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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

Shower the people you love with love

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

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

Here in my room...

Here is the promised updated nursery video!  We're almost done!

Pretty much we've got outlet covers, switch plates, a bookshelf, wall shelf and rug to go, oh and bedding.  But as far as construction goes, all done!

In other news, unless my doctor isn't getting back to me until next week, I don't believe I have gestational diabetes.  My numbers before drinking the glucose drink were very very low and the nurse draining me of all my blood thought it was unnecessary for me to even be there.  But heck, why not use the insurance and spend 3.5 hours of my Friday in the hospital waiting room? All in good fun, I say.  I also enjoyed how anyone there for a procedure has a little light-up, vibrating pager like you get in restaurants.  So techno-savvy!  You might even forget you're at the hospital and suddenly think you are waiting to eat at the Olive Garden.

But anyway...the nursery...

Ain't She Sweet

Had the 1 hour gestational diabetes test yesterday...failed...by a mere 7 points!

I go back for the 3 hour test on Friday morning, so here's hoping I get to enjoy all the Christmas treats per usual...otherwise, it's a sugar-free holiday for me!

I went in very confident that I would not end up having gestational diabetes, even though my sister had it and I tend to follow her trends. Now, I'm not too hopeful that I won't fail this next test also. Oh well, I suppose being forced to have a healthier diet is only a good thing and will make losing post-baby weight an easier task? Or will I just go off the deep end after having the baby? We'll go with the first scenario...if I, in fact, have it.

In other news, the nursery is so close to completion! I will post another video of progress soon. And, my Christmas wish is almost complete with all the furniture being moved over. We now have a complete family room and living room and I'd say 90% of the dining room. We've got a few closest to finish clearing out and one of the guest rooms to empty, plus a large buffet and a couple rugs. The garage is another story entirely, but since none of my stuff is out there and it's all Danny's ridiculous mess, I'm not worried about that...I can't worry about it, because I can't even let myself think about it.

9 days until Christmas. Not quite sure how to feel this holiday season, but I'm going to try to allow myself to feel as much positivity as I can.

erin

In my room

Today I did some nursery power shopping!

Danny and I have been really cooking on this nursery.  Danny has ripped up old wood floor and painted and prepped the room for new floor, installed a new light fixture and cut and painted new trim.  Our crib, changing table/dresser, and glider/ottoman combo have been ordered and today with A TON of help from my mom, I purchased window treatments, a small pink table (which we bought a new glass drawer pull for), frames for some pictures I had, and stuff to make our own mobile for over the crib which we then did make.  It was quite a day!

I honestly think this room will be the nicest in our house and we'll probably all spend a lot of time there.  

Here is a peak into some of the work done...also, we are training Harrison to not come into the room unless asked, so that is why she can be seen running from the doorway.

Girl.

Is what we're having!!

Beyond thrilled!

erin

It's Raining on Sunday

The title says it all.  Rain, again.  All week.

Not a bad weekend, all in all.  Had to work Saturday morning/early afternoon and then I got to spend a little downtime at home before going to dinner with my in-laws and then watching a movie with a friend of mine.

Today I was up by 7, did some housework, then went out with Mom for a little shopping and lunch.  Now I am home again, doing laundry and awaiting Sunday dinner, again at the in-laws.

Not too much is happening right now.  We find out the baby's gender on Tuesday and I've taken the whole day off work so we can register and continue to celebrate the occasion!  We're very excited at our house to finally find out who will be joining our family in March.  And how soon is March??  This pregnancy is flying by!

Have a good week!

erin

Working on the Chain Gang

Whew!

That's all I can say.

I think nesting mode is kicked in!

Now, usually when I "dedicate" a weekend to cleaning, it's a half-hearted thing. I have the best intentions, and then I usually scale back what should get done to what really only needs to be done to look passible until the next round of cleaning happens. And after that 2 hours or so, I'm totally non-functioning for the rest of the weekend.

Not so this past weekend.

I didn't even go into Saturday with a gigantic to-do list. I had somethings I wanted to accomplish, I knew my mom was going to be helping me, and that was that. I was even attempting to scale back as I made my way to the grocery store for the first time in about a month (yay for macaroni and cheese keeping us going).

But then I picked up Mom and her cleaning equipment, we made our way back to my house, put groceries away and it was on!

What we accomplished:
After I filled in at work from 7:30am-9:30am:
-I cleaned both bathrooms
-Mom vacuumed the MOUNDS of dog hair from the dining room
-Got a load of dishes washing
-Mom and I washed the dining room floor (this is a large floor, mind you)
-Followed by steaming the dining room floor
-Followed by polishing the dining room floor
-I vacuumed other rooms in the house
-We put clean dishes away
-Mom did more dishes. I swear dishes multiply while you do them!
-I promptly fell down on my bed for 40 minutes while Mom finished ripping down all wallpaper from my old bedroom to prepare for the transformation into a nursery.
-Danny finished painting in the hallway (so all rooms but the nursery have now been repainted).
-Danny fixed our fence out back so now there is a working gate.
-Danny and I both raked/swept leaves in the front and back yard (that 97 year old rake that we've had my ENTIRE life gave me wicked blisters because I did not wear work gloves...silly me).
-I participated in a very futile job of cleaning the back door of dog nose and paw prints. They will return shortly.
-I made dinner, which is not a big deal, but I totally wasn't planning on doing so and hey, it was a long day! Then I did dishes, again!
-I fell asleep at 8pm
End Saturday.

On Sunday, my entire plan was to do nothing but watch mindless television, which I did for a good while, but then I started a load of laundry, picked up drop cloth in the living room, attempted to move the piano (I thought I would just slide around, not so much), folded AND put away said laundry, started another load, and finally took a nap.

I did notice that soon I will need to vacuum the basement steps and change out the shower curtain in the guest bathroom, but I think those tasks will have to wait until the next nesting jag kicks in...which could be later today.

erin