Mommy needs a cleaning fairy!

I haven't blogged in almost a month- yikes! I should be doing dishes, vacuuming and get the house clean while Elijah takes his daily nap but I felt like blogging instead... not surprising...Although I love a clean house- I just don't feel like cleaning these days. I so look up to my friends who have a professional clean team come to their house and keep everything sparkly fresh. Someday when the stars align perfectly and we have some extra money in our budget a cleaning fairy will be my first request! Actually a new car and a bigger living situation should probably be on the top of that list but as of this moment the cleaning fairy sounds a lot better to me.

So we have had some big changes in our household! I started my new job about a month ago (hence the no blogging.) I actually really like this new job. I get to work with a very good friend, the office is totally organized (which is a step up from my last place of employment) and I get free dental care which is needed for me and the family. I will have to say though, It HASN'T been easy leaving my sweet boy 3 days a week for 11 hour days :(. The first week I cried a few times...only in the car on my way to work or on my way home. I was strong and didn't show anyone else the tears but the flood gates did open up a time or two because I missed him so much. I don't know how other mommies go back to work so soon after giving birth. I guess you do what you have to do to provide for your family but geesh--it's sooo hard! The long 11 hour days have been a lot to get used to! The early mornings literally kicked my butt at first! I must say- coffee has been a blessing! We have been fortunate to have sweet grandma and auntie watch our little dude the last month- but they both start work and school next week! So this is a prelude to our next big adventure of the month... FINDING DAYCARE! Let me tell you the process was a bit intense. We checked out several different places and had 1 & 1/2 hour meetings with all of them. We finally met the perfect match and I know our little E will be in good hands!

Oh and of course life is a series of unexpected events...our jeep broke down week 2 of starting the new job. Just a $500 fix :(. It would've been more but thank god for Papa Crane. We we're hoping to go to California in October but that plan has been squashed by Mr. Jeep Cherokee himself :(. I will never understand why these small expensive disasters always happen at the worst possible times. Ha ha, I will try not to dwell but serisouly?!

Anyhoo, my cleaning fairy never showed while I blogged...ha ha...looks like I will be the one scrubbing dishes sinks and toilets on my mommy ship today!

"When are you going to have another baby?!"

I've decided to blog on this topic because it's a question that has been asked by many as of late. It doesn't matter where I go or what I am doing but it seems since Elijah has turned 1 this question is in high demand by complete strangers. So... this is what I should've said to the lady at my local bank- I was pregnant for 9 months ( I threw up at least 3 times a day for the first 4 1/2 months of it), had a surprise C-section after 18 1/2 hours of induced labor without pain medication, breast fed for a year+ and I am just now feeling like I am getting this parenting thing down maybe it's because Elijah has started to sleep at least 8 hours a night (coincidence? I think not!) and just when I am trying to feel physically some what "normal" again this question pops up.

I know- I am definitely not a spring chicken, I wish I had more time to decide on bringing another child into this world but I also know my age and I know we will need to make that decision soon since my window for fertile fresh eggs (this is what I call it as of late!) is running out. I would love to have another baby- I would also love a little more time to enjoy our beautiful sweet 15 month old baby boy! I would also like to drink alcohol, have a double shot of espresso daily, eat sushi, play contact sports (kidding) and have an option to indulge when I see fit for at least a year. On top of all of my selfish mommy wants- tee hee, I have been offered a job that I will need to take to support our family funds. It's only 2-3 days a week and let me tell you child care isn't cheap! It literally takes a village to raise a child but that village needs to get paid! So having another baby at this point would be financial suicide. I guess that's a bit dramatic but it's true.

So we are still not sure when the stork will be knocking on our door...anyone else have thoughts on this?

Fevers for Fathers Day

Good Lord and butter! As I start this blog I hear my little 14 month old crying...ok...screaming... He is in the bath tub with Daddy and dropped a toy on his foot- poor little man, I hate that he even stands in the bath tub--it induces my mommy paranoia to the point of no return but after the week I have had this little tub incident is minuscule when it comes to my mama drama.

I haven't blogged in months--I need to get better at this whole Mommy blogging business. It seems I get "Mommy brain" and days turn into minutes...it's beautiful exhaustion. So here I am blogging at 11:40 p.m.

Last time I blogged Elijah had his 1st birthday- he celebrated by getting his first stomach flu--he was a 100% healthy a few days later and actually starting walking that same week, which I was able to catch on our flip video camera, I got so lucky! I have one word that can even touch how a mommy feels when she watches her baby take their first independent steps- ELATION. The vision of him toddling and wobbling for the first time made me tear up BIG TIME. I was so excited for him and he felt so proud of himself too. So as of today my baby is 14 months old and he is basically doing his own triathlons around the house- he is daring and unstoppable. Scares the bejeebers out of me but I know I need to let go and let him experience within reason. My husband reminds me daily to relax and breathe. So here I type breathing in and out and wondering if the outlet covers are securely in place and praying the power cords are out of his reach- will I ever be able to relax again- my sister's tell me, "no, not really"-ha ha. When I was little I used to ask my Mom what she wanted for Christmas and her answer was always the same-- she would say one simple word, "peace"- being a kid I would look at her like she was nuts! Ha ha- Now I know what she was talking about- with raising 4 girls basically on her own--she needed an ocean of White Zinfandel ( her favorite wine) and a year of peace. If she was alive today I would make her a personalized Mother Nobel peace prize award.

It's been a exciting and interesting few months to say the least! This week was no exception. Elijah decided to go to bed early on Friday night...we are talking 7:30 p.m. ( which is very unlike him!) I thought to myself how lucky I was to get a Friday night of relaxation. My husband and I had a nice dinner and watched a movie. We got into bed about 11 pm and only minutes after crawling into bed did I hear little man moaning and stirring about. I instantly grabbed him out of his crib--he felt SO HOT-- we got out our handy dandy temporal thermometer ( thanks grandma Sharon) and when my husband and I saw 103 we freaked out! Really, 103?! Well that was nothing- about 2 am it spiked up to 105 and we were frantically calling the advice nurse who calmly told us to give him a nice cool bath and a large does of baby Advil- we were then told- if that doesn't bring the fever down rush him to the hospital because he could have a seizure- Horrible and SCARY- not what a mommy or daddy wants to hear! We started forcing down the baby Advil, which he hated and rejected by throwing most of it up all over the carpet- poor baby. The bath did help and finally the little bit of Advil that went down did reduce the fever, as well. I didn't get a wink of sleep! I drove my husband and my poor sick baby nuts with the beeping thermometer- I literally took his temperature every 1/2 hour...I didn't care if I was being neurotic...this was the first time he had ever had a major high temp and I was in triage mommy mode! I woke up with that beeping tool in hand...his temp was up and down for 4 days straight--sleep was basically non existent for me. Poor Kyle worked a double on Fathers Day and followed it up by coming home to his poor little sick boy. I got the croup for Mothers Day-- Kyle got the fever virus from hell on Fathers Day...Well we can both say we were doing our jobs well on both parental holidays! I finally took Our little Elijah to the doctor by myself on Monday morning--that was a crazy event in itself--as the nurse closed the exam room door Elijah face planted on a little baby chair and busted his lip open and cut his chin, at that percise moment I looked up at God and told him I didn't think I could handle much more mama drama...luckily a few seconds later my favorite pediatrician and personal hero arrived on scene, Good Ole -Dr. C , he came in helped me clean little mans lip up, checked his ears,throat, lungs, swollen glands ( which by the way were all over his tiny neck- freaked me out BIG TIME TOO!) and then told me the diagnosis- it's a childhood virus and we were doing everything that can be done...just have to let it runs it's course. He was right, Elijah has steadily gotten better over the last 2 days but now has a rash on the trunk of his body--I guess the virus is called Roseola...all I can say is Roseola is no friend of mine. Power to the mommies who have gone to war with this virus. Elijah didn't get sick at all his first year of life and since turning one we have dealt with stomach flu, croup cough, the snottiest cold EVER and now wicked Roseola. I am so looking forward to a fun filled healthy summer with our little guy. My birthday is in one week and as I look up at the heavens I think of my beautiful Mom who passed away too soon. Inside I am thanking her for taking care of me when I was building my own little immune system and getting my own wrath of childhood illnesses...she was such a good care taker and Mommy. I can hear her asking me what I would like for my birthday and of course without needing to think about it- I would only ask for one thing "PEACE!" :)

The perfect 1st Birthday party!

Planning a birthday party for my special little angel was so joyful...I took it to the "Martha Stewart" level in fact. Personalized printed birthday cards, personalized 1st birthday shirt, personalized party hat, personalized birthday cake, personalized banner, catering, planning planning planning and more PLANNING. I was ahead of the game. My husband thought I was going completely overboard, and I WAS! this is my first child and no one was standing in my way. I was going to have the picture perfect 1st birthday party and that was THAT! The guest list was pretty big...about 35 people...It was going to be the party of the year...everyone would be talking about it for years to come. I was right about one thing, we will be talking about it for years to come. It was truly unforgettable!

My beautiful baby boy turned one years old on April 10th a beautiful sunny day here in Oregon, everything seemed perfect... When I looked out the window I was instantly on cloud 9 when I saw even the weather was cooperating. Elijah woke up around 6 a.m. typical time to nurse and fall back asleep. Snuggled between Mommy and Daddy until we would all wake up together happily about 8:30...this was the norm...but not on this special day. I picked Elijah out of his crib and he coughed and then gagged- nothing came out but I was thinking to myself, hmmm... that was strange...must have been a little saliva in the back of his throat... I layed him down with me and he nursed him for about 5 minutes... he rolled over on his side facing me, I was looking at my beautiful little 1 year old and remembering the day he was born...sugar plums dancing through my head about how wonderful this perfect birthday party celebration would be "Martha Stewart" style when all of a sudden Elijah picked up his head off the mattress and threw up all over me. I was stunned and worried. My husband who is the total optimist got up and helped us all clean up. As I sat there worrying about Elijah and the birthday party my optimist "the cup is half full" husband told me it was probably just some post nasal drip that our little boy gagged on and all was fine. At that moment denial sunk in and all Mommy instincts were put on the back burner. I knew my baby looked pale... he just threw up on me but I just couldn't admit that he was sick on his FIRST birthday. Elijah slept in until 10:30 that morning...so not the norm...BUT Daddy got him up while I ran around the house getting the perfect "Martha Stewart" birthday party set up...Elijah seemed fine after his long morning rest and bath...still pale...but he seemed happy, we managed to feed him a little breakfast and get him into his cute perfect little birthday boy outfit. We drove to my husbands parents house who have a big house for the perfect "Martha Stewart" birthday party and big enough to fit the 35 people. Elijah crawled around Grandpa and Grandmas house while we all set up for the perfect birthday party when all of a sudden we heard a cough cough cough and GAG...out came Elijah's breakfast all over the floor- Oh god...HOW IS THIS HAPPENING! Let's just say he wasn't feeling so well and my denial was now totally out of the question. It was official our baby boy was ill for his perfect birthday party. My Mother in law (another total optimist) said the show must go on...everyone is on there way...so a first birthday party is what we shall have. We we're able to get the beautiful picture above attached with this blog and he was such a good baby considering. Elijah didn't eat any of his special party food and never even touched his home made healthy carrot cake that Mommy made...in fact my Mother in law put a dab of cream cheese frosting on her finger and gave him a taste...he gagged and gagged...heaved and heaved some more...thankfully nothing came out with all 35 people watching, horrified that Elijah may explode. We managed to get through the rest of party...I can't say it was what I had imagined. In fact all that planning and money seemed wasted. I am sure guests enjoyed themselves but Mommy Daddy and Elijah were not having a very perfect party time. Everyone left and I breast fed Elijah again hoping to give him some nourishment and he seemed fine until he threw up all over me AGAIN- I felt so bad for him. We packed up the car which seemed to take hours...we got into our heavily weighed down jeep and I could feel Daddy's eyes upon me- I knew what he was thinking without him needing to say a word. I just wanted to crawl under a rock and put the whole day behind me. All I wanted was to have the perfect birthday party...ha ha...it's so ridiculous now that I thought about it...I could have gotten Elijah a couple balloons and he would've been happy...I sat there as we drove home thinking who I was really having this perfect party for anyhow?! I couldn't wait to get home...safe wonderful home.

Well...God had other plans...we arrived home...pulled into our parking spot. Kyle carrying Elijah over his shoulder- little boy was so pale and tired...I just wanted to put him in his Jammie's and rock him to sleep. Thank god we were home- YAY! Kyle opened up the door to our beautiful sanctuary with delight....the day was over and we could have a peaceful evening at home and nurse our baby back to health. We talked about how wonderful it was to be home when all of a sudden a horrible stinging smell burned our noses... at this point everything went into slow motion...Kyle's voice blurted out..."OH MY GOD, SAGE pooped all over the house!" As I looked around the apartment floor I was in disbelief...how could this be happening? Our sweet 5 year old dog had diarrhea all OVER our house she even managed to poop on some of Elijah's toys. Kyle and I we're both standing there in shock surveying the poop infested war zone we call home for about 10 seconds when all of a sudden Elijah throws up all over Kyle and all over the carpet! It was like a crop duster came through with vomit and dog poop all over our house. Let's just say I felt like I was in a movie...A comedy where the audience would be laughing in hysterics! The dog and the baby both ill on the SAME DAY, Are you kidding me?! I grabbed the baby and cleaned him up while my husband cleaned up after the dog...there is more to this story that happened after but I will spare you the smelly details.

Elijah was very sick for 2 days...I ended up taking him to the pediatrician the next day. Sage was better the next day...we realized she had gotten into a half eaten YO- Baby yogurt snack that was left on the counter and let's just say the live active cultures cleaned her doggy system out- A colonic couldn't have done better work on our sweet furry family member!

As I blog this I still can't believe it all happened. I wanted a memorable first birthday party for Elijah and I sure got one...Can't say it's exactly what I wanted or envisioned but it's something that we will all be talking about for years to come.

Time goes by so fast when your on the Mothership.

On April 10, 2009 at 6:01 p.m. I jumped on the Mothership. I was in a surgical room being ripped open to have my first baby, after 18 1/2 hours of hard induced labor my doctor told me they had to go in and get my little one...little did I know they were actually coming to get me...the moment my little baby boy came out, I jumped on and I'm still here almost one year later- I am moving around planet earth still on the "mothership" loving this ride more than ever. Somedays on the ship are so exhausting stressful and hard but I would never think of getting off. I have been abducted by planet mother love and this blog is going to be my own personal story on how i manage my ship. I hope I can help other fellow mommies on how to manage their own motherships- at least thats what my hope is -so buckle up and hold on tight--the ride maybe bumpy at times but I promise it will never be dull...5.. .4... 3... 2... 1... BLAST OFF :)