Birthday: #33 Was Awesome!

I had the most awesome birthday this year! I didn't do anything spectacular, no big trips or surprises, but I had an amazingly wonderful day with the people I love most!

On Thursday my sweet friend Wendy took me out for a relaxing early birthday pedi and some lunch at Kincaids! Hellooo relaxing! Who says you can't have riesling at 11 o'clock in the morning? We had a great time gabbing 100mph while making sure to stop often enough to thank the nail gals for their amazing work!

Then I decided to push through that afternoon and hit up Crossfit for a 10,000m row. Hey, I wanted to make up for the extra cals I'd inhale on Friday. Thankfully my girl Megan was there to give me some support, as well as her hubs Jeremy...they got me started on a positive note! #blisterhell

Friday was my actual birthday, and I had a FABULOUS lunch with an awesome group of friends at one of my fave spots, Brio! 

These are seriously the sweetest, most fun, "real" girls I know, and I cherish my relationships with each one of them! I definitely missed a few that couldn't make it...ahem Em, Morris, Bauer! ;) I thought a nice, sunny, 11am lunch on the patio would be great. Ummmm, fail. It was balls hot before noon LOL. These sweet girls toughed it out though...love them! :)

Me, Lisa, Jess, Megan, baby Tegan, Jaclyn, Wendy, Laura, Hayley

 

Jaclyn and Wendy were melting on their side of the table...this was right before we left. Look at their expressions...they were thinking "good Lord Sarah let's go with the pictures, we're dyyyying". LOL

Lisa (from PA) underestimated the Texas heat at 12:00 on the patio. Next time she'll sport a cami and bikini bottoms instead of a tee and jeans. I met Lisa through her mom's group a few months back, and we have a BLAAST together! #pumpkinbutterrr!!!!

Jessica (brunette) is pregnant, hot and probably silently cussing me right there...LOL. Look at Tegan's face, she's like, OMG it's hot mommy!

Laura (shades) is pregnant with twins, gorgeous, and probably cussing the heat as well...in her sweetest, kindest tone of course. :) I wish I could wear fedoras like Hayley. My head is too big. Hayley is always stylin'!

My beautiful friend Jessica (pregnant with baby boy!) and Megan my awesome CrossFitting buddy. We like to get tortured together.

 My strawberry basalmic chicken awesomeness salad...with pecans. #win

Aaand, this is my sweet Wendy and her gorgeous, flowing red hair. Wendy and I have been best friends since like high school, and our sons are just a couple of weeks apart in age! She teaches in my district and lives in my neighborhood too! 

We ate our lunches, I took a million pics and opened a ton of sweet gifts from my girls. Then the server surprised me with a little glass of chocolate heaven with a candle. 

Feeling the love!!!!

After Brio, I walked over to one of my favorite "professional and LBD attire" shops, WHBM. I tried on a few cute things and modeled for my girl Jaclyn. C'mon...acting like you're 12 and trying clothes on is always fun! 

I left the Southlake Town Square for the day, and picked up my sweetie pie. I was SO excited to see him! Here he is as soon as I picked him up. Obviously he's more interested in his cold milk cup than seeing mommy!

When we got home, my friend Emily told me to check my mailbox, and there I found another perfect bday surprise! Check out this little book...Emily knows me too well! This is a perfect book for us LOL! Thanks Em! Hilarious...

Michael got home around 6 or so from work, and we talked about movie, nice dinner out, etc., but we decided to lay low and stay in. We were both pooped from a long week, and we wanted to hang out with our little man. So, Marcos' thin crust veggie pizza was my birthday dinner, and it was DELISH! This place doesn't disappoint. Helloo fetaaaa...

I caught the sweetest picture of the day here, when Kyle was smelling my flowers from Jess. They're so bright and happy! I LOVE bright, fresh flowers. He loved them...is this not adorable?? #meltsmyheart

This past year has been wonderful. I think year #32 was the best yet. A lot of things have changed in my life, and I've changed a lot myself...all for the better! I can definitely say that I am happier at this point in my life, than I have ever been! I'm embracing all of my blessings and living each day to the fullest. I have wonderful friends, an amazingly supportive husband, a healthy, sweet boy and the best family ever! Blessed beyond measure!

Cheers to 33!

Rant #128

Before I begin, I need to include this disclaimer:

I LOVE being a mommy. I LOVE my sweetie pie son. I LOVE that I've been able to stay home with him for 12 months now. What a blessing. I know I'll cry my eyes out the first few days I'm back at work in August because I'll miss my little monkey. He makes me happier than anything else in my life. With that said...

I am effing exhausted. Yep. I said it. I'm sure any working mom reading this would want to backhand me, after working a long week and raising children at home. I've done that too...I worked about four months after having Kyle before resigning. Regardless, I'm EXHAUSTED. Being a stay at home mom is by far the hardest job I've ever had. 

-waitress

-sprint rep

-bartender

-retail

-admin

-graphic designer

-marketing

-teacher

-SAHM (ding ding ding ding!!!!!)

Kyle still doesn't sleep well. He's definitely improved since his ear/adenoids surgery in February, but crap...he's always teething or sick. I think the record for consecutive sleeps from 9:30-5:30 is four nights. FOUR in 18 months. Sweet baby Jesus. 

"Why don't you just let him cry it out Sarah"? Well, hmmm. First of all, it stresses me out and I have this weird mommy reflex to where I pour sweat when he's screaming like that. We have a video/audio monitor so I literally lay there, wide awake at 12, 1, 3, whatever, and watch him. My hubs tells me to shut our door and just turn off the sound. How can I do that and fall asleep!? Okay...so a few weeks ago he was crying, wheezing the coughing so bad, so fast, that we ended up calling 911 at 5am. He could barely breathe and with "asthma/reactive lungs" he was in bad shape. What if I had turned off the sound that night and we never heard him!? Then recently, he's enabled to get his foot stuck between the bed rails and screams bloody murder. That's all I need it a toddler with broken ankles. I'm an obsessive mom...what can I say. Here's an average sleep schedule:

5:30am  wakeup

11:00am  nap for 1.5 hrs, maybe (oooh snap!!! maybe I can wash my hair this week today!) then, Kyle hears the shower door shut through two walls. Yeah. This wakes him up. Or a neighbor talking outside. Or a dog bark or me getting a dish out of the cupboard. Seriously?!! Eff me.

9:00 pm goes to sleep (much improved from the 10/11pm until March)

12, 2 and/or 4 or 5, wakes up crying, wet, lonely, molars hurting, full of snot, coughing, etc.

5:30 he's awake! weeeee!

this is Kyle and I at 5am...yeah, I'm as excited as I look

Now, it IS improving, last night he only cried out for about 20 min around 2am, but geez...when you're used to getting up every two hours for almost two years, you barely sleep. Then when you're up, it takes you 20-30 min to fall back asleep. It was meant to be, my staying home this past year. I would not have made it a month with my lack of sleep combined with 20 little kids everyday. #nervousbreakdown

Another challenge with my son is that...wait for it...

HE NEVER STOPS :)

This is Kyle at 3:30, no nap, up from 2-4 the night before, and still going strong. That's me, with 8 pound bags under my black circle eyes and hair that hasn't been washed in days. #deadsexy

No, I'm not exaggerating. I'm the mom at the park, play areas, play dates, restaurants, etc. that all of the other moms feel sorry for and I get the "oh wow...he's a handful, isn't he?" grin...or, the "wow you  must be exhausted with him!" comment. Yes, I'm sure these women are trying to sound empathetic, but I'm so tired of these comments...EVERY FREAKING DAY. He's not really hyper, he's just, active...nonstop. He likes to be entertained every single second, he's curious, he wants to know everything that's going on, he's giving attention to 20 things at once...he's def my son. He is an awesome little reader though...he's sit through multiple books and "read" them to himself. :)

Another reason motherhood has exhausted me is because we have no family to help us. I see friends  dropping their kids off at grandmas to run up to the store or gym, or hey, last min date night. Not us...our parents are 2-3 hours away. They help when they can, but it's not the same as having several relatives willing to watch your little one...for free...at the drop of a hat. A movie and cheap dinner costs us $100, minimum. #babysitterfeesarebrutal

Anyhow, I'm sitting here at 11:00 at night, hubs is in Canada, my house is a wreck, the chardonnay is warm, I need to shower, I have a ton of grad work to do, and I'm wasting time blogging. Why? Because ranting feels good. Women, or maybe it's just me, feel better after ranting. We don't even care if other people care, or listen even. If I won the lottery, I would totally hire a shrink (or any random person, actually) to rant to on a moment's notice. How awesome would that be? Girlfriends don't see you as negative, no more complaining to the hubby, it's a totally great idea. Until then I'll rely on a few close girlfriends and this here blog. :)

So, to sum up...mommyhood has really exhausted me. I had no idea how much your life changes or how much work it was. IAnd I thought toddler years were easier? Baaahahahaa I'm hilarious. My staying at home is such a blessing, but wow, it's been very challenging...mentally and physically. I just hope I'm doing the best job I can. :)

loving my cuddles

I think I'm ready for a little mommy/daddy vaca this summer. Heels would be nice, and a full night's rest would be too. It's the little things.

Wow that made me feel much better! YAY!

Maybe we should start on number two...

Our Son: Comedian in the Making

I just thought I'd post just some cute/funny videos of Kyle we've taken since he's been born. He's always laughing, and he cracks us up. We try to keep videos from our iphones uploaded to our youtube channel, but we get behind pretty often. We've recorded some freaking hilarious (and cute) stuff....these are just a few.

Kyle spinning in his new jumper! (He was fine...don't worry. LOL)

Daddy is SO funny!

Kyle eating...and us thinking we're just the funniest parents ever lol.

Kyle's first walk for mommy and daddy! (He walked for mimi and pawpaw a few days earlier while we were in D.C.)

Pawpaw is funny!

I award myself "mom of the year" here. It's hilarious though!

Kyle having a BLAST with Braxton, Kristen and Rudy! LOVE his belly laugh!

I can't believe how fast our little pumpkin is growing up! Crazy!

Changes: Mommyhood

Finally becoming a first time mommy at 31 was the best thing that has ever happened in my life. With that said, there are so many things I've realized and learned that no one ever told me about...pre-baby. So, here's a list. If you can't tell, I like lists. I like one liners. Lists enable you to get your thoughts across without worrying about transitions or flow in writing. Now only if I can be one of those obsessive "to-do" list makers. Until then I'll just keep writing my thoughts in lists.

The first morning with our angel Kyle...completely oblivious to how much our 

lives would be changed and how much our hearts could love.

1. Shortly after having your baby, you pull up to a convenience store and realize, this is no longer "convenient". That QT diet coke and deep fried chili cheese roller thing will have to wait.

2. Spontaneity...what? Baahahaha I remember that concept.

3. You think of someone else 289,658,459,351 times a day.

4. Subway, post offices, grocery stores, and most any other location should have a drive-thru. Seriously.

5. When you pass a mirror, you look at your baby instead of yourself.

6. Dinner and a movie now costs $100...welcome to babysitter fees.

7. Your living room will always look like an explosion of Toys R Us.

8. You become a morning person.

9. Shopping is no longer a relaxing way to pass time. It is now a frantic race to buy maximum amount of items before baby gets hungry, poops, or jumps out of his stroller.

10. You will have new connections with acquaintances or friends who are moms. It's like a secret club with a secret language and you don't understand until you're in. This also comes with a new understanding, respect and appreciation for those people.

11. You love the idea of going to bed a 9pm on a Friday night.

12. You give parents with a screaming child an 'I-know-the-feeling' look instead of a 'OMG Can't-they-shut-him-up?' look.

13. You will put on a dress, heels, and new accessories to go to a movie. Or anywhere sans baby for that matter.

14. Showers are a race against time...anything longer than 5 minutes is unacceptable. When baby isn't home, those longer, 16 minute showers feel like a trip to the spa.

15. Your schedule is now your child's schedule. Your life revolves around his/her naps, feedings, playtimes and bedtime.

16. New little vowel sounds warrant big cheers, hugs and celebration.

17. Life is not about you anymore, and it never will be again. :)

18. It's not easy being a mother. It's the hardest job in the world. If it were easy, fathers would do it. ;)