Hargrove Fun Fun Fun

We love our little family. Derek is still working for Unishippers- they hired 2 new people (finally) so there has been much more progress than usual! I'm sure the business will thrive in the near future! Titan is driving us slightly crazy these last few days. I think infancy is a sick joke at times. He was sleeping through the night for a little over a month and then this past week he has decided to wake up at 2 am. The other night he woke up 4 times between 2 and 3 am. Then again at 4:30 and finally at 5:12. Hmmm. Think anyone was grouchy the next morning? I think 3 of us were! I have to keep in mind that if I'M not sleeping then neither is the baby. So if I can't function without sleep...how on Earth can he?! I am a firm believer in Becoming Baby Wise and I'm very faithful with my schedule on feeding, wake time and naps. The book says that Titan is probably just going through a growth spurt & is getting hungry in the middle of the night. HOWEVER...all it ever takes is him getting his binky back in his mouth for him to fall back asleep. I'm convinced that if he was starved, he'd scream the entire time until I fed him. It's pure lunacy & I'm in need of some tips. So please, if you have any for me, I'd consider all options in order to save my sanity. And the sanity of my husband, of course. : ) Being a mom is growing on me, I suppose. It wasn't one of those things that came so easily and naturally for me. I sometimes get lonely during the days and the weather isn't always so stellar to be going for a walk or playing outside. I can only watch Baby Einstein and read "Moo! I'm a Cow!" so many times before I'm done with that for a while. I sometimes play the Wii during the day but if my Mario dies too many times in a row, I quit out of frustration. When I play that game, I get really nervous for some reason. My feet start to sweat 9 out of 10 times. Please...don't ask me why. Needless to say, I miss the alone time with my OTHER baby. We are planning a week long cruise later this year (thanks Mom for offering to keep your pal for a week) and we are looking forward to it very much! We love our little man, but the love that created him started with Derek & I and so that love must stay the strongest of all! No matter how many kids our future holds for this Hargrove family, Derek always comes first. I'm so glad for that, too. He is my best friend and I couldn't have been dealt a better hand of cards in life.

Somebody got a little sleepy.

I walked into the living room to find my boys sitting like this. Derek is playing Mario Brothers on our Wii while Titan is entranced in his Bumbo chair.

This is my extremely handsome husband in his work attire. I made him pose for me before heading out the door. I could look at him all day long. : )

Titan is a sweet little boy, we sure do love him to pieces. What I'm doing in this picture is what I do all day long. I can't get enough of those fluffy, flawless cheeks!

This is our most recent family photo! As you can see, we are all wearing very fancy clothes and we are in a studio. Also, it was taken by a professional photographer and we paid alot of money to get this photo, so we hope you like it. Okay, we all know that isn't the case & to be honest, I'm not sure how on Earth these cute moms muster up the energy to go out and get professional photos done with their itty bitty newborn babies. I looooove those pictures but looking back on when T-man was a small(er) fry, I couldn't have imagined finding the time for that. I guess I'm a wimpy mom.

This Is A Laughing Matter

Tonight, Derek and I were reading through old journals of mine. It was fun because quite a few entries mentioned his name and I wrote about our relationship in Albuquerque five years ago, before I ever left for college. It brings back many fun memories for us and I'm so glad I wrote them! Well, Titan didn't think it was so fun to read those entries with us, so he was getting squirmy. I tried to put him in his swing but he wanted nothing to do with it. He wanted to play with us! So, I wrapped him up in my arms and squeezed him all crazy. I buried my face in his neck and made crazy noises and he laughed for the first time! It is an unexplainable feeling listening to that silly little kid laugh. It makes you so happy. Derek said, "It makes you feel so fun! You feel like the funniest person in the world". Hahaha. We have finally become true parents, where the highlight of your day is hearing your baby laugh for the first time. All three of us were in the living room, cracking up. Today was a good day. : )

Earning One Badge At A Time.

I think when you're a mom, you own an invisible sash with invisible badges on it, kind of like in Girl Scouts. Today, I noticed my 3 month old BABY has a little part of a TOOTH! How this is possible, I am not sure. Because it's not even like it's his front tooth. It's a molar! Weird. So anyways, today I feel I have earned the Toothfairy badge. From now on out, I will play a Toothfairy role. I guess I've also taken on the role of Cupid, The Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus. Now that I think about it, I should just go buy a sash and make my own buttons with the name of each new title I earn on them. Speaking of craft ideas, I had a really excellent craft idea in my dream the other night! I had a dream little Titan was about 4 years old, playing the game Memory (the matching game) with pictures of our family on the cards. Wouldn't it be smart to print out 2 of each picture (pick out like 15 pictures you like and just double them) and then make a cute back to the card using construction paper or something and then laminate them. How fun! Then you'd have a personalized card game! I thought this idea was genius. I'll let you know if I ever get around to doing that. Funny how there's always time for good ideas and never time to execute them. All part of being a mom! But I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

The Time Has Come...

The other day I found myself roasting in our apartment, even with all of the windows open, along with the balcony door. Two ceiling fans were also on & I wondered how in the world it was still so hot. Derek says to me, "you can turn on the air conditioner." Well, although that does seem like the obvious answer, I then replied, "Well, I'm in denial. I just don't think it's right that the weather changes from winter to summer. I feel like, since it's APRIL, I should just be able to open my windows and enjoy the cool air outside." Since that "cool outside air" is actually making my apartment STUFFY, I decided Derek is right. The time had finally come...to turn on the AC. What finally did it for me was peeking in on poor Titan during his nap and seeing his face all red from the heat, but still sound asleep. I've spoiled the child...when he naps I lay him on his tummy, give him his beloved binky and put a wubby over his back. I don't mind the spoilage in this case, because he usually goes straight to sleep; super easy. Derek and I decided to stay in El Paso a while longer, after beginning to pursue our dream of moving to the A.Z. We think Unishippers will end up being a great business to be involved in one day and if we can make it work, it will be a huge benefit to us. But after the heat I've experienced these past few days, I'm glad it's only 90 here and not 110 degrees.

A Bad Case of the Saturdays

Today Derek, Titan and I decided to bum around at home and play 6 hours of Mario Brothers on the Wii. We beat the game! Well, I should say DEREK beat the game. He is so good at video games. Mario Brothers, Tetris & Ms Pac Man are the best games out there. We finally showered and got ready for the day around 4 o'clock. PM, that is. My mom offered to babysit Titan while Derek and I had a night to ourselves. It works out perfect for us, considering we need the alone time and grandma loves to babysit. We saw a movie for the first time in almost 4 months. We went to see Clash of the Titans. It was a great movie! Not to mention it was a super clean movie that could have easily been rated PG had it not said a couple of swear words. Anyways, we've been lazy all day and in my opinion, that's how Saturdays should be spent! (Once the cleaning is all finished...which I did!) Titan and I love having Derek home for the weekends...if only they would go by a little slower. He is such a fun dad and husband and he brings so much happiness to our home when he is here. We miss him Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. Looks like we'll forever have a bad case of the Saturdays.

I died.

So, I just noticed I haven't put a new post on here since August 14th of 2009! Well, here we are, our new family of 3 and it's already April of 2010. I can't even believe how fast time flies. Even saying "2010" sounds like we should all be in flying cars or something extremely futuristic. We had little baby Titan on January 7 of this year, and he weighed a whopping 6 pounds, 3 ounces. Needless to say, he was a shrimp! He is over 3 months old now and still wears newborn clothes. He stands up well, holds his head up well and actually takes steps when you hold his hands! It's amazing! All the things he does now, I didn't do until I was 8 months old!
Having a baby was definitely nothing like I expected. Labor was the worst pain I've ever been in, and delivery was the exact opposite. I had the epidural pretty late into my laboring and once it kicked in, I felt like a million bucks. I was up and walking to the bathroom an hour after delivery. Titan was an angel, he always has been. But he's been the world's worst eater. Derek swears that if we were in the pioneer days, he'd have died of starvation. I can't explain how difficult life is with a newborn, even when your baby is an angel. I learned that postpartum depression is NOT something you control, and it's NOT just for lunatics. Haha. I learned that you need 2 things 24/7 after your pregnancy: your husband and your mom. I learned that breastfeeding is a thousand times harder than people make it seem and that not all babies just "pick it up". I learned that getting up early and trying to live your normal life like before, going to the gym when your baby is 5 days old, and trying to fit back into all your normal clothes right away are things you SHOULDN'T try. But I also learned that when the dust settles and you regain your energy, and you see your baby smile at you for the first time, it's all worth that hard work and selflessness.
Derek is still working for Unishippers, he is the world's best manager ever. We're hoping this business really takes off and allows us the freedom of living wherever we'd like. Although El Paso is no paradise, it's great being close to family and living in a safe place. Besides the beef I have with lazy hispanics not learning English, El Paso is a great place to be. For now. : ) Being a stay-at-home mom gets boring at times, especially when all you want to do is play with your husband all day long. But we're planning a cruise this November for our 2 year anniversary. (I can't believe it's been 2 years! The honeymoon phase has yet to pass). We keep spare cash and coins in a Mason jar and decided to count it last night. We have almost $500 dollars in our jar! We've called it our "Cruise Fund" this whole time. We're looking forward to this getaway but my heart will break when I say bye to my baby for a week. I'm not sure I can do it so easily!
The 3 of us went to Avila's for dinner tonight and ate some delicious Mexican food! And we decided to give into our temptation of buying a Wii, so we went to Best Buy and hooked ourselves up with everything we need. It's now past midnight and we're still playing! It just might be in my best interest to go to bed before the 4:50 am feeding...