Sunny With a Chance of Everything

I have been absent for a bit. So let's play catch up shall we? In no particular order here is life as of late:

-Joe was hooded for his PhD. It was awesome and also way too hot outside and I had to nurse Finn and we both were sweating and got a bit crabby. But it was great.

-Finn & I went to Michigan and my brothers (minus one) and sisters and my aunt and my cousin and my grandparents and some friends got to meet Finny. I got to meet my older brother's new girlfriend and he seems so happy so I am SO happy. My grandma was in the hospital and it was sad but I am so glad she and my grandpa got to meet Finn. They both loved him so much and it meant a lot to me. And my aunt & cousin loved him too and that meant a lot to me. I got to see my nephew and the poor sweetie broke his leg and it broke my heart. I spent some amazing time with my siblings and my parents and I am SO, SO, SO glad we went back for the week with them. I got to see so many good friends and introduce Finn to them and it was amazing. Such an amazing trip and I realized how lucky I am to have so many wonderful people in my life who love me and now my son.

-I have been working as much as I can and Joe has too and we're still broke. Frustrating but we will make it through.

-Joe keeps job searching like mad and we are waiting to hear back and hopefully get some good news.

-I chopped 14" off of my hair and donated it. It felt really good to finally be able to donate my hair and it felt really good to lose all of that extra hair weight! My hair is so thick and it was so long it was giving me migraines so this helped me out a lot and I get to gift my hair to someone who wants and needs it. Plus my sister cut it into such a cute faux-bob and I love it.

-Joe completed his defense of his thesis and was officially given his PhD with his expertise being on Hopf Algebra. I am so proud of him. He is amazing and I am so glad we made it through this journey to doctorhood together. He is now officially Dr. Joe!

-The little gal I help babysit had her 4th birthday party yesterday and it was adorable! It was Pixar themed and there was a cute Mike Wazowski piñata and a little show with music from Cars, Nemo, Brave, Toy Story, etc. It was adorable. We also had a birthday dinner with her on her birthday last week where she requested that Joe make "Tiana's Gumbo" which was really vegan jambalaya and then she hated it. It was kind of hilarious. All of the adults and her 2 year old brother loved it but she ate turkey and cupcakes for dinner instead. Haha!

-I finally signed up for more classes at Second City Hollywood. Starting next week I take Long Form Improv 1 and Writing a Pilot. I'm super excited to get back into imrpov and I'm excited to start a writing class so I can get better with that and maybe (FINALLY) write the movie & tv show ideas out that have been swimming in my head for years and years. Hooray for classes!

-My grandma is not doing well. She was in the hospital for a week when I was in Michigan, she came home and was falling a lot due to her blood pressure bottoming out, she went back to the hospital for 2 days this past week, now they are saying it may be renal failure which means she doesn't have much time. I am honestly so sad. We reconnected about 5 years ago and I'm so glad we did and I am just so sad. I feel like it hasn't been enough time to this new-found relationship with her and my grandpa. I just want her to be well. I want Finn to know them. My heart is honestly so sad. I just really hope she feels better. She sounds so exhausted now talking to her and my heart just breaks. I'm just honestly really, really sad about it.

-Another loved one of mine is waiting for testing to find out if she has ovarian cancer. This is so frightening and worrisome. My heart is breaking for her. I have no idea what to do or say but I just want to envelope her in a huge hug until all the testing is done. My heart hurts for her. A lot.

-Someone I helped get a reservation on my restaurant sent me a 50 minute massage as a thank you, it was such a lovely surprise! I am so grateful to get a little relaxation sent my way after this very hard past 2 weeks. I need it!

-Joe submitted his thesis this morning so there is officially nothing left that he has to do for his PhD. WOOT.

So that is about it. I'm just really sad lately thinking about those I care about hurting and suffering in medical doubt. I have lived that too long myself and it hurts me knowing they're hurting and scared. I just wish I could make it all better. I'm really looking forward to the massage tomorrow, I am just sad and stressed and worried for those I love and I know it is affecting my back, shoulders, and jaw. It'll be good to get that release. Hope you are all well dear chickens! Enjoy some pics of my little nugget.

 

Sunny With A Chance of 100 Degrees in May-AHHHH!!!

It's too hot here in L.A. It has been 90-100+ for a few weeks now and it is disgusting. I mean c'mon, it's MAY not July-October (the hottest months here). If it is this hot already I will want to die in "summer". Someone devise a way to have a personal flurry follow me around like Olaf in Frozen. Seriously, I want to be in snow all of the time. I hate being hot. I function best in 20-60 degree weather. Ahhh, it's too hot!

Okay, so here's the deal. Motherhood-awesome, amazing, loving it. Seriously, I am. Also it is hard as fuck man. Monday I was so exhausted I cried because my kid peed on me and my husband said the most obvious thing, cover up his penis, which I was wiping at the time so I got so upset I locked myself in the bathroom and cried. I'm not embarrassed about it. I was frigging tired man from the weekend of suckage that was my first mama's day. This parenthood stuff is no joke. Joe and I are realizing we're just going to be tired for forever now. That's just the way it is. We cannot schedule it out to make it easier. Trust me we are trying and it is NOT working. We're just going to be tired and slightly resent the other person who gets to sleep. That is truth right there.

But I cannot stress enough how much I love my kid. My heart could figuratively explode with all the love I feel for him. Also sometimes I want to scream from how frustrated he can make me feel. But then he'll giggle or smile with his little dimple or fall asleep on me and I melt. He's perfect to me. It's ridiculous. I am a roller coaster of emotions and I really thought that would end as the pregnancy hormones dissipated. Joke was on me. All the parent things in t.v. shows and movies, I now side with the parent and just frigging bawl. Ariel saying "I love you daddy", I.am.a.mess. Teenagers being horrible to their parents, go parents for dealing with that ish. Kids hugging their mama, dying. Ri.Dic.U.Lous.

This year I can say I know at least 30 people who have had or are about to have a child. Good luck ladies. I am a mess. An amazing mess but a mess nonetheless. My house is a wreck, okay it's only a tiny one bedroom apartment not a house, and it's a wreck. Don't judge me. I'm working and tired and raising a kid and it's hard to clean your space up when all you want to do is sleep for 2000 years but there is a baby screaming to get on your boob and when he's not you just want to watch him be adorable and help him developmentally. I cannot express how many stupid books I have read, the plans for sign language, the developmental toys, the amount of cloth books I read over and over, the tummy time we are both doing so I can help this boy-o have a leg up hopefully. I'm sure none of the grand plans I have for early sign language to speaking to reading and writing will really make that much of a huge difference but I am crazy enough to think "well what if it does, I should stress myself out any way possible if it helps Finny". I'm a nut job. Also I miss hanging out with friends. Most times I want to sleep but I really would love to see people. It's hard to make an effort though. Yesterday was the day I FINALLY showered after being so disgusting for 5 days and not showering. But it was honestly just to tough to find the time or effort to clean myself. I get it, I'm gross. Whatever.

I'm honestly okay with this new found grossness and lameness most of the time. However, I get these pangs of realizing I'm a social person and desperately need to hang out with someone or get attention and thus I try a little too hard I think. It's okay, I know I'll figure it out. Currently I am desperately clinging to friends who are parents and get why I'm insane, stalking pals on Facebook, desperately texting/calling friends for contact, and trying to plan the occasional outing to save my sanity. One thing I am currently looking forward to is the 5th Annual Vegan Beer Fest this Saturday. Joe and I have never missed one and I am especially excited about this one. Granted I cannot drink like I usually do but I will eat the crap out of the food and see some pals and enjoy some great beer. It's going to be epic.

The other two things I am looking forward to: Joe walks tomorrow for his PhD after 11 years of college (3 undergrad, 3 masters, 5 PhD program)!!! SO FRIGGING EXCITED ABOUT THIS! We have a doctor in the house, well a doctor of mathematics, so that's pretty [nerdy] cool. Also Finn & I fly back to MI to introduce him to his aunts and uncles on my side. I cannot contain my excitement about my brothers and sisters meeting my little dude! It is going to be such an awesome time. I know they will love the crap out of him just like I do. Plus my ma and pops are going nuts about getting to see him again since they miss him so much. And I am going to meet up with some pals in my hometown so it's going to be a great trip. YAY! I am just a little nervous about traveling via plane with Finny solo. He'll only be 4 months so I want to be sure I am ready to go with anything he may need on the plane (e.g. boob juice, diapers, wipes, burp clothes, rattle, blanket, etc.). Hopefully the traveling part goes REALLY well. I just cannot wait!

This peek into my mind/life really reveals how frigging random and insane I am. *Sigh* Well enjoy. I am crazy, it's cool. Exhaustion just lets it creep out a little bit more than usual and I am okay with it. Judge me if you want, I'm honestly too tired and crazy to care. Now off to snuggle my giant (seriously he's HUGE: an ounce short of 16lbs. at his 3 month check up 2 weeks ago and 26.25" long). Adios chickens!

 

Sunny With A Chance of Mother's Day

Subtitle: How I Spent my First Mother's Day Weekend


Sometimes you spend your first Mother's Day eve working your job on your day off, come home take care of your sick feverish husband and your extra cranky three month old, cry twice, do 6 sinkfuls of dishes, dry and put away all the dishes, clean the bathroom, take out two bags of trash and two arm loads of recycling, then realize you've stayed up until 4am, and the entire time you were breast feeding about every 2 hours. Good times.

I've come to realize any holiday or event that revolves around me is pretty much always a bust. I have horrible luck with birthday celebrations (friends find it easy to ditch, forget, or be too busy), this last bday was great as I had my baby shower but Joe was in a foul mood and kinda wrecked everything but the shower so thank goodness for the ladies who have me a great few hours that day-they're the best. Seriously though, parties or celebrations for me tend to go to crap quite fast and Joe admittedly sucks at remembering dates and never does presents or makes any kind of to-do about those events which usually I don't care (minus bdays, they're a big deal damn it!) but I had hopes, okay expectations, that this very first Mother's Day (the only first one I get) would be amazingly wonderful. It would consist of me sleeping in until 9am before having to be my child's dairy service, receiving breakfast in bed (French toast and vegan breakfast sausages please with o.j. and tea), staying in my pjs, getting a lovely card with a note from Joe about how happy he is I'm the mother of his child, a little trinket with Finny's initial or birth date on it, flowers, a call to my mom to wish her a great day, a call to my grandma to do the same, some mom movies that would make me tear up, a nice dinner with a dessert, then snuggles and sleep. Instead I have a super sick husband which means I get nothing for my first mom's day and there will be no make me feel special stuff as he needs to rest and get better, it also means that the week's worth of dishes and laundry are on me and need to be done tomorrow as it became my only day off since I worked Monday through Saturday this week, plus caring for the boy-o and the two pups and taking care of Joe. Huzzah what a wondrous day. Can I have a do over?








My actual Mother's Day day was me waking up 8am, feeding little boy-o and then spending the rest of the day doing laundry, taking care of baby & husband, walking the dogs, folding laundry & putting it away, and then being in major hip/back pain from lifting all that laundry all over our apartment complex and doing 6 sinks of dishes. My body is so jacked up. I did receive beautiful pink tulips from my folks though and got some lovely messages from friends & family. But still first mama's day was a BUST.

I guess I must be a real mama now because this day that was supposed to be about celebrating me pushing a two foot and twelve pound baby out but it became about me mom-ing the crap out of everyone in my household. It's for realz now suckers. *sigh* I guess I did learn the true meaning of mother's day this year, last year I was pregnant (only just) and it wasn't really real to me; this year I spent the weekend doing things that moms do-taking care of everything. I get it now. Being a mom isn't always glamorous, okay 99% of the time it's not but it is so worth it and rewarding. These 4 dudes all rely on me and love me. That's pretty awesome if you think about it. I am hurting though physically, oof. Need to work this broken body back into pre-pregnancy and pre-surgery shape. Time to call a physical therapist and hit the pool at my gym ASAP.

All I know is Joe better not expect much for Father's Day. Oh who am I kidding, I'll Leslie Knope the shit out of that day because that's the kind of wife and mom I am. Dammit. There's always next year right?

I won't hold my breath. Whining over now. Happy Mother's Day fellow moms, we fecking deserve it.

 

Sunny With A Chance Of Crazy People

Parent judgment runs rampant I swear. When I was pregnant I got loads of "you need to do _______" and "You should be doing ______". Now with Finn here it's this and LOADS of judgment about any and every little thing we do or do not do.

"You're vegan?! That can't be good for him or you breastfeeding"
"You're not going to make him be vegan too are you?"
"You should use formula to supplement"
"You should co-sleep"
"You should not co-sleep and he should be on a sleep schedule"
"You need to use lanolin"
"You should vaccinate as the Pediatrics society schedule exactly"
"You should vaccinate on an alternative schedule to avoid all the mercury in the shots"
"How can you say you're vegan but breastfeed?"
"Why aren't you using pacifiers?!"
"Are you going to teach him sign language?"
"You should only cloth diaper"
"Cloth diapers are stupid"

On and on and on until I want to punch people. WHY ARE WE JUDGING EACH OTHER SO RIDICULOUSLY ABOUT PARENTING? Listen, call me crazy, but I think the majority of parents are doing their damnedest to do the very best for their kids. Everyone is going to parent differently, make different parenting choices, have different things that work well for their kid but not another person's kid so quit judging their decisions. We're all doing our best!

I'm vegan, you're not. Great. I'm not judging you, don't judge me. You want your kid to drink cow's milk, I don't. Great. No judgment. You use disposable diapers, I use cloth. Great. You use a pacifier, I don't. Great. You want your kid to be a specific religion, I don't care. Great. Your kid hated swings, mine loves it. You used an Ergo, I have a Becco. You used separate car seats and stroller, I have a travel system. GREAT! And may I add, who cares. What works for you and your kid, works for you and your kiddo. It may not for me or mine. Can't we all just say things like "Hey this works for me, maybe it'll work for you" or "My little one seemed to really respond to ______, maybe give that a shot". This is a great way to help (if asked) without making another parent feel like you're telling them they're doing it wrong.

I just feel like as parents we're all so worried we're screwing it up anyway and we all feel like we have no clue what the fuck we're doing so we all just do the best we can. I know I personally feel that way and so I research the shit out of everything and then go with what my gut (& of course the husband's gut) tells me. I do what I feel is right after researching and educating myself as much as possible. I ulcerate over even the most minor of decisions so when someone tells me I "have to" or "should" or "need" to do something it usually just makes me internally say things like "I'm not an idiot", "I am going to do what I feel is best", "shut up", "do you think I haven't thought about this or researched this extensively", "my son HATES that", or sometimes "fuck off".

I know I try really hard not to judge others' decisions and choices in life in general and as a new parent I really am not judging anyone's choices (unless you harm your child on purpose and then I judge you an awful lot because that is fucked up) because I feel like mine are so painstakingly wrought over I figure so is everyone's parenting choices. Let's all just support each other a bit more, eh? I mean none of us are perfect so none of us can be the perfect parent, so why not help each other out to be the best parents we can be? Call me crazy but I think that may be the best way to help our kids reach their fullest potential and help them to see that we can all get along even if we're different.

Take care dear chickens. Know I support you!
 

Sunny With A Chance of Baby Obsession!

Alright, I confess, I'm obsessed with my son. I'm back to work from 9am-2pm but the rest of the time is spent loving up on Finny. Don't get me wrong, we have MAJOR frustrations on the regular but I cannot stop loving up on this kiddo. He is too delicious for words. My folks came out from MI and they too are now obsessed with him. He's so sweet and cute and curious and smart and, well, just delicious.

 I mean, how cute is he? He is a giant of curse. At his one month check up he was already 12lbs. 8oz. and 24.25"! Such a tall guy. I love him like crazy. He is in a growth spurt again too because he wants to feed all the time and my poor boobs are killing me from it. I am really glad to be exclusively breastfeeding but they do not tell you how sensitive your boobs become and how everything from a cold breeze to a speed bump can KILL them. Oof. And sleep is crazy right now. He won't go to sleep until 1 or 2 am then gives me a good 2-5 hours, then feeds, then sleeps for 2 hours, then feeds, the sleeps and this cycle happens all day until about 5pm and then he's up for the day until the wee hours. Now that I'm back to work that makes for a sleepy mama. It's much better though now that he can sleep for a 5 hour stretch. I was going insane those first few weeks. That is why having my folks here was extra amazing. Not only did they meet Finn but they helped and let me eat a full meal and take naps. It was heaven.

We also went up to Santa Barbara with my folks which was gorgeous and such a lovely time. We're trying to convince them to move up there so we can visit all the time! It would be perfect and then Finny could see them regularly.

I mean how gorgeous is that for the end of February/beginning of March?! And it was 70s the whole time. My parents were pretty happy to get out of the polar vortex into the sunshine and warm weather.

That's my quickie update for now. Finn is perfect and I love him. Hope all is well with you dear chickens!