34 Things I’ve Learned Since Becoming a Mom

January 12, 2018 by Amber Ford in Birth, Personal blog, Honesty, Mom blogger, Life, Pregnancy, Personal story, Brutally honest, Native in Nashville

As I have told you guys before, when I found out I was pregnant, I thought I was going to die. I always liked the thought of being a mom,because kids are so damn cute, but when it hit me that I was actually going to be one, I realized I had no freaking clue what in the heck to do with a baby. To be honest with you, the first time I changed Denver's diaper in the hospital, I had no clue how to even do that. I will be sharing a very funny, embarrassing video on my Instagram that my son's father took as I was nearly finishing up changing his first diaper. Pee went all over me, poop went everywhere. He pooped 3x while I was changing the diaper y'all... plus with a boy, you gotta be careful about where that pee goes. I actually can't even believe I am going to share the video, because I look disgusting, I'm cussing, I had literally just delivered my son about 12 hours before it was taken and may have had 2 hours of sleep in 72 hours, and at the time, was still on the prescribed pain medicine. I am pretty sure I was also wearing those amazingly sexy mesh underwear they give you. Lol. If you haven't seen it before you got to this point, and you want to laugh, you should go watch. ( @nativeinnashville)

Anyways moral of the story, I WAS CLUELESS on how to actually be a mom. I have learned SOOO much these last 5 months and thought I would share a few, or 30 some of them with you guys. I am sure some of you can relate, and some may find it a little informative. I had to learn some of these the hard way for sure!

1. You don’t have to use 17 wipes to Change a poopy diaper. And yes I literally used a minimum of 17 the first diaper change, then went to probably 7 the following weeks. Now I can do it with my eyes closed.

2. I can do this! I never believed in myself before, but I am doing just fine. You can do it too, if I can, I promise you can. You got this!

3. Babies are expensive ! Outside of formula, diapers and childcare, I buy him every toy, every cute piece of clothing, every kid related thing I see really. I always dressed ratchet my whole life, and I want him to have better things than I did, even though he stays in little sleepers 98% of the time.

4. I used to say “I’ll never be one of those annoying moms who post pics of their kids each day, we know what they look like", now I’m the worst one of all. Not sorry!

5. You will be proud of EVERY LITTLE THING your child does. I repeat, everything. Something so simple, is seriously the biggest accomplishment when they are learning. Last night Denver sat up on his own for he first time, and you would have thought, by the way I was screaming and cheering, that he was winning a Gold medal in the Olympics.

6. Have someone teach you how to use your car seat and stroller BEFORE it’s time to use it on actual child.

7. Cutting a baby’s nails is the scariest thing ever, next to childbirth, and you have to do it every 3 days. How in the heck m son's nails grow this fast, I will never know.

8. Everyone has an opinion about what you should do with your child, ignore them. You will burn a lot of calories rolling your eyes. If you ask for the opinions of advice, that’s a different story.

9. You will get sleep! Maybe I am just lucky with my son, but I feel like I get more sleep now, than I did before I had him. He does wake me up, but I'm obsessed with him so I don't even mind it.

10. Mom guilt is a real thing. Anytime I go anywhere without my son, I feel terrible about it, like he's going to be mad at me and forget who I am or something. Sometimes you may need a little break though.

11. Mom brain is also a VERY REAL THING. I now seem to forget EVERYTHING. Trust me YOU WILL TOO!

12. You will never know a love like this ! It's literally indescribable how much love you can feel.

13. Everyone will want to kiss All over your kid, NO , just no.

14. The greatest compliment you can ever receive will no longer have anything to do with your hair, makeup, or your outfit, as it might have used to when life was all about you( for me anyways ), it will be that you’re a good mom!! Best feeling ever is someone telling you this or assuring you that you are doing a good job!

15. Nothing is cuter than seeing a baby stretch right when they wake up, ok except maybe their little laugh.

16. Put them in their cutest clothes, QUICK. I’ve bought so many things and “wanted to save them” and it became too late! They grow & grow out of them QUICK!

17. You won’t use half the big stuff you buy them. I've literally never used my bassinet, my rocker glider chair, and numerous other expensive things that my mom brain won't let me currently remember.

18. Not everyone is going to like your child’s name, and that’s ok! Not everyone has good taste ;)

19. If people want to help you, let them !! Especially when the nurses ask if you want them to take your baby for the night while you're still in the hospital. Just do it!

20. The epidural is not bad AT ALL! I heard countless horror stories but i didn’t even feel it!

21. Speaking of... Get the epidural !! There is no prize or Medal of Honor for not getting it. Trust me on this ! I am really not even trying to offend anyone by this one either, but me personally, I don't see why anyone could not get it. Mine was mostly warn off by the time I was delivering him, but I couldn't have made it through the day feeling those contractions more than I already did.

22. Your whole world will revolve around your kid !! Every single decision you make,

23. If Facebook on this day and time hop didn’t remind you of your old life you would never remember what life was like before having a child.

24. When you go out with your friends to eat the only thing you guys all talk about is your kids and how cool you used to be.

25. When you’re feeding your baby make sure to wipe their neck after you are done, if ANY milk drips down there! trust me you do not want to find out their neck is dirty the hard way, it can be the worst smell you have ever smelled in your life !

26. Getting yourself & your child ready can be the ultimate task! I was already late to everything before having a kid. I give myself an extra hour of time every day to get ready. I still usually look like crap, and use it doing stuff for my son, but I NEED that extra hour.

27. Your life is no longer about you it is 150% about them. They always come first.

28. Taking a shower can feel like a vacation! No, seriously...moms am I right?

29. Triple check you have your diaper bag before leaving the house !! I had to learn this the hard way. Also make sure you always have an extra change of clothes in there.

30. Running to Target is no longer a simple task. Nothing really is, for me yet anyways. Running to Target, baby free also feels like a vacation though. Lets be honest, some of us would rather be at Target, than an ACTUAL vacation.

31. Your kid gets cooler by the minute. It's literally miraculous, and you will look at them with amazement, and in disbelief that you created such a magical person. I still can't believe I created a person y'all!

32. They say babies don’t smile until a certain age and when they are, that it's just gas... i call BS! My son has been smiling since he was a week old. Swear on my hair.

33. Don't spend time away from your child, for temporary people. TRUST ME ON THIS! You cannot get that time you spent away from them back. If you don't know for 100% sure they are going to be in your life for the long run, don't waste your time. This is going to be tough for me, as a single mom, who is terrified to ever date again, but unless I KNOW, or my son is with his father, I refuse to take time away from Denver.

34. Moms are the shit! Until I became one myself, I never knew how much work they put into taking care of their kids. When they say it's a full-time job, it most certainly is. It's so much work, and hard sometimes, but beyond worth every single second. Most days I legit feel like Superwoman! I am SO PROUD to be a mom!!

There are probably at least 75 more things I could add to this list right now, but I will save them for later. I literally learn something new every day. I already know that this will be a learning process, daily, for the rest of my life. I can only hope and strive to wake up every day and be a better mom than the day before, and the best mom I can be! What are some things you guys have learned since becoming mamas? Let me know in the comments. Thank you for reading!!

XO- Amber

My Greatest Accomplishment and All of My Joy: Meet My Son

January 08, 2018 by Amber Ford in Birth, Mom blogger, Pregnancy, Personal story, Life, Personal blog

I started to publish another blog post about mom life but realized I’ve never done one about my birth story and never posted any with his pictures or anything like that so decided I would post this one before I publish the next one. If you follow me on my personal page, @ambi_bambi, chances are you have seen way too many pics & already know some of this, but people ask about these things often actually. I meant to do this blog post, like 5 months ago. Time flies when you’re having fun! Being a mom with almost 2 full-time jobs on top of tha is hard work! Doesn’t leave much time for writing. I’m actually currently writing this from my cell phone, while my son is asleep on one arm.

BIRTH STORY

My son's dad and I went into the hospital on August 8th, which was my original due date, to be induced the next morning and stay the night. YES, I chose to be induced, even though sooo many people tried to tell me not to. My mom did it with all four of her kids, and that’s good enough for me ! They put medication inside me to start dilating my cervix because I was not near dilated enough but it was past 40 weeks when I went in. I started having contractions through the night and early as possible, the next morning, they gave me an epidural, which I HIGHLY recommend by the way. They say labor begins when you have your first contraction. I always asked people the whole way through my pregnancy what a contraction felt like no one could really explain it and now I see why. I would explain it as the deepest cramp you could ever have, repeatedly, every hour at first, to then every few minutes. And I won’t lie to you, they hurt BAD! I was in labor for HOURS, ended up being a total of 15 hours I think it was.

Look at that belly !! This was taken on our way to the hospital.

I had a whole room of visitors, the whole day waiting on me to go into labor. I don’t remember much, because that epidural pretty much makes you feel like you are what you are, on drugs lol. When you haven’t put much medication in your body for almost 10 months, then get that, it hits you hard !! Things are really foggy about the day, and honestly who all was there and what I even said to be honest, but thank God I have lots of pictures ! I couldn’t eat all day except for ice chips and i just remember really wanting him to enter the world in time for me to get a Milkshake from Reeves Sain before they closed at 6 . Typical me .

GO TIME!

I knew it was go time, when I started trembling. My entire body was shaking and would not stop. My nurse came in, cleared the room except for the people who were going to be in the room with me. Speaking of that, there were only supposed to be like 2 people, but I had extras: my son’s dad, my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and best friend. It’s hard to choose who you want to be present for your whole anatomy just out in the open like that. I don’t even change my shirt in front of people, so this was tough for me! Anyways I started pushing while the nurse counted with me repeatedly to 10. This went on for over an hour, until he was almost out, then my doctor came in! I honestly didn’t think I was going to be able to push a whole baby human out of me, but got what felt like superhero strength and made it happen! What women's bodies ca do is miraculous to say the least. My son’s head is apparently larger than most so it was stuck in the birth canal for apparently a really long time. They told me I had to do this, because his head could not stay down there much longer ! I then told them i needed some pep rally music, ya know the kind you had in high school to get pumped up for a big game. I requested “We Ready” by Archie, we played it and that gave me all the hype I needed. He came out to that. I used every single muscle in my body to get him out of there! Freaks me out & the song part is really funny looking back on it ! Only me! That song & the support system I had in the room are what got me through it for sure !

Denver Ford Dimick was born on August 9th, 2017 at 7:28 pm. He weighed 7lbs, 1 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Seeing him was the most beautiful, most real, crazy, unbelievable moment of my whole life ! I really never thought I would have a baby and be a mom. It never really hit me that I was pregnant until two nights before I had him. I couldn’t believe how beautiful he was. I looked at my best friend Tamina and said “how did i do this?” I seriously think part of the reason I posted so many things about being pregnant, when I was, is to prove to myself that I was pregnant. Ya know, the same reason couples who aren’t really that in love do lmao. Who are y’all trying to convince yourselves or each other ? Lol, kidding, kinda. Back to Denver, he was the most beautiful little guy I had ever laid eyes on!

VISITORS AND BREAST FEEDING

I sincerely appreciated every person who came to visit after Denver was born, but I was honestly extremely overwhelmed by it all. First of all I had no idea what i was doing with a baby, so I was trying to learn how to be a mom in the first place. I also had various nurses and hospital staff coming in the room what seemed like, every 47 seconds. I was also trying to learn how to breast feed, which is the hardest thing ever by the way, and had people literally shoving my boob in my child’s mouth. It made me feel very weird and also like a cow being milked and I was OUT on that! I tried. I really did, but the second i made the decision not to do it and switched to formula, it was like a 4 ton weight was lifted off my shoulder!! I didn’t want to feel the way i felt every time my son was hungry! I at least then knew he was getting the proper amount of food that he needed. I couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital and home!

Overall Denver’s birth was very long, hard, painful and scary, but it was the most beautiful and amazing thing i have ever experienced and the absolute best day of my entire life !! I’ve never known a love like this before that’s for sure and i love him more every minute of every day !! Being a mom is my greatest accomplishment of all time and I think I’m doing just fine at it. PS if anyone is looking for an OBGYN, i LOVED mine doctor by the way, Dr Pollock at MMC. I don’t think anyone can really prepare you for the experience of the emotions you feel when you become a mom, because everyone’s journey and birth stories are different.

Thank you guys for reading & be on the lookout for lots more mom related things & posts under this “life” section of my website !! You can also follow me on Instagram @nativeinnashville. Here are a few more pictures from his first week of life! Hard to believe that this week he will be 5 months old already !!Photos: Christie Lynn Photography

Pregnant in Nashville: 33 Week Update

June 24, 2017 by Amber Ford in Personal story, Life, Pregnancy, Native in Nashville, Honesty, Personal blog

Well, well, well. Where do I even begin? It's been crazy since I last gave you guys an update and a super busy time preparing for my son, Denver, to enter the world. I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy has flown by. It seriously seems like yesterday that I was ghostly white and told my roommate "I'm pregnant." I never knew so much fear would turn into so much happiness, joy & love! I'm 33 weeks pregnant now, so only have 7 weeks to go.

Since I last posted I've been through some seriously heavy life changes. Two for example, my parents getting divorced after 31 years and moving. Neither of those two have been very much fun. Life is crazy. Just when you think things can't get any crazier or worse, bad things hit you like a ton of bricks, usually at the same time. There are a lot of other things I could discuss here, but I'm gonna leave them alone. I thank God every day for making me a strong person, because there's really no other way I would have stayed sane. As for the moving part, moving with no help from anyone but a moving company, at 28 weeks, also heavily SUCKS. Anyways, this is not a pity party post, I will be ok. I always am. :)

As of our 32 week ultrasound, Baby Denver weighed 3 pounds, 14 ounces & I got to see his face at 30 weeks, which looks like he might just be cute as a button (picture below). I am also currently -7 lbs from what I was pre-pregnancy, but that's only because I was very sick for most of the first trimester, and from what I hear, the pounds are about to start packing on. It probably doesn't help that I'm currently eating a bag of chips & drinking a Coke. He is perfectly healthy and growing right on schedule so no need to be worried. I find myself laying in bed every night watching him move around and sometimes play him my fave Rockabye Baby tunes and it's almost like he's dancing. We are currently preparing for my baby shower which is just two days away & I absolutely cannot wait! There are already so many people who love this little boy and there is no better feeling than that to me. I will share the details from the shower with y'all next week.

3D Ultrasound, taken at 30 weeks at Focused Imaging in Green Hills, Nashville. I highly recommend these people!!

Other than a few emotional and physical bumps in the road, this pregnancy has been pretty easy. Aside from my constant need to take Tums & my ribs and back feeling like they're both breaking, I kind of like being pregnant. It's really not so bad, I feel great! I will admit that I am terrified about the actual giving birth part. Any words of encouragement or tips are welcome but PLEASE spare me the horror stories, because I'm going to be honest, I've already heard one too many of those.

Now it's time for my favorite part ....Maternity Photos

Ok, so before I got pregnant I never, ever wanted to do any maternity photos, but to tell you the truth it has become one of my favorite hobbies. I had the pleasure of working with not just one magical photographer, but two. Marissa French of Rylan's Riches Photography & Alex Berger Photograpy. I've even had a couple friends who are not photographers snap a few pictures of me at the beach & at the amazing Urban Cowboy BnB in Nashville. I know that people are probably so sick of seeing this baby bump of mine, but I can't help but to love all of these pictures. Creating a life is truly a beautiful thing. I figure this may be the only time I ever get to flaunt having a big stomach, and I'm going to take full advantage. Before this, I've spent 90 percent of my life trying to hide my belly. I'm going to share some of my favorites below.

Iphone photo, obviously. Taken by my non-photographer best friend Tamina.

Another iPhone photo taken by my friend Jackie at the Urban Cowboy B&B in East Nashville

One more iPhone photo at the Urban Cowboy, thanks Jackie!! :)

Now it's time for the real ones :) You have seen a few of these if you follow me on my blog Instagram @NativeinNashville or my personal one @ambi_bambi .

PC: Alex Berger Photography Hair: Chelsea Ireland at Totally Polished Salon MUA: Kalahn Segrest

PC: Marissa French / Rylan's Riches Photography Hair: Chelsea Ireland at Totally Polished Salon

So thankful to work with all of these people who made the photos possible. Please be sure to check out their Instagram pages & websites. Marissa French specializes in maternity, birth, newborn & family photography. Her website is www.rylandrichesphotography.com and her Instagram is @rylansriches. Alex Berger specializes in music, editorial and fashion photography. His website is www.alexbergerphotography.com and his Instagram is @alexbergerphotography . Maternity photography is not something Alex normally does, but I met him while he was photographing several musicians, while at the Urban Cowboy BnB, and he wanted to try something new. He did an amazing job. Marissa was also a pleasure to work with. I encourage you all to check out both of their websites. I would highly recommend both of them!!

I have about a million more but this is enough for now. Thank you all for following along with my journey to motherhood. It has definitely been a life-changing ride & something I never really thought would happen for me. The amount of support I've had from friends and family, not to mention people I barely know has been heartwarming to say the least. THANK YOU ALL.

XO,

Amber

Pregnant in Nashville

March 26, 2017 by Amber Ford in Pregnancy, Life, Personal story, Honesty

Well hello again. I almost can't believe I am writing this. Can't believe I am writing again at all. Can't believe I even remember how. It has been A WHILE. I am sorry I kind of went missing on you guys but my life, since the last time I did a blog post, has turned upside down, inside out, and back again. I was in no place mentally to even write a thing, nor have I had the time.

I am not sure if you guys know or not but I work a full-time job at a clinical research company, come home every night and work on Native in Nashville shirts and packaging up orders and in the mean time I was going through a break up, which was VERY hard on me emotionally. I wasn't really ok for awhile. All of that mixed with handling normal responsibilities of being an adult, hardly left any time for me to gather my own thoughts for myself, let alone figure out a way to type them up, or put together any type of anything worth reading.

In other news, fast forward to now, about 15 weeks ago I got the most shocking, terrifying, and what I would come to realize BEST news of my entire life....I found out I was pregnant. If you follow me on Instagram on my @nativeinnashville page, you probably already know this news, but I wanted to give you guys kind of a life update. I try not to post a WHOLE LOT of really personal things on that page and do so a lot more on my personal page @ambi_bambi, but my plan is to start blogging more and tying more pregnancy and mom posts into Native in Nashville. Let me know if and what kinds of things you guys would be interested in seeing. I definitely want to update y'all more than every 20 weeks. ;) I am going to get pretty personal with you guys here, so if you aren't interested please exit now.

These are the most popular questions I have been asked so far.

"How did you find out?"

Well... my boobs started hurting VERY BADLY and I was about 5 days late. My roommate drove me to the store to buy a test because she was convinced that I was pregnant. I went in my bathroom, took the test, and came out after it changed to "positive" within 15 seconds with a ghostly look on my face and shaking. I immediately texted one of my best friends with the words "I'm f'ing pregnant". I could not believe my eyes. I think I was shaking for about an hour straight. I have always wanted to be a mom, but I was not ready for this news at this particular time. I took off work the next day so I could go break the news to dad and because I needed to take an emotional day off. I have taken pregnancy tests before, but when it actually says you are pregnant, its a whole new world.

"Who is the dad?"

This has got to be the single, most annoying, question that I've ever been asked/that people have ever been worried about of my entire life. You guys have no idea what all I have been through with this before people knew who the dad was. I had to learn the hard way about posting really personal relationship things on social media several years ago. I haven't posted pictures of the last three guys I have dated, because it's honestly not everyone's business. I can see why everyone was so curious, but the lengths some of these people were going to to find out who the father of my child is, were extreme and dramatic. I had people accuse me of "not knowing who the father is", I had people using apps where they could text me from a fake phone number, acting like they were friends with me saying things like "whose the lucky dad". I had people calling me from blocked numbers almost every day. I had people calling their friends who they knew had a mutual acquaintance with me asking if they could "please find out who Amber's baby's daddy is". I can't make any of this up you guys. I wish I could. It was a lot to handle, and I am gonna be honest, when you are pregnant and your hormones are running wild, everything and everyone drives you crazy and your fuse gets extra short. That is how it happened for me anyways.

I don't and didn't mind sharing that information, but I wanted to do it when I was ready to, also didn't want his own mother or family to find out from social media. Dad's name is Damon and he is someone that I have seen on and off for literally 10 years. Here are a couple pictures of us from the night we met over 10 years ago when I was just 20. We met at a Predators game and I used a fake ID to get in Tootsie's lol. Cool unicorn shirt I'm wearing, I know. HA. That's enough about that.

"When is your due date?"

August 8th, 2017 !! I absolutely cannot wait even though I am TERRIFIED. I am so lucky that I have so many mama friends that can help me with the 767 questions I need to ask every day.

"Have you been sick?"

OMG YES! Up until about 4 weeks ago I was nauseas almost every day. I wouldn't actually get sick every single day, but I felt like I was going to. The only thing I could think about eating for at least two months was carbs, and wayyyy too many french fries. For some reason french fries and soup were the only things that sounded appealing. On a positive note, I no longer wanted sweets. Coming from a girl who used to embarrassingly eat 2 candy bars almost every single day at work, and felt like I had to have dessert after every meal, this was a VERY good thing. I started out weighing 155 before I got pregnant (yes those candy bars did it to me) which is the heaviest I've ever been, but because of lack of being able to eat much at my 16 week checkup I had lost 12 lbs, at my 20 week appointment this past week I have gained 2 lbs, so i am at 145. Don't worry my baby is growing healthy and fine :) I figured when I went this past time, since I am able to eat again, they would tell me I gained 10, luckily I am eating healthier choices and not near, or even 1/10th as many sweets as I was before.

The past 3-4 weeks have been much better but this week, on Monday, I was having terrible cramps in my stomach to the point where I couldn't even walk, without being hunched all the way over. My first instinct was that something was wrong with my baby, so I ended up having to go to the ER, and be seen in the Labor and Delivery department at almost midnight. They checked every single thing there was to check and hooked me up to an IV of fluids, which helped tremendously, and said some of the pain was caused from round ligament pain. When my nurse was checking for the baby's heartbeat, it took a really long time to find, so naturally I freaked out even further. Once I heard the heartbeat, that alone, made me feel a million times better. The following day was our 20 week ultrasound, the actual appointment where you are supposed to find out the gender of the baby, so seeing all of that made me even better. I can tell you from my experience so far, that from the moment you find out you are pregnant, you never really stop worrying about your child. I am a worrier, anyways, but I have never worried so much as I have about my baby. Aside from that situation, this has been the roughest week of my life and I have been in the bed since Tuesday night with the flu. I am praying for a better tomorrow and better weeks to come.

"How did you pick the name?"

We chose to name HIM, yes it's a him, Denver and his last name will be Dimick. For the first name I wanted something very different and it was my choice for a girl or a boy. I was really set on using it for a girl but I loved it so much and I think it can go either way. We took a little trip to Denver, Colorado to celebrate choosing the name (dad's idea). His name is definitely different, some may say weird, and I can tell that some people don't like it when I tell them, but I really don't care, because I do and luckily for them, they will be able to name their children whatever name they choose ;).

Here are a few more pictures from along our journey.

The Announcement :)
Blanket: Modern Burlap
Lightbox : Heidi Swapp
PC: Jennifer Cody Weddings

Ultrasound taken at 15 weeks. We went to Focused Imaging in Green Hills to find out the gender of our baby early. Apparently Rick who does them, hasn't been wrong in over 13 years. I literally couldn't wait any longer.

Gender Reveal Day :) Valentine's Day 2017
Dress: Rent the Runway
Hair: Dry House Nashville
MUA: Dani Carpenter
Reveal Balloon: Made it myself, please ask if you would like instructions.
PC: Jennifer Cody Weddings

I made a pink and a blue filled balloon, and had the man who did our ultrasound hand us which balloon we needed to pop. NO ONE knew until the minute we popped it. It was the most fun and exciting day ever. I have secretly always wanted to have a baby BOY.

My first baby bump picture taken at 16 weeks. I don't know how you girls get such cute pictures of your baby bumps, but I need to take lessons.

Ultrasound taken at 20 weeks exactly. I feel like he is saying "You can do it mom". I love him so much already!! We are HALF WAY THERE!!

Thank you all for following along with my journey!! I appreciate you reading!! I look forward to sharing more. Now back to online shopping for Denver & having heartburn. Oh the joys of motherhood.

XO,

Amber

Life Lately: Riches to Rags

April 19, 2016 by Amber Ford in Dear diary, Taking chances, Change, Personal blog, Personal story, Native in Nashville, Life

You guys don't understand how excited I am to be writing this blog post right now from an actual computer!! Every blog post I have done up until this point has been from my phone, which has been a serious struggle to say the least. There have been many long hours spent and many cuss words said over these past two months since I started "Native in Nashville", but I am excited to bring y'all some new and improved posts. You wouldn't imagine the world of difference this makes to me and how much more I can do. Who knew?

Isn't she pretty? I'm seriously so excited and IN LOVE. I decided to go with a MacBook Air. I really wanted a MacBook, but only because it's the only one that comes with pretty color options Luckily for me, the Apple store sells a case that made computer look rose gold, just like my phone. WIN-WIN!

Some of you won't care a thing about this post, because it honestly has nothing to do with Nashville at all. No cool waterfalls, restaurants, food, or clothes...just me, myself and I and my life lately. More like a "Dear Diary" post to be exact. If I were you, I would probably x out of this right now. For those of you who do want to read about my boring life, I salute you.

Riches to Rags....

I know you're probably looking at that line like, "hey, she wrote that the wrong way". Nope. I wish I could say that was the case. As most of you know, if you read my previous blog about change http://www.nativeinnashville.com/blog/2016/3/1/a-change-would-do-you-good (copied here if anyone is interested) I made a HUGE life change about a month or so ago. One day I realized that I didn't care how much money I made working where I was, some things are just not worth it. I did something really crazy and went on my lunch break one day and didn't return. Enough was enough.

I had always told myself I would never be a waitress again in my life. I am NOT knocking waitressing at all, I just want to say that up front. I always said that because it's literally the hardest job a person can ever do in their life. I think everyone in this world should be required to wait tables for at least 6 months, before they are even allowed to go out to eat. Some of you may not even know that waitresses only make $2.15 an hour. Plus tips. Let me name a few or ten reasons why being a waitress is hard, and then I will continue this story.

Constantly on your feet
No breaks (if you have to pee, sometimes you can't even do that...)
If you are facing a problem at home, you might as well not even go into work =NO MONEY. You HAVE to have a smile on your face, always. No matter what.
SIDEWORK. After a shift, you are required to do like a billion other things before you can leave.(making $2.15 an hour, no more tips, might I add)
If the customer doesn't like the food, or the kitchen messes up the order, there goes your tip.
Have you guys seen the black chunky "no-slip" shoes? EW
The uniform in general....and having to buy most of it yourself, before you even make a dollar.
Most all restaurants have a "tip out" meaning part of the money you make off each table as a tip, goes to someone else (food runner,busers, the bar) It's based off of sales, so basically if a table doesn't leave a tip at all, the server has to pay out of pocket.
10% tips. This brings me back to the fact that some people do not realize servers only make $2.15 an hour. I say if your service is good, you should tip no less than 20%, no questions asked.
Smelling like french fries at the end of the day. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Running food and side work. Do you realize that even when servers are not with a table, they are constantly carrying heavy plates out to tables that aren't even theirs, if you suck at carrying them, like me, getting food all over their clothes. Something always needs to be done, ice needs to be refilled, plates and glasses need to be restocked, silverware needs to be polished and rolled. It's always something, you literally can't catch a break.
You have to have the best memory of all time. I have ADD and a bad memory + anxiety. Not a great combination. Imagine the feeling I got forgetting what someone asked for, and how easy it would be.

This list goes on and on. I'm telling you guys, its hard. We need a training class on how to treat someone who is a server. I hope you ALL read this and take notes. Anyways, I started working at a restaurant. At first, I was very excited about it. Unfortunately, that feeling faded very quickly. I think ultimately, the excitement factor resulted from me never having to go back to my other job again and the satisfaction of just doing something new. I also enrolled in school, and I knew having a flexible work schedule would make it really easy on me. VERY long story short, I had to do two weeks of training before I even began making tips. When I did begin making tips I made very good ones, at least 20% on each table. That wasn't the issue. The problem was the fact that I may only get 4 or 5 tables today during a shift. I was the new girl, in the worst sections, with the lowest amount of tables. That just doesn't add up to much.

I went from making what I was making an hour, to making that much in a shift. It would have taken me about 35 shifts to even make enough to pay my half of the rent and utilities. It was bad you guys. I would leave crying. I was working so hard for what felt like nothing. I was used to buying almost anything I wanted, whenever I wanted, and not thinking a thing in the world about it. Being a waitress for about about 5 weeks, was a huge wake up call. I started thinking about things in how many days it would take of work to pay for whatever it was that I thought I wanted. There were times when I felt guilty, just for buying myself lunch. I literally saved every penny, which between that and taxes, I am thankful for now. My back and feet were constantly sore and I always smelled like french fries. I was constantly looking for ways to make extra money, I even became "Molly Maid" for my brother once. I realized quickly that I am not cut out for that kind of hard work and labor. The cleaning I could definitely handle, it was the waitressing that got me. I seriously salute anyone who does this.

Present Day....

I started vigorously looking for something else, anything else, that would not take a physical and emotional toll on my life. I started reaching out to every person I knew, with any kind of connections to good companies. I had several interviews and I am pleased to say I accepted a position with a Clinical Research company, in Nashville, a couple weeks ago. My first day ended up being yesterday and I already love it, the people I work with, and the fact that it is something that makes a difference in this world. I am happy I had the humbling experience of being a waitress again. It was a real eye opener for me. My life currently feels good for the first time in quite awhile, and for that I am thankful. All of this happened because I decided to make a bold move and make a change. Yes, I had to make some sacrifices along the way, but in the end, it was so worth it. I think the key to life is having someone in it, who supports you. It could be a friend, family member, lover, whoever. All it takes it that one person to let you know it's all going to be ok. It will all work out, exactly as God plans for it to. I appreciate you all reading and supporting my little blogging journey.