Before I Was a Mom

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.

Post-It Note Tuesday

Video of the Week

What can I say, she likes to talk like her momma!!

Another year older

Well, yesterday marked the 31st year of my birth. Remember when you were younger and you used to count down the days to your birthday? I remember one birthday in particular. It was at the Roller Rink in my home town. I invited all my friends and we had a great time skating. Then afterwards, we headed across the street to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cake and to open presents. Who wouldn't love having a birthday with a party like that?

First of all nice hair Michelle. She is my older sister in the middle of the group shot at the Roller Rnk. You know the girl with the awesome hairstyle? LOL Of course I can't say much with my yellow goose sweatshirt with a Garbage Pail Kid sticker that I had stuck on my chest. Really Mom, were we that poor? LOL And a purple Frisbee? Is that something a girl that age wishes to receive as a birthday present? I think I saw that Frisbee last time I was home. It was sitting at the bottom of the toy box covered with dog bite marks.

Ever since I turned 30 last year, I despise birthdays. Something about turning another year old just sends chill down my spine. Charlie always tells me that age is just a number. This is also the man who still gets carded for alcohol and can't grow facial hair. So why should I listen to him when he talks about aging.

I think back over the year. So much has happened. Last year, I received the best birthday present ever.

Two days before my 30th birthday, I found out I was "with child". It wasn't a planned pregnancy but it wasn't a whoops either. If it happened, it happened. But with a trip to Colorado to go skiing that following weekend, I was hoping that it didn't happen this month. Definitely didn't get to do that birthday shot of Tequila like I was hoping.

The next nine months were filled with emotions, food cravings, weight gain, swollen ankles, doctors appointments and preparing for the arrival of our little angel. I was so anxious to start our life as a family. I found out in July that we were having a girl and I couldn't be more ecstatic. I would finally have another girl in the house. Someone that I could take shopping and paint her fingernails and style her hair. I also was scared to death to become a parent. All of the responsibilities, the sleepless nights, the constant crying. Could I really do this? Well I was going to have to learn somehow. And with my family being 8 hrs away, I really didn't have help besides Charlie. But I managed and now with Abbie 4 months old, I feel like I have this parenting thing mastered!! Abbie is on a schedule & when her schedule is thrown off, it throws me off. Last night my mom came into town and Abbie knew that with Grandma comes snuggling so she did not want to be put in her bouncer, her swing, her bumbo, her activity mat...nothing!! She just wanted to be held!! "I'm sorry little lady but when Grandma goes back home, you are not going to be in momma's arms 24/7. I love snuggling with you but I also have things to do.

So as I guess my 30th year really wasn't as bad as I thought. I may gotten older but with the birth of my daughter, I believe I also got a lot wiser.

And even though I despised turning 31 yesterday, it was actually a pretty good day. I got to have my favorite cuisine for dinner...Mexican. I also spent the evening with the man who loves me with all my heart, the woman who gave birth to me and a little girl that lights up my world. That present is by far better than any purple Frisbee I got as a child.

Post-It Note Tuesday

Video of the Week

Frank gets the pleasure of starring in this video of the week. He is always destroying his toys so we let him play with them for a while and then hide them in the closet. Today we got his "bitch" down from the closet. We use the word "bitch" lovingly in our household. It's a love/hate relationship between Frank & his "bitch". One minute he's tearing her apart and the next we see him humping on her. In this video he is sitting down for dinner with her.

Mommy's Lucky Charm

Happy St. Patty's Day from our family to yours.

I'm still contemplating putting green food coloring in with Abbie's bottle just to celebrate.

Post-It Note Tuesday

Video of the Week

Each week I'm going to post a video (past or present) for everyone to enjoy.

This week's video is titled, "Talking to Mr. Froggy". ..

A typical night as a Mother

Here is a play by play of last night from the time I walk in the door home from work until my head hits the pillow. This is a 5 1/2 hr time span.

• Walked in the door, greeted by my doggies and a sleeping daughter in her car seat
• Entered computer room to greet my husband and asked him about his day
• Checked Facebook
• Threw a load of towels in the washer
• Fed Abbie (usually I watch Wheel of Fortune but last night it was pre-empted by basketball as was my soap opera that I recorded earlier in the day - DAMN THEM!!)
• Washed bottles/pump parts while entertaining my daughter in her bouncer
• Filled bottles for the next day
• Made dinner
• Portioned out hamburger from the Value Pack into 1 lb smaller packages
• Ate dinner
• Cleaned up kitchen after dinner
• Bathed Abbie
• Usually I feed Abbie but last night I got a stomach ache (DAMN YOU TOSTADAS) and ended up spending the next 20 minutes on the toilet. (Thanks Daddy for feeding and putting your daughter to sleep.)
• Checked Facebook (yes I know...it's an addiction)
• Headed to bed for a wonderful 7 hrs of uninterrupted sleep (I love how my daughter sleeps through the night!!)

My life is so much different since becoming a parent. Time is so precious and it goes so fast.

Post It Note Tuesday

3 Things I Would Change About Myself

I heard this on the radio this morning and thought it would be a great blog entry. It's going to be hard to narrow it down to three but I'm going to try.

1. Running Late. Ever since high school, I have been horrible about being anywhere on time. If I'm early to something, there is definitely a problem. I am pretty lucky to have a job that is pretty flexible. I always make sure if I come into work 10 minutes late that I work 10 minutes later. It annoys the hell out of Charlie. He was late to work last year and it had been the first time he was late in 10 years. It's sickening. We are so opposite. He has learned to sit around until he hears me walking out the door. I can tell him that we will head out to Wal-Mart in 10 minutes and finally 20 minutes later, I'm ready to go.
2. Non Confrontational. I avoid confrontation at all costs. If someone puts onions on my burger when I specifically said no onions, I will pick them off before I confront the waitress. I'm a happy person and don't like to argue. There has been many times where I wish I could speak my mind but I coward down and run down in my rabbit hole.
3. My body. Don't we all wish we could change our bodies? And a lot of it you can change. If you have a muffin top, you can diet and exercise and hopefully lose it. But there isn't much you can do with long legs/long arms/long fingers/long feet/etc. I mean Bobby Brady hug from the swingset to get taller. There should be something to do that makes you shorter. There are times that I wish I could wear average size clothes. I am a size 12 but it's a 12 LONG. Well almost a size 12, still have these last 10 lbs of baby weight that are a killer to lose. I bought a pair of jeans with a 34 inch inseam at Old Navy that were long and ended up shrinking on me. Now I need to start buying extra long jeans. And the only place that I find who carries 35 inch inseam is Vanity and Old Navy Online. And there isn't a big selection in the extra long jeans. I need to start my own tall girl store. I mean they have Big & Tall for men. Why not women? And then there is the skis I wear for shoes. I wear a size 11 and that is almost pushing it. It's not like they make a size 11 1/2. I refuse to wear a size 12. It's hard enough to find shoes in a size 11. Here is how I go shopping for shoes. Instead of looking at the shoes on display, I go through the boxes below and find a box in a size 11. Then I open it and decide if it is something I would wear. And why are shoes in size 6 a whole lot cuter than the same shoe in a size 11. Oh yea, that's because it's half the size!! And I feel so guilty when I look at my daughter. She may look like her father but she has her momma's long fingers, long toes and at her 2 month pediatrician appt, she was in the 97th percentile for her length. Hopefully she is athletic unlike her mother b/c there is nothing like being tall and having this question from people, "I bet you were great at basketball back in high school!!" Nope, because along with being non confrontational, I am not aggressive either.

So those are the 3 things I would like to change about myself. I could probably list a dozen more but why would I bore you any further? So what is something you would change about yourself?

We had a rollover today...

Don't worry...it wasn't my car. It was my DAUGHTER!! She is getting to be such a big girl!!

And please ignore the loud TV, barking dog and annoying voice of her mother.

Another reason I'm ready for Spring

So last night Charlie & I are watching our Monday night shows on CBS that we had DVR'ed while I'm trying to get my daughter to sleep.

Megan: "Do you hear that?"
Charlie: "What is that?"
Megan: "It sounds like it's coming from the humidifier."
Charlie: "I'll look at it before I go to bed."

Well I went to bed before Charlie. I had been laying there for about 20 minutes and realized that Charlie had turned the TV off. So I walk out into the living room to see that Charlie had pulled our big humidifier out from the wall and was standing behind it sopping water out of the carpet with about every old towel we had. I guess our humidifier had been leaking. We don't know exactly how long it had been leaking but long enough to soak the floor underneath it. Charlie used five large bath towels to soak it up and it was still wet this morning. And this isn't the first time we have had this problem. About a month ago, the smaller humidifier that was in Abbie's room leaked all over the glass door bookshelf it was sitting on causing major water damage and also soaked the carpet around it. I think it took us all weekend to get it dry. I still worry that there is mold growing under the carpet and will make my child sick.

It was time to buy a new humidifier. We bought this humidifier used 10 years ago when we lived in Norfolk. I hope we can find another full size humidifier on clearance. I'm so ready for this dry weather to end so I don't have to deal with leaky humidifiers!!