Acca-What?! & A Couple of Announcements!

Part of our new schedule is that Jack is staying at my parents house (2 hours away)

two days a week, overnight on Wednesdays. 

I work halfway between our house and theirs so it is a pretty good system-

My mom picks up Jack at my office in the morning on Wednesdays, 

and brings him back to me at the end of my work day on Thursdays.

It's great. 

Until I get pictures like this:

And news that my poor Bubba has a fever!

And because I can't snuggle him or smooch those rosy red cheeks. John took me to see a movie. 

This movie was perfect. Funny, light-hearted, quirky, maybe a tad bit nerdy?, and the real kick- musical numbers! 

Some may call it a renter, but this is John and I's perfect movie. He will deny it up and down, but we both left smiling. 

Round off the evening with Modern Family and a little NyQuil and we call that a recipe to cheer up a mama that is missing her baby.

9 more hours until this week is over. Can I get an Amen?! (I will assume crickets since most people work on Friday's). 

***If you follow me on Twitter you have seen this 23409123412 time since the weekend, but my AMAZING, fabulous, and absolutely hilarious older sister has started a blog. It's laugh-out-loud funny and helps me get my Megan fix now that she is 10 really stupid hours away from me! Please check it out, show her some love, I promise you will not be disappointed! 

***After doing my sister's blog design, and helping out a few friends with their blog designs, I realize how much I miss it! While I love my design by Melissa, I seriously miss messing around with the look of my blog! It's a really fun creative outlet for me! I decided to open myself up for business! I know how EXPENSIVE it is to get a professional design, and I also know how big of a headache HTML can be. I am offering really simple and elegant designs at a really REALLY low price! (less than $50 people!!) Check out my new blog design page and email me with any questions :) 

Let's Talk Pediatricians.

With my recent visit to the pediatrician, I got to thinking about how lucky I am to have found the office that I did. 

Unlike most first time parents, I kind of let the whole pediatrician thing fall to the bottom of my to-do list and before I knew it my water broke, Jack was here, and we were pediatrician-less. Whoops.

Lucky for me, I had been given a few recommendations in passing, and when asked at the hospital where I was going to be taking my brand new baby, I spit out the one that first came to mind. 

I lucked out. Big time. 

I love the office, I love the doctor, I love it all!

I started to think about why. If I had to go back and tell irresponsible me what to be looking for, what would I say is most important?!

For me?

Separate sick and well waiting rooms are a must. 

I really would prefer for my healthy child to NOT be sitting by the overly friendly toddler with chicken pox. And vice versa, I don't want my snot nosed bundle of love infecting the brand-spanking-new 8 lb babies! There are many ways to make mom friends, THAT is not one of them.

A nurse-line to call with any and all of my questions.

Sometimes there are things I do not know. And when my mom doesn't know either, well, I'm stuck. But wait! Our pediatrician has a nurse line to call with these exact questions. I don't want to pack up the baby and head to the office if it's something stupid, I want to talk to a professional who can either tell me to chill or head on in. For example, two weeks ago I called and described Jack's runny nose and cough. The nurse said to put vick's vapor rub on his feet, use saline drops in his nose, keep a humidifier going at night, and to watch out for fevers. If it got worse, call back in a week. Thanks nurse! I felt less helpless, like I had a plan and course of action, and a fall back if things didn't get better. Oh nurse line, I love you. 

A pediatrician that I feel comfortable talking to. 

Sometimes doctors are intimidating. Sometimes, they don't know how to talk like a normal, regular-smart human being. This is not what I want when trying to get real in terms of talking about the health of my child. My pediatrician remembers me. She remembers Jack. She asks about my husband when he isn't able to make an appointment. I feel comfortable asking her about everything Jack related that I can think of and remember to ask. She's amazing. We moved 25 minutes away and I didn't switch offices because I love our pediatrician so much! 

The three things above are the most important factors for me. It's kind of a scary thing to be faced with choosing a care provider for your child. I seriously lucked out and am so thankful! When my baby is sick I have people to turn to that I trust... that is peace of mind I could not survive as a mama without!

Mom Guilt

 Photos taken by Allie!

At first it was fine. 

It was a new schedule. 

I was still voluntarily waking up & making 6am family breakfast. 

It hadn't sunk in that it was reality yet...

Then, last week, I felt it. 

Mom guilt. 

I dropped Jack off at the babysitter, and felt like I was about to cry. 

After the craziness of school and wedding week, I felt like I hadn't seen my baby in days! 

Let alone spent any time with him...

The thing is. He is fine. 

He gives me all kinds of kisses and hugs when I get home at the end of the day. 

I know it's hard, and that he is adjusting too, but he's as happy as ever!

It's hard. 

Dropping him off and not getting to spend all day with him is hard. 

But I know that it will all be worth it. 

Already, Jack's social development has been amazing to see. 

He loves other children, he loves to play! 

I really feel like his personality has exploded in the last two weeks! 

And I still have a day and a half a week to be at home. 

To play, to lounge, to do mama things.

I cherish that time with him WAY more now than I ever did before! 

We will all be better for this, I know, 

but mom guilt... it's no joke! 

40% Hipster 60% Clueless

Don't act like you don't know it's true-

It's totally cool to be a hipster.
It was cool in high school. It was cool in college.  Who knew it would be cool in "mommy world" too?
Me? A hipster? That's  ONE. GIANT. JOKE. 
I have always been a very boring simple person when it comes to style. 
I like pink. I like lace.  I like the occasional sequin.
I'm very girly, don't get me wrong. But the whole- putting thought into what I am wearing thing? That's reserved for special occasions, NOT the grocery store. 
And music? I love ALL music.  I listen to music. But music isn't my life... That's kind of a hipster requirement right?!
But when it comes to parenthood - you know, the mommy stuff, I'm like 40% a hipster... I think.
For real though...  I CLOTH DIAPER. Hipster right? Granted... it's only during the day, when we are at home, not travelling.. or running errands.  Okay so I cloth diaper 60 50% of the time.  50% hipster.
I make (made) my own babyfood (We have moved on to solid finger foods) Jack only ate "pouch" food like 3 times. EVER. This = 800 Bajillion hipster points! Super hipster-y.
On the other hand... We don't co-sleep (Bubba is a bed hog) I only breastfed for 3 months (wish it would have been longer) I turned down a hand-me-down Moby Wrap (Regret it to this day) Sometimes I let Bubba cry it out (GASP!) And we foolishly registered for a Baby Bjorn instead of the Ergo (rookie hipster mistake)
I'd love to be that 100% hipster mommy.  But it's just not in the cards for me! 
Basically what I am trying to say is that I LOVE how diverse mommy-hood is.  There are so many different ways to go about being a parent, lots of which produce WONDERFUL results!
In the words of one of my favorite "mommy bloggers", AP, I like to think I parent "a la carte" I pick and choose from different theories that work for us and our family! 
It's still really cool to be a hipster mom though... Maybe I'll be a hipster grandma?! 

That's one happy 40% hipster baby though...