball, I know it.

Did I mention I wrote my child a song......that's right I'm the best mom ever.

She looks like the michelan baby in this video!

Nursing Strike.....WTF is that?

So it seems Miss Sadie Marie is going to make us earn our parent patches....one by one.  I feel like we already have a vest full of patches and we are only 12 weeks in. Last week miss thang apparently was pissed at me and decided to stop nursing and go on an nursing strike......I mean really!?! Up to this point nursing was our one fail safe, it was the one thing in our ammo box that we could pull out when everything else failed and now it was not working. It started out innocently enough, we were getting ready for her evening feeding, she was tired and hungry and then rather than a happy gulping baby, I got an extended version of the milk monster only this time she was not taking the bait. Panic set in.....is she sick? Maybe she's just not hungry?......who am I kidding she's always hungry......so I tried to calm her down and when she was calm I tried again.......screams ensued......now I'm starting to sweat.....what do I do? Will 911 accept this as an emergency? The baby daddy was gone on travel and I'm all alone....I quickly decided I had to hike up the mommy panties I was already wearing and figure it out.

I settled her down again, tried one last time, and boom she ate. I'm thinking OK maybe she was just super pissed off tonight and needed a chill pill before she could eat. I proceed to feed her and go to bed, 3 AM she wakes to eat.....no issues.....whew, I'm thinking it was a one time thing and she back to being my little milk monster. Not so fast mom, 7 AM she refuses to feed for 45 minutes. I'm in a full out sweat, in a I had to put her down for a few minutes to collect myself panic by the time she finally latched on.

All I can say is WTF.

I fed her and got her down for a nap after our next refusal and whipped out the computer. What I had on my hands was called a nursing strike. I mean really......what the hell is that all about? It did not sound fun.....

A nursing strike is when a baby (of any age) who is nursing refuses to nurse. It can differ in ranges of severity as well. Sometimes they refuse to nurse altogether but will drink from the bottle, sometimes you have my situation where they refuse to eat for a while but will eventually latch on. Well boys and girls at least I had a name for this nonsense and then loaded myself know with information. A nursing strike can last anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks. Babies under a year old are not trying to wean themselves. If the mother is persistent the baby will almost always go back to nursing, but if you desire you can wean at this time. Well I am not ready to wean my little peanut just yet so at our next feeding I proceeded to drop some knowledge on Miss Sadie Marie. I calmly told her she was just being silly, she was hungry she needed to eat. I calmed her down, let her scream it out and boom she ate. It only took 30 minutes this time.

At our next feeding she put up a fight but I was ready I stuck that pacifier in her mouth and after a few seconds pulled the ole switchero and boom she ate. Mommy 1, Sadie Marie 0...... Later that night we had some fussing again but she eventually ate. So we were two days into this strike and when I woke up the next morning I was hopeful it was a short strike and luckily I was right. She latched right on and we have had zero problems ever since. Phew......all I know is I earned my nursing girl scout patch this past week. It's stressful as hell to have your baby scream at you when your trying to feed her, but I survived to sweat another day.

Lots of things can cause a nursing strike and there's no real pinpointed cause. I feel like mine was caused by a change in lotion I was using. The strike started right in line with a change in my lotion after showering, but rather than go back to my old lotion I continued to use the same lotion fearing changing again might only anger her more. Who new baby's were so temperamental!

Anywho, today is my last day of maternity leave and I go back to work tomorrow, but luckily Auntie JuJu is here to watch the baby my first week back. She's going to watch the baby here while I work at home this week and the Sadie Marie is going to daycare from 9-12 tomorrow and Tuesday to get her used to it and then she will go all day on Wed and Friday. I looked at my inbox today and I had close to 1000 emails. I know what this week will be spent doing.

Well this baybay is stirring from her nap so I best go tend to her.

Love y'all!

Back to Work Woes and Swaddling Laughs!

I go back to work next Monday and I tell you I'm not excited about it. Don't get me wrong I love my job and I really love the folks I work with but having 12 weeks off and being able to go run errands during the day, workout when I can, and get things done around the house while Sadie Marie is sleeping has spoiled me. Even though I have found a daycare that I'm super excited about, I still am nervous about leaving her all day! I think it's going to be a bigger transition for me than it will be for her. I now completely understand why one of my friends fought tooth and nail to get an extra month off.....at 12 weeks they are just starting to interact with you and then you go back to work and leave them all day to interact and bond with someone else. BOOOOO. I think we should start protesting for 6 months of maternity leave for ALL!

So in an attempt to get a routine established before I go back,I wanted to start as soon as we got back from Alabama. First, we put her in her baby bed. WIN! She took to that like she had been doing it her whole life. Second, I thought I would stop swaddling her....I figured it would be easy as well, she was sleeping close to 6 hours through the night......FAIL. Boy was I wrong, after two utterly sleepless nights I gave up. Yep it only took two nights of having to get up every 30 minutes and put a pacifier back in her mouth, or getting up to soothe, or getting up to feed......I caved BIG time. She won. She always wins....I need sleep if I'm going to function during the day and with Theron going to work and going out of town this week, I won't have him here to help at night. God love Auntie JuJu because without her I'm not sure what we would do! She folds my clothes and cleans....I may never let her leave!

Anyway, who knew swaddling would be such a big deal, my poor child flails, kicks, and punches herself in the face at night. Swaddling is not just a sleep crutch it's a safety precaution. I can see it now......she has a black eye, someone calls child protective services, and I try to explain how she really did hit herself.....oh and wait for it, while she was asleep.  I'm sure they would believe me right? The more I research the more I realized I may be jumping the gun here. She can't roll over yet and I have her sleeping in a wedge at night so she can't roll over even if she wanted to so, I think we may cross the swaddle bridge when we get there. Maybe if I HAVE to stop swaddling her I won't cave so easily. She really spoiled me by going in her crib so easily! I may try one more thing tonight and if it does not work, swaddle it is. So let me tell you about last night......

I read all day yesterday about ways to wean your baby from swaddling and let me tell you there are a lot of tricks and techniques out there so I thought I would try a sleep sack and keep her arms inside and so our story begins........

I started our new nighttime routine:
Bath at 8:30 PM
Feed at 9:00 PM
Bedtime at 9:30 PM........for her not so much for me.

I fed her and pulled both arms inside the sleep sack and the neck on this particular sack is bigger.....she almost had both arms through the neck hole before I got her in the bed. 9:45 PM FAIL......So then I thought I could put her arms back in the sleeves and saftey pin them to her sides 10:00 PM FAIL.......that didn't work either after about 3 minutes she had worked one arm out of one side and had the other stretched so far she had her hand in her mouth. 10:05 PM FAIL. Then I tried pinning the sleeves to the wedge but thought that might be a fire hazard or just wrong so......10:15 PM FAIL. Then I just let her be arms out and up over her head, it took her 45 minutes to go to sleep, she slept about 45 minutes, spit her pacifier, and was pissed off........11:30 PM FAIL......I was on the verge of breaking out the duct tape, I mean it can be used to fix everything right? So I could just duct tape her arms down...then I thought shit child protective services would not approve so might as well just swaddle her. :)

So I got her out of the bed, changed her into a onesie, swaddled her little butt up, and got 5 blissful hours of sleep, fed at 4:30 AM, and then got three more hours. I even got up and worked out this morning and took Sadie Marie with me. That is a win every day of the week.

She associates the swaddle with nighttime sleep and we have to break that cycle. It's so funny, she naps during the day with no swaddle and will sleep for 2 hours at a time, but with no swaddle at night she does the same 2-3 hours and she's up wanting to eat. I don't want to rever to that so.......I do have one more technique I'm going to try tonight.....a sleep sack with a smaller neck hole and no arms......I'm not very confident that it will work but I'm willing to give it a try. When she is swaddled I feed and lay her down, she goes to sleep.....if we can get anywhere near this I will give it more than one night.

So everything I read gave me lots of ideas, but what I got the most is that every baby is different and while I want her to lose the swaddle she's not ready.The most important thing I read is that she needs to feel safe and I want her to trust that I will always give her that. She feels safe and warm and who am I to deprive her of that because it's what works best for me? She's only two months old and if swaddling is the only crutch we are facing right now I'm OK with that. I promise to keep the duct tape for tasks such as covering my busted car window with plastic.......

WTF.....I forgot people do this shit in Alabama. I don't see if in VA only because you have to have all your windows to pass state inspection and drive your car. If they every implement inspections in AL there are gonna be a lot of folks who will be calling Eastside Cab.....

At daycare they said they would put her in a bebe pod some of the time so I thought we would go ahead and get that party started. She was watching TV....we tried to play with her, but the TV won. Bailey wanted to play with her too, but opted for a nap after she realized I was not going to let her lick the baby just yet.

Some days tummy time is NOT fun time, other days she likes it. As you can see on Friday she either like it or was too tired to care. She's alseep on the tummy beside me right now and seems to be really enjoying it! She is farting so I know she's sleeping good!

So everyone say a little prayer that I go back to work without having a panic attack or slight breakdown when I have to leave her. I promise to keep the duct tape in the garage and not on the changing table and I promise to keep y'all updated on our adventures!

Y'all be good!

Love y'all

April

How the Time Flies!

So it's been a hot minute since I posted anything and that is simply because I have been SO freaking busy these past couple of weeks! Even though I have been in the SEL we were just going, going, going and while it was fun, all good things must come to an end, so we are back in VA facing the real world without my mom and let me tell you it's not always fun, but I have a great support system here between the Baby Daddy, Auntie JuJu, and Uncle John Rob, I can actually shower, workout, and even cook some supper most days! But today it really hit me.......time flies when your having fun!

I have been out of work for almost 12 weeks now and I have no desire to go back but my bank account begs to differ, so back to work I go on August 15 and I'm so lucky to be able to work from home three days a week! It saves me 6 hours commuting each week and those precious hours can now be spent with Miss Sadie Marie!  Over the past 12 weeks we have had up and downs but all those ups trump any downs we had. Here are some of the ups we have had over the past few weeks!

Sadie Marie is a world traveler at the tender age of 11 weeks. She has been from VA to AL and in AL she has been from Selma to Montgomery, (multiple times) to Birmingham, to Phenix City and back and let me tell y'all this baybay travels like a champ and her parents are getting the hang of it as well! We have changed diapers in the car, fed in the car, warmed bottles up in the car, warmed bottles up in the gas station bathroom.....I can change a diaper anywhere, anytime and NOT get the poop on me! Whoop Whoop I have graduated from parent in training to rookie parent. Can I get my girl scout badge please!

On our first trip to Auntie Rae Rae's house we had a blast! I looked like a one woman gypsy circus with all the shit I had for a one night stay, but I was prepared for anything! Sadie Marie did really well and only made Reagan earn her Auntie status one time while I was in the shower......I have to say I was super proud that Reagan held that baby all freaking night! She loves her some Sadie Marie and we are super pumped we get to come back to AL in October for her wedding! I'm excited to get to dress miss thang up for the wedding mostly, it's like playing dress up with your barbie only it's a baby and the day is probably going to end with poop on it somewhere..........but it's fun nonetheless!

So funny story.........I'm changing a diaper and I told Reagan to come look at it....I know, I know but it's how Reagan and I roll.......so she comes to look and is of course grossed out and she says I want to hear it.....she reads the blog too and knows about the various noises Sadie Marie makes when she poops. Well since I can't yet get her to poop on command we had to wait but not very long, we were sitting on the couch chatting away and rrrrrruuummmmmbbbblllleeeeee......all Reagan said was DAMN!!!! Sadie Marie has graduated from Squishhhhhhhh to Rumble in the Diaper and it was hilarious, the look on both her and Matt's faces were priceless and I seriously think I heard her biological clock stop and take it's batteries out.

Being the fantastic hostess my bestie is, she let the baby and I sleep in her bedroom while she and Matt slept in the living room......mistake! Sadie Marie had a great time, me on the other hand........not quite as great. Sadie Marie wakes up to eat about 4 AM and this night was no different. I got up to feed her, all is well and when I picked her up to put her back in the swaddle........bahhhhhhhhhhhh, vomit. All over me, all over my leg, AND all over Auntie Rea Rea's bed. I was mortified, this had never happened before I know full well she spits up a lot and I always make sure to have a burp cloth under or very near but this time FAIL........even with the burp cloth under that child she managed to out fox me again! So I get her back to sleep and then I proceed to remove the fitted sheet AND the freaking mattress pad, because of course it soaked all the way through. At least the mattress itself was not wet, (thank goodness because if y'all don't know breast milk be stanking when it dries!) SO! I put this all in a pile on the floor, pulled the sheet down over the mattress, and attempted to go back to sleep with just the comforter and again FAIL. I'm a light sleeper to begin with and after all this action it was no use, plus I had to get up early to go pick up the baby daddy so I just opened my Nook and read for two hours and watched Sadie Marie happily slumber beside me in her sling. I also knew we had a long travel day to see friends in Phenix City and then back to Selma, so I just had some caffeine (which I normally don't drink) and powered through! Luckily I was picking up the baby daddy that morning at the airport and he drove to Phenix City while I zoned out in the back seat with Sadie Marie.

So, after some travel and an extra day in the SEL we finally made the trip back to VA, which was not as smooth as the trip down, but nothing to write home about either. We survived and the meltdown did not occur until we entered the house and I tried to eat dinner. FAIL. Sadie Marie comes first and by the time I fed her and got her to sleep I could not remember if I had finished my supper or not.....oh well, I can always eat later :) I know right....who thought you would EVER here me say that!

So we are back in VA and after said meltdown, I figure might as well start our new routine and that starts with Sadie Marie sleeping in her baby bed at night. I go back to work in a week and I am hoping for a full nights sleep by then AND I really want her to get that sleep in her crib I paid and arm and a leg for. I'll admit I was worried....I have friends whose child is a year old and still sleeps in the bed with them. NO WAY! They said she does not like her baby bed and I'll admit I prefer sleep to crying and if they sleep in the bed I might cave, but a year is excessive. 

So after she got her belly full, I swaddled her little butt up and........Sadie Marie was a champ! She slept in her baby bed all night and only got up once to eat! So I'm thinking it's gotta be a fluke, she was just tired, but we have been home since Tuesday and as I type this she is sound asleep in her baby bed!i I can't believe it was SO easy. No crying at all, it was just like she had always been sleeping in there. Makes me kinda feel like she's plotting something big against us and is making this easy so we will let our guard down. So, next thing will be to sleep without a swaddle. I'm going to try to do this next week......I think it's gonna be rough, but I want to try to tackle this before I go back to work as well!  Any suggestions on how to accomplish this?

Moral of these stories, this kid is always one step ahead of us. I just hope we can keep up when she starts walking! Which based on how much she likes to stand up now may be sooner rather than later!

Y'all be good!

Love y'all!

April

Getting ready to go to Aunt JuJu's Bridal Shower in my new Felton Brother dress!

Thank you Cici, we love it!

Ohh, I look like Big Daddy.....Lord help the Baby Daddy!

 I love my Auntie JuJu!

I love my GiGi!

I love you Auntie Angie!!