Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Target. The Playground for Moms.

Target has become my second home the last couple of months (with the mall coming in at a close third). I'm not kidding. Half the staff knows me by name. Okay, well maybe but not by name, but they do remember me thanks to my distinctive red hair.

I have no business being at Target so often; I was recently told that I can expect to be laid off for next school year due to budget cuts. But there I am, a loyal customer, doing my part to stimulate the nation's economy while the economy of my household prepares for an economic downfall. Let's evaluate the necessity of what I bought today.

Large Fountain Coke? Total necessity. I have one vice in this world, and that vice is Coke. A'Cola. If that's my worst habit, I like to think I'm doing pretty well.

Shaving cream? Necessity. Well, if you aren't a fan of using soap of water to shave, which I'm not.

Face soap? Necessity. Did I have to buy the expensive brand? Okay, I guess not. But if I'm going to be poor, I want to at least look good cashing my unemployment check.

Laundry Detergent? Definite necessity...and I even bought the cheap brand!

Snickers Ice Cream bars? Hmm. My husband would probably say these were a necessity. But I bought them because they were only $3.44 and at the grocery store they go for $4.99!!! What a steal! I could not pass up that bargain.

Fluorescent colored headbands for Aubrey? Totally frivolous. I don't ever even put the damn things on her head unless it's for a pic so people know she's a girl.

Bigger Socks for Aubrey? Necessity. It looks bad when I'm dressed up fancy and my kid's sock is only covering half her foot. The other sock usually has fallen off and is back in aisle 4 somewhere.

So there reads my shopping list. Not too bad, right? Well, when you factor in that I go to Target anywhere from two to four times a week, the ridiculousness of what I spend each week in that store is, well, ridiculous. I have enough white/red Target bags to line my small trashcans for a year. I don't know what it is about that place that lures me in. Maybe that Target symbol really is an extremely effective subliminal message, drawing me in, time and time again, targeting my wallet. Perhaps I should just bring the exact amount of cash I need and leave all other possible forms of payment at home. But where's the fun in that?

Thankfully, summer is right around the corner which should open up some more opportunities for some "free" walks around the neighborhood. But then I have to deal with sunscreen and sweating and running into people that I don't want to run into...yeah, if you're looking for me this summer, try Target. Look for the redhead with the fountain soda and the baby. Circling the store with a cart loaded with unnecessary crap. But that unnecessary crap makes me happy. And you know what they say; a happy mom makes for a happy house. Shop on!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Aubrey is on a Roll!

The "golden months" of infancy are fast approaching...finally! In the last two weeks, Aubrey has been sleeping through the night, sitting like an angel out in restaurants, sucking her thumb, and now she is rolling over! And let me tell you, this girl will NOT lay on her back now that she knows how to roll. I wanted to post the video, but there seem to be some technical difficulties...another reason why I can't wait to get my new, pimped out website.

In the meantime, here is a still shot of my little roly-poly angel mid-roll.




And here is Aubrey AFTER one of her rolls...so proud of herself!

Monday, March 29, 2010

The Girl Upstairs

I'm jealous of the girl who lives upstairs (we live in a condo). She rarely has visitors and her car looks like it's on its last leg. She leaves for work by 7 am and usually isn't home until after 5. Definitely not things I would normally envy in a person.

But every time I see her leave the condo and dash to her car (usually in heels), I feel a bit sentimental. It's like looking through the window of my past. I think back to the old days (...last year) when I looked so carefree. She's a teacher on spring break right now, and I've seen her come and go three times today already. Once with grocery bags, another time from the gym, and the last time she had a bag of delicious takeout food--and it's only 1:30 pm! I haven't even eaten yet today and I'm still sporting my PJs (in my defense, they are cute PJs). I couldn't imagine accomplishing that much by 1:30pm and in the pouring rain, nonetheless. Oh my gosh...I hear her vacuuming now. Way to rub it in, sister!

One of the many lessons I've learned in life is the grass is always greener on the other side. She probably sees me and Justin happily toting around with Aubrey all of the time, inundated with visitors, driving around in our newer cars, and maybe she wishes for some of the blessings we have. And honestly, I would never trade places with her or with my old self. Sure, things are a LOT busier now, but my "old" life wasn't always so glamorous. I remember before I had Aubrey there were many, many days when I felt bored and would go out just to kill the time (well, that is when I finally finished my lesson plans and endless stacks of papers to grade--don't miss that!). I used to see moms with their babies and I couldn't wait until Justin and I were at that stage in our life. There was nothing I wanted more than to have a baby to share our lives with each day.

I guess I'm not jealous of the girl upstairs. I guess I'm just looking forward to the days when I can get more accomplished by noon than just brushing my teeth, making the bed, and feeding the baby. Let's be honest. Some days it's really hard and I want to pull my hair out. The baby won't stop crying or she'll need to be held allll day long. Some days I look out the window and I see the girl upstairs and I think, "Take me with you!"

But as my Grannie says, never wish your life away because you always end up wishing for it back. At some point in my life, I will look back on this stage in our lives and I will be sad because it's over. I will see a young mom with her newborn and I will feel sentimental about my "old days" with Aubrey. I will look back and wish for these precious months back again. I can always get the trips to Target and Barnes and Noble back, but I'll never get back these moments with Aubrey.

Speaking of precious moments, I hear her precious screaming bringing me back to reality. Better go make that bottle.

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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Grocery Lists? Cart Rage? Long Lines? I'M IN!

I have always dreaded grocery shopping every Sunday. Nothing about the process entices me.

First of all, going grocery shopping requires a shopping list. A shopping list requires pre-planned meals. Pre-planned meals require a knowledge of cooking. And this is where I am doomed. For over three years, I have been tackling Taste of Home cookbooks, Rachael Ray magazine, and FoodNetwork.com. There is certainly no Julie & Julia success story here. I have mastered about five recipes (basics such as spaghetti and tacos included), and anything else I attempt usually results in wasted time, wasted mess, and a phone call to Dominos. So, as you can imagine, the thought of sitting down to write a grocery list for the week's meals is a very stressful task for me. Unless we want spaghetti, tacos, grilled cheese, and frozen pizza for our four "home-cooked" meals each week, constructing a menu demands a lot of my time.

As if planning the meals isn't bad enough, trying to find the ingredients I need in a warehouse-sized grocery store on a Sunday afternoon is just pure hell. If you really want to see who the nice people and who the rude people are in the world, go grocery shopping during the busy peak.
HOLY CRAP! God forbid you take more than 6 seconds to choose which crown of broccoli you want. Before you can even reach for the plastic bag and twist tie, someone is huffing and puffing, glaring at you from over their cart, threatening with their eyes to run you and your cart over if you don't hurry up, stuff the broccoli in the bag, and beat it. Or what about the traffic jams in the middle of the aisles? Watch out! How dare you contemplate which salad dressing you want while others must wait for you to make your choice! Instead of a simple excuse me, many like to either push your cart out of the way with theirs, or passively aggressively huff and puff behind you, with ATTITUDE written across their face. So uncomfortable. On the flip side, there are the people who never notice that there are 16 people with carts waiting behind them, trying to make their way through the aisle. I can't think of many places that have more impatient, rushed people than at the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon.

Needless to say, I've never been a big fan of grocery shopping for these two primary reasons (and I didn't even delve into the inevitable fiascos that take place at the lunch meat counter each week...). But something miraculous has happened in the last month or so. I JUMP at the chance to go grocery shopping! To go alone, that is. Grocery shopping on Sundays has turned out to be a win-win situation for me and my husband. He gets to lounge on the couch, watch basketball, and spend some time with Aubrey, while I get to go out alone- sans car seat carrier, diaper bag, and impromptu feedings. Suddenly, I don't mind constructing menus and dealing with crazy crowds...compared to the demanding needs of an infant, the patience I need to grocery shop is a piece of cake.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Two of a Kind

Every couple has an activity they enjoy participating in together. For some couples it's a friendly tennis match on a sunny May afternoon, for others it's hiking in the fall, while some couples participate in sophisticated pastimes like theater or visiting wineries. For me and Justin, our favorite pastime is neither friendly nor sophisticated...we love to gamble. Specifically, we like to play blackjack and Texas Hold'em. Our love affair with the art of gambling began when he surprised me with a trip to Vegas for our one year dating anniversary. That was almost six years ago, and our love-hate relationship with gambling is still going strong.

During my pre-pregnancy days, Justin and I usually frequented Atlantic City once a month or so (it's about an hour drive from where we live). We make a good gambling team--he isn't afraid to take a risk, and I'm not afraid to take his chips when enough is enough. So last night, Justin and I went on our first Atlantic City date since last August. We were both very excited for this date, because it was our first time doing something more thrilling than dinner and a movie since Aubrey joined our crew. And I have to say, as much fun as we have with Aubrey, it was really nice to do something fun and exciting as a couple. It was especially nice to do something that we used to do all the time before the baby.

Being in Atlantic City last night almost felt like we were on our honeymoon again. We were both dressed up (yay for getting to wear high-heeled boots and skinny jeans!) and in a relaxed state of mind. And after a few drinks, we even felt young again! We lost all our money we brought, ate dinner at the buffet, spent five hours with a bunch of old men at a semi-circle table, and Justin almost got into a fist fight with a bachelor party that was hitting on me...ahhh, just like old times! We were only there for about six hours before we drove back home, but it was just what we needed. It's so easy to get stuck in a rut when you have a new baby. So many times when you finally DO get the opportunity to spend time alone with your hub, you’re both too tired to do anything beyond renting a movie on demand.

To all you mommies out there, I highly recommend spending a day or night doing something with your husband that you used to do pre-baby. And I'm not talking about a walk through the mall, I mean something FUN! If dinner in the city used to be your thing, do it. If going to a professional baseball game was your thing, do it. If you were the tri-county area bowling champions, do it! And if you are lucky enough to find a sitter like my mom who will keep the baby overnight, do it!

It will be awhile before we get to scratch our Atlantic City itch again, but last night was a nice reminder to both of us that we are still a couple and we can still feel that thrill again. In the meantime we will continue to enjoy the new “thrill” in our lives, Aubrey. And besides, it should only be another five or six years before she is able to count to 21.

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Thursday, March 25, 2010

Top 10 Lists

When my students come into the classroom each day, they know they are expected to write a journal entry. The journal entry can be about anything they want. There are some days, understandably, when they just can't think of anything to write a paragraph about. As an alternative, I give them the option to draw a picture, write a Top 10 list, or write a song or poem. I'm having a bit of writer's block myself, so for today I'm going to write a Top 10 list.



Top 10 Things I Couldn't Wait to do after the Baby was Born

1. HAVE A DRINK!
2. Eat a turkey sandwich (I followed all the rules when pregnant).
3. Consume unlimited amounts of caffeine.
4. Sleep on my stomach.
5. Fit into shoes without having my swollen feet ripping through the seams.
6. Take Ibuprofen for a bad headache instead of having to suffer miserably.
7. Be able to walk 20 feet without becoming winded.
8. Put my pants, socks, and shoes on without having to sit on the bed to prevent myself from toppling over.
9. Whiten my teeth. I know, how superficial of me.
10. Hold my baby!

9 months pregnant



Top 10 Things I Miss About Being Pregnant

1. Bigger boobs.
2. People letting me cut in front of them in line. Actually, people just being nicer to me in general!
3. An excuse to sit around and do nothing.
4. Feeling her kick.
5. Ultrasounds and monthly belly pics. Oops, that's two things :)
6. Thicker, shinier hair and nails.
7. Eating a huge bowl of ice cream every night because the baby must really be craving sugar.
8. Always having something to talk about when I'm stuck in a conversation with someone whom I have nothing in common with.
9. "I'm sorry, did I forget to (fill in the blank)? Must be this pregnancy brain!"
10. The joy and excitement towards the end of the pregnancy wondering if this
would be "the day".

Our Angel



First family photo



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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Are you there, heels? It's me, Christie.

I have always loved shopping and putting together outfits. Even while pregnant, I wanted to look stylish and put together. As one of my dear friends put it in high school, "You may not have a talent like drawing, dancing, or singing (Lord knows that's the truth), but you can put together a great outfit!" I suppose she was giving me a compliment... Anyhow, my point is, I like dressing nicely. A great outfit can do wonders to camouflage a bad hair day, excessive bloating, or a big pimple.

But alas--skinny jeans, expensive tops, and high heeled boots (hence the title of my blog) aren't exactly practical while caring for a baby. My daily wardrobe pretty much reads like this: Sweatpants? check. Fitted t-shirt to compensate for the sweatpants? check. Sneakers that should really only be worn on the treadmill? check. A full face of makeup so people don't say "Ohh, she's really letting herself go..." check!

Well, after putting on my black stretch pants, hooded (but fitted!) sweatshirt, and sneakers for the ump-teenth time since December 8th today, I had just about had it with my poor excuse for a wardrobe. I at least would like to have some other options in the event that I want to look young and hip again. So, I packed up Aubrey and we headed to Target(insert screeching sound of brakes here). Yes, Target. I had planned to up the ante and hit the mall, but it was pushing 3:00 and I simply did not have the stamina to drive the extra 3 miles for the sake of fashion. I know, ridiculous.

Long story short (well, it's not really that long, I just don't know how to make it sound interesting), I left Target with sixty dollars worth of baby clothes. Headbands, bibs, matching onesies and hoodies, even sunglasses. And this is not the first time this has happened, as many moms can probably relate to. It seems that every time I go out, I end up buying an outfit or accessory for my THREE MONTH OLD...a girl who has no clue which colors are her "good colors", nor does she care. I could go Michelle Duggar style and dress her in a homemade denim skirt paired with a beige high neck top and she wouldn't give a crap. So why then, do I spend what little money I have making sure she has a wardrobe filled with options, while I spend fifteen frustrating minutes a day trying to find sweats to wear that still look "nice"?
I'm pretty sure it's because I feel less guilty spending money on her than I do on myself. Somehow I justify that if it's for the baby, then it's a necessity.

In a few weeks I will be forced to by myself a new wardrobe for work. I use the term "forced" lightly. I suppose it will be more like me flying out the door sans baby, charge card in one hand, wardrobe wish list in the other, frolicking about store to store, but I can't say it like that because that would sound frivolous. So, in a few weeks I will be forced to buy a new wardrobe, fully equipped with some new high heels. And I will love every second in those heels. But let's be real here...as soon as the clock strikes 4 and I walk in the front door after a long day of work, it's hello sneakers, goodbye heels :)

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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Parking Wars...Mount Laurel Edition

For the last month or so, I've been trying to take Aubrey out on the town every day for both her sanity and mine. Aubrey can only handle so much tummy time and frankly, trying to entertain a 3 month old for 12 hours a day can wear on a person. Even if it's just for an hour, it does wonders for my well being. Yesterday we stayed in due to downpours all day, so I was anxious to get out today.



Our big trip today was to Wegmans. The exciting part of this trip all occurred before we even stepped foot into the store. It began with me feeling quite lucky because a "Customers with Children" spot was actually available. I hopped out of the car, possibly looked around for a second or two, grabbed my diaper bag out of the passenger seat, and then that's when I spotted her...a feisty, angry woman charging towards me, waving her hands around as if she were swatting away a swarm of killer mosquitoes.

"EXCUSE ME! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" she screamed at me.

For starters, I do not like getting yelled at...does anybody? I especially don't like getting yelled at in parking lots for no particular reason. In the three second period before I would attempt a response, I tried to swiftly recollect if I had done something to offend this woman...did I steal her spot? Did I cut her off? Did I teach her kid before and give him a bad grade? I didn't get the chance to answer her because she decided to proceed with her rant.

"DO YOU SEE THE SIGN? THIS SPOT IS FOR WOMEN WITH CHILDREN! NOT FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE TOO LAZY TO WALK AN EXTRA THIRTY FEET TO THE STORE! BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU, SOME POOR WOMAN IS GOING TO HAVE TO LUG HER KID ACROSS A PARKING LOT! WHAT THE HELL MAKES YOU THINK YOU ARE SO ENTITLED?!"

I realize that I could have stopped her halfway through her speech, but I thought it would be more humiliating for her in the end if I let her proceed. Hehe. After she was finished with her "I'm a better person than you because I don't steal spots" speech, I cracked a sarcastic smile, shook my head, opened the back door, leaned in, and took out my baby in her car seat.



Ah, her face was priceless. Her eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of her head and her jaw dropped. Of course, she tried profusely to apologize, but I didn't give her the satisfaction of saying, "Oooohhh, that's okay! You didn't know!" Because frankly, she made a judgment about me before I even stepped out of my car. I saw her eyeing me from the second I pulled into that spot. She was out to get someone and the redhead with the sunglasses and tie-dyed shirt was her target.

I'm hoping she learned her lesson and that she will at least wait to see if the customer does indeed have a child before running across a parking lot to yell at them.

However, I must say, I do appreciate her passion for "Customers with Children". I'd like to have her around when I do my Christmas shopping next year...

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Saturday, March 20, 2010

Aubrey Must Be Reading My Blog...

Because the last three nights have been sheer bliss...she has slept for nine hours straight each night! It must be this sunny weather that has her in good spirits, because we also have taken her out to eat twice and have actually gotten to eat and enjoy our meals! She's been humoring the other diners by laughing at the silly (scary?) faces they make at her, adorably cooing and oohing over her monkey rattle while we feast on our appetizers (er, margaritas...), and she seems genuinely interested in watching the March Madness games playing in the restaurants while we eat our entrees. Ah, it looks like my little three month old is growing up. Or maybe she just doesn't like being trash talked in my blog. Regardless, I will enjoy this while I can. If I've learned anything in the last three months, it's that just when you think you've got it all under control, God likes to throw in another surprise to spice things up :)

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Friday, March 19, 2010

One Month Til D-Day

The dreaded day is only one month away...the day I go back to work. I have been on maternity leave for four months now, and boy has it flown by. For the first three weeks of my leave I was still pregnant. And as any woman in the final month of pregnancy knows, those three weeks dragged on. But once little Aubrey made her arrival, time took on a whole new meaning. Every day became a race against the clock. As soon as the baby would fall asleep, it was like an Olympic event started...Quick! Clean the bottles! Quick! Take out the dog! Quick! Jump in the shower! Quick! Check my email! Quick! Call back the Comcast guy! People ask how I lost all my baby weight so quickly, and I believe the answer is that I rarely ever sat down.



So here I am, three months and eleven days after her birth, and the reality of life moving even faster is creeping up on me. I really wish being a stay at home mom was a paid gig, because that would be my dream job! But since I did not win the lottery as I was previously counting on, it looks like I will be back to work and away from my little baby. It breaks my heart, and I could go on and on about all of the reasons why this bothers me so much, but I will save that for another blog. Most likely an angry blog that I will inevitably write once I'm actually back at work....and then two hours later I will frantically try to delete it before anyone who holds power over my job reads it. Because let's face it- as fun as it is to fantasize about quitting, it's not nearly as much fun to stand in the unemployment line begging for benefits.

On the bright side, there are two things I am very much looking forward to when I return to work. #1) An excuse to buy (well, charge) a new wardrobe-because even after losing the baby weight, there's no way my new hips and butt can fit into those old clothes again. #2) I CANNOT WAIT to be able to sit down for a half hour lunch and actually get to eat my lunch with NO INTERUPPTIONS!!! I am really excited about this :)

So, let the countdown to D-Day begin. But in the meantime, I'm still going to buy lottery tickets.

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

RIP Leisurely Lunches

I couldn't wait to go out with my mom (aka "grammie") today. Our plan was to go down to Haddon Ave., look for Aubrey's christening gown, and have a nice lunch. The weather was GORGEOUS today, it couldn't have cooperated any better (okay, well maybe a few degrees warmer would have been nice...). And after a looong winter of being cooped up with a newborn, I was anxious to take Aubrey out for a nice walk in her stroller. Throw in a delicious lunch, and it would be the perfect day!

Ahh, silly me. Have I forgotten so soon that nothing is ever easy with a baby in tow? After discovering that the christening gown shop that my mom swore existed, did not exist after all, we decided to eat lunch. We went to the kid-friendly Pop Shop. Smart choice. You see, Aubrey is so clever-she has this uncanny ability to know EXACTLY when you are about to eat and right as you are about to put the fork in your mouth, she chooses to scream her lungs off at that precise moment. It never fails! What a little genius she is, it's so cute. So needless to say, right as our waitress put our sandwiches on the table, Aubrey decided to let loose. I'm talking the bright red face, lip quivering, blood curdling screams that make your heart rate shoot up in an instant.

The normal fixes did not work--changing her diaper, feeding her, holding her in a special way, giving her a pacifier, rocking her...nope, none of that worked. A diva like Aubrey demands more individualized attention. In an attempt to allow the other patrons to enjoy their meals, poor Grammie volunteered to walk with her outside to try to soothe her. I didn't see Grammie again for another twenty-five minutes. Shows you how well that went. My fun, leisurely lunch with my mom and Aubrey quickly turned into me sitting alone with a soggy chicken salad sandwich. At least the fountain Coke was good.

It makes me laugh when I think back to my pregnancy last summer and how I envisioned myself with the baby. I actually thought that lunches out would be a cinch! I didn't realize that I may have a baby that does not like to sit in a car seat carrier while I eat and socialize. I didn't realize that sometimes a bottle just isn't enough to soothe a baby. I didn't realize that it may take a 30 minute walk outside with Gram to calm her down so I could sit alone with my soggy chicken salad sandwich, wishing I had ordered something else.

The delightful day concluded with me driving home with a screaming, tired baby after a long day. I tried to drain out the screams with country music, but that only seemed to add more fuel to her fire. Darn, I was hoping she would be a country music fan. As soon as we got home, she finally fulfilled one of my pregnancy expectations-she passed out in her crib. And as for the christening gown, my mom and I decided we would try again next week. Only this time, we will shop for it online and order a pizza.

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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Can somebody please define, "Sleeping through the night"?

3 months. The mark I have been waiting three months for. Almost everyone I had spoken to during the first month of sleepless nights had assured me that almost all babies are sleeping through the night by the end of three months. Their words offered me hope and carried me through those grueling nights when sleeping for three hours straight felt like a dream come true. "3 months, 3 months," I'd recite to myself as I stumbled into the nursery at 1am, then 3am, and again at 5am. Well, here we are at 3 months and 8 days and I'm beginning to question what "through the night" really means.

Apparently, it doesn't necessarily mean what I thought I was being promised. Liars! To me, "through the night" means when she wakes up, it's not dark outside. But according to the "experts", "through the night" means the baby sleeps for a 5-6 hour block. According to this theology, if Aubrey goes to bed at 10, she will be awake at 3. And lucky me, my daughter likes to play by the rules. She wakes up screaming like clockwork. If she goes to bed at 9:45, she's up at 2:45. This is NOT through the night! The most frustrating part is that there ARE nights when she will sleep for 8 or 9 hours straight, so I know she is capable of it!

And for all of you whose babies were sleeping through the night (whatever the heck that means) by the end of the first month, I don't want to hear it. And for all of you whose babies were still NOT sleeping through the night at ten months, I really don't want to hear it! All I want to hear is the sound of silence at 3am again.

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Monday, March 15, 2010

Why I Need to Write this Blog

I took a trip back to the OBGYN's office today. Not for a friendly visit, of course, but for my yearly checkup. I brought my 3 month old, Aubrey, with me because the thought of asking my mom to watch the baby for "just an hour" again just didn't seem right.

My doctor's office is quite large and usually filled with many women awaiting an ultrasound, a glucose test, or the standard pap smear. It's usually pretty quiet, with most women texting away or pretending to read a magazine. So, when I stumbled into the waiting room with an oversized purse hanging off my shoulder, a diaper bag stuffed with every possible thing an infant could need over an hour's time, and a car seat carrier loaded with toys, a blanket, and oh yeah, a baby, I was undoubtedly the center of attention.

As I looked around at the mostly friendly faces, I couldn't help but notice all of the pregnant women. I was hoping they were taking note of the vast difference one month can make. Here they were, sitting alone, holding on to their one, tiny purse, quietly texting their husbands about how they HAVE to have pizza for dinner tonight while they watch American Idol and sitting right across from them is me and Aubrey-- taking up three seats and half the floor space. I wanted to say to them, "See how crazy I look? See how tired I look? See these awesome sweatpants I'm sporting and this ponytail I have to wear because I didn't have time to wash my hair this morning? This will be you next month! I know you're sick of being pregnant, but enjoy every minute you have left to sit through a meal or television show uninterrupted! And if you think you are getting bad sleep now, just wait til your new little one joins you!"

And this, my new cyber friends, is exactly what prompted me to write this blog.

I am writing this blog for all of the women who are thinking about having a baby, pregnant, or are a new mom like me. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL US HOW MUCH A BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING! Now to be fair, I did have almost everyone who had kids warn me that a baby changes everything, but they did not tell me specifics! They did not tell me that sometimes babies don't nap for three hours a day. They did not tell me that when a baby wakes up in the middle of the night, sometimes they are awake for two or three hours straight. They did not tell me that if I am lucky enough to shower, it will take me over two hours to get ready. They did not tell me that every time I get to sit down to finally eat a meal,that this will be the exact time that the baby decides to wake up screaming or will need to be fed.

So my friends, I am writing this blog to tell you HOW a baby changes everything. Because that old saying is just way too vague to mentally prepare anyone for this "adventure". Please come along with me as I laugh and cry my way through the ups and downs of this exciting, scary, exhilarating roller coaster ride of motherhood. It's bound to be quite a ride :)