Back Burner

Before E came along, our world revolved around our animals. They were our kids. The day we brought E home from the hospital it rocked Peppi's (our maltese) world. Due to me getting a c-section, we had been gone from home for about four days, so Peppi was beyond excited to see us. Only problem was...mom and dad were a little preoccupied. Peppi was put outside for about thirty minutes while we got E situated. Then we let him in and told him not to jump and to settle down. Peppi moped around for about a week. In an obvious depressed state. Finally he figured out his new role in the family. We still loved him, but he was pushed to the back burner for a little while. Peppi has seizures, usually from stress/heat dropping his blood sugar. I will never forget the day he had one when E was only about three weeks old. Chris had gone back to work. So it was me, E, and the animals (two dogs and a cat.) E was screaming and Peppi was STRESSED to the max. This tiny thing had taken over his roll and he was playing second fiddle. All of Peppi's mommy and daddy's attention was 100% directed to this thing that eat/sleeps/poops/cries. More of the fourth one. Peppi reacts to stress with seizures. Peppi seized up. In order to snap Peppi out of the seizure we give him some Karo syrup and put a wet rag on his head. How in the world was I going to accomplish this with a screaming baby in my arms?! Screaming baby in one arm, seizing pup in the other. I was shoveling Karo syrup in Peppi's mouth and then I'd wipe his head with a wet rag, all with the hand that was holding E. It was quite a catastrophe. But I survived, E survived, and most importantly Peppi survived. Peppi still doesn't get all the attention he wants, but I think he's maintaining.

Our other dog, Blue, acts as nothing is different. He's still wild as ever. He's our outside/inside dog, so he spends a little more time outside then he used to.

The cat has gone to greener pastures. When E got here, he started pooping all over the place. He pooped in our house pre E, but not every single day. Used to it was a once a week deal, E got here and Buff (the cat) crapped anywhere and everywhere- except his litter box, which we cleaned practically every day just to try to get him to poop in it. He also started barfing every time after he ate, which Peppi would gladly eat (disgusting). And he had a huge tumor in his ear that bled everywhere. Buff was fourteen years old and lived a good life.

Life with animals is a lot different now. Chris and I have decided after all of our animals pass, that is it. We will have no more. We love the ones we have now and we hope they never die, but the inevitable will happen and when it does no more. Let's see if I hold true to this when E is six years old begging for a puppy.

The Amazing Race

I've determined that Chris and I would absolutely SUCK at the reality tv show The Amazing Race. If you haven't seen it, it's a show where a couple (man/wife, best friends, coworkers, etc.) goes around the world looking for clues on where to go next, until there is one couple left and they are the winners. It appears to be highly stressful, there's always one couple on there that argue and bicker the whole time....yes, that would be Chris and me.

We love each other deeply. I could imagine myself with nobody else. He is my peanut butter and I am his jelly. We are like two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together. He's the sane, shy one and I'm the loud, crazy, outspoken one. We share the same sense of humor. He keeps me laughing constantly. He's an amazing daddy. Watching him around E melts me. He has 100% stepped up to his role as a daddy. Pre E when Chris and I fought I considered it more of a timing thing. A month had gone by without a fight so we fought. We fought over stupid crap and I was usually the instigator, the toilet seat was up, a shirt was folded wrong, etc. The fights usually revolved around one of my anal retentive OCD hangups. Post baby our fights are a little different. I've left behind my OCDness. Chris and I never fight, unless E is cranky. When E ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

Today E was super cranky, he didn't sleep well last night or today, he was gassy (peas you suck!), and possibly teething. Being a first time mother I have no clue if he's teething. I've been thinking he's been teething for the last three months. Still no tooth. So obviously my "tooth-ar" is wayyyy off. I had to work today so Chris was the lucky one who got baby duty until I got off. E wasn't content doing ANYTHING. The usual stuff that makes him smile and happy made him scream. The only thing he liked was being in his stroller. Just one of those days. Chris asked me earlier in the day if I wanted to go for a walk and I said to wait until the sun went down because it was too hot. This LA weather has already hit 94 degrees. It's not even summer yet! Dinner time came around. Chris ate while I fed little bit. E was done and so was Chris, so it was Chris's turn to entertain while I ate. Before I know it these words are coming out of Chris's mouth "E, let's go for a walk while mom eats." Ok....going around the block is a family ritual for us. Chris loves our walks. I love our walks. And most importantly E loves our walks. Can you tell where the fight started? Feelings completely hurt. So we spent ten minutes arguing about a walk. And then it was over. It wasn't the walk, it was E was upset today and so were mommy and daddy. So who do we take it out on? Each other. I will honestly admit, it's more me than Chris. Chris is the one I'm closest to, so naturally he gets the wrath. I'm so fortunate to have a forgiving husband. Our fights were a lot worse and frequent in the beginning, when E was unconsolable for the first three months. I think we have grown in our relationship. But not quite enough to join the Amazing Race.

Reality

Reality sunk in this weekend. I am officially a parent. I have my parent card. Friday night we went to a friend's fish fry, which might I add was delicious. I love fried fish. At 10:30 I was yawning away, not from the lack of entertainment, but I haven't been out (as in night time) since before E was born. My body can't hang anymore. We tapped out at 11:00. I couldn't wait to go pick E up the next morning. It sounds crazy, he was only gone for a little over twelve hours, but I missed him so much.

Saturday we went out to my sister-in-law's house for dinner. We had a great time. E played with his cousin Allison, who he absolutely adores already. She's going to make a great babysitter for when E gets a little older. And Sunday we relaxed by Nonnie's pool and had steak and potatoes for lunch. It was a wonderful Memorial Day weekend spent with the one's we love the most. I was in bed by 8:30 Sunday. It's amazing how much keeping up with a kiddo drains you.

These early bedtimes got me to thinking about how much I have changed since becoming a mommy. My life is no more about late night partying, but early morning tickle sessions. I find myself in constant "baby talk" mode. Recently, I've started hammering the word mama into E's head. But I put a funny sound to it and make my eyes really big when I say it, and E thinks it's the funniest thing ever. He's never going to say mama now. He thinks it's a game. And I'm okay with that. It's worth hearing him laugh so hard. I've gained these super sensory ears since becoming a mommy. I can hear a baby cry from a mile away. My driving has definitely improved. I've ditched my previous road rage for my new style of driving known as grandma driving. I go five miles under the speed limit and looking both ways three times before crossing. My arms look dang good right now. Toting around a sixteen pound baby and a five pound baby carrier can work wonders. I've fallen in love with baby lotion. I used to think it was the stinkiest stuff ever, not anymore. It reminds me of E and how sweet he is at night when I'm getting him ready for bed. I am enjoying life so much right now. The real things that make my life worth living: my E, my love (Chris), and my family.

My two boys

Heart Strings

As a medical professional, I have seen people with traumatic injuries, people with chronic illness, and people with horrible life threatening diseases. I try to treat every single patient like they are my family member. I love my job. I love being a ray of sunlight in a bad situation. I love just talking to people. Sometimes all people really need is somebody to listen. Imagine if you couldn't get out of bed and all you had to stare at all day was four monotoned walls. But from day one of starting my career I have told myself "You can't take this stuff home with you." "You can't take the sadness and sorrow with you." So I built my wall. When I left work, I truly left work. Completely emotionally detaching myself. There are definitely patients I will never forget, I can't forget. People whose lives ended way too early. Pre baby I was hard as a rock when it came to pediatric patients. The premature babies didn't make me sad. I saw it more as a challenge, how can I get these babies well. And seeing those babies make it out of the NICU was an accomplishment. Same went for the pediatric patients. I never took it home with me. My heart hurt more for the families than the kids. This poor family was having to watch their child suffer, laying lifeless in a bed.

My view post baby is completely different. E has created this soft spot in my heart, this soft spot that can never be hardened again. A soft spot so full of love. Today I was taking care of a very sick little baby about the same age as E. He had the biggest blue eyes. The color of the sky. And light blonde hair. He reminded me so much of E. He started having problems so I was called to the bedside to try and fix him. The whole time those blue eyes looking at me. Asking "Please help me, please help me."I couldn't contain myself. I started crying at the bedside. Never before have I ever started crying at bedside. All I could picture was E being in this child's spot. It tugged and ripped at my heart strings. I found myself asking why God, why this sweet innocent baby? Why does he get dealt these cards? I know it's not my position to question God, but it's so hard to understand. This baby has been through more in the few months he's been on the Earth than I have been through in my WHOLE life. I know there's a reason for everything. And one day we will know it. I definitely think my job makes me realize how valuable life really is. It can be taken away any minute. Every day I come home from work and I love on E until it's time to go to bed. My days off are spent cuddling and kissing E. I would give anything to be a stay at home mom. These moments are precious and never guaranteed. And many people have been robbed of them way too early. The first prayer I pray at night is thanking the Lord for my baby and for Him to please watch over E. As an end note, never take life for granted, never take your children for granted, never take your loved ones for granted. LOVE HARD.

A day of firsts

Today was such a fun day for E. He tried two new things. And for the most part liked both. He was SUPER moody today, not sure if it was from just being tired (he got to bed kind of late last night) or teething. I've sworn for the last two months that he's been teething. Still no teeth. He chews on everything and slobbers like nobody's business. I decided I needed to pull some new tricks out today. I feel like E gets tired of the same ole, same ole routine. Play mat, swing, play pen, tv, play saucer, play with mommy. It sounds like a lot of entertaining, but each "station" usually only entertains him for about thirty minutes MAX. Last time I checked, there are 1,440 minutes in a day and E sleeps about 900 of those, so that leaves 540 minutes of entertaining. So today was the day to introduce my new friend Johnny Jumper. I put E in it and he loved it. He was spinning, and doing all kind of Superman moves. He was cracking me up! He thought the outside harness was his own personal little chin rest. I definitely have a lazy boy on my hands.

Check out that chin rest

Our next adventure for the day was Nonnie and Poppy's swimming pool. This trick didn't excite E quite as much. He was pretty non responsive to the whole thing. The most exciting thing he did was kick his legs some. He pulled another lazy move and face planted the floaty half the time. I thought E was going to be dramatic and squeal and kick and splash and laugh. Yeah, not so much. I made sure my fair skinned little man was covered in fabric from head to toe. I sure don't need to deal with sunburns and possible teething. The pool lasted for about 45 minutes, so I consider that a success. 

My sweet little fishy

I think E is getting closer to crawling. He has started pulling his knees up some. So I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we are chasing our tiny tornado around. E will be six months old next week, half a year!!! Seems like just yesterday we were going to the hospital to have him. Time please slow down.

Facebook étiquette

I believe there should be a handbook on what is and isn't appropriate for Facebook. I love fb. It is my outlet from boredom. Boredom at work, boredom while eating lunch, boredom during a commercial break....I love being able to keep up with friends I don't talk to every day. I love seeing family pictures and hearing about new additions. I love seeing everybody's fun vacation pictures. I love funny status updates. I love reading blogs people post via fb. I love links on fb. I love viral videos on fb.

I don't love this update, "Going to dinner." Or this one "Going shopping." Or this one "Going to the gym." I think it's great people eat dinner, go to the gym, and shop. I really do, but I don't think every time you do it warrants a fb status update or a check in. Another favorite of mine, when a picture is posted to fb and other people are tagged in it (obviously all these people are together) and then within five minutes of being posted all these same people in the picture are commenting on it. You're obviously in the same place, why don't y'all just discuss it in person. Why must fb be littered with it? All I can picture in my head is a table full of people and everybody having their phones out communicating via fb. Fun times, right? So many things are misinterpreted on fb. How a post reads is dependent upon the reader. In the last week I have seen so many heated debates on one single comment or post. So who does the misinterpretation fall on the reader or the writer? Is it the writer's fault for writing it wrong or the reader's fault for reading it wrong? Using too many !!!!!!! is another pet peeve. Why are you yelling on all your posts? 

Going to dinner!!!! Going shopping!!!! Going to the gym!!!

I'm all about the !!!!!!, but use it with purpose. 

So to sum this all up I will be writing a book on fb etiquette, coming to a store near you.

Movie Night

For the first time since E got here, Chris and I treated ourselves to a movie night. Since E has been going to bed anywhere between 7:30-8:00, we have a lot of free time at the end of the night. I decided it would be nice to relax and watch an adult movie, just Chris, me, and the dogs. It was refreshing. I felt like I was revisiting my life pre baby. We watched Lincoln Lawyer and it was SO good. Would highly recommend it. We went through a whole movie with no crying baby, no diaper needing to be changed, no baby needing to be fed, no cleaning up spitting up. Don't get me wrong, I love all those things (maybe not the dirty diaper one quite as much.) But it's nice to have a night where Chris and I get to do things we enjoy. Without having to leave E with a babysitter, or drop him off at our parents. I'm thinking we are going to start making this a once a week ritual.

It certainly didn't hurt the Matthew McConaughey was the main character :)

Growing as a parent

Today I had to take a serious laugh at myself. It's amazing how far I've come as a mother. Never before did I think I could manage a three hour outing with just me, myself, and my baby. I remember I used to freak out about just changing a diaper in public, much less feeding my baby in public. I felt like everybody was staring at me, analyzing my every move. Now it's second nature. I quit worrying about what people think, actually I don't have time to worry about what people think. I'm too busy changing my child's diaper out of the trunk, or giving my hungry baby his bottle, or entertaining a grumpy kid. Accomplishing this by myself makes me feel like SUPER MOM. I've become the master of multitasking. I make a schedule every month on what days mom and Mrs. Carol (Chris mom) have E, based on when Chris and I work. Used to I would have to get Chris to watch E just so I could accomplish this. Now E plays while I make the schedule. I can wash clothes while E plays. I can do dishes while E plays. I can eat while E plays. All things I used to not be able to do unless E was asleep. I think a lot of it has to do with E growing up and becoming more independent, but I also think some of it has to do with me growing as a parent. I honestly feel like a true mommy now. Before I felt like I was playing a role, now I am that role. And it feels great! I remember calling my mom and asking her about everything (bathing, feeding, sleeping, etc.) I was clueless, you hear me CLUELESS. I took all the classes, I watched my sister raise her kids, but when it's your kid your mind goes blank and everything becomes foreign. Every small thing is a huge thing. Right down to trimming their fingernails. Now I just do it, I do what I think is best for my baby. I don't need reassurance from somebody. I feel like I'm becoming an independent parent. I think before I needed my hand held and to be walked through every step of parenting. I've learned parenting is a learn as you go thing. Take it step by step, day by day. And enjoy the ride along the way.

The evolution of E's hands

From day one of being that little tiny fetus, E has LOVED his hands. In all of our ultrasounds they were always by his face. His own little comfort blanket in the womb. When he was a baby (like little bitty baby) I wouldn't swaddle him because he would get so mad and try to fight the swaddle to get his hands by his face.

Look at those long skinny fingers. He had a love-hate relationship with those hands. He loved them dearly by his face, but they constantly woke him up. Contributed to a lot of our sleep issues in the beginning. Boy has our sleep taken a turn for the better!!

As he got bigger, he started putting the whole fist in his mouth. We thought he was teething at two months old because he would constantly be putting those hands in his mouth. Always chewing/slobbering all over them.

 

Next stage of E's hand evolution was the one finger in the mouth phase. This phase cracked me up because he reminded me of that Austin Powers movie with Minnie Me in it. Except, it wasn't Minnie Me's pointer finger, but his pinky. 

The current hand obsession phase E is in now is the scratch everything phase. He loves textures. He scratches EVERYTHING. From the carpet, to the play tiles, to the kitchen table, to my shirt when I rock him to sleep. I just love it. We say E has his daddy's hands. Chris has the notorious "sausage fingers." He has ten sausages as fingers. They are the same size from top to bottom and they're about as wide as an Italian sausage. 

I think the hands are one of the sweetest things on babies. E has finally figured his out. He's on a constant mission to grab something. One day I'll be holding that hand of a five year old, as we walk into E's first day of kindergarten. And I know it will be here sooner than later. Time goes by so fast, especially with your own child. E will be six months old in two weeks. That's insane. Completely insane. Where did my newborn baby go?

My First Mother's Day

We never know the love of the parent

till we become parents ourselves.

When we...bend over the cradle of our

own child, God throws back the temple

door, and reveals to us the sacredness

and mystery of a father's and a mother's love.

Henry Ward Beecher

My Mother's Day in a series of pictures

We had lunch at my house. I made roast beef and swiss cheese croissant rolls. Thank you Pinterest. And an ice cream sandwich cake for dessert. It was wonderful. I enjoy Mother's Day because I feel like for once I get to pamper my mom and let her sit back and relax while I do all the cooking and cleaning. Even though, she helped out putting the croissants together. Then for dinner we went to my mother in laws for pizza and left over ice cream sandwich cake. I am so fortunate to have some of the best in laws a girl could ask for. I consider them like the extra set of parents God blessed me with. I would have to give my first Mother's Day a rating of 100 on and 1-10 scale. It was so much MORE than I expected. I thank God every day for giving me such an amazing little boy. He fills my life with so much love, laughter, and joy.

E helping Nonnie open her presents.

Our first attempt at a FULL family portrait. Dogs going crazy. Kid crawling all over us.

Much better

My two favorite boys

What life is all about

This would be where the hammock broke. I asked Chris before we got on it "Are you sure that thing is sturdy? You go sit on it first." He sits, he doesn't fall through. Okay, my turn. RIP. Butt, meet the ground. 

E

Typical Chris. One guess as to what he did. 

Your son rips on line toot.

Grannie and Paw with E

The picture below explains my uncontrollable laughter

Chris and Dad were taking pictures so Paw was in charge of trying to entertain E for the picture. It was hilarious seeing him shaking this toy.

Poppy and E

What I live for

CeCe, Aunt Jenn, and E

Love them, obviously E was over picture taking by this point

Golden Child

It has been an ongoing joke in my family that my brother, Josh, is the undeniable "golden child." Well, now I have proof, actual proof. Before I give away the proof, let me plead my case.

1. Josh has never been spanked, I have. My parents would disagree with this.

2. I lived at the ballpark, because Josh played baseball. I was THAT kid playing in the dirt pile.

3. It was always my fault. Supposedly because I was the older, more mature one.

4. I was banned from watching wrestling because I clothes lined Josh. Apparently I wasn't the more mature one.

5. (Thankful, extremely thankful for the kindness of my parents, but the cars speak for themselves.) I got an orange Saturn for graduation. Josh got a black, new body style, fine Mustang.

6. I was forced to stay at home my first year of college and go to the community college. (Thankful now because I met my husband.) Josh originally was going to Northwestern (about two hours away), but then he signed a major league baseball contract and left the state completely! My parents weren't letting me out of the city, much less the state. Looking back, it was an extremely wise move because I was a wild child and probably would've failed out and been knocked up. Just saying. I hate that phrase by the way.

7. My parents have an actual shrine of Josh at their house.

8. The ratio of pictures of Josh versus me in my parents house is 20:1.

9. My mother makes a cake just for Josh, nobody else. And it's the most delicious thing ever. We call it the golden cake, it's actually golden.

10. And number ten, my final proof. My mom pulled out my old baby book to see when I did what, i.e. sit up, crawl, teeth. We wanted to compare it to E. Well in my book there was/is a big blank spot where the father was supposed to write a sweet message to his precious, beautiful, sweet baby girl. Well, after this finding we had to pull out the golden child's book and take a looksy. Guess who had a message written in their book. Yep, he did.

I know my parents love me. And I know they love me just as much as Josh. The baby book was just the proof that the golden child really does exist.

1984 called, they want their baby book back :)

Hard core evidence

THE shrine, hung for all to see as soon as you walk in the living room

Mother's Day holds a whole new meaning

As Mother's Day approaches, I have a whole new view of what a mother is and how appreciative I am of my mother.

There was something so magical about being pregnant. Knowing this wonderful human being was growing inside of me. Feeling every flip and flop, every punch and kick. Even with eight weeks of morning (all day) sickness, pregnancy was one of the best times of my life. Life was slow and exciting. My days were consumed with vegging out on the coach, long naps, relaxing baths, sleepless nights, and frequent urination. I absolutely loved it, maybe not the last two as much as the others. Every day my love grew stronger and stronger for this VERY active baby in my belly. Just when I thought my love could be no more, E made his grand appearance and ohhhhh how he proved me wrong. My love was infinite for this little boy. He melted my heart from that very first ultrasound and he continues to every day. Not until this moment of having my own child did I realize how much my mother truly gave up for me.

I can honestly say, my mother is the most wonderful mother in ALL the world. She is my best friend. The one I call ten times a day- at all hours, not exaggerating. She gave up so much (vacations, a social life, a job) to make sure her kids were taken care of. I can't remember one cheer competition, tennis match, track meet, or soccer game that my mom wasn't at. She was my biggest fan. My mother and father took their first kidless vacation two years ago (when all the kids were moved out and gone). The majority of their vacations now are spent following my brother around watching his baseball games. But they would want it no other way. She quit her job so her kids didn't have to go to daycare. Now she's watching my child so he doesn't have to go to daycare. Continuing to give herself to help provide for her children. I say this so often, I can only hope and pray to be half the mother she is. My mother never gave up on me. She made me who I am today, of course with the help of my father. (That will come with my Father's Day post.) As an adult, I hope I am able to show her how much I appreciate and love her. Give her what she gave me. Happy Mother's Day to the most amazing woman I know, my MOM.

Land Mine

Nothing quite like coming home to a living room sprinkled with dog turds. My dog doesn't just poop in a pile, he walks and poops, leaving a trail of turds. My plan was to clean them up once I got E bathed, fed, and down for bed. Even though I counted and made an imaginary map in my head of all five turds, I still managed to step on one. It was like a land mine of Peppi poo. I guess it was inevitable. The crap we take from our furry family members. No pun intended.

Poo and all, how could you not love this sweet face?

On a completely different note,

I'm thinking this is a fire hazard. 

Backwards Day and Carrot Soufflee

While I'm at work I receive two pictures from my mom....

Can you tell what's wrong?

Of course Chris dressed E today. You would think Chris would realize something was wrong when the crotch snaps were by his booty. And it probably choked E out when he buttoned the neck snaps. Hence why they are undone. I'm always griping about him always putting E in onesies, because E has a closet full of precious, never worn clothes. But he loves the convenience of the onesie. Three snaps away from changing that dirty diaper! Wardrobe malfunction aside, Chris is seriously the most amazing daddy ever.

Speaking of dirty diaper, this leads me to my next story of the day. And if you can't tell from my other blog posts, many of my stories revolve around my kid's bowel habits. Gross, I know, but that's how we roll. E's got the digestive system of an 88 year old woman on Miralax. We stayed at Nonnie and Poppy's kind of late tonight and E was getting fussy because he was tired. So we hurry home and in my head I think okay, bath ten minutes, lotion up five minutes, feed 15 minutes, bed ASAP. Because once E passes over that threshold of uncontrollable angry goat, it's no fun for anybody involved. He will fight his bottle and make feeding miserable, at least a thirty minute process. And then he's so rowled up, going to sleep is a nightmare. Well my plan met a kink. The bath process went by fine, no problemos. The lotion part took about three times longer. As I'm coating E's butt in diaper cream, he decides to unload a carrot soufflé concoction. Wonderful. Nice timing E. Luckily this time I was quick on my feet and grabbed a diaper. So I didn't have to lysol the whole changing table and rebathe E. I had to patiently wait ten minutes for E to finish his duty. I must say, he was quite happy after that. So feeding time and bed time went like a dream. 

Selflessness

Lately I have been on this kick about being a selfless parent. When I was growing up I can not remember of one time my parent's went on a vacation by themselves. Everything in their world was centered around the kids. Vacations were spent at cheer camp and the ball park. The end result was three very successful kids. It's so funny how I viewed parenting before E came along. I thought we could still have the same life style and just pick up where we left off. Not so. It's almost like I'm living someone else's life. A completely different life. A life for the better. I feel like I have true purpose now. My purpose is to raise a child who loves the Lord, a child who respects others, an educated child, a successful child, a happy child. So many parents today don't give their all when raising a kid. There are going to be days when it's tiring and hard, but just like anything else you pick up, pray a lot, move along, and hope for a better tomorrow. On December 1 at 12:12 our whole life changed in the matter of a minute. Our little E stepped foot into our world and completely rocked it. From that point on, we became selfless parents.

Selflessness is waking up every two hours to feed a hungry newborn.
Selflessness is waking up three hours before you normally do, got to love those 6:00 feedings.
Selflessness is stopping everything at the sound of a cry, including shaving your legs.
Selflessness is spending nothing on yourself. I can squeeze into those pre prego clothes. So what if I have a muffin top.
Selflessness is catching up on house chores (instead of napping) while baby sleeps.
Selflessness is a shirt stained in spit up, spit up that smells like a pet store. Thank you Nutramigen.
Selflessness is staying up too late to do a "dream feed."
Selflessness is a living room FULL of toys. Stubbing a toe while running across a living room floor to rescue a crying baby.
Selflessness is being home by 8:00 so little one can be put down on time.
Selflessness is the loss of that yearly Mexcio vacation, there's always the Red River. It's called Red River for a reason. It's dirty.
Selflessness is saying bye bye to pre baby figure and hello to stretch mark city.
Selflessness is having your bath interrupted. I can go all European with some body odor.
Selflessness is trading in that sporty Lexus for a mommy mobile.
Selflessness is holding a baby while using the potty, such a bonding experience.
Selflessness is spending $35 on 19 ounces of formula. I got in the wrong profession. Milk maker is where it's at!

Every day 100% of me is dedicated to E. Meals are interrupted. Laundry is halted. And sleep is lost. But what is more important than all that is I want E to know I love him more than anything in this world.

Somebody met a major milestone this week! E started putting himself to sleep. Mommy and Daddy are doing the celebration dance.