I Am A Ninja

I mean the ninja that sneaks around without a peep and dresses to camouflage with everything around. Why you must ask? Because of my toddler! Being a stay at home mom/wife and living with two boys that do not like cleaning up after themselves, I clean A LOT. Everyday I am cleaning the same thing, literally. We keep our vacuum, swifter and broom in a closet so that Dorrian can't get into it. He enjoys "helping" me clean. If I do not let him pick up the trash he just threw on the floor or if I don't let him sweep the floor he throws a tantrum. I mean the tantrum that throws himself to the ground kicking and screaming. But there are times (almost every day) where I want to clean by myself and just get it done by myself. So I have to get out my ninja skills and keep Dorrian distracted so that I can clean. I will turn on the cartoons for him and tell him to watch it and sneak to the closet. I get it all done within 30 minutes if I do not have Dorrian's "help." Which don't get me wrong, I do love his help. It is rather cute watching him pick up the smallest of things off the floor and throw them in the trash. It feels good to teach him about cleaning after himself as well. Like before bed I have got him in the habit of picking up his toys before bed, or putting his yoohoo boxes and trash in the trash can whenever he is done. It's these little things that make me feel as though I am doing what is right, and being a good mother.

I enjoy being a mother, I do. But it comes with its sacrifices and problems. It is hard work to be a mother, especially at such a young age. Because I have had to put my life on hold, so that I can raise my son the way I want him raised. But I love it, I love that I can do that. It is just hard work. But I would not change it for the world.

This was a short post, mainly because Dorrian is about to wake up from his nap and I have to get some cleaning done and head out to my parents. I have to go there to do laundry. Why? Because we live at an apartment complex that shares a laundry units and I hate it. Kids walk in there and turn off the dryers while they are on and you don't know they do it until you go check your clothes, and your clothes are so wet still. Plus it costs 1.25 to wash and 1.25 to dry. Pretty expensive in my opinion when the washer and dryers don't work half the time. I just can't wait to get a house with my OWN washer and dryer, but baby steps is what it takes.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this post. I might make another post tonight to share some coupons with you guys. Check out the stores I have just added to my blog over to the right. They are all so amazing, and I will be giving out some coupons with them later.

Also, don't forget to vote for me on top baby blogs! Help me get to top 25, please.

God Bless You All!

Raisingme; What Dorrian taught me today -- That I can't blog nor can I crochet whenever he is awake. So I must do anything I want to do that does not require his help when he is asleep.

I Am Going To Be Such An Overbearing Mother

Growing up, I was pretty much allowed to do whatever the heck I wanted. Which is probably the reason why I stayed out of trouble. Because as children they enjoy doing things they know they are not supposed to do. It is an adventure in their little heads. Don't get me wrong, I did a few things that could of potentially have got me a big whipping. But they fact that my parents did not give me boundaries, make me want to get Dorrian a ton of them. I am a middle child, meaning I have a younger brother. He is 13 years old, so he is going through his teenager years. But every time I go to visit my parents, I notice how much it effects him to not have any boundaries. Even he can run wild and do what he wants and my parents do not care. He is not a bad kid, just has a bad attitude. Which in my opinion, results in being able to do whatever. I believe that when parents set boundaries for their children, it grows respect. It teaches the children to respect their parents and what they wish for you. When you do not have those rules, you children can start running over you and doing what the heck ever because they believe you will not care. This is why I plan on being an overbearing mother.

When I say that, I mean my kids will have a scheduled t.v. time. No access to a computer unless we are in the same room. But will have a limit on that also, unless they are doing homework. No cellphone until they are at least 15. I don't believe in having their own computer until they are old enough to make the money and buy/make one. Won't go outside by themselves until they are at least 7 or so. Unless we have a gated backyard. If they want to stay at a friends house, we must meet the parents of the child first. Must do their homework when they get home before anything else. Have a strict bedtime and no watching tv before bed etc. I will not allow them to eat when they want to, snacks wise. They must ask if they want a cookie before they just help themselves to the whole jar. Must say please and thank you, very important to me. Attend church and be in church functions. I want them to do something with themselves while in school. Meaning I want them in band, sports, clubs or anything of their choosing. I believe in grounding, strict grounding. Chores, oh yes chores. If they do not do them, grounded. I believe in buying them toys and what not if they do what they are asked.

There are just many things I plan on being with my children. I know I may sound strict as heck, but this is pretty much how my husband was raised. He is the most respectful, faithful and caring man there is too, because of the way he was raised. Which is the very reason why I want my children raised much like how he was. His parents were amazing parents, strict or not. I respect the way they did their job and look forward to being just as strict with my own. My kids might hate me time to time, but hey oh well. They will love me in the end. That is all that matters.

Thank you viewers for reading my blog. Please follow me on all my social media and follow my google plus. I follow back on it all!

Also, please take the time to vote for my blog and help me get to the top 25! You will find the link to the top right side of my blog. Just click and vote, pretty easy and fast. I will appreciate it very much so.

God bless you all and I do appreciate every single one of you.

Also, I made one of those ask.fm profiles to where you can ask me anything and I will answer. No matter what it is, just ask. I will appreciate it.

 ask.fm/raisingme 

Baby Essentials That Saved Me

I am going to do something a little different with this post. Because I know whenever I was pregnant with my first, I had no idea what I was doing. Neither did my husband quite frankly. I remember walking in on my husband trying to swaddle Dorrian with a baby towel. He thought the hood part of the towel was meant for his feet to help swaddle him better. So yes, let me say it again; We had NO idea what we were doing. I stayed with my fingers glued to the keyboard trying to figure out as much information I could before he arrived. Baby Center was one of the biggest ones that helped me, because it was a community of other moms who helped others and asked questions. I enjoyed it, minus the immaturity of moms arguing with others. Which is what took me away from it whenever I was judged as a mother for putting my son on solids before six months. But that is besides the point.. If I had known about bloggers mom I probably would of jumped on it. But I did not know about any of it until a year ago. Which brings me back to the point of this post. Baby products that I used the heck out of when Dorrian was born, that I want to share just in case there are moms reading this that were in my exact same situation. Have no fear, I am here.

1#  Baby Rock N' Play Bassinet

This thing helped me like crazy, you have no idea. I was able to strap him in as a newborn and get some stuff done. I even put it next to the couch whenever he was first here to let him sleep in. One; because it saved me from getting up and down through out the night. Two; He was right there next to me safe, and I could hear him when he woke up. Lastly; he did not wake my husband up. I loved it though. I still have it even for the next one and do not plan on getting rid of it. It rocks by using your foot on the bottom part to help put them to sleep. At least that is what worked for me. But I was able to put him in it and clean the house without having to worry about what he was doing etc. So I say this is a must have investment if you do not have one already. They are relatively cheap too, considering it last awhile. My son did not outgrow it until he was about 6 months.
Yellow Baby Rock N' Play Bassinet               I love the color clash too. Pastel yellow is such a beautiful color and it is unisex too. You know, just in case. But I do recommend having one on hand.

2# Travel Size Baby Products

First off, I am going to say how cute are these? They are just so tiny and easy. I used these in my diaper bag and even in my purse because they were so small so they barely took up any room. You think to yourself when the heck are you going to need shampoo when you are out and about? Oh trust me you will. In case you forget when you go out to stay over night somewhere you have that handy dandy little shampoo bottle. Or the lotion when you baby's skin gets a little dry from being out in the sun or just because you like the smell. Either was they did come in handy. Baby powder especially because they make those so big, that you can't really pack it. Leave it to these little ones though, because it makes it must easier. They last awhile too, although it may not look like it. Unless you are one of them full hand users, then no. But I recommend these as well, because they have came in handy multiple times.

#3 Traveling Diaper Changing Mat

I enjoyed using this very much. When I was out in a public place and needed to change Dorrian it was very helpful. Because I did not like the changing stations they had in the bathrooms, who knew if they cleaned them or not. But this little thing saved me from that horror. I had it strapped to my diaper bag strap and on the way I go. It helped a lot when traveling the car as well, because you didn't not have to put them on your fabric car seats. It is very easy to clean, just in case of any accidents. It has little compartments for wipes, diapers and other goodies which made it even more awesome. I highly recommend this if you are a germophobe like me.

#4 Waterproof Baby Sheet

A must have. My son peed the bed constantly. Not so much whenever he was a newborn, because I changed him almost every time he woke up. But around five months when he started sleeping through most of the night, it was very much needed. He still pees through his diaper now and it is hard because I have to wash his sheets every other day. But it helps keeping the mat/mattress from being peed on, which is so important. They are pretty cheap too, and you can buy a few of them to have on hand. I recommend this as something you NEED to have before the baby arrives. Because if you do not have one, you will regret it.





#5 Baby Bottle Warmer

I am surprised ours even still works. Because I used it throughout the day, every single day. It helped me get Dorrian to sleep, because he loved having warm formula. As he grew older I started making it a bedtime habit. I got one from my sister in law, which at first I did not know what it was too much. But after learning what it was, I was pretty excited about using it. You aren't able to warm the bottles in the microwave because it can cause spots in the milk that may be hotter than the rest. But this little gadget does not do it. It makes it warm but not too warm. You have a setting to where you can warm it up to however you like. Which is another thing that makes this that much cooler. It does not take very long to warm either. So you need to invest in one of these, because it does come in handy. I loved mine and will use it with the next one also.




Well I hope this little list helped those out there who are having a baby. These are the things that helped me, which may or may not help you. But I recommend you trying it.

Enjoy and please vote for my blog on top baby blogs. Help me get to the top 25! Follow me on all my social networks too. You will find it all to the top right of the blog.

God Bless!

Fishing Trip -- A Must Read

Yesterday my husband and I decided to go fishing. Since we have not had a day to ourselves without Dorrian for quite awhile, my mother took him for a couple days. Which was well needed, I must say. We left around 6:30 in the morning and headed out to Lake Texoma. We decided to try out a different spot since the last couple times we have been fishing there it was in the same place. But this spot we chose was a little out of the way, about 10 minutes away from where we parked. We were not at all prepared for a long walk, but we were desperate. So we carried about as much as both of our arms could handle and went on our way. Since we live in Texas and for some odd reason this Spring has been pretty stingy on it's rain, the lake is pretty dried up. So we were walking on what used to be 50 feet of water. It was pretty interesting because I remember the last summer we came up here for our anniversary the lake was pretty full. We came up on some mud that did not look too dangerous at all. But it was. My husband went first because I was a little scared and once I saw him sinking into the mud all the way to his knees I decided not to try it. So I walked a little further up to cross over but I ended up in the same situation. I started sinking and the mud came all the

way up to my knees, I began to cry and beg my husband to help me. I literally felt as though I was going to die, because that mud was scary. My husband was even a little scared, so don't think I am being dramatic. I mean it, I thought my life was over. I thought I was going to have to have a dramatic scene like in the movies and telling my husband to go on without me. But luckily I got out of it, my choose are ruined but I got out. Once we got out to our fishing spot, we wasted no time setting up and getting ready. We have a newfound
 love for stink bait, since the only thing we fish for is catfish. We were fishing for memorials day because we are going to spend it with my family. We caught like a couple ones first, but then.... my husband caught the biggest catfish I have ever seen. Literally. He had his back turned from his fishing pole that he leaned against his chair to bait the other fishing pole. Then we heard this weird sound and turned to see his chair being dragged into the lake. He ran over to his pole faster than I have ever seen him move and started reeling it in. We saw the fish from a far and it was GIGANTIC. Watching him fight it was too funny. His rod was having such a hard time fighting it. I am so surprised we were even able to catch it because our rods were not prepared to catch something so big. Once we got it closer to the shore my husband dived in like crocodile dundee and pulled it in by the gills. We were so excited to have caught something so big. Yes... Of course I took pictures. Because we needed the proof because this was not one of those big fish tales. It was for real. We had to tie it up with a tire and a rope because we had nothing else. My husband had to sit on top of it in order to get the rope through his mouth. The catfish bucked him off a couple times like a bull, which was quite funny I must say. But we managed to do it all. Dragging it back was the problem. Since we were so far from our vehicle we wanted to take one trip. So we took everything we could and it was so hard. I dragged the basket of fish while carrying the lawn chairs. My husband carried the fishing poles, tackle box and dragged the giant catfish on the ground. There were a few people looking at us and laughing, but they were all just as shocked as were on how big it was. But in the end, we had to fillet it and are going to enjoy it for memorial day.

Now for the pictures.

                   Look at how much bigger it is compared to the other normal size fish. Crazy, I know. 

                                                                                  The hike

                                              This the sinking mud pit where we got stuck. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I did writing it. I tried making it not too long, but I did not know how. All together, it was a grand fishing day. I enjoyed myself.

God bless you all, have a wonderful day.

Don't forget to vote for my blog on top baby blogs, please! You will find it to the right top corner of my blog. Thank you guys!

Weekly Wednesday

                                                                       Big boy slide.

                                 Mother and I were supposed to paint these whenever I was a little girl. Did we? Nah.

 Ignore the fact that the picture frame to the right on our tv stand has a picture of a random family. We are not too keen on family photos, I suppose.

                                      Back when we decorated Dorrian's nursery in aviator. Now it is just whatever.

                                                                        Make a wish.

                                                      Back of my car. Yeah, I am pretty cool.

God Bless you all! Please vote for my blog on top baby blogs, to the top right of my blog. Help me get my blog out there and people following. It will motivate me to build it and start doing different things with it. Maybe I will become crafty. So vote! 

18 Months Update -- Never Done This, So Does It Count?

Dorrian has reached it, 18 months. I literally feel weird saying that. Dorrian is 18 months old. Where the heck has the time gone? It feels like last week I was in the hospital bed for 18 hours in pain. Now he is grown up and acting as though he is a big boy. Which he is a big boy, I feel awkward calling him a baby. Because to America he is a toddler, but to me he is a baby. Even whenever he is 50 and has grey hair and living in my basement (hopefully not) he will be my baby. I never understood that whenever my mother would tell me that. "Heather you will always be my baby" which I would reply with the eye roll as a bratty teenager. Last night my husband and I stumbled upon some pictures of Dorrian as a baby. I was shocked by how much he has changed in so little time. It does not even look like the same kid whatsoever. I swear he had to be switched in that time gap, because he literally has changed physically. Funny thing is though, I did not even realize it until I view all of his pictures. Sad thing is though, I do not remember his baby months. One; because I have a very terrible memorization for certain things. Two; I just don't freaking remember. So I will ask again, WHERE THE HECK HAS TIME GONE?

By 18 months I have read that they should be talking. At least a few words. Which the only words I can get Dorrian to say is "Da-da" "Pa-pa" "Thank you" (Which he does not actually pronounce perfectly like that) he can also say "I love you" (Sorta) and a few others. But in the emails I get they make it sounds as though he should be speaking complete sentences. It makes me start to feel bad as a mother like I am not teaching him the correct things. But it is hard. Because he can not sit down longer than five minutes to listen to me. The only thing I can actually get him to calm down for is to watch T.V. He watches the show called Caillou. Which he adores and mommy adores because she can get a break and some "quality time" with him. Other than that though he is running away from me and laughing about it. But hey todder life.

I am thinking about slowly introducing a toddler potty to him. Because he is starting to show interest in the toilet and some of the other things that I was told I need to watch out for. So I might start doing that. Although most toddlers don't start being potty trained until they are 24 months or older. But in my opinion is does not hurt to start trying now. I won't make a habit out of it. Just might do it before nap time and bed or something. We shall see.

I have been asked by many mothers about my son's sleep schedule. My son does sleep through the time and has since we moved to these apartments. Whenever we lived with my parents, he was a HORRIBLE sleeper. Probably because of all the noise. It was way too small of a house for 6 people to be living in. But now that he has his very own room, he sleeps like a champ! I am very proud of him for it too. My son goes to be every night at 9:30 pm and usually does not wake up until like 8:30 am or so. Although he may wake up earlier and just sit in their quietly before he wakes up. We have a routine of taking a bath every other night and brushing his teeth every night. I change his diaper and make him a drink of warm milk to lay him down. I cover him up, turn on his fan and his stereo that plays "the happiest baby on the block" and tell him goodnight. He goes to sleep by himself and with no problems usually. Sometimes he will want juice to go to sleep, which I will cave in and give him. I need to break this. Break him from needing his binkie and bottle for bed. I just broke him from his bottles about a month ago. Next on the list is needing a drink for bed. But you have to take these things slowly. Not all at once, at least to me you do. That is his schedule though. I did not really have to sleep train him or anything. He just picked up on it by my telling him "Goodnight." If you have any questions about this routine I will be happy to discuss and help! Because I know I needed it whenever Dorrian was a baby. I was desperate for anything and everything.

Anyways, this is his update. Even though it is a late start to be doing this I am going to start doing it each month. So tag along and follow for the read! I may not be an expert at baby things. But I do know my way around by now just after one kid. I would be happy to give advice about how I did things! Just ask me.

I hope you all had a great day and do not forget to vote for me on Top Baby Blogs! You will find it to the top right of my blog. Just click and vote yes! T

Thank you and God Bless!

Being A Young Mother -- I Guess They Are Tips

It has been exactly a month since the last time I posted anything. I have kind of been a little lazy to pick up my big ol husky laptop and type anything. One; because I had no idea what to write about. Two; I am worn out after a day with Dorrian and just want to lay on my couch alone. But I am trying to make blogging a priority but to be honest I lose my motivation because I don't get many readers. Those who do read though, I truly appreciate it. I want to build my blog and attract others to follow it, but I know I do not have anything unique to get people interested. That will change -- soon.

I want to share topics that some people enjoy reading. One of those being is being a mother at a very young age. I met my husband whenever I was in high school. I graduated with my diploma before having my son and getting married. I was 18 whenever I got pregnant with Dorrian and gave birth to him at 19. There are many people who look down at women that young having children and honestly I do see why. Thing is though I supported myself with my fiance, who is now my husband, not my parents. Before having my son even before meeting my husband, I was never the "typical" teenager. I never partied or did drugs. I never even hung out with friends really, to be honest. I was pretty boring. I was a little too mature for my age and just did not find that sort of stuff interesting. After having my son though, I truly grew up. I am not officially an adult and it does have it's perks. I do miss being a teenager sometimes though and not having any responsibilities. I would not change my life for the world now though. There are days where I think to myself how the heck can I do this. But I am twenty years old and have a toddler, I am also married. Let me tell you... I am the best mother and wife there is too. Whenever you see a teenager with a kid, do not always assume the worse. Yes I do not believe there should be women 18 or younger with kids, but it happens. We can not do a dang thing about it either. The way I see it, if you are too young to be a parent then you are too young to be having sex. But we have no control over the world, God does. I am just happy God blessed me with a beautiful and happy little boy. He believed I would make a good mother so he gave me one of his to raise and love. For that, I am so thankful for.

This post was a little out of character for me. I do not usually post my opinions because there are many people that are so judgemental that they have to argue and give me their two cents on the way I think of a topic. Why? I have no idea. But I do not care. I will do opinion posts every week. I may just make something out of it like. Opinion Wednesday or something interesting like that.

Also, my husband and I are thinking about having another baby. I want a little girl, sooooo bad. I think Dorrian is at the proper age to introduce a sibling. That way they can grow up together and there is not that awkward age gap between them. Dorrian would be 27 months old if I were to get pregnant right now. To me that is a good age to have a sibling. My brothers and I are 7 years apart... so yeah it is a little weird. I am excited, so pray that God will bless me with a little girl with red hair!

Thank you for reading everyone. I hope you all had a blessed day! I am going fishing Thursday so I am very excited. I love fishing so much, it is so relaxing and just fun. Well gosh.. here I go blabbing again. Vote for my blog on top baby, you will find it to the top right corner of my blog.

God bless!