Milk Carton

Bet that is where you thought you would see me soon. I have been missing from the Blog World and the Facebook world for a few weeks now. I have no real excuse. Just that I'm trying to manage the whole work/mommy/friend/wife/daughter/sister thing right now. You know life in general.

Things are going great in my world. I feel like my old self again and it is a wonderful feeling. We had a chance to get out last weekend for an awesome 80s party. It was nice to let loose and have a great time.

I think that I may have even turned into "Stacy" for a little while on Saturday night. Many of you know who "Stacy" is but if you don't here is a quick run down.... "Stacy" is what Chris calls me when I drink too much. In other words she is drunk Tracy. Most people think that "Stacy" is a ton of fun. She likes to sing, dance, laugh and have a good time. She is everything that Tracy isn't. "Stacy" has been known to do some crazy things. She is the life of the party and most people love her but Chris hates her. Chris says that this is because he has to take care of "Stacy" when the party is over and everyone else gets to go home. Apparently "Stacy" is difficult if she drinks too much. Good news is that "Stacy" rarely makes an appearance and usually when my hubby starts to see her coming around we call it a night and head home.

OK so I have gone off the subject of this post. The point is you can call off the search party. I'm back.... Safe and sound for now.

It has been 3 months since our sweet Harper came into this world and I can't imagine it without her. Here is a little update about her:

She now has a nickname. We call her Harpy. Thanks to my sister and her kids.

Harper can hold her head up, smile at Mommy and Daddy, pull Mommy's hair, and put her hands in her mouth.

Harpy likes to watch her mobile, play on her activity mat and sit in her Boppy pillow and swing.

Harper dosn't like to wear hats or hairbows, to have her clothes changed or do "Tummy Time".

Working 9 to 5

I headed back to work this week. It has been a pretty easy transition and I'm doing fine. It helps to know that Harper is in the care of my Mother. I have had little time to myself this week. As soon as I get home form work it is time to take care of little Miss Harper and get some house work done. By 9pm I'm worn out and I head to bed. Hopefully I will adjust soon and get a handle on my schedule.

Two Months

Wow I can't believe that it has been 2 months since we welcomed our sweet little Harper into this world. Things around here have been crazy. When I was pregnant I was able to send out a weekly update now I'm luck to get one out once a month. Here is what has been going on with us:

Harper is such a little sweetie we call her the Cuddle Bug because she will just love and cuddle on anyone. She is getting so big. Current weight is 12.5 pounds and 23 inches long. This puts her in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. She is becoming so aware of her surroundings and recognizes Mommy and Daddy's voice. Chris and I love to sit and listen to her coo as she is finding her voice. She enjoys playing on her Tummy Time mat is really trying hard to turn over. I think she reach this goal very soon. She is a pure delight and our worst day with her is better then any day without her.

I have found out that things aren't always" sunshine and rainbows" when you are the Mom of a new born. Colic and Reflux decided to join our perfect little world about 2 weeks ago. Things had gotten so bad that Chris and I spent last Friday night at the Emergency room at Children's Hospital in Plano. My family has a history of gastrointestinal issues and things just didn’t seem right with Harper after she spent 3 hours of nonstop screaming. They sis and ultrasound an x-ray and some other test on her and everything is fine. She just has sever Colic and Reflux. This makes for a miserable Mommy and Daddy as sleep is something we just don’t get much of right now. Thankfully we have a wonderful support network. My Mom has been so good about helping us out and giving Chris and I a little break. She spends one night a week at our house and takes Harper for the entire night. This gives us an opportunity to get a full 5 hours of much needed sleep. I can't even begin to describe how wonderful I feel the night after my Mom is here. My sisters beg to baby sit Harper so I oblige and let them have her for a few hours. This has given Chris and I the chance to enjoy dinner out a few times or just make a nice trip to the grocery store. We have even been able to catch 2 Dallas Stars games.

I must say that being a stay at home Mom is a very difficult job. I have enormous amounts of respect or my friends who do this. There have been plenty of days that I think sitting in a meeting and reviewing Excel Spreadsheets and Power Point Presentations would be much better then attempting to comfort a child that jus can't be comforted. However in the end there is no better job then being a Mommy. I go back to work on Monday and I know it won’t take long for me to wish I was at home with Harper. Just a simple case of the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence. I'm looking forward to going back to work as it is part of my life that I have really missed. Knowing that Harper will be with my Mom everyday gives me the piece of mind that I need.

GYMBORee

Six months ago the phrase "It's time for Gymbucks" would have meant nothing to me. This week I was able to experience the shopping frezie that is Gymbucks time at the children's store Gymboree. My sister had been preparing me for this moment and as I shopped at Gymboree from October - December I began to accumulate as many Gymbucks as possible. In my family we pool our Gymbucks and make most of our purchases "in bulk" meaning we shop for all 5 children at one time so that we can earn as many of these little rewards as possible. This week I counted up my loot and learned that I had $300 in Gymbucks to spend.

Here is the way it works..... If I buy $600 work of clothes at Gymboree then I can use my $300 on Gymbucks and only pay $300 for all the clothes. It's like shopping for 1/2 price. Works the same if you spend $50 you get $25 off, and so on and so on....

Apparently this event is a really big deal at this store because my sis called me on Tuesday to tell me we need to head to the local Gymboree to pre-shop so we could get all the good stuff and not have to dig when the store is crazy. I thought this idea was crazy but I'm still on maternity leave and have a little time on my hands so I played along and went.

We spent 2 hours going at Gymboree on Tuesday night picking out all of our loot. I must say very little of this was Harper's. She has so many clothes that I don't even know if she will ever get to wear them all. However My sister has the twin girls, and a 5 year old boy so she had plenty to buy.

The women at this store are CRAZY I mean bonafied LOCO need to be on some sort of drugs to control their anger CRAZY. I have never in my life seen so many rude women gathered in one place. The way some of these "ladies" were treating the sales people at this store was nothing short of appalling. I wanted to to just tell the sales associates to close the store and head to the nearest bar where I would treat them all to shots.

I thought I had seen it all on Tuesday night so when I went back to the store on Wednesday morning to pick up all the goods I was even more surprised at what I saw. A line that went out the door of the store and even more CRAZY women ladies in a frenzy to buy children's clothes at 50% off. This place was insane and you would have thought they were giving things away for free.

So here is what I have learned from my Gymbucks experience.

1. Drink before I go and things will not be nearly as stressful.

2. The ladies who work at this store have more patience then they should.

3. Some women are real bitches when it comes to buying clothes for their kiddos.

4. Gymbucks are the equivalent of gold. Maybe other stores should consider implementing Gymbucks and this economy could quickly take a turn for the better.

5. I'm willing to put myself through all of this because the clothes there are really cute!

A Night at the Miazga House

After I made a fantastic gourmet dinner of Stove Top Stuffing and Pork tenderloin (heheh) I gave Chris a choice. He could either clean up the kitchen or hold the fussy baby. Chris chose to hold Harper. She was so fussy tonight and her tummy was the cause of all this frustration. While I cleaned I listened to her cry while Chris did everything he could to comfort her. I so wanted to jump in but he made a choice and I needed to let him work through it with her. He keeps making comments to me about how gassy Harper is and all the farting she is doing. Our sweet baby can fart like an old man. So bad that I often ask Chris if it was him or the baby that just made all that noise. Chris told me that he thought Harper was working on a little gift for me and he will let me know when it is ready. The rest of the conversation went like this.

C - "Wow I think Harper finally pooped because she just fell asleep"

Me - "Did you feel the eruption and vibration?"

C - "No but she seems much happier now so she must have done it"

Me - "Did she let out a big breath, then smile at you with a look a relief"

C - "No she just fell asleep"

Me - "Are you about to gag from the foul smell that is coming from our sweet babies butt?"

C "Nope"

Me - "Then she is just taking a break. I promise... you will know when the big event happens"

Yep.... I'm raising such a sweet little lady. I think it's time for me to go back to work. I clearly need some adult interaction.

Holidays 2009

We were so busy over Christmas this year that I’m just now getting a chance to down load some photos.  We had a great time visiting friends and family over the holidays.  Here are a few pics of what we did.

We had dinner with all my child hood friends from Grapevine.  Harper was so spoiled all night long as they girls insisted on holding her the entire time.  Kim and Beth just didn’t want to put her down.  I know where I can get a good babysitter anytime.

Our friends Jen and Matt hosted an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party.  I had to fly solo to this party because Chris was sick. He missed an awesome time.  My sweater Rocked thanks to my sweet neighbor Kimmie. 

On Christmas Harper did this….

Christmas looked like this