Mother's Day

It has been a crazy week--but I thought I would take a few moments to jot down my first Mother's Day. It was pretty relaxing. Church, lunch, and then a nap. A perfect Sunday. Mike gave me a nice card and also a really neat frame with 1 picture of me and Baby P and another picture of Baby P's hand in "mine."

I was studying the photo of the hands, and couldn't figure out a polite way to break it to my dear husband that those were not my hands holding Baby P's. All I could think to say was, "whose hands are those?" Fortunately, he was not offended. It was pretty funny. After some elimination, we realized they were Tante H's hands. Still a very lovely present.

Oh yeah...i got to take a bubble bath. Simple pleasures.

Flavor Friday

Last week the winner was Pork Chops Marsala. You have to like mushrooms and marsala to get into this recipe. I really love both so it was quite delicious. I made it easy on myself and made instant Idahoan mashed potatoes and corn as sides. Find a bottle of red to wash it down with and you are set.

Flavor Friday

In homage to Friday Flotsam and Tater Tot Friday, I bring you a substantially less interesting Flavor Friday--my favorite recipe of the week.

Last Saturday we had Marmalade French Toast Casserole. Three cheers to my mother-in-law for helping put it together. It is a Cooking Light recipe, which is kind of funny because it calls for 6 eggs and more butter than I usually see in their stuff. But it is finger-licking good! It is also pretty easy to make.

You have to make it the night before--which is even more fantastic because then you don't have to worry about waking up blindly the next morning and putting it together. The only thing you need to remember is that it takes 50 minutes to bake. I don't really like Orange Marmalade, but I used it anyway because I am a rule follower (I am not sure what number personality that is). Anyway, when I make it again I will probably use Apricot Jam...you can really use any jam you like. And for those that don't like nuts--don't add those obviously. :) I served it with turkey breakfast sausages...and those present were not really into them...but I thought it was yummy!

Enjoy....

too tired to think of a title

Today was quite the juggling act. I had to take care of baby, conduct 2 phone meetings, see the chiropractor, make a sales call, and then make it back in time to feed baby at 430....and then cook a meal for us. It all worked out, but it was pretty mentally draining to switch from role to role in what was sometimes a matter of minutes. Somewhat jarring for the brain to switch gears so rapidly.

At times I felt like I was a superhero, changing costumes (switching from pjs to work gear and vice versa) for the needed task at hand. Except I didn't feel very powerful, just very sleepy.

Somehow I managed to stop in the midst of all that and take a phone call from another "co-worker" (mommy) who needed to vent about the hard night she had with her infant. In the past, I might have ignored the call or taken it at a time that would have worked better for me. But somehow I managed to have a slight bit of perspective that it was important to listen to what she had to say and offer the feeble advice that I have at this stage.

I am again thankful for the balance that Baby P seems to be bringing to my life. I definitely was not expecting that....as for the dueling roles I have going on all day--I know everyday won't be as hectic as this one was...at least for now.

WAHM: Wake Me Up Before You Go Go

Did you know that I am a WAHM? A Work At Home Mom. I must admit, being a closeted George Michael fan, when I found out that was the acronym, I secretly wished it was WHAM. That would be so much cooler!

In any case, I have googled and googled for sites that offer support to fellow WAHMers and could find nothing that related to my specific situation. Thus, besides providing many over thought thoughts here, I will provide any wisdom or tips I may discover on how to work from home and be a fantastic wife and mom. Many of the sites that I found were offering ideas on things that you could do from your house.

I happened to be blessed with a job already, so that didn't really help. And then there was lots of advice on what to do with toddlers when you are working--set up a desk area for themselves in your office or near your office. Make sure your kids understand that you are working, establish phone protocol (meaning explaining to them--DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE). I am thankful that I don't have to start thinking about those things now. God is so gracious in how slowly He moves us from one phase to the next.

So...for those of you that wonder what a WAHM does with an infant...it is a transition of learning how to work in shorter crunches. You become more effective because you are forced to prioritize what is important and what must be done immediately. Nursing the baby provides you with time to think about what has to be done next, or to mull over the work issue of the day and determine the best way to resolve it. And the best part is that when work goes to the crapper, and it always does--you have a nice little wake time with baby to make you smile and laugh and forget about whatever happened. My office manager and I are quite enjoying the distraction.

The big challenge for me is to not feel guilty when he has to spend some time in his bouncy seat as I pound out some emails. I have to remember that he is being entertained and stimulated by his animals....and the floor lamp that he seems to get a charge out of staring at. And the mirror. And whatever else comes his way. Like my office manager's face when she says hello to him enthusiastically.

And I need to remember to feel fortunate that I have the opportunity to work from home and to work with people that understand the importance of my new job...I'd write more, but I am already blowing my work time...and see--you still have the time to "waste time" like you did before by surfing the net and playing dumb games on Facebook.

for those that are keeping track

He slept from 11pm to 6am today. Very exciting.

The Battle for Sleep

It's hard to believe that 3 weeks have past since my last post. The days seem to flow together these days--with the exception from visits and occasional trips out--I don't really remember one day from the other.

Since my last post, Baby P has learned to smile, laugh, coo, and lift his head at a 45 degree angle. I never imagined that a smile could be so breathtaking.

Over here at overanalyzinglife, I have more time than ever to overthink things as I feed the baby. I manage to create issues out of positive things--such as, "do I have an overly perfect baby?" or "should I downplay how great he is as to not make other new moms jealous?"Yes, these are neurotic thoughts....but that is no surprise. With the sleep deprivation, I have turned to watching Friends again. It stops me from dwelling and it is absolutely entertaining. I have watched seasons 5-10--except for season 6 as a neglectful friend still has that--and today I started up season 1. I had to fire it up because of the battle last night.

Baby P went to sleep at 11pm, only to wake up at 2am. Much discussion was had when we "put him down" (I am trying to think of other phrases, because everytime I say that I envision a dog at a pet hospital, and it isn't pretty), as to whether or not he was swaddled tight enough.
At 2am, he confirmed that he was not swaddled tight enough and I went to fix it. I was thankful that he actually went back to sleep.....until 3am.

At 3am, he awoke...again agitated because he was not swaddled tight enough. I finally figured out what was going on with the silly swaddling blanket and then he actually went back to sleep....until 4:30am.

At 4:30am, he awoke...this time I guess he was expecting a little "pick me up" to get him through till 7ish. However, I really want him to start learning how to sleep through the night...so I let him cry. It was not pleasant, but we got through it. After a bit of crying (I won't post the amount of minutes here to avoid judgment), I went in there and gave him his pacifier...which he actually took. That was pretty exciting, as it said to me that he wasn't hungry, he just needed to have his oral fixation satiated (hope that didn't sound too Freudian). So..he dozed..and I stayed up, watching the baby monitor to see when he would wake up. I watched for an hour.

I ended up sleeping from 5:30 to 6:30am...when he awoke, and I took pity on the little man and fed him. He did really well, all things considered (did I mention it was about 75 degrees in our house?). A quick aside--it ended up being a good thing that he was not swaddled tight enough--because it showed me that he can fall back asleep in the middle of the night.

...then I had to have a phone meeting for work at 8:30am. I almost canceled it, but I decided to suck it up and do it anyway. It wasn't so bad. And thankfully, Mike had today off so I was able to sleep a little bit more during the day.

I hope tonight goes better.

It was my intention to write this post with a military theme (hence the title). To make Baby P a "Private P" and myself the Sgt. or whatever...but my brain can't be that creative at the moment to carry it out. So I will just mention the burst of creativity to the reader and hope it is appreciated.