voice of reason

I'm bad about having expectations for my birthday and other holidays and when the day doesn't work out exactly how I imagined, I'm all -woe is me. On Valentine's Day, I was sure it would be a perfect day. It was a Tuesday so I had plans to go to PWOC, come home and clean up the house and decorate, and get ready for a romantic evening in with my man.

If we're friends on facebook, you know by now that my day just didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped by my status that read- "Today-3, Me-0" that was posted in the evening of February 14th.

(1) It all started with my (much too early) morning wake up call. For an unknown reason, Baby K decided to wake up at 3:30...for the day! Umm, no. I refuse. Not going to work little man. I finally was able to get him (and myself) back to sleep for another hour that day, but I wouldn't exactly call it a restful nights sleep. Determined, I got out of bed and began getting K ready to leave for my bible study group. I was so excited to go, especially because we missed last week because K Baby was sick. Our house was alive with the bustle of the morning when Captain J mentioned that he didn't have any clean socks (again). I told him to go look in the bag where I keep all the unmatched socks, a bag he didn't realize I had. He then remarked, "THAT'S where all my socks are." Which, I of course interpreted to mean that I was a terrible house wife because I couldn't keep clean or matched socks in his drawer. Ridiculous? Yes. But I wasn't operating on much sleep. Anyway...

(2) I dressed K in one of his sweet Valentine onesies and headed off to chapel without a shower and smelling like baby spit up. I dropped him off in childcare and 45 minutes later my pager was going off to come get him. I walked in and he was freaking out- again. And again, all the other little fellas in the room were quietly playing or sleeping. Ha! No biggie, I thought. I'll just bring him in the room with me. But he wasn't having that. He wanted a nap. He wanted his crib. And he wanted it now. Before ever sitting down to get into the lesson, I was packing up and leaving. And crying myself because of the stress of the last few weeks and my lack of sleep I'm a baby, too.

He cried most of the way home and fell asleep as we were pulling down our street. He woke up as I was bringing him through the door. I got him out of his car seat and he laughed. He laughed. Little stinker.

(3) I decided to post something for sale on a facebook for sale page but I forgot to take into account how mean (and ignorant) the general public can be. Epic fail. I posted the item by saying "$20 OBO (or best offer) and immediately got a text message asking if I would sell the item for a lower price. Sure, $15 is fine. I told her I WOULD take $15 but ya know...I still had best offer on the item. I return her text by saying someone else would pay 20 because I was getting messages left and right. She completely flipped out like a crazy person. She was texting me constantly saying how she wouldn't be treated like this, how it wasn't fair, and God bless me anyway.

UM?

What just happened?

I tried explaining to her what OBO meant but it was to no avail. This person was a grandmother, for crying out loud. She even told me she "really needed it." And then it all made sense. She must be one of these people who think the world owes her something- and that because she needs something, she should get it. This was not a need item, folks.

And I instantly felt icky for all the Christians in the world who truly mean it when they say "God bless you" because this woman was completely using those words to try to make me feel bad.

Because I care what other people think, I let her get me down. I worried about this mean person and for what reason? I finally realized that I was ruining a perfectly good Valentine's Day because of small, petty things in my life. I left the silly facebook group so as to never have to deal with her (or anyone else like her) again. Then I turned off the computer, put down my phone, and focused on my husband.

And you know what?

V-Day wasn't all awful. I got dressed (ha). Captain J and I had a wonderful candlelit dinner and he surprised me with an appointment for a massage, facial, mani, pedi, tanning, and makeup session. A "me day"- sounds perfect.

Thank you, J for being my voice of reason and my happy place. I love you!

The Finer Things In Life

I thought I'd let you step into my kitchen for a few minutes today. What's cookin'?

Our family go-to meal. And it's delicious.

Excuse the crumbs on the floor. Clear off a spot at the bar. You can move the baby chair to the floor to make room. Ok, are you ready?

I've got the easiest, tastiest recipe ever.



You will need:

• bow tie pasta (half box)


• peas (we use the steamer bags)


• sausage


• alfredo sauce (half jar)

That's it! But if you want to get fancy, throw in some spices to taste and add some shallots, too. YU--UM!

It's so easy, you could probably figure it out yourselves.

1. Cut sausage into bite sized pieces and just cook it up in a skillet. Brown it, ya know. Then drain the grease (This is where our dear, sweet Holly expects the grease to be poured over her dog food!). Note: If you're getting fancy, you can add the spices and shallots here.


2. While you're preparing the sausage, get some water boiling for the pasta. I trust you can follow the directions on the box/bag. ;)


3. Stick pea bag in microwave (What? I told you it was easy).


4. When the pasta is done, drain the water, and mix in about half of the alfredo sauce.


5. Add sausage and peas to pasta and voila! Tastiest, easiest dish you'll ever make.

You're welcome. ;)

We also like to have red wine with this, but you do what you want! On Sunday, we had this meal with some Malbec. Usually, we claim our house wine to be the Wal-mart brand of Oak Leaf. We're not picky. This particular night, however, we were feeling fancy. Instead of the regular 3 dollar bottle, we splurged for the $14. Classy, I know. Anyway, we were partaking in our wine tasting techniques we learned on the North Island of New Zealand-

Imagine the scene. I'm sitting in my crazy print flannel pj's with Valentine slippers on my feet, hair is in a high ponytail. And if I'm confessing it all- my hair was in a high ponytail that was slightly off to the left. Captain J approaches me with my glass and cheese in his hand (not on a plate). He might as well have just taken the cheese out of the pocket of his Carhartts. He hands me the glass. We swish it around. We hold it up to our noses and pretend to detect various scents in the wine. We taste it. We close our eyes and savor. Next, we eat our cheese slices. Finally, we take another sip. And it's confirmed.

We still can't tell the difference from the really inexpensive wine from the regular inexpensive wine.

Captain J summed it up when he said, "The finer things in life are sometimes lost on people like us."

Valentine's

Happy Valentine's Day, Lovers!

*First off, I just wanted to say to those of you who left comments and sent messages about my sweet boy yesterday- Thank you! I felt better reading that "Failure To Thrive" was more common than I originally thought and not always something to fret too much over. Honestly, you all made me feel much better. Thank you mucho.

Last V-Day, we were celebrating our love at the Olde Pink House in Savannah, Georgia. This year, we're enjoying a night in. We have plans to cook together after little K goes to bed and we'll likely stay up describing in detail how cool the other person is talking about how cool our kid is. I hope you all have a wonderful day celebrating all the people you love in your life.

Here's what Captain J has waiting for him when he gets home!



I'm so glad Baby K likes to craft as much as me. Just look how talented he is at only 6 months:



So proud.

Again, Happy V-Day, y'all! I'm guest posting over here today so head over and check that out, will ya? I'll be back here tomorrow with a recipe and a confession. Get pumped!

XOXO,

Mrs. K

Baby K's Progress

Yesterday I mentioned that Friday was a rough day for us. If you follow me on the various social networking sites, you probably already know why, but I would like to discuss it further here. This blog contains my celebrations in life as well as the scary parts so I couldn't leave this out because I was really very upset. Scratch that- I AM STILL upset.



Friday was his six month appointment. I've mentioned before that I have an unhealthy fear of going to the doctor. It's no different when I have to take my little boy in. It's not the possible pain part that scares me. It's the part where my doctor could possibly tell me that something is very wrong with me. Same goes for little man. I'm terrified.

Captain J came with me to the appointment- thank Heavens!

Because when we undressed Baby K to put him on the scale and the numbers 13.7 appeared, my heart sank.

Surely that's inaccurate?

It wasn't, though and the nurse's records on him confirmed what I was thinking. He hadn't gained weight in two whole months. When the doctor came around, he told us that this was highly unusual- something he had never seen before and that he wanted to have some tests run.

Not only did K have to get shots, he also had to have blood drawn from both of his tiny little arms. This was traumatizing for him (or so it seemed by his cries).

The question, remained though- Why is he not growing?

In the above photos, he might look bigger because of the way I took the pictures, but now I see that he really hasn't grown much. I don't think I noticed it because he is hitting most of the suggested milestones for his age that I didn't think to worry about his weight and height. Now, it's all I can think about.

Captain J thinks the switch to formula may have been part of the problem, but this is something we don't agree on. For the majority of this time, I was still breastfeeding. I don't know what the issue is- and maybe it's nothing. But being told your baby is under the status of "failure to thrive" is always alarming.

Then I get mad and remember all the times that I just knew something was wrong and the doctors told me his puking was normal or that "he'll quit eating when he's full". I know this to be false due to the consecutive hours I've spent with him latched on to me. To this day, he has never stopped eating when he is full. He'll take bottle after bottle if we let him, throwing most of it up along the way.

But this is beside the point.

Regardless, he weighs exactly the same amount as he did at four months. And he was quite small for four months. It's upsetting to see other small children who outweighed him just weeks after they were born. It scares me. Makes me worry. That's what I'm good at. I just never thought I would have a tiny baby. My family doesn't exactly produce small babies. Besides that fact, breastfed babies are usually plumper and more rounded and K was definitely a breastfed baby for the first 5.5 months of his life. It doesn't make sense.

Unless you know my hubby.

He's very tall and thin. He jokes that he barely is elligible for the Army according to their weight standards. So maybe just maybe, Baby K is just going to be skinny like his dad. Maybe there's nothing to worry about. Maybe I'm going to be the round one among the rails. ;) I don't know.

For now, we'll be going to the doctor much more often. We'll be feeding Baby K as much as he can stomach. Specialists are in his future. More testing is to come. And hopefully, we'll get this thing figured out.

We appreciate your prayers for our sweet boy. Thank you for continuing to pray with us, too! I'll keep you all updated on his progress. Let's hope I have some poundage to report next time, for him and NOT for me!

XOXO,

Mama K

(P.S.- Tomorrow I'll share all our Valentine's Fun. Stay tuned ;) )

Project 365- Week 6

I dropped the ball again with the picture taking. I'm not sure what days go with what pictures but I think this is a pretty close guess. Sorry, it was a bit of a blurrrrrrr.

Day 36: I took care of a sick baby.

Day 37: The sun came out (I think?)

Day 38: I gave my new iphone a whirl by facetiming with my mom. Check out Baby K's face! Classic.



Day 39: After bath.



Day 40: Playin' with the pup.

Day 41: This was a terrible, awful day that I'll tell you all about tomorrow...but I snapped this photo while it was still an okay day.

Day 42: Baby K got carrots for the first time. 

6 Months

Dear K Baby,

Happy Half Birthday! I can't believe you're already half a year old. You are growing up so fast. This month you have progressed leaps and bounds. You are rolling over, sitting up by yourself (but just barely), and responding happily to your name. You reach for toys and can pass them back and forth between your tiny little hands. You even hold your bottle by yourself while you eat (and quite well I might add!).



I recently stopped breastfeeding which made me sad, but since I have, you've become a much happier young man. The formula must be settling your tummy much better than my milk...and you know what, kid? ANYTHING for you. I mean it.

You're precious. Our days are spent laughing and playing and on the bad days- teething. I can see one or two trying to poke through on the bottom. Bless your heart- you're a slobbering mess of cuteness.



This month, we transitioned to your crib in your room. I missed you so much at first but you are sleeping pretty well by yourself. We still have some trouble when your paci falls out, though. You can stop waking up when that happens any time now. ;)

Thank you for making my life so much more rewarding. I'm happier with you around. I love you forever, Baby K.

Love,

Mama

(P.S.- You won't remember this, but Holly hijacked our photo session! She loves you an awful lot, too.)

Lacin' Up My Work(out) Boots

Something bizarre is going on here.

I have worked out for the past two days in a row. HARD. Usually (or not so usually) I might go for a run, a very short and slow run. But lately? I've been pushing myself and it feels good.

I'm not much of a fan of running until the activity is over and done with for the day and I can look back on my accomplishment and be proud of it. Yesterday, I got chased by a dog, tripped up by another one, and some sort of weird heat rash on the tops of my legs, yet when I was done, I felt so good. It's amazing what a little running can do to my self-esteem.

I've been feeling down about my body recently. While my pre-pregnancy clothes do fit, there's just something about myself that I haven't liked as of late. Maybe it's that weird line near my belly button that still hasn't gone away? Maybe it's the love handles? Maybe every time I look in the mirror I'm scared that I look old. Anyway, after just a couple days of working out, I'm starting to feel like myself again.

When I stopped breastfeeding, I gained weight really quickly. Eek!

I'm happy to report that in the last two days, I've lost 5 lbs! I'd like to shed ten more but that will probably take awhile.

How have I done it? Well, I had to get creative really...

Since I find running quite boring most days, I wanted to find a way to burn some more calories without leaving the house. It was my backyard that fixed my problem for me! We've been doing a lot of digging (by hand) as of late. And by "we", I mean Captain J! ;) We're putting in a garden. Anyway, yesterday I shoveled the excess soil into a wheelbarrow and carted it around the yard A LOT! Back and forth. Back and forth. It wasn't boring because I was actually helping out a lot. It felt good to work (and work out!).





The day before that, I used materials in the shed that we had used to build a dog run in the back of our yard. Rolled up fencing wire was really useful. I used it for doing lunges, curls, and such.

I probably looked like an idiot doing exercises in the back yard and running around back there, but oh well. I don't mind looking dumb for short amounts of time.

On a related note, I need new running shoes. Any suggestions? I've never found a pair that don't blister my feet after 6 miles.