Life Lately

I haven't done a "general update" type post in awhile, so I thought that I was due for one!  We've been kind of crazy busy, it's funny, our time has been filled more since our music group dispersed than it was before - maybe even too much so.  Nate even said the other night that we leave on vacation in two weeks and maybe should think about not planning anything in that amount of time.  I think he has a good point.  I'm not going to lie, I'm a little burned out right now.  This upcoming three day weekend is going to be great I think.  We do have one barbecue planned to visit, but other than that the weekend is our oyster and I think we'll all benefit from keeping things low key and calm. Anyway, enough of my whining about being busy, here are some other current happenings round our house:
-Nate successfully transplanted our tomatoes a few weeks ago to pots outside and so far they're doing really well.  Our herbs are taking off too and we've even been able to cook a bit with some of them already.  We put some fresh basil on a pizza this weekend and it was delightful!

-My "project hair grow" has continued to go well.  I had it cleaned up a little bit just over a week ago and it's working so well for me now.  I am constantly getting compliments on it (sorry that sounds vain!) so I guess I'm doing something right!

-Ollie's language is expanding by the day.  I don't even know how many words he actually knows at this point.  He's a little chatterbox.  He's also a parrot - he repeats a lot of what we say now even if he doesn't comprehend it.  A couple of his newest favorite words?  "Dance" and "Run".  We get a lot of exercise at our house!

(These moments are rare these days - sitting on his Elmo chair 

playing with a badge I made for him at work)

-We started watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix a couple of weeks ago and I see what the hype has been all about, I am in love with this show.  Sometimes at the end of a long day you just need something light and fluffy and this show totally fits the bill.  
-I'm contemplating doing another "no-shop" summer.  If you're new to this blog, I did a no-shop summer experiment last summer to see if it would help our finances enough to maybe allow me to go part-time and spend more time with Ollie.  In the end we realized sadly we just couldn't make it work even with the money saved in three months for me to go part time, but it was still a beneficial exercise.  So I'm thinking again about how I'm really going for a "less is more" approach to our house and our "stuff" and I'm thinking, maybe another no-shop summer would be good for me.  I also had tried to embark on a project "use it up" back before Christmas - use up all my bath/body/makeup items before buying new ones and I will admit right now, I fell off the wagon on that.  If I did another no-shop summer it would really help me get back on track with that.  So stay tuned, I think this is something I'm seriously going to be attempting again.
-And as I mentioned above, we're actually just under two weeks to our big summer vacation for the year.  We'll be staying in a cabin in Itasca State Park which is about four hours north of the Twin Cities.  I'm over the moon excited to finally introduce Ollie to a place that means a great deal to us - it's where we spent our honeymoon nine years ago that same week.  And while it was fun to take Ollie to St. Louis last summer and spend time with family, I am also just so excited for our first true vacation as just our little family of three.  But let me tell you, even if it's still about two weeks away, I'm mentally already checked out.  Work is a struggle right now and even blogging is a slight struggle too.  If my posts slow down a bit in the next couple of weeks you'll know why.  I think this mama just needs a break and getting away from it all is just the ticket.   I need to recharge, refresh, reflect and renew.  I think I'll come back with a new energy.  I will have a couple of posts that will run the week we're gone so you'll probably even hardly notice I'm away!

-Beyond our vacation and plans to go to All Pints North in Duluth in July we really have no plans for our summer yet.  And I'm pretty ok with that.  I think it will be nice to take things as they come, maybe even be a tad spontaneous here and there.  I'm pretty sure on the nice days we'll be outside from sun up to sundown.  I hope to fall into bed on the weekends smelling of sunscreen, chlorine, and bonfire smoke.  It's going to be a great summer no matter what happens.
And on that happy note I'll end this post for today!  What's new in your world?  What summer plans do you have?

Mother's Day

Not many words to say other than I'm just so blessed and thankful he's mine.  I don't take that for granted for a second.  I pray he always knows just how much he is loved.

As I say every year on this day - to all moms, moms to be, those who wish they were moms. those missing their moms, moms of fur children or just those who love and support other moms - I wish you a very happy Mother's Day!

Inspiration Monday - Momiform

Happy Monday friends!  Today I'm participating in two birds' Inspiration Monday because as soon as I saw their choice for the week from Kristen Stewart here, I knew I could easily do this one.  Because let's face it, this is kind of a good example of a "Mom uniform" or "Momiform" as I've decided to call it. 

Flannel, sweater and jeans?  Check, check, check.  Easy peasy.  This is probably even more than I'd normally even do on a weekend, some weekends I never make it out of my yoga pants and sweatshirt, let's face it.  But I had a good reason to get dressed on Saturday, we decided to take Oliver to an indoor playground and out to lunch, so I figured more of an effort was probably a good thing.

And of course I took these pictures rather quickly on my cell phone again.  I am so not happy with the quality it's producing lately.  It's really time to look at that.  But anyway, you get the general idea I think! I was warm and cozy to go to the indoor playground and that's what mattered!

Sweater - Mossimo (Target), Flannel - thrifted

Jeans - American Eagle (thrifted), Shoes - from mom 

Once we got to the playground I realized I was dressed up more than just about any of the other moms - and I don't even consider this dressed up!  Let's just say I could have stayed in those yoga pants and been in good company.  No judgement here though!  I get it.  But hey, at least I was dressed cute for lunch!
For more Inspiration Monday outfits (and probably better pictures than mine) head over to two birds over here.

Oliver - One YEAR Update

Holy cow, my baby is one year old today.  ONE YEAR OLD!  We survived the first year, lol!  And more importantly, so did he!  I just can't believe how fast the time went by, it's so true it goes so fast. At any rate, while I do miss that little baby at times, I absolutely love the little boy he is becoming. Let's look at the last month!

Height - Around 30 inches.  This kid is getting tall!  

Weight - We haven't checked lately, we'll find that out at his doctor appointment on Monday.

Nicknames - Ollie, Ollie-boy, Ollie-man, Little Man, Pretzel Boy, Monster, Monkey, Kiddo, Squirmy Worm, Little Guy, Smiles

Sleep - I wrote a post about that this month and was overwhelmed by the support - thank you all.  He still isn't sleeping through the night but I am kind of at peace with where we're at.  He's doing better after a week of not sleeping great at night, he had a cold and was cutting a molar we think so that affected him a bit.  Now he's on a bit of a nap strike, but he's sleeping better at night.  It's a work in progress, we just keep at it!

Eating - Everything we eat pretty much!  We still make some veggie purees and what not, but he is eating more and more regular food and there is very little he does not like.  His favorite is going to restaurants with us and getting bits of what we're having.  And he loved all the Thanksgiving food! We are starting the transition to cow's milk.  I'd nurse him forever if I could, but I'm so over pumping. We're not rushing the process though, we're doing it gradual and so far so good!

Diapers - SAME!  We haven't had to size up for quite some time and I'm so happy about it.  Love that we're staying in size 4!

Clothes - Also the same!  18-24 and holding!  I'd be happy if that didn't change for quite some time to come!

Mood - Other than the week of the cold and teething from hell, he's still been a super happy little guy!

Says - Mama, mom, dada (sometimes, not as much as daddy would like!), up, and well, he's kind of been saying a naughty word that starts with "Sh" and we're trying to encourage him to change it to shoe or shirt instead.  We're not perfect, lol.

Loves - Mommy, daddy, the kitties, anything that isn't a toy, crawling everywhere, climbing stairs, bath time, Curious George cartoons, fun music, dancing in the living room with mommy, mealtime

Dislikes - Diaper changes and clothing changes, getting bundled up to go outside, when things are taken away from him

For fun, I made a collage of all his monthly pictures from the last year.  It's so fun to see all the changes!

Milestones/Things I want to remember - He has been saying more words or testing out sounds, he claps when he likes something, walking at the mall, family photos with Erin, celebrating his first Thanksgiving, visiting the Children's Museum, finding things to do to entertain ourselves when we can't be outside.

Dear Oliver,

A year ago today I went to work but wasn't sure if I should or not because I thought there was a chance you might be trying to tell me you were ready to come out and play.  I made it through half the day and realized you definitely were ready.  I went home and daddy came home soon after and we waited for a bit to go to the hospital and then when we did, you were just about ready to meet us! You came out in a nice warm bathtub and we spent the rest of the night cuddling you.  I always laugh at the fact that you decided to have your first poop on daddy's bare skin!  We were so happy you were finally with us and you have been the light of our lives, the moon and the stars and everything we could have possibly wished for in a little boy.  We love you more than we can ever say.  Happy birthday sweet boy!

Love,

Mama

One and done

So apparently Wednesdays are my days to get real on the blog.  So I'm getting real again today. This is a post that's been on my heart for awhile now but I haven't wanted to write it because it's a bit of a hot button issue and I don't want to be judged.  I've read a couple of articles recently though that re-affirmed my feelings so I decided it's time to share. 

The long and the short of it is, as far as having children goes, we are likely one and done. And now you're like, what does that mean?  It means, Oliver is probably going to be an only child.  We aren't making any true, permanent decisions until he is at least two.  We'll be close to 35 by then and wouldn't want to be much older than that if we were to choose to have another one, so that is another reason while we'll wait until then to be sure.  And we certainly could change our minds, but we're not likely to.

I am not anti-siblings.  I am not anti-big families. I have total respect for anyone who has more than one child, almost all of my friends do or plan to.  I see nothing wrong with that at all, it's just not what we feel will be right for us and our family.

We have heard it all as far as why we should have another one.  My favorite is "you need to give Oliver a sibling."  I need to give him a sibling? Um, I can think of plenty of other things I need to give him - a roof over his head and a safe place to grow up, food on the table, clothes on his back and all the love and support he needs - those are the things he truly needs.  I do not like the mindset that I'm basically scaring him for life by not having a second child.  Guess what people - I am an only child.  And I don't feel that I suffered for being one.  I loved it.  I thrived and survived.  I have a fantastic relationship with my parents.  I was not spoiled - but I will say I did have opportunities that maybe other kids didn't get to have.  I had many cousins around so I got the sibling experience with them and overall I feel had a great childhood.  I just don't feel like I'm lacking in not having a sibling.

The other part of this is while I love being a mom and I think I'm a pretty good mom, I also know my limitations.  I feel in my heart of hearts that emotionally and physically (and financially) that we will best be able to provide for one child.  I had a dream pregnancy and delivery with Oliver and that may not be the case with a second.  I could go on and on, but I think these two articles from Scary Mommy also kind of make my point too, so I'll share those links here, I think they're both pretty good:

http://www.scarymommy.com/one-and-done/

http://www.scarymommy.com/reasons-why-i-will-never-have-another-child/

Again, I don't judge anyone else who have multiple children and their reasons for doing so.  I also don't judge those who chose not to have children at all.  I plain just don't judge.  What works for you and yours is your business, not mine.  So I certainly hope that others will treat me the same way.  I just felt that it was time to put this out there, especially as we are getting closer to Ollie's first birthday and the questions are starting to fire up a bit of the "when are you having another one?"  Or you have to love how one of Nate's aunts was just automatically assuming and using the words "when you have the next one." We just kind of smile and nod right now.

Oliver is truly the best thing to have happened to us, he is the light of my world and such a blessing to me.  I love being Oliver's mommy and Nate's wife.  At the end of the day I think that is what matters most - not the size of the family, but instead the love that is in it.  Seems so simple doesn't it?

Rock and roll all night

Two bloggers whom I respect and admire recently started doing more "honest" posting and I have decided to join them.  So often as bloggers we only want to share the good, the fun, the sunshine and roses in our lives.  But that isn't real life.  Real life isn't always sunshine and roses.  So in the spirit of that I'm attempting to be more honest myself and letting myself share the occasional truth post.  So, here's my real life moment for this week.
I've alluded to this a bit in his monthly update posts - the fact is,  at 11 months old, Oliver still does not sleep through the night.  If you count the last month of pregnancy when sleep was difficult, this pretty much means I have not really, truly slept a full night (I'm talking 7-8 uninterrupted hours) in a year.  And sometimes that fact starts to really get me down.
Now before you start saying "well are you doing this and have you tried this" let me tell you - we have.  We have tried everything from this way to Sunday to help encourage him to sleep longer at night.  He gets a nice full meal about an hour and a half before bedtime.  He has a fantastic bedtime routine and he goes down pretty well most nights.  We've taken steps to make sure his room is comfortable, he sleeps in warm pj's and on flannel sheets - we know he isn't too cold or too hot.  We make sure to give him medicine if he's having a bad teething day.  I have tried simply ignoring him for a few minutes when he wakes in the night and sometimes he'll settle.  But sometimes he won't and to help us both get back to sleep sometimes it's faster to get up and let him nurse a bit.  He never is awake longer than about ten minutes at that time and then goes back down.  So while it's not fun having my nights interrupted that way, at the same time, we're not up for hours at a time.  A few minutes and then back to sleep.  I could be awake that long on my own sometimes.  
It can be discouraging though to feel as if you're doing everything wrong.  Wayyyyy back at his six month doctor visit, my well meaning and very clinical Dr. Uncle stated that at that age he should be doing at least eight hours without feeding.  Now mind you, at that time, he was still waking up almost three times a night so I know he had a point, but it did make me feel like I was doing wrong by Ollie.  I started taking some steps to help and we got him down to waking only once (not counting the fact that he was getting a little dream feed when I'd be getting ready for bed).  I was pleased with our progress.  We stumbled into a pattern that worked for us - and it has pretty much remained that way for the last several months.
The closer we're getting to his first birthday though, the more I'm realizing though that I may need to do more to help encourage him to sleep better and not need to eat at night, especially if we are going to work towards weaning to cow's milk.  And of course reading about sleep issues online really hasn't done much more for me other than start making me feel like I'm the one that has contributed the most to his waking.  There are some thoughts that basically are saying that by not working on weaning sooner, I've taught his body to wake up hungry overnight.  Well that's encouraging.  I thought I was just a compassionate mom who doesn't like her baby laying awake crying.
It's also easy to feel pretty lonely and like I'm the only one going through this with a child this age, every time I turn around I see other moms stating "Junior slept through the night!" and sometimes it's about a child younger than Ollie.  But then I have to remind myself - every baby is different, some can teach themselves to sleep by three months and some can take up to 18 months.  And I also have to remind myself something even bigger than that - this is just a season in life.  There will come a time where that won't be the one thing Ollie wants more than anything anymore.  And when I look at it that way, it puts it more in perspective.  He's separated from me for a big chunk of the day and so nighttime is a time he can get extra mommy time and I can totally understand his little brain waking up and saying "cry out for momma, you can get some snuggles and a snack."  I never want him to feel scared or alone in the night, so I will always go to him.  If I can't calm him down just rubbing his back, then snuggles and milk it is.
This isn't to say I don't think I should try to encourage him to break the habit, but I feel like I want to do it gently.  A big step is, I used to wake him up for a feed before I went to bed to help him sleep longer and I've stopped doing that now.  I let him wake up when he wants to.  Sometimes it still happens before I go to bed and sometimes it doesn't.  I'm trying to time his nursing sessions so that we slowly decrease the amount of time he spends doing it - not easy to do sometimes at 2:00 in the morning as it's so easy to zone out - but I'm trying.  The thought is by working to reduce the amount of time he nurses, eventually it will be phased out all together.  And we'll see what happens as we work more on the transition to cow's milk.  The less mommy milk he gets during the day could lead to him not really wanting it at night - or it might make him want it more, but we'll see.
No matter what happens, while it might get me down at times, at the same time I am surviving.  I catch up on sleep where I can on the weekends and I am averaging much more than I had been a few months ago.  And even when I'm dog tired, I have to say, there is nothing like holding your sweet babe in the middle of the night when they're calm and cuddly.  I don't get as many cuddles during the day now that he's active. And you know what, he's happy and healthy even if he does wake up sometimes.  So again, sometimes it's just a matter of perspective.  And I imagine that when that day finally comes that he doesn't need me in the night, I will likely look back and miss it.  I said it in this month's update, it's a work in progress. I am not so naive as to think that when I signed up for motherhood it would all be completely perfect all the time. Sometimes we have to go one day at a time!

So that's my real life truth for the week.  If anyone has any tips I haven't already talked about I would welcome them!