So Blessed, So Random, So Annoyed

This blog has its title because it is about reasons I am so blessed, some really random things, and reasons I get so annoyed sometimes!  So overall, this is a really random blog!  And some of my rants intertwine in the different categories...

So Blessed...

Ryder is now 11 weeks old (today!) and I have loved staying home with him these 11 weeks.  I am so thankful that he was born when he was, July 1, because it gives me 18 weeks total to be home with him.  This makes me even more thankful for my teaching job, because with any other job I would have had to take the usual 12 weeks, and I could not even imagine going back to work next week.  Since I am home all day, I watch a lot of baby shows.  Discovery Health Channel and The Learning  Channel definitely target stay at home moms by showing baby shows all day!  And of course, I read a lot of articles and pieces of books throughout my pregnancy, and these shows and books just show me how lucky we are.  There are SO many things that can go wrong in a pregnancy, it is just unreal.  From Placenta Previa, Placental Abruption, Pre-Eclampsia, Eclampsia, Miscarriage, Birth Defects, etc. etc. the list could go on forever, we are so lucky to have had such a great pregnancy.  I prayed every day, often more than once a day, for my pregnancy and that everything would be okay and that Ryder would be healthy, and God answered my prayers abundantly.  I did not have one bad thing happen during the pregnancy, and I am just so extremely thankful.  I am counting my blessings for sure!  And now I have the most wonderful, healthy, happy little boy that I love so much!
I also want to talk about how blessed I am with my family.  I love my family!  And anyone who knows me well, knows how extremely close I am with my mom and my grandma who I call Noni.  These two ladies are the two most influential people in my life, and I am so proud to be like them.  They are funny, strong, and independent women.  There is nothing they can't do in my eyes, and often if I have a question about anything, they are the ones I call.  Anyway, with me being on unpaid maternity leave, money is very tight right now.  Lance and I have really had to cut back in a lot of ways, and I pretty much stay in my house 24/7 to avoid spending money.  My mom has really helped me out for my money situation.  She paid my cell phone bill for me this month, which is a big help.  I also get my hair done about every 6-8 weeks and have since I was in 7th grade or so.  Well my roots are getting pretty bad, and I have a million colors in my hair, so it is expensive to have my hair done.  I knew that the highlights would be something I would have to give up while on maternity leave.  But even an all over color is still pretty expensive, but I really wanted to go to my hair lady to have it done.  I could do a box color, which always takes two boxes because my hair is so thick, but I am afraid that my hair will have a green tint.  This happens sometimes when you try to cover blonde with brown.  So, my mom is once again helping me out and paying for half of my hair appointment cost.  She is also having my birthday dinner next Friday with the family at a restaurant called Gloria's (YUM) and is paying for mine and Lance's dinner.  These little things she is doing for us are so nice and helping us out a lot.  I LOVE MY MOM!  And for Noni...grandmas are such a special thing.  There is no relationship like a relationship with a grandparent.  It's special and different, almost hard to put into words.  My Noni comes and visits Ryder and I weekly, and I always love our little visits.  Last week she came over, and we were talking about how when I was little she would take me to get either a coca cola slurpee every day after school, or we would go get french fries and a strawberry milkshake (still a favorite!).  Well Aunt Bonnie came by to pick up Noni, and we were talking to Aunt Bonnie about how Noni would do that for me and how Aunt Bonnie does that kind of stuff for her two grandsons now.  So then we got on a tangent about ice cream, and I was talking about how much I LOVE heath bar mixes from Braums and how I wanted one so bad.  And Lance was there and I was trying to convince him to go get us some mixes.  He didn't really feel like it, and then Noni said, "Well, I would like to go get you a mix just like old times."  I told her that was not necessary at all!  But she insisted, so her and Aunt Bonnie brought us Braums mixes!  yuuummmmmm.  Then yesterday Noni was over with Aunt Bonnie, and they were about to go out to eat some Mexican food (my favorite) with Susan and Sammy and their kids (Aunt Bonnie's grandkids), and I really wanted to go.  But because of the money situation, Lance and I were not able to.  And while we were talking about the restaurant they were going to, I told Noni about how delicious their sopapillas are.  They are probably the best ever!  So Noni and Aunt Bonnie left to go eat.  Then a couple hours later, Susan came by and brought us sopapillas that Noni got us from the restaurant.  What a nice surprise!  My Noni and my mom have both done so much for me throughout my life, not just food related and hair related (ha), and I could never thank them enough.  Even the littlest things they do means so much!

So Random...

As I said earlier, money is tight right now with me being on unpaid maternity leave.  One way we are trying to save money is by not buying any meals out.  Lance and especially me, love eating at restaurants or fast food.  It's just so good.  We had already cut back a lot when the baby was born since we were home all the time, but we would still order pizzas or one of us would go out and pick up something.   A few weeks ago, I got recipes from my stepmom, Colleen, and from my mom and made a huge list for the grocery store.  I am proud to say that Lance and I have had a home cooked meal every night starting September 1!!  That's 16 days of meals and will be 17 after tonight!  I have ventured out into the cooking world and I am so glad.  Lance does a lot of cooking, because we like to eat a lot on the grill.  He is a good cook.  He is also an excellent waffle maker and usually makes them every weekend!  Anyways, tonight I am making lasagna. It will be my first time, so I hope it is good.  Our favorite meal that I have cooked so far would have to be enchiladas.  They were delicious!  If anyone knows of some good recipes, please pass them on!

Next random thing, my OCD.  Yes, I really think I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to some degree.  I have always thought I had this a little bit.  My whole life I have had to check to make sure lights were off over and over, and I still do that along with checking my chi iron to make sure it's off, checking on the dogs to make sure they are okay and their collars aren't too tight, and more.  It's ridiculous.  Now that I have a baby, it's so much worse!  The worst is at night when I am going to bed.  Ryder goes to sleep usually at least an hour and sometimes two hours before I do.  Right before I go to bed, I go to his room and check on him of course.  This is what I do, and I'm sure you will think I am totally crazy after reading this.  I always double check the monitor and make sure it's on and situated properly on the side of the crib so that it has no chance of falling off.  Then I check the plug to the monitor and make sure it's okay, and I check the diaper warmer plug to make sure it's not too hot.  Then I go back to Ryder.  I swaddle him in those summer swaddles that velcro (love them!), so I have to stick my fingers through the top around his neck and make sure the swaddle is not too tight. Then I check the shoudlers and make sure it isn't too tight around his shoulders.  Then I check through the bottom of where it velcroes and make sure it's not too tight there.  Then I look at Ryder from the side and make sure he's breathing.  I usually count 5 good chest rises.  Then I'll put my hand on his chest and feel him breathe, usually 5 breaths.  Then I look and count.  Then feel and count.  Then look and count.  Then feel and count.  Then look and count.  Then feel and count.  Then look and count.  Then feel and count.  Then look and count just one more time.  Well, maybe I should feel and count again.  But I have to leave on looking and counting so I'll do that again.  Then I'm done and can go to bed!  So I start to walk out and check to make sure the fan is on, although I already know that it is on because I never turn it off.  Then as I'm walking out the door I think, "maybe I should check his breathing one more time."  Then I go back to the crib, look and count, feel and count, look and count, feel and count, look and count.  And somewhere in all this I say a prayer for him and his sleeping and for guardian angels around his room and crib.  Can I get medicated for this??  If I keep this up every night, I'm pretty sure I will go insane.

Lance thinks I am so ridiculous for how loud I keep the monitor in our room.  I always tell him that I have to keep it loud to make sure I wake up when he cries.  And then I point out how he should understand this, considering that when Ryder would sleep in our room, he would scream and Lance would not even budge during the night.  When Lance was first setting up the monitor, he noticed there were two options:  "on" and "voice only."  He asked which one I wanted it on, and I of course said, "ON....I want to hear EVERY little thing."  And we definitely do.  We can hear when the train goes by, the dishwasher from the kitchen when it is running, and my favorite, Ryder's toots.  It is soooo hilarious when Ryder toots and we hear it in the monitor.  Maybe Lance and I are immature, but we laugh every time!  It's so cute and funny. 

Yesterday, I went to my lady doctor.  I was sitting in the waiting room, and I got an overwhelming feeling of missing being pregnant.  I started going to this doctor when I found out I was pregnant, so I had always been pregnant every time I waited in that waiting room.  And now I was waiting in there, and I wasn't pregnant.  It was weird.  I really, truly missed being pregnant!  At the end of my pregnancy, I said so many times, "I am just ready to not be pregnant anymore."  Now that I'm not pregnant, I miss being pregnant.  Funny how that works.  I don't want to have another baby any time soon, but I can't wait to be pregnant again!  I think when I am done having kids, I will be sad to know that I will never get to be pregnant again. 

And lastly for randoms, I have to give credit to Lance.  His job is practically based solely on commission, so he has had a lot of pressure to do well and sell a lot so I could take my full time off from work.  We are cutting back to help, but he still has to pull in more than usual to pay our bills.  We pay a ridiculous amount in bills each month.  And he has done really well.  He has been selling and making good money with his job to keep us afloat and I am really proud of him!  And really thankful to God, because Lord knows I have been praying and praying for us financially. 

So Annoyed...

Sometimes I feel better about things that annoy me if I write about them.  Here are some really small things that have gotten on my nerves this week!
1) I cannot stand it when I am in a parking lot and waiting for a parking spot, the person knows I'm waiting on that spot, and they sit and fiddle fart around in their car.  Hurry up and leave!  I'm sure whatever you are doing in your car in that parking spot can be done later.
2) Grocery cart etiquitte...yes, it exists.  It's kind of like driving a car.  If you are in some isles you have the right of way, like the main isles that run along side of the food isles.  If you are coming out of a food isle to the main isle and someone is going down the main isle, you have to stop and let them pass.  The other day I was in the main isle and was completely cut off by a side isle person!  I was so mad and I made some mean faces, but the person who cut me off did not see them of course.
3)  If you are walking in a parking lot, do not walk in the middle of the lane where people drive.  Move to the side so I can keep going and find a spot!  If you do this on the wrong day, I might bump you to teach you a lesson.

Yes, all of these things are related, because they all happened at my last trip to walmart.

And the final annoyance will have to be the Reliant Energy commercials with the really annoying lady.  I can't stand these commercials, and I hope they stop soon.  I tried to find a picture of the lady, so you could know what commercials I'm talking about, but I could not find a picture anywhere!  It's probably better that I didn't, because she drives me nuts. 

The end.