On the mend

It looks like we are finally getting well here! After a bout of colds that all three of us got, and then Nathan developing a very nasty stomach bug that knocked him flat and put him in the ER for 3 liters of IV fluids, we seem to be getting better. My cold is gone as is Gabe's and I think (fingers tightly crossed!) that him and I have avoided the stomach bug that is proving to be highly contagious.

Nathan is up and about and almost eating normally again, though still feeling weak. I think he's going to try to go to work tomorrow.

On other news, Elena has been going wild in my belly the last few days. A few times I wondered if I was actually getting sick, but it seemed to coincide every time with her very active movement and I think perhaps she was just using my stomach as a punching bag. She's much more active than Gabriel ever was and wonder what that says for when she is born! I kind of got a shock yesterday when I realized I have less than 4 months left of pregnancy. It seems so very short and I know that the time is just going to fly by.

Gabe has started 'clapping' as of 2 days ago. He does it with closed fists and interlocks his fingers when he does it, but it's still darn cute. He is also trying to mimic me saying 'Yay!' while he claps though it doesn't actually sound anything like 'yay.' This morning I got quite a surprise when he was playing with the puppy he got from my parents for Christmas (this puppy: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2265219&CAWELAID=107520220). He was crawling on it and set off one of the songs it plays, which happens to be "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands." While I watched he sat up, stared intently at the puppy, and then started clapping! I admit it was one of those teary eyed proud mom moments.

Bedtime disasters? or blessings?

I always think it's funny how the best laid plans never quite work out. Even the little ones. Gabe's schedule was a bit off today from us being out and about and so he got quite a late nap. I figured it would push bedtime back but no big deal, because we aren't really strict on a 'set' bedtime anyway. But he woke up super cranky and fussy from his nap, and was clearly still tired, so I decided we'd just go ahead with his normal bedtime. Nathan gave him his bath and then we both dressed him and I gave him his bottle. I picked him up to burp him a little and about 3 seconds later - I got puked on. Gabe doesn't spit up much anymore, much less puke, so I'd forgotten what it feels like to be projectile vomited on. Nice and gooy and warm! So then came changing (him and me!) and back to holding him and JUST as I had him asleep...a knock on my door! A friend came over to show me the yarn she'd bought to make a sweater for my new little one, and also to borrow a movie. I knew she was coming, but had lost track of the time. As soon as Gabe saw her he was wide awake and all smiles, go figure. After she left (after showing me the beautiful yarn, I love it!) I decided to rock him a bit and see if he'd go back to sleep.

I'm actually glad he didn't go to sleep like I'd planned because otherwise I would have missed out on rocking him for awhile. It was just one of those wonderful, quiet moments that you just sit back and really take stock of your life and how blessed you feel. Gabe talked quietly to me for awhile, looked around the dimly lit room, and just seemed overall quite content. Eventually he rested his head on my chest and slowly drifted off and we stayed like that for a bit. It was just so comfortable.

Of course now he's in his crib crying, after I set him down he woke up (go figure) but maybe I'll just go back and rock him for a little bit longer. It's just so relaxing.

Surprised!

That's how I felt when the tech at my ultrasound yesterday informed me that...*gasp* I'm having a girl.

I asked her 3 times if she was sure. While she wouldn't commit to it 100% (not an exact science of course) she was 'pretty sure' it was a girl. She gave me 3 lovely shots of the girlie...parts...which I have examined throughly since the ultrasound (several times) and I can't see any boy parts so I think it must be true.

Nathan and I are very thrilled. I've always pictured having a little girl. Her name will be Elena Grace. :-)

Anticipation

With only two days left to go until I have my ultrasound, I'm getting quite anxious and excited. I cried at my ultrasound with Gabriel (yup, I admit it, I'm a total softie). It was amazing to see that little baby on the screen, see the heart beating and all his organs. It was truly incredible. When they told me it was a boy, I was a bit shocked because I really felt it was a girl, but then at the same time it just felt so right.

I'm getting so excited to find out if this one is a boy or a girl, and slighlty afraid I'll have a shy baby - I really do love to know ahead of time though I guess finding out at delivery would be kind of fun...in it's own way...hmm no I'm just lying to myself. I really want to know at the ultrasound.

I have no real guesses on whether this baby is a boy or girl, though just today I've been leaning more towards boy than girl, after feeling for awhile that it might be a girl. I don't trust my feelings either way since I was very wrong with Gabe. I don't honestly care. I would love a girl, I've always wanted a girl, but I will be happy with whatever God blesses us with. The advantage of another boy is I'll have everything I need!

If anyone has any 'guesses' feel free to venture them. You've got a 50/50 shot anyway!

So much to be thankful for

The holiday season is my favorite time of year. Not only is there Thanksgiving, but also my birthday, and of course my favorite - Christmas. I love this time of year. Hot chocolate, festive store displays, the smell of cinnamon and sugar cookies...

This year I feel so grateful, I look at my life and see just so many wonderful things to be thankful for. It's not perfect, but what life is? I feel in awe of all that God has done in my life. And I honestly feel so unworthy of it. I know I did nothing to deserve this blessed life, and yet He has given me so much. It's quite humbling.

Thanksgiving dinner at my inlaws was delicious and I'm completely stuffed. Gabe had a great time. He got to try mashed potatoes for the first time and loved them. He wasn't at all a fan of the turkey in a jar, but I took one bite myself and threw it out. Pretty disgusting. He also refused the sweet potatoes. He wanted nothing but mashed potatoes and applesauce.

The afternoon went so well, besides one mishap where Nathan backed into Stephanie's mom's car - thankfully it's just a little dent - and Gabe not being able to sleep well because there was just too much noise. He was happy though, loving all the attention everyone showered on him.

Here are pictures, and a video where Gabe had fun crawling to Pepsi:

Video: http://s930.photobucket.com/albums/ad146/elenaceline/?action=view&current=CIMG2975.flv

New Moon

Because I couldn't have said it better myself...

http://mamagriffith.blogspot.com/2009/11/movie-reviewdun-dun-dunnnn.html

I retired the records

Since I was in the hospital after having Gabe, I have kept records. It started because the hospital had me do it, to keep track and make sure he was peeing enough, eating enough, etc. I got home and continued to do it. I have to admit that I kind of love it. I the sort of person who actually enjoys filling out forms, so for me this was...sort of fun. And at first, very reassuring. I have a little notebook where I have recorded how many ounces he eats in a feeding and at what time, and tally how many wet and poopy diapers he has a day. I know for most moms this seems quite silly. But I enjoyed it. Of course, it probably caused more stress than anything else during the period of time when he was refusing to eat much. I now know that he was just slowing down a bit before a big growth spurt and there was nothing wrong. And now that Gabe is 7 months old, I had to admit to myself that it was a bit pointless. I know he gets enough to eat during the day and has plenty of wet diapers. He is healthy and growing. It was time to let go. It was surprised at how hard it was for me to do and even though I had been considering it for over a month, it took me until the day Gabe turned 7 months old to actually do it.

It's now been 5 days and I am actually glad I stopped. It wasn't time consuming or anything, but now that I'm not keeping those records I was able to pull out his baby book and start working more on that. I hadn't filled anything out since he was a month old. It's been really fun to update it, though I admit I guessed on more than half of the milestones because I just couldn't remember exactly when they happened. I ordered some pictures off snapfish to put in the book and I am so excited for them to arrive.

Sleep? What is that?

I think I'm pretty spoiled in that Gabe is not at all hard to put down to sleep most nights. He gets his bath, into pjs and a sleep sack, and usually falls asleep eating his bottle or right afterword. I think I deserve a good night sleeper, considering how much he fights sleep during the day.

Last night was unusual in that he was wide awake after his last bottle of the night. All he wanted to do was play and play! You'd think someone slipped some coffee into that bottle or something. He stayed up clear until 11 when he FINALLY passed out from pure exhaustion. Then he woke me up at 4am screaming his head off and would not stop until 5, when I finally fed him, though I'm certain he was not hungry. He was kind enough to sleep until 8:15 after all that mess, but I still feel exhausted. *whine whine whine* Thank God for good coffee. :-)

I have a skinny baby!

This might seem like a funny blog title for those of you who tell me every time you see Gabe "Oh my gosh he's getting so big!" He is getting big, at least for him! I've always known he was small for his age though (born 6 lbs 13 oz). He had his 6 month appointment today and he is now weighing in at 15 lbs 5 oz, which puts him in the 10% for his age group. His height however (27") is in the 75%, so according to his peditrition he is just 'tall and skinny'. I was a little worried (first time mom worries kicking in) but she assured me he's just fine - he's got nice chunky legs, he's happy and he's meeting all his milestones on time. He's just not a big eater, and he never has been. I can't make him eat more, but she assured me that he will eat whatever he needs and to not worry about it.

He had his shots today, and I think we would have gotten away tear free if he'd only had to have one. He didn't even notice the first one and was having a good time with mommy distracting him. The 2nd one must have been more painful, and we had a lot of tears and crying after that. He's now home and was super sleepy so I set him under his playgym and he's sleeping away there while mom has some nice alone time on the computer. :-)

A new baby

I've been wanting to write this blog for awhile, but I wanted it wait and make sure that everything was going well first. Now that I know it is, I'm so happy to announce this.

Nathan and I found out in August that we are expecting our second child. It was a big surprise, but a happy one. I had my first OB appointment yesterday and everything looks good, though the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat and that worried me. We had an ultrasound later in the day and everything looks good. Baby is measuring 11 weeks 2 days and had a strong heartbeat of 154. I admit that I cried seeing the baby wiggling around on the screen.

Tentitive due date is April 25, 2010. So not quite Irish twins, but close!

Here is a picture of the little baby bean. It's kind of blurry since the baby wouldn't stay still.

Grandparents

Growing up, I really never knew my grandparents. Two of them passed away by the time I was 2 years old, and of course I have no memories of them. The other two were there, but not really around. They weren't really the 'grandparent' type. Even though we lived with one of them for quite awhile, I don't actually have very many memories of him because he was hardly ever there. This isn't meant to be a pity party for Leah, because it doesn't really make me sad. I think it bothered my parents (my mother especially) a whole lot more than it ever bothered me. In the end, it's not really a big deal. I just didn't know them. They are both passed away now and so technically I'm grandparent-less. I never wanted for grandparent affection though, I had sort of 'adopted' grandparents. My cousin's grandparents always treated me like one of their own, which made me feel very special, and my dad had a secretary who worked for him for years, right about the time his mother passed away, who became a sort of surrogate mother to him and a grandparent to myself. To this day she is my 'grandma' Marlene, and Gabe will know her as his great-grandma. When I told her, that she teared up and it was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen.

What is the point of this ramble about grandparents? I got to thinking about it when we went to visit my parents this weekend. Watching my parents dote on Gabe just fills my heart with Joy. They absolutely adore him, love to hold him and play with him, comfort him when he is sad...it makes me so happy to watch how much they care for him. It's the same with my inlaws. Every time my father-in-law sees him, he says what a beautiful baby Gabriel is, how SMART he will be, how ADVANCED he is for his age (I love my son, but he's just right on time for all his milestones. If you asked my father-in-law he'd say that Gabe is just the smartest little baby he's ever seen). Both sets of grandparents spend way too much money on him and just love to spend as much time as possible with him. Sometimes my inlaws call asking if Nathan and I want to get out of the house - just so they can watch Gabe.

It's pretty obvious that Gabriel's grandparents are going to spoil him rotten, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

My little mover

Today CG came home early (yay!) and decided to bbq hamburgers. Well he'd only been outside a minute when he came running back in yelling something about the bbq blowing up in his face. i ran after him to see if he was ok, leaving GT on the boppy on the couch. I always do this. He likes sitting on his boppy and I've never had a problem before. CG is thankfully fine, just some singed hair lol. I came back to the living room to find this.



Guess I won't be leaving him unattended on his boppy anymore...

Another successful night

Gabriel has, for the last few weeks, been only sleeping through the night about every other night. And even when he does, he's up between 2 - 3 am fussing and needing his pacificer back. Often at that point he'll fuss on and off until he finally wakes up at 5 - 6 to eat. Well we are now on 2 nights in a row of not hearing a peep out of him between 10 - 5. Today he made it until 6:30. I love sleep. It makes me such a happy person. :-)

Introspective

Do you ever have those days where you spend a large majority of the time looking into yourself and just thinking about life? How it used to be...how it is now...and compared to how you thought it would be when you were little. Today is one of those days for me.

Gabriel is currently napping (after an AWESOME night of sleep btw, not a peep out of him from 10 - 5) and I'm looking around at my house, the life that I've built with my husband, and I am just so thankful. It's nothing like I thought it would be when I was in high school. I was such a different person then, I had different goals. At the time, I wasn't even sure I wanted to ever get married, and I definitely didn't want children. I was certain that I would go to college after high school and then after college I would be a psychologist or something along those lines, and spend a lot of time in community theatre. I never pictured a family and the life I have now. And I definitely never thought that I would someday come to know and love Jesus. I was one of those people who tended to think Christians were a little off their rocker for believing in someone who, in my opinion, could never have existed.

How thankful I am that my life did not turn out the way I planned. That God led it in a totally different direction. God is so good. My life has been very blessed and today is one of those days that I just couldn't be happier.

Caffeine

I have promised to blog more, and therefore I'm posting this entirely pointless blog. I honestly wasn't sure what to blog about. But the coffee cup to my right served as my inspiration.

I love caffeine. Without it, I think I would be a very grumpy morning person. I was able to kick the habit during my pregnancy (thus the title of my blog) but it wasn't long before I went back to it. So now I'm thinking the title of my blog really need to be changed, but I'm not quite sure how to do so.

That being said, I'm off to refill my cup and enjoy a few more quiet minutes before Gabriel wakes up from his nap.

Surprise visits

Today after church I got a random call from my cousin, asking if she could come and visit today. I love surprise visits! No, that's not sarcasm, I really do. I hadn't seen my cousin since she came to visit me in the hospital after Gabriel was born, and she hadn't been to my house since probably last January or February. So she came down with a good friend of hers, and her friend brought her dog - who was super cute and reminded me how much I want a dog of my own. We had a great time going out to lunch and then spending time on the beach and walking around downtown Manzanita. All in all, a great day. And here is a fun picture of my cousin holding GT. I'm so jealous of her awesome tan. She makes GT look pasty white, lol.

Success

Well I think I can report that we offically have success in weaning GT from sleeping in our bed to sleeping in his bassinet. Not that it was a hard switch. To be honest, he hardly seemed to notice. It's mom who had a more difficult time with it. After I hurt my neck on Friday we decided it was time, too hard to have him laying next to me and take care of him while I was hurt. He took to his bassinet like a charm (excluding last night, which I'm sure was a fluke...SURE was a fluke...and repeat again). I, however, have spent upwords of an hour every night just laying there, listening to him breathe. I have quite a noisy breather on my hands, but now and then his breathing will get very quiet. I lay there, telling myself I do not need to check on him. That he is fine. But in the end I sit up just to watch his chest rising and falling. It's easier than battling with myself to be sure, lol. After a short while in his bassinet, we are going to start trying to put him down in his crib for the night. A much harder move for me since his nursery is on the other side of the house. Enter one the picture above, the angelcare delux movement sensor and sound monitor.

Oh yes, I purchased a monitor that will send me an alarm if he stops breathing for moe than 20 seconds. Overkill you ask? Yes, probably. My only excuse is that I'm a very paranoid first time mother who really feels she needs this in order to sleep at night - without getting up 20 - 30 times every night just to make sure he's still breathing.

I also came across a really funny baby item that...really...is not that necessary. But. I wanted it. And it wasn't expensive. Enter the itzbeen baby timer. Yes, there is a timer for all your basic baby care. How long it's been since you changed baby, fed baby, baby has been napping...etc. I honestly still keep a log of this information, 13 weeks later. If I don't, I find myself constantly asking, "When did I feed him last?" "How long has it been since I changed his diaper?" Not a big deal you say. Just feed him when he is hungry and change him when he's wet. I know, I know. But I like having a record. I thought for sure CG would take one look at this and laugh at me for wanting it. But I forget, he is a computer geek and he likes little gadgets. He got all excited and told me to buy it. Of course, this could just be becuase he's tired of writing everything down - pretty sure he thinks my log is silly, but he keeps up with it for me.

A little sad

My parents have been planning a trip out to see us for several weeks now. They were going to be here this afternoon. Today I got a call from my mom that she was sick all night and running a low grade fever. While she is feeling tons better today, she is afraid of getting GT sick (not to mention CG, he catches EVERYTHING). They are still planning on coming tomorrow, as my mom thinks she'll feel much better by then and no longer be contagious. But I'm still a little disappointed, I was very much looking forward to seeing them today.

GT is being so cute today, though. All smiles and he's starting to 'talk' to me. Now of course he's completely passed out in my lap and I've got him positioned just right so that I can still type here. I think I'm going to put him down and attempt to nap myself. :-)

My busy boy

Much to my excitement and pleasure, I got to see my little boy roll over for the first time today! It took us all by surprise. The inlaws were here and we were all just talking, watching little GT on his tummy while he lifted his head (he's had great head control from very early on and it's just getting better). Next thing we know, he'd rolled right over! It was so amazing to watch. We put him back on his tummy and he did it one more time, only he rolled the other way. So then we got the video camera out and put him back on his tummy again...but by that time he was so done with the rolling over thing, haha. He was very unhappy so I had to comfort him for a bit and now he's completely passed out on his boppy. I really hope to get it on video tomorrow. But what an awesome day, I love seeing my baby grow and get stronger.

restful night

Unless I am much mistaken, I think we may have finally turned a corner in the sleep department. It's now been 6 weeks and I think GT may finally be ready to sleep more at night instead of all day. Of course, last night could just have been a fluke, but I have hope! He only took one nap yesterday, and when bedtime rolled around he fell asleep quickly in my arms. I put him to bed, sure that he would instantly start fussing again but no! He stayed alseep and didn't wake up for another feeding until 5 hours later. After that feeding I was able to put him right back down, and I got another 4 hours out of him. I am quite happy with all this sleep and don't really know what to do with myself. After a good pilates session with friends, I think all I need to make this morning perfect is a small cup of coffee.

In other updates, GT is now over 9 lbs and is 21 3/4 inches long! He's grown out of nearly all his newborn clothes. I can't believe how big he's gotten. It is slightly sad to think that, someday soon, he won't be much of a 'baby' anymore. They grow up so fast. I'm just going to try to soak up as much of this time as I can.

Long overdue

All right, I admit it, I've been a terrible blogger. I deeply apologize. My one excuse is that lately now I find that it takes careful effort and planning to even get in a shower!

Since my annoucement is long overdue, I gave birth to my beautiful boy on April 13th at 12:10pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs 13 oz 19 inches long and is PERFECT. We'll call him my little GT, like the car, haha.

The first couple weeks of parenting were not at all what I expected. I did expect it to be hard, but since I clearly had no previous experience caring for a newborn, I had no idea what I was in for. The breastfeeding issues, the sleepless nights, a crying baby, and total hormone overload really got to me. I am so happy to say that most of that has passed. Not the sleepless nights, but my breakdown crying reactions to them. And while formula feeding was never what I wanted to do, I have come to accept it and repeatedly remind myself that my baby is still going to be healthy even if he didn't get a lot of breastmilk. Afterall, I was formula fed and clearly I'm fine. Pretty sure they've improved on formula since the early 80s as well.

Last night was the first night that I got GT to sleep in his bassinet for two 2 1/2 hour stretches at a time. It was hard for me to let him fuss at first, but once he got that out of his system he fell asleep and I was able to as well. It was very nice to sleep in my own bed instead of on the couch.

I have all the shades open right now and it is a BEAUTIFUL day, I think I'd like to go for a walk later and am going to try to get ahold of mammagriffith and see if she'd like to go with me. I still have about 30+ lbs to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.

Well it looks like GT is currently working on a poop, so I better be off...I'll try to update this again soon, and hopefully I'll have a much more interesting blog!

Blessed

That is exactly how I feel today. I had another shower yesterday and needless to say, it was a success. Nearly everyone who was invited came, and the gifts were more than generous. I am so thankful. I had such a great time with family and friends, especially friends I haven't seen in quite a long time. The games were typical shower games, but everyone got a lot of enjoyment out of them, especially the one where they all had to cut a string exactly how long they guessed my belly was around. Some people maybe had a little too much fun with that.

Some pictures for you all:

Bassinet

After church and lunch today, I got back home and decided to tackle the bassinet that I'd started yesterday, only to leave in pieces all over the nursery floor. Turns out, I did need help. I'm apparently not coordinated enough to put it together myself. With some help from the CG, we got it together in about twenty minutes. It's beautiful, I absolutely love it.

A restful night

I've discovered that I absolutley cannot underestimate the rewards of a good night sleep. Last night was the first night in quite a awhile where I slept soundly. Yes, I still got up twice to pee but that's nothing compared to normal. I don't remember waking up once to find a more comfortable position. I was awoken about 20 minutes early to the feel of my baby attacking my sides, which sounds uncomfortable, but was really nice since he's spent the last few days being fairly inactive. I layed in bed until it was time to get ready for work, just enjoying the quiet time with me and my baby. By the time I was ready to get out of bed, I was fully awake and in a great mood. I don't even mind that I'm at work and actually have the motivation to get things done today. Yes City Girl, I did just say that. Of course, I'm on here blogging instead of doing any work, but I'm going to start as soon as I publish this, lol. If this lasts all day, I'm going to go home and put together my bassinet and glider.

3 day weekend

The absolute best thing about working in the banking industry is that they give you just about every holiday imaginable off. Which equals out to a lot of 3 day weekends, and since yesterday was President's Day I got to enjoy yet another one. On Saturday I went out to dinner with the CG, and we had a great time at the restaurant, even though we had to wait an hour (it was the Wine Walk in Cannon Beach). A very nice Valentine's Day. After church on Sunday I drove out to visit my best friend, and we had a lot of fun together. First we went to Outback (it is our tradition) and then wandered around Gresham browsing shops. I even bought a new book (Inkheart). So far it's pretty good. I stayed overnight at my parent's place and on Monday went to Babies R Us with my mom. The first thing I noticed was that quite a bit of what I registered for is not actually IN the store. A bit frustrating, I wish BRU would mention that online...but I went online later in the evening and changed a few things to items that were in the store. I also carried around the Graco Safeseat and the Chicco Keyfit for a bit. I like the Chicco more, but I still can't justify spending that much on it. Ah well. While we were there, my mom came across a beautiful bassinet and she bought it for me. I couldn't be happier, I love it! It is much better than the co-sleeper I was registered for, and for the same price. I also bought my glider while I was there, after spending 20 minutes just rocking in it. It was so comfortable, I can't wait to put the one I bought together so I can rock in it at home.

The only negative thing from the weekend is that my baby has moved even lower, something I would have swore was impossible. Walking is becoming so painful, it feels like my pelvis is going to break. I know I'm a wimp when it comes to pain...but is this normal?? Work today was very hard, and I keep wondering how I am going to make it 8 1/2 more weeks.

Ears

For the past 2 days I have had this constant rushing sound in my ears that is starting to drive me nuts. I can't hear very well either. They don't feel plugged and they don't hurt, it's just like a constant background noise of something similar to running water - but not quite. I honestly don't know what to do. A coworker is insistant that she thinks I have an ear infection, but don't ear infections hurt? I don't want to go to the clinic and pay a co-pay for them to just tell me I'm fine. That seems a bit ridiculious. But if this doesn't go away soon, I'm going to go offically crazy.

Naps

There is something so glorious about taking a nap in the middle of the day. It's so refreshing. I never sleep nearly as well at night as I do when taking a nap. I got one of those naps today. It felt amazing. I'm going pay for it tonight, but I don't care. It was worth it.

Car trouble

While driving home from work last night, I recieved quite a shock. When I went to turn left onto my road, the car fought me so hard that I nearly drove into the neighbor's fence. My husband, henceforth to be known as CG (computer geek) drove it and it did the same thing to him. We had his brother - the handy mechanic - look at it, and he's really not sure what is going on either. It doesn't do it when the car is in park or in reverse, and it doesn't do it when trying to turn right. So we've got an appointment to have it looked at tomorrow morning. I'm trying very hard to not stress. I mean, this is a new car (to us anyway). There shouldn't be anything wrong with it. We believe it is still covered under warrenty, so hopefully the repairs shouldn't cost us anything. Even if we do, we have our tax return coming so it's not like we would be stuck with a bill we can't pay. I just hope it is a simple fix.

Painting and organizing

First off, I apologize for the long lapse between posts. I just really haven't had anything facinating to blog about!

Today we painted the nursery. I love it. It's white, which is pretty simple, but the white city girl helped me pick out has just a tiny hint of blue in it. Okay, so the hint of blue is pretty much impossible to see once the paint is actually on the wall, but it still looks great. It looks so clean and crisp, I just love it. Next step is putting up the crib, I'm hoping we can do that sometime this weekend. I think I must be hitting the nesting stage everyone talks about because I really want to spend my time putting up baby stuff and deocorations, but I can't because I don't really have much yet. Ah well, my first shower is on the 28th!

The husband and I were on a bit of a roll, so we also spent some time on the study room. Mostly, we just moved the bookshelves over to a spot that looked better and finally organized the books. There is still so much work to be done in that room, but it's getting there.

Not much to update on, except that I'm a monster, thanks to the lovely 40 lbs I have gained thus far. My OB seems shockingly unconcerned by this, citing the fact that my blood pressure is great and I passed my GD test with flying colors, and the baby is perfectly healthy so I should stop worrying. Should, but haven't, mostly because I'm afraid of what I'll look like after I give birth. Thank God for my lovely friend city girl who has promised to bust my butt back into shape after this little man makes his appearance. Don't know what I'd do without her!

Registry update

After taking a step back, I've realized I let hormones get the better of me and let myself get stressed out over some of the silliest things. Oh well, it certinatly wasn't the first and definitely won't be the last time. ;-) After talking with my husband, I decided on the Graco SafeSeat. It's a little more spendy, but cheeper than the Chicco. My husbands largest request was that we get an infant seat that will last as long as possible - only the SafeSeat and the Chicco will hold a child up to 30 lbs, everything else cuts off at 22. I think it's the right decision, and if it's not, oh well I'm done thinking about it! Now I'm having fun registering for cute little outfits, burp rags and bibs. This part is so much more enjoyable.

Here is are my registries if anyone wants to take a look. I would love opinions on anything that might be unnecessary, or anything I might be forgetting.

http://www.toysrus.com/ControllerServlet?searchBy=&defLName=schlip&defFName=leah&defCity=&defState=&maidenName=&maidFName=&maidCity=&maidState=&registryNumber=&target=search&userType=giftGiver&searchForPerson=primReg&whereTo=viewRegistry&firstName=leah&lastName=schlip&city=&state=&submit.x=61&submit.y=0

http://www.target.com/registry/baby/3FUKKLWOADNM3/guestview

Registry Woes

I don't know why, but the whole concept of a baby registry has overwelmed me from the beginning. I get online and there is just so much - I start to feel panicked and I wonder, could I possibly need all this STUFF? Most of it seems ridiculious and unnecessary. But then there are the essentials, like a carseat and a stroller. Why didn't anyone tell me these things were so expensive? I feel almost guilty putting it on a registry, basically asking family and friends to spend enourmous amounts of money on me. I'm sure the grandparents on both sides will be more than happy to, but really, where are the inexpensive things to register for so my friends can get me things as well? Ugh. I would like to thank a great friend for giving me a crib. That has been such a huge relief to both myself and my husband. There's a normally $300+ item crossed off the list!

I did finally sit down and force myself to start the registry, and some of it was quite fun. Some of the baby gear, like the pack and play and the baby bouncer, look just so adorable. I got a matching pack and play, swing and highchair just because the print was so cute. Other items are causing me more stress. The biggest right now is the infant car seat. I have been doing research and like the Chicco one the best for safety ratings, etc. But everything I read about it also says it is heavier and bulkier. It seems short moms don't give it the best ratings. Being not that tall (okay, being extremely short), and defintiely not that strong, I wonder if I will find it to be a pain to carry around. At one point I had registered for the Graco SnugRide. And now I just can't choose! I don't know why something as simple as a car seat can cause so much stress! And do I register for the whole travel system, or just the car seat and a stroller seperately?? The travel systems seem pretty expensive, and I don't think I need a regular stroller quite that nice, since I plan on using a jogging stroller around the neighborhood for walks (yay gravel!). I could just register for a cheeper stroller to take with me to say the mall or the store. But am I making the right choice?? AHHHHHH HELP!!!

Old Friends

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being able to take a day off work and drive out to the city to see an old friend and roommate who was only in town for a couple days. I had an absolute blast. We first went to the mall, and of course when we walked into Nordstrom I was drawn by all the bright and pretty colors at the MAC counter. I managed to buy 4 eyeshadows for minimal money out of my own pocket, thanks to Christmas gift cards! Sadly 3 of the colors were just replacing ones I all ready have and that are slowly running out, but I did manage to buy one new color titled 100 strokes, a shimmery almost burgundy that makes a brilliant smokey eye when pared with Trax (yes, I do think it is sad I know my eyeshadows by name). We walked all up and down the rest of the mall, perhaps spending just a bit too much money, but having the time of our lives, then headed downtown so my friend could hit Urban Outfitters. After all the merriment there, we walked into what we thought was an asian restaurant of sorts, (it sure looked like it from the outside!) only to discover that it was a sort of buffet style serve yourself with just about everything you could imagine. I was still craving asian food, and I had the best tempura shrimp EVER. Mmmm still salivating over that. Overall the entire day was wonderful. We reminisced over the time we had our apartment together, grieved over the loss of the cat we had once owned, giggled over the silliest things. I got to hear all about her new boyfriend, who I actually really like and think might just be 'the one' but alas, only time will tell! She admired my, as she put it, 'Buddha belly' and I got to congratulate her on her new waistline, thanks to the loss of 30 lbs. Go Krys! The best news? She's coming back in August for a friend's wedding, and is planning on taking an entire week off so she can have time to drive out to my place and introduce me to her boyfriend. I can't wait!

4am phone calls

First off I want to thank my two wonderful friends, mammagriffith and city girl for convincing me to finally open this blog! While I origionally assured them that the blog would not ever be used for anything of a personal nature, and simply to share my writing with them (and them alone!) this morning seemed ripe for a good rant.

I cannot begin to express how frustrating I find it when people call or send text messages at inappropriate times. I have a few friends who live in different time zones and for them I can forgive this mishap, they usually just forget that I'm still sleeping even if it may be close to 9 where they live. This is much harder to forgive, however, when the culprit is your own father who definitely doesn't live in a different time zone. My dad recently had surgery and, in my opinion, has been home for way too long to recover. This has caused him to forget some of the basest of social skills, one of them being that you simply don't bug people over mundane things while they are sleeping. Or perhaps he has his nights and days so mixed up he forgets the time. Until today, it has only been a few text messages and I've been hesitant to mention anything to him. Today however really takes the cake. I was awoken (from a pretty awesome dream I might add) from my phone ringing early this morning. How early I didn't yet know, I'm blind without my glasses and it was still dark. I fumble for my phone and after about the third time I manage to pick it up. I see it's my dad and I instantly start to panic. My thoughts go immediately to an aunt who has end stages MS. I'm certain she must be dead or dying. Or maybe something has happened to my mom or my brother. I answer the phone. The first thing he says is, "I'm sorry, did I wake you up? I thought you might be up by now." Okay, so it must be around 6am or so, and I'm wondering now why my husband's alarm didn't go off. I'm not really sure what I managed to mumble back. The rest of the conversation is fairly fuzzy to me, because I realized that this was not an emergency. He called because he was watching the news and saw that my town was flooding. I guess he was worried? I told him something about how I knew that all ready, I saw it on the news the night before, but we were fine. I'm sure he must be hanging up now. But no. He goes on to tell me that their power went out a little while ago for about an hour or so, and they have one inch of snow. At this point my spouse rolls over and whispers to me, "It's four thirty in the morning!" and I'm suddenly so irate I want to throw the phone. He called me at 4:30am to tell me about flooding, an small power outage and one inch of SNOW? Oh, and he's not done. He's heard the place where my husband works is flooding, too. (by the way, no it's not). I realize he's going to keep going if I don't do something about it, and I somehow manage to say goodbye and hang up the phone. By this time both myself and my husband are fully awake and will spend the rest of the night that way. The addreneline is still pumping in my veins from thinking a family member was dead or injured. The only bright spot is, after I hung up, I realized that the baby was moving around and kicking like crazy, so my other half got to feel it for the first time. It wasn't the great and wonderful moment I had always imagined however, given we were both still irritated. I've been informed that if I do not call my dad and tell him how inappropriate this was, my loving husband will do it for me. I trust myself to be more diplomatic than him, so it's probably good, but I'm all ready dreading the phone call. I don't handle confrontation well. ugh.