The Weekend Recap

Friday:

I went to see a movie with a couple of ladies that were kind enough to let me crash their mother/daughter night out. We saw The Vow. I was unimpressed. It pretty much gave me anxiety the entire movie.. mainly because if I woke up to the sweetest most gorgeous man EVER telling me he was my husband, I would not be complaining! We went to a 9:30 movie so that we could put our kids to bed before going out. I was thankful I got to get in a few extra snuggles with my sleepy boy before leaving

The downside was that this mama goes to bed at 10pm every night and so I had to drink a cup of coffee before leaving just to stay awake! John and I were a pathetic and hungry couple because I couldn't eat meat (Gotta love Lent Fridays) and John didn't want to eat fish.. so being the oh-so-romantic fatty wife that I am, I stopped at McD's on my way home and woke John up with a feast (it was midnight!) We had a picnic of french fries and McDoubles in bed - TRUE LOVE people.

Saturday:

It was snowy and cold so our plan to visit my potential school went immediately out the window. We took the day slow, we cleaned & tried out a new breakfast spot (At 1:00 in the afternoon). Bubba has been pretty hilarious lately. Check out this face he makes the minute he swallows a bite of food

He also sat in a restaurant high chair like a big boy and loved banging his hands on the table. Have I mentioned how much I am in love his shopping cart/high chair cover (and his cute face)??

He's such a happy man. My parents stopped over with a few friends in between a wedding ceremony and the reception that they were going to in our area. Jack sat on the floor to play with toys and we watched him like he was the most entertaining thing on the face of the planet (Because, well, he is!)

Sunday:

This mama crawled back into bed when Bubba went down for his morning nap and accidentally slept in until 10:50 - WHOOPS! No church for us.. :/ We got moving quick and piled into the car to head to East Lansing. We met family and friends at one of our favorite Sparty bars before the big basketball game! Some actually went to the game, John met up with some buddies, & Meg, Jack, and I watched the oh-so-disappointing game from her place. Bubba distracted us from our misery :(

As always the weekend went by way too fast.. Can we also discuss that since posting about Jack's schedule I feel as though I have completely jinxed things?! The next morning after the post he slept in until 9am (I'm not complaining) and then last night he woke up at 3am WIDE AWAKE wanting a bottle.. he didn't go back down until 4am (I am DEFINITELY complaining) and then he woke up for the day at 6:30am!!! What. The. HELL. I am sorry, but I don't require an enormous amount of sleep, but I do LOVE my 8 hours. I thought that since he woke up at 3 I would AT LEAST get to sleep in until 8am.. right?? SO wrong. Oh well.. 

Happy Monday :)

p.s. I almost forgot about my picture a day challenge: 

March 3 (Your neighborhood) 

Off our back deck.. our ugly little condo complex.. this just proves you can't choose a book by it's cover, otherwise John never would have even THOUGHT about so much as looking at our new place! 

March 4 (Bedside)

Add my phone on its charger and this is what I go to sleep/wake up with each and every day. 

The Six Month Skinny

We had a bum day.. as you can see from pictures - Jack stayed in his jammies all day (and he wasn't the only one.. they were technically yoga pants if that makes it any better??) We got a surprise visit from my brother. He hadn't seen Jack since the superbowl and wanted to come say hi before he left for spring break. I was happy to see him and get to hang out for a few hours - I love having him only 40 min away.. he was far far away playing hockey for 2 years! Jack really loves his Uncle Sean.. they are pretty much best buds. 

I also got some INCREDIBLE news!

I got an e-mail that there was a new message on one of grad school applications. So I logged in to check my status...

Yup! I'm going to grad school next year!!! I still have to hear back from one other school before I officially decide where I am going... but whether that other school is a yes or a no, I will be going back to school in the fall to get my MASTERS in Social Work. I couldn't be happier. It is a huge weight off of my shoulders and I cannot believe I'm actually going to be one step closer to my professional goal! 

So it's SAHM for 6 more months, then this Mama is going to be a Student again. I know that it will be hard and there will be lots of challenges and bumps in the road, but I can handle it. If the past year has taught me anything, it's that I am stronger than I give myself credit for sometimes!

As promised yesterday, I am going to write out a sample schedule for the day to day with my Mr. Jack. This is a loose schedule, I do not follow it to a "T" every day. I still believe there should be room for Jack to decide how he feels and what he wants, but I also don't think I should be letting him "run the show" so to speak. Habits we form now will follow us into the future! I know that there are lots of different parenting styles running along a spectrum, and I really feel like I fall in the middle on most things. It's what works for us, what John and I are comfortable with, and makes everyone feel happy, safe, and secure! That is the most important thing.

A "Normal" Day:

Anywhere between 7:00 & 7:30am Jack wakes up in splendid mood and laughs and coos in his crib until Mama can muster the strength to get out of bed. We sing our morning song (an original, improv creation by yours truly.. sometimes in an opera voice). Jack smiles and plays peek-a-boo with his beloved blanky while we change his diaper and then head downstairs. I heat up a bottle and we watch the Today show while he sucks it down like it's his first meal in days (or 12 hours)
7:30-9am We play with toys on the floor, roll around, try to crawl, bounce in our bouncer and eventually Jack starts fussing and it's time for a nap. I put him down with his paci, blanky, sleep sheep set to the sounds of the ocean, and the mobile cranked all the way (high maintenance over here) He will normally sleep anywhere from an hour to (when I'm lucky) three hours.. Usually about two hours though.. so lets go with that..
11:00am Wake up, have morning cereal, about a half cup (sometimes mixed with half a banana or a tbs of applesauce). Play some more, have a bath (every other day), get ready for the day (both Mama and Jack), 12:00 bottle. After this second bottle we will usually try and get out to do our errands, take a walk, or in cases like today just hang out around the house and play.
 2:00pm Lunch time! He eats about 3-4 tbs of whatever I have made at the time. More playing, more laughing, lots of pictures, LOTS of smiles!
4:00pm Jack has a bottle, and then gets cranky. He wants to sleep but won't let himself. I usually try to put him down but end up going up and down the stairs 50 times (hello cardio) putting his paci back in and trying to sooth him as he screams with his eyes closed and his hands behind his head (aka assume sleep position).. sigh.. this part of the day SUCKS
5:00pm John is home from work. There is so much happiness. Jack LOVES to play with his daddy. They roll around and play until dinner
7:00pm Dinner time! I either give Jack a fruit or a veggie, depending on what he had for lunch I will do the opposite. I always keep bananas in the house and try to have applesauce made and ready to go in the fridge. He starts getting really tired after this time so we get to snuggle and love on him in the very short period of time that he doesn't have to be a squirmy wiggle worm.
8:00pm One last bottle and then he's off to bed. He's so happy to be put in his crib at this time that he doesn't even need his special sleepy time noises. He snuggles with his blanky and falls right to sleep for the whole night!

Today was a great day for obvious reason! I'm happy to snuggle up with my husband on the couch and watch some American Idol :) 

Family Visits, the DREADED Dentist, & Paczki Cravings

Last night my aunt came over to love on Mr. Jack. He REFUSES to take an afternoon nap, so every day around 6pm he gets SO sleepy. At that point I just TRY to keep him awake until 8 (bedtime), but normally I fail and end up waking him up at 10 or 11 for one last bottle. Last night he lasted until 7:30, we gave him a bottle, and then decided to experiment with just putting him down for the night and NOT waking him up. I was so sure I was going to be up at the CRACK OF DAWN but Da Bubba slept until 8:10 am!! My big boy, 6 months old, sleeping more than 12 hours a night - this is a HAPPY Mama!

Today I went to the dentist for the first time in almost a year. I have never had a cavity, or any sort of tooth "issue", but nonetheless it is my LEAST favorite kind of appointment to go to. I would rather go see any (and I mean ANY) doctor other than the dentist. I hate the noise the scrapy thing makes on your teeth, how sore your gums get, the nasty warm water they squirt in your mouth - UGH! Since I was pregnant with Da Bubba my gums have been really inflamed and bleed like CAH-RAZY. This hasn't stopped so todays visit was EXTRA brutal. I usually make sure to go every 6 months just because the process is so much worse the longer you wait, but life def got away from me this go-around. It won't be happening again!

When I got home my mom had to leave us to do a little work today. She left me with the task of thinking up things we can do to celebrate this last day of "freedom". I can't believe it's already FAT TUESDAY!! I have been trying to think of something to give up for lent and I keep on coming back to EXCUSES. This will be really tough. It will force me to reflect A LOT and pray A LOT. But I think both of those things will be very good for me!

For now I'm craving a paczki, taking LOTS of pictures of Bubba (He's sitting up all by himself.. kinda) and enjoying this gloomy, sleepy day! We miss Daddy A LOT.. probably going to hit him up for some "facetime" tonight :)

Yucky flash Mom!!

Fall and go BOOM!

Giving some lovin to Miss Riley

Settled

We made it! It was a crazy weekend but we are in the new place and I am IN LOVE. It's not much bigger than our apartment in square footage, and the place definitely has it's flaws, but it feels like home. Just the fact that their are three different floors - bedroom upstairs, living room/kitchen/half-bath main floor, and a finished basement/laundry and storage downstairs makes it feel just a teensy bit closer to having a house! John and I have had a lot of people question us as to why we aren't looking for a house (apparently it's the best time to buy a house right now?) It's hard not to get caught up in the - "we are married, we have a baby, it's time to get a house!" stereotype. But here's the thing, we could put ourselves into lots and lots of debt, buy a house, and pay a mortgage that's pretty equivalent to the amount of rent we pay. But we are still young, we are new to the area, new to John's job, who knows where we will be in 1, 2, or 3 years. We are NOT ready to commit to a house.. even though I dream of the day that we are! 

ANYWAYS (Excuse my house tangent) I am so happy with this new place. I am so happy that once it gets warm we can walk to our cute little downtown, or to church just up the street. I love the hardwood floors in the living room and the way our furniture looks inside of it. I love that I have my own bathroom to get ready in downstairs, and most of all, I am IN LOVE with my new kitchen! It's not perfect by any means. It doesn't have granite countertops or a gas stove. There's some quirks with the alignment of the cupboards to the countertops and there is a TON of space between the two sides. BUT it feels like MY kitchen. All of my stuff fits in it! I am already being obsessive about keeping it neat and tidy, and cannot wait to finish decorating. 

Jack's room all packed up :( 

Now it took us quite a bit of time to get to this point of happiness. John and I spent 6 hours finishing up all the packing on Friday night. We went to bed exhausted - not really noting the fact that it was the last night in our first home together. I got extremely nostalgic packing up Jack's room and couldn't believe all the emotion I had tied up in that stupid little garden-level cave-like apartment. Jack has been sleeping through the night consistently since Friday night and it is amazing. He seems to really be getting on a schedule, and he didn't let the madness of moving screw him up. After packing up his crib on Saturday morning he hung out in his little Nap Nanny watching Mom and Dad and snoozing here and there. I left for the condo before the boys came and packed everything into the GIANT moving van my dad rented from U-HAUL.. he really wanted to get it in one trip. I am sort of thankful I didn't have to see the place completely empty. I think it would have made me really sad.

I was so thankful for all of the help we had on Saturday. My mom stayed at the condo with Jack and I. We pretty much unpacked all of the boxes John and I had brought during the week and waited around for my dad, John, my brother, and John's best friend to come back with EVERYTHING. My sister Megan showed up to help too. Our moving day became a family affair, which makes even the most horrible tasks seem more bearable! Once all of our stuff arrived, it became madness. My brother and John's best friend were anxious to get back to school, because college students have much more fun activities to attend to. This resulted in boxes simply being piled up into a cramped space instead of being sent to their designated areas. They left us a DISASTER zone. 

My poor kitchen after the boys unloaded the moving van..

Once we had the furniture set up and clear pathways to work with, we abandoned getting any more work done for the day and went out to eat. My parents are leaving for Hawaii later this week so they needed to go shopping at a nearby mall and decided to just get a hotel and stay the night, Megan didn't want to leave the party so she stayed with them as well. It made for an awesome night, where no one felt rushed to leave the restaurant. Jack ate and fell asleep pretty much instantly after we arrived so we enjoyed delicious cold Smithwick's  (Did I mention I'm 100% Irish) and the world's best fish & chips, wonderful live music, and time well-spent with family. The more we get together with our family partially together, the more apparent it becomes how much we miss our family members so far away in D.C. - When are you guys just going to give up your big city lives and move to Michigan?!

Jack bellied up to the bar as we waited for a table on Sat. night

On Sunday there was no rest for the weary. My parents picked up Mr. Jack to take him along shopping and John and I set to work. We got the kitchen, living room, bathrooms, and master bedroom completely  unpacked (only leaving Bubba's room and the basement to finish). It felt amazing to see our new home come together.. Even though we were being sent distractingly adorable pictures of Jack.

Cute little fuzzy head on a shopping spree!

My kitchen made a beautiful transformation from the cramped, box explosion that it was on Saturday. Even though it is still a work in progress decoration wise, I could not be happier! 

1) I cannot wait to add shelves on that empty wall space to display our wine glasses/bar wear

2) John's dad refinished this table for us. I can't say I am in love with it. I do love that we have space for a kitchen table though! In my dream world I would paint this table white and display it's really cute antique-y features. Instead I am in search of a table cloth (as well as matching chairs) to pretty it up. We also have a BEAUTIFUL blue bowl (on the table) that I cannot wait to hang on the wall.

3) We displayed some of our beautiful wedding gifts above the cabinets :)

4) The other side of the kitchen.. There is room for everything!

Another new development since my last post is Jack's new found love for his highchair! He loves to be able to sit up and see everything that is going on. He happily eats his solid food, plays with toys, and even falls asleep in it! His grandma also brought his Christmas present (that we couldn't fit in our old place) to the new condo and he LOVES what I call his "flying saucer". New home + New toys = Happy, stimulated, and sleeping-through-the-night Bubba. 

Looking out the window with Aunt Megan at his new house!

He loves his high chair!

Playing in his new "Flying Saucer" and eating his mitten

Snuggling with Daddy for his nuh-night bottle before bed :)

The rest of this week is dedicated to finishing unpacking and getting organized. Today I have to go to the dreaded grocery store.. My favorite task to procrastinate doing. But it's a must! 

I am finally feeling at peace. We moved. I submitted ALL THREE of my grad school applications. I have Jack on a schedule. It finally feels like real life is going to start without a constant flow of things to be "waiting" for or "looking forward" to. I am relieved to feel like we are getting to that point of "settled".