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Returning compliments?

Published on July 3, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

I’ve always been the type to ogle at babies. In the store, at a restaurant, at the park…it’s built into my DNA to coo and awe at them. But besides giving a smile and a little wave to the little cutie, I’ve never been the type to make a compliment directly to the parents. I don’t know if maybe I feel like I’m imposing by saying something, even though it’s a compliment, or if I’m just not the type to say something to someone I don’t know. Actually, I’m the second.

Now that I’m a parent with a cutie-patootie of my own I’ve been almost bombarded with compliments on a daily basis about how cute he is. Now, I’m certainly not going to argue…because he is friggen adorable and he just loves the attention so he plays off of it like a pro. But even parents with little babies of their own are complimenting little J. Something about that just seems….odd (?) to me. I love that everyone thinks he’s so adorable, and we never get tired of hearing it. But is it weird that so many compliments come from parents of other similarly aged babies?!

Maybe I’m just being silly…

The other part of it is that since I am so terrible at complimenting total strangers (or their little ones), I am also awful at returning the compliments from said parents. If a parent with a little one compliments J, should I return the compliment as well? I always seem to miss the obvious opening to do so, and then it’s too late to say something without it sounding forced or fake.

Not that I don’t acknowledge the other child or whomever is giving the compliment. In most cases I’m talking between J and the child – kind of like narrating what he’s seeing…”ooo you see that pretty girl over there? are you flirting silly boy?” In the meantime we are both waving and smiling at the other baby too…so it’s not like I’m ignoring them. But I feel weird just saying “thanks! Yours is a cutie too!” Probably because I’m a little partial now to J and I don’t notice the cuteness of other little ones as much as before.

Is it just me feeling this parental oddness?! It’s happening enough that I’m starting to really wonder…

A parent’s perspective – baby comes first

Published on June 26, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

Ever since we’ve become parents, the Hubs and I have spent less time away from home, less time away from each other, and as little time as possible away from J. As soon as that little one enters your world, they become your #1 priority. Besides that, you WANT them to be your #1 priority. You will find yourself choosing spending time at home with you little one and you family over spending time away. The things that you enjoy doing and find yourself missing doing, you will find yourself choosing your little one over those things. It’s a choice that you start to make automatically. It’s barely registers as a “decision” actually. It became so automatic to us that we don’t even question it anymore.

A close friend asked the Hubs to go on a long weekend camping trip the other day. In the pre-baby days, the Hubs would have jumped at the opportunity – backpacking and camping with the guys for a few nights in a row would have been close to heaven for him. Fast-forward to post-baby days…total change of mind. The Hubs didn’t even ask me if it would be OK for him to go away for a few nights. Instead he already knows and already has decided that he doesn’t like to be away from J (and maybe me too) for more than a night. A baby changes everything.

What was particularly interesting about this specific situation was that this friend got pretty upset about the Hubs not wanting to spend more than one night away. It wasn’t that Hubs couldn’t spend more than one night…although it wouldn’t make me very happy…but that he did not want to. Funny how it changes, huh? It has very little to do with the Hubs not wanting to spend time with his friends doing something he enjoys, and has everything to do with spending as much time with your little one as you possibly can.

I remember how the Hubs and I used to be in the pre-baby days. Knowing us we probably would have been a little annoyed at a friend who would turn down what seemed like an awesome opportunity to get away for the sake of having a family or something similar. I get it, I’ve been there. But now it’s almost comical when someone uses your choice to stay home with the kiddo as a means to be upset over your decision. Your whole perspective changes the minute that little one comes into the world.

Pregnancy the second time around

Published on June 20, 2014 by a.simple.mama4 Comments

To preface this post, I love being pregnant. There’s something so magical about the whole process. I missed being pregnant. Which is probably why we didn’t wait very long before we decided to try for baby #2… There are many many positive experiences that pregnancy brings. It is a feeling that many many women long for and only some are lucky enough to experience.

Now that I’ve cleared that up…

Some days, especially these days during the middle part of the first trimester, I wonder why I would want to do this to myself all over again. MORNING SICKNESS = the shittiest way to start off such an otherwise wonderful experience. How your body is supposed to think it’s a good thing that you feel like total crap is a mystery to me.

“You have that pregnant lady glow”

“You try throwing up all morning, you’d have that glow too”

– Friends

If you’ve had to experience morning sickness, you will wish that the first trimester moves at the speed of light…There’s nothing fun about the first trimester outside of learning you are pregnant and hearing the heartbeat for the very first time somewhere between 8 and 12 weeks…

With J I don’t remember my MS being quite this bad…but then again I was getting a full night sleep, and had a few extra pounds on me too. These days I’m being sucked dry by a voracious 1-year-old and still being waked 1-2 times a night by said little monster. I guess that’s part of why people said I was crazy for wanting another baby when the first doesn’t sleep through the night yet…

With J I did have crazy awful heartburn…bad enough I had to be on Zantac for 75% of my pregnancy. And I remember having some nausea with J until my 14th week or so, but it was never bad enough to keep me from functioning. This time around I’ve had a few days where I’ve struggled to get out of bed. On a really bad day I’m lucky to be functional before 10am. And on those days I fight strong nausea all day long. Eating helps (assuming I have enough energy to get food down) and water helps too. I make sure to keep lots of snacks at the office so that I don’t get too hungry, and I suck on Jolly Ranchers like they are going out of style. I’m just at 9 weeks now, so I’m readying myself for another 4-6 weeks of MS hell…hoping that this is the trade-off for not having heartburn this time around. I think that’s a fair trade!

I am also going to continue to breastfeed J through this pregnancy. If he self-weans in the meantime then so be it, but otherwise I don’t have any real ready to wean him otherwise. My midwife is supportive of this, which is awesome, but she did warn me that I need to really watch my nutrition (since I should basically be eating healthy for 3) and that I will be extra tired. Oy, well nothing like preparing myself for 2 babies right from the beginning huh?!

We’ll go in at 12 weeks for our first ultrasound and will get to hear the heartbeat then too. Most docs will do an ultrasound at 8 weeks, but mine waits until 12 for the first one. And sometimes you are lucky enough to hear a heartbeat at 8 weeks, but my uterus tilts back towards my spine and would make it impossible to hear a heartbeat that early on. So 3 more weeks till we get to see/hear all that fun stuff.

Sticky Fingers

Published on June 20, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

We have officially entered the age of the Sticky Finger Baby. Nothing is off limits, at least in his eyes, and everything is within reach…tabletops are no longer safe! Anything below counter height is fair game. J’s even learned how to climb or step onto other things in order to get those few extra inches he needs to reach whatever-it-may-be that is surely taunting him just out of reach.

He also loves paper. Like has a weird addiction to it…I may have to stage an intervention…Every time I turn around he’s found some kind of paper to chew on. Little stinker! Do babies have Pika? I’m not kidding you, he’ll rip off the corner of a cardboard box, tear through envelopes like they’re nothing, and bite off an entire corner of a 3 ring binder before you even know he has access to any of those things!

That begin said, an office is like a haven for this little paper eating monster…envelopes, paper, tissues, sticky notes galore. I do my best to keep them out of his reach, but you try and keep tabs on every piece of paper in an office space…uh huh.

My desk is rather large, but the usable space is now limited to only the area 6 inches from each edge…otherwise it’s fair game for Mr. Sticky Fingers!

And you can’t possibly be mad at that little face!

I finally had to yell at him the other day after he’d not only pulled every file off my desk, but also pulled out all the files’ contents and spread them all over my office in the course of about 30 seconds. He just turned around and looked at me with a scrunchy nose.

I imagine he was thinking “what do you mean “NO”? These delicious paper items are for me, aren’t they?!”

This Little Monster Turned 1

Published on June 14, 2014February 6, 2020 by a.simple.mama1 Comment

A year already! Man how time flies…seriously, it’ll hit you pretty hard cuz you won’t barely see it coming. Before you know it your little baby turns into a little boy.

For J’s birthday I chose a Monster Theme. Seemed appropriate for a little one who is constantly tearing into everything and going-going all the time!

I found the invitations on Etsy for only $8! Awesome price for a super cute custom invite, then just print it yourself 🙂

Then I used inspiration from Pinterest for the cupcakes and smash cake

I found candy googly-eyes in the cake stuff isle at the grocery store – perfect addition to a simple cupcake and some butter cream frosting. For the cake and cupcakes I used box cake but made a few substitutions to make it a little less box-cake-y. Use milk instead of water, add an extra egg, add a 1tsp of vanilla, and use butter in place of the oil. Super easy substitution and I thought it make the cake a little lighter and tastier than usual too. For the cake I baked 2 – 9″ rounds then stacked them and cut it into a googly shape. Then I used a piping bag and a grass/hair tip to get the stringy texture for the frosting. It wasn’t the quickest process, but looked pretty good for being a novice cake decorator. I used doughnut holes for the eyes, and found a cute #1 candle to add.

The cake smash didn’t go quite like it’s “supposed” to though. J wasn’t very interested in eating the frosting or the cake…