Temi's Been Winterized

A Word from Our Temi

Temi and her Big Girl Sippy

Earlier this week, I went to San Diego for work. When my trip was over, I was picked up from the airport by a knocked out toddler who woke up as soon as the car stopped moving. Upon seeing my face, she immediately got the biggest smiled, grabbed my face and brought it close to hers. She then proceeded to shower me with an assortment of hugs and kisses that never tasted so sweet. The joy she she felt was so pure it shone through her eyes. The love shower continued as we made our way into the apartment where she opened her mouth wide and for the first time, I noticed her tooth.....WAIT WHAT???!!! Tooth? When did THAT get here? Yeah, when I left, the princess had four, count them 1...2...3...4 teeth, now she has five. And it's not just coming in, no, it's already in. My, oh my, where does the time go?

Temi's favorite activity is leaving. She likes to bolt out open doors. Wave bye bye. She even created and sang her own bye bye song as her and Daddy were leaving for work yesterday. Sometimes, she will even grab me or Daddy's finger and lead us to the apartment door.

Temi on the phone with her Nana

Since I've been back, Temi has been waking up in the middle of the night with these bloodcurdling screams and refusing to go back no matter how much I rock or kiss her. Thursday night/Friday morning was absolutely horrible. It took forever to put her to sleep and then when I finally went to sleep, she woke up. I'd only been sleep an hour. She was inconsolable. Screaming at the top of her lungs. Then she would kick furiously and throw herself all over the bed. All with her eyes clothes. I've never seen anything like this. Besides it being frustrating for the lack of sleep, I also felt so helpless and heartbroken. Whatever it was that was causing her to act and scream out like this, I couldn't do anything about it. On top of that, it was just agonizing. My happy-go-lucky, sweet, sleep-thru-the-night, blow-you-kisses-and-smile-all-day girl was screaming in pure pain or terror (or both). Such a complete contrast to what I've been used to.

And now, a word from our Temi: rrc 4x4eelweplelell2w121,m

 

Posted with Blogsy

Momfessions #4

These cravings for pizza, Popeye's Chicken and cheesesticks are taking over and driving me beyond insane. I may have to sell Todd and Temi soon....

You Can't Save a Brother that Don't Wanna Be Saved

"[When are you gonna learn, you can't] keep trying to save a brother that don't wanna be saved."

I don't know why this line stuck out to me, but ever since I first saw Jason's Lyric, it did. And since then I've quoted it countless times - to family, to friends, to myself.


Today is one of those days where I need to say it to myself again. I'm surrounded by people that need to be saved but for one reason or another they don't want to be and it hurts.

I have super high expectations for the people that I choose to allow in my life. For those people that I have no choice, there are a select few that I hold in high regards. For all the jokes and $h!t talking that goes on in my family, I come from a lot of talented individuals - I have people that have recorded multiple hit records, went on tours, rapped and sang with celebrities, owned successful businesses, played pro sports, became successful career people, taught celebrities, have amazing singing/writing/acting skills, could've owned their own restaurant, etc. There's a lot to be proud of in my family.

These great people bred great people. Unfortunately, I got to watch so much of that greatness die by the wayside. It's disheartening. But really it's heartbreaking to watch someone you love, someone with such great greatness, destroy themselves. And lately, it seems like the people that I care about a lot are getting destroyed and it's hard to pretend like I don't care or that I'm not affected.

I'm all about accountability and consequences for your actions. It's hard to have sympathy for someone that put themselves in a bad situation, no matter how jacked up it gets. But at the same time, I want better for them. Why? Because I know they're capable of better. I want to remove them from the situation they're in. I want to remove all their vices and distractions. I want to slap them upside the head and say "Hey stupid! Wake up. Don't you see you're killing yourself?! Don't you see you're hurting the people around you?! We love you but you have got to do better. You have got to get it together!!!" But I know that will do no good.

There is only one Savior and His name isn't Taija Jenkins. I know at the end of the day, I can't keep tryna save a brother that don't wanna be saved. So I'm forced to sit on the sidelines and watch those I love go through what I feel is unnecessary troubles, drama and destruction and hope and pray to God that they get it together before it's too late. And that hurts like hell!

Posted with Blogsy

The Wheels on the Bus

The Wheels on the Bus. Temi is beyond loved at her school. She knows EVERY teacher there. I'm constantly met with "She is so0o0 cute." "I just love her smile." "I can't wait till she's in my class." It makes me feel good. I truly feel like we made the right choice. So when we move next year, we've decided that we're going to keep her there. Besides, I'm sure her "BFF" Austin won't allow her to leave. Austin is this little boy that meets me and Temi at the door every morning. He waits for me to take her coat off and rushes to play with her. If he's still there when I pick her up, he's following us around like he doesn't want her to go. This morning he waved for her to come sit with him at the breakfast table. Temi of course pays him no mind. She goes on about her business.

Cold Turkey. I had decided a while ago that I was going to start weaning Temi. Our morning routine was just horrible and I could use the extra 15-20 min that I spent nursing doing something else. So Todd and I talked about it and we decided we'd give her a sippy full of milk in the morning instead of nursing. Temi took it with no problem. I don't remember what happened, but something did and I ended up nursing again. It was just easier. So we were back to our old habits. Well fast forward a couple months and I noticed that my milk was decreasing. My supply wasn't keeping up with demand I tried pumping and nursing more...nada. We were starting to go through our stash. So we decided to start supplementing. Since almond milk is much sweeter than cow's milk, we dilute it with water. Doesn't matter, Temi drinks it all the same (Mommy's milk and almond milk that is.) That was working for a while. I was able to pump and just freeze what I pumped to build up my stash. Then all of a sudden, I wasn't getting anything when I pumped. Temi was still getting something when she nursed, but sessions were becoming increasingly longer. So I decided to stop. Cold turkey. The first day when Temi started pulling on my shirt. I sat her down and fixed her a cup really quick. No problem. We continued the next few days like that. So far so good. Over the weekend, she was cranky and I was so tempted to nurse her for comfort, but I didn't. No sense in backtracking or confusing her. I did make the mistake of accidentally "teasing" her. So I had to work with distracting her and wearing extra layers of clothes. Besides just wanting to lay on my chest and cuddle. We survived.

Beep, Beep. Get out the Way. Thanks to my annoying loving little brother, Temi has a new toy. Which means Mommy and Daddy* have a new headache. First, this thing was a pain in the @$$ to put together. The parts were cut too small so the metal rods wouldn't fit. Good thing Daddy is supa strong right? Anyways, Temi loves her new car sooooo much. Which makes me happy. Until she throws a fit that I want to do something besides push and pull her around the apartment. *sigh* This would've been a great motivation for us to get out during the summer but now it's too cold. Seeing as how she's technically five months too young for it, I guess there's always the spring, right?
*Daddy sound effects sold separately.

 

Posted with Blogsy

What's Cookin Doc?

I completely forgot to post last week's menu but in case anyone's looking for ideas I'll post it at the bottom. This week I'm trying my hand at a few new recipes. I'm also happy to report that I knew I would have to cook extra food this time around so we try to plan accordingly and bought extra groceries and we managed to still meet our budget. :-) This is one happy mama over here!!!
October 14-20
Soul Food Nite – Greens (I'm going to try my hand at it. Let's see how this turns out), Mac N Cheese, Baked Pork Chops
Italian Nite – Stuffed Pasta Shells, Pan-fried Chicken
Remix Tuesday – 
Soup/Salad Nite – Chicken & Biscuits (Again a New Recipe)
Mexican Nite – Chipotle Burrito Bowl (I was supposed to make this before but ended up ordering pizza :-()
Fried Goodness Nite – Fried Chicken, Fries, Salad
Pizza Nite – Try a local pizzeria

October 7-13
Soul Food Nite – Dressing, Green Beans & Potatoes, Baked Chicken (I used sweet potato cornbread for the dressing and I have to say that this meal was AWESOME!)
Italian Nite – Pan-seared parmesan garlic pork cubes, Naked Spaghetti, Salad (New recipe and it turned out great)
Remix Tuesday – We ordered pizza that night. We didn't have any left overs and I didn't feel like cooking
Soup/Salad Nite – Asparagus & Cheese Soup (New recipe turned out really good)
Mexican Nite – Chimichungas (I used spinach tortillas and added rice....AWESOME!)
Fried Goodness Nite – Beer battered fish, fries, salad*
Pizza Nite – Try a local pizzeria*
*Because we went out for Erica's birthday on Friday, I was going to substitute Friday's menu for Saturday but we ended up having Mexican two nights in a row smh.

Know Your Role, Play Your Position

"Know your role and play your position."
I don't know if that was advice passed on to me from someone or if I came up with it myself. Either way, for as long as I can remember it's something that I've tried to apply to my relationships - romantic, platonic and familial. I think that life runs so much smoother when I know where I stand with someone and act accordingly and if I can't act within the confines of the role they'd like me to play, then it probably means it's time to bid that person farewell.
Todd and I had the roles and positions talk early on and were in agreement as to how things were supposed to work. And things went pretty smoothly. So when we got pregnant and made the decision to move in together, I wasn't worried. We knew were we stood with each other and we knew what the other expected.
I didn't anticipate how those roles and positions would change 1. once we moved in with each other and 2. once we added jobs and a child to the mix. It's amazing to me how much expectations and boundaries can change when you go from committed boyfriend/girlfriend to live-in boyfriend/girlfriend.  Things that were acceptable in one arena are no longer considered okay. Expectations that didn't exist before, do now. We struggled (and are still struggling) with our new roles. If we didn't like the role we suddenly found ourselves in, we refused to play our position. It led to a lot of arguments and fights and just plain stubbornness (must be the Taurus part of our parents' genes coming out).
Over time, we realized that we didn't have very many options, so we started accepting our new roles and learned how to play the position. There are very many ways to play the same position, but only a few ways work for each individual and each team. We're learning the best way to play our position for what's in the best interest of our team. And in those areas where we know our role and play our position, life is so much simpler and easier. There's a lot less fights and we run like that well-oiled machine from early on in our relationship.
We still have a lot of kinks to work out and there will be new positions and plays added as our life together changes and additions are made to our family and other aspects of our life (social, work, etc.). But I'm confident that if we stay committed to learning what our role is in the midst of it all and playing our position, the correct one, then we can create an all-star team.
After all, you can't spell Todd, Taija, Temi, T-Time or team without a "T."

It’s About Time

I know that I am beyond super late in posting this. It is coming on a month since Temi turned the BIG 1. Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I thought that I would be an emotional mess at the realization that my baby was growing up and was no longer a baby.

In actuality, I was too busy planning her party and tryna survive off of two hours of sleep to even give it much thought. I went from planning her party to heavy deadline at work to being sick with the worst cold ever to tryna get my mojo back. Between all of that, she went from 11 months to almost 13 months and I haven’t even caught my breath yet.

Everyday I watch her and I’m amazed and in awe. Every little thing amazes me. The way she smiles with her eyes. The cute way she pinches her fingers together. How she runs to me excited. How she snatches her daddy’s phone and looks at it like she actually knows what to do with it. Lately, she’s learned how to hold the phone up to her ear. She’ll sometime simulate this by holding her hand up to her ear and saying “hi” in it.

I was completely prepared to write a heart-wrenching, tear-inducing post about how I don’t want my baby to grow up and how I’m so sad. And while there are parts of me that misses when she was a fresh newborn straight from the hospital and all she could do was nestle her head into my chest, I know that I’ll soon get that again. In the meantime, it’s exciting to watch her grow. It makes me proud everytime she does something. If anything, I wish I could spend more time with her, do more things with her.

Yes, the first year came around too quick. Not because I wasn’t ready for her to grow up (cuz let’s face it, I’m not). No, it came around too quick because I didn’t get to do nearly half of the things I had hoped to do with her. She’s only been to the beach and park once. I’ve yet to take her to a movie, or a festival or outdoor anything. I haven’t started a tradition of any sort with her. I’m still trying to get our daily routine down. I’m still trying to balance the many roles I play. So if anything, Temi turning 1 has taught me that life’s not gonna wait for me to get it together. She’s not gonna wait for me to figure it all out. I have to seize the day by the moment before she’s my age and writing about her own kids. The next 11 months will no doubt be bumpy and full of unexpectedness, but it will also be full of lots of memories that me and Temi will make together. So that when she turns 24 months, I can cry.

Super duper thanks to all those that came and partied like it was 2012 with us! Temi had a blast and it made all my worrying and complaining worth it. I am really happy with how it all turned out and I truly feel blessed to have so many people that were willing to take time out of their Sunday to celebrate with us. For those that couldn’t make it, don’t worry, there’s pix and videos for you to enjoy. Sorry but I couldn’t save any of the cupcakes. :-)

Check out these videos:

Mmmmmmhmmm Good

Speechless....

Daddy Say What?!?!

No Baby, you can't have any. This is mine. Get your own.

Talking to Temi while eating a crescent roll.

She is Not Her Hair

Since she was a baby, Temi has liked to grab and hold stuff. When she was nursing, it was my fingers or my shirt. Sometimes if she's laying down she'll reach behind her for Todd. She's grabbed my lips, my chin. The first time her Nana kept her, she grabbed a huge chunk of her Nana's hair. Giving her determination to grab whatever was in reach, it should come as no surprise that she would grab her own hair.

Anyone that's been around her when she's upset or sleepy has witnessed the ferocity with which she moves her chubby hands to the top of her head, forms fists, then proceeds to pull away from her scalp. When she was little I would always find one or two strands of hair between her fingers, plastered to the side of her cheek. But I never thought anything of it.

I knew she liked to pull her hair, but I never saw chunks laying around. And I always attempted to distract her from her hair by holding her hand or soothing her. Apparently it didn't work.

*sigh*

Now my daughter has a huge bald spot in the top of her head. I can attempt to style around it, but it's still there. Staring me down everytime I comb her hair.

It makes me wanna cry. I know it's nothing I did. According to BabyCenter, it's something some kids do and eventually grow out of (their hair too). But it doesn't make me feel any less guilty or bad. It doesn't make me feel any less responsible.

This is the parenting stuff that everyone should warn you about. Not changing diapers. I expect to change diapers. I, however, do not expect to have to invest in Rogaine for toddler girls.

Ring Around the Temi...

Her cousins ran circles around her...literally LOL

Watch "Ring Around the Temi" on YouTube

Go Bears!!!!