Today I am Mommy

Please don't expect me to be a functioning member of society today. It's not going to happen. Please don't tell me I look tired. I AM tired. I'm aware I look tired and I don't need to be reminded. Sleep just doesn't grace me these days. It is 11:15am and I'm up for the day and this is the only five minutes I will have to myself until my husband gets home. I've been wearing the same pair of yoga pants for three days and it's even a wonder I'm wearing a bra (hey, does that mean it's going to be a good day?! I hope so!) I will constantly have someone clinging to me, feeding from me, needing me, yelling at me, crying for me...it's exhausting, but I chose this. Right now this is my life...my crazy, hot mess of a life. 

Even though I'm convinced Tucker hates me because he wants to eat every hour and a half, I love him with all of my heart. And when I think I have a moment's peace, Aiden swoops in with his grabbing of my hands and BOOM! I'm pulled from the couch (that oh-so-comfy spot on the couch) to wherever he thinks it is that I need to go. Because oh, by the way, he can't talk. So everything is either whining or babbling. And lately, talking to the walls is the way to go. I don't get enough adult conversation, and sometimes that's enough to make a girl go crazy. You should try it some time, or don't. No, you probably shouldn't. Unless hiding alone in your closet to eat a piece of peanut butter chocolate sounds appeasing. Because that's the only way you'll get it - since Aiden is allergic to peanut butter and will scream at the top of his lungs if you don't share. But he hears that tiny piece of paper crackle when you are sneakily trying to open it. He doesn't understand why he can't have it, for all he knows I'm just being an asshole and won't give a bite (or five.) 

I'm blessed with two healthy boys, a saint of a husband, and a nice home that [technically] belongs on a Febreeze commercial. But that's okay, my friends. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. One day my boys will be grown and won't need me. They will both sleep through the night and so will I and that means I won't look tired and you won't be tempted to tell me I look so. They will be able to function on their own and will probably tell me how much they hate me. It feels like that day will never get here, but when it does, I'm going to wish for these days back. I'm going to want them little again. So, in these sleepy moments that are spent with eyes barely open, I'll enjoy today. I'll make it special. I'll remember every single second. I'm doing just fine - I have to remind myself of this or else my husband will find me in a corner one day and won't even recognize me. Instead he will think some insane person from an institution somewhere escaped and chose a random corner at our house to mumble profanities. I also remind myself that God never gives us more than we can handle. I'm raising children and at the same time they are raising me. We're growing together and I can't forget that. I'm going to enjoy all the kisses Aiden is willing to give me (even the sloppy ones ten times in a row.) I'm going to soak up all the lazy cuddles with Tucker while we nurse and let the dishes pile up. Today I have not a care in the world. Today I am mommy.

I'm glad I didn't pour the milk in my cereal yet (I'll get to eat that someday, right?), because I have a tiny human crying for my boobs now and who knows how long that will take. Goodbye!

DIY Sugar Scrub

I don't know what it is about these pregnancy hormones, but they are totally drying my skin out! I mean, c'mon, what happened to that pregnancy glow I'm supposed to get and those long luscious locks? They are no where to be found.

Aiden went down for a nap and left me bored and alone, so I got in the mood to do a project! I dug out an old mason jar I had stored and grabbed the rest of the stuff I needed. I made this one up as I went, and I'll admit, I really love it!

You will need:

• 1 mason jar - I used a wider top jar
• 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp baby oil
• 1/4 cup Dawn dish soap with Olay Hand Renewal
• any kind of cute cupcake wrapper you have lying around

What to do:

1. Start by adding 3/4 cup of sugar to your mason jar.
2. Next, add the 2 tbsp of baby oil and give the mixture a good stir.
3. Now you are going to add about 1/4 cup of the dish soap.
4. Stir your scrub really, really well. Lift up the jar and look at the bottom to be sure you haven't left any white sugar at the bottom.
5. It might look a little thin, but I promise when you pour some into your palm and begin to scrub your hands, it will be a perfect consistency! 
6. Add your cupcake wrapper to the top of your mason jar (between the lid and rim.)

Voila! Be sure to follow up your scrubbing with your favorite lotion! Not only is this really easy to do, but it's so cheap and it smells so amazing! I hope you enjoyed this super simple tutorial! Let me know what you think!

Halfway Point!

Sunday marked a pretty huge point in my pregnancy! I turned 20 weeks this past Sunday, April 6th.

We've had a name picked out since I was about 6 weeks pregnant and the name came to me in a dream - Tucker. I told Adam about the dream and how we are apparently having a boy, because I picked a name in my dream! Adam told me that he wanted to use his middle name "Daniel" for Tucker and I agreed. I love that we didn't have to argue or anything! Fast forward 9 weeks and we found out for sure that we are in deed having another baby boy!

When I was pregnant with Aiden, the whole nine months was almost nothing but constant morning sickness even with the nausea medicine. I gained a lot of unnecessary weight and I am pretty sure I was pre-eclampsic and they never really caught it. The last couple of weeks before Aiden was born was awful and I just remember being so swollen. Looking back at pictures I can see it. I asked myself the entire time "How can women do this more than once? How do women have more than one kid?" I always got the same response "You will forget all of the bad stuff as soon as you lay your eyes on your baby and get to hold him for the very first time." Can I just say that truer words have never been spoken?!

I can remember being home with Aiden for those first few weeks and months and all I wanted was to be pregnant again. I could no longer keep him to myself. I could no longer keep him protected from this bright and scary world we live in. I could no longer feel each jab, stab, and kick. I missed it, like, REALLY missed it. I never in a million years thought that I would ever want to be pregnant again, but I did. In those tiny quiet moments when I nestled him in my arms and shushed him to sleep. In those tiny, quiet moments when he looked at with such awe and admiration. I knew I wanted to be pregnant again. I knew I NEEDED to be pregnant again. Pregnancy is a small sacrifice you make, giving your body to your baby, so that they can greet you and you can raise and mold them into the person they are meant to be. I'm so freakin' excited that the boys will be so close in age! We are going to have our hands full, but the memories we are going to have will be so worth it!

This pregnancy as a whole so far has been a lot easier, but still hard some days. Early on I didn't have any morning sickness. It finally decided to hit me and then I got a stomach virus or something and went to the hospital because I was severely dehydrated. I didn't eat much for a while after that for fear of seeing it again and I lost about 6 pounds. The nausea has gotten a lot better and I've been making better food choices. I'm also doing a lot better on the weight gain perspective as well. I do get headaches from time to time and the only thing you can do for that is just wait for them to go away. There are days where I don't do much around the house because chasing Aiden takes all of my extra energy away. My favorite part of being pregnant is the kicks you get to feel as reminders that they are still healthy and happy!

This time around we were I was really impatient on the waiting to find out the gender thing. I just had to know as soon as possible! I researched elective sonographers in my area and found a place that did it for a really great price! We took some of our family and got to find out at 16 weeks that we were having a boy! We purchased a package and go back around 28 weeks to get our last 3-D ultrasound of our little man.

We haven't done a single thing to get his room ready and it's killing me! We have a guest bed to move out, carpet to rip up, flooring to lay down, and a closet to clean out. By this time with Aiden, all of his furniture was moved in and I was just waiting on his bedding. I can't wait to get started and share pictures!

Overall, this pregnancy has been such a breeze and I'm loving it! Adam and I joke that since Aiden gave me such a tough time when I was pregnant, he was an angel when he was welcomed into the world. We are worried that since Tucker is an easier pregnancy, that he will be the devil made over when he gets here. I hope not! We'll see!

FREE Carseat Canopy!

I'm so excited to be getting things together for this new baby coming in August! Although, his room hasn't even been started yet. We have so much to do, a guest bed to move out, carpet to rip up, etc. I really need to get on top of that!

There's also things that I am re-using from Aiden, like his newborn carseat! It is in perfect condition, but I'm bored with the design. I think by putting a cover on it, the carseat will have a new look without having to purchase a completely brand new one! This is a great way to save money! I found a website that sells covers that are so adorable!

I'm sure you all have heard of Carseat Canopy! I found this website while browsing online for different options and I love what they offer. They have lots of choices for boys and girls and a few that could even be considered gender neutral!

Carseat Canopy offers two types of canopies. First, you can get just the canopy itself, or you can buy the "Whole Caboodle!" I am purchasing the caboodle for this baby boy and I'm so excited!

If you are a mom who is expecting her first baby, you might be wondering why you would need a canopy at all. You probably are asking if blankets can serve the purpose, but from my experience, I can't wait to get something that won't fall off! Most parents do throw a blanket over the carseat to block out the sun or keep nasty germs away from a newborn. Regular blankets will work, but they often fall when the baby kicks their feet and starts wiggling around. The canopy actually fastens on and will stay put!

I'm very excited to become an affiliate and share these awesome products with you! You can use my promo code 'HOTMESSMAMA14' at checkout to get a FREE Canopy or $50 off of the Whole Caboodle! Share this code with your mommy friends!

My Recipe Binder

Can I just start by saying that there are not enough hours in the day to get sh*t done. I mean, seriously? I think moms across the world should be allowed, I don't know, like, however many hours they please! We deserve it! But that's not the way the world works, sadly.

So, with all of these extra hours that I don't have, my organization and cleanliness has been slacking, for reals. I usually lay in bed at night browsing Pinterest until I completely pass out. They have so many recipes on there! I'm a sucker for a new recipe. Food is totally my love language. Cook me a good meal, and I'll be your best friend for-ev-er! No, really. That's kind of why I gained sixty pounds when I was pregnant with Aiden...that boy made me HUNGRY, but I do believe it was all out of love!

So, between my husband and I, we have accumulated a few cookbooks. We have all different kinds ranging from baking, to grilling, to the kind you get at Church. Adam is extremely picky; he's probably more picky than any four year old you'll ever meet. It's pretty ridiculous if you ask me (love you, honey!) So, with that, we only have a handful of things we eat often and that list gets put on repeat which gets old. I love trying new things, especially new foods - yum!

So, as we try new recipes, I usually scribble them down on scrap paper and keep them in a pile. This gets messy! I also hate that I have to scavenge all of my cookbooks to find that one specific recipe that I know I've cooked before, but can't remember where I found it!

So, I've decided to put together a recipe binder to keep all of the recipes organized and in one spot! I found an empty binder in my cabinet and printed off some free printables online! You can find some really adorable kits on Etsy, but I didn't want to pay for something I could find for free on the world wide web. I did a quick google search and found the cover sheet and spine label from Richly Blessed. I downloaded the category sheets from Happily Hope and used Microsoft Publisher to add my category titles. All I did was place the sheets in plastic protectors; it's super simple! I will probably get those sticky tab dividers and add them to the protectors so I can tell where each category is from the outside without flipping through the entire binder.

I think they turned out super cute! I'm really happy with them.

For now, I'm just adding all of my recipes to the binder "as is", but eventually I will type them all out on the computer so they are legible and more presentable! I can't wait to get this baby filled up! I'd love for this to get passed on to my kids one day!

We Made It!

So, my baby Aiden isn't much of a baby any more! He turned ONE earlier this month. Where has the time gone? I can still remember the car ride home from the hospital and the first night home with him in our house as a family. Now I know why everyone tells me to cherish these days - they go by so fast.

It's been long enough now that we have found things we love and things we hate. I thought I would put together a list of the things we definitely couldn't go without.

1. Fisher-Price Deluxe Monkey Bouncer

This was a gift from our baby shower. It has been quite a lifesaver. Any time I needed to get something done and needed to put him down, Aiden would go in this bouncer. It plays music and has a vibrating feature that you can turn on that helps calm your baby. If you are interested, you can find it at Sears.

2. Graco Pack 'n Play Playard - Barlow

This was also a gift from our baby shower. This is where Aiden slept when we brought him home from the hospital. In the beginning when he was a super newb, I would try to get him to nap in it at least once a day, but he slept with me at night. As Aiden got older, he started sleeping in his crib for naps and by the time he was eight months old, he was sleeping in his crib at night, too. I lowered the mat back down the very bottom and this was a great place for him to play so I could keep an eye on him while I did a quick load of laundry, made us something for lunch, or any of those other awesome mommy duties that needed to get done and I couldn't keep my eye on him 24/7.

I love this pack 'n play for multiple reasons. It has a bassinet feature - basically the bottom of the playard raises up so that you don't have to reach so far down. This is perfect for newborns! Those little poop machines are very immobile the first month or two and there's no chance of them rolling or climbing out, so why break your back reaching all the way down? This is the perfect solution! It comes with a mobile attachment that Aiden loves to look at and talk to. I think my most favorite part of this pack 'n play is the attachment at one end that I use to hold diapers, lotions, ointments, etc. I started using this instead of constantly going back and forth to his bedroom to use the changing table. It stays in our bedroom unless we go on a trip, then it comes with us. Here is the link for this one at Target.

3. Infantino Twist and Fold Gym with Tummy Time - Baby Animal

Again, another gift from our baby shower that I just completely love. I love that this mat folds up easily and we can take it anywhere we go. It comes with a tummy time pillow which has come in handy more than once. At first he had major trouble trying to lift his head, so the pillow gave him support while helping him at the same time. This particular activity mat doesn't play music, but it does have four toys that dangle down that they can play with. The first few times we put Aiden on the mat, he couldn't quite grasp the concept of reaching for the toys, but he did kick at them from time to time. It also has a mirror and he loved looking at himself! This one you can get at Target.

 

 4. Evenflo Exersaucer Jump and Learn Jumper - Jungle Quest

What is there not to love about this thing? I seriously have nothing bad to say about this! We bought this one from Amazon when they had it on sale, but it looks like it's still about the same price as we paid months ago. I'm a huge fan of the Evenflo brand. This jumper held up really well and it is super easy to clean! The seat cover comes off so that you can toss it in the wash when it gets yucky (and trust me it will!) The soft bounce base lets your baby jump and land on a soft surface. It has three different height levels that lets you adjust it as your baby grows. It has toys all around the jumper and some that even light up and make noises and Aiden loved that! The seat turns so that the baby can play from all angles and the toys are easily removable so that you can just pop them off and give them a quick scrub (trust me, do this often because the your little drool factory can produce some serious ick!) Aiden was in his jumper when he learned how to hold his head up well and I really believe that this helped his balance and coordination. This is definitely a great investment!

Aside from the ever-so-important burp rags, onesies, diaper bag, car seats, blankets, and lots of love, these four things helped get us through each day a little easier! I'd love to know where your first year must-haves were and why you loved them!

Facelift!

Long time, no posts! I can not believe what a slacker I have been these past few four months. Shame on me! I haven't updated Aiden's monthly posts since he was seven months old and then, at Christmas, we found out we are adding another kiddo to the mix! (holy crap!)

So, being pregnant AND having a one year old tear up your house, I was seriously lacking the motivation it took to blog. I also had such an ugly design/theme going on over here. I tried learning the things it took to design my own template, but that takes a lot of time, and time is very valuable over here y'all. I'm lucky to get to brush my teeth most days (just kidding, but ya know...)

That led me to start looking around on Etsy for a quick new do for my blog. There were lots of options and I loved that, because I'm sort of - no - REALLY picky. I stumbled upon this gold and mint theme and just fell completely in love. I knew immediately that I had to have it! I completed my purchase and Audrey messaged me back right away so she could begin working on it for me! Seriously, from what I can tell, she's so sweet! And fast, too! She also gives you the option to add-on a package so that she can handle all of the installation for you - yes please! I'm kind of a ditz in that department, so that was perfect! She is completely professional about everything and she was finished in just a couple of hours by the time I paid - although her Etsy shop does say it could take up to 24-48 hours after you pay. I'm very happy with my decision and so glad I chose her design!

So, what do you think? Don't you love it?! She has more to choose from and you can even get a customized design! Go visit her shop Miss Audrey Sue Designs! She is fabulous! And I do believe this will add on to the motivation to blog and capture more of the memories we are making!