Mom gifts

There are things you gain when you become a Mom in addition to the extra pounds around your mid section that are so hard to lose. 

1. The Mom dance. How it happens no one knows but man it really happens. It's like birthing the baby takes any and all coolness rhythm you ever had and gives it to your baby. All the sudden you find yourself doing some weird hybrid of the whoop there it is dance paired with a row row row your boat action. Another popular one is a bizarre take on pumping your arms back and forth, palms spread kind of imitating a weird bench press move. 

At least we parents are in this together. Dads don't escape the curse of the parent dance.

2. Bad jokes you think are hilarious (because they are). My Mom used to make funny jokes that she thought were super hilarious and laugh at her wit often and I find myself doing it all the time. 

3. The ability to think and do 2 different things at once but without the ability to communicate what you're doing so you just look insane. I do this at work all the time but for some reason am still lacking the ability to form coherent sentences so it just comes out as awkward "eh, awk, uh, wha" with some confusing hand gestures and finger pointing.  

4. The ability to laugh at everything.

5. The ability to cry at everything. 

6. The ability to tune out, I mean completely unplug your brain and sense of hearing to the sound of toys, kid songs, and whatever other racket that is keeping your child entertained. One day I was in the car and Austin was playing with a wheels on the bus toy that sings without ceasing and my friend said, "I can't believe you can put up with that all day". I no joke had no idea it was even playing. 

7. The ability to eavesdrop like a pro. For some reason when you become a Mom teenagers believe you no longer have the ability to hear. Probably because you've spent their developmental years tuning out annoying toys. I can't get over what my students gossip about in front of me. Before school many of them gather in my room and divulge in the latest gossip. Finally I will look at them and say, "I have the ability to hear!" and they are grotesquely shocked that I've heard their tirades. Not 2 minutes later they are back to the same routine. It is amazing. and terrifying. and amazing. 

8. The ability cook dinner in 4 minutes when needed. Nothing blog, pinterest or instagram worthy but yes warmed peas, grilled cheese and apple slices will do in a pinch. 

9. The ability to stay awake way too dang late doing insane things like carving pumpkin faces in small oranges. 

I do think Pinterest has taken us to a new level of Mom crazy but I disagree with people who say their children do not remember these little acts of Mommaloco. My Mom would do little things like put a small picture and note in my pencil box on the first day of school, wrap my cupcake carrier in birthday crate paper, build a mean fort, decorate my car for my 18th birthday, and honestly I could go on and on. Some of it is silly but deep down we know it's just another way we hope to show our love!.

10. The ability to go without a lot of sleep. Any sleep. Any significant amount of sleep for long periods of time and still remain sane. I'm not saying it's pretty and tears are not involved but somehow Moms are able to dig deep inside some hidden cave of strength, put one foot in front of another and carry on. 

11. Lastly the ability to love someone more than you ever thought possible. I mean this kid can throw up on you, hit you, keep you up for days, weeks at a time, make you feel like a million dollars and a chewed up piece of gum all within the span of 30 seconds and you're still more in love than you ever thought possible. 

It's the hardest and the best job you'll ever be lucky enough to have! 

first ER visit

15 months from when we came home from the hospital we returned for our first scary trip to the emergency room for Austin. We were 15 minutes away from leaving to go to the Ben Folds Project at the ballet. I was trying to do too much at once, get Austin's dinner ready, pjs, diapers, etc. not to mention attempting to get myself ready. I looked up and Austin was on the third stair. We have gates but I left it open and I was about to get him off but decided to put his clothes down before I got him. Obviously that was the wrong decision because he lost his balance and fell right on his head on the hardwood floor. He instantly starting screaming. He was dizzy and even when we wanted to get down he couldn't really walk well. I asked Philip to google signs of concussion. About 5 minutes after he said puking was a sign of concussion, Austin puked twice all over everywhere. We quickly changed Austin and rushed to St. Thomas. Poor Sharon received most of the vomit (both times) and still came with us. I grabbed a shirt of mine and she changed in like 10 seconds and came to the ER. I could tell he was feeling better but I am so glad we went anyway. The doctor said he looked like he was improving but he wanted to watch him for a while rather than doing a scan. He said levels of radiation are low but he believed we over scan people and he would rather just watch him eat and hang out before we scanned him. Of course his appetite didn't suffer and we were finally free to go. We were supposed to wake him every 2 hours but he woke himself up a couple of times so we didn't really set an alarm or anything. 

The doctor said, "I have 2 boys, this will be the first of many ER visits". Let's hope the doctor is wrong about this! 

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne. 

ch ch ch changes

So I'm smack dab in the middle of festival/musical season. The busiest time ever times two. I've take a sabbatical from my church gig which has made this manageable with a one year old. I'm gone Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights and then Wed and Friday afternoons. With my church job I was gone Wed nights and of course Sunday mornings. While I really love singing there, having a slight break has been amazing. I'm going back as soon as the musical is over but just knowing I have one night off during the week has made such a difference for all our sanity. Austin has began coming to work with me some and luckily my students are amazing with sharing the load of him. I thought they would get sick of having him around and having to wait on me to get started because Austin needed something, etc. but it's been exactly the opposite. They have been so sweet and they shower him with attention. I can't get over how lucky I am. 

Well, in the middle of all this crazy, we bought a house. I mean why not? It' not like we don't have enough going on. We were casually looking, just got on an email list. Truth be told, I wasn't really interested in moving. Philip thought it was a good time because house prices were going up, especially in our neighborhood but the whole idea really stressed me out. I thought we would see some things, get tired of it, and stay put. Well exactly the opposite happened. We looked at some houses, found "the one" and bought it within a week of it going on the market. Awesome. Now we have a list from our realtor a mile long to get done by the time our musical opens. In a totally unrelated question, who knows where ONE can acquire percocet? Never had it, but I know a friend who wants to try it. 

Anyway, we move next week. I can't tell you how lucky I feel, excited, etc. but I must admit I'm pretty blasted sad too. I realize this is such a first world problem so just stop reading here if you're looking for some come from nothing story because this isn't it. I love our house. I feel like we've really made it our home and I'm so sad to leave. It's totally not the stuff or anything but the experiences we've had here are literally priceless. 

I feel like we moved in yesterday. Sweet Kelly came to help move us in. Also some other Oxford friends were in town that weekend, too and they all came over and helped! Amazing. 

My sweet Mom washed at least 1,000 dishes that day. It's one of my least favorite things to do ever and she just kept washing and washing and washing and washing. 

Because we didn't have anything else going on we had people over the night after we moved in. I mean what else would you do?

I feel so lucky to have had so many amazing life events here! 

first snow (that I can remember... that first year we got over 10 snow days. I know I sound self absorbed but I'm pretty sure God did that for me. I was working at the hardest job ever. ever. ever. and right before I was about to be committed (which was very often) it would snow and my sanity would be briefly restored.)

Ben graduated from college! 

First anniversary!

Of course one of the best memories I'll ever have is of my parent's amazing vowel renewal at our house. 

Mom's birthday at our house in 2010. 

The next year when we threw here a surprise birthday party. She wanted something really low key but I'm so glad we went all out and had a big party! It was perfect :) 

Then of course finding out we were expecting and all of that greatness. 

Then bringing Austin home and realizing I had no idea what I was doing for the next 2 months. 

I cannot begin to count the millions of times I paced up and down these halls either trying to get him to sleep or trying to not step on certain parts of the floors that made loud sounds to prevent him from waking up. These old wood floors are beautiful but they are also like a minefield for a baby who is light sleeper. 

First night grin. 

First time he was stretching out. Sharon and I were in his room and went so paparazzi on him. For the first couple of weeks they attempt to stay in this fetal position and on this day be began stretching out and we were just so amazed. 

This was one of the best days ever. We still were on no routine what so ever but he was sweet and cute and he enjoyed being on the play mat and I can remember thinking that I could maybe just maybe do this. I'm pretty sure I also cried this day thinking I could not do this but it was the first time I had a shed of confidence. It was also one of the first times I took a picture of him awake because he was not screaming. Success. 

Honestly there are thousands more but I'm going to stop there. I love this house and as thankful as I am to move on, I'm extremely sad as well. This was our first house we bought, the house we brought Austin home to, the house my Mom helped me with so much, and the first place we made a real home. I'm so attached with the memories here and I know we can take those with us, it will be so had to leave. 

Unfortunately this week is crazy busy and I'll be at work until 10 most nights. We close on Thursday and were originally moving Friday but I finally broke down tonight at told Philip I needed one extra day. I need a night where we give Austin a regular bath all together, do our reading/family time, eat take out from our favorite Greek place, and watch some tv. I need some regularity just one more time. 

As my sweet Dad taught me with the help of Atlanta Rhythm Section "It ain't much but it's home". 

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne. 

things that make you feel old

Maybe it's just a rite of passage after becoming a Mom, or maybe it's that I'm surrounded by teenagers constantly but lately I've started to feel incredibly old. Why you ask? Let me break it down in no particular order. 

1. Jenna text me Sunday night with all the rage about Miley's scandalous performance at the VMA's. What? I didn't even know MTV was still a channel and most importantly I had no idea what that channel was.

2. My students say words daily that I don't get. Finally one day I said, "okay, what does all this mean?" and they had a field day telling me everything. One of my hilarious students even created a list that I could study.

3. Again, a situation dealing with one of my lovelies. I was talking about "Die Fledermaus" in my music history class and chamber maids came up. I told them what they were and then being the awesome teacher I am attempted to "make a connection to their life". I asked the class, "who watches Downton Abbey?" I got blank stares from all of them and finally a boy yells out, "I think my grandparents watch that". Awesome kid, let me know when me and granny can hang.

4.  The last few mornings I've been having this dream when my alarm clock goes off. Someone tells me I have to go back to sleep or Austin will wake up so I obviously do. I've hit snooze twice before I realize this is a dream and when I finally get up it is still well before 5 AM.

5. Friday night I legitimately fantasized about going to bed at 9.

AGH... what do I do? I get that I've had a kid now and I'm supposed to adopt Mom jeans and a minivan but I feel like this is all happening way too fast. I'm not 100. Someone send help before I end up at bingo and 4PM dinner.

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

First babysitter

I took 10 weeks "off" (I HATE calling it off when talking about maternity leave. You hear everyone ask, "how long are you off?" I used to say this too and then I became a Mom and realized I was working harder than ever in my life and the first 5 weeks I lived on so little sleep, I would forget coming home. Like be in the driveway and not remember going to Kroger, but I had the bags to prove it.) and then I went back to work. I returned toward the end of the year and there is so much testing going on you might be lucky to get 2 hours of teaching in a day. For kids, parents, and almost everyone, total waste of time but for my personal benefit, it was really nice. I was able to go the restroom whenever I wanted, have lunch set at a specific time and interact with adults. Super, duper glamours. 

Austin stayed with grandma 4 days a week and our family friend Ms. Alicia one day. Ms. Alicia would stay all day at our house and Grandma would come over every morning so we never would interrupt the sacred long morning nap. Other times, Ben and Dad watched Austin but I'm afraid we have fallen into the "only family has ever watched our baby" scenario... only because we could. We are lucky to have the first grandchild AND have a slew of family close. It wasn't some control thing, people actually called and offered. "Hey, want me to come over so you can run some errands by yourself?" literally brought me to tears one day. 

So after those 6 weeks of working, I was off again for my glorious summer. Grandma has watched him twice and will have to next week when I accidentally signed up for a flipping WEEK of professional development and cannot get out of it because the county paid for it, ugh. But for the most part I've been pretty happy being with the babe so I haven't had too many reasons to need someone to watch him. 

Recently, I noticed him starting to cry at people, like my friends, etc when they held him. I thought maybe I have been around him too much and so we started going out more and seeing more people. Since then, I thought he had chilled and re-awarded myself Mom of the year. Then yesterday, the babysitter who will be watching Austin 2 days a week came over and my life was over. 

Not Austin but an unhappy baby.

She is adorable, sweet, and babysits all over town. She smiles big at Austin and says sweet things to him in the appropriate baby pitch. He seems interested and content so I think this will go very well. I hold him and she looks at him, he looks at her, and we are golden. Then I give him to her to hold and he starts crying. I quickly take him back and we do this back and forth thing for about 20 minutes. Finally the babysitter basically tells me to leave and I remember from my extensive days of babysitting how annoying it was when the parents wouldn't just leave. I got in the car with my friend Kelly and we headed off to a salon. I picked a place I don't frequent often because I wanted to be able to book it home in less than 7 minutes. We get there and I text babysitter, "sorry to bug you but will you text me and tell me how it is going" she texts back "no problem, just reading some books". I am SO relieved. We got our toes done and enjoy life. Then about 45 minutes later, I get a text "he still doesn't seem happy or want to eat". Thank God these ladies work quick. I risk ruining my pedi to get to the car and book it home. I can hear the wailing from outside and literally half of me wanted to just tear off the door, but then I remembered I have no upper body strength. I walk in and Austin's entire outfit is covered with tears and snot and he gives me the absolute most pitiful look I've ever seen. WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME?!?!? It literally tore my hear out. I grabbed my baby and promised to never leave again. Of course this is not true so not only have I left and traumatized my child, now I'm a liar. Awesome. The rest of the night was rough, too. He was so upset, he ate and then took an hour to put down to bed, which usually takes no longer than 5 minutes. Oh, we had 3 kid-free guests over and I'm pretty sure they will never. ever. ever procreate. Sorry 

We decided the babysitter is going to come over once a week until I go back to work and hope to God Austin warms up to her. I really don't know what else to do, I just hope it works before she quits and Austin has to go to the first ever baby therapy group session.

Nice advice is welcome, but I swear if you give me some bs comment about should have left him with someone else before I will literally slap you in the face and bully you on social media.

Tootles!

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne. 

The Babysitters Club

This will be a many post rant about babysitters, being a babysitter, leaving your child with a babysitter, those squeaky clean girls from "The Baby Sitters Club" and how just about everyone from my generation wanted to be them and attempted to create a club just like them only to have it sizzle in about an afternoon, and anything else babysitting related I want to talk about. 

How had I forgotten about Stephanie from "Full House" was also in "The Babysitters Club"? Even with those glasses her 80s life was every girl's dream. 

Let's back up. I babysat at a champ when I was young I rocked the babysitting rounds in the ville. I babysat all. the. time. Many times different families on the same day, had standing summer and night gigs, I mean just constantly. The intensity somewhat declined when I turned 16 and just had to get a real job and became a glamorous hostess at Tony Roma's. How did I not know how much I had it made? 

Babysitters hold all I mean, ALL the power. They run late? You run late? They get sick? You are basically sick. These teenagers hold your schedule, your wallet and your life in their hands. How did I not know this as a 14 year old?  

And the perks? Omg. Where else do you get paid way above  minimum wage (for the record, I got paid way under the minimum wage. My first babysitting gig where I babysat every Monday night, I got paid $2.50 an hour, but the going rate here is $10.00 an hour) get to watch tv or God knows whatever else when the kids are asleep (better be asleep, I run a no tv in front of my baby rule in this house after I read this awful/informative book about how the brain develops. I mean it was great, but now we can't watch tv, you decide if it's worth it) AND the "boss" is supposed to be concerned with what you eat and if you like it. 

The food thing is pretty amazing. When I would babysit, certain families would have the holy grail of snacks. Goldfish crackers, york peppermint paddies, and fruit snacks were my lunch for an entire summer in the middle of 8th and 9th grades. I would also talk trash about families who hadn't asked me previously what I wanted for dinner or what cold cuts I liked or had awesome kid snacks. When I moved on to Tony Roma's nobody really cared if you ate for free (shocking) actually it was not allowed, even though we worked in a restaurant. We would regularly steal bread and that delicious garlic butter and that's how I gained weight. 

This is literally the bread. I laughed when I thought of googling this and it was really there. Who puts this stuff on the Internet? Bread lovers like me, I get it. It really was delicious. 

When the kids are older, you get to do stuff like, take them to the pool, park, bowling alley, bake cookies, etc. and the parents PAY for it. Many parents would leave cash so we could do all these fun things. I also thought I was so fun for always baking cookies with the kids. Little did I know, I was creating huge flower messes, that I'm sure I never cleaned really well. So after being at work all 

day, losing all their money to pay me and to pay for us to go to lunch and bowling, these people also had to clean up our cookie extravaganza. Really? 

I wish I had known the power I had then and the craziness these parents went through to keep their kids safe and happy. I hope I would have eaten less goldfish. 

If any random person is reading this that babysits here are some things to think about. 

1. Keep doing it, no real job is tax free and provides meals. 

2. Be fun and keep the kids happy. I made messes, would use the family's elliptical, eat all their foods and I maintained busy because their kids were happy. 

3. Be on time.

4. For God's sake clean up your mess. 

5. If it's at night, have the kids asleep when they get home. 

And whatever you do, if there is a jar of Nutella, you better leave it the f- alone. 

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne. 

3 month professional photos

This weekend a sweet student's Mother who is also a photographer came over to take Austin's 3 month pictures. Earlier in the week I looked all over for the perfect outfits that were not too stuffy, modern (I do not do the Ed Hardy baby look) and all boy. I thought we had found the perfect outfits and I was feeling super confident because not only were these outfits adorable, I also brought Austin to the mall with me to buy them and had not just survived but we thrived. No breakdowns to be seen. Amazing. Anyway, Saturday morning rolls around and I check my email around 11:30 (pictures are at 1:30). The photographer emailed me at 11:00 PM the night before and gave us some suggestions on what WE should wear. WE??? How had I not thought of us? She said we should somehow coordinate and attempt to wear solids. Umm....Then she says we will start taking pictures in Austin's diaper cover. WHAT? Diaper cover? I don't have a diaper cover. With now less than 2 hours I decided I could maybe get all of this done. I got dressed and ran to go shopping. I know I said I didn't have clothes, but I was also running low on make up, hair products, pretty much everything else. I ran to Target because I thought I could maybe buy everything in one place. I moved like the wind. Make up? Check. 2 new shirts and new jeans (that I even tried on)? Check. I even bought cleaning products and some other "must haves" all with in 25 minutes. I was on fire and just knew I could pay then make it to the Factory to buy an overpriced diaper cover at The Little Cottage. I got up to pay for said items and it happened... I left my wallet in the diaper bag which of course was at home....The day before we went shopping for the adorable outfits I had all 1,000 items of Austin's you need to leave so I put my stuff in the diaper bag as well and being in such a hurry to leave, I didn't check my purse and I was left with literally squat. All of that whizzing around and feelings of successful were for nothing. Feeling defeated I went home and thought I could possibly go back but finally decided to just make something work Tim Gunn style with what we already had. The photographer was a little late so we just skipped the diaper cover pictures and all ended well. We haven't gotten the pictures back but I will post asap! I've definitely learned that this baby brain stuff does exist and am waiting for my real brain to return any. day. now. That happens, right? Lie to me if not.

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

some weekend shots!

Happy Monday! This is my last full week of maternity leave.. and I'm completely in denial about it. I thought about checking my work email that I haven't looked at in weeks but thought a cup of coffee would be a better idea. Total denial. Friday night as promised we stayed in and watched a movie, "Hyde on the Hudson". It was really interesting and I enjoyed it. Saturday we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. We organized the office which had not been looked at since Austin was born. Then some high school friends came over one who now lives in Hawaii and he brought his sons who are 3 1/2 and 1 1/2. They were so cute! Finally we actually did something non child related and celebrated the Abington's last cookout at their lovely Franklin abode. They were some of my first friends to buy a house and I am again in such denial that they are leaving. Finally on Saturday I met our wonderful friend Aubrie and her husband Brandon and their BEAUTIFUL baby Sloan for lunch. We joke since Austin and Sloan are 2 days apart that they will date, marry and live happily ever after so this was a big date for our boy! Of course I no longer think to take pictures of anything but him so just imagine the other stuff above, please. 

All ready to go in his brunch outfit. P thought he would look impressive to Sloan with some flashy cash but I don't do new money and removed that pronto. 

I'm not so sure the love connection was as strong as we once hoped. Sloan slept the entire time (good girl!) and Austin seemed more concerned about eating, sleeping and having his diaper changed. I will have to cover dating etiquette asap because this just won't do. 

Later we just hung around our house while P watched the Masters and I was bored to death took a quick catnap on the couch! After Austin woke up he was so happy so I took these! 

Although he really doesn't need a bath every night, he really enjoys it so we bathe him in the sink. I can't tell if it wakes him up or soothes him but I read somewhere baths are a great way of beginning a "bedtime routine". I kind of think it wakes him up more than anything but he is so happy about it I don't really care. 

We had such a fun weekend I was so sad it was over! He is starting to get so fun.. and then I have to go back to work. The timing is so rude. 

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne. 

2 month photos, a couple of weeks late!

As with almost everything around here lately, I'm running a little late! Who knew this little child would take over every single aspect of my life and take up all my time and I'd actually be happy about it?

 

We've been doing a lot of pushing up lately!

I like to call this one blue steel.

Hotty Toddy!

He is really starting to fill out!

I haven't showed this before but sweet Jenna came and got his comforter when he was born and put his birth date and stats on it so it would be ready for when he came home! So sweet :)

 

Fun things this month

 

Weight: 12.4 lbs (75%)

Height: 24 inches (80%)

New fun things: he has started to smile so much...it is so fun. The only issues is that you can get him to smile and as soon as you put the camera up he goes into this deep stare. He also has found his hands and likes to chew on them a lot.

Sleep: We have really gotten good at this lately. For the most part he sleeps 7 hours each night. It's never the same exact time each night but lately he has been sleeping from 10-5, but tonight he missed a feeding so who knows? As soon as you feel like you've got something down, it changes.

Favorite activities: He loves his play mat and mobile and seems pretty content when going on walks.

 

One not so fun thing about turning 2 months was getting shots. He had to get 3 shots and really he did pretty well. Uncle Ben went along to help... ME. His little face was so pitiful when he got the shots but was able to calm down pretty quickly. When he woke up he was pretty fussy and I gave him some baby Tylenol. He wouldn't calm down unless he was snuggled against me and in some awful way I kind of enjoyed it. He is sleeping so much better now, I don't hold him as much. For the first 3 weeks of his life, I think he was held the entire time. When we finally got our act together, he was able to be a little more independent, which is great, but I have very few afternoons like this now!

 

I love this boy! I can't believe I have to go back to work soon. I still want to work but leaving him this little seems unnatural!

 

 For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.