Overscheduled

I have been so incredibly busy lately, and I'm loving it. I thrive on having a packed calendar and a long to-do list. As strange as it may sound, I'm always substantially more productive when I have more things that I have to get done. If it's just one thing, I tend to just keep putting it off. The whole "It's just one thing; I'll be able to do it super fast later" mentality. So, nothing gets done. If starting to work part time has done nothing else (although, it's already done more), it's pumped up my planner a bit. I've been getting so much more done lately, and it's making a difference in all aspects of my life. I've been much more present in parenting, spending more quality time with Jony (and neither of us are annoyed from doing the mundane chores that make a house liveable) and just getting a bit of my livelihood back. I'd forgotten how much I love being on the go constantly. After graduating college, I wanted a break. I definitely took one and was afraid to get back into doing more in fear of getting overstretched like I was that last year of college. I'm taking baby steps and monitoring myself to make sure that I don't do TOO much, but I'm enjoying the movement for now. Nap time will keep at least an hour or two of downtime in my life, and we all know that I'm not going to mess with nap time.

Wordless Wednesday

15 Months!

(Again, this was yesterday. We were super busy, though, so I wasn't able to get this post together.)

We are 1/4 of the way through his second year. Incredible. Watching him learn something every single day has been so amazing. He's such a joy to be around and too much fun to play with. He's sleeping really well. Basically, he's the perfect child. The kind of child that makes you start thinking of having another one. He throws his fits and proves that he's an independent little guy and has his days/nights that aren't worth bragging about, but he's overall such a great little boy.

15 Month stats:

• 22lbs and 31 inches
• wearing 12-18 month clothes
• sleeping through the night the majority of the time AND napping at a consistent time each day for at least 1.5 hours. Usually about 2, though.
• uses a fork the majority of the time that he eats
• has started adding more foods to his list of what he will eat: loves mashed potatoes, salmon, and chicken nuggets.
• just the 4 teeth, although the next 2 will be popping through any day (as I've said for the last two months, ugh)
• can walk/skip sideways and do a forward roll (although it's not pretty at all)
• does all of the hand motions to The Itsty Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle
• favorite activity: sitting in your lap and reading a book

2 Year Anniversary

(it was actually yesterday, but whatever)

It has officially been two years without my period! Who would have ever thought that when she showed up on 2/11/2009 that it would be her last visit for such a long time! Granted, her cousin did make a pit stop for quite a few weeks post-partum. Other than that, though, I've been all clear! We joke that Jeffrey is not ready to be a big brother yet and has willed it to stay away. Good thing we weren't planning on trying yet! We'll see what's going on this summer when we ARE ready to start. Maybe I'll get my dream and get pregnant on the ovulation before my period starts? 4+ years without one? Heck yes.

I'd like to, first and foremost, thank Jeffrey for being such a great eater. Even at only three (and sometimes two) feedings a day and sleeping through the night, he must be voracious enough to keep AF at bay. I'd also like to thank the two boxes of tampons that are sitting next to the toilet just ready for the inevitable. I keep them there because no doubt I would need them if they weren't there. I also carry one in my purse all of the time. As long as I'm ready, it won't happen. I'm 100% positive she'll make her appearance when I'm not prepared.

Happy AF-less Anniversary to me!

Wordless Wednesday

A Successful Valentine

I had an amazing Valentine's Day! My tiniest Valentine woke up in a fantastic mood and wanted to cuddle with me- always the start of a great day. I did have to leave him, though, for my first day of training for a few hours. It wasn't too bad, and I know he had a fantastic time with Grammy and Grandpa. When I got home, he was already asleep. I still got to enjoy two hours to myself, though! He was obviously worn out from lots of outside time in the morning. We spent the afternoon painting a special gift for Daddy's Valentine's gift and playing.

Jony gets an A+: he sent me a super sweet e-mail in the morning, made an AMAZING steak dinner (of which I ate entirely too much) with wine that he surprised me with, let me pass out on the couch after eating because I had stuffed myself so much that I was exhausted, made chocolate covered strawberries AND brought home a heart shaped cookie cake! And a rose bush, because I hate that flowers die. I was very pleased and impressed, as he is usually not the romantic type. I guess he's gotten better now that it's our 9th Valentine's Day together!

A few pictures of our Love Day 2011:

Venturing Back Out

In a whirlwind of a week, it seems that I'm back into the world of having a part time job! If you remember, I was working at Curves while pregnant and went back for about six months after Jeffrey was born. Since it wasn't necessary for me to work, I didn't worry about finding anything else and just focused on staying at home. It's still not necessary financially, but I was starting to feel like I needed a little extra something. Something that I could feel a sense of pride in besides just my home life with Jeffrey. I figure it might help people stop asking me when I'm going back to work and it will for sure make sure that I'm able to stay at home for a much longer time. A little extra cash never hurt anyone, either!

It'll be a little hectic for a few weeks while I'm training (starts Monday! craziness) in regards to childcare for the little man. I have two grandmas (and grandpas, if needed) that are more than willing to help out. Once I get a set schedule, it should be much easier. I'm hoping that it will line up with MDO for next fall, as well. I'll get more info on Monday. It's got some pretty awesome benefits for me AND Jeffrey and should be a fun and rewarding little job for me to do! I'm pretty excited about it, although it will be hard to let go of the carefree scheduling of the full time SAHM.

In a Funk

I've been in a funk- both in blogging (obviously) and in real life. I think it must be some sort of seasonal depression. I've just felt very blah. It sucks to not be able to go outside on a whim or even just open the back door to get some fresh air moving into the house. Let's be honest, it's not even that bad here. Sure, it's been freezing weather lately, but it'll be over soon. I cannot even imagine how I would be if I lived somewhere where there is an actual entire season of winter. Yuck.

Typically, I would just take this time to lounge around and be lazy (which is my specialty, by the way). Lots and lots of sleeping. However, this is just not possible with an almost 15 month old who gets very, very cranky when we're inside at home too often. I'm still trying to get out of the house every day, but it's harder with the whole jacket/car seat fiasco. It always seems like too much trouble, and I just can't muster up the energy. I'm always thankful when I do, though, so I need to just get over myself. I'm trying to delve into some more arts and crafts to do with Jeffrey, but I'm having a hard time finding age appropriate activities for him. We're going to attempt to work on his Valentine's tomorrow, but I'm not a very crafty mama. I hope they turn out cute!

I'm really hoping that I snap out of this funk soon and am able to get back to doing things out of the house and IN the house (in regards to some fun crafts), as well as returning back to the blog.

Wordless Wednesday

Just another Week...

You know, one of those weeks where the weather is ridiculous and you have know idea how to dress. Yeah, it was one of those. A picture story:

January 27: short sleeve shirt, no pants- warm weather

February 4: freezing, literally. There were icicles.

February 5 (yes, a DAY later): probably upper 50s- mainly just chills due to wind 

N: Naps

This is a part of my ABCs of (my) Parenting series.

Naps used to be a bad word in these parts. Just the mentioning of naps would cause to me to tense up and start to stress out. It was bad. Jeffrey has always been an exhausting child (he started moving at 6 weeks and has.not.stopped), so I was always just waiting for naps so that I could recuperate and be ready for him again. Sadly, though, sleeping was not on his mind. At all. Lots of fighting naps and crying (mostly on my end, I'll admit). With the swing, things weren't awful. Then, he started moving too much for the swing. So, I had to adjust. My carriers were used quite a bit during this horrible transition time. Then, things started getting easier a little bit at a time. He stopped fighting and would allow himself to fall asleep while nursing or would actually stay asleep during the transfer from the car seat to the crib. When he dropped the second nap, my whole world changed. Since then, sleep as a whole has gotten so much better! He'd let me know when he was ready for milk and would ALWAYS pass out. Now? Oh my goodness. He has napped around the same time all week. Sometimes I have to push him a little bit and start duplicating the bed time routine, but it's never a fight. He's been napping for about 2 hours each time, too! It's insane to think that we have some sort of a schedule occurring now!

The word 'naps' is now a happy thing! I know that I'll have time to myself without worrying about those monitor lights turning red, and he wakes up super rested and ready to get playing again! I'm loving it.