New Do......

I love going and getting my hair done!! My very good friend is a stylist so it makes it a little bit easier for this BUSY mama to get an appointment.  Nights and weekends, Sure no problem!!  She can do it all and do it well!!  If you are looking for a great look and very affordable, let me know and I will give you the hook up!!

I went last night and got a trim and color.  I wanted something different for my color but I didn't really know what.  This is where it is GREAT to have a friend as your stylist!  I just said, "I totally trust you, so do whatever you want!"  I know, it is a little scary but, it is just hair so not that big of a deal, right?  (Well, we will get to this in a little more detail in just a minute.)  So she did an AMAZING job as always and I couldn't be happier!  Everyone loves it and it is long enough I can still pull it up in a pony.  This seems to be a big deal for me. The pony thing.  I have had short hair (I mean SHORT hair) and I have had long hair, but now that I am a mama it seems to be more important to be able to pull it up in a pony and just go.  I find myself doing my hair less and less.  I didn't want to be one of "those" moms but I am!!  I don't like it but I am either so tired I don't want to do my hair, or I am running so late it is just faster.   

Darker on top with blond hi-lights underneath, you can see when I them when I pull it up.

I am thinking about showering at night and making it easier on myself in the morning.  I have naturally curly hair so I would need to dry it before bed and then maybe I can straighten it in the morning.  However, the problem I seem to have it my hair gets very greasy by the middle of the day.  Does anyone else run into that problem?  I have tried the dry shampoo before but that doesn't really help.  But, there might be a different brand of that I am just not using.  If you have any suggestions PLEASE let me know!

So the other part of, "It is just hair it will grow back" is this.........my ADORABLE little B hasn't had a hair cut yet and I am very torn on rather to give him one.  The Hubs is all for it and has been for a while.  I say it is just hair and it will grow back, but that isn't talking about my son's hair!  Things are always different when it concerns him! (At least they are in my household!)  I know he will need one at some point, I won't let him have a mullet for goodness sakes!  It just makes me sad to cut his curls off................his Papa has curly hair and so do I and I just don't want to cut them off.  What if they don't grow back?  They are just so adorable and I know his hair doesn't make him adorable but it is one strong asset he has!! (OK one small asset he has, he is pretty adorable if I don't say so myself!)

B looking adorable as usual!

 

This is what his hair looks like from the front and he has WAY more tight curls in the back.  So I ask you this.......would you give him a hair cut?  We know we want him to have a mow-hawk when we do finally cut it but the question is,,,,,,,,,,when will mama FINALLY be OK with it? Did you have a hard time cutting your child's hair for the first time?  And by the way, my very good friend who cuts my hair, ya she will be cutting his as well.  She cuts her grandson's who is a year older than B so I know he will be in VERY good hands! And her grandson's hair is always super cute!

Piece and Chicken Grease Y'all!!

Allergies!!

Well, I finally broke down and went to the allergy specialist to see if I had allergies.  I have been dealing with sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes for a while now and well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I have allergies!! 

Shocking, I know!

If you have never been through this before, it isn't as bad as one would think.  I just went in and they asked me some questions as to why I thought I might have allergies.  Well, I am no genius, but I get the same symptoms in the spring and summer and they usually don't go away.  I have tried taking over the counter stuff but it doesn't really do much for me.  It has gotten worse over the last couple of months. So they take these plastic things that look like the bottoms of pop sickle sticks with liquid on them and put them on your forearm.  Then they mark where those spots are at and dry off the liquid.  If you break out where the spots are, you are allergic to that specific thing.  If you don't........you aren't.  Seems pretty simple! 

My arm at the start of my allergy test!

So here is just my left arm so only half the test shortly after it started.  You have to wait 10 minutes and then the doctor comes in and tells you what you are allergic to.  Well what they forgot to tell me what that it will ITCH when you start to break out!!!!!!!  It is like a bad mosquito bit!! The longer you sit there, if you are REALLY allergic, the bigger the bumps get.

Most of mine didn't get that big but I was allergic to a lot of them!!! And the biggest one that I was shocked about,,,,,,,,,wait for it,,,,,,,,,,,,HORSES!!!!!!!!!!  And what did I JUST got done doing this past weekend!!!!  Riding HORSES!!!  So, does this mean I will not be doing that anymore!!!  HELL NO!!  It just means I now have nose spray, eye drops, and medicine that I take and I won't be miserable outside all the time now!!!

So that was my crazy and interesting morning!

Squirrel, B is now officially in the BIG BOY room at school!!!!!!!  This is a very bitter sweet moment for this mama.  I am sad to see my baby growing up already! It seems like last week he was coming home from the hospital and now he is in the big boy room,,,,,,,,,,,,,however, it saves us $112 a month on daycare!!!  Can't complain about that!!

So anyway, if you think you might have allergies I totally suggest going to the doctor.  If nothing else just to see what all you really are allergic too.  No I can run outside and not sneeze my head off and feel plugged up all the time!!

Piece and Chicken Grease Y'all!! 

Family Reunion!!

Well we had a very busy yet relaxing weekend! We had the "James Gang" family reunion on Sunday.  The weather held out and it was a beautiful day!!  We had planned to go down and camp one night but with the weather calling for rain and wind all weekend we decided to just go down for the day on Sunday. 

For those of you that know me well, know I am not exactly a "limber" shall we say person.  However, my cousins (all the girl ones I guess it turns out) ride horses all the time and back in the day I was known to ride them now and then.  HOWEVER, it has been a good 15 years since I have been on one let alone ridden one for more than two minutes!  So, Sunday morning shortly after arriving at the family "camping ranch" I decided Why Not!!?? It took a minute but I got up in the saddle and it didn't take a crane to get me up there! LOL 

Me riding Buttercup........slow and "fluffy" horse

We went on a trail ride and I had a BLAST!!! It was like I had never been out of the saddle! You might be able to take the girl off the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the girl!!  Notice the attire isn't exactly cowgirl attire but I was doing it!! :)  We tried to get B to pet the horse but that was NOT going to happen.  I tried to even get him up there with me but that was for SURE not going to happen!

There was a HUGE potluck with about 88 (give or take a few) people there.  This was my Gramp's side of the family.  My Great Grandma passed away a few years ago at the AMAZING age of 97 and she was the most wonderful women you will ever meet!!!  She had 6 AMAZING children.  When the family reunion was being put together the "Camping Ranch" is on the family farm and is right beside the Century Farm.  So the idea of doing a GIANT family picture just seemed to make sense.  Shortly after we all stuffed ourselves we headed over for family pictures.

The Camping Ranch with Pot Luck getting started

Everyone enjoying their wonderful food!

  Do you know how hard it is to get 88 people with little ones organized for a group picture?  Actually, it wasn't that bad.  The only bad part was it was at 2 in the afternoon and B, along with all the other little ones had been playing all day until then and it was about nap time for them.  So that was the only real struggle was keeping them awake and not cranky. 

This is my Gramps and Grams with his siblings.  (Gramps & Grams are in the black t-shirts)

This is my immediate family minus 12 I believe.  This is just my aunts, uncles and cousins! I LOVE my family!!

We had so much fun catching up with family members that we hadn't seen in years!  Most of them had never seen B or hadn't seen him since he was a baby.  Of course, when Gramma and Papa are around, the Hubs and I might as well just leave him alone!!  He is such a busy boy and he would rather be with them than us! As you see in the picture above, Gramma is holding him because when I tried to hold him, he would scream!!  Nice how that works!

B "driving" the tractor with Gramma & Papa

One of the FEW times he actually sat down all day!

It was very hard to get him off the tractors all day!

The rain held off until about 5:30 when most of the non camping families had left.  We were still there and the rain hit hard!  We stayed under the shelter for a while.  Tin shelter and hard rain and hail..........makes it very hard to hear anything!!!  It was getting close to 7 and B was fading fast! So Gramma took him to their camper and gave him a bath..........he needed it after a full day of playing on the farm!  We put his jammies on and headed for him.  He made it about a half mile down the road and he was SOUND ASLEEP!!! 

We got him in the house, put in bed and the car emptied and he sleep like a log!  He didn't wake up the next morning until 7:30!!  We need to go to the farm to play more often!!!  B LOVES it!! :)

Parenting

When the Hubs and I decided we wanted to try and start a family there are so many things you sit and think about...........can we afford to have a baby is always the first thing that comes to mind! 

But there are other things that come to mind too! 
Like will I be a good parent? 
Will I make the right choices for my child?
Will they be healthy?
Is it the right time in our lives for children?

All these things play into the decision but in my way of life, it is ultimately up to God himself.  He has a plan for all of us and he knows when things are right for us. (I don't like to get very religious on here because we all have our own thoughts and believes.)  But, at the same time, I wanted to be REALLY sure we were "READY" for a baby before we had one. 

Are you ever really ready?!?!?!  I have heard that statement so many times, I couldn't even tell you!!  And the answer is, Yano.  Financially, you will NEVER be ready for a child so just forget it!!  Is it the right time?  Most of the time this answer is no as well, but you learn to make time, trust me! Will I make the right choices?  I say yes, because he is my child and I am doing what I feel is best for him!

But lately, I have been really struggling with this whole parenting thing!!!  Don't get me wrong I love B more than words will EVER be able to express!!!  He is the BEST thing (other than meeting the love of my life) that has EVER happened to me and I honestly don't know what we EVER did before we had him!!!  But, I struggle with if I am doing things right or wrong, and if I am being a good mom a lot.

Now, I don't know if this is just because I am a first time mom, or because I have A LOT going on ALL THE TIME, or just because I tend to be more on the worrier side of things.  I just wonder if I am doing what is best for B all the time. 

He has tubes in his ears but we are still battling the ear infections A LOT this past couple of months.  So am I being one of those CRAZY mom's that takes their child to the doctor all the time if I try to get him back into the ENT and see what is going on?  Or am I being a neglectful parent if I just sit and wait and see if it gets better as it warms up?!?!!?

Also, when B doesn't feel so good I tend to let him get away with more than I would if he feels fine.  Such as, we are working on trying to get rid of the paci.  We are just allowing  him to have it at bedtimes and when taking a nap.  He isn't allowed to have it during the day or when he is up walking around.  He has to be on one of our laps going to sleep to have it.  But, last night he didn't feel good due to the ear infection and getting two more teeth in.  So, what does mama do?  Let him have his paci most of the night!!  I know........it is terrible, but I just feel bad for him!!  But it is so hard when he is this cute!!

And trying to get him to go to sleep on his own instead of us putting him to sleep is just not happening AT ALL!!!  To our defense......... our house is small and B doesn't have his own room.  So his crib is in the dinning room and there isn't any way to shut it off from the living room where we are.  So we either go to bed when he does and shut the whole house down, or put him to sleep before he goes to his crib. 

So, I guess what I am saying here is, yes I am a worrier but you always want the very best for your child!!  And that right now is very hard for me...........because I am not sure I am doing that! 

And last but not least..................we aren't brushing teeth right now, so should I be in mama jail?!?!?!?!  I just can't get in the routine of doing it!!!!  Are all his teeth going to fall out?!?!?!?  It is bad enough he still has the paci................WOW!!!!  Get a grip women!!  (that is me talking to myself......I do that a lot!)

So the moral of this blog.............it doesn't really matter what we do for our kids...........parenting is hard no matter what and all you can really do is try your best and do what you think is best for your child!  And he is only 18 months!!!!!!!  What am I doing to do when the HARD stuff comes!?!?!?!?!?

Piece and Chicken Grease Y'all!!

Family!!

Over the weekend we had a Graduation party for one of my youngest cousins.  My dad's side of the family is pretty big.  He comes from a family of 4 and each of them had at least two children and now all of us are getting married and having kids of our own.  We are a pretty tight family and it is so wonderful!!  The Hubs took B to his side of the family for a birthday party.  (can't make it to all events but we try and sometimes we have to split up) 

So to start the trip back home, I decided that I needed something new to wear to the party.  I wanted something fun and cute since I haven't had a reason to really get dressed up for a while.  It was pretty warm on Saturday and the place where the party was didn't have air conditioning so drying my hair and expecting it to look good was pretty much out of the question.  So the "el'natural" look it was!!  This means put some product in, leave it wet, scrunch it up and away we go!!  

Now for the attire...........hmmmmmm, I will have to go to my new favorite place to shop and that is Maurices in Valley West Mall.  I am usually NOT a fan of this store but now that I found out they have clothes for the "fluffy" sized ladies, I am starting to like them even more.  AND the bigger plus........(no pun intended!) is they pretty much do the shopping for me!!! I walk in and tell them what I am sort of looking for.......25 minutes later I have a COMPLETE outfit, shoes and all and ready to head to the party.  I did have to make a quick stop next door for a strapless bra but details!! I mean honestly,,,,,,,who doesn't like having a personal shopper and I don't really have to pay for her!!!  I am buying the clothes, yes, but she is putting an outfit together for me and I don't have to do anything!!!  Doesn't get better than that in my opinion!!!

So here it is.............not the best picture but the entire outfit, shoes and necklace are from Maurices.  I LOVE IT!!! 

So off to the party I go.  It was great to see my family and just get to sit around and talk for a while.  I got to see some people I haven't gotten to see in a long time also.  My cousin graduated from the same High School that I went too so we knew a lot of the same people. 

I am fortune enough to have a very close relationship with pretty much everyone in my family!!  Both of my AMAZING Grandmothers are still with us!!  My INCREDIBLE Grandfather is still with us as well.  I have four absolutely wonderful aunts who I know would help me out anytime I needed anything and the same with my three uncles!

I am a lot closer with my dad's side of the family than with my mom's but I think that is true with all families.  Most of the time you are always closer with one side more so than the other. I have a great relationship with my cousins on both sides but I am very close with some on my dad's side.  My dad's side of the family all try to get together and go camping and do things as a "Big" family as much as we can.  And I LOVE that!!!  I love sitting around listening to stories about things that happened before I was born or too young to remember.  Or talking about things that happened that I will never forget!!!  Have a close family is AMAZING and I couldn't ask for a better family!!!

I can't wait for this weekend as we are having a BIG family reunion on my dad's side so it will be even more extended family than normal.  So stay tuned for pictures and a report about the camp out and all of our great fun from that!!   

Piece and Chicken Grease Y'all!

The Birth of Baby B Part II

I was scared to death!!  I wasn't ready for the baby yet!  We still had a month to get ready! We still had a class in our birthing classes to take for goodness sakes!!! (Like that really mattered!) I didn't know what to do, I was so worried the baby would be okay, I was scared.............And there was my husband.  

Cool, Calm and Collected!  "Honey, everything is going to be okay." He really is the best person to have in a crisis, because he never gets to worked up about anything!

So they gave me some medicine in my IV ( I don't remember what it was called) to prevent me from having seizures due to my blood pressure being high.  Then around 7 P.M. Friday night they decided to give me some Pitocin to help things get started since I wasn't really in labor on my own.  About 10 minutes later my water broke on its own!!

That is the craziest thing ever if you haven't had that happen!!  I was laying in bed after getting up to pee every 15 minutes and I had JUST got back in bed.  I looked at the Hubs and said, "Oh great, I have to pee again!" And just then, POP and there went my water!  

After the nurse came in and got everything cleaned up, she said "Things are moving a lot quicker than we thought they would if that just broke in 10 minutes!" 

My Rock Star OB came in to check on me for the night and asked how I felt about drugs..........."UM I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!  The sooner I can get them the better, but I haven't really felt anything yet!"  "Well, I am glad to hear that and we will get anesthesiologist up here for an epidural whenever you are ready," she said!  

The nurses changed shifts somewhere at this point but the next nurse I had was pretty good.  She came in around 10 P.M. and said "you have been having some pretty good sized contractions, do you think are you ready for an epidural yet?"

Now, I am not a tough person by any means of the word!  But I was pretty excited by this because I didn't really think they were that bad!  Because to me...........the scariest part of this whole thing...............was getting the EPIDURAL!!!!!!!!!  Don't get me wrong.....I wanted one BADLY!!!!  But I was scared to death to get one!! I HATE needles with a passions (yes I have tattoos but they are different to me!) and have a HUGE NEEDLE in my back........SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF ME!!!

So my response was........."If I can get one and it isn't too early, Lets do this shit!"  

In it went and within minutes I was feeling WAY better!  I could actually get comfortable enough to fall asleep.  So that is exactly what the Hubs and I both did. 

I woke up around 4 A.M Saturday morning to NOT being able to feel my legs. I was in a total panic!!!  "Adam!!!" " I can't feel my legs!!!"  "I think you need to call the nurse!!!"  He looks at me and says, "I am pretty sure that is what the epidural is supposed to do!"  "Oh, well I didn't know!!  I have never had one of these before!"  So after the panic was gone, I was totally fine with not being able to feel my legs cause that meant the epidural worked!!!

The nurse came in shortly after that to check me and see how things were progressing.  "Oh, you are at a 3 almost a 4, things are going great!"  "How are you feeling?"  Honestly I was feeling fine.  I hadn't really felt much of the contractions and since my epidural I was totally fine.  She said if you can get some rest, I would suggest you do so.  

So we tried to get more rest but that is easier said than done.  The contractions weren't bad but trying to get comfortable in the bed and not having use of your legs.........that sucks!!!

Around 7 A.M they came to check again, and WOW.........I was at at 9!!!!!  Things were REALLY moving along!!!  This baby was coming in a HURRY! He or she was ready to go weather we were or not! 

By this time we had our delivery nurse and talk about AMAZING!!!!  This lady was the best nurse I have ever seen! Not that I have a lot of experience with labor nurses but she was a rock star!!! 

When you are a first time mom, they don't really tell you EVERYTHING to expect.  Like when you feel like it is time to push............ya that means it feels like you have to go #2!!  That would have been nice to know!!!  I am trying to get out of bed (with legs that don't work) to go poo and she says "Oh, honey that just means you need to push!"  She was a tell it like it is person and didn't hold anything back!!!  The Hubs was right there with me all the way watching it all happen!  I really didn't know if he would be able to handle it but he was AMAZING!!!   

Our delivery nurse called the OB doctor and told her things were moving faster than we thought.  My doctor thought maybe by midnight the baby would be here and the nurse quickly informed her we would be lucky to make it to noon!!  

I started really pushing hard around 10 A.M. and I would be lying if I didn't say there were a couple of times I just wanted to be done and give up.  But between the nurse and the Hubs..............that wasn't an option!! 
 
Brantley James Nelson was born on Saturday December 3rd 2011 at 12:03 P.M.  He weighed 6 pounds 12 oz and was 21 inches long!! (just think if he would have stayed cooking for another month!)  

Calling our family to let them know he was here was the best part, since he was early no one was expecting the news!!  My brother was so mad because he thought we had him the night before at midnight and he couldn't get his name right at first.......I think he was just so surprised his nephew was here already! The grandparents were shocked of course but it was the best surprise any of us could have asked for!

Since he was a month early, his little lungs weren't quit developed all the way.  He spent 2 weeks in the NICU to get just a little bit stronger.  He has to be JUST like his daddy you know!!  Those two weeks were some of the hardest and most emotional days of my life!  But at exactly two weeks after he came into our life...........We FINALLY got to take him home just in time for Christmas!

Now looking at him today, you would NEVER know he was a preemie!!

Piece and Chicken Grease Y'all and make sure you kiss your babies every day and night cause they really are little miracles!!!!

The Birth of Baby B Part 1

First off the Hubs and I decided early on in the pregnancy that we didn't want anyone to know that we were going to the hospital to have the baby. We weren't going to call anyone when we were on our way there or anything.  We just didn't want to have to deal with a lot of people out in the waiting room for ever waiting on me to deliver!

So earlier in the week I had been home sick with the flu! And when I say I had the flu I mean I had THE FLU!!!!!!!!!!!!  I didn't get to go to the Hubs side of the family for Thanksgiving because I couldn't stay out of the bathroom long enough for him to go himself let alone a hour and 45 min car ride!!!!  So we stayed home and I literally ate a piece of toast and drank a gallon of water because that was almost all I could keep down! 

I ended up in L&D due to being so dehydrated that I could hardly stand it.  They gave me a bag and a half of IV fluids and decided to send me home.  I wasn't feeling that bad anymore and besides, L&D is for having a baby and my due date wasn't until December 25th.  So you don't need to stay in a hospital room just because you have to shit a million times a day! 

So I went back home and stayed home from work another day I believe and finally made it back to work on Tuesday.  Thursday I had my weekly checkup with my OB.  I had  Gestational Diabetes while I was pregnant so I had to go every week to be checked out.  If you haven't had GD while pregnant count your blessings!!!  I thought, oh being pregnant during the holidays is going to be KICK ASS!!!!  You can eat whatever you want and all the candy for the holidays!!! WRONG!!!! You don't get to do that when you have GD!!!  

GD........sounds so dirty!!!  Anyway back to the baby thing..........So Thursday after work I go in for my checkup and my blood pressure is WAY high and my "cankles" are just that.........HUGE!!!!  
I was swelling everywhere and my OB was TOTALLY concerned!  So she looks and me and says, " You are going to need to head over to the L&D and we are going to do some protein test with your urine and monitor your blood pressure." "You are already dilated to a 2 and 85% effaced so we just want to make sure everything is okay."

Oh, okay!  I looked at the hubs and said lets go.  But before leaving I looked back at the OB and said, "Um, do we need an overnight bag?"  I was laughing because I was JOKING!!!!!!  She wasn't laughing when she said, "Um, YES!" 

WHAT?!?!?!?!?  I have a MONTH before my baby is due and WHY do I need to have an overnight bag?!?!?!  I am NOT going to be put on bed rest for a WHOLE MONTH people!!!!  Yes, I LOVE sleeping but while I was pregnant, that was the LAST place I liked to be.  I couldn't get comfortable and it didn't matter how I laid, the baby was ON MY BLADDER!!!   

So by the time we get to the hospital I am TOTALLY freaked out.  The Hubs is trying to get me calmed down since part of the reason we are there after all is my high blood pressure.  They just start me out in a bed but not in a room.  It is like in an on-deck room just in case they have to admit you later on.But  for the time being they aren't admitting you. 

So we hang out in there for HOURS just having me pee in this container and monitor my blood pressure.  Finally the nurse comes in and says,"Well we have to admit you due to the protein in your urine and your pressure isn't going down as well as we would like."

So instantly my first question.......... "Does this mean I am going to be on bed rest?" She said "It means that for tonight you are going to be staying here, and we will see after that what the doctor says".

At this point, we both called our parents to let them know what was going on but just told them I was there for observation and that was it. After all, that was what I was there for!!  There was no need to worry, everything was fine and I was sure I would be going home the next day if not by Saturday.  

I don't know why anyone thinks you can get any sleep in a hospital but you can't!  I tried and so did the hubs but he didn't have much to sleep on.  There was a chair that was supposed to fold out into a bed but it didn't work very well so he just slept in the chair! 

The next morning (Friday morning) my OB comes in (who is a Hawkeye fan PS and a Rock Star of a doctor) and said "I think we are going to have to keep you here at least today because when you get out of bed your blood pressure seems to go up."

Now at this point, I didn't think she was a Rock Star......just give her some time everyone, you will see she really is a Rock Star!

This whole day I was just supposed to stay in bed and pee in a jug.............that was it! They didn't want me to get out of bed much more than that......IT SUCKED!!!  Finally that afternoon or evening my OB stopped in and said, "I have talked to a high risk doctor and we agree we are going to need to take the baby."  "We know it is a month early but judging my the last measurements we took, the baby is at a good size and at 36 weeks babies are very developed."  So we feel it will be best for you and the baby if we go ahead and deliver. 

Holy Shit man!!!  When I left home for work yesterday, the last thing on my mind was, "Oh, I think we might have a baby tomorrow!!!" 

This shit just got real, real quick!