Sunday night

Here I am watching good old True Grit (and just passed the notorious line, "Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!"), procastinating studying for a test I have in the morning, looking at a disaster of a house (because on Sundays, I tend to think "its sunday---I can't work. Ha ha), and blogging. I'm obviously very productive. Sorry its been so long. Life is crazy! But school is almost finished (for a little while). I'll have my LPN the middle of December, and then hopefully life will settle down a bit. Chase is working in Idaho, and is gone 4-5 days a week. Sad. Jack and I miss him so much, but we're pluggin' along, doing ok.

Jack is 9 1/2 months now. He's the best thing that ever happened to us! Oh my heck--I just LOVE him! He's so fun. He's crawling all over the place, and will take an occasional step. He's seriously a littl terror. He NEVER settles down. Sometimes I wish he'd just sit on my lap calmly and look around. I don't remember a time that has ever happened. But he's cute and we like him a lot.

We got out family pictures taken the other day. Chase's friend Breanne did them, and she did a great job. In most of them, Jack is trying to eat rocks, leaves, sticks, and anything else he can find. It was such a challenge to get him to even LOOK at the camera.

Well, thats probably enough for today, but I will try to post a little more regularly now that I'm going to be having more time!

Updates

I have decided that I really don't like to blog, so don't be suprised if I don't update for another 3 months. But, just to keep things somewhat going, I'll update!

I've started school up again. I have to send Jack off to a babysitter every day, and it is SO hard. I hate it. It does make it a lot easier since my sister-in-law natalie is tending him.

Chase is working for Francis Trucking-just doing trucking jobs wherever he's needed. He usually works 12-15 hrs a day, almost everyday. Poor guy. He works hard, and I love him for it. So our little family is rarely together. Jack is growing up so fast. He'll be 7 months of Aug 27. I can't believe its been that long. He's so much fun!! I can't believe that anyone wouldn't want to have kids, they're just a blast. We love him a lot.

So that's pretty much us these days; we're kinda boring.

Mother's Day

Today was my first mother's day actually being a mother. Chase got me flowers (he admitted they were only ten dollars a wal-mart after a while) and wrote me a sweet note. He even did the dishes after dinner. He's so sweet and I love him so much. He's my very best friend! How did I get so lucky?

His sweet note!

The beautiful $10 roses from Wal Mart. They really are pretty though, aren't they?

It got me thinking how wonderful motherhood is, how important it is, what a blessing it is. How amazing is it to grow a child inside of you? Yup, Its incredible. To have it develop into a real, tiny, human body with a spirit, a personality! You can feel it move, kick, hiccup! Wow. (can i say that talking about this actually makes me miss being pregnant? Never thought I'd say that.) Yes, it is cool, but you're also sacrificing so much to have this baby. Your body (or shall I say MY body because mine seems to have turned out much worse than the average) takes a beating! Stretch marks, of course. You have all heard me complain about that. Getting fat and uncomfortable. And the PAIN! Childbirth is DEFINITELY as bad as they say it is. I went natural this time, but I don't know if I'll do it again. I've had the experience and it was great, but I think next time I'll give in to the sweet relief of an epidural! So, yes, it hurts, but then its all better, completely worth it, and so beautiful when you get to hold that new little life in your arms for the first time. I really can't put into words how incredible the feeling is to be a new mom. I love it. I really do. At first it was hard adjusting to the new mom mode, like sleepless nights, changing poopy bums, and breastfeeding (Which I ABSOLUTELY HATED for Jack's first two months of life. Everyone said nursing was just this great, natural, beautiful bonding experience. Who would've thought feeding your child would be so difficult-if the kid wants to eat, just put him up to your boob, and he'll eat, right? Hmm, little did I know. It is SO frustrating and takes loads and loads of patience and practice! But it gets better with practice.) Yes, there are times when I get fed up and frustrated. But lately I find myself almost looking forward to the times when I hear Jack's cry in the middle of the night. I get to see him and hold him. I guess i've missed him even though I've been asleep. I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life seeing this little baby grow up. Its already been the best thing of my life.
I hope that I will be as able to raise my son as my mother raised our family. She was ALWAYS so patient. She never raised her voice. She always told us how much we meant to her. She was absolutely selfless. She taught us to put the Lord first. She has the best sense of humor. There's nothing I would change about her. I hope I can be half the mother she was to us. Love ya mom!!

Aren't moms great?? I like them. A lot.

And now to appease those who keep leaving annoying little comments on my two month-old blog for more pictures, here are the latest of Little Friend:

Jack and Grandma Thompson

Chase, Mary, Jack, and Grandma Shirley

My little man

Motherhood really is amazing. It has brought out emotions in me that I've never quite experienced like this before: Love, worry, fear, joy, frustration, exhaustion, inadequacy, just to name a few. But its been great, and I love it. Jack is growing up so fast already. I can't believe he's almost six weeks old already.

I'm in love

Yep, it's official. I've never been in love like this before! Its so true that you can never really fully understand or appreciate the love your parents have for you until you have one of your own. Its amazing. Even though this new little guy wasn't planned and seemed to come at the wrong time in our lives, I wouldn't change it for anything.



Little Jack. Born on Jan 27 at 7:52 PM. 6 lbs, 11 oz.

We ADORE him!!!

The waiting game

So I went to the doctor a few weeks ago and she said something along the lines of, wow, you're already dilated to 3 and blah blah blah.... you'll go any day! And that was when I was 36 weeks. She got me all worked up that this baby would come any day. In fact, she even said, "schedule an appointment for next week just in case, but I doubt I'll see you in here." And here we are...38 weeks and still no baby. Every day I wake up and think, here we go-today's got to be the day! And it never is. So until it is "the day," we will play this awful little waiting game. And I don't like waiting.

The Joys of Pregnancy!

There are so many fun, interesting things that come along with pregnancy. Shall we discuss them?

-Waking up in the middle of the night, dripping wet with sweat, because "normal room temperature" just doesn't seem so normal anymore.
-Planning your day around food. Seriously, its ridiculous, but it has to be done. For every event I attend, I have to ask myself, "Will this last longer than 4 hours?" And if so, then bring a few granola bars. I can't wait to be able fast a whole 24 hours-just because I will be able to. Trust me, I love food, but I don't like this.
-The weight gain. My husband just about cried when I came home from the dr's office and told him that I almost weighed as much as he did! Yikes. Which goes right along with...
-Stretch marks. WOW! These are the ugliest things ever to be seen on the human body. Bright red/purplish firey lines from hell. Ahem... excuse me... I've been told I'm supposed to call them "love marks" and not talk negatively about them. Yeah, right. They're hideous. I don't think I'm normal (or maybe I've just gained an abnormal amount of weight) because I don't just have them on my belly. No no, they can be found everywhere! I guess I have yet to discover them on my face, neck, hands, and feet, but the way things have been going-I'm sure I'll find them before this thing is over. One day when I was complaining about how ugly the things were, my husband says (and I'm sure he said this to try to make me feel better about myself) "Well maybe if you'd exercise a little more you wouldn't have so many." Yup, feel better about myself already-thanks, Chase.
-Not being able to find a comfortable position to sleep in. This could possibly be the most frustrating. I toss and turn and say a few choice words in my head, wishing so badly I could lie comfortably on my stomach. This usually lasts for about an hour until I become so exhausted I manage to fall asleep. Nights are awful.
-Having people say to you, "Mary-you're finally starting to waddle!" What do you say to that- Uh, thanks??? What they're really saying is "you're getting really fat and big and you look really funny when you walk!" And I have had SO many people say that to me, people I don't really even know.
-Having complete strangers touch my belly. I was picking up Chinese food the other day, and a little Chinese worker came right up to me and said in her Chinese accent"Ohh.... I touch belly???" And without me responding, she malled it! She poked and massaged and even put her ear up to it! Hmm...interesting.
-Did I mention stretch marks?
- Having my schooling delayed. That's stressful.

But then it makes it all worth it...

-I see a baby story. I cry every time, no matter how ridiculous or annoying the people are in it. Its still so precious and tender and makes me so excited for my own experience.
-Every morning I wake up to two or three gentle little kicks. I guess its his own way of saying, "Good morning! Time to get up and feed me!" I smile every morning because of that. I love it.
-Sometimes he gets in these moods where he's a little feisty. I poke him, and it must make him mad because immediately he kicks back. And we'll play this game for 2 or 3 minutes until he gets bored with it.
-Just thinking about being a mom. I really can't wait until I get to meet my son. I love to wonder about who he'll look like, what his little personality will be like, what his talents will be. And just to think that he is truly a part of me! Its amazing.
-When you reach a certain number of weeks, the doctors has you "count kicks." There are supposed to be so many in a period of time. A few times I've thought, I haven't felt him kick for a while. So I've waited, and waited, and waited, and still no kick. So then I freak out. I realize that I never want to be without my little guy ever again. It breaks my heart to even think about. I'm glad I have him. Oh, and he always ends up kicking again, by the way.
-To think that the Lord has entrusted me to love, raise, and watch over one of his own children. What a huge responsibility, but one I can't wait for.