the cutest thing

Motherhood is hard work. And I've only been doing it for 2 1/2 months. So I know I have countless (and even more difficult) experiences ahead of me, but seriously. This is the hardest thing I've ever done.

Not only did I push him out with every ounce of energy in every last atom in my body (sorry for the visual), but I have had to adapt to numerous changes since then - physical pain and recovery, never-ending fatigue, hormonal changes, postpartum sweating (look it up, it's awesome), and breastfeeding (to name a few). It's all so emotionally draining. And I consider myself a very patient person, but being a mother has really put my patience to the test. And I'm certain that the whole "testing my patience" thing will probably never end from here on out.

And I am sure that I am the same as every new mother when I say this, but I seriously have the most respect for mothers everywhere. Especially my own.

It has been quite an adjustment to work through the newborn phase and I know it will keep getting better week to week, month to month, year to year. And while there are still difficulties and SO MUCH learning that I have to do, I can already tell that this is one of the best experiences of my life. Nothing makes me happier than seeing more and more of this every day:


I could look at that smile all day long.

if you didn't know before, you do now! (part 2)

The wait is over!

Here are the rest...

11) I am a sucker for shows on The CW. I'll watch pretty much any of them, actually. Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries, America's Next Top Model. Even the new ones - The Secret Circle and Hart of Dixie - have me intrigued.

12) I have made 2 quilts in the past - both of them I gave away as gifts. A lot of work goes into those things...and they are SO NEAT when finished. But...the next quilt I make I am KEEPING!

13) I bite my nails. It's gross. I am not proud of it. But I do it. The longest I have stopped biting my nails is about 10 months. I will quit for good. I will!

14) I recorded a CD about 6 years ago. I wrote maybe half of the songs and picked some covers that I loved. And I just recorded them all solo - nothing but me and my guitar. Quite raw sounding, actually...but really REALLY an awesomely fun experience.

15) My favorite artists (in no particular order) are: Edwin McCain, Boston, Patty Griffin, Huey Lewis and the News, Weezer, Better Than Ezra, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Kay Hanley, Chet Baker, Martin Sexton, and Ingrid Michaelson.

16) The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho is my all time favorite book. Read it. Just do it.

17) I want to write a book. I have a basic premise for it and have thought a little about the characters I want to use...but it's just so difficult to start. One day, though, I would really like to write it for good!

18) I love the company I work for, but I don't want to go back to work! I would love it if there was a way for me to make an income from home so that I could stay home and also take care of our baby. The thought of taking him to a babysitter or daycare place has me terrified. I know people do it all the time and that babysitters and daycare places are trustworthy...but I also know that no one will take care of our child like we do. And it's hard to trust someone with his little life.

19) I don't have trust issues...I just want to stay home with my baby. :-)

20) If there is one thing that I will never discuss in our blog, it is politics and politicians. The main reason being that I can't stand politics or politicians. Also, nothing I say will change your mind about what you think...and believe me, nothing you say in return will change my mind about what I think.

21) I love, Love, LOVE Young Adult novels and I am PROUD OF IT! The Twilight novels, the House of Night books, the Harry Potter series, the Hunger Games trilogy. I'm not sure why I like them all so much. Am I in some way trying to hang on to my youth? Not sure...but one thing is certain and that is I can't get enough of 'em!

22) My favorite vehicles are Toyotas, Volvos, Subarus, and Land Rovers. I have already owned a Toyota in my life, so I would like to, at some point, have the others, too. These things are superficial and material, I know. But this is MY list!

23) I always wanted to have two boys. Because I just squeezed one out and he is currently sucking away every last drop of my energy, I am not sure if or when we will have another one. :-) BUT...if/when that day comes to have another child, I secretly want both children to be boys. I guess it's not so secret now, huh? :-)

24) Whenever my baby cries, I want someone else to watch him until he's done crying. Is that evil?

25) I need at least one weekend spent in the outdoors every month. I love nature and love little vacations away from the city. But because of being wicked pregnant and now on maternity leave, we haven't been able to go for awhile. We do, however, have our first camping trip with baby booked and it's only a few weeks away. I can't wait! Our baby WILL like camping. He WILL!

if you didn't know before, you do now! (part 1)

The internet and social media has made it increasingly easy for people to share any and every thought and opinion that crosses one's mind - on Facebook, Google Plus, MySpace, and all the blogging websites out there. Some blogs are super interesting and really fun to follow (ie. The Bloggess) while others are just a single person (or persons) trying to put thoughts out there for no real reason whatsoever. Not to say those aren't interesting, but the point I'm trying to make is...

Why do we do this?

Why do we update our status on Facebook so people know what we're doing and thinking? Why do we blog so people can know what's going on in our lives?

I have absolutely no idea.

I mean...it's not like someone asked me, "Hey T! Please go online and document all of your thoughts so that everyone can read them!" ha ha. If someone actually asked me that I would probably think they were crazy for wanting to read my every thought.

Yet here I am.

And...whether you want to know or not...here are 25 random thoughts and things about me that you may possibly have never known.

Enjoy!

1) I hate eggs. Hardboiled eggs, especially. I will not eat eggs by themselves no matter how they are prepared. I will, however, eat scrambled eggs in a burrito ONLY if there are other things like potatoes, cheese, onions, peppers, tomatoes (etc) in the burrito as well. But if it's only eggs, then count me out.

2) When I was 24, on a whim, I decided to move from Phoenix to Boston. I didn't have a job lined up or anything. It probably freaked my parents out...a LOT! But I moved there, found a job within a few weeks working downtown (at possibly the best place I've ever worked!) and lived there for almost 4 years. Hands down, doing that was quite possibly the neatest experience of my life.

3) I worked at Cheers in Boston. You know the place "where everybody knows your name"? Well, I worked for the owner of Cheers, actually. It was seriously the coolest job. And after I moved back to Phoenix, I was even asked to redesign their website. So the Cheers website that's out there is my creation. Check it out here. I'm kind of a big deal, huh? (<--KIDDING!)

4) When I lived in Boston, I went to see Huey Lewis in concert at the FleetBoston (now BofA) Pavilion. The fact that I saw Huey Lewis is not the interesting part...what is interesting is that I went by myself.

5) If you couldn't tell from the previous item, I love Huey Lewis.

6) Tim Robbins is my all-time favorite actor. Tied for a close second are Robert Downey, Jr., Jay Baruchel, Colin Firth, and Clint Eastwood. Don't try to tell me any negative things about any of them because I won't listen to you.

7) And to be fair to the female entertainers, I'll go ahead and share my favorite actresses, too - Kristen Bell, Kate Hudson, Drew Barrymore, and Kristen Wiig. Same here. If you want to knock on any of them, I won't hear it.

8) My all time most favorite song is Boston's "More Than A Feeling."

9) I went to NAU's Summer Music Camp for a few summers when I was a kid. I played the piano, flute, and oboe in grade school, but went to music camp for voice. It was fun.

10) The first time I ever danced with a boy was at music camp. Awwwwwww!

Riveting, I know.

Stay tuned for the rest...

clean and happy baby

Don't you just LOVE a clean and happy baby?

what i CAN get enough of

You know how yesterday I mentioned that I just can't get enough of little Baby McG?

Well, here is one thing that I CAN get enough of:

Crying

Okay, okay. I know he's a brand new baby and babies cry. It's natural. It's what babies do. And I definitely haven't even heard the most of it yet.

But today, I have been annoyed to the max by it.

I mean, come on. Just stop already. I feed him a million times a day, I keep him dry and warm, I keep him clean, give him kisses and hugs and love on him, read to him, sing to him, et cetera...and yet he still cries. I don't mean to sound insensitive and, like I said, I know crying is what babies do until they learn other ways to communicate. But coupled with my lack of sleep and energy, the crying pretty much ticked me off today.

Does saying this make me a terrible mother?

Thinking it makes me feel like one.

I think I just need a nap.

Like a 10 hour nap.

just can't get enough

Have you ever heard of baby brain?

As in, when pregnant women start to have issues with their memory?

Yeah. So. I've already delivered the little dude and my baby brain is actually still in session. I still have some memory issues (like perpetually wondering where in the sweet Lord's name I left my car keys) and I also have issues with my attention span. I go from thought to thought like a hummingbird flits from one flower to the next.

To illustrate, I'll share some of the thoughts that I have had over the past 60 seconds:

1. I all of a sudden have an urge to watch BBC movie versions of Jane Austen novels. My favorite so far are the Pride and Prejudice version with Colin Firth that I saw when it first came out...and the Emma version from a couple years ago. Are there any other good ones out there?
   
2. I think it's awesome that, for the first time since I've been home with the baby I have had an actual burst of energy. Yes. ENERGY! So much so, that I started cleaning off the tables, the floor, and have done some laundry...and I still want to get even MORE done! Is it possible that the "nesting" sensation can come weeks after delivery instead of right before?
3. Speaking of staying at home, watching the baby, and cleaning...I have decided that it would be AMAZING if I never had to go back to work. I love my job...but I would love to be a stay at home mother. Would LOVE it! Let's win the lottery.
   
4. I think it's hilarious that I have so many nicknames for Baby V when he hasn't really done anything to "get" a nickname yet. But here are a few (of the appropriate ones only): Dookie, Munchkin, Milk Breath, Zombie, Honey Bun, Chunky Butt, Sweet Cheeks, Handsome, and My Precious.
   
5. You know how I had that burst of energy before? Yeah. It's gone now. But it was good while it lasted.
   

See how scatterbrained I am?

Don't judge.

Anyway, I just can't get enough of my little milk zombie, so that means YOU can't get enough of him either. :-) Here are some more pictures of him in all his adorable chunkiness.

Enjoy!

I love how he looks like a little man here.


This is his "I-know-I'm-getting-chunky-but-give-me-more-milk-NOW" look.


He's found his thumb.


You talkin' to ME?


V hanging out with his daddy and sister Lucy
(She jumped on the back of the couch just to be near them!)


Just can't get enough of him...

thirty days of vincent

I am a mother.

So weird!

I know our baby is almost 7 weeks old already, but the fact that I am a mother is still kind of shocking.

Sometimes I am so completely exhausted that I seriously don't think that I will last 10 more minutes without passing out. But, on the other hand, sometimes I think of how (amazingly) I can still function day to day on 4 hours of a sleep a day. So at any given moment, at the flip of a switch, I could either fall into a deep sleep for probably 10 hours straight or I could get up and spend another 10 hours awake (maybe with a couple 30 minute naps thrown in there somewhere).

Sleep (or lack thereof) is definitely the most obvious things you think about during newborn-hood. For example, let's say you (yes YOU!) get an average of 8 hours of sleep a day. That's 56 hours of sleep each week and 240 hours of sleep in 30 days (which is 720 hours). That means, in one month (a 30 day month) you will have spent 33% of your time sleeping.

Next, let's pretend I'm a pretty average new mom who gets 4 hours of sleep a day. That's 28 hours of sleep a week, and 120 hours in 30 days. That means, in one month I will have spent only 16% of my time sleeping.

Now, I am not a "math" person, so don't make fun of the way I described those numbers...I just meant to illustrate how crazy sleep is for a new parent. Other than sleep, though, everything else is really awesome!

Every day we get to see tons of new things from Baby V - new facial expressions, new noises, new experiences, physical changes and development, new reactions, and (of COURSE!) thighs and cheeks that get chunkier by the day. One other thing that we have been noticing more lately is that V has been starting to smile a lot more as a reaction to us!

Now, I'm not talking about the smiling that babies do during their "light sleep" phase, right when they are falling asleep and making different facial expressions. I'm talking about real, 100% genuine smiles. They melt my heart! And I could just look at them all day long!

Here is a collage of the first 30 days of Baby Vincent. One picture from each of the first 30 days. I may have only gotten 120 hours of sleep during those 30 days, but looking back on these pictures of 30 different perfect moments, it's all SO worth it!