Remember that time Boogie peed on me...yeah, that was fun.

OMG! I'm such a jerkface!

I just realized it's been almost a month since my last blog post and I didn't even write it! I am le slacker.

Okay, I'm back. And I promise to be better. I have actually written about 4 blogs, or started, just haven't posted. I'll work to finish them.

Anyway, we've been busy here at Chateau Wiener Dog. We've had family in and out of town, Boogie was dedicated at church and it's going to be 115 degrees here in Phoenix. Good times.

We also purchased a fancy schmancy new camera just in time for the dedication.

If you aren't familiar with what a dedication is, let me bust some knowledge on you. It's basically a baptism only for Christians. Consider it a baptism Lite!

It was a great time. My parents were here and of course they showered that little girl with gifts and love. We always have fun with my parents.

So we go to 10:30am service with the families (except Rutherford who had to stay back and make more food because I'm not sure what part of him saying "You're not making enough, that's not going to be enough food, and I've done this a million times and I'm absolutely positive that you are not making enough food.." that I seem to not understand.)

The actual dedication was at 12. This is PERFECT timing because it's after church which is usually when we feed the munchkin and the put her down for a nap...so she's in the best mood when I'm trying to get her to sit still and be quiet for an extra hour.

Not. Happy.

When it was finally time to go up and have our little story and prayer done.

"God gave Audrey to us, turning two people into a family. And for that, we are thankful to Him everyday. She is a beautiful blessing from head to toe. We are better Christians, better partners, better family members and better people because of her."

 

It was very sweet but here's the kicker. Boogie has the worlds best timing. Seriously. When she was a wee little baby, every time I would walk into Scottsdale (affectionately known as "Snottsdale") Fashion Square, this kid would crap all over her, me, the stroller and anyone in a 5 foot radius.

Not. Kidding.

And if you know anything about the Scottsdale area, you know that it is NOT known as "family friendly." So just try to find a family bathroom, wipes, a hose, anything! I dare you.

So there we are, all cute and family like on stage, in the spotlight and I feel it.

She started to pee on me. Down my hands, down her legs, the front of my dress. Luckily, she had her woobie with her which, as you can see, I shoved under her butt and added a little extra on to the prayer. "Lord bless my child and please don't let me look down to see the front of my dress covered in her pee. Amen,"

We finished up and I darted off stage to get her changed just in time to miss the ending and most important part of the prayer, the parents prayer.

Le sigh.

The rest of the day went much better...after nap time.

Papa

Cousin Kyle

Cousin Lukey

Anyone out there have an embarrassing story about your kids? Let me know in the comments. It will make me feel better. :)

Guest Blogger!

Hi everyone! Today I have something really exciting for you. My cute-as-a-button sister-in-law is guest posting for me today. 


After the birth of her daughter, she dealt with, at times, debilitating postpartum depression. It broke all of our hearts to see her go through such a hard time when she should be beaming and enjoying everything about being a new mom. 


We all wanted to help but knew little of what we could do other than just listen. For those of us who had never experienced it, it was difficult for us to understand what she was going through.


Earlier today, I approached her about telling her story for my readers because I know there are a lot of you out there who have gone through it or know someone who has.


When you're done reading her story here, run over to her blog here and read some of her other stuff. She's hilarious, candid...and did I say HILARIOUS? 


Thank you Sarah, for sharing your story with us.

My Experience With PostPartum Depression

I debated long and hard on whether I was ready to let the world know how I was  affected by PPD. But I decided to be vulnerable in hopes of helping other moms who may be suffering from this horrible disorder, be encouraged and don't be ashamed or silent, there are better days ahead for you!

My Story:

“PostPartum Depression, what is that?” I thought to myself, while perusing a magazine in the beginning of my pregnancy. “Surely it’s something that’s been made up by women who just are just negative and can’t get themselves past the hump of the baby blues, right?! This could never happen to me.” These were my thoughts on PPD before I became victim to it. 

You may be wondering about my life before I was affected by this hellish experience, let me take a moment to introduce you to the pre-mommy version of myself. “Hi! I’m Sarah. I’m a happy go lucky girl. I am somewhat harsh and critical of others when I don’t understand their sufferings or mishaps. I mean, Come on people! Get over it! Control your thoughts! Get a grip!” I bet you want to slap the pre-momma version already. “My life is good. I am married to a wonderful man who loves God and is the Associate Pastor of our church. My biggest concerns are; where we will go on our upcoming date night, when my size 00 pants are beginning to feel snug and the stupid roots I get about 2 weeks after I get my hair done, umm yeah roots are a BIG problem of mine. I will slap myself for you now… 

I became pregnant with my daughter, when I was 23. My husband and I had just experienced a miscarriage after an eight week pregnancy. I got pregnant a second time very soon after. I had some typical anxieties concerning becoming a mother; Will I be working or staying home? Will I be able to succeed in looking after another human life that God has entrusted to me? Will I put on a lot of weight? Will the bleach at the hair salon harm my baby (haha)...You know the usual. But never in my wildest dreams did I entertain the thought that postpartum depression could be a part of my experience, never.

 I had my beautiful daughter Joya Isabella July 9, 2009. She was stunning. Tiny nose, perfect lips and big bright eyes.. I labored for over 12 hours, pushed for nearly 3 (ouch, I think I may have broken some sort of hospital record for that) and I lost quite a bit of blood, to the point where my nurse told me the morning after delivering Joya that if my hemoglobin levels didn’t rise, I’d be getting a blood transfusion. But they did rise, and I went home day 2 after delivery. I was exhausted, which they told me I would be since I had lost so much blood and in turn was very anemic.

Baby Joya was up a lot at first, so I wasn’t sleeping too well and on top of my already weak body this made matters much worse. The first Sunday morning being home from the hospital I woke up to a house that consisted of me and Joya. My husband and mother in law were off to church and I awoke to a crying baby. In rising to my feet to go to my crying baby girl, I felt a strange sensation come over me. I was sweating, dizzy and experiencing a rapid heartbeat. “I am dying, I am having a heart attack and I am going to die,” I thought to myself as I lay back down in my bed and closed my eyes. I had my phone in hand ready to call 911 and started to pray. The symptoms gradually did subside, but left me shaken up for a remainder of the day.

 For the weeks to come I would experience panic attacks multiple times a day, accompanied by horrible thoughts that I could not shake. I wish not to share all of them, but a lot of them involved dying and many were how I didn’t know how to be a mom, and how I wished life would go back to the old way, just my husband and I. Writing this now seems SO foreign to me because I would take a bullet for my daughter. She is by far the greatest gift ever given to my husband and I. I hated myself for these thoughts. I really did, I even told my husband numerous times to please admit me to a psychiatric ward. I wanted to be away from these people that I loved, I did not want to ruin their lives. I knew that these thoughts were not me, but rather something that had over taken me. A sickness it seemed. I found myself in a war that I was not prepared for. Life in and of itself overwhelmed me. The teensiest thing would cause me great stress; examples being, something as simple as feeding my daughter or going to the grocery store would cause a panic attack. I was a prisoner of fear and panic and I was in a living hell.

My background is that of a Word of Faith Christian, which has been a blessing in many ways, but if misinterpreted as it was in my case, caused great shame and questioning. I felt like something was wrong with my faith, after all I should be able to tackle this by the name of Jesus right?! I should be able to speak to this mountain and see it moved. I was not a weak person who needed meds, I had the Lord. He is the great physician I would tell myself, you will be belittling God’s ability if you seek out anti depressants. Boy was I wrong. Was I wrong about God having died to give me the victory? No. I am confident that he did. Was I wrong about my faith being broken and this being the reason I was experiencing PPD? Yes. Was I going through a battle that God would one day use for His glory? Yes! He had a victory plan for me. Healing doesn’t always manifest itself over night, in my case it has been one day at a time, one step at a time.

I finally sought the help of medical professionals, who got me on the right path with antidepressants and anxiety medication. At first I didn’t see a change but over the course of a month I saw some great results. My mind was calmer so I could control my thoughts more. I was bonding more with my precious daughter, feeling all the warm and fuzzy feelings new moms get. I could now go to the store, out with friends etc, I was able to be in the word of God and concentrate on it to better equip myself for the battle I was in. Medication in my case was a necessary means to healing. As were many other things, such as a having a good support system. Praise God that I have an amazing husband family and friends who were there to encourage me and hold me up when I couldn’t stand. I have God who I know will never leave me or forsake me, who when I am down will whisper 2 Timothy 1:7- That I have not been given a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and a sound mind, or Joshua 1:9 (this is getting lengthy so look that one up.)

Another battle I faced was getting past the opinions of others. It’s rare to come across people who truly understand PPD, so naturally people would make hurtful observations about me as a mother. All of you momma bears can relate to the fact that you can criticize and belittle me in many ways, but don’t you dare attack my character as a mom. I had to tackle so many feelings of shame due to hurtful words that were said, I learned quickly to disregard these comments. I said  before I was very critical of those that depended on antidepressants so of course I felt guilty every night that I took my pill before going to bed. But then I thought how can I feel shameful when this is part of the equation right now that makes me a better mom to Joya, a better wife to Tai, a better friend or family member. After all I would seek professional help for cancer? Just because PPD is not as prominent of a problem and you can’t see it in an x-ray doesn’t mean it should not be tended to on a medical level.

I can honestly say that there is a light at the end of this tunnel. Some days I didn’t believe it, and I couldn’t muster up enough energy to walk towards it. I continue to walk towards that light, and I can feel the warmth of it on my skin. It’s all just one foot in front of the other and one day at a time. I have seen tremendous progress over the past year and a half. Today I am a mom who has a story that I am no longer ashamed of. A circumstance that could have ended me turned into a story that could enable me to better equip those facing similar issues. That is how God does things. I know I’m continuously being molded into the “ME” he had in mind when he made me. It’s a process, and in the mean time if my story can help to encourage one person to seek the help they deserve I know that I haven’t suffered in vein.  

If any of you have any questions or are battling with something similar feel free to message me at sarah.navares@yahoo.com.

Well said, Sarah.  

Feel free to comment her some encouragement or tell your story!  

 

 

  

 

Wordless Wednesday....Instagram Edition.

My mutts. Lazy and Lazier.

My heart.

An open letter to my mother on Mother's Day.

Dear Mom,

I forgot to mail your Mother's Day card.

*face palm*

Well actually, I forgot to BUY your Mother's Day card which would make it almost impossible to mail it so forgetting to mail it kinda sorta makes sense.

So as much as I would like to SAY it was my brilliant idea all along to just do an "Ode to my Mama" post....it wasn't.

And even though Rutherford laughed and smiled when I told him what I was going to do, I'm sure he was thinking I was a forgetful jerkface.

Regardless, let's just pretend this was my idea all along, shall we?

(This is going to be better than a stupid generic Hallmark card anyway.)

Boogie is getting so big. She's pretty much running all over the house and no wiener dog is safe. By the end of the day I'm exhausted and counting the minutes till the glorious BEDTIME has arrived.

I don't know how you did it.

The other day I cleaned my house, planned dinner for the week, went to the grocery store with baby to get supplies for dinner, brought her home, made dinner, left her with Rutherford to go BACK to the grocery store to do all the rest of the shopping for the week, came home and ate dinner (your pork chop recipe), then went BACK to the grocery store because I forgot the toothbrushes....you can see where this is going.

This was one day.

With one kid.

You had FIVE.

And I can count the number of times we had takeout or leftovers on one hand.

??

Most importantly, I never felt ignored, unappreciated or unloved.

You introduced me to purple eyeshadow, you played dress up with me in your closet, you put flowers in my hair for church, you taught me how to play backgammon, you let me drive when Dad wouldn't.. :)

You took on 2 ungrateful brats and gave birth to 3 of the most amazing people I know.

You cooked, you cleaned, you diapered, you home schooled, disciplined, coddled, you taught, lead by example, played, laughed, put up with Dad, wiped butts, noses and hands.... You raised a family.

I could have done without the standing in the corner part. But that's just me.

Between slamming doors, pouting and generally being a pain in the ass, I'm pretty sure I didn't say 'Thank You' enough when I was a kid, so I'll say it now...

Thank you.

God gave me two mother's but only one Mom.

Happy Mother's Day, tell Dad to rub your feet, you deserve it.

If I were you, I'd start with food and move up from there.

Grandma, this is Boogie. Boogie, this is Grandma.

 

*Mother's Day cards by Aunt Becky at MommyWantsVodka.com

Unsolicited advice for you pregnant 1st timers out there...

I get asked a lot for tips and tricks when it comes to everything baby.

I don't know why other than I HAVE a baby and work for a baby company. Neither which make me an expert.

However, I am lazy and/or cheap smart and from this comes the problem solving skills of a ninja.

So sit back, relax and be ready to take in the awesomeness that is this list....

1. Invest in the good, long lasting furniture. They will take it to college. Something timeless and well made. This is something your kid will be climbing on top of, into, out of. You want it to be sturdy and well made. Plus, with the convertible cribs now, they go from infant to baby to toddler bed, and lastly to a full. So you better like looking at it.

2. Borrow, don't buy, a bassinet if you feel you NEED to have one. We used ours for the first 2 weeks in our bed room but then moved her into her own room. Turns out, WE were the ones waking HER at night. And get your mind out of the gutter. Rutherford has allergies and coughs in his sleep and I, apparently but I don't believe it, snore. Whatever...

Once she was moved into her own room she slept much better and so did we. We never subscribed to the co-sleeping either. To this day she has NEVER slept in our bed. As much as I have wanted to put her in bed with me, I haven't. Once you go that way, I hear it's hard to go back.

3. Since we're talking about infant in the crib, lets talk about the adorable bedding options. We have the Penelope Nursery bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. It took me FOREVER to decide on bedding, I went to every store and looked at every pattern. Finally I got some great advice from my sister-in-law, Celena, she said invest in nice bedding, it will last longer than the cheaper stuff. Well, for the money that was spent on this stuff, Boogie is taking it to college. But it's GORGEOUS and I love it.

Baby safety 101: The only thing that should be in a infant crib is the infant and a sheet. Anything else, including the beautiful and expensive bumper, is a suffocation and SIDS risk. As they get older, you can add a woobie, or toy. We actually have put the bumper in now what Boogie is over a year because shes been getting her legs stuck in the bars when she sleeps. But until now, it's been on the floor of the closet. What a waste. But, if you're even the slightest bit crafty and want to do something awesome with the bumper, go here. They show how to make a super cute valance from your unused bumper. I'm going to be trying it out pretty soon. I'll let you know how it goes.

As far as her beautiful comforter goes? It's hanging on the wall. I'll be pulling it down for use when we make the bed into a toddler bed. It was just too cute to stay in the closet and she needed stuff on her walls. Win-win.

Super duper awesome tip alert! I hate changing sheets. Hate it. And with a bumper (hey it's your crib and your kid, we had bumpers and we survived) changing sheets in basically impossible. Changing poop/barf filled sheets in the middle of the night...forget it. My solution? Layering!


I put 3 sets of sheets on the bed at a time with disposable changing pads in between. When it comes time to change the sheets just grab the corner from between the bars and pull. Toss the changing pad and VOILA! New clean sheet when you need it.

4. Keep a pack of diapers in a size up for night time if you wake up to soaked baby every morning. (This is for when they start sleeping through the night.) Going a size up at night is also great for babies with diaper rash. Gives more breathing room and helps heal faster. We use Huggies Overnights because Boogie would be SOAKED every morning, this solved that problem and now we have almost no diaper rash issues either.

5. Diaper pail=necessary. Yeah I learned this one late. We had a stinky nursery because of it. I did a bunch of research and found Munchkin Diaper Pail to be worth the money. Works well, highly rated and safe. Apparently, on the inside of a Diaper Genie there is a really sharp edge used to cut the bags. Um, no. My curious kid would be in there and bleeding in no time. I'll pass, thankyouverymuch.

6. Spend the money on a good VIDEO monitor!!!! I can't push this product enough. We started out with the audio monitor because I couldn't justify the expense but, OMG, this changed our lives! I blogged about it here. I highly recommend the Summer Infant monitor in my blog post. Now that Boogie is walking, I have used it to scan the room to see what she's doing in her room and I have told her to lie down during nap time.

Side note: the talk back feature is awesome. Okay, so it KINDA freaks her out when the "voice from the sky" tells her to lay down, but whatever. It works and she lays down. And I had to laugh when my brother got on there and told her it was "The Lord".

7. Wiener dogs are handy when it comes to child cleanliness. Go figure.

8. Nursing is hard. Anyone that nurses their baby deserves a medal. I did for 5 weeks and that's all I could do. If you choose not to, or can't, don't let anyone (I'm talking to you crunchy judgmental mommies) tell you that you're a bad mom.

When I couldn't do it anymore I felt bad but it turned out to be good for us. Rutherford was now able to feed her and it helped with his bonding time and he LOVED it. AS for the type of formula we used, believe it or not, we used Kirkland brand from Costco.

My sister-in-law has been a post pardum nurse for years and she told me that it was what the other nurses and doctors used. If they trust it, so do I. At a year we switched to Soy milk.

Super duper awesome tip alert! There is nothing fun about getting up 3 times a night to nurse in those early weeks so to make the time a little easier for *ME* I would Tivo all the crap reality shows that Rutherford wouldn't watch and that I wouldn't normally have time to watch, and watch them then. It got to the point where I was like "Sweet! Baby is up, now I can see what happened to Tracy on Jerseylicious!"

Also, nursing makes you HUNGRY. Like lumberjack hungry. I would get nauseous when I would nurse from hunger. On average, you burn up to 600 calories a day nursing so you're going to need to eat. My wonderful mother-in-law made bags and bags of muffins of all types for me. These were perfect for middle of the night snacks and easy to open and eat with one hand while the other hand is busy holding the baby that is stuck to your boob.

9. People always ask what the best thing I got for my shower that I didn't register for. Great question and the answer is Sleep Sheep. This is a white noise machine disguised as a stuffed sheep. It latches on the to the crib, carseat or stroller as needed. This has been invaluable to us. Since the day she was born we have put this on for EVERY nap or bed time, on the same sound. Since it is portable, this is helpful when we go to the In-Laws. It doesn't matter where she is, she will hear the same sound at nap time, which drowns out any noise she isn't used to hearing, in a strange house, and helps her sleep. This is a MUST have.

We have even used this in the car on a long drive to Flagstaff when she was about 6 months old. I put a blanket over the carrier and turned the sheep on and she was O-U-T.

10. Now lets talk shopping. I have TONS of super cute stuff and I will tell you now, I don't pay full price for almost anything. Here's how I do it:

Coupons are your friend. Babies R Us does a 20% off every month to every other month. However, they don't take expired coupons. I tend to go to BuyBuyBaby more than Babies R Us anyway. They pretty much have the same things EXCEPT BuyBuyBaby takes all competitors coupons AND those awesome 20% off coupons to Bed,Bath&Beyond coupons you've been stock piling (and if you're not, you should be!) They also have better customer service. You don't have to look far to find someone super knowledgeable and helpful. Their return policy is great too!

Get to know your local child consignment stores. Lets face it, kids clothes can be SPENDY and they tend to wear it once, maybe twice before they grow out of it. Especially if they are under 6 months. These places are great and you can often find stuff with TAGS! Best deal is always on baby shoes, they will always look brand new because, lets face it, they never touch the ground. Score!

Use your online resources. I love baby deal sites. My favorites are Mamabargains.com and TheMiniSocial.com. I can personally vouch for both of these sites as I have ordered MANY things from them. Mamabargains runs a deal until it sells out then will run a new one. Just yesterday I ordered this Day Tripper tote for $16 (regularly $40) because it is the smaller version of my FAVORITE bag The Weekender that I also got for $18 (regularly $58). I get asked every time I use my Weekender where I got it so getting the smaller version was a no-brainer. Boogie even has the ORE Origionals Kiddie Backpack from TheMiniSocial, paid $8, regularly $20. The difference with the MiniSocial is they run about 20 deals for a week.

Super duper awesome tip alert! Kids grow out of their clothes FAST! Keep a Tupperware bin (w/o the lid) in the babies closet. When you go into the closet to find something to wear for the day and come across something too small, just take it off the hanger and into the bin it goes. Easy! When the bin gets full, put the lid on and label it and into storage it goes. I have bins labeled 0-3, 3-6, and 6-12. If you are really a stickler, like me, I go through the closet bin when it's full and make sure everything goes into its proper sized bin. This is going to make my life so easy when the next one comes along, or it's time to pass along to a cousin. Hint hint Sarah! :)

11. Lastly, being a Mom, especially a NEW first time Mom is scary and hard AND lonely at times. Use your resources. Maybe it's just me but I felt comfort in knowing I wasn't alone so I reached out to Twitter. Think about it, a bunch of other mothers reaching out to each other, cheering each other on and offering advice is brilliant no matter where it comes from. I have made some great friends and have an amazing resource. I have sent out every question in the book from what to make for dinner, what to do about lingering diaper rash, how to interview a babysitter and why is my face breaking out! And that was just yesterday! Responses come back from everyone from Mom's to experts like Dr.Perricone, Heidi Murkoff (author of What To Expect When You're Expecting), BabyCenter.com and Dr.Lynne Kenny (nationally recognized child behavioral therapist). Not to mention other moms, just like me.

In addition to the great people, you will also find some great companies. Summer Infant, Safety 1st, Munchkin, Cuisenart, Pampers, Huggies, Yes To Carrots and Eucerine, just to name a few. These companies have had personal contact with me, each with amazing customer service and advice.

You can find me on Twitter as @BetterHalfMommy and I answer any question you can send, and if I can't, i'll find you a resource who can.

I hope this helps! Want to add to this list? Go for it in the comments! The more the merrier!

Fraggle Rock!

Is it me or does she look like a Fraggle?

Easter Bunnies, crying kids, and crashing cars...

So first off, I need to share with you Boogie's Easter Bunny photos that she took with her cousin Joya who mommy is Rutherford's sister Sarah. (The link is to her cute and hilarious blog, go check it out.)

We went to do the pictures on Friday of Easter weekend because there's nothing like waiting till the last minute so that you have the full Easter Bunny experience. Complete with crying kids, long lines and a disappearing Bunny. Yup, as we were waiting in line he disappeared on us. It wasn't to the bathroom because that's not the direction he went in. My guess is either a shot or a smoke, neither of which I blame him for. 

This is one for the history book. Poor Joya just wasn't having that Bunny. It's still cute and honestly, those are the best ones to look at when they are all grown up.

Case in point: This is my kindergarten class photo. Stupid photographer wouldn't let me fix my hair.

1982

Now, had this been a supper happy and toothy grin of me at 5 years old, you would not be seeing it. It's the stuff like this that therapy is made for.

Just for comparison sake, this is last years Easter Bunny photo. 

That adorable little peanut is Boogie. She was only about 3 weeks old at the time and slept through the whole thing. That's Joya on the left and the handsome dudes are my nephews.


Then came Saturday and it went a little something like this....

Okay, so maybe that's a big of an exaggeration but it feels just as bad...to my ego.

There we were, having a lovely time visiting with friends when me and my fatty fat fat self decides (in cave man voice)  MUST HAVE ICE CREAM! YUM!

Off I go with the my girlfriend, grabbing the keys to Rutherford's baby because the weather is beautiful and there's nothing like a convertible BMW on a warm summer night. We jump in, start her up, quick look behind me..Safety first! And....

***CRASH***

What the?

I pull up and look at her. She opens her door and says, "Oh that was just a water bottle."

Phew! Just ran over a water bottle I had left on the floor of the garage earlier.

Okay, back in reverse, off we go again and....

***CRASH***

What the?

"OH MY GOD! That's your CAR!!!!"

Mind you, this is not just a car, it's a brand NEW LEXUS.

::face palm::


We get out, inspect the damage and figure out how the hell we're going to tell the boys what just happened.

When we finally do get it together enough to go in the house we find the boys both holding GUNS. Ugh. This just keeps getting better. Did I tell you our friends is a SWAT Cop? And that he and Rutherford are both holding weapons as the words, "I just hit your car" come out of my mouth?

At first they thought we were kidding, and oh sweet baby Jesus, I wish I was.

After close inspection by the boys they both look at me and say, "Oh well, that's what insurance is for." And they are right and the insurance company said it's fine, as well. Easy peasy.

Didn't stop me from crying the next morning, still completely mortified, or still feeling like a Class-A schmuck to this day.

In my defense: It was dark outside, the car is black and I'm not used to there being something in the driveway.

Still, ugh.

I want to take a second to openly thank Chris and Monique for not shooting me when I hit their car. Thank you for your understanding and I promise not to mess up anything else of yours ever again. I can't make that promise for my kid tho, she did break a coaster the last time we were there. But if she does get out of hand, there's always the dog crate.

Hope you all had a Hoppy and Happy Easter. :)