The House of Burks » 2010

Wordless Wednesday – No Pictures, Please!

Posted on March 31st, 2010 by Rachel B.

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My Favorite Things

Posted on March 31st, 2010 by Rachel B.

I'd like to start doing fairly regular posts of my favorite items, things that I have found come in handy as I go about my day. So, let's get started. One of my most favorite recent purchases is the Mommy Hook.

Wow, that picture is huge. I can't figure out how to resize it on the Mac, though. So deal with the huge picture. The Mommy Hook is great. I can't believe I went eight months without it. As you can see, the Mommy Hook is a giant carabiner that hooks on to a stroller handle so you can hang your shopping bags or handbag on it while you're out and about with your little one. It could also go on a shopping cart if you were so inclined. I usually place my handbag in the seat of the cart if CJ is not shopping with me, but when he tags along I have to keep it on my shoulder and it tends to slip down. The Mommy Hook would eliminate that problem and keep my handbag close and secure.

The Mommy Hook in action. I have found this to be quite the handy little gadget. CJ likes his stroller a lot and we typically take it to the mall when we go shopping. If the Mister isn't with us, I have a hard time shoving shopping bags and packages in the stroller basket. Enter Mommy Hook. It's great for holding a few bags and even my handbag. Any more than three or four bags and it would be cumbersome on the stroller handle, but for short trips it is awesome. For around $7.00, you can get a Mommy Hook of your own. I got mine at Babies R Us, but you can get one at Target or Walmart. Happy shopping!

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We've made it.

Posted on March 29th, 2010 by Rachel B.

It's finally over. We've made it through. It's been a long, hard 3/4 months, but we're finally on the other side. I'm talking, of course, about winter. A winter that has brought us several rounds of snow.

Mostly viewed from the safety and warmth of the living room. But we did venture out.

After the sun returned, of course. This winter we have seen snow, sleet, hellacious wind, and temperatures in the teens and twenties most days. You may think this is normal for winter, but I LIVE IN GEORGIA. As in The South. Where winters are supposed to be meek and mild. Where we break out our scarves and hats when the temperature dips below 40 degrees. We're not prepared for temperatures in the teens! We can't handle ice on the roads! You can't get bread and milk into the grocery stores fast enough when the meteorologist says the dreaded S-word. Aside: I have never understood why people stock up on bread and milk when there is a threat of snow. You might be housebound with no power, yet you buy two of the most perishable grocery items in bulk. I guess a gallon of milk could go outside in the snow, but bread? What's up with that? We should be stocking up on canned goods, MREs, and dried and/or jerkied meats. You know, apocalyptic fare. But I digress. But the day of redemption is at hand! Happy days are almost here again. The joy of sunshine is right around the corner, although you couldn't tell it by looking out my office window right now. We had a lovely taste of spring this past Saturday in Montevallo, Alabama, where the Mister and I attended a dear friend's wedding. The wedding was outdoors on campus, right next to the dormitory in which I used to live.

As I'm sure most of you have never been to Montevallo, take my word when I say it is a beautiful campus. The wedding took place on the lawn of Reynolds Hall.

It was absolutely beautiful outside. The sun was shining, there were big white puffy clouds in the sky, and there was a lovely spring breeze blowing. I very much enjoyed the opportunity to sit outside and get some sun on my pasty arms. Oh, I also enjoyed seeing my friends, most of whom I haven't seen in a few years. But man, the sunshine! Yesterday was sunny off and on, but on the way back to Atlanta we were treated to heavy rainfall. Just the thing you want when you're hurtling down I-85 (which is also the implied speed limit, and if you go under it you risk your life and the lives of those around you). Today is overcast and below 60, but tomorrow the high is supposed to be in the mid-sixties, and on Wednesday, the high is 75! And sunny for the next 10 days! Only a chance of isolated storms on Sunday. It makes my heart so happy to see such a forecast after months in the frozen tundra. I'm so tired of coats and sweaters and friggin' SOCKS. I haven't worn socks in the past month out of sheer rebellion. Yes, at times my feet have been cold. But I. HATE. SOCKS. I'm so ready for sandals and t-shirts and shorts. Now mind you, I am in no shape for shorts at the moment. My goal of 50 pounds by CJ's first birthday in June seems to no longer be attainable. I just can't seem to diet and exercise while nursing. I am getting a bit of exercise daily, but it's nowhere near enough for any kind of notable weight loss. Plus I hate the treadmill. It sits there in our den every night, mocking me, ridiculing me, calling me fat names. So I go upstairs to escape it. The TV in the living room is closer to the kitchen anyway. Maybe (I'm hoping) warm weather will provide me with the motivation I need to up my exercise. I'm less than three months away from my breastfeeding goal of one year, so I think I could take it if my supply were to drop a little from diet and exercise. I have a healthy freezer stash, so CJ's daycare bottles will be covered. He's eating more table food anyway, so his dependence/interest on breastmilk should start to wane. Dieting is just not for me, so exercise will have to be the way to go. New season, new me. Perhaps swimsuit shopping will get my butt in gear. Or send me crying to the nearest Cinnabon. Chances are 50/50.

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Filed under: Fat Kid, Life As We Know It | 45No Comments »We%26%23039%3Bve+made+it.2010-03-29+19%3A43%3A22Rachel+B.

I never do this…

Posted on March 29th, 2010 by Rachel B.

I never blog about giveaways. Mainly because I never win. But I love these necklaces by Lisa Leonard so much that I had to try. So here goes. The Outdoor Wife is having a giveaway! The prize is a beautiful necklace by Lisa Leonard. All of her pieces are just beautiful, but this one is my favorite. For some reason I love birdcages, but only empty birdcages. This necklace is beautiful and delicate and should inspire its' wearer to spread her wings and "think outside the cage."

Come on. Tell me that isn't beautiful. I DARE YOU. So head on over to The Outdoor Wife and check it out!

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Phoning it in.

Posted on March 26th, 2010 by Rachel B.

Well, here I am in my little pumping room at work. I finished my last Sookie Stackhouse book last night, so I have nothing to pass the time. So I figured why not try to do a little blogging on my phone? Technology is such an amazing thing. I can sit in a room in a building in Midtown Atlanta and broadcast my thoughts to the WHOLE WORLD in written form. How awesome is it that we can have this platform to share our innermost self with potentially millions of people? Right now, my innermost self wishes she hadn't had a hankering for Chinese food. It wasn't even GOOD Chinese. It was plain old run of the mill Chinese. I didn't even get a good fortune. But I still ate it all. AND I'M NOT ASHAMED, INTERNET! That's a lie. I'm a little ashamed. I'm such a fat kid. Now I feel like I shouldn't eat dinner tonight to offset the ungodly amount of calories I consumed for lunch. But I probably will. After all, fatty is as fatty does.

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Baby Fever

Posted on March 24th, 2010 by Rachel B.

Sometimes I want another baby. I loved being pregnant. We tried for 11 long months to get pregnant, so when it finally happened, I vowed to soak up every second of it, for better or worse. Fortunately, I had a perfect pregnancy, absent of morning sickness, insomnia, and stretch marks. Turns out I do pregnant very well. Never got unbearably uncomfortable, and CJ was born right as it started to get really hot outside, so I skipped being pregnant in the summer entirely. Yes, pregnancy was wonderful. Labor/C-section left a little to be desired, but I gave birth to a healthy baby and that's all that matters. There is a second baby boom going on amongst my friends right now. There was a wave of us in the first half of 2009 that had babies, and now the second wave is in full effect. There have been five babies born to my friends since November, and every day there is tiny newborn cuteness to look at on Facebook or blogs. CJ is such a hoss now, I can barely remember what it was like to have a tiny newborn at home. I miss it. I love how they curl into a little ball, I love the newborn cry, I love how snuggly they are. Having a newborn at home was such a wonderful experience that at times I can't wait to jump right in and do it all over again. Then there are days like today, where I nearly fell asleep three times whilst driving to work. Where I could barely keep my eyes open at my desk today. Where I sit down to use the bathroom and lean over to rest my head on my arms, only to wake up twenty minutes later. Where I'm sitting down in the evening and can't even bear to think about fixing bottles because it seems like such a daunting task for someone who is as sleepy as I. This is not a baby fever kind of day.

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A Blog Award!

Posted on March 22nd, 2010 by Rachel B.

I have never gotten a blog award before! Thanks, Laura Jane! I guess I've always been sort of a "lone wolf" in the blogosphere. I've had friends here and there who blog, but I have never been part of a blogging community, if you will. Well, I guess LiveJournal counts as a blogging community. But anyway, I am very glad that Laura Jane thought of me for this award. For the "Beautiful Blogger" award you need to:* Thank & link to the person that gave you the award. * Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you’ve recently discovered. * Contact said Blogs and let them know they’ve won. * State 7 things about yourself. Hmm, I am not sure of the extent of my readership right now. This is my newest blog incarnation, and I haven't brought over any readers from my other blog in an effort to remain sort-of semi-anonymous and build a readership from the ground up. So if you are a reader, I'd love to hear from you so I can link to you over there on the right. Leave me a comment with your blog link! Seven things about me: 1. I am very tall for a woman. Six feet tall, to be exact. It has its advantages, but can also be annoying. 2. I love pop culture bandwagons. Harry Potter, Twilight, True Blood, various television shows, I will give them all a try. And don't get me started on social media. My MySpace ID only has 5 digits. Meaning I was one of the first 100,000 people to sign up. When something new comes out, I instantly sign up for it so I can say I was an "early adopter." 3. I feel like I'm in my element as a mother. It is the most natural feeling in the world to me. 4. I'm a technophile. I love gadgets and gizmos. I don't know what I ever did before smartphones. 5. My hubby is a stud. 6. I've struggled with my weight my entire life. Right now I'm really unhappy with how I look, but every time I try to diet or exercise, my milk supply tanks. That said, I'm very much looking forward to weaning so that I can get back on the exercise train hardcore. 7. We have lived in this house for four years, but it does not remotely feel like "home." "Home" is in Birmingham, Alabama, and no other place will ever do. I hope the Mister's career path takes us back home eventually.

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The return of STTN.

Posted on March 19th, 2010 by Rachel B.

Sleeping Through The Night. We haz it (again). Even if it's just for one night. One glorious night. One full night's sleep is enough to make me feel like a brand new person. CJ has been a great sleeper since he was around 8 weeks old. He started STTN and really only had a couple of hiccups since then (except for the 4-month wakeful, which lasted nearly an entire month). But he has been waking up either around midnight or 3am for the past two weeks, and the interruption in sleep has been absolutely killing me. I don't get a large quantity of sleep in a given night, so it's nice when the sleep I get is quality. But with his recent sickness, coupled with what I think is a growth spurt, CJ has been waking at night. Sometimes once, sometimes several times. Sometimes he would wake up and want to party for a couple of hours. Night waking = miserable Mommy. But LAST NIGHT! He slept all night again. We had an errand to run yesterday evening, so we got home after his bedtime. I thought that meant we were in store for a restless night. But lo and behold, the little guy slept great. I actually had to go wake him up at 7:30 this morning because I was about to explode. He had rolled onto his belly and was snoozing soundly. And today (well, as of right this moment), I feel like million bucks. After two weeks of disrupted sleep, I finally feel rested. It's wonderful. I am the first person to judge parents who complain about lack of sleep when they have a newborn at home. What did they expect? What did they think was going to happen? My response when people with children under two months of age complain about being sleep-deprived: "if sleep is that important to you, you should've thought of that before you had a child." I know, it's kind of mean. I always follow that statement up with "it gets better soon." Because it does. I think people have unrealistic expectations when it comes to sleep and their newborns. Newborns need to eat every 2-3 hours. How can you expect them to sleep when their tiny tummies are asking for food? They are still figuring things out. The world is a new, big, scary place to a newborn, and when you don't know how to soothe yourself back to sleep if you wake up then you need your mommy or daddy to comfort you. I hear stories on message boards about mothers who let their two-week old babies cry it out in hopes that they will sleep, and it breaks my heart for those babies. I understand the frustrations of a sleep-deprived mother, but call in some back-up if you need to rest. Don't let your newborn cry themselves into exhaustion so you can get a few moments of shut-eye. All that being said, when your baby starts STTN at 8 weeks and you get accustomed to getting a decent night's rest, and then all of a sudden it's taken away from you, I completely understand feeling put-upon in that situation. Because I was miserable. Even for two short weeks, when I would have told any other mother to power through, it was getting to me. I was to the point where I was considering CIO (cry it out) even though the thought of it broke my heart. I hate to hear CJ cry. I couldn't imagine not going to comfort him when he is upset. But sleep deprivation will make you reconsider your stance on a lot of issues. I understand that CIO works in the vast majority of instances, and is often necessary to help (older) babies learn how to put themselves back to sleep, but I just hoped upon hope that I would never have to do that with my child. But I got to that point, people. After two weeks of no sleep, I WAS THERE. Now comes the part where I pray and hope and cross every finger and toe that he does it again tonight.

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Accomplishment

Posted on March 17th, 2010 by Rachel B.

My son is taking a little catnap on me after his evening nursing session. For the past twenty minutes, I have been attempting to pick a dried up booger from his nose without waking him. I did it. And I mean that booger was IN THERE. As in NEVER coming out. But persistence is key, and I got that booger good. Of course, now it's time for him to eat, so I'll have to wake him anyway. But still, I got that booger.

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