Nursery Reveal!

With this being my second pregnancy I've pretty much been nesting to some degree since week 15 of this second pregnancy. Tomorrow we will be into week 36, and then full term baby! So really Baby Pajamas could be making his debut anytime... Like really anytime. I'm hoping he still hangs in there until October though, it just seems like a fun month to have a birthday.

This pregnancy in general though isn't the intent of this post. Being in our new home and being able to give Baby Pajamas his own room has meant a lot of hours spent on his nursery, many trips to Ikea, Target and Joann fabrics because I've gotten to DIY quite a bit of his nursery. I've often contemplated a sister blog to this one or a the occasional post here show casing how to's on some of my projects.

 

Note the wall. I can name every mountain range on that feature wall. My sister was nice enough to help me it took hours of blending paints, and sketching each range or mountain. I laid them all out in CAD on a grid of the wall and then transposed it up onto the wall. It was a fun project, and is by far my favorite thing in the room, at least until Baby Pajamas comes! :) We were lucky I have hung on to quite a few of the larger things of Little Pajamas, so were reusing his crib. Hopefully we will get a new mattress for it before he is sleeping in there on a regular basis though. 

See the awesome corner shelves?? My super awesome step father in law made those for us totally custom with reclaimed barn wood from his grand fathers barn. Meaning they came from Little / Baby's GREAT GREAT step grandparents barn... Which I think is just so cool and special! Check out the mountain range shelf below, he made this for us too. Its so beautiful and we've definitely been super spoiled! I am so grateful for everything that our families have given up and helped with in making this room the perfect oasis I have imagined. 

The glider has had many an hour spend in it with Little Pajama and I am so grateful that I hung onto it so many more snugly memories could be made in it. It may be hard to tell, but the picture on the wall up there is from the My Brother My Brother and Me tour in the PNW last summer (2015 when we couldn't be there because we were in Yellowstone), it was a candle nights gift from my sister, and I was waiting for the perfect spot to put it, Baby's nursery ended up fitting the bill, of course, we weren't pregnant when I received it. 

The mint curtains were sewed and one of the last things I finished up before I felt ready to share his nursery with all of you. The white blanket keeps with the neutrals in the room, and I love the pop of orange the fox pillow provides, the blanket, reading light, and blue storage trunk are from Ikea, and the pillow is from Target's Pillow Fort line. 

 A childrens Poang and a close up of the reclaimed shelves.

 We fell in love with this little rustic looking clock at Ikea so I can keep track of how long I spend nursing. and the bear is a night light, again from Target's Pillow Fort line. Its really sweet all lit up at night!

 

Fun fact this Bison was bought for me when I was 18 months old because I could snort like the Bison in Yellow Stone. 

 

We found this dresser on craigslist and were able to paint and customize it for our needs, it also meant we didn't need to take up extra space for a changing table since its the right height. (Bonus it has a mate that we haven't done anything with yet but put in Daddy Pajama and I's bedroom where we desperately needed more storage!) 

Look at these precious fawn drawer pulls we put onto the top two drawers of the his dresser. (We found them on Etsy!) 

Little Pajamas was amazed at my abilities to create this arrow using painters tape while we put the blue layer on the dresser. There is one on the other side pointing down, but its hidden by his corner laundry hamper. 

 

This crib skirt is another DIY its fully adjustable so it wont be all bunched up on the ground as we lower the crib once he learns to stand. Plus I love the arrow print, it has so many of the colors we incorporated into the nursery... On a side note I have a ton of extra fabric from it which happens to be out door fabric so I'll likely be making something fun with the remainder for next summer.

Another on par Ikea find. 

And me! 36 weeks pregnant! Were getting close folks!! 

I have a ton more pictures of my organized drawers and closet... but I think this is enough for this post. Its easily one of the most soothing rooms I've been in, its calm and cool and just right for our little explorer. We are so excited for him to make his debut! 

To the Twenty-something Mums

Did you see the blog post, your thirty something mom friends shared to facebook this week? Isn't it cute that they think they are only going to miss out on a decade of "being themselves"? Or maybe that's privilege they get for having had three decades to get to know themselves before seemingly giving up who they are to become a mom.

I read this post, despite the title. I thought surely this will apply to me too, most similar blog posts done make me feel like shit or make me want to scream (sure at myself). The other twenty-something mom's out there know what I'm talking about.

The Mom uses a pool reference, she talks about all the thirty somethings in the kiddie pool with their kids, while the shiny unknowing 20 somethings read magazines and sip on cool beverages without a care in the world.... To the 20 something moms who may have been mixed in with that crowd I SEE YOU your the one checking your phone not for Instagram, but to make sure you can make it pick your kid from Grandma's on time, and trying to enjoy your last thirty minutes with your friends in between the two jobs your working or the billion college classes to have a little you time. I SEE YOU I know that you don't get the privilege of self care and that you've chosen to spend that time with the friends who you rarely see, and even more rarely see without having to bring your kid.

Don't worry twenty-something mom who brought her kid to the pool with her. I SEE YOU too, you'r there with the thirty something moms. Your hyper focused on your kid because its much easier to be focused on your kid than being the odd mom out. The thirty something moms, don't see you. I see the way you ache in jealousy of them as they talk about their husbands, and their mortgage payments, and compare their $600 strollers that neither will admit doesn't make their life better. I see the way you hurt as you wonder if having a child so young will have harmed him, as you wonder if you'll be able to give your child the life they deserve, because so much of yourself still has to focus on the little day to day. The thirty something moms talk around you, and your kid plays with their kids not knowing whats going on, the moms they assume your in the same boat as them.

To the twenty something mom who works on home work while her infant nurses, rather than read a book or watch netflix I SEE YOU. (It really is amazing how we figure out that our child will fit between us and lap top to write a paper and how long our arms really are)

To the twenty something single mom who gets dresses up for a date on a Friday night and has to battle with herself about if its worth it to give up the three hours with her kid for a chance at a "real family". I SEE YOU. I also see your toddler who sits at your sink and "helps" you get ready, the Thirty Something Moms toddlers are down stairs with Dad watching TV while their moms get ready.

To the twenty-something Mom who is the only parent at pre-school with one kid, I SEE YOU. I know that you made the decision to space your kids farther out so you could "get your life together" before having another. I SEE YOU, I AM YOU.

By the time I am a thirty something Mom, I will have a child turn 10 years old. My supposed decade will be up. Yes I will also be a thirty something Mom with a pre school aged child. Two sides of the same coin.

Here is what I will never know, I won't know whats its like to spend my twenty's saying "I'll never be that Mom". I'll never know what its like to be turning 21 inside a bar. I won't know what its like to take a vacation with my girl friends.There is a lot that I won't know about what its like to be twenty something and unattached.

Here is what I do know, my first child will finish high school before I am one of the Forty-Something moms.

Occasionally I am asked why my husband and I didn't wait to get pregnant. *pokes 26 week pregnant belly* and I am amused. I didn't get the luxury of getting know my husband outside of the context of school friend, and straight from there to "will he make a good father" I didn't get the luxury of dating a guy for 10 months before learning he didn't want kids. HE never got to know me outside of the context of me being Mom, even at school that doesn't go away. So I tell them, "We dont get to just get to know each other until all of our kids are grown and out the house." ... We then have to hope they don't come back like I did.

I suppose what I'm trying to say, is parenting is hard! It doesn't only last a decade and if you are a thirty something mom who read that blog post and went oh good I get to have my life back soon, your wrong. Little Pajama will always be the most important thing I've ever done in my life, and the thought of that ending after a decade (or even two!) is absolutely heart breaking.

Let's all try and be a little more inclusive in our parenting. Twenty Something Moms I meet when I am a Thirty Something Mom, I promise to try and ask you how you are, I promise to never judge you or not understand what your going through. I promise to see you, and talk to you, because I know how isolated you are. You've got this. I promise and just remember, your kids will be out the house before the thrity something moms kids will be!

And here we go again!

Being a Mom is just about my favorite thing. I've mentioned before that out of all of the things in my life that I've contemplated doing, being a mom was never one I questioned. One way or another someday I was going to be a mom.
Just under 7 years ago (HAS IT SERIOUSLY BEEN THAT LONG SINCE I FOUND I WAS PREGNANT WITH LITTLE PAJAMA!?!) I unexpectedly found myself pregnant with little Pajama, at just barely 20, and still very much in school, and very much single I remember that positive pregnancy test probably more clearly than anything else. It was one of the most defining moments in my life, and as anyone who has ever had a positive pregnancy test that was taken weeks after your LMP you know how fast that second line shows up (REALLY FAST) there was no waiting, there was the result I was going to have a baby, I was going to be a mom. (Don't get me wrong I am very pro choice, but there was no contemplation there for me for any other choice.) There I was with the one thing at my young age I knew I had always wanted, but so was not where I wanted to be in my life. I cried, like a lot. (Thank goodness for awesome room mates). I knew in that moment I wouldn't ever put myself (or a child) in that position again.

In 2010 I welcomed little pajama into my life, and let everything change. I got a degree a few years later, and after the degree I got a boy friend. That boy friend became my fiance and then back in January of this year we got married. Guess what! Now I get to be a mom again! Everything is happy this time, and little pajama gets to be a big brother, and he is going to be totally awesome at it.

That being said I am at the tail of my first trimester. Nausea is mostly subsiding, and the fatigue is ebbing (for the most part - but lets face it I've been tired since that first pregnancy test; its part of parenthood!) I've thrown up less than I did in my first pregnancy but the nausea has been way way worse. I also have a job now. So that's totally different. Telling your boss, and co-workers your pregnant is way harder than I expected it to be (I still haven't told my workers honestly-- my boss who I'm closer with knows as well as HR but like it doesn't come up organically when you work with middle aged men it just doesn't.). I still have to figure out FMLA and how much I can actually afford to take, but that's another post ( a likely very ranty post).
I've also over all been far less emotional - honestly I think I'm to tired for it. There was admittedly one break down where I was upset with Daddy Pajamas and I melted into a puddle crying and screaming at him at the foot of our bed.. like onto the floor at the foot of our bed. I don't for the life of me remember what I was upset about (it was REALLY irrational) it passed quickly and all was forgiven.  But no tears over things like the Incredibles which turned me into a blubbering mess during my first pregnancy.

Some things that will definitely be different this time, I have a house I can actually put baby things in! I have a whole room I can put a baby in with its things! (Trust me I am fully aware though that despite the being growing inside of me will have its own bed I'm still going to co-sleep so maybe we will end up putting Daddy Pajamas in the baby's room instead! jk dear.. I think) This means lots of research, I have this whole compulsion to like "do things the right way this time" whatever that means.
I still have some of my loved products from the first time around, crib, awesome Eddie Bower high chair (my kitchen accidentally matches this high chair...or my tastes haven't changed much either way its cool!), and a nice jogging stroller plus a few other items. But this all also means I've done this rodeo and I've learned a lot in my 6+ years of parenting, but a lot has changed in whats available too.
At least I know more about what I want versus what an inexperienced parent may think they want (Me included!) I'm excited to have the chance to get to do things "the right way" this time.

Its going to be a fun ride, so we'll see now that its all public like, I can try and post more.

Slurpees can't fix everything, but they sure can help

Today sucked. I don't have a reason why, other than it just did. After a very busy summer, today I had very little to do. This made my day drag by. Plus my patience and focus in general is not top notch on Thursday's. Little Pajama has been excessively whinny after about a month of being really, pretty good other than whining when its really obvious whats up (tired, hungry etc).

Today sucked because of all those little things that are elusive. The things that are at the tip of your tounge and you can't quite get your brain to realize. We've been busy, like REALLY busy lately. On top of planning a wedding, and coaching soccer, and working full time, little Pajama started kindergarten, which is great, and he seems to be doing really there. We run into his friends at the grocery store, and he'd already been to a birthday party.

This meant you know, another change. An adjustment to routine and schedule which, honestly I'm starting to wonder who that throws off more, me or him. Then that routine sometimes gets in further changed, since he doesnt have before/after school care at the school yet he still spends time with his grandmother during this part of the day. Today that routine got changed the last minute and rather than them being at our home as I had planned, they were at Grandmas, which taking a 5 year old away from his grandparents house is like pulling gum off the bottom of the shoe, you try and try and eventually end up throwing the shoe in the freezer, or in my case making your kid cry.

I've been exhausted (more on this in a minute) combined with everything else this exhaustion just overwhelmed me, As he sat in the back seat crying his crocodile tears, I tried to explain why I was upset, and started crying myself. I asked him if a Slurpee would help knowing there was a 7 Eleven just up the street and he said yes. So I said fuck it and I got us Slurpee's and you know what, we both feel better because of it. It was nice to do something small and simple just us, to help boost both of our moods, and it cost less than 5 bucks. (We got sour straws sooo ya know)

As a mom I am of course not a stranger to exhaustion. But the last few weeks I realized I hadnt been taking my iron supplement for well.. probably more than a year. I have historically low iron, which can lead to serious exhaustion. Were trying to be healthy so there is also just not a lot of red meat in my diet. I realized I needed to start taking my supplement again. Self care is unfortunately one of those things that mom's forget so easily. I know that I do anyways. I dont take as much time to linger in a hot shower, sip a cup of tea or read my book as I should, or hey put my own silent rant out into the blog-overse to be heard (because lets face it, this is less blog and more continuous mom rant) Which ranting is healthy at least to me.

I know I have a lot more to say about all of this probably, but I am going to go stir some soup, and take another slurpee slurp instead of continuing my rambling. Thanks guys. I just had to put it out there.

Lies Whines and More Lies

Being a Mom is hard. I can not stress this enough. Nor can I stress how much I love it enough either. These things make it exhausting as all get out however as well. Its been a while since I posted, and it had been a while since the post before that one too...

So if you don't know, I'm not only being Mom, and a full time employee, I'm also planning a wedding now. None of these things are all that easy on their own let alone combined. Inbetween the bigger conundrums like "Do I want to have a different last name than my child?" (No.) There are slightly smaller conundrums likes "Does this wedding invitation come in silver?" (UGH to many options out there!) Needless to say I'm exhausted, so is Daddy Pajamas so is Little Pajamas.

On top of all that crazy we have kindergarten starting in about a month. HOLY CRAP HOW DID THAT HAPPEN??? I'm so excited for him, but I'm also terrified of the wrath of a child who goes to school 6 hours a day 5 days a week. He is cranky. Part of his cranky I know is absorbed from my cranky. (My middle name should seriously be Cranky Pants I don't know how they put up with me.) He also is probably slightly starved for attention right now, as many of my evenings are spent on Etsy looking at wedding stuff, or pintrest getting ideas. (Have you ever been caught in a pintrest vortex its intense!) Whining is at an all time maximum right now and Daddy Pajamas and I are getting really tired of it.

We will hit strides like yay he's not whining this week. Then the next week he's whining about something else. A lot of it I'm sure is him testing him limits starting to find out what we will, and will not let him get away with. It's exhausting, but we are handling the whining.

The last few weeks a new, rather unpleasant phase has popped up. One that was unexpected and I'm trying so hard to be patient and understanding but its lying. Every other thing he says is a lie, a blatant of course that's not true lie. We've explained lying and why this isn't ok, they've gotten minorly better since then, Were sticking with it and doing our best to stay calm make sure he understands that we know hes not being honest without making him be in trouble. "Its a phase Its a phase Its a phase" (Hopefully I will be able to retire this mantra someday!)
We do know that this is normal phase and that before know it like so many other phases it will pass. If you have any tips for dealing with it I'd be happy to have them,

Hopefully all of the behavior issues we've faced since January, will start to calm down once we get through the wedding. I'm trying and I know that's the important thing, and as long as I'm trying I guess I will just accept that I am going to exist on coffee for the next 6 months. I do love him and I know its not easy on him. I will continue to remind myself of this, but in the mean time if he ran out of tears, my feelings wouldn't be hurt.

Saturday Morning Muffins

Saturday's are supposed to be the best day of the week. Relaxing, no work and all of that jazz. It rarely works that way however. I signed up to coach little Pajamas soccer team this spring. Its been fun and its a good way of keeping me at least a little more active, and its always a good idea to be involved in our children s lives. This means putting in more time and more effort, but its been worth it so far. Its not a that much more of a time commitment as we would be at practices and games whether I was coaching or not.

We've been rather unlucky the last couple of weeks. (I like early games, the kids always have seemed more focus at that time of day than the afternoon games.) Our games have been really late in the afternoon the last few weeks and this week is afternoon but not quite so late so that's something at least. 

Its late enough though that I was a little more capable of seizing the morning with little pajama however. Which is so much more important now that Daddy Pajama and I are busy planning a wedding too, (more on those adventures to come!) The real point I was trying to make is the importance of seizing the little moments. In the years to come little pajama wont remember the morning we spent last week running errands before his game, but maybe just maybe he will remember in the years to come the morning we hunted down a recipe for raspberry muffins and he helped me measure and pour the ingredients into the bowl of the kitchen aid. Or he'll have a bite of a muffin with a lemon glaze like we put on these ones and remember that after insisting he wanted a sour glaze not creamy he made me get him a muffin that didn't have any on it. He's a goof like that, but then again I suppose most 5 year old's are. 

The muffins came out fluffy and tasty just a little bit tart. They were perfect, not because they actually are a perfect muffin but because I got to make a memory with my son, and there will never be enough moments like that. Seize them when they present themselves, because I know come Tuesday when I am trying to make dinner, fit in a work out and have been at work since 8 am, I will be glad I had a good time on Saturday morning, just being us. 

Heres a cute picture from a few weeks back when he helped me make dinner. He insisted he needed an apron as well. Too stinking cute!

Its a gorgeous Saturday, time to get a move on! 

The case for vaccination

If you're children are fully vaccinated to what is allowed for their age and level of health. Thank you, you are doing a good job. If you child is not, well THIS POST IS FOR YOU! Feel like a winner? You shouldn't. I'm about to tell what is what.

Measles, wow what a scary horrific illness that can affect so many people. Especially children, well infants. It shouldn't be affecting children, because they really should be vaccinated against this, and whole host of other really nasty shit. The easiest choice to ever make regarding my child, was to vaccinate him, this might have even have been easier than the choice to breastfeed. For me both were no brainers.

If you are not getting your child vaccinated here is why you suck. Disney Land! Happiest place on earth right? Yea its great, now imagine you have gone to Disney Land, where your in close proximity to people, people from all over the world. Measles cases in America were basically non existent. Not any more. I saw headline today about more out breaks being reported in Illinois. I will not lie, I did not read the article. My blood was to boiled to read the article.

Have you seen the new story about the little boy in Marin County California who has been battling Lukemia, guess what, his immune system inst strong enough so he hasn't been able to get vaccinated yet, he is at a HUGE risk. Guess who else is at a huge risk? Every baby under the age of 18 months (I believe is when children get their first dose of the measles vaccination. These children who can not be vaccinated, largely rely on HERD IMMUNITY, these children who cant be vaccinated rely on children and parents who can vaccinate their children to do so. Guess what if you haven't vaccinated your child, and you hear about a kid near by who got an illness they shouldn't have to deal with, you are guilty.

If you do not vaccinate your children, you are selfish. Horribly terribly selfish. I minor irritation, or a few hours of flu like symptoms are COMPLETELY worth the knowledge that your child is protected against horrors FAR worse than those. Guess what vaccinations don't cause autism. The doctor who made up those lies has severely harmed the children in this country along with Jenny McCarthy and her spewing lies. (On a side note I can understand a parent wanting to blame something medical for thier child having to have a harder life, but a vaccination is NOT what caused this!) America has disappointed me once again. Are we so caught up in following other people that we don't listen to the health professionals we trust with the health of our children. BY all means if your child's doctor has real concerns and reasons about why your child should not be vaccinated, then you should not vaccinate your children.

Did you know that before the small pox vaccination was created there were mothers, so terrified of their children getting sick and dying they got themselves sick to be able to pass along lesser strains to their children in hopes of being able to protect them? Can you imagine? I am so grateful for those mothers, and I would never want to disappoint a mom who clearly understood what needed to be done enough to risk her own life by not using the modern medicine.

If you want more info on the subject, I highly recommend listening to the Sawbones episode about vaccinations. http://maximumfun.org/shows/sawbones?page=2
Then go find the one they did recently about Measles as well.


Here's another thing, starting at age 13 you can now for the very first time, protect your children from some types of cancer. Its only three shots and could save their lives. How cool is that??