;<<< Maxed-Out Mommyyy: Growing like a weed (and of course, a photo bomb.)

Hi. My name is Alex and I am the worst procrastinator in the world. No, seriously. I am. Well, maybe I don't "procrastinate" blogging... I just don't make time to do it, like I long to do, like I should do. For instance, I started this blog LAST Thursday. Then again, what does it matter? I don't think many people read this, anyway.

BUT! ...I am the worst procrastinator.
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Anyways...

My days ~~pretty much~~ blend together right now:

Fred wakes up for work, which wakes Max and I up. Fred changes Max's diaper, brings him to me and I nurse him while Fred gets ready, and Max falls back asleep. Fred gives Max and me a kiss goodbye. He runs out the door for work. I check my Facebook, Babycenter, Draw Something on my phone. I snuggle up with Max- he is one of the best snugglers (he must get it from his dad and me) and go back to sleep. Max wakes up. I wake up. I change his diaper, feed him again. Get up. Get him dressed. Dress myself. Go eat something... or try to. Nurse him again. Go to the bathroom... maybe. We listen to music. We watch movies. He cries. He nurses. He screams. He takes a nap. I try to clean. What? I never know. Just something. It all needs to be cleaned anyway. Something outside (lawn mower, loud car, blasting music, bratty kid, domestic argument of some sort) wakes him up. I change him. I nurse him again. He falls alseep on the couch. I try to clean some more. He wakes up. He nurses again. He screams. He stops. He smiles. He farts. He cracks up laughing. He laughs harder while I wipe the result of those farts that make him laugh so hard. On and on, it goes. You get the cycle. Some days, we got out. We go to my parents or we go shopping or we just go for a walk. We nurse again. He poops again. Fred gets home from work. We eat. We clean. Sometimes. We give Max a bath. I nurse. We get our jammies on. We go to bed. We sleep. And then we do it all over again the next day.

So... it's pretty easy for the days to blend together, I think. Don't you agree? ;-) Don't take all that as a complaint, though. That's definitely not what it is. It gets tiring often, but its all worth it.

~~One day, I'll have it all together.~~ Nope, scratch that. Who am I kidding? I've never had it together. I didn't have it together before Max was here; I didn't have it together before Fred and I were married--- I've never had it together. I never will. And I'm okay with that. I accept it. I'd be no fun if I had it all together. Where's the spontanaeity in that?! I want to be random, anyway.
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Max is growing like a weed. Some of his 3 month clothing is already getting too tight. People tell you all the time, don't blink or you'll miss something... that it all goes so quickly. And now that I'm living it, I know it to be true. Everytime I look at him, he's different in someway: looks-wise, expression-wise, development-wise, etc. He smiles alot now. He rolled over for the first time, last week. He reaches for the toys that hang on his playmat. He holds eye contact with me. He laughs. He snuggles. It makes me misty-eyed looking at all the photographs I've taken from when he was born until now and seeing how much he's changed. He's 12 weeks, today. He looks like a completely different baby. He looks like his dad on some days, my sister on others. His hair is almost a strawberry blonde and his eyes are a dark grayish-blue. He's happy most of the time and he has his dad and me wrapped around his chubby little fingers. I never thought I could love someone so much. That sounds sooo cliche, but its the truth. And the only reason it sounds cliche is because every mother says it, but then again, I'm sure every mother feels this way about their child... and if they don't, they've got issues.
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Max's first Easter has come and gone. We dressed in nice clothes, went to church, and then celebrated Resurrection Day with family and friends: Max, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpop, Grandma K., Grandpa, Aunt Lizzy, Aunt B., Aunt Debi, Uncle Kota, Sheryl, Elsa, Sarah, and Brian. We even posed for some good photographs.

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I've started trying to lose some weight. I've been heavier than I'd like to be for a while now and it's time to do something about it. I want to be active for Max. I want to be able to run around and keep up with him. I don't want to be planted on the couch, eating, and watching TV/reading a book/playing on my phone all day. I want to be outside with him. Teaching him to be active. I don't want to dread doing something that's good for me. I want to be healthy for him and for my future children and for my husband and for me. So, I'm not "dieting" per se. You're not supposed to do that while breastfeeding, I guess. Rather, I'm watching my calories and trying to make healthier choices and lead a more active lifestyle. I've been tracking on "My Fitness Pal" and doing a Biggest Loser workout dvd and going for walks and trying to just be up, moving around more. I started on Monday. So far, so good. I normally start out okay, though, and then I get bored and give up. I'm really gonna try hard, though. So, if you're a praying person... can you pray for me through this? Its much appreciated.

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On that note, Fred and I (and Max, of course) went for a long walk on Monday night and explored our neighborhood some more. We found a old cemetary that we never would have guessed was there. There was one headstone for three children- a 6 year old girl, a baby girl- not even a month old, and a 19 year old boy who was a private in the military during the time of the Korean war. How sad for those parents to lose three of thier children (could have been all of them- who knows). It caused me to hold Max even closer than usual once we got home and whisper a prayer of thanks to the Lord for his life and also a prayer of comfort for those parents if they're still alive.

We also explored the trolley trail for the first time. I don't think many people know about it. I had heard about it years ago, but never knew where it was. Fred and I went to look at a house a couple of weeks ago and saw the trolley trail close-by. So, we checked it out.

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Some Facebook status highlights from the past few weeks:

April 26th, 2012-

"Max just rolled over from his tummy to his back!

Not cool, young man. I'll have none of this "moving around on your own" stuff, yet. ;-)"

We were sitting on our bed and I was folding laundry while he was laying on his belly. He's gotten close to rolling over a few time, but always gets stuck at his arm. Well, not that day. He rolled onto his back and chuckled to himself.

April 24th, 2012-

"Max is having a giggle fest this morning... He's probably reveling that his diabolical plan to keep me and his daddy awake for most of the night was a success."

Need I say more? He was cracking up for 15 minutes straight for no apparent reason.

April 23rd, 2012-

"I seriously just bawled my eyes out at the end of the Mockingjay book (the last book of the Hunger Games.) No joke. Bawled. :-(

Read the Hunger Games. You won't regret it.

Now to find my tissues. *sniffle*"

Need a good book to read? Check out the Hunger Games. You'll love them. I did. And I'm a picky reader. And all you judgers... get over it. Unless you've read the book, you're not going to understand and have NO right whatsoever to judge it.

April 23rd, 2012-

"My mom was telling me last night how she had a dream that I was in the hospital having a baby girl and one of my cousins was having twins at the same exact time. Her dream freaked me out so much that I did a pregnancy test this morning, just in case. Haha. Thank God, it was negative. ;-)"

True story. Not that I don't want another baby--- just not yet.

April 17th, 2012-

"Max has such a good sense of humor. He laughs at my jokes. ;-)"

He does. My jokes are always lousy, but he thinks they're hilarious. Well, he probably laughs more at the tone of voice I use, but its still a confidence booster. LOL.

April 16th, 2012-

"Max is just like me... miserable when its too hot out. He's been super fussy all day and the only time he acted content was when we were standing in front of the air conditioner. Ha. This is gonna be a long summer. ;-)"

Ugh, it was like 90 degrees out that day. I seriously thought I would die. We both were so incredibly miserable. I don't know if my downstairs neighbors had thier heat on or what. Knowing them... probably. Wierdos. Everytime I would try to nurse Max, we'd both get ticked off at each other because we were sweating like pigs. Glad that day is over. Now for the rest of the hot days coming? Yikes.

April 12th, 2012-

"LOL, listening to the Children's Indie station on Pandora with Max... and finally learned what the word QAT means!!! I always play it in Scrabble and Words With Friends. Its a small green shrub! Ha! Made my day. Oh, the things that entertain me. ;-)"

This made my day. When Fred and I first started dating, we played a game of Scrabble with his mom. Fred played the word QAT and we got in an argument over whether or not it was a word. Well, needless to say, Fred was right (which is a rarity), and QAT was very much a word, but we never knew what it meant. Leave it to kids music to tell me.

March 20th, 2012-

"I'm cracking up, right now. Fred and I are eating oreos and milk. I finished mine and was contemplating how to steal one of his. So I said, "Is that a spider?," expecting him to look at the wall while I swiped a cookie. No. My husband got the most terrified look on his face and froze. "Where?" Not the reaction I was looking for, but so worth it. I got that cookie anyway, mid-giggle. ;-)"

Not much more to explain... I think that says it all.

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~~Some~~ photographs from the last few weeks... Well, alot.

I discovered a cool app for my phone called Instagram; here's some photos from that: