Admitting You Have a Problem...

My name is Nicki, and I have a problem.  I am addicted to bargain shopping.  I can't help it.  Places like Marshall's, Tuesday Morning, T.J. Maxx and Home Goods just call my name!  So when it comes to my child, who will wear clothing for 6 months at a time now and grow out of it, I cannot resist a good deal. 

Enter the Rhea Lana's Fall consignment sale...

This is the parking lot when I left, meaning it was even more full when I arrived.  That tiny building at the end of the cars, with the pink banner, is the building with the sale taking place.  And also the site of grown women using their strollers to knock other grown women aside.  Elbows are used freely and husbands see a side of their wives they can never un-see.

This is the line after I had been standing in it for 10-15 minutes.  There were even workers handing out bottles of water.  I chugged a cold bottle of water like I had just completed a marathon, while standing in this line.  I may or may not have told my husband this was "my Olympics".















But it's all worth it to get Baby Gap, Gymboree, Nike, Polo and Children's Place brand clothing for $3, $4 and $5 a piece. 





                                           
                                        
Plus, I get to shop for my niece, Tinsley, and it's pretty much guilt-free!



I did lose my car keys somehow during the whole process, so I have to wonder what that means...  I got all the way back to my car and couldn't find them anywhere in my bag.  I NEVER lose anything.  I had to walk ALL.THE.WAY.BACK to the front door of the building, hauling my laundry basket full of freshly scored loot, and ask the nice security guard if anyone had turned in a set of car keys.  I had asked Jesus every step of the way to please let them be there and sure enough, some nice woman was able to think outside of her manic, bargain hunting brain long enough to pick up my keys from the ground and turn them in!

So there you have it...that's how I spent my Monday evening.  Tonight, Jarrod and I have Community Group where I will confess my addiction with a big fat smile :)

Goodbye, weekend. Hello, Monday!

This weekend was a good weekend.  Equal parts productivity and laziness!

Saturday morning, Jarrod was up early to go work @ a local pharmacy and thankfully he left me and Collin sleeping.  Collin and I eventually got up... (I'm not going to say what time it was b/c there will be judging.  Either from people whose children wake them up at 6:00am on the weekends or from people who will think I'm lazy!)  We were silly and ate breakfast while watching the Olympics.  Collin is so cute when there is a really heated race on TV.  He can tell from all the people cheering, and he'll run right up to the TV and yell, "Go!  Go!"  He even pumps his fist in the air.  He also likes to clap when there are people clapping on TV, but it's usually a minute or two after the fact!

His new obsession is with "ohhnches", that's ORANGES to you and me.  A friend introduced him to Cuties / Clementines a couple of weeks ago and now we have to keep a steady supply of them in our house.  So Saturday morning he dribbled orange juice all over his little self, and I kept thinking, "I'll take that t-shirt off him when he goes down for a nap and put stain-stick on it".  Well, that thought lasted until he busted his mouth on the coffee table from too much jumping up and down and general silliness and blood started dribbling onto the shirt.  It was just a cheap white t-shirt and I didn't have the desire to save it (even though I am very adept at removing stains!), so that shirt went to the garbage.

Speaking of shirts, the Fall Rhea Lana's consignment sale is this week.  I have become obsessed with these consignment sales.  I cannot give up an opportunity to find a bargain!!  Here's what's crazy, I was formulating my game-plan for shopping this sale, and I realized I don't need very much for Collin this time around.  Before, I've made it my plan to head straight for the shoes b/c he was about to grow out of his, but thanks to his Nonne, we are in good shape for shoes.  Or I might have thought to hunt for jackets/coats first, but we have a couple already that he should be able to wear this Fall.  So it looks like I'm going to be doing some very general shopping and it freaks me out a little b/c the pre-sale event is tonight and it is BRUTAL.  Without a game-plan / mission, I'm afraid I'm going to get trampled instead of being the one doing the trampling!  I told Jarrod this morning that I was having heart palpitations thinking about this evening.  Hopefully I'll survive to report on my experience!

Alright, so in true "If it's not one thing, it's your mother" fashion, this morning as I was getting Collin ready to leave for day-care he was yammering on about how he needed a "nack".  Turns out, there was an empty fruit snack package lying on the floorboard of the car and he could see it from his car-seat.  (I will not admit this to my husband, but I regret the day I found Mott's for Tots Fruit Snacks!)  I gave him the package and explained that it was empty, but he didn't care.  I quickly rushed back inside the house to grab a box of raisins and a fruit sauce pouch - neither of which he wanted!  As I'm hurrying back and forth with the car running, I start to realize I can hear a kitten meowing.  I went to investigate further and sure enough, behind the car is a kitten who is quickly searching me out and loudly meowing at me.  I had to run inside again and get Jarrod to come watch the thing so I could back out safely and get Collin to daycare. 

The whole ride was filled with him telling me how he needed a "nack".  I threw a box of raisins to him at one point but he didn't want to eat them.  Thankfully, he reset once he realized we were at "schoo".

When I got back home, my too-sweet-for-his-own-good husband was sitting on the step with a cup of milk, some dog food and the kitten. 

I am extremely allergic to cats.  I wish I wasn't, but I am.  Plus, we just can't add one more thing to our plate right now.  So imagine how hard I had to bite my tongue when an hour or two into my workday I ventured into the kitchen for some coffee and Jarrod says to me, "He's still sitting right there on the step." 

Ha!  I said, "Of course he is, he thinks he lives here now."

Kitten, anyone?



Turn your head side-ways; I can't figure out how to rotate this dang picture!



Date Night with Mommy

Oh, Mylanta.  It has been a week!

Praise the Lord, Jarrod got a job this week and started yesterday.  The hours are insane, but it's a good job so we'll take it!  He worked from 2:00pm-10:00pm yesterday and came home full of energy.  You know how it is with a new job; the first week or two everything is new and exciting!

I decided since it was just going to be Collin and me that I didn't want to cook last night, so my boy and I went on a date to Chick-Fil-A and then Wal-Mart.  Collin loves him some chicken.  He says, "gicken".  He thinks all meat is "gicken", except for hot-dogs, which of course are "ga-ga's".  We ate our chicken and Collin played in the booth.  He kept banging his fork on the window even though I told him it was "Eewie", and he kept hanging over the back of the booth flirting with the old couple behind me.  I guess I was "that" lady last night.  You know, the one whose child is all over the place and annoys other people who are just trying to have a peaceful dinner out.  Well, it's a good thing Collin Henry is so dang cute and sweet b/c everyone just ate him up.

He was hitting my phone with his fork here and saying, "Mommy!"

 

Cheese!

After Chick-Fil-A we headed to the place every mother quickly learns to dread...Wal-Mart.  I cannot go to the store with Collin unless my purse is loaded with "nacks".  I had a box of raisins and his juice cup, but I figured since we had just eaten dinner, he should be fine.  I was wrong.  We had to find some fruit snacks fast because people were starting to stare at me and the child yelling, "Nnnnooooo" when I tried to hand him a box of raisins.  I ended up checking out with 2 empty fruit snack packages.

I also made the mistake of pushing our cart by the toy section.  Note to self: We have reached the age where sneaking by that area will no longer work.  As we were approaching the area, Collin said to me, "Ode ju", which is what he says now when he wants to be held / carried.  I thought he would let me carry him and we could keep walking, but that sneaky little kid knew what he was doing.  As soon as we were AT the toy area, he said to me, "I walk".  I figured since we WERE on a date, I would let him mess with the toys for a minute.  Obviously another mistake.  How do little kids know automatically where to push the buttons to make toys light up and emit obnoxious sounds?!  Collin is especially into trucks, cars and "bikes" (aka motorcycles) right now, so we spent our entire time pushing buttons on police cars and fire trucks.  Every time he got one to go off, he would make this really adorable *SURPRISE* face and gasp!  I actually found myself repeating the cliche mom-phrase, "Maybe for your birthday".  (His birthday is in September.) 

Somehow, I got the kid back into the cart and wheeled him over to the food section.  I'm sure I was stuffing him with fruit snacks to quit screaming.  We got the things we needed and headed outside to see insane storm clouds forming.  Luckily, that was enough to distract him from the trauma of being ripped from the toy section.

We made it home, said "Hi" to "Doo-doo", aka Landry and got a bath.  Then we got ready for bed and rocked in his room for a little while.  He is in this phase where only Mommy can put him to bed.  I have to hold him like a baby and pray, sing, talk to him for a few minutes before I can transfer him to his bed.  It's really a sweet time for us.  Last night, since Jarrod was gone and I didn't have to worry about being self-conscious, I sang the "I See the Moon" song.  I would sing it over and over and then stop and ask, "Do you want me to sing it again?" and Collin would say, "Uh-huh" and nod his head quickly.  Bless his heart.  He doesn't yet realize that his Mommy is completely tone-deaf.

Arkansas

So I'm not sure if I told you or not, but we live in Arkansas.  (If you know me, you'll know that was said sarcastically.)  We moved here from (sorta) East Texas.  (I say sorta b/c we were only an hour from downtown Dallas.)  I thought I had dug my heels in and refused to go any further east, but apparently not.


When we got here, I fully expected the worst.  Like Deliverance worst.  Like when I moved to East Texas from Austin and one of the attorneys in my office emailed me this picture and told me not to let Landry outside, or she would have puppies who looked like this!

But I have to say, other than people who are insanely obsessed with the University of Arkansas and say things like, "Woo Pig Sooie" and put razorback decals on every surface of things they own, Arkansas hasn't been that bad.  (And seriously, someone down the street from us has a Razorback decal on the siding of their house!  I would sneak down there and take a picture for you, but they might not like that.) 


The people in our town are very nice, and the town as a whole is very family oriented.  Plus, Jarrod and I have always enjoyed doing outdoorsy things together and what better place to live than The Natural State!


So this past weekend we jumped at the opportunity to spend some time with new friends and enjoy their lake house / boat / jet-ski.  We had so much fun, and Collin did great!  He helped me pick out a lifejacket for him on Friday afternoon and Saturday when it was time to wear it, he didn't fuss at all.  He was pretty overwhelmed by everything that went into getting a boat loaded and onto the lake, so he didn't say much.  He also just wanted to snuggle with Jarrod or me the whole time we were on the boat, but once we anchored somewhere he did spend a good amount of time floating in the lake with Jarrod.  He loves the "wa-wa"! 


I wish I would have thought to take a picture of them in the lake together, but all I got was Collin in his lifejacket before we took off from the dock. 



"Hi, Mommy!"

Is he not the cutest boy ever?!



We swam, the guys played together in the water swimming down into little caves (or something...we could never really figure out what they were doing!) and seeing how far they could free-dive, while the gals just hung out on the boat and enjoyed the kiddos and girl time.  At the end of the day we went for a really long boat ride all over the lake and blasted a combination of Christian music and Texas Country.  It was seriously the most enjoyable time I have had in a while, and all I could think about was how the Lord keeps providing for us. 

So for anyone a little freaked out by the pity-party nature of my last post, please know that I am thankful for this season in Arkansas, for the friends we're making along the way and for the experiences we're having.  I know these are the memories we're going to look back on as a family and talk about for years, and I know that God will keep providing for us just as faithfully as ever. 

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Ugh.  We have had so many changes in our lives this past year, and I do NOT handle change very well at all.  In fact, I handle change so poorly that I was the weird mom taking her child to the toddler room for the first time at daycare a couple of months ago, exclaiming how badly I handle change.  They were all probably thinking, "Lady, your kid will be fine if you will just leave already!"

I've always been a really emotive person, and while some people might classify me as occasionally "unstable", I like to think I just feel things deeper than others!  So when stuff happens <change>, I do nothing but think about how it is going to affect me and those close to me.  I usually end up imagining the worst possible scenarios and then I just fret until A. everything works out fine or B. something else pops up to worry over and I forget the first thing.

For several years my parents have been stressing to me that worrying and being fearful are not things that God desires for me to walk in. 

Philippians 4:6-9 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things.  9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me -- put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you."



The older I get the more I realize that worrying will not get me anywhere, nor is it Biblical, so I'm really trying to make an effort to let go of things without being negative.

All of that said, I don't always succeed.  The past few months have been tough for our little family.  Due to circumstances that I'm not really ready to go public with yet, we found out that our time in Arkansas is going to be prolonged.  Our good friends, the Johnsons, moved to Colorado.  Collin made a transition at his daycare.  Both Jarrod and I have a grandmother in poor health.  It feels like there is always something popping up.  If it's not one thing, it's your mother!

So today's items of note are that Jarrod has a job interview tomorrow, and my brother, Daniel, got married today.  I could go on and on about either one of those things, but I won't. 

I'll just continue to remember:  "...we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28



Jami & Daniel Gann



May God be with you and bless you;
May you see your children's children.

May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings,
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward. 



Collin & Co.

As I mentioned in my last post, Collin loves his friends at daycare.  So much so that he talks to me about them when we're at home.  More on this in a moment!

It's important to mention here for people who don't know us well, Collin is very laid back developmentally.  Talking is something he enjoys doing mostly in the privacy of our home, and he doesn't care if he makes any sense at all.  It's been mostly hand gestures, pointing and jibber-jabber for several months now.  If he wants to say a "real" word, he usually can only say the first syllable of it!  We say "wa-wa" for water, he calls his friend, Ross, "Rah" and a schoolmate who is named Reed, is "Ree". 

Ross & Collin camping Mother's Day weekend

He also makes up words for items and will only use his made-up word, no matter how hard we try to correct him.  It's to the point where Jarrod and I now use them and other people must think we're ridiculous.  A hot-dog is a "ga - ga", when he wants to color with crayons, he tries to say "color" but this comes out "gu - guh" and inevitably sounds like "ga - ga"!  Our dog, Landry, used to be "Dree-Dree" and somehow, a few months ago, he decided he was only going to call her "Doo-Doo".  I do NOT know why!  He asks me on the way home from daycare each day about Daddy and "Doo-Doo".  In the mornings, he has to greet her before doing anything else.  Sometimes he squeals with delight as he says, "Doo-Doooooo"! 



Collin and his beloved "Doo-Doo"

 He also calls a cookie a "daddeeee".  Poor Jarrod usually answers with, "What, baby?"  The difference is that he drags out the long E sound on the end, and that's how I know he wants a cookie.  Chicken is "gick-en".  Outside is "oww - I".  Boo is "Bee!".  Snack is "nack".  I could go on, but you get the point! 


It's so much fun and so rewarding to hear him learning new words each day, but when he gets words wrong or refuses to say them the right way, I just have to shake my head and move on!


He can successfully say: puppy, baby, Mommy/Mama, Daddy, Mimi, Pawpaw, Nonne, Papa, dog, bubble, car, bye, go, no, uh-huh, pee-pee, poo-poo, etc. 


Back to his friends at daycare.  Collin has been going to this daycare since we moved to Searcy last August, and he has been with some of the kids in his classroom since then.  One in particular is his "buddy", Addie.  (Jarrod tries to call her Collin's girlfriend, but he's much too young for talk like that, so I refuse and refer to her as his "buddy".)  Addie and Collin are double-trouble.  They play together and fight together.  I had a teacher tell me once that she couldn't eat her own lunch without Addie and Collin chirping at her like little birds for pieces of her banana.  All the other kids were oblivious to her eating, but not Addie and Collin!  I think since her name is so similar to "Daddy", Collin can say it easily.  He talks about Addie all the time.  On Sunday, after church, we had lunch with some friends and on the way to the restaurant he was sitting in his carseat singing, "Aaaa-deeee, aaaa-deeee".  Jarrod and I just started laughing. 


Once we got to the restaurant, I was telling our friends about it, and I showed them a picture of Addie and Collin that one of his teachers snapped a few weeks ago.  Collin caught a glimpse of it on my phone and excitedly said, "Ohhh yah!  Addie!!"  Everyone at the table got a good laugh out of that one.


This morning when I dropped him off, Addie was already sitting at the snack table, she turned around and said, "Hi, Colllll-IN", and he grinned! 


Warms my heart to see him have this little friendship!  (And who are we kidding, gives me amo for when he's older!!)


Addie and Collin last week and when they were a little younger...presh :)


         

Mommy Wars

Last Friday, at daycare, Collin wore his brand new tie-dyed, Mickey Mouse t-shirt!  He made his shirt at "school" last week and is super proud of it.  We tried it on him Thursday night before getting ready for bed and when I told him it was time to take it off he said, "Nnnnooo" and tugged it back down!

I have always been happy with his daycare, but I have to say I have noticed such a change since he moved up to the toddler room.  He does arts and crafts now, providing me with cutesie things to hang on the refrigerator :)  Once a week they have water playday and get to eat snow-cones.  He talks about his friends throughout the week, and this morning after church he was evening sing-songing one of his friends' names.  I asked if he missed her, and he said, "Uh-HUH".  So tonight at bedtime we recited all of his friends' names, and I told him he would get to see them tomorrow at school.


It's really tough as a relatively new mom to have to take my baby boy each day to a place that isn't our home, and further, to a place that doesn't contain any of our family members or close friends.  I got to sit down with one of Collin's teachers recently and talk to her about my thoughts on our daycare experience.  She has become a sweet friend and has even babysat for us on a couple of occasions.  She was working on a project for one of her college classes, and I got to talk about my son and my opinions on her place of employment so it was a win-win!


I told her I think it's important for care-givers who work in a daycare to remember for a lot of parents it may not be their first choice to leave their child each day.  These women who care for Collin all day, every day are spending time with him that I'm often missing out on.  They get to witness him trying new words for the first time and learning how to handle new situations often before I get to see it.  I told her, in my "mommy-opinion", she and her co-workers should see it as an honor and privilege that I have entrusted them with my baby.  She's sweet and very passionate about her choice to pursue a career in early childhood education, so of course, she agreed with me! 


That said, while our current status in life requires I work full-time and take Collin to daycare daily, I have often said that there is a good chance I will continue to do so even once we find ourselves in a different position.  I love my job, and I enjoy working.  The truth is that while I may miss out on planning fun activities for Collin and I to do during the week as a stay-at-home Mom, I think it might be healthier for our relationship (at this phase of things) for him to attend daycare and for me to work during the week.  A lot of purest moms out there might gasp at that statement!  I can't help it; I'm being honest. 


I see the joy my stay-at-home mom friends get from being with their children all day, but I also see them haphazard and wanting to pull their hair out at times.  I see them say that they cannot wait for their husbands to get home at the end of the day so they can receive some relief and take a shower.  For me the opposite is true, I cannot wait at the end of the day to go pick up my little boy from daycare and begin our evenings spending quality time together!


Obviously there are pros and cons to both situations and we all make choices we feel will best suit us, but I am so tired of the Mommy Wars!  I don't have a lot of working mom friends, and while the majority of my stay-at-home mom girlfriends are really good about not making me feel inferior or guilty - the rest of the world is not always so adept. 


In addition to the fact that I work and Collin attends daycare daily....
I didn't make my own baby food...gasp!
I don't cloth diaper my son....gasp!
I didn't really strap him to my body and carry him around everywhere I went when he was younger...gasp!
I do, on occasion, let him "cry it out"...gasp!
I had never heard of "Raw Amber Teething Necklaces" until recently (we are way past the majority of our teething)...gasp!
Sometimes I forget that he is fussing because he can't yet communicate with me fully, and I get angry/frustrated/overwhelmed...gasp!


I'm sure there are so many more that I could list, but these are the big ones really jumping out at me lately.


I think the things above, that I didn't do for whatever reason, are just fine!  But for me, they didn't happen.  I either didn't have the time, the know-how or the desire to carry one or all of them out.  However, I am really tired of feeling like a less than adequate mother for it.


Further, can we please drop the pretense and agree that we have all been guilty of caring for our babies in one form or another because of current trends? ...gasp!


It's not a bad thing.  A trend brings attention to something that most of us may not be educated about.  Our mothers certainly cared for us in certain manners based on something that was a current trend, so why is it that so many women are taking offense to this statement today? 


I chose to nurse my son for well over a year.  Prior to his birth, I thought I might try to nurse for maybe the first 6 months, but research and good, old-fashioned experience led me to continue to nurse longer.  I would have nursed him regardless of the current "trend" in breastfeeding.  However, I will say that I may not have chosen to nurse him (covered by a thin muslin blanket) in the middle of the Gaylord Texan during Christmas a year and a half ago if it hadn't been for all the girl-power attention being given to breastfeeding mothers as of late.  One woman even told me, on another occasion, "Good for you honey.  I'm so glad breastfeeding has come back into style!".  I didn't take offense to that statement.


Having a child is both the biggest responsibility and joy of a woman's life.  It is hard enough without fellow mothers bringing us down.  I think we're all just trying to make it, and while I certainly think there are fundamental ideas that should play a big role in child-rearing, I don't think that the choice not to puree organically grown baby food or purchase a $200 strap of fabric to use as a sling for a fraction of my child's life, should be the things by which I am judged.


So, if you want to tell me about the latest and greatest technique you are employing for raising your child, go for it!  I would love to hear about anything that might make my life easier.  But, if you want to tell me that the car-seat I researched and spent mega bucks on received a minutely smaller rating than the car-seat you researched and spent mega bucks on, I don't think I want to hear it.

Here we go...

I have been thinking for some time now that I need to get better at documenting life.  I journaled when I was an angsty, young girl and while I often miss those moments spent pouring over a book with blank pages, who has the time anymore?!

I have been telling myself that if I can't find the time to jot down musings on my life, surely I can at least find the discipline to do it for my son, but it just hasn't happened yet!  So my friends, I'm sorry, but I'm going to subject you to yet another entry in to the blogosphere.

Here is some background on the Baum family to get everyone up to speed...

Jarrod and I have been married for almost 5 years!  We met and graduated from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Tx.  We lived in Austin, Tx for the first year of our marriage before moving to a ranch in East Texas.  We loved our time there!  We were closer to family and friends, we lived on a beautiful piece of property and I started my job with the law firm I have grown to love.

Fast forward a few years and we now live in Arkansas and have a beautiful little boy, Collin Henry.  Jarrod is in pharmacy school, and I work from home for my office back in East Texas.  Our family and friends are scattered all over but are primarily concentrated in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  WE MISS THEM ALL!

As our family has grown, so has our marriage and our endeavors to trust the Lord with all our hearts.  This is my attempt to chronicle our journey.



At the top of Pinnacle Mtn. near Little Rock, AR