Naps and Dinner Time

I have been trying, struggling, succeeding, and failing all in one to be a housewife and mother. This is so new and hard.

Do I sit around watch Maury and not unpack like I should on days? Yes.
Do I try to make dinner every night we are home? Yes.
Do I think about the mounds of laundry, the pictures that need hanging, the closet that needs organizing and just shut down? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Even when I am sitting around and not accomplishing some of the household things that it is now my responsibility to accomplish, I am still tending to a newborn baby all day and night if need be. I sleep in patches, even though baby boy sleeps so well. He will sleep between 6-8 hours at a stretch at night time-- so why can't I shut down that long too? My mind races with what I should have gotten done and then I don't sleep. Or, I will wait and listen to make sure he is breathing ok. I find myself waking up nonstop to make sure I hear him. He is right beside me in his bed, yet he may as well be down the hall in his own room.

Guess what happens during the day? I am beat and me and baby boy nap for 2-3 hours. Is it great and wonderful and sometimes the best sleep I can remember? Yes.
He is such a little snuggler. So warm and sweet. He coo's and I melt into a luxurious slumber with him. However, that adds to the stress I hold inside of not doing what I needed to do. Sigh.

Right now, I am blogging during "our" nap time and he is beside me in his play center looking at me. He is probably wondering why I don't lift him up and go into the big bed and snuggle him to sleep. I wish I could baby boy. I am trying to break that cycle-- or at least not do it every day :) He naps the best with me. If I don't sleep with him, he will only cat nap all day.

I am also trying to be a good housewife but I kind of stink. I should set a regimen of when to dust, mop and vacuum and stick to it, but I fail. The only thing I have stuck to is trying to make dinner every night, or at least 5 nights a week. Some times my recipes bomb, other times they are bomb.

Some of my recent makes are:
Whiskey BBQ burgers She called for sliders, I made whole burgers. They were yummy and very rich. Sliders may have worked better.

Bruschetta  is always a favorite of mine. This recipe took it to a whole new level with the buttered pan cooked bread. I have never tried that before and it was divine!

Bacon and Blue Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts. These little beauties were amazing.
I didn't make extra blue cheese/butter like the lady said to. I just made enough to stuff  and glaze with. I made extra bacon too, because bacon is just one of those things that if it is warm and crispy, I could very well eat an entire package of it  myself. I am not proud of that. I had skinless chicken breasts so I slit them in half, leaving 3 corners connected and just stuffed the divine mix in there. I generously covered the chicken with the mix as well and sprinkled with cracked pepper and popped into the oven. I will make this again and again.

Easy Mexican Chicken was on the menu one night. I don't have high ratings for this. I didn't care for it. I will use some of this again. I thought that browning the chicken with the cumin, chili powder, garlic and onion was a good taste. I wish that I wouldn't have put it under the the goop of cheese and salsa and baked it. It turned out really juicy and though my husband seemed to enjoy it, I did not. Next time, I will pan cook all the chicken, and maybe add some cheese and broil it for a few minutes on top then add fresh salsa and eat it that way.

There have been a few other things, as well as the old classics like tacos, spaghetti and burgers, but I am trying to expand the menu and rotations of those classics with some fresh new things.

Gotta get creative somewhere :)

xo, Tish

Phoenix? ...Anyone?

Not a blog.......but a question.



Are there any other Phoenix bloggers out there?



That is all.


Xo, Tish

Everyday Mundane

This week has seemed to fly by... and drag at the same time. Does that make any sense? I asked my husband on the ride home if it "was only Saturday"... yet I feel that I have had no time this week.

Tuesday was the hub's birthday as you may have read. We went downtown to Pizzeria Bianco. Neither of us had been there before, but it always has rave reviews-- and people have said that they have waited in line for literally hours to get in to eat. We sat down right away at about 5pm. It was a cute little place-- tiny as can be. You can see it here. There was a party of 2 that came in and wanted to eat-- and they were told that they had to wait. The lady pointed to the 4 top right next to us and the waitress said that was for a party of 4 not a party of 2 and that she was more than welcome to go next door to the Bar Bianco and they would phone over when her table was ready. The lady then proceeded to say that they would just wait at the bar in the restaurant, but she was told no also. The waitress said no, that was for dining and the bar was for the bar. It sounds snotty but really the place was that small. Very good, we wished we had leftovers for home!
Of course we had to get dressed up to go.

Afterwards we just walked all around down there. We had to snap a shot of Maddox's first time at the stadium.

Wednesday and Thursday were blurs. Yesterday we went grocery shopping and picked up a couple dvd's for the night. We rented Mr. Popper's Penguins and Water For Elephants. MPP was cute and I really enjoyed WFE. I had the book at one point, but never got around to reading it, now I wish that I would have!

Today we spent the day out and about. We headed over to Westgate to walk around and go to a movie. It was Maddox's 2nd movie outing. We watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It was a good movie, but kind of a downer we decided. We wanted to take some pictures while we were down there so you get one of each of us.. because when we try to do self-family shots they end up like this:

Then to our surprise a sweet onlooker saw us and offered to snap a shot of the 3 of us.

 Afterwards we had to snap Maddox in front of the arena. Ahh, the firsts of a sports fanatics baby boy! You are destined to be a sports lover Mad :)

Now we are home and I need to work on still unpacking the nursery and my part of the closet.. joy.

xo,
Tish

Maddox is 1month old!

I am a little late posting this..but soon I will get all caught up.

Maddox you are 1 month old!

You are such a good baby. Do all mommys say that? You really are. You are very chill and cool to be around. You rarely cry and you are a pretty good  little sleeper. You love to eat. We kind of nicknamed you Chubbington because of that. You arent chubby though. It is just so funny because every 2 hours on the dot you let us know that it is time for your bottle.

You are a day sleeper and a night partier for now. You usually will go to sleep between 10:30-midnight and sleep till about 5am. Then we feed and change you and you are out again till about 8-9am. If I will lay in bed with you and snuggle you, you will fall asleep again for a couple hours. We do that sometimes, and mama just loves it. About any time that I hold you and snuggle you, you will nap with me.

You are 10 pounds, and 22 inches long. You drink Similac Sensitive and occassionally like to have your binkie. You are sleeping in our room still but you have a great nursery to get in to soon enough. For now your little bed is at the foot of our bed. I just think you are too little to have you far away... and in our home, your little bedroom is pretty far from Mommy and Daddy.

Your 1month birthday also fell on my birthday so we took your out and showed you off!

You have found your tongue and you constantly are playing with it. You stick it out, lick your lips, play with your bottle. You arent a thumb or hand sucker yet though. Maybe you will forego that. Mama would be good with that little man!

You have so many people who love you and have waited a long time for you! Especially your mama and daddy! You really are the light of our lives.
We took you to have your 1 month photos done and everywhere we went everyone was saying how cute you were. We can barely go anywhere where people dont stop and make comments on your cute little self. We tend to agree!! Love you baby boy!

xo,
Tish

Happy Birthday

Today is my sweet husbands birthday. This is one of my favorite pictures of him of all time! Isn't he just too sweet for words in his little baby suit?

Now he is a little older and still just as sweet and handsome.

I hope this year will be the best birthday for him so far. He is back in his home of Arizona, close to his parents, and with a beautiful new son to teach and share his love of sports with.

I am so very lucky that you chose me and that we have the life we do.

Happy Birthday. I love you so much!

Moving in

One month ago tomorrow we moved to Phoenix. The day was a memorable one to say the least.

1. It was my dads birthday. Happy Birthday Dad. Miss you-- He passed away in 1995. Wow, just typing 1990 anything makes it seem soooo long ago right?

2. I got my staples out from my c-section. I got yelled at by my Dr. for driving myself to Arizona from Vegas. She knew I was moving-- what did she think we were doing? She said that she thought we would tow my car behind my husbands. I asked her how we would fit a baby, 4 dogs, 2 adults and all the stuff we needed till the moving truck made it the next day in only 1 car. She said she didnt approve. Too bad. I didnt have a choice.

3. I moved out of the first home that I bought all by myself. I moved from the town I had lived in for the past 10 years. I left all of my friends behind. I quit my job. It was a very emotional day for me for many reasons. On one hand, I was so excited to move to Phoenix with my hub and new baby. I loved the new home we had bought. I wanted my hub to be closer to his parents and my baby to be closer to one set of grandparents. But on the other hand, I was leaving my home. The place I had made my own. The place I became an adult in. The place I had met my husband. The place we fell in love. The places we got married in and where I was pregnant in. Tears of sadness and happiness fell as we drove off.

4. I drove the 6 hours to Phoenix while following my husband. I had a tiny, almost 2 week old baby and 2 small dogs in my backseat. He had the 2 big dogs in his. It was dark and I was constantly worried if the baby was ok.

5. Maddox is a great car rider. He falls asleep. Which is great for the most part-- when I cant see him, it is a little nerve racking! We stopped a few times and I was able to check on him and of course feed him.. and change him. I really should write a letter to the Wendy's parking lot that we threw 2 diapers in the parking lot of and tell them that I am sorry, and that I dont usually litter. I felt so bad about it. They were very, very messy and it was very, very cold outside. No excuses though. Dont litter.
He slept all the way till a half hour before we arrived at our new home. Then he screamed. A half hour generally isnt a long time, but a screaming baby makes a half hour seem like 12. He was hungry and wanted held, but we were so close. We kept going with tears streaming down my face. I kept reaching in the back to put the pacifier in his mouth. He kept spitting it out. The cycle continued for 30 minutes.

6. We arrived at our new home. It was just as beautiful as I remembered. I hadnt been here since we bought it in October since I was so pregnant and wasnt able to fly or drive out of state anymore.

7. Let the fun begin! A smoke alarm was beeping. We had nothing to reach and change it till the movers arrived.... in 12 hours. One dog fell into the pool. She is mostly blind and has never been in a pool before. My husband threw off his clothes and was getting ready to make the rescue, but she finally got close enough to the edge that he could grab her.  Two dogs rolled in the grass, which must have been seeded with manure because they smelled like a farm. We couldn't get the hot water heater to work so there was no way to give the dogs a bath. We had to make a blockade so that the wouldnt get onto the carpet or the blankets we had to sleep on the floor with that night. They didnt like that idea one bit. It was a long, comical, sleepless night in the new house.

A month later, we are getting very settled in. It kind of feels like we have been here monthS. We bought and got our bedroom furniture delivered-- and most of the sectional delivered. We have most of the boxes unpacked. The baby still sleeps in our room, but his room is 80% unpacked. All of our artwork is still wrapped up and in the soon to be formal dining room. I think when we get that and our family photos hung on the wall, it will feel more homey here to me. I love our paint color and almost dont want to hang anything up though. Crazy, I know. But, anywhere these 2 fellas are... that is my home.

I have a little baby who needs snuggled back to sleep now, so till next time....

xo, Tish

You may need a snack & potty break to finish this post...

I've thought about starting a blog for a long time. I started one before my son was born... got one blog story up there, then he was born and now it has been almost 6 weeks since I logged in.

You may be wondering where that other blog is-- well, I decided to change my blog name, and I am not so blog savvy, so I created a whole new account. The post is there when I sign in but it is long, too long to add to this post, so I will save it for another time.

My life has been flipped upside down, inside out, turned this way and that way over the last 6 weeks. Being pregnant with my son was amazing, uncomfortable and comforting all at the same time. I have always wanted to be a mommy. I had a great mom and wanted to be that for my kids.


I have a little honeymoon baby. Maybe a wedding night baby actually. Maddox was born December 5, 2011 at 1:20pm. It was a long, tiring labor. I know, I know, all moms say that. I am not kidding you though. On Friday the 2nd my Dr decided that I should go to the hospital to be induced the next day. So my hub and I loaded everything up, and away we went.

I checked in, thinking this was going to be a much smoother process. I was only dilated to 1cm, so I had Cervidil, which is designed to soften the cervix. 12 hours of this. The nurses kept telling me to get my rest. Are you serious? I couldn't move because everytime I did, we lost the baby on the monitor. I had to lay on my back in an awkward sitting/lying position. Who sleeps that way? Not this girl. Then they gave me Ambien to sleep. Didn't work.

The next day at 7am, they checked me again: still about 1.5cm. Insert another Cervidil. Awesome. Did I mention that you have to be on bedrest for 2 hours when they insert this? All I wanted to do was go to the bathroom. I have never peed so much in my whole life. I cried. The nurse was annoyed. That made me cry more. She brought me a bedpan. I couldn't bring myself to use it. I almost peed the bed instead. Have you ever tried to pee with everyone watching and listening to you? It doens't come easily!
I finally had to give in-- only my husband in the room helping me-- and I was still a little stage shy. I was so embarrassed.

My DR came in about 5:30pm and we were still only about 2cm. She brought back the idea for c-section. She scheduled it for noon the next day. We would see how I progressed, but that was looking to be the route we were going. She left... 20 minutes later my water broke as I was getting up to go to the bathroom yet again.

I rang for the nurse. I told her I thought my water broke. She said she was going to check when I got back into bed. They could check this? News to me. Also news to me was the fact that once it has broken, it will continue to gush. Naive me thought that it just broke once and was done. Boy was I wrong.
Great. I was dilating more. I was to a 3 now. About 9pm I was to a 4.5-5 and was able to finally have an epidural. By the time the DR got there I was 5 and very ready. OK. 6, 7, and 8 came with no pain. Thank you Lord for drugs.

It is now 8am on Monday morning (recall that I checked in Saturday...) and I am 9. The nurse says to get ready because I am almost there. By 9am I am fully dilated and feeling so much pressure. I am ready. We are ready. We are going to have this baby! OMG we are going to have a baby! It doesn't really truly hit you till that moment I think. You are going to push this tiny (well it IS tiny, but at that moment it seems so huge, doesnt it?) life out of you. Hee Hee Hoo.... breathing is going. My life is in 10 second intervals as I push. My hub is sweet as can be, getting me wet rags in between pushes.

90 minutes goes by... I am tired and baby isn't coming. Nurse determines he is stuck. She calls the DR. She puts the DR on the phone. I tell her to get this baby out now. I need him out now! The pressure is beyond belief. It ISNT pressure. It IS pain. They shrug me off. They say it is just pressure. I ignore them.
It is 10:30am..where is the DR?? All I kept getting was that "she is on her way". BS. Her office is right next door. My poor hub is freaking out. He asked for a new DR... one in the hospital. No can do. "She is on her way".

I am writhing in pain. I am crying. I am telling the nurse that I am such a failure. She is hugging me and saying no one has tried harder to have this baby. Finally by 12:45 or so the DR shows up. (didn't she already book the OR for noon?) I am prepped and rushed to the OR. My husband is gowned and comes in shortly after.

More drugs. I go numb. I am exhausted. I hear them cutting and talking. I hear them say that our baby is stuck in my pelvis. I hear the DR. say that she can't get him out. I hear her say to lower the bed. I hear her say she has to cut again. I hear her ask for help pulling. I dont hear anything. I am terrified. My hub is looking at me. He is looking over the curtain. The baby is out. He screams. We cry. They take care of the baby. He is perfect. My husband gets to see him. I wait. They clean him. I wait. He cuts the umbilical cord. I wait. FINALLY they bring him to me to see. He is perfect. He is tiny. He is beautiful. They whisk him away.

They sew me back up and wheel me to recovery. My mom and friend are waiting. They've seen Maddox... they tell me how wonderful he is. I had to wait 2 hours till I got to have him though. It was the most wonderful moment I can remember. He fit so perfectly in my arms. I was in love.

I could share a billion photos of Maddox... and I am sure I will over the course of this blog.

BUT like I said, the past 6 weeks has been crazy. Two weeks after we had our sweet baby boy, we moved to Phoenix. My hub got his dream transfer and here we are. New adventures. New adventures.


xo, Tish