Thank GOD for our "Rainy Day Fund"

Ryan and I were planning on doing sommmmething for our anniversary... but really we weren't sure what. We tossed around the idea of camping... Mackinaw... Sandusky...but ultimately decided to just settle for dinner on our anniversary (July 1st). The past few days have been less than desirable here at the house... fleas combined with... LIFE in general kind of melted me into a pile of goo this morning.

Ryan said "Look for a cheap hotel, we're getting outta here." THANK YOU RYAN and THANK YOU RAINY DAY FUND :) Because I desperately need away from the house for a bit. These fleas are making my skin itch (figuratively and literally) and I need a break from technology. So.... we're off- just for the night. The Hilton in Auburn Hills shall be our home away from home tonight. We're planning on eating at Rainforest... doing a little shopping & letting Maeve play in that indoor amusement park thing. Ultimately, it will be great to get away and clear my head. Prepare for the week to come & refocus on what really matters :)

Ryan's made me promise some changes come Sunday. And I'm more than willing to oblige. Enough's enough :)

I will summarize & post pics of our one night get away tomorrow evening! :)

I Feel Like Such A Mom!

This is going to sound funny, but from the moment I found out I was preggo, I just couldn't get a grasp on what it was going to be like to be a mom. It was almost like it wasn't happening to me- like an out of body experience or something. All the baby kicks, the ultrasound, it all seemed too good to be true... I kept thinking I was going to have this moment where I felt older, more in control, more "mom-ish," but nope, never happened. OHhhhhhh the hours I spent watching "A Baby Story"- I'd always think "someday I will give birth!" "Someday" came real soon! :)

I did have a successful vaginal birth (with no meds.... well the meds didn't work- I tried to get 'em!) and during the entire labor process I kept thinking "Pinch me! This isn't real!!" When Maeve came out it was the most surreal moment of my life! SUCH a high- she was SO real, but I still couldn't believe she was mine :) During the hospital stay, I was in such a state of discomfort (and overloaded on meds) that I don't even really remember too much- just ordering breakfast every morning over the phone like I was in the Ritz-Carlton! HAHA :) Anyways, nurses, my mom, Ryan, my sisters- everyone was taking care of her and pining over her that I didn't really do much in the first 4 weeks of her life. Then, once I finally healed (I wasn't completely, TOTALLY healed until about March-ish?? And I am still having issues but I'm not gonna get into that) I remember being so excited to do all the things that I had always imagined- dressing her in her little frilly clothes, playing with her in the sunshine, taking her shopping, etc. All I have to say is YEAH RIGHT! I mean, don't get me wrong- I do all of that with her, and then some! But its hardly that idyllic! Which brings me to my post today...

ALL in one day, I got peed on, pooped on, spit on, and head butted. I have never felt more like a mum! :) What a heck of a day. To be fair to my beauty, she is teething so she is a bit of a crab... BUT still- what a day. To start off the day, she was bouncing around in our bed- I had playhouse Disney on (I am desperately trying to get her to love Disney... so far nada) and she was happy as can be, smacking my chest- which she loves to do- so weird! I kept telling her "No. Thats not nice." But she kept at it... so then I decided to ignore her- haha. She head butted me- with ALL her force. Right in the schnoz! It felt like she pushed my nasal bones up into my brain. It was such a hard knock! She came out of it with yet another goose egg on her eyebrow (its not too bad) and I came out of it with a sore nose and a wicked headache. Move on to 2 o'clock or so; her nap, which normally consists of 2-3 hours lasted about 45 minutes or so- so I gathered her up, strapped her in the car seat and DROVE. My mom used to do this and I always thought she was crazy- who would want to just drive??? But by gosh, if it puts the kid to sleep, you'll DRIVE! :) It worked, it put her back to sleep for another hour (she desperately needed a nap- trust me!). We got home (after driving half way to Lansing and back) and she was fussing so I thought I'd give her a bath- she loves them and I felt bad for the teething babe. As SOON as I had undressed her she peed all over me- I think the last time I had been drenched in pee was when she was like 2 days old! :) And then it was like nothing! This stunk like people pee... yuck. Luckily, we were going in the shower, so it wasn't really a big deal (except that she had gotten it on my outfit). Haha... okay this next part is kind of funny- and someday Maeve will be so embarrassed that I wrote this- but we were sitting in the shower, I was reading a book to her- and she was having really bad gassers! Like left and right- she was tooting! I should have known it was coming, but I continued to read and laugh at her little rumbles...flash forward 5 minutes, I had a pile of poop on my lap. Nice visual huh? It was soooooo gross!!! We had to stand up and watch it wash down the drain, while I quickly gathered all of her toys out of the path of the poo poo.

DINNER TIME! My favorite time of the day- its when Ryan, Maeve and I all sit down and eat. We laugh about Maeve's crazy talk and usually have a glass of wine. Its so relaxing and very much needed at the end of the day (dinnertime rituals- not the wine...) anyways tonight I was on my own because Ryan had to work late- I started out feeding her green beans, (which she normally loves) but she was doing the whole head shaking "no" thing. So I switched to sweet potatoes- she was on the last bite when I guess she figured she was done- she spit them ALL over me- in my hair, in my eyes, up my arms- everywhere. Thankfully Ryan came home shortly after that episode and gave me a break. We ended up getting take out, good ol' Mexican food... and during the entire meal, Maeve screamed. She's just not having this whole teething bit.

Well, here I sit, with dried sweet potatoes in my hair, leggings (soooo mom-like), pounding headache and droopy eyes. Oh also- tomorrow we have our first official "play date" with a play group (I'm so excited!). Its the end of the day... thank GOD! I gotta jump in the shower and wash out the days grunge, but today, of all days, I've never felt more like a mom. :)

A Hundred Bucks Doesn't Get Ya Far

Ryan stocking the mini bar with our cake and champagne :) YES!!!

The Westin is famous for its giant "heavenly" beds. Yes, they're giant and yes they're heavenly... I had to show them off :)

SEXY CAN I??? Right... this is in the morning and I must say woooooo hooooo I am a looker!

Awww.... this is the top layer of our wedding cake... it got a little smashed in the car... but it was still the best dang cake ever!

Soooooo sleepy after the casino and dinner. I guess we're still on "Maeve" time or something! :)

Hello! I am back from our Detroit/Casino/Anniversary getaway! All in all it was a really pleasant time spent with my dearest and nearest. We left Jackson a bit late... and neither one of us had eaten lunch so we stopped in Ann Arbor and got some take out and ate it in the car- doesn't sound like a big deal right?? Well you're not going to believe this, but it was the FIRST time EVER, EVER, EVER that I had eaten a meal in the car. I've eaten a granola bar or a pop tart in the car, but I get extremely car sick so I've never tried actual "food". It worked out just fine though :) I did get a teeny, weeny bit nauseas, but I popped a pill and all was good :) Ryan was really proud of his wifey for chowin' down in the car :) He said it should speed things up on our next road trip- but nooooo, we will still be stopping and going inside for food. Anyways we got to the Westin, checked in, dropped our stuff off and headed for the casino. We got lost in Detroit (go figure that one) trying to find the MGM grand... so we just ended up going to the Motorcity Casino. We each took 40 bucks and found the 25 cent slots machines. I stuck in one of my 20's and on accident bid the max- it was like a 16 dollar bid!!!!! So in the first minute- no 20 seconds- of playing the slots I was already down $16.00. POO :( But I figured out how to work the darn thing and then both Ryan and I got really lucky- he won $40.00 (on top of the 40 he had spent) and I won $60.00 (on top of the 40 I spent) so we walked out of the casino with a profit of 100 dollars exactly :)

Like I said in the title to this post, 100 bucks doesn't get you too far- and in our case it didn't even cover our dinner... We ate at this super fancy resturaunt in the hotel called "Dema." It was good enough I guess, but when the bill came I about threw up everything I had just eaten... blah- for 2 of us our bill was over 90 bucks... there went our winnings!!!

As for our night in the actual hotel room, we ate our anniversary cake- (every year we get the top layer of our cake remade by the same guy who made our wedding cake... we're such saps!) exchanged cards and rented one of those "still in theater" movies. It really was very relaxing and we had some great bonding time :)
In the morning we put on these robes and walked around our room like we were kings and queens or something! We ordered this monstrous breakfast feast and ate in our pjs which was fun. And then the time came to check out and leave our fantasy world behind.

Today, I was slapped back into reality real quick- the house is a filth pot- floors need to be swept/mopped, there are groceries that need to be bought and I have a screaming, teething child clinging to my leg. I've got her morning applesauce stuck to my shirt and that nasty formula stink in my hair. Diapers are piling up in that dang diaper genie (why the heck they call it a genie is beyond me- don't genies make things disappear??? Because every single one of those smelly diapers is packed in there, waiting for me to dump them...) Welcome to mommyhood right? :) Ughh as unglamorous and filthy, stinky and frustrating as being a mom can be, it is REAL. And thats something that for so long has eluded me... I have this ultimate responsibility to raise a child and even though it scares the hell out of me, its something that I open with welcome arms and a learning spirit. So enough of the fantasy getaways and island dreaming... its time to be real with what I've got... and what I've got is more fulfilling than anything I could get from money or wealth.

Sorry to get so deep at the end of all that- I guess I should have just said I missed Maeve and am glad to be home fulfilling all my mommy duties. :)