Friday, January 22, 2010

Beautiful Alex

But no matter how bad the day is, Alex is the most beautiful and happy baby I've ever met! I don't know what I did to deserve such a perfect little boy! I'm the luckiest mommy in the world!

I've always said that I never want to be a stay-at-home mother, and that I never wanted to be "just a housewife"... but my goodness, what I wouldn't give to be able to afford to stay at home and just take care of Alex and the house! He deserves so much more from me - and I hate that work gets so much of my energy and attention. I'm grateful for the pay, of course - and as a rule, I love the Navy - but my priorities have done a 180 and now family so just SO much more important than...well... me.

And I could sing praises on Alex all day! He only cries when he needs something (usually food or if he gets very tired) and he's constantly just smiling and laughing! I love it! He's the most lovable, cuddly baby! And deserves absolutely everything (that's good for him) in the world!

Yesterday

Well, yesterday did't end too well. Didn't bathe him, didn't give him flouride, and didn't cut his fingernails...

But he got his bath (with the scalp thing) today and I cut his fingernails. Hopefully I give him his flouride when he wakes up next (which shouldn't be for a while)...

And Chris didn't pick him up again from the daycare... should I just give up on that? REALLY dislike the afternoon lady, though. REALLY.

Diet-wise I'm eating left over pizza, so that's not the best...

Must find more hours in a day!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Exhausted

So, my work day is finally over and I'm exhausted! Got home not too long ago - my husband is supposed to start picking up Alex at 3 pm because I don't like the staff after that time, but he never does, so once again I picked up Alex being taken care of by someone who just doesn't have the patience to deal with a bunch of little babies. You can tell she's irritated by them and that's not the kind of atmosphere I want Alex around. The day shift workers are so amazing and then the day ends with this woman. She irritates me too much to complain in any professional manner, so I've got to say something tomorrow morning when she's not in my face and so I'm in a better mood.

And it's great to come home to my sleeping husband, knowing he could have easily picked up Alex if he motivated himself to do it.

Feeling very irritable right now. Ordered pizza from pizza hut... and dessert. At least Chris is finally awake right now and holding Alex. Something, right?

Day one so far...

Day one so far...

I did my hair this morning! Used the "in styler rotating iron" that I bought last night and I've got mixed feelings on it. Not sure if it's the best for short hair, since I can't really get a hold of the really short areas around my neck, so those hairs of course curl out like a tween - but it worked fairly well for the rest of my hair - already received positive feedback from the guys and gals from work so that's great!

Alex, on the other hand, decided to throw up his breakfast again. The thing about throwing up white milk against a white door (I was walking with him at the time) is that you're never quite sure if you got it all... but I definitely got what hit the carpet!

And I got lazy and left some dishes that need to be washed, and also some clean laundry on the floor that didn't get folded...

Oh, and must add
-floss
-use lotion (my skin is SO DRY!)
-refill Alex's TWO humidifiers regularly

the list keeps growing...

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Julie & Julia

For the umpteeth time in my life, something I've seen or read has made me want to start a new project... and this time it's the movie, "Julie & Julia"...

For those who haven't seen the movie, it's about Julie who decides to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook (524 recipes in 365 days) and uses a blog to keep herself motivated - and accountable - to whatever reader or readers may stumble upon her blog.

So that's what I'm going to do... only not quite so simply.

I'm a new mommy (my beautiful son is now 3 months old), and at age 32 (goodness) I'm realizing that all those traits I've never cared to obtain (the ability to cook, sew and socialize with people about non-work topics) is essential to being the best mother for my son. And Alex definitely deserves the best! But I'm also a working Mom (I'm in the Navy) and that means I also have to lose about 23 pounds before April (I gained about 55 pounds while I was pregnant and I've got 23 more pounds before I'm "within standards") which is the date of my next PT test, I need to get orders to a ship - preferrably Norfolk, VA - and get my husband (who's in the Army) orders to some place close as well (Fort Eustis) otherwise I may rarely see my son for the 3 years that I'm on the ship!

So I'm going to start now.

I'm basically going to make a quasi-schedule for myself, wherein I practice all these things that I can't really do on a fairly regular basis, until doing those things become second nature... Until I'm Super Mommy! Oh, and I still have to keep my job, of course... unless I can win the lottery.

So here's my tentative schedule:
Weekends will be a more relaxed version of Monday through Friday, without daycare, but include things like going shopping for groceries or whatever else we may need, with periodic visits to my parents' who live two hours away near Atlanta.
Monday - Friday:
-Get up and get ready for work (includes "styling" in some manner my now VERY short hair rather than throwing it into a quick, boring bun),
-Get Alex's stuff ready for daycare (diaper bag filled, bottles made),
-Get Alex ready for day care (change him, feed him, burp him and bundle him into the car seat)
-If my husband (Chris) comes home before I leave (he's a 3rd shift worker - let's not talk about why Alex can't just stay home just yet) give kisses and then...
-Get going!
-Drop Alex at daycare,
-Go to work (by 8am), during which I should eat a healthy lunch, go to the gym, and continue negotiating for Virginia orders!
-Get off of work (hopefully by 4:30pm),
-Pick Alex up from daycare,
-Get home - and make sure Chris had a wonderful day! Let Daddy and baby have bonding time while I cook a healthy dinner for me and Chris (preferrably by scratch - but at least baby step it away from ordering out)... this may mean running to the grocery store first - and possibly buying a lottery ticket...
-play with Alex (this part is actually easy - singing, reading a couple books, chatting about our day, tummy time, toy time, and of course... cuddle time)
-feed Alex... maybe more than once and don't forget to add the vitamin/flouride drops to a bottle, which I've only remembered to do twice in the last month!
-bathe Alex daily (between fingers and using the prescription shampoo thing for his dry/itchy scalp)
-and put Alex to bed whenever he's ready... usually between 7 and 8pm... which means the play/feed/bathe Alex part needs to be more organized somehow
-prep more bottles for tomorrow
-prep whatever I may need for work tomorrow (including a healthy lunch)
-clean house (dishes/laundry/tidying up Alex's changing table and floor toys, etc...)
-give Chris some time - challenging,
-and log all of this into my new blog! - which will hopefully be motivating!

Looks like a lot, but the hardest part will be the cooking - which is so stressful; remembering little details like the flouride and bathing Alex - which takes a little effort, too, especially now that he's got the special shampoo which is supposed to be left on for 15 minutes before I rinse; and giving my husband some attention because I've shifted from thinking about work all the time to thinking about Alex all the time - which still leaves poor Chris without my full attention.

The sewing part I can realistically wait til closer to Alex's school age, right? So I can probably put that on the back burner if I really want to... don't really want a bunch of random crafts around my house just yet.

...which still leaves the part about learning how to socialize outside of work. Two real problems: 1. Where's the time to start that now? 2. If I haven't found anyone in Augusta that I want to befriend in the last 3 and a half years, how can I suddenly find people I like now? One imagined problem: Does changing my conversation from only talking about work, to only talking about Alex constitute an improvement?

Mommy groups are for stay at home moms - so the activities are always during my working hours. I've thought about Church... but don't like the idea of leaving Alex with yet another daycare while Mommy is gone. And I'm not sure what other baby-friendly activities there are - but it will definitely have to be on the weekend as I don't have time during the week.

Okay, so that's essentially my plan. Oh, and the goal is to continue with this blog (and the schedule, which may become more specific later) until October, when we will tentatively be moving again (hopefully to Virginia, and hopefully both me and Chris) and the project will change to something called "being a super mommy while deployed"... something that makes me want to cry when I think about it so I'll do a Scarlet O'Hara and "think about it tomorrow."

Wish me luck - not sure who I'm talking to right now... but anyway...