Jaina

Jaina was a little stinker last night. We watched American Idol and the show that comes on after it (can’t remember the name… some FBI drama or something). I put her to bed around 9 and she was still awake and started fussing around 10 when I went to bed. Greg took care of her for a while so I could sleep. She fell asleep again around midnight and woke up when he put her in her bed. He ended up sleeping on the couch and she slept in her swing. I woke her up around 6 and fed her. She didn’t even make it through the whole bottle before falling back asleep! I usually have no problems putting her to bed (except her fighting sleep) so I don’t know what was up last night. I guess we all have bad days once in a while!

I have a headache today… must be the pollen. I’m soooo tired of having year-round allergy problems! They started when I was a freshman in college… so almost 6 years ago? I can’t imagine how bad my allergies would be if I didn’t take a Zyrtec every morning to head it off! I’m going to HAVE to start working out. I know I would feel so much better and have so much energy during the day. I just don’t want to. I’ve been feeling way too lazy.

This whole swine flu thing is freaking me out! It’s really scary that there has been one death now in the US , especially since it was a baby that died. There has been 16 confirmed cases in Texas , and that’s not very far away. I had this little girl come into the bank a couple of days ago with her mother. She coughed and hacked ALL OVER ME AND MY DESK!!! She also had cold sores all over her mouth. She was being so rude about it that her mother had to leave. I made a point to change clothes and wash all the way up to my elbows and use hand sanitizer before I held Jaina when I got home. Two different people yesterday told me they heard on the news that over 50 cases in Arkansas had been confirmed, but the CDC website lists none in Arkansas . I’m sure they just heard wrong or something. I’m kinda second guessing taking Jaina to Toad Suck this weekend. I really don’t want to take the chance of her getting anything. I may go ahead and take her if it hasn’t spread to Arkansas . I will just be super careful to not let anyone touch her.

Speaking of letting people touch and hold my child… This random Applebee’s server came by our table the other day when we were in Fort Smith and wanted to hold Jaina. That didn’t happen. Thankfully, she asked first and understood and didn’t push it when I just kind of gave her a “are you serious?!?” look combined with the inability (she caught me off guard) to make the words come out of my mouth to say, “Sorry, I don’t let random 18 year old strangers with dirty hands touch my child. I’m a little weird about stuff like that.” I have worked in food service and I know those people do not wash their hands as often as they should (sorry, Brenda, but it’s very true!).

My mom is coming tonight. She has something at UCA either today or tomorrow so she wants to stay the night. Woo hoo!

Cleaning

I’m making a new cleaning schedule for myself so I don’t completely let my house go just because there are not enough hours in a day.

Sunday- Get trash ready for next morning

Monday- Clean the bathrooms (toilets, AND sink, AND bathtub)

Tuesday- Sweep and mop

Wednesday- NOTHING because there is NO TIME!!!

Thursday- Dust and vacuum

This way I don’t have to do anything but basic picking up after myself on the weekends. I am trying so hard to schedule things (like this and meals) so my days will go smoother!

Road Trip!

We took Jaina to Fort Smith to see her "Aunt" Mady. This is the first time Madelyn has seen Jaina since we were in the hospital. We got to see the new house and her goats. We found this AWESOME baby store that had the cutest stuff ever... I got Jaina some headbands (the kind you clip the bows to) and a Bumbo. Then we stopped on the way home in Russellville to eat at IHOP with RC. Overall, it was a fun trip!

Right now Jaina is sitting in her Bumbo watching The Little Mermaid. She's giggling at it every once in a while. She pretty much likes anything on TV. It's about bed time though, so better go take care of my child!

Well, I was going to blog.

But then I decided to go to bed. My mom is staying the night, so Jaina is sleeping with her because she could not STAND for Jaina to be in her bed all by her little self.

We had some people over tonight. They didn't go home until after my bed time, but that's OK because we had fun! Jaina went to sleep about the time they got here. This blog (I actually wrote "bed" in place of "blog" and then had to go back and change it) is probably incoherent because I'm sleepy, so if you don't understand me, just ignore it and go about your business.

OK, going to bed for real now.

Nighty night.

Awesome Mom

I got this email today.

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried...
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her down...
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom...
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

The love of family & friends makes life beautiful.

Hmmm...

Let’s see if I can remember what happened this weekend…

I got home from the lock-in about 5:45 Saturday morning, just in time for me to feed Jaina. Then Greg let us (me and Jordan) sleep until around noon. Jaina pretty much refused to go to sleep until after 2:00 Sunday morning and THEN wanted to eat about 4:30. So her mommy was a little cranky! I got a nap Sunday afternoon…ended up falling asleep on the couch with Jaina around 1:00 and sleeping until after 6! Neither one of us stirred the entire time. Of course I didn’t plan it that way, but I ended up missing evening services. I just assume that if I fall asleep, I will wake up a couple of hours later. I guess one day I will learn! Then Jaina did the same thing Sunday night and wouldn’t go to sleep until around 1:00. Last night she was back in her routine, though. She slept from 9:00 last night until 5:30 this morning.

I’ve just started making my menus by the week. I’ll make a menu, then make a grocery list and only buy what I need to cook those things. It actually worked out really well for me this week. I try to keep in mind what all will be going on that night. That way it’s not Wednesday night and I only have a couple of hours to figure out what I’m going to cook, cook it, eat it, and get all of us ready for church. Greg was supposed to put some chicken in the crock-pot earlier so we can have chicken tacos tonight and then Mexican Chicken casserole tomorrow night with the leftovers. I hope he didn’t forget!!! If so, he’ll have to eat a sandwich!

I lost ½ pound this week… so 4 pounds in 3 weeks. I know that’s not bad. Good, actually. I’m just getting impatient!!!! I can tell my rings aren’t as hard to get off. I assume it is because I’m not drinking any cokes and drinking LOTS of water (and peeing every 30 minutes. No, I’m not pregnant. Don’t even ask).

On a side note, MY DAUGHTER IS SO CUTE! Last night I was tickling her and she was giggling and it was the CUTEST thing ever. I got the camcorder out and recorded it, but she was starting to get a little bored with it. If I can figure out how, I will post it later.

From Jaina

Dear Daniel,

Thank you so much for the package! I just love getting mail! The mail man even brought it all the way to the door. He rang the door bell and it woke me up, but that’s ok because I like to get new clothes!!! I especially like the ones with Nemo on them. That is one of my favorite movies!

Love,

Jaina

I'm a smart one...

*insert sarcasm here*

I volunteered myself to chaperone a lock-in tonight. It's from 10PM to 5Am. Some people from the Church started a prom-alternative thingy called "banquet." All the kids dress up in their formals and go to banquet and the lock-in afterwards. Jordan is coming with me. I was going to take Jaina, but decided to put her down right before I leave and just *maybe* she will sleep until I get home. That's about how long she has been sleeping the past 2 or 3 weeks. I would really rather not mess up her sleep schedule now.

I'm going to take a book. I still have a couple from Christmas I haven't had time to read yet!

IT'S PAYDAY!!!

Woo hoo! I got my first full pay-check since coming back to work. It’s not really worth my tiny little salary, but at least the bills are paid.

Jaina woke up at 4:30 this morning, so I actually ended up getting more sleep than usual. She finished off her bottle in about 10 minutes and went straight back to sleep, so I went back to bed and slept until about 6:45! I still somehow managed to get to work a couple of minutes early. I have no idea how!

Jaina rolled from her belly to her back last night. I’m pretty sure it was a fluke because I couldn’t get her to do it again. She definitely has the back-to-belly thing down, though. She likes to sleep on her side now, which makes me feel a little bit better. I did not like her sleeping on her belly. I guess it is mostly just because people say that babies are not supposed to sleep on their bellies. At least I know she can raise her head. She’s pretty much been doing that since she was born.

The diet is going great. I’ve lost 3 ½ pounds in 2 weeks, so that’s a healthy pace. It’s really not that bad. The “buddy system” makes it so much easier, at least for me. The hardest part is trying to decide if that cookie (actually, I can’t eat just one, so it would be more like 10 cookies!!!) is really worth not losing anything this week… I am working hard and it’s starting to pay off!

*yawn*

I.
Can.
Not.
Stay.
Awake.

Seriously, I can not stay awake and I can’t really focus on anything. It’s driving me crazy!!!

Poor Jaina was so cranky last night after being passed around all day! She was screaming at the top of her lungs for about half of church services last night. Maybe not, but at least it seemed that way.

Busy Day

My Great-aunt Hazel passed away on Sunday. The funeral and visitation are both today. Jordan and I have to sing at the funeral. I am so tired of singing at funerals.
I’m a little confused. My granny told me we were singing one song and told Jordan we were singing two, so the second one I haven’t practiced. Then she wants us to “lead” Amazing Grace with organ music. I probably won’t be able to even sing it with the organ. I guess we’ll just ask them to join us in singing Amazing Grace and do the best we can!
Greg has a migraine today, so I somehow have to figure out how to leave work at 10, get home, feed Jaina, dress Jaina, finish getting the diaper bag ready (luckily it’s still ready from yesterday when we had to go somewhere), and leave by 11. We will see what happens. I really hope Jaina is still asleep from when I put her back to bed this morning. I hope Greg didn’t have to get out of bed to take care of her because I’ve had migraines before and I KNOW how bad they are for him.

Toad Suck!

Toad Suck is the first weekend in May! I’m getting excited! I’m volunteering at the Toad Races that Friday (not because I’m all volunteer-ish, but so I can get a free t-shirt!). I need to get Jaina a tiny little Toad Suck onesie! Last year you could get a massage for $1/minute, so I plan on getting at least a 10 minute massage this year. I think Jordan is going to come stay that weekend with me so we can take Jaina. I will definitely NOT take her in her stroller, though. I’ve seen people try to do that and there are WAY too many people for me to be comfortable not holding her. If there is barely enough room for someone to walk, what makes a person think they can successfully push a stroller with a baby in it and not get trampled? I will probably take her and strap her to me in her carrier. That seems like the best option.

The weekend

This weekend went by too fast! My mom stayed Friday night and took Jaina home with her. I was definitely not ready to let her spend the night with anyone else, but Greg really needed a break from keeping her every day. We went down to Malvern Saturday and stayed the night with Greg’s parents. We went to church in Malvern Sunday morning. Of course we had to get Jaina ALL dressed up for Easter. My mom cooked roast for lunch. Then we all took a nap, went back to church, went out to eat, and drove home. I was exhausted and fell asleep last night as soon as I got a chance, which wasn’t until almost midnight. This led to me not getting up as early as I would have liked this morning and not getting to spend as much time with Jaina as I typically do in the mornings.

I'm Jealous!!!

Everyone keeps saying, “You get to see her all the time!” NO, I DON”T!!! I get to see her awake at the MOST 3 hours a day. That is definitely not all the time. I miss spending all day with her and I feel like I am missing so much. She likes Greg more than me now because she is with him all the time. She will see him from across the room and grin and giggle at him, but won’t even look at me!

We went to the Gospel Meeting on Prince Street tonight. It was Ok. He didn't preach too long and Jaina was only a little cranky. It did kind of remind me of why I worship at Highway 65 instead of there, though! At least when I had to go back to the nursery the ladies weren't talking and I could still pay attention to the sermon.

~

I think Jaina is starting to teeth. She is drooling a LOT and chews on everything she can put in her mouth... her hands and clothes mostly.

~

I had a very hectic day at work. I had so much weird stuff that took hours to do and I have a pile on my desk to work on first thing in the morning. I hate leaving work for the next day. I like to start the day with a clean desk.

~

Off to bed now.

Yay!

I put Jaina down in her crib about 25 minutes ago... she was wide awake and it took her less than 5 minutes to fall asleep. I did not hear one single tiny little cry out of her!

Craziness!

Wednesday nights are always hectic. I’ve got 1 hour and 45 minutes to get home, cook, eat, feed Jaina, dress myself, dress Jaina, get the diaper bag ready, and leave for Church. Greg made spaghetti so at least I don’t have to worry about cooking tonight. Tomorrow night will be just as hectic because we’re going to the Gospel Meeting on Prince Street. I don’t know how single moms do it! I would be so crazy without my husband to help me!

~

My morning started early today… at 5:00!! I heard Jaina wake up, cry a couple of times, and go back to sleep. I assume she was actually hungry, but she has too much of her daddy in her and did not want to wake up enough to eat! I woke her up, fed her, played with her for a few minutes, and then put her back to bed. She had a long day yesterday so she slept late this morning. Overall today went so much better for me than yesterday. I got up early enough to spend some time with little bit, have some time to myself (and have coffee), and not be rushed to make it to work a little early.

~

I'm glad Jaina was not cranky tonight for church. I really don’t like having to take her back to the nursery. The ladies in there with their babies like to talk and I can’t hear the lesson or sermon. If they aren’t talking, they are all trying to get their babies to go to sleep and have the light off and the speakers turned down. I can handle the light off, but I would like to be able to hear!

~

Good news! My friend, Candace, and I are having weekly weigh-ins and whoever loses the least amount of weight has to take the other out to lunch. I lost more than her this week, so she took me to Subway for lunch. I only lost 1 pound, but at least it’s a start! I’ve been drinking a ton of water/Crystal Light and counting calories. And by that I mean writing down every single thing I eat… no matter how minute. It kind of makes me think before I eat something because I know I’ll have to put it down on paper.

I guess I'll blog.

Jaina has been cranky all day. She pretty much cried/screamed all day while I was at work and then another couple of hours since I've been home. It does not make it any easier for me to leave her every day.

I'm tired. Going to bed soon. Nighty night!

I did make a weight loss blog, but I've decided to keep it hidden for a little while. I'm just not that comfortable yet!

Stuff and Things

We had a busy weekend! Friday night I met Jordan and Chris in Little Rock and they took me out to eat. Jordan rode home with me to spend the night. Then Saturday morning, Brenda and Ruben showed up to help Greg with the yard and play with Jaina. Jordan and I cooked tacos for lunch! My mom came up Saturday afternoon and we all went to Russellville to watch RC perform in a Dinner Theatre production. I really enjoyed it and Jaina was a perfect little baby the entire show! She loves pretty much anything musical. She didn’t really like one of the performances that had some shouting and it startled her when we would clap, but she did not cry the entire time. Mom stayed the night Saturday night and went to church with us Sunday. We went to Mike’s Place for lunch (I’d never been there before, but it was awesome!). We all took a nap Sunday afternoon, then off to church again and potluck afterwards (of course, I totally blew my diet!). I didn’t get any alone time with Jaina until last night, and as soon as I picked her up she fussed for a few minutes and went sound to sleep… Sometimes I wish I was as peaceful as a baby!

I am so blessed! Jaina has slept through the night (by that I mean anywhere from 7 to 10 hours) every night for a week now. We absolutely can not keep her from rolling over! She’s really figured it out now. Every time I check on her during the night, she’s rolled over to her belly so I’ve just given up on getting her to sleep on her back. If she’s strong enough to roll over, she’s strong enough to move her head around in her crib. We decided that since she is rolling over, she has to sleep in her own room all the time now. She was sleeping about half in her room and half in the pack-n-play in our bedroom. We’re moving the play pen into the kitchen tonight when I get home so I’m not tempted to just put her there during the night so I can watch her sleep!

So far (since Wednesday) I’ve lost 2 pounds! I’m sure most of it is from drinking a lot of water. I am still 7 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m excited about trying to lose weight. I really want to be healthy. I plan on making a weight loss blog, mainly like a food/exercise journal for my own benefit. I will post a link as soon as I do.

For Chrystal

As long as your logged in you should be able to post comments now. :) I had it set to where you had to be a member of my blog to comment.

Negativity for the day...

I found out yesterday that someone I know cheated on his wife and she has filed for divorce. They are both well-known in Conway and have always seemed to everyone to be a completely happy couple. Every time I hear that someone is getting divorced, it just breaks my heart. I can’t even imagine what she is going through right now, catching her husband with his assistant! In this case, I would have done the same thing and divorced his sorry butt (and Greg knows it!!! :P), but it is still upsetting. What really makes me mad is the people who don’t even try. They just get divorced because they have been married a year and are unhappy. Do they really think it is going to be easy all the time? I can promise you there have been times in the past three years I have not been completely happy, but have never even considered leaving Greg. Ever. We do need a break from each other about 1 night out of every 6 months or so because we’re getting on each others’ nerves. After that we always get along fine! We had a little squabble today because I took my phone charger to work with me to charge my phone and apparently it was too much trouble for him to walk back to the bedroom and get the other charger, so his phone was dead all morning and I couldn’t call to check on Jaina!!! That’s the second time this week. The first time he just didn’t get up until 1:00 (and neither did Jaina) so he didn’t hear his phone ring. OK, enough negativity for now. THINK POSITIVE THOUGHTS!!!!!!!!!

If I can just make it through the next hour and half, it will be the weekend and I can spend the evening just hanging out with lil bit!

Has it been a while?

Since I haven't updated in a while, I'll just say life is going OK and we are all still alive! I do not enjoy working and leaving Jaina every day, but I don't really have a choice. She's slept from 11-6:30ish the past 2 nights. Maybe it will last! One of my friends burned Jaina a Baby Einstein DVD and she LOVES it! It is so cute to watch her and it usually calms her down if nothing else will!