Ants in my Pants!!

Ok.... so because I am completely incapable of sitting still for more than 5 seconds (I think I probably would have done just fine as a military brat. At least I'd have had an excuse for all my social issues), I'm moving. At least I think so.

I'm starting this out as a trial run that I rather anticipate will become a permanent move. You can find my last 3 blog posts and any others moving forward at Visione Bella. Thanks for following me around! I hope you'll make the move with me!

Easter Baby

This was the only pic I managed to get with her looking up. But I plan to restage her later. I mean, the dress is just so darn cute and the sun was in her eyes!

Hello, my name is Irene and I'm a barefoot, baby wearing, natural childbirth granola girl. Nice to meet you.

L&D Part One...

Well, I guess that's a slight exaggeration. I really do love baby wearing, but I haven't exactly mastered the art, and Ever is so darn squiggly that she doesn't last in carriers nearly as long as I would like. BUT, I have jokingly referred to myself as some version of "granola girl," "urban hippie," etc since I was in high school. I just kinda go through phases and come back round circle to who I guess I really am at my core. And the funny thing is, it's not really how I was raised. A little bit is, a bit is just in my blood, but other things just started to resonate with me and have started to form my identity.

I think I experienced the strongest moment of this while I was pregnant. I always knew I wanted to at least TRY natural childbirth. I HATE the idea of a needle in my back, and I wanted to be mobile. And ever since I was about.... 13 or 14, I wanted to experience a water birth. Seriously. I was watching A Baby Story one day and this lady was in labor, gave birth in her hot tub (or a birthing tub, I really don't remember), gave birth to her baby SIX minutes later, and a little later, got up and gave him a back massage!!!!! I mean, this woman was crazy cool in my book and I wanted to be just like her.

My quest for natural childbirth didn't really take wing, however, until I discovered that a friend of mine from college had become a Labor and Birth Doula. I started chatting with her on Facebook and she pointed me to her website, Beautiful Childbirth. Reader, let me tell you. I started reading about the benefits of natural childbirth, and the reality of a medicated birth, and I was done. I will never have an epidural and no one can make me.... unless I'm going to actually die otherwise. The info I read that really changed my mind about everything can be found here, in the bottom section. Let me tell you, my dear Brooke changed my life that day. In more ways than she could have even realized at that moment.

Less than 48 hours later, I'm sitting in the living room of my friend Kristy, probably about 30 weeks pregnant, and I'm telling her about all this incredible information. Now granted, she's a woman who had epidurals with both of her kids and no one could have PAID her to do it differently. BUT, she is also one of the best friends I've ever had in my life, and would let go of her love and support for anything. I'm reading her the information from the website, with so much excitement and passion, and she looks up at me and says, "Oh my gosh, Irene. You should do this. You should be a Doula."

Have you ever had one of those moments when life just hits you square between the eyeballs and suddenly everything you've ever done in your life has led you up to this very moment and everything makes sense? That was my moment. So, now I'm just (im)patiently waiting to save up my spare change so that I can start my certification. This is definitely a part of my life that I can't wait to get started. To be able to see out my vision to transform women's lives in such a powerful way is more incredible than anything else I could have imagined. I guess that's what happens when God's will for your life suddenly becomes so clear.

Spring Cleaning... Damn.

Ok.... get real time. When we moved out of the townhouse in October, I did a LOT of purging of crap. Stuff I'd had since middle school and I couldn't even begin to give you a good reason for it. "This was the box from a watch I bought once and I liked it. And the box is pink." Yeeeahhhh.... not working so well!!! So, I've been pretty proud of myself for that accomplishment. We're talking BAGS of trash that went out of that poor house. But the truth is, I knew I was in desperate need of some downsizing, especially considering that we were about to move in with family. Nobody needs THAT much crap. Seriously.

Well, it seems that the work I did just didn't cut it. We moved in my with my parents a couple weeks ago (yep, that's move number 2 in six months. Good times.). And now, as a completely justified result of all the stuff that has bombarded my poor mother's house, she's hit me with a Come-to-Jesus talk. The result? I'm up here cleaning out some boxes trying desperately to make room for the MORE boxes that need to be unloaded.

And here's the really depressing part...

I HAVE A CLOSET FULL OF CLOTHES THAT DON'T FIT ME ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I'm really honest with myself, half this stuff hasn't fit me since I got married 5 years ago. But the unavoidable truth is that now that I officially possess the all glorified post-pardum body - spread hips, extra ba-donk-a-donk and everything, I don't have a shot in HELL that any of it will ever fit me again.

I really don't want to face this, but the fact is, it's not like I have room for all these too-small clothes anyway. I just hate having to face that the chances of me getting back down to 120 (or even 130 would be cool!) and having the body of a junior are between slim and never gonna happen.

Do you ever struggle with getting rid of clothes (or anything else) that you've created an emotional attachment to? "I got this T-shirt on my Honeymoon," "These were my favorite capris in college," "I refuse to believe I'll never get into those pants again. They always looked good on me!"

Stacy and Clinton, rescue me from my insanity!!!!!!! GAAAAAHHHHHH!

Back in Action?

Ok, so over the past several months, it has been a little crazy for me. I had a  baby, suffered my fair bout of post pardum... or some sort of depression, and moved. Twice. Truth be told, the biggest reason I stopped posting was because I knew it would be full of nothing but my bitching and moaning. Show of hands for who wanted to read THAT mess?!  *crickets* Yeah, that's what I thought.

Oh yeah, and did I mention I am now trying out publishing from my new Moto Droid??? This could be totally fun. Once I get it all figured out anyway...

That said, I figured a sabatical was probably best. Regretibly, perhaps, you've missed out on a lot. Actually, I need to go back in the archives and see just how much I told you all in the first place! Jiminey!

Well for starters, we had a little girl and named her Ever Joelle. It was our version of his family's tradition of naming a child after the two grandfathers. Edward and Joseph. Really, we fell across the name Ever and absolutely fell in love with it. It's unique without being too weird, and has a romantic feel to it. She was a massive 8 lbs, 7.5 oz. Don't think that's big?? YOU try pushing that out and tell me it ain't big!! The whole story was pretty crazy, and rather entertaining, I'm told. I think that'll be my next post. You ready for that, y'all??

Since having Ever, we've moved twice and poor Scott has had 3 different jobs. I think he finally landed in a keeper, so we're both pretty happy to be settled for a while. Now if we can just get all our freaking bills paid!

Stepping back in...

Post Number 40! You know, that really shouldn't feel like a milestone, but somehow it does. I think it's because towards the end of my pregnancy, and over the last 3 months, blogging hasn't been very easy for me to fall back into. I have a GORGEOUS baby girl named Ever Joelle and believe me when I say that many days, she's the only thing keeping me sane.

SEE????? I told you she's gorgeous! And really, that doesn't even show you how great she looks in person. If Scott and I were better photographers, maybe we could really capture some of her more priceless looks. Not to sound vain, but that child needs to be in magazines.

So... I guess the best way to get things back off the ground again is to say that, well, it's been a tough few months. To sum up and not dwell, here's just the facts, ma'am. I had Ever in what some have considered an epic birthing story... maybe I'll post it on here, but I haven't yet mastered the ability to tell the tale without the TMI details. A week or so before giving birth, they took my dog walks away for fear I would end up going into labor in the middle of the sidewalk. In all fairness, that would not have been good for the company. BUT, they did let me keep my petsits, which ended JUST in time. Literally, I had my last petsit on the day I went to the hospital!

And so, from all that and the hell that is recovering after natural childbirth, I didn't go back to work. I'm way past ready to start doing some lia sophia shows again, but so far, nothing big is on my calendar. Any takers??? After more months than we really should have held on, we finally let go, and gave up the townhouse we'd been living in this year. Money just wasn't adding up and we couldn't hold on any longer. It's been a really painful transition for me, moving back in with family after 3 years on our own AND now having just had a new baby. It's not exactly how I pictured my life right now. Nevertheless, it's where I am, and as my mom loves to say ALL the time, "Oops is not in God's vocabulary."

My very good friend over at Wearing Mascara has inspired me a little to focus more on things I'm thankful for... I have to be honest, this is something I have NOT done in a long time. If I'm honest, I've actually been pretty stinking ungrateful for the blessings God has placed in my life because I've been so bogged down in what's been going wrong. To that end, here goes... a list of things I am grateful for (and I'm forcing myself to list them simply, not allowing for explanations or exceptions because that's not really being grateful now, is it?)

• I am INCREDIBLY blessed beyond imagination to have such a beautiful baby girl who brings me smiles upon smiles every day, and is trying her darndest to turn me into more of a morning person (she's not doing too badly either!!)
• I have a husband who loves me and is committed to going to work every day, loving his job, and working incredibly hard to make sure we're able to pay down the debt we've come into so we can work towards getting back out on our own
• I have a family that loves me and wants desperately to support us and help us get to a better place in our lives
• I have very generous and inviting friends who have helped to make my transition to mommyhood much smoother than it would have been otherwise
• A week or so ago, I was at Wegman's to pick up a couple small things and realized I forgot my wallet at home. There was a girl behind me in line, Anna Maria, who saw what I was getting and said, "You're not getting much and you shouldn't have to drive all the way home and back with a baby." She paid for my groceries.

There are other things, of course, but I think that's a pretty good start. Hopefully I'll start getting a little better about this whole blog thing an you'll see me on here more often. See you soon!!

Irene

Fabulous Giveaway for Mommies with Babies!

Hey Moms (and friends of moms!!)

I just discovered a GREAT giveaway today on a very cool mommy blog called Moms Need Answers. They're giving away a Beeba Babycook, but you can only enter through July 31! Send your mommy friends to the blog for their July Giveaway. Good luck everyone!!!