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!!



You Left Your Baby Where?!

So while I was pregnant I had some weird dreams, but the other night I had a full blown nightmare meltdown. I woke up and could feel the anxiety in my chest, when dream has that kind of effect on you it's time to take a xanax (if I only had some!)

It started out as a nice trip to the mall, only the mall looked like downtown Washington, D.C. right here in Selma. (already you can see this dream was completely ludicrous) It was an outdoor shopping experience and I was bee bopping along looking at shoes and purses and all of a sudden I realized I had left Sadie Marie in the car. Yep, I left my newborn baby in the freaking CAR! It was about a cool 105 degrees outside and I left my child in the car. Initially, I tried to tell myself she was fine I had only been gone about 20 minutes and it could not have gotten that hot that quick........then I went into panic mode when I could not locate my car. All of a sudden the shopping mall became a maze and I was lost, I could NOT find where I had come from. I ran into my bestie Reagan and rather than stopping to talk I blew her off (without telling her what a horrible mother I was since I could not find my car or my baby) and rushed into what was now an inside mall and the Belk store in the Selma Mall, but it was two story so whatever. When I got to Belk I had clearly done this before because I new right where to go to find the lost children. I get to one of the checkout counters and there is Sadie Marie in her car seat dazzling the sales associates with her smile. Great, now everyone knows what a horrible mother I am because some clearly call 911 to rescue my child. This is where it gets weird if you can believe it.

I decided to tell the sales associate, who I thought was in charge of releasing my child as if she were from the Department of Child Services, that I was SO sorry I guess the reason I forgot my child was because I was a new mother. REALLY April? Even as I was dreaming this I knew it sounded completely ridiculous, but as she's giving me Sadie Marie she opened a closet door and it was like a lost and found for children. She told me it happened all the time and at least I had come looking for my child. Inside this closet was stroller after stroller and a complete play area for children who had been left in cars, left in bathrooms, and left just randomly around the mall. WOW......I guess this was my way of making myself feel better in my DREAM. When I left I was completely floored at these other "bad" parents and at the fact that no one was reporting them. I had some balls in this dream I tell you!

I woke up in COLD sweat and almost jumped to assure Sadie Marie was still in her bassinet. I have already decided I am no longer allowed to watch Law and Order: SVU but after this I guess I'm going to have to cut out the news altogether and this twit Casey Anthony is not helping my nightmare situation.

I never thought I would be one of those who wanted to keep an CLOSE eye on her child all the time but in this day and age I guess it's inevitable and it's amazing how quickly worry comes when you have a baby. I don't know how my parents got any sleep when I was growing up because I thought I was invincible and while I was careful, I look back and thank God I'm alive.

So no more Law and Order for me or Sadie Marie, she's asleep in the swing right now and is clearly having a dream that the milk supply is running dangerously low because she's letting out these hilarious little cries that do not wake her up. I feel bad for her, but at the same time I cannot help but giggle. I went to a friends house the other day. She has two kids and her TV was set on Nick Jr. I guess I should go ahead and just do that, maybe I won't have nightmares about Dora the Explorer, but you never know some of those cartoon characters are kinda creepy.

I don't think I will have to worry so much about Sadie Marie, her daddy already has her in training. He sent me this photo while I was out at the gym one afternoon. He decided to give her some mental and physical stimulation on her "gym".

Y'all be good.

April

Sadie Marie's Total Gym Workout!

Weekend Adventures

Well it's Monday night and it feels like it. Even though I'm not at working it's a full days work taking care of a baby and just leaving the house for a few hours! On top of that I have had a headache for about 48 hours now. I'm not sure what is going on with my skull but I'm not excited about it.

Anyway, we had a pretty eventful weekend.

Friday night mom and I took the baby to eat at the local BBQ joint Hancocks where I proceeded to eat my weight in the most delicious BBQ on the face of the Earth. While we were in there we of course saw several folks we knew but I have to say when we saw my mom's colleague in all his, I played golf all day glory, it was a worthy mention. He entered Hancocks and looked like a homeless person. He had on a yellow shirt, shorts, and was BAREFOOT. When the sign says shirts and shoes required, in Selma it clearly means optional. Mom asked where he had been he said cutting grass. Good thing all his toes survived he was three sheets to the wind and I'm pretty sure we decided in the early 1900's it was dangerous to cut grass barefoot, but this is the SEL and that's how we roll. I only thought to take a picture on my way home when I was able to tear my self away from my BBQ and realize what a gem that would have been so sorry y'all, you will have to use your imagination on this one.

On Saturday went to Montgomery, ate at Texas Roadhouse, went to the Namedropper, Target, and Ross all without having any doodoo incidents (well no major ones), no waredrobe changes, and no meltdowns. I was prepared, it turns out practice does make perfect, so after some of the other mishaps we have had while out and about I was sure I had all the necessary items for a happy trip. I fed the baby and we hopped in the car, picked Lib up, got gas, and and hour later we were on our way to Montgomery. I only have about 3 hours between feedings so after I spent an hour feeding and getting the baby ready, then an hour trying to get out of Selma, and then an hour drive to the big city elapsed, when we hit Eastchase Sadie Marie is hungry. Mom takes Lib into Texas Roadhouse, gets a booth, and gets the bottle ready while I stay in the car and change her. (LOVE traveling with mom!) I parked about a mile from the restaurant so I could easily get in and out of my car and of course a child molester van pulls right up beside me and parks and when I say child molester I mean it literally. This van was about a 1975 model, was about three different colors, and on the side it said "we help children." Help them do what? Have nightmares....mission accomplished. Then two creepy McCreeperson's got out of the van. Really, I would not let you help my child do anything. Shave your creeper bearded faces.

On to Texas Roadhouse. My mom said before we left, it's the weekend so I did not apply any eye makeup, I bet I see everyone I know...... YEP.......It's Saturday and you are going to Montgomery plus their was a golf tourney at the Club, the Dixie Baseball thing, a big yardsale, and a family reunion at bloch park, who wouldn't get as far away from the SEL as possible? The better question is who were you not going to see? We did not even hit Lowndes before we saw some folks from Selma we knew. We parked at Texas Roadhouse and so did some parents of a high school buddy. then we sat down and they sat us right beside a family we knew! HAHAHA, lesson learned Cunnie. Wear eye make up when you go to Montgomery.

Texas Roadhouse was uneventful, Sadie Marie slept the whole time. It was amazing, I fed her and she slept. I guess she was tired after the drive to Montgomery. Of all the sleep she fights she cannot fight the car. We ate and we had to go to Target. Lib is 83 years old, she does not love to get in and out of the car so she said since the baby is being good (meaning my two month old was not crying) I will just sit in the car with her. Sweet. I don't love to lug her in and out either, so we got in and out of Target easily same thing for Ross, but then I decided I needed a happy hour 1/2 price slushy from Sonic, plus I needed a covered area to change the baby since it had been pooring, Sonic was our choice. We roll into Sonic and while I order Cunnie changes the baby as soon as she picks her up to put her back in the car seat. Squishhhhhhhhh. FAIL. HAHAHAHAH, I get out and do the second diaper change. Luckily there was no doodoo on anyone but the baby and it stayed in the diaper. I get my slushy we do a Chinese fire drill and after everyone had changed seats we head home.

The second bottle was heated and fed to her in the car. Success! A+ for me on bottle feeding in the car, bout time.

Well, since she is currently screaming bloody murder y'all let me run. She just got a bath and she loves bathtime, what she hates is getting out of the bath. When I say she hates it I mean she HATES it. CiCi is sweating.......she's got her in the rocker trying to dress her. She handed me the baby and she had not even buttoned her onesie. It gets bad y'all :) You do not piss off the milk monster!

Y'all be good,

April

Hands up! Touchdown Alabama! She has the motions down, we just gotta get a Roll Tide outta her mouth now!

The Milk Monster's Dreams

So I guess I knew babies had dreams but I never realized they had babymares like dogs have puppymares! The milk monster has become quite the napper and occassionally she will, with her eyes shut and still asleep, let out these little cries and it's so funny you cannot help but laugh. Mom and I were sitting here the other day and a babymare occurred while Cunnie was rocking her.....

Cunnie: She's having a nightmare.
Me: Yeah, she's dreaming there was no more milk.

The baby daddy has officially nicknamed Sadie Marie the milk monster. I think he was really astonished at how loud and violent a baby can become when they wake up from the nap and they are hungry. The milk monster rules the house and when she is hungry you get out of her way and give her the milk. It's like we are all working for the baby mob and you either produce some milk or die. So I'm exaggerating a little bit but not much........seriously you do not want to piss off the milk monster.

It's funny because not only are we all scared of Sadie Marie when she cries, I also get the pleasure of the boob pain when she cries. I'm sure y'all all know what I'm talking about. Everytime she lets out a squeal I get a shooting pain in my boobs. Really? It's not enough I can see and hear her crying and that triggers my brain to say feed your baby, but I guess God put in a second fail safe for all the idiots out there who can't figure it out. I suppose there are some retards running around who are just stupid, they can't recognize that sometimes crying means feed me, so as a secondary warning system triggers their boobs hurt and leak. Geez, I feel like the girl in Mean Girls who thought she could use her boobs to predict the weather, but mine actually work to predict when the baby needs to be fed.

Over the past few days the milk monster has not reared her ugly head as often as she used to. It's like when we hit six weeks old she decided that she liked us, we would feed her, and we would not abandon her when she sat in a swing or the pack and play alone. It was like a switch flipped. She still fights sleep, but it's crazy two weeks ago this baby would NOT sit in the swing and she would definitely not sit in it awake and be rocked to sleep. She would NOT sit in the bouncy seat while I ate breakfast and she would NOT lay in the pack and play for more than a few minutes. It's crazy, I can lay her down in any of these contraptions wide awake and she will lay there while I do clothes or eat lunch. I can now lay her down in the swing and a few minutes later she will be asleep. I mean she's sleeping in it right now as I write this blog and it is AMAZING! Don't get me wrong, I love holding and cuddling her but between the baby daddy, Cici, Big Daddy and myself she was being held 24/7 the first week and a half I was home. Either she got tired of the cuddling or she's growing up right before our eyes. I often have to wake her up to feed her every three hours!

Now I had initially decided I was not going to wake the baby up to feed her but after a couple of choice encounters with the milk monster, I have decided to feed her before she morphs from sweet sleeping Sadie Marie into the milk monster, the less of that thing we see the better! Mom keeps telling me I did the same things, so I guess it's like they always say, you get it back when you have your own :) I can't wait for her to become a teenager. If y'all knew me back then, you know what I'm talking about. The baby daddy is in trouble and at least I have some experience, but I'm sure we are both going to have to show up with our A game everyday to parent this little firecracker! If her actions now are of any indication of the future he and I are both going to need full on pads and a helmet when she hits about 13. I'm of course bragging when I say she has been holding her head up since she was born and she almost catapulted herself out of Big Daddy's lap about a week ago. I knew I had a gymnst on my hands when she was in tummy, but I thought we might have a few years before she started doing back flips off the couch!

Just in past two weeks she has also started smiling up a storm and I can acutally make her smile, or at least I think I can. I would like to think she recognizes me and smiles because she is full from a drunken milk bing. My cousin Angie's husband came up with a term for their baby after she ate.......milk drunk. It's that hilarious rolling of the eyes and immediate urge to go to sleep after they are full and satisfied. Sadie Marie is milk drunk a lot and it is absolutely the cutest things ever and also hilarious!  Below are some pictures we have taken this week. Enjoy!

Y'all be good,

April

I just ate, burped, and got a clean diaper! I'm super happy!!

I love my uncle John Rob!

I'm in the SEL bitches!

Let me start by thanking Cunnie for watching Sadie Marie whilst I write this......it's not an easy job pacifying the milk monster :)

So my fabulous husband let me stay in SEL for the next three weeks......in all fairness his job demands that he travel and even though he's the boss, he's had two months off the travel schedule to tend to a very demanding pregnant wife and newborn so it was time we return to reality. He left yesterday going back to VA to the real world while I stay in Selma and live in slight state of lala land with my mommy and daddy or should I say Big Daddy and Cici. I have to admit I sometimes get tired of being in Selma, there is nothing like being babied by your mom, especially when you have a new baby!
There are some things I never get tired of in the SEL, for instance I know that on any given day I'm going to see something that makes me go WTF......see below.

I mean WTF.....that is a lot of bicycles dude, either this guy has 50 kids or he's planning on supplying the tour du France riders. I'm thinking neither.......the only thing that comes to my mind is HOARDER. Maybe we should call A & E and see if we can get him on the Hoarding: Buried Alive. I would hate to see what his house looks like. Lets not forget to comment on the awesomeness of the truck carrying 5000 bicycles.

Anyway, I have made more trips to Prattville and Montgomery since I got home than anyone should and luckily I know how to get to Montgomery. My grandmother told me a story today about a lady, who was from Selma, taking her kid to the doctor in Montgomery. The lady left work and about 8 hours later came back......they asked her where she was.....she said she looked up and was in Mobile.....really you were born and raised in Selma and you can't get to Montgomery. I have no comment here, you are a fidot and trust me when Grandma Lib telling the story I was cackling.

On to our trips, Wednesday we went to Bass Pro Shops. The baby daddy has decided he and Sadie Marie will fish. I told her he can only use her as bait right now so we should probably wait until she's two or so to give her something with a sharp hook on the end if he valued his eyes. I can see it now, I send them in one piece and he brings her back with hook marks all over both of them! We did pick Sadie Marie up a shirt from Bass Pro that reads "My first fishing shirt". Just in case everyone in VA was not aware of our redneck status, now there will be no question. I even decided she had some cute shorts that could be worn with said shirt. On this trip I decided I wanted to use my travel bottle warmer. Yeah that was a good idea......milk can be warmed up in like 20 seconds in the sink, the warmer takes 5 minutes. Five minutes feels like 60 when you have a screaming infant. Lesson learned, heat that shit up before she gets hungry. So then we got the stroller out and had a pretty good time in Bass Pro, she only screamed a little bit and every stranger I passed kept saying, Oh someones not happy....thanks douche bags I can hear her screaming too. I wanted to say if you were squished in a car seat would you be happy, but I kept my mouth shut. People have no boundaries when it comes to babies and they clearly think the mom needs to hear their opinion. Here's a little advice strangers, I don't give a shit what you think about my baby screaming. You want my opinion about how ugly you kid is? Didn't think so. :)

So then on Thursday, the baby daddy had to be taken to the airport at 4 AM. Whatever, I was just glad to be staying here while he travels. I left Sadie Marie here with my mom, put on some work out clothes and made the drive to Montgomery. I'm lucky I made it back alive, I was almost asleep by the time we got to MGM and do not remember the drive back to SEL. I have no idea why I thought a workout at 530 AM was a good idea, I got my ass back in the bed and slept for an hour.

On Thursday I made the drive to MGM twice. That's right, as soon as I got back from taking him to the airport, I slept an hour and made the drive again, but this time with Sadie Marie, Cunnie, and Lib all in tow. We had to take Lib (aka my hilarious grandmama) to the doctor. We are on our way to MGM, mom asked her if she knew how to get there she said yes, but then proceeded to tell us the story about the lady and her Mobile trip so.......Cunnie was having one of her daily check ins with Aunt Peggy and asked her how to get to the doctor anyway and Lib's clearly annoyed response while Cunnie was still on the phone: "I KNOW how to get there". Silence.........I have no doubt she knows how to get there, but telling us could be a different story and I did not want to end up in Mobile. :) We made it to the doctor, I fed and changed Sadie Marie in the car while the Kilgore clan went inside. I swear it's always a hoot when I hang with these ladies. Here's how the rest of my day went:

Cunnie: She has to come back at 11 to see the doctor. It's 1015 we are going to Peggy's house.
Me: OK, they are just going to have to turn around and come right back.
Cunnie: I know

We get to Aunt Peggy's at 1037, 8 minutes later they all get back in the car at go back to see the doc.
Me: Phew, a few minutes of silence. NAP time. Thank goodness.

They all pile back in around 1230 and then Cunnie and Peggy go get lunch. Guthrie's please. Thank you. I love some Guthries!

Lib: "Just get me what you get."
The food gets back and Lib says: "Goodness you got me such a large salad" They didn't have Lib size salads at Guthries, it's one size fits all Elizabeth.
Lib then proceeds to throw away all the leftovers.........commenting on how Cunnie ate all hers like she had not eaten in a week. HAHAHAHA, I'm just glad she didn't comment on me. I inhaled mine, I think I get a pass because I just had the baby.

Cunnie and Peggy leave to go run errands.
Me: Phew another stretch of silence. NAP time. Thank goodness.

Cunnie and Peggy return. Cunnie returns with the Miracle Blanket a friend told me about. WHOOP WHOOP, hoping for a good nights sleep!

We headed over to Prattville to see Aunt Angie and give her the wine we picked up for her. We passed her as she was heading out to run an errand so we met her in a parking lot to make the "exchange" and we were making jokes about how it looked like we were making a drug deal and sure enough a freaking cop rolled right up and parked. Really? Luckily we have come a long way since the days of the stealth and this exchange was legit. We handed off the goods, Angie got a little face time with Sadie Marie, and we headed back to SEL. We returned about 6 PM just in time to feed Sadie Marie. Phew, crisis averted. The milk monster rules the house and when she gets hungry she means business!

Auntie Ju Ju bought her this outfit and she looked SO cute in it!! She does not look like the milk monster she is here. :)

The rest of the night was uneventful, I did use that miracle blanket and Sadie Marie only woke up one time last night! I got 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and then three more! I can barely believe it. I'm hoping this is not a fluke we shall see tonight.

I think my baby is already growing up. She is currently asleep in the swing she absolutely loathes, I put her in it awake and it has rocked her to sleep. Amazing. So this is how these "swings" work. Usually we have to remove her from the swing because she's crying so violently. I'm hoping this is no fluke either. We currently hold her about 95% of the time. I would love to be able to pee without a screaming baby laying in her pack and play! Yay for swings! Yay for being in SEL!

Y'all have a good day

Love y'all,

April