1st Mother's Day

Today is a first for me. My first Mother's day. Technically, my little booger was growing in my belly last year, but today he is physically here. 

No, he can't say my mom. No, he can't wipe his own ass yet. No, he doesn't take a bottle or a pacifier well. No, he doesn't sleep through the night. He still has my heart. I wake up to his smiling face (most days). I get to cuddle with him and rock him to sleep. I get to clean him and feed him. I get to stay home with him and watch him change daily. He depends on me for so much, his life entirely to be exact. This is a huge responsibility and love I never knew until he was born. 

On my first Mother's day, I spent the day with my son and husband. And I should say, I couldn't be a mom without Jason (do I really need to explain this?) So, I thank my husband for giving me the opportunity to be a mom and always giving me compliments and reassurance that I am doing a job well done. Reassurance is one of the most important things as a mom. I am constantly questioning myself and knowing he thinks I'm doing a decent job helps the self conscious me. 

I also want to thank my mom. She has definitely set the bar high. She spoils me rotten. She supports me. She is proud of me. She is a great listener. She is caring. She is my mom. I get to see here a day after Mother's day, but she deserves celebration more than just one day a year. 

Most people think Mother's day is a day of pampering the moms in your life. In my day, a nap, an uninterrupted shower, and eating with both hands qualifies as pampering. It has been a great, relaxing first Mother's day. I hope all the moms out there had a very special day with whatever you consider as "pampering". Being a mom is the hardest job I have ever done. 

Happy Mother's Day!! 

Next move...Hawaii?

So...Jason got an email saying his orders were ready to be reviewed. My stomach was in knots. As we waited for the page to load, all I could think was..."please don't be Alaska". I am so over the cold. The page loads and he scrolls down to the "assigned to" portion of the orders. What does it say? Hawaii. Pearl Harbor. Report date 21August. Whoa. Stomach still in knots. 

But can we be excited yet? Of course my hopes are already up. Picture taken and posted on Facebook within minutes. Why do I let myself get my hopes up so easily!? We had orders to Hawaii before and they got changed. Will it be different this time? I can only hope. Having mixed feelings at the moment because I know they could change again, but on the other hand, I want to search for a new place to live...in FREAKING HAWAII!! OK, I'm calm again. 

Before we got this email, I was telling Jason how excited I was about getting an açaí bowl. He didn't think I was speaking a real word, so Google here he comes! Apparently, they are super easy to find...over a 100 locations in Honolulu ALONE! It must be fate. It must be, right? 


Please don't fail me Army...I want this everyday. on the beach. in the sun.

Nate's First Haircut

As many of my friends and family know, we have been battling eczema/rashes/cradle cap/allergies with Nate. We have tried SO many different remedies, both homeopathic and prescription. Finally, his body skin is under control with a combo of Cerave and a steroid ointment. His face and head have still been an issue. He scratches himself bloody and if he is not wearing socks it looks like he got in a fight with 7 cats. It's not pretty. With the scratches, his eyes get swollen and red. The poor guy gets so irritated and it affects his sleep.

Yesterday, Jason and I decided to cut it. I have been debating this for a couple weeks, but have been having an internal battle with myself. What if it doesn't look "cute"? What if it doesn't help? After weeks of going back and forth, the decision had to be made. Cut the little guy's hair. Who cares if he doesn't have an adorable mohawk anymore. And what do we have to lose? We've tried everything else, why not this?

He did decent while Jason cut his hair. Of course he was a wiggle worm, but nothing as bad as I thought. So here are the pictures of his first haircut experience. And no...I didn't cry.

What the heck is happening!?

Shaving it off!

Exhausted after the cut and bath...even had a 3 hour and 45 minute stretch of sleep!

The morning after with daddy. 

We shall see if cutting it will help his scalp, only time will tell. 

Happy May!!

Well hello May, you just snuck right up on me! I can't believe we are in the 5th month of 2013!

It is FINALLY feeling like Spring/Summer here in Iowa...took long enough! The parks have been so nice to go to and Nate loves to go on walks and be outside.

This post is going to be a little all over the place because I have just written 2 other blog posts for Quad City Moms Blog for this Friday, did the dishes, washed diapers, went to a consignment store and Burlington, took out the trash, made lunch, had coffee, changed 4 diapers, and thought about upcoming events happening in the Kappes household. I didn't think I was going to get to my blog, but Nate is taking a nap so I am trying to type fast and rock his rocky chair at the same time. I've learned to multi-task and do a lot of things one-handed. Not sure if I should brag about that...

Anyways, I hope everyone is having a great day and I'm hoping I can keep up more with my blog posts. This past month we went to Chicago for the Cubs vs. Giants game, Emi came to visit, and Kim and Savannah came to visit. It's been a fun and busy month! Bring on May...well, I guess we have no choice.

Happy April!

Wow. I have been lacking in the writing department. It's been almost a month since my last blog post. There have been and still are so many things I want to write about. Part of the reason for not writing is lack of words. They are all jumbled in my head and I just couldn't muster up enough strength to write complete sentences or thoughts. Another reason is we have had back to back family visits this month. My mom and brother were here for a week, as well as, Jason's family for a week. I could've written, but it's rude in my opinion to be glued to the computer while guests are here...even if it is family. The last reason is Nate. He isn't really a big sleeper at night. Up every 1-3 hours still and wakes up before 7am pretty much every morning. This past week has been especially difficult. He has skin issues (dry air or eczema or something else?) and had 4 shots, and may be going through a growth spurt. Needless to say, I am one tired momma and he is one uncomfortable and cranky boy. I just have to keep telling myself, "this too shall pass".

If you have been following my new year resolutions...they are still going on. Last month was meal planning the entire month and spending half our budget. Meal planning went extremely well. Half the budget while having 2 sets of visitors, not so much. We aren't giving up though! We are going to try this month for half our budget again. The other 2 are no sitting on the couch (or Jason's desk chair) and only 30 minutes of Internet/T.V daily (60 on weekend days). The no sitting on the couch is going to be HARD! We are allowed to sit anywhere else (I'm at the dining room table) and I am allowed to sit on the couch while breastfeeding. We shall see how this goes. No Internet is also going to be tough. I'm usually on facebook. It will actually be a nice change and hopefully I'll be more productive with my time.

Since this post took about 10 minutes of my Internet time, I'm calling it quits. Happy April and I hope wherever you are Spring has actually sprung and you have temps higher than 30.

Resolutions

Another month has past. Good-bye February and hello March!

Jason and I are doing well on our monthly resolutions, so far. Completed January. February was giving away 30 items each. We did that VERY easily. It was also no sweets. Jason completed, I cheated 3 times. Not bad on my part, but it was also a short month. Oops.

March is meal planning dinners for the entire month and sticking to the menu and only spending half of our monthly budget. We have a calendar with all of our meals and we are doing well. Three days in. Go, us! Only using half our budget is going to be TOUGH! My mom and brother are coming to visit in about a week so the eating out budget will probably be the hardest. The grocery bill will also be difficult since we are feeding 4 instead of 2. I am looking for coupons to cut costs on the meals I plan to make while they are visiting, as well as, the meals we have plans for the rest of the month. Planning a monthly meal calendar and looking for specific coupons will help a lot.


We shall see how this month goes. If anyone has any good coupon sites they use, let me know!

Arbonne Winner!

The winner of the Arbonne giveaway is....

Juliane Edwards!

She chose the body wash as her prize so I am excited to see what she thinks of the product.

Congrats!