One Coughs, Two Coughs, Three Coughs....UGH

 Hi.  Remember me?  It's Mama Nic.

I know I have been MIA for a bit but I have been here.  Trust me,  I have been here....at home in the trenches so to speak.  Actually if I haven't been here I have been at work.  Yes,  work!  I started back again but instead of full time, I am now in a new position just 2 days a week.  Being out of the house for 2 days is nice.  I wouldn't or couldn't possibly handle more than that right now, but 2 days is working out.   At least I get to sit down and eat my lunch for a change.  Working is not so much working out  for Kaiya or her Grandparents who have to care for her while she is going through some pretty serious separation anxiety issues,  but I have to have faith that they will all work it out. 

So besides getting back into the swing of our new schedules due to be returning to the workplace outside the home, it has been a full on battle of the germs and I hate to say....the germs are winning.  Hubby got a cold, then Bubba was sick, then Marmalade, and now today Chica is coming down with a cough and stuffy nose.  I am bracing for her to get it full on with fever and such that the other kids had.  Needless to say I am feeling pretty overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed out to the max.  I feel inches away from my breaking point some days.  I really am just trying to take things one day at a time here with my husband as we raise these three wonderful kids and take care of the house, 2 dogs, a  cat, and each other.  It is hard and some days I feel like our ship is sinking.  Things are piling up, the to do list is growing, dishes and laundry are endless, and then there is the night nursing, feeding bottles, pumping to make the bottles, noses to wipe, diapers to change, vomit to clean up, temperatures to be taken, medicine to be given, doctor appointments to go to and just for good measure the shower that we just put in about four years ago got a crack in the base and decided yesterday would be a good day to leak through and down into the ceiling below and come out pouring.............(at least it came out pouring into a room that needs to eventually be gutted and done over anyway, I guess.  Maybe sooner than later now.)

I get calls and emails that always say "How goes the battle?" because they all know it is a battle for us lately. I am glad to have people check in on us and I know I am supported although all the support in the world doesn't help those overwhelming moments I have throughout the day and night when things seem to just peak with chaos and noise and stress and crying....by everybody.   At the end of the day Hubby kisses me and says "we made it through another day."  It may seem like a small victory to you all but for us it is huge.   

Not sure how to wrap up this post,  but I must for there is a ton to do.  Why am I blogging instead of taking care of business right now?  I need to take a short break to write.  Sometimes you need to take a break to do what you want to do rather than what you need to do.  But duty calls and while this co-captain of the ship is still healthy, I must go and get the job done.

Take a look below at our little quick outing to get pumpkins with the "big" kids.  Chica was snug and warm with her Mima while we took advantage of no one having a fever and got out of the house for an hour.  We packed the kleenex, took the cough syrup and headed out to a farm on a cold and damp fall day in New England.  We missed you Chicaboom, my snugly babe, laugh-out-louder, thumb sucker, smiley one but we did pick out a pumpkin for you too.

When it rains it pours.....sometime out of the ceiling!

Love,
Mama Nic

One Step forward, Two Steps Back

Here I am in week 15 of my pregnancy.  Physically, I am feeling better.  The morning sickness is finally subsiding.  My sinus infection is clearing.  I have a bit more energy that I have had lately.  This is great!  But I have to say…emotionally, I am a mess. 

I hate to sound all down in the dumps but ya know what?  I am.  I am being perfectly honest here and telling you that I am feeling pretty low, depressed, anxious, frustrated.  I can’t see how my life will be playing out in the next year.   I worry about what having the Mirena in my uterine wall will do to the baby I am carrying or to me.  To be perfectly frank……I am scared to death. 

I have an endless list of worry and problems that I mull over every day and night without making any progress.  I am told over and over “not to worry” and “things will work out OK” and "don’t stress” but I am a planner by nature and I have lost my plan.

I don’t think it helps that I know I am living in the wrong place on this big earth.  I HATE being cold and I could do without icy roads and big snow storms.  I don’t mind the seasons,  in fact I love the change but I don’t like the winter season being soooo long and harsh.  Maybe somewhere in the Carolina’s might suit me better where they have gentle seasons.  I love the heat.  Love it.   Maybe the gulf coast of Florida?  I even entertain Southern Cali, Arizona or New Mexico and of course somewhere nestled away in the Caribbean.   The cold just makes me freeze up.  Literally, when I am cold I am unmotivated and downright grumpy.  I can’t stand it.  The hotter the better and bring on the sun!!!  I want to be outside year-round and be comfortable.  Sorry to ramble but this time of year here in New England maybe a big contributor to me feeling a bit like poor ole Eeyore.

Photo from my honeymoon in my dream place, St. John.  This sun paradise is so tranquil it is magical!

Since I will be having three kids 3 and under I can't help  think of daycare.  The cost of daycare for three children is astronomical.  It’s so outrageous that if I did work full-time and send them to daycare I would be about breaking even.  That blows my mind!  So what to do?  I am not going to do that.  My current job gives me an hour commute to and from work and they have already said that they are unwilling to let me switch to part-time.  So I basically feel, on top of all this..I am going to be out of a job.  And the time is ticking closer and closer and the panic is setting in.  I need to make money to pay the bills and my husband’s job alone would not support us.  So I think the answer is finding a part-time job.



I wish I could start working less hours now.  Don't we all, I guess.  But I was feeling overwhelmed making it all work with the family and being outside the house 50 hours a week for work before I got pregnant.  I am not saying I want to check-out but I want to have more time to be a Mom and a wife and work on things that are near and dear to me, like sewing and writing.  I am a hard-worker and once I start a project I am passionate about, well watch out.  I just want that passion again.  I don't want to feel like everyday is such a struggle.  I am not by any means asking for something for nothing.

I would love to be paid for writing a blog perhaps…this blog or have some sponsors for my blog.  I would love to sew more and have my Etsy shop, My Sweet Marmalade  flourish. I would love to create lovely things and sell wholesale to boutiques and shops across the U.S.  I would love to come across an opportunity that would work out for me right now.  Something that would make it all click.

A row of my Reversible Pinafores

I am asking the Universe, I am asking you, the reader, I am throwing this all out there because I am hoping for some kind of answer.  A hint, a direction, support……..something.  Maybe you write a blog and have sponsors and can give me tips on how to get started getting sponsors and making some money.  Maybe you know of some way that a Mama can work from home and make some money and not get scammed.  Maybe you have a shop and want to carry my goods wholesale.  Maybe you just have an encouraging word besides, “don’t stress.”  Just maybe by putting this out there I will get what I want.  I know it may be a long shot but desperate times, desperate measures.  I know writing it helps me process my thoughts and that is one right step in the right direction.

Hello Universe……are you listening?  It’s me, Mama Nic.

I need a shove in the right direction.

Be gentle though. 

Don’t really shove me……I am pregnant and all.  

On second thought.  
Right now, I would even be happy with a whisper of a breeze to lead me on the right path.

Thanks for listening.