steppin' out sunday

So let me just say how awesome my fiance is. Ok, I might be writing his partially sucking up because we got in a minor tiff on Sunday while he was trying to be nice to me but of course, everything went wrong. But it really is the thought that counts and he really couldn't have accounted for everything that happened.

Back to sucking up... first thing Sunday morning, after I nursed JC, Charles took JC into the living room to play so I could sleep a little bit more. And he made breakfast for everyone. Awesome. That put everyone in a feel good mood for the day.

The day before, Charles had let me know that he wanted to take JC and I out on special surprise lunch date. I was super stoked so while JC took his morning nap, I got dressed in my Steppin' Out best.

{linking up to Steppin' Out on Harper's Happenings}

Hmmmm, really needed some jewelry...

Anyway, we all got ready and decided to head out despite what looked like a little bit of rainy weather. As we walked out the door, we were literally pelted by peanut butter M & M (typical fat ass using food as a reference for size) sized hail. That may not seem very big but it was really strange for this time of year. We thought about not going at this point but anyone with a baby knows that getting yourselves showered and dressed and then getting your kid ready and in a car seat takes way too much effort to just give up at that point. If I had known where we were going, I probably would have suggested that we just stay home. But, it was a surprise.

At first it seemed ok because we seemed to be driving away from the bad weather. It was crazy. There was hail and rain at our house but five miles away it was sunny and clear. I realized where we were going pretty quickly because Charles had mentioned before that he wanted to head out to one of the little gold-rush towns just east of where we live. But it is still at least a forty-five minute drive to any of these towns. We left the house at 2, hadn't eaten lunch yet and we had dinner plans with friends at 5. "Hmmm..." I thought, but I kept my mouth shut.

Then, JC started. He's JUST finally starting to officially cut his first tooth. You can see it and everything! But this means that sometimes, he's just not in the mood for most things and he won't hesitate in letting you know. Cue JC screaming and crying in the back seat for about 20 minutes straight. There was literally no where to pull over for hella long so as soon as we saw a little turn out, we pulled over and I gave JC a dose of tylenol and some baby orajel. But that only seemed to semi-help. I knew we still had another 20 minutes to our destination but I kept my mouth shut and hoped for the best.

Then Charles couldn't find the restaurant in the town he wanted us to go to. We literally drove up and down this tiny street 10 times before we decided that "This has to be it!" because do to the lack of any kind of sign, we couldn't determine what was what on this street. By this time, the weather had caught up to us so I knew we couldn't do any kind of shopping or walking around. I was a little irritated because we basically drove for an hour with a screaming baby just to eat. But, I didn't say anything as we walked up to what looked like a deserted restaurant in a deserted town.

We walked in to this restaurant only to discover that lightning had struck a transformer and cut power to pretty much the whole town. Awesome. They offered us chips and sandwiches but it was now past 3 at this point and we hadn't eaten anything. I know that means we probably should have just settled for it but we wanted something warm to eat on this cold, windy day.

Back to the car we went and that's when I couldn't hold my tongue anymore. I made some snide comment under my breath about how Charles should have checked the weather report before we came out, or timed it better, or something. Then of course, Charles got mad and we didn't talk for a few minutes on the ride out. 

I sat in the back with JC and kept him entertained with a pack of face wipes. When JC gets fussy like this, only two things will keep him occupied Katy Perry & forbidden objects. JC being happy and in a good mood definitely lightened things up in the car. We apologized to each other and decided we would adopt a "whatever goes" attitude for the rest of the way home. 

We ended up eating pizza at a place that is only 15 minutes from our house. But hey, we hadn't been there before and it was pretty good! By the time we finished eating, it was time for us to head over to our friend's house for dinner. We felt like fat asses but we ate dinner like an hour after we ate lunch. But what can you do? Sometimes you have to just go with the flow. It always helps when you have a happy, entertained baby also. 

Anyway, I'm sorry Charles for being an ass. I love you and please don't stop trying to do sweet things for me and baby man. We are so lucky to have you! You are the best fiance and daddy ever!

two months left!

One of my favorite mommy blogs that I've come across so far (there are soooooo many really great ones that I'm sure I've yet to stroll across) is Harper's Happenings. And one of my favorite features on her blog is Steppin' Out Saturdays. Basically it's a link party where mommy bloggers can post links to their blogs where they showcase their style. It's very inspiring to look at other mommy's that manage to look cute at least once a week to get out of that pajama funk that a lot of stay-at-home mom's (and working moms too) fall into. I know I can definitely say it is hard for me to put in any effort in the getting dressed department, and there are a lot of days where I take a shower just to get right back in some pj's. But, as JC has adapted to a pretty predictable schedule, I manage to shower, get dressed, and do my makeup most days while he takes his morning nap. It really helps get the day going, even if I'm just going to hang around the house. It also makes it easier if we do decide to get out. All I have to do is get him ready because I'm ready to go. So anyway, I've lurked the Steppin' Out link party a few times and we went to a friend's baby shower yesterday so it gave me the perfect excuse to join in! So here is my entry for a Steppin' Out Sunday!

On me

Dress, Nordstrom Rack

Shoes, Old Navy

On JC

Shirt, hand-me-down

Jeans, Target

Shoes, Babies 'R Us

No need to adjust your screens, my legs are really that pasty. It's really bad. I don't know how JC is only half Mexican and he looks more tan than I do. Maybe he gets his GTL on while I'm sleeping. I will say, after seeing this picture, I spent some time sitting in the backyard reading Bossypants until I got too sweaty. 

Every time I put on a dress, I always say to myself, "why don't I wear dresses more often?? They're comfortable, flattering, and easy!" Then I have to nurse JC and I remember why I don't wear dresses. I literally had to take it off to feed him, so that really wouldn't work too well if I had to feed him out in public. But I won't have to worry about that too much longer because yesterday was JC's 11 month birthday!!!

Which leads me to my post title, LESS THAN TWO MORE MONTHS OF NURSING!!!  Yay!!!! I can't believe we've almost made it to one year. My plan is to stick to our nursing schedule as it has been for the past couple of months (first thing in the morning, after his morning nap, after his afternoon nap, and then right before bed) until he's one, then start dropping a feeding and waiting about 3-4 days before I drop another. So hopefully, we will be done weaning before he's 13 months old. 

As much as I am ready to have my body back to myself, I will really miss nursing my little baby man. It really has helped create this great bond between us. At first, I was a little bitter that I was the only one who could feed JC so I had to be the one to get up and take care of him every 2-3 hours and Charles got to sleep. But later, I felt grateful that I was the only one who could feed our baby. If we were out somewhere, it was nice to be able to step aside and have a nice quiet moment between us. After you have a baby, it's so weird to have them out in the world and no longer all to yourself, rolling around in your belly. Breastfeeding let me feel like I still got to have a little piece of him all to myself.

I never thought that breastfeeding would be as important to me as it has become. Before I got pregnant, I was pretty apathetic about breastfeeding or formula feeding. I was only formula fed and I turned out ok, right? Charles was actually the one who was really adamant about me breastfeeding our kids. I was like, geez ok I'll think about it! Then when I actually got pregnant and felt this little life growing inside me, I knew breastfeeding was the right choice for me. And really, we've been blessed with how well it has gone. I know a lot of people who have had problems with breastfeeding and I visited thebump.com message boards ALL THE TIME when I was pregnant and right after JC was born so I saw a lot of women having difficulties with breastfeeding there too. And there were times that I wanted to give up, when I thought it was too much work, hurt too much, or when I just wanted my body back for myself. But luckily I have a lot of very supportive people in my life and I knew once I muscled through the first couple of months, it would get easier and I would learn to actually enjoy it. Honestly, I still think that formula feeding is a completely fine way to feed your kid. It's really just personal preference and no one has any right to judge anyone else on how they decide to feed their baby. For me, I've found that breastfeeding has been so much easier and works perfectly for our family. 

So if any mamas have weaning advice, I'd love to hear it! Leave me a comment because I need all the help I can get! 

Cute new stuff for JC's room!

Just wanted to write a quick post about these HELLA cute prints I custom ordered from babybyrds on etsy.

I'm soooo excited about these you don't even understand. I'm going to frame them and hang them above JC's crib, I think. I feel so bad, his room is in desperate need of being cute. We have several things to hang on the walls including some really cute vintage BMW ads (of course) but we have just done typical Charles and Melissa status and procrastinated on getting frames and hanging stuff up. His sheet set is the only thing in his room that points out that he even has a "car" theme in there. Ok, that's not true. The only things hung on his wall are two small pictures of the red car from Cars and the tow truck from Cars. They are cute but not hung up where I'd ultimately like them to be. He also has a clock that looks like a tire, but it's not hung up or set to the correct time. And he has a few random toy cars thrown in the mix as well. I guess since JC was born about a month and half early, we ran out of time to finish his room. He came and all the busyness of having a new baby came also, leaving very little time for any decorating. Or anything else for that matter. Heck, the only reason his crib had sheets on it at all was because our super awesome friends came into our house after we rushed to the hospital in the biggest panic you've ever seen and washed the sheets and put them on there. Oh yeah and they cleaned up around our house. Who has better friends than that? Not most people, I'll tell you that. 

So anyway, I digress. I really want to get JC's room at least half way done before his birthday. The kid deserves a cute room. I think my next purchase will be this rug/play mat from ikea, our favorite store. Hopefully I can decorate his room so it stays that way for a little bit before he decides he hates it and wants to redecorate.

I meant for this post to be short, I promise I did. I talked myself into making JC an Easter basket. So about $100 later at Babies R Us, we got a few items. I'll post about that when I put it all together and give it to him on Sunday. Yes, I realize he doesn't understand what Easter is. Yes, he was there when I bought all of it. But it's still cute!! And some of it is actual functional items that we needed. And I'm sure he's forgotten about all of it by now anyway. 

Charles left our external hard drive at a friend's house last night sooooo I still don't have any Bodega Bay pictures. But as soon as I get them I will put them up, I just hope that is sooner rather than later.