I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 32

No, not me. I just turned 30!  But the best friend a girl could ask for, the girl I am SO lucky to call a cousin, the girl who is SO MUCH MORE like a SISTER, SHE is 32 today!

 

She still loves Fievel and I still wear pearls with my pajamas, and we still do karaoke at every chance we get... so really, not much has changed from  the 80's to now.

"Hey Romy, remember Mrs. Divits class, there was like always a word problem.  Like.. there's a guy in a row boat going X miles, and the current is going like, ya know, some other miles and how long does it take to get him to town?  It's like... WHO CARES?  Who wants to go to town with a guy who drives a rowboat?"

The best part about my Twin Cousin is that she just GETS me.  We are the silliest most fun people I know.  We have an absolute giggle fit doing everything that we do! 

They're cousins, Identical cousins and you'll find, They laugh alike, they walk alike, At times they even talk alike.....

We're just like really big kids......

Yes, we are on a Merry Go Round taking selfies.

WHO CAN DRINK!

I can't be there to celebrate with you today (Like I was on your 30th!), but I am there in spirit.   

 "Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever" - Walt Disney

"Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten" - Lilo & Stitch

The one with all the purees

My five month old son is formula fed.  He LOVES to drink his bottle and doesn't miss a drop. He doesn't dribble, he doesn't spit up, the kid is a PROFESSIONAL when it comes to eating.  Level Expert.  At least he was.  Just after four months old the doctor said we could start him on solids.  Another controversial topic, starting solids before six months... I'm just going for them all! Breastfeed, and solids, oh my!  We started with a few bowls of cereal and then gave him some sweet potatoes.  I spent multiple afternoons steaming and blending sweet potatoes, carrots, peas and pears excited to feed him.  He was overwhelmed at first but after a few attempts, he LOVED Sweet Potatoes.  He couldn't get enough.  After a week or two of Sweet Potatoes I made him some avocado, I mashed it and then whipped in some formula with it and if he could speak, I imagine his reaction to this would be like when I get the chocolate peanut butter cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory.  It's the most magical taste in the world!  As the weeks went on we tried bananas, (Constipation city!) prunes (diarrhea city!), pears, peas, peaches carrots, apples and most recently green beans.

Problem 1:  Apples.  He loved the apples.  He'd have kept eating all day if I let him.  Two days later his face broke out in a rash that almost two weeks later has still not improved.  Is it related? I don't know, but I'm terrified to try again.

Problem 2:  Carrots and Green Beans.  Much like my reaction to chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, my child has also inherited my reaction to mushrooms and onions.  It's as if someone is taking a potato masher to my throat if I accidentally eat a mushroom or an onion.  It's offensive to every single one of my senses.  After a few tries, Jack has come around to Carrots if they're warm but I don't think we can even try Green Beans again.  He gagged. Dramatically. He forced himself to throw up.  He took every face and grunt he has learned in the last 24 weeks and made it known.  He was pissed.

Last night I gave him the mesh feeder with real banana in it and he was in heaven, he loved chewing on it and the taste and sucked it bone dry.  It was pretty repulsive as with most things babies do is. 

I think this weekend if my husband is home we may start towards some baby led weaning away from purees. 

Can someone tell this kid to slow down already!?

Willie Nelson - Where My House Lives

My husband and I both agree on one big thing.  And that is that we absolutely LOVE Willie Nelson.  We have passed this love along to our five month old son and this is always the music we sway and sing to.  This song is sad.  But it's the most beautiful melody and I thought the title was perfect for a lifestyle blog.

We saw Willie Nelson on Friday, and he was not the worlds best performer anymore but when he walked out on stage I got the chills and my eyes widened and I marveled at the legend who stood before me.  I knew my husband was feeling the same way by the way he fumbled for my hand and squeezed.

My mom always says "House is where your shit is" because we are nomadic and have moved a hundred times.  Okay, like 30 but still... I never had that sense of a "home" as far as a structural building.  Home for me is my family and wherever I feel happy.  The best part of life now with my husband and son?  I am always home.

The one where it all began

Exactly two years ago this week, my (now) husband and I began to subtly let one another know we were interested in more than the forbidden employee-boss relationship we were currently in. Okay, okay, it's not as bad as it seems.  Yes, I am a supervisor in the same company he is a warehouse employee at, but it wasn't like he reported directly to me. For the most part.

In November of 2013 we decided to take the plunge.  Within three weeks of dating he was suddenly without his place of residence and naturally went from staying over every night to living with me.  In December we said screw fraternization and went public.  In April of 2014 he asked me to marry him.  And by May of 2014 we had planned a private mountain top ceremony in the Shenandoah National Park mountains!  Everything was set. July 29, 2014 was to be the day our lives changed forever!  We would be married!  But July 26, 2014 came first.

Did you hear that? That was the sound of the tires screeching.  Now, I am not the most scientific person in the world but I did okay in Biology and Health class and I understood the basic baby making details.  I was practicing Fertility Awareness and using the withdraw method, neither of which are full-proof but MAN did I think I was golden and safe.  This was the shock of a lifetime to me.  In hind sight, it wasn't necessary to hold the pee stick right by my face for this shot, but I am still glad i have it.

We loaded up the SUV with our camping gear, put my pretty dress in the backseat and drove off towards Virginia, wide-eyed and hands intertwined.  We were through the roof excited about the baby even if it wasn't the timing we had intended and we knew we were blessed to never have the burden of "trying". 

July 29th came and went and was the most romantic, beautiful day of my entire life.

We stayed in a cabin on our wedding night and proceeded to the campgrounds the day following.  July 31, 2014 I woke up in a tent with an overwhelming sensation of nausea and spent the next two days in the woods throwing up before I threw in the towel and we went to a hotel.

I had a very rough pregnancy.  Terrible morning sickness, and a lot. I mean A LOT of sporadic bleeding which was later diagnosed as Placenta Previa.  I had high blood pressure and numb hands and every normal side affect as well.  My little boy couldn't wait to meet us and on the eve of my 36th week of pregnancy he decided to show his cute little face. To make up for my pregnancy, I had the easiest labor ever. I labored at home for 9 hours, was in L&D for 3 hours, pushed 3 times and heard the most magnificent cries.

Jackson Louis was born March 10, 2015.  His blood sugar was low and his temperature was low but he only spent one night in the NICU and spent the next two nights in the room with us before we went home. 

 

I had been envisioning our arrival at home for 35 weeks.  I pictured us walking in the house. My husband setting the infant carrier down ever so gently, us exchanging a glance and then shrugging our shoulders.  Now what?  There was no license. No signatures required. We just left the hospital with this tiny breathing thing and we had NO IDEA what was to come.

Jack is five months old now and every morning is still followed by an exchanged glance of "Now What?"  Everything our son does is new to him, new to us, and we are really just making it up as we go along.  So far so good.  Every exhausting second is the best second ever.

Now that I've decided to delete my Facebook (Who can handle another election season on social media? Not me.) and my kid is growing like wild fire, I thought I'd start a blog and keep track of it.  I hope to blog bi-weekly or weekly or monthly or yearly, who knows, this could be my only post.  But at least I made a cute layout and put some cute pictures of Jack on the web.  

Until next time!

Em