stolen from Becky...

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before? Had a baby

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I've almost never made a New Year's resolution, but I would like to tone my abs and eat healthier

3. Did anyone close to you have a child? Yes, 3 of our friends, Dave's brother, and 2 of my cousins had babies.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Yes, my grandma Vivian died the day after Peter was born.

5. Where did you travel? Duluth, Ogilvie, Twin Cities, New Prague, Oslo, Norway, and London, England (I had layovers in Philadelphia, Amsterdam, and Germany but I don't really count those).

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010? Better meal planning and a healthier diet, I didn't lack that but it needed improvement. Also a nice tax refund, especially since we had to pay in last year.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory? October 4th (Peter) and October 5th (Vivian)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Maintaining a healthy pregnancy and giving birth were very big to me, and of course the outcome of a healthy baby. Doing it without drugs was also a major feat, I didn't believe I could do it until it was over with.

9. What was your biggest failure? Not planning trips well enough (feeling like I was always cutting someone short on time) and keeping in contact with people.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I did very well I think. Some stitches after birth and a cold later on, but nothing worth complaining about.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Tickets to Oslo and London, it was a fun trip.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? There were a lot of people, basically all of our friends and family who have supported the pregnancy and/or Peter in some way, from gifts to advice, to food it's been really nice.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I have to admit that I was disappointed at times in some of my coworkers, but I don't know if I would go as far as saying appalled and depressed.

14. Where did most of your money go? Health insurance. My "fun" money went toward my trip and toward regular expenses in the last few months.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? I got excited about being pregnant, then about my trip, then about swimming this summer, then about Peter, and finally about Christmas.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010? I guess "California Gurls" by Katy Perry, just because I feel like I heard it a lot and the music video sticks in my head.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier, fatter (barely), poorer (at least as far as our checking account goes).

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Relaxed and made meal plans. I really wish I had relaxed on Christmas eve.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? I wish I'd wasted less time watching tv, especially before Peter was born.

20. How did you spend Christmas? On the eve we stayed home and spent time with my family, though I ran around trying to pack that evening and did a lot of laundry, on Christmas we went down to the cities to see Dave's family, we saw my dad on the 26th, and a bunch of friends on the 27th.

21. Did you fall in love in 2010? Yes :)

22. What was your favorite TV program? Bones and Glee

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't hate anyone so no.

24. What was the best book you read? I didn't read many books, I was grateful for the week by week pregnancy book.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? I don't think I really had one, or I just can't remember right now.

26. What did you want and get? A baby.

27. What did you want and not get? This is sort of a strange answer, but I wanted to go canoeing and never did.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? I liked Inception. I can't remember everything we saw. We went to Harry Potter post baby, that was a semi-big deal (leaving the house without baby).

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I think I wrote about this and how it was a bad day because I got so stressed at work but Dave made things better and took me out. I turned 28 but it was at the beginning of the year. Things seem a lot different this year. I was also thinking about how my first Christmas would have been close to my first birthday and how Peter was so young for his.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurable more satisfying? Time? I almost want to say working part-time... only because I'd like to think I could get more done and see more people.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010? It changed quite a bit, from sweaters, to maternity wear, to sweatpants and nursing tanks.

32. What kept you sane? Talking to Dave, my mom, my dad, talking to anyone with a new baby.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I always like to see what Natalie Portman is up to.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? Probably the health insurance stuff - but I've been really bad about keeping up with the news and politics.

35. Who did you miss? I miss just about everyone who comes to visit and then leaves. I don't mind travel, I just wish I could stay longer when I visit.

36. Who was the best new person you met? Peter, sometimes I still can't believe that Dave and I made a new person on this earth. It was awesome getting to meet the other new babies too, but every morning (and night feedings) I feel like I am meeting Peter again.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010. Cherish each moment you can because you never really get to live them again.

Oasis

Not the band - I just came to an oasis of sleep. I was expecting another rotten night since Peter slept until after 11 in the morning yesterday, but due to never taking more than a 40 minute nap after the late morning he went down at 11pm and didn't wake until 5am; cue hallelujah chorus. I thought it would mean an earlier day today but so far he has mostly been sleeping and it's almost 1pm. I should mention that he is sick with his first cold. I keep suctioning his nose, he's pretty good with it, he fidgets at first but often after the first suck he will hold still and let me do it.

The sun has come out, I wish I could bring Peter out, but it's 12 degrees and he's sick. I'll have to ask the doctor what his opinion is on bringing Peter out in the winter, I would like to do it, maybe I'll look into infant ski masks.

I keep feeling like I need to try to talk about something other than Peter but honestly it's hard for me to come up with much else. It's what I do now. I am going back to work 3 days a week in January and have found 2 daycares (I am only planning on using one of them, the other is a center so I could always go there if something doesn't work out with the first one). I am not looking forward to leaving Peter at daycare but I also think that it's important for me to see other adults. Dave has had quite a few late nights in the last few weeks because of pep band, orchestra, band boosters, and getting ready for holiday concerts so I've felt a little isolated. Also, we are going to be hurting for money soon if I don't make some. Each month I divide up our extra money between Dave, Peter, savings, and myself. That extra money is our "fun" money but this last month I had to subtract from Dave and my fun money (I never take from Peter or savings) since we spent more than we made. I didn't make any money over my maternity leave because I used up my 27 hours of PTO on my trip last spring. I should actually have a lot more PTO this year because I worked almost 6 months more in 2010 than 2009 and that is what our time off is based on.

----

Peter woke up and I've been playing with him for the last hour, now we're watching SNL on Hulu while Peter practices batting at objects so I guess it's time to go.

vanity leads to sleeplessness

So this is my story from last night after I put Peter in the bjorn carrier -

I walk around a little bit and then start doing dishes (he wants me on my feet!). I sway back and forth, especially for the last few dishes and he falls asleep. I take him out of the carrier and place him in the bassinet so that I can get his diaper stuff ready for the final bedtime change, assuming that he will immediately wake up. As I do this I realize that he is totally passed out, dead to the world, not moving so I decide to get ready for bed. I brush my teeth, wash my face, take my vitamin, and then I do the unthinkable... I start to tweeze my eyebrows. I swear God is punishing me for being vain because the first errant hair I pluck I hear a noise. I'm hoping that I imagined it, after all he's not crying, but sure enough as I continue with the beauty ritual I start to hear more of the little noises. I finish up and walk out to the bassinet. Peter is wide-eyed, waving his arms as if to say, "Look mom! I fooled you, I was just kidding and I'm going to stay up for hours!"

Luckily for me he fell asleep moderately quickly after the diaper and another feeding, only to wake up half an hour later for the rest of his late night snack.

hotline for desperate mothers

The last couple of nights (and it's looking like tonight also) Peter has been staying up late, later than the usual 11 or midnight - until almost 1:30am. He then sleeps for 4-6 hours so it's not the end of the world, but at midnight I start feeling a little crazy. Last night I contemplated whether taking him outside would make him sleepy (don't worry, I didn't take him out into the tundra) and also wondered if there were any hotlines to keep mothers sane. It seemed like a good idea maybe I will have to google it.

Tonight I'm trying walking him around in the baby bjorn carrier. I swear he's been the most frenzied awake at this time of night. He always seems hungry but also spits up a lot so he could be over-eating a little.

I'm trying to switch him over to sleeping in his crib. It hasn't been an issue except that neither of our baby monitors are working and Dave needs a fan running for white noise at night (I can't hear as well with it on) so I dragged up a twin bed and have been sleeping in Peter's room. I need to figure out this monitor issue. I'm not sure if they are actually too close together (really my bedside and his bedside are only about 15 feet apart (if that) separated by a wall. We were using an old monitor (from the eighties) but the other night it started making really loud static sounds randomly so we bought a new monitor for $28 which looked to be on the cheap side even though I thought it should be cheaper. That monitor is constantly making a loud static sound and it's very difficult to hear Peter. I tried moving both sides of the monitor to the living room and it seemed to work so I will try to experiment more tomorrow.

dreary post

I thought I had a bunch of things to say but now that I sit down to write I can't really think of them. I have an idea, but it's mostly just a list. That may be because my days are generally centered around Peter, and then there's a list I look at every day to make sure I'm getting some of the major things done such as letting the ferret out, getting the mail, dishes, showering, etc.

I started charting when Peter eats and sleeps so that I can more easily recognize patterns. So far the patterns are only fairly consistent. Currently Peter is going on two hours of awake time (he almost never goes more than 3 in a row). I think he's over-tired because not much is making him happy.

I really wanted to at least finish carving the pumpkin. I never did it before Halloween but I figured it's still good so I might as well do it now. I think it's going on three days of being worked on and I haven't even made any design.

One of the last times my mom visited she commented on my "mommy look." I said that it was easy for me to get the mommy look because I didn't care enough about the way I looked before I had a baby so now I was really letting things go - mainly my hair not being "fixed." My bangs were getting too long so the other day I trimmed them myself. That was sort of a mistake since they turned out pretty crooked, but I adjusted them so it's not as noticeable and they're out of my eyes so I'm happy.

I was invited to my work holiday party and need to figure out soon if I am going to go or not. I wanted to go but it sounds like I shouldn't be bringing baby with so now I'm weighing what I care about more, plus now it sounds like I have a friend coming to visit that weekend, so I guess I would have to find a babysitter and move the friend's visit. It's looking like I might not go.

There's snow on the ground here and it's been pretty cloudy and dreary, I wouldn't mind some sun tomorrow, or maybe just some continuous naps from Peter so I can actually clean.

awake

I don't have much to say, I just realized that for all my complaining about Peter not sleeping all of the pics on here show him asleep. Here is awake Peter...
Last night he was up until about midnight, woke up at 2, 4, and 7:30. I'm starting to think he just has a hard time falling into a deep sleep.

time to get out the slingshot

My little angel :)
Peter is already one month old, he has his doctor's appointment tomorrow. On the 3rd he rolled from his tummy onto his back though after talking to some friends it sounds like it could be a fluke and it may still be a couple months before he can do it on a regular basis. I was so excited, I cheered him on and then when he actually rolled over I ended up crying about it because it makes me sad that he's growing up (and I'm a little sleep deprived, and I maybe have a touch of the baby blues). The day before he went to the polls with us (though he was passed out the whole time).

Overall I would say things are going well with moments of frustration and sleepiness. Last night Peter stayed up until midnight and still woke up at 1am and 4am. I took a late morning nap and was starting to drift off when I heard the evil woodpecker start knocking on the house. I think I noticed it on Monday or Tuesday... there's a small woodpecker that pecks on our house. We have this weird chip-board type siding, it looks like cardboard below the wood type exterior. There are two areas that the woodpecker likes to attack. It's frustrating because at first it seemed like I had a hard time scaring it off with noise, but every time I tried to get a photo of it the bird would fly far away. Here's the best I could do - the bird is just to the right of the center of the picture and I it might be visible if you click on the photo.

longest night so far

Yesterday Dave had a band concert so my mom (who's up visiting) and I packed up Peter and took him to see the students and hear the concert. Peter slept the entire time... I knew this could be bad news for his sleep but I was not prepared for him to be awake from 1:30am until 5:15am. Rough. I am starting to suspect that he had some major issues with the spicy Thai noodles that I had for dinner. Originally I thought I would eat what I wanted while nursing, but I can see that I may need to amend that. I think Peter can handle most stuff (garlic, chocolate) in regular amounts but in the future I think I will steer clear of foods that bring tears to my eyes and make my nose run. It's definitely not worth the pain of sleeplessness and a screaming infant. The good news was that due to a power outage, Dave did not have school today so we were both able to take good naps.

Grandma (& baby stuff)

Peter has been pretty great. I love his eyelashes, I swear they keep growing. He's started to have a major awake time in the morning and again in the afternoon and he has been feeding so much better at night. This means that instead of a few swallows of milk and conking out only to wake 20 minutes later he is actually taking in a full meal and sleeping 2-4 hours afterward.

I've slowly been getting the hang of getting things done mixed with napping. By getting things done I include tiny things such as getting the mail and taking a shower, but occasionally I get something else in like laundry or dishes. I still haven't cooked any serious meals (fried eggs isn't too serious).

I'm trying to work on tummy time with Peter, he likes it for a few minutes and then it becomes hard work.

Dave went back to school on Tuesday. He had pep band afterward too but at least it's a very short week for him, MEA is on Thursday and Friday so it's only a two day week for him.

I have brought Peter out 3 times now, twice to the clinic and then to my workplace (to see people and to get a breast pump), and also to Target. I didn't think a lot of it, but after reading some things online I'm starting to feel a little guilty that I could be exposing him to germs that he can't handle yet. No sickness yet, but maybe I'll hold off a little before we go out again. We also make the short trip to the mailbox and back so he's not being totally sheltered.

One thing I haven't addressed is that my grandmother passed away the morning after Peter was born (October 5th). I was so happy about Peter that it was difficult to reconcile my feelings... I will miss my grandma but mostly I feel remorse for my grandpa. They started dating when they were still young high schoolers and went to 3 or 4 proms together (they were a year apart), basically they have been together for the vast majority of their lives and it will be a difficult transition. Her death was not a huge shock because her health was failing and her memory was also getting worse, a result of several strokes. She was an extremely nice person and was constantly giving out compliments. Always warm and welcoming, she will be missed by everyone. My thoughts and prayers are with my grandpa.

Birth Story

My due date was October 3rd but it came and went with no real signs of labor, I wasn't very surprised, I expected to be late and I was sure I'd make it to my 40 week appointment on Wednesday the 6th. After midnight (so October 4th) I started to toss and turn. I had actually been sleeping pretty well up to this point but figured I was having some sort of stomach issues. I was awake from about 2:30-3:30am and then fell asleep again until around 6 when Dave was getting ready for work. I told him I was feeling funny, a little crampy and called my mom to find out what she thought. We decided that Dave should go to work and I would call if stuff was really happening.
I got up and in addition to getting ready for work I got any last items I wanted to bring to the hospital packed, and took care of the animals food and water. At work people were moderately surprised to see me since it was over my due date, I didn't say anything about starting contractions but I started writing down times as I filed. By 10am I was starting to show a pattern and a few of the contractions were painful. I texted Dave that he could for sure get a substitute teacher for Tuesday. I got up to get water at 11am and had a couple even stronger contractions. I would stand up for them trying to relieve some of the pain but it didn't really seem to help. After conferring over text a bit more with my mom I decided to go home at lunch (about 1pm). I told a few people at work, including my boss and got well wishes. I drove myself home and experienced 2 or 3 contractions (bearable, didn't affect my driving) on the way.
At home I tried to rest but between the pain and excitement I gave up on that quickly and got into the bathtub instead. The warm water felt good but did not seem to make the contractions feel any better. The contractions were now between 2 and 6 minutes apart and getting more regular. At 2:30 I called Dave at work and asked him to come home immediately after the students left (3:20) rather than staying after like teachers usually do. He asked if he should be leaving right then but I told him to go ahead and finish out the day, I also asked him to stop and get some treats for the nurses on his way home. Dave called me when he was on his way home and while on the phone with him my contractions started coming every 1-3 minutes. This distressed him some but I convinced him that it was fine and he should still pick up nurse treats, that I would get the last minute stuff (a change of clothes for him and his shaver) ready so we could leave the minute he showed up, I also tried to convince him not to speed (he comes home on a highway so it's easy to do). It seemed to take me forever to do anything because I would stop with each contraction.
Dave showed up and I made my way to the car. The ride to the hospital was pretty short but I was not pleased with any little bumps or sharp turns on the way. On our way to labor and delivery I had to stop a couple of times for contractions. I went up to the admit desk (about 5pm) and told them I thought I was in labor so they brought me to a room and checked me - I was 6cm dilated, this made me very happy. There was no way they would send me home (part of the reason I stayed home so long is because I dreaded being told I had to go back), and I wouldn't be in labor for days. They put in an IV (just the port, I wasn't given fluids or anything), took my blood pressure, and hooked up the monitors (two round plastic things that were loosely belted around my abdomen to monitor the baby's heart rate and contractions). They asked me about pain meds (I had a birth plan but never even ended up taking it out of the suitcase) and I told them I didn't want to be offered medication but that I might ask for it later. I also asked if there was anything that wasn't an epidural or intrathecal. She told me about nubain, a drug that would be administered by IV and would take the edge off the contractions. I decided to keep this in mind for later. She ran the tub water for me (they had a great jacuzzi-looking tub) and I sat in there for about an hour. They checked me again at 7pm and I was disappointed to learn that I was still at 6cm. I told Dave to find the camera so we could get early pictures of the baby and it was no where to be found. I was a little freaked out and made Dave go back to the car to look for it. I started thinking of neighbors I could call to break into the house and drive the camera over, luckily Dave came back with the camera, it had fallen under the car seat. I was getting very sleepy and occasionally drifted off between contractions. Once they started getting harder and closer together I began to kneel upright on the bed for them. It felt a tiny bit better than being on my back and the gravity must have been a huge help because when they checked me again at 8pm and I was 9cm. At this point they made me lie down and let me turn on my side for the contractions, I'm still not fully clear on whether or not I had back labor. My back ached quite a bit during contractions, but Peter was facing down (normal and usually not a cause of back labor). Poor Dave tried pushing on my back for counter pressure but I was so incredibly picky about exactly where it was applied and how much pressure that I only had him try it a couple of times and the rest of the time attempted to apply pressure myself. Sometime between 8 and 9pm I asked about trying the nubain, but I was too far along and it could go to Peter too. I thought to myself, "great, this is exactly what you wanted." I thought it both sarcastically and seriously because it was what I wanted, a natural childbirth, but I was also starting to have a lot of pain so I was a little disappointed.
At 9pm they broke my water (no pain at all but it felt like I had wet myself - a lot) and the doctor told me that very soon I could start pushing and it would probably feel better. "Really???" I said. I think they found that mildly amusing, but he was right, it did feel better to push, as long as I pushed through the entire contraction. The nurse told me to (at the beginning of each contraction) take a deep breath in, let it out, take another deep breath, hold it and push. I always knew when the contractions began, but since the pushing helped I didn't know when they ended... unless I stopped pushing too soon, and then the back pain was pretty awful so I learned to push beyond when I thought I was done. Soon Dave and the nurse used their hands as stir-ups for my feet when I would have a contraction. They could get me in a better position that way but it must have been a lot of work because even I was starting to get Charlie horses.
Sometime around 11 the baby was getting really close, and the pushing started to get painful, this is when I started to get pretty loud screaming and moaning. I definitely wasn't thinking about much and didn't care about the screaming. I think the baby was crowning close to 11:15pm and the screaming turned primordial. The doctor at one point told me that the pain was not going to go away, it would continue to burn and then I started to dry sob and they gave me some oxygen. The sobbing was mostly a response to the fact that I wasn't going to escape the pain and I was probably a little panicked. Finally he was born (I believe that part was pretty fast- under 2 minutes). They placed him on me, I thought he was huge. It seemed like they had to suction him for a long time so again I was a little panicky and asked if he was alright (he was). Dave cut the umbilical cord and they gave me a shot of Pitocin to help deliver the placenta, that took about half an hour. I got a few stitches afterward and they asked us if we had a name. We didn't because we had never made a final decision on a boy name. I had Dave get out the list of names and read them to me. We had one that we both liked the most - Peter, and we chose Dave's grandfather's name as his middle name, Frederic.
That's pretty much it. I'm glad it went the way it did, I don't know what I'll do next time... if I'll try the nubain or not, but overall the last bit of pushing was the only unbearable part (when he was crowning). I'm still glad that I didn't find out his gender because it was an added surprise at the end of delivery.

Peter!

I will write a real (more formal) post, but for now I just wanted to write about the first major mishap of the day.

I should start out by announcing that I gave birth to Peter Frederic on October 4th at 11:41pm. He was 8lb 0.6oz and 21 inches long. We (of course) think he's perfect. Everyone is doing well, tired, but very well. Dave still gets another week off of work which is great.

I am nursing Peter and have found that I leak a decent amount while feeding so I figured I might as well start saving some of that milk and got out one of the storage containers. After 5 hours of on and off feedings I almost had a full ounce (I know it doesn't sound like much but it took a while to collect and was fairly awkward to do) and was about to put it in the freezer when Peter suddenly jerked and I dumped the whole thing all over the bed (which I had washed the sheets the day before). That was bad enough but then a familiar warm flow made it's way out of the top of his diaper, over my belly onto the bed while he simultaneously spit up on the other side of my belly and the bed. Oh the joys! I was able to laugh about it though because really it was funny and I was sort of just waiting to see if he would have a diaper blow out to finish the job but no such luck.

Even though it's work I really enjoy spending time with Peter so it doesn't feel like work (other than when I'm unsuccessful at burping and he's screaming his head off... but really that's the only real frustration so far).

Ferdinand

The first photo is of the book "Ferdinand," the one I liked a lot and decided to emulate the pictures for the baby's room. I did 7 paintings all shown above, they are various sizes and all of them took a long time to do but I'm pretty happy with them. They basically look like the drawings in the book. Originally I had contemplated taking down the wallpaper in the room and painting directly on the walls but that would have been a ton of work and I had limited time. I also don't mind the wallpaper that's in that room and I think it would have been difficult scaling the pictures, I had enough trouble just changing it a little for the paintings. If you click on the photos they become bigger and you can see the detail.
I went on my walk and took some stuff out of the pontoon boat but that's about the only productive thing I've done. Dave is visiting some friends at a cabin just over an hour from here. The friends will be there all weekend but after some back and forth on my part (and minor emotional distress that I kept to myself until one stressful night when I came undone on Dave) we decided that Dave shouldn't go in case I went into labor. As the weekend got closer it didn't seem like anything would happen so we figured he could take a day trip and I made sure that he would call me every two hours to check in... that was the big issue really, he doesn't get cell phone reception out there and there isn't a phone line. So far he's made good on his end of the deal and I haven't had any symptoms so everything should be just fine. I'm sort of relieved that he went because I felt guilty keeping him back, it's not just a friendly trip, it's sort of a bachelor party too for his main friend that's getting married.
I'm still very attached to having an October baby so I keep telling people that I don't want to go into labor until at least the evening of the 30th (because I figure it will take quite a few hours). I just have to make it 5 days in that case, it's probably more likely that I will be late. I guess I would rather have a September baby than be induced, but it's out of my control so there's no point in worrying about it.

I'm actually 37 weeks now...

...but I liked this photo. Everything is still going well, I get around like an old lady though, especially getting up from bed and on the couch. I'm not really sick of baby in the belly yet, it's sort of like a pet and super easy to take care of. I might even miss my belly buddy (except I will love to just sit up without rolling), nothing will nudge me in there. I'm mostly just saying this because it's almost impossible for me to imagine that I will have a real live offspring in the world. It kind of seems safer inside other than when Dave bumps grocery carts into me (happened today and it was barely a bump, so nothing to really complain about).

Not this weekend but last my aunt got married. It was a nice wedding and good to see relatives again. Dave and I played a song at the wedding (guitar and flute). The next day we went to the state fair with a couple of friends. I tried the deep fried vegetables, cheese curds, a root beer float, and a pronto pup and enjoyed all. This week at work I got to sit and scan papers, it sounds boring, it sort of was, but the important part was that I got to sit... so nice. Unfortunately I was bad and didn't go on walks this week so yesterday when Dave and I did go on a walk it started out pretty rough, I think it had to do with my ligaments getting loose? After 15 or 20 minutes it got much better and we ended up walking for 2 hours so I plan to keep up my regular 30 minute walks in hopes that I won't have the same sore issues again.

I get emails from several pregnancy sites and one of them had a "what your baby will look like" application so I tried it a couple of times before realizing that it only allowed two pictures a day (which is why I don't have a picture now). The first time it gave us a little red-headed boy and the second time it gave us a strawberry-blond girl with a daisy chain on her head. Both looked over 6 months old if not a year but we thought they were cute. They actually looked a little generic to me, like a gerber ad or something, all features very proportionate except of course the high forehead which both Dave and I have (although I don't really notice his).

It's getting late and I think Dave wants to use the laptop = I'm going to go.

tough baby

This is baby flexing, strong baby :) The sonogram was taken at the last ultrasound on July 22nd, the one to make sure the placenta was high enough (it was).
I feel like we have most of the baby stuff that we're going to need for a while. I get these coupons when I go in for appointments or classes that I can use at a baby store so when I accumulate enough I plan to get some bottles and then I will really be set. My sister-in-law was nice and generous to lend me a couple 3.5 oz bottles so I'm not totally bottle-less.
I have finally been working on painting scenes from the book Ferdinand for the baby's room. It's going pretty well. I only really have two completed, but one of them is fairly large (14" x 11") and took a few hours to do so it feels like a lot. I marked seven pictures that I liked and have 4 of those in progress or done, but I may stop at 5 or 6 depending on how things go.
Work is still going well but I notice my feet hurting by the end of the day if I don't get enough stool time. I will be doing filing/scanning the first couple weeks of September so it will be nice to be sitting for a while near the end. Part of me is getting excited and wants to be at October but I'm also nervous for it and am enjoying the end of summer. I liked having Dave home and making me supper. He's less stressed too, we generally get along better so hopefully the school year will start out nicely and be low-stress.
I've lost focus so I will be going again, next time I post a photo I'll include an update of my bigger belly. I've gained 26 lbs so far and have slowed down in these last few weeks so everything seems good there.

baby stuff

Delinquent again... I want to at least get through some major updates in this post, it won't be in chronological order though.

Dave and his dad, with help from me, put in a fake wood (vinyl) floor in the baby's room. Dave's family also bought us a crib which is now set up. I think the room looks really nice and am more excited.

I passed the glucose test and continue to eat ice cream. I also had a second ultrasound which showed baby seeming to flex it's muscles. I will have to add that photo later. The placenta has moved up which is great, and after learning more it wasn't horribly low to begin with (3.8 cm away from the cervix initially).

We started and finished the birthing classes since last time I wrote. They were informative and I do know a little better what to expect, but I thought I'd learn even more about the hospital policies. One thing I did figure out was the baby step coupons... when I go to my appointments and to the birthing classes I receive these slips for Baby Steps, a store in town. I finally went there one day on my lunch to check it out and was annoyed that prices weren't listed until I realized that the little stickers with numbers like 2,3,4, etc were listing the number of coupons you would pay to get the item. Now I'm pretty excited about those coupons and have been saving them up.

My cousin had a baby shower for me. I had fun and it was nice to see a lot of people that I don't get to very often. I couldn't believe how well we did for gifts, there's not a lot that I really need other than the diapers and I even have a start on that.

The pregnancy is still going well, I feel baby move a lot and even felt hiccups a few nights ago. I still like the belly and am mostly only uncomfortable when I first wake up in the morning or to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night because my ribs seem to be tired of me being on my side with belly weighing things down. I've gained about 25 pounds already but have slowed the gain a little in the last few weeks. My feet get tired and hurt after less time, I'm guessing it's the added weight, I'm worried my arches are going to flatten out. Very little swelling which is good since there's preeclampsia on my dad's side.

I called a ton of daycares on the last day I updated the blog. I didn't chose any but have a much shorter list to look at now with some prices. I talked to my boss, it was made a lot easier by the fact that another floor person and tech were hired, it took the stress off. He was totally fine with me taking what I wanted off (12 weeks was my preference) and I can come back 3 days a week. I still need to talk to the lead technician to work out the details but I'm pretty happy about everything. Money will be tight but I'd rather spend time with the baby and hopefully get better at taking care of home and hubby, obviously there will be quite an adjustment period, but those extra days off should allow me to do more around the house and more importantly give me time to plan (meals, schedules, etc).

I am hungry and have been awake for an hour and a half (mostly spent just laying in bed) so I'm going to go eat and start to get things done, I have a million onesies that need tending to.

hopes for a productive day

5 good things
1. I have the day off of work
2. I bought a few baby things and new maternity pants for cheap at a co-worker's pre-garage sale
3. I am optimistic about what I will accomplish today (mostly because it's still early)
4. The cat has become my buddy while Dave is gone
5. The weather has been really nice this week (we've had rain for weeks)

I missed Dave the most on Monday. It was a tiring day for me, I even skipped my walk. Now I'm feeling better with the day off and less week to get through, though I do have to work on Saturday and again on Monday even though I guess it's supposed to be a holiday since Independence Day falls on a Sunday this year. I guess if I needed drugs I would appreciate my drugstore being open.

Next week will mark a couple pregnancy milestones for me. Besides being week 27, it will also be the week I have my glucose check (fingers crossed that I don't have gestational diabetes, it will be difficult to give up many carbs and sweets), and Dave and I start our "baby classes." I'm hoping to learn a lot in them and feel more confident about the whole birthing experience. I should also get some answers about how my clinic/hospital feels about a birth plan. I plan on writing one that covers any major stuff... such as, please don't give me a c-section unless it is completely necessary for the well-being of the baby and/or me. I can work out how I word it in the next few weeks. Today one of my primary goals is to get a start on finding daycares and rates. I am nervous, this will help me decide what I want to say to my boss when I sit down and talk about maternity leave and possible part-time work. Maybe if I'm being proactive enough I will check in again today with a list of accomplishments (it's nice once in a while to see what I got done, but only when it's a satisfying amount of stuff).

gross things

First 5 good things...
1. I got done with work at 5pm today and wasn't late to work.
2. I have a restful evening ahead of me.
3. Kiki is spending the evening indoors with me and not complaining much.
4. It's very warm, but mostly comfortable.
5. Baby is alive and kicking.

Today was rough, two of our more experienced technicians were gone from the pharmacy so it was more stressful trying to figure things out when problems came up. I also found an unexpected (but small) bill on my credit card, thought I saw a tick hop off of Kiki, and had my dinner plans changed on me.

First I wanted to supply a picture of what I think was a wolf spider and was found by me in our bathroom. The experience was surprisingly traumatic considering that I usually will trap spiders and let them outside myself. This spider actually gave me an icky feeling in the pit of my stomach and I backed into the corner of the bathroom. I wouldn't watch Dave trap it or attempt to flush it down the toilet (he didn't want it coming back in). He had to flush a couple of times and then we poured some bleach in for good measure. The coin in the picture is a quarter (not sure how clear it will be).

Now, the most upsetting/disturbing part of my day today was finding that something I thought was a skin tag on Kiki had grown in size quite a bit. After rubbing it back and forth enough times I found that it was not part of her at all, but that it was a tick, and that she had two others right near her eye. I had to pin her down and tweeze them off of her. Gross, gross, gross. I do not like ticks, and I do not like playing doctor, there is a reason that I never even remotely considered going into that line of work. I have to admit that I'm sort of proud of myself for "man-ing up" and taking care of the problem, but it doesn't mean I ever want to repeat the experience. And for your viewing pleasure I also took a picture of the ticks next to a penny - I believe them to be deer ticks so I'm hoping that Kiki doesn't get any diseases. This is why Kiki is now doomed to spend a lot more time inside.

The credit card bill was my fault, I tried the number that was listed and found that it was some sort of coupon thing that I had signed up for online without realizing there was a monthly cost. It was very easy to cancel and they are even going to credit my credit card so I was pleased. The changed dinner plans were due to my grandma and her new "boyfriend." I guess he must be more fun than I, but it means I get to relax after the busy day so all is well.

As far as the migraine issue that I mentioned in the last post, I had a series of strange things happen last Friday between 10am and 12:30pm. First there was tunnel vision, next some numbness in my left fingers, followed by a headache, and closed out with very mild nausea. My blood pressure was fine when checked about an hour later and the clinic thinks it was just a migraine. The headache was pretty mild so that's surprising but I would much rather that's what it was than something more serious.
In other pregnancy news I will be having another ultrasound because my placenta (or rather baby's placenta) is low and they want to find out if it moves up (hopefully) in another few weeks. If it doesn't I will likely need a cesarean delivery. It sounds like there is an 80% chance that it will move up so I'm hopeful. At least I get to see baby again out of the deal.

ultrasound

Is it really any surprise that it's been a while since I've posted? Here's five good things for the day...
1. I went on my walk
2. I ate pineapple pie
3. My weird symptoms from last Friday were most likely a migraine and not anything more serious (more on that another time)
4. Dave is still here tonight (but leaves tomorrow for his trip)
5. The ferret is still doing well

I need to get going, but I will finally add some important pics -
The photo that isn't a profile is the baby yawning. I call the picture "the scream" because I think the eye sockets are a little spooky, but it also can look a tiny bit like it's smiling and I like that.

Life and stuff

I'm thinking of writing a list of 5 good things that happen each day just so that I have to post more often.

Since the last time I wrote I transplanted my little plants outside. They have been doing pretty well. The tomato plants seem to thrive the most, I'm a little concerned about the endives and arugula. I also directly planted some bean and cilantro seeds but they don't want to come up at all.

I've gotten bigger and that is exciting. Dave and I will be going to the ultrasound appointment in about a week and a half. We're not going to find out the gender of the baby which some of my co-workers seem to be having trouble with. A couple of them looked up a Chinese calendar chart that said I would have a boy. Another coworker plans to hang a needle above my belly at some point, at which point the needle will swing one direction or another because of polarity relating to the gender ??? Yet another coworker keeps asking how I am going to decorate since I won't know... the room is fairly neutral/baby decent so I'm not really worried. I didn't realize that it would be so controversial to not find out, but I'm sticking to my guns because I think it will be a fun surprise. I told Dave that we can find out the sex on child number 2.

One thing I have done to get ready is measure all living room and baby room furniture as well as the dimensions of the two rooms. I then made little cut-outs of the furniture to scale (I don't know what the scale was, but each square on the graph paper is 0.5ft²) and have moved them around until I found an almost workable situation. We have a lot of stuff in the house because we have a lot of stuff in addition to all of the furniture that was still here from my grandma. I will try to post photos of my little creation soon.

My mom has bought us tons of baby stuff. I really like it, I'm not a big shopper and not super picky plus it was exciting to see all of the stuff. She even got me a bunch of maternity clothes which I have started to wear mixed in with some of my pre-pregnancy stuff.

I had my hair cut and I really like it as does Dave and most of the people I've talked to about it so I will return next time I get it done. I was pleased that someone was finally willing to give me bangs, other stylists seemed to shy away because of my cowlick (?). My forehead is kind of high so I like that bangs make that less obvious.

Dave is almost done with school for the year. The kids are done and he only has two inservice days left. His summer is looking pretty lazy other than my demand for dinners... actually, we need to talk about this more, I'm willing to help him, but I'd like him to have food started or at least have an idea of what to make since he will be at home and I will be working throughout the summer. I am extremely bad at meal planning so it feels a little hypocritical and I feel guilty, but I also feel that it's a fair trade-off for his multitude of free time, that's why we should probably talk about it more, but he knows, I am not totally springing it on him.

Dave and I have collaborated on dinner tonight, it sounds like his chicken is done so now we're just waiting on my potatoes. We're both happy to enjoy a day off tomorrow. I've been spending a portion of the weekend going through my photo albums and cutting down on them. I'm mostly done and have eliminated two books worth (of 6 or 7... I took a lot of photos growing up). I'm hoping to go through our home and find more stuff to get rid of. I need to check the potatoes, pretty sure they still have 5 minutes, before I go I should also note that I've been feeling the baby move a lot. Dave can feel it too and occasionally we even see my stomach/belly moving, which is really crazy but fun.

Kiki doing her part

Though there wasn't much snow this winter we did get enough to require some Kiki assistance...

news I've been withholding...

I am


I'm serious.
and I'm due at the beginning of October. Although I think anyone reading this probably already knows. I used the digital tests because I had heard from a friend that the others were often difficult to read and I didn't want any confusion.

I'm not sure if keeping this secret had anything to do with my lack of writing on the blog, but at least now I can write about it without concern if I desire.

So far today has been a very lazy Saturday. I got up at a decent time of 8:30am and have been at a computer since. It took a while to go through emails and search websites/blogs etc. Plus Dave found out that I didn't have Norton Anti Virus on my computer and needed some time to remedy that. The weather goes back and forth from sunny to rainy. Right now it's in between the two and I have been meaning to take a photo of the "point" so that I can add a spring version to my collection. I better go do that now.

Before I go I should say that Dave and I get to be an aunt and uncle for the first time, very exciting. M and his wife had a healthy baby boy on April 21st. Now we're waiting for another couple (friends of ours) to have their baby, any day, the due date is today.

Return!

I am back from my vacation, I have been back for almost a couple of weeks. I had a lot of fun and was able to make it work out really well despite forgetting my passport in Oslo and British Airways being on strike.

The stone photo is the corner of a building in downtown Oslo. The other stone statues are in the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo. The photo below was a pink boat in the Oslo harbor/bay.


You may have noticed that there was actually snow in Oslo. I was a little surprised despite the fact that Norway is north of Minnesota, even London is north of Minnesota. I didn't bring a hat or gloves but my friend was nice enough to lend me her scarf and hat when I went out alone (she sometimes had to leave me in order to practice her horn, the whole reason she's there).


The above photos are from London. The first I think is the tower? Rory? It's where they brought a lot of prisoners, and Anne Boleyn. We crossed the Tower Bridge (on right) to get to it. I learned that the Tower Bridge is not the same as London Bridge. London Bridge is far less impressive and the original resides in Arizona.

Below is my (and Laura's) fish and chips dinner. The green stuff is mashed peas. There was vinegar to sprinkle on the chips/fries, and tartar sauce and mayonnaise for the fish. It was very tasty but maybe a tiny on the greasy side. I like my fish crispy if it's fried.



I'm still not used to writing the blog so I'm going to go make cookies and balance our budget. I will write more later.

The ferret's toe

Apparently it's been a long time since I've written. I've sort of lost some of the small amounts of humor I had and ideas for writing so I've kind of stayed away from the blog.

I don't think I really wrote about it, but I've been planning a trip for a few months and I will leave for it in less than a week. Despite not writing about it I am really excited. I am going to visit some friends in London and Oslo. I'm now in a twit about the London part because I was going to fly British Airways and they are conveniently going on strike right when I wanted to use their services. Since I got my tickets through Expedia it is looking like (after talking to a representative) I should be fairly covered = they will find me a ticket. I am still nervous because I'm not sure how much I trust their leaving it to the last moment (since technically the strike has not begun and could just dissipate). I was able to pack my stuff into a smallish gym bag because I refuse to do checked luggage when possible, and am just making notes on my planner of things to do each day before I leave. Despite my cleaning habits I really do like being organized.

I will post some pics when I return from the trip and update the blog, I'm sure I will have more to write about at that point.

Lydia, my poor little ferret, is going to lose her toe. I called the vet a few weeks ago and brought her in. The vet said that she must have gotten a small thread (maybe even from the carpet) wrapped around the tiny finger. The thread wound tightly and cut off circulation so her toe was already dead when I brought her in. They gave me antibiotics and said the toe should fall off within about two weeks. I guess it's really only been 1 1/2 weeks, but although the toe has scabbed over more, it's hanging on pretty well. She has another appointment scheduled for Friday but I think I will need to cancel and move it to next week. Dave will have the week off and can bring her in (I know, poor Dave too - we looked into getting him tickets to go with me about a month or two ago and weren't able to make it work). Lydia still tears around the place and plays a lot so she's dealing well.

Time to get dishes done, my reward is a rootbeer float if I can finish before 9 (I'm very slow).

random updates

I felt that I should update the blog, but I don't have much information so it will be random.

First, Lydia (the ferret), has something wrong with one of her "fingers" and her paw is swollen. I am concerned but for now I will be soaking her paw and watching to see if there are any changes. If nothing changes I plan to call the vet about the problem. I don't know what happened but it almost seems as if the one finger is broken, it's an outside one so it may have caught on something. The strange thing is that it doesn't seem to bother her much even when I mess around trying to examine it.

A new baby boy was born to some friends of ours so that was very exciting news. Sounds like everyone is doing well.

Dave and I finished up season 3 of Dexter, and discussed what food cravings we have when watching it. Season 3 featured some very delicious looking cupcakes in a couple episodes which I want. Through out all of the seasons Dexter often brings donuts to his co-workers, this always makes Dave salivate. Maybe we're missing the point of the show.

Once again I am trying to promise myself that I won't let dishes go more than a day. Dave ended up doing a huge pile on Saturday despite my attempts to dissuade him (it was my turn but I had to work and he wasn't willing to view the sight until 4 when I returned home). I never feel like doing them when I get home from work and I haven't been getting up early enough to do them in the mornings (plus that would be annoying with the roommate). It doesn't matter how I feel though, they will just need to be done.

The roommate has been very respectful, other than not really doing the very few (but constant) dishes he makes, but I have to admit I enjoy having the house to ourselves so his departure in May will not be too remorseful. The best thing about his stay is the connection to the schools in the area, that may be beneficial to Dave in the future.

That's all for now, I am very hungry and the pot roast is almost done.

Happy St. Polycarp's Day!

I almost forgot that it was St.Polycarp's feast day. I saw this on a Catholic calendar back in high school and really liked the name so I started to celebrate the day by wearing fish jewelry and giving out swedish fish. I didn't really do anything this year but I'll probably be grabbing some ice cream soon...

bumblebee tax day

I was having a pretty nice day off until a little while ago when I finished entering in our tax information. I might have to be a baby and get someone else to do our taxes next year... it seems like we had to pay in a lot this year, especially since we didn't come into any unexpected money and I don't feel that we make a lot, I will admit I make less than $10/hour.

The animals like it when I have a weekday off and so do I, until Saturday rolls around and I have to work. I was able to run a tax errand for my grandma, run to Target, do taxes, some shopping, go to the library, and bum around. As long as I'm complaining I have to say that I'm disappointed that Cadbury eggs are so expensive. I might be imagining it, but I thought when I was younger you could buy them individually for 25¢ and now the 4 pack is $2.99

Good news is that I (for the most part) finished up painting the entryway. The color is bumblebee but it has also been called "goldfish" and "god-awful." Later on when I am motivated again I plan to try to tone it down a little with some turquoise decor. I definitely achieved the "glow" that I had been hoping for.

rockhero pics

So I guess that TSP is not for getting glue off of the walls... luckily I talked to my dad about it before doing anything. He's on his way up to visit us for the first time (I have two dads, this is the one I received half my genes from :) and is bringing some DIF (?) so we can get that remaining glue gunk off.
Here are some of the RockHero photos. Instead of just asking for permission to post these peoples photos I just blurred out their faces. The above two are actually twins and are great about finding rocker outfits. Don't ask me why Kiki seems to be staring at the wall.

The ladder in the above pictures is supporting the projector that Dave borrowed. I should say that the twins were Dave's friends from high school. The girl on the couch was a college friend, and in the photo to the left (and above) the guy in the tan shirt is Dave's high school friend, the girl with longer dark hair to the left is our sister-in-law, next to her is Dave's brother (M), the guy next to him is another high school friend, the girl/woman next to him with blond hair is his fiance, and lastly the girl on the far right is the wife of tan shirt guy.
Both wives are entering their 7th month of pregnancy and were real troopers about coming to the party.
My dad has arrived so I will need to add more pictures later.

party weekend

Last weekend was a lot of fun getting to visit friends and going to the Anchor Bar, great hamburgers and cheap beer. We stayed at my sister's place and got to play with her bunny a little. It was nice to see our "Duluth people" again after a long time.

This week was spent doing errands and preparing for the "RockHero" party that took place this weekend. I got the last bits of wallpaper removed, we now just need to use the TSP on it to get all of the remaining glue. We had 11 people come over in all and they're all home or on their way home now. I'm using Dave's laptop to write this as I lay on my side in bed and hear Dave's quiet snores next to me. Apparently now that we're older we don't stay up late without paying for it.

The party went well with just a few small issues. About half of the people dressed up (like they were supposed to). I tried to get my hair to look like Flo's from the Progressive commercials but even though the enormous amount of hairspray was working, the curls in the front kept trying to flip in or sideways. I'll try to post some photos later. We didn't really organize the competitions much so the awards were slightly haphazard. Maybe I'll make a game plan up for next time. To explain a little, the party was a get together that involved dressing like rock stars and playing guitar hero and rockband on the playstation.

I can't decide if I'm really going to nap or not, but it will relieve some guilt and make falling asleep easier if I at least get the laundry started.

lazy

I've been watching a lot of Dexter lately and not doing too much else. I got most of the wallpaper down but now I have to go around and get all of the tiny bits left behind. This weekend we're going to Duluth to visit some friends. The weekend after that a bunch of friends will be coming to visit us so I'll have to get more errands done during the week. Luckily we're just finishing up season 2 of Dexter and will have to rent each disk of season 3 so we won't be able to binge on the show as much as we have lately. Mostly just checking in, need to get going so I can attempt to get paint and go to Target.

wallpaper

Since Dave deserted me the past weekend and I somehow managed to kill the internet (or just mess up the router) this is what I did...

It was sort of fun because the wallpaper was coming off in pretty good strips. The best "pull" can be seen below...



and then Kiki wanted to give you a point of reference for how big this strip was.

Since my ladder wasn't very tall it made getting to the spot above the closet a little difficult.

Since I'm not much taller than the ladder, and much shorter than the closet door, I was able to balance a foot on the top bar of the ladder and just lean over the top of the closet. There is just a thin plywood board above the closet so I can't really sit on it, but when I get to the backing I will grab a longer board to place across it.

I mostly did my own thing, but I caught Kiki napping on the (messy) bed. I thought I was sneaky but she noticed right away. She's only slightly weary at first.




Then she becomes a little more suspicious...







finally she gives in to my pestering and gives her common smug face.