Life These Days

Life around the Tuna house has changed a lot in the last seven weeks. . . obviously. And, as any new parent can tell you, life changes from one day to the next.  With a babe this young, schedules fly out the window, and don't even think of being on time to any appointment or attending any great social events (sorry we missed your beautiful wedding John and Catherine!), at least not for a couple more months. Any new parent who tells you differently is totally lying their faces off.

So what is life like when you have an almost two month old? Well, I can't speak for every family, but for us it's something like this: eat, sleep, play, scream, cry, rinse, and repeat. In between all of that, here's some of the other stuff that goes down each day:

The kid and I have our morning chit-chat while Daddy gets ready for work.

We go for a walk to help Mommy get her squishy butt back in shape. 

There is A LOT of reading going on each day. Zoey's favorites so far are Goodnight Moon, Olivia, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. There is so much reading up in this place, I'm getting sick of some of these books. . . time to hit Barnes and Noble! 

Tummy Time!! This pic was snapped just moments before Zoey rolled onto her back!!

We officially smile. . . on purpose!!  Could you just die from the cuteness?!?

Playtime, supervised by big sister Scout. There is NO funny business while she's in charge! 

And occasionally, there is a little nap time to give Mommy a break.

The Nursery

Here it is - FINALLY - a peek into Zoey Kate's nursery.

Of course, I had to do a chalkboard! :O) 

Yarn covered Z - DIY by me

(wrapped and lovingly rewrapped after Scout decided to gnaw on it . . . the hooker!)

Crib - Target

Blanket and Sheet - Pottery Barn Kids

Stuffed Elephant - Jellycat (Zoey's first stuffed animal, ordered when we found out we were having a girl)

Stuffed Thumper - gift from the folks that work with the Hubs

Curtains - DIY by my mom and me (fabric found here) 

We followed great curtain tutorials here and here.

Zoey letters - wooden letters from Michaels, painted by me

Basket (similar here) - Target

Animals in basket - from my childhood

Crib skirt - DIY (inspired by this PBK skirt)

Crib skirt - DIY (followed this tutorial)

Wall color - Behr Subtle Touch 

Elephant Prints - Trafalgar Square (Etsy)

Frames - Ikea

Dresser - Ikea          Dresser Knobs - Anthropologie        

Changing pad cover - Little Owls Nest (Etsy)

Elephant bank - PBK (a sweet gift from my MIL)         

Lamp - Land of Nod          Basket (similar here) - Target         

 Bookshelves - Ikea         Chair - PBK         Owl - Pier 1

Elephant - PBK (a sweet gift from my cousin and his fiancé)

Print - Made by me :0)

Frame - Ikea

Print - Raw Art Letterpress (Etsy)

Frame - Ikea

Bookshelf - Ikea

So that's it. Baby Tuna's nursery. There are still a couple of things that we need, like a small table for next to the chair and a cute ottoman or pouf. I am so close to finishing a super cute elephant mobile, but since she isn't sleeping in here just yet, I've put that project on hold. I'll be sure to share it with you guys once it's all finished. :0)

And what would a posting be without a pic of the little princess?

A leftover pic from Easter. Notice how she's almost smiling? It's gonna happen one of these days! 

Baby Tuna's First Easter

On Sunday, we celebrated Zoey's first Easter. It was pretty uneventful, given that she is just 6 weeks old. We decked her out in bunny jammies. . . 

. . .and the Easter Bunny even left her a little treat. 

Zoey is so impressed. 

We had a delicious lunch with the grandparents (minus the mimosas I've been craving for months thanks to my breastfeeding. Boo to that!!), and watched a little March Madness. Sadly, my Gators were outplayed by Michigan and we all watched in horror (I will never get this image out of my head) as the Louisville player's leg looked like it fell off. By the end of the day, the Hubs and the bambino were pretty worn out. 

We had a rough week in the Tuna house and I was super happy to see it come to a close. I suppose it began with the babe hitting the "fussy" stage at 5 weeks. Or as I like to call it, " Mommy's Hell." She's been having moments of colic level freak outs and we've been at our wits end. Enter gripe water and things got a little less sucky for her and for us (for now anyways). Just in time for the hot water heater to explode (ok that might be a slight exaggeration) and flood the kitchen and garage. The carpeted garage. Thank god we rent! 

If it hadn't been for my mom, who was visiting on her spring break, getting up to make dinner a little early, who knows how far all that water would have creeped. I had been in the kitchen maybe 20 minutes earlier and it was dry as a bone. The poor Hubs got a panicked phone call from me, and the madness continued. Long story short, the babe, the pooch and I had to "evacuate" to Melbourne Beach to crash at my mom's while the poor Hubs had to stay behind and deal with the clean up. 

After a day of complete and utter "Mommy's Hell", my mom and I managed to throw the Baby Tuna in the carseat and take her on her first shopping trip to Old Navy. This momma needed some new spring post-baby clothes in a big bad way. Seems I'm in that super awesome place where my maternity clothes have been packed away but I'm not quite ready for many of my old tops, thanks to a lingering baby pooch and giant milk boobs. Actually, if it were up to me, and money were no object, I'd love to get a whole new wardrobe. It's funny how crappy all your old favorites can seem after 9 months packed away in the garage.

I follow a few other mommy blogs. Gals with little ones a few months older than ours. And you are always given the impression that this baby-raising business is easy peasy. They never seem to mention the colic, the inconsolable crying jags (from the babe and mommy, too), the horrific gas bubbles that you can feel rumbling inside your sweet babe. Sure I could fill my blog with endless tales of tummy times and loving coos and gurgles. But the truth is that as I write this, our Zoey is crying and fussing, and can only be consoled by me, which is great for the mommy ego for about ten minutes. Then you realize what that really means. It means you are always handed a screaming babe. It means that you can never use the bathroom again. It means that your legs will never get shaved and your hair will go days between washings. It means that your amazing Hubs will most likely feel useless, even though he has done all of the cooking, cleaning, and laundry for the last 6 weeks, on top of working a full day. And if one more person tells you "Hang in there. It gets better", you will cut someone. Duh, it will get better. But right now you are in it and it sucks every ounce out of you. You are exhausted, and not just from the late night feelings. It's actually the days that wear you out the most. You find yourself with endless patience for your munchkin, but short tempered with everyone else. Our situation is far from unique, I just felt, for any new mommies or mommies-to-be who may be reading, it needed to be said. This shit is hard! 

Now, before you go thinking that I'm ready to return my kiddo to Babyland General and have Xavier Roberts send her out with the rest of the Cabbage Patch Kids, let me tell you that it isn't all colic and green poo. Zoey is changing and growing everyday, which is amazing to watch. She is holding her head up for longer and longer periods of time, making tummy time a lot more interesting, even if it only lasts about two minutes.

 And we are this close to getting her to smile on purpose.

Why can't she grin like this when she's awake?!?!

But lately, those moments are overshadowed by the endless crying and fussing, the gas and digestive problems, the sleeping for twenty minutes at a time, and our issues with breastfeeding (the details of which I will spare you all). No one thought this would be easy, but I did think I'd be able to get at least one hour of downtime while she slept peacefully in her crib/bouncer/pack n play/swing. Silly me.

Like I said, it was a rough week. But there were some great moments. So here is the proof!