The New Math

So I am quickly realizing that anything I do now falls under new math. In my previous pre-baby life I could accomplish a million things in a day and work full time. Now living in my new life, post baby, I am living under the new math. Baby + any task = hours of work and not much accomplished/finished. Being a very task orientated person this brings me so much daily frustration. One would think after three plus months into mommy life I would realize it and give myself some grace. Not so much. Every time I give myself a to do list, I am surprised. Simple tasks are like now take forever to accomplish, bathroom cleaning 1 hour, laundry a full 2 day event, picking up the house NEVER ENDING! LA LA LA!!!!

In the midst of my frustration, I have become more organized with dinners and shopping. I have my dinners planned out for 3 weeks and shop for everything all at once. Of course, there are the additional grocery trips for perishables items (milk, fruit, etc). Doing dinner this way has saved my life, and my grocery bill. I can't imagine shopping every week, I don't know where I would find the time or effort to put into it. It has also greatly reduced my grocery bill every month. So far I am averaging less than $300. Not too shabby for a family of four. It's great also because we will live Sticks home with her sister and Dave and I have a fun date night at the Stater Bros. (OK I fully realize I am delusional and trying a mundane activity into a date. BUT, in my defense with a baby, a teenager and a pastor hubby, a girls gotta sneak in alone time with her man somehow right?)

Breaking the Queen of the 20 Minute Power Nap

So as you may remember Sticks is not the world's best napper. She gets exhausted and fights sleeping. Somehow she believes that during her nap we are all going to do something really cool and she will miss out. Lately, she was becoming the Queen of the 20 minute power nap, which drives me crazy. She will fall asleep and then 20 minutes or so later will wake up. Once she is awake she is fully engaged and utterly exhausted at the same time. This creates a downward spiral for the rest of the day as she increasing becomes more and more tired and grumpy. Then attempting to get her to sleep again at the next nap becomes an overly exhausted scream crying session with arm flaring and kicking. I have been trying to break this vicious cycle, for obvious reasons. The last few days she has actually taken great naps, including 3 hour nap session on back to back days. Woohoo! It's exciting times in the Land of Strobel. We need to keep this momentum going.

A Day with the Nephews

My brother and I really didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time with our cousins growing up. On my father's side of the family we were the youngest by 15-20 years. Most of my cousins were in their 20's and 30's by the time we came along. On my Mom's side everyone was a little geographically scattered so we kind of missed the opportunity there as well. All of this to say I am so thrilled that Sticks gets to grow up with cousins that are close in age to her, well on my side at least Daddy's side is a long story for another day. My brother and his wife welcomed their first son (aka #1) into the world in February of 2009 and their second son (aka #2) was only born in August of this year. Today their whole family came down and spent the day with us at our house. It was so fun to have all the kiddos together. Sticks is quite short compared to #2. It is so funny to see them next to each other. He is much longer than her already. This is further evidence that she is getting her height from me. Poor baby girl. #2 is also so much more mellow than Sticks. We placed them side right next to each other and Sticks was kicking her legs and moving her arms and talking #2 just kind of sat there and looked at her. It was almost like he was saying in his head get this crazy girl away from me. Poor #1, he is stuck with 2 little babies.

Double the fun!

Stick's playdate with her friend Cade. He is a few weeks younger than Sticks, but he is already longer than her. I think she will have my height. Here is to a lifetime of pants hemming.

Transformation

So becoming a Mom was something I always wanted to be. Ever since I was very young all I ever really wanted is to be a wife and mom. As I got older and my life became further away from being a Mom I found comfort in my career, ministry and friendships. I became very accustom to the life I had created and at times thought that being a Mom full time would be too hard, demanding, or something I would not like. I enjoyed my nice dinners at Flemings, my clean house and the ability to get up and go whenever I choose to. It's amazing to see myself transforming from the woman who seldom cried, struggled in my friendships with other women, needed my independence and alone time to my current state. I now cry at commercials and news stories about children. I love planning out dinner from my family and currently have three weeks of meals planned, date assigned and groceries purchased for. I also did some light gardening recently, baked a cake from scratch and find myself wishing I knew how to sew. YIKES! I am one step away from canning my own peaches and buying a farm. It has been an amazing journey thus far. I can't wait to see how the changes in me continue. All this to say I am blessed beyond belief with my new life as a Mommy to Sticks!