Perspective Shifts Being a Mommy

Now that I'm a mom, and pretty much the full time parent for the time being that I'm on maternity leave, there really is a lot of effort that goes into staying mentally "fit".  Some days I have to force my point of view to be that of "I'm getting this amazing opportunity to spend 12 weeks with my first born" instead of "omg I'm stuck in this house again today and she won't stop crying". I'm not perfect, and I don't want to sound condescending to those that are in the latter of the two tracks of thought.  My child will have good days and off days and those off days are super frustrating and testing, but those short moments when she gives a little smile or looks at me like she's actually taking in what I'm saying make all that other stuff not matter.

I think the hardest part of all of this is being the sole caretaker about 80% of the time.  I have to rush to squeeze in a shower, toss a load of dirty clothes in, wash the bottles because we don't have a dishwasher, and take a few minutes to check and see what the day of the week is. Waking up in the middle of the night just makes everything blur together. That being said, we're starting to get a little bit of routine going, or I've just had an alteration of a my mentality and things are going much smoother. Now I shower at night when she goes to sleep, toss those clothes in the wash, and wash those bottles. I'm not going to put the pressure on myself to attempt to get her to stop crying or sit there waiting impatiently for her to fall asleep so that I can get to those "important" things.  I mean are those other things really all that important when it comes down to it? Not really. She's the most important thing right now and I want my daughter to know that I love her so much.  No, I'm not letting my house go to crap, I still have to vacuum every day (we have a large dog, and sand is always going to be my arch enemy here in Florida), but those things can take a back burner for the time being. Ahh this crazy, fun, stressful, amazing thing we all live called life.  


In other news, baby girl when to bed at 8:30 and I was able to make my own "moby" wrap. Thank God for youtube and all the amazing things that can be sought out on there!

Things I've Learned Since Being with a Redneck Florida Boy

It's 4:44am and for once Savannah has made her way into her bassinet and is sleeping! This will be the first full night in a while that she has slept thoroughly in there even after her 2:30am feeding.  It only took about 30minutes of letting her soothe while holding her and then she let me put her back down, I'm completely thrilled and should be asleep myself, but I'm not.  I've now been awake enough that I can't go back to sleep, so I figured why not take some time to write a little.

As I'm laying in bed contemplating how the heck I'm going to find a babysitter, at 4:00am I've got two alarm clocks going off. 1 is a cell phone and 2 is an actual alarm clock.  Tony needs to set 2 so that he actually wakes up.  Today is salt water fishing day for the guys.  He hasn't been salt water fishing since last year and the boat hasn't been out on the ocean/inner coastal since September.  A part of me is a little jealous, but when I get up to go let the dog in after Tony has let him out, he can enjoy the balmy 40 degrees and probably colder where they are headed on the water....  I"ll stay cuddled under my down comforter and fleece blanket.  

So while he's on his way to Oak Hill for fishing, I decided I'd do a little writing about the qualities of the Redneck Florida Boy.

1. Florida boys love their boats and being out on the water with a cold beer.  Beers and boats go together and the boat turns into the ultimate man cave.  I would even venture to say the RFB's love their boats with the same level of love that they love their women, but it's just a different kind of love. The quickest way to upset an RFB and make your relationship stressful, is to argue with an RFB about his boat and time on the water. Just let them go, better yet, show an interest in what they do and join them. Even if you don't end up picking up a pole and going, you can work on your tan and catch up with the latest issue of Elle Magazine. I will say from personal experience, it's more fun to fish, but have that magazine as a back up in case you don't want to do it for as long as they do. Also, bring some strong sunscreen.

2. Trucks.  The bigger, the better.  I've never been in a state where people are passionate about their trucks and I've never seen so many trucks ever in my life.  I've also never even heard of the sport of mudding.  In Florida people jack up their trucks and jeeps and turn them into these monstrosities and drive them through mud pits.  The other half of a Florida Boy will understand as you're riding around together and you can be talking, and mid convo you loose your FB as he's gawking at someone else's truck, especially if its jacked up.

3. Bud Light is the beer of choice, except for when you're having a party, then it's corona with lime.  If you're really feeling like getting crazy, you can have a limearita or a margarita.

4. NASCAR.  Enough said. (I've actually fallen in love with going to races. They are so much fun. Don't knock it 'til you've been to one)

5. Guns are an essential item found in every home.  From your small hand gun, to your shotgun.  I think that if the United States ever has another revolution, then all the rednecks are going to save everyone else, because they are the only ones prepared. Always have amo and a weapon handy, especially in the home. If you try to break in, you will get shot. End of story.

6. Bass Pro Shop is the store of choice. Second is Gander Mountain.  If you feel the need to do retail therapy together, those are the only two places to go to, unless you go exclusively to a boat dealer, then that is acceptable as well.


I have to say that these are essentially my favorite things about my other half and I wouldn't change it for anything, nor could I for that matter!  So in case anyone was inquiring into some deeper aspects of my life, this pretty much sums it up, minus the fact that he's a loving Daddy to his little girl, and a very loyal friend and companion.  Those qualities aren't always found in everyone, so to that I'm grateful, the rest is all gravy.

Thoughts from a new Mommy:

Being a first time mom is no easy task.  Undoubtedly the love for my child is unconditional and I wouldn't trade her for anything. It blows my mind just how much you can love someone; I love her more than I've ever loved anyone.

 During the day its just me and Savannah, and even into the evening. Daddy doesn't get home until about 6:30-7pm, so it makes for about 14 hours of just the two of us. Some days we cry together, some days we both get naps, others she naps and I accomplish tasks around the house.  I wish someone had told me that for the first 4 weeks don't put any expectations on yourself- or your house.   Fortunately I had the help of my mom for the first 10 days and she got my house completely in order and now I'm just in maintain mode, which has been going fairly good.  

At first I would try and do everything every day, but now I've learned that if I can get one load of laundry done, or the dishes washed, or the trash emptied, I've accomplished a lot. Babies are adorable, but let's face it, they are completely helpless and rely on you for comfort, food, cleaning, EVERYTHING. I'm not complaining, it's a just a total reversal of daily life.  You go from everything being about you to everything being about her.  Showers are cut to 5min or less, and come to think of it, you can get a lot done in a  5 minute shower, and in a perfect world they would stay that way cutting getting ready in half in the morning haha.  

Savannah napes for about 3-4 hours at a spell and in the evening sometimes she'll sleep for 5 hours, which I think is pretty awesome.  From yesterday at about 4:00pm we made some adjustments together and from that point on she's been doing a lot better.  Nobody prepares for your acid reflux, gas, tummy aches, and overall fussiness of a baby.  It's important to have a good support system and be open to ideas from others.  The key is how those ideas are presented.  I never want to come across as judgmental to other mom's and three topics you should never tell anyone what do, or what's best for them are: Diapering, Feeding, and Discipline. I've learned that its best to pose questions to friends for advice, but never give advice unless its solicited unless you want to come across as a know-it-all.  All moms, unless they are truly heartless, want to do whats best for their lives. That being said, some advice from a friend yesterday really helped us out and we have noticed a tremendous difference in how the baby is feeling and we have actually had a more peaceful house because of it. 

Well today is Valentine's Day and I'm feeling mushy and sentimental.  I'd like to go get a coffee and then figure out what we're going to do for dinner.  We thought about going out, but I bet every restaurant is going to be slammed. Maybe by Sunday we do our Valentine's day and celebrate Savannah being officially 1 month old. My how the time flies, yet seems so long on those bad days hahah.  

Love to All.

Savannah Mae- My Birth Story

She's here! Savannah Mae was born on January 16th. She's already two weeks old and I can't even believe it. She's absolutely perfect.  I never knew that I could love someone so much as I do her. My life has been flipped completely upside down, but its totally worth it.  The act of birth was not too difficult and I actually understand why people have more than one child now.  Even though everything was very painful as I was going through it,  it's turning into a distant memory every day.

In case you were interested, here is Savannah's birth story.

Tuesday night on January 14th I was admitted to the hospital for an induction.  I arrived at 8pm and they put me on the monitors after completing paperwork.  At about 11pm, they gave me a cervical treatment to help me dilate which takes 12 hours to work.  I was told that this was the most advanced item that they had it it had two balloons that go on either side of my cervix and cause it to dilate. Well at least it should have... after 12 hours nothing happened.  Luckily, the midwife on site for Wednesday into Thursday was the midwife that I absolutely loved.  She decided that we would do a different treatment and that it had proven success with first time moms.. The only hard part is that we're talking another 12 hours before any sort of pitocin would be given.   Thankfully at the end of the 12 hours at roughly 11:45 pm,  I was checked and finally I went from 1cm to roughly 4.5cm. This enabled me to take on the next phase of the pitocin.

My contractions once given the Pitocin when through the roof.  I basically labored without pain meds until about 6 cm then I was given an epidural.  The worst part was that I could have had it earlier since I hadn't slept really in roughly 24 hours.  My night nurse told me that I was going to have to deal with my pain because they didn't have any available rooms to give me the epidural in.  Tony went out in the hallway after I was in tears pretty bad and got a different nurse who ended up being the charge nurse, and she told me that info I was given was false and that I could get an epidural in any of the rooms and in the hallway if they had to! Needless to say after that I'm pretty sure my night nurse was spoken too because she was even snottier then she was before.

After the 4 attempts to get my epidural in, it was finally in successfully.  I nicked a blood vessel and I started bleeding out my back (still sore today), but it stopped bleeding and I didn't have anymore contraction pain.  In about an hour I had the urge to push, but my rude night nurse told me I couldn't push and wouldn't check me until she finished inputting whatever crap she was putting into the computer while scolding me that I need to rest. I didn't need to rest, I needed to push my child out of my body.  About 30 minutes later she walks back in and see my body essentially pushing for me and starts saying, "that's involuntary pushing and I need to check you". I wanted to scream no shit lady, I have been telling you this for a while now! Pardon my language, but that's how I felt at the moment,. So she checks me and says I'm at 10cm and she needs to go get some supplies. I'm like what?!?!  She leaves the room and in about 10 minutes my morning nurse come in and tries to start some small talk and I'm  like "this baby is coming you need to check me" so she checks me ans says I need to hit the call button immediately and she essentially pages 911 for the midwife and nursery  team.  Finally I was allowed to push and in 4 contractions she was out! My precious little baby girl, to which the whole floor was eagerly awaiting what she was going to be since she was a mystery baby.

It's incredible that after all that, as soon as she's out, the pain is gone and all of the other stuff didn't matter.  She was precious and perfect and she was here.  Now its been 4 weeks to the day since her arrival and we're still figuring it all out.   So with that said, here's where the real story of the rest of our life begins.

Less than 8 weeks to go!

January 5th is my due date and time is going so quickly I can hardly tolerate it!  October 24th we took off a nice little trip to Ohio to visit Tony's family and they threw a mini Jack n Jill Shower for us.  I was blessed with a bassinet and a changing table, which is perfect because we need to keep the spare bed in the baby's room since we only have 2 bedrooms. After my mom comes when the baby is born, we will put up the crib, and by then, the baby should be ready for it.

Yesterday we completed the baby's room and started to figure out what we have and what we lack for bringing home our little surprise bundle!  I need to get more onesies.... I just don't have enough of those.  We have a great start on our diapers and wipes collection as well as sleepers, swaddlers, and bath supplies. Putting the room together was so much fun.  It was great to go through everything we got again and it just got us more excited for the baby to get here. (He or she must know I'm talking about  him/her because the kicking has been nonstop since I started typing this blog post.)  Our room is ocean themed and my mom got us some wonderful peel and stick decals to put on the walls which are super cool.  Every time I walk by the room I smile when I peek in there. Right now I have the little bed lap turned on, just because it's all becoming so real.   Time is going to pass so quickly just because the holiday's are coming and with that are parties and events every week.  I'm 32 weeks and 1 day today, and the magic week is 37 for a safe, full term delivery, and that's only 5 weeks away now.  It's crazy because at 8 weeks pregnant is when we first got to see the baby via ultrasound and now we're at the opposite end of all that.  It just blows my mind.  Ready or no,t here we go!!!!

Getting Ready for Baby!

Its been a while to say the least.... Its October 14th and I'm 28 weeks 1 day pregnant and we are finally starting to get the room ready for our new addition January 5th. Its only about 2.5 months away and I just can not believe it. The time has gone so quickly. I'm really excited for the baby and the more kicks, flips, and movements I feel make it all the more real.  We decided to go with an ocean theme for the baby's room and we  (I) painted the room "coastal mist".  Its a really light blue and it can go either boy or girl, since we are not going to find out what we are having prior to the birth.  We have not settled on any names yet, but I'm sure we'll have one ready for each when the time comes.

In about a week and a half we are traveling to Ohio to visit Tony's family! We have been fortunate to see a lot of our family over the course of the year, even with them living in Ohio and New York respectively.  For this trip, my parents are going to us out there for the weekend so both families can get to know each other before the grand baby makes its debut.  I'm really looking forward to this, its' going to be some nice memories.

Along with painting the baby's room, I decided to keep going and painted our kitchen and hallway as well.  Our house is super old, from the 1950's and I really don't think anything has been done to it since it was built.  Being that it's a rental we don't want to do too much, but painting is something simple and affordable.  I"ll post some before's and afters. Ignore the clutter, I haven't gotten that far yet.

 Hallway Before:

 Hallway After:

 Kitchen Before/After:

Rejoining the Rest of the World

Hello Friends, Family and Readers,

We are now finally reconnected with society... meaning we finally have cable and internet!  A lot has happened since we made our move to Deland.  We've painted some rooms of this old house, gotten some newer furniture, oh yea and we also discovered I'm having a baby due January 5, 2014!  This has been insane!  Life is not slowing down that's for sure.   Tony has settled into his newer shop and has been very busy.  My job has been very busy as well.  Both of the dogs have adjusted to the new place and have no problems sleeping about 15 hours during the day. (oh the life)


Last weekend we took a nice long stroll through our neighborhood and its super quiet the further down the street.  This neighborhood is very old, and we had no idea there were so many houses beyond our street. It looks like these streets go to nothing, but they are loaded with housing.  We're going to be keeping our eyes open to see if we can find a bigger house to rent.  With the baby coming we are going to need the space.  The current extra bedroom we have is full of our stuff. I'm not sure how all this will play out, but we'll figure it out, because we always do.

In regards to the baby, I'm 13 weeks today and we've decided we are not going to find out if we're having a boy or a girl early.  We want it to be the ultimate surprise.  We're both really excited, nervous, and anxiously awaiting this new adventure.  We haven't chosen any names yet, but I'm sure we won't have any arguments about it. Tony only has one condition, that if its a boy, the middle name has to be the same as his.  So far I've come to the conclusion that choosing a boys name is much harder then a girls.  I have a girls name, but nothing for a boy yet.  If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment below!


Other than that, stay tuned for updates!

*Lindsey