Parenting Advice

One thing I've learned since becoming a mom is that EVERYBODY feels entitled to tell you how to raise your child. Listen, I'm all for friendly advice and tips but when people tell me I'm a bad mom for doing something they didn't do, it gets annoying.

Example # 1:

I pierced Ashtyn's ears when she was 3 months old. Did she cry? You better believe it! Did I feel bad? Yes I cried right along with her. Did she die? NO! Right after Ashtyn got her ears pierced, a lady walked up to me and said, "I sure hope your happy that you put your innocent little baby through hell. I can't imagine what else you'll do to her. You shouldn't be a mom." Uhhhh... at this point I proceeded to cry even harder. :) I also get random ladies who tell me how mean and horrible I am because they notice her ears pierced, I've even received a couple glares. :) Keep glaring ladies cause those earrings aren't coming out anytime soon.

Example # 2:

I love letting Ashtyn meet new people. Especially the ladies at my work. They LOVE talking to her and playing with her and since I know them and work with them every day I feel like it's ok for them to hold her. The other day while at work, one of those sweet ladies said to me, "You know... you really shouldn't let random people hold her, she could get sick and then die." You my sweet friend are exactly right. I shouldn't let random people hold her, BUT you are not random and neither are the rest of the people here that I KNOW. 

Example # 3:

Breastfeeding... This is a kind of awkward topic, but probably the one that gets brought up the most with me. I didn't breastfeed. I did want to, but it just didn't end up working so well. I have a sister-in-law is totally for it and a sister-in-law that didn't really care. Both of their kids are perfectly fine and pretty normal, (if not above, but I'm totally biased.) I'm not pro or against it. I think if you want to do it great, if not thats alright too. My child isn't any slower than a child who is breastfeed and isn't any smarter (that I know of). Just because it didn't work out for me doesn't make me this horrible monster mom. 

Like I said, I love getting friendly advice, but I think I'm doing an alright job so keep your mean comments to yourself.. :) End of rant!

Temper Tantrums and Teething

Our sweet little Ashtyn learned how to throw temper tantrums last week. The first time she did it, it freaked me out so badly  i started crying. I tried EVERYTHING!!! Running water... toys... bottle... new diaper... NOTHING! She only cried harder. When I tried picking her up she stiffened her little body and threw her head back almost falling out of my arms. Oh man it made me crazy. I gave her to her dad and usually she immediately calms down but this time nothing changed she just kept screaming her head off. Finally we both got so tired we just laid her on our bed and walked out of the room for a second. It was horrible.. I felt like such a bad mom just letting her cry in there but I  also wanted to pull my hair out so I walked down the hall and took a breather. Five minutes later everything went silent in our room so we went in to check and SURPRISE... Ashtyn was completely passed out. We've figured out she only does this when she isn't fed fast enough which we're learning to figure out with the help of her "little" hints she gives us. 

Poor little girl is also teething... :( She drools everywhere. Her onesies are soaked within minutes because all she does is naw at them. Man am I glad I don't remember being a baby. Teething rings and carrots have become a necessity around here. We stash bags of carrots everywhere just in case she decides the onsie or toy isn't cutting it. 

Hopefully we get through this stage in Ashtyn's life because it's hard on all of us! 

That one time we went bowling!

Man, do we love bowling!!! We usually go with our good friend Derek but tonight we got together with some of our old cedar buddies!!! :)  

Zach, Bailey, Me and Jonny

We've had some pretty great times with these two! And they just got engaged! WOOT WOOT! They are probably the two coolest, funniest people you will ever meet! 

Back to bowling... you will usually find me struggling to get above a 50 which on a good night means I get a 53 or higher.. :) so proud... 

Jonny on the other hand is a master at bowling! :) He like to do these crazy, twisty throw things and usually ends up smokin' all of us. (He would like you all to know that he bowled a 190.)

 

The best part about bowling has got to be the people you meet though. We got to bowl next to these 3 guys who were taking the game pretty seriously. They weren't actually that bad, it might have helped though if they hadn't been totally wasted. When someone would bowl bad they would have a shot together. Lets just say it didn't take them very long to get "wasted." They were really nice though and started to cheer us on too. 

This last picture shows us girls defeated by the boys... But in our defense we did go easy on them and we totally let them win!!!

 

Mothers Day

First off... Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. Where would us kids be without you guys.

I'm feeling extremely grateful this mother's day because not only do I get to celebrate my own special mother, I get to wish my sweet mother-in-law and birth mom a happy mother's day as well.

To my mother:

Wow, where do I even start? Mom, you have always been my best friend but more importantly my mom. I gave you a quote for you birthday that said, "All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my mother." I meant that with all my heart. Obviously we all know now that I'm the favorite child but I wasn't always like I am now. I was the demon spawn from hell and you still loved me even when I didn't "think" I needed it. You have taught me love, patience and so many other things but most importantly you taught me to have faith always. I love you mom!!!

To my mother-in-law:

We really need more pictures of us. This is the only one I have.

Oh Barb, the adventures and good times we've had. I know lots of people say they have the best mother-in-law BUT lets be honest you are definitely the best! Thank you for teaching my husband to be the great father and husband he is today. (thank you for also making sure Jonny knows it's  not ok to moon people.) You have always been so excepting and loving. I really look up to you! Love you barb!!!

To my birthmother:

Thank you for making the biggest sacrifice by placing me. I can't even imagine how hard that must have been but you did it anyway. I know we've had our disagreements but I'm glad we've been able to work past it and build the relationship that we have today. Thank you for being there for  Jonny, Ashtyn and I. We love you.

Once we moved...

Hey Folks!

Sorry life has been a wee bit crazy these last couple weeks. Lots of new fun things happened in the Oliver household.

Mom went back to work... We're still not sure whether it's been a good or bad idea... 

Ashtyn decided to FINALLY start laughing! She's been giving us little giggles here and there but nothing like the belly laugh she gave Uncle NoNe the other night.

Dad started working from 6 am to 3 pm... (lets just say he's not as happy as he usually is.)

AND!!!

We moved!

I will hopefully post pictures of our wonderful new place when it doesn't look like a hoarders heaven. Geez, who knew two people had so much stuff... not to mention ALL the stuff that comes with having a baby. Let's just say she won't need any new toys anytime soon. 

We sure do miss our little old place with all it's storage and creepy grudge hideouts but our new place has some perks like;

*Dishwasher

*FULL size washer and dryer

*two bathrooms :) (love having my own)

We have also met our neighbors... not in the conventional "Hi, we're the Oliver's and you are?" way. We know they are slightly deaf due to the fact that we can tell what episode of glee they are watching by how loud the volume is. We also know they like to do insanity or some type of workout program because there is lots of jumping up and down going on. And we know that they really love each other. (I don't need to explain that one.) GAG! BARF! 

BUT, we sure love our new place and all the fun things that come along with living on the second floor of a three level apartment building. :)