Jenna Plus Five

Guess Who's Back

2009-09-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

After a long summer vacation from blogging, I have decided to return. I didn't want to let my blog slip forever into internet oblivion. So I am going to try to pull it back up before it's too late. I don't really have any reason for my long absence, I think I just suck at blogging. The summer was busy, and hectic. I have a very mobile baby, and a line of people always waiting to use my computer. At first I would compile blog posts in my head (usually while enjoying the tranquil escape that is my shower) then I would just never get around to writing them. After awhile I stopped even thinking about them altogether. I'm sure at some point even my own mom quit checking in here. So hopfully my two or three readers are still out there somewhere, and maybe even missed me? I will be back to post a summer recap soon.

Favorites

2009-06-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

Nathan has tried just about every food now. I must say sweet potatoes are his favorite. Actually I'm pretty sure paper is his favorite. He loves to get his hands on it crumple it up, and take a big ole bite. Yummy!! Any paper will do he's not picky. Magazines, fliers, newspapers, but I guess since paper isn't technically a food we will go back to the sweet potatoes. How do I know they are his favorite? The proof is in the picture. You may think he looks like this after every meal, but that simply is not true. He consumes his sweet potatoes so excitedly that this is the result.

Another favorite...Shadow. Any fears I had that these two wouldn't end up as BFF's has been put to rest. As I have mentioned before Shadow is an...er interesting dog, but these two get along famously.

Now for some of my favorites. This adorable baby face.

This sleeping boy. He wasn't feeling well this day, and just crashed while playing. He never does that so I had to get a picture. I love sleeping babies, and am kind of obsessed with taking pictures of them. I have dozens of pictures of my kids sleeping when they were babies. Maybe someday I will post some.

And what's not to love about this last set of pictures? First of all, the shirt. I found it at a consignment sale last month, and I just love it so much. It was the most expensive thing I bought. My favorite babylegs, with my favorite baby toes, and of course my favorite baby grin. ,

Weekend Rewind

2009-05-28T19:39:00.001-07:00

I realize I am posting this a bit late, but we had so much going on this weekend I wanted to make sure I blogged about it. Plus I got all of these great pictures I wanted to share.

Saturday morning I had a hair appointment early. I told the girls when I got back we would go to Old Navy. They were having their $1 flip flop sale. We got there around noon, and went inside. There was not a single.frikin.flip.flop.in.the.store!! I mean usually they have a HUGE wall full of flip flops!! Not only that, but the line went all of the way to the back of the store. This may seem like a great deal, but Old Navy flip flops are usually $2.50 so it's not exactly the sale of the century or anything. If we decide to go next year we will be standing outside before they open. I didn't realize cheap flip flops could create such insanity.

Saturday evening we went and saw Night At The Museum 2 in Imax. It was good, and Nathan was surprisingly well behaved. Then after dinner we played some Rock Band.

Sunday we met my mom, and Steve at the park for a picnic. We ate fried chicken, and coleslaw. The kids played in the water. The weather was so nice, and we had a great time. Monday I had to work since I started my new schedule this week. Brandon has made friends with the kids down the street. He has been going over there to play. We kept asking him what their names were, and he kept saying he didn't know. Well this weekend Lindsey made friends with their older sister, and she found out the names for him. She said he had just been calling them "dudes" all this time.

Here are some pictures from the park on Sunday.

My mom, and Nathan. Isn't this cute?

Kailyn practicing being a photographer.

My big kids. So rare to get a picture of all of them.

The girls.

Lindsey

Nathan enjoying some watermelon in his mesh feeder.

Then And Now

2009-05-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

I have been on a blogging roll this week, and I don't want to mess it up. I thought I would post a quick then and now for fun.

Shadow and Nathan November 08

Shadow and Nathan now.

Lindsey and Nathan Oct 08

Lindsey and Nathan now.

30 Day Shred

2009-05-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

I bought this workout a few weeks after Nathan was born, and it had just been sitting around the house. I started seeing it talked about more and more on the internet, and decided I should give it a try. It is a 20 minute workout with 3 levels. You are supposed to do it 30 days in a row no breaks. Each level for 10 days. If you decide to try it I would really encourage you to NOT take days off. I think that was key for me. This is a serious butt kicking workout, and it works!! When I started on day one I thought doing 30 seconds of jumping jacks was hard. By day 30 I was doing 30 seconds of jumping jacks with weights like it was nothing. I updated this post everyday while doing the workout so you can see how it worked for me.

I also added pictures. I didn't take a picture until day 10. It was really hard for me to share these pictures, because I feel like I still have so far to go. I do know that you can see a difference though, and that is what is important. So even if one person feels inspired by my photos then it would be worth my embarrassment.

I would highly recommend this workout to anyone who wants to get in shape, and see quick results. You will thank me in 30 days. Dare and I are starting over on level 1 tonight!!

Day 1- Wasn't as hard as I thought I made it through no problem.
Day 2- My arms are a little sore today. Workout went ok.
Day 3- Today my arms and legs are a little sore. It was hard today. Even the chest flys which I normally think are the easiest seemed difficult.
Day 4-It was easier than yesterday. I'm not sore anymore.
Day 5- Dare worked out with me again today. I wish I could say it's getting easier, but it isn't.
Day 6- This workout is hard. I'm not going to lie.
Day 7- I was able to push myself just a little.
Day 8- My legs were a bit sore from pushing myself yesterday. Dare and I agreed that circuit one is the hardest.
Day 9- Dare didn't workout with me today. I did it by myself. I told him I feel less jiggly now when I do all of the jumping exercises.
Day 10- I am scared tomorrow we start level 2!!
Day 11- I knew it was going to be hard when during the warm up Dare said "This is the f-n warm up?" There were places I had to stop for a second. My arms feel shaky now.
Day 12- The 3rd circuit is killer. My shoulders are on fire, and sore from yesterday.
Day 13- I have started to strangely look forward to doing this workout.
Day 14- I couldn't help but admire my newly acquired biceps today.
Day 15- I was on my own today, but I still managed to get it done. It might be getting just a tad easier. Oh, and I can't believe I'm half way!!
Day 16- I'm feeling like I have a lot more energy now. This is working.
Day 17- I feel so much stronger than when I first started, but this workout is still so tough.
Day 18- After overindulging for my b-day yesterday I can't even tell you how much I wanted to blow this off today. I didn't though. Day 18 done!!
Day 19-I'm so scared to start level 3 tomorrow.
Day 20- Ummm, that was so hard. There may have even been some cursing involved.
Day 21- I'm a bit sore from yesterday in random places. Like my forearms!!
Day 22- Dare and I agree circuit 3 is the hardest.
Day 23- I have yet to make it through level 3 without having to pause for a second in two places. Day 24- I missed today so disappointed.
Day 25-When does this level get easier?
Day 26-This level has more core work than the other two. Not fun, but necessary.
Day 27-Today I made it through the whole workout without pausing. Go me!!
Day 28- Hate doing the workout. Love how good I feel afterwards.
Day 29-I hate planks!!
Day 30-Almost done.
Day 31-I did it. I feel so badass!!

Day 10

Day 30

Day 10

Day 30

Changes

2009-05-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Not a lot of changes, but some pretty major ones anyway. Have you ever had a moment when you realized you couldn't live another day with something the way it was? Well I did, and that something was my hair. The desire came so suddenly that there was no stopping it. I was on a mission for change. Sunday morning I headed off to the salon looking like this

and came home looking like this

You'll have to excuse the dumb look on my face. I was trying very hard to get a picture without the camera in front of my face. I'm still working on perfecting that technique.

The other change came just as unexpectedly. When I went back to work at the end of January I went back 4 days a week. I get up at 2am most days to go to work, and my days off are Sun, Mon, and Wed. I don't enjoy my job, and I enjoy that schedule even less. The opportunity came up for me to take a position with less stress, and less hours at work. I talked to my boss, and I start next week. Now I get to sleep until 4am, and I work Mon-Wed.

I'm a little nervous about working less. Since I am the money spender in the house I promised my husband I would cut out my daily trips to Starbucks. I will now only go on the days I work. I also said I would stop all of the emergency phone calls to him at work asking him to bring home dinner, because I'm too tired to cook. Really though, we are both extremely happy about this. I will get to be home all weekend for the first time in four years. I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to do with all of my newly acquired free time, but I'm sure this busy little guy will help to fill up the days.

7 Months Old

2009-05-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

A few things about Nathan at 7 months

- He hates to have things pulled over his head when being changed. Absolutely hates it.

- He is scared of the vacumm, and always cries when I use it. When the dog barks (very loudly) he thinks it's the funniest thing ever. Go figure.

- In the last 3 days his two bottom teeth have come in. He was a bit fussier, but not much.

- He likes to stick his tongue over his bottom lip.

I was also going to say he has started to show interest in pulling up on furniture, but then while we were doing our photo shoot he did this.

I guess it's time to lower the crib mattress.

I've Become One Of Those People

2009-05-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

One of those people who doesn't update their blog. Don't you find those people incredible annoying? So do I. That's why I can't believe I've become one of them. I logged on to do Nathan's 7 month update to find I've only done 3 posts in the last month. That is just unacceptable. I would promise to be better, but then it would even worse when I failed to live up to that promise. So I won't do it. I will try to make up for my slacking by leaving you with these.

Memos From Mommy

2009-04-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite blogs is hosting a weekly contest. This was my entry for the week. I thought I would share since I had these cute pictures.

Dear Nathan-

Why is it that you save your best smiles, and cutest giggles for the dog? What has he ever done for you but chew your toys, and growl at you? I am the one who feeds you and changes your diapers. I think I deserve some love too. Thanks!!

Love,
Mommy

6 Month Stats

2009-04-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Better late than never here are Nathan's 6 month stats.

Weight- 18lbs 2oz (50-75 percentile)

Height- 27 1/4 in (75th percentile)

Head Circumference- 45 cm (75th percentile)

He has actually dropped in percentile a bit since his 4 month check. He was in the 95-100% in everything. I was actually surprised he wasn't 20 lbs already.

The Dr made a comment on how good, and happy he is. That he seems like such an easy baby. She said she always hopes people with easy babies have difficult teenagers. Ummm ok. What a dumb thing to say. Like I'm sure he will just stay this content, and happy until he hits age 13 or so. We will probably sail through the terrible twos I'm sure. For that comment I made sure to point out that wasn't an easy newborn. In fact I couldn't put him down for the first 3 months of his life. So maybe I kinda feel like I deserve this happy baby for as long as he wants to stay that way.

6 Months Old

2009-04-17T18:01:00.001-07:00

Six months today. A whole half a year. It's hard to believe.

Nathans latest talents include:

- Sitting up. Yep he can sit up all by himself. Quite well.

- Crawling. Not the traditional crawl, but more of a scoot. He move all of the place. Lucky for us he is still a little slow. I'm sure this won't last for much longer.

- Screaming. He doesn't do this much, but he sure is proud of how loud he can get.

- Blowing raspberries. He actually started doing this awhile ago, but he has taken a renewed interest in it. Especially now that he can spit when he does it.

Just for proof that he does smile here is one more picture from our 6 month photo shoot.

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

I really just wanted to show off this super cute picture of Nathan.

A Spoon, A Bib, And An Avocado

2009-04-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Put those three things together, and you have Nathans first meal. He seemed very indifferent about the food itself, but seemed to enjoy the process. Lindsey fed him, and I think he got most of the food on his face and bid. We will now move full speed ahead with the solids. On the menu for this week are apples, and peas. Bon Appetite.

It's Official, I'm A Twit-ter

2009-04-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

So a year ago when my husband started using this service I gave him a ton of crap. I made fun of him for weeks. I knew Twitter had become super popular, you hear about it everywhere now. I still wasn't really interested in joining. Peer pressure got the best of me though, and I joined yesterday at the urging of my sister. I figured if she was doing it so could I. It's not like she's on the cutting edge of internet trends.

So if you are disappointed with my lack of blog updates lately (mom). You can keep up with my tweets on the sidebar. If you are on twitter you can come follow me.

I guess I must add that I'm not super impressed with the service itself. I am constantly getting an "twitter is too busy" message. I spent 30 precious minutes of Nathans nap trying to add a profile picture. After many frustrating attempts it was finally showing up. Now it has been replaced by the good ole red x. It isn't showing who I'm following correctly. Oh, and it won't let me set up text message updates. But, whatev. It's a free internet service. It doesn't actually need to work. Besides I'm one of the cool kids now.

My Baby Is Better Than Your Baby

2009-04-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

Brandon decided he likes his little brother so much that he needed his own baby. He went and got one of Gabby's reject dolls from her closet and dressed it in some of Nathan's clothes. He played with the doll for awhile, and then we had a conversation that went like this.

B- "Mommy, when I lay my baby down he goes right to sleep"

Me- "Wow B you're lucky. My baby doesn't do that."

B- "That's because your baby doesn't have fake eyes."

Me- "Good point B. Very good point."

B- "Mommy"

Me- "Yes B"

B- "My baby never cries."

Me- "Ok B that's enough. You need to stop bragging about your baby."

Had To Share

2009-03-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

I came across this on the internets today. It's rare I find something worth sharing, but I thought this was good.

5 Months Old

2009-03-17T17:10:00.001-07:00

My baby is 5 months old today. Where has the time gone? He is getting so big, and cute. He has changed so much the last month.

-He still isn't sleeping through the night, but he has been great about taking naps. In his crib!!

-He has gotten quite proficient at rolling, and can now move all over the place.

-He has warmed up to the camera a little. I've been able to get a few pictures of him smiling lately.

-He is pretty happy, and smiley most of the time. He loves when people talk to him.

-Gabby gave him his very first bottle of formula this weekend. I was happy I was able to make it to this point without supplementing. I wasn't able to pump enough milk for my trip, and I wanted to see how he would take the formula before I left. He took it like a champ. The boy isn't picky about his food.

Vegas, Baby!!

2009-03-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

We are going to Vegas next week. I have been in denial about this trip, because I just don't feel ready to leave my baby. Since this is a work trip for my husband we planned it months ago, before Nathan was even born. It's hard to turn down a trip that is 75% free. Especially when it's to your favorite place. I *think* this will be trip number 8 in 4 1/2 years.

I also found out that my friend/hairstylist (her husband works for the same company) is going too. So this week I finally started to get excited. We talked about what we would do all day while our husbands are working, and have even planned some crazy Vegas hair-jinx.

I am still nervous about leaving my baby, but it's only for 2 days. I know he will be in good hands. So I am going to go, and have fun. I promise to only call to check on him twice a day.

A Few Recent Pictures

2009-03-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

I realize I haven't been blogging much lately. I guess I've had a little bit of bloggers block. I always think about things I want to blog about, but then can't find the motivation to actually do it. Hopefully March will be a better month.

Here are a couple of pictures from this weekend. We walked down to the park, and enjoyed the semi warm weather. I've mentioned I have a hard time getting Nathan to smile for the camera as you can see from these looks that hasn't changed. My husband seems to have an even harder time than me. I had him take like 20 pictures of me with Nathan and he's not even looking at the camera in any of them. Oh well, he's still cute right?

4 Month Stats

2009-03-02T17:16:00.000-08:00

Nathan had his 4 month appointment today. It was supposed to be two weeks ago, but the Dr office cancelled again. Anyway everything went good. He didn't like laying on the exam table and kept trying to roll away, but he only cried for a minute when he got his shots. He only had to get two shots since they have all of the combo ones now. He got the DTaP, Hib, Polio, and Pcv. We are waiting on the HepB, and skipped the Rotovirus. Here are his stats.

Head Circumference: 17 1/4 inches
Weight: 16lbs 13oz
Height: 26 1/2 inches

Hopefully I'll Look Good With Dreads....

2009-02-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

because I've become terrified of my hairbrush lately. I know that postpartum hair loss is normal, but that doesn't make it any less alarming. Usually I only clean my hairbrush once every two weeks or so. Now I'm having to do it every time I brush my hair. This has brought me to the perfectly logical conclusion that if I don't brush my hair, it won't fall out. Makes perfect sense right?

It seems like a cruel joke. With all of the things your body goes through after having a baby it seems unfair to have to worry about going bald!! Just in case you think I'm overreacting my hairstylist also mentioned it last week. That was very reassuring. I think I may start wig shopping. Until then I'm steering clear of the hairbrush.

Baby Feet

2009-02-18T15:12:00.000-08:00

I seem to have a thing for baby feet lately. Almost all of the pictures I've taken of Nathan over the last week are of his cute little toes. I guess when your baby refuses to cooperate with smiles, baby feet are the next best thing. After all they are adorable, and completely kissable.

They also make a great toy that can't get lost, or eaten by the dog. While providing ~~hours~~ minutes of entertainment.

Of course it doesn't hurt that they're attached to this beautiful semi smiling face.

4 Months Old

2009-02-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

Nathan is 4 months old today. Here are a few things about Nathan now.

-He smiles all the time, but never for the camera. I can have him smiling and laughing, and the second I put the camera up to my face he gets serious.

-He is quite ticklish. Especially under his arms. This will often send him into fits of laughter when you are getting him dressed.

-He still isn't a good sleeper. He doesn't sleep through the night, and napping is either one extreme or the other. He either takes several long naps, or won't nap at all.

-He can roll from his back to his belly, then he gets mad because he hates being on his belly. I have only seen him roll belly to back once. I think it's because he's too mad to try.

-He loves to lay in his crib and watch his mobile spin.

-He likes to blow spit bubbles, and suck on the front of his shirts.

We have a Dr. appointment on Thursday I will update with his stats then.

Then And Now

2009-02-11T12:45:00.001-08:00

I was going through some of my old photos yesterday, and was noticing how much Nathan has changed over the last almost 4 months. I thought it would be fun to do a photo comparison of the changes. Here are the results.

Nathan at 4 days old in his carseat.

In his carseat at almost 4 months.

In his moby wrap at 5 weeks old.

In his moby wrap at almost 4 months.

Crazy how time flies.

We Have A Roller

2009-02-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

Saturday I put Nathan down on his playmat for some floor time. I put him on his back, and I sat down on the couch. I looked over a couple of minutes later, and he was on his stomach. I was confused because I knew I didn't put him down that way. He hates being on his tummy, and always cries. I was really shocked he rolled over because he hadn't really shown any signs of being ready. I thought maybe it was just a fluke, but it was clear by Sunday that it was not.

Super Sunday

2009-02-01T21:27:00.000-08:00

Nathan really enjoyed his first Super Bowl Sunday. I mean why wouldn't he, it was a great game. It's a good thing the game was great, because the commercials were not so great. I liked the Conan Obrien one, and the Mr and Mrs Potato Head one, but the rest were pretty lame. We even broke out our 3d glasses for the Sobe thing, and it was pretty disappointing. I think Nathan enjoyed it though.

Is It Wrong That I Find This So Funny?

2009-01-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

Our tivo records lots of crap. Most of it is crap that we will never watch. Every once in awhile it surprises us with a gem like this. A game show called Hole in the Wall. It started out in Japan, and now there is an American version. The premise, to dress people up in the worlds most unflattering outfits, and then have them manipulate their body to fit through a cutout in a wall. What happens is nothing short of hilarious. Check out the clip below, I laugh every time I watch it.

I Think I Am In Love

2009-01-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right I think I am in love with my Wii Fit. I asked for one for Christmas from my dad, and it turned out my sister did too. So despite all of mother natures attempts to keep us from our Christmas celebration, we managed to have it last weekend. It was very nice, and I came home with my shiny new wii fit and put it on the floor in the living room. I explained to my sister that after asking for the gift I had second thoughts. I read tons of reviews online and most of the negative comments were due to people thinking it just didn't give you enough of a workout. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't have time to waste on a workout that's not really a workout. Know what I mean?

I exchanged several emails with my sister last week in which she kept asking me if I had tried it yet? She opened hers as soon as she got home, and was really enjoying it. She really wanted to know what I thought. So, somewhat reluctantly on Saturday afternoon I finally opened it. I took it out of the box and proceeded to set it up.

The first thing it does is weight you, and tell you your bmi. It then adjusts the size of your Mii accordingly. So my Mii is now overweight (yeah still working on that baby weight). It then allows you to set a goal for yourself and gives you 2 weeks to reach it. Then it does a couple of balance tests, and gives you an age based on how you did. After that you are ready to work out.

There is so much cool stuff!! It's broken down into categories. Yoga, strength, aerobic, and balance games. So I loved the soccer game, the jogging, and of course hula hooping!! I guess this is so popular you can find tons of videos of it on you tube. So each time you complete a task it gives you a rating, and then puts points into your bank. When rack up so many points, or get a certain score you unlock new tasks. I could hardly contain my excitement when I unlocked super hula hooping, and the next day my back payed the price. The first night I did 60 minutes worth of tasks.

I think my favorite thing so far is how interactive it is. The Wii is always talking to you. It ranges from concern like "it's Sunday don't you think you should rest today?" and "10-15 minutes of vigorous exercise is enough take a break" to smartass comments like "wow your not very good at that are you" and "your balance is bad do you trip a lot when you walk?"

So maybe it won't get me the abs of steel I've always dreamed of, but any workout that can be described as "fun" and "addicting" can't be bad. I have used it so much in the last 3 days the bottoms of my feet hurt. Is that what those covers are for? Anyway thanks Dad!!

Talking

2009-01-19T19:36:00.000-08:00

I took this video a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't been able to find my camera cord to upload it. I was complaining to my sister how I have a Kodak camera, and it needs a special cord. She says she has one too, but she usually uses a card reader to transfer her stuff. Doh!! I can't believe I hadn't thought of that. The quality isn't great, but it's still cute.

3 Months Old

2009-01-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

Nathan turned 3 months old this weekend. No doctors appointment this month, but I can tell he has grown just in the last few weeks. He has started laughing, and thought a game of peek-a-boo with my sister this weekend was the funniest thing ever. He has also learned that he has a voice that can get very loud. His cute babbling has turned into screeching and yelling which isn't quite as cute. It seems he is also starting to take interest in some of his toys, and is liking his jumperoo. The favorite things seem to be those with lights and or music.

He is still trying hard to find a good way to suck his thumb. You can tell he really wants to do this, and maybe soon he will get it. So far he is only successful for a few seconds, and can't seem to figure out how to keep his thumb in his mouth.

It really is amazing how fast he is growing. Recently Dare pulled a newborn size onsie out of the drawer and asked me if Nathan had ever worn it because it looked so small. Yeah, he actually did wear it. Crazy huh?

Could This Day Get Any Better?

2009-01-14T18:49:00.000-08:00

Today has been a great day.

Nathan took a 2 hour nap in his bassinet this morning.
During his nap I was able to shower, clean the kitchen, and put laundry away.
The sun was shining. So we took an extra long walk.
I got out of the house. Went to Starbucks, and paid with a gift card.
When we got home Nathan was asleep. He took another nap!!
Nathan is actually laughing now. It is so.freaking.cute.
My sister is finally coming to visit this weekend, and I'm so excited!!
I made a super easy, super yummy, diet friendly dinner.

Is it possible for this day to get any better I ask?

I don't know, but my husband is on his way home to watch 3 hours of LOST with me. I have so missed this show!! I think it's some enhanced version of the season finale from last year or something.I don't care, I still can't wait!!

The Battle Begins Tonight

2009-01-13T18:12:00.000-08:00

I realized when I woke up this morning that I go back to work in exactly 2 weeks. That is a scary thought. It's not necessarily the work part that is bothering me, I will only be working 4 days a week. It's that I still feel like it's too early. I'm not ready. I have to get up at 3am for work, and right now I am sleeping until 8am. Nathan likes to stay up late so we usually don't go to bed until 11:30 or so, and when we go to bed he sleeps right next to me. Like most people I like my sleep, and in the beginning that was the easiest way to get it.

So now I need to break the habit and get him to sleep on his own. Starting tonight I'm moving upstairs to Kailyn's room. I don't want to keep Dare up as he hasn't adjusted to my new later bedtime. I'm going to try and get him to sleep in the bassinet in the room with me. I need to do it now before I am too tired from work. Unfortunately, I think the 11:30 bedtime will just have to stay. I think once Nathan has to get up at 6am for daycare he will start going to bed earlier. At least I hope. Wish me luck.

I Haven't Been This Excited In A Long Time

2009-01-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

At least not about pictures I have taken. I guess I feel like everything came together for me on these. I had a vision of a photo I had to take. I also think I've begun to grasp my editing software (at least a little). Put that together and here are the results.

Yes, It's An Obsession

2009-01-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I am just really obsessed with the cute hats. The more outrageous the better. My husband thinks I am totally crazy, and refused to add these cute pics to his new digital picture frame. Insisting he already has enough pictures of Nathan in hats. I can justify my hat craziness by explaining this situation that occurred recently.

We were out shopping at the mall last weekend. I tell Dare I want to go to Baby Gap because they are having a sale. We walk to the back where the baby clothes are. In front of the section is a table set up with all of the new stuff. Spring and Valentine's clothes. Everything is so cute, and so girly!! Yep on the table that has probably 20 items only 2 of them are for boys!! It's just so unfair!! So I tell Dare "see that is why I get him so many hats, there is no cute boy stuff." So here's my baby in one of two hats I got him for Christmas. I'm sure it won't be the last time I show this one. It's still pretty big for him.

Tooth Fairies And Reindeer

2009-01-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas break Brandon got his first loose tooth. Him and Lindsey were messing around trying to move something and she bumped his tooth. It started bleeding, and he was really freaking out. We all tried to make him feel better by telling him it was because he's a big boy, but it really wasn't working. Then I mentioned that the tooth fairy would come when he lost the tooth and he really perked up. The tears stopped, and he stopped complaining about the pain. A few days later when he was eating an apple the tooth fell out. He was excited because he realized this meant he got to be on the chart at school that keeps track of the first grade tooth loss. He was ecstatic when he woke up the next morning and found $2 under his pillow. Ahh he's still so easy to please.

Then one night we were sitting around watching the Planet Earth series I bought as a family Christmas gift. I think we were watching the Ice Worlds episode. It shows a reindeer being attacked by a hawk of some kind. It really just looks pretty ridiculous I mean the hawk is tiny compared to the reindeer. I say "wow, I can't believe he's attacking a reindeer." Brandon says, kind of confused "yeah, I thought reindeer could fly."

2 1/2 Months

2009-01-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my previous post Nathan's appointment was cancelled due to weather. So I finally took him Friday. So this ended up being more like 2 1/2 months rather than 2 months. Here are his stats.

Weight-14 lbs 8 oz

Length- 24 1/2 inches

Head- 17 cm

He is in the 97th percentile for weight and head circumference and the 90th for length. So yeah, he is a big boy. The Dr was also very impressed by how responsive he was to her. She said she thought he was 4 months old until she looked at his chart. He loves to "talk" and smile at people, and if you work really hard you may get a little giggle out of him.

He is still pretty high maintenance. He sleeps great at night from about 11pm-9am usually only waking up once. Getting him to sleep during the day is another story. The best luck I've had recently is to take him for a walk in his stroller. This usually puts him to sleep them I just bring him in and leave him there until he wakes up. That will be his only long nap during the day. The rest are usually shorter while I am holding him, and as soon as I try to put him down he wakes up. Not kidding I probably spend 80% of our time at home with him in my lap. He still doesn't like his swing, or his activity mat. I hope this changes soon as it's really hard for me to get much done (he's in my lap right now in fact) and he's getting too heavy to carry around in my moby wrap for long periods of time.

I stay sane by telling myself this won't last forever, and soon I'll have to beg just for a hug. I enjoy my days spent entertaining him, holding him in my lap while I try to type, and staring at his sweet sleeping face in my arms. Everything else can wait.

Our Christmas In Pictures

2009-01-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

12/18/2008

2009-01-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

That is the day I originally started this post. I wanted to post a few pictures of the snow. Instead I completely slacked on updating my blog. So 12/18/2008 that was before the kids flight here from Spokane was almost canceled due to 30 inches of snow that a fallen there over two days. They ended up getting here 5 hours late.

Before Nathans 2 month checkup was cancelled twice due to snow.

Before we had 3 weeks worth of garbage and recycling piled up outside, because of the snow.

Before we had 8 inches of snow in our backyard.

Before we tried to build a snowman, but couldn't because the snow was too dry.

Before Dare's work Christmas party was cancelled.

Before I took all three girls to get their hair cut.

Before my sister had to cancel her plans to come up from Vancouver for Christmas due to snow.

Before we had to cancel our Christmas Eve at my Dad's house because they had 2 feet of snow.

Before Brandon got his first loose tooth, and a few days later lost that tooth.

Before we got Rock Band as a family Christmas gift.

Before we played Rock Band for hours on end.

Before we realized how hard it is being a rock star, and started complaining about sore backs, arms, and voices.

Before we went to see Marley and Me, and Gabby and Kailyn cried.

Before Nathan got his first cold.

Before another Christmas passed so quickly.

Before I had to start nagging the kids about packing up to go back to Spokane.

So now you are caught up on what's been going on here the last 16 days. Oh and here are the snow pictures I was going to post way back then.

Happy Holidays!!

2008-12-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have completely slacked on keeping up with my blog over the holidays. I just wanted to take time to wish everyone Happy Holidays!! I promise I will be back soon to catch up.

To Do List

2008-12-17T12:09:00.000-08:00

So much to do. I can't believe there's only 7 more days until Christmas. I am done with all of my shopping, but I'm not ready yet. The kids will be here in 2 more days, and I still need to finish wrapping presents and put the rest of the decorations up. Not to mention dishes to do, vacuuming, and laundry to fold!! I used to love to make myself a to do list, but with Nathan I don't have time to make a list let alone accomplish half of the stuff on it. Time has run out. I can't put it off anymore, so wish me luck.

Speaking of Nathan he is 2 months old today, and cuter than ever. I don't know where the time has gone. He has a checkup tomorrow so I will do an update after that. Here is a picture I took this morning.

Oh Christmas Tree

2008-12-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

My mom came over yesterday to try and help me with my disaster of a Christmas Tree. She wasn't able to get the lights working either. So off we went to Target to buy the tree I had been eyeing for the last few weeks. I really love it it's so pretty. I got it all decorated and took a few pictures. *happy sigh* Thanks Mom!!

The Hat Part Deux

2008-12-11T18:15:00.000-08:00

I guess I am just loving the hats lately. I bought this one a couple of weeks ago, and decided to try it on today. Then I couldn't resist a couple of pictures. How cute are these?

Santa Is My Homeboy

2008-12-10T09:40:00.000-08:00

I just had to post a couple of pictures of Nathan in our favorite shirt. Check out his cute double chin.

The Hat

2008-12-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures of Nathan in the hat from this post. It looks so cute on him. I was afraid it wouldn't fit his big head, but it's very stretchy. Oh, and notice how good he's getting at holding up his head.

Can I Pet Your Doggy?

2008-12-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

As I have explained before we have a very antisocial dog. He only loves a handful of people, and the rest of the world is divided into people he tolerates, and people he hates. Most fall into the later category. Sometimes this can be annoying. Like when the guy comes to fix your broken window, and you have to lock your dog in the bedroom because he won't stop barking. Other times it's just plain embarrassing. I was out walking the dog about a week ago when a couple of kids stopped me and asked if they could pet my dog. Sure, I said. It didn't go well, when they got close to him he started barking and growling. I apologized and quickly walked away.

So yesterday when I was out walking Shadow there was a little girl on a bike ride with her dad. "Can I pet your doggy?" I paused for a second as a quickly tried to think of the best way to say no because he's actually a vicious attack dog disguised as a cute doggy. As I'm thinking she gets off her bike, and starts coming towards us. Shadow starts to growl. "I'm sorry, he doesn't like strangers." I feel so mean. Why can't I have a normal dog?

Nathan Meets Santa

2008-12-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

I took Nathan to the mall to get a picture with Santa the other day. I figured it wouldn't be that busy in the middle of the day during the week. I was right, and it was a good thing because the people working there were s.l.o.w. I can't imagine being there on the weekend. As you can see from Nathan's expression he wasn't too impressed with Santa, but he looks cute anyway.

Charlie Brown Has Nothing On Me

2008-12-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

My Christmas tree is seriously more pathetic than this. We bought our tree 3 years ago. It is one of those prelit trees. Every year we go through the same struggle trying to get all of the lights to work. I really don't understand why it is so complicated, but once again we have ended up with 2 extra plugs, and nowhere to plug them in. We both searched everywhere, and got so frustrated we ended up giving up. So now my sad looking tree sits with lights that don't work, perched crookedly in it's stand. Not to mention some of the branches have given out so they kind of droop.

I am now sad every time I walk by the living room, or come home from somewhere and have to see our sorry tree in the window. I want to go buy a new tree, but what I should do is take a lesson from Charlie Brown and fix it up. Like Linus says "maybe it just needs a little love". So I am hoping once I straighten it out, and find what I did with the decorations last year it will look beautiful. Then I will feel a little less bah humbug when I see it.

Happy Turkey Day!!

2008-11-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. I was so proud of myself for getting to my mom's house in time for our meal (a little early even). Then I realized I forgot the diaper bag. I sent Dare to the store to buy some diapers, and then remembered I forgot the rolls I was supposed to bring so I called and asked him to pick those up too. Oh well!! Other than that everything was great. I enjoyed spending time with family. We watched part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, watched the Seahawks lose, and ate way too much turkey and pie. I also spent some time looking through all of the Black Friday ads and briefly contemplated going shopping, but quickly came to my senses. Hope everyone had a great day!

This Is Going To Be Harder Than I Thought

2008-11-25T19:44:00.000-08:00

I had a great day today. I managed to shower, walk the dog, and get to the post office all before 11am. Since everything was going so great I decided to push my luck and do my first real workout while Nathan was napping in his swing. I am a big fan of home workout dvds. I have collected several, and have actually done them religiously over the last few years. That is until I got pregnant. I had every intention of working out throughout my pregnancy, but it didn't happen. I just didn't have the energy for it. So I couldn't wait to get back in shape after being pregnant for 41 1/2 long weeks. I started walking about 4 days after Nathan was born and have worked up to 2 miles per day and that's with a 11+ pound baby strapped to my front. I thought I was doing really good, and since my 6 week checkup is tomorrow I figured I was safe to kick it up a notch. So I quickly surveyed my video collection. (Time is of the essence when Nathan is napping. He is not a good napper, but that is another post.) I grabbed what was my "easy" workout prepregnancy. It was for days I was feeling lazy. It's good because you can customize your workout. I picked cardio 12 minutes and upper body 11 minutes. I thought it would be quick and easy. OMG!! I was so wrong. The cardio seemed like the longest 12 minutes ever, and the upper body workout had my 3lb weights feeling like 20lb weights. I can't believe there was a time I was going to upgrade those to 5lbs!! I guess getting back in shape is going to take longer than I thought.

One Month Update

2008-11-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

We went in for Nathans one month appointment today here are his stats.

Weight-11lbs 7oz
Length-22in
Head-16in

I can't believe it's been a month already. It goes by so fast. It already seems Nathans out of the newborn stage especially since he has started smiling. He is a good baby, although he does demand a lot of attention. I find it hard to get a lot done around the house his favorite place to nap is on me. As soon as I try to put him down somewhere he wakes up. He is starting to like his swing a little bit, and will occasionally nap in there. Hopefully he will start being a little better at napping during the day my house is feeling neglected. He is still doing great at night. Here are a few pictures from the last week.

All Smiles

2008-11-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

Nathan is one month old today. I will post a one month update tomorrow after his doctors appointment so I can post his weight and height. For today I just wanted to share that he has officially started smiling. He has been working towards this for the last week, and today he was full of smiles for me.

Goal!!

2008-11-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

So as promised here are the pictures from Gabby and Lindsey's soccer games. Soccer season is over now, and neither of their teams ever won a game. Maybe next year. Gabby played on both her and Lindsey's team for the second half of the season. She also went to both teams practices. Gabby takes everything she does very seriously and soccer was no exception. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of Gabby's game because Kailyn manned the camera. Even though she took 95 pictures the camera was on manual settings and most of the pictures are out of focus. Lindsey is in the blue playing goalie, and Gabby is in the green shirt with the ponytail.

$185.00

2008-11-11T13:17:00.000-08:00

That is what it cost to fix the living room window. Yeah, funny story. Every day Shadow, Nathan, and I take a long walk in the afternoon. Saturday Dare decided he would come with us. Just as he shut the front door he looked at me and asked if I had keys. No, I never bring my keys on my walk. I don't worry about locking my door when I go for a 30 minute walk around the block. I also have enough to bring already with the dog, the leash, a poop bag, the baby, his pacifier, and my cell phone. I'm not paranoid enough to lock the door, but I am paranoid enough to bring my phone usually, but not today since I'm not alone. So as I realize we are locked out I do a quick mental run through of all of the windows and doors in the house and I know none of them are unlocked. In fact a few weeks ago in a moment of late night paranoia I checked all of the windows to make sure they were locked, and since it's no longer summer I knew none of them had been opened since. So what do we do? Decide to go on our walk anyway maybe the fresh air will help us figure out a way to get in the house. We decide our only option is to go to our neighbors house and ask to use their phone to call a locksmith. This is not a great option. We don't know our neighbors, and have never really talked to them except for a quick hello or wave. And although I've never called a locksmith for anything I'm pretty sure it's about $75 even more on a Saturday evening. So I decide maybe we should try to see how strong the locks on the windows are. Of course we'll have to be careful our windows are the original single pane, aluminum frame ones that were installed when our house was built in the 70's. Almost immediately after putting this plan into place Dare's hand goes right through the glass. Crap!! There is a hole in the glass I reach through and unlock the window, but because of the broken glass we can't get it open. I'm not about to pay for a new window AND a locksmith. We do manage to get the window open, and I climbed inside. I then proceeded to tape up the window with cardboard and fix up Dare's hand which was cut, but not badly. That's the story of how we spent our Saturday night.

Baby's First Road Trip

2008-11-04T15:07:00.000-08:00

We had been planning on making a trip to Spokane sometime in October to visit the kids and watch their soccer games. We were finally able to go last weekend. Driving 600 miles in a weekend with a newborn, and a dog may seem crazy, but overall it wasn't bad. I thought staying in a hotel room with 2 adults, 4 kids, a newborn, and a dog seemed even crazier, but that wasn't bad either. The kids really had fun at the hotel we went to the pool, watched tv, and enjoyed what was a pretty good free breakfast. Saturday we watched both Lindsey and Gabby's soccer games. Brandon didn't have a game. After the games we went to lunch, and then went to the movies. Later that night we ordered pizza, and celebrated Gabby's birthday which is coming up on the 10th. The kids really enjoyed getting to meet their baby brother. The girls all seemed especially taken with him considering none of them were exactly thrilled by the thought of another baby in the family. I think they will be a huge help when they are here in December. Here are some pictures of the kids with Nathan. I will put up some soccer photos in another post I just have way too many pictures!!

More Photos

2008-11-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

There were way too many pictures from Nathan's first photo shoot for me to post them here. So if you want to see some more of them you can check them out here.

Visitors

2008-11-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Nathan was lucky enough to have all of his Grandmas visiting at once. Dare's mom came from Nigeria for a week to visit, and my mom brought my grandma to see him for the first time. Here are some pictures.

Happy Halloween!!

2008-11-03T12:57:00.001-08:00

I know I'm late posting this, but how cute is this costume?! I was actually able to get a few pictures before he peed all over it.

One Week Old

2008-10-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

Nathan is one week old as of yesterday. The week went by so fast!! He is a really good baby, and we are still getting plenty of sleep. He sleeps about an 11 hour stretch at night only waking up twice to eat. The only thing that gets him really upset is having his diaper changed. We took him out on a couple of shopping trips, and he was really good then too. It's funny he still gets the hiccups a lot now just like when I was pregnant with him.

First Professional Photos

2008-10-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

We had a photographer over on Sunday to take some pictures of us. You can see a couple of the photos on her blog. We really love how they turned out!!

A Few Pictures To Share

2008-10-21T16:58:00.000-07:00

The First Part Of The Story

2008-10-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

Monday night I start to notice I'm finally having regular contractions starting around 9pm. At midnight they are still going although they weren't really getting any stronger. After a couple more hours we decide to go ahead and call my midwife. Lorren is the one on call, and she tells us to come in. We get there and I spend a couple of hours in the tub eventually I realize this is not going like it should. I just don't feel like I'm getting any closer so I have my midwife check me. I'm only 1cm dilated so we decide to go home. I have never before had contractions that didn't do anything so I'm very frustrated at this point. We go home and go to bed I try to sleep even thought the contractions are still coming I get about two hours of sleep, but keep waking up every couple of minutes because of contractions. By about noon on Tuesday I realize the contractions are completely gone. So we sit around and wait for my regularly schedule midwife appointment later that night.

I go in for my appointment with Chris at 6:30. At this point I'm 7 days past my due date, and even more frustrated than I was before my round of contractions. We talk about the options she says she is willing to do what she can to try and help things along. She also says medical induction is an option and it is my call, she feels we should go home and get a good nights sleep and call her in the morning. I call her Wednesday morning and tell her I'm willing to try whatever she suggests, but give her a firm date of Friday for my induction I want it scheduled I'm not waiting through another weekend. We meet her at the birth center around 12:30 and she sweeps my membranes. This is a fairly common technique where they try and loosen the bag of waters from the cervix in an attempt to "get things started". She then give me some herbs with the instruction to take them every 15 minutes for one hour. We go and run some errands while watching the clock so I can take the herbs. Let me just say they are the worst tasting things I have EVER had. Dare says one of them smells like kerosene and dirty gym socks. I think it tastes worse. We meet Chris at the birth center again at 5 so she can sweep my membranes again. On the car ride home I start having contractions again. This time they are more painful, but short so we go home and watch a movie. After a couple of hours I decide to call Chris, and we head into the birth center again. I have never had long labors before so everyone including myself is a little on edge so she tells me to go ahead and come in. This time instead of wasting a whole bunch of time she checks me right away and says I'm 2+ centimeters, and the contractions aren't doing anything. She sends me home with the instructions to take a warm bath, and drink a glass of wine. Hopefully this will allow me to get some sleep. She said to call her around 8am. I go home take a bath and get a terrible night of sleep again waking up every few minutes with contractions. To be continued.........

He's Here!!

2008-10-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

Nathan Omotoyinbo finally graced us with his presence at 4:58 am October the 17th. Weighing in at a hefty 9lbs 6oz and 20 1/2 inches long. We are home now and doing good. I will try and get a birth story posted over the weekend, but be warned it is very long!!

40 Weeks

2008-10-07T09:37:00.001-07:00

Today, Oct 7th is my official due date. Only 8% of babies are actually born on their due date so I figure today is the least likely day. Just trying to be patient now. I have given up on all of my extra things to get labor started. The tea, the evening primrose oil, the herbs all of it. I do have yet another acupuncture appointment tomorrow afternoon we will see how it goes. I also have a midwife appointment tomorrow evening. Please don't expect me to have any news from this. They do not check the cervix because it means NOTHING!! It is really only useful information if you are planning a medical induction. Anyway it seems like it will never happen. It's funny I knew within days that I was pregnant, and I knew by 8 weeks it was a boy, but when it comes to his arrival I get nothing. I look at the bag packed for the birtcenter and car seat sitting in the corner in our room and it just doesn't seem the day will come when we will actually be taking them somewhere. *sigh*

Nothing To Talk About

2008-09-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

So I had another midwife appointment on Tuesday night. There isn't a whole lot to say about it. Even my midwife commented that we have nothing left to talk about and it's just time to have the baby. I think it was our shortest ever we were only there for about 15 minutes. Most of that was spent with her telling us a story about how she had been up all night delivering a baby. Then yesterday I went to see an acupuncturist who specializes in pregnancy. She was very nice and spent a lot of time doing stuff I hadn't had done previously. She used some tuning forks to cause vibrations on the points in my back, and gave me a massage. She also sent me home with some herb which are super nasty!! I have only taken them twice so far. I'm supposed to take them 3 times a day. After my appointment she said I could come back Friday if I was really interested in getting things started or wait a week. So now I don't know what to do. I don't want to end up going 6 or 7 times it isn't covered by either of our insurance. So as of tonight I'm still undecided if I will call her in the morning or not.

It's Done!!

2008-09-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

I am finally completely finished with the nursery. Here are some pictures.

My art from the fair. I'm not thrilled with the frame and may change it later, but I love the picture.

My other elephant picture. Dare says I have too many elephants in the room, but I don't care. They are my favorite animal.

A view of the corner with both pictures, the shelf, and the glider (notice the cute blanket).

One of the wall letter. We have these hanging above the crib with cute little jungle animals. Since the name is not being revealed this is all you get for now. I will post a full picture later.

Storage bins.

The mobile and crib bedding.

The dresser/changing table.

A better shot of the crib bedding. I had doubts about ordering this towards the end, but I'm glad I didn't change my mind. I really like it.

One Year Ago Today

2008-09-22T18:46:00.001-07:00

38 Weeks

2008-09-22T08:19:00.001-07:00

I am done with work. Saturday was my last day. It seems so weird that I'm now just sitting at home waiting. I do still have some stuff to do, but we made a lot of progress over the last week. I am almost done with the nursery I just have a couple of things I need to hang on the wall. I should have pictures up in the next couple of days. I have a midwife appointment tomorrow, although it will probably be pretty uneventful. I see the acupuncturist on Wednesday morning so we will see.

Hair For A Cause

2008-09-19T17:27:00.001-07:00

So I went to get my hair done today. It was good to see Anna she has been doing my hair for 4 years now, and we've actually become really good friends. When she first saw me she commented on how I couldn't be ready to have the baby yet because my belly button isn't sticking out. I assured her I am indeed ready it's just that I have the black hole of belly buttons. Yes, it is true. Even being 41.5 weeks pregnant twice my belly button never stuck out. It is just abnormally deep. Anyway while I was at the salon I noticed they were offering pink hair extensions to raise money for breast cancer research. For a $10 donation you could get one. So I did.

I'm Not Ready Yet

2008-09-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

I had a midwife appointment yesterday. Everything is still looking good. She took blood to check my iron level again, hopefully it has improved from last time. I have been pretty consistent in taking my 6 iron pills per day. I asked about starting acupuncture for labor induction. I figured she would tell me to wait another week or two, but she said I could start now. I was really surprised by that, and I'm not ready right now. Just for a little background on this ALL of my kids were born past their due dates. Being 10 days, 7 days, 10 days, and 4 days late respectively with two medical inductions in there. So with my son who was 4 days late my midwives suggested acupuncture as a way to move things along. I went in for an appointment on my due date, and then another one two days later I went into labor the next day. I will never know for sure if that's what did it or not, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try again. I also found it to be the most relaxing thing I've ever done. That alone is worth the money. So I called today and spoke with an acupuncturist who specializes in pregnancy. I decided to wait until next week to go because it will give me more time to get ready, and the more ready your body is the more likely it is to be successful. So wish me luck.

4 Days and Counting

2008-09-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, my new boss has made my last few weeks of work worse than I could have imagined. The only good thing is he's gone the next two days, and then I only have two days left. I barely made it through the day today he had me so stressed out. I'm already dreading going back in January.

There was a bright side to my day though. Kailyn came last night around 9:30, because she had an orthodontist appointment this morning. When I got home from work we went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, and then went to the mall. She left around 2:30, but it was nice to at least to get a couple of hours together. Especially since it was so unexpected.

37 Weeks

2008-09-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

Only 3 weeks until my due date. That is full term!! I can't believe it I still feel so unprepared. My mom and I went on a marathon shopping trip on Thursday. We shopped for about 7 hours straight. I was able to get almost all of my last minute items, and Dare was thrilled that my mom was the one to go with me. He never would have survived. I should also have the UPS man at my house almost every day this week because I did a lot of shopping online as well. I hope to be ready by the end of this week so I can start complaining about how ready I am to be done with this pregnancy. I don't feel like I can now I have too much on my to do list.

It's going to be busy week. It's my last week of work I hope to finish it off without getting too stressed about it. I am just glad to be done I started the count down at 15 weeks so I've been looking forward to this for awhile. I also have a midwife appointment I start going every week now. I have a chiropractor appt, a hair appt, and an appt to get the carpets cleaned. Oh and Kailyn is coming over tonight. I just found out today, and I'm excited to see her!!

36 Weeks

2008-09-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

This week was a fairly productive one for me. I managed to get a lot of cleaning done. I cleaned the upstairs family room, Kailyn's room, her bathroom, and the downstairs living room they are all spotless. I also put together the glider, and arranged the furniture in the babies room. Dare cleaned up the backyard, and mowed for hopefully the last time this year (yay fall). He also put together the stroller and car seat. I don't have too much going on this week. One chiropractor appointment, and dinner and shopping with my mom. I do still have a pretty big list of stuff to do around the house that should keep me busy though. I'm counting down my last 10 days of work!! I'm even more looking forward to it since our new manager started last week. I just really don't like him. Usually I give people more of a chance so I thought maybe it was just the pregnancy hormones causing my extreme annoyance and dislike. It turns out after talking to some coworkers I'm not the only one feeling this way.

Here is a picture of our crib. I will take more pictures of the room after I get it finished. I plan to get the rest of the stuff later this week.

Getting So Close

2008-09-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

I had another midwife appointment yesterday. It was kind of scary because she scheduled the rest of my appointments up to my due date. It made me realize how close it is getting, and I still feel so unprepared. I am hoping to find the motivation this weekend to get some stuff done, because the next two weekends we want to get out and do some stuff. Anyway, the appointment went good. Everything is still normal. I asked a couple of questions just out of curiosity like how their on call schedule works. She said they rotate weeks starting every Wednesday, but it can be hard to predict who will be on call because they often change weeks. I also asked what happens when they have more than one person go into labor at the same time because the birth center only has one room. She said it doesn't happen very often, only once that she can remember in the last year. When it does happen she said usually one person will decide to do a home birth or deliver at the other birth center in the area. So I go back again in two weeks, and I will have my iron level tested again then. I will also be 37 weeks...full term. Scary!!

Ummm....That's Not My Dog

2008-09-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

Let me start by telling you a little bit about my dog. We got him last year around Halloween. It took a lot of convincing on my part because Dare was not at all thrilled with the idea of having a pet. After talking him into it we took a long drive to pick up the cutest little ball of black fur you could imagine. We had some rough times in the beginning, but a year later you could say we really like our dog. Dare would probably not readily admit that, but I know deep down it's true. I actually find I like Shadow more than any pet I've had since my childhood dog Peaches. Shadow definitely has a unique personality. First of all he has a small dog complex (he is a shih tzu) and must try to prove to all other dogs and humans that he is tough. He likes to do this from the comfort of our living room by barking at everyone who walks by. Out in the real world he isn't so tough, and has been known to actually turn and try and run back home at the sight of another dog. Another thing is he just has random people that he really doesn't like. When Dare's sister visited a couple of months ago he growled, and barked at her the entire time. He always does the same thing to Lindsey's friend Karli when she is here. So we shouldn't have been surprised when we went to get him groomed a couple of months ago and it didn't work. The lady said in her 15 years of dog grooming she had never had a dog she couldn't cut. She suggested we have him tranquilized before we try again. So I had been putting off trying again for months as Shadow got scruffier, and scruffier. I finally broke down last week, and called one of those mobile grooming places. The lady came and picked him up, and the kids and I waited anxiously by the window for them to come back out. About 45 minutes later she emerged with what appeared to be a completely different dog. Shadow immediately went to hide under the bed. The first few days he acted so different the kids started calling him "Robot Shadow". They were convinced the lady had stolen Shadow and replaced him with a robot. It must have been really traumatic for him because it took about 5 days for him to start acting more like himself again. Just for a laugh here are some before and after photos.

Before

After, and yes he really is that small without all of the fur.

35 Weeks

2008-09-01T18:49:00.001-07:00

First of all I apologize for being a bad blogger. I hate when people don't update their blogs enough, and here I am going a whole week. I do have excuses. It was the kids last week here so we were pretty busy. Also my keyboard on my laptop is all messed up which makes typing a pita. I did try to make up for it by adding my 34 week picture below as promised, and I have many half written posts I plan to finish this week.

In baby news a lot has happened in the last few days. We made the first of many trips to Babies R Us to get a few things we needed with the gift cards I got from my shower. I put together the crib, and dresser. Dare put together the swing. I also called and made an appointment to have the carpets cleaned in a couple weeks, it is long overdue. I only have one chiropractor appointment this week, and I also have a midwife appointment. I was successful in cutting back at work last week, but now I am stressing about all I want to get done in the next 3 weeks. I'm going to try hard not to worry about it too much as it won't change the disaster I am sure to come back to.

34 Weeks

2008-08-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry, you will have to wait for a picture. Kailyn accidentally took my camera cord to Spokane with her. I won't get it back until next weekend. My shower was today, and I got a lot of great stuff I'm excited to finally start getting stuff ready. My friend did a really nice job with everything.

I can't believe I only have 6 weeks left that is kind of freaking me out!! I worked my last full time week last week, and this week I'm going to 6 hour days. I'm hoping this will help me make it through my last few weeks at work.

Normal, Normal

2008-08-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

That's how exciting my midwife appointment was today. After we were done she said exactly that normal, normal. Blood pressure is good, baby sounds good, baby is head down which is good, and he should stay that way at this point. It was my shortest appointment yet. I go back again in 2 weeks.

My "Safe" Place

2008-08-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

Friday we took the kids school clothes shopping. I had been waiting all summer to get my Macy's coupons so that we could make this trip. Well they came in the mail about a week and a half ago so I put them away. Fast forward to Friday morning as I am franticly searching our bedroom.

Dare "What are you looking for?"
Me " The Macy's Coupons"
Dare "You put them in a "safe" place didn't you"
Me "Yes"
Dare "Great"
Me "I know they are in the room somewhere. I think I should just get a box and write "safe place" on it. That way when I get something important I can put it there, and I will remember where it is."

Anyway I am notorious putting things in a place that's "safe". In fact it's often so safe I have trouble finding it again. Well sometimes I never do find it. Just ask Dare about his old watch it's been in a "safe" place for over a year now. =)

33 Weeks

2008-08-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I only have 7 weeks left. I still have so much to do!! Next weekend is my baby shower. I am excited for that, but nervous my friend will go to the trouble, and no one will show up. Last year, when I had a shower for her not one single person from our work bothered to show up. Many people said they were coming, or sending gifts and not a single one of them did. Luckily she still had a good turnout, and the shower was really nice. I also have a midwife appointment this week, and I have graduated to only seeing the chiropractor twice a week. So things are moving along no major complaints. I am thrilled to see the weather will be in the mid 70's the rest of the week.

Can't a Pregnant Chick Catch a Break?

2008-08-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

I know I was supposed to blog a few days ago about our weekend, and I will I promise. It has just been a crazy week around here, and I haven't had the energy to write it all down. So just for fun here is a crazy week in my world. Sunday night as I am serving dinner I drop a small plate on my big toe and it shatters. I was in so much pain I thought for sure I was going to have to go to the emergency room. After icing it for a couple of hours the pain was bearable, and I was able to go to bed. The next morning it was still sore, but I went work and hobbled around all day. Also Sunday night Mckayla showed up again. I knew that she was coming, but it was supposed to be Monday. Monday night Lindsey has a friend spend the night. Yes, that's 6 kids in the house in case you're keeping track. Tuesday I come home to find a baby, yes a real live baby in my house. Who's baby? It's Mckayla's cousins baby. Apparently Mckayla had agreed to babysit this week, but didn't want to go to her cousins house because it would take away from her and Kailyn's Guitar Hero playing. So now I have 6 kids, one strangers baby, and a dog that I now know hates babies. Today the cousin shows up, Mckayla answers the door, and proceeds to march her through the kitchen where my shocked husband is doing the dishes, and up the stairs. Just to give you and idea of how horrible this is I haven't set foot upstairs since mid June. We used to spend every night up there watching tv, but have since given the room over to the kids as that's where most of the entertainment stuff is. Kailyn's room is also upstairs. Another reason this is horrible, we haven't engaged in what I like to call "operation pointless" since Tuesday. Some people call it cleaning, but when I think of cleaning I like to think of something that has a some lasting results, like say a week. Here an hour is an accomplishment. If only I had known I was having a visitor.

Another reason I haven't gotten around to it is I'm just really tired. I find that by about 6 or so now I am just too exhausted to compose my thoughts. Maybe it's that I'm 8 months pregnant. Maybe it's the 5 1/2 - 6 hours of sleep I average a night. I have also had a really hectic week at work. I found out Tuesday my boss is transferring this is his last week. They also haven't secured a competent person to take my place for the 4 months I will be gone, and I only have 4 weeks of work left. I took one day off to travel to the wedding last weekend, and all hell broke loose. I can't even imaging the mess I will come back to.

Sooo if you are keeping track today. It's , my 4 kids, Mckayla, Kailyn's friend, one strangers baby, one dog that hates baby's, one hot, tired grouchy pregnant chick who is resting after just finishing "operation pointless" for the day. All while listening to the melodic sounds of Guitar Hero drifting downstairs.

32 Weeks

2008-08-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

Here it is my 32 week picture. This is right before we left for the wedding on Saturday. I will blog about that later I have way too much to do after being gone for the weekend. Pregnancy wise everything is pretty much the same. I saw the chiropractor 3 times last week. I feel like it is helping in some areas, but it's really not helping my wrists and hands. I guess I will have to wait about 8 more weeks to completely regain feeling in my right hand *sigh*

I have a new pregnancy obsession. The new Chocolate Banana Vivano smoothie from Starbucks. They are so yummy I had one almost every day last week. Since they have a ton of protein, and some fiber they can't be all bad right.

Choosing a Favorite

2008-08-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

I had my midwife appointment yesterday. It was pretty much the usual. B gave Dare a review of the appointment since he couldn't make it. He said "she asked a lot of questions, and we heard the baby's heart beat". He summed it up pretty good. I must mention that with the midwives I saw when I was pregnant with Brandon I had a clear favorite from very early on. I liked both of them, but I couldn't help wishing that the one I liked better would be on call when I went into labor. I got lucky and she was. I keep thinking I should have a favorite by now, but I don't. I alternate with each appointment who I see, and after each time with them I just like them both more. I guess it's good this way because no matter who is on call on D-day I won't be disappointed.

Weekend Rewind

2008-08-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty busy weekend. Friday we went with Pam who has been Brandon's daycare provider for the last 4 years to visit a farm. The farm belonged to one of her daycare families. The kids got to feed the goats and alpaca, chase the chickens around, and play with their puppies. We ate lunch there and then came home.

Saturday night we watched Batman Begins to get B excited to see the Dark Knight. Hopefully we will get to do that soon, every time we have tried to see it at the imax it's sold out.

We decided last minute to go to The Museum of Flight on Sunday. Originally we were going to go to the water park, but the weather has been iffy and Lindsey was at a friends party. First we stopped by the Japanese Garden, because it was on the way. Brandon thought it was the greatest place ever. He kept finding new trails to explore, and was running all over. Everyone else was pretty underwelmed by what seemed to be the lack of any substantial "garden".
When we got to the museum it seemed really busy. I didn't know it is where the Blue Angels take off and land during Seafair. That ended up being a bonus as we got to see quite a bit of them in the air, and got to watch the landing which was awesome. Everybody got pretty engrossed in the exhibits at the museum. Brandon learned that people had actually flown space shuttles to the moon. Gabby was confused by a photo of men in space suits with trees around them and asked if there were trees on the moon? It was actually a photo of a training mission. Kailyn even took interest and asked why World War I started. Then everyone sat through a 2o minute video that answered that exact question. On our way out we actually got to go inside a Concorde, and the Air Force One that JFK and Richard Nixon used. I think it was a successful weekend.

31 Weeks

2008-08-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

I have been posting these pictures for 10 weeks now. I have gotten a lot bigger since then. Here is my 21 week photo in the same shirt. This is a crazy busy week coming up. I am supposed to see the chiropractor 3 times, I have a hair appointment, an orthodontist appt for the kids, and a midwife appt. Saturday we are going out of town for a wedding. The week should fly by. I promise to post about our weekend tomorrow.

I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me

2008-07-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

So I had my first chiropractor visit today. If only someone would have told me I'd have to get undressed. I always like to have prior knowledge of these things. Luckily I shaved yesterday, but when rushing home to change I left my work shoes and socks on. That was not pretty!! If I had known I would have worn flip flops so not to subject the friendly people at the office to my swollen, sweaty pregnant feet in the socks I'd had on all day. Anyway the chiropractor was very nice, she gave me a full exam, minus the xrays. She also asked a lot of questions. I have to be honest there were times I felt her questioning was borderline psychic friends network. Like she was probing for clues to come up with the correct answers. Once she determined the problems we began the adjustment. When she pulled out her instrument I must say I was not impressed!! She didn't do much today I'm supposed to go back again tomorrow we will see in a few days if it seems to make a difference.

Also Dare pointed out to me that I had blogged about getting a 3D ultrasound and then didn't follow up. Well after speaking to my midwife I decided not to. It was supposed to be done at a training place and they take along time it's a lot of ultrasound to expose the baby to. She said although an Obstetrician would probably have no problem with it she couldn't write the note without warning me first.

Pass/Fail

2008-07-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Well I got the good news/bad news call from my Midwife today. The good news is it seems I passed my GD test with flying colors. Big sigh of relief there, I don't have to give up ice cream. The bad news is I'm now officially anemic. My iron has been low since it was tested around 6 weeks, and I have been on an iron supplement. I really wasn't even worried about this test for that reason, and I'm not sure what happened. Hopefully I can get more detail at my next appointment until then my dosage has been upped again. I also made an appointment with a chiropractor tomorrow. I am actually a little nervous, but I'm trying to put that aside and be hopeful that it will help.

Just a random side note here. A few weeks ago I posted how I often lie to strangers about my due date to limit rude comments. I'm a really bad lier so since I'm in the last leg here I've just been telling people "the beginning of October" mind you I always stress "beginning". The reaction I still get is one of shock, and then some comment like "wow you still have a loooooong way to go". So today I decided to try something different. When I was asked on two different occasions I said "oh the end of September". The reaction "oh wow not much longer". Seriously?

30 Weeks

2008-07-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

So I'm 3/4 of the way there. We have the chance to get a 3d ultrasound done this week, but I need a note from my midwife saying it's ok. I haven't heard back from her yet. The appointment is scheduled for Tuesday so we may not get to go.

Dreams and Fantasy Football

2008-07-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

So a couple of random things for today. First of all the the last couple of nights I have had VERY vivid dreams, and not good dreams either. In case you didn't know it is a common pregnancy side effect. Normally I have maybe 2 or 3 dreams per year that I remember and that is it, so to have them 3 nights in a row is very weird. The dreams have been so disturbing that when I wake up for one of my many nightly bathroom trips I have to walk the house to make sure everything is ok before I can go back to sleep.
The second thing is that the guys at work have asked me to participate in their fantasy football league. At first I was hesitant because honestly I'm not that interested, but they said "please we need a girl to do it". I guess they know how to get to me there was no way I wouldn't take that as a challenge. I'm just a little surprised they would ask me to participate again after I took 2nd place in the March Madness tournament.

The Test

2008-07-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

I had my midwife appointment today. It was really strange because usually it's a room full of people my midwife, her student, me, Dare, and the random children who get to come along. Today it was just the two of us. Once I got over all of the empty seats we had a pretty productive time. I told her about my rib pain, and the fact that I can no longer feel the tips of my fingers on my right hand. For the second time no magic vitamins were recommended (thank god) instead she suggested I see a chiropractor. Since I still have 10 weeks to go she thinks it will make the remainder of my pregnancy more comfortable. We discussed some other things as well. She wants me to write up a birth plan for the more detailed things. Since I am seeing her and not giving birth in a hospital she knows the obvious stuff, but she wants me to write down the more detailed stuff for her. Do I want quiet or music, who is cutting the cord, do I want a water birth etc. Then I had the blood draw for the two big tests, the gestational diabetes, and my iron levels. I will get the results early next week. We are getting near the end because I go in for another check in two weeks!!

Weekend Rewind

2008-07-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

Friday night Kailyn, and Gabby went to spend the night at Gloria's house. We took Lindsey and B out for dinner. Saturday we pretty much stayed home. Lindsey had a friend spend the night after she had spent most of the week at her house. Sunday was the highlight of the summer for the kids, the company picnic. They got balloon animals, had their faces painted, and got to go on rides. This was the third year we have been, and the kids always have a great time. I told Dare it's the only thing we do all summer where no one asks to leave early. Gabby, Kailyn, and I also sat and played Bingo for a long time. The girls got really into it, but were getting frustrated at not winning. Finally right before we were ready to go Gabby won, I was so happy for her.

29 Weeks

2008-07-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

Well we got our crib mattress this week that wasn't very exciting. We are still waiting on the rest of the furniture. I also received my hypnobirthing book and have started reading it. I put the cd into my itunes, but I haven't put it on my ipod yet. I will as soon as I get some headphones everyone always takes mine since I listen to my ipod the least. The brand new pair I got for Mexico has already been claimed, and broken by Kailyn. You are supposed to listen to the tape everyday. I'm going to give it a try. I'm still feeling pretty good except for waking up every morning feeling like I've been in a boxing match. My muscles, especially the ones around my ribs have been really sore the last week in the morning. I will ask my midwife about it at my appointment on Tuesday.

Tuesday Night Confessions

2008-07-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

I'm really tired of people at work asking me "how much longer" I mean I'm really, really tired of it.
Yesterday a guy at work said to me "you look like you're about to pop" I wanted to pop him right in the teeth. Instead I just smiled.
I'm nervous about my gestational diabetes test next week. I don't want to have to give up ice cream.

Weekend Rewind (Happy Birthday Edition)

2008-07-14T17:44:00.001-07:00

Better late than never. Since it is Monday I hope I can remember all the way back to Friday. So Friday afternoon we went to Dare work BBQ everyone but Kailyn who didn't want to get up at 11:30 to go with us. The kids had fun playing at the park and with the waterguns someone had brought for awhile, but they eventually got bored and we came home.

Sunday was Kailyns 14th birthday. We let her choose which activity she wanted to do and she decided she wanted to go roller skating. Good choice, but I can't roller skate in my current condition. Kailyn said wow you they don't let you have any fun when you're pregnant do they? Um no. So we headed of to the local roller rink which still has all of it's original decor for an afternoon of fun. After that we headed off to get Kailyns gift a new digital camera. Our first stop didn't have a camera that meet her strict technical specifications. That is it couldn't be fat, and it had to come in a cool color not black or silver. On our second stop we scored. We then came home to have a bbq dinner and then we all enjoyed some delicious ice cream cake.

28 Weeks

2008-07-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

Another week has gone by. This week we ordered the rest of the nursery furniture. So our crib, dresser, and mattress should be here soon. Now we will have more boxes to find somewhere to store until the summer is over. We were supposed to go to a hypnobirthing class this weekend, but I decided not to after learning it was basically a sales pitch to try and get you buy private sessions. My midwife basically tried to talk us into taking some kind of birth class, but I just can't justify spending the money when I have been through this 4 times already. I feel that I already have some pain coping techniques that work well for me. So in the end I ordered a book and cd from amazon on hypnobirthing since it sounds interesting. We will see I guess.

Things I Miss

2008-07-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

Seeing my toes when looking down
Having a towel wrap all the way around me
A nice cold beer on a hot summer day
Being able to talk and walk at the same time without becoming winded
Being able to sleep on my stomach

Sigh!!

The Best Money I've Spent All Summer!?!

2008-07-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago the girls and I had the pleasure of spending the better part of the morning browsing our neighborhood garage sale. By girls I mean Gabby and Lindsey as Kailyn won't get out of bed at 9am for anything especially garage sales. We probably browsed about 25 to 30 sales and picked up a few things here and there. The most exciting thing by far were 2 scooters we found for $3 each. The girls happily gave up their hard earned cash and we went on our way. This was so perfect, because since the girls had gotten here they had been fighting constantly with Brandon who was the owner of the lone scooter. The first few days were complete bliss for everyone involved. The kids happily rode the three scooters throught the neighborhood. No fighting, no crying, just two sisters and a brother enjoying the nice summer weather together. It was also great for me because I no longer had to listen to the crying and arguing as soon as the door shut behind them, and they were actually getting out of the house for several long rides a day. Like all good things this too must come to an end. This was the scene the other day.

"MOMMY!! Lindsey took my scooter"
"Why did you take his scooter"
"BECAUSE mine scrapes on the ground when I ride it his doesn't"

I had told Dare a couple of nights earlier while enjoying a few minutes of silence during one of the rides. "You know it is only a matter of time before they decide one scooter is better than another, and all of this comes to an end." I guess you would call that mothers intuition.

Tuesday Night Confessions

2008-07-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

A really good friend of mine is dating my boss. All thought I am very happy for her, I sometimes wish she wouldn't give me so much information about their relationship. Due to her TMI I often feel awkward and uncomfortable around him. I also wonder sometimes if he would be so nice to me if not for being worried I would tell on him =)
I ate ice cream today. TWICE!!
I am suffering from a really bad case of baby brain. We have a birthing class to go to on Saturday. So far this week I have made other plans on two separate occasions for that day. I later had to cancel the plans when I realized this. At least I have a valid excuse.
My neighbors are having some major plumbing work done. I am annoyed by the noise, the mess, and the fact that they are blocking my driveway. I do think it's cute that my son has been outside for the past hour watching them.

Weekend Rewind

2008-07-06T13:41:00.001-07:00

Every weekend I plan on posting a recap of what we did, but somehow I never seem to get around to it. So here it is for the first and hopefully not last time. On Friday we went and saw Wall-E. It was a really cute movie with a good message about taking care of the earth. Everybody really liked the movie. I was afraid B would get bored especially because the first half of the movie doesn't have any talking (except by robots), but he sat patiently through it. We bought a small amount of fireworks for the kids and did these in the evening before leaving for a school nearby that has a great view of the area. We were able to see several of the big fireworks displays from here and didn't have to deal with any crowds as there were only 3 or 4 other families there. Our neighborhood is pretty insane for fireworks being outside the city limits we are exempt from all of the fireworks bans. Fortunately my pregnancy induced exhaustion has given me the ability to sleep through anything and I fell right to sleep.

Saturday we watched Jurassic Park 2. I couldn't believe I have never seen it before considering how much I liked the first one. It wasn't a bad movie and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Today we did a whole lot of nothing. I was going to take the kids to the lake today, but the sunshine that was promised never showed up. So instead we sat around, did lots of laundry, and some cleaning.

27 Weeks

2008-07-06T13:31:00.001-07:00

Finally another milestone has been reached in this pregnancy!! Week 27 is big because it means I am officially in month 7, and I have finally reached the 3rd and final trimester. I thought this day would never get here. So 2/3rds down 1/3rd to go.

Not so Super After All

2008-07-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

So the Superfeet were a huge disappointment!! After wearing them for a week they weren't helping at all. My feet didn't even feel 10% better. So I did some more research and ordered a new pair of shoes this week. My midwife said they are hurting from not having enough arch support so I bought a pair with good arch support and good reviews from people who are on their feet a lot. I still have 11 weeks of work left so I am hoping these help or I honestly don't know how I will make it. Just to give you an idea of how bad they feel, think of the time you wore the wrong pair of shoes on a long shopping trip to the mall and multiply it by 4. That is how I feel everyday. They hurt so bad even the bones ache. So if the new shoes don't do the trick I am going to have to cut back my hours earlier than I thought.