Momma Monday no. 21

Monday was a nice busy day. It was the Monday after Christmas- so, naturally, I had to go to the bank, longest line ever. Luckily Sonja slept through it. I try to start running errands right as she falls asleep. She hates riding in the carseat, she always cries until she falls asleep. I mean, who can blame her though, she's all alone in the back seat, strapped into some foreign contraption and she has no say in where she's going. I'd cry too. Anyway, the running errand thing while she's asleep works well if you have a fussy car rider I'd recommended this technique to you. After the bank, and a Starbucks (I had a gift card), I had to exchange some items, so my mom joined us and we ran some errands. SLC loves her grandma and laughs at her all the time. It's super cute, she has been so much more giggly and also "talking" a lot. It seems like she's telling you sometime, she has all sorts of facial expressions and she pauses to let you say something and then keeps talking. I absolutely love it. Overall, it was a productive day and we came home to some take out from California Pizza Kitchen (love my Thai Chicken(less) Pizza with avocado), thanks to some more gift cards.

Tuesday. oh what can I say about Tuesday? It sucked. really really fucking sucked. I had a migraine, which I'm assuming was caused by the Starbucks I got the day before. The last three times I've gotten coffee from there with organic soymilk I have gotten a headache. I thought I'd try it once more sine the first time it was a fully caffeinated beverage, and the second time it was a decaf beverage (maybe triggering a withdraw effect), but this time I ordered 1/2 caf. and it ruined my day. So, I've dreadfully decided, that in order to be a well functioning mother; I must cut out all caffeine. I can't take the chance of getting another migraine because I skipped a coffee one day, or because it was too strong another. I LOVE my coffee but I'm taking a 3 month fast from it. Wish me luck- I'm going to need it. Thankfully, my older sister was still in town on Tuesday and planned on coming over that afternoon. Her husband and sons hung out and watched Sonja for about an hour while I rested. I still had the headache until about 7pm but it did help to get some extra rest. If you've ever had a migraine you know that EVERYTHING sucks- it's too bright, it's too loud, and imagine rocking a fussy baby while feeling like you need to puke. Husband, thankfully, made dinner and by bedtime I felt good enough to finish our instant view: Seven Years in Tibet, which I hadn't seen before. Sonja was calm and well behaved throughout the movie, she's such a sweet, happy baby.

Wednesday, lil' Cupcake and I were pleasantly surprised with some wonderful winter weather- in the desert that means RAIN! I loved every moment of the rainy day, except the fact I'm wasn't enjoying it with a nice hot vanilla latte in my hand. We went grocery shopping and I spent a whopping $96 on 2 meals and some snacks and such. yikes! Thanks to the holiday season, my grocery budget has been cushioned with family gatherings leftovers. Normally, I'd have to make $130 stretch for an entire week for 3-4 adults. Maybe, I should do a D.I.Y. Budget post on how to be an almost full time stay at home mom while still only eating mostly organic and always well cooked food. Yeah, I'll get to that eventually...

Thursday, I slept a lot. Husband got home surprisingly early from work since Friday was a holiday. Not too much else exciting just one of those normal days.

Friday, New Year's Eve. The last of the holidays, we stopped by my parents house to see my sister and other family before everyone went back home. My dad made steak- which I of course did not eat. There were some other side dishes but none that I really enjoyed... Husband did help himself to some steak though and we both had a drink. It's nice that our families are so close and that when the holidays are amongst us that we have a huge support system. My mom, dad and sister held Little Miss practically the whole time we were there- a nice break for my achy back. After we left we came home to a quiet house to watch some movies. I tried trimming her nails during the movie while she was nursing (distracted) but the lighting was awful and I ended up accidently pinching her tiny finger in the clippers. WORST MOTHER EVER. I cried for a good 5 minutes with her. She got over it quickly, but I have yet to forgive myself. As far as New Years goes, I'm saddened to say that we did not make it to midnight, not even close. I was asleep at about 10:30pm with Sonja Cake in my arms and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Saturday, New Years Day. We woke up around 8am to go to the REI yardsale at our local REI. Husband was looking for some pants, socks and a few other backpacking goods, I asked him to look for some warm baby clothes and maybe some yoga clothes for me. He found none of the above. We got there early and were in the front of the line but somehow everything was already nabbed up by the time he got to the merch. After our morning errands Sonja fell asleep in the car ride home, which is a nice alternative to the crying fussy baby we usually have during car rides. She didn't sleep for long though, we got her home and laid her down and she woke up right away... The rest of the day consisted of me catching up on blogging, movie and Husband practicing Russian. My mother in laws birthday dinner was in the evening at Macaroni Grill.

My Eggplant Parmigiana

Lemondrop Martini - nice to be able to drink again ;)

and my little drawing for Sonja Cake

Sonja's first drawing, too bad it's blurry, I stuck a crayon in her hand and she scribbled these two lines.

Grandpa and his first granddaughter.

On Sunday we attempted to find a new sheet set for our bedroom, we are interested in re-doing the room after only a few short months... opps. The paint color I chose to match our sheets is just not us. We're going to do a brown and red color scheme although it will be more specific to dark chocolate and a burgundy type red. Unfortunately, the only thing we found was at Target and just when we were about to leave I tried to exchange something a very expensive something. Only for them to tell me "no", because I didn't have a receipt, IT WAS A GIFT! and I just wanted to exchange it for something that we would actually use. Anyway, they pissed me off- not surprised though; big companies are so elitist now they won't even take back their own shitty merchandise- not that the gift was shitty but still. After getting thoroughly frustrated, we set everything we were going to buy on the floor and walked out. So, I'm still on the hunt for amazing sheets and when I find them you'll all be the first to know. Sonja was a trooper through the whole event only fussing a few times when she was hungry (then calmed after eating). She's such a big baby now. I can't believe she's over 3 months old. While shopping for groceries a woman asked us how old and started talking to us. She asked if I was breastfeeding, which I replied, "yes". She was like, "Oh that's so great for her, wonderful." I love when motherly women tell me I'm doing a good job feeding her instead of hearing, "Oh you'll spoil her". I've had really great reactions to breastfeeding even in public. Such a relief, after hearing all the horror stories of judgmental people towards feeding mothers, not that that would have stopped me, but I'll take positivity over negativity any day.

Speaking of which, Happy Momma Monday!