mixed mama project

ATTENTION!

Erin — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:03:22 +0000

We have moved!! Please change links to http://mixedmamaproject.com!

This page will stay up for another day or two, and then it will disappear into a black hole. You’ve been warned.

My baby dances better than your baby

Erin — Mon, 03 May 2010 00:15:18 +0000

My baby dances better than your baby.

Seriously.

My baby is at 21 weeks gestation, and s/he already knows all the moves to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. I know this because everyday when I shower (ok, so maybe I don’t shower everyday…don’t judge) I listen to Ga, and baby nearly jumps out of my uterus.

I’m thinking about taking lessons from this guy before baby arrives so I can keep up with him/her:

I will have to break out my booty shorts for this, of course.

But that’s not all.

Today, baby reached a milestone. For the very first time, baby did the moonwalk.

RIP MJ

My baby…the second coming of Michael Jackson.

Photo Credit: Esquire

From fashionista to frugalista: How I’m clothing myself during pregnancy

Erin — Sun, 02 May 2010 01:11:55 +0000

Today, it happened. I swore to the deep depths of my soul that it wouldn’t. That I wouldn’t sink to that level. But I did. It happened before my very eyes.

I bought clothes from…WAL-MART.

I don’t even know who I am anymore. First, I am cooking extravegent home-cooked meals. And now I am walking into Wal-Mart without feeling dirty.

You see, I’m a Target girl, through and through. Did you know that Wal-Mart is not allowed within Minneapolis city limits? Target OWNS that city. Fun fact.

Anyway, aside from my [now-former] disdained stance on Wal-Mart, I also kind of don’t love maternity clothes. They are normally frumpy, unflattering, and definitely not stylish. So I refuse to waste my money on it. Instead, I am hell-bent on finding normal people clothes with a little bit of room to forgive my ever-growing waistline. Motherhood may not be a fashion show, but I’m not about to give up my style, either.

Which brings me to my next point. Not only did I buy clothing, to wear on my very own body, at WAL-MART, but I bought MILEY CYRUS clothing. Now, to be fair, it’s joint venture between Billy Ray’s pride and joy and Max Azria (who happens to be one of my favorite designers). But still. Wal-Mart. Miley frickin’ Cyrus. Who am I?

And just so you don’t judge , see for yourself how adorable these clothes are:

Miley Cyrus & Max Azria - 3/4-Sleeve Bomber Jacket

Miley Cyrus & Max Azria - Animal Racerback Tank. Also seen in my featured photograph. Special.

Additionally, I purchased a pair of very comfy cropped leggings, also from Hannah Montana. But, alas, I cannot find them online.

The best part about all of my purchases? They were only $6 each!

Wal-Mart, maybe you aren’t so bad after all. Miley–well, the jury’s still out on her.

Photo credit: Wal-Mart

So easy, even I can make it

Erin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:28:51 +0000

My path toward motherhood goes straight through the kitchen. In our past life, the fiance and I ate out every chance we got, only cooking by necessity or when the mood struck us.

But now, as I am becoming more conscious of the food that I put into my body (and therefore baby’s body) I realize how important home-cooked meals are. I used to hate cooking; now, however, I can’t wait to cook for my family.

Between my mom’s recipes and those found in cook books, I have been compiling my favorites and practicing making them. Periodically, when really excited about my creations, I will share them here.

The first recipe is for my absolute favorite food in the world (though not exactly the healthiest): Fettuccine Alfredo.

What you’ll need:

½ cup butter
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella
Fresh garlic
Mushrooms
Chicken breast
Pepper, to taste
Pasta

What you’ll do:

Cut chicken breasts into strips or chunks. Cook together with mushrooms in a skillet.
In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cream cheese; combine thoroughly.
Add heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and pepper. Mix well.
Add a handful of mozzarella cheese; mix well. Add more, to taste.
Let stand to thicken. Pour over cooked pasta and chicken.

And that’s it! I ate this for about five straight meals. It’s so good, and so easy even I can handle it!

I usually make this healthier by pairing it with a hearty side salad or adding broccoli or peas. And in my pre-pregnancy days, an awesome white wine quenched my post-Alfredo thirst.

Photo credit: lauraezolnoski.com
(In the future I will take my own photos of my masterpieces.)

Who do you think you are?

Erin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:07:41 +0000

Has anyone seen the show Who Do You Think You Are? Celebrities trace back their ancestry as far back as they can. It’s really interesting. For example – Sarah Jessica Parker found ancestors who were involved with the California Gold Rush and the Salem Witch Trials, Brooke Shields found she is a descendent of a string of French kings, and Emmitt Smith traced his family’s slave history and even found which country in Africa they were from, and then visited it.

In my family, I’m fortunate enough to have genealogy nuts on both my mom’s side and my dad’s side, so I already know quite a bit. For example, my grandfather (dad’s side) is distantly related to Princess Diana and my mom’s great grandfather discovered the town I grew up in (which I insist makes me royalty ).

Fiance’s side is a bit more difficult, of course. We did find out a few things though. We thought he had African American (unsure of which African country), Jamaican, and German. But we recently found it that in addition to that he also has Austrian and Antigun. All four of his grandparents are actually from different countries, which is kind of neat.

Has anyone else done this for themselves or children? It’s addicting once you get into it! It’s like playing detective

Updates from the baby factory

Erin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:30:21 +0000

My internet was out of commission for about a week. But now we are back to our regularly scheduled blog

Ever so slightly, things seem to be looking up. The fiancé and I managed to talk through most of our issues and seem to be on the same page again. He’s even back to complimenting me and making me feel like that beautiful woman I was when we first started dating. I really needed that. Pregnancy or not, we are still in a relationship and still have a responsibility to each other. I need to feel like a beautiful and intelligent woman, even if I am currently a baby factory.

My birthday is in a few weeks—the big 2-4—and fiancé said he had a surprise for me. I thought maybe he would come to visit me during my birthweek (yeah, I celebrate a whole week…), but I never thought he would arrange for us to have a rendezvous in Minneapolis that weekend.

Most of you may think, Okay, Minneapolis, what’s the big deal? You have no idea. It’s my favorite place in the world. It’s where all my friends and all my memories are. It’s where I belong. I have a Minneapolis tattoo around my ankle for Pete’s sake. That place I go to in my mind when shit hits the fan? It’s Minneapolis (with fiancé). And now it won’t be merely a mirage in my mind. It means so much that he thought of doing that for me.

That brings me to my next point. Our anatomy ultrasound is May 5 (next Wednesday). Fiance is unable to be there with me, so he asked me to surprise him with the baby’s sex in Minneapolis. I have brainstormed about a million ideas—most of them lame—but I think I’ve finally got it. I can’t wait to share with you how it goes. (He will read this, therefore I cannot disclose anything here until after. But don’t worry—there will be photos.)

And to bookend this post—we officially hit 20 weeks on Monday! Baby is half way baked!

Oh, those sweet pregnancy dreams

Erin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:41:22 +0000

Pregnancy has been known to induce some rather peculiar dreams. I’ve had the eerie, the scary, the vivid, and the psychic.

I’ve had so many dreams about my little one. Very early in my pregnancy, my deep paranoia came out in my dreams. I was so scared of losing him/her that I dreamt about miscarrying almost every night. Some were so vivid that I would wake up in the middle of the night to check my underwear for blood (true story). I was convinced I was going to lose him/her.

And the nightmares…oh, the nightmares. Completely and utterly terrifying they are. In my sweet slumber, I’ve been raped, murdered, shot. I’ve even been an accomplice to a serial killer. The nightmares always seem the most lucid: I wake up in a cold sweat, heart pounding, and goose bumps creeping over my body. Then, of course, I convince myself that I feel the demon from Paranormal Activity breathing down my neck. Totally logical, right?

Please, mamas, tell me I’m not alone. Tell me you’ve been a worthy subject of an episode of CSI in your dreams. Share in the comments

Vegas is no place for a pregnant lady

Erin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:19:56 +0000

When I was 15 weeks pregnant, it was time to travel to Vegas for my sister’s wedding. When she originally had the idea of a destination wedding in Sin City, I had a completely different experience in mind. Instead of late nights in clubs and casinos, it was afternoon naps and granola bars. It was all worth it, though, on the big day. Below are some photos from the wedding (you’ll notice fiance is missing – he couldn’t make it!):

: The ceremony was at beautiful Mandalay Bay, Valley of the Falls

: Smoochy, smoochy! That’s me holding the flowers, by the way.

: Groom’s sister, my -other- sister, and…me!

: The entire wedding party.

: Just the girls.

: The ladies, just hanging out, fake laughing.

: A paparazzi shot of yours truly.

: The wedding party and family. One of my favorite photos.

I can’t wait to see the rest of the professional photos – after the ceremony we took a bus around Vegas to take more pictures. It was rather….interesting

Photo credit: Cashman Pro, Joey Allen, and random family members whose photos I stole from Facebook.

Letter from Daddy

Erin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:22:09 +0000

Baby, before I even start to write this letter, I just wanted to introduce myself to you as your father. It might be a few years before you are actually able to read this and fully understand it, but it will mean that much more to me when you finally are able to. You might not be here yet, but your presence has caused quite the stir. That’s how I know you are my baby, ’cause my presence has been known to cause a stir as well lol. In this short period of time, you have completely changed my outlook on life baby. Everything I do now, I have you in my thoughts. I think about you night and day. I wonder what kind of person you will be, how beautiful you will look (just like your parents). Sometimes I make myself sick thinking about how I cannot wait until you get here. You and your mother are the two most important things in my life, and that will never change. I know you will make both me and your mother proud of you in everything you do, and you will have my full support, dedication, and commitment no matter what…I love you so much.

Things may be going a little rough for all of us (me, your mother, you, etc.), but none of the will ever affect my love and dedication to you and Mommy. By the time you are able to read this, there would have been many obstacles that would have stood in our paths, but we will get through any and all as a family. Daddy is going to bust his behind in our to make sure that you have everything in life that you want. Every breath that I breathe from here on out is for you baby, I promise I will NEVER let you down. I am counting down the months until I finally get to meet you.

I love you,
Daddy

Does pregnancy come with an instruction manual?

Erin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:56:10 +0000

I think it’s about time I actually start writing again.

I am now 17 weeks, 5 days pregnant. The pregnancy came as a total shock. We got engaged just a few weeks before it came time to buy a home pregnancy test. We weren’t even sure this was what we wanted. But when it comes down to it, this baby is us, and it was made out of love. How can one deny that?

It hasn’t been all sunshine and unicorns though. Far from it. I’m not in the best place in my life right now. Seemingly, I had it all. All is gone now. I lost my job, my apartment, my independence, my pride. I am 1,500 miles away from my fiance.

This isn’t really how I imagined my first, and perhaps only, pregnancy. I certainly don’t need a white picket fence, but I do need a family. I want my fiance to see my belly grow, to be an active part of this pregnancy. I don’t want my current reality to be my child’s reality–ever.

I need to turn things around for myself — get my life back on track…for me and for baby. I know that. (And constant lectures from random people in my life do not help, thankyouverymuch.) I don’t want my baby to know his/her mother as the person I am today, as I sit her in front of this computer. I want him/her to see me as the person I was a year or two ago. When my fiance describes the girl he fell in love with, I think, Wow, she really was something special. I want her back. Getting there is the hard part…the part I seem to need an instruction manual for.

I don’t mean to be sad all the time. It’s a combination of all the lovely hormones brought on by pregnancy and my current life circumstances. People don’t think I am excited about this baby. I am, truly. S/he’s all I think about. I think about what an honor it will be to be someone’s mom. But I also have such a high level of stress and anxiety, that is all that is noticeable on the surface. I can’t bury it.

I’ve always had mountainous dreams and goals for myself. I’ve accomplished a lot of them, but right now I just feel a cloud of failure following me. I took a huge risk by moving to New York — I dreamt of it my entire life — and it didn’t work out. My confidence crumbled. Now I must put a lot of my dreams on the back burner and transfer my thoughts to what goals I have for my child. I’m okay with doing that, but right now I’m just a bit lost in my own life.

I often feel like I am all alone on an island. I look down at my belly and think about the beautiful baby growing inside of it, and then I look around and I’m completely alone. People occasionally offer advice (solicited or not) or comfort, but I often wonder whose support actually runs deeper than vocalizing it.

If I had just one wish right now, I would wish that I could come home to my fiance each and every day and he could hold me like he used to while he rubs my belly and all would be right in the world. I don’t need a lot of money or a lot of jewels…but that, that I do need.