adventures in babysitting

i have an embarrassing - - maybe funny - - story to tell.

the language used is rate R - just so you know.

now, the back story...

 

[i mentioned that i wanted to leave brette more and more.

get her used to being with other people besides me.

so i went to st. louis for the day and went out with the girls one night.

and left b with ronnie. she not only lived, but had no issues.

i thought it was time to get a babysitter in the mix so

ronnie and i could actually leave the house together.

we've had so many people offer to watch her.

(both my sister-n-laws, cousin, aunts, and my parents)

but i feel bad always dumping her on family

especially when everyone has jobs and kids of their own, or is driving from out of town.

so when my old boss offered her twelve year old daughter, (going to be 13 this spring)

i jumped at the chance. but she's never babysat before.

i wanted to give her a chance to get to know brette

and get comfortable doing day to day things, like changing diapers,

before i took off and left her alone.

so we decided to have her come over every thursday
afternoon after school for an hour or two.

it gives me a little freedom, but i'm still nearby in case she has questions.

once she feels good about it, i can start calling her
when ronnie and i want to have a dinner date
that lasts later than 6:30 and she'll know just what to do.

the perfect plan.]

 

last thursday was our first time together.

i went and picked her up and helped her through

her first diaper change.

after, i set her and brette up with some toys and

took the opportunity to get on the treadmill in the basement

and left b upstairs with our new friend.

 

unfortunately, ronnie forgot that we were having a guest.

he barges in after work singing/yelling something...

 

bad.

really bad.

really really bad.

 

and scared the. shit. out of our new babysitter.

holy first impression, ronnie.

dammit.

but i can't really b l a m e  him

because that's the way we roll.

oh sure, i knew we'd have to clean up our language

once brette got a little older,

but we haven't quite started that project yet.

 

so there i am in the basement innocently running,

and ronnie comes down with the reddest face ever.

i'm like - what happened?

ronnie - i said something bad.

me - how bad?

ronnie - pretty bad. and then i didn't know what to do so i turned around and went right back out to the garage.

me - so you just left her there? what did she do?

ronnie - she jumped up, but when she realized who it was she smiled. i was shocked so i just turned around and left, but when i came back in i told her i was singing to my dogs.

me - what??!  did you say sorry?

ronnie - yeah, i mean, she was smiling.

me - oh my god, but what did you say??!

(i will save you from his actual words. 

my family reads this blog and they still like ronnie.

go figure.)

at this point we are both dying laughing, whispering in the basement like kids.

horrible, filthy mouth kids who are kind of scared to go back upstairs and face the sitter.

me - oh my god. did she understand you?

ronnie - i don't think so. it was so fast and high-pitched.  and when i came back in i sat down and played with brette and offered her a drink.  she seemed fine.

 

cheese 'n rice.

 

when i went upstairs it was time to take her home

so i apologized for my husband,

made a joke about singing to our dogs

and called it a day.

dear lord.

i don't know how we plan on raising a daughter.

we can't even make it through an hour

with a twelve year old babysitter

without seriously fucking shit up.

(and yes, it was worse than that.) 

 

 

happy friday!



love you like a sister

we're still debating over here whether or not

brette should be an only child.

for the last two months i have been p-o-s-i-t-i-v-e

that we should have another baby.

and soon.

i know your jaw probably just hit the floor

since i've always said i'm ONLY having ONE!

especially with how miserable i was pregnant.

i told ronnie over and over that he better love this kid

because its the only one he's ever getting.

but christmas made me want a sibling for brette.

someone to sneak around the house with and

try to catch santa claus.

someone to play with.

someone she can hang out with on vacation.

to ride rides.

to sit next to in a booth.

someone to complain about her parents to.

 

but then i go back.

ONLY ONE KID!

how easy and simple for ronnie and i.

especially since brette and eden

are only 9.5 months apart.

she will grow up with her cousins...

like sisters.

and they are already showing the love.

we recently went out to dinner for my brother's birthday

and sat brette and eden in highchairs next to each other.

such big girls!

i loved every second of it.

especially when eden started feeding brette black beans.

a favorite moment of mine thus far.

 

mimi and her grandgirls.

 

 
 

i guess this means,

whatever ronnie and i decide,

brette will always have a big family.

 

what are your thoughts on siblings?

my aunt only had one child and

she's a big advocate to have more kids.

but then i've talked to others that said having one kid was not hard,

but having two kids is a constant struggle.

 

i guess the right answer is

the one ronnie and i will decide.

 

 ps- happy bday, brian

  

the weaning machine

i'm in the middle week six of our weaning calendar.

this means i am now nursing three times a day

and giving her a bottle twice a day.

6:00am - nurse

9:00am - bottle

12:15pm - nurse

3:30pm - nurse

7:00pm - bottle

 

so here are a few things i've found that have helped.

first - helped ME.

since the goal is to produce less milk

i want to gradually drop my supply,

but i have had clogged milked ducts TWICE

so i wanted to make sure and avoid that.

i found a good way to do this is

by reducing the amount of time i pump per week.

my schedule goes a little something like this:

7 mins the first week

5 mins the second week

2 mins the third week

no pumping the forth week

after that i'm ready to add another bottle to our schedule

and so i start all over.

so far, so good.

and i like that i at least get one week with no pumping.

my hat is off to all you working mammas.

if i had to pump for the last 8 months

i don't know if we would still be nursing.

it sucks.

 

 

now - helped HER.

two things.

one - i changed up her feeding routine.

i found that if i sat in the same chair i used to nurse her

with the boppy and gave her a bottle,

she was a little fussy when the bottle was finished.

i think she had a connection with those things and nursing.

now i don't use either and she is much more content.

 

two - the nighttime bottle started off way more challenging.

i was getting her all ready for bed and handing her off to ronnie.

after the bottle was done she would scream.

like crazy, i will kill you, give me my mom scream.

ronnie was not pleased

and it was taking him awhile to get her calmed down and finally asleep.
we were ready to wave the white flag.

after a few nights of this,

i wanted to try something new.

since it worked so well on the night i went out,

i thought that i should just removed myself from all bedtime routines

for awhile so she doesn't even see me or know i'm around.

so now after dinner, ronnie pretty much takes over.

he does everything and she has gone right down with no tears.

well... the majority of the time she goes right down.
we've still had a couple hard nights,
but i'm blaming her teeth for that.

 

big points for ronnie.

he has been super about taking charge.
especially since he gets off work and
can't just come home and call it a day. 
it's nice that he gets what it means to be a dad.
here he is getting her ready for a bath.




and yes, for ronnie, that requires a beer.

 

good eats

its not news that i have been trying to cook

more and more at home.

i have a goal to make dinner four times a week,

leftovers twice

and eat out once.

i have to share a couple of recipes i've made over the last week

that were the bomb.

 

meatloaf.

seriously, this was so freaking good.

it makes a lot, but we had ronnie's mom and gma in

town so they helped us eat it and i love leftovers,

so i didn't mind.

i'm telling you.  make it.

especially the sauce on top.

so good.

 

ham and bean soup.

my mom makes this and ronnie really liked it

so we thought we could make some up ourselves.

i love that it made enough that i froze half of it,

so now we have dinner for another night.

 

meatballs.

these looked good and i thought ronnie

would like them.

i was right.

(ps- i just bought frozen meatballs and made the sauce

instead of messing with making meatballs from scratch.)

semi-homemade.  works for me.

 

 

any recipes you think you should tell me about?

i always need new ideas.

 marge - what was that chicken parm recipe?



eat up.

 

 

will the real slim shady...

please stand up.

 

now,

i know what you're thinking.

slim?

brette?

maybe not the right word,

but standing nonetheless.

 

 

i talked about brette's lack of movement

with two of my bff's.

marge and shannon.

marge has a tornado for a son.

he was seriously on the move from day one.

and shannon had a kiddo that would. not. move.

i thought getting both their ideas would be helpful

when working with brette to get stronger.

 

first, marge.

she told me to give brette what she can't have.

instead of trying to get her to crawl to toys,

try something that she really wants but i normally wouldn't give her.

like my phone.

or the remote.

it worked like a charm.

i was mopping the floors so i laid brette down

and put my phone out of reach on the floor.

she was instantly scrambling to get to it.

10 mins later...

 

 

next, shannon.

her suggestion was to take the couch cushions off

and set b's toys on the seat.

it gives her a lower and sturdier place to play.

and its the perfect height to practice standing.

loved it.

we now do this everyday.

she not pulling up yet,

but once i get her there,

she's good to go.

 

   

incredible.

thanks girls.

day break

on sunday i made my way to st. louis

but just for the day.

i thought it would be cruel to make brette

ride in a car for 6 hours so i left her with ronnie.

it was our first day apart.

and ronnie's first full day of dad duty. 

i actually wasn't that nervous.

ronnie can feed her and put her down for nap.

what more does she really need?

i left at 6:30am and got home at 6:30pm.

twelve hours.

and it was really really nice.

i got to spend the morning with marge and her boys

and then i spent the afternoon with my sorority sisters

celebrating another one of us joining the mom club.

(congratulations, com buddy!

can't wait to meet your new little man.

 and ps- the baby shower was immaculate.

like seriously, out of a magazine.)

 

i will admit,

i was a bit anxious that last hour in the car.

i was just really ready to hold my baby.

which was also nice.

normally i'm ready for ronnie to take her

and give me a break.

it was actually a great feeling to miss her.

i never get to.

i guess that just means i love my girl.

and can you blame me?

just look at this face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ps- ronnie sent me pictures through the day,

which i loved.

he also had his family over for lunch,

so he also had a super duper back-up helper.

his sister.

 

cupid's aim

did you have a nice valentine's day?

mine started out fine.

i made ronnie coffee

(first time ever)

and sent him off to work with a card at 6am.

then i went back to bed

and when i got up i found a card

and a reese's peanut butter heart on the counter.

yesssssss, breakfast.

 

yay us.

very romantic.

 

but brette had a hard day and

i ended up having a huge headache by the afternoon.

oh, and then ronnie decided to work late

and didn't get home until 5:45.

i asked him if he thought working late was a good idea since

it was a friday and also valentine's day...

he said, well do we have big plans?

more proof that men don't get valentine's day.

 

(the card i wish i bought him)

 

i had soup made and i was planning on making

heart-shaped grilled cheeses,

but my head hurt too bad,

brette sucked

and ronnie annoyed me.

so i threw a frozen pizza in the oven,

put brette to sleep

and crawled into bed with my laptop.

 

yay us.

very romantic.

 

but on sweeter note,

we've actually been celebrating the day of love all week.

brette had a bunch of vday clothes from madeline

so everyday she's been wearing lots of pink, red and hearts.

 

 

happy valentine's day! 

 

 

 

 

 

 valentine's day pasts:

2013

2012

2011