Balancing it all

This whole working mom thing...is hard. It was even hard being a stay @ home mom for the 12 weeks I was on maternity leave. I feel like I just expect too much out of myself. It's not anyone else expecting anything...well except Turner expecting me to feed him and be the best mama I can be too him.

I have these high expectations that the house should always be clean and 'perfect'. I seriously feel a calm come over me when it is...but trying to keep up with that plus being somewhat of a single mom during the fall is draining (Tate's coaching football and usually doesn't get home until Turner's in bed).

It doesn't help that I have now come to hates Mya's shedding ways...I'll hate it even more when Turner is mobile. Now that the season has finally changed, I think it's calmed down a bit...but it still drives me crazy.

I'm still learning on how to balance it all right now. I feel like once I figure it out is when Tate will be done coaching and will have him back full time! Isn't that how is it with kids....once you figure it out, time to change it up again :)

Here is a glimpse of the day...

5:30 am 
Alarm goes off and I am up to get ready before Turner wakes up
Hopefully he is still sleeping...if not, Tate snuggles/plays with him until 6

6-7 am
Nurse Turner, get him ready for the day, pump anything else out that he didn't eat since I look like Dolly Parton in the morning.

7-7:15 am
Leave for work

7:30 am - 4:15 pm
Work. Pump 3 times through out the day. 3 days a week I try to hit up the gym during lunch
(just for lifting...no cardio as I don't want to sweat since I have to go back to work).

5-5:30 pm
Get home from picking up Turner

5:30 - 6 pm
Play with my lil' guy!

6-6:30 pm
Nurse or feed him a bottle, then pump if bottle option was picked or forced ;)

6:30-7:30 pm
Bath time, read books, play, etc.

7:30 pm
Bed time for Turner

7:30-9:30 pm
Here is my 2 hours of the day to get anything I need to get done. It usually consist of making & eating dinner, showering, cleaning/picking up the house, making lunches for the next day, laundry/diapers, spend time with Tate if he's home (& he helps out with all things that need to be done from above).

9:30 pm
Wake Turner to feed him another bottle, change diaper and then put right back to bed to sleep

9:45 pm
Pump

10:30 pm
Bed time

Tate will usually do the 9:30 feeding since he doesn't get to see him much through out the day. Sometime I like to do it. I actually love doing all things for Turner since my time through out the day is so limited with him, but I know I need to share so Daddy can have time with him also.

The thing I struggle with is writing down my list of things I want to get done...and then getting mad at myself for not getting any of it done. I'll put so much on there that's not physically possible to get it all done...but of course I would love to!

I have found that in order to 'balance' it all, I need to learn to let things go. Who cares if the house is dirty. Who cares that the office still isn't organized and hasn't been for 6 months. Turner is only this small for once. I need to keep reminding myself this and know that these things don't matter to him at all. He just wants his mom to be there for him!

So being there for him is what I am going to do. So you decide to come visit and dog hair is on the floor, the house looks like it hasn't been dusted for weeks and dishes are piling up...it's because I have a baby...a baby who needs his mama more than the house needing to be cleaned!

It's the life of a mom and a life I wouldn't want any other way!

Linking up with Kristin with baby talk Tuesday!!!

Turner's first zoo visit

If you know me at all...you know I LOVE THE ZOO! I have this soft spot for animals and I just love them! I always wanted to be a marine biologist when I was younger, but then I realized I sucked @ science...so that nixed that plan.

 

Dawn and I talked about going to the zoo this summer while I was on maternity leave, but it didn't end up working out until this fall.

 

Even though Turner slept most of the time, he still talks about it and how much fun he had ;)

Turner then got a cold Saturday evening and had it all day Sunday. Felt so bad for the lil' guy. His nose kept running and he was sneezing more than normal. You could just tell he wasn't feeling the best. We went to my cousin's baby shower where he was fussy most of the time.

He did nap a lot of the day...I got this video of him having cute baby dreams
 

 

It was another great weekend that went by way too fast! Tate was busy with 2 huge events at work and football. I can't wait until football is over for him so we can have him back full time!!!

 

This lil' guy is growing up wayyyyyy to fast!

 

Linking up with Syndal & Sar!!

 

 

This weekend I...(all about babies)

This weekend was a busy one full of babies! I mean how life pretty much revolves around baby Turner, but it was even more babified (is that even a word)!!

Every since Andrea posted about hitting up some consignment sales for her super adorable daughter, I knew it was something I would be interested in. I love to do anything that involves saving money. I heard about a few coming up...and decided to hit one up on Friday evening. Since I am a first time mom, I got to go to the 'pre-sale' the night before the sale actually started. I texted my neighbor (who has a 2 year old) a few hours before I decided to leave to see if she wanted to join me, sure enough...she did. I'm so glad she came because she was a big help since I had to bring Turner (Tate was coaching his team). It was a very successful trip and I am now HOOKED. I got so many clothes for our lil' guy. I paid about $1.62 per piece of clothing. I can't wait to hit the sale up again in the spring.

Turner standing tall while I show him all the clothes I got him

(yes, he is leaning against the ottoman)

Turner loves to stand on his feet...he is getting stronger and stronger by the day!

Tate had to work on Saturday morning so it was a great time for Turner and I to just hang out. Lately I had been worried that he wasn't interested in nursing anymore...so I was determined this weekend to find out what his status was on it. It's easy for me to try it when Tate's gone because I hate having to feed him a bottle and then pump after. If I could just nurse him, I love it. Turns out...he isn't against it. We nursed 3 out 6 feedings on Saturday and 4 on Sunday. This mama was happy :)

So content after a feeding

We had some friends stop by on Saturday afternoon. They have a lil' 8 month old girl named Willa. Turner and Willa had so much fun together. She loved him and Turner just took it all in. It was hilarious.

Willa meet Turner, Turner meet Willa

My favorite pictures from their play date!

(holding hands - aggressive kisses - calm kisses)

Sunday morning I woke up to my alarm...that's right! I got 8 hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep and it was AMAZING!!! Turner did not wake once, Mya wasn't freaking out about a storm, smoke alarms weren't telling me there was a low battery...nothing! I loved it!! Then, while having a fabulous Sunday morning cuddles in bed as a family, Turner decided to give us his first blowout!!! Thank gosh it was all contained in his PJ's. I'll take that any day though for 8 hours of sleep :)

We went to brunch to meet up with some friends visiting from WI. They hadn't seen Turner since he was a month old so they loved seeing how much he's grown.

Turner loves Uncle Mark & Auntie Al!

Turner and I also attended a baby shower for a friend of mine. She's having a girl in November. There was a couple other babies there that Turner had another play date. I failed as a blogger/mother and didn't take an pictures!

A very busy weekend...but a fun one! We have every weekend filled up until the 2nd week of October. I have a love/hate relationship with it. Love that we get out and do fun stuff, hate that it makes the weekend go by so fast because we are so busy.

 Linking up with Syndal & Sar!!!

Turner - 3 months

September 2, 2013

3 months...I blinked and he's already 3 months!

Baby Stats:
Weight

Checked his weight on our home scale...around 13 pounds

Length
At his 2 month checkup, he was 24"

Sleep
We've reached that 7 hour mark...and even the 8 hour mark on occasion! He actually goes 9 hours between feedings @ night, but he doesn't necessarily sleep that whole time. We've had many interruptions during night it seems...like low batteries in our smoke alarms, Turner scootin' to the end of his crib and either getting stuck in the corner and waking up or moving so far down his baby motion monitor can't detect him and the alarm goes off.

Daily Routine
Now that I'm back @ work, we are trying to adjust and get in a new routine. The hard part is in the morning...trying to figure out how to get everything done and get to work at a decent time. Hopefully we will have this nailed down soon so it doesn't feel so overwhelming.

Feeding
Has a total of 7 feedings during the day and getting about 5.5 ounces at each feeding. I nurse him for his first feeding of the day and at bed time. Bottles throughout the rest of the day.

Diaper Size
Cloth diapering is going good. Our washer broke over labor day weekend, so we had to go with disposables until we got a new one...that was only a few days. Back to cloth! I really love them. One of the Sunbaby diapers had a snap come off, I emailed the company and they sent a new one...great customer service!

Clothes Size
He is officially out of newborn and almost out of many of his 0-3 month clothes. They are just not long enough for him. He has outgrown his 0-3 month sleepers.

Hair Color
Light brown color.

Eye Color
He's our lil' blue eye boy for right now!

Milestones/Likes/Dislikes
- he is grabbing things now. Pulling hair, grabbing shirts, grabbing what he can to stuff in his mouth.

- So close to rolling over, but just isn't there yet. He loves tummy time and will scoot while on his tummy to grab something.

- We have a lil' Houdini on our hands. He loves to get out of his swaddle, but his hands &/or arms keep him awake if they are out.

A/C broke one night...he to swaddle him in a cotton blanket with just a diaper. He got out of that swaddle no problem. He thinks it's so funny!!!

- you love bath time! You love starring at your rubber ducky. I always give you a massage after and you really like that also.

- you hate laying in your crib if you are awake. Once you get up, you cry for one of us to come so you don't have to lay in there.

- you've attended your first football game and it was one with your daddy coaching! You slept most of the time, but when you were awake, you were very interested!

 - stills smiling a lot. We can make you smile fairly easily. Sticking out our tongue @ you seems to always get you. You've started to mimic us and stick it out now. It's so fun!

-you love to suck on everything. Your hands, my shirt, my shoulder, my face...anything that you can get close to your mouth...you will try to suck on it. 

-you started daycare and your loving it. Makes mom feel so good that your doing so well there. You love to come home and just tell me all about your day...even if I don't understand a single thing your saying ;)

-you don't like to sit still very much. You love to have us carry you and move around. Getting you to sit still for the picture below was brutal...and then you spit up all over the chair after I took it.

Turner,
Seriously...how could like get any better! It does EVERY. SINGLE. DAY! You are the best lil' boy ever! I love you so much and can't imagine life without you in it! You are a very strong boy and it worries me what you will be like when you are older. I have a feeling you are going to always be running around, super hyper and not afraid of anything. I look forward to what you are going to learn on any given day...but I still want you to be my baby forever. Stop growing up so fast. Your smile melts my heart and your kisses make me smile! Love you so much...don't ever forget that!

Love...your mama