New Mommy Ramblings

As a new mom I have found myself wondering, thinking, and doing certain things that never in my life would I have thought, or done. Here is a small list:

1. Lifting up my baby in public and bringing her tiny butt to my nose to see if she has a stinky. As a mom you just don't think about it. You hear her make a loud poot and you do a sniff test to see if it warrants a trip to the bathroom. Stop a minute and think about it in a non-mommy way: I have picked up a tiny human and brought her butt directly to my nose for the sole purpose of determining if I smell feces. Who does that? New mommies that's who. I can almost see the look of horror on the non-mommy's faces.

2. Kiss Law & Order SVU goodbye. Pretty much anything that involves anyone getting severly hurt, killed, or scarred for life. I tried watching one episode and cried my eyes out, I think shows like that should have a warning for new mommies on them. If it's a child getting hurt you just die inside and then for the rest of the day you hold on to your baby like a rabid wild monkey clutching her young. You would think things happening to adults would be ok, but then you just sit there thinking that was someone's baby and revert back to example one.

3. I let munchkin do tummy time on the couch while I was in front of her and she loved it. The only problem was that she left a huge drool stain on it right before company came over. When they arrived without even thinking I said "Oh that stain on the couch is drool...not pee or anything." It wasn't until much later that it occurred to me: when did I have to start reassuring guests there was no urine on my furniture? Never before I assure you. Even when we were housebreaking the dogs they had the decency to pee on the floors, and now that we have a tiny human there is no telling where the result of bodily functions will appear. 

4. Speaking of stains they will appear everywhere..like magic. I spend more time then I would like to admit staring at a stain and deciphering where and what it came from. Some formula leaking here, some pureed food smashed into the fabric there, and of course there is always the chance that it just might be a drool spot waiting to dry. While others are sipping coffee and reading the paper, I'm drinking mine and staring at a new spot on my couch like it holds the answers to life.

My Death Wreath

The other day Hubby and I had just pulled into the driveway and I noticed for the first time that there was a holly tree right next to where we park. I was so excited! I asked him to bring me a few ends of the tree and got a spare wreath from the back room along with my glue gun. I was so excited and he delivered me a HUGE band of limbs, and I do mean huge.

 So there I was cheerfully arranging the richly colored leaves and beautiful red berries together. I was getting stabbed a million times by those stupid razor sharp edges and berries were rolling everywhere, but I didn't care. I was however a little dissapointed that I hadn't noticed them for Christmas, but I reasoned with myself that it's only January so it's still cold and a holly wreath would still be adorable. I planned to blog it all and add our initial, some other greenery from the rosemary bush outside plus a big red bow, but the wreath had other ideas. Here I was feeling so accomplished and it died. I'm not talking about a few weeks later it died, I literally mean that this wreath somehow committed suicide, the span of time between the pictures is literally two days.

 I was crestfallen. Hubby thought it was hilarious because I already have a reputation for killing any type of plant and here it was again in all of it's glory: a dead holly wreath. Sending the wrong type of message to anyone who visited. It was almost like it was screaming "beware all ye who enter" with its leaves curling in on themselves, the berries an ugly brown color and looking vaguely similar to something the evil queen would used to poison Snow White.

 I re-searched what could cause it online and found out you can buy stuff to spray on them to make them last, or use hairspray oddly enough, but I was much too late. Hubby said he would bring more and I could try again but I'm jaded. The death wreath has made me go back to things that cannot die in wreath making: yarn, burlap, ribbons. The Death Wreath has been taken down and while pulling the limbs off the wreath form the stupid leaves stabbed me again a million times as if they were mocking me one last time. I don't have an idea for another winter wreath yet...I may wait until spring who knows? Either way rest assured that you will be apart of it..the good, the bad, and the shriveling dead ugly parts too.

My Beloved Organizational Binder

I'm one of those slightly neurotic people who have to be organized. I wouldn't say I'm OCD or anything, I can walk away if there are a few dishes in the sink and I'm just too tired to do them. I can't however stand to be disorganized and cluttered. I came across the idea to do an organizational binder from Pinterest and took that idea and ran with it. I have to say I'm mildly obsessed with my binder. I have everything we could possibly need in it for any emergency or scary situation, and it has ALL of our super important documents in it. It is literally everything you could possibly need at your fingertips how could anyone resist? I use to have it lying around then Hubby pointed out that it has our bank account, s.s. numbers, and birth certificates in it and I was testing fate by leaving it out on the counter so now it's hidden but still within a moment's reach because I look at it at least once a day.

First Tab

1. Our Week at a Glance
This is the first thing you see when you open my binder and although Kelsey Humphreys took down her site, and deleted all of her amazing printables I did have this one saved so here it is : Week at a Glance. I really like this one because it's so pretty and it has a memory verse section. The second thing in that first tab is our calendar. I found that it's just WAY more easier to print a blank one and write in everything myself plus it kinda matches the week one and it's REALLY pretty. Here is the Calendar PLUS she also has a free matching blog planner!

2. Our Week of Meals
We grocery shop for meals one, sometimes two weeks at a time. We write down the actual meals and the sides we are going to have with them Here ( she has three different ones you can choose from) then write out our actual grocery list Here (tried for hours to find original source and could not find it, so if it's yours just message me the link and I will add it) with EVERY ingredient we will need for the meals. This eliminates having to run to the grocery store for one ingredient for supper, plus Hubby can choose what to cook and know everything he needs for that meal is already in the pantry.

3. Baby's Folder  This is where I have all of Munchkin's checkup reports from her pediatrician, plus random bits of information that I have picked up like our state's guidelines for car seats and when to make the transition to foods, etc.This tab is also where I have her Vaccine Schedule sheet and where we use to keep her Feeding Chart which is the BEST chart ever! ( my milk never came in so we had to bottle feed). We also have a Babysitter Instructions Sheet  that we have never used before but has EVERYTHING you could want/need the babysitter to know.

4. Medical Folder
This tab has our Adult & Child I.D. Pages and our Medical Information Sheets that lists our allergies, medicines we are on and any surgeries ( she also has LOTS of other printables here). We also keep our Pharmacy Information Sheet ( again could not find the source, if it's yours message me the link and I will gladly add) here which has the number and store hours plus any prescriptions that are there and their numbers.

5. Family Yellow Pages
This is a simple list I created in Microsoft Word that has our family and friend's numbers and addresses in it. The word document makes it SO easy to update and I just print out the updated sheet...makes life easier when you need to mail out invitations.

6. Important Family Documents
This is where we store our marriage certificate, copies of our driver's licenses, our social security cards ( in clear baseball card sheets),voter i.d., and our birth certificates.

7. House & Home Documents
This folder has all of our vehicle titles, our boat title, and copies of all the receipts we have for various purchases and warranties. I also have a sheet in the front that is our house To Do List where I keep projects I want to work on and house ideas that I see. The first line literally says " Plant Flowers...like everywhere" 

8. Banking & Bills
This one is pretty obvious, it's where we keep all of our important bank documents along with any bills that need to be paid soon or anything that needs our attention financially speaking. 

9. Mommy's Folder
Last, but not least is mommy's folder. This is where I have anything that tickles my fancy from  a Books To Read List to a Stain Cheet Sheet and Birthday List. I also have Christmas Sheets for any gift ideas that come to me, or anything I pick up during the year. I pretty much put anything I like or want to keep hold of in here. Also a good place to store date night ideas and sheets of notebook paper for blogging ideas.

WELL there it is. My organizational binder. It really will put your mind at ease to get everything you could need together in one place. There is no stressing, or digging it's all there and you can feel accomplished and smug when you need to find a receipt and you know EXACTLY where it is. 

I was utterly sad for no reason at all.

Have you ever woken up and had one of those days where you were sad for no apparent reason. I didn't, at least not at first mine creeped upon me like bathing suit season . My morning was awesome, I woke up feeling relatively good despite my LSU Tiger's loss. I had a great day at work, laughing all day with my fellow cashiers even though ALL the customers seemed to be wanting to ruin it. I came home to a SPOTLESS, smelling great house and a baby that was ready to take a nap with me when I got home. It was perfection, the only thing that could make it better would be winning a lifetime of gold or Amazon gift cards.

Hubby said he needed to pop down to his shop for a little bit, then he was going to get dinner. The past three days I have had egg rolls dancing in my head, and for New Year dinner I wanted them. My family has ALWAYS either made or bought egg rolls for New Year dinner all together and then sat around the table talking about our resolutions.While I was lying in bed somewhere in that nice little state between dreams and reality hubby asked what I wanted him to go pick up for supper while the baby and I napped ( best husband of the year I know). I couldn't really think of anything so when he mentioned a small meat and three place I named off some things I wouldn't mind eating and then back to sleep I went.

When I woke up I discovered that he had gotten me a salad. Great..one of the choices I gave him, but it was one you make at a bar and wasn't how I would have made it. There was barely a handful of lettuce, and big chunks of ham....and no egg rolls. I was sad. There was no reason for me to be sad, none at all. I had a clean house, happy baby, loving husband and food on my plate and when I woke up I honestly didn't even feel like eating egg rolls. That still did not change the fact that I was sad. I ate in silence, and just sat there..like someone had killed my dog. I knew I was being stupid.....there was NO reason for the sadness, I was blessed more than I deserved but there I was....so disheartened I was almost crying. I don't know if subconsciously I realized the fact that our longstanding tradition was ruined, or maybe that my mom wasn't here for this New Year or maybe I had a really horrifying dream where people did nothing but call me names and I just don't remember it...who knows. I slowly got over it, chastised myself for being a selfish baby, and decided to write it all in my blog. Sometimes you're sad for no reason and it's OK, just read some Hyperbole and a half ( who wrote about this same thing happening to her in a much funnier way) and try to remember how blessed and awesome you are. These things pass, give yourself time to be sad...even if it is for no reason or you have no right to be sad and then move on.This is a new year and it's full of new memories, and new traditions just waiting to be made.