I have this thing about eating leftovers....I don't. I hate eating them, which I always found to be strange about myself.  Like I'm not trying to be snobby being like "Oh, I'm better than leftovers", I just cringe at the thought of it. Maybe its because I didn't grow up eating them as most families do, so Im not used to it?  As a kid, my diet consisted of box Mac and Cheese and Ramen Noodles...my mom didn't know how to cook/didn't like to cook.  The only thing I can remember her making from scratch was meatloaf, which is one of my favorite foods coincidentally (I make a mean Meatloaf btw, its super easy but delicious!), so yeah I blame my family for my strong dislike of leftovers.  I mention this because I am sitter hear eating yogurt covered raisins instead of reaching for the leftover pot roast I had intended on eating for lunch. I know its 1) not good for ME to not eat regularly scheduled meals since I am supposed to be eating 500 extra calories a day and 2) DEF not good for the baby, since she is dependent on me for nutrients...so why then do I always do this to myself?  I make myself get to the point of severe hunger before I do anything about it.  I often blame it on the baby being like "how am i supposed to find time to make myself some food when she needs so much of my attention?", which is sometimes true, but most of the time not.  My mind is like a carousel, always turning never resting.  Its frustrating really, because it takes me a long time to fall asleep at night since my mind has a hard time settling down.  I desire peace so much, but I feel it to be an impossible thing to achieve.  Peace with myself, with God, with Sean, with my friends.

Well, on the plus side, baby is asleep for like her third nap of the day, and its only 1:30! She's been doing awesome the last couple of days in the sleep department (Thank the Lord!).  She has never been much of a napper, which is probably my fault because I didnt understand her signs or how to get her to go down for one, but now that I get it I am using my "mommy magic" skills and its working! Sean and I coined the term "Daddy Magic" to refer to his ability yo get her to settle down and go to sleep.  She's always so good for him, and I never understood why I couldn't achieve the same results.  No mom wants to hear their baby cry, so I would usually nurse her to sleep, which gives you short term results but all it really does is screw you over in the long run.  Its important to set up a routine which babies can understand and predict...it gives them a sense of control in a world where they generally have none.   All I do is when she gets cranky (aka I'm tired and need a nap) I rock her in my arms until she stops crying, then I lay her down, wish her a nice nap, and put a nice fuzzy blanket over her.  I think the blanket trick is really what has helped.  I think she finds the texture comforting and she likes holding on to it as she falls to sleep.  I know they say not to put anything in their cribs with them, but she's really good about keeping the blanket where I put it.  It might go into her mouth, but thats about it.  So yeah  I put her down for a nap right before I got into the shower, and she is still asleep a half hour after Ive been out lol.

Its such a new and exciting time in her life!  She has been trying to sit up on her own, has gone from sucking her whole hand to just her thumb, and she rolls over on to one side.  She is talking so much more now too...the other day grandma and I could have sworn that she sounded like she said momma.  I cant wait til she  can say that word!  Every day brings new things with her.  She grabs onto everything!  When Sean and I went to Wendys for lunch a few days ago, she was sitting on my lap and kept grabbing the tray my food was on and moving it.  We couldnt figure out if she was doing it purposefully or not, but she did it like 4 times so I think she was.  She grabs onto the rings on her adventure gym and bouncer now too!

Until next time,

Lori

I finally did it!

Well, I finally did it! After months of saying to myself "I really gotta start a blog!", I finally sat myself down and signed up for one.  I think I was inspired by all of the blogs I came across this morning while I was searching for dinner recipes for the rest of the week.  It was like this crazy chain reaction of blog-hopping, where one blog would recommend checking out something on another blog...you get the idea hopefully.

This blog is going to be from the heart, raw and honest.  Thats how I am in real life, so it only seems natural to have my writing reflect that.  People have always seemed to appreciate my bluntness (at least I think they have?), so hopefully you will too.

I think the reason I put off setting up a blog for so long is I just could not come up with a title that I liked.  I decided on the title of "New Mom, New Wife, New Life" because I really feel like it expresses what I have been experiencing over the past year or so.  Life as I once knew it has drastically changed.  I just had a beautiful baby girl named Delaney on May 18th of this year.  When people ask me what her name is, I usually get a look of surprise and either one of the following comments "oh, thats different.", or "aww, what a pretty name!".  In case you were wondering, Delaney was my maiden name which I hated parting with, so I kept it around by giving the name to my daughter.  Selfish? Maybe, but I don't care.  We think it's a cool name, that's all that matters.

I married my husband Sean in June of last year.  We got pregnant a little over 2 months after getting married, so it was a rough first year to say the least.  We weren't planning on having a baby so soon, but she has been such a huge blessing and source of joy in our lives; we wouldn't trade her for anything!  We brought a lot of debt into our marriage, his coming from the wedding expenses, mine coming from a lack of self-control during my college years (aka credit card bills) as well as a semester's-worth of grad school loans.  Our first post-wedding residence was in Sean's grandpa's basement (or the basement suite as we referred to it). Sean didn't have a job, I was working a measly $8.80/hr job at Starbucks and we were pregnant....we were freaking out!! How were we going to be able to take care of this new baby?

Well, Sean got a job working for the Geek Squad at Best Buy, so we were able to move out of Grandpa's basement and into our own place.  This is when it finally hit me...I was married.  I was now responsible for cleaning the apartment, cooking the meals, and getting everything ready for baby's arrival.  It was a lot of work.  I didn't have a mom around to teach me how to be a woman(she passed away in '03), so I had to learn it all myself.  I didnt know how to cook, how to get stains out of clothes, what the best products were for cleaning...I was pretty much clueless and treading along, hoping not to drown.

Why am i telling you all of this?  Well, I have always hoped that I could help people through what I have experienced.  I believe everyone goes through a rough-patch, some lasting longer than others (:::cough-cough::::) and it can be comforting to hear that others have gone through similar trials.

I intend for this to be an all-purpose blog.  It will be part-journal, part mommy-blog, part cool recipes I like, good deals I have come across etc.  I am kinda scattered-brained/ADD, I apologize in advance.  I hope you follow this blog, and please feel free to leave comments, good or bad (but hopefully good!).

All my love,
Lori