Cute Sam moment of the day

I should have started this a long time ago!!!

I actually have a couple days worth here:

Daddy and Sam were walking through the hall baby gate to Sam's room to get Sam ready for bed. Sam went first, then Daddy. After Daddy was through, Sam turned around to see if Daddy had shut the gate. Since Daddy had not shut the gate, Sam went back and shut it himself saying, "door!"

Last night Daddy was getting ready to feed Sam some oatmeal. Daddy was sitting on the floor and asked Sam if he wanted some oatmeal. Sam went over and sat down like 2 feet away with a big thump of his big diapered butt on the floor it was so cute! Poor Daddy had to stretch to feed Sam since Sam wouldn't scoot closer.

Sam woke up in a bit of a foul mood so I nursed him for a while after his nap. He amused himself while nursing by trying to put his fingers in my mouth. He gives this little chuckle - while nursing - when he does it. It is very cute :)

Yippee! Little Smudge on the way!!

What is a "Little Smudge" you ask? Well, Sam's nickname is Smudge. Not sure why. So, our impending new arrival is Little Smudge. We are going to be having another baby!!! Yay!!! Little Smudge is due on 7/19/09. We have done one ultrasound and got to see the heart beating and confirmed that the baby is in the right spot. What a relief!!!

Little Smudge will be born just a few days short of Sam's 2nd birthday. Hopefully, they will grow up to be best buds. On my list of things to do - see if there is a way to encourage that. I know many siblings who are close in age but not close relationship wise. Is there a way to help make them close? I think life is easier when you have a sibling to share with. But, what do I know since I lack such a sibling... Anyway and eitherway - at least they can share childhood :) It will be nice to no longer be Sam's sole source of entertainment.

If things go according to plan, Little Smudge will be the last child we add to our family. I am trying to get my husband to agree to get himself fixed. So far, I have not been successful. I will keep trying though! If I end up having to have a c-section, then I will ask to have it taken care of then. We feel two kids is a good number - one for each parent. It feels like our family will be complete with two kids....maybe a dog someday - a little one.



So, at 9w 1d pregnant, I have so far managed to pretty much avoid morning sickness. I have had a lot of general stomach queasyness but no actual throwing up - yay! I definetely have the 1st trimester exhaustion though which has been rough to handle on top of my regular exhaustion. Sam is starting to sleep better though so that helps. I am hopeing to have more energy as I make my way into the 2nd trimester.



Here is a nice ultrasound picture of Little Smudge looking remarkably like a gummi bear...

Oops

I hope no one has actually been reading this since I'm not doing a very good job of writing here. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day! I remember when I was younger and days seemed like they were so long and I would never be able to fill a whole day with stuff to do. I would lie in bed all day long and just read and eat. I didn't have anything else to do. My day was completely my own. This wasn't all the time of course but pretty frequently. Now, I just can't even come close to getting all I should done in the course of a day. I don't know how other people manage! My head hurts when I think of all I should be doing and all I haven't done. I end up doing things half ass because I don't have the time to devote my whole ass to it. Things end up costing more since I don't have time to take advantage of deals or plan meals ahead of time or send in all the crap needed for a stupid rebate. I don't have time to gather all the stuff up that the IRS wants to avoid them taking away my house and paycheck so I put myself further into credit card debt to get them off my back. How did this happen? How did I go from having all the time in the world to no time at all? It doesn't seem like Sam takes up THAT much time that I can't do anything else. Or, does he? Is it the 40 hours a week that I have to spend working? But, lots of people work and lots of people have kids. Are these other people just better at life management than I am? Or, maybe they just can look like they are? I don't know... I just hope that someday soon, I can lie in bed for most of the day again and read and eat and not think about all that is not done. Not every day - just one day...

Tired

I never knew how tired I could get and still function. I used to sleep 8 - 10 hours a night. I could easily spend the whole day in bed sleeping, reading, sleeping, eating, sleeping... Sleeping was something I excelled at. Now, I'm lucky if I get 5 or 6 hours a night. And those are interrupted! It has been exactly 14 months and 1 day since I had a full nights sleep. Odd how that is exactly how long ago my son was born ;-) I love him so much but I so wish he would just sleep! I wish I could explain to him how much better a mommy I could be if I wasn't so tired all the time. I feel so guilty for not having more energy but don't know where to get it. There's always so much to do around this house yet I am napping every time I can. Sleep seems to be constantly on my mind. Sometimes, I just want to cry from being so tired. Yet, I seem to keep moving on...diapers get changed, baby gets fed and played with, we go out and about most days of the week. I feel bad if Sam spends the day at home - bad enough he has to just sit in the living room and play while I work - it would be too boring if he had to do that during the morning and early afternoon too. How to balance everything? Sam, Sleep, housework, money work, husband time, me time(?!) Not enough hours in the day, not enough energy in me. How much longer???? When does balance return????

Moby Wrap for Sale

I have this wrap up for sale on TheBabyWearer.com and am posting the pics here since it is easier than posting them on the actual tbw website.

Patches

Yesterday I had to say goodbye to my kitty. She had gotten much worse overnight so I brought her to the vet first thing in the morning and asked them to put her to sleep. I will miss her very much.

Patches

This is my kitty, Patches. She is 14 years old and is not doing very well. I am going to have to have her put to sleep this week. I am quite sad about this and will miss my little kitty very much. I have had her since she was a kitten. My Mom found her abandoned near a place my Mom worked. She brought her home for me. Patches has never been the cuddliest or friendliest of cats but she's always been fun. She's had several different personalities in the time that I've had her. Now, she is no longer eating or drinking. While she doesn't really show it, I know she must not be feeling well at all. The vet could not find anything without doing tests I can not afford. I am at that horrible place where I have to decide that at her age, it just does not make sence for our family to go further into debt to diagnose and treat whatever she may have. So, I will bring her to the vet and ask them to put her to sleep. Feeling like a failure for not being able to pay to do more and feeling so sad to be loosing my pet of 14 years. I will miss her...

Book Review - The Last Lecture

I just read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. For those that are not familiar, Randy was a professor at Carnegie Mellon. He was invited to give a what is called a Last Lecture which is a lecture about what a speaker would want to pass on if he were told he was dying. Randy actually was dying of cancer. So, he was better able to really know what he would be thinking and what he would want to pass on. The lecture was really a tool he could use to tell his children things he wanted them to know.

I really enjoyed this book. Randy collaborated with another writer so that he would have more time to spend with his family as he was dying. Together, they managed to write a book that was very quick and easy to read but really thought provoking as well. Randy had some definate ideas on life and wasn't shy about sharing them. He tried to have as much fun as possible as often as possible which is a great way to live I think. It sometimes seems like having fun is often left out of being an adult. A lot of people do not put as much effort as they could into having fun. Why? I guess life just gets in the way sometimes.

Anyway, I really recommend this book. It is a quick read and will give the reader some good messages. I was really sad at the end though for Randy's children knowing they would have to grow up without him. If every parent could put as much effort and thought into raising their children as Randy had planned to do if he had been able to live, I think our children would be much better off.

The lecture itself is also available to view on YouTube. I haven't gotten the chance to view it yet but have heard it is really good.

This is my first book review so please forgive me if it is no good. If you have any constructive ideas to make future reviews better, please let me know. I'd like to improve :)

Intro

So, I've decided to enter the world of blogging. Not sure what to say honestly. Probably be just a bunch of verbal vomit. Some reflections, complaints, observations, reviews etc. etc.... I'm sensitive so if you don't like it - just stop reading, you don't need to let me know...

I'm a 33 year old first time Mom to a wonderful little boy named Sam. Sam is 13 months old. I have now gone 13 months without a full nights sleep. I wonder if Sam might have something to do with that??? Ha! Of course he does. He is getting better though so maybe someday soon, I can get a full 8 in.

Here is Sam:

And a rare picture of him sleeping:

I work for a technology company doing customer support via email. I am able to do this job from home which allows me to spend more time with Sam. I like that!

I have a wonderful husband and he is an automotive technician. He has to go off to work everyday. Sam and I miss him very much while he is away. He won't let me post a picture of him on here but he's very cute!

When I'm not being a Mom or catching up on sleep or working, I like to read and grow house plants. I read mainly fiction but am getting into some non-fiction as well. I'll put an occasional book review here if I think it is something worth reading or staying away from.

One of my goals is to loose some extra weight that I shouldn't be carrying around. I'm trying to eat healthier foods, control my portions, and get more exercise. This blog will be a way for me to track my progress and since it can be read by anyone, I'll want to do a good job! I'm starting out at 170lbs. I'd like to be at 160 lbs. by the end of the year. Lets see how it goes...

Well, that's enough for now I think. Future posts will probably be restricted to one topic as I think that makes it easier to read. I just wanted to introduce myself to any prospective readers. Hi!

Test

First time blogging - this is a test to see if I know how to use this thing...