A day to myself!

And I'm bored out of my mind! Hubby told me when he took Aiden for the day that I needed to "relax" because I have been stressed out lately. I feel like there is always something to do, laundry, picking up the coffee table yet again, going through bills, feeding the baby, dishes etc. The baby chores don't bother me, but when he naps I feel overwhelmed with a rush to get things done. I'm tired! So Kris took Aiden to give me some me time to sit and update my blog, watch a movie, take a bath, read a book, whatever it is I wanted to do, but NOT do chores.

Here I sit, updated blog, new blog header, 2nd cup of coffee and halfway through a movie. I'm bored. I keep thinking about doing laundry, needing to clean out the cat's water dish because it was nasty last time I looked at it. *Sigh* Why can't I just relax? I think I'll go take a hot shower, but then when I get out and put clothes on it's just going to remind me about the laundry waiting to get done.

My hubby sure was sweet to give me a day alone though. I miss him and Aiden though, I keep thinking Aiden is just napping in the other room and i'm waiting for him to wake up. Guess some things never change.

Black Friday! - False Preggo & Jingle Thongs?

Oh boy, the fun we have. We have always enjoyed (by enjoyed I mean grumbled at 3am "why do we do this every year?") getting up at the butt crack of dawn and going shopping with the hoards of other idiots. This year was going to be no different, even with an infant. Aiden actually helped this year, he woke up at almost 330 for his next feeding. So Kris and I were up, fed Aiden and had him back to sleep by the time we left the house at 430am. He slept in his carseat the whole time we shopped, perfect little man!

We went to Target to get a few things, Walmart for a few things and of course, Fred Meyers! We have to get our 50% off socks - best deal of the year! I was disappointed though that there had like umm, NO infant socks! I was thrilled however, to find that all infant clothes were 60% off - I of course picked up a few outfits for little man.

I also was the smart one who knew that the Customer Service lines would be slim to none - so I exchanged a box of diapers for a bigger size while we were at Walmart.

Now, what would be a black friday without the crazy people stories? Here are my 2 gems of the year....

First one happened at Walmart - now I shop there and enjoy the prices, but we all know the caliber of people who frequent the store. No offense. So I am at the customer service counter, waiting behind the 1 person in line, to exchange my box of diapers. Up runs a heavy set, smelly looking, frumpy women with not 1, but 2, full carts! A manager is with her and starts yelling "let's get this family out of here". I was a bit annoyed no one bothered to say "excuse me, we need to help these people next", but it was the holiday, so I let it go. As I listen in to their conversations over the manages radio and with the lady with the carts, I learn that her daughter is in labor at the front of the store. After I get helped I decided to walk by position 1 to see where this lady in labor awaits her 2 carts of goodies. She is in one of those mobile carts laughing and talking to someone sitting next to her. She looked, oh perhaps, 6 months pregnant? I just laughed thinking to myself "yeah hunny, you've got a while, you could have waited in line!". Another lady behind me was talking to her friend loud enough for all to hear "it's braxton hicks lady". I'm sure she was just trying to scam her way into not waiting in line. Let's be honest, if I were really in labor I would have had paramedics show up, not just hang out waiting! Lame what people will do.

My next story is a fun one. I was browsing through the 60% off baby clothes at Freddy's when another couple come into the area. She has her baby on her in a Moby, kids probably 8 months old? Cute little girl. My husband walks over holding up a pair of fuzzy santa boxers and said "hey hunny, maybe I should get these!" and walked away laughing. The couple behind me smirked. Fast forward a few minutes later and Kris returned with red and green thong with jingle bells around the waist. I started cracking up and Kris said "no, this is what I should get!" The man behind me goes "oh, I have that! I have an elf hat I wear with it!". Now, I laughed harder thinking he is joking. Then his wife said "He figured if I can wear thongs so can he". I said "are you serious?" to which he replied that yes, in fact he had that thong and he really did wear it. I was silenced. I didn't know how to respond, but by the look of them I could tell they were telling the truth. I was shocked. His wife said "we should tone it down, we are shopping" and he said "we all know how we got in the infant section, and babies can't understand us". I couldn't believe it. What holiday conversation with strangers!

7 weeks!

Sleeping is going much better this week. He is sleeping about 5-6hrs at a time in his own bed right next to mine. We are only getting up only once at anywhere between 2-4am then going back to bed. I'll take it! We are finishing up the size 1 diapers we have then it's time for size 2's. He is already wearing 2's at bedtime after he wet the bed 2 times in one night from leaking through diapers. Crazy! We are also almost all in size 3 month clothes, very few 0-3 are still long enough. He is playing with at looking at rattles more now. He tries to bat at his hanging bear on his swing too.

We took him to see Santa at the mall this week. He was awake, and happy. He wouldn't look right at the camera, but I don't think his first "santa" pic turned out too bad at all! Makes me smile. I can't wait to see year after year of these lined up on my fireplace mantel!

Now, I know you all will think we are bat shit crazy, BUT... we swear he said "daddy". NO JOKE! Today he had been having alone time in his swing for about an hour. Kris and I were decorating the patio and cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry etc.... All of a sudden we hear what sounds enough like "daddy" to stop both of us dead in our tracks! We looked at each other with our mouths dropped, in shock. I know, I know, he's just making sounds... but you people didn't hear it! Then he started to fuss, I told Kris he wants him and sure enough he stopped once in Kris' arms. Too funny. That has been our life this week. We are enjoying our fun moments and sleep. Plus with his great sleep Kris and I have had some time to be together, alone, uninterrupted... wonderful!

My Papa came over this week and spent a bit of time holding Aiden. When he got here Aiden was in a dead sleep, about an hour into his nap, and I made the decision to pick him up and hand him to my papa. I fully expected this to lead to cranky baby, but boy was I wrong! Aiden was wide awake and started smiling and playing with my Papa. It was soo wonderful to see and my Papa just loved Aiden smiling for him and asked me to take pictures of it to print for him, which I did. Once Papa left Aiden fell back asleep instantly, I was amazed!

OH and we measured Aiden, or tried to best we could while he was asleep, and he is about 22inches long now. I also weighed him on Wii just a couple days ago and he was 11.2lbs. Love my pudgy boy!

Thanksgiving!

Aiden's Thanksgiving was wonderful and very eventful! The day started off by Aiden having another good night of sleep - 6hrs then bottle, then 3 more hours of sleep. My family has a tradition of going to see a holiday movie on Thanksgiving. This year we picked Jim Carrey's A Christmas Carol. It was in 3D and was a lot of fun. We all laughed as Kris tried to catch the snow. It was not exactly a kid movie, the ghosts were freaky/scary! Aiden slept really well through the entire movie! He just stayed in his carseat like a happy baby!

Next up was dinner with Kris' family. Lots of good food, it was a potluck and was a mix of traditional food and all my favorite Filipino foods. We forgot our camera though, so I only have a few pics from Kris' phone and am waiting for Kris' cousin to post some online. Here are a few pics of the babies.

Kris & Aiden (7wks) Leo & Kingston (4months) Romel & Marcus (7months)
Aiden telling me to pay attention. Kelly & Kingston, Tammy & Marcus

My mom and brother joined us too and we had a lot of fun socializing and teasing each other. I am soo blessed to have a great family.

Six on Saturday!

So I'm a bit slow, we were busy today, but it's still Saturday, oddly enough it's 6pm on Saturday... Here is my list... (SMALL TALK SIX LINK ON THE RIGHT - I'M LAZY SORRY)

“6 things you are most thankful for this year.”

1. I am thankful for my son first and foremost. He is the biggest, and cutest, blessing in my life. I always said I wanted to be a mommy, and I knew in my heart that was God's plan for me, to be a mother, and now that I am one I have never been happier. I thank God daily for giving me such a wonderful little boy to love and take care of.

2. My husband. He is my everything, without him I would not be complete. I thank God daily for making him for me. If not for my husband I would not be a mother. My husband is also a wonderful father and I know exactly why we were put on this earth and brought together.

3. I am thankful for coffee. Yep, coffee. Without it I would have been a walking zombie this last 6 weeks. Plus I've always loved it, but now it serves more of a purpose than a treat.

4. I am thankful for family. With both my hubs and I out of work we have been blessed by our families. We are lucky that both sets of parents have been able to help provide for us in different ways. We would be much worse off without their love and support.

5. I am thankful for dr. (Rebecca Kyle) She has been wonderful this last year. It's weird to say, but I am soo grateful to her. Last September I told her our plans to stop birth control the next month once we were married and she said "I give it 3 months before you are pregnant" and sure enough I was in her office with a positive test 3 months later! I got soo used to seeing her all the time this last year and I will miss it actually. Her and the nurse, Katie, have been wonderful and kept me feeling great during my pregnancy. During the emergency c-section she really kept me calm and brought me a wonderful son, I am grateful for her kind heart and amazing knowledge and way with patients.

6. I am thankful for my blog and bloggers. I had some bad comments when this first started, but have since had this turn into a wonderful place for me to be. You ladies are wonderful and I enjoy being able to be 100% myself and ramble all I want to about anything I want to. It's been helpful for me and I enjoy being a part of other's lives as well.

6 Weeks!

Wow, I can't believe we are at 6 weeks already. This kid is just growing soo quickly! He is getting chunky, it's cute so see little chubby cheeks. He is full on smiling now and we are working on that sleeping in his own bed thing. Still rough, but some nights it works, others we are up all night.

(This is him "sleeping" on his own - he kept looking at me confused. Normally the pillow isn't there of course for his safety, but he was obviously not sleeping and we were obviously sitting in the dark watching him. Note his side position...his doing, not mine! )

No new updates on little man, I should weight him on wii again and dig out the tape measure and see how long he is. Perhaps I'll do that in the next day or two and update for you all, and for my own knowledge of course. I can tell you that he is starting to find his hands more, chews on them when he isn't hungry for example and he is also leaving them "open" instead of all balled into a fist more. I got him to hold a toy today and he seemed to enjoy that for the 2 seconds it lasted. We also have been doing story time in the rocking chair and he likes to look at the pics and "talk" back while I read to him. Super cute, but only lasts for a short book for now or halfway through a Dr. Seuss. He can roll halfway over, from his back to his side, so I find keeping him on his back while he sleeps is getting harder every day. He also played in his bouncer by himself and talked and hit the toys this week! It's soo amazing to see him discovering new things.

I went to my 6 week appointment yesterday though and have updates in that department. I was cleared for all activity (you know, the good stuff and bubble baths too!) and cleared to go back to "work". This means I can start collecting my unemployment again which will be really helpful to us financially. Also I am down 15-20lbs depending on which scale we go by. I got my annual out of the way (it was supposed to be in Sept while I was still pregnant but Dr said let's wait) and I got my IUD placed. I'm giving Mirena a try. It didn't hurt one bit, not to get too graphic on you ladies, but I didn't even know when she was done with the pap and did the IUD - it was that painless and quick. Love it. Now, umm, the threads are a different story. They shouldn't call them "threads" more like "thin wires", they aren't exactly soft thread material for those who are wondering. may need to go get those trimmed shorter - we will give that another go and see about that later. I'll just leave it at that, but OUCH for the hubs! Anyway, I hope we are happy with this option once we get used to it.

Thanks to fellow blogger Alicia, I can now update my twitter via texts which I didn't realize I could do. So for those of you who follow, you just may get more updates now! Yay! Okay, that's it's for the 6 weeks update...

Mama Kat's Writing Assignment...

I picked prompt #3 this week and boy was it easy....

3.) Describe in 1000 words or less a time when something happened and you knew that life would never be the same.

Wow - seriously? You would give me 1000 words to do this? I need only 9 words to tell you two times in my life I knew would change me forever.....

Will you be my wife? AND Two pink lines.

That's all, I'm done. :) I don't have time to elaborate on either, but I don't think it's needed!

Join in at Mama Kat's for this weeks prompts!

Finally - a smile on camera!

We have been trying for days to catch a smile on camera and had no luck. Today we caught some full mouth smiles. He is soo cute playing with his daddy, he giggles a little and smiles. They are the full on grin, but you can see he is a happy playful little boy! I just had to share.

He Slept Alone... *tear*

Okay so I never wanted to be a co-sleeper, it just happened that way once we got home. So 2 nights ago Kris took the first shift of the night, he was awake after his 1130pm feeding. Well I fell asleep and next thing I know Kris comes to bed and tell me he is asleep in his crib! He slept for 4hrs once Kris got him to sleep all by himself in his crib. Then when he came to our bed he didn't want me to hold him, I laid him on his back next to me and he stopped fussing and fell back asleep.

Last night Kris and I decided to try him by himself in his bassinet which is on my side of the bed. We figured maybe he would sleep longer in it than when we first brought him home and he would wake up every 20 minutes. Well, we were right. Kris bundled the boy all up and we put him in his sleeper at 915pm. He slept until 145am! This was his 5hr mark for food, so we fed him a bottle and he went back in his bassinet at 215am drowsy. I had to pop the binky back in 2 times, but then he passed out on his own. I woke up at 545am with his being a bit fussy. He was hot. So he pretty much slept all night on his own his there.

When he fell asleep at 8ish we put him back in there and we all slept again until 1130. I can't believe it. Makes me soo happy, but yet soo sad that he is ready to sleep without his mommy. I'm gonna make cookies to cheer myself up!

Yay Pacquiao!!

The long awaited Pacquiao fight was tonight. The last one was over soo quickly we didn't even get to enjoy it! So tonight we wanted a good show. And it was... Of course Kris' entire family was at his Lola's house and food was there too. lol The fight was a good one too! Manny kept it going until round 12 when it was finally ended with :55 seconds left with a TKO. Pacquiao could have won much sooner but you could tell he was just dragging the fight out. Poor Cotto. Manny said afterward that he was keeping the fight going to test his own strength. So we had a good time.

(Aiden and JJ's feet)

Aiden enjoyed his time with the family as well. His cousin's (at least a couple of them) were there and his cousin JJ wanted to hold him. She has 2 younger brothers so I trusted that she would be okay. It was really sweet to see, we took some pictures. Next time for all the cousin's to be together will be on Thanksgiving, which I can't wait for!

Can't wait for the next Pacquiao fight, hopefully it will be Mayweather and he will kick his ass too!
Oh, and while I am here updating I don't want to forget to mention that Sierra (my brother friend who I adore) came to visit Aiden today! She even fed him while Kris and I got a few household chores done. Such a sweet girl, she is like family!

Six on Saturday!

6 stores at which you wish you could register for Christmas presents for yourself....

This is easy for me...

Target
Kay Jeweler's
Coach
Kohl's
Carter's (for the boy)
Macy's

Join in HERE at Mom.dot for small talk six! Button on my sidebar!

5 weeks!

As of yesterday my big boy was 10lbs 6oz according to Wii Fit. Crazy! No wonder he has outgrown his nb diapers and clothes! We had to go out and get him 0-3 month clothes. His 3 months clothes are still a bit on the big side so now he has some in between clothes. He's such a spoiled little boy! He is becoming much more alert, he has started enjoying being in his swing while he is awake and looking at the little bear that floats above his head. Yesterday we also put the mirror bar on it and he enjoyed looking at that too. He was being fussy and we couldn't figure out what was the problem, we put him in his swing and he was fine. He didn't want us to hold him, THAT was the problem! Sad! Last night at bedtime he wanted to just lay next to me not have me hold him. That made me sad too, but then an hour later he woke a bit and gave me the "hold me" look and I wrapped my arm around him and he slept another 3 hours. *sigh* Still my little boy!

Today he has been awake all morning. He was such a happy baby! Daddy and him were playing games with their feet and cheeks and nose and Aiden smiled a ton in response to playing AND we got our first giggle out of him! Oh it just made my day! I can't wait to hear it again. He has smiled before today but not this much, it was always a "was that a smile?" while changing him or something like that. Today was smile after smile while playing. I can't wait to actually catch it on camera. Wednesday we went to Olive Garden to celebrate Veteran's Day with my dad and he was a good boy out in public too. Didn't even fuss when he was awake. We also went shopping, big trips that is - as in a couple hours at Target and Walmart, and he was such a good boy. I feel soo blessed to have an easy going baby.

That's about it for his update. I don't have any new stats just the fun day to day stuff. Enjoy some pics of course!

4 Weeks!

I can't believe I have been a mommy for a month now! Aiden has been such a blessing. He really is such a wonderful baby! He sleeps 5 hours at a time (3-4 on a bad day and 6 on a great day) and eats 6oz when he wakes up. None of this newborn sleeping 3 hours and eating 3oz business. We like his schedule much better, we feel lucky! He isn't a crier at all either. He will fuss a little, and he will scream when he doesn't want to have his clothes taken off, but he is not the type to just cry for no reason. It's soo nice.

Switching to formula has been such a blessing for us. I feel like a different person. I enjoy sitting down and feeding him a bottle, I am no longer dreading his feedings. Also we are all getting more rest because Kris and I can share the duties and relax more. I'm so glad I finally made the choice, even Aiden seems to enjoy his bottles. He cries "hungy" (no r) when he is hungry. Kris and I swear he does. No one else hears it or believes us yet, but we swear EVERY TIME he is hungry he cries the word HUNGY at least once. Too cute.

4 weeks also brings his first outing without mommy and daddy. I had a wedding to be in this last weekend, which will be another post all together, and he got to spend time with his grandparents. My mom watched him on Friday, and Kris' parents watched him for 6hrs on Saturday! 6 hours! I did really well being away from him that long, I missed him of course, but he was fine and I knew that. He is such an easy going baby that all his grandparents said it was the easiest job to do. He didn't even poop for Lolo & Lola on Saturday, he saved it up until we were home.

According to my Wii Fit Aiden is probably about 8.5lbs as of Thursday I think it was? I'll weigh him again tomorrow. Anyway we had to go up to size 1 diapers today. All weekend he had poop and pee explosions and blowouts in his newborn diapers, so up a size we went. Now he has a bit of saggy crotch going on, but the extra room means no more poop everywhere!

That is about all for his updates. He loves his bath time more these days, I think it may become a nightly routine in the future. Hope you enjoyed the pics!

The Object of My Affection....

Write a love letter to the object of your affection......

Dear Black Leather Reclining Rocking Chair,
I loved you when I first saw you and brought you home in February. However, I didn't realize how much I loved you until this week. We own a glider, but he can't replace you. He does a nice job when things are calm and we are just rocking to spend time together, but he can't handle stress the way you do. You can take the almost violent rocking and your overstuffed body provides more cushion for my achy back. You my dear rocking chair are my favorite. Not only can you help me rock and rock and rock all night long, but you then RECLINE. Yes, that's right, you allow me to lay back and kick my feet up. You are wide enough that I can pull one leg up and tuck it under me and get comfy enough to doze off in. I have found you are a decent alternative to my cozy bed which I haven't seen in nights (except for those hours when Kris is enjoying your comforts). Oh chair you are my new love, thank you.

Dear coffee maker,
You have always been something I admire and love. Lately though you have helped me more than ever. I always needed you for a little pick me up during the day, but you really are saving my life and keeping me awake! Thank you for providing me my sanity!

Dear Christmas Tree,
You are my true new object of affection. I know you can't really show love back, but well, just looking at you all tall and perfect makes me feel a bit happier inside. You make me smile. You brighten up my days and nights, literally that is, with your lights twinkling so bright. You are the most perfect tree we have ever seen, you look like you belong on a Macy's show floor. I know we put you up super early this year, but we really needed a pick me up to our spirits. We were down and out and having you around has made our home peaceful. You didn't let us down. You were the best clearance buy ever last year, we are soo proud to keep you forever. It's reminded us that things are okay and will improve. We have things to look forward to and you are a reminder than seasons come so quickly and time moves on. Thank you for being soo beautiful, for providing us with the most perfect tree for our son's first Christmas, and for giving us our spirit back.

Join in at Mama Kat's for your weekly assignment. Oh and for those of you who are now oh so curious... I will be posting pics eventually of our Tree, which is up already and really is the most perfect tree ever.

Changes On The Horizon.....

So here we go, life is going to change a lot. My last post, just 2 days ago, asked for prayers for my husbands job. Well, the next day, yesterday, it was announced that his ENTIRE company is being eliminated. At least the local office. He was a Comcast contractor as I mentioned before and there has been NO JOBS for his company. So Comcast cancelled their contract with 2 companies, my husbands because it was a small group, and another contractor in the local area. So this sucks. He has been laid off. He is turning in his truck today. He is very sad about this because he really loved his job and did very well at it. Plus, when there were actually jobs to be done he made a lot of money! We are sad. However we are trying to stay positive. He will now get unemployment, which he wasn't able to collect any $ even when working less than 40hrs before... Also I am going to apply for WIC and Food Stamps this week. Now that we are a 2 unemployment income family I think it's a smart choice to help out temporarily. We are also very lucky that both our families are able to help us out when needed for a bit. *sigh* I just feel bad because Kris loved his job and I pray that God is opening a door to a new job he will love even more! Also we are looking at this as time for him to spend with Aiden when he is still little because time will fly by and this is the only time he will be so little.

Next huge change... Breastfeeding no more. Yep, I have complained on here already, but things are getting worse. As of yesterday I woke up with huge pain in my right breast, it's most likely just a clogged duct AGAIN, but it also looks like a small milk blister is forming again. This is awful, I'm in pain 24/7 and it's making breastfeeding soo daunting. It's not fair to Aiden at all that his mommy dreads feeding him and cries half the time that she does! After all my troubles, and my huge guilt for not enjoying it I made the decision this week to stop. I started introducing formula as a nighttime bottle and he is taking well to it. He was already great at bottle feeding so I wasn't worried about that. He has been sleeping better at night the last 2 nights. Not that his sleep has anything to do with my choice. I realized that I was forcing myself to try and continue with breastfeeding because everyone said "it gets easier, stick with it" and "breast is best" and that feeling guilty about giving formula over breast milk is NOT a good reason to keep doing it. I need to do what will make me happy, because Aiden is starting to get fussy with me at our night feedings - he knows his mommy is stressed and NOT enjoying that experience. My stress with breastfeeding is making life in our house hard, I need to do what is best for us, not follow others advice.

So there you have it. Now i just hope I can make it through weaning alive. Aiden will be fine, but I know this means more breast pain and issues. *sigh* I just want it to be over so I can enjoy my day more.

3 weeks!

Whoops, I'm behind! Not a surprise really. 3 weeks has brought us a growth spurt full of nonstop eating and no sleep! Boy it's fun! Little man is growing well though, and I'm learning to sleep sitting up in the rocking chair. No real update though. He outgrew one newborn outfit, it's a romper that is too tight in the crotch. All the other newborn clothes fit fine or are even big still, like the pjs he is wearing now. He has more personality these days. He only wants to be held facing out, he is looking at the monitor while sitting on my left leg now (i'm right handed), and grumbles when you hold him any other way. He really does grumble, it's too funny to listen to him.

Breastfeeding has brought me to tears all week. I want soo badly to enjoy it and do it exclusively, but well, it's draining me and the night feedings are awful. He eats well all day and then from 10pm-3am he wants to eat for an hour (30 mins each boob) and then an hour later he wants to eat again. I'm really exhausted by 1am and do not enjoy the nighttime bonding like I should. Instead i'm clock watching waiting for it to be over and resenting Kris because he gets to sleep the entire hour I'm feeding Aiden. That's not fair to my husband or Aiden. I decided after tons of tears and feelings of guilt and failure, that tonight I will give him a warm bottle of formula at bedtime. Even if he is up all night I will get more sleep feeding him a bottle than boobs. I know I can start pumping more (I only do it now when my boobs ache) and do BM bottles at night, but right now, this week, I need a boob break! I don't know if things will change later, like if i pump more and stop formula, or if we keep doing boobs during the day and formula at night. Only time will tell. I just have come to the conclusion that if I'm exhausted and stressed and dreading feedings at night I'm no good for Aiden. They say that a happy mommy makes for a happy baby!

In other news, I'd like to ask for prayers. Kris' job has really slowed down and we are stressing about money. We are luck, both our families are willing and able to help out, but prayers would be nice! Thank you! I will now leave you with a weekly pic update!