make new friends

i am still on such a super high from making 2 online friends my irl friends!!  after weeks of planning, a playdate was finally in the works with julie & brayden AND maegan & chester!  julie already lives in illinois, but she's about 100 miles south of us, and maegan lives in los angeles, but her hubby was going to be in chicago on business!  we decided that we'd all meet up @ the dupage children's museum.  it was a little crazy & overwhelming there with all the big kids running around, but the boys (and moms) all had a great time!

the next night maegan & i were able to get together for a mno!  we had such a blast!  please move here!!

a ONEderful chance to give

i wanted to share something with everyone and invite you to be a part of something really special.  one of my favorite blogs belongs to kelle hampton... enjoying the small things is a blog that kelle started a few years ago to write about her oldest daughter lainey and her photography- it turned into something phenomenal (nearly 10,000 followers!) with the birth of her daughter nella last january (just 2 days after ian).  i started reading kelle's blog in february or march, and i have been a loyal follower since.  nella's birth story is beautiful and in the same breath heartbreaking.  i go and reread it every once in a while, just so i can remember- because you can really feel all the pain that kelle felt. 

now nella is almost a year old, and kelle needs your help.  her goal is to raise $15,000 $30,000 $47,000 (!!) for ndss (national down syndrome society).  the goal of ndss: for us to live in a world where we are all accepted, included and valued for who we are!  kelle is so close to her goal: just over $3,000 to go (she's raised all this money in 2 days!)!  all it takes is $5, hell, $1 would work!  need inspiration on why you should give- visit kelle's blog.  this entry should help!

in decent order: my fridge!

i love people who are creative and craft- because i am neither of those things!  my friend tara runs a blog called in decent order (or indecent order) where she talks about what it's like to actually be organized and crafty!  a little more background on tara: we were camp counselors and roommates at camp skyline (go nightriders) nearly 10 years ago.  not only is she my favorite former camp roomie, she's a mother of 2 boys, funny, a southerner turned northerner who is now a southerner, always has something wise to say, and she does a mean michael jackson dance impersonation! 

anywho, a couple days ago tara opened the doors of her fridge for all to see, and she asked for her readers to do the same!  so, i took to my fridge with a camera, and shared a peek inside! 

you can view what's going on in the mcfridge here

what's your always stocked fridge item(s)?

happy mother's day!!

mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. ~author unknown

i hate to say this, but i never realized how important mother's day was until i became a mother myself. i know i'll vow to be a better child from this mother's day forward.  my first mother's day weekend was more wonderful than i could have imagined. it started off on friday when i left work and returned home to some beautiful flowers from my son and husband.  we made a delicious dinner that evening of taco salad with homemade guacamole!  mmmm.

saturday was pretty chilled out.  we had breakfast at home, then i was able to get a long-awaited haircut.  afterward, we headed to church for mother's day service, where ian was a perfect angel.  when we left church we headed out for awesome thai food, where ian slept all through dinner to the soothing sounds of the dulcimer.  it was pretty darn awesome.

sunday when i woke up, there was breakfast in front of me!  while we were getting ready my own mother called to wish me a happy 1st mother's day, and throughout the day i got many sweet texts.  we had lunch over at my mother & father-in-laws house, and then dave & i headed out to see the dairy queen blizzardmobile!  mmm, free blizzards.

we got back to husband's parents house and ian was ready to see his mommy and give her her gifts.  i got some pretty awesome things including Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals.  i can't wait to try it out!

 here's ian giving me my mother's day card (and secretly signing "i love you" at the same time).

of course everyone knows i already had the best mother's day gift of all!  and that's something i can celebrate year round!

even though this was my first mother's day, it wasn't just about me.  i'm so glad to have an amazing mother, and mother-in-law.  plus my amazing grandmothers- one on earth, one in heaven, and husband's amazing grandmother's.  i was also lucky to have an amazing great-grandmother in my life for 12 years.  plus i have many friends who are beautiful moms, and many of them also celebrating their first mother's day as well!  happy mom's day to all the mother's out there!  whether it's your first or seventieth! 

piggies in a blanket

so, it's march 9th, and it's finally starting to get warm enough to go outside here. by "warm enough" i sadly mean 40-50 degrees. i'd love to start taking ian out for strolls around the block once it gets slightly warmer, but i worry about him being cold (we have 4 month old snow on the ground still).

so although this wouldn't really work for him now, i totally see it working this fall perhaps, and definitely this spring. what is it? this adorable baby stroller blanket. it's got a pocket for baby's feet so he/she is all cocooned in. it's like a baby snuggie, but with feet, and for your stroller. this is pretty awesome for anywhere you'd be taking your little one outdoors, especially before summer gets here.

i'd like to win one. you can too. just head to Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. you have up to 7 chances to enter. btw, i love this blog. it's saved me from many a baby meltdown.

i've got the blues

no, i'm not here to talk about kraft macaroni & cheese, but something a little more serious: the baby blues and ppd (postpartum depression).

i've always said in my blog that i would be completely honest about pregnancy and beyond. my intention was never to sugar-coat it b\c you hear a lot of "oh, it's so easy and wonderful, and etc." yes. it's wonderful- the most wonderful thing ever to happen to me, but no part of it has been a cake walk- it's an every day learning experience both pregnancy and motherhood. and i don't expect on my next go-round that it will be any easier as every pregnancy and child is different. i was a nanny before i was a mother. a nanny to an infant- from birth to 7 months of age this child was my responsibility while his parents were at work. yes, i had a lot of practice, and yes, some things i knew how to do ahead of time, but it definitely didn't make it any easier.

the baby blues and ppd was something i had long heard about. we all remember tom cruise telling matt lauer not to "be so glib." this was all over cruise's criticism of brooke shields for taking paxil for ppd. i was always afraid i was going to end up with some debilitating case of ppd because i'm so emotional. you hear those stories about women who kill their children and it terrifies you. you think, "why on earth didn't they talk to their Dr. about this?" i mean, i received enough literature about ppd during my pregnancy- you know the signs, but at the same time i wondered, "if something was wrong with me, would i be able to get help?"

i feel lucky. i'm almost 6 weeks out, and i think i can say i'm out of the ppd zone although you can show symptoms for any time up to a year. i will say if i've made it this far, i think, and i hope i can do it!

i think going to my group weekly really helps. moving here has been hard, i don't really have any friends, ok, i don't have any friends. my husband says i have his friends, but i'm not sure that a bunch of almost 30 year old single males really identify with me... only one of them has a girlfriend, and we don't see them as often as we used to, so the one girl friend i do have i don't see often (though i will say she often checks on me via facebook and it makes my day). being as though i was a nanny before, continuing that career path wouldn't have helped because you have no co-workers. target has been a complete bust. it's probably the cliquiest (is that a word, doubtful) place i've ever worked for. getting "in" with anyone my age has been impossible. hell, getting anyone my age there to even speak to me was impossible the 1st several months i worked there. i felt like Hester Prynne and i'm married. although i've discovered through working there that everyone is either older than me or way younger than me (read: college age). i'm just the old pregnant girl i guess.

so i started going to the breastfeeding support group that my hospital sponsors. it's run by a nurse, and usually a couple lactation consultants show up. there's no structure to it. we sit in a circle on the floor w\ our babies (newborns to over a year) and there's just general conversation. you can talk about anything and join in on any conversation. and although i haven't found myself exchanging numbers with anyone yet, the fact that there are other women close to my age that know what i'm going through and are actually going through it is just fabulous. i think that ability to leave the house once a week to socialize is really helpful!

so the baby blues. started the day Ian was born. i cried, at night, for no reason. this continued for the next several nights. sometimes i was sad- would i be a good mother, would my husband love me the same. sometimes i was happy- "i just love him so much" i would boo hoo while staring at him. my husband would be like, "why are you crying?" and i would just boo hoo, "i don't knoooowwww." it always seemed silly to me, and never serious, but it happened. i had a few other baby-related meltdowns in the following weeks- (of course i say "weeks" and this is the beginning of week 6, although it feels like he should be about a year old) baby would eat and still cry, baby would cry while eating, baby would want to eat what seemed like all the time. i would cry for about 2 minutes, and then i'd be ok. or i'd lay in the dark after we went to bed and cry for a while. there was no rhyme or reason, but one day, it just stopped. hormones are a fickle thing, and now they are on to ravaging other parts of my body and psyche.

i say all this (did i even say anything) to say that whether you are dealing with the blues, or something a little more serious that it helps to have a wonderful support system in your spouse, friends and family. and if that doesn't help- don't hesitate to call your doctor. he or she got you through 40 weeks (give or take) gestation, and they'll help get you through this too! regardless of all the havoc your hormones may wreak on your body- the price you pay- your baby makes it all totally worth it!