Learning to Live

Life...It Ain't Easy!

2012-02-08T08:03:00.002-05:00

Ever had one of those days that you just want to crawl under a rock and cry? You have no idea why or what leads to that feeling, but you know that it would just feel good to let everything out. Yeah, I have those more often than I like to admit.

For a while, I started to take my husband for granted. I actually started to slip into a little bit of a depression. Once I realized what was going on within my head, I tried to snap myself out of it and made a promise to myself that I wouldn't let it happen again. I love my husband more than just about anything in this world. More than myself. He is everything to me. He loves me for me...he promised himself to me...he gave me two of the most beautiful, adorable, lovable, entertaining, precious gifts ever.

There are days that I question the choice that we decided to have two babies so close in age. After all...neither of them can really communicate yet, both are still in diapers, both still need constant supervision (when will that end??? lol), both have tantrums - sometimes at the SAME time, both fight naps - again, sometimes at the SAME time. But...both of them love me and their daddy unconditionally. And for that...I want to be their rock. I will teach them to be gracious, courteous, honest people. I will teach them to accept people despite their differences. I will raise them first as their mother, second as their friend. In my opinion, it can't be done the other way around because I've seen that go terribly wrong. First and foremost, I will teach them to love God and follow His plans...after all...He is the ultimate teacher. The ultimate friend.

God bless!

The Power of Words

2012-01-31T07:54:00.001-05:00

I'm sure everyone has heard the saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me". I remember saying that multiple times as a kid. I really believed it for a while, too!

What I didn't realize then, is that words have an uncanny ability to make every emotion boil right to the top. Whether it's happiness, anger, sadness, you name it. Words are profound, and when used correctly, they can make you feel GREAT! However...when used wrong, they can cut deeper than the longest knife.

One of the smallest words, can have the most impact: "YES". Think about it...
"Will you marry me?" "YES"
"Do you deny Satan and all of his empty promises?" "YES"
"Do you trust your partner?" "YES"

When I was baptized, that was the biggest "YES" of my life. I officially accepted Jesus into my life 100%. My sins were washed clean, and I was handed a clean slate to start my life with. How have I handled it? Probably not the absolute best I could, but I'm trying. I want to be the best person I can. That, in turn, will allow me to be the best wife to my husband and the best mommy to my two beautiful blessings. I am so happy with where my life is right now, and I really don't want to start taking it for granted again.

When Michael proposed, I said the second most important "YES" of my life. I pledged myself to him. To be his friend. His partner. His support. I promised him I would stand by him in good times and bad, sickness and health, until death parts us. My wedding ring is a daily reminder that I'm devoted to him. He is my partner, my support, and best of all...he is my friend. My confidant. My rock. Sometimes I need a little reminder that he has been put in my life for me. I need to focus on that. Not our little quarrels. Not our disagreements. Not our differences. But that we're here for each other...at all times.

We all need to be careful how we choose our words. We could inadvertently hurt someone very deeply with what we say, and we may not even realize it. Heck...some people might not even care if they hurt you with their words. Those are the people that I pray will find understanding and humility.

Words can cut deeper that we realize. Choose them carefully.

God bless.

Another new adventure...

2012-01-31T07:39:00.001-05:00

This year is going to bring many changes for me.

First things...brushing up on knowing my camera, getting better pictures straight out of the camera, learning the ins and outs of what does what and when.
Second...My 52 week photo project. It's going pretty well so far! The assignments are keeping my creative wheels turning for sure!
Third...well...this one is for me. For personal reasons, so I won't be mentioning it here until I've completed it. Let's just say that it's going to help me find a better life balance and understanding!

God bless...

What Was I THINKING??!?!!!

2012-01-09T13:09:00.001-05:00

Seriously. What was I thinking?

When Julia was a baby, things were hard. Like, HARD for me. I saw all of these other moms doing things with two, three, even four kids that I could never dream of doing with my ONE child! I was one stressed out mama! What was I thinking...

Now that I have two, I realize how easy it was with just one baby. I'm doing things with TWO kids that I wouldn't have ever dreamed of doing when it was just Julia. Why? Because now I feel that one kid is a breeze. At least my one kid was a breeze. I should have been able to go places any time of the day...whenever I wanted...but I never did because I was so overwhelmed, now, even with two...I can go that. Now I know that one kid is easier, but only because I've been dealing with two for the last six months!

So, a message to all of the new mamas out there...don't put your life on hold just because you have a baby! It's a lot easier to do things with one child than it is with two. TRUST me.

God Bless!

New adventure!

2012-01-06T08:35:00.001-05:00

I tried a Project 365 before, but it failed miserably. Or rather I failed miserably at it. This year, I'm doing a Project 52! One photo a week, for the whole year. Should be more doable, right?

Feel free to follow along! http://myphotoproject52.blogspot.com/

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-25T21:18:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great day today, and that you were able to spend your time with someone very special...

God bless!

Adventures in Mommyhood - Part 2

2011-12-22T09:04:00.000-05:00

As cliche as it may sound, being a mom is one of the greatest gifts ever. My kiddos are my life, and even though I have some stressful days, I wouldn't trade them for anything!

I'm not Supermom. This was a hard pill for me to swallow. I really want to be the mom that...gets everything done...can handle going places at the drop of a dime...has a clean house all the time. I want to play with my kids all the time and not get frustrated that they get clingy. They love and need me. That's all that I need to know but some days it's hard to remember that - like when they're both crying for 20 minutes or more and I can't for the LIFE of me get either of them to calm down, causing me to break down into tears with them.

Housework waits. A lot. I hardly have a chance to touch much of anything anymore. I get maybe an hour max of quiet time, and that's if Justin decides to nap when Julia does. Do you think I like to bust my bum trying to straighten up the house or anything of the like? Heck no. First thing on my list is usually crocheting...then a shower...then relaxing...then a nap. Many days, the shower gets put on the back burner and I just plop my rear end on the couch or in the chair with the TV on. About the only things that I've been able to relatively maintain is the diaper laundry and all of the crochet orders that I have waiting for me! Diaper laundry is maintained more so out of necessity than anything. We only have so many diapers for two kids...and when you think about it, two kids in diapers...that's a lot of pee and poo!

Leaving...rarely happens anymore. It is getting better. I can get both kids and myself out the door in about an hour. MAYBE 30 minutes if I've already packed a few things, Julia has already eaten breakfast, and Justin has already been fed.

The kids are so good...I really should remember to count my blessings. Michael and I actually had a night out last night, and left the kids with my mom and his cousin. Julia went to bed without fussing at all, and Justin was a little charmer as usual. Now...that doesn't mean that they slept well!!! LOL But the fact that we were finally able to get a night out together...ALONE...since I don't know when was wonderful

I just hate feeling like I can't do everything. I want to give my best, but that never...never feels like it's good enough. My to-do list grows daily, and the only times that I can get even remotely close to getting everything done on my daily list, requires me to have Julia under my feet while I'm cleaning bathrooms, doing dishes, washing diapers...you get the idea. *sigh* I guess it's just time for me to concede to the fact that I can't do everything...and to "Hang it on the Cross".

God Bless!!!

One Month of Thanks

2011-12-18T09:28:00.001-05:00

I did this last year, and decided to do it again this year! I posted these on Facebook each day and just decided to transfer them all here so they're easy to reflect on. I challenge all of you to do this next year!!!

November 1, 2011: I am thankful for my health.
November 2, 2011: I am thankful for the roof over my head.
November 3, 2011: I am SO thankful for the 2 beautiful babies God has blessed me with!
November 4, 2011: I am thankful for my family and all of my friends - new and old. :-)
November 5, 2011: I am thankful for the food on our table.
November 6, 2011: Today I am thankful for a clock that resets itself! Even though I felt like I was in the twilight zone watching the clock tick 2:57, 2:58, 2:59, 2:00...lol
November 7, 2011: I am thankful for the car that gets me to the bazillion places I need to go in a day. (OK, maybe that's an exaggerated amount, but that's how I feel sometimes!)
November 8, 2011: I am thankful for my God given talents. =)
November 9, 2011: Today I am thankful for all of my struggles, loves lost, and friends of the past. Without those things, I would not be who I am today.
November 9, 2011: Part 2. Today I am also thankful for properly fitting diapers! Holy cow...lol
November 10, 2011: Today I am thankful for the headache I have. It reminds me that I'm still alive....
November 11, 2011: Today, as every day, I am grateful for our Veterans and our active duty military men and women!
November 12, 2011: Today I am thankful to be able to hear Julia say 'dooooooooon TOUCH'... :-)
November 13, 2011: Today I am thankful that we are able to heat our house and keep our family warm. :)
November 14, 2011: I am thankful that I can hear the jibber jabber of my nearly 2 year old daughter on the monitor...even though she should still be sleeping! LOL
November 15, 2011: Today I am thankful for my self-control. It's a work in progress, but it's getting better. :)
November 16, 2011: I am thankful for my husband. I love you Michael!
November 17, 2011: I'm thankful for the life God has blessed me with. :)
November 18, 2011: I'm thankful that I get to watch my babies grow day in and day out, and know that I am the one teaching them everything!!!
November 19, 2011: I am thankful that we are able to provide for our kids what they need.
November 20, 2011: I am thankful for good teachers. :)
November 21, 2011: I am thankful for the 4 hour stretch of uninterrupted sleep I got last night! And the nap I got to take with the little guy yesterday. :)
November 22, 2011: I am thankful that Justin didn't wake up screaming today...just chatting away in his crib. :)
November 23, 2011: I am thankful that I get to spend a lot more days with my hubby this weekend than normal!!!
November 24, 2011: (I know...it's not the 24th, but I missed that day!) I am thankful for fun family gatherings that allow us to share stories, laughs, and chats with cousins serving overseas.
November 25, 2011: Today I am thankful for new blessings!!! Congratulations to my cousin A, and her husband J...welcome to your beautiful baby girl born yesterday at 7:13 pm!!! Baby M, welcome to the family beautiful girl! I hope you can handle us! :) Congratulations also to the new grandparents, K, J, and auntie E!!!
November 26, 2011: I am thankful that we decided to use cloth diapers.
November 27, 2011: I am thankful for one word..."Yes"...such a small word, with such huge meanings. ♥
November 28, 2011: I am thankful for mousetraps.
November 28, 2011: I am also thankful that I just heard Julia in her crib saying "mamamamamamamamamama" :-)
November 29, 2011: I am so thankful that Michael's job is enough to support our family so that I can be with my kids all day. They may drive me nuts sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!
November 30, 2011: I am thankful for my faith. Where it has taken me, and where it will take me in the future.

God bless... :-)

Bad Dreams

2011-11-30T13:23:00.000-05:00

None of us like bad dreams. After all, they're called 'bad dreams' because...well...they're BAD!!! What makes them worse is when they're about your kids.

Last night, I had a bad dream about Justin. I was at my brothers place (not the place he lives in now, so I have no clue where he was living). My mom, sister, brother, my hubby and myself were all getting ready to go somewhere. Justin had just fallen asleep but was fussing. Everyone kept telling me "it's ok, you can leave him, he'll be fine". I did not agree and fought tooth and nail. They all kept saying "JUST LEAVE HIM. HE'LL BE FINE!!!" Within a few minutes, he was screaming and crying. He would only calm down when I walked toward him. I didn't even have to be right there with him...just moving towards him. Then, someone (not anyone that I recognized), grabbed me and dragged me out slamming the door on my screaming baby! I could hear him all the way out to the car...I was crying too. It was so terrible!!!

I woke up from that one feeling pretty crappy. :-(

Thankfully...it's not true, it never happened, and now I'll do my darndest to not ever let that happen.

On a more positive note...we got some snow last night!!! And, both kids have been sleeping for about 40 minutes. :-)

God Bless!

Joy!

2011-11-27T11:01:00.000-05:00

Ok, now that Thanksgiving is over, I can get excited about Christmas! Who am I kidding...I've been excited about Christmas since before Thanksgiving!!! LOL I just love this time of year. The lights, the tree, the music...*sigh*

I was standing in the kitchen the other day getting a cup of coffee. Justin had just gone down for a nap, Julia was eating her lunch, and "Where Are You Christmas?" came on the radio. I don't know why, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. I just sat there staring at Julia watching her eat. She is MY daughter...almost 2 already. So beautiful, so funny, such a perfect mix of me an her dad. Julia cracks me up on a daily basis with the things she does and says. Justin is my little MAN. He's already getting so big... Weighing nearly 17lbs at his four month appointment, he's almost as big as Julia was when she turned 1! I love watching him develop and change. He's so handsome... The whole time I was thinking "I am SO blessed..." It actually brought tears to my eyes. I get so frustrated with myself sometimes because they both demand so much of my time and I feel stretched SUPER thin, so I get irritated. I really need to keep counting my blessings. There are people that can't have kids, and here I sit...BLESSED with two beautiful babies!!! They are my pride and joy. I can't wait until Christmas morning when we bring Julia down and she sees all the presents again. Last year was cute, but she'll be much more into it this year! Justin is infatuated with the tree already because of the lights, so he will probably be staring at it like a fool too! LOL

Anyways...just wanted to get some of that out!

God bless!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T09:55:00.000-05:00

Yeah...it's been a while again. Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all in the blog world. :-)

Happy Halloween!!!

2011-11-04T14:26:00.005-04:00

From my family to yours! Even if it is a few days late...lol

Mr. Justin as the most adorable little pumpkin ever, and Miss Julia as the cutest little monkey! Enjoy!

God bless =)

Yep...I'm a slacker.

2011-10-06T10:45:00.000-04:00

My only excuse...my two little ones! I have started up a little shop of sorts...check it out on Facebook here!

I promise I haven't forgotten about my loyal readers (if there are any...lol) I will get back to updates as soon as things get a little calmer...

Smiles...

2011-08-23T21:31:00.002-04:00

Smiles from my nearly 2 month old baby boy, a little extra sleep thanks to him not waking up very much, hugs and kisses from my daughter and my hubby are all I need!!!

Now, here's hoping for a couple more nights like last night...I actually felt rested when I got up today! Woohoo!

God Bless!

Been MIA for a while...

2011-08-22T10:57:00.000-04:00

Let's just say life is BUSY with two kids under two!!! I'm working on a couple of posts, so be please be patient with me... ☺

God bless!

She's In Love With The Boy! Tot's Story

2011-07-09T18:00:00.002-04:00

Well boys and girls, the tot has arrived! This is their story...

At my 36 week appointment, I was 1 cm dilated. The next night I was up for about 4 hours with contractions that were painful, but not unbearable, and were 7 minutes apart. At my 37 week appointment, the doc said I was 2-3 cm dilated but still very "thick". I was pretty excited about the progress since I didn't get to experience that with Julia at all.

Anyways, Michael and I went on plenty of walks, and yes...I even tried the Labor Cookies (hey, any excuse to eat cookies, right?). At both of my next appointments, despite the sporadic contractions and multiple Braxton Hicks, there was no change. I was ok with that though.

Fast forward to Sunday night, July 3rd. I went to bed around 9:30 pm because I was POOPED. Michael came to bed around 10:00 pm. I had a couple of weak contractions and thought nothing of it. After all, I had been having them randomly for weeks. But then, I had one around 10:30 pm that had me curled up in the fetal position. I told Michael that laying down was going to be no good if they kept up like that. I had another one around 10:34 and got up to head downstairs. Michael asked me what I wanted him to do, and I said "try to get some sleep", and then I sent a text message to my sister that said "don't leave yet, but I think we're going to need you tonight" (she was our "on call" person for babysitting Julia). About 3 minutes after that, I got another contraction. I sent her another message saying "we're going to go ahead and go to the hospital just in case" and told her I was going to jump in the shower real quick. It's about a 25 minute drive from her place to ours, so I knew I had time. She said for me to let her know when I got out of the shower unless I wanted her to come right then. I told her just to come over because the contractions were getting closer together, and I got in the shower.

By the time I got out of the shower, the contractions were a consistent 3 minutes apart and were practically paralyzing. Michael had gotten up by that point, and started loading up the truck to head to the hospital. By the time my sister was about 5 minutes away, Michael went to pull the truck out of the garage so we could just take off when she got here. He knew that these contractions were different from the ones I had that Thursday night because I couldn't really talk through them, and I could barely walk. When he came back in the house, he said "she's pulling into the driveway". He barely got that out of his mouth and I was half way out the door already. I gave my sister a hug, said thank you, we jumped in the truck and took off. It was 11:15 pm.

The hospital is generally 25-30 minutes from the house depending on traffic, but Michael got us there in about 15. He was going 60 almost all the way there when the posted speed limit is only 45 (and on one road 35). Shortly after we left and I realized how fast he was going, we joked about him getting pulled over. He said "I'm not going to stop" and I said "Yes you are, because then we can get a police escort!" The contractions were coming so close and so strong that Michael about lost the "oh shit handle" on the passenger side because I was holding on to it so hard and practically lifting myself out of the seat with each contraction. Once or twice I almost felt like I could have pushed. When we got to the hospital, valet was already closed, and I was NOT going to walk from the parking structure, so we parked the truck right in front of the entrance. The doors that we had to go in locked at 10 pm so we had to have security buzz us in. Michael hit the button and someone came on saying 'can I help you?' Michael just blurted out "my wife is in labor!!!" and they let us in. Once we got in the doors, we made it about 10 feet before I had another contraction. I had to stop Michael and stand there with my hands on my knees trying to breathe through it.

When we got to the registration counter at Labor & Delivery, I tried to answer questions and sign paperwork between contractions. There was a couple that came in just after us and they were standing there watching me. The lady at the counter got someone to come walk us back, and as we walked away I heard the other couple say something along the lines of "she's close!". When we got to triage, the contractions got even more intense. One lady came in to start the standard registration stuff, and another came in with the ultrasound machine to make sure the baby was in the right position and to take a few measurements. Since I didn't know how far along I was, or if my water had broken yet, I asked if it would be possible to get an epidural. A nurse came in to check me and said "your water is still in tact, and you're at 9". I said "I'M WHAT?!?!?!" I couldn't believe I had labored that much already... They didn't even have a chance to hook me up to the fetal monitors or anything before they heard me go through another contraction and they realized that it was TIME. The nurse came in and said "We're just going to take you straight up to a room. I'm just going to see what the baby's size is really quick." She put her hands on my belly, felt the baby, and said "About 7 lbs 6 oz." They then sent me straight up to a delivery room without doing all of the usual registration stuff in triage. We were only there for about 10 minutes.

When we got to the delivery room, I got on the bed and they crammed an iv in me as fast as they could just in case I could get an epidural. 2 contractions later...I needed to push. No epidural...I would get my natural birth after all, and was scared. I even said to Michael "I don't think I can do this..." He and one of the nurses said "YES YOU CAN". By then it was about 12:00 am on the 4th of July. We were waiting for the doctor to show up, but I couldn't wait anymore. I needed to push. My body wouldn't let me wait any more. The next contraction came, and I pushed. I could feel the baby moving down which was such a neat feeling! I could tell when I had a good push rather than relying on the nurses telling me what was good like when Julia was born. Four sets of three pushes later, and my beautiful baby was born at 12:27 am, weighing 7 lbs 10 oz and 19 3/4" long. As the nurses pulled the baby up to lay them on my chest, I looked down, saw his little dinger and said "AAH!!! IT'S A BOY!!!" I didn't quite cry, but I was really close! My doctor came in about 2 minutes after he was born! I was ecstatic both that we had our boy and the fact that I had done it drug free!!! It was so different from when Julia was born.

We had gone through a few boy names - Adam was #1 for quite some time because of my really good friend that had passed away the day after our wedding. Then, we had semi-firmly decided on Andrew. A couple of days before he was born, I looked at Michael and said, "what about Justin?" He said "Not bad..." and we pretty much left it at that. Well...while we were in the delivery room waiting for the baby to get checked out, I said "He doesn't look like an Andrew..." Michael agreed and went over to talk to the baby. He said "Hi there big guy!" - he is VERY excited about having a boy). Then he said "What do you want to be called? Andrew?" and the baby cried. So he said "Ok, not Andrew...how about Justin?" and the baby was quiet. Then he said "Ok! Justin Michael it is!" I was laying in the bed laughing as he was having this conversation with the baby. I even told the nurse that there is never a dull moment in our house because of him. It was pretty funny.

After they got me stitched up (I wound up with a 2nd degree tear), we got moved into our recovery room around 3:00 am. I didn't sleep much that night just because I kept staring at Justin. I was in shock that I had actually delivered him without medication. I was so in love already... He was nursing relatively well, though we still needed to work on his latch a little bit. Later that afternoon, we started asking about when we would be discharged. Since he was born so late (or early depending on how you look at it), we weren't sure what day they would be sending us home. They worked up our papers and we were out of the hospital by 5:00 pm on July 5th!

Here are some pictures of our beautiful baby boy! He has a striking resemblance to his big sister...

God Bless!

Adventures in Mommyhood

2011-07-03T13:21:00.000-04:00

So much has happened since the last post! My sun burn is gone, it's a lovely shade of brown. On half of my calves...lol Anyways. I was sitting here watching TV and playing on the computer one day while Julia was playing with her toys. It was one of the many days that I have attempted to keep my feet up to keep the swelling down. Well. The front door was open, and she loves to sit on the stairs and look out the door, talking (or rather yelling) at anyone and anything that passes by. She sat there playing and talking for a good 10 minutes. After telling her to stop scratching the screen door, all of a sudden, I noticed that it had gotten really quiet. I looked over and she was nowhere near the door. Checked the bathroom. Nope, the door had been closed all morning. Looked around completely confused then looked up the stairs. There she was. At the top of the stairs. Grinning from ear to ear as if to say "Look what I can do mommy!!!" I about had a heart attack!!! I got up the stairs as fast as I could and made her climb all the way down on her own...the safe way. She did it. After that...the baby barricade went up!!!

I've also babysat for my good friend K a few times. Having a toddler and a 4 month old has been a great practice, and even though it tired me out pretty good, I am VERY thankful that I've had the opportunity to do it. Little E is so cute, and is a very bright little girl! My first tough lesson in mommy-ing 2 under 2 happened the second or third (I think...) time that I had Little E. It was time for Little E to have her morning bottle, but Julia was vying for my attention...hard core. Let's say that Julia got bit by the BIG jealous bug. She stood in front of me while I fed Little E nearly the entire time crying...whining...screaming...wanting me to pick her up. I tried to tell her that we would be done soon, but that Little E needed to finish her bottle. More screaming, whining and crying...this time from both girls. Julia would scream, it would scare Little E so she would start crying. I'd get her calmed down and Julia would start in again. You get the picture. Almost a full hour and a half that morning was just the two of them crying, whining or screaming at one point or another, sometimes at the same time.

The rest of the day didn't go so bad. There was still a lot of jealousy from Julia (which is to be expected), but we got through the day, I got to spend some quality quiet time with them both, each while the other was napping, so that was good. Since then, we've gotten a couple of "special" toys for Julia to play with while I'm preoccupied with the new baby. I'm hoping that it will help to ease the 'blow' so-to-speak. She loves to be with other babies, so I'm hoping that the adjustment won't be too bad.

On the "tot" front. Still hanging in there! I'm 39 weeks 2 days today. My due date is quickly approaching, and to be honest...it feels kind of strange still having a baby in me since Julia came so early. I'll wait however long it takes though! I want the baby to be fully cooked. =) I had the joy of nesting (if you want to call it a joy...lol) last week. Thursday I took everything out of the linen closet and completely rearranged and organized it. I also washed the dishes that were in the kitchen sink, then scrubbed out the sink, scrubbed the visibly gross parts of the fridge (it sits right next to the stove), scrubbed the tea kettle, stove top/backing (knobs and all...)/oven door and drawer at the bottom, and cleaned up Julia's room a little bit. It was crazy. Nice to get the linen closet in order though! We made a pretty hefty donation to the Salvation Army later on too! I did some more on Saturday and Monday, but not nearly as involved as what was done on Thursday. I think the second and third days were a result of me being sick of trying to keep my feet up to keep the swelling down. I didn't want to sit on my butt anymore! LOL

The garden is also coming along very nice! All but one of my corn stalks are at least knee high, the peas are coming in like crazy - I've even picked some and gotten to eat them - they're tasty! The carrots are starting to come in nicely (I picked one the other day out of curiosity and the orange color was coming in), I finally got the last of the tomato plants transplanted to the garden, and got the cucumbers planted as well. Hopefully they'll grow well! I love fresh cucumbers! The lilies are all blooming...yellow, orange, salmon, and red...they're gorgeous! My Zinnias are coming in like crazy now too. Although, they're only supposed to be 6" high and some of them are already 12"!!! It looks nice though since the flowers are blooming...

With that, I'm off to tend to some cloth diaper laundry, and grab my tea out of the fridge!

God Bless!

Bad Blogger!!!

2011-06-25T19:13:00.000-04:00

I have been such a bad blogger lately and I apologize!!! I have a new post rolling around in my head, and will hopefully have it posted in the next couple of days. =)

The Lord's Beauty

2011-05-31T21:07:00.000-04:00

I was sitting on the couch putting aloe on my sunburn from yesterday, and I looked out the window. There were some gray clouds, and the sun was setting casting an orange hue. Then...I saw them...the beam. It was gorgeous... (sorry about the quality...I took them through the front window...)

God Bless!

Another Greenery Update

2011-05-28T18:28:00.000-04:00

Well, we've had another pretty productive day over here in our neck of the woods! Pulled more weeds in the garden and flower beds, Michael cut the grass, we cut back and transplanted the mums from the front to the back yard, I laid out flowers to plant in the flower beds so Michael could plant them, later we're going to install the infant car seat base and possibly start to tackle what's in the guest bedroom so we can start getting that transformed into Julia's big girl room!

Here are some pictures of the greens popping up around the yard...(sorry for the photo overload!)

The lilacs.

My peas.

My carrots.

My corn.

The raspberry bush.

The lilies (they're INSANE!!!)

The peonies.

The hostas that I got from my mom - before.

And the hostas - after.

Julia's tree =)

And the flower beds after Michael planted the Zinnia's (Thumbelina mix), and the white Geraniums.

All in all, another good day! =)

God Bless!

I often wonder...

2011-05-21T12:13:00.001-04:00

I always say that my siblings and I all turned out pretty well. We're level headed, have good intentions, and love our family. We all have the ability to see things from just about any angle. We may not agree with one decision, and it might grate on us, but for the most part, we can at least see that point of view. We can all multi task efficiently, can cook with the best of them, and have each others backs when the time arises. I always have to give credit to my parents because of how well we turned out.

There are many days that I sit and wonder if my kids will turn out as well as we all did. Will they understand that everyone has their own opinion? Will they be accepting of said other opinions? Will they be polite? Will they listen when someone is talking to them, or continue doing whatever they were doing? Will they be courteous? Will I be able to teach them that family should always come first, and that when they gets married their family comes first? Will they be able to see all sides of the story when a dilemma arises? Will they do well in school? Will they be athletic? Will they understand that unconditional love means just that...unconditional? Will they be patient in their life and with their decisions, or will they jump to conclusions and in and out of relationships trying to find "the one"? Will they be able to understand that they need to be independent, but at the same time know that we will be there - as their parents - should they not be able to do it on their own? Will they be respectful? Courteous? Honest?...

I know I have no way of knowing the answers to all of these questions right now, and that it is in fact all in the way that I raise them, but I can't help but wonder especially now that we've entered the stage in Julia's life that tantrums are more prominent. She's still so young, but I wonder if there's anything I should be doing differently...

*sigh* the joys of parenthood...

God bless

It's DONE!!!

2011-05-15T15:10:00.000-04:00

Finally! The baby sweater is done! What I thought would take me only a couple of weeks, wound up taking me FOUR MONTHS. Guess that's what I get for over estimating my abilities! Brand new pattern with new stitches, first time making a clothing item...yeah...but...here's a picture!

Now I'm down to 3 projects. One hat to match the sweater, a blanket for the tot, and a blanket for my sister!

God bless!

This mama....

2011-04-30T20:42:00.000-04:00

Is SLEEPY!!! What a busy day today...we went grocery shopping, I was able to sneak a nap in this morning, we did our laundry, I swept the floors and vacuumed, Michael put up blinds on our door wall, put the screen on the front door, sprayed some dandelions, measured to finish the lattice around the shed, started staining the doors for our little tables, and we cut up some watermelon, strawberries, broccoli, celery, and cauliflower. Now, I'm going to sit down with my hook and yarn (the sweater is thisclose to being done!), and then...I'm going to bed!

Good night blog world.

God bless!

Greenery update

2011-04-27T20:29:00.000-04:00

So, in my last post, I mentioned a lot of things "popping up" around here. Today, I managed to get outside and get some pictures of them!

Pea sprouts

Bean sprouts

Lilacs

Lilies #1

Lilies #2

One of my peonies

Japanese snow maple that my mom bought for Julia when she was born

Yay!!! I can't wait to see how all of these do this year!

God bless!

Fresh veggies...here I come!!!

2011-04-26T20:23:00.000-04:00

Michael and I took Julia outside for a little while this evening. Wait...let me rephrase that. Michael took Julia outside, and I caught up with them about 10 minutes later. Anyways...we wandered around the front and back yard for a bit, getting some good old fresh air and vitamin D. While in the back yard, I decided to investigate my lilac bushes and my garden. I have purple buds on my lilacs already, and...get this...I HAVE PEA SPROUTS!!! I'm so excited!!! The beans were supposed to sprout first, but they haven't popped through yet. But...I have peas!!! LOL

Anyways...while we were in the front yard, I checked out my lilies and the peonies that I got from my mother-in-law last year. The peonies are starting to sprout up a bit (some of them are already 3" tall!), and the lilies...OH THE LILIES!!! They're coming in like crazy already. I can't WAIT to see them once they bloom!!! Even the little ones that didn't sprout last year are about 2" tall already. Now I just need to get to the local garden store to get some hostas to plant under the pine tree, and possibly some short annuals to replace the mums that are taking OVER. Seriously...when we got the mums, they were about 3" in diameter, and now they all average about 8". I think one might be as big as 20" around...at the base!!! I will be splitting them, and quite possibly pitching half of them...I'm not a huge mum fan, but Michael really likes them. Plus, they're a fall flower, so they're a good replacement when the spring annuals are gone.

Hopefully, if the weather holds up tomorrow, I'll be able to get outside and get some pictures of all the "activity" going on!

God bless!

Baking...

2011-04-22T20:36:00.000-04:00

Yummy...my house is filled with the wonderful aroma of lemon loaf!!! See, there will be a handful of people welcomed into the Catholic faith tomorrow - whether by baptism, confirmation, or first Eucharist - at the Easter Vigil, and they needed donations of snacks for afterwards. I made a double batch of this yummy bread so that we can keep some at home too. It's been way too long since I've had it, and I can't wait to crack into it tomorrow!!!

God bless!

Sprout update!

2011-04-22T09:05:00.000-04:00

So, I started 2 cups with tomato plants, and the one that I posted was the first to sprout. But check this out!!!

This is the same sprout that I posted a couple of days ago...

This is the second cup...

This is both of them, just for comparison...

And a picture of the cutest girl in the world!!!

Happy Good Friday to all of you!
God bless

New Life...

2011-04-19T09:27:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm a nerd. Don't laugh...this is my first tomato sprout! I can't wait for this little guy to grow strong enough to move outside...

Good couple of days...

2011-04-13T19:40:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been trying to buckle down and get back on my "to-do" list. Again...PLEASE don't hesitate to give me a hard time if you don't see the list on that page updated daily!!! Yesterday I got a few things done (washed diapers, swept the floors, and vacuumed downstairs, among other things...see list), and today, I got some more done! I got the diapers stuffed, the downstairs bathroom cleaned, pulled some more weeds in the flower bed, and got the dishwasher running.

Oh, and I am totally excited!!! I can see my lilies coming up, there are buds on my lilacs in the back yard, and my peonies are starting to pop up too! Yay!!! I can't wait to see those come in... In the next few weeks, I need to plant my cucumbers, plant some hostas under the pine tree out front, transplant the mums from the front flower bed, to back by the garden, and get some spring annuals put in the front flower bed. I don't know what I'm going to do this year yet, but I'll find something! And doing all of this while 6 months pregnant is Oh So Fun...lol

Anyways... We recently got a DVR (finally!!!) so now I can go to bed at a decent time, and record the shows that I want to watch. I had a DVR a few years back and LOVED it...it's going to come in very handy! With that said...I'm going to peruse BabyCenter for a few minutes and pick up my hook and yarn since I didn't have a chance to do it while Julia was napping.

God bless!

Idol Rant

2011-04-07T21:16:00.000-04:00

Yes, I watch American Idol, and can I just say I am BAFFLED by tonights results!!! The only save that the judges get for the entire season was wasted a couple of weeks ago on Casey...now, Pia, the favorite of just about everyone (including myself!) is going home????? WTH? Seriously. I hope the judges feel like crap for wasting their save now that the best contestant out of all of them is gone!!! Oh well, she'll get a record deal and be more famous than whoever wins...

I'm in shock...have a good night blog world...

God bless,

Better...

2011-04-02T21:16:00.000-04:00

Well, today has been better than the last few days. I am still computer-less (using Michael's right now since posting from my phone is a pain in the patootie), but that's ok. It's in good hands, and even if it doesn't come back in working order, I'm hoping to have the majority of the important stuff salvaged...

Today was fun. Did some laundry (which, by the way, ALL of it is put away already!), Julia fought her morning nap, so we went grocery shopping, then, we managed to get her to take a nap. After that, we went to see my mom's new place, and went shopping at Costco. I started getting all kinds of cramped (abdominal) walking around, so as soon as we got home, I tried to take it easy. I'm exhausted, but tomorrow should be easier!

The bad part of the last few days...my back has been hurting SO bad. It's not really any out of the ordinary pain, but it's magnified due to the pregnancy. I get a pinching feeling sometimes in my extreme lower back, and it can get rather debilitating. No, I haven't had it checked out yet because it hasn't really gotten bad enough to justify a doctor visit. Well...the other night made me think I should see someone for it after the baby is born. Julia had woken up in the middle of the night, and when I got out of bed, the pain in my back almost crippled me and about put me on my knees. I got Michael up to go take care of her, and it took me a solid 2-3 minutes before I could move relatively normal again. Albeit with a hefty limp. I don't think it's sciatica (the pain doesn't radiate down my legs or anything), so I'm thinking it might be the sacroiliac joint that is causing me the pain. We'll see!

Oh! Speaking of the baby...we're officially in the double digits!!! Holy cow where did the time go? Here I sit, 26 weeks 1 day pregnant, with 97 days to go until my due date...and that's if this little bundle stays put longer than Julia did! Tot's heart rate is still in the 150's, and even though I'm already about 10lbs heavier at the same point than I was with Julia, I'm happy!

Anyways...one more change to make to the blog really quick, and I'm signing off!

God bless...

Day Full Of Fail

2011-03-30T18:45:00.000-04:00

I just can't seem to do anything right today...

Got a little freaked out today.

2011-03-19T20:25:00.000-04:00

I went to the store earlier this afternoon to grab a few things that we needed. The store is only about 2 miles from our house (if that), and is generally a quick trip. I got there, grabbed what I needed, browsed the clearance infant/toddler clothes, and headed out the door. On my way home, my car about gave me a heart attack! I was about 3/4 mile from the house, and my dash, accompanied by a slight 'pop', went black. It stayed that way for about a minute. Now, that doesn't seem like a long time, but it felt like forever. Then, it came back on again, along with my ABS light and the 'brake' light. This repeated two more times in the 400 yards between the first occurrence and the light. Now...normally, I go straight through the light, but today...I was one of THOSE people. You know, the people that sneak by you to make a right hand turn even when there isn't a lane there. I didn't want to stop. I didn't want to risk my car quitting on my when I was so close to home. I think it stuttered when I slowed down so I took the turn. Thankfully there were no other cars coming. There were also no cars coming when I turned into my neighborhood. After the first "pop", I kept saying "Lord just keep me safe until I get home..." I made it back to the house shaking like a leaf, and parked outside. My first thought was the alternator, and since that drains your battery like no other, I figured it wouldn't start after a few hours. Well...it just started right up...5 hours after it happened. So now I'm thinking it's an electrical short somewhere, and that will probably cost a fortune to fix. Along with the fact that electrical fires and gasoline don't mix. :-\ Maybe I'll park it outside tonight...

Anyways, hope you all are having a good weekend!

God bless

Whew!!!

2011-03-14T20:42:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a weekend it was!!! Thursday and Friday, I busted my butt cleaning the house getting ready for the birthday party. We're talking scrubbing the back splash in the kitchen, wiping down the wainscoting in the downstairs bathroom and the trim in the upstairs bathroom, and scrubbing the "bowls" that go under the burners on the stove.

Saturday morning I rolled out of bed around 6, and I still had some tweaking to do on Julia's slide show. Somehow the timing got messed up and it was causing the songs to overlap. After about 45-60 minutes of fighting with that, I got it to a good point, and shut the computer off.

Julia usually gets up about 8 am, but I got her up around 7 in hopes that she would actually take a morning nap. See...she decided a week before her party that one nap a day was peachy! Well, that one nap usually runs from 12:30-2:30 or 3. The party started at 12! We continued to get food and other things ready for the party. Julia went down for a nap around 10:30 (thankfully!), and the first guests arrived at about 11 am. I tried to work my way around everyone standing in the kitchen and in front of the table to get everything put out and ready. 11:45 rolled around, and everyone else started showing up. The slide show ran on the TV throughout the party, but I don't know who actually got to see it... Julia actually ate well with a pretty good sized crowd, which made me very happy. The cake was BEAUTIFUL, and Julia enjoyed her little teddy bear smash cake. Then, we opened presents, and everyone went home. All in all, it was a pretty good day! I was in bed and asleep by 8:30 that night! LOL

Here are some pictures from the party:

The Table...

The Cake...

Cake Face...

Getting in one of the gift bags...

Walking with her new Explore 'N Grow Step Start Walk 'n Ride...

And with that...I think I'm going to look through the baby name book a little bit, and head to bed!

God bless

One year...

2011-03-08T20:12:00.000-05:00

One year ago today, at 5:55 pm, my beautiful, adorable, wonderful little girl was born. She is the light of my life, and I would do anything for her. Happy First Birthday sweet baby girl! I love you!!!

Today was kind of rough for the poor thing. She's been teething like crazy, and spent the majority of the morning just laying on me snuggling. Now...I love the extra snuggles since she doesn't do it very often, but I really don't like that she hasn't been feeling so hot for the last few days. She spiked a fever on Saturday, but was better Sunday...starting to show signs of not feeling well again on Monday. Today, we had her 12 month well check visit. It didn't go so well!!! She threw up all over in the car when I got into the parking garage (and I mean a LOT). When we got into the room, the nurse measured her (28 1/2") and weighed her (18lbs 14oz). When the doc came in and started checking her for illness since I mentioned she hadn't been feeling well, we discovered that she had an ear infection in both ears, and might have strep! Let me tell you something...I sure felt like mommy of the year at that point! They sent us on our way with some antibiotics and no standard well visit yet...not until she's better anyways.

We went ahead and gave Julia a little bit of her birthday present today (she'll get the rest on Saturday), and a cupcake to celebrate! She really enjoyed the cake once she got past the frosting! LOL

Anyways, here's our beautiful birthday girl one year ago, and today...my, how she's grown!

Hope you all have a wonderful evening...

God bless!

It's about that time...

2011-03-06T20:01:00.000-05:00

For Lent that is! Last year, I decided that my penance would be to read up on my religion a little more. Learning about purgatory and other things that I wasn't 100% sure about. The year before, I gave up dairy (I LOVE cheese and milk...). Little did I know how much dairy actually entailed!!!

This year...I am giving up Facebook in an attempt to make myself a better Catholic, mother, wife...all around person. I'm going to make a "to-do" list on a separate tab here in order to help myself keep track, and to keep myself accountable. I'm going to try to update it on a daily basis with what I got done, and what I did extra...if anything. LOL See, my problem is I have NO motivation. When Julia is up, I'm feeding her, playing with her, etc. When she goes down for her nap, I just want to relax and play on my computer (or take a nap!). I need to stop doing that, and get some things done around here!

Anyways, watch for the new tab with my to-do list!

God bless,

Birthday Activities

2011-02-27T06:46:00.000-05:00

As you can see by my post yesterday, it was my birthday. It turned out to be a pretty darn good day!!! My sister, BIL and adorable niece came over to babysit while Michael and I went out. My sister got me a great gift...see...when I was little, I had a Velveteen Rabbit stuffed animal. You know, the one from the story! Anyways...we were on a trip to Alabama, and when we were on our way home, I left the bunny at a hotel. We tried to track it down, but either the hotels didn't have it, or wouldn't ship it. I don't remember exactly how it went. It was pretty traumatic for me because I LOVED that bunny!!! Anyways...guess what I got for my birthday from her??!! You guessed it...a Velveteen Rabbit! It was so cool!!!

I mentioned that we were going to a dinner that our church was putting on last night, and I knew that Michael had made "arrangements" for all of the people there to sing "Happy Birthday" to me. What I didn't know, was that he went out of his way to pick up a cake, with the big "3 & 0" candles to put on top, drop it off at the church, and have it presented to me while I was standing up in front of about 70 other couples!!! Thankfully, there were 2 other people celebrating their birthdays yesterday (not sure if it was their actual birthday), so I wasn't totally alone up on that stage! It was so sweet! And the cake that he got...was DELISH! A very good girlfriend of mine and her new hubby were also there last night. It was so good to see them! They just got married 7 weeks ago! The 4 of us participated in the skit immediately following the "presentation of cakes and song". That was kind of strange for me...because I really don't like being the center of attention...but it was fun! We had a really good time.

Anywho. I need to get ready for church now!

God bless =)

Dirty Thirty

2011-02-26T11:06:00.000-05:00

Ok, so maybe not dirty, but today...I turned 30 years old! AAAHHH! Michael and I are going on our church's Valentine's Day dinner "cruise", so that should be fun! Oh, and I see some SHOPPING in my future!!! Heheheheehee

Anyways...Julia is growing like a weed. I still can't believe she'll be one in a week and a half!!! Here's our big girl!

As for the tot, all is well so far! Other than baby laying frank breech (butt down), everything is fine! =)

God bless,

To-do list...

2011-02-22T20:59:00.000-05:00

My "To-Do" list seems to be growing on a daily basis. I have so much that I want to get done, and not enough nap time in the day! Well...there probably is enough nap time in the day, I just need to get my butt off this silly computer and in gear!

Here's what I need to do:
~Finish crocheting the sweater I've started for my girlfriend K's baby girl (she's a little over a month old now).
~Finish the photo slide show for Julia's first birthday.
~Contact the 12 or 13 people that STILL haven't let us know if they will be attending said birthday party (we requested an RSVP date of 2/26, and they were sent out nearly a week and a half ago).
~Scour the baby name book I just bought in hopes of finding a couple of cute baby names.
~Work on the baby blanket for baby #2 (another crochet project).
~Work on a blanket for my sister (yet another crochet project).
~Fix the hem on one of the 2 curtains that I just hemmed. It looks silly, though it does get the job done.
~Sew tie backs for aforementioned curtains.
~Rearrange the kitchen cabinets.
~Organize the silly linen closet upstairs.
~Keep the house clean.
~Find a "formal" maternity dress for Michael's graduation in a little over a month.
~Keep up with my blog.

Oh...and somewhere in the middle of all that...I have to take care of this little doll!!!

I <3 her. =)
Now someone give me motivation to finish this stuff!!! Heheee

God bless.

It's about to warm up...

2011-02-15T10:17:00.000-05:00

...and we had our first run-in with a bug yesterday.

See...we use cloth diapers for Julia, and since she's on solids now, we have to put the poo in the toilet before washing. Well...I saw her trying to get at something on the hard wood floor, so I went over to investigate. It looked like a little piece of poo, so rather than move her away, go get a wipe, and then get rid of it, I just reached down and wiped it up with my finger. (Hey...I can wash my hands!) Well...I go into the bathroom to wash my hands and realize that it was in fact a small spider. EEW. I strongly dislike spiders. They are the arch nemesis. It was gross. I guess I have to get used to all the gross creepy crawlies coming out of the wood work though. It's going to be getting warmer soon. Time to put my big girl panties back on, and deal with them for my daughters' sake!

Have a great day today...it's sunny, and the skies are blue here!

God bless

Time...SLOW DOWN!!!

2011-02-12T21:18:00.000-05:00

I have one small request...and that is to have time slow down just a little bit for about a month. I don't know where this year has gone, and even though I've been home with Julia since September, I feel like I've missed so much! I can't believe our beautiful baby girl is going to be ONE YEAR OLD in just under a month! HELP!!!

We still have mounds of snow on the ground (probably a good 6" still), and it's really pretty...but. I love the blue skies and sunshine we've been having lately. I absolutely love snow, but I can't wait to get Julia outside to go for walks again. It will help me keep my weight gain in check also. I guess maybe I'm just going stir crazy...catching cabin fever...whatever you want to call it. I want to get OUT of the house!!! 2 hours of wake time (Julia's wake time) isn't really enough to get out and go "shopping", especially when she spends at least 30-45 minutes eating. Ah well...maybe a walk will be in order on Wednesday. It's supposed to be in the 40's, and if I use my sling, she'll be nice and snugly warm!

Tot update: We had an ultrasound yesterday at 18 weeks. Everything checks out great! Measuring right on time, and in the 50th percentile for size and weight-baby weighs about 9oz right now (which in NO way explains my whopping 13lb weight gain!!!). Here are pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Alien baby!!!

Profile 1 - arm below the chin

Profile 2 - hand in front of the mouth

Profile 3 - if you look close, you can see the legs stretched out on the right side, and the feet pushing up as high and as hard as possible!

I hope you all are having an enjoyable weekend.

God bless!

"Snowpocalypse"

2011-02-03T19:51:00.000-05:00

At least that's what everyone is calling it! We had a pretty good snow storm that started Tuesday night, and went through Wednesday afternoon. Thankfully, we weren't in the line of ice that went through! Here are some pics...

Find the driveway and the road...

Somewhere in this picture are landscaping blocks, a flower bed frame (below the pine tree), and a ditch...

A small drift next to the shed...

Notice the line about 1/3 of the way up, running across the middle of the picture. There's actually supposed to be about an 8" drop off, but it's "masked" by all the snow!

I was actually somewhat disappointed when I got up Wednesday morning to see only about 6 or 7" of snow on the ground. They were calling for upwards of 14". Well...it snowed until almost noon on Wednesday, and we ended up with about 10" total! It's so pretty...I love, love, LOVE snow! Not enough to live in Alaska...but enough to love where I do live!

I also had an appointment today. Everything is checking out great! Tot is growing, I got to hear the heart thumping along, and I have my next ultrasound scheduled for next week! I can't believe I'm almost halfway through this pregnancy already...CRAZY!

Anyways...Stay safe, and stay warm!

God bless!

Snow...

2011-01-31T20:36:00.000-05:00

Well...we're about to get HAMMERED with snow! Yay!!! Made me think of this song from White Christmas. I love that movie, and that song!!

A little snippit:

Snow, it won't be long before we'll all be there with snow
Snow, I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow

Snow, I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow
Snow, oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow

Where it's snowing
All winter through
That's where I want to be
Snowball throwing
That's what I'll do
How I'm longing to ski
Through the

Snow, those glist'ning houses that seem to be built of snow
Snow, oh, to see a mountain covered with a quilt of snow

Possibility of at LEAST 12" by Wednesday...can't wait! Must...get...pictures!

Stay warm.

God bless!

Can I just say

2011-01-29T21:27:00.000-05:00

That I really don't like being sick???

No fun...

None at all...

Oh, and going on what...4 days now?

GO AWAY COLD!!!

Stay healthy fellow bloggers.

God bless

The Beauty of it All...

2011-01-19T14:44:00.000-05:00

Ready??? Obviously...none of these have been retouched or edited in any way...

Enjoy!

New Toy!

2011-01-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

I got a new toy!!! Watch for many beautiful photos to be posted in the coming days, weeks, months, years! I love my new camera!

All is well on our end of the world. Michael is working, Julia is growing, and so is Tot! 15 weeks today!!! Hopefully I'll have a better post very soon!

God Bless!

2010 Year in Review

2010-12-31T19:17:00.000-05:00

Well, with 2010 winding down, I think it's time for another "Year in Review" post! I'll try to keep it short and sweet, but who knows...it could get very drawn out!

~~January 2010~~
○ January happily brought on the third trimester of my pregnancy with Julia! We had our first baby shower later in the month and got clothes galore, an abundance of blankets and bath stuff, and many other small items. Michael also had his diaper party, and we received tons of disposable diapers! Which...by the way...are still being used! We purchased our travel system, and mom and I snagged an AWESOME deal on a gorgeous bassinet that will be used again too.
○ We also found out that Michael's brother was engaged to a wonderful woman in January. They planned the wedding for July 2010.
○ Hospital tours commenced.

~~February 2010~~
○ CLOTH diapers were ordered, since this was in fact what we wanted to use. Save some money...save the planet! =)
○ I called it this month that Julia wasn't going to wait until her due date to be born...hehehe.
○ I turned 29 years old! Nothing major, right? Just one year closer to 30. We went out to dinner with my girlfriend and her hubby to celebrate since her birthday is 2 days before mine. Good times!

~~March 2010~~
○ March brought on big changes in our house. We rearranged the living room, got rid of some furniture, and made room for baby stuff (like the pack n play).

○ We enjoyed some Olympic actions...Men's Hockey anyone? =)
○ Little miss Julia made her appearance!!! 3 weeks and one day early...she was considered a preemie by one day, and had to undergo some tests in the hospital nursery before we could take her home.
○ We had our "adventures in jaundice" this month too...along with me realizing that motherhood...changes everything!

~~April 2010~~
○ We had Julia's first professional pictures taken in April...when she was only one month old. The photographer did a good job, but Miss J wasn't having it!
○ I witnessed the first gummy grin...it was beautiful!
○ "Mommy" had some eye opening experiences...

~~May 2010~~
○ I celebrated my first Mother's Day this May...it was wonderful!
○ Michael and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary.
○ I started back at work.

~~June 2010~~
○ I introduced "Time Warp Tuesday" here on my blog. It didn't really last that long, but I gave it a shot!
○ Julia started day care, while I was work...It wasn't easy.
○ We encountered our first ear infection for little miss.

~~July 2010~~
○ Michael's brother got married! Yay!
○ Julia developed a dental cyst due to her first tooth trying to poke through.
○ I rediscovered my confidence...

~~August 2010~~
○ Julia tried oatmeal for the first time instead of rice.
○ Michael got a full time permanent job, allowing us to decide when I would be able to stay home with the wee one.

~~September 2010~~
○ Julia turned 6 months old! Happy Half Birthday baby girl!
○ I started my "new job".
○ Some family issues arose...things were taken in a completely wrong way, and it's still being sorted out.
○ I shared some advice...

~~October 2010~~
○ I completed and mailed a scarf I made for a swap on my Crocheting Mama's board. I liked it!
○ Adjustments into parenting continued...things kind of started getting easier.
○ I had my first trial of a baby with a fever unexpectedly this month...thanks to yet another ear infection.
○ Our first Halloween as a family! Julia was a lady bug. =)

~~November 2010~~
○ We shared the news with our parents and siblings that baby #2 is on its way, estimated to arrive in July 2011!
○ We ventured to my grandparents house for Thanksgiving, and announced to my family that we are expecting our second little bundle.
○ Our first Thanksgiving as a family!
○ We got a big girl car seat for little Miss. No more infant seat!

~~December 2010~~
○ Julia got to see her first snow fall! She loved it!
○ Our first Christmas as a family! Well, actually...4 of them! One at Michael's cousin's house, one with his parents, one with my mom, and one with just us! It was fun, and we're still enjoying our new toys...
○ I made a decision to possibly pursue an age old dream of freelance writing or editing. We'll see...
○ My sister decided to be a surrogate for Michael's brother and his wife...what an incredible gift! Their baby (or babies) will arrive some time in 2011!

I hope you enjoyed your 2010. Whether it was difficult, easy, love filled or heartbreaking...

Here's to a blessed 2011!

God bless...

Age Old Dreams...

2010-12-30T20:04:00.001-05:00

I have always been told that I'm a good writer. I know it may not come across here much, but it's always something that has come easily to me. In school, my teachers always enjoyed my stories, and I was constantly getting good grades on my writing assignments. When I got into college - for the two semesters that I was there - I got praises constantly again. A few papers even received an "A+".

There have been times that I've considered being a freelance writer. But I've never known where to start. I love to write...well...I think I do better with editing, but writing has always been a passion of mine. Maybe one of these days I will begin pursuing this dream, and who knows...maybe it will become something more for me...

God bless...

Where has this year gone???

2010-12-29T20:35:00.000-05:00

Really??? Where has this year gone? I look back to the beginning of the year, and I swear it feels like it's only been a few months...but...it's already December 29th!!! Hopefully I will have a new update soon. I just need to sit down and come up with something good. Only 2 months until Julia's first birthday!!!

Oh, and here are a couple of pics to "tide you over".

Julia, Christmas eve at mom's house

And meet The Tot...AKA Baby B #2!!

God bless!

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-24T20:03:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to say Merry Christmas to all of my loyal blog readers, and those that may just pop in...

From our growing family...of FOUR!

2...more...days!

2010-12-06T20:10:00.000-05:00

2 more days until we find out how much little Miss J has grown! I hope she's finally above the 25th percentile...

It snowed again last night! I will consider this one our official first snow. We got about an inch total, it stuck around all day, and is still here! It's so pretty. When I got Julia up this morning, I brought her downstairs, and told her I had something to show her. I unfastened the back curtain, and pulled it open. She LOVED the snow!!! This was her "second" look...

Her first reaction was the best, but I didn't get that one on camera. As soon as I opened the curtain, she had the wide-eyed, eyebrows raised, mouth open look on her face. It was so. stinking. cute!!!

Anyways...she has her 9 month well visit on Wednesday. Thankfully she doesn't get any shots at this one! Yay!

God Bless.

What if...

2010-12-03T12:01:00.000-05:00

Have you ever stopped to think about the "what ifs"? What if you had made different decisions in your life? What if you did/did not have God to look to? What if you knew of certain outcomes, but made the same choice anyways? What if you never lost a loved one before it was "your time" to go?

What if...

I am grateful for all of the choices, hardships, struggles, and blessings that I have had in my life. If it wasn't for my past, I wouldn't be the person that I am today. What have you dealt with that you wouldn't trade for anything? Simple, or hard...leave it anonymously if you don't want people to know who you are. I won't judge you, and I hope others wouldn't as well.

God Bless...

First Snow!!!

2010-12-01T19:52:00.000-05:00

Today we had our first snow fall of the "season"! It was so pretty...I miss the white stuff!!! There wasn't really much of it, but it was so pretty falling. I took Julia to the back door to watch it, and she was totally mesmerized! It was really cute... =)

I scheduled her 9 month well visit appointment today too... *sigh* Our little girl is growing up so fast...

That is all.

God bless!

14 weeks and counting...

2010-11-30T14:50:00.000-05:00

Until our "baby girl" turns ONE!!! Where has the time gone??? I can't believe she'll be 9 months old already next week. I guess it's time to start planning her party! I have no idea where to start though. No thoughts on a theme, decorations...nothing. I know she'll never remember it, and I know it won't turn into what I really want it to, but I like to think that I can throw one of those really cute first birthday parties...

Anyways. I just ordered a new "big girl" car seat for her, and a playpen to put around the Christmas tree so that she doesn't get into it when she shouldn't. I couldn't believe the seat actually fit in my car. It's nearly twice the size of her infant seat (it's a convertible so it faces rear and front), but it fits better than her infant seat...which...mind you...she still hasn't outgrown but it's getting close!

Halloween this year was lots of fun! Julia was a little lady bug, and daddy took her out trick or treating while I hung out at the house and handed out candy. I was ok with it because it was COLD!!! Plus, I got to see all the other cuties that were out and about! She (well, daddy) did pretty good for her first year. She had one of those plastic pumpkins and it was almost half full!!! Apparently, a few people said to my hubby "I know you're not trick or treating for her, so you can take your pick". That would have been funny to see! Hehe

Thanksgiving was lots of fun too. We saw a lot of my family on Thanksgiving day, then on Friday, while Michael was working, I started putting up the Christmas tree and a few decorations! Unfortunately, the tree sat with just lights on it until yesterday... We went to visit with his family on Saturday, and celebrated his niece's (niece-in-law) 16th birthday. It was lots of fun. Julia didn't sleep well...AGAIN...while we were there, so that made for a very crabby mommy on Sunday. I stayed at the house and slept while they all went to church. =(

Oh yeah...another thing since my last update. I had to go see an orthopaedic surgeon for a consultation on my wrist. See, I got tendinitis when I was cheering in high school. It kind of disappeared for a bit, and reared it's ugly head once I was picking up Julia on a regular basis. I now have this super high fashioned wrist brace (high amount of sarcasm there...) that I'm supposed to wear every day. It's not too bad, just hard to get used to...

Well, that's all I've got right now!

Until next time...

God bless.

Coming soon...

2010-11-26T21:42:00.001-05:00

A new post...I promise!!!

What a weekend...

2010-10-25T12:27:00.000-04:00

So, shortly before my previous post, I realized my little girl was getting sick. She hadn't napped more than 45 minutes at a time all day, and in turn was over-tired and whiny all day. She looked terrible once 5:00-ish rolled around. Red eyes, stuffy runny nose (runny enough to rival a 6 year old boy!), breathing through her mouth, tears *every* time she cried...I felt so bad for her! I had no idea what to do. The whole day was spent playing with her trying to keep her happy. The moment mommy or daddy walked away or set her down, she would start crying again. At one point, she started to feel noticeably warm to me. I took her upstairs and took her temperature. It was about 100.1 under the arm, so you have to add a degree. Granted, it's a VERY low grade fever, but it's enough to make her miserable! I went ahead and gave her some Tylenol, since it really came out of nowhere, and I wanted to be pro-active (so not my style to give medicine when not 100% necessary...). I then stripped her down to just her diaper and headed back downstairs. Then, Michael and I decided to let her sleep if she fell asleep...well...she slept alright! On me! =) Snuggle time! Anyways...after about an hour and a half, her temp had only gone down to 99.6. I waited another half hour and gave her a dose of Motrin to see if that would help. I later realized that I had only given her half a dose. Well, another 2 hours later, I gave her another dose of Tylenol - it was about 9 pm at that point. Her temp went back up after that dose to 100.6. I alternated Motrin and Tylenol the rest of the night with her "double dose" at 1 am. Half of the night was spent trying to calm her, relax her, soothe her...so she could get to sleep. I even tried sleeping on the floor in the nursery with her...which wasn't going to happen. That's another story in itself. At one point, I just brought her into our bedroom so that *I* could get some sleep! She snoozed for about 3 hours...the longest stretch of the night. I don't know why the thought didn't cross my mind to give her Orajel...after all, I figured she was just teething...so I felt bad when Michael suggested it. I didn't give her anymore Tylenol or Motrin after 5 am because I wanted to see what her temp would do.

In the morning, when she woke at 7, her forehead actually felt cold to the touch so I wrapped her up in one of her fleece blankets, and snuggled her for a bit. She slept some more laying on my chest. I kept an eye on her temp for the rest of the day, and it pretty much stayed in the low 99* range. It got up to 99.8 at one point but that was the highest it reached. She actually did pretty good all day. Napped relatively well, seemed MUCH happier than Saturday, but once the evening hit...it was all over again! She went down relatively easily, but woke up just after Michael and I decided to sit down to watch a movie...and was up until about 9:30 I think. *sigh*

I took her to the pediatrician today and discovered that she has a minor ear infection...again. She hasn't had one in a few months...more meds...yay. But hey...hopefully I'll have my smiley happy little girl back soon!

Anyways...that was my weekend. How was yours?

God bless.

Life Changes

2010-10-23T19:54:00.000-04:00

So as you know, I became a mom a little more than 7 months ago. Before my daughter was born, life was carefree. My husband and I could pack up and leave at any given time in a matter of about 30 minutes, and with a single duffel bag between the two of us for the weekend. We could go out dancing whenever we felt...go to the bar...go see a movie...go our "separate ways" for a night...do whatever. Boy, has that changed!

Each time we spend a weekend away from home (mostly at the in-laws), it's an entire production. It starts 3 days before with me making a list of things that we need for Julia - cloth diapers, wet bag, wipes, burp rags, onesies, clothes, pajamas, toys, teddy bear, blankie, pacifiers, lovey, socks...etc. Usually the day before we leave, I start packing her bag. Anything and everything I can possibly pack gets packed. The little things (ditty bag with thermometer, meds, diaper cream, etc.) wait until we leave. Then, they day we leave, my hubby and I pack our stuff. It's crazy that we can still get everything he and I need into a single duffel bag, and she gets a whole suitcase! Sometimes we just take the big suitcase and pack everything together...well, that and the big diaper bag...and my pump...but who's keeping track?

If we want to go out for a bit? Find a sitter, thaw some milk, make one bottle, take a couple more, burp rags, diapers, wipes, clothes, jammies, etc. Again...a production. Usually just the big diaper bag, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on how long we'll be gone.

It's a total pain in the butt...but you know what?

This....

...makes it all worth it. It might take 4 times longer to do things, and I might have to work my life around breastfeeding my baby and/or pumping...but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I am so incredibly blessed to have been chosen to care for this tiny life...and I'm loving every minute of it.

Life changes...and I'm ok with that.

God bless!

Motivation...

2010-10-19T07:53:00.000-04:00

...is severely lacking as of late. My goal today? To stay off this silly computer long enough to get the house cleaned up, and start crocheting a hat I promised a lady I would make for her! The only other thing that might help me accomplish these tasks? If Little Miss decides to take longer than 30-45 minute naps. =/

Last night was rough. She went to bed at about 6:45 last night, after having been awake for nearly 3 hours. She then woke up at 8, 11, 1:45, and 4:30. I think it's either a growth spurt or teething...or both...but man I miss those 4-6 hour stretches of sleep!!! LOL

Anywho...here is a project that I completed yesterday for a swap that I signed up for...

And now, I'm being paged! =)

God Bless!

"Marine Stuns Crowd at Tea Party"

2010-10-14T13:08:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's a little wide...it's the smallest code I could get!

Tips and advice from a First Time Mom

2010-09-22T12:43:00.004-04:00

Ok...I thought I had a pretty good handle on the whole baby thing. Having done a LOT of baby sitting for kids of all ages. Let me tell you something...I knew, well, nothing! More so the postpartum things...but still!

**NONE OF THIS POST IS INTENDED TO BE TAKEN IN PLACE OF MEDICAL ADVICE, OR BE 'SET IN STONE'. THIS IS SIMPLY MY TAKE ON THINGS THAT HAPPEN BASED ON MY DELIVERY AND MY BABY. ALL WOMEN AND ALL BABIES ARE DIFFERENT. IF YOU ARE WORRIED BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOUR BABY IS DOING, CONTACT YOUR DOCTOR.**

I'll start with the items that everyone pretty much knows...

1) Babies eat...all the time! Especially when they're brand new. Julia nursed every 2 hours for pretty much the first 6 weeks. She was teeny when she was born, so they wanted to make sure she gained the appropriate amount of weight...which she did.
2) Babies poop...a LOT! Every time they eat, they poop! Well, not all babies do. Some babies can go a few days without a poopy diaper. Count on 12+ diapers per day when your baby is born...for at least the first few weeks. Do the math...12 diapers a day X 7 days in a week = 84 diapers in a week. Multiplied by 4.5 weeks in a month = 378 diapers a month...consider cloth diapers!!! They have come SO FAR from back in the day...
3) Babies sleep...a LOT! At first, a baby will probably only be awake long enough to eat, and maybe a diaper change. As they get older, they will stay awake much longer! Julia is up to 2-3 hours at a time being awake.
4) Babies cry...for everything. Crying is their only means of communication at first. So if your newborn is crying (probably up to about 2 1/2-3 months), it's for a reason. Whether it be for a diaper change, needing to eat, being tired, wanting to be held, wanting to be left alone, being uncomfortable...many, many things!
5) Sleep when the baby sleeps. You hear it all the time, but it is so true!!! Maybe not every single time the baby sleeps, but in those early weeks, try to grab as many naps as you can when your little bundle is sleeping. Housework can wait.

Now, on to the things that many ladies won't realize...we'll start with the new mom-to-be.
1) You will still look pregnant for a bit after you have your baby.
2) Your feet will more than likely be swollen for a few days.
3) You will be super tired for a while. If someone offers to help you...TAKE IT. And SLEEP when that person is assisting you.
4) You more than likely won't get a shower every single day at first. Deal with it. Sleep is more important...
5) You will SHED more than you ever have in your entire life!!! Probably for the first 3 months or so postpartum.
6) Your boobs will HURT. If you're not planning on breastfeeding, this may be 10 fold for you.
7) Your nips will HURT. If you're going to be breastfeeding, you may end up with cracked, bleeding nipples. It's not pretty, but stick it out! It DOES get easier, and is so worth it!
8) Your boobs will leak...get some breast pads!!!
9) Your hips will still hurt also. All that stuff moved out of the way to let that baby out, it's gotta go back!
10) You will be emotional. You will cry at the drop of a dime, and you may get angry very easily. However...if the emotions you are feeling are extreme, or disturbing to you...Please contact your doctor. Post Partum Depression (PPD) is a serious issue, and your doctor can help you.
11) If you have a vaginal delivery, you will be sore for a while! If you tear...you will be sore a LOT longer!
12) You will still have contractions for a while after the baby is born.

Ok, and the general advice I would like to give:
1) If you're planning on breastfeeding, invest in a GOOD pump before your baby comes. Don't wait until the day after your baby comes home, when your boobs feel like they're going to explode like I did, and get stuck with buying the "cheapy" pump that will be "ok". Trust me. I wound up buying two pumps, because the "ok" pump just wasn't "ok".
2) Buy some breast pads. Whether you're going to breastfeed or not...get them.
3) Put your makeup on in the morning even if you don't get a shower. It will help you feel human when you're beyond exhausted.
4) Buy some BIG pads...like the overnight kind. You WILL bleed for at least a week, but as long as 6 weeks +.
5) Get some Tucks (or witch hazel pads)...trust me...you're not going to want to wipe.
6) Take everything...EVERYTHING they have for you to use at the hospital. Your bathroom items, diapers, wipes, etc. Take them. If you don't, they pitch them.
7) Don't pack your hospital bag with enough for a week long vacation. Take a couple changes of clothes for you and your partner, your partners bathing suit (if you want to try a water birth, or if you want a shower while you're in labor), some snacks (something sour to wet your mouth while in labor), some music, your camera, chap stick, and maybe some books, magazines, or crafts to pass the time. You don't need all the stuff they say you need.
8) Seriously consider cloth diapers. They are a HUGE cost savings. You add one to 3 loads of laundry per week, but it really isn't that bad. Keep some disposables on hand just in case, but if you go the disposable route, you could spend upwards of $7,000 or more by the time the baby is potty trained. I've spent about $600 on my cloth diaper "stash"...and they'll fit Julia until she's potty trained. Plus, you can use them for consecutive babies! More savings!
9) If you're going to breastfeed, please don't give up! It's so worth it, and it does get easier! If your baby doesn't latch at first, keep trying. A friend of mine finally got her little man to latch after...what...3 months I believe! Amazing!
10) Don't be afraid to ask for help, or ask questions! Whether your mom, a recent new mom, or someone that hasn't had a baby in years. We've all been there, and we can all give you advice!
11) Take lots of pictures...you don't want these precious times to slip away...

I'll add more as I come up with them, but I am about to take a nap myself!

God bless!

My opinion...

2010-09-19T21:40:00.001-04:00

Don't take your family for granted...you don't know how long you will have them.
God Bless,

My new job

2010-09-17T12:34:00.001-04:00

Well, I started a new job on Monday. See, what my former boss didn't know, is that I was leaving that company to work for JLB Inc. I liked my desk job! I really enjoyed what I did. But, my heart wasn't there. It was with another employer. Every day that I drove to that job, and dropped my little girl off at day care, I ached to see her develop, change, advance... I was able to give up the cushy desk job that paid me well - given the fact that I only had 2 semesters of college under my belt - offered benefits, sick time and vacation pay. I left that position to take on a job with JLB Inc. My new job is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no pay, no sick time, no vacation time...but has HUGE benefits. I get to see my daughter grow up! I can take naps and snuggle breaks with her whenever I want. I can work on random crafty projects whenever I want. I can straighten up the house, go shopping at the drop of a dime...well, if the new boss is ok with it. It's only been a week, and I'm loving it so far. I can deal with not having a pay check...

Meet my new boss...

Miss JLB. She's also modeling the beret I made for her... =)

God Bless!

Happy Half Birthday!

2010-09-08T20:06:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update...Lil Miss J turned 6 months old today! She had her 6 month appointment also, and is weighing in at 14 lbs 6 oz now! They measured her at 24 1/4", but I'm POSITIVE she's longer than that...oh well...she'll have a big jump at her next appointment. =)

Aaaannnnddd....a couple photos...enjoy!

God Bless!

Plans

2010-09-01T13:47:00.000-04:00

I think any mom knows that your plans can (and WILL) change in a heartbeat when a baby is involved. We can try and try to keep to our plans, but chances are...it's not going to happen exactly the way we would like. I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but it can be rather annoying sometimes. =) Mostly when the wee one decides that filling their pants - 5 seconds after a clean diaper is put on, and 5 seconds before it's time to run out the door - is entertaining! Julia does this on a semi regular basis...I actually find it pretty funny myself because she will just look at me and grin after she does it.

Once I'm home with her all the time, I've got big plans!!! We'll see how well it all goes though. I have one crochet project in the works (yes...the blanket that I started for her when I was pregnant...it's almost done), four more that I really want to get going on - but I'm making myself wait until the blanket is done, a latch hook that I just started, a blog to maintain - hello...um Timewarp Tuesday's are kind of unintentionally on hiatus, a garden to tend in preparation for next year, lilies to move out from the house a bit so they don't lean so much, a house to clean, puzzles to work, oh yeah...and a baby to take care of! LOL

I'm so excited, it's hard to keep it under wraps while I'm at work so that people don't get it twisted into a lack of focus on my part. Next...Friday...is my L.A.S.T. day. It's still hard to believe for me...it's a dream come true...I'm hoping (well, I'm fairly certain) that I might finally feel like there is enough time in the day. I often wonder how so many moms can work full time and not feel bad at the end of the day. I know that staying home isn't an option for a lot of people - and who knows, maybe I'll be working somewhere again before I really want to - but it's a risk I'm willing to take for the better of our family. Yes, it's going to be pretty tight for a while until we get a budget really nailed down...but we're ready. If it wasn't for cloth diapering (the cost savings is INCREDIBLE), and breastfeeding (thanks be to God that I'm able to nurse my baby)...I wouldn't be able to do this. =)

And now, a couple of photos for your enjoyment =)

This was taken on 8/21...it's been a big hit already!

And this one was taken 8/27...

God Bless!

So close I can taste it...

2010-08-30T21:29:00.000-04:00

I have seven work days between now and next Friday. Seven work days until I am finally with my daughter!!!

Today I thought to myself "I feel like I will be meeting her all over again. Like I have to LEARN her again. I feel so disconnected right now, and I can't wait to get that back.

For now...sleep.

Good night blog world...

God bless.

Well, here it is...

2010-08-18T20:28:00.000-04:00

So, my last post consisted of... "OMG...OMG...OMG..." and the promise of an update a few days later. Well...here's that update!!!

Michael has been working as a carpenter since he graduated high school. Along with that position came the instability and possibility of being laid off at any given time, for any amount of time. When we found out I was pregnant with our little girl, we both knew that I would be staying home with her. Or at least that's what we both wanted. With him being in such an unstable position, that couldn't happen. He had an interview a couple of weeks ago with a new employer. It would be a permanent full time job. After the initial interview, they set up a "try it out" kind of thing. That went really well, and before we knew it...they were offering him the job!!! Friday night, we went out to dinner to celebrate his new job, and we decided on a date. September 10, 2010.

..........That's...the day...that...

.....................................I...

........................................Will become...

...............................................................A...

Stay at home mom!!!

I am ECSTATIC!!! I can't WAIT!!! I get to be home with my baby!!!

At the same time...I'm scared...nervous...anxious...happy. I don't think it has entirely hit me yet. I've turned in my notice at work, the email has gone out notifying the entire company of my resignation (which I was privy to). That got me choked up a bit...after all, I've been with this company for 6 years...but I don't think it's really going to hit me until I walk out on my last day, and don't have to get out of bed the next week!!!

**sigh**

I'm so happy... =)

God bless!!!

Just Breathe...

2010-08-14T09:33:00.002-04:00

OMG...OMG...OMG...

I will update in a few days...but OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God bless!!!

Strange feeling...

2010-08-12T13:35:00.000-04:00

I had this really weird feeling hit me today. Sitting at work, and all I could think about was being with my baby. Maybe because we had a harder-than-normal morning...maybe because I miss her so much all the time...maybe because I can't stand the fact that someone else is getting nearly all of her awake time...all of her smiles...all of her cuteness...I was on the verge of trying to take a half day just so I could spend some time with her. Well...that didn't happen (obviously...it's 1:20, and I'm taking my lunch break as I type this). Then, I get a phone call from day care. Nothing is wrong, they just don't have record of my tuition payment this week! UGH...but, I have a receipt number! =)

Anyways...on to the harder-than-normal morning. Julia has been sleeping pretty well the last couple of nights (knock on wood...). Tuesday night, she went to bed at 7:30, slept until 11 or so when she woke up to eat, and then didn't wake up again until 5 am. 5...solid...hours...of GLORIOUS sleep!!! Last night, was almost the same. She went to bed between 7:30 and 8, woke at 11:30 and 4. So not SO much sleep, but still quite a bit! Ok...so this morning, I'm getting ready for work, and I'm waiting for her to wake up. I've come to the conclusion that she needs to start cereal a little more than she has been. Following my maternal instincts on that one. So I go upstairs only 15 minutes before I normally wake her up. She's SOUND asleep. I mean...rubbing the belly, tickling the feet, playing with her hands, talking to her...none of it was working. SOUND asleep. Finally, after she stretched a few good times (full body, arched back, knees up, arms by her head ADORABLE stretches), I just picked her up and took her down stairs. She was not happy about it for the first 20 minutes or so. I got her cereal ready - decided to try oatmeal instead of rice this time - and she finished waking up. First bite of oatmeal, and I got the "What the HECK are you giving me?!?!?!" look, and pushed almost all of it out of her mouth. She didn't like it one bit, but I kept trying. We managed 2 or 3 itty bitty bites, and that was it. I decided to try the rice since she likes the rice. Yeah, that wasn't happening either. She started trying to climb out of the bouncy seat, and if she was in her Bumbo, she was staring at her feet...not exactly easy to feed a baby that's looking down. She fought me so hard...and I gave up. Dumped another bowl of cereal down the drain, and daddy got her dressed while *I* finished getting ready for work.

So, here I sit...only 15 minutes left on my lunch, and all I want is to hold my daughter. Unfortunately, I have to wait another 4 hours. =(

On a happier note - Michael's "working interview" went great!!! 3 days of great! Here's hoping they offer him a job!!! Keep us in your prayers...

God bless!

Full time maybe???

2010-08-07T12:46:00.000-04:00

So, Michael had an interview this past Monday. It went well, and the guy wants him to come in a couple of times this week to "try" the work that he would be doing. They'll be seeing how well he works with the other employees, and what kind of worker he is. If all goes well, this would be a permanent job! No more fear of being laid off...wahoo!!!

Anyhoo...I'm spending the next couple of days with two of the cutest girls I know! My niece, and my daughter!

God Bless!

Time Warp Tuesday!

2010-08-03T12:59:00.000-04:00

Ok, ok...so I've missed a couple of TWT entries...sorry! Time is slim lately, and I'm finally figuring out how to make the most of what ~~little~~ minuscule amount of time I have during the day...only took nearly 5 months!!!

Today's TWT entry doesn't go back too far, but I thought it deserved to be revisited... =)

TWT Entry #7:
This was taken at the hospital the day after our baby girl was born! Don't mind the lack of make-up and hair "style" LOL

*sigh* she was so teeny...

God Bless!

This is new...

2010-07-30T13:32:00.000-04:00

I was walking around earlier today, and I realized something. I am doing things that I've never done before. when I was little, I was the shy one. We moved around so much that I only let myself get attached to a few people. I was quiet, reserved, walked with my 'head down' along the "lonely" road, really. I was very introverted, didn't really smile a lot, and actually was diagnosed as "depressed" when I was with one of my exes about 8 years ago. So many people are completely shocked when I tell them I was a cheerleader for 3 years in high school. I still miss cheering...it was FUN!!! Today, however...I realized that I'm walking a little taller...I'm walking with my head up, confident, and with a smile on my face! This...is new to me...and I really like it... =)

Quick Update...

2010-07-29T13:23:00.001-04:00

Ok, first off, let me apologize to anyone that regularly follows me (or anyone that cares...). I've been away for a bit and I'm sorry! Life can be crazy with a baby!!!

Last weekend, my hubby and I were in a wedding so we had to figure out details for little miss J. Everything worked out, and Julia got to spend the day (and night!) with her nannie (my mom)! Both thoroughly enjoyed the time they had together, and it was nice for me and her daddy not having to worry about who was taking care of our little snuggle bug!

Right around the time of my last post, Julia had come down with an ear infection in both ears. We got her on some anti-biotics, and it cleared up quickly. Now, she has another minor ear infection (thank you day care...) which is caused by drainage from her nose, and it's causing her to cough too. Ugh... Of course, I was the all too paranoid first time mom thinking 'what if she's coming down with pertussis?' Well, obviously she's not (thank the Lord!). She's up to 13lbs 5oz as of her appointment this morning! Growing like crazy... =)

Now...there is one little tooth that is trying to poke it's way through her little lower gums, and I can't wait to see what she looks like with a little chomper! I can wait to feel said little chomper though....LOL. Day care actually called me the other day because the lump on her gums was relatively large and somewhat resembled a blood blister. Well, I called the pediatrician and they said that it's most likely a dental cyst, and it's VERY common, so good news there!

As for me and Michael...I'm back to work full time going on the end of my second full month, and all I can think of is being at home with my little girl. Michael is laid off again, but has an interview on Monday...pray for us please that he gets the job!!! Thanks!

Now, a few more photos for your enjoyment...

That hand must taste good...

Enjoying Mr. Quackers...

Miss blue eyes...

God Bless!

Baptized in Christ...

2010-07-18T09:55:00.001-04:00

Sunday, July 11, we had our baby girl baptized. It was something I had been looking forward to for quite a while. I anxiously awaited the day that we would be seeing that water pour over her head "In the name of The Father, The Son, and of The Holy Spirit". I had this mental image of how the day would 'go down'. We would head to church for the 12:15 mass, and possibly deal with a crabby baby (due to it being nap time), but then she would fall asleep, and sleep through the baptism which started at 1:30. Well...that's NOT how it went!!! LOL

We went to the 12:15 mass as originally planned. Julia fought sleep for the first 30 minutes of mass (mass is approximately one hour), but then finally fell asleep about 5 minutes before Communion. She slept for the last little bit of mass, and until we got into the social hall to change her diaper and clothes. We got her in her pretty little white gown and headed back into church. This is where it gets good...

There were two babies being baptized that day, and we all headed out to the narthes with the Deacon to answer the first few questions that are asked of the parents and godparents. Almost every time the Deacon started talking, Julia would start talking with him. She cooed and gurgled like crazy. It was so funny! The "talking" on Julia's part continued throughout the ceremony. Occasionally it elevated into screaming and crying (she was, after all, very tired AND getting hungry).

When it was our turn to head to the front to have her baptized, she had calmed down just enough to be tolerable. They anointed her with the oil, which she didn't mind much at all, but when it came to the water...oh, she wanted nothing to do with it! That's when the wheels officially came off. She started screaming...screaming! I finally got her calmed back down when it was the other baby's turn. She was ok for the rest of the baptism, but was more than ready to eat (understandably) before we actually left the church.

We headed back to the house afterwards for a little picnic with the family. All in all, it was a good day! And Julia smelled GREAT for DAYS!!! I love the smell of chrism oil. =)

Time Warp Tuesday!

2010-07-13T14:51:00.000-04:00

TWT Entry #6:
In honor of having had our cutie patootie baptized on Sunday, here is a picture of when I was fully received (full immersion baptism!) into the Catholic Church back in 2008! The gentleman in the picture drew my name to pray over prior to the Easter Vigil, and he is the one that actually performed Julia's baptism. I will be posting that story hopefully soon (and it's a rather entertaining one at first), so watch for that...

Enjoy!

Prayer requests, and a Baby J update!

2010-07-09T14:26:00.000-04:00

There are a few people very close to me that are going through some trying times. I ask that anyone coming across my blog keep them in your thoughts and prayers. (RL, MO, PR, JM, DL, JK)

Little Miss Julia had her 4 month well check yesterday. I can't believe it's already been 4 months. Seems like only yesterday that we brought her home, and I was able to be with her every day...I miss those days... =(

Anyways! On to the update. When we got back into the room, we started the usual routine of stripping her down so she could be weighed. Now...Michael and I have looked at her numerous times over the last few weeks baffled at how big she's gotten! I realize that babies grow, but seriously. I looked at her one day and thought "your head used to be smaller than my hand!!!" I placed her on the scale, and the nurse worked out the conversion. (They weigh babies in kg I think) She said "12 pounds 2 ounces!" WOW!!! This little chunky monkey has gained 7lbs since she was born...that's another whole baby! I then laid her on the table so the nurse could mark above her head and at her heel for the length measurement - 23 3/4". A whole 2 1/2" longer than at her 2 month well check! All from mommy too! I'm so proud =) She is finally making her way up the charts for length and weight - from barely 10th percentile 2 months ago, to 25th percentile this month - and her head is still ahead of the curve at 75th percentile. The hubby and I are definitely getting some pretty toned arms thanks to our little 12 pounder. Her ears are back to normal (from an ear infection in both ears a few weeks back), heart, lungs, eyes, etc all check out fine!

Here are a couple of pictures for your enjoyment:

The first one is Julia at 4 days old, and the last 2 were taken July 5th. Sorry the last one is blurry...she's a little wiggle worm!!!

Time Warp Tuesday!

2010-07-06T16:45:00.001-04:00

Well, at the suggestion of a very good friend of mine (love you, girl!), today's TWT entry will flash back to October 2007 when my mom and I went to Ireland. It was a GREAT trip...I can't wait to go back...

TWT Entry #5:
Mom and I took a walking tour of Kinsale. It was quite possibly one of the neatest little towns - and by far the most colorful - I have ever seen. Every year they have a contest between themselves and surrounding towns to see who is the "cleanest". For this contest, nearly EVERY building gets repainted! There's one paint store in Kinsale, and man...that lady must make a killing when this contest comes around! This is a picture of a two lane road...yes...TWO LANE ROAD called Chariman's Lane. There was a young lady in a "Learners" vehicle (you can tell by the capital "L" sticker in the windshield and rear window) that came around the corner to head down this hill. She was grinning from ear to ear! It was funny!

I give up...

2010-07-06T13:21:00.000-04:00

I'm not going into detail about why. It's in God's hands. He is in control, not me. I'm giving up, and giving my wishes to Him. If it's meant to be, He will make it happen.

Time Warp Tuesday to come...

Time Warp Tuesday!

2010-06-29T15:07:00.002-04:00

Well, here we are again. Another week gone, and the year is almost half over! Holy moly...

What's my mood today you ask? Well...I don't even know at this point. Up until about an hour ago, I would have said "shattered"..."crushed" even...really upset. Now? I have no idea. And I don't think I'll know for a little while.

Anyways...on to the Time Warp!

TWT Entry #4:
I took this picture at the 2005 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. I <3 this car...It's a Ford Shelby Cobra GR1 concept car...hand polished...HAND POLISHED aluminum body...with a V-10...auuughghhhghhgggg (think Homer Simpson...) I think they said there was something like 7,000 man hours put into that body. *drool*

You can find more information on it here.

Lilies...

2010-06-25T14:52:00.000-04:00

As promised, a photo of my lilies!

It's time for some changes and some clean up...

2010-06-23T13:18:00.001-04:00

To all of the bloggers that I currently follow - Please don't be offended if I no longer follow you, I will have you bookmarked on my computer. I'm finding myself sifting through the 20 something blogs I have listed right now looking for specific ones. It's all a selfish act to make my life a little easier...which right now, I really need. I'm also going to be playing around with the new 'Design' feature that blogger has. I need a new background...I don't know when these changes will take place, but it will be soon. I've actually resorted to bringing my laptop to work with me again. It's a bit of a distraction some days, but I must say...I have more control over my music on this thing than I do with Pandora. =)

Now, to my usual posting.

Last night was interesting to say the least. I got to the day care to pick up Julia (still despise the fact that I have to take her there, but at least I like the place), and she had just - JUST - gone down for a nap 20 minutes before. I thought to myself, "Great. This will make for an interesting night..." I got her loaded into her car seat and she was wide awake, which meant I had to try to get her to go to sleep after the 20 minute car ride home. Yippee. I got home, changed her diaper, wrapped her up and laid her down. She fell asleep for a short time, but 5 minutes later, she was crying. Went upstairs, shushed her, calmed her down, eyes fell closed, went back downstairs. 5 minutes later, she was crying. This went on a couple more times and finally I said 'screw it' and got her up. She did end up taking a nap before bed...at 7 pm. For 25 minutes in my arms, and (you guessed it) 5 minutes in the crib. The rest of the night was just as fun!!! Michael spent a lot of time outside, while I stayed inside dealing with a crabby, over-tired baby, washing bottles, washing Julia's new cloth diapers (can't WAIT to start using them!!!), and trying to figure out when I'm going to take a shower! Anyways. She FINALLY went to bed...at 9:45. Normally she goes down some time between 8 and 9:00. Not today! Nope. She had other plans. Julia finally fell asleep at 10, and that's when I had my chance to shower. I must add here that I hate, hate HATE showering at night...but that's the only time I can unless I get up at 5 am... Yes, last night was one of those frustrating nights. They don't happen often, but they are so annoying when they do! LOL I can't believe that her first birthday is only 8 months away!!! The next few months are going to be so much fun, and they're going to go so fast!!! I'm just disappointed that I'm going to miss so much of it because she's in day care all day. *sigh*

On a side note...my lilies are blooming like crazy!!! I'll post a picture soon...I hope...

Time Warp Tuesday! (and an update...)

2010-06-22T14:37:00.001-04:00

Whew...where did the last week go, seriously? I can't keep up!!! Before I post TWT #3, I want to do a much needed update.

Last Sunday, Julia was super congested, and kept us up half the night practically gagging on whatever drainage was going on in her little sinus cavities. She had also started coughing and sneezing a bit so I called the doctor. They didn't even hesitate setting up an appointment for her when I ran down her list of "symptoms". I left work a little early and had her checked out. Get this...she was "perfectly healthy". No fever, no cold, nothing. I was instructed to get her outside (for the humidity), and to set up a humidifier/vaporizer in her room to help break up whatever was in her sinuses. No biggie. I got home late that afternoon, and around dinner she felt kind of warm so I took her temperature. 101.6 (+1)!!! Crap. Well, the doc said she was ok, but I can't take her to day care for 24 hours following a fever. I gave her some Tylenol to break the fever and called my sis to watch her on Tuesday.

We kept an eye on her that night, and throughout the day Tuesday. I wound up taking her back in on Wednesday because she spiked a fever again. Turns out...she had an ear infection! In both ears!!! Poor baby...but apparently, it happens all the time so my first time mom freak out was a little overboard! LOL She is doing much better now that she's on antibiotics. Our little girl is growing fast though! She's up to 10lbs 11oz! I can't believe she'll be 4 months old in just 2 short weeks... *sigh*

Now for Time Warp Tuesday!

TWT Entry #3:
This picture was taken in Chicago on St. Patrick's Day in 2007. Wow...what a fun weekend THAT was!!! I would love to do it all again, except I would change one thing...I would have my hubby and my daughter to spend it with! =)

Time Warp Tuesday!

2010-06-15T15:06:00.001-04:00

Wow! I can't believe it's already been a week since the last Time Warp Tuesday!...where is time going???

Anyways...

TWT Entry #2:
Deleted...maybe I'll replace it eventually.

3 Months down, a lifetime to go...

2010-06-09T09:08:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, little miss Julia turned 3 months old! =) I can't wait to see what the rest of our life with this little girl brings. She is such a joy...even when she wakes up 3 times a night to eat and refuses to go back to sleep one of those times, or is screaming because she needs something.

Happy 3 Months Julia!

She's been in day care since Monday, and it has NOT been easy on me. My brother-in-law watched her the first 6 days I was back at work, and that wasn't so bad. I got text updates whenever I wanted, and even got pictures and videos sent to me sometimes. It was nice!

When I dropped her off on Monday, she was sleepy and a little hungry so she was whining a little. I didn't want to leave her. I wanted to take care of my baby girl, but I had to go to work. I made it most of the day without crying. Only got choked up a couple of times, and didn't actually cry until I was in my car on the way to pick her up to take her home. She did pretty good on Monday though, and greeted me with a big smile when I got there...that almost made it worth it.

Yesterday was a lot easier. She was still very sleepy, and had just eaten about an hour and a half before I got there, so I swaddled her and put her down in her crib. I felt a lot better about the day yesterday...until I got there to pick her up. I saw that she had only eaten 3.5 oz the whole day. I knew that meant it would be a long night for us. She wanted to eat 3 times in a 3 hour period, and I felt like I had nothing for her...I felt terrible.

This morning sucked dropping her off. Maybe because she only got 3 1/2 flipping oz of breast milk yesterday and was up 3 times last night, maybe because I didn't get to bed until almost 10:30...and got up 3 times last night. Maybe because she was tired, hungry, and crying when I dropped her off and I couldn't do a damn thing about it because I had to be here, at work, and not with her where I should be...I've already cried once today...we'll see how the rest of the day goes...I need to get cracking.

Time Warp Tuesday!

2010-06-08T15:19:00.000-04:00

I've decided to start a new "tradition" so-to-speak with my blog. We'll see how well I'm able to keep up with it! From now on, I'm going to start Time Warp Tuesday!

TWT Entry #1:
The weekend I met Michael's parents...about 3 years ago.

Music

2010-05-26T09:07:00.000-04:00

Well, it's almost D-Day. I can honestly say that I'm really not looking forward to it, and everyone knows that. Every time I think about leaving my little girl for the entire day, I get choked up. I can do it, I'm just not ready to.

When I was pregnant, I had 5 ultrasounds before the little bean made her grand entrance. One was at 16 weeks. During that ultrasound, we told the tech that we didn't want to know the sex of the baby. When she got around to checking out the baby's belly, she went just a little too far, and we caught about a 60% shot of the area. Obviously it wasn't enough to say one way or another, but I didn't see anything. At the same time...I didn't see anything. From that day on, I had a feeling that this little bean would be a girl, but I didn't want to get my hopes up, and I still wanted to be prepared either way. This song has always been one of my favorites, and I often found myself trying to re-word it to be "In My Mother's Eyes". Now that I have my little girl, it breaks me down whenever I hear it...

And...I just can't seem to get enough of Lady Antebellum's song, Need You Now. I don't know what it is about this song, but it just doesn't get old...

Need You Now
Songwriters: Haywood, Dave; Kear, Josh; Kelley, Charles; Scott, Hillary

Picture perfect memories, scattered all around the floor
Reaching for the phone 'cause I can't fight it anymore
And I wonder if I ever cross your mind
For me it happens all the time

It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now
Said I wouldn't call but I've lost all control and I need you now
And I don't know how I can do without
I just need you now

Another shot of whiskey, can't stop looking at the door
Wishing you'd come sweeping in the way you did before
And I wonder if I ever cross your mind
For me it happens all the time

It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I need you now
Said I wouldn't call but I've lost all control and I need you now
And I don't know how I can do without
I just need you now

Woah, woah
Guess I'd rather hurt than feel nothing at all

It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now
And I said I wouldn't call but I'm a little drunk and I need you now
And I don't know how I can do without
I just need you now, I just need you now

Oh baby, I need you now

*sigh*...counting down...

Had a Moment Today...

2010-05-22T22:17:00.000-04:00

Today, I went with my future SIL to have alterations started on her wedding dress. My daughter stayed home with my hubby and his brother. I knew she would be needing to eat while I was gone, so I went over how to prepare a bottle for her with my husband. I nursed her at 11, and then a short session (seriously...less than 5 minutes) again around 12:15 for two reasons: 1) To "top her off" for her nap, and 2) In hopes to hold her over until I got home. Granted...she needs to start taking a bottle since I'm going back to work next week. I figured it wouldn't be too huge of a deal since she's taken a few in the past.

Anyways...my FSIL and I left around 1:15 for her 2:00 appointment. When we were done there, we made another pitstop at JC Penney to pick up some photos, and headed home. Over the course of about an hour or so, I had texted my hubby to see how Baby J was doing. He said she was "Crying and kind of sleeping" (we're getting back to the fighting sleep thing...). Then he said she was sleeping in his arms. Good, at least she's sleeping! We got home about 3:30, and he was trying to feed her the bottle...she was screaming. I asked when she last ate and he said "she hasn't" WHAT??? Great...so now, she's pretty much going on 4 1/2 hours of not really eating, and she hasn't really had a nap. I pick her up from my hubby and head upstairs to the nursery. She screamed the whole way, and even started coughing and gagging because she was getting so worked up. I felt so bad. I was finally able to calm her down and get her latched. She ate like it had been forever. In all honesty, it had been in comparison to her normal 2-hours-between-feedings-during-the-day schedule.

As I sat in the rocking chair, I started thinking, and started crying. I have such a bad habit of taking things for granted, and I really need to stop. It was then that I realized how blessed I really am, and how lucky I am to be able to give my daughter everything...EVERYTHING she needs. All of her nutrition to grow comes from me, the roof over her pretty little head, the diapers on her adorable little butt, the clothes on her teeny little body, the socks on her perfect little feet...all of the love and care that she needs... Yes, she gets most of that from her daddy as well, but I can give her everything. I think that was the moment that it finally hit me exactly how real this whole thing is. She's mine. 100%. Forever. To care for, love, and teach. And I'm going to stop taking things for granted and enjoy every minute of it.

Now to just get her to take a bottle! LOL

L O V E

2010-05-16T21:39:00.000-04:00

One year ago today, May 16th 2009, I married my wonderful husband. Thank you, Michael, for two of the best gifts a girl could ever ask for...the love of a great man...

and our beautiful baby girl!

I love you honey!

Mother's Day, and a Lil J update

2010-05-10T17:03:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday was Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day to all of the mommies out there! My first Mother's Day was pretty good! I got a card in the mail from one of my sisters, one of my best girlfriends, and my mom. I loved them all! They're still sitting on the table. =) Michael also got me a very sweet card and signed it from him and Julia. Inside, there was a gift card for the little spa that opened up just down the street, and I CAN'T WAIT to use it!!! They do manicures, pedicures, facials and massages! Wahoo! My mom also came over and spent most of the day here, and brought me some gorgeous flowers. It was intended to be a "HELP ME WITH MY FUSSY BABY" visit, but Julia was wonderful the whole time. Go figure! I also got a T-shirt from my other sister that says "New Mom 2010". It's really cute, and I wore it yesterday! Michael and I got dinner from Panera, and later in the evening, he gave me a quick foot massage. It was so nice...

And now for the update on Lil J...she is growing SO much! I just can't get over it. She was 5lbs 2oz and 18" at birth (even though I think 18" was pretty generous...), but when I took her to her 2 month appointment at 9 this morning, she was 9lbs 2oz, and 21 1/2" long! I couldn't believe when the nurse said she was over 9lbs! Sheesh...little piglet...LOL Anyways. Today she got her first round of vaccines. I wasn't looking forward to her getting poked - yet again. Granted, this wasn't a poke like the biliruben testing. That was actually a little slice in her heel to draw blood. This was "just" needles. Well, she got 2 pokes in her left leg, and one in her right. When the first needle went in, she screamed...the purple-faced-breath-holding scream. I had to blow in her face a couple of times to get her to breathe again...poor thing... When she was done getting the vaccines, the nurse let me use the room for a few minutes to nurse lil J. It helped her calm down quite a bit more. She fell asleep (one of the side effects) on the way home, and has been sleeping pretty much ever since...it's now going on 5:00. Poor baby...she keeps waking up whining every once in a while, and I feel so bad! I'm just giving her lots of extra loving today.

*sigh*

8 down...

2010-05-05T14:41:00.000-04:00

3 1/2 to go. Until I go back to work that is. I'm torn between being excited, and being severely bummed out. After the last couple of days, it will be a welcomed change. But...like I've said before, the good WAY outweighs the bad, and I'm NOT ready to leave my little girl yet.

In classic "Stacy" style, I seem to have procrastinated myself into a bit of a pickle. I had looked into a couple of day care centers, and even found one that I really liked. When I visited that place, they had one slot open in the infant room. However, when I called them the other day, they don't have any openings until the fall. That's what I get for waiting until 3 weeks prior to needing a day care provider. Whoops. There have been a couple of other places that I've called recently, but the only one that has an available spot for an infant is $230/week, and probably isn't NEARLY as fun as the place I liked before! It's an option though.

Recently, I found out that my brother-in-law is willing to watch Lil J for a while! He'll do it for a super price (plus food *giggle*), and I'm much more comfortable having a family member watch her, rather than a complete stranger. There is one place that has an opening in a couple of months, and I'm hoping I can figure out how to have the BIL watch her until that opening is available. Oh...I should probably try on some of my old clothes to make sure they fit too! I just can't believe that I'm already so close to going back to work. It's going to be hard.

Lately, I've found myself getting rather frustrated during the day. There are times that Julia will cry for (seemingly) no reason. Now...I know that babies don't cry for no reason. There is always SOMETHING that they want or need, it's just a matter of figuring out what it is. Whether it's a clean diaper, to be burped, eat, or maybe just being held or bounced for a bit. When I can't figure out what she needs, I sometimes find myself holding her in front of me, staring at her saying "I don't know what you need...I'm sorry" usually followed by tears of my own. It's hard. It hurts me to hear and see her cry... Sometimes it makes me question whether or not I'm really cut out for this whole mommy thing. Then, she smiles or giggles at me and it's all better. Her little giggle is enough to heal even the worst broken heart-the most stressed out mind.

And as I finish up this post...my little girl is calling for me! =)

U.S. Divorce Agreement

2010-04-22T09:07:00.003-04:00

I got this in an email the other day, and it made me chuckle. Rather than forward on yet another "chain mail", I'll just post it here!

DISCLAIMER:

This is not intended to offend anyone...simply posted for entertainment purposes...even though I tend to agree with a lot of it!!! Enjoy!

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY WELL PUT AND I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT'S BY A YOUNG PERSON, A STUDENT!!! WHATEVER HE RUNS FOR, I'LL VOTE FOR HIM.

American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950's, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.

You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).

We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeboys and illegal aliens. We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that treaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain. You can also have th U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We'll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute Imagine, I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya, or We Are the World.

We'll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you Answer which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,

John J. Wall

Law Student and an American

P.S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Barbara Streisand, & Jane Fonda with you.

P.S.S. And we won't have to press 1 for English.

Life Variations

2010-04-21T09:36:00.000-04:00

Lately, I feel like I'm stuck in a big mixing bowl or something. We'll have a week of good days, then one day that just puts me over the edge, and gets me all frustrated. Here's what I mean...

Julia is 6 weeks, 2 days old today. For a good week or more, we had GREAT days. She was eating every 2-3 hours during the day, and 3-4 hours at night. Now, while for many people that may not seem like a great trade off, it's better than every 2 hours at night!!! It sometimes takes her 45-60 minutes to eat, on a 2 hour schedule (up until she was 4 weeks old), that leaves about 45 minutes for me to grab some shut eye before she's up to eat again. On a 3 hour schedule, an hour, almost 2, and when she goes 4 hours... 3. hours. of. sleep! Praise God!

So anyways...we had been on this schedule for a couple of weeks. I would feed her between 8 and 9 pm, a full feeding session, and would put her down to sleep. She would sleep until 12 or 1 am, get up and nurse a full session again, and go back down for a couple more hours. It was nice! Most nights, she wouldn't be up for the day until about 6 or 7 am. Yeah, I complained about being tired, but I really shouldn't. Some women have colicky babies that don't sleep, or babies that have their days and nights completely mixed up. I really am truly blessed to have such an "easy" baby.

Then...we have nights like Monday night. All day, her eating was erratic. She would eat anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours apart, and no matter how hard I tried, she would NOT nurse more than 5-8 minutes. She slept all day except for about 2 hours (most of which was first thing in the morning). Now, before you go and say "well, that's why you had a bad night", she was doing this a LOT. She would sleep all day except for being fed, AND all night! Anywho...back to the bad night. I decided that when she turned 6 weeks, I wanted to start implementing a nighttime routine. It consists of a bath, change diaper, change clothes, nurse, go to bed. I'm going to add in a bed time story eventually, but I want to start it out simple. We got all of the bath stuff out around 7:30 so we could bathe her at 8. Well...we had to wake her up before her bath. Michael got her stripped down and brought her to me. She generally likes her baths, but her patience runs short close to the end. We went about finishing her new routine, and she went to sleep...only to wake up about an hour and a half later, wanting to eat. She ate every.two.hours. We haven't done that in 2 weeks!!! I was EXHAUSTED to say the least, and by 2:30 am, she decided it was time to get up for the day. Wow...ok... so here we are, I'm going on about 2 hours of sleep...IF I'M LUCKY...it's now 5:30 am or so, and I'm now up with my 6 week old daughter. Michael didn't have to go to work until later in the morning, so I was able to catch a quick 30 minute nap before he left, and Julia was actually asleep. Yesterday was a LOOOONG day to say the least.

I decided about half way through the day that I was going to start trying to keep her awake in the evening, in hopes of better sleep at night. I was thinking a little over-ambitiously at first, and was going to keep her awake from 2:00 until bedtime. That quickly changed to 5. I can't imagine trying to keep her awake for 6+ hours! So...5:00 rolled around, I woke her up and started playing with her, tickling her, talking to her, etc. I wanted to get out and work in the flower bed last night too, so when the first intermission in the Wings game rolled around, Michael and I took Julia outside and pulled some weeds! When we got back in, I got a bowl of warm water and a wash cloth, gave her a quick wipe down, changed her diaper, put her in her jammies, and headed upstairs to nurse her. She nursed a full session, and was in bed - asleep - by 8:30. Why she ate again at 10, I will never know...but she nursed another full session, went back down, and slept until 2! I got her up, nursed her, changed her, put her back to bed, and she didn't wake up again until 5:45. Wahoo! Good night!!! Let's see if it happens again tonight!

Sigh...here's hoping. =)

Reality Check

2010-04-15T21:30:00.001-04:00

Today I had a hard, strong reality check. It's still sinking in I think. I have a new found respect for single moms - and dads - about as much respect as I have for military wives and husbands (more on that subject later).

Today, our little girl decided that she didn't want to go back to sleep after her 3 am feeding. We tried and tried, but to no avail. Around 4:30, I brought her downstairs so that Michael could sleep for the last hour before he had to be up to go to work. Once I got downstairs, I tried yet again to get her settled into a decent sleep. She fought it again. So there I was, at 4:30 in the morning, trying to keep my eyes open to watch over my 5 week old daughter. I couldn't do it. She ate (again) at 5 am, and I fell asleep at about 5:45 I think. She fell asleep in my arms eventually also. I vaguely remember Michael coming downstairs doing his usual routine...I know he came down and said "You didn't have to bring her downstairs, honey."

Anywho...that was how my day started. Julia did eventually wake me up when she was ready to eat again at about 7. Then I decided to just be up for the day. No sense in fighting it any more, right? By 9 am, my body had enough, and I crashed...HARD...on the couch. Julia woke me again at 10:30 to eat. I felt much better by that time. We carried on our usual routine of feeding-eating-feeding-eating with the occasional bouts of time on the computer.

Here's where the single mom part comes in. Michael has been working...a LOT (thank God!). He was helping his aunt for a while, would leave his full time job, go straight to work with her, and wouldn't be home until around 8:30-9 some nights. That ended last week (or the week before...I can't remember). I felt pretty much like a single mom at that point too, with the occasional opportunity for taking a shower that lasts longer than 3 minutes!!! I would take Julia with me everywhere I went (duh) whether I went to Target, my mom's house, her work, wherever. Today, however, I got to venture to the grocery store with her...alone. And it wasn't just to grab one or two things. Oh no...I had to go grocery shopping. I didn't get everything I wanted, but I got everything on the list. She started to get fussy after about 30 minutes in the store, but I knew we wouldn't be there much longer. I just shushed her, and rubbed her arms until she calmed down enough for me to finish up and head out. On the way home, she cried. All the way. Granted it's only a five minute drive from the grocery store, but this was the pissed off, blood curdling, screaming cry that I absolutely HATE hearing. I started thinking "well, I guess this is what it would feel like to be a single mom". It was a very profound moment for me...but I guess you had to be there. When we got home, I got everything unloaded and noticed that she had spit up on the way...I felt terrible. I felt like I failed her. I hate that I can't comfort her while I'm driving. I hate that she got so upset on the way home that she had to cry like that. I hate that she had to get sick for whatever reason.

I cuddled her for about 10 minutes, nursed her, apologized about 10 times for her having to be so mad, changed her diaper then put away the groceries. I had wanted to give her a bath tonight, and normally Michael is here to help. Well, he was still working, and it was almost 7:30. I got everything we needed - towels, wash clothes, jammies - and filled the tub up. She wasn't happy about having a bath at all. By this time, she was over tired, and hungry again. I bathed her as fast as I could, wrapped her up in the hooded towel, and took her to get a fresh diaper her jammies on. She peed on me. I can't say I blame her!!!

Anyways. I figure this must be what it feels like to be a single mom. Yes, I saw my husband this morning...for maybe 10 seconds consciously. I am so incredibly grateful to have him here with me when he's home to help out. Even if it's just so I can go take a shower, or go to bed at 8:30 so I can survive another day with the little one.

I don't envy single moms or dads. I applaud them. They have, quite possibly, one of the hardest jobs that anyone can possess.

And with that, I'm off to bed...right after I finish the cloth diaper laundry. It's 9:30, my daughter is sleeping, and I should be too.

Good night blog world. Love your mom, sister, wife, daughter with everything you have. You never know when it may be gone.

She smiled at me!

2010-04-14T11:22:00.001-04:00

Yesterday morning at about 5am, I was feeding Julia. I went to put her up on my shoulder to burp her (around 5:30am), she looked at me, I said "HI!", and she smiled at me! It wasn't the typical gas smile...no way...it was a full on, open mouth, gummy grin and I LOVED it!!! I've been trying to get her to smile at me again, but haven't gotten the same big grin yet. Poor Michael was jealous! =)

One Month Today!

2010-04-08T16:48:00.000-04:00

So, today is Julia's one month birthday! Yay! We're going to get some pictures taken this evening, and I can't wait!

She had an appointment with the pediatrician today too...check this out...
Birth (Mon): 5lbs 2oz, 18"
Discharge (Wed): 5lbs even
Day after discharge: 4lbs 11oz (story on that later...)
2 week appointment: 5lbs 10oz (yes...that's almost a pound in 2 weeks!!!)
One month pediatrician appointment: 7lbs, 19" long! More than a pound gained in 2 weeks! Go lil bean!!!

Her weight and height are between the 5 and 10th percentile, but her head...in the 25th percentile! Yes, she has her father's noggin! LOL

Sweet

2010-04-06T18:27:00.000-04:00

Oooh...New editor!!! Might take some getting used to, but I'll adapt =)

I'll have an update sometime...hopefully soon. LOL It's pretty time consuming taking care of a baby! She will be one month old on Thursday. It's kind of hard to believe! I got in touch with my artsy side, and here are a couple of photos that I took of her the other day... =)

Changes.

2010-03-24T12:08:00.002-04:00

Wow...it's incredible how much your life changes when you have someone that depends on you 110%. Your life revolves around them - like it or not - whether you're ready or not. I never thought I could love anyone more than I love my husband, but I do. I would do anything for this little life...

On being a paranoid driver...

I don't think I've actually heard a song on the radio in the last 2 weeks, especially when I'm driving by myself. If I hear a cough, I focus in to make sure she's not choking. If she squeaks (which she does frequently...), I freak out thinking she can't breathe. Just last week actually, Michael and I were on our way to get our taxes done. Julia coughed and squeaked a couple of times, and Michael was like Superman getting into the back seat to check on her. I don't think I've ever seen him move so fast. Of course, she was fine...but still!

I am so aware of what other drivers are doing now too. Checking my mirrors a lot more frequently, making sure people behind me are slowing down or stopping fast enough. I watch intersections for as long as I can before going through them...I watch oncoming traffic to make sure that someone doesn't cross the center line towards me. Rarely do I feel "safe" anymore when driving with my little girl in the back seat.

On sleep deprivation...

Thankfully, we're not losing a TON of sleep yet. Julia eats every 2 hours during the day, and close to every 3 hours at night. Some nights, she will actually go right back to sleep after her feedings, and I'm the only one that loses out on about 3 hours of sleep each night. Michael has been wonderful. He'll get up with her if she starts to fuss after I've already fed her, but there are nights like last night, that she doesn't go back to sleep after her 3 am feeding. Those are the nights that I usually spend on the couch, and she sleeps with me. We are NOT making a habit of her snuggling with me on a regular basis though!

On my habits...

I can't even count how many times I have to remind myself to eat during the day. I'm trying to keep my calorie and fluid intake up so that she can eat, but it's really a challenge sometimes! Even getting a shower is a challenge too. I'm working on it though. It kind of blends in with the whole being paranoid thing. If I'm in the shower, and she's in her bassinet, I might not hear her if she starts to choke or something. *Sigh*

Either way...I wouldn't give it up. It's hard. It's stressful. It's trying. It's wonderful.

St. Patty's Day and GREAT weather!

2010-03-18T16:16:00.000-04:00

I know it's not going to last, but...WOW it was gorgeous yesterday! And Tuesday...and it will be again today. I'm LOVING the gorgeous weather! Can't wait for it to be nice all the time. =) I missed my St. Patrick's Day post, so here it is...I got this from a gentleman that is also sponsoring in the RCIA program this year. He is awesome for stuff like this...and can answer just about any question anyone has! He's great!

Lorica of Saint Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear
Alone or in a multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft or idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, in invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

St. Patrick (ca. 377)

God bless!

The Lil Bean has arrived!!!

2010-03-12T13:24:00.001-05:00

Procrastination really doesn't pay off, but sometimes it doesn't even matter!!! I had every intention on having the baby blanket finished before the baby arrived, but I was unsuccessful. I can make it smaller if I want to, but I think I'm going to keep plugging away at it today to see how far I can go. I have another 8 hours or so before I go home, so I should at LEAST be able to finish the green squares...

**WARNING**
Some of this post may be TMI, so proceed at your own risk. =)

Anyways...as you see above, the baby is here!!! Monday morning I got up 3 times between 1:30 and 3:30 am with some gassy pains that started feeling crampy , and the urge to pee...a lot. :-) When I got up at 3:30 to go pee, I noticed that the water wasn't "normal" looking. Being a first time mom, I did what probably any first time mom would do...turned around, squatted down to look, and leaked on the rug!!! I figured it was my water, but wasn't positive because it looked like my plug had come out earlier, and I didn't know if it was "still" coming out. I went back into the bedroom, woke my husband up, and said "Honey, don't freak out, I think my water just broke, I'm going to take a shower. Go back to sleep." He stayed in bed for a bit...awake...but got up around 4:45 after I had told him I was going to call the doc and said "did you call?" I told him I had called the hospital, but not the doc yet. He gave me "the look". Anyways...called the on call doctor, and he told me to head in and get checked out.

We headed to the hospital, and when we got to triage, they checked me out and confirmed that my membranes had ruptured. It was about 6:45 am. My first thought was "Holy crap...this is happening!!!" They monitored my contractions for a bit, and they were anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes apart. I got into the hospital gown, and we headed to our L&D room. I labored there for about 4.5 hours, walking around, breathing through it...waiting...

My birth plan consisted mainly of having this baby naturally - no drugs - and I would ask for an epidural if I really felt like I needed it. Well, contractions started getting pretty intense, but I was handling it pretty well! They came in at 11:30 am to check me, and said that I was 3 cm, 100% thinned, and 0 station. I was stoked. I asked for something to take the edge off though, so they gave me some nubane . I labored a bit more, and by 1:30, the contractions were getting pretty difficult to bear for me. They came in to check me again, and I hadn't made any progress...I was still at 3 cm. I had a couple contractions that were "off the charts" as my hubby put it, and after one long one (about 3 minutes total with dips included) put me in tears I said to him "you better get someone in here...there's no way I can do this on my own." They sent anesthesia in, and they gave me an epidural. Wow...did that help. I don't regret getting it one bit...yes, I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't do it on my own, but I'm ok with it now. :-) 30 minutes later they came back to check me again and I had progressed to an 8-9!!! The pressure I was feeling was almost as bad as the pain I had felt from a couple of the contractions, especially in my right hip/pelvic area. I started pushing at about 4:30, but was having a hard time getting the baby to come down much. After about an hour, and the doc repeatedly saying "Wow, she's strong..." about my pushing, they had to call the OR and have them on standby because the baby kept getting stuck behind my pelvic bone. Once I heard that, I found some kind of super human strength, and managed to get the baby past the bone! As bean was crowning, Michael said "I can see the head"...to which I replied..."No shit sherlock !" Everybody laughed!!! They did have to cut me a little bit too. The head came out, then one more push and the shoulders came out...a couple seconds later I heard..."It's a girl! Time of birth 5:55 pm." I was blown away...I couldn't believe I had done it! She was absolutely perfect and beautiful. She weighed 5 lbs 2 oz, was 18" long and scored 9/9 on her APGAR's . Since the due date they were calculating off of my last period was 3/30/10, she was one day shy of full term, and was considered a preemie. The Little Lady did have to spend some time under the heat lamps because she was having a hard time maintaining her body temp, but otherwise was doing great. She was nursing like a champ, and is absolutely, positively PERFECT. Her daddy and I are absolutely smitten with her!!!

Meet Little Miss Julia!!!

The first night in the hospital, and Tuesday during the day weren't too bad. Julia had lots of visitors, and was just soaking up the attention! Tuesday night was a little more rough. Michael had gone home to get some sleep, so I was there by myself with the little miss. I really didn't mind because it gave me a lot of bonding time with her. She was up for the majority of the night unless she was touching me in one way or another. She wouldn't sleep in her bassinet very well, but would fall asleep the second she was near my heart. Julia decided at 11 pm that nursing every 30 minutes for 3 hours would be fun...LOL I wound up calling the nurse at 2 to have her taken to the nursery for a little while so I could get some sleep. 5:20 am rolled around, and I woke up, went to the bathroom, and headed down to the nursery to get her and bring her back to the room with me. Michael got back to the hospital around 8ish...I think...can't remember exactly. The pediatrician came in to check on Julia, and everything seemed good! Since she was considered a preemie, though, they wanted me to take her back in on Thursday just to follow up with her weight and such. They discharged us Wednesday afternoon!

Going home...

One of the things they wanted checked while I was at the pediatricians office was her biliruben (sp?) numbers. The MIL and I headed to another part of the hospital (peds office is actually IN the hospital) to get some blood drawn. Let me tell you something...Julia was the talk of the town!!! Everyone that walked by commented on how tiny and adorable she is, young and old alike. It was really neat.

The results of the bili levels wasn't that great. She was at an 18.3 which is pretty high so they set me up for a 24 hour appointment to have her under the bili lights. We wound up bringing her back to the hospital...again...and dropped her off at 5:30 to get treatments started. We headed back home to eat dinner with his parents, I packed an overnight bag for me and her, and we came back to the hospital. Her levels have gone down quite a bit! They ran her vitals and checked her levels at 1:30 this morning, and the number had gone down to 13. They checked yet again around 7:30 or 8 I think, and they had gone all the way down to 10.5!!! My baby girl is getting better!!! YIPPEE!

Check out the new shades =)

DIVA!!!

I am so incredibly in love with this little life...I wouldn't trade her for the world.........

The "week late" update

2010-03-05T20:02:00.005-05:00

Yeah, I know...I said I would update sometime last weekend, but alas...I failed! Here is the update that should have been posted last week, along with the update for this week. =)

Last Friday (2/26) was my 29th birthday. I took the day off of work so I could chill out a bit. Yeah, me and chilling out lately don't really go together...anyhoo. I got some really pretty flowers and a cute card from my hubby. =)

During the day, I went out and checked out some day care centers for when the little one arrives. I found a place that I really really like. This place is so cool though. I want to go there!!! They have wonderful hours, parent play dates, and a play place that would put 15 McDonald's or Burger Kings to shame!!! We'll see how it works out though. It's relatively reasonable, price-wise, and they have cameras in the rooms...so if I want to see the lil bean, all I have to do is get online! I LOVE that part...and the fact that they keep the infant-teacher ratio to 2-1; much better than the 4-1 at the second place I went to...is 4-1 even legal???

Anyways. That night we went to dinner with my girlfriend, K, and her hubby. Her birthday was on Wednesday (2/24), so it was kind of a joint birthday celebration! It was fun. The food was o.k., but not really worth the money in my opinion. I think I would have been happier with good old Olive Garden...but it's all good. K and I got complimentary ice cream sundaes. =)

Saturday brought lots of shifting, moving, loading, driving, and unloading. Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I've known that we needed to "downsize" the living room. So! On Saturday, we loaded up both end tables, the coffee table, the love seat and the entertainment center between my Jeep and my sisters truck, and took it all to hers and moms apartment. We did replace the 2 end tables with slightly smaller, non-glass end tables that have a shelf on the bottom and a small drawer to keep stuff in. Now, we just need to get a smaller corner unit, a new TV, and we'll be all set! The unit we had stuck out probably 4' from the corner, and took up TONS of space. It was pretty much the kind we needed though since we have a flat screen tube TV (BEAST of a thing...). Now, the TV is sitting on the floor. As is the cable box and dvd/vcr. The stuff that was on top of the entertainment center is sitting on a bench along the wall...

I do miss having the coffee table to put our laptops on, but it's totally not that big of a deal! We have so much more room in here now, it's not even funny!

Sunday, we went to church, stopped at Michael's so I could get some more yarn for the baby blanket, came home, ate lunch, made a grocery list, went grocery shopping, came home, and parked our butts on the couch to watch the US play Canada in Men's Olympic Hockey. WOW!!! What a game that was!!! I don't think I left the couch much more than to go to the bathroom 10 times, and eat dinner! Still didn't feel rested on Monday though. Go figure.

Wednesday I had my first weekly doc's appointment. Remember the update that I mentioned freaking out about my weight when I was on the phone with my girlfriend? Well...that 163 came true this time! I'm o.k. with it though. I'm getting to the point that I can really accept what I'm putting on. And, it's not like I'm gaining a TON of weight. I was 36 weeks 3 days at my appointment, and had gained 27 lbs. I really can't complain about any part of this pregnancy. It's been relatively uneventful, and I'm not too uncomfortable...yet. The doctor found bean's heart beat right away, and it was pumping along at 144 bpm! I love that sound... Now, having said all of that...I'm ready to be done being pregnant. Not because I'm miserable, or in pain, or anything like that...I just want to know if this baby is a mini-me, or a mini-Michael!!! Team green is a tough team to be on!!!

And now...the blanket update. I've been plugging away (mostly), trying to get this blanket done before the baby comes. I have officially completed all of the white and cream colored blocks, and I now have 12 green blocks done (2 are not in the pic), so check out the pics!

The white blocks...

The cream blocks...

Most of the green blocks...

The "big block" that I could put together right now...actually, with the other 2 green blocks, I could add another row on 2 sides. =)

And this is a picture of what's remaining...

I timed myself...and one block takes a little more than 30 minutes (I'm still kind of slow with it sometimes, but I'm o.k. with that...), so in essence, I could have all of the blocks done in about 7 hours. I think the whole blanket could feasibly be done in about 12 hours. It's just a matter of me finding the motivation and buckling down.

Good night. It's now 9 pm, and I...am...sleepy!!!

Baahahhahahahhaaa

2010-03-04T19:25:00.002-05:00

Ok...this is hilarious...