Honest Scrap

I was tagged by my friend Jennifer to write an Honest Scrap post! The rules of the game are to:

1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.

2) Show the 7 winners' names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." And while there's not really a physical prize, you do get to keep and post the nifty icon.

3) Finally, list at least 10 honest things about yourself.

So, here are 10 honest things about me:

1) Being a mom is way harder than I ever thought it would be. I think I was a little naive about how much it would change every aspect of my life. I also didn't realize how much time I would have to devote to a baby. (This was stupid of me.) She literally requires all of my time. Some days I feel like I get nothing done except taking care of her. Having said all that, being a mom is wonderful!!! I love being a stay-at-home mom and would not change a thing about my life. Seeing Aubrey's beautiful smile is all the thanks I need for the time I give her.

2) I secretly (or not so secretly) get a thrill when I'm the only person who can calm Aubrey down. Sometimes it's annoying when I get paged out of church because she's crying, or I'm trying to cook dinner and she is fussy, but when I pick her up and she calms down... Ahh, my heart melts! I feel it's only fair. After all, I give her a LOT of time. (See #1.)

3) When Aubrey was first born and I was trying to learn how to nurse her, it was hard. Very, very hard. I came so close to giving up on more than one occasion. I told David the other night that at the time, I just wanted him to tell me to quit. That's all it would have taken, and I would haven given it up in a second. But he didn't. He kept telling me to give it one more day - at least try it for 2 weeks. He told me he knew I could do it. And I did! I'm happy to say that now, almost 5 months later, I'm still nursing. I can do it in my sleep now (literally). I'm so happy that David encouraged me to keep going! After my experience though, I will never judge a woman who does give up. It's tough!

4) I really want to get in shape, but I really hate to exercise. I have technically lost all of my baby weight. I'm ok with my number on the scale. I'm not happy with the shape I'm in though. Unfortunately, I'm really good at complaining about my body but very bad at doing something about it. I want to join a gym and start working out. We'll see.

5) I really enjoy cooking on the nights I'm "supposed" to cook. Meaning week nights. We got in the habit of eating out on the weekends early on in our marriage. Actually the habit started way before we got married. It's just our entertainment on the weekends. We've been able to continue this habit so far, but I fear we won't be able to do this forever. But now if I have to start cooking on the weekends, it's going to feel like a burden because I'm not supposed to cook on the weekends! Guess I'll have to get over it, huh? (I say this jokingly because I know cooking on the weekends is SUCH a minor thing, and I'm just thankful we're able to eat out at all.)

6) I am extremely easily amused and have a very odd sense of humor (according to my husband.) I literally crack up over the most random things. For example, the first time David said Aubrey's first and last name, I laughed hysterically because she's a baby and it's so funny to me that babies have last names too! They seem too little for a last name. This still crack me up - I'm talking can't-catch-my-breath-tears-running-down-my-face-laughing. David's response is to stare at me blankly and say, "You're an odd woman." This only makes me laugh harder because I never said I wasn't odd! :o)

7) I love decorating my house and would constantly be changing it if I could. I wouldn't change it because I don't like it the way it is, just because I like to redecorate. Maybe I should just stick to rearranging the furniture.

8) I am very unorganized. I am married to a very organized man. I absolutely hate clutter. David doesn't mind clutter as long as it is organized clutter. We balance each other out so well. :o)

9) Gift giving is not my love language, sadly. I stress out so much over what to get people, especially David. He loves surprises and doesn't like to give me hints about what he wants. He wants me to study him and figure it out. But I'm just not good at this! I wish I was, but I'm not. Guess that means I need to work on getting better.

10) My house used to be so clean before Aubrey was born. I say this sadly, because it's not all that clean anymore. I cleaned our house from top to bottom every Monday before she was born. I'm talking dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning the mirrors, and laundry. All in one day. Now I wonder how I did that. I'm doing good if I get all those things done once a month now. These days I'm way too busy changing diapers and wiping up spit-up to concern myself with mopping! :o)

So, there's more than you probably ever wanted to know about me. I have no idea who to tag, so I'm just going to tag Rebecca. If you've already done this or don't feel like it, that's ok! :o)