This Wonderful Life

My life was pretty boring up until I married my husband. I went to college, went to classes, and went home to visit my parents on the weekend because they provided a weekends worth of dog food and the capability for me to do laundry without going to a laundromat. (Public places like laundromats, or things like public transportation terrify me!) However, since I've married my husband nothing has slowed down.

I moved in with him September 2010, we got married October 2010, March 2011 we had our wedding, April 2011 we decided to buy a house, May 2011 we moved into our new house, October 2011 we celebrated our one year anniversary, December 2011 we drove from NC to OK to visit his family and then back, we also found out we were pregnant December 2011, May 2012 he deployed, August 2012 our daughter was born, November 2012 he got home, March 2013 we find out we are MOVING TO ENGLAND! Seriously. Haven't had a chance to catch my breath.

I'm so excited but there is so much to be done, like finding a home for our older dog who wouldn't survive the trip to England, saving up money to ship our younger dog there, selling our home (hopefully!!), getting passports for me and baby, selling a car, collecting paperwork for the dog, deciding what furniture we can bring, trying to find money for a trip home to say goodbye because it is likely some/most of our family will not be able to visit us in England at all in the next 4 years!

All of this, plus more, while being mom.

Thankfully we have some family (my dad and step mom) about 100 miles from us so when we're in a pinch or I get completely overwhelmed I can call them and beg for assistance with the tiny one but I don't do this frequently.

Currently I'm working on deep cleaning my house before my in laws arrive on Thursday! They are going to help us get the house ready to sell and spend some time with their granddaughter which is fantastic.What I've learned so far? I should clean my oven more often. And my arms are really out of shape.

On top of all of this going on I'm still trying to work on crocheting and selling blankets.

Custom orders keep coming in and I'm so thankful! I work on these in every spare minute I have during the day! If Chloe is napping and I can't clean because it's too loud, I crochet, if I'm catching up on a TV show because shes asleep and I can't possibly clean any more? I crochet. Winding down for the night right before bed? Crocheting. Waiting for some sort of appointment/picking someone up at the airport? Crocheting. Seriously! I think it keeps me from going completely insane so thank you everyone who has ordered one!

The money I earn from making blankets is what is getting all of us home to visit my family before we go to England. I call it Crocheting My Way Home!

Currently I'm half way through one order with 2 more to fill. All sales go through my Etsy shop so I can make sure I get my taxes paid appropriately. If you're interested in ordering a blanket feel free to message me via Etsy (sorry there is nothing in my shop... I haven't had time to do anything but my custom orders), email me, or get a hold of me whatever way you know how.

I've finally figured out pricing so here it is. Baby Blankets (approx. 30''x 30'') - $35, Stroller Blankets (approx. 30''x40'') - $50, Crib Blankets (approx 30''x50'') - $65. This includes shipping. Also you can pick as many colors as you want or I can help you design a palate, keeping in mind I don't know how to dye my own yarn yet so I'm limited by what I can buy.

SO! Clearly I've been keeping myself busy but I keep telling myself once this initial craziness is over and the house is on the market things will slow down a bit. The cleaning will be done, the fixing up will be done, then we'll be down to maintainence and I can handle that. Lots more time to crochet then and you know, breathe and be a mom who takes her baby outside of the house! I can't wait because the weather is starting to get nice here.

Please keep following my blog if nothing else than to help me out! I'll be posting pictures room by room soon to get opinions on if you would like the looks of a room if you were looking to buy a house, I'd love all your opinions!!

And then of course, starting late November, Molly and Chloe's Adventures in the UK! (Loch Ness and Platform 9 3/4 will be visited... SOON!)

And tomorrow I will tell you all about how I gave up on the pinterest eco friendly way to clean your oven and went for the toxic chemical way.... and never looked back!

No Babysitter Needed!

If any of my friends ask me what to do before their little ones arrive my list is always the same.

1. Enjoy sleeping on your stomach because after 20 weeks you probably won't be able to again until after your little one is born... and that will feel like forever.

2. GO OUT! Go out on dates, go walk around a store, heck, go through the drive through for a burger and fries. Remember that feeling of simply walking out of the house when you decide to go because it won't happen again probably for another 13 years.

3. Go on dates because its harder after the baby comes and you probably will go out and only talk about the baby so it's not the same.

4. Enjoy sleeping period. Because after about 30 weeks you'll be too uncomfortable to sleep well until the baby is born and you've healed up a bit... but the baby doesn't care and they will keep you awake anyway.

I miss being able to just jump in my car and go out sometimes. I've substituted shopping in store for online shopping. It's okay because I paid for Amazon Prime, which is awesome, so I don't pay for shipping. And it's 2 day shipping that I get with my yearly fee.... and honestly my days are so busy things arrive at my door before I realized two days have passed! Not surprising. It's amazing how long it takes me to remember and find time to do stupid things. Example, there is a picture over my couch that has been slipping from it's frame. I noticed it about a month ago. By the time I have a chance to fix it, I've completely forgotten about it... and I re-notice it when I have a fussy or hungry baby in my arms and then I can't do a thing about it!

I don't spend money on myself online shopping really. Mostly it's stuff we need for a Chloe. I drastically underestimated how many burp cloths we would need for her. But then again I had no idea that she would have acid reflux so it's not my fault.

The last thing I bought for myself was a crochet hook (with a 40% off coupon) and some yarn... on a rare day when Chloe and I made it out of the house.

And that brings me to my point of today. The best thing I've discovered since having a baby (that I wish I had discovered before I had a baby.... like when my husband was deployed and I was sitting around bored, lonely, and pregnant for 4 months) is crocheting! When Chloe goes down for a nap and I am too burnt out from wrestling her down for a nap to clean, then I crochet.

It's a relaxing thing for me to do that doesn't cost much money, I don't have to leave the house to do it, and I don't need to hire a babysitter. Plus I can pick it up and put it down whenever I need to. Added bonus it keeps my hands and mind busy enough that I'm not snacking or checking the refrigerator 30 times!

And of course there is that feeling of accomplishment when you finish a project. I'm working on blankets right now (1 of 5 that I'm planning before I can work on some for myself!) and I just love watching it build up. Crochet tends to high five you as you go along, it's like 'Go you! Look what you're making! You're awesome!'

(blanket as of last night before Chloe fell asleep. day 2)

Give Me A Tiara, I'm Gonna Pageant Queen Cry

Biggest victory in my married life yesterday. No, it wasn't giving birth. Yesterday I made a meal that my husband genuinely ENJOYED. He will try anything I make so long as it is compiled of ingredients approved by picky toddlers, so it's hard to impress him. Not to mention my mother in law is a phenomenal cook. Every time we visit or she visits I manage to gain a minimum of 4lbs in a week. Sometimes more.

Back to the point. I made pot roast. This is a huge step for me anyway because I always look at roasts and think they are way too much money and predict I will mess it up and it will be awful and I will have just wasted a ton of money and then be miserable. But I went for it. And to quote my husband. "That was awesome. You did a great job." No exclamation points because he is pretty laid back. His words were sincere but not nearly as enthusiastic as I would have made them. However I do tend to be a bit over the top and dramatic - a trait our daughter inherited.

I looked over at him and practically teared up as I said "I've been waiting my entire life to hear you say that." And I was completely serious. He replied with a typical, 'You haven't known me your entire life.' And I told him "Fine, our entire married life. Don't ruin this moment for me." Then me and my victory pants walked back into the kitchen to celebrate and be gross and eat a ton more food.

Of course the roast was delicious but I managed to under cook the potatoes. I have never undercooked potatoes. I am Irish and had a serious potato craving during my pregnancy. Apparently I can never get everything all together at once.

If you're curious this is the roast recipe. You should probably make one.

Fur Babies

Today is definitely one of those days.

I went to bed at 7:30 last night because I have an awesome baby who is like, "Sure mom, I can go to sleep for the night at 7pm tonight with only happy fussing and no real fight." And then I'm all like, "Thanks for making me look like I know what I'm doing! I won't even mind if you wake up at 4:30 in the morning like usual and are ready to go because I'll still have had 9 hours of sleep! Go team!"

Then 9:30 pm rolls around and I'm AWAKE.... with the stomach flu.

Then 11:30 pm rolls around and I'm still running back and forth to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so and in between trying to will myself to sleep through the nausea and stomach pain because the ever flushing toilet keeps threatening to wake perfect baby and the other bathroom is way too far away in the dark.... and the dogs would definitely think it was breakfast time if I left the room.

I managed to get to sleep again about 11:30 and then I woke up at 5 am right before the baby. Which is nice. I like to have a few minutes to wake up before she starts yodeling in her pack and play and asking me to turn on Blue's Clues... because Blue's Clues isn't on at 5 am, it's not on until 6 or 6:30 and I really really hate Wonder Pets. It makes me want to gouge my ears out. I was going to say eyes but it's not so much the style of animation that bothers me (even though it's really annoying), it's more the fact that they sing the same song every episode and the voice overs are strained and pitchy.

Moving on.

I am still sick but I have to do my best to entertain my baby because Drew cannot just call in sick and stay home to take care of us. I really don't want her getting sick so I'm trying to do as many exhausting high energy with minimal close face to face interaction things with her as possible to encourage nap.

The dogs aren't helping. That is typical. Here is what happens in my house.

Atlas my golden retriever, super sweet but short on brains.

Atlas: "WHAT MOM!? THE BABY IS ASLEEP!? OKAY! I'M JUST GONNA DRINK THIS WATER...AS LOUD AS I CAN POSSIBLY MANAGE!" Then he spins in circles right outside the door where she is sleeping clicking his nails louder than necessary hoping she will wake up so he can kiss her some more.

Oliver, my corgi, the most emo dog in the world and Sir Grumpy Gills.

Oliver: "HEY! HEY MOM! I KNOW YOU SPENT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS PUTTING IN THIS FENCE SO WE COULD SIT OUTSIDE BECAUSE I WAS BEGGING YOU TO TAKE ME OUTSIDE ALL THE TIME BUT NOW THAT WE HAVE IT I WANT TO SIT INSIDE BECAUSE I DON'T CARE ANY MORE SO I'M GOING TO BARK ROUGHLY ONCE PER SECOND UNTIL YOU STOP IGNORING ME AND LET ME IN." Then he runs directly to his food dish because I let him in so it must be dinner time even though it's only noon and when I don't feed him dinner at noon he paces sadly clicking his nails loudly outside where the baby is sleeping to show his displeasure at my unwillingness to bend to his request.

And that's my day.

Blog Part One... Aaaand GO!

Being a stay at home mom (SAHM for those of you who are behind on the acronyms) has turned out to be pretty much exactly what I expected. It has been five months on Friday and I still don't have the hang of it. For me, as I hope for others so I'm not the only miserable failure, I can accomplish 2 of the 3: Being a good mom, being a good wife, keeping a clean house. Guess which one falls to the wayside? You bet my house is cluttered! Not messy, if you exclude the ever growing sink full of dishes because I hate doing dishes... this is why I have 12-18 bottles at all times, but cluttered.

I used to think the 1450 sq ft of our home was too big, until we brought home baby gear. Real estate agents should really tell you to plan for 1000 sq ft per child you plan to have. Drew and I now have 450 sq ft to share, the rest is allotted to baby and dogs ... when they fit.

And the other thing I expected was to be very much alone all the time... or want to be alone. The dogs spend most of their day in the yard which is fantastic because having them inside is like having an ADHD toddler, a moody teenager, and of course the enthusiastic baby and they may as well all be speaking Spanish because I can't understand a bloody thing and none of them seem to understand me.

Thank goodness for my years of hardcore training at being a hermit or the lack of communication could drive me mad. Instead I provide commentary for my 21 week old daughter, and shes hysterical.

Leaving the house is not an option usually. I'm not that coordinated. I feel like I have to plan it down to the minute the night before. I'm getting braver though. We attempted the Moby wrap twice in the past 2 days and we're making progress. Let me break it down for you.

Day 1: Tried a structured carrier and Chloe kicked her legs, cried, and scratched at me with her tiny baby claws. Switched her to the Moby. She fussed, leaned her head as far away from me as possible so to make sure that I was not to think that tying her to me would draw any sort of affection such as willful snuggling or appreciation. I am mom - transportation device, feeder, bum changer, and bather. I am not dad - snuggler and general AWESOME parent.

Day 2: Lasted 30 minutes as opposed to the day before. Sneaky mom, waiting for Chloe to be overtired after refusing to nap for 3 hours. Walked around, looked in mirrors so Chloe could flirt with herself, and then sat down. Baby, warm and snuggly, begins to fall asleep... momentarily resting her head against my chest. Mommy makes fatal mistake of kissing sweet good smelling baby hair on top of her head, baby realizes what is going on, promptly throws head backwards and cries.

I removed her from the Moby, put her in the crib, and she immediately fell asleep.

I'm sure her teenaged years will be fun.

Kudos to Chloe though! She happily sat in her high chair and read her Baby Einstein book for about 45 minutes while I prepped dinner. She did sneeze on it twice (good thing the pages are wipeable!) but I do mean read. She was reading out loud to me...in baby language, perhaps in thanks for the hundreds of books I've read for her.... or in attempt to throw off my cooking. Silly Chloe, I don't attempt recipes with more than 5 ingredients or ones that have any challenging steps!

Then dad came home and the day got a billion times better... Until we ate enchiladas in front of her and she let us know with her stern facial expressions that eating enchiladas without offering one to her was very rude and that we should be ashamed of ourselves. Still, those who have no teeth receive no enchiladas!