Mama Thoughts

Man oh man.  We did it! We escaped for (almost) 24 hours from our home and it was splendid.  Really really good. We put the little lady down (almost) or at least got her settled enough and then grabbed our suitcase (mostly filled with lactation accessories) and jumped in a taxi and went to Tru.  It was a fabulous 4 hour meal.  (4 hours!!!)   We had cocktails and filled ourselves to the gills with an incredible dinner (really really good) and then went over to the Hyatt.  That was a fun experience.  We were checking in and the lady behind the counter asked for our last name, when I said Pritzker she laughed as if we were joking.  Turned out the room was under Ogulnik since that was still on my priceline account. Then I handed her my license and she was clearly weirded out.  She then said "well you clearly know all of the facilities..." and when I said I didn't she looked at me like she was being Punk'd.  Pretty funny. :)   We s...

We are going on week 13 of staying at home with a baby.  I'm starting to crack a little around the edges.  Each day is the same.  We wake, we eat something and maybe sneak in a shower, he goes to work and I am left with the little lady.  I try to clean up and tidy up but sometimes the most I can do when she falls asleep is simply sit on the couch and stare out at a TV or Facebook (it's a verb).  Her naps are so irregular and so hard to achieve that at times I become a raving lunatic obsessing and scouring the interwebs for things like "can child get sick from no sleep" "how to put child down without screaming fits" "how long should 3 month old stay up between naps" "how to fight 45 minute naps" and so on.  Each and every search at this point results in purple links... meaning I've been there before and read this before and now I'm desperately clinging to answers in a world where there are no answers... and I just need to let go. ...

Today while changing my kidlet before her bath we did the usual.  I took off her outfit, then her dirty diaper and we aired out.  She loves to run on her back during these moments.  So she did.  And I leaned over her and said " Беги,  Беги,  Беги" and she let out a laugh.  A real laugh!  So I did it again.  And she laughed again.  Luckily both dad and I were there.  She got three belly laughs out before it stopped being funny.  But 12 weeks old and we're laughing.  :)  Never mind that it took a solid 2.5 hours to get her to sleep afterwards... the laugh was still pretty solid. 

This weekend marks week 12 with the little lady.  I know this is bad to say and will bite me in the butt eventually, but I feel like we bonded and I get her now.  She's a little person all of a sudden and the indecipherable baby is disappearing quickly.  She's got quite the fighting spirit and for some reason I now find it endearing as opposed to infuriating. This weekend Yanik decided to head to NOLA with the boys for a reunion.  I was terrified.  I very nearly sat down and had a hissy fit a few times during the week leading up to his leaving.  Especially a few days prior to his retreat.  She had a hissy fit for approximately 3 hours where I couldn't get her down which ended in me roaming the streets with her in the stroller screaming and me crying hysterically.  It wasn't pretty.  I didn't break down though.  I put forth a brave face (kinda) and told Yanik to go and have a good time.  I'll get my getaway eventually and will hav...

I'm an "old" mom.  Weird, since I don't really feel so old.  But true.  The average age of a first time mama in the US is 25.  I'm 33.  I've been thinking a lot about how this has affected me and my way of perceiving parenthood and how I act as a mama.  Let's start with the pros (since I'm an optimist). I'm not constantly questioning myself about whether or not I'm doing something the "right" way.  I've heard enough of my friends say how there is no right way... and seeing how they all have different styles and have children that survived babyhood, I believe. I didn't have to buy tons of stuff.  In fact I have my wonderful BFF OS to thank for that.  I inherited more stuff than any human should ever own.   I'm more than willing to accept help from family and friends.  I have seen how this can make such a huge difference in mama happiness and am totally thankful for all of the support that we have. I have a wealth of...

I've been meaning to do a special shout out to three ladies in my life that have made the past 11 weeks bearable.  It goes without saying that my parents and Yan's parents have been fantastic... but these three ladies went above and beyond in the friend department. I won't use names.  BB, AB, and OI you three have really been so so wonderful to me.  BB, you get what I'm going through because you're going through it at the same time... except with two little people instead of my one.  AND you never whine.  And that is fabulous and empowering.  AB, you check in on me on the regular and come by on the weekends and bake.  Dear lord do you bake woman!  And finally OI, you took this opportunity to come by and check in on us multiple times due to the fact that you know how much it helped you... and that is wonderful and amazing and I appreciate your reaching out. There are many other people such as MG who came by one day and talked to me. Or JC who ca...

Our first train ride.  Lunch with daddy.  :) 

So I've become addicted to the show "Scandal" while being home with baby.  40 minute episodes are perfect for a baby that will NEVER take a nap longer than 40 minutes (this should change sometime soon I'm told, but dear lord that time can't happen soon enough).  In the show there is a secret agency that trains assassins... blah blah blah... but the point is that in order to punish these assassins they put them in "the hole" for a week or a month or so and take away all human contact.   This reminds me of motherhood on bad days. For an extrovert such as myself staying home with baby all day long is really really hard.  Friends are busy during the work week with things such as work and busy with their own children on the weekends... and by the time the husband comes home my brain is fried and his is too and socializing is a thing that is just hard. It's kind of like napping.  Babies supposedly nap worse when they are overtired.  I socialize...