"Your Gona' Miss Me When I'm Gone"

Kris and I are headed up to visit the Indiana family for a few days. I have been both looking forward to it and dreading it for the past 3 days. I am excited about seeing the fam. However I can't think of when I have ever left my husband for 3 days before in the long history of our 3 year marriage! Once I went with my parents for a long weekend to Indiana, however when we got there, guess who was there to surprise me! My husband got out of whatever it was that he had to do and joined us for our trip!
Last night as we were going to sleep I said "what will you do here for 2 nights without me?" To which he replied "Eat Mexican food and sleep in the middle of the bed every night!" Grrrr I oughta hide all 6 of his precious feather pillows and strip the bedsheets, just to make him miss me a little! But don't worry I wont :o)

Pardon me but this is my first time...

I hate feeling like I don't have a clue. I have been feeling that way a lot lately in regards to mothering. I am soooo grateful for 1. Motherly instinct (I can't imagine being more lost than I already am) 2. My mothers (and all of the other professional mothers) opinion. I hate the media and all of the information swarming in my head that "they" say about babies. It drives me crazy that there are so many opinions and options and choices out there.
So now you get to hear my latest worries/concerns/questions and feel free to comment where you feel you might have something to add to my swirling head, it is much appreciated and will be filed as necessary and then filtered through later when there is no longer any more room ;o)

Annie's car seat has been tipping over in the the 4-runner and even more so in the Camry which has leather seats. Yesterday as I was on my way to go meet a friend she was in a car accident. She was rear ended and spun all the way around into the median. When i got to her house I found Annie's seat tipped forward and her poor sleeping head about to fall off! I thought what if it were me in that accident! I am one of the 5 out of 6 people who doesn't have her car seat fastened properly!! So today I watched a bunch of You Tube videos on how to install an infant seat and found the old seat belt fastener thingy that had come off when the car was stolen and I think that I might have this one figured out, I will let you know! Praise God for inventing You Tube :o)

I am still struggling with the whole growth spurt idea. I know that she is going through one and that babies are constantly changing. However she really needs to stop :o) One day she takes 3 naps one of those being 3 hours long, some days she takes 3 45 min naps, twice now she didnt nap at all (that was fun). She seems hungry all afternoon long and doesn't want to eat at all when she gets up in the morning what is that about!? She pulls on her ears while she eats and I think she may rip one off some day... does this mean they hurt?

Here is one I KNOW I will get feedback on. The pediatrician, a different one than last time mind you, said at 4 months that I could start rice cereal but I didnt have to yet (Thank you for your permission). now at her 6 month appt she said I could start her on any single ingredient food that I wanted to. but she wanted me to give her some sort of cereal because she is not getting enough Iron from my milk! I have heard this before however I just wonder how true it is. I was thinking about giving her some cereal anyhow sometime soon, but I am seriously tempted to not do it for another 3 months because they check her blood levels at 9 months and I would LOVE to know her iron levels :o) So my question is when did you start solids and do you regret starting to early. I have heard a few different opinions on this ( i think Melissa blogged on persevering with breastfeeding only for a year) and Kris said she regretted it because it is expensive and once you start you cant stop! :o)

That is all of the first time mommy head swirling thoughts I can think of right now. I will post a little later when I take her 6month picture and let you all know how big my little tiny has gotten.

March Schmadness is what I say

2 years ago I decided to take up knitting during March madness thinking that I would sit and be with my husband as he watches all this Basketball. I started a baby blanket that to this day sits at about 4 inches long and covered in dust.
Last year I was ending my first trimester and March Madness was a good excuse to sleep :o)
This year I decided to fill out a bracket. I am into basketball a little tiny bit more because of going to all of the High School games and so I figured that if I had someone to root for then I would want to watch the games. Joe printed me a form to fill out and I handed it back to him to compare to his. He yells at me from 3 rooms away "did you even look at these little numbers next to the names of the teams?" Me:"Ummmm no, I honestly didn't even see the little numbers"
See evidently next to each team is their ranking or "seed" which, by the way, I think is just a hilarious word, but don't worry I won't go there with my husband. I tried to join in on BB conversations with him a little bit this year in regards to his HS team and I just got these quizzical looks and "what are you talking about" to which I really couldn't answer! So evidently I have a 15 seed going to the final 4 and only twice in history has a 15 seed ever made it to the final four. To this I confidently replied " I always root for the underdog"

I haven't picked up my nicely filled out bracket since! :o)

Making a House a Home

Well if you have ever been to my house you would know that we have 3 stories and were using the 3rd story (finished attic) as a family room. It looked much like any finished basement would look, you know where everything is centered around the big screen, the mini fridge from the college days etc... only difference is that the walls are all at an angle under the eaves of the house.
Anyway about a year after we moved in we made our first big purchase for the house which was a sectional couch for "man world" as many call it. The very first couch we looked at ended up being the one we purchased weeks and weeks later :o) I love the thing, it was an excellent buy which I also love, the thing is huge and we actually had to take the door frame apart to get it through the attic door! OOPS! Anyway, the only problem was, we rarely went upstairs to use this fine piece of furniture. The only time we watch tv is in the.... da da dum... bedroom! I know, I know and I don't want to hear about the TV in the BR.
I clearly remember blogging about my wonderful bed a few months after Annie was born. How much I loved it and how much time I was regrettably spending in it. Well that time has faded folks! I am so tired of sitting in bed when I want to watch the news or simply turn something on when I am feeding Annie Girl. I am tired of having my sister come over after work at 5:00 t0 find me in bed! I feel lazy! Annie is often sleeping at 5 and I have dinner cooking or ready and I am exhausted and want a nap, however I don't want to nap in bed, for some reason a nap on the couch seems less lazy to me than a nap in bed and I have never been one to like taking naps in my bed.
Part 2 of this story is that my little sister is going to move in with us! I am very excited and for some reason I think Joe is looking forward to it as well. We decided that since we rarely use the attic as it is, Kelly would move in up there. It will be her own little space and she wont be subject to being the neighbor to a crying baby at 3 am.
So its out with the old and on with the new! We (by we I mean Joe and Andrew) carried the sectional couch and TV down 2 flights of very narrow stairs, to what used to be the formal living room, which we also did not use. We had 2 donated couches, 2 donated end tables and lamps, a donated chest cabinet, a donated oriental rug and my papasan from before I was married. Surprisingly enough all of these things matched very well and with the help of just a few accessories the room was actually one of my favorites in the house. However I am very excited to finally have a family room and a place other than our bed to hang out in! I gave myself a budget and have picked out a few new things for the room of which I am VERY excited about! So next week when the area rug is ready and in place I will post a picture and list for you all of the wonderful deals I have found! I am just upset because my blogging mind wasnt working before we started this and I don't have a before shot of the living room:o(

Weekend

This weekend we went to Owensboro to visit Joe's family. We stay with his "Mamaw Bunny" (don't worry I laugh too when I hear a grown man talk like that!) His Uncle Dave and Aunt Linda from Paducah live with Bunny every weekend so they were there as well. It's always a good time because Joe usually goes off and does boy things with his father and Uncle Dave and leaves us girls to have a lazy afternoon and I love Bunny and Aunt Linda! Plus Aunt Linda now keeps her granddaughter Abby on Saturdays so Annie got to spend some time with her cousin. (Quiz: What is the relationship between Annie and Joe's cousins daughter? Second cousins?) Anyway Abby wanted little to do with Annie Girl until Linda picked her up, then Abby tried to pry Linda's hands off of Annie, I sensed a little granddaughter jealousy going on. :o)

Abby likes to play with Mamaws Oxygen tubing!

Aunt Linda with Abby and Annie

This sleepy baby laid on the floor playing with her new ribbon blanket for 3 hours! It's her new favorite toy.

Coldness

I am ready for warm weather now, How about you?