Coffee is liquid gold

I am not sure if this goes for all marriages, or if ours is just a little different. There is an unspoken rule in the Mango house. Some things are Joe's, and some things are mine. 

There are certain foods that “belong” to each of us. Joe has the fluff, provolone cheese, cereal (I used to love cereal, but ever since I had Anthony… I feel so strange drinking straight cow milk. It reminds me that I am able to completely relate to the cow. So, I skip the cereal for now), and coffee. I have the brownie packs (you know the ones; squishy, covered with colorful chocolate chips, and delicious…meant for kids lunches), the American cheese, and the apple sauce. When either of us crosses the invisible line and eats one of the items, the other takes immediate offense to it. “Wait… are you seriously eating one of MY brownies? I was saving that for tomorrow!”

Well, recently, I have been trying to make one of those things a “mutual food” in the house, and I am pretty sure Joe is not on board.

Coffee is liquid gold, and I only recently rediscovered its magical powers. For a long time, I parted ways with coffee, because the caffeine killed my stomach. But, becoming a mom and running off of little to no sleep some days has made me want to spark up a relationship with it again. It seriously works miracles, who cares what it does to my stomach! 

Take last night for example. I went to bed pretty late for me (11:40), because I was busy trying to fit in one last Shutterfly order before cyber Monday sales were over (which- side note- I discover this morning that they tricked us all and *surprise* continued the sale today anyway. So there really was no mad rush to finish the picture book)… anyway… Anthony usually wakes up around 5:30 so I thought I would at least get a few good hours in before he got up. Wrong! Anthony was up almost every hour last night. Why you ask? Who the heck knows! All I know is the bags under my eyes in the morning had their own bags! I felt I could honestly walk onto the set of Walking Dead and be cast as a zombie with no problem, or need for costume makeup. 

It was a rough day, and I know that I was not on my top mommy game. I was groggy, cranky, and didn't have the usual energy to play. Around 5, I walked by the kitchen and saw it out of the corner of my eye. The K-cups! I knew it was my only hope for survival, since Joe was working his second job and it was my responsibility to figure out how to stay awake for Anthony. Done and done. And, a big plus that Joe wasn't there to give me a hard time about my recent move to the coffee world. "You had coffee today? My K-cup? You never drink coffee, it doesn't make you feel good, you shouldn't drink it." Now I understand why he hoards the coffee, and doesn't like me using his precious k-cups... it's amazing. Since I don't drink it that often, I feel the caffeine almost immediately. 

I had so much energy it was like I couldn't stop. Anthony must have thought he had a mommy upgrade because I was playing like a pro! I chased him around our house at least 50 times, and loved every minute of it! (Did I mention that Anthony is SO close to walking all on his own!? He can walk independently from one side of the room to the other, all while stopping and trying to pick things up along the way. It's only a matter of time now before he takes off without looking back!) I was in a better mood, and that made for such a good night. I owe all my energy to coffee. Hook me up to an iv of coffee and I might just be mom of the year! 

Also, coffee might be my answer to blogging more. I realize that in my last post I promised Halloween pictures. Oops. Sorry to my loyal followers. Good thing for you I had coffee, and instead of sleeping (what I should be doing) I felt the desire to write! 

Actually, a big reason I haven't posted in a while is because Anthony has been non-stop sick. He went from having the croup, to the roseola virus right after. Poor guy couldn't catch a break. I hope this isn't foreshadowing a sick winter season for the little guy!

Here are the Halloween pictures as promised (just a little late). And, I'll throw in some Thanksgiving for good measure. 

Anthony went as a cute little duck for trick-or-treating and we all did a family themed costume for our Halloween party (Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach). 

 

 Thanksgiving! As usual, trying to split a busy day with both families is a little tough (especially for Anthony). But, we made it work, and had tons of fun. We came home that night 10 lbs heavier each from two dinners!

 So, to close... I had the idea to enter Anthony into the Gerber photo contest, along with 165,000 other mothers. I really think it would be awesome to see a child with Down syndrome become the new face of Gerber! Please vote for my son, you can once a day until December 14th. We really appreciate it!!

The link to vote for Anthony- https://photosearch.gerber.com/gallery?entry_id=347992