Postpartum month 4

Just doing a quick check in for those that have been emailing and asking!

I am now 4 months post partum.

Battling some anxiety that got ramped up during pregnancy but I'm happy to announce that the coping skills that I have been taught are proving to pay off.
 I was able to go to the mall last weekend by myself for a couple of hours and I didn't have an attack!  I was also able to go shopping at Walmart on a Saturday morning with my little family unit and didn't get an attack either!  I went to a get together at a friends house on Saturday night and while I did have a small attack there, I was able to work through it and enjoy myself!

Maybe someday I will share my whole story for you, but for now, admitting to my anxiety hard enough.

I am about 5 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight.  

I'm not looking to lose it and I haven't been trying to either...it's just falling off.  

I'm still having some pain above, around, and below my incision site.  I assume it's from it un-numbing and the nerves and any extra bending/stretching/twisting that I do.  

I went through a few days of horrible pain on one side...apparently it's Mittleschmerz.  

If it continues I have to go back in.

But, I'm doing okay otherwise!

A Pinteresting evening

I went out and had some me time on Saturday night!
(Chad went out Friday night with friends)

This was, for the most part, my first night out since Parker (not that I had a lot of those pre-Parker).

Megan threw a Pinterest party and invited me to come on up!

You've never heard of a Pinterest party?  
Me either!

The rules were simple:

The host provides the main dish and the craft.

The guests bring a dessert, appetizer, or drink.

All must come from Pinterest.  

Sounds fun to me!

I didn't take any pictures of the food or the process....

I was taking everything in and working on some strategies to help myself get through it.

Everything that was brought looked really yummy 

(however I only tried a few things since I was a little anxious to be there)!
I opted to bring fruit salsa and cinnamon/sugar chips.

Megan had a fun and simple craft picked out!

This is my finished product.  

Her original pin can be found here (I assume that's the pin she used anyhow).

We used liquor bottles instead of wine bottles though.

Alysha found this fun pin to add to the fun!

Everyone (minus Jen) and their finished products!

(stole this picture from Megan's Facebook)

Thanks Megan for a great "first" night out!

(PS this totally counts as one of my "something new in 2013")

{commit} update

I'm checking in with my 2013 commitments!

The original post with my checkin!

-----Totally doing this!  I don't bring much of anything home and I've only went to the school one day on one weekend...that's it! WOOP WOOP-----------
I didn't bring home piles of work each night/weekend.  I didn't spend countless hours at the school on the weekends.  Sure, maybe once a month (dang centers) I spent a few good hours there on a Sunday....but it wasn't EVERY weekend or EVERY night. 

**I'm committing to that again.  

I need to use my time at the school wisely and not always 

over talking to bugging Alysha :-)

I only have the evenings with Parker once I'm back at work so I want to make the most out of them.  Sure I might have a few things to bring home to work on here and there, but it won't be as much as it used to be.

---Let's not talk about this one yet.  I'm not making boxed meals and neither is Chad as much, but I still feel like they could be better. So, still working on this one.------
**I also want to try and make cleaner meals...less boxed stuff.  

I'm committing to 1x a week for now.  I think that's reasonable.  

I can't commit to an all or nothing....that isn't reasonable.

------This is still a work in progress.  We are teaming the cleaning but doing it all in one day--------
**I also want to find a balance for keeping the house clean.  I used to spend one day during the weekend to clean...that gets to be too much when your husband is just a "picker upper" and not a "cleaner".  So maybe Mondays I'll clean up the whole kitchen, Tuesdays I'll do windows, etc etc.  I'm bound to find a balance somewhere. I've got quite a few "cleaning schedules" pinned on pinterest....

Cleanin' Fool

orGaniZe mE

----Got the coat hooks up finally! That's a start!------
**I am committing to finally getting the house decorated....

------Haven't done this yet-------

**I'd like to explore the Dave Ramsey envelope system again...

not committing to doing it, just exploring it a little more.

------Haven't done this yet-------

**The utility room WILL get organized in 2013...COMMITTED!

----I have totally read 2 books so far!-----

**I'm committing to reading 1 book for pleasure this year.  
I haven't done this in awhile and I'd like to.  

So I'm committing to one, if I read more than that GREAT!   

-----I tried new make up in January.  I really like it!  Yoga is in my near future also I think!-------

**I'm committing to trying/doing/going to 5 different things.  Maybe it's going to a new store, going for a walk in a different park than normal, trying to crochet, attending an event we've never been to... WHO KNOWS! The possibilities are endless!

 I would commit to 12, but that is one a month and that 

is not currently reasonable for ME. 

 5 is a good number...

---This is in place and is lame...not fond of it at all------

I've also got a new bill book idea that we will be starting in January.  With this record keeping I have decided it's best to start fresh by following the calendar....so this doesn't get changed up often =)


How are your 2013 commitments going???

Pinteresting Project

For Valentine's day this year for school I decided to make the kids' Valentine's instead of bagging candy and a pencil for them.  How nice of me....I know =)

I had been seeing tutorials on how to make your own crayons all over pinterest so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Bought some crayons (cheap RoseArt crayons worked the best) and a silicon mold that could withstand the heat of the oven and went to town.  

Cut the paper off! Break apart!

 Baked at 230 degrees F for about 10 minutes, then checked and baked another 8ish minutes or so.  Remember to put them on a baking sheet otherwise it may be a little messy because the silicon tray is flimsy.....

Voila!

I also got a free printable to attach them to =) But you could easily make your own!

I made these a week or so ago.  I love how they turned out.  I chose to put "like" colors together and put the browns and blacks together.  I won't had those out as they aren't as fun...they will go into the lost and found bin that has become empty at school.....

{shenanigans}

I finally convinced Chad into making the coat hooks for the front door (would have done the back too but we bought Menards out of the hooks we needed). We may or may not have messed up and now it has a fancy decoration on it =)

I also finally finished the set of word blocks that I had started at the beginning of January.  I've got the most awesome head cold that started today so I didn't get to snuggle much with Parker today.  Don't want to get him sick! So I sat at the table and finished these up.

They spell a bazillion different words and I've made them for a few family members and friends but never myself.  Now I have my own set!

We also put together Parker's high chair today.  It will get brought upstairs this week and he will start joining us in this for meals!  He may or may not get to start solids soon.  Most books tell you 4-6 months so we will talk to his pediatrician at his 4 month appointment to see when to start and what to start with!  For now though, he will just hang out and play in it.  He didn't seem to mind it all that much so that's a bonus!!

We all hung out in the "man cave" last night.  Chad hooked up one of our cable boxes to the TV down there to see if it would work and voila! As long as we use the AV jacks and not the HD we have TV downstairs again!  He took the box out of our room and used that.  We need to find somewhere here that sells the boxes so that we can just have one for down there instead of using the one from our bedroom.  Loves me some Nick at Night before I go to bed!

Chad shoveled earlier this evening.  We have quite the drifts from the "blizzard" we were having.  We are expected to get another 1-3 inches tomorrow!!!

I hope your weekend has been as productive as ours has so far!

{faux}tographer

I took Parker's 3 month pictures with a 

malfunctioning camera today. 

I'm pretty biased, but I think they turned out pretty decent! 

Here's a few of my favorites SO FAR.

{three months}

HOLY MOLY!!

 P-man is G.R.O.W.I.N.G.!!!!!

(month 1)

(month 2)

He is now 24.25 inches tall and 13lbs 8oz (as of the beginning of January)!

 

HE:

 had his first antibiotic this month......

Cherry flavor....not so bad!

is a mildly fussy baby.....
unless he REALLY wants something and wants it NOW!

 has slowed his eating habits (thank goodness)....

still snores (I swear the two boys in the house are trying to out do each other).....

is starting to grab at his toys....

the octopus gets beat up every day on his play mat

laughs and smiles a lot.....

found his thumbs!...

has started pulling his knees up under him during tummy time......

rolls front to back.....

has started to roll from side to side and spin himself when on his back.....

doesn't spit up nearly as much....

naps well in his swing.....

started daycare this month.....

and last but not least!

his newest accomplishment!

He mimics us when we vibrate our lips at him!  

It is TOO cute! He laughs after he does it and spits EVERYWHERE! 

.............................................................................

Some things that we I couldn't have lived without his third month:

Baby Einsteins Neptune Ocean gym--he seriously loves this thing. He will bat and pull the toys for a good 45 minutes before getting fussy.

 Bibs--we have a serious drooler on our hands currently.

Boppy--he loves to sit propped on the couch with this and "play" with the toys that I put on it for him.

Oxi Clean spray--has taken the spit up stains out of ALMOST all of OUR clothes!

Baby Brush--this has helped clear up his mild-moderate cases of cradle cap...that and baby oil

..........................................................................

Our little dude is getting quite the personality!  He talks our ears off somedays!

He is becoming more interactive and more content playing by himself.  

He falls asleep on his own a few times a week without the aide of us, the swing, or bouncer chair! 

I'm back at work now so he goes to daycare.  He seems to do great and is sometimes smiley when he first sees me at pick up time.  

Is it sad that I'm already looking forward to our three day weekend in February? and our 5 day Easter break? oh, and SUMMER?!

"What are those things down there?"

Poor Jeffrey didn't even see it coming.

Loving some Bumbo time.