Luxuries

From Dad's Perspective...

I saw this yesterday, and I couldn't help but laugh and think about how true it is...Grant is a great father to Weston, but he gets incredibly anxious if he has to stay home and watch him while he is awake for more than a short period of time. It's just something that's he's not used to doing by himself. Usually, he has me to help, if he runs into a problem, and he can pass Weston off, but not all of the time. This weekend I will take my first overnight trip to Milledgeville to attend a Bachelorette Party for one of my best friends who I'm in her wedding on June 5th. It will be Grant's first night at home alone with Weston. He's debating whether or not he should go spend the night with his parents, so he has some help! :) He's nervous...I'm nervous. And I'll be so ready to get home on Sunday AM. And I'm sure I'll ask what they've done while I was gone!

From Dad's Perspective
After returning home from running errands the other day, I asked my husband what he and our 1 year old daughter had done while I was out. He responded with a very strong and surprisingly visceral reaction that made me think...

"...I know, I know. When you watch her, you are constantly doing things to mold her into a superb human being. You engage in activities that will develop her brain and improve her SAT scores, schedule play dates to properly socialize her and never miss an opportunity to reinforce 'please' and 'thank you' so she grows up polite and thankful.

Now, when I watch her, it's a completely different story. PLEASE stop asking me what I did with her, because I can tell you now, it wasn't anything that will help educate or shape her as a person. It's quite simple: On my watch, I have just one, single, solitary but critical goal - to keep her alive. And quite frankly, if I've done that, then I consider it a pretty damn successful day!"

After listening quietly and staring at him a bit stunned by this honest and fairly poignant reveal, I had only one response, "Huh, fair point."

The Mama Test

I saw this, and it's SO true! Hope it makes you all laugh on this Tuesday! :)

The Mama Test
“I was out walking with my 4-year-old daughter. She picked something up off of the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and asked her not to do that. ’Why?’ my daughter asked. ’Because it’s been on the ground and you don’t know where it’s been – it’s dirty and probably has germs,’ I replied.

At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, ‘Mama, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart.’ I was thinking quickly and replied, ‘All moms know this stuff…it’s on the Mama Test. You have to know it, or they don’t let you become a Mama.’

We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information. ’Oh, I get it!’ she beamed. ‘So if you don’t pass the test you have to be the dad.’ ’Exactly,’ I replied with a big smile on my face.”

Weston, Banks and I after a LONG walk...Banks is exhausted, and my hair is a wreck!
*I'm training for the In Their Shoes Walk in November, it's a 13.1 mile walk for cancer.

Weston Chews on Everything

In the past few weeks or so, Weston has started putting everything in his mouth and gnawing on whatever it is that gets in there. We've had to be really careful what he has access to or what's sitting next to him on the floor or couch, because if he can pick it up, it's going straight into his mouth.

Last night at the dinner table, he had a teething ring that he was chewing on, and he was making all kinds of noises, so Grant decided to talk to him and video tape the whole thing. He's too much fun, and he's really getting such a little personality! :)

And don't forget to enter my giveaway below!! It ends on Friday, May 21st.

Granny Diane's Kreations Giveaway!

Even though Weston only drinks milk right now, I've been wanting to buy him one of these Personalized Playtex Bowl & Plate sets that I've seen at stores, as well as, in a number of Etsy seller's stores. I contacted Diane to see if she was interested, and she was more than happy to participate in my first giveaway on my blog.

Diane is offering one of my readers a personalized Playtex plate and bowl combo of their choice!

The Insert consists of 2 pieces of fabric with stabilizer between the layers. Design is embroidered onto top fabric and then edges of both pieces of fabric are embroidered with a satin stitch to ensure lasting durability of insert. (These inserts are not made of paper).

Embroidered choices include: baseball bats and ball, soccer ball, train, tiger paw print, initial and name, or name only.

All plate and bowl parts (except for personalized insert) are top-rack dishwasher safe or may be handwashed in hot, soapy water and rinsed thoroughly. Insert may be hand washed to ensure long-lasting durability.

****Plates and bowls are available in your choice of blue, red, purple, turquoise, or pink with embroidered insert made to match bowl or plate color****

Go to Diane's Etsy Site and check out Diane's items and leave me a comment telling me which item you would choose.

For extra entries...

1 extra entry- follow my blog or let me know you do
2 extra entries - Vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs (Button on the Right) and let me know that you voted!
3 extra entries- Blog about this giveaway and leave me a link
8 extra entries- Buy something from Granny Diane's Kreations and let me know what you bought.

Be sure to leave a comment for EACH separate entry you are entitled! And leave your email address, so I can contact you if you are the winner!

This giveaway will end Friday, May 21st and the winner will be chosen with random.org. Check back on Monday for an opportunity to enter in another giveaway! :) And you don't have to have kids to win this giveaway...you could always try to win for a friend or family member as a gift! This plate would make a perfect gift! :)

Watch Out for some Giveaways!!

So, I decided to get in touch with some of my favorite Etsy sellers, as well as, sellers that I've been eying their products for quite some time to see if they were interested in participating in my first giveaway. I got a great response, so I'm going to be hosting a few giveaways in the next few weeks. I'm thrilled, and I'll start with the first giveaway either today or Monday!

Check back for an opportunity to win some awesome products from some great Etsy sellers and even if you don't win, check out their shops and pick up some items of your own! :)

Three Months

Weston,

It's been a busy month, and I'm writing this letter when you're almost four months old rather than three months old, but I promise I'll do better next month, and I'll write the letter before you are almost five months.

Again, I can't believe that so much time has already passed...it seems like just yesterday you were born, and we were in the hospital watching you in amazement. Now, you have your own little personality, and it's quite entertaining.

We love your smiles and the way that you now laugh out loud when something is funny. You regularly laugh at the dog, and it makes us smile that you enjoy him so much. You LOVE your Daddy now, and he is so happy and proud. In the prior months, you only wanted your mommy, and I was the only one of us who could calm you; however, now, you love hanging out with Daddy, and you are content to watch him and hang out with him. He's thrilled and can't wait to be your "best friend" as you grow older.

You are sleeping through the night, and it's been such a blessing. You usually go to sleep between 7:00 PM and 7:30 PM, and you've stopped crying when we put you in your crib at night. You typically sleep until I come to get you up in the morning, and Mommy and Daddy are much more rested. We love this phase, and we know that it will only continue to get better as time passes!

Here are your three month statistics and milestones:

• Not sure how much you weigh now, but at almost three months, you weighed 15 lbs. 7 oz. We are still exclusively BF'ing, and we haven't yet had to supplement with formula. You are a chubby, healthy little boy!
  
• Around 24-25 inches, but we aren't sure, because you move so much that we can't get a good measurement.
  
• Moved up from Size 2 to Size 3 diapers
  
• Wearing some 3-6 Month clothes, but the majority of your clothes are 6 months, and you are wearing some 6-9 or 9 month outfits, as well.
  
• You are playing with toys, and you LOVE your keys. We have one set of keys for the car and Miss Mary's, and we have one set to keep at home. You LOVE that they make noise. Anything that makes noise, you are crazy about!
  
• You no longer cry at bedtime. We can lay you down and you look around for a few minutes and then finally fall asleep. I also see you wake up in the video monitor, and you don't cry anymore. You just look around and then go back to sleep! When I get you in the mornings, you are sometimes awake and looking around, but not usually crying.
  
• You like to go to sleep on time...you don't like to stay up late! You cry and scream until we let you go to sleep. We sometimes have to leave if we are out late, because you get upset.
• You don't like to be held when you are falling asleep or tired. You want us to leave you alone and put you down, so you can fall asleep on your own. Needless to say, there is no rocking you to sleep. :)
• You put EVERYTHING in your mouth! You put your hands in your mouth, our hands in your mouth, your keys, burp cloth, etc. If it's nearby, you want to eat it.
  
• You watch Mommy & Daddy eat. We sit you in your highchair when we eat dinner every night and you just watch us as we eat our food. You'll definitely be ready to eat when it's time! :)
  

Love, Mom

Happy Mother's Day

So, Mother's Day wasn't exactly what I had expected, because Grant was out of town, and it just was a rushed and busy weekend taking care of both of our babies (Weston & Banks) without the help of my wonderful husband! Banks was in a dog show on both Saturday & Sunday, so I had to get the three of us together and get to the dog show on time both days alone. It was crazy to say the least.

But I'm SO blessed to be Weston's "Mommy", and regardless of the crazy weekend, I had a wonderful Mother's Day just being his mom. It's the best Mother's Day gift that I could ever ask for and receive! :)

I'll be back soon...

...but in the meantime, I'll leave you guys with this!

Here is one of the photo's from Weston's 3 Month photo session last Thursday afternoon! I love my little man! :)

What's that suction noise in the background?

You know you are busy when you've got conference calls scheduled ALL day long, and your boobs are aching, because they are so full, and you haven't had a free moment to pump since early in the day.

You know you are a mom when you just don't care anymore and you decide that pumping during the conference call while you are on mute is a good idea, that is, until the people you are on the call with ask you a question and you have to un-mute to answer. And yes, it happened to me today!

Work is really busy this week, and I haven't had a lot of time to blog, much less, pump or eat. I ate lunch this afternoon at 2:30 PM! I was starving! I'll hopefully be back to post a much more meaningful post of Weston's 3-month statistics tomorrow since I haven't had a chance to do it yet, and he's already 3.5 months old!