Monday, December 3, 2007

Ranting and Raving :-)

I just got done watching the Baltimore/New England game... and I must say that Baltimore should have beat New England. Grr. What a game. I hope Steelers give them a run for their money this weekend!!!!!!!

Not much has been going on since I last posted... I've just been busy getting Christmas stuff done. I STILL have to put my outside decorations up, but we've had wind advisories the past few days, with wind gusts up to 40-some miles per hour....not to mention it's been flurrying the past few days too. I'm not going to get snow-covered AND blown away in an attempt to decorate the front of my house. No thank you!

Anyway, like I do every year, I must now rant about my adventures in Christmas shopping, mainly Walmart. I went there after work Saturday morning (7:45am) and bought my garland for outside, along with wrapping paper and all that other happy crap. I thought that being that it was so early, there wouldn't be many people there.... boy was I wrong! Everyone must have that same idea, to go shopping at the buttcrack of dawn. There were 5x as many people there that early in the morning, so it was STILL a mad house.

So there I was in Walmart, after having been up all night, trying to avoid being run over by some early morning Walmart shoppers speeding around the place like they are running from a fire. (long sentence, sorry..) It was then that I realized just how RUDE people get around the holidays!! Does anyone else notice this?! It's like all manners disappear. God forbid you stop your cart in an aisle and LOOK at something for more than 0.2seconds, or you get a look like, "Are you going to move,or what?" or the person who wants to look at what YOU are looking at stares holes into you until you move.Sure, they may act like they're not waiting for you to move, but you know they are! It's just so darn annoying. At my local Walmart, the aisles in the area where all the Christmas decorations are set up are only wide enough for one cart to fit through, so you're constantly having to park your cart at the end of the aisle just to go look at something...then when you get back to your cart, you discover you've created a traffic jam. Again, quite annoying.

Ok, enough Walmart ranting. I do this every year. It's just that I truly despise having to go to Walmart from "Black Friday" through Christmas. I refuse to go during the day, unless it's a true emergency. The only time I'll go is right after work first thing in the morning!!

Now to my next rant. Also shopping-related :-)

As I've probably said in here before, I've been taking Alyson on lots of shopping trips lately, now that the holidays are approaching. And, some of you new mothers might do this same thing--- but when I take her out, I make sure that I make her look like a GIRL. If I don't dress her in pink, she's got a hairbow or some identifying mark that says "I'm a GIRL." I know I hate trying to figure out whether someone's baby is a boy or a girl.

So my point is... if people don't know if your baby is a boy or girl, why don't they just say, "That's a cute BABY"???? The other day, I had Alyson at the mall, and had her dressed in purple and white. She was in her carrier, and I have one of those "Bundle Me" carrier blankets, which is PINK. Despite all of the girly colors, I still had two people say things indicating they thought she was a boy. You know how everyone just has to peek in the stroller to see your baby... well, one lady goes, "Well hello there, little dude! Aww, he's cute." Then a little while later, one of the ladies at the checkout counter looked in my stroller and said, "Aww, hey little guy." By this time, I was annoyed. I started thinking, "Does she really look like a BOY?!" I wanted to say, "LOOK! DO YOU SEE THE PINK??!! DO YOU THINK I'M TRYING TO MAKE MY 'SON' BE IN TOUCH WITH HIS FEMININE SIDE AT THIS EARLY AGE?!"

How irritating. Anyone else have this happen?!

Well, enough ranting for tonight. I need to get some sleep :-) I'll post again soon :-)

Monday, November 26, 2007

Pictures and Christmas updates :-)

I had Alyson's Christmas pictures taken last week...here are some of the proofs so you can see how fast my little one is growing!! She's almost 5 months old in the pictures.




So how far along is everyone with their Christmas shopping?? I'm about halfway finished. I started a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and told myself that it would be GREAT to be done by Tgiving, but that didn't end up happening. I've done alot of stuff online too, lately... it's just so hard to get out with a little one! It's a big production now, to try and get ready to go out somewhere. I can't just get ready and head out the door... now it's, "Ok...do I have bottles... diapers...toys...etc packed..." then I have to get Aly all bundled up, put her in her carseat, then load everything up in the car. While it all sounds pretty simple, oh it is NOT sometimes! By the time I get ready, I am hoping and praying that we can get out of the house before she starts crying and fussing. If I time it to where we leave RIGHT after she eats, I know I at least have a few hours before she gets irritated. Thank goodness she's really good (for the most part) when we go out shopping. She just looks around at all the clothes, and when I peek down at her, she always gives me a big grin...it's too cute :-) Mommy's teaching her early in life about the joys of shopping :-)

Decorating-wise, I put most of my inside decorations up today... all except the tree, which I'll probably do sometime next week. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get out and buy some Christmas decorations. I need to buy garland for my porch... and I just wanna change things up a bit and get some different stuff. I still have my fall stuff up outside though... I have big things of straw and pumpkins on my front porch, so I need my husband to get rid of them before I stick the Christmas stuff out there. He was supposed to do that today, but forgot. (Men...lol.)I think it would look kinda funny if I put my big snowman on the porch next to straw and pumpkins :-)

Well, I'm gonna try to get some sleep now...I just wanted to update on here while I actually have the chance and some peace and quiet!! Goodnight!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Maaaan, I want a Hungry Man!

Sunday night I agreed to work from 7pm-11pm for one of my coworkers...she had to be somewhere with her daughter, so she couldn't come in til 11. I was trying my best to get out of work right at 11, because I really needed to go to Walmart after work. Alyson is not only recovering from a cold, but is also in the beginning stages of teething, so I hadn't made it out earlier that day.

Anyway... so you know how when you REALLY need to get out of work on time, it never happens? That was the case. One of my patients who had come in with high blood pressure had a spike in her pressure AGAIN, like 200's/100's, so we had to send her to CCU around 10:45pm or so in order to be put on an IV med that we don't do out on our floor.

Needless to say, I got behind in my work and didn't get out of work til about 11:45pm. I debated whether or not to go to Walmart, but decided that I DEFINITELY had to, whether I liked it or not, or we'd be eating ketchup sandwiches and drinking water for a few days. (My SUV went into the shop to get the heater fixed (it either blows full blast or nothing at all), so I was going to have no mode of transportation as of Monday morning.)

While it's definitely nice to shop in Walmart when not many people are there, midnight must be when all the weirdos come out. Suddenly that song, "The freaks come out at night, the freaks come out at niiiiiight" was stuck in my head. I only passed about 10 other shoppers the whole time I was there, but they were a shady bunch. The first couple I saw had to be either drunk or high. They looked about 18 or so. I was debating between corn or broccoli, while they were debating which Hungry Man frozen dinner they wanted. "Maaaaaaaaaaaaan.... that f***in looks good," the guy said. To which the girl replied, "Yeah.... I f***in' want a Hungry Man." It took everything in me not to laugh as I walked away. So then I go in the next aisle, and they come in the opposite direction. I grabbed a loaf of italian bread and saw them stop and look at a display of discounted bread, while the guy says, "Yeeeeeah...let's get a loaf of breeead. Heh."

So then I saw about 2 other couples walking around half drunk looking... they must not have wanted their dates to end and figured walmart was the only place open, so why not walk around all night?

The one that took the cake was this girl that I had noticed just walking around, acting like she didn't even know what planet she was on. I had half my cart unloaded up at the checkout, and noticed her get in line behind me, then felt like I was being stared at. I looked up and she was just staring and WOULD NOT STOP! By this time of night, I was ready to say, "What?! Is there a problem? Are you upset that I have more than 2 items and this is the only checkout aisle open? WHAT?!" It didn't help that she was standing thisclose to my cart...I thought she wanted to get in it. (sigh)

So then once I had paid for my stuff, I was debating my exit strategy. I don't ever shop that late at night, so all I could think about were all those stories about people being grabbed in parking lots. I was sure that someone was going to be hiding on the other side of my car waiting to jump out and grab me. Or that the drunk couple was gonna be sitting next to my car eating Hungry Man's and bread. I was all ready to push the car alarm button on my keychain....lol. So I pretty much just threw everything in the trunk and hauled ass out of there. By the time I got home it was about 12:45am and I was dead tired. I thought, "Hmm... will it be ok to just leave all the groceries out til morning? I don't feel like putting them away. Chicken will be ok sitting out until 9, right?!" (Yes, I put them away....reluctantly.)

Needless to say, I don't think I will be shopping at Walmart at midnight anymore. Maybe 11pm at the latest....:-P

Friday, November 16, 2007

It's meeeeeee :-)

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

While I'd like to say that I've been off somewhere fabulous and exciting, relaxing on a tropical island for the past month and a half...I haven't. Nothing even close to that. I've relaxed a LITTLE BIT of that time, but mostly just on my couch.

(sigh) If only I had a dollar for every time I've said "I need to post on my blog" in the past month and a half. It's amazing how time flies.

Anyway...now, to play catch-up.

For starters, I shall talk about Alyson :-) She's doing GREAT. She is totally the love of my life (aside from my husband and my dogs...lol). She had her 4-month visit on October 31st, and she weighed 16.2 pounds and was 26 inches long! She's 90th percentile for everything! (Including head size...she's got a big noggin like her daddy...lol)

She's trying her best to sit up already... she lunges herself forward when she's sitting in her boppy, and she'll actually sit straight up for a few seconds, but then falls forward with her face in the couch. She's quick when she does it too... the other day, all I did was get up off the couch to pick up the pillows and put them back on the couch, and she had flung herself forward while I was turned around. I heard "ehhh, ehhh" then turned my head and she was sideways on the couch with her head hanging off of it, looking down at the floor..pretty much ready to do a somersault off the couch. BOY was that scary. Seems like I can't turn away for 2 seconds these days! Jeesh!

One thing I can say that has been my major lifesaver lately (well, 2 things)... the Rainforest play mat, and the rainforest jumperoo. I think those 2 things are the only ways I can now take a shower. Aly wants my attention all the time, but when she's on the playmat or in the jumperoo, she plays for a good half hour, long enough for me to shower and get somewhat ready. I placed her jumperoo in the nursery to where I can be taking a shower and see her from the bathroom. :-)

One thing I'm not looking forward to... (yeah, I know I'm jumping all around...):

I'm not looking forward to having to move our baby girl up into her nursery. She's been in the bedroom with us in a bassinet our friends let us borrow, since the pack and play we have took up too much room in the bedroom. Anyway, the friend is pregnant and due in December, so we'll have to give the bassinet back within the next few weeks. Russ has been saying "She needs to go to her room" for months now, and I keep saying, "When we have to give the bassinet back, she'll go up to the nursery." I mean, the poor girl is rapidly outgrowing the bassinet, and obviously I don't want her sleeping with us until she's 5...lol. It just sucks to think about. I just wish her bedroom was downstairs with ours... she'd have been in her crib from the start if that was the case. I just like the reassurance of being able to peek in at her and see her and know everything's ok. :-/

Well, I'm gonna have to cut this short... ALy wants to eat. Here are some recent pics of her :-) They are from October... I'll have to upload the other ones so I can post them soon :-)




UPDATE... here are the latest pics of Alyson that I just uploaded :-)

Monday, October 1, 2007

Week in review

Long time no post :-)

Alot's been going on since I posted last... it's been a busy week and a half!

Russ's brother from Alaska came in last Monday, then the rest of their Texas relatives flew in on Wednesday-Friday, so the week was pretty busy. (In case you don't remember me saying, Russ's mother got married this past Saturday.)

This past week, every night has basically consisted of a bunch of people coming over to the house and partaking in some alcoholic beverages and/or hanging out in the hot tub. Friday night was the big 'rehearsal dinner' for Russ's mom, since she wasn't going to have anything big after the wedding itself. So this dinner Friday was more like the wedding reception, you could say.

The dinner was awesome... it was nice to see all Russ's relatives (well, MY relatives now, too) and meet the ones that didn't get to make it in for our wedding. The first hour was spent in a separate smaller banquet room for cocktails and appetizers. Russ and I went and got a glass of wine and were chatting it up with another couple when a lady came by and offered us stuffed mushrooms...and I LOVE stuffed mushrooms. They looked a little messy but I couldn't resist. As I bit into it, some of the butter from it ran RIGHT DOWN MY CLEAVAGE and a piece of mushroom fell on my dress. Guess I can't eat and stand up at the same time. LOL. Luckily, no one noticed as I slyly tried to wipe down my boobs with a cocktail napkin... but I was still a little paranoid that I would smell like a stuffed mushroom the rest of the night.

By the time cocktail hour was over, I had just gotten my third fill-up of wine and was beginning to feel pretty darn good. Thank goodness for dinner, because I was in desperate need of food in my stomach. Russ's uncle paid for the whole dinner, and went all out. There were three different stations for food... one was turkey and all the trimmings, another was the 'seafood buffet' and the third was a pasta station where you tell them how to make your pasta/what you want in it, etc... and they'll make it right in front of you. I filled my tummy with some yummy food and kept right on drinking.

Now, let me say that I HARDLY EVER DRINK. I mean, Russ and I still have bottles of alcohol left over from our wedding over 2 years ago. We have a fully stocked bar downstairs that rarely gets used. Why am I telling you that I hardly ever drink?? Because I only had 5 glasses of chardonnay and a small glass of champagne from the toast, and I was TRASHED! And these glasses of wine were over the course of 4 hours and a large dinner! What the heck?!

I guess by the time we were ready to leave, I was telling some of our close friends that my Nuvaring was due to come out Saturday...and God knows what else I told them. But at least most of them were three sheets to the wind too, so not everyone remembered. But OH, my husband remembered. He informed me the next morning of what I said/did the night before. I woke up arond 9am and he goes, "Hey honey... do you remember the ride home lastnight?"

Of course the answer was no. (Well, I remembered PARTS of the ride home. I remember singing and dancing in the car, that's about it.) But then my husband informed me that I tried to undress him in the car and made the car go in neutral a couple times. Then he said that as soon as we got in the house, I stripped off my clothes and went to bed. "But you left your black thigh-high hose on...that was pretty funny," my husband added. Then he said I went in the bathroom for about an hour.

"Was I naked in there?" I asked him.

"Yes. It was funny."

"Hey honey?" he then asked me.

"Yes?!"

"Do you remember telling everyone your 'ring was coming out?'"

"Ugh. Yes. I do."

(laughs) "Well they do too."

Evidentally my husband had gone to the hotel where his relatives were staying and they were all talking about how drunk everyone was the night before, and they mentioned me and what I had said. But my husband made me feel better when he said that lots of people had a little too much to drink.

At that point, I stil pretty much wanted to dig a hole and jump in it for the day. LOL.

I mean.... 5 glasses of wine. FIVE! Two during cocktail hour, then 3 while in the other room. I seriously remember EVERYTHING from the dinner... so why is the ride home always a blur?! I truly don't remember ANYTHING from the time we got home until I woke up the next morning. That SCARES ME! My husband said I staggered up the driveway and insisted getting the mail out of the mailbox, then about fell over our landscaping once I got back down the driveway. Ugh. At least I was with my husband. If I hadn't been within his sight all night, I would have sworn someone spiked my drink.

Now I know why I don't drink. All this past week, Russ's brother and his buddies have been over at our house in the hot tub drinking, and I haven't had ANYTHING to drink. I made my favorite drink, peach schnapps and cranberry, and took two sips and couldn't drink anymore. I just have no desire to, whatsoever. I guess I just have to have one good drunken episode per year. I think the last time I drank before this was my cousin's bachelorette party in August 06, right before I found out I was pregnant. So yeah, maybe that's why 5 glasses of wine did the trick.

Anyway...enough about me turning into an obnoxious embarrassing lush.

The rest of this week has been pretty busy, like I said. We had the wedding dinner Friday, the wedding Saturday. Russ's mom had a little reception afterwards, just drinks and appetizers. Later that night, about 20 of us had a reservation at JC Wine Cellars restaurant. Their food was AWESOME! Some of his out-of-town relatives got lost on the way (even though they were all following eachother, who knows...), so they showed up late. THe restaurant closed at 9pm, but they were nice enough to stay open late for us.

Sunday was football day. I dressed ALyson up in a pink and white Pittsburgh Steeler onesie! Unfortunately they lost.... better luck next week.) Later that evening, a bunch of us had dinner together...

Monday we had Alyson baptized. A few mutual friends of Russ and his brother had their son Adam baptized also. Alyson was SO DARN ADORABLE in her christening gown. Russ's mom had bought it for her awhile back. It had a matching cap, socks and shoes. His mom also bought her THE cutest little baby bracelet with a little cross on it, so she got to wear that during the baptism. After the baptism, we had a party at our house. There were about 25 people here. THank goodness we had the thing catered. (Russ's idea.) One of his buddies owns a restaurant so he and his brother catered the party for us. It made things SO much less stressful. They set everything up and tore everything back down, so we didn't even have much to clean up. THe party lasted until about 9pm, then all the guys took their wives/kids home and came back to our house for the 'afterhours party.' They all stayed out on the deck and in the hot tub until at least 3am. (It's been like this just about every night.)


Tuesday and today were pretty relaxing. I've just been spending time with Aly and cleaning up the house. Russ has been pretty busy lately, so he hasn't been getting home until late evening. He's already in bed, Aly's sleeping, and his brother, who's staying with us through the end of the week, is over their friend's house...so I'm taking the opportunity to use the peace and quiet for some blog much needed blog updating! I started this post a few nights ago, but never got back to it until now.

Anyway... I don't think anything's planned for tomorrow as of yet, but who knows. We'll probably end up barbecuing or something. Friday we are having a cookout at Dean and Joelle's house. Weekend plans are still up in the air.

So that's about it. There are the updates...all I can think of for now, anyway.

Here are some baptism pics...

From L-R: Steve (Russ's mom's new hubby), Russ's brother Jon, Russ's mom Susan, Russ holding Alyson, Father Jack, me


From L-R: Joelle (godmother), Adam, Jon (godfather) holding Alyson


L-R: Grandma Jane, Joelle, my mom (still with the walker and the cast...) and dad, Jon, me, Father Jack, Russ and Alyson, Steve and Susan


Here's a pic of the cake we bought for Aly and Adam...


And last but not least... this is Alyson after we opened her baptism gifts. Mommy was having a little too much fun with the bows.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

A little bit of everything.

9 days since a post... I'm slacking!

I've been pretty busy lately... I thought that since I'm not working full-time, I'd have more free time, but no. Seems like it's one thing after the other!

Russ and I had our 2nd anniversary this past Monday... it's so hard to believe it's been 2 years already. 2 years and a little baby! Russ had a pretty busy Monday work-wise (his secretary is out of town--she just got married) and so he's had to play catch-up with alot of stuff.... so we just went out to dinner Monday. Russ's mom and her fiance watched Alyson and brought her back later that night, so it gave Russ and I some time together. While at dinner, I said, "Yeah, last year at this time we were in Cancun...." And then Russ had to add, "Yeah, that's when we conceived Alyson!" (He swears that's where it happened, but I doubt it... I just let him think that, though.) Maybe next year we'll be somewhere tropical again for our anniversary...only without bringing home another 'little souvenir,' if you know what I mean!! I want to go to Aruba, or Punta Cana or something. Hell, I just want to go SOMEWHERE!

In other news... Russ's mom is getting married at the end of the month. She's SO excited about it. She's been by herself for over 20 years, so we're all very happy for her. When she's with her fiance, it's like she's a teenager again...she's all giggly and giddy, with a permagrin on her face...lol. Russ's brother is coming in from Alaska for the wedding, so since he'll be in town, we're getting Alyson baptised October 1st. A few friends of Russ and his brother's are coming in from DC, and are having their son baptised too... Russ's brother will be their son's godfather. So it's going to be a DOUBLE baptism! We still don't know who Aly's godparents will be. Well *I* know who I want to be the godparents, and it SHOULD technically be a given... but Russ doesn't agree with me. He's upset because they picked other godparents for their children... people who are NOT good role models whatsoever. Russ goes, "I wasn't good enough to be a godparent for them? They picked HIM, and he's a big a**hole!" *sigh* This is what I go through. In the end I'll win out though. *evil laugh*

So now, we have tons of stuff to do at the end of this month/beginning of next month. A rehearsal dinner, a wedding, and then a baptism a few days later. Now we're in the process of planning a party afterwards at our house. (Which, the party planning will mainly fall back on me, I'm sure.) We're figuring it'll be 20-25 people once it's all said and done. I think we're doing the cookout thing on our deck (burgers, hotdogs, MAYBE steaks or something), but Russ is kicking around the idea of having it catered. A friend of ours caters,and has offered numerous times to come cook the two of us dinner, (WHY have I not done that yet?!) so we might go that route. I just don't want to spend hundreds on a baptism party, when I'd be happy with cake, snacks and some alcoholic beverages...lol.

New subject. My beautiful little 'punkin', Alyson.

(I can't very well post without talking about Alyson!)

She's just so darn entertaining lately. It's been something new with her every week, whether it's a new sound or face she makes, or a new milestone she reaches. She just makes me SO happy and I swear my face hurts because I can't help but smile constantly when I'm around her. She's holding her head up pretty steady now, and CONSTANTLY wants to be sitting up looking around (hence it being such a necessity for me to buy that bumbo seat! What a godsend!) She'll bat at toys you hold in front of her, though her little arms still flail out all erratic sometimes... it's so cute. Oh, and she's made a new discovery over the past week or so. Her feet. When she's laying on her back, she's gotten into the habit of lifting her legs back toward her head, so I think that started it. Then, when she's leaning back in her boppy or sitting in her bumbo, I'll catch her lifting her legs up and staring intently at her feet with a puzzled look on her face. I take her socks off and put her foot in front of her face and say "Look at the tootsies!" and she'll smile and open up her mouth real big and coo. It's one of those 'melt mommy's heart' moments. She has a lot of those :-)

On one of the pregnancy (and new mommy)message boards I visit, a June mommy mentioned a sale Target was having on the Rainforest Jumperoo (which I had been wanting to get for Aly eventually.) The jumperoo is normally $80 but was on sale for $60, and if you bought it online and used a certain promotion code, you got free shipping and an extra $5 off. I ended up getting the Jumperoo for $57 brand new! Sadly this sale isn't going on anymore, or I'd pass on the info. I checked the website and it's back up to $79.99.

Anyway, I COULD NOT wait to get Aly in that thing... so I sat Aly in her bumbo seat so she could watch me, and put the jumperoo together right after it came to the house. I was SO excited!! She just kept looking at everything with this puzzled look on her face while I put it together. However... by the time mommy got it together, Aly was a little tired. Mommy had taken a little too long.

I figured, "What the heck" and picked Aly up out of the bumbo and placed her down in the jumperoo. This is what happened.



Yes, she FELL ASLEEP right when I put her in the seat. She looked so tiny in it, and her little legs didn't even come CLOSE to the floor. She was just hanging there, fast asleep, with her face resting on the seat. I had to laugh, though I was a little disappointed that we couldn't have more fun with it that day. (Ha... "we"... yes, I enjoy it too!)

I carried (well, 'pulled') the jumperoo upstairs and put it in the nursery, figuring it'd be awhile (like a month!) before we'd use it again. But a few days ago, Aly was fussing and I was bored, so I took her upstairs and put her little butt in it. And guess what? SHE. LOVED. IT. She was smiling and cooing, and batting at the little toys, even though that darn jumperoo dwarfed the poor girl. I kept turning the seat around so she could see all the toys. She especially loved staring at the lights on it. So at least I can get SOME use out of it for now, even if she can't touch the ground yet :-)

Here are a few more pics....

This is one I took on her playmat. Yes, she's asleep. Again. She had played on it for about a half hour and I think she wore herself out kicking the inflatable ball and batting at all the toys :-)



And last but not least...



This picture cracks me up. She does this everytime I have the flash on my camera. Her eyes get all huge. She looks like she's been caught doing something she shouldn't. LOL.

Well that's it for now. It's getting late, but I'm not that tired yet, unfortunately. This is bad, because these are the times I end up just checking out stores online, and usually end up buying something out of sheer boredom. I'm the same way with infomercials. If it's late and I can't sleep, I'll flip through the channels and watch an infomercial, then be convinced for that half hour that I really could use a juicer... or a swivel sweeper... or a steam iron... or a roomba... or some other crazy thing. And we won't even get started with the exercise infomercials. If I could lose weight just by BUYING exercise dvd's, I'd weigh, like, 10 pounds. LOL.

Well, nighty night! Take care :-)

Monday, September 10, 2007

A little weekend update...

Work went well the other night, I guess. I didn't want to be there, but what could I do. I didn't cry ALL DAY, until about 9:30pm, when I knew I had to start getting ready for work. I walked out in the living room and figured I'd sit and watch some of the football game with Russ. Aly started fussing, so I picked her up. As SOON as I did that, my eyes started welling up with tears!!! I mean, it was only ONE night to have to work, and 8 hours, but I still hated to leave my baby :-( I tried to hide the fact that I was crying, but I know Russ still noticed. I could tell out of the corner of my eye that he was looking at me.

A little later, I went back and put some makeup on and put my scrubs on. I walked back out in the living room and I couldn't even LOOK at Aly, or I'd start crying. I didn't really have to leave for work until about 10:40, but 10:30 rolled around and I said, "I have to go or I'm just going to start crying." Russ goes, "Aren't you going to give her a kiss goodbye?" I kissed her on the head and there the tears came again. Luckily I got it together before going into the hospital!! I don't feel bad though... everyone I talk to said they cried their first day back to work when they had to leave their babies too. It just sucks!! I asked Russ, "Do I REALLY have to go?!?!" LOL.

It was just so hard getting back into the swing of things again, dealing with staying up all night. That was the first night I've had to stay up in about 3 months (well, the first night that didn't involve me staying up due to a baby!)...it was ROUGH! But being that I only had an 8-hour night, it wasn't too bad. It was go-go-go all night, so that kept me awake.

The only good thing that happened as a result of me going back to work was that I got to go to Walmart buttcrack-of-dawn early, right after work. YAY! I missed that. I DESPISE going to Walmart in the afternoon, and that's what I've had to do while I was off. It takes twice as long in the store during the day, because of there being SO MANY PEOPLE. It never fails, everything I want to look at, there is someone standing in front of it taking their good ol time. Either that, or I get behind someone in one of those motorized chairs and can't get around them. OR...I practically get run into and/or over by about 10 people who think they are in a shopping cart version of a Nascar race. Ugh. I'll stop here. I could go on a rant about Walmart.

This past weekend WAS alot better than last weekend, I must say. Saturday, Russ and I took the baby over to my parents' house and we had steaks on the grill...yummy! I feel bad though... my mom's just kinda bummed. She's trying to keep her chin up about things, but I can tell she feels bad. She told my dad she feels like a burden to him...I felt so bad when he told me that. I'm going to go over there again tomorrow with the baby and help her with housework and whatever else she might need. I told her, "Gee mom, this is like role reversal. A few months ago after I had the baby, you were over MY house doing MY cleaning, watering MY flowers, and everything else." She was so good to me, and I'm glad I can repay her. Hmm.. maybe I'll make them dinner tomorrow. Sounds like a plan :-)

Well, I'm gonna try to get some sleep now...my eyes are burning. Before I go, here is a new slideshow of my little princess. She's getting soooo big, not to mention she's looking more and more like her daddy everyday!(And he LOVES that! In fact, my Grandma Jane (she's in the slideshow) has nicknamed Alyson "Russelina" because she looks so much like Russ! LOL) Aly's already 13 pounds, incase I didn't say that before in here. She'll be 12 weeks on Thursday... boy does time fly!

Have a great Monday :-)


Thursday, September 6, 2007

Getting better...

Much better news this time around :-)

Well, my mom got home yesterday around 1pm and is doing great. She's getting around with a walker instead of crutches, and is doing so well with it. Not to mention, she's hardly having any pain! I took Alyson over there yesterday to cheer her grandma up :-) My dad's friend's wife made a big lasagna and this ABSOLUTELY YUMMY cheesecake dessert (fat free and calorie free! Yeah right...) so we all ate that. My aunt Becky and cousin Brenda came over too, with Bren's daughter Olivia. Olivia and Aly were playing together..it was so cute! (As much as Aly can actually 'play'... it was more like Aly sitting there staring at Olivia, while Olivia was smiling and bonking Aly on the head...lol)

In other news... tonight is my first night back at work. (sniffle sniffle...) I hate to leave Alyson, even though she'll more than likely be sleeping or ready for bed when I leave. She sleeps through the night, and doesn't usually wake up until 7 or 8AM, so the only thing Russ might have to do is feed her once. I really hate to do nightturns anymore, but right now they're the only things that work for me and the whole 'babysitting situation.' It just sucks because this is going to be the first night in awhile where I'm going to HAVE to be up all night. Ugh. Wish me luck, that I don't fall asleep at work. Oh well... at least it's only 1 night and it's only 8 hours. Then I don't go back until next Thursday. (I like this whole PRN work status alot better than being full time! I'm only doing 1 day a week for now.)

Well, I better go start dinner, then try to get a shower. Aly hasn't let me do that yet today...she's been SO AWAKE and just wants to eat and coo and look at things, then eat and coo and look at more things. :-)

Have a great day!

Monday, September 3, 2007

*sigh*

If I hadn't looked up in the sky to make sure, I would have SWORN it was a full moon this past weekend. This weekend wasn't the best.

Saturday was pretty uneventful... but SUNDAY was the bad day. For starters, my husband and I were supposed to go out on the boat but Alyson decided to have one of the fussiest days ever. (I think it was a delayed reaction from the 4 shots she had to get at the pediatrician's on Friday. He said she might get fussy.) I didn't even have time to take a SHOWER Sunday, let alone go boating. So I was kinda upset about that, and also because Russ had a work party at the marina for his employees later on that same day... I couldn't even make it to THAT. As a result, I was ticked, Russ was ticked.... blah blah blah. He called me later in the evening basically giving me a 'thanks for not showing up, that was rude and inconsiderate' comment on the phone, and then I proceeded to tell him rather sarcastically, 'thanks for not sticking around the house this morning and watching Aly so I could at least take a shower' along with 'i don't get any help from you'. Our conversation ended with him saying, "I'm staying on the boat tonight" and me saying "whatever." So then we hung up without even saying our usual 'I love you's'....and I cried. I thought of all this good stuff that I SHOULD have said to him (You know, you never think of these things until after...) and then he called back apologizing and saying he'd be home soon...and this time we said the I love you's.

Not even a half hour later, he called and said, "Um, honey... I'm gonna be here awhile." I asked why, and he said, "Some drunk motherf****r backed right into the back of my boat when they tried to leave the dock." Russ did manage to get their info even though the people were so drunk they could hardly walk or talk...they ran their mouths to Russ and ended up leaving. Russ had to call the cops and file a report, and then the cops went to go find the people because luckily some witnesses knew where the people normally dock their boat. (They don't usually dock at the same marina we do.) Russ said they did a decent amount of damage to the back of the boat. I haven't heard any updates as of yet... I haven't thought to ask Russ, due to having even MORE on my mind.

The 'more on my mind' being the fact that at 9:45pm Sunday (2 hours after Russ's bad news phonecall to me), my dad called and said, "I'm at the emergency room... your mom fell down the attic steps and broke her ankle in 3 places." ARGH! (Mind you, I still had no shower at this time, and had acquired a whole day's baby spit up on my clothes and hair.) I took THE fastest shower ever, and Russ and I left for the hospital around 10:30, once his mom got to our house to watch the baby. All I could imagine was that my mom was in the ER in excruciating pain, more than likely moaning and groaning and/or screaming. I mean, those attic steps are killers. They come down practically at a 90 degree angle, and I've always hated going up and down them.

So we got to the ER and she had already been admitted and was upstairs in a room. We got up there, and to my surprise, she was sitting in the bed just smiling and answering the nurse's questions as if nothing was wrong! If I hadn't picked up her sheet and looked at her leg, I'd have sworn she was perfectly fine. They had put a splint under her foot and wrapped her right lower leg in an ace bandage just for overnight, and she was to get surgery Monday morning. What surprised the heck out of me was that immediately after she fell, up to the time we got to her hospital room, she had NEVER HAD ANY PAIN WHATSOEVER! Was God smiling down on her, or WHAT!
She said that she just couldn't bear weight on it, and it 'felt tingly', so that's why she went to the ER. I guess what led up to this was that she and my dad had planned on taking my grandma to a music concert... my mom was coming down from the attic carrying blankets and chair cushions to take into the stadium. She went to grip the grab bar my dad put next to the steps, and just missed it and took a tumble. She said when she landed, her right leg 'seemed like it was bent funny.' (She cracks me up with her, uh, vivid descriptions.)

So this morning around 11am, she had surgery (an open reduction of the fractures), and had pins, screws, etc put in her leg. Everything went really well, and she received Demerol in recovery to help with pain, which she said was pretty bad right after surgery. Once she got up to her room around 2pm, the pain was completely gone, and was still gone when we left around 5pm! She looked so good for just having surgery. I'm just so happy things went great and that she's taking things well. She hasn't had to be in the hospital except for when she gave birth to me, and she's never broken any bones until now, so that's why it's still so crazy to see her laying in a hospital bed.... :-(

Tomorrow (Tuesday) she gets fitted for crutches and learns how to walk on them. When the surgeon came out to the OR waiting room and talked with my dad, he initially said he thinks my mom will be in the hospital until at least Wednesday, because "she'll be in alot of pain, so we'll be monitoring her... and she'll need to walk around on crutches." But seeing how well my mom is doing and that she's not having much pain, maybe she'll get to come home tomorrow if everything looks ok. We'll see :-) For now, I'll keep praying.

So that's all the bad news from the weekend. When it rains it pours, eh?

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Such a lifesaver...

Since Alyson is getting bigger, I figured I'd try out her new bouncer. I had a lot to get done this morning, so I was looking for ANYTHING that would keep her attention for awhile. She's getting too big to just lean back in her boppy... she's a wiggle worm now, and so she slides right down it. Plus, I think she gets a little bored staring at the couch cushion!

So this morning I put her in her bouncer figuring she'd probably just start crying, and to my surprise, she LOVED it! She just sat there in awe staring at the toys hanging down, and I think she enjoyed looking in the mirror at the baby staring back at her :-) Here is a picture of her discovering the little toys!



She wore herself out and decided to take a little nap. Ahhh, at last, I had some 'me time.....'





Bouncers.... every mommy should have one.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Pittsburgh, here we come... or maybe not...

Sooo.... did everyone have a good weekend?

Was Monday as wonderful as ever? (sense the sarcasm there...)

My weekend wasn't bad. Saturday I just relaxed. I really didn't have any other option since I didn't feel that well, so I just kinda lounged around the house like a bum. I was hoping I'd feel better by Sunday though, because Russ and I had made plans to go to Pittsburgh. Thankfully I felt better by then!

Saturday night, Russ told me, "You know hun, we're gonna have to leave the house early in order to have enough time to spend there before coming back home." (We were going there in the boat to meet up with some friends.) By "early", I figured he meant 8, maybe 9am... but no. He wanted to be out of the house by 6:30am. 6:30! Aaaah! I am SO not a morning person!

This wouldn't have been SO bad, except for the fact that, like I said, I wasn't feeling so hot Saturday. My stomach was just majorly upset and I was, uh, "tossing my cookies" throughout the day. (And NO, I am NOT pregnant again...lol... I know some of you were just thinking that!) I just ate something that wasn't so agreeable to my stomach.

Anyway... as I was saying. I didn't feel well Saturday, which led to me staying up late-- as in 2am on Sunday late. I had set my alarm for 5:30am so I could 'wake up' a bit and then grab a quick shower. Lemme tell ya... when I finally fell asleep, it didn't seem like I slept but an hour, and my alarm was going off. I SO did not want to wake up. I think I remember saying a few choice words to the alarm clock, as I covered up my head with my pillow. The only thing that kept me awake was the fact that my husband (who had gotten, like, 8 hours of sleep...) kept pushing and poking me, saying "Honey... hey honey... hun... HUN! Get up! Wake up! We gotta be out of here at 6:30." To which I replied "Hmmmph... mrrrhfpp... mmmmm.... I don't wanna goooooooooo.....don't want to get up....sooooo tiiiiiiiiiiiired......" (This led to more poking and pushing from my husband...)

FINALLY, I drug my tired butt out of bed and made my way out in the kitchen to get a drink. Still rubbing my eyes, I look up to see one of the pillows from our couch sitting on the floor in front of the kitchen door. (We usually leave the door open since we have a doggy door in it, so the dogs are free to go in and out during the night.)

I picked up the pillow and immediately went in the living room to inspect the couches and do a pillow count. (The dogs have a very extensive history of pillow-chewing.) First of all, let me say that NORMALLY we have 3 pillows on each couch. But when I did the pillow count, there was a total of ONE pillow on both couches combined, plus the one I had just picked up. Already cranky and SO not in the mood for anything like that, I shouted "Those @$$holes! All the pillows were there 3 hours ago when I went to bed!!" I hear my husband say, "What? What happened?" and I told him, shouting some more expletives on my way out the kitchen door. I found one pillow on the deck right before the steps, and one on the steps. (Thankfully both in one piece.) THe other two were goners... out in the yard torn into a gazillion pieces. The pillows are stuffed with that poly-fill type stuffing, so it looked like it had snowed out in the backyard. Russ had a wonderful time picking it all up shortly after, and the dogs got a nice butt-whooping out of it.

So that started out Sunday morning with a bang.

Russ's mom came over around 7am to watch the baby, and we left the house about 7:15am. Once I had gotten a shower and was awake for awhile, I must say that I was actually looking forward to our little day trip.

We went through a nearby Lock and Dam (which was actually pretty neat, I must say!) then had another 20 miles to go before we had to go through the next lock. Russ called ahead to the next one to let them know we were on our way (makes the process a WHOLE lot quicker that way, if they can get the lock ready), and when they answered us, they said the lock was SHUT DOWN for repairs, and that it could either be a few hours or an all-day thing. Barges were tied up all over the place waiting to get through, so we knew it was going to be a long time before it'd be our turn. So there went our trip to Pittsburgh... we couldn't go any further down the river.

It still ended up being a nice day though... we anchored near a marina somewhere in PA (don't know WHERE we were though...)and just relaxed for a few hours, ate some lunch, and drank a few beers in the process. It was nice just to spend time alone with my husband, not having any distractions! Here are some pictures...

My hubby :-)



I was just trying to uh, take a picture of the scenery. Yeah, that's it...


View from the boat. I was trying to pretend the water was turquoise and we were surrounded by palm trees, but it didn't work...lol. Oh well, it was still a beautiful day!


Another shot of Russ...


Pulling up the anchor (which he had some trouble with because it was dug pretty deep! We thought we were gonna have to cut the rope and leave the anchor there!)


Me!


We got back to the marina in the early afternoon, and then some of Russ's buddies came down to hang out for awhile. After that, Russ and I had dinner with my parents. All in all, it was a great day, but I was never so happy to get home and GO TO BED!

So now we're planning another attempt at a trip to Pittsburgh, probably within the next few weeks. A bunch of people want to go, so it'll be nice to make a day out of it and just hang out, have a few drinks and RELAX! Not many more weeks of boating left, so we gotta enjoy it while we can. Next year it'll be nice since Aly will be older and we'll be able to take her with us :-)

Well, that's all for now. Have a great Tuesday!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Laughing my @$$ off.

So tonight my husband and I were sitting around watching the football game on tv. He turned the opposite way on the couch and was cuddling with our dog Lucy. Shortly after that, I heard him yawning and saying how tired he was, and that he was heading to bed.

WELL. He didn't make it back to bed. He fell asleep on the couch, alongside Lucy... and evidentally she didn't care that he was invading her couch space, because she was more than content hanging halfway off.

I was never so happy to have my camera right within arms reach:



Ahh, so priceless. And to think, both of them were SOUND ASLEEP like this.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Under construction...

Morning, all. Hey, I just wanted to let you know that if you are checking out my blog only to find some crazy colors and/or layout, don't think I'm nuts. I'm messing around with things... I just felt like changing my layout, so I'm 'experimenting.' I get bored easily, so I needed a change. So for now, this blog is undergoing some, uh, routine maintenance.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The doctor, the appraisor, and some KY! Woo hoo!

Yes, it's me again! Twice in one week...who would have thought. :-)

Well, I had my post-partum doctor's appointment today and everything went really well. I had to take my mom with me so she could watch Aly while I was being seen by the doctor...they don't allow kids in the exam rooms.

Anyway, I am 6 pounds above my pre-prego weight...ugh. I thought I was closer than that, but what are you gonna do. I'm just upset because I've been watching what I eat for the past month and I've only lost about 5 pounds. I know I need to exercise more though... it's just been hard to get it in during the day. I figured, "Heck, I'm home all day right now, I'll have PLENTY of time to exercise." HA! Lately, I've had Aly in her bouncer or swing, put my exercise DVD in...and JUST when I start the warm up stuff, she starts screaming her head off. It never fails. I might get 5, maybe 10 minutes in and that's it. And I've learned to forget even THINKING about getting on the floor to do any exercises, unless I have the dogs outside. As soon as I get down on the floor to do leg lifts or something, I have two dogs right in my face thinking it's playtime! I tried laying down and doing crunches one day and looked up to find Cody with his big head staring down at me. I can't win! Needless to say, the exercise has taken a backseat lately.

Anyway, back to my appointment.... like i said, things went well. I was just a little upset about the weight thing. And to top it off, they give you this chart with your height and weight on it, with your calculated BMI. That was the icing on the cake...haha.

Oh, and I talked with the doctor about getting on some BC. I'm gonna try the Nuva Ring and see how that goes. After my appointment, my mom was asking if I'm getting on anything, and I told her about the nuvaring... she got this weird look on her face and said (and I totally cracked up at this--) "Well, won't Russ feel that when his, uh, Mr. Happy goes in there?" LOL. Leave it to my mom to ask me that. I'm 27 years old and I still think she's embarrassed to talk about sex stuff with me.
Too funny....gotta love her.

Onto another topic... I was a bit upset with Russ yesterday. Not for anything he DID, but what he DIDN'T do! Evidentally he made an appointment with our realtor guy to get our house reappraised...this was right before the weekend. WELL. He just tells me lastnight that, "Oh yeah, honey... we're getting our house appraised tomorrow." "TOMORROW? What time? You know I'm going to be gone for awhile," I said.
Then he tells me "4pm." (Mind you, when he broke this news to me, it was almost 8pm.) I just laughed it off in front of him, but I was TICKED! I mean, I've been keeping up with the housework as best as I can, but there are things that I've been letting go for awhile, and I knew an appraisor had to see EVERYTHING. Which meant I couldn't use one room to put a bunch of junk in! I know an appraisor just looks at what you have in the house, but I still wanted it to be clean! So I spent last evening scrubbing floors, pledging and windexing things until 12:30am. I was so mad... I hate when he tells me things at the last minute. Sometimes I wish I had a magic wand that I could wave around and make the house spotless. Life would be so much easier....lol.

So when the appraisor got here today, I wasn't home yet... on the way home I was thinking about all the things I didn't get to clean, and things like, "I hope this isn't sitting out... I hope that's put away...I hope the shower is clean..." (I mean, he looked in every shower and all that... thank GOD I've been in a cleaning mood lately!) When I got home, they were in the kitchen, and I suddenly remembered that I didn't make our bed, and that I had clothes strewn on the floor in there. I slipped in the bedroom and closed the door, and tried to tidy up a bit. Next thing I know, Russ and the appraisor walk in and start looking around and talking about what new things we had added in there. I thought I had things looking half decent, then was embarrassed when I looked on the dresser and saw something, uh, 'sexual' left sitting out. (Ok, ok...it was KY...I just had a baby, darnit... I need some help!) LOL. It was at this point that I REALLY wished Russ had let me know this guy was coming a little sooner than the night before. I could have been prepared, dammit! Oh well... we have a baby. I think people know we have sex. :-)

(Have my posts been a little TMI lately? If so, sorry... just saying what's on my mind!)

So that was my afternoon. Exciting, I know.

Well, I'm going to try and lay down again... I was trying to fall asleep and just layed there staring at the ceiling. It doesn't help that Russ has half the bed and I'm sharing my side with two huge boxers who insist on laying horizontally across where my legs SHOULD be. If they DO give me room to lay, they steal my covers instead, so it sucks either way.

Alright...nighty night. I'll post again soon, and I promise it won't be about periods, or birth control, or KY. Maybe.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

To work, or not to work...that is the question!

I know, I know... I am LONG overdue for a new post!

My parents have Aly tonight, so I have some quiet time now. You would think my husband and I would be out doing something fun (or staying IN doing 'something fun'...lol), but no... my husband has fallen fast asleep on the couch. *Sigh* I was looking forward to going in our hot tub tonight, but that didn't happen...so what better thing to do than get on here and post, right?!

OH...get this. Before and during my pregnancy, I went on a website called Fertility Friend. Some of you might be familiar with it? Anyway, I was reading some of the message boards tonight and one of the June mommies is pregnant AGAIN!She just found out! Her child is only a few weeks older than Alyson. She's very excited about it though. She was even on birth control and it still happened, but she said "It must have been God's will." I agree! That's just one great big reminder that these things happen all in God's time, regardless of what we might be doing to cause OR prevent it.

I just don't know WHAT I'd do if I got pregnant again this soon. I can't even think about that yet. I mean, I definitely want another child (or two), but I keep telling people, "I want Aly to be walking, talking, feeding herself, potty trained, and able to help Mommy out!" LOL. Ultimately I'd like to wait a few years, but we'll see. This girl's getting on some BC ASAP! :-P I'm discussing such things with my OB on Tuesday...yay!

I have what SHOULD have been my 6 week post-partum checkup on Tuesday, though technically I'm already 8 weeks PP. Things have just been pretty hectic lately, not to mention (TMI alert...) I wouldn't stop bleeding! I was waiting for things to stop so I wouldn't feel so 'yucky' at my appointment. The bleeding wasn't anything major, but enough to annoy me because I felt like I was on some huge gigundo monster of a period for 7 weeks. And not to mention, I HATE pads! LOL.

Ok... new subject. I'm sure you don't want to hear about bleeding and pads. Blech.

Anywho...

I have about 3 weeks left of leave, then it's back to work for this chick. My clinical manager called me last week and asked if I was coming back full time/part time/etc, and WHEN I was planning on coming back. I used 2 weeks of maternity leave back in December when I was spotting, so I had 10 left, which puts me back to work the week of September 2nd, so that's what I told her.

I successfully talked my husband into letting me go back PRN(as needed)---YAY!--- so I am starting back 1 day a week for the first schedule, then we'll take it from there. Unfortunately due to the babysitting situation, I am still going to do nights, but only 11pm-7am instead of 7pm-7am. I figure that way, I'll have Alyson pretty much settled down for the night before I leave for work, and Russ might only have to wake up once with her for a feeding.

I'm just kinda worried about this whole 'back to work' thing. Don't get me wrong, my husband is a great dad, but I'm just worried about him being all alone with Alyson! Basically I've been doing everything, since he's now become the sole breadwinner in the family for the time being. He's had majorly long days lately, leaving the house at 6am and getting home in the evenings, usually 6pm. When he gets home, we eat dinner, then he heads down to his office to return phone calls and do paperwork. By the time he gets back upstairs, it's 9pm or so, and he's getting tired. He'll hold Aly for awhile, then falls asleep shortly after that. I guess I just get irritated sometimes because I wish he could help me out a little more... like on days when he gets home early, it would be nice if he'd feed her for me, or change her, or what not. If he does something, it's because I ASK him to. He can tell I get irritated because sometimes I'll just need a BREAK, so I'll hand her to him and say "Here, why don't you hold your daughter for awhile?!" I don't mean to get crappy with him, but it bugs me sometimes. We were talking the other night and basically he just told me, "I don't know what to do with a baby!" He was talking to ALy and said, "Daddy's scared of you! You're so little! When you get bigger daddy will take you everywhere, but for now he doesn't know what to do with you." *sigh*

So this is what worries me. My husband, who admits he is scared of taking care of a baby, who won't change a diaper unless he KNOWS it's only pee, who can't stand the crying....is going to be taking care of our child ALL BY HIMSELF, ALL NIGHT. I asked him, "What are you going to do if she poops and you HAVE to clean her up?" and he joked and said, "I'll just bring her to the hospital and you can do it." I then said, "So....uh... what if she starts crying? What are you gonna do?" and he said, "I guess I'll just have to deal with it." Ugh.

Like I said, don't get me wrong... he's a great daddy and a very responsible person... I don't want to make it seem like he's a horrible dad who wants nothing to do with our child. I'm just being a worrywort mommy because I've been the one caring for Aly basically 24-7. I'm just worried that he's going to fall asleep and not hear her crying or something. I've thought of it all. LOL.

This whole "work situation" has been the main topic of our conversation during my maternity leave due to the above said things. Russ wants me working at least 2 12-hour days per week, and I just don't see how that's going to happen right now. So, as a test.... (evil laugh), I picked weekdays for the nights I'm working, just so he can TRULY experience what it's like to have me back at work. For any of you who don't know or remember, my husband owns his own business. One of the perks? He can make his own hours. The downside? If something happens and he's the only one who can take care of it, he has to leave asap. During the weekdays, he leaves the house anywhere between 6-7am (7am if he accidentally sleeps in.) The problem? When I work, I don't get home until AT LEAST 7:45am. So if he has to go down to the garage and get his guys started for the day (let them know what jobs they are doing, etc), he's going to have the baby, so he'll either have to take her wherever he goes or wait until I get home.

I purposely picked weekdays so he'll know what the situation is going to be like, and just so he can't--for lack of better words-- "shove Alyson off on our parents." He hasn't participated much in her care, and he really needs to. I want him to experience what I go through 24-7. I already told him that I'm not working every weekend just because it's 'convenient' and just so he'll be able to have my parents or his mom babysit her every night I work. I mean, I don't mind them watching her once in awhile when I work, but Russ needs to learn to take care of her too. So the coming month will be his test, then we'll see how it goes.

So there's my vent for the night. I think I'll head to bed now, being that it IS almost 2am. It's wonderful to know that I can sleep in and not wake up to a crying baby in the morning. I do miss my baby though, but my parents absolutely LOVE having her over there, so who am I to argue? It's nice to have a night to myself once in awhile. Hopefully Russ and I can have a nice relaxing day together...we'll be picking little Aly up in the evening sometime.

Well, that's about all the typing I have the energy for right now...lol. I'll try not to let almost 2 weeks go by before the next post!! Have a good rest of the weekend!

***Here are some pictures of my little princess...she's getting so big! She was 10 pounds 12 ounces on 7/30, so I'm sure she's pushing 13 pounds or so now!***

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Before I Was A Mom...

***I found this poem online, and just thought it was too cute not to share.** I'll be posting soon, I promise! :-)

Before I was a Mom…
I made and ate hot meals.
I had unstained clothing.
I had quiet conversations on the phone.

Before I was a Mom…
I slept as late as I wanted.
And never worried about how late I got into bed.
I brushed my hair and my teeth every day.

Before I was a Mom…
I cleaned my house regularly.
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to lullabies.

Before I was a Mom…
I didn’t worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was Mom…
I had never been puked on,
Pooped on,
Spat on,
Chewed on,
Peed on,
Or pinched by tiny fingers.

Before I was a Mom…
I had complete control of my mind,
My thoughts.
My body,
And my time.

I slept all night.


Before I was a Mom…
I never held down a screaming child,
So that doctors could do tests,
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom…
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew how much I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom…
I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important.

Before I was a Mom…
I had never risen in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
The joy,
The love,
The heartache,
The wonderment,
Or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom!



- Author unknown -

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Weekly update!

Hey ladies :-) Time for my weekly post...lol. It sucks that I only seem to post once a week...I wish it could be more often but when I'm online I check my email, TRY to check out your blogs to catch-up a bit, and that's about it. I've been reading your blogs a few at a time, but haven't been leaving feedback...sorry!

Anyway... things have been going well. Aly's doing great. We went to the pediatrician Monday morning and she is 10 pounds 14 ounces already!! Like I said before, she's growing like a weed! She's taking 4, maybe 5 ounces of formula about 6-7 times a day. The pediatrician said her weight gain is perfect for her age, so that's good.

Aly stayed with my parents on Saturday night and most of Sunday. While it was nice to have some 'me time', I still missed my little princess. My parents took Aly to the mall Sunday afternoon, and I had been wanting to get out shopping, so I went by myself. It was so nice just to get out alone and actually go CLOTHES SHOPPING. My main goal was to get some summer clothes, and I was happy to find that mostly all the summer stuff was on clearance. Which, much to my dismay, meant that all the clothes left were in extra small, small or mediums. "The girls" just don't seem to fit in medium tops. LOL. I did manage to get some new tops, so I was happy. By the end of the afternoon, I actually bought more for Aly than I did for myself, but I had fun doing it!! I found sooooooo many cute things on clearance. JCPenney's had alot of summer things on sale for 70% off, so I bought a bunch of 12month outfits for next year, and did the same thing at Macy's. Of course, I had to buy some things for now too :-) She's gonna be stylin'.

Now for some other news. My husband has decided to buy a new boat! Right now he has a Seadoo jetboat, which had previously been his little toy to satisfy his "need for speed" out on the river. But now that the baby is here, he's opted for a more 'family-friendly' boat, which I'm very happy about! I like his jetboat because it's easy to get in and out of the water and all that, but sometimes I just don't like going all fast and looking like a windblown piece of crap with knotted hair by the end of the trip, ya know?! LOL. At least with this bigger boat we can just cruise along and RELAX.

The new boat is awesome... It's not a brand new boat by any means, so there are things that need fixing, but all in all it's in great shape. Russ and I and some other people are gonna clean it all up this week. He and his buddy are washing and waxing it, and I told him I'd help clean up the inside. :-) It just needs some good scrubbing :-) The inside has 2 different sleeping areas in it, tables, a microwave and little stove, bathroom w/shower, etc. Nothing crazy elaborate, but nice enough to make you feel at-home out on the water. I'm excited because alot of people can go out with us now and it's actually gonna be kid-friendly. Our friends all seem to have young kids, so now we can all hang out together and go boating. :-) We're all planning on going up to Lake Erie in a month or so... it should be fun!!

To get ready for the whole boating thing, we drove to a marine shop to get some supplies today, and took Aly with us. She did pretty well on the way up and slept most of the time, but OF COURSE she started crying like crazy as soon as we got up there. I had to stay in the car and feed her while Russ shopped around. Once she settled down, I took her in the store and OF COURSE she started crying again, which couldn't been consoled with a pacifier....so out in the car we went again. She settled down and slept the whole way home, right until we arrived at the restaurant to eat dinner, then OF COURSE she started crying again. I'm sensing a pattern here. LOL. I fed her before we ate, and she seemed to calm down. While waiting for our food, Russ held her and she puked right down the front of his shirt. I couldn't help but laugh, the expression on his face was priceless. I told him, "This is what happens to me EVERYDAY."

So that was our evening. Nothing majorly exciting, but it was nice to get out of the house. It's funny now, because I look forward to just getting out of the house regardless of what I'm doing. Heck, I look forward to having to go grocery shopping these days. My, how things change.

Well, I'm going to try and get some sleep now. Aly's been fast asleep, so I figured I'd just try and post while I had some time to myself. :-) Hope all of you are doing well! Take care...nighty night!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

All is quiet in the Hunt house... for now, anyway.

Yes, I'm FINALLY getting to write another post! Aly just fell asleep, so mommy now has some "me time." Me-time is very precious these days! Unfortunately, when Aly sleeps, I'm usually doing things like making up bottles, cleaning house, or on very rare occasions, taking a nap myself. Not much time for "interneting" lately :-(

Things have been going well...little Aly is as ornery as ever. She's holding her little head up more, though she still looks like a little drunk when she tries to do it...lol. She's so alert, and is smiling more and more. We took a trip to my mom and dad's today for a few hours... they needed their "gram and pap fix," as they call it. They can't go more than a few days without seeing Alyson, or they're calling me saying, "Are you bringing her over?" or "We're gonna stop out, ok?" They're such proud grandparents. They want to watch Aly this weekend, so she's going to stay with them Saturday night. It'll give Russ and I some time together, so it'll be a good thing. We're thinking of heading to Pittsburgh on Saturday, more than likely we'll spend the day out there on the boat soaking up some sun and relaxing. (Ha-- relaxing...what's THAT?!)

Tomorrow, Aly and I are making our first 'big trip', just the two of us. Yeah, so we're just going to Pittsburgh, but it's still a big venture for us. The only places we've gone where it's just the two of us have been the grocery store and my parents' house. We're meeting up with my friend Joelle and her kids, and Deana and her son... a "girls and kids day out." We're gonna eat lunch at Olive Garden and then go to the mall. :-) I'm excited... I need to get out of the house for awhile.

In other post-pregnancy news... I've decided to start a diet. I started it a week ago and I'm down 4 pounds already. I am 5 pounds away from pre-preggo weight, but it feels like 50! I tried on my pre-pregnancy jeans the other day and I can ALMOST button/zip them, but it's still a stretch. But what gets me is that they are tighter in the hip/thigh area...GRR! I actually felt like i LOST weight in that area while I was pregnant, so why the tightness?! Guess it's the inevitable attack of the "childbearing hips." I just hate the fact that I'm totally in the 'in-between' stage where fitting into clothes is concerned. I don't wanna wear maternity stuff anymore, but I still have to wear some of my maternity pants/jeans, and I don't feel right in my pre-prego clothes yet. It's so darn annoying. It puts me in a bad mood when I think about it. I went from having a big wardrobe to NO wardrobe. I don't want to go shopping for in-between sized clothing that I'm not going to fit into in a few months. (wishful thinking.)

So we'll see how this diet goes. I'm still at the grouchy stage right now, where I'm wanting what I can't (well, SHOULDN'T) have.... i.e. chocolate, chocolate, anything to do with carbs, chocolate, carbs, and did I mention chocolate? To solve the chocolate issue, I've been drinking those slimfast optima chocolate shakes. They're pretty good, if I say so myself.

Well, I hear a fussy baby who is ready to eat-- YET AGAIN! So this'll have to be it for now. Hopefully I can start posting more often within the coming weeks. :-)

Take care... :-)

Thursday, July 19, 2007

1 month already??!!

My little baby girl is 4 weeks old today. Where the heck did the time go?! Seems like just yesterday I was giving birth and suffering from an aching you-know-what and complaining about leaking boobs. LOL.

Anyway...

Alyson is doing great. She's growing like a weed and is soooo much more alert now! The only thing is that lately she's been more fussy, gassy and spitting up more, so as of today we've started her on Similac Isomil just to see if that helps. Here's hoping.

As for sleep (or lack therof, where I'm concerned), Aly is sleeping at least 3-4 hours during the night. Lastnight she slept from 1am-6:30am, but I'm sure that was a one-time thing. It sure was nice though! During the day her sleepy time is shorter though. She'll sleep for 2-3 hours then is up like clockwork sucking on her fingers and wanting to eat.

I have so much more to write but I can hear her getting fussy now so I guess I'll have to cut this post short. I just wanted to check in real quick to give an update on the little one. Here are some more pictures...









More to come soon!

Have a good night :-)

Monday, July 9, 2007

It's been awhile!!

Wow...I really underestimated how little time I would have to myself these days! This is one of the first times I've had lately to actually sit down and even THINK about posting on here. I'll try to get as much in as I can before my little one wakes up crying to eat!! HOPEFULLY I have about a half hour left before that happens.

For starters, motherhood is wonderful. And not-so-wonderful. There are times when I'm on cloud 9 and there are times when I don't know if I'm cut out for the whole motherhood thing. Now don't get me wrong-- I love little Alyson to pieces--- but sometimes I am just so overwhelmed and frustrated, and I just don't know WHAT to do! The past few days were that way... I just became so overwhelmed with everything, and it seemed like no matter what I did to soothe her, Aly still cried and fussed. She's not colicky, as far as I know... usually she only cries when she wants to eat... but yesterday was just one of those days when the crying....doesn't.....stop. It really started getting to me and Russ, and that led to us bickering, and ME crying, and then I realized that it was time for me to stop trying to be Supermom and do everything myself, and admit that I needed a helping hand with Alyson.

Russ ended up taking her to my parents for a few hours, and it was just what I needed. I hadn't been able to get anything done in the house, because she'd cry just as I was getting into doing something, so I had a chance to get some housework done. I felt like a bad mom at first due to sending her to my parents' house, but they've been more than willing to help out, and I guess I just haven't taken people up on their offers because I feel like I need to do everything myself. The frustration (and lack of sleep) just built up and built up until yesterday I was at my breaking point. I needed sleep, I was upset because I was jumping down Russ's throat for stupid things and couldn't help it....ugh.

Today things are much better though. Aly fussed around midnight so I fed her, then rocked her back to sleep...then she woke up again at 2:30 and 4:30. After that, she let me sleep until 9am. 9AM! I get so excited when I get about 4 or so hours in between a feeding. It's amazing how our perspective changes when we become parents-- I used to treasure 8 hours of sleep, now I'm thrilled to death with 4 or 5. 6 or 7 is truly heaven....lol.

Breaktime... I hear a baby crying... :-)

Alright, I'm back.

But like I said, today's much better. I feel more relaxed. I just had to admit to myself that it was just TIME FOR A BREAK. I had my mom and Russ's mom helping out for the first week, then Russ and I felt more comfortable so we've pretty much been on our own since then. (Still with plenty of visits from the proud grandparents though!)

The first week was such a big adjustment though. It was no longer about me and Russ, but instead all our attention is focused on Aly. Having a baby really changes you and teaches you alot about yourself, by far! I'm just so in love with little Alyson. I can't stop staring at her! Every little thing she does just seems absolutely adorable, and she's already changing so much everyday! I look back at her first picture from the hospital, and she looks so different already! It's hard to believe that she'll be 3 weeks old on Thursday. Before I know it, I'll be talking about her being 6 months old!! Geesh.

Well, Aly's fussing again, so it must be feeding time. I hear her sucking on her fingers... she sounds like Maggie Simpson. LOL.

Before I go, I want to post the link to Alyson's webpage on the hospital's Web Nursery site. Feel free to leave comments ;-)

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage_view.asp?URLID=7O9N8E8U4J

Have a great day! I'll post more as soon as I can!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Alyson Elizabeth Hunt

Hey everybody! Sorry it's taken me so long to post about the birth of little Alyson. Things have been pretty hectic around here since the birth, as I'm sure all of you with new babies can attest to!

Well, I'll start with Thursday. Thursday morning we got to the hospital around 8am for my induction. At first, only I was allowed to go back and the rest of my family just stayed out in the waiting room. When I arrived in my room, the nurses gave me a bag for my clothes... they said, "Just remove everything and put this gown on" then told me they needed a urine sample (fun fun.) So I get all in my gown and come out carrying my pee sample, and there stand two good looking male student nurses along with the staff nurses. "Just great" I thought, sarcastically. Being a former nursing student myself, I knew that nursing students get to participate (and SEE) everything. Talk about embarrassing, being that they were guys... hehe.

But anyway... Things started out pretty slowly... the first hour just consisted of the nurses asking me a ton of admission-type questions, then they started my IV to get labwork. (Which took 3 tries. Normally I don't mind, but those were some BIG needles.) They then hooked me up to the monitors, and I could hear little Aly's heart beating away in the 140's. The nurse checked me for dilation and effacement, and said I was around 90% effaced and (sadly!) only 1 centimeter dilated. I had hoped to be more dilated by then.

Around 9am, they talked with my doctor, and the Pitocin was started, along with IV fluids. At first, I didnt feel much of anything. I was just having small contractions which truthfully I wouldn't have known I was having had it not been for seeing them on the monitor. The nurse then doubled my drip rate to 12. Shortly after that, the contractions picked up but still weren't very painful... just pressure more than anything. However, they were coming every 2 minutes or so. The nurse came back in a little later and cut my drip rate in half since the contractions were so close together. We went back and forth with the drip rate for the next 4 hours or so.

Around 12, my parents bought us all lunch, while I sat up in a comfy leather recliner, still not feeling much of anything. A nurse came in and my dad said, "If she doesn't progress, is there a chance she will be sent home?" The nurse said "Well, it's always possible." At that point, I started getting a little depressed, thinking, "I came here thinking I was having a baby today... I don't want to wait any longer!" A little while later, that nurse told us my doctor had called in wanting to know about my progress, so he was filled in on my status with the pitocin.

1:30pm came around, and I was still not having very strong contractions. I was getting majorly bummed and said, "Well, if THIS keeps going on, I'll be here forever." Just then, my nurse came back in and said, "The doctor is here to check you... I'll help you back in bed." I got back in bed and my doc walked in. He checked me to see how dilated I was and I was only 2 centimeters. He then gave me majorly good news... he said, "I'm going to break your water now." (YAY!) I got a surprised look on my face and the nurse laughed and said, "Looks like you ARE having a baby today!" She then pressed my call light and when another nurse called back to see what we wanted, my nurse goes, "Ok, go ahead and admit her now." :-)

Lemme tell ya, if my water had broken at home, I would have been flipping out! Talk about Niagara frickin Falls! LOL. After my water was broken, the contractions majorly picked up. Within 15 minutes, they were strong as heck. I said, "So when am I able to get an epidural?" and they told me, "Whenever you want, honey... just let us know." I tried to hold out for awhile, but by 2pm, I told Russ, "Go out to the nurses station and tell them I'll take it now." Unfortunately, we were told that the anesthesiologist was in surgery and would be a little while. I dealt with strong contactions for over an hour, and I heard the nurse say, "I'm going to give her some Stadol til he gets here." Now, I don't know if any of you ladies had stadol, but all it did was make me feel drunk and still in pain. I warned everyone beforehand, "If I act loopy with this stuff, don't laugh at me." LOL. It did make me a little, uh, more free with my speech. The only time I cussed was right after receiving the stadol. Right during a contraction, the blood pressure cuff on my arm pumped up just high enough to annoy me, and I said with my eyes closed and teeth clenched, "Why does that DAMN THING PUMP UP RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONTRACTION?!"
(But hey, if "damn" is the worst word I used, I figure I did pretty well.)

I got my epidural around 3:30pm, and if I could have kissed the anesthesiologist, I would have! (LOL... just kidding) Epidurals are WONDERFUL. Shortly after I had it, all I could feel was pressure. even though the contractions were peaking higher and higher. I was making Russ laugh because when I'd feel the pressure, I could also feel more amniotic fluid coming out of me, so I'd be like, "Here comes a contraction, and there I go pissing myself again." (Yes, still loopy from the stadol.)

My dilation progressed pretty quickly after the epidural, I think just because I was more relaxed and now allowing my body to do what it needed to do! Around 4:30 or 5, I was 6 centimeters dilated. By 6pm, I was already 8 centimeters! I told Russ, "You'd better call SOMEONE on their cell phone and tell them to cut dinner a little short!" (Our families were all downstairs in the cafeteria eating.) I guess when they heard, everyone dropped what they were eating and said, "Ok, not hungry anymore! Let's go!"

By 6:45 or 7pm (can't remember exactly), I was 10 centimeters could feel the baby's head RIGHT THERE. The nurses called my OB and then had me starting to push. My mom and cousin Brenda came in the delivery room at this point. After pushing awhile, the nurses said, "Wow, you must have one good epidural block" because evidentally my pushing wasn't up to par...lol. I could feel the pressure and had the urge to push, but it wasn't that strong.

Once my OB doc got there (7:20-7:25ish), it was on. Doc placed a sterile towel on my chest and said, "I will put the baby right here." I was ready to cry by that point, thinking, "Wow, she'll be here any minute!!"

With my not-so-strong pushing, Alyson would start to come out, then wouldn't progress any further, so doc had to assist with the vacuum suction. All I heard everyone say was "Oh... look at all that dark hair on her head!" Everyone cracked up because evidentally once Alyson's head was out, she spit out the amniotic fluid in her mouth right off the bat. Doc suctioned her and I swear that amount of time waiting to hear her cry seemed like FOREVER, though it was only a few seconds!

Alyson Elizabeth Hunt was born at 7:38pm. She weighed 7 lb 5 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Russ's hands were shaking so much it took him 3 tries to cut the cord, poor guy! Hearing Aly cry and seeing her placed on my chest afterwards was truly amazing... such an indescribable feeling.

Before all this, Russ (the typical manly man he is...lol) goes, "No, I won't cry" when I asked him if he thought he'd cry at the delivery. WELL. My manly man had his head buried in my shoulder while hugging me... I could hear him just sniffling away. When he stood up, his eyes were all red and he was wiping the tears away. Afterwards, he told me that seeing Alyson born was the most amazing thing ever.
--------------------------------------------

Russ and I came home with our new bundle of joy on Saturday night. It was an interesting night, but I was fortunate to have my mom staying with us to help out. Alyson was up many many times through the night, but all went well. So far, she's been great through the night. She eats basically every 2-3 hours and has been taking at least 2 ounces per feeding already. She has a good appetite on her! She could be sleeping so soundly, but she'll wake up like clockwork and I'll hear her fussing and sucking on her little fingers, waiting for her bottle. Dealing with sleep, the past few nights haven't been that bad. She'll sleep for about 3 hours then sometimes I even have to wake her up to feed her! She's such a good baby and really only fusses when wants to eat, though she isn't too fond of bathtime yet. :-)

So far, Russ and I have decided she has his mouth (her lips are shaped EXACTLY like his) and his nose. She has my chin, I think...lol. And we both have dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, so she got those from both of us. Right now her eyes are really dark gray, but that's how mine were when I was born, so I'm guessing they'll turn brown soon.

Russ and I are just SO in love with our little girl. It's amazing how much having Alyson has changed Russ, too! The guy who once said "I'm not changing diapers" now VOLUNTEERS to do it. He's such a proud daddy and is already wrapped around Aly's little finger. She has tummy time with daddy every day. It's totally adorable. Needless to say, we've taken tons of pictures of her already.

I uploaded our first set of pictures, so here they are... I promise I'll post more soon. I just wanted to get all this posted on here to update all of you on how things have been going. I'll post again as soon as I can!

Take care, everyone!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Well, this is it!

Well ladies, today's the day our lives change... little Alyson will be entering the world at SOME point today!

I'm so darn nervous!!! And excited of course, but equally nervous. I just have no idea what to expect.

We go to the hospital at 8am... my parents and Russ's mother are going with us at that time, then my cousin Brenda is meeting us later this morning. (She and I are like sisters and always said we wanted to be in the delivery room with eachother! She's a fairly new mommy--her baby girl is 10 months old right now, so I know she'll be a big help to me!)

I didn't think I'd sleep very well lastnight-- in fact, I didn't think I'd sleep AT ALL, but I managed to get about 5 hours. I had a good cry lastnight (why, I don't know... hormones and feeling overwhelmed I guess....) and felt much better after that, actually. Afterwards I felt like such a dork because I really have NO reason to be crying! Darn hormones... :-P

I truthfully didn't know if I'd make it though the night without going into full blown labor, but I managed to do that too. All day yesterday I was having some mild contractions, but not anything at regular intervals. Just bad enough to make me uncomfortable. Also, (TMI warning) I lost more of my mucous plug through the day and evening yesterday. Grossest thing ever...blech. LOL.

Despite the uncomfortable contractions, I DID get in to my hair salon to get my hair done, so now I'm all freshly trimmed and highlighted for those oh-so-lovely hospital pics. LOL. Also, our good friends called yesterday and said, "You guys are coming over for dinner tonight." (No complaints from me on THAT one!) They told me, "We don't want you to have to cook tonight and then get the house all cleaned up again. You're having a BABY tomorrow, you need to relax." They're so awesome.... it's wonderful to have friends like that, lemme tell ya.

Well, I'm off to hop in the shower (ok, so maybe I won't be HOPPING...) and then to make Russ and I some breakfast. They said I could have a "light breakfast." I know I probably won't be getting to eat or drink much (if at all) until little Aly is here, so I'd better eat while I have the chance.

Wish me luck....please keep me, Russ, and little Alyson in your prayers. I'm hoping this birth goes as smoothly as possible today!! :-)

More updates as soon as I'm able...

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

I love rollercoasters, but not the one I'm on today...

Ever since I learned of my planned induction yesterday, I've truly been in such a DAZE, like I said in my post yesterday.

My emotions are one big rollercoaster right now. I've been sitting here in amazement, thinking how today and tomorrow are my last two childless days for the rest of my life. Not in a bad way, mind you...but it's just crazy to think about.

It's the last two days where it's just "Me and Russ." Then on Thursday once Alyson is here, our little family of 2 turns into 3, and we're responsible for this new precious little life. And EVERYTHING is going to change.

Russ and I were sitting around talking lastnight, and that's all I could think about....how much things are going to change just in a few short days. It's not going to just be about me and him anymore...and I wonder how OUR relationship will change. I'm excited for what's to come, but so incredibly nervous at the same time.

*sigh*

For now, I'm just trying to get last-minute things done in the house. I have this list of things I'd like to get done within the next few days, but I have absolutely NO desire to do any of it. I'm just so TIRED! I really need to get myself motivated. It figures, any other day I'm a big ball of energy lately, but now that I HAVE to get things done, I am completely worn the heck out. Come on, energy...where'd you go?!

Monday, June 18, 2007

Wow.....THURSDAY!!!!

Well. I'm sorta in a daze right now!

I just got back from the doctor's. I definitely have some good news! When he checked me this morning, he said, "Oh, your cervix is very soft... 100% effaced... paper thin!" He said that I'm about the same amount dilated, though.

As I sat there wondering, "Ok, so what next?" he looked at me and smiled... he said, "Well, you're due Friday... do you want to wait and see whether you go into labor, or do you want to be induced?"

(I was sitting there thinking, "What... wait... WOAH!") I then laughed and told him, "Well, I am getting kinda impatient here!" He said he'd call and talk with the birth center to see what times they have available for inductions. I waited a few minutes and he came back and said, "Thursday at 8am."

THURSDAY AT 8AM! I could be holding my little Alyson in my arms on THURSDAY! AAAH!

I'm feeling tons of emotions now. Nervous...excited...happy....surprised....just, WOW. I wasn't expecting all this today. I was expecting him to tell me nothing had changed and to come back to the office again in a few days!

OH...and also this appointment, he did DEFINITELY strip my membranes. He came out and said so today. He goes, "Well, I stripped your membranes, so you could very well go into labor sooner than Thursday!" WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I'm just so happy right now. I've called everyone close to me to tell them the news. Everyone's on standby with their cell phones handy...lol.

It's just nice to know that if nothing happens in the meantime, I have an actual TIMEFRAME. I know at least SOMETHING is going to happen Thursday. Hopefully this induction works without any problems and Russ and I are holding our little Aly by Thursday night. I'll keep you all updated!! If something does happen before Thursday, I don't know if my hospital has wireless internet access, so I might not be able to update until I get home. I'll have to check on that one :-)

For now, I'm going to put my feet up and hopefully I'll be feeling some contractions soon or my water will break! Maybe I should go do some jumping jacks.....hmm.

Have a great day!