Life This Week

It's 11 PM on Friday night. I'm sitting in bed on my third glass of wine. Emma is snoozing away in her Rock n' Play and Abby is snuggled in between me and Jonathan in bed. Taylor cat is literally just sitting on the floor next to the bed looking around the room judging all of us, I assume. It may partially be the wine talking, but I feel so happy right now. In all honesty, I'd be feeling this way with or without the wine but that is beside the point. I feel like the days go by in such a blur right now and no matter how tired I am at night when we all get to bed, I can't help but stay awake sometimes. It's my chance to soak it all in, to have a minute to myself, to just be. Either way, right now feels like a good time to talk about this week.

Sadly, I didn't set any goals for the week, but I'm not beating myself up too badly about it.

This week:

- I completed week 4 of Couch 2 5K for the second week in a row. I wasn't feeling quite ready to move on to week 5, so I repeated week 4 and I'm glad I did. Week 4 consists of the following: run for 3 minutes, walk for 90 seconds, run for 5 minutes, walk for 2.5 minutes; repeat. It's sad to say but I struggled through every workout. To be honest, I feel discouraged and frustrated because I remember a time when this was actually enjoyable for me and I want so badly to be there again. It's taking time and it's a struggle right now, but feeling frustrated and discouraged only makes me want to keep going, so there's that. 

- At one point, we had baby poop dripping down our wall...and then had to be the one who cleaned it up. Trust me when I say you don't want to hear or see anymore about this experience. 

- I broke down in tears when Jonathan got home from work on Wednesday. I was feeling overwhelmed...tired....emotional. Some days I feel like I'm crushing it and other days, I feel like I'm not doing anything well at all. Wednesday was just one of those days. A good hug and some encouragement from my husband and I was feeling much better. Can I still blame these random crying episodes on hormones? Just curious...

- I accidentally brought Taylor Cat on a walk with us and she almost ran away for good. 

- I wore leggings every day. #momlife

Saturday is shaping up to be a good one. Emma and I are meeting up with my mom for some shopping and girl time. I can't wait! 

Hope your weekend is full of whatever makes you happy!

Taylor Cat's Big Adventure

Being a stay at home mom to a two-month-old, my days tend to be pretty uneventful for the most part. We typically don't venture out a whole lot unless it's to take a quick trip to the store or a walk around the neighborhood so every day looks pretty much the same: nurse Emma, play with Emma, nap time for Emma while I write, exercise or clean the house, repeat, repeat, repeat. Monday was different, though. Monday was eventful and I'm here to tell you why.

I woke up Monday morning to the most gorgeous weather. It was about 70 degrees outside and I could hear our wind chime out back chiming away in the breeze. I immediately decided we had to squeeze in a walk because it was too gorgeous outside not to.

Emma was pretty fussy most of the morning so I almost decided to put our walk off until the afternoon, but I knew it would probably warm up by then so around 11, I put Emma in the stroller, leashed Abby up, packed some dog treats in a cup and off we went.

We walked along and as we walked, we walked through lots of small branches and piles of moss that had been blown into the sidewalk during the storm. Each time, Abby had to check it out or step over it so we were moving slow which didn't bother me at all since it was so nice out and Emma was calm as could be in the stroller.

We were a few streets over from our house when Abby seemed to see something under the stroller and stuck her head under it to check it out. I assumed it was more debris from the storm, so I tugged on her leash and kept pushing the stroller when I saw a cat walk from under the stroller into the woods next to us. It took me a second to realize it wasn't just a cat. It was our cat. Taylor Cat!

"Oh my God! Taylor!" I yelled. I stepped forward to grab her and before I knew it, she was walking off into the woods and I swear I caught her look back at me and laugh.

You're probably wondering how Taylor ended up there. See, we keep the stroller in the house since we've been using it so much lately and I didn't realize she had been sleeping in the little basket under the stroller when I decided to take the girls for a walk.

I immediately grabbed the cup of dog treats I had and called her name trying to get her to come back to me on her own. I didn't want to run at her because I knew she'd get scared and run further into the woods. Of course, having Abby on the leash wasn't helping because she wasn't about to willingly come up to Abby who is constantly bothering her at home.

Despite the fact that she's constantly trying to escape from our house, she is not an outdoor cat so thankfully, she didn't know what to do once was out in the wild so she just kind of moved from one spot in the woods to another instead of running off completely.

Within a few seconds, I was in tears not knowing how I was going to get her back. I couldn't go into the woods leaving Abby and the stroller unattended and Taylor wasn't coming back no matter how many treats I dropped for her. Thankfully, an older gentlemen was taking a walk and came up to help. He held Abby's leash while I ran in to try and grab Taylor. I quickly realized this wasn't going to work because she kept creeping farther away from me and Emma had started crying in the stroller by then.

I called Jonathan hysterically crying and thankfully, he was only about 10 minutes away and able to come help. The older gentleman stuck around to keep an eye on Taylor so we knew where to send Jonathan when he got there and I stood there trying to calm Emma down and held onto Abby while we waited. Our fear was that Taylor would get spooked and run off deep into the woods or into the street. At least with her right there, she was too scared to go any farther and we still knew she was okay.

Jonathan showed up about 20 minutes later and thankfully he was able to track her down within a few minutes. She, of course, walked right up to him when he called her name and he drove her back to the house while I walked back with the girls.

It was quite the ordeal. The second she ran away from me into the woods, my fear was that I'd be calling Jonathan telling him she was lost so I'm so incredibly thankful that man happened to be walking by and was so willing to help while we waited for Jonathan to arrive. If it wasn't for him, I don't think I would've been able to at least keep an eye on where Taylor was hiding while taking care of Emma and Abby at the same time.

Abby is constantly chasing her around the house trying to play so Taylor hides in that little stroller basket all the time to stay out of Abby's path but I never would have thought to check there before we left the house. I will be from now on, of course!

Taylor's Hiding Spot

I still can't believe she was just sitting in there as walked down the street. She's been trying to escape our house for years so she probably couldn't believe it either! I'm just glad she didn't run out into the middle of the road or something. At least the way it happened, she walked right into the woods and there were too many obstacles for her to just run away.

Once we were home and had both animals back in the house, Jonathan headed back to work, I put Emma down for a nap. I had some things I wanted to do but instead, I grabbed a beer and sat down for a minute to recover and chill out for a minute.

I mentioned yesterday how our family day at the park on Sunday was Abby's Big Day Out. I told Jonathan that Taylor must've been jealous she wasn't included in our adventure that day and decided she'd have one of her own!

So to recap, most days are pretty uneventful. Monday was not one of those days.

The End

Counting Our Rainbows: Life Last Week/Weekend

Well, hello! I used to say "Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms" all the time and I can't think of a more fitting title for this week/weekend recap.

I meant to pop in late last week but Hurricane Matthew made for a somewhat unproductive few days. Once we got word the storm was coming for us, we were pretty preoccupied Wednesday and Thursday making sure we were prepared for the worst. We were supposed to get the worst of the storm early Friday morning and most of the day so on Thursday night we settled in with a movie and some wine as we watched the weather get progressively worse. Thankfully we didn't get hit as badly as expected, but we lost power Friday morning and didn't get it back until late Saturday morning. We were incredibly grateful we were spared from the tremendous damage other areas faced and we actually really enjoyed our day together at home on Friday with our little family. It was nice to have a day at home together without any of the usual distractions like technology and work.

I do have to admit by Saturday morning, I was starting to get a little stir crazy and uncomfortable with no power in the house. I made plans to have a lunch date with my sister and in the meantime, our power came back on and I was able to clean up around the house a bit so we could enjoy the rest of our weekend. Emma and I had a great visit and lunch date with my sister while Jonathan finished working. Saturday night, we dropped Emma off at her grandparents' and went out for dinner and a movie. We saw Girl on the Train and I thought they did a pretty good job of turning the book into a movie!

We woke up Sunday to the most gorgeous, sunny day. So beautiful, it was hard to believe we'd just had a hurricane roll through two days before.

I told Jonathan I really want to take Abby out to a dog park or something. After being cooped up in the house for a few days because of the storm and us not having a fenced in yard for her to really run around in, I felt like she could really use a day out and some serious playtime. Jonathan made us breakfast in bed and we watched church service while we ate and loved on baby Emma.

We packed up our little family and headed to a great park about 40 minutes from us for some outdoor fun and we had the absolute best day together. We called it Abby's Big Day Out but really, it was such a special day for all of us!

I could complain about the storm or our power being out for 24 hours over the weekend. I could comment on this election and all the negativity it's bringing. I could be preoccupied with all the negativity I feel like we hear daily. Instead, I'll just say I'm grateful. I'm grateful for the quality time we got as a family because of Hurricane Matthew. I'm grateful our power was restored and that losing power for 24 hours was the worst of our troubles. I'm grateful that with all the negativity in the world, we get to control how we react to it. We get to choose how it affects us. We get to influence our children in such a positive way that no matter what horrors are going on in the world, they are good and decent individuals who rise above it.

One of our pastors said this on Sunday, "The news is bad, but God is good" and I've just kept repeating that to myself since then. So simple, but such a necessary reminder, I think. The news is seriously so bad, but God is so incredibly good.

Emma Joy: 2 Months Old

Emma Joy,

The last month with you has been so much fun! One day a few weeks ago, I had you on your changing table getting you dressed and out of nowhere, you gave me this big, bright, happy smile and you haven't stopped smiling at us since! With these smiles came the most adorable squeals of joy and daddy and I just can't get over the sweet sounds you make. You definitely recognize mommy and daddy and in the last few weeks, you've started to pay a lot more attention to Abby when she is around.

You still love your Wubbanub and you're now able to hold onto it with your tiny little fingers. Your hands are always busy these days and you're usually trying to stick them in your mouth or managing to wiggle them out of your swaddle during nap time. You've even started grabbing onto mommy's hair when I go to put you down, so that's been fun! You don't love tummy time but you're getting so good at holding your head up and when we put you down on your belly, you immediately start moving your little legs.

We moved you to your crib for nap time and even though you didn't love it the first few days, you got used to it pretty quickly and now you're napping in there on a pretty good schedule every day. You still sleep in your Rock n' Play next to our bed at night and even though you'd probably be okay in your crib by now, mommy is not quite ready for that yet. You are sleeping straight through the night, though, and have been for about a month now!

You're wearing size 1 diapers now and while you're mostly wearing 0-3 months clothes, some of your newborn stuff still fits, believe it or not! You're still a skinny little girl with long, skinny legs (and toes!) At your 2 month appointment earlier this week, you weighed in at 10 lbs, 4.5 oz and measured 22 3/4" long. The doctor was so happy with your weight (again), that she says we can cut back even more on supplementing with formula. If we keep this up, at our next visit we may be able to cut out formula completely. We've come a long way since those first few weeks and I'm so happy to know you're getting what you need from your mommy.

Oh, that 2 month doctor appointment on Monday? That was a rough day for both of us, wasn't it? As you lay on the exam table smiling, wiggling and making the most joyful little noises, it broke my heart knowing the nurse was about to come in and turn your world upside down by giving you 4 shots! You were so happy and had no idea what was coming. The nurse stuck the first one in your little leg and I watched you turn red as your eyes filled up with tears and next thing I knew, we were both crying hysterically. I wasn't prepared for how sad it would make me to watch this and my heart was broken for you. We stuck around in the exam room for a while so mommy could calm you down and as you started to quiet down and rest your head on my shoulder, I thanked God for making me your mommy. There's no better feeling than knowing I can make your tears go away.

You really are such a happy little baby. You don't cry a whole lot and when you do, it's usually because you're ready for a nap or you're having trouble passing gas. In the mornings, you lay there making sweet little sounds and looking around until I pick you up and you're always so happy to see me. You are certainly living up to your name, Emma Joy. You bring us so much joy and we're having the most fun loving on you. Happy 2 months, sweet girl! Daddy an I love you endlessly!