Baby Bobble Head...

So every year as soon as Christmas is over my family packs up the car and heads out for a week long trip to the beautiful Boyne Highlands. It's a beautiful location and a great place for us to ski and spend a week of quality time. Well now that I have a full time job getting there isn't always the easiest thing. There are somethings that you just have to do, and work is one of them. Baby Bean has been up north with my parents all week, and I will be heading up tomorrow. I just have to share the most adorable story about my daughter. We are going to be teaching her to ski this year so naturally she needed to get decked out in all of the proper gear. Grammie and Papa wanted to get her a ski helmet, once they had purchased that for her she informed them that she needed goggles. So of course Papa had to get her a matching pair... such a little diva...

Overtime Overload

So in the true Christmas spirit, I feel the need to buy way to many things for baby bean that she doesn't need.

Which it turn means that I think I'm made of money. For those who want to know...I'm not made of money. So this leads me to my favorite topic. Overtime.

Yes I know as I have so been informed this week and that I should just be lucky that there is the option for me to work said overtime. I know that it is, and I know once I get that paycheck I'm going to be very happy that I have it, but until that point I just want to scream. For those of you who don't know I usually work a 7 hour and 45 minute work day. Which is pretty standard, and yet I sometimes still feel like my work is consuming me. Well this week I have been working 12 hour day's to grab that extra OT. 12 hours of sitting at my desk is making for a very cranky me. I'm sure that Gary is less then please when I come home and all I want to do is nothing, but I do still find the time to make sure that dinner is done and that Baby Bean gets some Mommy time.

I am thinking that I will try and pull come OT next week too, so watch out world. I'm not sure if society can handle that. Lets be honest at least I'm not on the phone this week... otherwise those customer's could be in for BIG trouble. No really though, I know that in the end I'm going to be glad that I'm here, but today I just wish I was home on my couch.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hoping that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We were fortunate enough to have out of state family come and stay with us for the holiday. Our daughter was so very excited to see her Aunt Kristi and Uncle Jonnie! We were very glad to have them here. We were able to enjoy their company and catch up with a nice relaxing weekend.

Now we are getting ready to start the Christmas season, we are starting by putting up our christmas tree with our daughter today. She looks too stinking cute in her Christmas outfit that she had to put on, she kept asking for her Christmas tutu!

Now we have to takle Christmas shopping which scares me every year, at this point I think the only thing we know that we are going to be getting is this from http://www.uncommongoods.com/:

 for my Brother. He loves to pay guitar is always losing his picks. He cuts his own currently but he uses an Exacto knife, this method will be a lot easier for him, and I love that we found something unique for him. Now I just have takle the rest of our shopping list and hope for the best!

HELP!!

I'm usually on here trying to pass out advice to help others, but today I come to all of you looking for advice.  My lovely 2 year old Baby Bean won't stay in her toddler bed. I am fresh out of idea's and honestly it is wearing my husband and I out. I have tried laying with her until she falls asleep, I have tried just putting her back in her bed every time that she gets up, I have tried to let her watch a movie, listen to music, or read. Nothing helps, she just won't stay in there! She ends up sleeping with us by at least 2 am everyday and we aren't getting any sleep. As much as I do love my child, I also very much so love my sleep.

PLEASE someone tell me that they have a solution to this great problem that I am having.

SNOW!

My Daughter is increasingly excited about the snow that is now falling in Michigan. She doesn't quite understand the concept that it's cold now, but she does like the snow. She asked last night if we could build a snowman. I explained that there isn't quite enough snow there for us to be doing that yet! This winter we are going to fill spray bottles with water and food coloring though and decorate the snow at our house. Baby Bean is very into coloring and painting currently and I think that this would be a great way to incorporate the things that she already loves and some quality outdoor family time. As a working mother I try to do all that I can with my child when I have the time. This is a project that is quick and fun! With a two year old I have to stick to something that she can do and that won't cause a lot of clean up after the fact. This is going to be a blast to do with her this year and I will have to get some photo's up once we actually get enough snow to try it out!

One Moment Can Melt My Heart

So after all of the craziness of our wedding weekend and our honeymoon, I'm finally back! We had some issues getting home from our AMAZING honeymoon in the Dominican Republic because of the snow in New Jersey, and I was starting to get a little distraught as I just wanted to get home to Baby Bean!

Monday night we finally got home just in enough time to take Baby Bean trick-or-treating. I'm sure glad that I was able to get home for this. My Husband was able to be with her for the first time on Halloween, so this was a special day! When we first walked in the door she was so excited to see Mommy and Daddy, but the novelty quickly wore off as more and more trick-or-treaters came to the door. She was greeting the children by their costumes. Kid dressed as Thomas the train comes to the door, she states "Hi Thomas!!" Like she has been waiting her whole life to meet him. She was way to cute for her own good. She was Minnie Mouse for Halloween and loved it. I will have to add a photo when I get them on here.

Watching her that night made me realize how important these little moments are to me. As a working mother I feel like sometimes I am just running in and out of her life. I know that on the weekends I get to spend time with her, but sometimes that is not enough for either of us. I love these moments when she is on a pure high from life, when she is discovering something for the first time. I love to just stand there and take it all in, watch her learn something new. To fully appreciate all of those moments, those are the moments that help me get through the days that I feel like a bad mom for not being with her every day. There is nothing wrong with being a working mother, I know a lot of people who do it, I do it, but there are day's that I feel like she needs more mommy time.

She has an amazing personality and a she is the smartest little thing, and I count my blessings everyday that she is so lucky to have the babysitter that she has who is teaching her so very much, and that she has my parents close and my Husband's parents close. Those people can help me to raise who into the person that I want her to be. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and until now I never truly realized how true that statement is. I don't know what I would do without those people in my life.

I'm Beautiful!!

In today's world there are so many things working against young girls. There are body image issues, there is peer pressure, there are celebrities that are younger and younger every year acting like they are YEARS older than they really are. Having a two year old girl these are the things that I think about. I think about the things that will be ailing my daughter 12-13 years from now.

I have dealt with year's of depression and self image issues. I honestly didn't ever thing that I would get through those issues. It just seemed like no matter how many people I talked to, how many medications I was prescribed, that it was NEVER going to get better. Then one day I found out I was pregnant... after only knowing my boyfriend for two months... let the panic set in. I did not know it at the time, but this turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. This little girl has given me a reason to live, and she has turned me around. She also scares the crap out of me. I do not ever want my daughter, or my other children I might have down the road to have to deal with these issues.

I tell my daughter everyday that she is beautiful, I want her to know that no matter what she might think or when she gets older what people might tell her that she is beautiful. Last night on the way home I was telling her that she was perfect, and she responded with something that reminded me of just how pure her innocence is. 

Mom: "Baby Bean you are perfect!"

Baby Bean: "No I'm not"

Mom: "Yes you are, at least mommy thinks you are"

Baby Bean: "No I'm not, I'm Beautiful!"


See, I knew that this was going to work out in my favor someday, it's the little things like that that make me love her for who she is.

As a parent I just need to keep doing anything I can to remind her that she is perfect and she is beautiful, someday she will look at these things and be glad that I did them, my mom did those things for me and I am sure glad that she did.