Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Hello, Hello Again!

Well, that was a quick 2 months gone by. Apparently I'm not going to be quite the daily blogger I once was. I guess a 9 month old will do that to you. To me, anyway. So, I thought I'd just sum up the previous 2 months with photos...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.

Very first pumpkin!

Cutie!

Let's Carve!
Rock Star!
Happy Halloween!

First visit to Santa
Christmas Party!

We are just about to walk



Decorating...
The tree!
Christmas Eve Party!

Just a couple of gifts...


Happy Holidays!!


Hope to post again soon!

erin



Friday, October 1, 2010

Lullaby, and goodnight

Night getting many of those lately...good nights.

My lovely 6 month old has not slept through the night in more than a month after a good long stretch of 7pm-6am sleeping.  First, I thought it was teething, but restless sleep for a month?  Then she got a cold and was congested for a good 2 weeks, so that was crappy sleep for sure.  That was 2 weeks ago and still, she stirs and cries around 3am, and many times wakes up completely at 4am or so.  I refuse to get her up out of the crib then, so I'm relegated to giving a pacifier and turning back on her white noise machine.  I am getting better at letting her cry it out and get back to sleep, but with a husband that gets called into work at any time, I try to keep things quiet at night.  I'm ever so hopeful she'll figure out what's up and straighten herself back into the sleeper she's been before.

On the plus side, naptime has really improved.  She used to sleep through the night and fight tooth and nail at naptime.  Now, it's a bit reversed.  So... let's get this settled, kid, mommy is much more pleasant when she's well-rested.

What scares me a little is that we are going out of town next weekend for Danny's cousin's wedding and I'm not looking forward to our little nighttime ritual in a hotel room, after a 4 hour drive.  Oh well, guess you never know what happens until you experience them and kids never rise to the occasion unless occasions happen.  And I know I will not have a fitful sleeper forever (better not, anyway).

Other than that, she's cute as hell!

erin

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Welcome back!

Blogging has become such a different priority for me now that I am a mom, but I still enjoy doing it so I'm doing my best. Plus our internet is so shoddy, we never know when the darn thing is going to be up and running. It's a problem we're currently working on.

Well let's get to the main news of my life...

Eleanor is wonderful! She just went for her 4 month check up today (though she turned 4 months on the 22nd) and here is what's going on with her:
weight: 14.88lbs
length: 24 & 1/8"

Today she also sat up by herself 3 times for anywhere from 5-15 seconds and the doctor gave the okay to begin stage 1 baby food since she is doing so well on rice cereal.

I cannot believe my tiny baby is getting so big and grown up so fast! Wow.

In other news:
-My uncle, cousin, sister, brother-in-law and nephew all visited this weekend...lots of fun and one over-stimulated baby!
-I cut my dog behind the ear trying to cut a hair clump out of her fur and that turned into a gross, smelly nightmare. But, being the ameteur vet that I am, I fixed it.
-I keep finding dead mice in our basement. Smelly, yucky, boo. I am fixing that situation with poison.
-I joined a local baby talk group with friends...lots of fun.
-Bought a few new furniture items for the house...love them.
-Moved the computer upstairs so I don't have to use it amoung smelly dead mice.
-Danny is still working (yay!)
-I'm planning a Vegas trip with my sister...now just trying to figure out when the hell we'll be able to leave kids and go!

Days are moving fast and my to do list is never empty, but I really like the way things are going for me and my family.

Hope to post a little more often!

erin

Thursday, July 1, 2010

You Say It's Your Birthday

Okay, I will...

It's my birthday. Today I turn 27, which seems too old for me. 27 is not old, but I don't feel like I should be that close to 30 already! This is also my first birthday as a mom and my first birthday without my dad, so all in all...kind of a weird one, but also a good one. I went out to dinner with Danny and my mom (and Miss Eleanor, of course) last night and got a new pair of earrings from Mom, which I was really hoping to get. I'm the kind of person who puts in a pair of earrings and continues to wear them everyday, I never take them out. Well, I had a nice pair of studs for that, but Harrison ate them, so I was left only with large, dangly earrings and you can't sleep in those. But now I have another pair of studs, so I'm set! I feel that earrings give my face a much better look in some way.

Tonight Danny has something planned or at least a surprise for me, so I'm not sure what is happening there...guess I'll find out after work!

Tomorrow my sister and nephew are coming to town and she and I are going to dinner and to see Eclipse. We're not quite the fanatics of this series like other people, but we enjoy seeing the movies.

Tomorrow is also my very last day of work! This was sort of a birthday present to myself, I guess. And of course I'm looking forward to my new line of work - stay-at-home-motherhood.

This weekend is the 4th. It was this time last year that I unknowly but thankfully got pregnant (is that too much detail? Oh well, it's no secret). I remember feeling SO bad on the 4th of July, plus is rained all day so that didn't help, but actually I was feeling the early early effects of pregnancy. I didn't find out about it until the 19th. It's hard to believe I've gone through all that and now have a smiling sweet little girl to show for it. It really is a miraculous process!

So, here's goodbye to the last year, year 27, and here's hello to the beginning of my 28th year. Man, thirty is just around the corner!

erin

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Working on the Chain Gang (part II)

No longer!

That's right, I officially gave my 2 weeks notice on Monday. I am so excited to be a stay-at-home mom!

I certainly didn't think I would be leaving the job so soon. I really wasn't planning on staying for too long, about 6 weeks or so while Mom watched Eleanor, but circumstances changed and I am leaving now!

Interestingly enough, I will miss some stuff about work...some of the people, some of the events and so on. I'll miss being on the inside of the organization and having a hand in a lot of the goings on here, but the reward of being home with my girl certainly outweighs it all for me. I think things would be different if I was in love with my work, but I'm not, so the decision is pretty easy in that regard, but still, for the last 8 years I've worked in some capacity at this place, so it will be odd to not come here daily (and nightly and on weekends and ALL THE TIME!). Now, instead of running the camps, we'll be the campers, instead of booking the volunteers, we'll be the volunteers (um....maybe). Instead of wearing heels and staying in the building, we'll hike the bike trail and have picnics outside (if the heat index ever goes down, for the love). And who knows, maybe someday I'll work here again (part time, PART TIME), but until then, I'm going to enjoy myself as a mom.

And I have to thank my husband for being the lone breadwinner now. With his last raise we decided this was pretty doable and he works HARD for his money. I really appreciate his willingness to carry the burden of financial support. But let's be honest, I have the real hard job!

On to the next adventure...

erin

Monday, June 14, 2010

Working on the Chain Gang

I'm back at work and none too happy about it!

While it helped immensely leaving Eleanor at my mom's house, it still just felt wrong. She was in major "stare at mom" mode today, too, which didn't help the matter. And now I'm back here at work, staring at two pictures of her wondering what she is doing, how she is feeling, if she's napping well, etc.

I can't believe 12 weeks has gone by so fast! Believe me, there were days in there where I thought, this is quite possibly the longest 12 weeks of my life, but the impact of those days have already faded away in my mind. Eleanor and I have really gotten into a good daily routine and I was having a really good time!

I have ideas about where I want to be and how I want to spend my time, so we'll see how it all ends up by the end of the summer, but for now, I will try to get through my work day and get back to "the little" (as I call her) asap!

erin

Sunday, May 23, 2010

You're Still Here

And I am...just a little preoccupied with a small person.

So, just hang in and I'll post something decent eventually!

Eleanor will be 9 weeks on Monday....seems very fast and very slow all at the same time.

erin

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Push It

Here is the birth story...

Sunday morning, March 21st, I was bleeding (sorry for the graphics, but these are the facts) so I called my doctor and she recommended we go in for a "labor check" at the hospital. So, at 8am (I think) we headed to the hospital with hopes of returning home relatively soon. Danny had a big poker game scheduled for that afternoon and I, frankly, wasn't quite ready for the big show.

I got all checked in and hooked up and indeed I was having mild contractions, but they were pretty certain I was not in active labor...but wait around for 30 minutes while we monitor you and the doctor will come in and check you out. 30 minutes later, they decide to have me drink a bunch of water to see if my contractions are dehydration-related...so drink this water and wait another 20 minutes, meanwhile the doctor was nowhere to be seen as of yet. 20 minutes later the doctor comes in, checks me, I'm 1 centimeter dialated, so definitely things are starting, but it could be days until active labor starts. Let's have you hang out for another 2 hours while I go do a c-section and then I'll check back. Meanwhile, Danny is starting to go crazy just sitting next to me in a chair in the triage room which is not very large and our tiny tv that gets 12 channels is not that exciting and his poker tournament is 2.5 hours away. Fun for me to listen to him complain while contracting.

So the nurse has me walk the halls for 20 minutes to see if I progress at all...if I do, they will admit me, if I don't I can go home. At about 20 minutes, I run into my doctor in the hall who asks "What are you doing?" "I'm walking the halls," I say. "Why?" She asks. "Because the nurse told me to." I reply. "Let's just check you again so you can get the heck out of here." Fantastic.

Still at 1 cm. I go home. Danny goes to poker.

At 10 pm, Danny returns home, didn't win, and lies down. I remain in the recliner where I have been most of the day, well, let's be honest, most of the last 4 weeks. At 10:30pm, my water breaks. Off we go again!

Again we get checked in and I get hooked up and 4 different people were doing things: hooking up an IV, strapping monitors to my stomach, explaining the different medicines being administered, having me sign consent forms, and getting a medical history...it was a lot. Then, all of a sudden, we were left alone in our room. Danny got some sleep and I labored from 12 am to 5 am through contractions that came every couple of minutes. At 5am I reached 4 cm and got my epidural...it was wonderful. The nurses recommended I get some rest, but it's really difficult to sleep while you have a blood pressure cuff on that goes off every 15 minutes because you have an epidural. So I got no sleep. I was given pitocin to kick up the labor and within 2 hours I started to feel an odd pressure. I called the nurse to check it out. All of a sudden, it was go time! It was just after 7am and my Mom had just arrived to check on us and she was pulled in to help encourage the labor. I was having intense pressure and really wanted to push but the room wasn't ready and the doctor wasn't there yet so the nurses kept telling me to breathe through the urges. Yeah right, I was totally pushing. You tell me how not to push after you go through labor.

45 minutes later, there she was! 8:22am!

She really made it convenient for all involved. Danny got to play his poker tournament. Mom got to be there and get to her 8:45am appointment, she was born on my uncle's birthday, which I was asked to shoot for, she came on a Monday so my sister was able to come down easily and she was born in the morning so everyone was able to visit after work. What a considerate baby. Also she was born 1 day before my original due date which I always maintained was the correct due date and not the one a week and a half later that my doctor was sure of.

It was an incredible experience and you can only truly know if you experience it. Danny was fantastic, it was great having Mom there and now I have the cutest little girl on earth. 1 month old today!

erin

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Eleanor, gee I think you're swell!













And she has arrived!
March 22, 2010
8:22am
7lbs 7oz
19.5 inches long

So sweet already!










Friday, March 12, 2010

Oh Danny boy...

Gotta keep it festive...St. Pat's day right around the corner!

I've been a bit neglectful of the blog only because I'm tired and uncomfortable and trying to tie up loose ends here at work (where I do most of my blogging...sorry work) and really, until a birth a child, nothing is going on.

Spring is making an attempt here in Illinois! Warmer temps, some sunshine (not today, today is dull and rainy), my garden is beginning to grow also! Well, I think it still qualifies as Mom's garden. All the work put into is hers, I just inherited it with the house and all the years I lived there and watched her cultivate, pull things, transplant things, tend it and so forth, I never really got too interested. I watered occasionally, but that was about it. I reluctantly tagged along to buy flowers and it's not like I had a bad time, I just wasn't so interested then. Now, though, I have a growing motivation to take charge of it (with my mom's help though...mom.) and keep it going! I might even want to plant more things, vegetables and herbs and such! Ah spring, how you motivate me so...now the real trick it sticking with it. Add it to the list of projects I'm DETERMINED to stick to: lose the baby weight plus the weight I needed to lose before the baby, maintain the garden, raise a child, keep house clean, etc.

I guess we're about to find out how it all goes! Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, and let's just throw a shout out to Danny so the title of my blog is appropriate. Go husband! He really has been pitching in around the house lately. 2 days of laundry in a row, vacuumed the house, grocery shopped...he is ready for me to no longer be pregnant just as much as I am!

erin

Monday, March 1, 2010

That's an Irish Lullaby

A few things are on tap for this month:

-Annual pancake/sausage breakfast at work (joy)
-My mom's birthday
-A nice dinner out with family
-Taxes
-An evening work meeting
-The first Restoration Day of the year (which I will not be attending, thank you)
-St. Patrick's Day
-An all staff communications training (again, joy)
-Harrison's 2nd birthday
-My last scheduled day of work before maternity leave

and hopefully...

-A baby!

Bring on Spring!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

In my head...

Well, it did indeed snow.

And apparently, we're in for more snow this weekend. Like potentially 6-10 inches of snow. Boo.

Besides sad snow predictions, other things have been going alright. I don't sleep at night much, but that's okay. Next week I am going ahead with the traditional "mom cut" haircut and getting a pedicure, so I'm taking the entire day off. I also have a doctor appointment, DMV business to attend to and a lunch date with Mom (plus pedicures). Too busy for work, if you ask me. And speaking of work, I only have a mere 27 work days left before maternity leave begins! In the meantime, I have to plan the largest volunteer event of the year, book volunteers for our annual pancake breakfast, attend the pancake breakfast, attend about 786 meetings and make sure all volunteer-related jobs are covered in my absence. Just a few loose ends to tie up, really. Right.

3 months away will be fantastic!

Let's just hope it stops snowing before then.

erin

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Hazy Shade of Winter

Or a Whiter Shade of Pale...either will do.

Anyone else tired of winter? Anyone that lives not in a tropical or temperate climate, that is?

Beginning tonight and continuing tomorrow and possibly even the next day, we are in for more snow. Oh snow, you've come around here 3 or 4 times this year and I've simply had enough of you. I'm tired of driving precariously. Not that I drive like a crazy person, but when you have to begin breaking 1 mile before your stop and creeeeep around corner so you don't lose traction, that is annoying. I'm tired of shoveling snow (and when I say "I" I mean Danny because I haven't picked up a shovel one time this year...but I grow tired of him having to do it out of sympathy). I'm tired of picking snow clumps out of Harrison's paws. Every season has it's paw debris, winter is no exception and snow, while being the least offensive to me out of the others (mud, leaves, grass), is still a pain to extract from a wiggly, impatient 85 pound dog's paws. I'm tired of the power bill costing me my life's savings because it is so cold and rates keeps going up as a surprise. Actually, I'm tired of two power bills costing me my life's savings, but that's another complaint for another complainy blog.

What I'm hoping is that since this potential "snow storm" has been so hyped up now by all the locals and news, it won't amount to much, as is usually the case. I remember so many times wishing for huge amounts of snow in order to get out of school and anytime it got all hyped up, it never happened! Snow days now are no fun when you still have to go to work, but I'm still hoping the stigma stands true. And it's not like we're even supposed to get tons of snow...3-5 inches is all, but that is enough to cause me irritation. It's enough for drivers across our great state to forget how to drive. It's enough for a mass run to the grocery store for soups and milk (and I actually NEED to go to the grocery store, poor timing snow!).

Here's the deal...as this has been a pretty negative post about our weather potential, if it turns out to be not so bad, I will write a happy winter post to make up for my bitterness...how does that sound, snow? Sounds good to me!

In other news, Danny and I have become Prepared Childbirth Class dropouts. I know! I've never dropped a class in my life, and Danny, well academic loyalty knows no truer observer than my husband (riiiiight). Last week we were both sick with colds so we opted out of going and it turns out that was pretty much the "here is what to do with your baby after it is born" class, so since we missed that one, we're going to just forgo this last one on breastfeeding. Plus, I learned nothing I hadn't already read in my "baby quest" of last year, so it seemed a bit of a waste. We did get to go on the hospital tour, so that was good and I feel we'll survive even though we are dropouts. Those pioneers didn't have prepared childbirth class and look how well they did! We're simply following the "parental pioneer" way of child rearing. Our kid will churn butter with the best of em!

I'll see ya on the other side of our winter weather...here's hoping!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Tonight, the Heartache's on Me

Disclaimer: I realize most of my posts of late have been pregnancy-related, but that's really what's going on in my life, so hang in there a little longer...I sure am!

Okay, so pregnancy has been a wonderful thing, really.

I had about 3.5 days of nausea there in week 5 or so and then couldn't have been more tired until about week 14, but that was the real extent of my discomfort...and sleeping isn't so uncomfortable.

Throughout the first two trimesters, people asked how I felt and I had no complaints. So many other women go through hell during their pregnancies...I didn't feel like I had any of that, yay me!

Entering the 3rd trimester, I noticed that I was a bit more uncomfortable. Tying my shoes was getting ridiculous, and stairs really started slowing me down. And the heartburn. Oh the heartburn.

I've had heartburn probably everyday since week 12. Now, I didn't include it in my "discomfort" column because it was so managable. 1 Tums and I was all set. It seemed like just holding the Tums bottle near was enough to ease the heartburn away. What a fun time that was!

I was awake from 1am -4:30am last night with wicked heartburn. This has been my new nightly routine: eat dinner, get heartburn, shower, heartburn, fall asleep at 8:30pm, wake up at 1am/1:30am, get heartburn, watch TV until 3:30am-4am, pop Tums like I should be on Intervention, fall asleep until alarm at 6:20am, address needs of dog, dress, put on shoes, get heartburn. The recliner was my saving grace last night as lying at all flat was COMPLETELY out of the question (ps, I have heartburn while I type this, just so you can be right here with me). Sitting up was the only solution, and nothing says "restful night's sleep" like sitting up in a recliner!

So, with just about 9 or so weeks to go I'm getting really ready to no longer incubate a tiny person. The overall pregnancy has been great and I've really enjoyed it, so much so that I will most likely do it again someday, but seriously, for me (because I know others have had it much worse...my sister developed GERD, for the love), I'm just about done. That is all. Also, I heart Tums.

erin

Sunday, January 10, 2010

There's a place where I can go and tell my secrets to...







Here are some photos...no video this time.  We are just rolling right along with just over 10 weeks until the original due date.  I was pushed back 2 weeks, and while I agree there is a good chance I won't deliver before or on the original due date, I don't quite agree with the 2 weeks push back.  We'll find out soon enough, I suppose.

Tuesday is my last monthly dr. appointment, after which I will be going every 2 weeks.  I have definitely started feeling more pregnant now that I'm in the third trimester!  My baby shower is in 2 weeks...perhaps a little early, but I will have plenty of time to stock up on anything I still need afterwards and will also have plenty of time to drive myself crazy with all my baby gear before while waiting to actually have the baby.

erin