...on October 20th, I started this post with just the following list: c25k diet museum formspring giveaway list free weekend alero...all the things I wanted to write about and figured that I would get to before too long. Yet, here we are on November 7th and I never even started writing full sentences, let alone the whole post! Hahaha. Silly me for thinking I would have time to do so in the last few days before Halloween. Let me begin...
C25k: Is going pretty well. I've started doing it inside (much to the dismay of my neighbors downstairs, I'm sure...but what am I going to do? I was failing miserably outside and I try not to make too much noise!) I use my Wii Fit game/balance board to time myself on the "Free Run" mini game-thinger and so far it's working out. I did notice that I make less stomping noise when I wear my sneakers. I thought I would be quieter without shoes, but I was wrong! Plus, I do it during the babies' nap time so it's midday and I'm sure the ladies downstairs would let me know if I was driving them wild. I did Day 1 of Week 4 today:
Walk Briskly-5 minutes
Jog-3 minutes
Walk-90 seconds
Jog-5 minutes (!)
Walk-2 1/2 minutes
Jog-3 minutes
Walk-90 seconds
Jog-5 minutes
Dylan did it right alongside me for most of it. The "(!)" next to "jog 5 minutes" is because it's a bit of a milestone, I couldn't tell you the last time I jogged for 5 minutes straight, which is sad but true. I feel so much better today after taking a (short, but needed) break during the Halloween week and weekend. I'm also glad I figured out the whole where-to-exercise deal because soon it will be snowing!
Diet-Has it's ups and downs like anything. Mostly downs lately, but I feel like I'm getting back into the groove of things and I hope to keep up the momentum during the holiday season. I do not have that voice that all the skinny people must have in their heads that tell them to not eat this and that...ha. :)
Museum-We went to the Museum of Play in Rochester on October 21st! It is super fun and Meghan, Dylan and I had a great time! Kim (mil) has a season family pass and had some extra guest passes so 15 of us went! It was a lot of fun and Meghan really enjoyed it. I thought she might be too young to get it, but she had a blast! There were lots of different things for her to do and see. I think the strawberry milkshake at lunch was her favorite! :)
Formspring-I made a formspring, check it out to the right--->
You can ask me anything-anonymously if you like! So, get asking! :)
Giveaway List-I thought about making a list of all the things I've won since I started entering giveaways online a few months ago, but not I'm just meh about it. I do think it's totally worth it, sort of like a part time job ;)
Free Weekend-I wrote this on my list of things to write about, but now I can't remember why! Maybe I had nothing planned for the weekend, except working on our Halloween costumes? I just don't know!
Alero-This really ought to be 'Alero/88'...Way back when we went camping in September, the Alero's exhaust separated from the car and was sort of hanging precariously and was just ridiculously loud, so we took it to a family friend's repair shop to have it replaced. We dropped it off on a Wednesday and on Saturday, Drew went off the road and totaled the 88! We went from 2 cars to none in less than a week! Thankfully, Drew was perfectly fine, but the 88 is not. :) We've been borrowing my Dad's giant Buick since then. I've been seeing losing the 88 as a blessing, even though it was our 2nd car, it didn't have any heat, no shocks, one of the windows didn't work right...the list goes on! I'm thankful that it wasn't our only car. Now the Alero is back in the shop for another reason. When I picked it up after having the exhaust repaired (note: repaired not replaced-the mechanic said he had the parts to replace it but ended up repairing it, my Dad said it would be stronger this way anyway) it started shutting itself off! Long story short, it was billowing white smoke and still shutting itself off, so back to the shop it went! It's still there and we've been using my Dad's car since then.
Well, I wrote about everything I wanted to write about weeks ago... :) Maybe one more post tonight-later that is!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
insert clever title...
...there. Hahaha...sometimes I just don't know where to start a post. I often just want to write and get things out of my system, without having a clear direction of where my post will go. Today is the 19th, a little more than 10 days left until Halloween and I really need to get my booty in gear! This year, I am making Flintstones costumes for me, Drew and Meghan, plus a pumpkin costume for baby Freddy and parts of Dylan's costume-he is going as Jake from Disney channel's Jake and the Never Land Pirates. A little more challenging than what I am used to! So far, I have finished crocheting Freddy's pumpkin hat and sewn the body of Drew's costume. I still have to sew my dress and make a necklace and (maybe) bracelet, sew the black triangles on Drew's costume and figure out a tie, sew Meghan's top and bottoms, sew Dylan a vest, boot shaped shoe covers, and sew Freddy's pumpkin costume. It is definitely going to be a bit hectic here the next few days :)
For my Wilma dress, I have to go buy some plain white sheets, as I will need 2 layers for the front and back because white sheets are pretty see-through. The necklace and (maybe) bracelet will be scraps of fabric rolled up and then stuffed into a tube of white fabric, with thread tied around each roll to make the 'beads'. For Drew's tie, I have to find some bright blue fabric, I have some options in my fabric bin, but nothing that is quite close enough for me. He might just end up with a light blue tie! Meghan's costume has been quite the internal debate. I was going to use some of the leftover orange fleece from Drew's and use either black pants or make black bloomers, but most of the images of Pebbles have her in a blue top and green bottoms, or hot pink top with black bottoms. I think I'm going to go with a blue top and green bottoms because I know I have the fabric for it and the orange is a little lacking for both her and Freddy's pumpkin costume. For that, I'm going to make a little baby bunting-essentially a tube with head, arm and bottom holes and then a larger tube over that, that can be stuffed with polyfil or somthing before being sewn together. Elastic in the bottom will make it like a sleep sack. Freddy has a Halloween themed outfit to wear underneath with long sleeves and pants, so we don't have to worry about him getting cold! I have the perfect navy blue pillowcase that I will be turning into a vest for Dylan's pirate Jake costume. I've never made anything like a vest, so we will see how it goes! Lacie provided a white shirt, dark denim pants,and red bandana for Dylan's costume, so his will be part store bought and part homemade!
I definitely need to get a big chunk of work done this week so that I know what I need to buy still to get everything done. And with that, I will take advantage of naptime and go get some crafting done! :)
For my Wilma dress, I have to go buy some plain white sheets, as I will need 2 layers for the front and back because white sheets are pretty see-through. The necklace and (maybe) bracelet will be scraps of fabric rolled up and then stuffed into a tube of white fabric, with thread tied around each roll to make the 'beads'. For Drew's tie, I have to find some bright blue fabric, I have some options in my fabric bin, but nothing that is quite close enough for me. He might just end up with a light blue tie! Meghan's costume has been quite the internal debate. I was going to use some of the leftover orange fleece from Drew's and use either black pants or make black bloomers, but most of the images of Pebbles have her in a blue top and green bottoms, or hot pink top with black bottoms. I think I'm going to go with a blue top and green bottoms because I know I have the fabric for it and the orange is a little lacking for both her and Freddy's pumpkin costume. For that, I'm going to make a little baby bunting-essentially a tube with head, arm and bottom holes and then a larger tube over that, that can be stuffed with polyfil or somthing before being sewn together. Elastic in the bottom will make it like a sleep sack. Freddy has a Halloween themed outfit to wear underneath with long sleeves and pants, so we don't have to worry about him getting cold! I have the perfect navy blue pillowcase that I will be turning into a vest for Dylan's pirate Jake costume. I've never made anything like a vest, so we will see how it goes! Lacie provided a white shirt, dark denim pants,and red bandana for Dylan's costume, so his will be part store bought and part homemade!
I definitely need to get a big chunk of work done this week so that I know what I need to buy still to get everything done. And with that, I will take advantage of naptime and go get some crafting done! :)
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
onto...
...week 2 of C25k! I have to say, I'm a little proud of myself! Last week was hard and I thought for sure that I would either have to repeat week 1 or take it easy today. But, as I got into the groove earlier, I found it was actually easier than last week! My knees were still clicking like crazy, but the calves feel great and I didn't have to stop at all during the jogging sets. The program for week 2 is:
1 minute stretch
5 minutes brisk walk warm up
alternate 90 seconds of jogging and 2 minutes of walking for 20 minutes
5 minute walk cool down
I'm already noticing physical changes. I did not get as winded while working out like I did last week. The scale even went down a couple of pounds and I was pleasantly surprised at that! I was not expecting any change there and I know there will come a time when I plateau, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I weighed myself on Monday night, which I thought was a bad idea at the time, because I did not eat as well as I should/could have over the weekend, but then I got that nice surprise! :) This week will definitely be different, I went grocery shopping on Sunday, so now I'm a bit more prepared this week than I was last.
It's late and I've got hubby's lunch to make, good night!
1 minute stretch
5 minutes brisk walk warm up
alternate 90 seconds of jogging and 2 minutes of walking for 20 minutes
5 minute walk cool down
I'm already noticing physical changes. I did not get as winded while working out like I did last week. The scale even went down a couple of pounds and I was pleasantly surprised at that! I was not expecting any change there and I know there will come a time when I plateau, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I weighed myself on Monday night, which I thought was a bad idea at the time, because I did not eat as well as I should/could have over the weekend, but then I got that nice surprise! :) This week will definitely be different, I went grocery shopping on Sunday, so now I'm a bit more prepared this week than I was last.
It's late and I've got hubby's lunch to make, good night!
Monday, October 17, 2011
happy...
...monday! HA! Mondays are often the most dreaded day of the week, but sometimes I crave the return to structure. The weekend can be so hectic and uncertain. On Saturday, I had to take our Oldsmobile 88 to our hometown so my Dad could take it to his mechanic friend to get it inspected. It passed, to everyone's surprise! It's a 1997 and has a slew of issues with it. We don't drive it much in the winter because the heat doesn't blow out of the vents. It does get warm-if you hold your hands up to the vents, but defrosting the windshield is really just a bad joke. Last winter was brutal; the car would get buried in the snow in our apartment's parking lot because of the snow plows and Drew and I would have to shovel the car out. (well...mostly Drew ;) ) So, we've gone back and forth as to whether or not to keep the 88 on the road, but it is a convenience. If we only have one car, then Meghan and I have to get up very early and drive Drew to work to drop him off so we can have the car for the day. We don't often go places, but sometimes we have doctor's appointments or WIC or just have to get to the store! :)
We also have a 2001 Alero, this is what Drew usually drives. Right now it's a bit under the weather. The exhaust separated from the car while we were camping last month and we haven't driven it since then because the noise is just obnoxious. I'm sure we would get a ticket for it if we were pulled over. Hopefully the Alero will be getting fixed this week. While my Dad was getting the 88 inspected, he spoke to the mechanic and he said he will be ready for it on Thursday. The plan is to drop the Alero off on Wednesday night. I have to call the mechanic on Wednesday to make sure he'll be ready for it, my Dad thinks the mechanic said he has 3 days of work...but really it might be 4 or 5. That's just how this mechanic is, Once I drop the car off, I'll have to call him every day just to make sure he's working on it. :) He really is a nice guy, great father, but he tends to think he'll have work finished faster than it actually gets done.
One other not-related-to-cars tidbit that I forgot to share with my bloggie friends is that we are still ttc. No luck last month! :( I did get a little sad, but I know God has a plan for us and I trust in Him. We will just keep trying, I know it will happen eventually. I really want a completely different birth experience than what Meghan and I had last time, but that's a whole 'nother crazy long blog post and I have to get up early tomorrow! Good night!
We also have a 2001 Alero, this is what Drew usually drives. Right now it's a bit under the weather. The exhaust separated from the car while we were camping last month and we haven't driven it since then because the noise is just obnoxious. I'm sure we would get a ticket for it if we were pulled over. Hopefully the Alero will be getting fixed this week. While my Dad was getting the 88 inspected, he spoke to the mechanic and he said he will be ready for it on Thursday. The plan is to drop the Alero off on Wednesday night. I have to call the mechanic on Wednesday to make sure he'll be ready for it, my Dad thinks the mechanic said he has 3 days of work...but really it might be 4 or 5. That's just how this mechanic is, Once I drop the car off, I'll have to call him every day just to make sure he's working on it. :) He really is a nice guy, great father, but he tends to think he'll have work finished faster than it actually gets done.
One other not-related-to-cars tidbit that I forgot to share with my bloggie friends is that we are still ttc. No luck last month! :( I did get a little sad, but I know God has a plan for us and I trust in Him. We will just keep trying, I know it will happen eventually. I really want a completely different birth experience than what Meghan and I had last time, but that's a whole 'nother crazy long blog post and I have to get up early tomorrow! Good night!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
whew...
...this is tough! :) I knew it was going to be hard to change so many bad habits and so far, I have to say it's going...ok. This addiction I have to sweets-mostly chocolate-is crippling to say the least. We don't usually have candy or pre-packaged sweets on hand, so only things that I bake. On Monday, the first day, I had to make Drew eat the rest of the Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies because I was having evil thoughts about how one little slice wouldn't hurt...well it does! I've noticed that after one such taste of anything (not necessarily sweet-last night it was garlic knots) I start to crave more and more until it's all I can think about and I just don't want to live with food constantly on my mind.
I'm doing pretty well with eating better. I have a least 1 salad a day, usually lunch. Breakfast has been either eggs or oatmeal, dinner is whatever I would usually make, but less carbs. I try to not eat carbs after 7pm and that works out ok usually. Last night we ate a late dinner so I didn't really snack at all before bed. Today I had oatmeal with peanut butter, honey and banana-it was divine! :) Lunch was 2 Biscuit Pizzas and a huge salad with hard-boiled egg, cheese and ham. Animal crackers for a snack with the kids (not so good) and then a crazy leftover dinner-spaghetti and a meatball, a hot dog, a couple bites of imitation crab, some pineapple...odd, I know!
Now for the fun part-exercise, ha! So I am 2 days into the C25k program and it's going pretty well. I have completed both days as instructed:
stretch 1 minute
warm up-walk briskly 5 minutes
jog 60 seconds
walk 90 seconds
continue jog/walk intervals for 20 minutes
cool down-walk 5 minutes
The first day (Monday) I waited to go until Meghan was in bed, so it was dark out. I don't really like exercising at night, even though we live in a town and there are street lamps, but it makes me uneasy-I don't like walking the dog after dark either. I did really well for being so sedentary and my only daily exercise was walking the dog around the block. I had to stop during the last jogging interval, but just for a second to check the time and then I pushed on. The second day, Wednesday was a little bit harder-especially when I expected it to be easier or just as hard. My calves were sore from so much activity, they're still sore now, but I've been conscientiously stretching them periodically throughout the day.
Now I just want to see some results! Ha-I'm not expecting too much, too soon, but a new number on the scale would be nice. I weighed myself Monday night and though that number is around the same I've been seeing for some time, I cannot wait for it to be the last time I ever see that number!
I'm doing pretty well with eating better. I have a least 1 salad a day, usually lunch. Breakfast has been either eggs or oatmeal, dinner is whatever I would usually make, but less carbs. I try to not eat carbs after 7pm and that works out ok usually. Last night we ate a late dinner so I didn't really snack at all before bed. Today I had oatmeal with peanut butter, honey and banana-it was divine! :) Lunch was 2 Biscuit Pizzas and a huge salad with hard-boiled egg, cheese and ham. Animal crackers for a snack with the kids (not so good) and then a crazy leftover dinner-spaghetti and a meatball, a hot dog, a couple bites of imitation crab, some pineapple...odd, I know!
Now for the fun part-exercise, ha! So I am 2 days into the C25k program and it's going pretty well. I have completed both days as instructed:
stretch 1 minute
warm up-walk briskly 5 minutes
jog 60 seconds
walk 90 seconds
continue jog/walk intervals for 20 minutes
cool down-walk 5 minutes
The first day (Monday) I waited to go until Meghan was in bed, so it was dark out. I don't really like exercising at night, even though we live in a town and there are street lamps, but it makes me uneasy-I don't like walking the dog after dark either. I did really well for being so sedentary and my only daily exercise was walking the dog around the block. I had to stop during the last jogging interval, but just for a second to check the time and then I pushed on. The second day, Wednesday was a little bit harder-especially when I expected it to be easier or just as hard. My calves were sore from so much activity, they're still sore now, but I've been conscientiously stretching them periodically throughout the day.
Now I just want to see some results! Ha-I'm not expecting too much, too soon, but a new number on the scale would be nice. I weighed myself Monday night and though that number is around the same I've been seeing for some time, I cannot wait for it to be the last time I ever see that number!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
i like to...
...move it, move it. Blast from the past for any of my readers? :) I don't really know where to start this post, but I've got to start somewhere, right? I am fat. (whew! There I said it!) You may or may not be able to tell from my profile picture, I am beyond fat, if there is such a thing. I'm not going to write a specific number, but I've never hit 300 pounds, even while swollen with fluids post partum (I lost 30 pounds in the first few weeks after Meghan was born).
I am at the heaviest I've ever been (besides pp) and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of getting winded just walking up the stairs. I dread letting Meg run around when we're out anywhere because I then have to run after her and I can just feel how clumsy I am. I'm sick of eating like I'm a scrawny 12 year old boy and thinking that nothing can touch me-because clearly it does. I'm sick of being tired. All. The. Time. Seriously, it doesn't matter how many or few hours of sleep I get, I am always feeling lethargic. Often cranky as well. And that's just not fun for anyone.
I've always been bigger than everyone else. For as long as I can remember, I've been one of the fat kids. I don't know how I got here. My mother and older sister are (relatively) healthy (they both smoke), but my father and younger sister are both overweight/obese like me. I can't speak for my sisters, but I know that I was never taught how to eat balanced and properly proportioned meals and snacks. And I don't mean to say that I had bad parents or we sat around eating crap all day, because we didn't. My parents are great and I love them. And I place no blame on them. Because by the time that I was old enough to know better, I just didn't do what I needed to. I've been neglecting myself and I've short-changed my life.
I want to get healthy and lose weight for so many reasons. Primarily, for myself. I want to look at myself in the mirror and smile knowing that I am healthy and happy. I want to be a great wife and have more energy. Drew is really outdoorsy and active-and would be more so if I was his physical equal. I love the outdoors as well and I would love to be outside as much as possible, but I am not able to. I also want more kids, and really it's not safe for me being as big as I am. When I was pregnant with Meghan, I was obese, but only gained 13 lbs, and I had gestational diabetes. Luckily, I was able to control it with diet, but I may not continue to be so lucky. Diabetes also runs rampant in my family on both sides and heart disease as well. I'm really putting myself on the fast track to both by being overweight. Lastly, I want to get healthy for Meghan (and the future babes). I want to be here for her in the future, I want to inspire her and I want to be able to chase her around with going into cardiac arrest.
So, how am I going to achieve this awesomeness? I am going to exercise and eat right. Sounds simple, no? You would think if it was so simple, then I'd be a skinny-minnie in no time. I am going to make small changes in my diet. I'm going to stop drinking soda (not that I drink a lot, but when we go out I always opt for the caffeine free soda when I should be drinking water), I'm going to drink at least 32 oz (or more) of water a day. I did this for awhile, and I stayed really well hydrated and it leaves little room for drinking crap! I'm going to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less processed foods. Right now, I/we eat a lot of processed convenience foods, but it's not benefiting any of us. I'm also going to try and eat less white flour and white sugar. Also, less sweets. Now, sweets are my kryptonite. I have noticed lately that if I let myself have a small treat, then I start craving more and more until I'm full of refined sugar and simple carbs. I don't want to deny myself, but I will have to have some restraint.
As far as exercise, I've tried seemingly easy things like Wii Fit, which is fun but I find it mundane, repetitive and I find myself standing around a lot as the screens load in between workouts. I might still use it for yoga, since I have zero flexibility. I'm going to start the Couch to 5k running program. (more helpful links here) And I use the term "running" loosely, because, let's be honest, I won't be running anywhere for quite a while. C25k is a program that gradually builds up your ability to run a 5k in about 9 weeks. You start out slow, alternating walking and jogging for 20-30 minutes, 3 times a week. Eventually, I'll be able to jog/run a 5k in 20-30 minutes with no walking.
I'm going to start on Monday, I think. I haven't fully discussed this idea with Drew yet, as far as finding the time for me to get outside. I don't have a jogging stroller, so I won't be able to take the babes with me during the day. That leaves me with either getting up super early in the morning and going out before Drew leaves for work at 630am, or going out at night after Meghan goes to sleep which is usually around 730pm. That means someone (Drew) has to be here while Meghan is here so that I can exercise. This plan is 3 days a week and Drew is usually here at least that much during the week. We're/He's pretty busy on the weekends with band stuff, so I'm shooting for Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays/Saturdays as my C25k days. I plan to always rest on Sundays, and then do yoga on my "off days" which will help with flexibility and stretching.
I'm really excited and I know my biggest enemy is myself. I just have trouble motivating myself to get my life together. Hopefully this whole life change/plan will affect other areas of my life as well. :)
Might write more on this tomorrow, but I've got to stop this for now, Meghan will be up before I know it! :D
I am at the heaviest I've ever been (besides pp) and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of getting winded just walking up the stairs. I dread letting Meg run around when we're out anywhere because I then have to run after her and I can just feel how clumsy I am. I'm sick of eating like I'm a scrawny 12 year old boy and thinking that nothing can touch me-because clearly it does. I'm sick of being tired. All. The. Time. Seriously, it doesn't matter how many or few hours of sleep I get, I am always feeling lethargic. Often cranky as well. And that's just not fun for anyone.
I've always been bigger than everyone else. For as long as I can remember, I've been one of the fat kids. I don't know how I got here. My mother and older sister are (relatively) healthy (they both smoke), but my father and younger sister are both overweight/obese like me. I can't speak for my sisters, but I know that I was never taught how to eat balanced and properly proportioned meals and snacks. And I don't mean to say that I had bad parents or we sat around eating crap all day, because we didn't. My parents are great and I love them. And I place no blame on them. Because by the time that I was old enough to know better, I just didn't do what I needed to. I've been neglecting myself and I've short-changed my life.
I want to get healthy and lose weight for so many reasons. Primarily, for myself. I want to look at myself in the mirror and smile knowing that I am healthy and happy. I want to be a great wife and have more energy. Drew is really outdoorsy and active-and would be more so if I was his physical equal. I love the outdoors as well and I would love to be outside as much as possible, but I am not able to. I also want more kids, and really it's not safe for me being as big as I am. When I was pregnant with Meghan, I was obese, but only gained 13 lbs, and I had gestational diabetes. Luckily, I was able to control it with diet, but I may not continue to be so lucky. Diabetes also runs rampant in my family on both sides and heart disease as well. I'm really putting myself on the fast track to both by being overweight. Lastly, I want to get healthy for Meghan (and the future babes). I want to be here for her in the future, I want to inspire her and I want to be able to chase her around with going into cardiac arrest.
So, how am I going to achieve this awesomeness? I am going to exercise and eat right. Sounds simple, no? You would think if it was so simple, then I'd be a skinny-minnie in no time. I am going to make small changes in my diet. I'm going to stop drinking soda (not that I drink a lot, but when we go out I always opt for the caffeine free soda when I should be drinking water), I'm going to drink at least 32 oz (or more) of water a day. I did this for awhile, and I stayed really well hydrated and it leaves little room for drinking crap! I'm going to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less processed foods. Right now, I/we eat a lot of processed convenience foods, but it's not benefiting any of us. I'm also going to try and eat less white flour and white sugar. Also, less sweets. Now, sweets are my kryptonite. I have noticed lately that if I let myself have a small treat, then I start craving more and more until I'm full of refined sugar and simple carbs. I don't want to deny myself, but I will have to have some restraint.
As far as exercise, I've tried seemingly easy things like Wii Fit, which is fun but I find it mundane, repetitive and I find myself standing around a lot as the screens load in between workouts. I might still use it for yoga, since I have zero flexibility. I'm going to start the Couch to 5k running program. (more helpful links here) And I use the term "running" loosely, because, let's be honest, I won't be running anywhere for quite a while. C25k is a program that gradually builds up your ability to run a 5k in about 9 weeks. You start out slow, alternating walking and jogging for 20-30 minutes, 3 times a week. Eventually, I'll be able to jog/run a 5k in 20-30 minutes with no walking.
I'm going to start on Monday, I think. I haven't fully discussed this idea with Drew yet, as far as finding the time for me to get outside. I don't have a jogging stroller, so I won't be able to take the babes with me during the day. That leaves me with either getting up super early in the morning and going out before Drew leaves for work at 630am, or going out at night after Meghan goes to sleep which is usually around 730pm. That means someone (Drew) has to be here while Meghan is here so that I can exercise. This plan is 3 days a week and Drew is usually here at least that much during the week. We're/He's pretty busy on the weekends with band stuff, so I'm shooting for Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays/Saturdays as my C25k days. I plan to always rest on Sundays, and then do yoga on my "off days" which will help with flexibility and stretching.
I'm really excited and I know my biggest enemy is myself. I just have trouble motivating myself to get my life together. Hopefully this whole life change/plan will affect other areas of my life as well. :)
Might write more on this tomorrow, but I've got to stop this for now, Meghan will be up before I know it! :D
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
how do you like...
...the new blogger interface? (for those of you who use blogger) Originally I didn't like it, there's so much white space, I find it hard to concentrate on what I'm writing, plus it's just different! :) So I switched back to the old version for awhile and now I'm on the new version again.
I guess you could call me a flip-flopper! ;)
It's been a little crazy in the small apartment lately, isn't it always? September was just jam packed with birthdays, parties, adventures, and culminated in what I like to call"Angie/Rebeccapalooza"! This past weekend was Volunteer Retreat Weekend at my alma mater, Wells College And my good friends, Angie and Rebecca came into town. Wells is very close to me, Rebecca took the train in from Chicago and Angie drove in from Boston. We spent the whole weekend together, causing trouble like we used to in college! Well, not really, but we did have a lot of fun! And we learned about some great opportunities to help our school.
We also went apple picking on Sunday at Beak and Skiff. It looked like we were going to get rained out, but the weather held out long enough for us to pick apples, browse the general store, eat fritters and drink apple cider! :) MMmmmm, it was delicious!
Of course, now that I've been apple picking twice in 2 weeks, I have a ridiculous amount of apples. I'm going to make apple cake today and probably some apple muffins for breakfasts this week. I found a very simple recipe for the cake on AllRecipes, I'll let you all know how it turns out!
In the baby department, more good news! My good friend and wife of Drew's cousin, Klare is pregnant with their second child! We are very excited! Klare and Jeremy (Drew's cousin) have a 15 month old, Scott, who is 28 days older than Meghan, so we were pregnant at the same time! I joked with her on Facebook that we should be pregnant at the same time again and it would be so much fun! I was ovulating over the past week and I'll know in a about a week! :) I mentioned on Facebook that I had been having vivid pregnancy/birth dreams like I did last time-right before I found out I was pregnant with Meghan... :)
It would be so awesome to not only be pregnant again, but again at the same time as Klare! Amazing to say the least! I joked with Drew that it would be crazy if we were exactly a month behind Klare and Jeremy again-haha! No symptoms yet, so I don't have my hopes up too high yet-just the regular amount ;)
Well, I've got cake to back and toddlers to put to bed, so long.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
ohemgee, a to z...
...stole this from the lovely kaity over at as we grow, check out her blog, she is an amazing young momma!
A. Age: 26...yeeesh, for some reason it's a little rougher to type the 6 then the 5 ;)
B. Bed size: queen, but I would love a king size if/when we get a new bed. Drew and I love to stretch out and when we bed share with the next baby, it'll be nice to have more room then we did when Meghan shared with us.
C. Chore that you hate: All of them? Hahaha, just kidding, I really don't like doing the dishes, I'd love the laundry if I didn't have to go down to the basement!
D. Dogs: Sweet Pea the chihuahua mix! She's (mostly) awesome!
E. Essential start to your day: Wake up very slowly to Meghan babbling and talking to herself, go pee and put in my contacts because I am so blind without them. Sometimes I skip the contacts and nurse Meghan in my bed in order to get some extra zzzzzz's.
F. Favorite color: Pink! and Purple! and Yellow! and Green! See where this is going?
G. Gold or Silver: Silver, I know Gold looks good with my skin tone, but I cannot stand to wear it! Our wedding bands are titanium!
H. Height: 5'8" For reals. I am like an Amazon!
I. Instruments you play: Little bit of piano and guitar, that's about it, except for Rock Band instruments, of course!
J. Job title: I'm the Momma!
K. Kids: Megpie, 14 months! (whaaaaat?)
L. Live: New York
M. Mother's name: Debra
N. Nicknames: MOMMAAAAAAA, Sarah, Alli Cat, Al
O. Overnight hospital stays: Meghan's birth
P. Pet peeve: Rude people, especially when they don't have common courtesy-do you not see me carrying a 14 mo and holding onto the hand of a squirmy 3yo, still can't hold the door for me, REALLY?!?!
Q. Quote from a movie: "I'll eat you up; I love you so." --Where the Wild Things Are
R. Right or left handed: Right! Hubby is the only Lefter in his 14 person family and I know he's holding out for a lefty son or daughter.
S. Siblings: Lacie (29) and Kaitlyn (24), 7 sisters in law and 4 brothers in law!
T. Time you wake up: 8ish am, depending on when Meg wakes up
U. Underwear: Always?
V. Vegetable you hate: Mushrooms any style, fresh onions
W. What makes you run late: Slow people.
X. X-Rays you've had: Wrist in the 6th grade when I broke my it in 2 places.
Y. Yummy food that you make: Everything, I'm pretty much a domestic goddess.
Z. Zoo animal: We were there yesterday! Had an amazing fun time with my Grandma Karen, Lacie and Dylan...until he had a major meltdown and we left quite quickly!
Feel free to steal! :)
A. Age: 26...yeeesh, for some reason it's a little rougher to type the 6 then the 5 ;)
B. Bed size: queen, but I would love a king size if/when we get a new bed. Drew and I love to stretch out and when we bed share with the next baby, it'll be nice to have more room then we did when Meghan shared with us.
C. Chore that you hate: All of them? Hahaha, just kidding, I really don't like doing the dishes, I'd love the laundry if I didn't have to go down to the basement!
D. Dogs: Sweet Pea the chihuahua mix! She's (mostly) awesome!
E. Essential start to your day: Wake up very slowly to Meghan babbling and talking to herself, go pee and put in my contacts because I am so blind without them. Sometimes I skip the contacts and nurse Meghan in my bed in order to get some extra zzzzzz's.
F. Favorite color: Pink! and Purple! and Yellow! and Green! See where this is going?
G. Gold or Silver: Silver, I know Gold looks good with my skin tone, but I cannot stand to wear it! Our wedding bands are titanium!
H. Height: 5'8" For reals. I am like an Amazon!
I. Instruments you play: Little bit of piano and guitar, that's about it, except for Rock Band instruments, of course!
J. Job title: I'm the Momma!
K. Kids: Megpie, 14 months! (whaaaaat?)
L. Live: New York
M. Mother's name: Debra
N. Nicknames: MOMMAAAAAAA, Sarah, Alli Cat, Al
O. Overnight hospital stays: Meghan's birth
P. Pet peeve: Rude people, especially when they don't have common courtesy-do you not see me carrying a 14 mo and holding onto the hand of a squirmy 3yo, still can't hold the door for me, REALLY?!?!
Q. Quote from a movie: "I'll eat you up; I love you so." --Where the Wild Things Are
R. Right or left handed: Right! Hubby is the only Lefter in his 14 person family and I know he's holding out for a lefty son or daughter.
S. Siblings: Lacie (29) and Kaitlyn (24), 7 sisters in law and 4 brothers in law!
T. Time you wake up: 8ish am, depending on when Meg wakes up
U. Underwear: Always?
V. Vegetable you hate: Mushrooms any style, fresh onions
W. What makes you run late: Slow people.
X. X-Rays you've had: Wrist in the 6th grade when I broke my it in 2 places.
Y. Yummy food that you make: Everything, I'm pretty much a domestic goddess.
Z. Zoo animal: We were there yesterday! Had an amazing fun time with my Grandma Karen, Lacie and Dylan...until he had a major meltdown and we left quite quickly!
Feel free to steal! :)
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
just sitting...
...around today. I really ought to take the kiddos to the park because it is beautiful out now. It was all gross and overcast this morning, but now it's sunny and a little bit breezy. Absolutely lovely! I've got Meg's diapers drying on the balcony-I love that crunchy warm feeling fabric has after being dried outside in the sun.
Things have been pretty crazy here lately, just the regular stresses of a single-earner household. We went camping last week, and as I mentioned last time, I was hoping to have a missed period and be pregnant, but it was not meant to be. I waited and waited all night Thursday when my period would have been due if I was on a 28 day cycle like I was before I got pregnant with Meghan. Nothing. Not even close. All the rest of the weekend I waitedimpatiently patiently for something, anything! And nothing happened! I was so excited thinking that we had gotten it on the first try, like we did with Meghan...and then so so so sad on Sunday night when AF showed up.
I've been pretty down since then, although still wishing i would get going on this bloggy blog. I suppose I ought to carve out a specific time to sit down and write/type about the day and whatever other random thoughts I have. I do want to sit down and write about our camping trip because we had SO much ridiculous fun and it was awesome to sort of re-focus our family and spend quality one-on-one-on-one (haha) time just the three of us.
I"m cutting it short today, I've got rustic peach tarts to bake! ;)
Things have been pretty crazy here lately, just the regular stresses of a single-earner household. We went camping last week, and as I mentioned last time, I was hoping to have a missed period and be pregnant, but it was not meant to be. I waited and waited all night Thursday when my period would have been due if I was on a 28 day cycle like I was before I got pregnant with Meghan. Nothing. Not even close. All the rest of the weekend I waited
I've been pretty down since then, although still wishing i would get going on this bloggy blog. I suppose I ought to carve out a specific time to sit down and write/type about the day and whatever other random thoughts I have. I do want to sit down and write about our camping trip because we had SO much ridiculous fun and it was awesome to sort of re-focus our family and spend quality one-on-one-on-one (haha) time just the three of us.
I"m cutting it short today, I've got rustic peach tarts to bake! ;)
Saturday, September 3, 2011
oh my word...
...it is ridiculously hot! It is 78 degrees at 9pm, but it feels like 98! I've got the ac on in my bedroom to cool it down from 85 degrees for later when I go to sleep! I'm considering going in there early to just lay in the ac. I've got the living room ac going with a sheet up in the doorway to the kitchen and the doors closed to the bedrooms and bathrooms, but I have a feeling I'll give up that futile attempt and retreat to the bedroom soon!
Tomorrow my mom is having a little Labor Day cookout and birthday party for my sister, Kaitlyn. She turned 24 on August 8th, the day before she gave birth to baby Freddy. So he's about 4 weeks old now and is simply divine!
I'm in charge of making cake tomorrow. We usually have flag cake that looks like this. (but we make a Jello cake instead of using sliced pound cake, but it looks the same) We make this type of cake for the patriotic holidays.Well, this year I am switching it up! I want to make this type of cake this year.
A hidden flag cake! I had intended to bake it today and assemble it tomorrow because it is so hot and humid here right now, but I didn't bake tonight! So, I'll have to bake tomorrow and assemble it before we leave for the party. I also have to stop quick at the store to pick up formula for my sister (more on that at a later date, as well as other things I don't agree with-haha)
Today, Meghan and I went out to our small hometown and picked up my sister and her baby and went to the Farmer's Market in the nearby small city. It was awesome! I was a little tentative because I had never been to the farmer's market before and I really had no idea what I was doing. We got 9 ears of corn, 2 large sweet potatoes, 1 bunch broccoli, 4 large peaches, 1 large tomatoe, and 1 red onion for 12 dollars. Pretty sweet! I am excited to eat our fresh food, and will have to pretty quick because we are going camping in a few days!
After the farmer's market, we stopped at Walmart to pick up the thank you cards for Meghan's birthday (which I have neglected to send out, bad me!) They're awesome and were super cheap!
Cute right?! I only had to pay to have them printed because I won the design in a giveaway I entered awhile ago. It was for 1 design from an etsy store that did custom invitations. I got notified that I had won literally, the day after I had mailed out Meghan's birthday party invites. I was bummed because I didn't have a use for invitations, then I realized I could customize it any way I wanted, so I had the etsy seller change the wording to thanks and had her put in a picture of Meghan eating her cupcake!
Of course, Meg looks comatose because it was late afternoon and she didn't get a nap! :) After our adventures in the small city, we went back to my Dad's house and I cut Kait's hair. It is super cute, she wanted to get rid of some of the length and weight and add some bangs. Her hair was down to her mid-back and I cut about 6 inches off and added long, side-swept bangs. Sister is looking goooood!
By then it was about 3pm, so we decided to stay for dinner and that was a good choice! My dad had been slowing cooking dry-rubbed ribs in the oven all day and then finished them on the grill with a wet barbecue sauce. Yummmm! Meg and I left soon after and stopped at the homestead (Drew's parents' house) to visit his family since we probably won't see them again until my birthday. (gah, going to be 26!) We visited for awhile and Meg ate her first chicken cheddar nugget, which she devoured! ;)
Finally, we made it home at about 8, Meghan went right to sleep after a long day with only a 20 minute nap in the car...and now it's bedtime for me!
I'm in charge of making cake tomorrow. We usually have flag cake that looks like this. (but we make a Jello cake instead of using sliced pound cake, but it looks the same) We make this type of cake for the patriotic holidays.Well, this year I am switching it up! I want to make this type of cake this year.
A hidden flag cake! I had intended to bake it today and assemble it tomorrow because it is so hot and humid here right now, but I didn't bake tonight! So, I'll have to bake tomorrow and assemble it before we leave for the party. I also have to stop quick at the store to pick up formula for my sister (more on that at a later date, as well as other things I don't agree with-haha)
Today, Meghan and I went out to our small hometown and picked up my sister and her baby and went to the Farmer's Market in the nearby small city. It was awesome! I was a little tentative because I had never been to the farmer's market before and I really had no idea what I was doing. We got 9 ears of corn, 2 large sweet potatoes, 1 bunch broccoli, 4 large peaches, 1 large tomatoe, and 1 red onion for 12 dollars. Pretty sweet! I am excited to eat our fresh food, and will have to pretty quick because we are going camping in a few days!
After the farmer's market, we stopped at Walmart to pick up the thank you cards for Meghan's birthday (which I have neglected to send out, bad me!) They're awesome and were super cheap!
Cute right?! I only had to pay to have them printed because I won the design in a giveaway I entered awhile ago. It was for 1 design from an etsy store that did custom invitations. I got notified that I had won literally, the day after I had mailed out Meghan's birthday party invites. I was bummed because I didn't have a use for invitations, then I realized I could customize it any way I wanted, so I had the etsy seller change the wording to thanks and had her put in a picture of Meghan eating her cupcake!
Of course, Meg looks comatose because it was late afternoon and she didn't get a nap! :) After our adventures in the small city, we went back to my Dad's house and I cut Kait's hair. It is super cute, she wanted to get rid of some of the length and weight and add some bangs. Her hair was down to her mid-back and I cut about 6 inches off and added long, side-swept bangs. Sister is looking goooood!
By then it was about 3pm, so we decided to stay for dinner and that was a good choice! My dad had been slowing cooking dry-rubbed ribs in the oven all day and then finished them on the grill with a wet barbecue sauce. Yummmm! Meg and I left soon after and stopped at the homestead (Drew's parents' house) to visit his family since we probably won't see them again until my birthday. (gah, going to be 26!) We visited for awhile and Meg ate her first chicken cheddar nugget, which she devoured! ;)
Finally, we made it home at about 8, Meghan went right to sleep after a long day with only a 20 minute nap in the car...and now it's bedtime for me!
Friday, September 2, 2011
hmmm...
...took a little break there, sorry mates! :) It was totally unintentional. I kept saying to myself, "I could be blogging about this (insert event)" or "I could be blogging RIGHT NOW" ... and then I didn't. :/ I use a lot of emoticons, I hope that doesn't bother anyone (if so, there's the virtual door :P) I use them, because how else would you know what I'm emoting?!
No news yet on the ttc front. AF is due around September 8th, coincidently, we'll be camping in the wilderness, so I'll let you know when we get back if there is any exciting news! I doubt it, as I am not having any symptoms like I did with Meghan.
Onto this camping business. I love camping, I really do. Two summers ago, hubby and I went with his brother and 2 sisters and their significant others. It was interesting to say the least. We went for 4 days, it rained 2 days and every night while we were there! So, there was a lot less craziness, although there was a fair amount of it. I don't want to go into details, but by the end, we were so grateful to get out of each others' hair!
Last year we didn't go camping as I was enormously pregnant with Meg and I would have been up to it, maybe earlier in the Spring, but Drew and I moved into our own apartment and got married within 2 weeks, so we really just took the rest of the time to settle in and set up shop for baby.
We will be gone from the 7th to the 11th. We are going camping in the Adironacks. When I said 'wilderness', I meant it! Short of wandering aimlessly, I don't think there could be a more remote way to camp. Literally, you sign in on a sheet of paper with your info, place your marker in the occuppied column and make your way to your site. It's first come-first served. There are Park Rangers around if needed. There is a store, gas station, boat rentals, etc.
At any rate, we are taking our first family vacation! And I am stoked! (can you tell?!) I don't know how Meg's going to do in the wilderness. I think we're taking an inflatable mattress, or we are sleeping on the ground. She did okay when we spent the night at the homestead (in laws) but that was just one night and in their back yard. And by okay, I mean she woke up a couple times and I had to nurse her back to sleep. Here at home, she sleeps in her crib, so she almost always settles back to sleep on her own and at least I would know she wouldn't be fooling around in the tent in the event she woke up. She also wouldn't be rolling off the air mattress! Obviously we can't take her crib with us...I'll probably just wing it like I usually do! :)
Back to babies, Drew has 2 cousins that are sisters and they are both pregnant and due in January! Very exciting in and of itself (almost as exciting 2 years ago when his 3 cousins were expecting within a month of each other!) Then we got the news that 1 of his currently pregnant cousins is expecting twins!! So excited and surprised! Multiples don't run in his family, even with all the large sized families. (10+ children per family) Around this same time, we learned that his Aunt, who was expecting her 17th (22nd pregnancy) lost her little one at about 10 weeks. The baby was still there, but no heartbeat. I am so saddened by this news, I admit I did cry. His aunt yearns to have another newborn and I know it would have brought her much happiness. My heart goes out to her and her family (all the children knew about the baby, her youngest is 3) I did not write anything on her blog as I did not know what to say. I haven't yet felt that loss, and hope I never have to. It is all in God's plan and He knows what is best for us.
I hate to end on a sad note, but perhaps I shall come back from camping with good news!
No news yet on the ttc front. AF is due around September 8th, coincidently, we'll be camping in the wilderness, so I'll let you know when we get back if there is any exciting news! I doubt it, as I am not having any symptoms like I did with Meghan.
Onto this camping business. I love camping, I really do. Two summers ago, hubby and I went with his brother and 2 sisters and their significant others. It was interesting to say the least. We went for 4 days, it rained 2 days and every night while we were there! So, there was a lot less craziness, although there was a fair amount of it. I don't want to go into details, but by the end, we were so grateful to get out of each others' hair!
Last year we didn't go camping as I was enormously pregnant with Meg and I would have been up to it, maybe earlier in the Spring, but Drew and I moved into our own apartment and got married within 2 weeks, so we really just took the rest of the time to settle in and set up shop for baby.
We will be gone from the 7th to the 11th. We are going camping in the Adironacks. When I said 'wilderness', I meant it! Short of wandering aimlessly, I don't think there could be a more remote way to camp. Literally, you sign in on a sheet of paper with your info, place your marker in the occuppied column and make your way to your site. It's first come-first served. There are Park Rangers around if needed. There is a store, gas station, boat rentals, etc.
At any rate, we are taking our first family vacation! And I am stoked! (can you tell?!) I don't know how Meg's going to do in the wilderness. I think we're taking an inflatable mattress, or we are sleeping on the ground. She did okay when we spent the night at the homestead (in laws) but that was just one night and in their back yard. And by okay, I mean she woke up a couple times and I had to nurse her back to sleep. Here at home, she sleeps in her crib, so she almost always settles back to sleep on her own and at least I would know she wouldn't be fooling around in the tent in the event she woke up. She also wouldn't be rolling off the air mattress! Obviously we can't take her crib with us...I'll probably just wing it like I usually do! :)
Back to babies, Drew has 2 cousins that are sisters and they are both pregnant and due in January! Very exciting in and of itself (almost as exciting 2 years ago when his 3 cousins were expecting within a month of each other!) Then we got the news that 1 of his currently pregnant cousins is expecting twins!! So excited and surprised! Multiples don't run in his family, even with all the large sized families. (10+ children per family) Around this same time, we learned that his Aunt, who was expecting her 17th (22nd pregnancy) lost her little one at about 10 weeks. The baby was still there, but no heartbeat. I am so saddened by this news, I admit I did cry. His aunt yearns to have another newborn and I know it would have brought her much happiness. My heart goes out to her and her family (all the children knew about the baby, her youngest is 3) I did not write anything on her blog as I did not know what to say. I haven't yet felt that loss, and hope I never have to. It is all in God's plan and He knows what is best for us.
I hate to end on a sad note, but perhaps I shall come back from camping with good news!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
I've got 12 minutes 18 seconds...
...to write a quick post before my muffins are done! But, you may be asking yourself, why on earth is she baking muffins at 1123pm? Well, I realized about an hour ago that Drew had nothing to take to work for breakfast! He eats breakfast in the car, so we usually have Pop tarts, or granola or almonds or something easy for him to snack on on his way to work. However, we are without a quick breakfast food today, so I just whipped up some strawberry oat muffins and they are baking off in the oven. Thus, the need for the quick post. Hopefully they turn out well.
Yesterday was Luke's graduation party, we had so much fun! We got to see a whole bunch of Drew's side of the family and lots of little ones! Drew's aunt gave us a little ride-on toy for Meghan that her girls had outgrown and Meg was stoked! I wish I had thought to get a picture of her on it, in fact, I didn't take any pictures at all. Bad me!
We drank lots of water because it was hot! And lots of good food, of course. Kim made baked chicken, meatball subs, sausage/peppers/onions on sub rolls, macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, devilled eggs, salt potatoes, baked beans. Plus there was chips, veggies and dip and candy on the tables. It was a feast! I ate waaay too much, but it was so good! Meghan enjoyed her share of chicken, macaroni and cheese and carrots. She loves a good baby carrot over anything else!
Nothing too crazy going on this week, my Grandmother's birthday on Wednesday and Drew's youngest sister's birthday on Friday, hopefully we'll be back out to our hometown to celebrate her 6th birthday!
Yesterday was Luke's graduation party, we had so much fun! We got to see a whole bunch of Drew's side of the family and lots of little ones! Drew's aunt gave us a little ride-on toy for Meghan that her girls had outgrown and Meg was stoked! I wish I had thought to get a picture of her on it, in fact, I didn't take any pictures at all. Bad me!
We drank lots of water because it was hot! And lots of good food, of course. Kim made baked chicken, meatball subs, sausage/peppers/onions on sub rolls, macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, devilled eggs, salt potatoes, baked beans. Plus there was chips, veggies and dip and candy on the tables. It was a feast! I ate waaay too much, but it was so good! Meghan enjoyed her share of chicken, macaroni and cheese and carrots. She loves a good baby carrot over anything else!
Nothing too crazy going on this week, my Grandmother's birthday on Wednesday and Drew's youngest sister's birthday on Friday, hopefully we'll be back out to our hometown to celebrate her 6th birthday!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
woohoo...
...I added a reply button to my comments! I am stoked, I love to reply to all your lovely comments, but I think it looks awkward when it's not a reply. It sort of looks mishmashed. Like I am replying to my own post instead of your comment!
In other not-so-nerdy news, today is a glorious Saturday! Drew's brother, Luke has graduated high school and today is his graduation party! I am excited to get to see his side of the family and visit with them...and also for the food! There's just something about mil, Kim's, cooking. It's amazing! (and I'm not just saying that because she reads this! :D ) Her food is just super simple and yummy! She even did all the food for our wedding and reception! (except the cake) Which reminds me, I should write the story of our wedding on here sometime...
Maybe another post later tonight!
In other not-so-nerdy news, today is a glorious Saturday! Drew's brother, Luke has graduated high school and today is his graduation party! I am excited to get to see his side of the family and visit with them...and also for the food! There's just something about mil, Kim's, cooking. It's amazing! (and I'm not just saying that because she reads this! :D ) Her food is just super simple and yummy! She even did all the food for our wedding and reception! (except the cake) Which reminds me, I should write the story of our wedding on here sometime...
Maybe another post later tonight!
Friday, August 19, 2011
rant...
...maybe. I wanted to list all the things that I think went wrong with Kait's labor and delivery and share all the wonderful comments my family made to me about her birth, like I had the power to change it afterwards. (sarcasm) But, I have decided to just let it all go as there is nothing I can change, and God made her birth happen the way it did for a reason. He wanted her to experience it that way, just like he put me through the trial of Meghan's birth. I know that her labor and delivery was arduous and so hard and resulted in a c-section for a reason.
I believe it was because I had this idealized plan of how everything would go perfectly and there would be no complications or bumps in the road. God sent me that curve ball for trying to plan out what couldn't be planned and what I should've left up to him in the first place.
One of these days I'll write about what I'd like my next birth to be like...ahhh, a girl can dream, huh? :)
Speaking of, and quite nicely timed, my last post before Kait's birth story was Thursday, August 11th. I had written about how Freddy had arrived and a friend of mine was still nursing her 2 1/2 year old and her period had returned at 18 months post partum, remember? I was musing about how I'd have to wait another 5+ months before the thought of ovulation and conception could even be considered seriously.
Well, lo and behold, I didn't have to wait 5+ months! I literally published that post, shut off the lights, tv, etc to get the apartment ready for nighttime and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed...and Aunt Flow was there! Hahaha. I was so surprised and delighted! I am so stoked and I wanted to call Drew up right then, but decided to wait because I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal to him. When I told him about it the next day, he said, "Well, now we can have another baby." I am so thankful that he feels the same way and I think he even got a little excited that a baby is now a definite possibility. :)
I am not so surprised that AF showed up, I had been having serious cramps the week before, but shrugged it off as indigestion. I don't know how much you all need/want to know, but since I'll be sharing any future conceptions/pregnancies/births as they come, you might as well know ;) I had a regular period, lasting 6 days (which is normal for me) It was quite heavy and painful which I was not accustomed to as I had been on birth control for the past ... almost 10 years! Yikes! I can say that I feel phenomenal having let my body do it's natural thing and I think that the mood swings I used to experience while on birth control are non-existent. (I'm sure Drew would argue that point ;) )
So, now that we know I am/should be ovulating fairly regularly, we're going to go with the flow. I don't want to stress myself too much and jinx anything. I definitely want to wait awhile to see if 'it' will just happen before I go charting basal temperatures and counting days. I certainly wasn't doing any of that last time, so maybe it will just be a nice surprise for my birthday next month... :D
I believe it was because I had this idealized plan of how everything would go perfectly and there would be no complications or bumps in the road. God sent me that curve ball for trying to plan out what couldn't be planned and what I should've left up to him in the first place.
One of these days I'll write about what I'd like my next birth to be like...ahhh, a girl can dream, huh? :)
Speaking of, and quite nicely timed, my last post before Kait's birth story was Thursday, August 11th. I had written about how Freddy had arrived and a friend of mine was still nursing her 2 1/2 year old and her period had returned at 18 months post partum, remember? I was musing about how I'd have to wait another 5+ months before the thought of ovulation and conception could even be considered seriously.
Well, lo and behold, I didn't have to wait 5+ months! I literally published that post, shut off the lights, tv, etc to get the apartment ready for nighttime and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed...and Aunt Flow was there! Hahaha. I was so surprised and delighted! I am so stoked and I wanted to call Drew up right then, but decided to wait because I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal to him. When I told him about it the next day, he said, "Well, now we can have another baby." I am so thankful that he feels the same way and I think he even got a little excited that a baby is now a definite possibility. :)
I am not so surprised that AF showed up, I had been having serious cramps the week before, but shrugged it off as indigestion. I don't know how much you all need/want to know, but since I'll be sharing any future conceptions/pregnancies/births as they come, you might as well know ;) I had a regular period, lasting 6 days (which is normal for me) It was quite heavy and painful which I was not accustomed to as I had been on birth control for the past ... almost 10 years! Yikes! I can say that I feel phenomenal having let my body do it's natural thing and I think that the mood swings I used to experience while on birth control are non-existent. (I'm sure Drew would argue that point ;) )
So, now that we know I am/should be ovulating fairly regularly, we're going to go with the flow. I don't want to stress myself too much and jinx anything. I definitely want to wait awhile to see if 'it' will just happen before I go charting basal temperatures and counting days. I certainly wasn't doing any of that last time, so maybe it will just be a nice surprise for my birthday next month... :D
kait's birth story
haha, Freddy was born a week and a half ago and I am determined to get it written tonight! Ok, here goes...
Once upon a time... :)
First, a little back story...Drew's sisters: Olivia, Eileen and Liz came over to spend 2 nights at our place on Sunday August 7th. Drew and I went out to see Bridesmaids (hilarious, yet shocking at the same time!) on Sunday and we had planned to see another movie on Monday night (I mean, who could not take advantage of free babysitting!) But, I couldn't find our free movie ticket, so I told Drew to go ahead without me and meet his cousin Joey at the movies to see Captain America. I think now that I didn't find the ticket for a good reason! (I have since found the ticket too!) The girls, Meghan and I were hanging out at Drew's other sister, Michelle's apartment (she and her boyfriend Corey live in the same complex as us), just relaxing and playing board games.
Kait started texting me at about 8pm saying that she had woken up that morning at 330am, 4, and 430am with horrible back pain but had been able to fall back asleep. She had left the house to run some errands and ended up at Fred's (baby's father) house in the late afternoon. She and Fred's mother Margaret had been timing contractions, they were regular every 5 minutes or so, lasting less than a minute. I decided to meet Kait back at our Dad's house and see what was going on.
I told the girls I had to go and Eileen and I came back here to put Meg down to sleep for the night. Eileen offered to come and wait until she fell asleep, then I told her she could go back over to Shelly's house. I left Meghan's window open and with Shelly's window open...almost as good as a baby monitor1 ;) Not to mention, Meghan never wakes up during the night and if she does, she's usually back to sleep within a few minutes. I left the girls and told Liz I'd text with instructions for Meg in case this was the real deal and not a false alarm.
I met up with Kait about 9pm. She said the contractions had slowed down, but still had solid back pain. I had her walk the length of the house a few times to see if there was any change. She had a couple solid contractions and wanted to go to the hospital just to get a definitive answer. I told her to call the OB's office first and see what they say, as she claimed she wasn't having regular contractions and her office hadn't broken. She didn't want to and just wanted to get to the hospital so off we went.
She continued to say she only had solid back pain and no real contractions, so I thought we would be sent home for sure. We arrive at the ER where they promptly tell Kait that she should have called her OB before coming in. She's admitted as an outpatient anyways because we tell them her contractions are regular every 3-4 minutes. We're taken to the maternity ward which is half under construction and put into a room literally half the size of my apartment living room! She had to give a urine sample and the bathroom was a toilet and space for your feet. With two doors on each side. That's it. :D The maternity nurses again told her that she should have called the OB before coming in but hooked her up to the monitors to track her contractions and baby's heartbeat. She also had blood drawn. Then we started to walk the halls...
The nurses were hoping that Kait would progress if she walked for a little while so she could be admitted. Which she did, whew! She was a 3-4 (cm dilated) and was a 4-5 after walking for about half an hour. We then got moved from the dinky little room into the newly renovated birthing center room:
the warming bed for baby:
footprints on the ceiling tiles!
tub with jets!
ahem, toilet, and fresh towels, shampoos and bath gels!
kait in labor:
This is Kait and Fred (baby's father) right after we got into the birthing suite. We had one nurse that was determined to have Kait on her back the whole time. She hooked her right up to the monitors and had her get into the bed. Well I put up with those shenanigans for about 5 seconds and had Kait get out of bed and move around into different positions. This is when I started Kait had a lot of lower back labor so she would squeeze Fred's hand while I used by palms and fists to counter-pressure her back contractions.
At about 330am, Kait was checked and at a 7! She had made it all the way to 7cm without any pains meds! She was feeling intense pain, so she decided to get into the jet tub! It looked divine while she was in there, I was a bit jealous! I felt like I was constantly watching the clock, but now I can't recall what happened at what time. I believe a couple hours later, at about 5am, Kait was checked and still at 7cm so she agreed to have some Fentanyl for the pain. I was/am so proud of her for getting so far without any pain medication!
Things moved fairly quickly after that. Kait started complaining that she felt like she needed to relieve herself, so we would take trips from the bathroom to the bed and back. Each time, not producing a baby or anything else. She was checked again at her request and found to be about a 7-8. She had Fentanyl at 5, 6 and 7am. I believe they broke her water at about 730am. And that's where we ran into trouble.
I saw meconium in the waters (obviously so did the nurses) I knew they would not let Kait labor on her own schedule. They continued to hound her. She just would not progress. She got to the point where she was essentially holding her legs shut and refused to do any hip-rocking or swaying or other moves that would allow her pelvis to open up and Freddy to move down farther. One nurse found she had the tiniest bit of cervix left but was completely dilated and not allowing her body to do the work for her.
At this point she was feeling everything and in such distress. She was pleading for a different nurse and for them to do something. She pleaded for a c-section. The nurses refused to give her any more medication because she was so close to being done and I'm glad they did that. I think Kait started pushing around 9am but started hyperventilating and pulling away from the contractions and our hands that were holding her feet. They put her on oxygen and she calmed down a little bit, but was still pulling away. She would push with each contraction and the nurses wanted 3 pushes with every one contraction. And Kait was just too exhausted. She would collapse after every push while the rest of us were egging her on, trying to coax her to push. Soon, it was apparent to everyone that she wouldn't or couldn't do it on her own. This is when they called in the doctor.
The first thing he asked was if she had an epidural. haha. He was quite surprised when we said no! He used a vacuum to help Kait get Freddy out. He pulled a little while Kait pushed. Frederick Harry Ceratt IV was born at 928am on Tuesday August 9th! Weighing 7 pounds 14.4 ounces and was 21 inches long.
Kait was in labor for about 30 hours and we were at the hospital for about 11 hours. She did not have to have an episiotomy and only had a small 1st degree tear internally that was quickly stitched up. Since the birth, Kait has taken no pain meds and is breastfeeding with minimal complications. Freddy was circumcised on his 2nd day and so far has had no complications.
Once upon a time... :)
First, a little back story...Drew's sisters: Olivia, Eileen and Liz came over to spend 2 nights at our place on Sunday August 7th. Drew and I went out to see Bridesmaids (hilarious, yet shocking at the same time!) on Sunday and we had planned to see another movie on Monday night (I mean, who could not take advantage of free babysitting!) But, I couldn't find our free movie ticket, so I told Drew to go ahead without me and meet his cousin Joey at the movies to see Captain America. I think now that I didn't find the ticket for a good reason! (I have since found the ticket too!) The girls, Meghan and I were hanging out at Drew's other sister, Michelle's apartment (she and her boyfriend Corey live in the same complex as us), just relaxing and playing board games.
Kait started texting me at about 8pm saying that she had woken up that morning at 330am, 4, and 430am with horrible back pain but had been able to fall back asleep. She had left the house to run some errands and ended up at Fred's (baby's father) house in the late afternoon. She and Fred's mother Margaret had been timing contractions, they were regular every 5 minutes or so, lasting less than a minute. I decided to meet Kait back at our Dad's house and see what was going on.
I told the girls I had to go and Eileen and I came back here to put Meg down to sleep for the night. Eileen offered to come and wait until she fell asleep, then I told her she could go back over to Shelly's house. I left Meghan's window open and with Shelly's window open...almost as good as a baby monitor1 ;) Not to mention, Meghan never wakes up during the night and if she does, she's usually back to sleep within a few minutes. I left the girls and told Liz I'd text with instructions for Meg in case this was the real deal and not a false alarm.
I met up with Kait about 9pm. She said the contractions had slowed down, but still had solid back pain. I had her walk the length of the house a few times to see if there was any change. She had a couple solid contractions and wanted to go to the hospital just to get a definitive answer. I told her to call the OB's office first and see what they say, as she claimed she wasn't having regular contractions and her office hadn't broken. She didn't want to and just wanted to get to the hospital so off we went.
She continued to say she only had solid back pain and no real contractions, so I thought we would be sent home for sure. We arrive at the ER where they promptly tell Kait that she should have called her OB before coming in. She's admitted as an outpatient anyways because we tell them her contractions are regular every 3-4 minutes. We're taken to the maternity ward which is half under construction and put into a room literally half the size of my apartment living room! She had to give a urine sample and the bathroom was a toilet and space for your feet. With two doors on each side. That's it. :D The maternity nurses again told her that she should have called the OB before coming in but hooked her up to the monitors to track her contractions and baby's heartbeat. She also had blood drawn. Then we started to walk the halls...
The nurses were hoping that Kait would progress if she walked for a little while so she could be admitted. Which she did, whew! She was a 3-4 (cm dilated) and was a 4-5 after walking for about half an hour. We then got moved from the dinky little room into the newly renovated birthing center room:
This is Kait and Fred (baby's father) right after we got into the birthing suite. We had one nurse that was determined to have Kait on her back the whole time. She hooked her right up to the monitors and had her get into the bed. Well I put up with those shenanigans for about 5 seconds and had Kait get out of bed and move around into different positions. This is when I started Kait had a lot of lower back labor so she would squeeze Fred's hand while I used by palms and fists to counter-pressure her back contractions.
At about 330am, Kait was checked and at a 7! She had made it all the way to 7cm without any pains meds! She was feeling intense pain, so she decided to get into the jet tub! It looked divine while she was in there, I was a bit jealous! I felt like I was constantly watching the clock, but now I can't recall what happened at what time. I believe a couple hours later, at about 5am, Kait was checked and still at 7cm so she agreed to have some Fentanyl for the pain. I was/am so proud of her for getting so far without any pain medication!
Things moved fairly quickly after that. Kait started complaining that she felt like she needed to relieve herself, so we would take trips from the bathroom to the bed and back. Each time, not producing a baby or anything else. She was checked again at her request and found to be about a 7-8. She had Fentanyl at 5, 6 and 7am. I believe they broke her water at about 730am. And that's where we ran into trouble.
I saw meconium in the waters (obviously so did the nurses) I knew they would not let Kait labor on her own schedule. They continued to hound her. She just would not progress. She got to the point where she was essentially holding her legs shut and refused to do any hip-rocking or swaying or other moves that would allow her pelvis to open up and Freddy to move down farther. One nurse found she had the tiniest bit of cervix left but was completely dilated and not allowing her body to do the work for her.
At this point she was feeling everything and in such distress. She was pleading for a different nurse and for them to do something. She pleaded for a c-section. The nurses refused to give her any more medication because she was so close to being done and I'm glad they did that. I think Kait started pushing around 9am but started hyperventilating and pulling away from the contractions and our hands that were holding her feet. They put her on oxygen and she calmed down a little bit, but was still pulling away. She would push with each contraction and the nurses wanted 3 pushes with every one contraction. And Kait was just too exhausted. She would collapse after every push while the rest of us were egging her on, trying to coax her to push. Soon, it was apparent to everyone that she wouldn't or couldn't do it on her own. This is when they called in the doctor.
The first thing he asked was if she had an epidural. haha. He was quite surprised when we said no! He used a vacuum to help Kait get Freddy out. He pulled a little while Kait pushed. Frederick Harry Ceratt IV was born at 928am on Tuesday August 9th! Weighing 7 pounds 14.4 ounces and was 21 inches long.
Kait was in labor for about 30 hours and we were at the hospital for about 11 hours. She did not have to have an episiotomy and only had a small 1st degree tear internally that was quickly stitched up. Since the birth, Kait has taken no pain meds and is breastfeeding with minimal complications. Freddy was circumcised on his 2nd day and so far has had no complications.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
a new...
...arrival! My sister had her baby on Tuesday morning! It has been so crazy since Monday night, I haven't had a chance to do a thing except sleep and eat! :) I'd like to write out her birth story from my point of view (and post it, obviously) but I know I won't get to it tonight because it is late and I am tired! I'll probably write it bit by bit over the next couple of days and maybe I'll get to posting it this weekend...sometime!
On a semi-related note, it seems like everyone around me is either pregnant or just had a baby! My sister, 2 girls that are sisters and daughters of a woman my Dad used to date when we were younger had babies in May and July (the 2nd on my Dad's birthday!), my 2nd cousin's girlfriend's baby shower is on Saturday (she's due in September), a girl I grew up with was at the same hospital as my sister at the same time, a handful of blogs I follow happen to have currently pregnant mommas as well as a close relative on hubby's side just found out she was pregnant with her 17th baby!
All of this is such joyful news, but at the same time, I am sad. When I held baby Freddy for the first time and smelled his new baby smell and snuggled his soft, cute, little baby body...I got that overwhelming urge to snuggle my own newborn babe. (not that I don't have that urge constantly...) I know the next baby will come at the right time and I have no control over when or if that will be. (though I pray sooner rather than later!) A college friend of mine told me she didn't get her period back until her lo was 18 months...so hopefully I only have to wait 5 odd months! :)
At any rate, it's been a lovely week and I will post details about the last couple of days soon!
On a semi-related note, it seems like everyone around me is either pregnant or just had a baby! My sister, 2 girls that are sisters and daughters of a woman my Dad used to date when we were younger had babies in May and July (the 2nd on my Dad's birthday!), my 2nd cousin's girlfriend's baby shower is on Saturday (she's due in September), a girl I grew up with was at the same hospital as my sister at the same time, a handful of blogs I follow happen to have currently pregnant mommas as well as a close relative on hubby's side just found out she was pregnant with her 17th baby!
All of this is such joyful news, but at the same time, I am sad. When I held baby Freddy for the first time and smelled his new baby smell and snuggled his soft, cute, little baby body...I got that overwhelming urge to snuggle my own newborn babe. (not that I don't have that urge constantly...) I know the next baby will come at the right time and I have no control over when or if that will be. (though I pray sooner rather than later!) A college friend of mine told me she didn't get her period back until her lo was 18 months...so hopefully I only have to wait 5 odd months! :)
At any rate, it's been a lovely week and I will post details about the last couple of days soon!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
mish mash...
...
Often, through out the day, I get random thoughts or things happen and I say to myself, "I should be blogging about this..." Of course, at 1:09 in the morning, when I actually set down to write a post, I can't remember anything.
I think I shall resolve this by attempting to write everyday. Remember what happened last time? I attempted to write once a day for 30 days and ended up with about 12 posts. Less than half! I could argue I had a 4 month old bed sharing-breastfeeding through the night-constantly waking baby, resulting in a super tired momma, but I won't.
Point is, I should be able to post once a day. When I think of all the useless things I do online during the day, it not only adds up to enough time to write a post, it vastly exceeds it! :)
Eh, we'll see what happens, I guess.
I watched Dylan like regular on Monday and then on Tuesday I went to my Dad's house to see my sister and do some labor and delivery education! I don't know if I shared this already, but I'm my sister's doula, for whenever baby Freddy decides to join us. :) I had lined up some youtube videos for her to watch of labor positions, natural birth, etc. She did not like some of them that showed actual births, claiming she did not need to see it. I promptly told her she needs to know what's going to happen to her body. She countered with the fact that she's been reading books...not as much as I would like her to though. I just know she's going into this almost as blind as I was, and I would hate for her to have the same birth experience I had.
Of course, it will be different. She's delivering in a different hospital and by a midwife in a team of ob's. Also, I have done so much research and I will be with her every step of the way! Surely, God will guide us and everything will turn out right. (funny side note, I typed 'bob' first instead of 'God'...haha, how funny would that be if we called our deity Bob!)
We also practiced some labor positions, so at least she is vaguely familiar with them!
Ok, lots of prayers tonight for my sister and I just found out a family member-in-law is pregnant! (I did comment on her blog post that she should send some baby dust this way ;) )
Night all!
Often, through out the day, I get random thoughts or things happen and I say to myself, "I should be blogging about this..." Of course, at 1:09 in the morning, when I actually set down to write a post, I can't remember anything.
I think I shall resolve this by attempting to write everyday. Remember what happened last time? I attempted to write once a day for 30 days and ended up with about 12 posts. Less than half! I could argue I had a 4 month old bed sharing-breastfeeding through the night-constantly waking baby, resulting in a super tired momma, but I won't.
Point is, I should be able to post once a day. When I think of all the useless things I do online during the day, it not only adds up to enough time to write a post, it vastly exceeds it! :)
Eh, we'll see what happens, I guess.
I watched Dylan like regular on Monday and then on Tuesday I went to my Dad's house to see my sister and do some labor and delivery education! I don't know if I shared this already, but I'm my sister's doula, for whenever baby Freddy decides to join us. :) I had lined up some youtube videos for her to watch of labor positions, natural birth, etc. She did not like some of them that showed actual births, claiming she did not need to see it. I promptly told her she needs to know what's going to happen to her body. She countered with the fact that she's been reading books...not as much as I would like her to though. I just know she's going into this almost as blind as I was, and I would hate for her to have the same birth experience I had.
Of course, it will be different. She's delivering in a different hospital and by a midwife in a team of ob's. Also, I have done so much research and I will be with her every step of the way! Surely, God will guide us and everything will turn out right. (funny side note, I typed 'bob' first instead of 'God'...haha, how funny would that be if we called our deity Bob!)
We also practiced some labor positions, so at least she is vaguely familiar with them!
Ok, lots of prayers tonight for my sister and I just found out a family member-in-law is pregnant! (I did comment on her blog post that she should send some baby dust this way ;) )
Night all!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
switchin'...
...it up around here! I just changed the background on this blog...not sure if I want to change the background on the giveaway blog or not. I probably will. I blog on a netbook, so it's this tiny little thing with a 10 inch screen, so I try to imagine what it would look like on a normal/bigger screen. I also centered the header and changed my profile picture to a more recent one. The old one was May of 2010 when I was pregnant with Meghan, this new one is in May of this year. Hopefully it looks ok! :)
Today we went to my Grandparents house to celebrate my Dad's birthday (7/22) and my sister, Kait's, birthday (8/8) We decided to celebrate Kait's today because this next weekend, my Grandma will be out of town, Kait's baby is due on her birthday, and then the following weekend we all have a baby shower to go to. My second cousin, Brendan and his girlfriend, Ashley, are pregnant with their first baby girl, Abigail Rose and Ashley is due in September. Brendan and his 2 sisters are close in age to my sisters and I, and we were close growing up. His mom and my mom are the same age and are good friends. His Dad is one of my Grandpa's little brothers.
Enough with the genealogy lesson! :) I only have to watch Dylan once this week, tomorrow. He is going with my Grandma to visit some family in Pennsylvania and will be gone all week. I'm hoping we get to see more of Drew's family this week. (hint, hint Kim! :) Haha, I thought she would enjoy that little shoutout!) Tuesday, Meghan and I will be going out to my Dad's house to see my sister Kait. I'm her doula for her labor and delivery, so I just want to go over some labor pain techniques and talk about what she wants to do, as far as hospital procedures go. She didn't take any sort of birth/pregnancy class, so I'm going to make her watch some videos. I've been sending her a couple emails a week with articles for her to read on birth, labor, breastfeeding, circumcision, etc. She has decided to have her son circumcised and I respect her decision even though I don't agree with it. I told her from the beginning that I wasn't trying to scare her, I just wanted to give her the information so she can make the most informed decision possible.
I am glad she has decided to breastfeed. It wasn't much of a stretch though, we've mostly been exposed to breastfeeding mothers. My older sister Lacie did supplement with formula during the first 6 months and then switched Dylan completely to formula at 6 months old when she returned to work. She stated that she never made enough breast milk, but she never had a good supporter and never really went looking for information on how to boost her supply. But, Kait's got me and Meg and I have been breastfeeding for over a year. I can share all my wisdom with Kait! :)
Then we have no plans for Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, Meghan has her 1st Birthday pictures "photo shoot" at Walmart. Saturday is theBig Latch On. The local event is being held in North Syracuse. I might have to treat myself to Ling Ling's! Sunday is free (so far) and then Meghan's 1 year doctor's appointment on Monday the 8th (Kait's birthday and due date!) Finally, we have a WIC appointment on Tuesday. That concludes our crazy busy long weekend!
Off to cuddle and watch Star Trek on netflix with the hubby, night all!
Today we went to my Grandparents house to celebrate my Dad's birthday (7/22) and my sister, Kait's, birthday (8/8) We decided to celebrate Kait's today because this next weekend, my Grandma will be out of town, Kait's baby is due on her birthday, and then the following weekend we all have a baby shower to go to. My second cousin, Brendan and his girlfriend, Ashley, are pregnant with their first baby girl, Abigail Rose and Ashley is due in September. Brendan and his 2 sisters are close in age to my sisters and I, and we were close growing up. His mom and my mom are the same age and are good friends. His Dad is one of my Grandpa's little brothers.
Enough with the genealogy lesson! :) I only have to watch Dylan once this week, tomorrow. He is going with my Grandma to visit some family in Pennsylvania and will be gone all week. I'm hoping we get to see more of Drew's family this week. (hint, hint Kim! :) Haha, I thought she would enjoy that little shoutout!) Tuesday, Meghan and I will be going out to my Dad's house to see my sister Kait. I'm her doula for her labor and delivery, so I just want to go over some labor pain techniques and talk about what she wants to do, as far as hospital procedures go. She didn't take any sort of birth/pregnancy class, so I'm going to make her watch some videos. I've been sending her a couple emails a week with articles for her to read on birth, labor, breastfeeding, circumcision, etc. She has decided to have her son circumcised and I respect her decision even though I don't agree with it. I told her from the beginning that I wasn't trying to scare her, I just wanted to give her the information so she can make the most informed decision possible.
I am glad she has decided to breastfeed. It wasn't much of a stretch though, we've mostly been exposed to breastfeeding mothers. My older sister Lacie did supplement with formula during the first 6 months and then switched Dylan completely to formula at 6 months old when she returned to work. She stated that she never made enough breast milk, but she never had a good supporter and never really went looking for information on how to boost her supply. But, Kait's got me and Meg and I have been breastfeeding for over a year. I can share all my wisdom with Kait! :)
Then we have no plans for Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, Meghan has her 1st Birthday pictures "photo shoot" at Walmart. Saturday is theBig Latch On. The local event is being held in North Syracuse. I might have to treat myself to Ling Ling's! Sunday is free (so far) and then Meghan's 1 year doctor's appointment on Monday the 8th (Kait's birthday and due date!) Finally, we have a WIC appointment on Tuesday. That concludes our crazy busy long weekend!
Off to cuddle and watch Star Trek on netflix with the hubby, night all!
Friday, July 29, 2011
happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday my sweet sweet girl,
"I'll eat you up; I love you so."
ketchup?...
...no, catch up! Haha, I have sooo much to write about! I really think I should just start multiple blog posts as I think them up...now, there's an idea! This past Saturday was Meghan's first birthday and here are some highlights:
Morning of the party! Check out meg's themed pink and purple tyedye onesie we bought at the state fair last year!
Hanging out with Daddy!
Meg and Aunt Kait, who is due with her 1st baby on 8-8-11, her birthday!
Meghan and Aunt Lacie, I love this picture!
awesome shirt my friend Klare made for meg, she has a 1 year old, scotty, and is married to Drew's cousin, Jeremy, who was in the same grade as me in high school
Ahhh, cupcakes! :)
We had it at a local park pavilion, because it was free! It was in a lovely, completely shaded area, which worked out great because it was in the low 90s that day! There is a public pool located at the same park and it is indefinitely closed, which worked to our advantage. I imagine it would have been quite crowded, had it been open.
We kept things simple, as far as food. Drew grilled some hot dogs and hamburgers. My mom made a veggie and dip tray, Lacie made devilled eggs, Kim (Drew's mom) made her awesome pasta salad, my grandmother brought fruit salad and I threw together a cheese/pepperoni/cracker tray. I'm glad we didn't have to do all the food, because that plus the 114 cupcakes...yes! 114!...would've been craaaazy.
I crafted a lot of things for this party, yet neglected to get any really good pictures of the party (go me!) I made the cupcake shaped invitations, cut out 100+ cupcake wrappers, sewed up 900 feet of crepe paper into ruffled streamers, 17 cupcake take home boxes, made a cupcake shaped pinata...I think that's it. Haha, it was nuts! I had more plans, but I didn't do some of them. I had also wanted to do a happy birthday banner and a "watch me grow" banner (with pictures of Meghan at 1 month, 2 months, etc.) I'm glad I didn't because I was stressed enough as it was!
We had a blast and everything went well, until my mother pointed out there were no condiments for the hot dogs and hamburgers...the only thing I will say is that they were on the hubby's list and he didn't want to pay $8 for the party pack at BJ's! (wholesale club) :D So, we ate plain hot dogs and burgers and they weren't bad. It was too hot to care anyway!
Meghan's actual birthday is today, I had her birthday post all written and set up to automatically post at 9 this morning, but it never did...hmmm...I don't know! That's what I get for trying to do something ahead of time! :) I just manually posted it, even though it reads 9am. Well, now I'm going to work on a post with pictures...so off I go!
We had it at a local park pavilion, because it was free! It was in a lovely, completely shaded area, which worked out great because it was in the low 90s that day! There is a public pool located at the same park and it is indefinitely closed, which worked to our advantage. I imagine it would have been quite crowded, had it been open.
We kept things simple, as far as food. Drew grilled some hot dogs and hamburgers. My mom made a veggie and dip tray, Lacie made devilled eggs, Kim (Drew's mom) made her awesome pasta salad, my grandmother brought fruit salad and I threw together a cheese/pepperoni/cracker tray. I'm glad we didn't have to do all the food, because that plus the 114 cupcakes...yes! 114!...would've been craaaazy.
I crafted a lot of things for this party, yet neglected to get any really good pictures of the party (go me!) I made the cupcake shaped invitations, cut out 100+ cupcake wrappers, sewed up 900 feet of crepe paper into ruffled streamers, 17 cupcake take home boxes, made a cupcake shaped pinata...I think that's it. Haha, it was nuts! I had more plans, but I didn't do some of them. I had also wanted to do a happy birthday banner and a "watch me grow" banner (with pictures of Meghan at 1 month, 2 months, etc.) I'm glad I didn't because I was stressed enough as it was!
We had a blast and everything went well, until my mother pointed out there were no condiments for the hot dogs and hamburgers...the only thing I will say is that they were on the hubby's list and he didn't want to pay $8 for the party pack at BJ's! (wholesale club) :D So, we ate plain hot dogs and burgers and they weren't bad. It was too hot to care anyway!
Meghan's actual birthday is today, I had her birthday post all written and set up to automatically post at 9 this morning, but it never did...hmmm...I don't know! That's what I get for trying to do something ahead of time! :) I just manually posted it, even though it reads 9am. Well, now I'm going to work on a post with pictures...so off I go!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
it's been a whole year...
...a whole year since the birth of our daughter, Meghan Louise.
a whole year of laughs and tears, feedings and diapers.
a whole year of worry and joy, shock and surprise.
a whole year of breastfeeding issues, formula issues, personal issues, financial issues.
a whole year of family support and non-support, good times and bad.
a whole year of adaptation and cooperation and compromise.
a year ago today, meghan louise was born. after 42 hours of labor, a true trial of labor and love. I cried so hard, so much during those 3 days at the hospital and the weeks following. Nothing can prepare you for the emotional roller coaster of the first few weeks.
But then the first few weeks turn into months and then all of a sudden, she's walking! And talking! And helping you get her dressed! Feeding herself! (and others :) ) I am in constant amazement that she is a year old. I ask myself, how did I get here? how is she a year already? how did we manage to get this far?. And I know the answer, by God's grace. He has blessed us, trusted us to watch over Meghan and care for her. Who would've thought we'd be at this point. If you had told me 18 months ago that's I'd be married, with a 1 year old, in our own apartment, out of my dead-end job, and loving life being a stay-at-home momma, I would've had a good laugh. A good, long laugh.
I was stuck in the worst way. My relationship with now hubby was stagnant and sometimes rocky. I hated the job I had, not using my art degree in any way. And then, God blessed us with the miracle of life. He showed me the way. I have found a whole new outlook on life and such purpose and such direction. I am eternally thankful. For everything.
So, here's to Meghan. Here's to another year of life and laughter. I love you more than anything, baby girl, more than I could ever know.
a whole year of laughs and tears, feedings and diapers.
a whole year of worry and joy, shock and surprise.
a whole year of breastfeeding issues, formula issues, personal issues, financial issues.
a whole year of family support and non-support, good times and bad.
a whole year of adaptation and cooperation and compromise.
a year ago today, meghan louise was born. after 42 hours of labor, a true trial of labor and love. I cried so hard, so much during those 3 days at the hospital and the weeks following. Nothing can prepare you for the emotional roller coaster of the first few weeks.
But then the first few weeks turn into months and then all of a sudden, she's walking! And talking! And helping you get her dressed! Feeding herself! (and others :) ) I am in constant amazement that she is a year old. I ask myself, how did I get here? how is she a year already? how did we manage to get this far?. And I know the answer, by God's grace. He has blessed us, trusted us to watch over Meghan and care for her. Who would've thought we'd be at this point. If you had told me 18 months ago that's I'd be married, with a 1 year old, in our own apartment, out of my dead-end job, and loving life being a stay-at-home momma, I would've had a good laugh. A good, long laugh.
I was stuck in the worst way. My relationship with now hubby was stagnant and sometimes rocky. I hated the job I had, not using my art degree in any way. And then, God blessed us with the miracle of life. He showed me the way. I have found a whole new outlook on life and such purpose and such direction. I am eternally thankful. For everything.
So, here's to Meghan. Here's to another year of life and laughter. I love you more than anything, baby girl, more than I could ever know.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
today was...
Meghan's 1st birthday party! It was hot and sticky, but we had lots of cool drinks and yummy cupcakes and we had a lot of fun! I think/hope everyone else did too. I have pictures on my phone, that I will get around to posting on here and facebook, but not tonight because I am soooo tired! Good night!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
oh man...
...this birthday party is going to be ridiculous. I really have let my craftiness get the better of me. :) I have some really awesome things made and almost made and still-in-the-planning stage made. I can't write about a lot of the details yet, because my mil reads this and as I said before, I do want some surprises ;)
I had no idea how crazy this 1st birthday would be. Next year I think the 3 (or 4, God willing) of us will sit at home by ourselves! :) Hahaha, I don't think that would go over well with the grandparents. But a momma can dream!
Tomorrow, it's going to be almost 100 degrees out. Needless to say, we will be spending most of the day inside in the air conditioning. We do have to go out in the morning to get baking supplies to make some yummy cupcakes for Saturday! I don't know when I'll be baking because it's so hot out, but I'll have to do it sometime. Maybe tomorrow night, at least it won't be in the triple digits! I did manage to keep it pretty cool in here today. I was quite surprised, I've had the air on almost all day, but on the lowest/slowest fan setting.
I've got lots more to do and plan, so off to bed for me!
I had no idea how crazy this 1st birthday would be. Next year I think the 3 (or 4, God willing) of us will sit at home by ourselves! :) Hahaha, I don't think that would go over well with the grandparents. But a momma can dream!
Tomorrow, it's going to be almost 100 degrees out. Needless to say, we will be spending most of the day inside in the air conditioning. We do have to go out in the morning to get baking supplies to make some yummy cupcakes for Saturday! I don't know when I'll be baking because it's so hot out, but I'll have to do it sometime. Maybe tomorrow night, at least it won't be in the triple digits! I did manage to keep it pretty cool in here today. I was quite surprised, I've had the air on almost all day, but on the lowest/slowest fan setting.
I've got lots more to do and plan, so off to bed for me!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
starting something early...
...coming from me, this is a biiiiig deal! I am a super procrastinator, sometimes it's a bad thing, sometimes not. Usually I work best under pressure. I've started writing Meghan's 1 year old blog post. I want something true and from the heart that makes since when read. Usually I just get on here and randomly write down my thoughts. Sorry you all have to sort it out as I go along :)
So, Meghan turns 1 on the 28th and I am super excited, I cannot believe she's a year old already! (more on this in forthcoming post)I've We've been really busy planning and researching and doing and crafting up wonderful surprises. Here's a picture of the invitation I made:
It's not the best quality, but you get the jist. I was going to include a picture of the inside, but it's too much of a hassle to cover up or edit out the personal info and I don't need any stalkers! ;)
Meghan's party is cupcake themed, I don't want to give away too much because mil, Kim, reads this and I want to have some surprises! I will say that I am toooo crafty for my own good! We are having a cookout at a local park. Hubby is grilling up burgers and hot dogs, I'm enlisting family members to make the sides-fruit salad, pasta salad, etc. And I am undertaking the cupcakes. Hopefully massive amounts. I want to do yummy flavors rather regular old plain jane flavors like vanilla and chocolate. At the very least, make some yummy frostings to go on the plain jane cupcakes! My plan is too bake everything on Thursday, frost/decorate on Friday, then it will be all done for the party on Saturday.
Not too much happening here at our household. Tonight, Meghan and I went to a Chinese Buffet to celebrate hubby's sister's 13th birthday. Her actual birthday is Saturday, but she is leaving to go camping this weekend, so she won't be around. On Saturday, we have a graduation party to go to for Drew's cousin. Just the usual. So long for now!
So, Meghan turns 1 on the 28th and I am super excited, I cannot believe she's a year old already! (more on this in forthcoming post)
It's not the best quality, but you get the jist. I was going to include a picture of the inside, but it's too much of a hassle to cover up or edit out the personal info and I don't need any stalkers! ;)
Meghan's party is cupcake themed, I don't want to give away too much because mil, Kim, reads this and I want to have some surprises! I will say that I am toooo crafty for my own good! We are having a cookout at a local park. Hubby is grilling up burgers and hot dogs, I'm enlisting family members to make the sides-fruit salad, pasta salad, etc. And I am undertaking the cupcakes. Hopefully massive amounts. I want to do yummy flavors rather regular old plain jane flavors like vanilla and chocolate. At the very least, make some yummy frostings to go on the plain jane cupcakes! My plan is too bake everything on Thursday, frost/decorate on Friday, then it will be all done for the party on Saturday.
Not too much happening here at our household. Tonight, Meghan and I went to a Chinese Buffet to celebrate hubby's sister's 13th birthday. Her actual birthday is Saturday, but she is leaving to go camping this weekend, so she won't be around. On Saturday, we have a graduation party to go to for Drew's cousin. Just the usual. So long for now!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
turns out...
...Not so eventful morning yesterday as I was hoping for. In the middle of Tuesday and Wednesday night, I would wake up nauseous and about to vomit and would run to the bathroom, only to not have anything happen and just continue to be nauseous. In the morning, I would wake up fine. Then Thursday night, I went to bed nauseous and woke up nauseous...very similar symptoms to what I had right before I found out I was pregnant with Meghan. So, I bought a couple of pregnancy tests and tested yesterday morning. Andddddd, no good news. :( I did not let myself get worked up because I knew there would only be a slim chance that I was pregnant.
After I gave birth to Meghan, I took the birth control pill from when she was 6 to 10 weeks old. More can be found in this post. And because I'm still breastfeeding 5-6 times a day, I still haven't had a period or ovulated. (I'd be pregnant if I did because we are fairly regular people if you get what I mean *insert giggle here*) So, whaa, whaa, whaa, pity party for me. No, just kidding, I don't feel pitiful for myself. I will not let myself get down about things that are out of my control. :)
What I'm left with are totally random bouts of nausea and a ton of 1st birthday planning to do! Who would think this little baby would ever turn 1?
After I gave birth to Meghan, I took the birth control pill from when she was 6 to 10 weeks old. More can be found in this post. And because I'm still breastfeeding 5-6 times a day, I still haven't had a period or ovulated. (I'd be pregnant if I did because we are fairly regular people if you get what I mean *insert giggle here*) So, whaa, whaa, whaa, pity party for me. No, just kidding, I don't feel pitiful for myself. I will not let myself get down about things that are out of my control. :)
What I'm left with are totally random bouts of nausea and a ton of 1st birthday planning to do! Who would think this little baby would ever turn 1?
Friday, July 1, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
so...
...June is over and I've only posted half as many times as May. I am not doing so good in the blog department. Sorry, folks! And, I don't have a real post tonight because I have to drop hubby at work tomorrow (will explain later) so it's off to bed for me. I did update the tabs at the top, check them out!
Here's a tidbit to leave you hanging: I'm excited to get up in the morning and use the restroom, can you guess why? ;)
Here's a tidbit to leave you hanging: I'm excited to get up in the morning and use the restroom, can you guess why? ;)
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
sometimes you just need...
...a little inspiration. Or random stolen "what are you up to?" thinger. Of course, now I can't remember where I c&p'd this from because I did that hours ago and am just now getting to filling it out. If its yours, by all means, make yourself known in the comments! :)
What I'm thinking: There is soooo much laundry to be folded and put away. I've done $40 worth in 3 days. Whoo! I'm tired!
What I'm reading: Not enough! I need to get to the library. Like now. I haven't read a real book in so long.
What I'm listening to: Third Rock from the Sun on Netflix, the fan whirring and Meg slapping the wall :)
What I'm learning: Patience. I need to work on my patience so bad.
What I'm watching: Meghan treat her Bumbo chair like a stool-just a step up so she can slap the wall higher!
What's cooking: Ham, Broccoli and Cheese Quiche...attempted to make my own pastry dough and used part whole wheat flour/part white and that was a mistake. The whole wheat flour we have is not very finely ground, so the crust is a little crunchy :) That's what I get for trying to make healthier food!
What I'm buying: Not much! We ordered some more computer parts last night (Drew is building his own and it's almost finished!) I'd like to order some Lovely Pocket diapers for Meg, but that's really a guilty purchase, I really need a new nursing bra...ah the list goes on!
What I'm thankful for: My family! Both immediate and extended, it was so fun this past weekend to get to see both my side and Drew's side on the same day.
What I'm creating: A lot more stuff if I hadn't lost out on the serger on Craigslist. :) It was a really good deal too...
What I'm praying: That I would be a better wife and momma. That we'll be blessed with another little one soon (no good news yet!)
What I'm planning: Meghans First Birthday Party!! :D I am so excited, can you tell? ;) I can't believe she's almost a year old! She's getting so big and is learning and doing new stuff everyday! She's been walking for about a month and she's getting really good at it. Also trying to figure out what we're doing this weekend for the 4th. Drew claims he's having a party at his family's house, but I don't know if that's going to happen.
What we did this last weekend: On Saturday, I did massive amounts of laundry and made Dylan's cake for his birthday party. Farm themed, everything on it was edible! Sunday was Dylan's party at my mother's house. I nicknamed it the Donnelly Farm because she's got all these animals now: cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, pheasants, ducks, geese...etc! After all the farm excitement, we went to Drew's grandparent's house because it was Grandpa's birthday! We had a nice little cookout with grilled pineapple and marinated chicken, pulled pork, salads, watermelon, salt potatoes, and cake and ice cream too of course!
What I'm looking forward to: baby showers, birthdays, Meghan's birthday party, Kait's due date...more on that later! ;)
A picture to share:
Dylan's cake
Meghan and her blankie from Grandparents Marshall, she loves it!
What I'm thinking: There is soooo much laundry to be folded and put away. I've done $40 worth in 3 days. Whoo! I'm tired!
What I'm reading: Not enough! I need to get to the library. Like now. I haven't read a real book in so long.
What I'm listening to: Third Rock from the Sun on Netflix, the fan whirring and Meg slapping the wall :)
What I'm learning: Patience. I need to work on my patience so bad.
What I'm watching: Meghan treat her Bumbo chair like a stool-just a step up so she can slap the wall higher!
What's cooking: Ham, Broccoli and Cheese Quiche...attempted to make my own pastry dough and used part whole wheat flour/part white and that was a mistake. The whole wheat flour we have is not very finely ground, so the crust is a little crunchy :) That's what I get for trying to make healthier food!
What I'm buying: Not much! We ordered some more computer parts last night (Drew is building his own and it's almost finished!) I'd like to order some Lovely Pocket diapers for Meg, but that's really a guilty purchase, I really need a new nursing bra...ah the list goes on!
What I'm thankful for: My family! Both immediate and extended, it was so fun this past weekend to get to see both my side and Drew's side on the same day.
What I'm creating: A lot more stuff if I hadn't lost out on the serger on Craigslist. :) It was a really good deal too...
What I'm praying: That I would be a better wife and momma. That we'll be blessed with another little one soon (no good news yet!)
What I'm planning: Meghans First Birthday Party!! :D I am so excited, can you tell? ;) I can't believe she's almost a year old! She's getting so big and is learning and doing new stuff everyday! She's been walking for about a month and she's getting really good at it. Also trying to figure out what we're doing this weekend for the 4th. Drew claims he's having a party at his family's house, but I don't know if that's going to happen.
What we did this last weekend: On Saturday, I did massive amounts of laundry and made Dylan's cake for his birthday party. Farm themed, everything on it was edible! Sunday was Dylan's party at my mother's house. I nicknamed it the Donnelly Farm because she's got all these animals now: cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, pheasants, ducks, geese...etc! After all the farm excitement, we went to Drew's grandparent's house because it was Grandpa's birthday! We had a nice little cookout with grilled pineapple and marinated chicken, pulled pork, salads, watermelon, salt potatoes, and cake and ice cream too of course!
What I'm looking forward to: baby showers, birthdays, Meghan's birthday party, Kait's due date...more on that later! ;)
A picture to share:
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
gaaaaaah!
you would think that life would slow down, but it just keeps plugging along, with no concern for the fact that I haven't updated in forever! :) We have been super busy lately, now that the weather is (finally) nice out, we have had some event or get-together every weekend for the past couple of months. Also, it is full on graduation party/baby shower/bridal shower/birthday party season! This weekend we have a graduation party, 2 birthday parties, Drew has 2 gigs for the band on the same day! This past weekend we had father's day at my grandparents house and a double graduation/farewell party for Drew's cousins M, A and B. B just finished basic training to be a medic in the Army, he and his wife are moving to Washington state where B is now stationed.
M and A both graduated from high school (M did it in 3 year) and were both accepted to the same nursing school, so they have great prospects ahead of them. I am so excited for B and his wife, B has made such a turn around in his life and he really is an inspiration. He was headed down the wrong track in life and he really took responsibility for his actions and made a better life for himself. I hope he feels as proud of himself as the rest of us feel about him.
So, on Friday, my nephew Dylan is turning 3! I can't believe it has been 3 years already, it seems like yesterday I was in the delivery room watching him take his first breaths. His birthday party is on Sunday at my mother's house, which is now a certified petting zoo! It all started when my mother took in some cows-heifers that had lost their calfs in a tragic flooding accident a few months ago. Then she and her husband decided to get some chickens-to have their own fresh eggs and also sell the extra eggs in a road side stand. Then the geese started migrating to their pond. Then they got a couple of pigs. Then it was turkeys, ducks and pheasants. It was a natural choice to have Dylan's party be farm-themed!
I'm in charge of the cake for the party. At first, Lacie wanted an ice cream cake. She had some recipe that involved cookies and I don't know what else. That was quickly squashed. I did a little research and found this:
and I was like, "Hey, that's not bad. I can totally do that!" And Lacie was happy with it and Dylan was ecstatic, of course. But I couldn't just let that be the end of it,because that would be too easy then I found this:
and I was like, "Hot dang, I can really do this!" :) So, this is the one I'll be making for Dylan's party. It's definitely better in all aspects, including having the animal cupcakes that I wanted to do-cows, pigs and chickens. I had also made the invitations to the party, which had cows, pigs and chickens and a red barn. I am going to take alot of little artistic license with the design and sub some things like graham crackers for the roof instead of Life cereal- I like the way the grahams look like shingles.
And that's how my Saturday will be spent...constructing barns and farm animals out of cake.
Bake on!
M and A both graduated from high school (M did it in 3 year) and were both accepted to the same nursing school, so they have great prospects ahead of them. I am so excited for B and his wife, B has made such a turn around in his life and he really is an inspiration. He was headed down the wrong track in life and he really took responsibility for his actions and made a better life for himself. I hope he feels as proud of himself as the rest of us feel about him.
So, on Friday, my nephew Dylan is turning 3! I can't believe it has been 3 years already, it seems like yesterday I was in the delivery room watching him take his first breaths. His birthday party is on Sunday at my mother's house, which is now a certified petting zoo! It all started when my mother took in some cows-heifers that had lost their calfs in a tragic flooding accident a few months ago. Then she and her husband decided to get some chickens-to have their own fresh eggs and also sell the extra eggs in a road side stand. Then the geese started migrating to their pond. Then they got a couple of pigs. Then it was turkeys, ducks and pheasants. It was a natural choice to have Dylan's party be farm-themed!
I'm in charge of the cake for the party. At first, Lacie wanted an ice cream cake. She had some recipe that involved cookies and I don't know what else. That was quickly squashed. I did a little research and found this:
and I was like, "Hey, that's not bad. I can totally do that!" And Lacie was happy with it and Dylan was ecstatic, of course. But I couldn't just let that be the end of it,
and I was like, "Hot dang, I can really do this!" :) So, this is the one I'll be making for Dylan's party. It's definitely better in all aspects, including having the animal cupcakes that I wanted to do-cows, pigs and chickens. I had also made the invitations to the party, which had cows, pigs and chickens and a red barn. I am going to take a
And that's how my Saturday will be spent...constructing barns and farm animals out of cake.
Bake on!
Monday, June 13, 2011
beginning of...
...the week! Woot! Haha. I so do not like Mondays. I like Saturdays and Sundays, when Drew is home. I bring Meghan into our bed when she wakes up for a morning feed/snugglefest. She gets so excited when she's done eating and turns around to see her daddy. She just lights up when she sees his face, whether it's Saturday morning, the evenings when he comes home from work or if he just came in from the other room! She is such a daddy's girl. It is too cute for words. 
daddy's girl!
daddy's girl!
Friday, June 10, 2011
best. giveaway. ever.
i recently stumbled upon the best giveaway on the internet. ever. oh happy day-a blog about a woman from san francisco who moved to paris for a year with her husband and 2 kids-is giving away a 7 day trip to paris! paris, france! how sick is that?! so go check it out and enter because there's no reason not to!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
epic. fail.
Hah! I know how much you loooove that phrase! But it seems to fit me because I have been slacking so much in the personal blog area. So much so, that my giveaway blog has almost as many posts as this one! In an effort to change that (and because I know my life is so thrilling that you cannot spend another second without knowing what's going on here in the tiny apartment), I am going to make a conscious effort to write more. I like to write and it's therapeutic.
I'll admit, sometimes I don't have anything to write about, or inspiration is lacking, or...I just don't feel like it :). I thought for sure I would get a chance to blog the other night, but then I had to wash some diapers and tidy up after Meghan went to sleep. It seems like my day ends after Meghan goes to bed, and then I usually don't feel like doing anything, let alone get on here and attempt to write a concise, well thought out blog. I was just reading over the cloth diapers post and was appalled at the grammatical and spelling errors. For Shame, I thought to myself! Spelling and grammatical errors are one of my biggest pet peeves.
...
Ran out of things to write! :) I never know how to end these posts, so tata for now!
I'll admit, sometimes I don't have anything to write about, or inspiration is lacking, or...I just don't feel like it :). I thought for sure I would get a chance to blog the other night, but then I had to wash some diapers and tidy up after Meghan went to sleep. It seems like my day ends after Meghan goes to bed, and then I usually don't feel like doing anything, let alone get on here and attempt to write a concise, well thought out blog. I was just reading over the cloth diapers post and was appalled at the grammatical and spelling errors. For Shame, I thought to myself! Spelling and grammatical errors are one of my biggest pet peeves.
...
Ran out of things to write! :) I never know how to end these posts, so tata for now!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
the times they are...
...a changin'. Gosh, I love me some Bob Dylan. No joke. I got turned on to him sometime in high school and have loved him ever since. I've seen him twice in concert, when he's played in Syracuse. Both times equally amazing. I love a good live show!
Alas, Bob is not the topic of today's post! (so sad, I know!) Instead, I'm sharing the story of how we came to use cloth diapers. We've been cd'ing for a grand total of five days-yes, *5* days. On our second day, we had a wedding to go and I managed to cd the whole day! It was a true test and was not as hard as I thought it would be. There was no diaper changing area (or makeshift for that matter) of any kind in the ladies' room so I changed Meghan's diaper on one of the chairs in the reception room! Luckily, she didn't poop while we were there, that would've been a bit more difficult!
But, I digress. When I was pregnant, I had considered cloth diapering because I knew we wouldn't have a lot of money for disposables and wipes and because of the environmental benefits. When I shared my wish to cloth diaper with friends and family, I was shot down by everyone-including my own mother who had cloth diapered my sisters and I! I was shocked to say the least. Everyone said it was gross and too much work, etc. So, I dropped the issue. Until I found myself spending ungodly amounts of money on disposable diapers and wipes! At 9 months old, Meghan was going through $50-$70 in diapers and wipes a month. And that's the conservative estimate based on BJ's prices (a wholesale club), when in actuality I was more likely buying them at Walmart due to the store's proximity to our home.
So, I started doing some research and discovered a plethora of information and products for the "crunchy mom". I had no idea that cloth diapers had come as far as they have. There are just so many options to choose from-flats, prefolds, covers, wraps, plastic pants, fitteds, all in ones, all in twos, the list goes on and on! (Not to mention the materials they are made out of-cotton, pul, minky, plastic, indian cotton, chinese cotton, organic cotton, bamboo, micro fleece...)
When I mentioned to my Dad, about a month ago, that we were definitely switching to cloth, the first thing he did was give me a sideways look and ask "Oh, you're getting a diaper service then?" Of course, he had been through cloth diapering my sisters and I, with my mother, in the 1980s and I can imagine the horror. No fancy pants then. Ha, I am so glad for the advances in cloth diapering!
If I had an unlimited supply of moolah, I would most likely go with all in ones. Simply because they are the most similar to disposables and easy peasy for everyone. But since we are not millionaires, we went with prefolds and econobum covers. I had a package of 6 Gerber prefolds that I had received at my baby shower, you can find these in any big box store. They are similar to birds eye cloth and thus are not nearly as absorbent and the organic cotton prefolds I bought later on. For our initial stash, I bought 4 econobum covers (12 prefolds came with them), a pack of 6 osocozy prefolds, a kissaluvs diaper pail liner, 200ct biodegradable/flushable grovia bioliners, 8 pcs diaper pins, tea tree oil (for wipe solution), plastic spray bottle (wipe solution) metal drying rack, plastic garbage can + lid (for a diaper pail) for about $130. That's 2 months of disposable diapers and wipes. And Meg will be in diapers for at least another year, if she potty trains by May 2012, it will have saved us $500-$700!
I made my own cloth wipes by cutting up some flannel scraps I had on hand and a 5T flannel long sleeved boys shirt I got on clearance at Walmart for $1. (I got about 18-20 wipes for $1, sweet!) I made my own wipes solution today with 2 cups warm waters, 2 tablespoons baby oil/baby wash/baby lotion and 4-5 drops of tea tree oil (natural anti bacterial/microbial). And it's been working great so far!
At the wedding we went to over the weekend, I got a surprise from my mil, not only a gift, but also the knowledge that she reads my little blog. (Hi Kim!) She gave me a mother ease wrap (with an adorable zoo animal print) and 4 snap fitteds and 4 snap in doublers! Bonus for us! She had gotten them from someone else and had used them for swim diapers. Meg used them yesterday and did great! I did great because there were no pins to prick myself with! The fitteds do take the longest out of everything to line dry, but I'm ok with that, I've got plenty of prefolds, so I'll never run out.
Drew is slow to hop onto the cloth diaper wagon. He usually only changes Meg's diaper once a day because he's only home from work for a few hours before she goes to bed. The first couple of days, he only happened to be around for a #2 diaper (you know-number two) and he "didn't want his first diaper to be a poopy one." Which is fine with me, I totally get it. And he did watch me change a couple to see what he needed to do. Yet every night, I end up taking over to make sure the prefold is snug enough and that everything is leak proof for overnight. Hopefully he'll be a pro in no time. :)
(Also, I started this last Thursday, it is now Wednesday night/Thursday morning!)
(I purchased my stash in 3 transactions from 3 different websites: www.kellyscloset.com, www.diaperjunction.com, and www.tendercare.com due to what each store had in stock that I wanted to buy)
Alas, Bob is not the topic of today's post! (so sad, I know!) Instead, I'm sharing the story of how we came to use cloth diapers. We've been cd'ing for a grand total of five days-yes, *5* days. On our second day, we had a wedding to go and I managed to cd the whole day! It was a true test and was not as hard as I thought it would be. There was no diaper changing area (or makeshift for that matter) of any kind in the ladies' room so I changed Meghan's diaper on one of the chairs in the reception room! Luckily, she didn't poop while we were there, that would've been a bit more difficult!
But, I digress. When I was pregnant, I had considered cloth diapering because I knew we wouldn't have a lot of money for disposables and wipes and because of the environmental benefits. When I shared my wish to cloth diaper with friends and family, I was shot down by everyone-including my own mother who had cloth diapered my sisters and I! I was shocked to say the least. Everyone said it was gross and too much work, etc. So, I dropped the issue. Until I found myself spending ungodly amounts of money on disposable diapers and wipes! At 9 months old, Meghan was going through $50-$70 in diapers and wipes a month. And that's the conservative estimate based on BJ's prices (a wholesale club), when in actuality I was more likely buying them at Walmart due to the store's proximity to our home.
So, I started doing some research and discovered a plethora of information and products for the "crunchy mom". I had no idea that cloth diapers had come as far as they have. There are just so many options to choose from-flats, prefolds, covers, wraps, plastic pants, fitteds, all in ones, all in twos, the list goes on and on! (Not to mention the materials they are made out of-cotton, pul, minky, plastic, indian cotton, chinese cotton, organic cotton, bamboo, micro fleece...)
When I mentioned to my Dad, about a month ago, that we were definitely switching to cloth, the first thing he did was give me a sideways look and ask "Oh, you're getting a diaper service then?" Of course, he had been through cloth diapering my sisters and I, with my mother, in the 1980s and I can imagine the horror. No fancy pants then. Ha, I am so glad for the advances in cloth diapering!
If I had an unlimited supply of moolah, I would most likely go with all in ones. Simply because they are the most similar to disposables and easy peasy for everyone. But since we are not millionaires, we went with prefolds and econobum covers. I had a package of 6 Gerber prefolds that I had received at my baby shower, you can find these in any big box store. They are similar to birds eye cloth and thus are not nearly as absorbent and the organic cotton prefolds I bought later on. For our initial stash, I bought 4 econobum covers (12 prefolds came with them), a pack of 6 osocozy prefolds, a kissaluvs diaper pail liner, 200ct biodegradable/flushable grovia bioliners, 8 pcs diaper pins, tea tree oil (for wipe solution), plastic spray bottle (wipe solution) metal drying rack, plastic garbage can + lid (for a diaper pail) for about $130. That's 2 months of disposable diapers and wipes. And Meg will be in diapers for at least another year, if she potty trains by May 2012, it will have saved us $500-$700!
I made my own cloth wipes by cutting up some flannel scraps I had on hand and a 5T flannel long sleeved boys shirt I got on clearance at Walmart for $1. (I got about 18-20 wipes for $1, sweet!) I made my own wipes solution today with 2 cups warm waters, 2 tablespoons baby oil/baby wash/baby lotion and 4-5 drops of tea tree oil (natural anti bacterial/microbial). And it's been working great so far!
At the wedding we went to over the weekend, I got a surprise from my mil, not only a gift, but also the knowledge that she reads my little blog. (Hi Kim!) She gave me a mother ease wrap (with an adorable zoo animal print) and 4 snap fitteds and 4 snap in doublers! Bonus for us! She had gotten them from someone else and had used them for swim diapers. Meg used them yesterday and did great! I did great because there were no pins to prick myself with! The fitteds do take the longest out of everything to line dry, but I'm ok with that, I've got plenty of prefolds, so I'll never run out.
Drew is slow to hop onto the cloth diaper wagon. He usually only changes Meg's diaper once a day because he's only home from work for a few hours before she goes to bed. The first couple of days, he only happened to be around for a #2 diaper (you know-number two) and he "didn't want his first diaper to be a poopy one." Which is fine with me, I totally get it. And he did watch me change a couple to see what he needed to do. Yet every night, I end up taking over to make sure the prefold is snug enough and that everything is leak proof for overnight. Hopefully he'll be a pro in no time. :)
(Also, I started this last Thursday, it is now Wednesday night/Thursday morning!)
(I purchased my stash in 3 transactions from 3 different websites: www.kellyscloset.com, www.diaperjunction.com, and www.tendercare.com due to what each store had in stock that I wanted to buy)
Thursday, May 19, 2011
in other news...
...I started a new blog! This blog is for me to post all the giveaways and contest that I enter online. I wanted to stop cluttering up my personal blog with all the stuff I've been entering and also it will stay organized for me, so that I know what I have and haven't entered.
Plus it benefits my readers, too! A one stop shop for those who are looking for fun giveaways to get in on the action!
Good luck to everyone and here's the link to the new blog again!
Plus it benefits my readers, too! A one stop shop for those who are looking for fun giveaways to get in on the action!
Good luck to everyone and here's the link to the new blog again!
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