Weekend Thoughts

So after an exhaustively tiring week, it was awesome just to spend the weekend doing absolutely nothing except exploring downtown Charlotte with James and Jasmine.  Doing nothing gave me some time to sort through my ever crowed brain and ponder the craziness that is my life. I guess when it comes to mommy-hood, I have quite a ways to go before I become the subject matter expert. I’m still adapting to my role nine months later. I’m a bit slow on the uptake. I don’t think it helped matters that the first four months were spent hiding away in the apartment.  But, I have no one to blame but myself, still I wish I had been given a heads up about what to expect when breastfeeding.

At 25, I’m still a bit shy when it comes to baring the bod. Even in my pre-pregnancy days I was a bit reluctant to wear overly revealing clothing. Now days you have a better chance of seeing Tebow bringing the tuna casserole to an atheist luncheon than you do of catching me in a bikini. Which is why I’m still not too keen on the idea of breastfeeding Jasmine in public. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve fed her in the car, and a few other places, but I’ve never popped out one of my girls in the middle of a crowded restaurant to feed her.  So far, I guess I’ve been lucky.  

Anyhow, back to my original point. I remember the one thing that scared me the most about becoming a mother was the idea that my social life would just completely wither up and die like Lindsey Lohan's career after I Know Who Killed Me. However, I’m finding that it’s still very possible to have hobbies, to work out, and even to visit with friends.

I think that in a way motherhood is what you make it. If you want to be miserable, and constantly complain about how hectic your life is, it will be. Personally I’ve always been a glass half-full kind of person. I know mothers who have four children, and they are always on the go, exploring new places, volunteering, taking up new projects, ect. I also know mothers who have one child, and do nothing but sit around and reminisces about how much “easier” their lives were before they had children and how much they miss those days. I have no sympathy for the latter. Don’t get me wrong, there were certain aspects about my life that were “easier” before Jasmine came into the picture, but there has never been a moment when I wished that I didn’t have her because she’s putting a crimp in my social life. Every night as I lay my daughter down in her crib, I look at that sweet face and thank God for my daughter. I just hope that when she’s sixteen, has multiple body piercings, purple hair, and is talking back to me, I will be able to look at her and see that same sweet little baby girl whose smile lights up the room every morning I come in to wake her up.

-Reese

Adventures in Driving

So there I was, innocently minding my own business.  Driving in my own lane at what I would consider to be a reasonable speed and singing I’m Every Woman at the top of my lungs, when it happens. Out of the corner of my eye I watch in horror as this neon green eyesore of a Trailblazer decides to cross three lanes of traffic (one of which is mine) with absolutely no warning. No turn signals, no arm signal, not even a head nod. Through the grace of God I’m able to slam on brakes just in time to keep us from ramming into the back of the Trailblazer.

 Once I get to the red light, I glance over to see what was so important that this idiot had to nearly cause a pileup to get to.  I look over just in time to see the idiot, who is talking on their phone, pulling into McDonalds… WTF, are you kidding. You just potentially put my daughter’s life in jeopardy because your fat (insert expletive here) couldn’t wait 5 minutes to get another freakin’ cheeseburger, which you clearly don’t need. You mother (insert expletive here) piece of (insert expletive here).

Since my daughter was in the car with me, and I have a self-imposed 3 curse words a week policy, that tirade took place entirely in my head.  Somehow though, I can’t help feeling that if I had a bigger vehicle, this kind of stuff would never happen. I’m almost ashamed to admit that I drive a Suzuki Reno

Which was the perfect car for me when I was a college student, who occasionally went on a few road trips with friends. But now that I’m a mommy, I feel like I should upgrade.  Since clearly people have no qualms about running a mother and her child off the road, I need something a bit more durable.  That’s why I’m thinking something more along the lines of this.

 I can almost imagine pulling up to my daughters Parents Teacher Conference meetings in this. And what about Black Friday shopping? Who would want to screw with the chick who just pulled up in a military assault vehicle? I would never have to worry about people cutting me off in traffic again because let's be honest, if you were going to cut off a car, would you feel more comfortable jumping in front of a Reno, or this beast of a vehicle? After careful consideration, I really only have one question. Does it come in pink???

-Reese

Monday's Laugh of the Day!

LOL. My favorites are The Stalker and Donkey Kong.

Enjoy

-Reese

My Daughter, The Comdedian

My daughter is hilarious. I know, I know,  it’s nothing earth-shattering or spectacular, but she is, and here’s why:

1. She waits until mommy goes to change her diaper, and then begins to poop. Then, once she’s finished pooping, she swiftly follows it up with a fart. So all the poop that she has just finished excreting from her tiny little body has now become a projectile, and is heading straight for mommy’s face. Daddy, of course, is standing just far enough back that he escapes unscathed. 

2. She falls over, and then accusingly looks across the room at me, as if I telepathically knocked her over.

3. If she falls over and I’m not looking, she pulls herself up and continues doing whatever it was that she was doing before. However, if she falls and knows that I’m looking,  she begins wailing. Such a drama queen. She gets that from her daddy :D

4. Whenever she’s doing something she’s not supposed to be doing (which lets face it, is anytime that she’s awake) she looks over at me, as if to make sure she has my full and undivided attention, smirks, and then proceeds to do whatever it is that I've told her not to do.

 5. See picture below...

6. When you're making silly faces at her in a lame attempt to cheer her up, she has this unnatural ability to stare at you as if you were the most retarded person on the planet.

I’m sure most babies have done at least one or more of these things at one point or another, but every time she does something from this list, it’s truly and inescapably hilarious.  Except for number 1, that’s just yucky!

So tell me, what is the funniest thing your children have ever done?

     XOXO Reese

Allow me to Introduce Myself...

 I’ve been sitting around for the past day trying to decide what my first blog should be about. Apparently, the girl who never runs out of things to write about (and I do mean NEVER) is having a bit of a brain fart. I guess when I envisioned myself writing my first blog, I thought it would be something meaningful and life-altering.

So far, I’ve got nothin’. At the very least, I suppose it would be polite for me to introduce myself. If you’ve read my about me section, then this will sound a bit redundant, but if not then Hello, my given name is Theresa, but please feel free to call me Reese.

I’m a bit of a Jane of all trades. I cook (or at least attempt). Design jewelry and occasionally dabble with decorating cakes. I was born in the City of Brotherly Love ( Philly), but only spent the first 3 months of my life there. The other 24 years and 9 months of my life have been spent moving from state to state and country to country. I’ve finally settled down in Charlotte, NC with my fiancé James and our beautiful 8 month old baby girl Jasmine.

 As it typically goes, most kids who grow up in the military either join themselves or marry someone who is serving.  I suppose that would make me a bit of an exception (for now at least). Luckily for me, when I met James, he had just decided to get out of the Army after serving as a medic for 8 years and go on pursue his degree, which is how we first met. Interestingly enough, we each have conflicting accounts of how we came to be a couple. He’ll tell you that we just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and I’ll say that he pursued me relentlessly. Either way, we’re together, so that’s all that matters :)

I’m a senior at UNCC where I am finishing up my Bachelor’s degree in communication, more specifically PR.  When I’m not hunched over my computer frantically typing papers, or engaging in a tickle war with James and Jasmine, I’m out trying new things. Zumba appears to be the latest in my long list of new ventures, which I highly recommend by the way.  I’d like to think of myself as pretty adventurous. James will tell you different though, but why would I listen to him? He used to jump out of planes for a living; it’s kind of hard to top that. I’ve gone indoor skydiving (really fun!) and whitewater rafting. Skiing, snowboarding, mountain climbing. I’ve taken cooking lessons, piano lessons and salsa lessons. In short, I’d like to think of myself as pretty well rounded.

 I have traveled A LOT. A pretty significant part of my life was spent living in Germany. I’ve traveled to France, Belgium, Austria, England, Italy, Switzerland and Poland, and I have every intention of going back to show my daughter where mommy grew up. Interestingly enough, while I was off leaving my mark on Europe, James was making his way through Asia. Through a combined effort we’ve either lived or visited four continents, and dozens of countries, but we’re not through yet.

“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make.”  ~Truman Capote

I said before, I am the girl who never runs out of words. Whether I’m cooking, sleeping, playing with Jasmine, or lying next to James, internally, I’m always writing a story. I hope that this blog will be a way for me to make my inner music audible. So if you like it, stick around for the ride because who knows what crazy shenanigans we’ll be getting into next?

~ Reese