About My Disappearence...

So about my gross negligence with my blogging....

Things in my life have been a little crazy. When I say things, I mean everything. When I say a little crazy, I mean street rat crazy. I won't give you the lengthy play-by-play because, quite frankly, no one has that kind of time or would be bored enough to want to read it, and so I'll spare you.
It all started with a fussy baby...a really fussy baby. It was like my precious little guy had developed colic over night at four months old; he just cried all the time. He would wake up every two hours during the night to cry. There was so much crying going on that at some point I started to cry. My husband would come home from work and Nolan and I would just be sitting there crying. Or even more likely, walking and bouncing while listening to John Mayer and crying (my son seems to be a big fan of the singer-songwriters. Listening usually calms him right down). We thought he was teething so we administered Tylenol and frozen washcloths to suck on. When none of that helped, I took him to the doctor but they couldn't find anything wrong so they said, "he's just teething." The crying just went on and on and the bags under my eyes continued to get bigger and darker as the house got more and more cluttered and Laundry Mountain reached epic heights. I barely had the time or energy to brush my teeth let alone blog!
About two weeks later, Nolan and I returned to the doctor's office for his 4 month (growing so fast) well baby check-up with a laundry list of questions and a journal detailing our tear soaked last few weeks. I was already discouraged just knowing that I was going to be told my baby just likes to cry and that I could go to a support group for moms who what to pull their hair out. I was wrong. The wonderful and fabulous Dr. Tolby (who happened to be my pediatrician back in the day) took a quick glance at my journal that detailed diaper changes, crying bouts, and feedings, and said to me, "it appears that the crying has increased as Nolan gets more formula and less breast milk (I just dried up). Let's switch his formula and see what happens." So we did. And it worked. Of course this new super hypo-allergenic formula is ridiculously expensive but you can't put a price on sanity.
Things in our household are slowly getting back to normal. We once again have a happy, smiling baby who rarely ever cries, the house has been de-cluttered, and Laundry Mountain conquered. My evening free time will once again be filled with gym trips and workout DVDs instead of wine and Desperate Housewives reruns. Oh! And of course blogging.

Easter Weekend

My weekend started with me riding high on the immediate success of my new blog.  I was getting great feedback and was even trying to squeeze in activity so I would have writing content.  My high latest about 5 minutes.  Maybe it was the never ending torrential downpours and hurricane worthy wind gusts, or maybe it was that Nolan was stuffy, congested, and not feeling or sleeping well but all of my new found energy was no was nowhere to be found.  Instead I was surrounded by a clean laundry mountain that rivaled Mt. McKinley, a dirty laundry mountain that rivaled Mt. Everest, and tons of other endless, thankless chores that needed my attention.  The shower needed scrubbed, the little box cleaned, the fridge cleaned out and on and on and on.  Needless to say I was entirely overwhelmed and under motivated.  When I get this overwhelmed, a sense of hysteria tends to set in;  I develop what my husband likes to call "The Crazies" and I spend all my time freaking out about everything that needs done and end up doing nothing. 

I really didn't want this to happen so I made a choice.  I really needed to deal with the state of affairs at home even if that meant forgoing exercise.  So Saturday was spent putting the house back together, going to the grocery store, and prepping food for Easter.  I ran around frantically folding this and disinfecting that, so frantically that I am almost positive it counted as exercise.  Okay maybe not but a girl can dream.  At the end of the day I could see a major dent in the madness that was my house but after all I did it was just that...a dent.  I tried to convince myself that it wasn't the end of the world; however, I needed extra convincing so I had a little conversation with Jack Daniels.  Mr. Daniels reassured me that my evening would be better spent cuddling with my husband and son and that the madness would still be there tomorrow.  Of course he was right so I resigned to the couch with my guys and my cocktail.

Sure enough when I awoke Sunday morning the laundry and clutter was still there.  The Easter bunny didn't do me any favors.  In fact, when I began my day puttering around my house while drinking my morning coffee, I found new mess.  The cat left me a present, three presents actually.  She threw up.  Twice on the carpet and once on the linoleum.  Maleficent (the cat) must have felt I needed more on my plate that day and as hard as I tried to keep them at bay, I was attacked by "The Crazies".  The rest of the morning was a whirlwind of hysteria, anger, and depression as I rushed to get my husband,  Nolan, and myself ready to go to my aunt and uncle's for Easter dinner.  I loaded the car up with lasagna Bolognese, beer, a Bumbo, a Boppy, a Baby Einstein playmat, and a baby and away we went.  I was just starting to calm down as we drove to our destination knowing that my dad would "babysit" Nolan while I sipped a lovely glass of Syrah and visited with grown-ups.  My dad, who had been out of town the whole week prior, was eagerly waiting outside for his grandson as we pulled into the driveway.  I stepped out of the car ready to hug my dad and then load his arms up with our carfull of crap when I was interrupted by a very strong breeze.  I had my very own Marilyn Monroe moment; however, not nearly as sexy.  My dress flew up towards my head and my ass, clad in a thong, was hanging out for all to see.  Including my dad.

Thankfully the remainder of the day was much more enjoyable then all the weekend events leading up to it; it was filled with delicious food, good wine, great family and a lot of laughter.  I love how even after a weekend plagued with "The Crazies" a few hours with my amazing family can turn it all around.

*These pictures are not from Easter.  I'm just trying to give you an idea of how fun my family is.*

GGG

Before pregnancy, I rode mountain bikes with some awesome ladies.  We called ourselves the GGG, Growlers Gulch Girls.  I have to say, I am so lucky to be able to ride with these gals because they are bad ass and I learn a lot from them.  Even though most (ok, lets be honest, more like all) of these gals are worlds above me in talent, any one of them would take the time to help me learn how to over a huge log, ride with me at my pace, or work with me on climbing a gnarly hill.

Two ladies of the GGG and I all had babies within about 6 months of each other. (Notice the picture to the right.  Nolan - 3 months, Riley - 9 months, and Leon - 4 months).  We all still ride mountain bikes but these days we spend less time on our bikes and more time pushing strollers.  And when I say we I mostly mean they.  Yesterday I got together with Riley's and Leon's mommies, Sara and Ksenia, and we went for a stroll...in the pouring rain.  Normally I would not be caught dead in the pouring rain.  Yes, I am afraid that I might melt.  However, not these ladies.  They are tough; they are hard core.

At the beginning of our walk the sun was shining and there was only a light breeze.  About 10 minutes into our walk that light breeze became strong gusts and the sun disappeared behind monster rain clouds and it began to pour.  We turned ourselves around and headed back to the house...for rain jackets and gloves.  I would have been happy to give up the walk for a warm house and a cup of coffee but it was not to be so.  In fact I don't think the thought of not walking ever even occurred to Sara or Ksenia.  I didn't want to seem like I couldn't hang with the hard cores so I kept my mouth shut, put on my rain coat and a borrowed pair of gloves and off we went.  We walked in the downpour for a solid two hours.  Surprisingly the time flew and I barely noticed the rain thanks to the steady flow of conversation.  I don't think there is anything I couldn't talk about to these amazing gals.  We swapped mommy hood stories and shared things like the fact that sometimes we don't get around to brushing our teeth until noon or scrub our showers as often as we should because we can't have the baby in the bathroom with the chemical smells and when the baby naps sometimes we want to as well. 

It was very reassuring to learn that I am not the only one that struggles.  It is just part of the day to day.  These struggles help us become better moms, better wifes, and better friends.  Even though I was soaking wet on my drive home from our walk, I didn't feel cold and wet.  On contrary I felt quite warm and fuzzy.  I am learning, albeit very slowly, that I can do anything...rain or shine.

Where it all began...

It's amazing how in the moment I met Nolan I knew that there was no one in the entire world I could ever love more even though I knew nothing about him...

In the last three months since this picture was taken I have made some feeble attempts at exercise. A handful of trips to the gym and a few spins out at Growlers on my mountain bike but nothing regular or consistent. That must change starting today. My wonderful hubby is taking over the baby duties tonight so I can go shake my groove thing at Zumba. I have never done Zumba before and I am very out of shape so it should be interesting. Of course I will let you know how it goes.