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!

Friday, July 29, 2011

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...

...I feel like a broken record, but I continue to be amazed that Meghan is a year old. I just cannot believe it!








We made it a whole year breastfeeding and I don't see the end in sight!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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?

Friday, July 1, 2011

Before I forget, no good news this am. More later.