You can call me Betty Crockett

No, I didn't not mean to say Betty Crocker, I meant how I put it. Call me Betty Crockett. I think of it this way, if I was as good as Betty Crocker than I would have no need to post about my exploration into the frontier of cake baking. That is where the Crockett part comes in. Wasn't he some famous frontiersman from back in the day?? I figured it was a fitting name seeing as I am learning the treacherous terrain of a subspecialty in baking, cake making and decorating! Thanks to Courtney, my cake-making inspiration, I have decided I want to dabble in the art. And my first project, Chase's 3 month birthday cake. Now I know there is no such thing as a 3 month birthday, but I thought it would be better to have a theme and what better theme than the love of my life, my son! I hope to make and decorate Molly's 10th birthday cake, but I also did not want to go wading into unknown waters until I at least scoped out the area. So I scoped and I looked in the all the dark and scary places, and found, it ain't so bad!

The Angel Foundation

Luv's is having a contest where you design a sign and people vote and the winner get's 1,000 smackers towards an organization. I chose to make a sign for the angel foundation. This non-profit paid for Amaris' funeral and allowed her to have a proper burial with no cost to us. Please, if you don't mind, vote for our sign! To be able to give back to them and help someone who has to undergo what we did would be a great thing. It is painful enough to lose a child, but to then have to go on and worry about making arrangements is just more than someone should have to bear. Especially with how expensive it can be. Thanks!

What rhymes with bugle?

Why, the answer is frugal! And as of late, I am extremely frugal, feeling guilty for spending the ticket price for groceries. Having a child can definitely change things, and in this case my spending habits had a big makeover. In the period of BC, before Chase, I would spend my money frivilously on whatever tickled my fancy. I would spend ridiculous amounts of money getting my hair dyed or purchasing things that I wanted, but almost always never needed. Now I find myself getting excited over Sundays, so that I can have the opportunity to peruse the Philadelphia Inquirer for the smartsaver and redplum coupon books. I find myself positively giddy as I gingerly open the booklets to discover the treasures left for me by the paper printing gods. I clip each and every coupon, not necessarily cause I plan to buy that product, but because I *might* use it down the line to save every last nickle, dime, and penny. I also notice that BC I would get excited about going bowling or going clubbing with my girlfriends. Now I find my joy and contentment lies in the CVS circular and our local grocery outlet Swann's. My downtime is spent making grocery lists that conform to my "grocery budget" and developing my gameplan for my multitude of CVS runs with the intent of spending under a dollar in out of pocket expenses. I knew that with motherhood comes diapers, no sleep, crying babies, changing plans to fit the needs of the family as a whole, but I did not know it also came with a steaming pile of frugality as well. Add this to list of learned lessons in parenthood. Not only does my money go from pedicures to pampers, but with this additional frugality, I am able to throw in an extra tub of wipes for only cents more. My mother would be proud.

snip snip or chop chop

Here I am today with a life changing decision before me. A decision far greater than whether to rebel against the British to make America and independent country. A decision of far more importance than the burning question of Pepsi v. Coke. A decision that could change life on this earth as we know. Well, I guess I am exaggerating a wee bit, but all in all, it is a big decision, for me. I need to decide whether or not to get layers put into my hair to help bring out the natural wave, or if I want to go balls to the wall and just chop it into a shorter, stylized bob. Short hair tends to be the "mom" style, but I think it will give a little more maturity to my look. I have to face facts, I look like one of those teen moms in the Lifetime made for tv movies. I need to update my style a bit and embrace my new, but still sexy, mom-ness. Though still undecided I am leaning towards the shorter cut. I am still hesitant though after a botched perm a few years back that left me with about an inch of hair to my name. After having my hair melted so badly that running my hands through my hair would leave a wad of it weaved between my fingers, you can see where my hesitancies lie. Than again though, my hair seems to long to the point that it is borderline trashy. I doubt others see in that light yet, but I am rather sick of it and I need an update. Plus, it will always grow back. My other big factor that is leaning me towards the short and sassy look is that I can put my hair to good use after it is chopped. I plan to send my hair to locks of love if I do indeed get it cut. This way I can provide some hair for a child that would be otherwise without due to medical reasons. I am fully capable of growing my hair back, but others are not so lucky. If I am capable of helping ease some of the insecurities and fears of losing one's hair, than I have succeeded not only in updating my look for a cute and summery one, but I can help a child. There are not many feelings that compare to helping another, especially if that another is a child.

Mrs. Sniffles

It has officially hit. The cold that Matt had been harboring has finally moved down the line and now Chase and I both have the sniffles. This sucks big time. I have the whole shebang, the stuffy nose, sinus headache, scratchy throat, the whole deal. Too bad it is only Tuesday. I still have three days to go until the relief of the weekend comes. Maybe I will cheer myself up and do a CVS run by Saturday! Speaking of CVS, I feel like the CVS queen. Not the CVS queen such as the ranks of April and Nicki, but I am certainly the CVS queen of this household. 65.50 worth of goods for a measly 13.34, not too shabby! I will update with pics of the loot later, it's a damn good stash and now I am itching to expand it. I am thinking of going for one listerine smart wash, the Dove skin revitalizer, a deodorant, and a Huggies baby lotion. This should cost me about 8 bucks out of pocket, but will give me a return of 11.50 in ECB's towards next week, which brings a new week and month of savings!

The hunt, the saga continues...

Now let's get back on track. We know why I need the loan, but what we don't know is if we got it. Well the answer to that question is, yes, I did get the loan, but only partly. We are credit approved, which is a reassurance that my dad and I combined are creditworthy for a loan of that amount, but the downside is that West Chester has to approve the amount. Further downwards of that downside is that WCU has a cap on the amount of aid you can take out, unfortunately for me that cap is about 21,000 dollars shy of what I need. You can appeal the process though, and that is where we are at now.

I initially spoke with a gentleman in the financial aid office at school. We will call him Mr. P. Mr. P was pretty cool and he honestly seemed to want to help. I flat out asked him during our first meeting if he thought I would be able to have the amount I needed, and though he didn't say yes, he surely didn't say no. His response was to see how much aid I would receive from the government and go from there. I honestly believe that if it wasn't possible for me to receive what I needed he would have said no and left it at that. This occurred a month ago, around the time I received word that my loan was conditionally approved. Fast forward again to today. I went to the financial aid office to drop off the various forms of paperwork that I needed to turn in for my federal aid. Mr. P wasn't in so I decided to leave it with a secretary to forward to him. During our brief exchange I realized that I was glad to have my situation fall into the hands of Mr. P and not this secretary and the major butthead she called over. According to Butthead, WCU takes surveys and has deduced the "average" cost of attendance and living for the "average" student. First off let me say, how does a single mother compare with the average student when said average student lives on campus, has mom and dad footing a large majority of the bill, spends Thursday through Sunday consuming amounts of liquor comparable to a small human being, and living off of meal plans that average out to approximately 2 dollars a meal? So again, may I ask, how do I compare to the average college student. The simple answer is, I don't. Secondly, Butthead was a complete asswad. When I look at people I try to see them for who they are, you know, the whole what's on the inside thing. Where as when he looked at me I think he saw a stupid college kid who probably got knocked up because she drank too much, who had the kid to get the extra welfare money, and relies solely on her parents to take care of the big "uh-oh" He didn't see the girl who lost a baby, got pregnant with a little miracle only days after her daughter would have been one, the girl who busted her ass to work and go to full time during said pregnancy, and the girl who still got a B in nursing after losing 5 attendance points. No he didn't see that girl, he just saw the college chick who couldn't keep her legs shut, and this pissed me off. Butthead, don't pretend to know me and don't presume to tell me what the "average" college student does or doesn't do, because as I stated before, I am not the average college student, child included or not.

Now here I am. Pissed about Butthead, but the one ray of light in the cloudy sky...they are going to forward my paperwork to Mr. P because he was who I initially spoke with and they realized he would be most adept to handle my situation. For good measures, after speaking with Butthead and the secretary, I came to work and decided to email Mr. P to ask for a meeting to discuss my situation. What better way to get my loan than to talk to the nice guy and lay it all out there, plus, if I throw in a tear and a strategically placed eye dab, it might just put him over the line and he will grant me what I need. Now to go work on my fake cry...

The Hunt for the Perfect Loan

First let me clarify, there is no such thing as the perfect loan. The perfect loan would allow you to get as much as you need and have no interest, in fact, scratch that, you wouldn't even have to repay this. With that idea in mind, I guess I will dub this post the hunt for the near-perfect loan.

Let me preface this a little before I go into too much detail. After careful thought and consideration, I decided that it would be in my best interest to take out a personal loan to cover my cost of living expenses and income for the year. Having just had my son, I knew it would be very difficult, near impossible for me to attend school full time, dedicate adequate time to studying outside of class, meeting the many needs of my baby, and working full time. It would be enough to be a full-time mom without adding school and work to the pile. This thought lead me to the decision that I would either have to choose work or school. Now lets weigh this together. On one side of the scale we have one year left of school before I get my nursing degree and on the other side we have quitting school and working full time with the likelihood of getting another part time job. I think we can all see which way the scale tips in this equation, but for those who are not quite sure, let me add this. As a nurse I will make approximately 32 dollars an hour base pay vs. making 15 dollars as a registration clerk for the rest of my life. Is it clear now which option is in mine and my family's best interest. Well let me just spit it out, school is! Now enters the near-perfect loan. It allows me to resign from my full time position to an as needed status. This also allows me the opportunity to be home with my beautiful son more hours than not. Sounds perfect, right? Wrong, not quite there yet.

Now fast forward to a month ago. I applied for my loan and was approved with my father as a cosigner for a 35,000 dollar loan. I know this is a lot, but let me explain my rationale with this number. I make about 30,000 a year through my job, the extra 5,000 will help towards daycare costs while I am in school. I need the money for the full year because if I moved to part time I would not qualify for my healthcare benefits, but would make too much money to qualify for medical assistance. If I remain full time I would spend the majority of my paycheck on daycare so I could be at work. This doesn't make sense, why spend my hardearned money on daycare. I would, in theory, be working, but not making money. Why would I sacrifice time with my son to work a job that does not give me a return. My final option is to take the loan and remain as needed. This gives me the time towards my studies, the availability to be in my son's life on more than just a weekend basis, and staying on part time will allow me to regain my benefits immediately when I return to work as a nurse. This girl doesn't want to undergo a 90 day wait period for her benefits if she doesn't have to!

He dropped the ball...

Not the bad kind of ball dropping, like when a wide receiver drops the ball that could bring in the winning touchdown. Not the kind of ball dropping that occurs when a sales associate loses the big client. Not even the kind of ball dropping that happens when dad forgets to put the clothes in the dryer, walk the dog, and change the baby. This is the good kind of ball dropping. This is the kind of ball dropping that occurs when a 3 month old baby, with one undescended testicle has two balls in his sac, instead of one. Yes, you heard me right, Chase’s undescended testicle is making it’s way to its rightful home, next to his weewee instead of somewhere tucked in his tummy!! Sorry if this is too graphic for some, but this is cause for celebration. This means that he doesn’t have to see a urologist at six months, this means that he won’t have to undergo the ultrasound to see if he even has a second teste, and this means no surgery to retrieve it at 12 months! This is a great thing! First it was his blocked tear duct clearing up, and now with this, he’s a whole little guy now! I kid, I kid, he was a whole baby to begin with, but at least now we don’t have to worry about the other problems that are associated with treating this! Wahoobie!!!!

Who stole my cheese?

Got to love dieting. Not only do you have to have the willpower of a hundred people to do it, but it also takes time before you see real results. Lucky for me, I have my little peanut to help me on the straight and narrow path to slim-dom. I am so glad to have this little guy helping me out. It's like he's saying, "here mom, have the cheese, it will do you better than that snickers bar you have in your hand, trust me" Always glad to have a level-headed non-biased guy in my life. If it was Matt he would probably tell me to go on and eat the thing already, or he would try to eat it himself. Not my little Chase, he wants mommy to be skinny again. And he wants mommy to get her groove back. Just as long as mommy keeps her jugs, got to keep a little tummy and a little Chase happy!

It takes a village to raise a child...

but it only takes one person to get him sick. I believe the little man has a cold! Daddy had one for the past few days and I figured that he really wasn't that bad and that Chase and I might get off without one. I thought we were scott-free until this morning at least. Chase woke up stuffy, sneezing, and coughing. It was cute really, but made me sad that my little man is sick. I think I have the beginnings of it too, seeing as the both of us have spent all day in bed. He originally woke up at 11 and Daddy took him so I could sleep a little longer. Around 1 Dad brought him back down to eat and the two of us passed out until now, 5. I just feel bad the little guy doesn't feel too hot.

Daddy was a nice daddy though and maneuvered the pregnant filled waters of Babies' R Us to get the little guy a sesame street humidifier. It has now been assembled and is filling the room with humidified air as we speak. Let's hope that makes a difference. I will update later regarding the quality of the humidifier and if it is worth the $30 spent.

7 until the old Chelsea

Losing the baby weight is definitely not an easy task, nor is it fun. Think about it, you go from a pregnant state where you can eat practically anything you want without the worry of weight gain. You're growing a baby, you're gonna gain weight regardless. Than comes the delivery of your beautiful baby and with that comes the realization that being chunky is not as acceptable anymore. Before you were providing nutrition for your child, putting on extra weight in maternal stores, circulating more blood to oxygenate the baby, and your boobs were bigger to support lactation. After the baby comes you get all of the joys of those fat stores and big boobs, but now you can't blame it on the baby. I remember laying in the hospital bed with my little boy chilling in the bassinet next to me. I remember looking down and seeing this piece of playdo that *used* to be my abs. I just remember thinking, "He's out, why don't I look skinny again?" You see all these super skinny celebrities that magically lose all their baby weight by the time they are discharged from the hospital and I wonder, why didn't that happen to me. But than I realize that I don't have a full crew of fitness gurus, acclaimed chefs, and stylists to dress me for my shape. All I have is my at-home aerobics tapes, my $6 calorieking book, and the buckets of "skinny" clothes from last year.

I did know that though my resources were limited, I was determined to lose the weight. I figure I weighed about 200 lbs at delivery (cut me a break, I had an 8 pound kid) and did not want to carry that weight around, let alone do it in the time of the year that everyone is running around in their underwear, calling it this thing named a swimsuit. In my endeavor to regain my pre-pregancy physique I decided to watch my calories. Herein lies my previous point, in pregnancy you can eat what you want, but after that baby comes it's a whole new ball game. Now I am counting my calories and watching the types of foods I put in my body. It has been 12 weeks since delivery and luckily for me, it is paying off and I am seven pounds until the old Chelsea returns! So here I am 41 pounds down and 7 to go. My next goal...135!

Note to self: next time I am pregnant, don't go in with the mindset of "who cares how much I gain, I'll lose it eventually" I have a feeling that the third time around it might be a little more difficult to drop the weight...?

He caught it!

Well, it is official, the kid has caught his thumb. And not like he has a few times over the past 12 weeks, but full on caught it. As in he sleeps with it in his mouth, he does it in the carseat, a little nip in the bouncy seat, a tasty when snuggling, and even as far as to try and suck on both the nip and thumb at the same time during his feeds. The kid is addicted to the thumb! I always told myself I would rather a kid use the binky than the thumb because you can take away a pacifier, not so much the deal with the thumb. If I try to take that away than Child Protective Services might scoop in for endangering a child or something like that. I like the idea of the thumb though, if the binky falls out we have to pop it back in, you don't have that problem with the thumb. My only concern is that it will screw up his teeth, but than again, I think we have a little while to go until then.

My nine year old sister has to get braces from all her years of thumb sucking but I have a trick to share. Some kids will only suck their thumbs in their sleep and my tip/trick for solving that problem is a simple, but good one. It would probably work well when trying to wean your older toddler/preschooler from the thumb. Wrap an ace bandage around the elbow of the thumb sucking arm. This way the child can thumb suck to sleep for the comfort, but after falling asleep the resistance will be too strong and out pops the thumb. It's a win-win.

I also went today to get my car checked. It was making some noise when I was driving to work the other day. Phil checked under the hood and couldn't find a problem. I do have to get my brake pads changed in the near future. I plan to watch/help Eric change them so that in the future I can save myself some bucks and do it myself! I am a handy do-it-yourself type of chick!

As a final note, I also had the biopsy done today, totally didn't feel a thing which was nice. Only downsize, now there are two spots on my cervix rather than the one. Keep your fingers crossed that it is nothing. I tested negative for HPV so it isn't related to that. I told Matt I am a medical mystery. I have a rather low heartrate, but have normal lab work and a normal EKG. I have abnormal cells on my cervix, but not the normal causative factors involved. I got pregnant with Chase and don't even remember having sex during my more fertile times. I think if the biopsy comes back normal it will further confirm that thought!

A new beginning

This blog is a sequel to my pregnancy blog, Nine Months and Counting. I felt it a good fit to begin a new journey seeing a my journey through pregnancy has come to an end and my larger endeavor has come upon me. This is the lifelong mission of exploring and learning about the joys and sorrows of parenthood. I am not a first time mom, but this is indeed a first time experience. I lost my first daughter to a heart condition and though I was her mother, I never got to enjoy the role of mom. The time has come again, and I am in my new position of mommy, and I love it.

As stated before, this is the prequel to my pregnancy blog, which I got a little slackish on towards the end, but I was hugely pregnant, still working full time, and was a student, so can you blame me.

Now here I welcome you with open arms to experience my journey beyond nine months into the mysterious and ever changing life of a mommy! I hope you enjoy the ride, I sure will!