Sarah's Blog - How unoriginal can we get???

Sick...

2009-05-16T19:38:00.002-05:00

Side Note - I'm really going to start trying to blog more often.

This morning Miss Avery woke up pretty congested but since we live in "death valley" when it comes to allergens, I wrote it off as just more pollen in the air. Avery was acting like herself until....

I put her down for her morning nap. Now, during the week, homegirl doesn't nap at day care. I think she's afraid she'll miss something. At least she handles it well and is normally happy. But on the weekends, she will nap for about an hour in the morning and again in the afternoon. Well this morning she slept for only 20 minutes. When she got up I was holding her while I was finishing watching the season finale of Grey's (OMG! it was a good one! I hope they don't die!) Avery just laid on me and cuddled. She fell asleep on my chest and this is SOOOOO unlike her. She hadn't felt warm but I figured I'd go check again.

Her temp was 99.6 according to the Exergen. I love that thermometer for a quick check. After a little while Avery felt warmer and after a recheck, her temperature was 101.2! I called the pediatrician and they said she probably had a fever virus and to go ahead and treat it today and then bring her in tomorrow if she still has a fever.

Poor baby. She has been so miserable but still happy. I walked into the living room where she was sitting on the floor playing with her leap frog table with Robert and she looked at me and cracked up. I have no idea what was so funny but apparently I was the funniest thing she had seen today.

Product Review: Flowspoon (and our first solid foods)!

2009-05-13T21:25:00.003-05:00

My very good friend Lauren of Instinct Parenting called me about 2 months ago asking if I could be a "mommy reviewer" of a new product she found. The product is called the FlowSpoon. She told me that it was a new spoon that would help ease the transition from breast/bottle to solids. I was EXCITED about the opportunity to try something new. You never know if it might be the next VELCRO product, ya know?

So - on April 7, 2009, on Avery's 6 month Birthday, I pulled out the homemade butternut squash I had baked and carefully frozen into 1 oz portions, and prepared to start solids for the first time. Here we go... once we started solids, our 'life' would be changed. A whole new event was being added to our daily routine and never again would we change a "breastfed" baby poopy diaper...

I used the FlowSpoon. to feed Avery and I really liked how UNMESSY it was compared to the regular take 'n toss spoons I had, but I had difficulty "reloading" the spoon. I was using small, 4 oz plastic cups to hold thawed squash in and I just couldn't seem to get the spoon into a good position to get the pureed vegetable in to the spoon.

However, when I did get it filled up, Avery emptied it like a champ. She was familiar with the soft roundness of the tip of the spoon and was used to the sucking motion to get stuff IN her mouth. The squash puree that we used was just that - pureed squash. I did not thin it out much because I had read that it's best to add needed liquids to foods AFTER they thaw since some foods tend to get a little more watery/runny. Avery seemed to be ok with the thicker pureed squash though so I went back to the old saying of "if it ain't broke..."

I did however, think many times that it might just be because Avery was older, and REALLY ready for solids that she didn't need the transition spoon. She never had any issues with eating, or switching back and forth from breast to bottle; she has been a relatively EASY baby with very few difficulties. She never spit out any of the food and ate it right up. The new experience was FUN for her. We might not have been such a great test case for it because of this. BUT... if I had started her earlier on a runny rice cereal mixture, I think the FlowSpoon. would have been an AWESOME tool to help a baby learn to EAT solids. It's a much better alternative to putting rice cereal in a bottle. And some babies are not as aware of their surroundings/environment, so they may need some help getting the hang of the new skill of EATING.

I have included some pictures of Avery's first solids. (the mess is more of mom's user error than baby not eating :) ) and I really promise she enjoyed it!!! She just has some special faces she makes. Even 5 weeks later, we haven't found a food she WON'T eat, she will just make a face and keep on chewing.

Funds For Floyd

2009-04-03T08:21:00.003-05:00

A very dear friend of ours is battling brain cancer. Floyd has been part of my entire life. Lesa, his sister, has been best friends with my mom since they were 15 years old - so to say they are like family, is an understatement - they ARE family. We found out about the tumor around Thanksgiving 2007 - Christmas 2007 was supposed to be his last. Here is a picture from Christmas 2008. He is sitting with "Great Grandma Gilmore".

He is already beating the odds and I would love to be a part of helping him continue along the same path.

I just received an e-mail about raising money to help send him to Oklahoma for a 'new' treatment that has yet to be covered by medical insurance but seems to have good/positive effects on his type of tumor. They are trying to raise $10,000 for this treatment.

If you are a follower/reader of my blog, and feel at any way willing to donate, I will collect the money to send to them. I think pay pal may be an option? My paypal e-mail address is sdmorge@yahoo.com.

Here is the e-mail I received from Lesa regarding raising the funds.

Hi everyone,

If we've talked in the past 10 days, you know that we are trying to put together funds to send Floyd to Oklahoma for an alternative treatement that has shown a great deal of promise in defeating Glioblastoma. We have talked to several people that have been through the treatment and so far, they are cancer free. With each case, the physical effects of the disease have reversed to a degree and they are living relatively normal lives. As Floyd's condition continues to deteriorate, we know it is important to get him there as soon as possible. The cost for the treatment is $10,000 and so far, we have raised a part of that, but we don't have much time and we are asking everyone to help by asking as many people as you are comfortable asking to donate whatever they can, even $5 will put us that much closer. Unfortunately, because this is an alternative treatment in the United States, it is not covered by medical insurance. If each of us does what we can, we know that we can get him there and that this treatment will help him live. Thank you to each of you for your support, friendship and encouragement. Whatever the future holds, we appreciate and love you all.

Lesa, Elaine and Barbara

The account is set up at Washington Mutual, which is actually Chase Bank now, and the account number is 4462078845. Thank you for whatever you are able to do.

www.averyguide.com

2009-03-30T12:58:00.004-05:00

Lila Guide is a spinoff from The Nest that holds many local product/event reviews for your child. They had a kid of the day contest and I couldn't resist.

Well - today, March 30, 2009 - Avery won!

The Lila Guide - is officially the Avery Guide - until the next kid wins!

Check it out!

http://www.averyguide.com/

And...she rolls over!!!

2009-03-19T22:36:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we were at Karin's house and Avery FINALLY rolled over. Of course she does it the hard way - Back to Belly.

Fast forward to about 2:15 into the video

I love how I'm trying to tell Robert to help her get her hand unstuck and he pushed her back over... classic

Link to Video

Only a face a mother could love...

2009-03-12T10:38:00.004-05:00

Ok, not really - Avery is beautiful, but she's a funny, very spirited baby. Last week when I picked her up at Day Care, they gave me these pictures they took of her while trying to catch a smile. To date, I have not been able to catch that cute gummy baby smile.

The 2nd picture is my favorite - its saying "NO WAY! you can't get me to smile!" I LOVE IT!

Her new "trick" is to blow raspberries. It must be the vibrations on her lips that feel good or something but she just LOVES it. And - it calms her down. She can be fussy, whiney, tired and then realize that blowing raspberries will make it better. Our laptop broke but I have a great video that I will post of her doing this and BELLY LAUGHING!

The best thing ever!!!

My Daughter, the flirt

2009-02-24T09:51:00.006-06:00

I knew we'd be in trouble with those big baby blues, but I didn't realize it was going to start this early. It started her first day of Day Care. There is a very sweet boy in her class that she absolutely adores. There is just something about Nico that makes her lose focus on everything else around her and she fixates on him.

Back to Day 1. I went to pick up Avery in her class. She is laying on the mat kicking her legs, minding her own business and Nico shimmied his way over to her, leaned forward and planted his mouth firmly on the side of her little head... Kissing boys at day care already.

So since then, they have become friends. She thinks his noises are funny and just loves to watch him and laugh at him. Miss J told me yesterday he was sitting in front of her while she was in the bouncy seat and he would make faces, she would belly laugh. Sort of like she is saying "You silly silly boy."

Yesterday, the Director told me that Avery and Joseph were on a date in the classroom next door. What? What happened to Nico? Sure enough, I walk in and see Joseph and Avery (Due Date twins) sitting next to one another in their bouncers holding hands and laughing together. How stinkin' cute is that???

I really need to bring the camera in and take pictures of all of this!

Blogging is for the birds...

2009-02-24T09:43:00.003-06:00

or at least that is what I think subconsciously because I obviously suck at it...

So - I'm starting fresh. I'm just going to forego our stories from Christmas - that's how much I suck.... I might try to go back later but for now, this is what you get.

Please Vote for Avery!

2009-02-09T12:05:00.002-06:00

The baby magazine is having a contest for the Cover.

Please vote for our little bath time baby!

You can vote once a day.

Website to Vote!

Baby Massage...

2009-01-22T21:05:00.003-06:00

Robert and his best friend went to the Auburn/Alabama game. Avery and I signed up for a baby massage class. The instructor is Annie and her website http://infantsandmassage.homestead.com/

It was supposed to be a group class but we were the only ones there. Avery LOVED it! She was a star baby. Annie told me that normal babies will lay and get massaged for a few minutes at first and you have to work up to a 15-20 minute session. Avery laid their for the entire 45 minutes and ATE IT UP!!! She LOVED IT! She let both Annie and I massage her and was so happy and content the entire time.

later that day, it seemed like whenever I'd change her diaper, she'd extend her leg and look at me like "are you going to massage me more mom? please???"

We have not been as diligent as we should be with nightly massages but here are a few pictures of one of our massage sessions. She is COMPLETELY relaxed.

Thanksgiving

2009-01-22T20:53:00.002-06:00

I really can't believe it's been this long since I updated. Thanksgiving was good. We started off for Breakfast at Papa and Nana's (Robert's dad and step mom).

I had just had my surgery 6 days beforehand. I was feeling sore but so much better than before I had my gallbladder removed. I was able to eat without feeling like someone tied my gut in a knot!

Avery chillin' on the floor with her turkey on!

Family photo

baby girl LOVES her papa!

...and her daddy-o!!!

Monthly Pictures

2009-01-22T20:15:00.006-06:00

Each month, on the 7th, I'm planning on taking a picture of our sweet baby!

Here are the 2 and 3 month pictures.

Wow - Haven't updated in a long time...

2009-01-22T20:03:00.005-06:00

I guess that is what mommyhood does to you! now that i'm back at work, I will try to post more often since I have 8 hours where I am not with my baby.

For now, I leave my readers with this story of poop... My buddies from the bump have already read it but for my blog readers who missed it... enjoy...

yesterday I was taking Avery's temperature up the booty. I dutifully put the cover on the thermometer, swab it in vaseline, undress her and insert the thermometer. It was like popping a balloon! Pffftttt!

She's gassy.... Ok - hope the thermometer cooperates. Turn it on - it beeps...WTF? it's in Celsius... Remove thermometer, press a few buttons to attempt to rectify the situation. Look down at Avery on the changing table, only to witness her peeing all over the place... LOVELY.

Reinsert the thermometer that is still in celsius - f-ck it, I'll convert the temp later. Beep! It starts taking the temp. Uh oh...what is that? Avery is starting to push like she's having a BM... OMG Hurry up!... Beep! 38.1 celsius...crap, that seems high... Contemplate retaking the temp... too late... Avery has started to poop. Gross!!!

Remove poop covered thermometer... attempt to catch the flowing poop in the open diaper. Oh crap (literally)... It's EVERYWHERE! I try to 'scoop' up as much as I can. wrap up the diaper and.... POOP!!!

She's not done - she completely shat all over the place...and then she peed... again.

Ok - let's clean her up now that she's REALLY done. Go to get wipes and ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? there are... count them...2 Wipes in the container... FACK!!!

She has poop in her sleeper from the 2nd 'round' - everything is soaked with pee. It has leaked on the cover and the lap pad. Of course I'm completely by myself... I attempted to get the dog to retrieve some wipes but he just looked at me like I had lost my mind and then trotted off to go eat the fresh pile of cat puke.

I wrapped her up in a receiving blanket and ran her a bath. OYE...I LOVE being a mom... Ha!

And she's back - sans gallbladder!

2008-11-22T23:03:00.002-06:00

Back in July I posted about how I had to go to Labor & Delivery due to some god awful stomach pains that were unbearable. The on-call OB said that it was probably gallbladder issues, to take some pepcid and avoid whoppers. So I did. The remaining 2 1/2 months of my pregnancy, I only had 1 more minor attack and then came Avery.

Since Avery was born 6 1/2 weeks ago, I have had gallbladder attacks at least once or twice a week. It became unbearable. It got to the point where I was hardly eating anything for fear of inducing another attack. After having an attack Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday in a row, I decided to bite the bullet and call the surgeon. I had a lot of fears that prevented me from calling earlier. I thought I'd have to leave Avery for 24 hours. But I couldn't go on any longer.

I got an appt for a week later with Dr. L. The appt was very short. It basically went like this.

Dr: "So tell me what made you think you had gallbladder issues"

I told him the symptoms I was experiencing and recounted my trip to L&D this summer

Dr: "well, you do have gallstones. So when do you want to have it removed?"

Me: "I'd rather not ever have another attack"

Dr: "see you friday at 7 am"

Alrighty then!

The surgery went well. I did have a number of gallstones and it was probably the best thing for me to get it removed. The staff at the Surgery Center was amazing! I feel a little guilty for poking fun of the nurse who donned a Winnie the Pooh pink scrub shirt, seeing as she was the wonderful woman who was able to get my IV into my very dehydrated veins. (Note to self - I need to drink more fluids!).

The pain afterwards was pretty intense. It was definitely way worse than my c-section recovery and I still can't seem to get this trapped air out of my shoulder. The doctor made three small-ish incisions in my abdomen. One of them is pretty gnarly looking. They are covered with this plastic sheath stuff and the top incision has some leaking blood (it's normal) but it looks really disgusting.

Avery has faired well with all of this. Because of the anesthesia and the crazy amount of pain meds they gave me (morphine, demoral and lortabs) I had to dump my milk for 24 hours and she ate bottled breast milk in the mean time. She definitely prefers the bottle for laziness reasons. She is able to get a lot of food quickly with the bottle and this little piglet loves it. We are re-learning how to breastfeed and she's not too keen on it. She's getting there. It will be easier when I am able to relax a little with her on my abdomen. Right now it's so tender having her there that I know I'm really tense. I am just extra grateful that she isn't a picky baby and adapts to situations well.

I ate real food this evening for the first time and so far so good. Many times a nasty side effect of gallbladder removal is that your body will go through a dumping syndrome where you'll literally have to use the restroom 20 minutes after you eat. I haven't had any tummy issues at all so I am hoping that it stays this way. Of course I will have to watch what I eat and can't eat tremendously fatty foods, which is really not an issue since we eat fairly healthfully most of the time.

So... 7 weeks and two surgeries... It's been quite eventful around these parts. Let's hope for an uneventful next couple of months :)

Mushy Brain continues...

2008-11-14T11:37:00.004-06:00

When one is pregnant, one suffers from a chronic condition called "Pregnesia" - This is the technical term for losing items, forgetting appointments, heck, even forgetting your home phone number at most inopportune times. Women who have never been pregnant, and men do not understand why being 'with child' turns your brain to mush. Only pregnant women and mothers know exactly what we women go through.

I stupidly thought that I would gain back my keen senses as soon as the baby was born but apparently I thought wrong, waaay wrong. It got worse.

My birthday was 10 days ago. In that 10 days I have lost a $50 cash gift and my bluetooth that I had for a whopping one week.

This morning I found the $50 - it was in my pants pocket, washed and dried, even though I would have placed my right hand atop a bible and SWORE I put it in the little purse pouch that the lipgloss Dana bought for me along with my company network access card and my debit card... Come to think of it... what the heck was I thinking putting those precious items there either?

So - now I would like to find my bluetooth. Since the dawn of their creation, I have made fun of people walking through store aisles with an earbud sticking out of their face, but as soon as I got one (it was a gift as well), I fell in love. Granted, I don't walk through stores with it, but I love it when I am driving (Both hands on the wheel) and while I'm sitting on the couch trying to nurse. The last time I KNOW I had that stupid earbud thing was in the car at the "Schnitzel Ranch" on my birthday while I was (ironically) nursing Avery in the parking lot. I hope it fell somewhere in the Envoy and NOT on the black asphalt. UGH!

I am also missing 2 baby socks, and a gift certificate for a gift that I would love to cash in for a baby carrier.

I attribute it to "baby brain" - it's the secondary symptom of "pregnesia". Blame it on lack of sleep, or never ending thoughts of your baby taking over your brain or possible the constant worry over finances, fears of having to leave your baby at day care when you return to work, or for me, the fear of Dexter coming into your house to hack up the innocent family some nutjob brought over (don't ask...) , but the point is...that you can't think anymore. You lose items that you would really love to be able to find again. Daily activities like showering or doing the dishes seem equal to climbing Mount Everest. The day escapes you and before you know it, you haven't called Delta to add your infant to your fast approaching holiday airfare.

Hopefully it will get better by January, when I have to return to the grind. Until then, can someone come over and help me???

Picture time!!!

2008-11-07T18:51:00.005-06:00

Look at this face!!! How can you resist it? Avery is very expressive with her facial expressions and this has got to be one of my favorites.

"These boots were made for walkin...."
My friend Dana now lives in Texas - so naturally, she had to send her some baby cowgirl boots. She wore them today with pride! Thanks "Aunt" Dana!!!

To start preparing Miss Avery to go to DayCare (So sad!) and so that we can leave her for more than 2-3 hours at a time, we decided to start introducing the bottle to her. Last night I pumped milk and Robert gave her the bottle. She has no prejudice in what is given to her, which is great! and she took the bottle like a champ.

...After the bottle, she found her thumb...

And she LOVES her pacifier at night when she's cranky and fussy and doesn't know what to do with herself!

When Avery was born, she had these LONG skinny fingers... but now that she's starting to fill out and chunk up a bit, I realized that she and I have the "same" hands...Or at least I think our hands look similar!

Side Note: I still can't quite get my wedding rings on... I miss my rock so badly... Hello!??! Diamonds, platinum, bling bling! How can one NOT miss that? Instead I'm wearing my "mother's day" band that Robert got me for my right hand.

Happy Halloween - a little late...

2008-11-06T20:58:00.003-06:00

Before Avery was here, I bought this sweet "Baby's 1st Halloween" outfit. She wore it with pride. For the record, we got one trick or treater this year...that's it! It was a great costume though - one of those goombas from Super Mario Bros. Hilarious! Next year, we will NOT be handing out candy. We ended up eating it and that is NOT what my hips needed :) Here is a great picture of Avery's "milk face" - she is by far the messiest eater EVER and gets milk all over her face when we're nursing. I love my milk face baby!

16 Days Old!

2008-10-23T14:27:00.002-05:00

Well we had our 2 week pediatrician check up today. Avery is great! The little chunky monkey has gained 1 1/2 pounds since her last appt and is up to 8 pounds 7 ounces. So... I guess my fears about whether or not Avery is getting enough to eat have been solved. She's getting PLENTY.

Her 'stats' say that she's in the 54th percentile for weight and 88th percentile for height at 21.5 inches long. She's a tall skinny thing :) and we love her!

We also go the go ahead to let her sleep without having to wake her up every 4 hours at night - that's great! I hope things go well tonight...

Last night we had the worst night of all and it wasn't even Avery's fault...it was mine... I had another gall bladder attack and thought I was going to die. I kept robert up until 3 am dealing w/ it. AWFUL.

My mom left yesterday. Oh it was so so hard. I really wish she lived closer so that we could see each other whenever we wanted... I'm thinking a 2 hour drive would be ideal.

A few pics of Avery...

Her first Alabama Game! Ole Miss vs Alabama - October 21, 2008. Alabama won 24-20

Nice Hair do!!! First bath

11 days old

2008-10-18T14:57:00.002-05:00

Avery is sleeping and I have a few minutes to update/reflect before she wakes up. It's been 11 days since this wonderful bundle of joy came into our lives. Life as Robert and I know it will never be the same and that is OK. All my fears of L&D (even though it didn't even happen), having a C-section, recovery, whether or not I'd be a good mom, parenthood, etc have all gone away. I still have some moments of self doubt but if anything, I am learning to trust myself and my instinct and so far, it's working. The "baby blues" that hit after a week have seemed to vanish and I'm doing OK. My recovery with the C-section has been way better than I thought. I had fears about breastfeeding post c-section. I thought with the "unnatural" delivery of my baby that it would take my body extra time to get the message, but Friday, 3 days after delivery, my milk came in and my daughter is thriving. I thought it would be painful to nurse her but as soon as my staples came out, I can hardly tell that I have a 8-10 inch incision in my abdomen. I am meeting my baby's needs by feeding, loving, changing her when needed. She shows me that I am doing well at this because she is a HAPPY and content baby. After she eats she is so active and alert and prefers to be left in her pack & play bassinet next to the window to look at the window blinds and kick her legs. She stares endlessly at her hands and will smile without even knowing that she's doing it. Night time has been a breeze so far. She's a no-nonsense kinda gal. Last night for instance, she woke up around 2:30 after sleeping about 4 hours. I changed her, she ate and then was back asleep by 3:10. We've had 2 -3 nights where her tummy has visibly been bothering her but as soon as we can get her to "blow one out" she is miraculously "fixed" and returns to my happy, content beautiful baby girl. I am so in love with her. I am even more so in love with my husband who tells me I'm doing a good job. Knowing he is supporting me and thinking I'm doing it "right" is such a needed and welcomed calming affect on me. He has been so active in parenting for our little girl and never balks about having to help take care of her, even when she pees on him.

Avery Elizabeth is here!

2008-10-13T14:27:00.002-05:00

Avery arrived via c-section at 12:22 pm on Oct. 7, 2008. She was 7 lbs, 7 oz. Not quite the 8+ lb baby Dr. D had projected but... it was VERY good we did the c-section. Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and she had already had a bowel movement in the womb. It was VERY VERY likely that even if I had attempted a vaginal birth (assuming my cervix was favorable), we would have ended up in an emergency C-section anyways. She is GORGEOUS. Robert is an amazing daddy as well. As soon as the doctor pulled her out of me, he was with her. The baby team had him be a part of everything. It was funny that when they told him to "come on" to go bathe her... my doctor stopped him and said "Oh Mr. M - just wanted to let you know that Sarah is fine"... I'm so chopped liver these days. it was about 4 hours after my surgery that I was able to see her and when I did, she immediately latched on breast feeding. The next morning I called a lactation consultant to ake sure that we had it right and she got an A+. Now if only my milk would come in because she is a GREEDY little thing! She is the perfect baby (like I said she would have to be!). She only cries when she needs something, is a big cuddle bug with anyone who holds her and is pretty damn cute.

Top Ten reasons why a C Section is "OK"

2008-10-06T21:36:00.002-05:00

I hope people who read this find some sarcasm in this post.

I've been thinking of the pros about this C-section. I'm really "OK" with it now but this still makes me feel better.

1. Avery's birthday is the same as my FIL's wedding anniversary...now he's happy and hasn't made a crack at her name today

2. Extra day at the hospital = extra day of help w/ baby

3. 2 extra weeks of STD pay

4. My vagina stays in tact - no drooping lady parts for me

5. no hemorrhoids from pushing

6. drugs... need I say more???

7. Baby won't have a cone head upon arrival

8. Sex can re-commence around 4 weeks instead of 6 (according to some book Robert read today)

9. Scars are sexy, right?

10. Robert gets to wear scrubs.

The day has been set....

2008-10-06T15:19:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow, October 7, 2008 at 12:00 pm, I am scheduled for a C-section delivery.

Today's Dr appt was the "same ol" news with elevated BP, protein in my urine. My cervix STILL hadn't progressed any to be favorable towards induction. Avery is fine inside of me - meaning she's thriving.

The Dr hooked me up to a NST monitor for over an hour where they look at baby's heartbeat, any signs of fetal stress, monitor movement and any contractions. In the hour and a half I was hooked up to the monitor, I had 2 contractions - and they weren't even "real" contractions but rather little 'practice' ones. Avery was very active and not under any stress.

Then Dr. D said the inevitable. C SECTION. He's worried that because of her size (8 pounds now) and my cervix being "non-induceable" AND the looming Pre-E/Toxemia, that if he were to wait until Cervix was ready, she would be too big or I would have developed more severe case of this pre-e crap and if he were to induce now, that the cervix isn't ripe enough to open and I would be in a lot of pain for a long time without getting anywhere fast and more than likely (75% likely) to end up w/ a C-section after hours of labor.

Here's the Rock... here's the hard place...

So - I asked to schedule the surgery for Wednesday - to allow my mom to fly in... Apparently late week surgeries are popular because the only opening was for tomorrow at 12:00 pm. And the dr didn't feel comfortable letting me wait until Saturday.

It's done... it's scheduled...

It's not what I wanted but I feel better knowing we have a definitive plan in place now and I won't get toxemia and Avery won't be in any danger.

Please keep me in your prayers tomorrow. I have never gone through any major surgery until now and I'm scared to death about it. I don't like needles, I don't like drugs, I don't like the idea of being awake while I'm being opened up.

However... that being said, I am so so so excited to meet my daughter tomorrow and become a MOTHER. How freaking cool is that????

When will she arrive????

2008-10-05T14:56:00.005-05:00

The last few weeks have been a little eventful for our pregnancy. I am on the verge of "going toxic"... let me explain.

There is a condition called pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) that can lead to a worse condition called Pre-Eclampsia or Toxemia. Drs aren't really sure what exactly causes it but the 'cure' for it is usually delivery of the baby. Symptoms include elevated blood pressure, protein in your urine, swelling in feet, hands and face. More severe cases include basically a shutting down of your liver and kidneys.

Up until recently, my blood pressure has been phenomenal and perfect. However about 2 weeks ago - it was 132/88 - not terrible but higher than it HAS BEEN. They did a recheck of my BP while I laid down and it went down to 100/60... no big deal.

Last Tuesday, my blood pressure was again elevated and this time I had protein in my urine. The doctor sent me in for blood work at the lab and had me come back in on Wednesday. My blood work came back "perfect" meaning I didn't have the Pre-E...yet... and on Wednesday, although my BP was elevated, the protein went down to just a trace amount. Dr. D scheduled another appt on Friday. The doctor had mentioned induction so when we came back on Wednesday our bags were packed and we were ready to go...JUST IN CASE. But since everything was "OK" we were just told to come back on Friday.

On Friday I went in and my BP was 148/100 (VERY HIGH!) and I still had trace protein levels. The nurse said "we need to deliver this baby now!"

When they did a recheck of my BP, it was 136/90 - still really high. The doctor ordered an ultrasound and did an exam. Well miss Avery is measuring about 8 pounds, and looks really good. Then he sent me to Labor & Delivery for monitoring and another round of blood work. Robert and I were not really ready to have this baby, and talked about all the things that were still at home and not packed permanently in the car.

I got situated in L&D and my BP stayed in the 130's/80's. Then right before the dr came in, it went down to 124/76. He told me to lay on my left side, and 5 minutes later, my BP was 110/72. At that time my blood work came back and in the ~1 hour the trace protein had gone to nothing and the blood work was normal.

He sent me home.

The other issue that we're facing is that my body has not started to prepare for childbirth yet. Avery is still VERY high and has not dropped. My cervix (yes, we're talking lady parts now) is still very high, not soft and not thinned out/effaced. Forget about dilation... Avery is still locked up tight.

I have spent the last 9 months worried that I'd lose this baby and now I can't get my body to let her out... irony at its best.

And because of my cervix's stubborn state, combined with the size of this baby (who'da thunk that I could grow such a biggun!??) and the fact that my body is TRYING to go toxic, we're now looking at the possibility of having a C-section.

This is NOT what I wanted... I wanted to go through the excitement of being at home, starting to feel contractions, laboring at home, going to the hospital at some strange hour of the night. I wanted to ATTEMPT to go au natural - no epidural, however now that (if ol' steely the cervix cooperates) I am induced, I am not sure I am disciplined/prepared enough to go sans epidural.

I don't feel like I am getting the support I need about the idea of having a c-section. The mere mention of it to my mom and I get the following reaction "OOOOOH!!! no! you don't want a c-section!!!" Well at this point I'm not sure if I have a choice if I keep on swelling, High BP and no ripening going on.

Today is my due date. I have done nothing but "rest" according to the doctor's orders. I'm tired of resting. I haven't had any contractions, a few cramping feelings here and there, but nothing promising. I have started a regimen of Evening Primrose Oil as directed by Lauren.

So... when will she be here??? How big will she be???

I'm guessing I get induced or a scheduled C-section - I'm going to plan on Wednesday 10/8/08. I think she's going to be 7 pounds 12 oz.

Wall letters

2008-10-01T19:13:00.003-05:00

Just in time! I just got notice from the seller that Avery's Wall letters are completed... just in time for her arrival, right? I bought these from "The Funky Boutique" off of Ebay. This is a picture of the nursery/crib that these will go over.

Crimson has arrived...

2008-09-13T19:09:00.004-05:00

Football season is officially here... that also means that I needed something to wear while we rooted for the Crimson Tide Alabama Football team. So off I went to Motherhood Maternity and I found a "crimson" colored top. This will be my football outfit each Saturday until I have this baby. SO... of course I thought it would be interesting to measure my belly progress in the same outfit each week.

~35 weeks - on our way to friends' house. You can tell, I actually had my hair straightened and make up on. ~36 weeks - No makeup - I think I'm getting homely looking... ~37 weeks - Ok, seriously need to pay more attention to my appearance. I'll be cute next week :) Does it look like I'm getting bigger? lower? No progress at all???

Closet full of clothes

2008-09-01T20:27:00.002-05:00

I realized w/ all the pictures I've posted, I hadn't uploaded a picture of Miss Avery's closet. I tore out the builder's special closet rod and we bought this organizer at Target for $40. Robert and his mom assembled it while I supervised. The canvas storage cubes came from Lowe's.

5 weeks to go!

2008-08-31T18:38:00.002-05:00

I can't believe we only have 5 weeks to go... in 2 weeks, Miss Avery will be "full term" and I could go into labor at any minute...holy cow!!! Here's the latest updates. Thursday night I woke up in the middle of the night and felt a little warm, so I got up to turn down the thermostat. I noticed that Milo was not sleeping at the end of the bed with us. When I went down the hall to the thermostat, I spotted something in the corner of my eye. The cats have taken up sleeping on the Changing Table in the nursery. I snapped a late night picture...the expressions on their faces sort of say "Mom, please do not disturb us"... Now, at any time of the day or night, at least one of them is sleeping on the contoured changing pad. Saturday, August 30, marked the beginning of Alabama's football season. I couldn't find an ALABAMA maternity shirt so I settled for a top in crimson (well it's berry, but close enough). I definitely think I have dropped a little and am getting huger by the minute. In the corner of the nursery we have a small nook that I thought it would be nice to put shelves in. So after one unlevel shelf, I finished the job, as Robert had to go run an errand. Here is the finished product. I'm pretty darn proud of them! We definitely need more books for little miss though!

For those of you who love belly shots...

2008-08-31T10:31:00.001-05:00

Here they are in chronological order My belly shots

Photos

2008-08-25T20:00:00.003-05:00

Princess Pillow I call him my "fat cat" but this is a great picture showing exactly how chubby he is... Who said the dog and cat hate each other? THey are avoiding looking at eachother - then they can tolerate one another "These boots were made for walking..." Thanks to Dana for her cute "texan" gift - Avery has her first pair of cowgirl boots Buddy says "this is the life" Avery's Coming home Outfit Picture of nursery from the "nook" My First Halloween outfit Crib w/ bedding in it

So, you're having twins???

2008-08-25T07:59:00.003-05:00

Apparently when you're pregnant, people decide that they have the right to comment about your weight, your size, your diet, your birth plans, etc. Everyone has an opinion and more than likely it is different than the woman who is the one actually carrying the child. Very frustrating in my opinion.

I had my fair share of "morning" sickness this pregnancy, so if I wanted to eat Easy Mac for breakfast - because that is the ONLY thing that sounded remotely edible AND would not make me vomit, then I did it.

Being 6 weeks out, I have not gained excessive weight and my doctors are very pleased with my progress. They don't care that I stop at McDonald's for a soft serve cone every chance I get. All they are concerned about is that my Blood Pressure is "phenomenal", my urine is clear of toxins and the baby is growing on schedule. They don't even blink when they look at my stretch marked belly.

At any rate, some people enjoy passing judgement or offering unwelcome advice. Last Monday, a stranger at work came up to me and made the comment of "So, any day now, huh!??!!"

When I gently replied that I had 7 weeks left, she then thought to take the comment one step further and ask "Oh, so you're having twins???" ......................................

............................................

Um, NO, but thanks for making me feel like an even larger whale than I already am.

For your viewing pleasure, I have added a belly shot from that day, wearing the same outfit. I was 33 weeks along.

Bama Baby Shower

2008-08-24T12:21:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday (August 16, 2008) I had four wonderful women throw me a baby shower. It was EVERYTHING an expecting mother could ask for. I had friends, family and food! Um, my belly is as big as Robert's Grandmother... The Loot! For as many very cute clothes and much appreciated gift cards I received at my shower in Portland, I received all the stuff from my registry for this one. It was fantastic and I ended up with EVERYTHING that my daughter will need! Of course they played the "how big is the belly game" - using TOILET paper! I think Lisa missed the memo about how I feel about that, but it wasn't ALL that humiliating and I was able to endure it. For the record - 12 - it took 12 sheets of toilet paper to go around my belly. Me, concentrating on opening gifts. My FABULOUS hostesses. From Left to Right - Karin - MIL, Lisa - SIL, ME - how can you miss me?, Tammy - we met riding horses. She just had a baby 3 months ago! and finally Lisa - my "first" friend here in Huntsville. I'm SO sad she lives in Atlanta now! These ladies were WONDERFUL. The spread - it was PHENOMENAL! Reused Diaper cake from the first shower! YUMMY Petit Fours - If you look closely the pink portion is in the shape of baby booties!!!

What's in a Name???

2008-08-07T11:38:00.005-05:00

We FINALLY decided on a name.

Avery Elizabeth

I think it's cute, but not too cute, Sassy but not in that smartassy sort of way and intelligent sounding. And... Robert and I both agree on it... Even though Jerry thinks it's a boy's name and it's the same as the printer label brand, but hey, those are great labels!!!

I Love our Avery!!!

***Note: We will call her "AVERY" - I grew up without a nickname, and for the most part, Robert (even though there are nicknames galore) prefers "Robert" over anything else.

2 more months!

2008-08-04T13:48:00.007-05:00

Time is flying by... Wednesday I have a dr appt and it seems like just yesterday they were sending me off to my glucose tolerance test telling me that hopefully they wouldn't be talking to me until August 6. 3 weeks of sitting on pins and needles has passed... I think it's safe to say that I do NOT have gestational diabetes!!! THANK GOODNESS!!! So here is where I spend most of my time at home now... Our Glider is fantastic! It's by Best Chairs Storytime series. I LOVE IT! It will be great when the bambino arrives. And for all you who care, here is a ~31 week photo of the "the bump".

The early tour of L&D...

2008-07-31T08:08:00.007-05:00

Tuesday was our 2nd "Prepared Childbirth Class" The night started off ok, we picked up a burger at burger king (ok, not so healthy but we're out of groceries and I'm knocked up), enjoyed our evening talking about C-sections, Pain Meds and breathing exercises. Robert thoroughly impressed me with how interested he is in childbirth. I'm very proud of him. While other husbands were poking and prodding their wives during the "therapeutic" massage portion of our evening, Robert gave me a great massage and didn't crack one single joke. He is going to be a great labor coach.

After the class ended, we went home and pretty much went to bed. When I got into bed, I was really uncomfortable, like little miss was IN THE WAY. ugh! but just chalked it up to pregnancy and went to sleep. At 2 am I got up for my standard trip to the bathroom (the joys of pregnancy) and was in a lot of pain... no contractions and baby was kicking just fine but my entire upper body had sharp constant pain. My back hurt, my upper abdomen hurt, everything from belly button up hurt. I didn't think it was indigestion because I didn't have a sour stomach or anything and I didn't feel any gas at all, just felt like my entire gut had been wrapped up in a gigantic knot.

I called the on-call nurse and she told me to take some tums and drink something fizzy. I did that, and took a Tylenol and didn't feel great but I was able to fall asleep on the couch. At 5:00 am I rolled over on the couch and HOLYMOTHEROFGOD! I was in INTENSE pain! It was unbearable! I got all sweaty and threw up but I wasn't really nauseated, I think I puked because of the pain. The nurse told me to go to L&D if it didn't subside or get better... so off we went. They strapped me in, baby hated the monitors and kicked at them for hours. My pain subsided from a 10 to probably a 7-8 (9 at times). The nurse gave me some pepcid and out of exhaustion I fell asleep. By the time the Doctor came by my pain was gone (I'm still sore - like someone has been punching me in the gut and back) but she told me that it was probably my gallbladder and there was nothing we could do right now and I just need to be very careful about eating fatty foods (no more whoppers!)

So now I'm home... I feel a little stupid about going to L&D over indigestion but I can honestly say that I have NEVER been in that much pain in my entire life. And... the dr didn't make me feel stupid at all - in fact she told me that when she was pregnant, she went in after she had accidentally peed on herself thinking her water broke and she is an OB!!!

Also, I feel very "ready" for labor now. I kept telling myself that at least with contractions, there is some sort of reprieve whereas with this pain, there was NONE. It was persistant pain for essentially 6 hours straight. I am proud of myself for handling it as calmly as I did. I used to go a little (Ok, a lot) hysterical when I had a lot of pain (especially when I was younger suffering menstrual cramps). But I breathed through it and managed to stay calm. There were times I started feeling like I was out of control but Robert helped remind me to breathe and calm down.

Of course upon us returning home from the hospital (after a braless visit to Costco - I can't believe I actually did that!), I googled "Gallbladder and pregnancy" - and found this quote "I thought that I was dying. It hurts as much as childbirth, but unlike contractions, the pain doesn't go away," I kept telling Robert that while we were in the hospital... I'm glad someone else who had gone through this felt the same way... If I can handle that, I can handle giving birth!

29 weeks!

2008-07-20T21:08:00.002-05:00

I seriously cannot believe that I'm already 29 weeks along! This was taken on Friday night when we got home from our friend's birthday dinner.

Nursery Beginnings...

2008-07-20T18:38:00.004-05:00

Beginnings of nursery set up - I think I am officially "nesting" now. I just want everything organized and set up. I can't wait to meet my baby girl!!! (but...she's allowed to stay in there for AS LONG AS SHE LIKES!)

Dresser - We bought it at Bedz (the name is so incredibly cheezy). It's a Vaughan-Basset brand dresser - not sure if that means good or bad, but it was on sale, ready to take home and I didn't have to assemble it. I might change out the drawer pulls to match the changing table. Excuse the mess. I am still unpacking from the shower and I need to line the drawers in the dresser.

All the cute baby clothes. Would it be entirely OCD of me to get labels for "0-3" months, "3-6" months, etc? I still need to get some more closet shelf things to go down half the closet. I can't wait!!!

I hung sheers today - with a tension rod. We have this curtain rod to hang the valance with that I haven't done yet. (picture of bedding at bottom of post). The glider will go in this corner. You can sort of make out the crib - in the box - on the lower left hand side. Above the glider, I'm going to put a pale pink paper lamp shade there for some soft light while we rock and change diapers :)

Changing table. Purchased at JCP. It's a little "redder" than the dresser but for the most part everything will coordinate. I hope... Diapers are starting to accumulate (the mess is driving me crazy!!!)

Here is the bedding we have. We registered for Target Dwell Studio "Olivia" accents to add some pink to the room. I think it's going to look fantastic.

Crib was purchased at JCP as well. It's still in the box - on the floor - in the nursery.

These are a few of my favorite things...

2008-07-20T18:05:00.005-05:00

As promised, here are a few of my favorite, most memorable items I received at my first baby shower.

I live in the South but was born and raised in Portland, OR. My political views will probably always be a tad more liberal than my southern counterparts. Mary got us an Obama onesie - Robert can't stand it and has declared "war" with the gift giving (she's getting married soon).

My dear friend Laurel MADE this quilt for us. It's so pretty and soft. The fabric is flannel with a soft minky type fabric on the back. I love how "useable" it will be when the baby comes.

This is the hand made crocheted blanket that my mom's friend Eleanor gave me. She told me she got it from "some dead lady" cause that is how Eleanor is. Later she told my mom she found this at an estate sale years ago and was saving it for her grandchildren (cry!). I will cherish this forever. I plan on getting it framed in a tapestry frame.

How cute are these??? Baby Converse! And - they are in "Bama" colors so our little girl will be so cute running around on game day with these! Thanks Jolene!!!

Mary - the fashionista that she is... got our baby a Juicy Couture outfit! She'll be one stylin' little girl!

Portland Baby Shower

2008-07-18T23:01:00.008-05:00

My trip to Portland was EXHAUSTING but so much fun. Thursday was a little rough starting - Atlanta Airport basically shut down for 4 hours and I ended up missing my flight and going back home and starting over. Friday mom picked me up from the airport and we bought a few groceries, picked up my friend Erik from the train station and headed home. We probably had about 40 people show up and visit. As you can see everyone had a nice time sitting and relaxing with one another. It was great to see everyone but I think next time I go home, I wouldn't mind just having one on one visits with our friends.

Kids jumping on trampoline Eleanor, Some lady I can't remember, Vicki and Eleanor's Brother Dexter, Harvey, Jeff - sitting, relaxing on the deck

My friend/coworker Erik came down from Seattle to visit. While he was here, he did so much work! It was so appreciated and he ended up "manning the grill". It was funny though, a huge 24 pack of HUGE hot dogs got left out and my mom's two dogs got a hold of them. The next day they had the worst food hangover EVER.

Saturday was BUSY! We dropped Erik off at the train station, then Laurel, Mary and I went to go get pedicures at Spa-La-La in Portland. Afterwards we had lunch at the Old Wives Tale. After lunch Laurel and I hung out and went to some cute consignment shops around Portland. I bought some VERY cute items for our baby girl to wear next year. I can't wait to see her in them!

Later that afternoon, My roommate from college (Meaghan) drove up from Klamath Falls Saturday evening. We ended up going to Rock Creek Tavern . I really missed the beer while I was there :( It was great to catch up with her!

Sunday - My friends Mary and Lauren threw me an awesome baby shower! It was more than I could have ever asked for. Baby Girl received a TON of clothes and in all different sizes so we should be set for a VERY long time. I haven't had a chance to take pictures of some of my favorite items (I will do that in the next few days). Here are a few pictures from the shower.

Laurel made this cute quilt for us! I especially love it because it's made of a soft flannel and it's USABLE - meaning I will be able wash it and lay the baby on it. I love quilts but usually don't see a use for when they are so pretty you can't actually use them.

This picture cracks me up because no one is paying attention...HILARIOUS Becca and I Beaverton Bakery Cupcakes and a cute cute diaper cake!

My belly went on a growth spurt between the time I wen to bed on Friday night and the time I woke up on Saturday.

Mary, Donna, Laurel, Me, Meaghan - the "bouquet" is made of onesies and baby socks

My lovely hostesses Lauren and Mary - Thank you girls so much!!!

See that huge belly? I was 28 weeks!

This is such a great picture of Mike and his daughter Grace. This is Lauren's hubby and baby. This is why we bought the Nikon - I LOVE this picture! Everyone enjoying themselves

After the shower we went to my mom's friend's house to visit a while. Their dog Libby likes to smile - but only at people she likes - apparently she REALLY likes Becca!
On Monday I got to FINALLY see my friend LaRina and her new baby girl Samantha. She's such a sweet sweet baby. I think this is the first time ever that my hair is actually longer than LaRina's! WOW!!! I really like this picture. It makes my hair look like I spent hours with a curling iron but this is all "natural" - with the exception of a quick flat iron to my bangs. I love my hair dresser!!! My mom is SOOOOOO ready to be a grandma!!! She put Samantha to sleep immediately and she slept in our arms for nearly 2 hours!

Easy Mac to the Rescue!

2008-07-17T10:45:00.002-05:00

According to the "Nest" - I am 29 weeks today - (28 weeks, 4 days to be exact) and I have been sick. I woke up this morning with a sour stomach, gagged a little and was "ok". I was ok until got to work and ended up puking everything I ate this morning (glass of milk and a nutrigrain bar). And FYI - Sour Stomach + Milk = curdled milk vomit :D So - I ate Easy Mac at 10 am... Lovely - I'm reverting back to my 1st Trimester ways when I ate Easy Mac for breakfast and lived off of cottage cheese. Hey, maybe that means I can convince Robert to get Soft Taco Supremes for dinner tonight!??!! I haven't updated in a while, I promise to update more tonight. But for a sneak preview of my shower... Here is a very cute picture of my sister copping a feel of the baby belly.

2 Years!!!

2008-06-26T19:46:00.003-05:00

Monday, June 23, 2008 Robert and I celebrated two years of wedded bliss. Well - actually we celebrated on Sunday and Monday was spent at home doing the 'norm'. Sunday we went to Bridgestreet for dinner at Dolce - they have half off entrees on Sundays, you can't beat that. Before dinner we went and saw "Don't Mess with the Zohan" - it was a stupid funny movie but enjoyable. We decided that we'll be taking in a lot of movies this summer - it's nice and cool and something ol' preggers can totally do!

After dinner we walked around the shopping center and headed home. All in all it was a great evening! It seems we have started our own tradition of me being knocked up for our anniversary. Last year I was about 6 weeks pregnant for our anniversary. However I think the tradition may have to be broken for next year - I couldn't imagine being pregnant AND having a 8-month old - then again, I would like to have children somewhat close together so we'll just have to see what 2009 brings us.

For all of you enjoying the ever-growing belly - here's a belly shot from Sunday evening when we got home - 25 weeks pregnant

Ol' Preggers - Bowling

2008-06-26T10:33:00.004-05:00

I was very determined to not look like a fool. I told everyone I was going to bowl and dammit! that's what I did! I scored 110 that game!!!

Nice Form!!!

Yes, even the photographer was getting a belly shot in! Check out my handsome hubs!

Celtics, Father's Day, Bowling... oh my!

2008-06-20T08:48:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I updated - A LOT has happened!

Robert had a fantastic Father's Day. He was able to feel his daughter on Thursday June 12th. He was watching - er... yelling at the Celtics and I noticed every time he yelled, she would kick.

Oh - wait, I forgot to mention our latest appt! It's a GIRL! She's healthy and doing phenomenally. I gained 9 lbs in 4 weeks but apparently the doctor doesn't care - or at least he didn't mention it. Essentially, I am back to where I started before I got pregnant (according to dr's scales - and I was in the ER on December 19th thank you very much!!). I guess I shouldn't care - I'm 25 weeks pregnant and have gained "NO" weight thus far.

Back to basketball. I told Robert he should try to feel her kick and so he sort of half heartedly reached behind him, but really couldn't get a good angle. I scooted next to him so he could continue to watch basketball (it's the finals, I'll let it slide). I told him to "feel right here"... he did, he also got quiet, so did she. "no, you have to keep yelling at the TV!" he did...and she kicked! It took a few more good jabs to mom's belly before Robert said "I felt something, what was that?!" Since I can feel the kicks as well on the inside, I knew it was our little miss...

I think he LOVED the kicks, but instead - he blamed it on gas... God love him.

Father's Day was Sunday June 15th. I gave him an alabama onesie, some bama baby booties and a Wii NBA Basketball game. He loved it all.

We reached 24 whole weeks. According to one calendar, today, Friday June 20th, marks a day where if (godforbid) I had the baby, she would have a 50% chance of survival. Not great odds, but wow! what a thought! Actually might have a chance of having a baby! holy cow!

Yesterday was a company sponsored event - at the bowling alley. And yes, me and my 24 1/2 week belly went bowling. Apparently everyone, including our photographer, thought it was HILARIOUS and I think I might be in at least half of the photos. I mean really, what is so funny about a pregnant woman bowling? Our Director asked me if I would be the "beer maid" - and thought that would be equally as funny! NOT!

After bowling, I wanted to check out baby gliders at the baby store that was nearby. (This whole $4/gal for gas thing is forcing us to lump errands together a lot). We stopped by to "look" and ended up walking out with not only a glider on order, but also a bedding set!

Previously, we had decided on the green swirl bedding but then Monday I stopped by at another baby store and found this funky bedding and sort of fell in love with it. Not sure why, but it just really appealled to me. It was even on "sale" but was going to be still very spendy and not practical at all. I mean, there is no using it for a boy next time around and more than likely after a year or so I would look at it and ask myself, "what the h-ll were you thinking?"...but I still loved it.

So while we were browsing around - getting ready to make a BIG purchase, we looked at baby bedding again. We both stumbled on this bedding and both liked it off the bat. We didn't like the bears but the material is great. It has a combination of cable knit material, really soft minky dot white material and crushed velvet. We're going to add light pink accents to it to "girl" it up a bit but it just felt "right". And - the price was $100 less than the other two options.

Next project??? The Dresser....

Yes, baby, I feel you...

2008-06-09T14:31:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday, (May 31, 2008) it happened! I felt my first kick from the outside!!! Robert and I had rented the movie "27 Dresses" and were having a relaxing movie night at home and the baby started moving around. I gently pressed into the area where I felt flutters and ::crickets:: NOTHING, NADA, ZIP. Baby stopped. Well since I had nothing else better to do, I waited, and waited and FINALLY I felt 2 or 3 really prominent, KICKS from the outside. I tried to have Robert feel but he couldn't feel any of the kicks against his hand.

Since then the kicks have become much more frequent and predominant - so COOL!!! The baby weighs about 1 pound now and is about 11 inches long!!!

Last night I think the baby was practing its back flip while I settled down into bed... Robert had already fell asleep and therefore missed out on the kicks again. I am hoping tonight we can find a time to lay down and get the baby going and hopefully he can share this great experience. It's just sooo cool!

Bedding Choices...

2008-05-27T12:46:00.003-05:00

So many options of bedding... I think I need help deciding!!! Here are some ideas that I've played with. So far I've only looked at options for a little girl since we have a "maybe baby girl". the walls in the nursery are tannish colored (same as the interior throughout our house) and we do not plan on painting. "Doodles" Bedding - I think paired with pink sheets - it would be really cute. So far I think this is my favorite. http://www.babybeddingtown.com/ http://www.babygap.com/ Flower Shop Bedding http://www.landofnod.com/ Puzzle Patch Crib Bedding

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend" bedding.

Banana = 10.5 inches long

2008-05-22T21:20:00.004-05:00

And this week is "Banana" week.

Here's what the nest says this week

"Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for hydration and nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies are most interested in tastes they've already experienced through amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you want your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch."

If the baby is developing taste buds now, that means that my baby is going to eat Lucky Charms morning, noon and night (and all the times in between). Monday during our weekly grocery shopping excursion I had a craving... yes, one of those stereotypical commercial type pregnancy cravings where a pregnant woman has this INSANE NEED for some crazy food and she MUST HAVE IT NOW... and that craving was none other but LUCKY CHARMS cereal. I don't feel too bad about it because, after all, it's Whole Grain, Vitamin Fortified and Magically Delicious.

I've mentioned this before, but I am constantly amazed how my taste buds have reverted 22 years to that of a Five Year old! I can some how justify that fish sticks and tater tots is a healthy and adequate meal for Robert and I. I barely eat my way through a well rounded meal of grilled pork chops, peas and rice, but Easy Mac makes a fantastic breakfast these days.

As long as the baby is growing as it should be and I'm not gaining any excessive weight above the guidelines, then I think the Lucky Charms is providing us all the nutrients we need.

Baby Morgan, I can't wait to meet you in 136 days! I love you already!

Canteloupe Belly Shot

2008-05-15T21:56:00.005-05:00

I think I have officially "POPPED" this week. I feel like I look pregnant now. Maybe it's the clothes. I'm 19 weeks, 4 days pregnant.

The receptionist told me I'm "carrying high" today and she thinks "she-devil" could be a boy... we'll find out June 10 huh??!

Here's one of my cute new shirts I bought over the weekend.

And here is a picture wearing a more snug fitting shirt.

Is it a boy or a girl???

2008-05-15T14:06:00.003-05:00

From day one this baby has been a handful. Coupled with me being very much a worry wart about EVERY LITTLE THING, it's been quite an eventful pregnancy...even for a pregnancy that hasn't had any complications.

In a previous entry, I wrote about the "emergency" ultrasound we had at 15 weeks, one week prior to the regularly scheduled appt. Well - Yesterday we had another unscheduled Dr appt. I think my dr is going to get sick of me. I certainly did not mean for the appt to happen, it just sort of did...

I called the office to see if there was a chance we could reschedule the "Big" ultrasound since I had a training class that was going to conflict with the appt. While I had the receptionist on the phone I asked her if it was normal to not feel movement for a day or so when I am 19 1/2 weeks along. I wish she would have said "yes" and we would have been on our merry way. But... instead, she wanted me to come in to check the heart sounds. Ok...

Robert and I headed to the Dr's office - only to find that the baby's little ticker was beating beautifully at 155 bpm. But...since we were there, why not just do the big ultrasound that day??? Cool! Now I don't have to miss half a day of training... well our little stinker of a stubborn child was turned funny and would not despite the technician's efforts to TURN the baby, show off it's goods...

Everything looked great, the baby is healthy, measuring right on time, but we are SOOO dissappointed that the "Maybe baby girl" wouldn't let us know for sure if we're on team pink, or team blue. I know I should be joyous about a healthy baby, but man! I really wanted to know for sure. So... because of the way the baby was positioned, the technician couldn't get a good picture of the four heart chambers and we're headed back on June 10 for ANOTHER ultrasound... hopefully this time the baby will cooperate a little better! What a stinker!!!

MANGO

2008-05-14T09:24:00.001-05:00

18 weeks 4 days

My first Mother's day

2008-05-13T21:41:00.003-05:00

This was my first year that I was able to proudly celebrate Mother's day for myself. Robert did a fantastic job of making me feel special. A few weeks ago I had mentioned that I would like to have a ring in a size or two larger than my wedding bands so that when my fingers swelled I would still be able to wear a wedding band. I am ok with being knocked up, but I sure as hell am not going to be knocked up, in the south, and look like I'm not married... Robert surprised me with a right hand, fat fingered ring and a cute "Mother-to-be" card. The baby surprised me with yet another vomit session at the Porcelain Throne. This time it was at my Father In Law's house. Puking at home, in your own toilet is one thing, but its WAY worse at someone else's toilet. Later that day we spent the rest of the afternoon at Robert's brother's house for a light lunch/dinner. It was a great day! Here's a picture of me, at 19 weeks, with a new hair cut and a rejuvenated soul after a day of retail and hair therapy. Happy Mother's day to all the wonderful women in the world who are mothers, or will be mothers someday.

Crib? Check! Changer? Check!

2008-05-05T12:08:00.004-05:00

We were able to check TWO things off our list today!!! I couldn't be happier!!!

I bought the book "Baby Bargains" last week after I had a mini panic attack about the timeline!

Can you believe it! Today is exactly 5 months from my due date! that's not a lot of time! And if you consider that I'm going home in July for my shower, that means that invites need to go out in June - so I need to know where I'm going to register at like yesterday! So far, we signed up online at Babies R Us but I'm still debating Target, even though their new return policy apparently isn't that great.

So anyways, Baby Bargains, has product reviews and suggestions and the crib that I have been wanting had an "A" rating to it and I knew it was on back order, so I went ahead and ordered it today. Along with it, I ordered the changing table. I have a dresser that I am in the process of refinishing and staining to match the wood tones of the new stuff. The furniture came from JC Penny. I hope I like it when it comes in JULY!

This is the changing table. I liked it because it has both open shelves and drawers - for easy access AND organization.

I liked this crib because of the "solid" back and since it converts to a double bed, I thought it looked the best when converted.

Sweet Potato!!!

2008-05-03T23:12:00.004-05:00

On http://www.thenestbaby.com/ there is a sizing system the website uses to give you something to compare the baby too using food. We started out with a poppyseed and now have advanced to SWEET Potato! How cute!

So folks, here's the picture of the sweet potato!

Tagged by Kirsten

2008-05-02T16:41:00.004-05:00

Four Things...

Four jobs I've had:
1) Accounting Lackey
2) Bus Ops Lackey
3) E&P lackey
4) Contract Closeout Administrator (lackey)

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1) Dirty Dancing
2) Black Beauty
3) Cinderella
4) Erin Brockovich

Four places I've lived:
1) Portland, OR
2) Corvallis, OR
3) Kirkland, WA
4) Huntsville, AL

Four TV Shows I watch:
1) Grey's Anatomy
2) Law & Order: SVU
3) CSI: Miami
4) How I met your mother

Four places I've been:
1) Spain
2) Puerto Vallarta, MX
3) Oahu and Maui, Hawaii
4) Washington DC

Four people who email me regularly (doesn’t include blogging comments):
1) Mary
2) Laurel
3) Fran
4) Monica

Four of my favorite foods:
1) Gyros
2) Thai Food
3) Indian Food
4) Mexican

Four places I would like to visit:
1) Germany
2) Italy
3) France
4) Thailand

Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1) Having my baby in October
2) Going home for my baby shower in July
3) Mary's wedding in December
4) The Three months off after I have the baby

Four friends I'm tagging:
1) Joni
2) Erin
3) Liesl
4) anyone else who wants to do this???

Farewell Good Friend

2008-04-27T09:25:00.005-05:00

Friday was a very sad day for me. My mom called and told me our beloved dog, Max, passed away. He was OLD - we're still in debate exactly how hold he was, but he was 15 or 16 years old. He had a good life, and he served our family well. You never think about a dog's duty until they are gone and you remember all the things they did or were a part of.

We got Max on a sunny afternoon during the school year, I believe I was in 7th grade. I remember getting off the school bus and sitting in my driveway was an adolescent (11 month old) German Shepherd....Just sitting in the middle of our 200 ft drive way in the country. I immediately stopped and called for my dad to come "save" me. No one answered. The dog continued to sit in the middle of the driveway. So, I sat down at the top of our driveway, waiting for my dad to come rescue me from the beast. FINALLY after a while my dad appeared out behind the pump house, laughing, telling me to say "hi" to our new family dog, "Max".

Max was wonderful! He was friendly and energetic and LOVED to fetch. He LIVED for fetching the ball. My dad had found him in a newspaper ad "Free to good home" - purebred German Shepherd. The previous owners didn't treat him well as he was terribly thin and very timid. They, thankfully, had to get rid of him because they lived in an apartment that allowed "small dogs". Last time I checked a 90 lb dog is anything but small. So that is how Max became part of our family.

We almost lost him that year. He decided that our neighbor's flock of geese were pretty fun to chase and um...Kill. We did everything to try to stop him. That included taking the advice of our elderly neighbor who told us that tying the dead goose around his neck for a few days would cure his desire to go after them. UGH! It was AWFUL. But nothing stopped Max. He kept killing them. That spring we had the worst flood of all time. Our driveway had been completely wiped out by rain run off. One of the utility trucks got stuck at the top of our driveway and while they waited for towing assistance, we started to talk with him. He of course complimented Max and we told him that if he wanted him, then he could have him because he had issues against the feathered friends. The man welcomely accepted our offer and told us he would come back the next day to pick him up.

The next day the man came, with his daughter in tow, with a brand new leash and collar to pick up the dog. I begged and pleaded to let us give him ONE MORE CHANCE. Thankfully my parents agreed. The man and his daughter were terribly disappointed but we promised that if he killed ONE MORE GOOSE, we would be giving them a call. Max never touched another goose.

It even got to the point where the geese would be on our back deck, and Max would just lie there, without lifting an eye.

Until... I was 18ish years old. (it HAD to have been at LEAST 5 years later). Audra and I don't share too many fond memories together but we did have one very funny bonding moment over this dog. I came home one summer night, it was probably about 10:30 at night. I went in the house and Audra immediately started knocking on my bedroom door. With sibling rivalry at its best, of couse I pushed her away, until she whispered "Max killed a goose! we have to bury it!"

We still remembered nearly losing Max and knew if our parents ever found out, that would be it for Max. In reality though, there was NO way we'd EVER get rid of him at that point but we were young and we remembered those solemn words our 'rents told us. Audra had found the goose that day and put it in a black garbage bag and hid it in one of the sheds - waiting for me to get home. SO there we were, digging an inconspicuous hole in the middle of the night, like two criminals trying to cover up their murderous crime. We never uttered a word to ANYONE about it until 3 years ago when Robert and I came home for Thanksgiving. We were recounting the tale of Max's young killing spree and my mom had said he hadn't touched a goose since. Audra and I sort of glanced in each other's direction..."well mom...there's something we never told you about...." My mom was APPALLED. We laughed and laughed about it. But, it was like Max's ONE LAST HOORAH before he decided that he was no longer in the business of killing geese.

2 years ago, our friends approached us, wanting their GSD, Australian Shepherd, Blue Heeler dog to have a litter of pups before they spayed her. In their eyes a female "Whatever" should go through the natural events to complete her as a dog, cat, horse, whatever. Max had never been fixed when we got him and since we lived out in BFE, having an in-tact male was never an issue. My mom suggested Max as the father and they agreed. I remember my mom calling me telling me that Max and Blue had "Done it" and we were all so excited. I really wanted a Max puppy to raise my children with. June 30 the puppies were born. I was there to witness it. I picked out a little puppy that had two white socks and after 4 hours of life was nursing and wagging its tail, not really even aware that its little cute tail was wagging away. Before the puppies were born, we had found homes for ALL of them because everyone in our neighborhood wanted a Max/Blue puppy.

I have Max, Reincarnated. Scout is very much like his dad. Wonderful temperament, loves to be a part of the family, and lives to fetch the ball. His eyes are the very same as Max's, gentle, calm, kind.

So Friday my mom called and described Max's last days. He was old, his hips were arthritic, he had started to lose control of his continence, but it didn't stop him from continuing to discipline the two puppies my mom had of "his", or carry the tennis ball, that he once exuberantly chased after, or climb up the flight of stairs to sleep outside my mom's bedroom at night. Tuesday night he no longer could make it up the steps and I think that is when he gave up. Wednesday he laid on a makeshift blanket that my mom made for him in the living room but she knew the end was approaching. Thursday he stopped eating and went downhill fast. My mom's friend Jennifer came over to help and provide support. Max resisted letting go but my mom sat by him, comforting him, telling him that we all loved him and we'd be ok with out him. She said his ears perked up at the sound of each one of our names. He finally passed on Thursday night. I cried when I found out the news, I cried all day long, I am still crying, typing these words.

He was one of the best dogs I have ever met in this world. Scout is a close second, but I will never forget Max.

Max, we love you, always. Thank you good friend

Max and Macie - June 2006

Same kid, different dog June 2007

The first belly shot...

2008-04-24T18:51:00.007-05:00

Today it happened. I popped - or at least that is what the public has implied. So far there has only been one woman at work who had been touching the belly. I thought, before I got pregnant, that it would really bother me. BUT, surprisingly it doesn't bother me at all. (let me say though if some stranger at Target came up and decided to cop a feel I might have to slap them!)

I met my horse friends for lunch today...goodness I love those gals! We're going to the Equestrian Games in Kentucky in 2010 - and I can't WAIT!!! I loved being able to chat about the baby. And Tammy looks great! I can't wait to meet Baby B in two weeks (Seth - I know you're reading this!!!)

Anyways, when I got back from lunch, I ran into a woman I work with and she stopped me in the hall to talk a work question. In the middle of our conversation, she stopped, looked down and said "You can really tell your belly is out there now! There is no question you're pregnant!!!" Followed by a patting of the belly.

Later that afternoon I had a meeting where another coworker asked me if I am feeling the baby yet. I can feel tickles - like a bug crawling in my pants. As she leaned down and rubbed my belly, she told me she's getting us a "ticke me elmo" for the baby. I thought that was cute!

Tonight I decided to take a picture. Well - here it is! Me at 16 weeks, 4 days pregnant.

We'll have you in and out in 15 minutes or less!!!

2008-04-22T12:13:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was our first "standard" pre-natal appt. I hit the 16 week mark (40% done!) on Sunday. Does that mean I'm technically "twice" as pregnant as I was last time? (as if, I'm LEAPS AND BOUNDS ahead this time!)

We got to the Dr's office right on time and they saw me right away. Took my weight - I had gained 2 pounds in a week but considering the amount of CRAP I ate over the weekend combined with actually keeping food in me, I'm not terribly worried about it. I'm still down -10 pounds for the pregnancy. My blood pressure was normal. The nurse brought me into the examination room to listen to the heartbeat

The nurse was trying to find the heartbeat and kept missing it. After what seemed like an eternity waiting to hear those little heartsounds, I told the nurse that I *think* I usually feel the baby in my lower left abdomen. She moved the doppler in that direction and bam! There it was! The heart beat was in the 160's so perfectly healthy and normal. After we heard the heartbeat, the doctor came in and felt around on my belly. He said everything looked perfect, to take it easy and assured me that I can't squish my own baby. (Irrational fear maybe? I don't know - but I have been starting to half way listen to Robert about bending over and what if I break the baby?)

From the time I signed in at the reception desk to the time I jumped off the table was less than 15 minutes total. Gotta love that

I wasn't terribly worried about the heartbeat, but I was worried that I might be losing my mind about feeling the baby. NORMALLY You don't hear of someone feeling movement until around 16-20 weeks, however I have been feeling flutters for about 4 weeks now. But... I kept thinking that maybe it was just my imagination and I was making it up. Heck, for all I know, it could have been indigestion movements, I don't know. However, my fears of insanity quickly vanished after the heartbeat was found exactly where I feel the little tickles.

For the record, I hope this little one is TICKLISH because I am going to tickle the crap out of it when it comes out because all day I feel like I have ants in my pants. In a panic I have felt around for a bug crawling around just to realize it's the baby tickling me from the inside. It's a wonderfully sickening feeling and I can't wait until the movement is more severe and Robert is able to share this amazing feeling with me.

Last Monday's appt, the technician guessed we're having a little girl. I'm getting more and more used to the idea of a little girl (I still don't care either way though if she might have been wrong). And I really do hope it's a girl for my mom's sake - since she has started compiling little girl clothes for the baby. Even I haven't purchased anything for the baby yet! I can't wait until I can though!

Maybe I'll get brave enough to take pictures of my belly soon. I'm still worried it just looks like pudge and not baby belly.

What Honeymoon???

2008-04-15T08:44:00.006-05:00

In every pregnancy book and website you read, it always says the Second Trimester (weeks 14-27)is the "honeymoon stage" of your pregnancy. Your morning sickness has subsided, your energy has returned, and you are not feeling the physical annoyances of carrying around a baby (swollen feet + swollen ankles = cankles).

Well, let me ask - when is this "honeymoon" supposed to happen? Because I have been in the 2nd Tri for 2 weeks now and I have never been so sick. My hateful child is probably paying me back because I was telling everyone on Thursday and Friday how much better I was feeling. That soon ended on Sunday.

Sunday started off ok. I got up around 8:30 and ate breakfast. Wheat Chex and 1% milk - something I have ate before and felt fine afterwards. Not Sunday. By 9:15 I was visiting the porcelain throne and seeing my breakfast for a second time. NOT FUN! I brushed my teeth and started on my "spring cleaning" project for the day. It's amazing how pregnancy can minimize how bad puking really is. Usually after a good regurgitation of a once enjoyed meal, one feels awful, looks for sympathy and goes to bed...or at least that is what I used to do until now.

Our bedroom furniture was terribly dusty and needed a good wipe down. I got out the bucket of hot water, added some murphy's oil soap and started cleaning. It was then that I started feeling a little crampy and told Robert about it. He immediately put me on bed rest. So much for finishing the bedroom furniture. The cramps weren't BAD, but they were a little disconcerting. I hadn't felt any cramps since the very early beginning of the pregnancy. I immediately picked up my trusty copy of WTEWYE (for non-preggers people - that stands for "What to Expect When You're Expecting"). No where in the book could I find that cramping in the 2nd Trimester was normal. I visited many message boards, asked pregnant or proud parent friends, frantically googled "2nd Trimester Cramping". And received mixed messages. Some resources said it was ok and normal, others said to call the emergency room. I opted to just stay in bed.

Robert brought me lunch consisting of Easy Mac. (Why is it that when you start growing a child, your palette reverts back to when you were 5 years old? Cravings for PB&J, Pop Tarts, Chicken Nuggets, Mac & Cheese... and the thought of broccoli will make one turn their nose in disgust!) At any rate, I gobbled up the Easy Mac and drank some ice water. 10 minutes later that doomed feeling came over me and once again I got to revisit my once enjoyed meal... CRAP!

I was worried. I was crampy AND sick. This wasn't a normal feeling for someone who is supposed to be on their HONEYMOON!!!

Monday morning I called the doctor. While I had been able to keep a piece of toast and peanut butter down, my cramps were still lingering. The nurse was patient with me and invited me to come in and see the On-Call Doctor at 1:15. Sign me up! With Robert in tow, we headed to the Clinic. I stepped on the scale, surprised to find that I have lost another 4 1/2 pounds (that is a total of 11 pounds lost so far). My blood pressure was "perfect". They gave me another ultrasound to check on those cramps. We got to see our precious hateful child. The baby had it's hands up, clasped together and was probably taking a nap, or was in a starvation coma since I had managed to eat 3 corn bread muffins and a piece of toast in the past 48 hours... Note to self: Eat not for you but for your unborn baby...

The technician told us the baby looked perfect and asked if we wanted to know the sex...Um... is the sky blue??? She told us not to start painting the nursery yet but guessed that we are having a baby GIRL!!! I thought for SURE we were having a BOY but we'll take it either way! It was a relief to see our little girl's heart beating away at 165 bpm.

The doctor came in afterwards and touched on my belly a few times and told me the cramps were probably caused by Round Ligament Pain and there wasn't anything to worry about.

I felt at times I was probably overreacting. No, Scratch that... I WAS overreacting... But...Robert assured me that calling the doctor and going in was not overreacting but playing it safe. It's so nice to know that I have a husband who is so supportive of me and doesn't think I'm too much of a drama queen. I know I am truly lucky!

And for my final words - Welcome Maybe Baby Girl Morgan!!!

Check out those bones!!! Guess that Ice Cream after dinner is paying off!!! (Robert told me that the baby is now too "skinny" and I need to start fattening her up... give it time...)

Isn't she precious? I can't wait to meet our baby in October!

Mom's Pork Chops

2008-04-14T21:55:00.004-05:00

Tonight I made my mom's "famous" pork chops. I don't think my mom knows that these are "famous" but I think I would venture to say this was my favorite meal as a kid. I introduced it to Robert a few years ago and after a few raised eyebrows and strange looks when I said "pork chops and corn"...he too enjoyed them. They probably aren't the healthiest in the world but they are SOOOO good.

Ingredients:
Thin cut pork chops
flour
salt & pepper (and other spices)
can of corn (or two!), drained

In a plastic bag (although when I was younger we always used brown paper lunch bags) add flour, salt, pepper, and whatever spices you decide to pull out of the pantry. I would help my mom and it was a lot of fun adding the spices. Place the pork chops in the flour and SHAKE them up in the bag (again one of my favorite things to help with when I was a kid!)

In a skillet - an iron one preferably, add some vegetable oil to coat the bottom and heat the oil on medium-high - so it's hot when you put the pork chops in. Note - this is one of the ONLY times I used vegetable oil versus olive oil when I cook. Brown the pork chops on each side. once the second side of the pork chops is golden brown, add the corn and turn the heat on medium-low. Cook for about 10-15 minutes until you notice the corn is getting a caramel brown tint to it.

The heat from the skillet cooks the corn and the pork chops stay moist.

I serve this with mashed potatoes and brown gravy.

SOOOO good! I know it sounds terribly bizarre but really it makes a GREAT down home cooked meal. And if you're like me and like those little bits from the bottom of the skillet, then this meal is for you!

Move baby move!

2008-04-11T16:39:00.004-05:00

Today the weather has been a little stormy. The national weather service issued a Thunderstorm Warning and so we all ran downstairs to the Severe Weather areas to wait out the storm. We went to the gym and watched the red blob move across the screen. I felt the flutters I have become accustomed to in these past weeks but didn't think much about it. At 2:45, about a hour after we all sardined ourself in a room, we were released. I was hoping that Robert would be able to leave shortly after but he surprised me by actually having a meeting to go to... so I waited, pondering why I would ever want to car pool again with him - regardless of the cost of gas and the ever warming of the globe. And then... it happened... Out of nowhere, I felt a feeling similar to the feeling you get as the roller coaster approaches the top of the track, shortly before the initial free fall. It was almost sickening. Immediately after the overwhelming feeling of stomach in my throat, the baby moved! It was a definite movement inside of me!!! Like a knuckle rubbing my insides. I haven't felt it again since. I can't wait until I do though!

Time for a change...

2008-04-10T21:08:00.005-05:00

Lately I have felt more and more compelled to jump on the blogging bandwagon. When I first jumped on, I think I was that person who ran after a train and barely caught the rail before it was completely out of touch... I was limiting my blog to the small projects, recipes, crafts that I do... and then I realized that A) I don't like taking pictures of food...it's not me... maybe after I get my fancy new Nikon D60 it might be more fun and B) I'm a lazy butt and don't "embark upon" nearly as many projects as I thought I had. Thus - I'm introducing "Sarah's Blog". I can now be found at www.sarahsunoriginalblog.blogspot.com I would like to record my random thoughts I have during the day. Sometimes I'm funny, sometimes I suffer from Foot in Mouth disease - you've heard of it...Open mouth, Insert foot...but hey, that's me...and for now we'll blame it on the pregnancy :-) As part of my BLOG Creation, I am also going to discontinue my livejournal account...why? Because I have like 2 readers/friends and I would like my voice to be heard. Or rather, I would like to try to get more opinions on what I'm writing about...maybe that's it? I don't know. So anyways, there you have it. I hope you enjoy, I hope I get a reader or two. And for the people (DANA) who wanted me to take photos of food... I will post those projects and recipes on this page as well.

Greek Gyros Platter

2008-03-11T10:31:00.003-05:00

Adapted from Rachel Ray's 30-minute meals

Ingredients:

Meat Roll

1 pound of ground Turkey Breast

1 pack of thawed and drained chopped spinach

About a cup of Feta Cheese crumbles

Olive Oil

Grill Seasoning

dash of cinnamon

cumin

coriander

chili powder

Mix ingredients together. I used about a teaspoon of each (except for cinnamon) in the meat roll. Form into a 3" round roll on a baking sheet. Drizzle w/ EVOO. Bake at 425 for about 20-25 minutes. (I made french fries with this meal so I put those in with it)

Tzaziki Sauce

1/4 peeled English Cucumber - grated

1 garlic clove - grated

1 cup of GREEK style Yogurt (I found this at Fresh Market)

dash of lemon juice

sprinke of cumin

Mix ingredients together.

To add to your gyros, slice up your favorite veggies, we had tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and banana pepper rings.

Slice the meat roll into 1/2 - 1 slices. Serve with Pitas. Pile on the veggies and the sauce and you have yourself a little greek feast!!!

Combine ingredients together

50th Birthday!

2008-01-31T13:31:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that my mom turned 50 years old in 2007. So, in return, we had a killer party for her to celebrate her "old" age.

I traveled to Portland where we had a big band, bond fire and a potluck costume party! It was great fun!

I made a TRIPLE batch of the WHITE Sangria recipe given to me by Monica (the nest FutureMrsWagner) and it was gone by 11 pm! it was a smash hit!

Here are the invites I put together for my mom's party.

Baby Shower Invite #2

2008-01-31T13:27:00.000-06:00

This is a quick mockup of a baby shower invitation for a girl. The color scheme is Pink/Brown. I got inspiration from http://www.paper-source.com/ and got the supplies from Hobby Lobby.

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

2008-01-30T09:45:00.000-06:00

Sorry, No photograph, but wanted to share this really good and simple recipe! We have not gone to the grocery store for a few weeks now, our pantry was getting a little bare, however me being the continual hostess I am had invited an out of town friend of ours over for dinner and to see our new house. In the morning I got out my crock pot and in it I put a can of original Rotel, two frozen chicken breasts and a can of drained black beans. I let it cook on low all day long. I served with it tortillas, olives, green pepper, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, refried beans and some spanish rice. I had made salsa chicken in the crock pot before, but it always needed more spice and less fluid, however this chicken mixture came out perfect! The guys loved the tacos - and we have PLENTY of leftovers for dinner tonight! Enjoy!

Chicken Souvlaki Salad

2008-01-30T09:35:00.000-06:00

If you like Greek/Mediterranean flavors - You'll Love this salad! I got the recipe from http://www.cookinglight.com/ Here is the recipe: Ingredients - 2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic, divided - 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice object - 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil - 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano - 1/4 teaspoon salt - 1/4 teaspoon black pepper - 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast - 3 cups cubed peeled cucumber (about 3 cucumbers) - 1/2 cup vertically sliced red onion - 1/2 cup(2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese - 2 tablespoons chopped pitted kalamata olives - 2 ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 1 pound) - 1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt - 1/4 cup grated peeled (and seeded) cucumber - 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar - 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder - 1/4 teaspoon salt - 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper - 1/4 teaspoon black pepper Preparation Preheat grill or broiler. Combine 1 teaspoon garlic and the next 6 ingredients (1 teaspoon garlic through chicken breast) in a large zip-top plastic bag. Seal the bag and shake to coat. Remove chicken from the bag. Grill or broil chicken 5 minutes on each side or until done. Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. Combine chicken, cubed cucumber, and the next 4 ingredients (cubed cucumber through tomatoes) in a large bowl. Combine yogurt and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over chicken mixture; toss well. I added some additional fresh garlic to the sauce - but I am a garlic lover.

Welcome Baby Jackie!

2008-01-14T16:43:00.001-06:00

One of my best Huntsville friends, Lisa had a baby last year. She had a precious baby girl named Jackie - and we adore the crap out of that little girl! Dee and I hosted a shower for Lisa. It was a bit of a crazy time in our life, as Robert and I had just closed on our new house TWO days before the shower. The best thing about it, was that I was able to break in our new kitchen. I found out that I was a suprisingly organized and systematic in the way I unpacked. When I was planning my wedding, I decided to attempt to create my own invitations. I think I did a fantastic job (if I do say so myself) and so that experience gave me the courage to try invites again! Lisa had already painted and prepared her nursery in a super cute green/pink theme and thus, it was my invitation inspiration. This is what I came up with for the invites! Poor Lisa, had to help me address them because I was entirely too spacey to do it by myself. AND... One of my favorite CRAZY JOEY (Lisa's (then) 3 year old son) stories that came out of this baby shower event... Lisa and Daniel had just purchased a Wii for their household and so while us women were at the baby shower, oogling over cute dresses and baby crap, the boys were going to stay at home and play the video game. So, Lisa asked Joey, "Joe Joe, do you know what you and Daddy are going to do w/ Uncle Stu while we're at baby Jackie's shower???" Joey smartly replies "go in the baby's room and look around..." Apparently, Lisa had been doing a little too much showing off of the nursery according to Joey. HILARIOUS!

Past Projects

2008-01-14T16:28:00.000-06:00

Last year Scout went to Obedience School - and suprisingly, he graduated. You would NEVER know by the looks of it now! For his class I wanted to bring the pups something to snack on, as a "thank you" to all who put up with us for the few weeks we were in class together. A friend of mine had sent me some home made dog treats that Scout LOVED - so I made a bunch of those and put them in cute little favor bags. The class raved about them! To make these for your pooch at home - you will need: 2 cups wheat germ 3 - 2.5 oz jars of "meaty" baby food (ie Chicken, Turkey, Beef) 1 Tablespoon of water Mix all ingredients together. Form into fun shapes using cookie cutters. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Keep refridgerated afterwards. Enjoy!!!

Introduction

2008-01-14T15:46:00.000-06:00

Welcome! After a few e-mails with a good friend about my invitation ideas for a friend's baby shower, and the onslaught of foodie blogs popping up, I decided to break down and create a blog for myself. I would like to digitally archive some of my DIY projects, as well as, keep an ongoing list of some of the recipes I find tasty! So - here it is! I can't promise that I'll actually take pictures of the recipes I make, but I'll try. And I never know if this will morph into something different but for now, it is what it is.