How to survive your first week of being a mom

It has been one whole week since we had our sweet baby J!  Like all new parents we are completely obsessed and utterly in love. I mean look at that face, how could you not be?

And like all few parents we are completely overwhelmed.
So.... How did we survive our first week you ask? 

1. Have your mom stay with you.  

She has taken better care of my house than I ever have. And she's so sweet she will come get j in the early morning so I can sleep a little longer. And she'll even check on you in the middle of the night when your baby sounds like a raptor to make sure you are surviving. 

2. Have the worlds cutest baby. 

When it's in the early morning and j and I haven't slept yet I just have to look at him. Then my heart swells and I am filled with more love than I could ever imagine,  and then it's ok that I haven't slept and won't for years. 

3. Get a doughnut to sit on. 

Seriously. Don't question whether or not you need one. Life is much better with one. 

3. Have the worlds best spouse. 

Oh bummer I already married the worlds best... Looks like you won't survive your first week!

Really though. I would not have made it without woody. He has been so good to me. Our first two nights home  he woke up with me and kept me awake while in nursed. Because I fell asleep, sitting upright,  in my rocking chair, holding j. World's best mom award goes to me.

4. Have your dad come too!

Baby loves snuggle time with everyone! And grandpa is always a good person to snuggle!

5. Wear your husbands clothes

Because... You still don't look like you used to. But it's totally worth it.

6.have lots of available clothes (for you and baby) and burp rags

Last night j went through 3 outfits! Today he is on his fourth. He really likes new outfits just like his mom

7. Don't be afraid of pee and poo

Woody and I have had multiple incidents where j has had an accident on us. I've had 2 incidents where he squirted me with his poop. I had no idea poop could shoot out like that. And of course, he's a boy so peeing during diaper changes is a common occurrence. 

It's been good so far.  I got my little puppy dog!! Because he makes puppy dog noises while he sleeps.  And I got a little raptor, because he sound like a dinosaur when he cries.  And I got a little turtle, because when he stretches his neck out it looks like a turtle with wrinkly skin.

I love him.

And.. if you are wondering about how he came into this world. I shall tell you later.

I have failed my mother

Oh... HEY!  How's your life? How's my life?? Oh... you know.... How am I supposed to answer the question of "how are you" anyways?  Exhausted.  Grumpy.  Fat.  Impatient.  Hungry.  nauseated.  cramps? contractions? sore everywhere.  Lazy.    Do you really want to know? Or should I stick with my normal reply DOING GREAT!! Its what they like to hear at school.... they like to be reassured I'm coming in tomorrow ;)

But Baby J and I are progressing.. in lots of ways.  Here we are at 35 weeks.  Some people say things like "oh.. you are so small for 38 weeks" and other people say "oh boy I don't think you can pop out any more"... I think that I agree with the second

I honestly look at my belly and think how on earth did I stretch that much???

Baby room has progressed!! Ta da! Looking good right?? 

 I have progressed from a list of what to bring to the hospital to a pile of some things that are coming with us AND a list.  That's as good as it gets right? Because everything else is last minute things and I'm definitely not wanting to put it all in a bag and take it out everyday for the next 3 weeks.. belch... because we all know I'm going over right??

More progression to 37 weeks! Can you tell that my belly bands no longer go all the way?? Hah

Progression??? WELL it might not look like it.. but it is! Woody and I wanted to paint the dresser so he painted it for us on his day off!! SO even though the room is looking less finished it's actually more finished... we are pretty tricksy like that

WOW. What a foot... I made the picture smaller for you because who wants a foot in their face?! BUT check out that indent? Sweet huh??? The joys of parent teacher conferences...

AND more progression to 38 weeks.  My cheeks have progressed to the point that a fish face is more attractive than a smile... I've always had chubby cheeks and they just seem to want to really shine now!

And in case you are wondering how I have failed my mother, the above picture gives you a hint... Let's take a walk down memory lane to explain:

Once upon a time I was in high school.  And I decided that I no longer cared about getting ready in the morning so I wore sweats EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Not cute ones either. I looked pretty grungy... people were worried.

Especially my mom. 

So for Christmas that year, she bought me lots of cute, fitting, matching sweat outfits.  And I happily wore those from then on.

SO every now and then I go back to my old ways and not really get dressed, and wear boy sweats and my poor mom just shakes her head and thinks, "what happened to my child?" "where did I go wrong?" "why can't she just dress cute????"

BUT I have really failed at this point in my pregnancy.  The only sweats that fit nicely are... WOODY'S.  And as I am sure you can imagine they don't like fabulous on me.  Also my favorite shirts at the time... WOODY'S.  I seriously don't get dressed on the weekends and I wish I could get away with wearing sweats to school..

if I could, I would.

So I'm sorry mom.  But I have made my way back to boy sweats.

I'm that pregnant woman.

You know the one you see in the store and you think... Really? really? You think it's ok to wear that in public?

Yes people, I really think it's OK

Ok.. I don't think it is, but I just don't care anymore

A spoiled Baby

SHOWER TIME! (Can you name that movie? It has a 'she's' in the title and 'man')

Woody and I (and Baby J) are officially spoiled.  We are so thankful and feel so blessed to have received so much from all of our friends and family! Baby J is super thankful too, because now he has blankies and he won't have to be naked the first couple weeks of his life. 

Well it has been quite the week.  I believe I got food poisoning twice in one week... or I had a flu that gives you 24 hour semi relief.... either way two really miserable nights (with a day in-between) accompanied by a.. 

"oh crap is this baby coming?" moment.

But we survived.  I was checked and double checked, no signs of labor coming any time soon. We did have some lasting affects (or effects, I can't ever remember):

1. a bossy Woody - he won't let me eat anything
2. a freaked out Amy - I'm terrified of getting sick again.. seriously it was a traumatic experience... twice
3. a fabulous cold that has developed from lack of sleep and stressful situations AND germy kids
4. I fixed the germy kids part... we cleaned EVERYTHING at school today.

Now we are at the 'point of no return' or so my doctor says.  He says that from here on out if Baby J decides he's coming out then we are letting him come out..... good?

So... now I just have to decide what my real feelings are.
 Because part of me wants him to come out now please because boy am I done or what?! 
BUT he needs to cook a little longer and develop more brain power....
BUT I really am sick of my amazingly awesome big belly.....
BUT my maternity substitute hasn't started yet so I'm not ready to leave my classroom just yet..... BUT my small wardrobe is getting even smaller, what am I going to wear in the coming weeks...
AND my back/bum hurt all the time and I am constantly sitting on a heat pad to feel better
BUT I am just not sure if we are ready for a baby.. but we are ready for a baby

I apologize for the lack of humor in the blog today... my brain has been fuzzed and my wittiness seems to be inaccessible behind all of my snot..... sorry I said snot.

Woody did come down with me to Vegas for the shower.. I wouldn't go without him.  I love being home with the family and the warm weather, it was definitely not a long enough trip!

My lovely mommy and sister.. unfortunately Heather was sick with the flu and couldn't make it down :( BUMMER DUDE

I had so much more that I wanted to say but I can remember a thing so ......

THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Except I did remember a funny thing Woody said, he was washing baby J's clothes and had some missing sock friends and he got a panic look/voice and said,
"we don't even have a baby yet and he's already missing socks!!!!"

Celebrations and progress

First and foremost... I have some VERY exciting news..... I'm pregnant!  

Ok, but really.... I seriously did a happy dance and had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders today... my principal found me a maternity sub!! YAHOOO I really have been worried about this. But they have a girl who used to teach at our school who is getting off her mission who will sub for me Air High Five **smack** hip bump **boing** (yeah.. don't hip bump me these days, I'll win)  

And the very best part about it is that she will start on February 24th. So then I can teach her how things are run in the classroom, the kids will get used to her and I will be able to personally teach her how things go with my diabetic student.  Seriously, I have been so worried about my kiddos.  They are MY KIDDOS.  I am seriously very protective about them, I love them with my whole heart.

And in case you couldn't tell.... these pictures are from... a baby shower!! (gasp) I know... so shocking you had no idea that's what they were!!

BUT my MIL and SILs threw me a very fun and exciting baby shower. And I've concluded that baby showers are TONS better than bridal showers. Like seriously, so. much. better.

ALSO lots of progress have been made.  Are you ready to be WOOOWED?? Woody and I moved our couch out of the nursery!! Raise the roof! **woot woot**And by Woody and I, I mean WOody.  But I promise I supervised and pretended to be super duper helpful!

In case you didn't hear... I had a dream... that I had my baby and he was a puppy!!! Seriously, a puppy! And I had thoughts like these.... "well no wonder I had so much heartburn, everyone says if your baby has hair you'll have heartburn" and people were asking me for pictures and I'd think "I can't send a picture! He turned out to be a puppy he's not even cute" and people would say "Well no wonder he moved around in your belly so much!" 

So... If you've got room in your prayers this week.... pray that I have a baby and not a puppy! Ok, seriously though... I looked at my ultrasound pictures afterwards to make sure he looked like a baby.

At one point in my life... my stomach looked like Audrey's.  Not so much anymore haha. But she's such a babe. And I love her!!

Speaking of dreams... It was Martin Luther King Jr day the other day and so my kids wrote about how they would make the world a better place. Their dreams were things like:
 - take a rocket to the moon to see if it was made out of cheese (no I didn't tell him we'd already been to the moon)
- make the world a trampoline
- have a FREE day, where everything is free
- no more black friday (cuz people fight over the deals)
- give everyone a rocket so they can get places quickly

I'm officially tired of having a fat face... just saying...

These kids loved helping me open the presents!

And these ladies and gentleman are baby J's babysitters!! Who wants to bet he comes home with glitter on him?

What else do you want to know about life currently?? How about.... Today I wore these really cute brown boots that I got for Christmas and I was at school for uh... hm... 10 minutes? And they were OFF!! Now before you judge me, it was not because they were uncomfortable (I mean, they're flat) it was because I was SO STINKING HOT

Now before you judge me... again... (geez stop judging) know that I keep flip flops at school for times like these, so I was not walking around barefoot! 

Here is what progress looks like

So... we replaced the couch with a different disaster..

And the belly's progress

AND Just so you know I have made progress with my preparation I have made LOTS OF LISTS so I think I'm very prepared now ;)

Oh boy oh boy OH BOY

Well.. we're getting closer to starting our baby count down!! I've had a "oh crap! I could really have this baby at anytime" moment this weekend.  Woody's cousin had their baby at 35 weeks.. I'm only 2 weeks away from that! SO I guess it's time for us to be serious about this baby coming.....

Woody was reading about what the baby looks like and stuff at 33 weeks. (I still can't believe I'm having a baby) On one of the websites they said that this weeks activity was to "wash baby clothes and crib sheets and to put the FINISHING TOUCHES on the nursery".  (I had no idea my skin could stretch so far) Let's take a look at our nursery so far

You could say it needs some Finishing Touches.. you could also say that we need to START!! You can't see it, but a portion of our couch is in the back corner (we had to move it to fit the Christmas tree).  We still haven't bought our mattress for our crib yet, the stroller is hanging out, (is there seriously a human being inside of me??) Woody's golf clubs are in there somewhere, we have a stash of different decorations we could use that we didn't use elsewhere in the house, I have a sign that I painted before I changed my nursery colors. (7 weeks is so close... no it's really far... actually I thnk it's too close) Haha so yeah.. I guess we are little behind according to the baby website to do lists.

I did however write down a general outline of how things are run in my classroom. (What happens if I go into labor while I;m driving to Vegas... and we're in Fillmore....)  AND from now on my goal is to actually write down my lesson plans for someone else to be able to understand and to not leave my room a complete disaster. (you mean I have to push this baby out?? Of where?? Are we sure??) That way if something does happen my substitute won't feel like they've entered a tornado of some sort.

I also can't decide about what to bring to the hospital.. suggestions?? I mean really I don't want to hang out in that lovely hospital gown, (wait.. I'm still gaining weight?? for another 7  weeks?? Yeah it's a long time) but I've also heard that I won't really want to wear pants even PJ pants either.. so do I bring like a pj gown thingy? A rob thingy? hang out naked thingy? Will I want to shower there? Blow dryer? socks? laxative? I've heard I'll want that one..

I also need to buy some nursing bras, I've heard different things about what size to get.. do I get my current size? a size bigger? do I need nursing tanks? (I hope my water doesn't break at school, I hope my water doesn't break at school, I hope my water doesn't break at school, I hope..) and I need to call my insurance about a pump, and I think I need to register at the hospital? I don't know, do i? And find a pediatrician, any good suggestions for that one?

So the time is coming, and yet not coming but still coming :) Woody and I are pretty excited to meet our little man and start this new adventure, but first we have a few things to accomplish

But.. let's leave you with a happy thought

DISNEYLAND!