I am in LOVE.

This is going to be one big rambling blog. I'm hoping I just finish it. My two, almost three year old is climbing like a monkey on steroids all over the furniture in between bites of her lunch screaming "SAVE ME MOMMY!" (yes I'm pretending not to hear her, so what) and my newborn is sleeping somewhere besides my arms. I should be writing out some thank you cards but I'VE BEEN DYING to blog about our new chapter of life we're in. So yes, I HAVE CHILDREN NOW. I have two daughters, my girls. I am so in love with life. Unbelievably happy. I am a stay at home mom. Who knew I would love it so so much. I used to say I could and would never be able to do it. I'm in my second week now and don't see myself wanting to go back to work ANY TIME SOON. Georgie Hazel Inman came on March 6th at 12:46 pm.. She came so easily and smoothly. I was dilated to a 5 and 80% effaced for 3 and 1/2 weeks. I finally agreed to let Dr. Birch break my water. I literally was walking around more than halfway done with labor. The reason I never went by myself was because my cervix was backwards or something. I can't remember the technical term. So we get to the hospital at 6 and I had already decided I was going to TRY to go without an epidural. I just wanted to know what it felt like. With Ruby I never felt a thing. It was the perfect delivery. So Zin, no pain. Well, she broke my water at around 8am. For about an hour nothing....I was good. Around 9:15 I felt a small contraction and told Jared as I was laughing hysterically, I want an epidural. He was so relieved, Dr. Birch was so relieved. They wanted me to have one desperately. I was laughing at myself because I knew for me, it was unrealistic not to have one if I could. I'm not a fan of pain. So the nurse comes in and I say "go ahead and order an epidural, I'm over it". She was relieved. He came in around 9:45 and the contractions were BAD by then. I was already in transition and shaking and trembling. He administered it at 10 and by 10:20 I was good as gold. I really think one hour of FEELING labor is about all I needed. Dr. B came in and I was only at 6. So for the next two hours Mom, Jared and I just chatted and I was falling in and out of sleep. I was so tired for some reason. I think for the first time in months I actually felt good. Georgie had sat on a nerve from around 4 months pregnant until I had her and it was painful. Anyway, she came in around 12:15, right after Jared went to the cafeteria to get lunch, and said "YOU ARE COMPLETE!". Mom (who refused to leave the room for any reason) called Jared and told him and he just said "I got it!" and hung up. He was back quickly. When the nurses and Dr. Birch were ready finally, around 12:32, I started pushing. I pushed five times and there was my beautiful, perfect, healthy sweet second baby girl. Recovery was fine. I never had much pain besides the uterus contracting when you are in the beginning stages of nursing. That HURTS! They say it's worse with the 2nd baby. The more babies you have, the more it hurts. I can NOT imagine how bad it hurts Mrs. Duggar! Ha! Georgie had a rough start. She and I were in the hospital for 3 weeks. We finally came home on March 26th. And that is when the best part of my life began. I really did wonder if I would love someone else as much as I love Ruby. Of course I do! It's the most amazing feeling to have two beautiful baby girls. And a bonus, I get to be with them every single day! I'm talking like it's perfect, which to me it is. Yes I have days, moments, hours, where I could pull my hair out. Like yesterday, at 5pm when Jared was supposed to be walking through the door but was late. Dinner was burned, part of it was on the kitchen floor, and I was in the recliner with a nursing baby and the toddler....just watching tv as if nothing were wrong. Ha! Welcome home Dad! He asked "why do you put so much pressure on yourself? You don't have to have dinner ready for me everyday!". But I want to. It's so nice to eat and be done with dinner by 6:00 or 6:30. I promised myself one thing when I decided to be a stay at home mom. I will not do every single thing we get invited to. I will say no and decline when I RSVP to parties. If it's going to stress me out, or more importantly, my family, we are not going to do it. It's not worth it to me to be running around here like chickens when we don't have to. I think that's my favorite part of staying at home. Not having to wake up and GO GO GO when our feet hit the floor. I don't want it to end. I don't want my babies to grow up. I'm in love with my life right now. I might try to blog more. I wish I could figure out how to put it on my new phone. Tomorrow I might blog about how I want to crawl in a hole. But I'll still love my life. It's good. I did not proof read this. I hope I can get some pictures out to you soon. I have some beauties to show off. :) Have a good week!

Ruby is Potty Training

Ruby is on the road to success. A long time ago I told my friend Bobbi, "I think Ruby is going to be that child that just starts going in the potty when she feels like it". Ok, who says that?!?! For months I have been kicking myself because she has had absolutely no interest in it. She has gone here and there but nothing consistent. Well, the past week, she tells me "I want to be NAKEDDDDD". Bless her. Who isn't comfortable naked? So of course, I let her. But I just get nervous about her restroom issues. Not anymore. She has literally "just started going in the potty"!!! The first night was a few weeks ago. She was really quiet and I head to my bedroom to see what she's up to. Out she comes WITHHHHHH her toilet bowl in hand with pee pee in it! She was so proud. She said "I peed in the potty Mama". Of course I just freaked out! I made Jared come and look (to avoid pee pee all over the house). Ever since, she has been doing just that. She asks every night, "can I be naked Mommy?". Of course! The last two nights I have made it a very exciting thing to "go pick out some panties". She has horse ones and Mickey/Minnie ones. She still doesn't want to wear them. She literally wants to be naked. Last night she went in the potty twice. Y'all, this is WITHOUT PRIZES! Anyway, she did poo poo in her panties last night. That's ok though. I told her it's ok to go poo in the potty too so we'll see how it goes tonight. She DID NOT like it in her panties so maybe that helped the issue. I am just so excited. Seeing her face after she goes and how proud of herself she is, it's priceless. She claps for herself and runs out to tell her Daddy. I love it. I just can't believe it's happening. I constantly remind myself how well I know my child. I knew it would happen this way but then started to doubt my instincts. I love that little booger.

Late to Rise!

Well, the entire house slept in today. Mommy is in charge of waking everyone up and she turned off the alarm. OOPS!

So Daddy got to dress Ruby....

And I did not fix her hair!

Have a good, rainy day!

We are PREGNANT!

What exciting news! Among other changes going on at the Inman household, we will be adding a new little munchkin to the brood.

Jared and I decided at the beginning of June it was time for
#2. We found out on June 30th that we are pregnant. We are so very blessed to say the least.

I don't know if I held out on telling everyone because I was so shocked that I didn't believe it or if I just wanted to make sure all was ok. Either way, we got a sweet little ultrasound and that made it very real.

It hasn't been easy for sure. I was always a little frightened of getting pregnant with a toddler but never imagined how tough it would be. I've been SICK. AND. TIRED. Very sick. Every single day. It's getting a little easier though. Or maybe I just figured out how to manage.

I most definitely, I am 100% positive, I couldn't do it without Jared. He is amazing. I didn't throw up all weekend and I think it's because he let me "sleep it off" as I was told to do by a good friend. I slept until 10 on Saturday and 9:30 on Sunday. I didn't get sick. If only I could do that every day.

I have no desire to eat, but I have to. I eat a lot of pickles. I'm pretty sure I could eat a jar a day if I didn't feel guilty about it. I'm also obsessed with fried potatoes covered in cheese and jalapeños with ranch on the side. YUM. Butterfinger candy bars too. I have to stop. At this point though, I am just happy to get and keep anything down so I don't care what it is.

Ruby doesn't really understand. I tell her there's a baby in my belly, she says "I want a boy" or "baby brother". I hope she is not disappointed if its a girl. I think she's going to be a really sweet big sister. I've been getting a lot of very helpful advice from other mom's about how to handle toddler/newborn that I am storing in the back of my mind.

I cannot wait for this baby to join us. I am only 10 weeks but I honestly feel like it is just flying by. The unconditional love I receive from Ruby and that I have for her, I just can't wait to multiply that by 2.

We are unbelievably blessed. Thank you God!

Here We Are!

Ok I know, it's been too long. It's been so long and I'm so ashamed that I have thought about just deleting to save myself the embarrassment of how neglectful I've been. But I didn't. I'm not a quitter!

Where to start... Ruby is TWO! She is actually 25 1/2 months old. She is so big and so smart. She remembers everything. Even the things I don't think she's listening to or watching, she repeats and does. Sometimes it's mind blowing.

She eats GREAT. We couldn't ask for a better eater. She might be picky but if its what she likes she eats a lot of it.

She's calling me "mom" and Jared "dad". It cracks me up. I'm thinking she hears us call our parents that. I still hear mommy and mama but a lot of times it's "here mom", "no mom", "ok mom". I don't know why that makes me laugh.

We converse with her and we all fully understand each other.

She loves to sit on the counter and help us cook in the kitchen. It makes me a nervous wreck but we never go far.

She got a giant trampoline for her birthday and LOOOOVES IT! She does tricks on it already. She calls them "flips" but she just lands on her bottom. It really gets her energy out and she comes out of there sweating.

She yells at us "hey hey hey" when she doesn't want something to happen---change of diaper, lotion after bath (yes she still hates that), coming inside, anything she doesn't want to do. That's something I just want to remember so I'm documenting it.

She calls spoons "sooms"... I think that's cute too. I know you're supposed to correct them but I can't help but think she's just cute. She'll correct it when she's ready.

She still sucks her thumb and I still don't plan on trying to prevent it. That is just one more thing she'll grow out of.

She is not potty trained. I'm 99% positive she is ready and I'm not doing my part . It makes me very sad. All I know to do is keep reading and praying that God will lead me in the right teaching direction. If any of you working mom's have any advice let me know. I am ALL EARS!

She is sleeping great. She still sleeps in her bed. We've been going to Alma a lot lately so on the weekends I let her sleep with me. I love it. She used to not sleep very good with us but now she does. If it was up to me she'd be in bed with us every single night. She's napping 2-3 hours a day lately. Usually 3, yesterday it was a 4 hour nap. She sleeps 11-12 hours at night. If it wasn't for late summer nights she'd go to bed at 8:30 every night.

I think she's absolutely perfect. We are so blessed. Thank God for her!!!!!!!

Child Care...MORE MOMMY GUILT!

We made a decision this morning. Once again, I am left struggling with what I'm "supposed to do" and what my heart is telling me is right. I have been on the waiting list at a child care center for months, maybe a year actually. Well, Ruby's start date is August 18th, just like starting a new school year. Every time I speak to the sweet lady coaching me on how awesome it's going to be, I get a sick feeling in my stomach. What to do?!?!

Well, we are staying right where we are! Ruby is only two years old and she's thriving like crazy right where we are. I don't know why it's necessary to get her out of home child care so soon. It's not!

I told Jared this morning, we are doing at least another year with Kathy. Ruby has no problems around a lot of kids. I see no social issues with the fact that she's only with a few kids every day. But most importantly, Kathy loves her so much. I don't think we could switch to daycare and find that love. She has been with her since she was three months old. Kathy loves her like she is her own. When I told Kathy this morning, she was so happy I could tell it was the right decision. She believes so strongly in home care. I know it's because it's her livelihood, but I also HIGHLY trust her and think she's raised some pretty amazing kids herself.

I am constantly being swayed in my decisions by what mommy society says is next. I don't know why. I am pretty sure I've mentioned it a million times, the mommy guilt. It's so hard. But one thing I've learned in the past two years is to follow my heart and my instincts. When I don't it seems like it has always been the wrong decision.

I guess I decided to blog about this to remind myself to follow MY heart and MY instincts. And to trust it. It's so hard sometimes.

Well, shoot!

So I totally jinxed Rubes. I am constantly thinking about how she's so healthy but tell myself "don't say it out loud"... Well, I did. In my blog. And now she has strep throat. What?!?!

At 1:00 in the morning she was just so restless and crying over and over. Not just her dream crying. So I went to check on her and she was burning up. 101 or so... Don't remember, saw 10----and knew it was bad. I gave her some Tylenol and she slept with us the rest of the night. Very restless.

We get up for work (maybe) and she's totally lethargic. Fever is back up. Jared insists I take her to the doctor. Now, of course I want to but at the same time, if you've ever been "that mom" at the doctor's office insisting something is wrong and finding out its "just teeth", "just a cold", you'd want to wait too. But I asked my very best mom friends and they both agreed, take her in.

I'm so glad I did. The 3 hour wait was worth it. Poor sissy. She's so pitiful and miserable.

So we'll just lay here, on the couch, as long as she wants/needs.