Confessions of a working Mommy

Norah turns 9 months on Saturday. I am going to share with you what I've learned so far.

1-Hair. Having those sweet tiny hands pull on the most sensitive spots of my head and rip out tendrils of my hair is highly unpleasant. What's worse is when she giggles afterwards-like she knows that it plucked every nerve in my body. Not to mention, I never do my hair because I don't have time. Here I come on the hipster bun parade!!

2-Clothes. DONT WEAR BLACK. You know why? spit up. spit up is why. I have found spit up in places I didnt even understand. the back of my thigh? oh thats right she was holding on to my legs while i was trying to do the dishes.

3-Makeup. who has time for that? I count myself lucky if I'm able to pee in private. That's right friends, those tiny hands fit under the door. they also bang at the door with plastic toys.

4-Eating. all I can say is-you gotta hustle. in my weight watchers meeting we talked about the importance of enjoying every bite and really savoring that flavor. I raised my hand and said, I have a 6 month old. no one had any advice. Eat faster?

5-Feedings. Have you ever given a child baby food that smells eerily similar to cat food only to have them throw it up on your face later? i have. Or, my personal favorite, when I give her a bite of beans and she spits it back out at me.

6-Relations-imagine this, one baby girl, two dogs and trying to get something as small as a hug in with your husband. NOPE. All three of them just cry.

7-Diaper Change. My dad said it best, its like trying to wrestle an alligator. Needless to say, Norah more often than not has the left cheek sneak.

Now for the real stuff.

8-Work. I love that I get to have adult interactions but I miss my little girl like crazy. I miss her sweet voice saying "Dada" for everything. Sometimes I feel like someone else is raising my child and that she will be a latchkey kid. Seeing baby food on my pants in the middle of the work day is a sweet reminder that I get to raise a beautiful child.

9-School. Work full time and school part time? am I crazy? yes, yes I am. But I want to provide my daughter with the best life possible and that means getting an education. I want her to be proud of me and to learn the importance of education as early as possible.

10-Home. I treasure my moments at home. I get mornings and evenings with my daughter and I soak every minute up. even when my hair is being pulled, toys are being thrown at me and food is being spit in my face. That smile when sees me walk into a room is unlike any feeling I've ever had.

Motherhood is hard. The hardest thing I've ever done in fact. I was once told I may not be able to have children. I consider myself the luckiest mother on earth.
Love your little ones, for they don't stay little long.

If we do not educate ourselves we remain ignorant

ISLAM: MUSLIM RELIGION

-largest muslim population: Indonesia 203 million. 1 in 5 muslims in the world today are Arab.

-Islam requires men and women both to dress modestly.

-the U.S. does not conduct a census on religion

-Mohammed is a man. His words are often used as guides because he lived fully unto God. He is considered one of the last messengers of God. Muslims do not believe that Jesus was divine. They believe in the way that Jesus lived and his life lessons.

-The Qur’an is in Arabic.

-Mosques are open for all 5 daily prayers. Fulfills both social and religious functions for the community. Welcomes all faiths. Separate entrances for men and women.

-Allah is simply the word for God .

-estimates state that more Arab Americans are Christian.

JIHAD: literally is the word for struggle, not war.

                        -when we have fear we are reflecting our own insecurities

Culture is far more powerful than religion. How people act is much more because of culture and not religion.

Islam=means to submit

Muslim=one who submits

Allah=god

Qu’ran=bible

Feminist

I read an article this evening that was about the protest outside of LDS general conference. A group of women has decided to protest outside of conference because they do not have the ability to hold the priesthood. The article was written by a women who comes from a very privileged background. Ironic. She stated that she doesn't think that women are treated differently because of their gender......
Well, let me give you a few examples of situations that I have found myself in that very clearly proves her statement wrong.

-When I was 6 months pregnant I was passed up for a promotion because of my "condition"
-When I was 7 months pregnant, I pulled my boss aside to discuss with him an issue that was affecting my work performance and I was told that I was being emotional.
-I went to old navy to return some clothes and when I complained that I wasn't able to have the money refunded because it was a gift, the comment was made to me, "I hate pregnant women"
-When my husband was hired at our old job, he was hired on for more than I made at the time after several annual raises. Mind you, he had NO collections experience.

These are very cut and dry examples of discrimination I have faced for my gender. While I won't go into my feelings about the priesthood and the religious portion of her blog, I find this woman very ignorant for thinking that these aren't real issues woman face on a daily basis. I would hate to hear her thoughts on racism.

My biggest struggle was that this woman did not recognize her privilege before making blanket statements. I can't very well say that I have faced racism because I am white. I can't very well say that I have faced poverty because I live in a middle class neighborhood. I can't very well say that I have faced disability because I am able bodied.

What I hope you take away from my entry, if anything, is that before we make statements, lets check our privilege.

Prisoner of Hope

Do you ever have moments of deep reflection? This morning I woke up from a really strange dream and immediately felt this overwhelming sense of wonderment at my life. Did I make the right decisions? What if I had made a few decisions a little differently? I blame the show Cosmos for my sudden sense of curiosity about my life decisions.
When I was 18 I had ideas about how my life would turn out and this path was one I never could have imagined. In fact, I vividly remember thinking that I would end up in Oregon as a famous painter and activist. I remember thinking that I would eat all organic, live off of my own garden, essentially join a commune, experiment with different types of meditation and probably smoke a lot of weed.
I accomplished a few of those things but not all. Sometimes I wish I could look through a lens and see what my life would be like had I become that person. When I reflect on my life I feel like I'm looking through a kaleidoscope and I love it. To say that I've enjoyed everything I've done would be an understatement. I have loved fully and been broken by that same love. I have created life. I have lived out of my car for a period of time. I have traveled and lived somewhere beyond my motherland that is Utah. I have seen the beauty of the country that has entangled my heart and mind with its long branches.
The best part is, that it's not over and now I get to introduce this beautiful life and world to my daughter whose eyes are so full of hope and wonder. I have so many dreams for her and hope so much that the world as we know it changes so she never has to face discrimination for her sexual identity, gender, or religion.  I hope that she too, becomes a prisoner of hope so that one day we can all live in equality.
For now, I will wrap my arms around this life I have created and embrace every little detail that I love so much about the here and now. This moment happens to be one of my favorites. A small, sweet hand wrapped around a toy that is so simple yet so beautiful in her eyes.

...parenting anyone???

This fine creature above is the most beautiful thing I have ever done (cheesy I know) but in all reality, motherhood is amazing. When you are up all night because your daughter can't breathe. When you get to work and realize you have dried spit up all over your shoulder. When you pinch her tiny little fingers in the damn Bumbo tray. (As much as I love the bumbo, the tray is ridiculously difficult to pull off and is just asking for a small child's fingers to get trapped) When you are doing your hair and you look in the mirror and those beautiful blue eyes are staring back at you smiling. That makes every single struggle I've had worth it.

Norah Katherine Clare Kreeck is 4 months old today. Major accomplishments include: eating bananas, rolling over, standing, laughing, and jabbering. She finally interacts with her toys and tells her mama all sorts of stories when I pick her up at night. She is swiftly becoming a daddy's girl. I never thought I could love my husband more than I do but watching him be a daddy has made me fall in love with him all over again. We often talk about fighting gender stereotypes and the struggles women face. I know we have a whole lifetime of worry and hopes and dreams for her, so we try and take it day by day.

Josh is back in school this semester, full time. He has a great job working in the insurance department for the state of Utah and is getting his degree in Environmental Engineering. I am in school part time doing the social work program and am hoping to have my degree by Spring 2017.
For now, that is the only update I have but hope to keep my blog more updated. Love you all. Cheers!
-The Kreecks.

3 months in

By now everyone has found out that Josh and I are expecting. I wanted to share my experiences over the last three months so I don't forget them :)
I found out I was expecting mid-february and was overcome with pure joy. I sat in the bathroom and cried (happy tears) for a good ten minutes and then went about my day. I decided to wait until I got home to tell Josh. I didn't want to call and tell him of course because that is too impersonal and would have been a sad way for him to find out. So instead, I contained myself until I got home that night at 7:00 when I presented him with a gift. Of course, I chose to get him a Caveman's guide to pregnancy. He opened it and kind of stared at it, and then all the sudden, it kicked in and he gave me a huge hug.
We were both very apprehensive to celebrate because, as everyone knows, the first trimester is risky and I was very nervous that I wouldn't make it to 12 weeks. I was always told that I would have a hard time getting pregnant and maintaining a pregnancy so making it to 12 weeks was a huge mile marker for us.
I didn't start to feel nauseas until 6 weeks and at that point it was full blown nausea. I never actually threw up though which almost made it worse.
Then the headaches came in...oh the headaches.....I work with computers all day so having a full blown migraine every morning was not my idea of a good time. My work was very accomodating and provided me with screen protectors to help with the glare and the reflection from the window.
Then came the constipation...enough said.
I had an ultrasound on Friday April 5th and was finally able to see the cute little nugget that has been causing me so many problems. At that point I honestly did not care about all the crap my body was going through. I was so excited that it was moving around and looked so healthy and happy. I cried all the way to work I was so excited.
Now when I start to get frustrated and angry I look at the picture of the little thing and it seems to make things a little more tolerable :)
28 weeks until we get to meet the sweet thing!!! keeping my fingers crossed for a boy :)

...to catch everyone up....

It's been almost a year since my last blog....too bad no one follows me anyway. Pretty sure I started this for my own comfort anyway.
In January I started the new year off with a bang and started a new job which I love. It was hard because I truly loved most of the people I used to work with but needed to get something in my career field. However I would much rather be helping patients than collections any day.We spent some much needed time with our friends Jeff and Melissa at the annual cops and robbers game at the E Center. The cops won, as they usually do, but I never really pay attention to the game anyway.

Guns n hoses game

not watching the game

Josh decided to go back to school this year for engineering :) So proud of him. He is going to start in the fall at the University of Utah and I couldn't be more excited.


Paulie got himself into a bit of a bind this January. He went to his awesome groomers in mid January and came home and decided to like himself into a cone of shame. Josh and I ended up taking him to the pet ER and it was probably one of the most awful experiences of my life. Two dogs were put down while we were there. Josh and I were both crying our eyes out and that made Paulie more nervous. The whole thing was just awful and hopefully no one has to experience seeing two dogs being put down and the reaction of the family. Paulie was in pretty good spirits after we left as you can see.

Paulie's cone of shame 

Paulie's homemade diaper so he didn't lick

Paulie after his grooming 

Josh and I couldn't be more excited for this years adventures :)