Cabin Fever

Time goes by so fast. Lucy-Lu is already over a month old, and I still feel like I'm learning something new about her every day! But, things are getting easier....somewhat.....

Isn't she just the cutest thing?

The other day, I just broke down. I just started feeling like I never left the apartment any more except to go to church or to a parent's house. I was getting depressed 'cause I felt like I didn't have anyone to hang out with (which I know is partically my fault as I don't reach out, but who said depression had to make sense?). I was also starting to get stressed from taking care of Lucy. We're having a somewhat hard time right now as we're trying to get her on a "stay awake during the day, sleep at night" schedule, and that's hard to do with a month old. So, I think Thursday/Friday I stayed up for 23 hour straight, which as soon as Dylan came home from work, I passed the baby off to him and went straight to bed.

The next day wasn't much better. I started the day by snapping at Dylan, which made him get upset, but I tried to explain why I was so short. I think I must have somehow communicated my frustration with him, 'cause he took Lucy over to his mom's house for the day. I sat at home and moped around, and took a 4 hour nap. Dyl came back home at 11 and Lu was sleeping, but I was still grumpy. So, at 2 am, I went down to the grocery store and bought some Chinese.

Unless you're a stay-at-home mom or feeling the effects of cabin fever, you have no idea how just going to the grocery store can feel. (To help alleviate the depression, I bought myself an Oreo cookie cake....)

Honestly, that actually made me feel tons better.

Now, why do I make a post complaining about this? Is it to gain sympathy from you, my loyal readers? No, it's not. I'm not grasping for attention or crying for help or anything like that. I'm simply sharing my experience with you. This blog is about me adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom and a housewife, so I thought I should share the bad along with the good. My life isn't perfect (far from it!) so if you ever feel stressed or just want to get away, trust me, I know how you feel.

That's pretty much all I have to say in this here post. There's a new recipe that I'm probably going to try this week or weekend (Crockpot BBQ Pulled Pork made with Root Beer) so I may have a post up about that.

Oh, completely off topic, I did make a Beef and Irish Stout Stew, but it turned out horribly. I burned it not once, but twice (I blame having to take care of Lucy and not watching it closely enough) so that might have been part of it. I don't think I'm going to write a full blog about it since I don't really have any positive things to say about it at all. Here's a link to the recipe if you would like to try it yourself (only thing I added was some red potatoes).

Baby is A'Coming....

Well, not right now. I highly doubt that if I were in active labor, I would stop to make a blog post. A post on Facebook, yes, but not a full-length blog.

But she is coming soon (I hope!). Today I am 37 weeks. For those of you who aren't familiar with pregnacy (as I was before I got pregnant) there are, usually, 40 weeks in a pregnancy, so I only have 3 weeks left until my due date. Now, as any woman who has had children before can tell you, due dates are very rarely exact, but I'm to the point where I'm hoping it'll be sooner rather than later.

As we come closer to the big event, several things are running through my mind. First, I'm entering the whole "freak out" stage where it's finally becoming reality that I'm going to be a mom. I'm not worried that Dyl and I will be horrible parents, it's just that this is a huge life-changing experience. After this, there is no going back to the way things use to be. It's kind of intimidating, to be perfectly honest.

Secondly, I'm starting to worry/think about the whole labor process a bit more logically/seriously/thoughtfully. Growing up here in America and watching all the films, you would think that you have two choices of giving birth: 1) You make it to the hospital and you're attached to IVs and monitors and you're lying on your back screaming bloody murder as the father of the baby passes out next to you or 2) You don't make it to the hospital and thus you have to give birth at home or in the car. Sometimes an elevator.

Uh...yeah...those both sound...uh....lovely. Thankfully, I took birthing classes at my hospital and I also watched a great documentary about birthing (The Business of Being Born) so I feel much more educated about what I want to happen during my labor. Now, obviously things can go waaaay different than I have planned, and I'm okay with that. In the end, it's all about what's best for Lucy. And me, too, I guess.

You know in all the movies and TV shows where they show the Lamaze class doing those silly breathing exercises? Yeah, they really make you do that. We didn't have to do it in class, but I'm suppose to practice breathing at home. I know it's going to come in handy and all, but I can't help but feeling a bit....well....silly.

Now, I know some of you are dying to know how Lucy's doing. She's doing pretty good. She's head down, so she's all ready to go. Her heartbeat's been good and she is moving a whole lot, mainly sticking her feet in my ribs. I have also found out she likes her space. Dylan had his head on my belly trying to see if he could hear her heartbeat and she kept kicking his face. That's my girl! She also kicked Nana (my mother-in-law) and the doctor when they were trying to listen to her heartbeat. And my mom finally felt her kick, so I have a feeling she's going to be a spirited, hard-headed little girl, like her mother.

Random note: Tomorrow is my last day at work. It's very bittersweet....

Well, this may be my last post before I give birth, but don't worry, I'll be sure to update ya'll once she gets here and all that jazz.

My question of this post is...If you've had children, what products couldn't you live without and which ones you could?

Southwest Chicken Wrap and Baby Update

Okay, so this "recipe" is really quick and easy to make. Sorry that I don't have exact measurements for some of the ingredients, but they are really up to taste. (You'll see what I mean when I get there) So first, the recipe, then, the gabbing. :)

Ingredients

• 1 can of canned chicken breast
• 1 can of corn
• 1 can of black beans, no sodium added
• Taco seasoning
• Fresh cilantro, finally chopped

Directions
Put everything in a bowl and mix together, adding taco seasoning and cilantro to taste.

My Take
Well, that was easy, wasn't it? And it's pretty healthy as well. If you're worried about adding too much taco seasoning, just start with a little bit at a time, mixing well and then doing a taste test. I personally like quite a bit of the flavor, so I add a good bit. As for the cilantro, I would err on the side of too little rather than too much. Cilantro, in my opinion, has a very strong taste, so you probably don't want to add too much, unless you really love the flavor it brings.

The best way to eat this, again, in my opinion, is to heat up the mixture and then serve it in a flour tortilla with sour cream on top. My mom, on the other hand, eats it cold. Either way works since the canned chicken is already cooked. You can probably come up with other toppings that would be delicious with it. Tell me about them!


Baby Lucy!
Today marks my halfway point in my pregnancy. It's crazy thinking that I'm already this far along. At this point, I'm getting really anxious about becoming a mother. I know that before I found out I was pregnant I was really wanting a child, but now I'm terrified that I don't have what it takes. Probably most first time mothers go through this stage of anxiety, but I dunno....sometimes you feel like you're the only one going through something. Selfishness, I guess.

She's been moving around a lot recently, more so tonight. Guess that's another thing I have to get use to. It's only going to get worse as she grows. lol

But, with all this anxiety, there also comes a sense of happiness and joy. Yes, it's coming from the fact that in about 20 weeks I'm going to have a baby girl, but it's also coming from the fact that I'm hoping to be a (mostly) stay-at-home mom. Because of finances and the like, I'll have to work some, but I'm hoping it'll only be 15 hours a week (3 hours a day, Mon-Fri). That's what my job is technically suppose to be, but I get more hours since I work out on the sales floor as well. This has me really excited 'cause my whole career aspiration right now is to be like Mrs. Beaver from Leave it to Beaver. I dunno, I've just always had this fantasy with me staying at home and raising the kids and cooking things from scratch. *sighs* How great would that be. What would make it even more amazing is if the house would just clean itself. lol.

Well, I'm going to call it a night, on the blogging front anyways. I think my next post is going to be showing my geekiness and be about video games. Let's see how many people I can scare away from my blog, shall we? lol.

Starting Over

Yes, I'm starting another blog, but this one will be easier to upkeep, I think, because I'm rolling all my blogs into one. That's right; I'm combining Cafe Strawn and Shiloh's Stitches into one blog that will also contain little snippets of my life in general. Sound exciting? I'm sure it does. But don't worry! I'm going to keep the other blogs online so you can go back and look at the recipes/older posts. I thought about putting them all here, but that was too much work, so eh. They'll just be on a separate website is all. :)

This first post is more of an intro post and just kinda catching everyone up on stuffs. First of all, if you haven't heard the news (There's people that still don't know?! *gasp*) Dylan and I are expecting our first child. I'm currently 19 weeks along (almost half there!) and we're having a baby girl. Lucy Joanna is due February 9, 2012. This was unplanned (by us, not by God) but we're happy and excited. Of course this means in the near future we'll have to move, but ah well. Just means going through and getting rid of more stuff.

With this whole development, my goal is to become a more domestic housewife. Sure I'm working close to full-time hours now at the bookstore, but after Lucy is born, I would love to only work there the hours my position is suppose to work (15 hours a week) and be a mostly-stay-at-home-mom. Honestly, that's what I really wanna be when I grow up; a full-time housewife/mother. In that endeavor I'm trying to keep the apartment more clean, cook more meals from scratch (or scratch-ish, depending on how I'm feeling) and just being like Mrs. Beaver from the old TV show Leave it to Beaver.

I think this is going to be bumpy road as I'm totally not a neat freak, but maybe having a kid will help that? One can only hope....

So you, my lovely readers, will get to read all about the great adventures we're having here in our household. I'll post any advice that I come across as well as recipes, book/movie/video game reviews, and just other random snippets of stuff that I enjoy. (Trust me, things can and probably will get a little weird at times.)

Well, I think that's long enough for a first post in a new blog. Hope you guys will enjoy this and please, feel free to comment. I love reading comments. :)