Thankful reflections

So I did not participate in the daily thankful announcements on Facebook this year in the month of November. But earlier today I was reflecting on my family and how blessed I am. I realized that my sister Melissa is one of the best things that happened to my family.

Some families have that "surprise" baby and she was ours. Always a surprise never a mistake as my mother made sure we knew growing up. But as I was thinking today I realized she was not a surprise she was a gift.

God blessed our family with a wonderful growing gift in the form of Melissa Marie. Or Lissa Ree if you are part of the family. Now every child is a gift from God but Melissa is one of those rays of sunlight that brightens every room. She is a genuinely giving and loving person and I don't know how our family would exist with out her. She completed our family and made us whole.

It has been wonderful to see her grow into an amazing young lady and cant wait to see where life will take her. Melissa is a wonderful example of Gods plan. He knew we needed her and I am so glad.
I love you Melissa and I feel so privileged to have you in my life.

Run away puppy!

Yesterday was a busy day. So after feeding the dog I put him in the back yard. I figured it would be alright for him to pretend he is a dog for a bit.

As I am feeding the baby, answering the phone and trying to find my shoes all at the same time when I hear a dog barking out front.

That bark sounds a lot like Slider. Why is it in the front?



AHHHHHHH! SOMEHOW HE GOT OUT OF THE BACK YARD!!!!!!!!

This runs through my head as the phone call ends. I quickly put the baby down. She starts screaming because she is not done eating.

I run to the door and there is a woman on my porch about to knock. She is in a robe and slippers.

"He got out" she said.

"Oh my God! How did this happen" I ask her

for some reason I assumed this complete stranger knew

Well she did! and told me my gate was open. She also said he was a good boy and when she tried to get him he turned around and ran home.

So I then run out the front door. By the way I never found those shoes and it rained the night before.

Slider had run back into the back yard so I followed him and went to close the gate.

We never open this gate and it was not just a little open it was all the way open and under some branches.

So I close it and follow Slider. He has run up the steps to the deck and is barking at the sliding glass door. I open it and he runs to the front door to bark at the lady who is no longer there.

Yes, my dog ran all the way around the house and then in and through it to bark at a person who followed him home and he was right next too.

This all happened before 8:30 am and before I had any coffee.

Good-bye Teddy!

So this post is a little behind but wanted to share :)

Yes, I am one of those adults that sleeps with a teddy bear. I received this teddy bear as a birthday present from my husband on my 19th birthday. It replaced what I slept with at the time, yes I took my baby blanket to college and I am perfectly fine with that.

This teddy bear has been much loved. It used to be fluffy and have sparkles and a pretty bow. Now he looks worse for wear. James bought him from Giant. He has sense bought me many stuffed animals but this one was always the favorite.

James kept telling me once I had a baby I could not have stuffed animals anymore. I insisted he was wrong.

Turns out he was right. I don't like being wrong so don't tell James I admitted it.

When Emily first came home from the hospital she was in our room. I insisted on still sleeping with my teddy bear. After about 4 days I realized that I would mother the teddy bear in my sleep thinking it was Emily and be completely confused when she started crying. Go ahead and laugh.

Yep, I was rocking the bear and probably singing to it (James sleeps like a log so he cant tell me). I was dreaming about taking care of Emily to wake up confused and out of place because I thought I was already holding her.

I determined that this was not healthy.

So, teddy was retired. Though I kind of miss him.


ps: James does too. He used to steal him from me in my sleep and still tries but teddy is not there :)

Trash Day!

The garbage man comes on Wednesdays. That is today. This is very important to know and remember because he only comes one time a week.

As I was changing Emily I hear the truck and realize it was Wednesday. Normally I check to make sure James put out the cans before bed but I forgot. I was sure he forgot too because he got home really late last night and had to go in early today.

So, I quickly put a half dressed Emily in her crib. I run to the stairs. I can see the truck is at the neighbors house through the window. I race down the stairs and jump the last few. I felt like I was flying. I can totally see why teenage boys and my husband do this all the time. I run around to the garage. I jump those stairs and open the garage at the same time. I slide around the car and .....


See that the garbage cans are not there! Yay! go Daddy!

I calmly walk back in the house and up the stairs feeling like a hero. Parents 1, Universe 0


Some of you may be wondering what the big deal is. Those of you have not had a 12 week old. There is no way that we could handle having 2 weeks of diapers in our garage. It would have to be condemned. The smell would probably waft up to the top floor and kill us in our sleep.

Mommy tip: Diaper Rash

When Emily was 2 weeks old I got an infection. I subsequently went on antibiotics. This gave poor Emily a horrible diaper rash.

We tried everything:
    - both types of desitin
    - butt paste
    - air drying

Nothing was working. So after 5 days when it was just getting worse I went to the doctor. He told us to use 1% hydrocortisone cream. After 3 uses the diaper rash was practically gone. It was amazing. Once I was off the antibiotics it went away completely but the cream defiantly made her feel better.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and this cream will not work for all rashes (example: yeast infections)

Mom Tip: The hospital part 2

Disclaimer: I gave birth at an inner city hospital. According to some other moms I have spoken to the hospitals in the suburbs are not like this.


Tip: Be prepared for surprised hospital staff

I was too swollen to wear my rings on my hand at the end of my pregnancy so I wore them on a necklace. While in labor and delivery I had this conversation:
      Nurse: "Oh, Are you married?"
      Me: "yes"
      Nurse: "That is so great! Congratulations!"
      Me: "Thank you?" confused face, this is kind of hard to respond to. One I have been married for almost 3 years and I am currently in labor.

This is a different conversation with a different nurse. Also, while in labor.
    Nurse: "Do we have a name?"
    Me: "Yes, Emily Paige"
    Nurse: "Oh good! A normal name!"
I heard later from a mom who works at the hospital that random crazy names are typical, one example she gave me was a child named Chlamydia.

Tip: Be prepared to be visited by social services, several times

Yes, I was visited 3 times. I had conversations/lectures about if we had a car seat, post-partem depression, if I needed help telling the father, about domestic abuse and about not shaking the baby and tips if I feel like I want to.

Tip: Be prepared to have the WIC person really try to push signing up.

She did not believe we did not qualify. At least I hope we don't qualify. Was stupefied that I did not want to sign up.

Tip: Be prepared to have unrelated medical advise shoved on you.

I am the type of person who gives my whole medical history. Apparently this is a mistake. I have asthma. It is very controlled but I needed to start using an inhaler while pregnant and only during exercise. This means that I received a visit from a respiratory specialist to teach me what happens to my lungs during an asthma attack, about peak flows, and how to take my inhaler. She was very surprised to learn I already knew all of  this.

Now all of these things are really funny. But when you are sleep deprived and in pain it is really annoying. This also means that while I really like my doctors I will be going to a hospital in the suburbs for any other children we have.

Mom Tip: The Hospital part 1

Everyone told me not to over pack for the hospital. So I tried really hard to make sure I only had the essentials.

I failed.

Now I am going to give some wisdom on what I used, what I didn't, and what I wish I had.

Electronic Devices: I packed our phones, camera (small digital), the Ipad, my kindle, and all of the chargers. We used our phones the most. While we used the camera some we mostly used our phones for pictures because they were easier to reach (you always have your phone) so I would not bring the camera next time unless I have an extra family member at the hospital to be in charge of pictures. We used the ipad but I did not have time after my epidural for my kindle. I think it would be useful to someone who is being induced but otherwise you have other devices you can utilize. All of the chargers were used.

Clothes: You only need one nursing bra, if you are going to put it on right away either put it on before they give you an iv or bring one that clasps and does not pull over your head. I brought a cheep pair of pajamas. I totally suggest this. Way better than wearing gowns, I suggest ones that button up the front for easy nursing access. Pack maternity clothes, though I suggest yoga type pants for several reasons (some explained next) but mostly because you will be in pain in your girly region and you don't want jeans rubbing.

Shoes: I packed slippers. Mine are really nice ugg ones that do not have an open back. This means I was unable to get my foot in them. Yep see I did not swell that much while pregnant but with in an hour of giving birth I swelled up till I felt and looked like Jabba the Hut. (This is also why you want stretchy maternity clothes). I suggest forgoing all foot wear except what you wear to and from hospital. Just use the socks they give you.

Toiletries: Bring your own. Either pack your own or buy travel size of your favorites. One of the best things after giving birth is the shower. You feel disgusting and having something that smells good will make you feel wonderful. They will give you some so you could just use that. I wanted to smell like me not like patient. I have a big aversion to patient smell.

For Baby: only bring an outfit to go home in. Make sure it has legs and is not a sleeper, otherwise you cant buckle them into the car-seat.You don't need to dress them while there. You don't need swaddlers either. Most hospitals use Halo swaddlers instead of receiving blankets. By the way I love this type, way better than the other ones.

Don't bring your boppy pillow. They will give you about 10 pillows which will be easier to use than to carry your boppy in and out of the hospital.

Breastfeeding troubles

So I have always known that I wanted to breastfeed and if possible to do it for at least the first year. There are many reasons why I decided this but most likely the main one was a wonderful nutrition class I took in college (favorite class: anyone currently at VT I suggest it, its called Nutrition through the lifespan). This is what I decided for me and I am not saying that it is the best choice for anyone else. This post is about my experience so far.

I knew a head of time that I may not be able to exclusively breastfeed for the first year and that I may need to supplement. This is because I had a breast reduction. I found a surgeon that knew my wishes and worked hard to make sure I would still be able to breastfeed. Knowing this I went into the situation with an open mind.

At the hospital I first fed my daughter with in the first hour. She latched but did not feed long. I was told this is normal, she is just a "sleepy baby". This continued for the next day. I had a lactation consultant from the hospital visit me. She helped with positioning and recommended I use a pump to help stimulate my milk due to my reduction. I asked her if Emily had a tongue tie because when she latched I was in extreme pain. I was told no and that this is normal. I didn't question it. I had never had a baby before and these were the experts.

Emily still refused to latch for long periods of time through out our stay. I saw a different consultant and asked her about the tongue tie. Again, I was told she was fine because her tongue came out of her mouth. Before leaving I asked the pediatric team, again I was told everything was alright.

At our first Pediatric appointment after the hospital. I asked again and was told she was fine because her tongue came past her gums. She was 3 days old. I had rented a hospital grade pump and was pumping to stimulate before nursing. That afternoon she started refusing to latch. she would scream and arch away from me. Luckily I was still pumping and my milk started to come in. We fed that to her in a bottle and continued to try to latch.

The next day James went to work and I was at home with a 4 day old baby who refused to latch and was becoming lethargic. By 2pm she had not had a wet or dirty diaper for over 16 hrs and was still refusing to latch. In desperation I called the lactation consultant from the hospital. She told me to feed her some formula. Well duh! My sleep deprived brain coupled with my fear about Emily becoming dehydrated seemed to not come up with this solution. She also wanted me to come into the hospital to work with them about latching. Well I couldn't. I was alone and still on pain meds so I could not drive. I fed a bottle to Emily and 20 minutes later a wet diaper.

Over the next few days we continued to try to latch. She refused. We fed her pumped milk and formula because I was not producing enough at that time. I was holding out for Saturday. My mom was coming and Moms know how to do everything right? Plus she had nursed 4 babies. I was sure she would help. Nope, it stumped her too. So by Sunday Emily was 7 days old and we were out of options. I started calling people on the long list of experts the hospital gave me at discharge.

No one answered at the hospital. But the message said to call the La Leche League. I called them, no one answered. I continued down the list. And there was a random woman's name. It seamed out of place but it said she was a LLL leader. So I called. It was her house number and she answered. In explaining I broke down. I was tired, overwhelmed and ready to give up. She told me it would be alright. Do you know how amazing it is to hear that? Then she came over. One of the first things she said was "You are a great mom". I wanted to cry. Here I was so worried and someone told me I was doing everything I could and that I was a good mom. I really needed to hear that and it made everything better.

after working on positioning she asked me if irt hurt when she did latch. Why yes it does. It feels like someone is clamping my nipples with pliers and twisting. But that is normal right? That is what they told me at the hospital. WRONG! So she stuck her FINGERS IN EMILY'S MOUTH. She was the first one to do that. And guess what! She had a tongue tie and an upper lip tie.

We were refereed to a specialist, Dr. Amy Grawey. Who is a family medicine doctor as well as a lactation consultant. She did the laser procedure to remove the ties. Afterwards Emily would still not latch. So at our follow up she suggested a nipple shield. Emily latches wonderfully with the shield.

I also asked about ways to increase my supply because at this point I had gone over 2 weeks with out a baby nursing and my supply was low. I tried fenugreek which did not work so I moved to Reglan. A prescription my OB gave me. It started to work with in days but I discontinued use after having feelings of depression. Reglan is known for increased risk of Postpartum Depression.

Right now we are nursing with the shield. Some people have suggestions for removing the shield but James and I have decided we don't want to put our daughter through that trauma right now and maybe will try later. Using a shield is not so bad. I am also pumping. We still have to supplement but I am fine with that. I have done my best for my daughter and that is all I can do.

I suggest finding help if you are having problems as soon as you notice them. Stick with it you will find what works for you. And if that means you need to stop, do it. A happy mommy makes a happy baby and feeding your child formula is not the end of the world. You still love them and they will know that.

hello baby!

Around 8am on Sunday September 16th I woke up with a few contractions. They were not that strong or that fast so I just started playing Soduku and let James sleep. A little bit later James got up to make cinnamon buns and I got ready for the day. When you are pregnant everyone tells you these horrible stories about being in labor for like 30 hours and how the first baby always takes a long time so I figured I would probably get to watch part of the redskins game. So I prepared for it.

Well I was wrong. By the time James brought me a cinnamon bun I was in active enough labor to go to the hospital. You are supposed to have contractions every 5 minutes, that are 1 minute long and have them for at least 1 hour. Mine were only 2 minutes apart but were lasting only about 30 seconds. I decided to call the triage number to see if I could come to the hospital. They acted like I was not in labor but might as well come in anyway.

So we called the kennel, packed the car, loaded up the dog and got ready to leave. Unfortunatly Slider did not agree with this plan. Slider must have picked up on something because he went a little crazy. He ran around the house keeping away from James so he could not put the leash on. Then he decided he wanted to sit in the baby seat. Every time James got in the driver seat he jumped over the back seat into the baby seat and tried to climb up to the front with me. After 6 times of putting him back, we were able to keep him there and we were able to leave.

After dropping off the dog we headed to the Hospital. At this point we were still joking around and having fun. I mean it takes a while for babies to come right? I decided I did not want to walk in by myself. so we parked and walked together. We made it to the triage area of OB around 12:30 pm. They checked me in and I was 5 cm. Then they freaked out because my blood pressure was high. I wanted to say maybe it was because I was nervous BECAUSE I AM HAVING A BABY! After taking my blood pressure a few times and it not coming down the nurse says "well if it does not come down you might earn yourself admittance". I was like "WHAT!" I am in labor. What is required to gain admittance to Labor and Delivery? Then I was given an iv and they left us for a while.

James having fun

After about an hour of waiting around my contractions have gotten a lot worse and my hand hurts really bad. James finally listened to my complaining about my hand when I said something about it during a contraction And look! My iv infiltrated (for those non medical people that means that the fluid was not going into the vein) so James turned it off and found a nurse. That is when everyone picked up pace because they realized I was progressing faster then they thought I would. All of a sudden everyone runs into this tiny room and they are wheeling me to labor and delivery. I had 5 nurses there, 2 were trying to find a new place for an iv and every one else was getting things ready and calling doctors. After 5 sticks they got an iv and everything was set.

My board. James added the "Go Redskins" 

Side note: Why would you ask a woman her medical history when she is having a contraction. Talking does not really work at that time. Also they had my history on file already. They asked if I have had surgery during a really bad contraction. I have an extensive surgical history. So instead of trying I point to James. He starts listing things off and then started adding procedures I have never had. Luckily my contraction ended around then so I could correct him or he would have kept going. He had already gotten rid of my appendix, who know what would have come next.

As nurses were starting to clear out James mentioned that the game was about to start. The nurse practically yelled at him "She is in labor, she does not have to watch football!". Lucky for James I defended him saying I was the fan and she said it was okay then and showed us how to turn on the tv. So the game came on but to be honest I was not watching much.

I had to wait about an hour for an epidural because there were 2 emergency c-sections happening. The Anesthesiologist also accused James of making me watch the football game. It was kind of nice to have so many people watching out for my viewing pleasure. Once I got my epidural life was nice again and I could watch some football :)

Before Epidural

After Epidural

Football game

They checked me again I was 7cm and they broke my water. 30 minutes later I was ready to push. I called the nurse and she was like "It has only been 30 minutes I don't want to check you again yet". About 10 minutes later they came back in because Emily's heart rate was erratic. And low and behold I was 10 cm and ready to push. They got everything ready and we started pushing. Everyone was joking and having a good time and 20 minutes later we had a baby girl!

I held her while James cut the cord and then after a while they took her to clean her up and weigh her. After getting her foot prints she kicked James so he had a new tattoo for the rest of the day.

Before being moved to postpartum I was told by the doctors and nurses several times that I need to make sure to get to the hospital fast for my next one because I was only in active labor for about 5 hours and it will go faster next time. Then in the next 2 days I was told again at least 4 times. They are really worried I am going to have a baby in the car.

Snuggling with Daddy while mommy ate Jimmy Johns

By the way I was really distracted by my new baby so I did not see the end of the game but I was told we lost. But I wasn't too upset about that :)

And then there were 3!

So if you have not noticed I have not posted anything in the last month. That is because I have been slightly busy with our new daughter!


Our baby girl was born on September 16th at 5:52pm
       *yes in the middle of the Redskins game. Sorry Berger family I guess that means she will be a Skins Fan!

She was 6lbs 11oz and 20.25 inches long.

Emily a few minutes after she was born

I have lots of blog posts I am waiting to post once I have time so bear with me ;)

Youtube videos

So last night James comes running up the stairs yelling "Amanda....Amanda.....Amanda". I totally think something is wrong. Then I realize he is excited so maybe something amazing happened.

No.

He was carrying the ipad and had a video he wanted me to watch. This is the video he wanted me to watch.

Very cute. But then I started watching the videos that are linked below the one you are currently watching. After about 5 minutes I come across one with a soldier coming home. I don't know why it was linked to my baby animals search. But then it just snowballs. And I am sitting in bed 39weeks 5 days pregnant crying hysterically  And I can't stop watching them. 

James comes back in and this is the conversation

J: "how did you come across coming home videos? You were watching baby animals"

A: "I don't know. Youtube has it out for me. I always end up crying"

J: "Well stop and go back to the baby animals now"

So I did. Then I watched videos about English mastiffs. But that made me sad too because I miss Tiny and mom says he isn't doing so well. 

Luckily I have a husband who can always make me laugh because he then decided it would be fun to make baby deer screaming noises.

Moral of the story: Stay off the internet. 

Family inside jokes

So every family has them. They usually are so well known that they just become a word. Or maybe it is not even a joke, just a name your family has for something no one else does.

Well the Blakeney Family (my side) has tons of these.

I have noticed over the last few months that my husband not only uses these words or phrases in everyday life but he will also refer to jokes and stories from before we met. I think it is so awesome. So here are a few  of the things he has said in the last few months. (one of these days he is not going to be happy that he is the center of a lot of my blog posts).

Dramatized: this is an actual word but my family does not use it in the proper context. Sometime before I was born a friend of my aunt used this word instead of traumatized. Apparently she did not just say the wrong word she thought that was the word. My family now uses it on a semi-regular basis to express when we are almost but not quite traumatized :) by the way, I do not know who this original person was, I don't know if I have ever met her and I am not quite sure exactly when this event took place.

James uses this often. Especially when telling stories.

The Bumble: My family is very into Christmas. We have lots of traditions (which we will all throw fits if they get messed up), special events, and TONS of decorations. One of our traditions started when we were very young. My dad traveled for work so on Christmas Eve he took all of us kids out all day and Mom stayed home and wrapped presents so that they were not up all night. Of course we have specific things we have to do each year. One of those things was to go out and buy some Christmas ornament. Now this sounds easy. Wrong. Most stores have removed all of their Christmas items by Christmas Eve. But one year we struck gold. I believe I was a Jr or Sr in high school and we found a collectors set of hand blown ornaments from the clay action movie of Rudolph. It was a special that the store was doing that year. And we bought one for each of the characters. It was awesome and we hung them up when we got home. The next morning as my mother was removing a present from under the tree she broke the Bumble. The Bumble is everyone's favorite character. It was devastating and we have never let her live it down. We probably bring it up at least 5 times each Christmas.

About 3 months ago James and I were having a conversation about something completely unrelated to this when out of the blue he says "Well if your mom hadn't broken the Bumble everything would be fine". I do not believe I have heard anyone in my family refer to this event outside of the Christmas season. I just about died. I think I laughed for 5 minutes and then had to call my mom to let her know James totally blamed her :)

The KiKi: My youngest sister had a blanket as a lovie item that she could not be without. As a baby she could not say blankie and so she called it KiKi. Kiki became a name and had a personality and we often wandered the house calling for her when she was lost (older siblings are awesome right). But now all blankets that belong to someone (not just a throw) are called Kiki.

James used this just last night. I was moping on the couch not feeling well because I am hugely pregnant and ready to give birth and he asked if I wanted him to get me the "soft kiki". I am sure he uses this term more than I realize because I am just used to hearing it.
Though I think the most telling time was when he used it on the phone with his mother. She was talking about nicknames for the family that the baby could use and Kiki was one they came up with for Kathleen (James' sister). His immediate response was "why? That is what you call blankets". It was really funny because he was so straightforward about it, like that is what everyone calls them and I am sure she had no idea what he was talking about.




The thing with little family specialized things is that sometimes when someone new comes in they can feel left out and the family usually never notices because they are so common. I think it is amazing that my husband was brought so easily into my family and I am so thankful for that. I also cant wait to create some of our own stories, words and jokes :)

Random pic of us from 2007

At James' med school graduation

Tiny Christmas 2007, he was not mentioned in this blog post but James knows all of his stories and retells them often :)

Melissa, Martina (adopted family member), and Sarah Christmas 2007. You can see our Christmas craziness in the background

At Grammie's Graduation Party

Updates and Baby countdown

So I have not been able to update as often as I wanted to which you will soon learn why. Here is what has been happening the last few days.

HOME IMPROVEMENT

My lovely husband decided he needed to take on huge projects less than 2 weeks before my due date. He has had tons of fun. It has just been stress and more work for me.

On Labor day there was a huge sale on paint so James decided to paint the basement. He has never painted anything before let alone by himself. So he went and bought all of the supplies and paint. A lovely shade of maroon. He was able to get the whole first coat done that day. But during this process we have to keep the dog out of the basement. Can you imagine- I can just see it now, maroon dog prints all over the house and dog hair in the the wet paint on the walls. That means 39 week pregnant me gets to carry laundry up and down stairs and try to make it over baby gates. Day one of this project ended with out major problems so I became optimistic.

Throughout the week James would paint the second coat on part of the room after he got home from work. This sounds great except he tends to forget to clean brushes and rollers and leaves them in paint trays with lots of paint. So after buying several rounds of paint and rollers the second coat was finished by Saturday. Still not too bad, right?

(side note) Right after we moved in James wanted to price out putting new carpet in the basement. We eventually decided we did not need to right now.

Somehow, even with drop cloths and plastic large globs of maroon paint ended up on the carpet. Meaning we need new carpet according to James (I am slightly convinced this happened on purpose). Still not too bad, its a basement we don't need to replace right away.

(side note) this project is why I had very limited internet for the last week.

On Saturday I realize my husband has disappeared. So I make it down stairs to find that he has removed all of the windows. Yes. I have 3 holes in my basement wall and it looked like it was going to rain. James had decided he needed to clean the windows, scrape the window casings, caulk and put in new weather stripping. Well that is all well and good but has he ever done this before? No. And did I mention the rain?

Turns out the rain held off, the windows got put back and everything is fine.

(side note) every time he started painting I reminded him to change into old painting clothes.

Sunday after church James decides he needs to do some touch up and paint around the windows and everything will be done. (Thank goodness). I decided after a full week he did not need to be reminded to change his clothes (he is 27). Wrong. Now I need to figure out how to get maroon paint out of his church clothes. Which I don't think will happen.

According to my dad this is what new fathers do. They nest by doing home improvements. I just wonder why it has to happen so close to my due date.

RE-CERTIFICATION

So, I hold several certifications in the fitness industry. They all are from different organizations which mean they have different lengths of certification and different ways to re-cert. Oh and they all cost lots of money. So my spinning instructor certification expires October 2nd. Yeah, I know I procrastinated. But to be fair I challenged some credits earlier in the summer and it took them 8 weeks to get back to me. Also they gave me less credits than I think they should have. So, I downloaded an online course last night which I am trying to finish before this baby is born. (by the way if you didn't notice I am procrastinating doing that by blogging)

REDSKINS FOOTBALL

So I was not surprised that we did not get the Redskins game on local TV networks. (We will next week because we play the Rams). But I am highly annoyed with ESPN. On Sunday they played 7 hours of coverage from the 2011 Crossfit Challenge Games and no football. Really! on opening weekend. Then I recorded/watched Sports center so I could see the highlights. If you have never watched sports center they have a list of what is coming up on the right side of the screen. All of the other games had both team names listed. But they had "Saints lose opening game" was what the segment about the skins saints game. Come on cant the Skins get credit for winning a game, it does not happen often give the fans a little love.


BABY COUNTDOWN

So my due date is September 14th. Which means I am due 4 days from now. Yes, life sucks at the end of pregnancy and you just want it to be over. But the good part about having her in my tummy still is that I already know how to be a perfect mommy to an unborn child.

Also at this point, I can not call any friends or family because they immediately think I am calling because I am in labor. None of them want to talk to me, just want to know about when the baby is coming. (This might be a slight exaggeration but it sometimes feels like that)

You get no new pics of anything because my camera is packed for the hospital and I dont want to upload and deal with plugging in my iphone. So here are some pics from earlier in the summer that are from facebook.

James and Slider watching the Hokie Game vs. GT

Slider loves playing in boxes, until he eats them

Smelling flowers in the backyard. 

My lucky life.

So I missed 2 days because we did not have internet. But I am back!

I realized this week that I am lucky to have met my husband in college. You are probably thinking "well yeah that makes life easier". What I am really trying to say is that we share so much common background because of this. College is where you learn who you really are and grow into the person you are going to be. I feel so privileged to have done that with my husband at my side.

You are probably wondering what lead me to this realization this week. Well I have always thought this but several things happened this week that lead me to think about this.

1. Football always revolves around the Hokies. No house divided here. (except when the Giants play the Redskins, but that is a different story)
2. While I feel huge and disgusting as I reach 39 weeks pregnant I am reminded that my husband remembers me as a college freshman. When I was a size 2 and weighed 110lbs.
3. Conversations like this happen while driving to get me a Milkshake (pregnancy cravings)
    James: Have you ever gotten a Wopper from Burger King and then drove to get fries from Mcdonalds?      Its awesome.
    Me:  Yes, I did this with you in college.
    James: oh, yeah.
    Me: it was when we were both hungover after the Rescue squad banquet party
    James: Oh yeah. Wait, I wasn't hungover.
    Me: I was. We played quarters and I decided to use a screwdriver as my drink.
    James: That was stupid. Why did you do that?
    Me: I was a freshman and my upperclassman boyfriend did not advise me of my mistake beforehand.
    James: Oh, sorry.
4. It is completely normal for us to paint our basement Chicago Maroon.
5. He understands my huge desire to drive through Southwest Va on our way to visit home next time.


See, I am really lucky. But I am mostly lucky because I found my soul mate and would be even if it had took us longer to meet.

Jr. Year Hiking to the Cascades

   

Sophomore year at James Graduation

Sr. Year at Rescue squad banquet

Silly pregnancy info and Baby Names

So you find out your pregnant and the first thing you think you need is the What to Expect When Expecting book. Well in this day and age you can just sign up for their website which has all the same information as well as forums to discuss different things. They also have an app for your phone and they will send you emails with different information.

So I did this when I found out we were having a little one. I also got a few other free apps and signed up on thebump.com and other pregnancy websites. This means I get about 2-3 emails a day with pregnancy information. Sounds great right? Not really. One the info is VERY redundant. The information you receive is supposed to correspond to the part of pregnancy you are in. About 95% of the emails I received were links to articles about one of the following:
- Its ok to gain weight when you are pregnant
- Your weight gain is normal.
- It is ok to have sex while pregnant
- How to not gain to much weight
- How to reduce morning sickness. (none of these solutions worked for me)

Anyway, you can see how I just stopped reading the emails all together and they immediately were deleted. It has gotten a little better because I am almost done and some of the articles are starting to get interesting. But I am still getting about 3 emails a week about names. The name emails started coming around 24 weeks and at one point I was getting about 2 a day.

One of the things I don't understand about the name info they continually mention is how parents do not want to pick names in the top ten most popular. Tons of the articles are about alternative names if you like one of these. Maybe I don't get it because in 1987 (the year I was born) Amanda was number 3 on the list. James has been in the top ten until 1993. We both grew up with other kids in our class with our names. And while we both did not like being Amanda B. or James B. the main reason was that the other kid got to be only Amanda or James with out a last initial. I would have been totally fine if Amanda Thomas was called Amanda T. but she was just called Amanda (we were in the same class 3 years in a row). Boys are a little different and when they get older they just go by last names. Now that I am older I have run into less Amandas, probably because it was only in the top for a few years.

With the increasing popularity of "unique" names and spellings the names in the top ten have less kids with that actual name than there was 20 years ago. James and I have no problem with the fact that the name we picked (Emily) is #6. Example: Emily was #6 in 2011 with 7,375 babies with this name out of 1,000,000 where when Amanda was #6 in 1978 there was 12,488 babies with that name out of 1,000,000. That means that less than 1% is named Emily even though it is ranked 6th.

Maybe I have a weird opinion but I looked at those alternatives because I was curious. I hated all of them.

Does anyone else have a popular name and found it to be horrible? Not that we plan on changing our name choice I am just curious.

Tornados and Football

So we have had a few storms the last 2 days. Yesterday I heard my first tornado siren. VA did not get many tornados so we did not have sirens. I was hanging out talking to my mother in law on the phone when I heard this siren noise. I did not think much of it at first because we have ambulances passing our house often. When the siren did not go away I decided to investigate. I hung up with my mother in law and checked my phone. Sure enough tornado watch and warning in effect and a touch down. So I decided it was best to go to the basement. The dog did not agree. He thought it was amazingly fun to run away and evade the 38 week pregnant girl. Eventually I caught him and we worked our way downstairs to the laundry room. All was well but I thought it was pretty cool that we have sirens. I had no idea we had those. But they are not very loud so if I had the TV on I probably would not have heard it.


Football starts this weekend! I am so excited. Tech plays on Monday vs. Georgia Tech and the game is on ESPN so we get it out here. So far only about 5 games are scheduled on channels we will get for the season. This could change depending on rankings but I am going to soak up as much Tech football as I can. We started watching a few games that were on today but it is not as fun when you have no care for the outcome or about either of the teams. I am really excited that E has her football game outfit ready already. I posted a pic on facebook a few days ago but I thought I would post about where I got the items. This is the same outfit she is going to come home from the hospital in. We want to keep it and have all our children come home in this outfit. Kind of silly but I think its cute.

VT coming home outfit. She will be ready for some football!

I found the most of it on Etsy. The bodysuit also came with an embroidered hat. I got it from Addie Kakes Kreations she sells tons of cute embroidered items, mostly baby stuff. She also has lots school logos so you can get whatever you want. She works with whatever you want so you can pick long sleeve or short sleeve body suit in several colors and the hat can have anything too. The one I ordered says Future Hokie but is in Maroon.  She was really fast and I can defiantly see ordering from her again in the future. 

Etsy order pic from Addie Kakes Kreations

The hat is probably the cutest thing ever. In the picture above you see an orange hat with a maroon flower clipped on. The order I made at etsy for this came with 2 hats one orange and one maroon, 2 flowers one orange and one maroon (both on clips so they can be moved around), and 3 headbands one orange, one maroon and one white. I ordered them from Stylin N Profilin. This order took a little longer to come but it was a mix up at the post office and the seller was very helpful. This seller makes lots of bows but also makes some really cool wipes cases and just added travel changing pads. She has a Facebook page you can order from too with all of her fabric options and she posts clearance items as well. She has VT fabric and I would love to order a cute wipes case. Maybe something for Christmas. 

Etsy order pic from Stylin N Profliin

I was going to make a tutu that was orange and maroon but did not get around to it. I also don't think she needs it for the coming home so I think I will wait until next football season to make it. I finished off the outfit with a pair of jeans. I got them for $2 at Once Upon a Child. I love that place. All in all I am really excited about the cuteness. Now if she will only get here :)

Baby Countdown!

So I am now 37 weeks meaning she could come anytime.
James says she is coming on Monday August 27th. I don't know why and he has been saying that for the last 4-5 months.

She already has my heart :)

I think she is going to be late, like a week late.

But we are preparing for her either way.

Here is what we have accomplished:

They took this while we were being silly. But my belly looks huge from the side

- Room Painted
- Linens and clothes cleaned and put away
- hospital bag packed
- We know what floor to got to at the hospital :)

To be done still:
- Vacuum E's room (i need James to carry it up the stairs)
- Hang wall decorations
- clean dog hair out of car (looks like a gerbil exploded in there)
- re install car seat and show James how to do it


We also figured out what to do with Slider. The Petsmart here has a Pet Hotel which is amazing. You walk in and it looks like a spa. We took slider to doggy day camp a few weeks ago and he did alright so we have decided to use them. Because of his size they said they will always be able to accommodate him and that I wont even have to call ahead and I can just bring him and drop him off. The only problem with this plan is if she decides to come at night. But he is sleeping then so I guess I will just have James drive back after E is born and take him. (Also best part is that they will bathe him right before pick up)

I am waiting for my pre-registration for Cord Blood Donation to come in the mail. Should get here Monday or Tuesday. I did the different research and private banking is a little out of our budget at the moment so we decided to go with donation. If you don't donate the cord blood just gets thrown away. We are donating to St. Louis Cord Blood Bank. There are stem cells in the cord blood (blood from umbilical cord and placenta) that can currently be used to treat 80 different diseases including leukemia and lymphoma. Also, unlike other transplants cord blood does not have to be an exact match. Research is also being done to see if it can be used to treat many other diseases such as Alzheimers, type 1 diabetes and Parkinsons. What is great about the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank is that if the cord blood is not found to be good enough for transplant it wont be wasted and will be used in this research. They also do not participate in any cloning research. It is great to think that our daughter can save lives just by being born :)


On a funnier note. I had a horrible nightmare. On Sunday I become a member of Manchester United Methodist Church. During the service I will go up front with a bunch of other new members to be introduced. I had a nightmare that during this my water broke and went everywhere in the front of the beautiful sanctuary. My husband does not help with these fears as every time we go somewhere now he says "wouldn't it be funny if your water broke in the _____".

Oops!

So I have totally been failing at this whole blog thing, but lots has been happening so let me catch you up.

Papa, Me, and Grammie

My Grandmother, Grandfather, Aunt and 2 cousins came to visit 2 weeks ago. We had tons of fun. It was the first time we had visitors here. Its nice having a full house. We did lots of exploring of St. Louis and thankfully the hot weather broke that week so we did not die while doing it.

Right before they came there was a groupon for the Museum of Transportation. I thought it looked good so I went ahead and got it. It was a fun little adventure. The groupon included admission to the museum and a mini train ride. We started off with the museum where we looked at old cars. They had a few hands on activities and then you could walk through some different trains in the train yard. I don't think I will be going again unless we have another groupon and someone really interested in transportation. The stuff is fun but the normal pricing is a little high. I do think they had another groupon yesterday if you are interested.

I love the Elephants

We also went to the St. Louis Zoo. This was more fun, except we did not pick our day correctly. Unfortunately on top of it being the first day in 2 months under 90 degrees it was the last Saturday before school started. (I did not know school started so early here). So the Zoo was packed. They have some great exhibits but due to crowding we did not get to see the sea lions which is the new exhibit I really wanted to check out. Now I have an excuse to go back.

Before

While they were here they painted the baby's room. It was originally this pale yellow with white wainscoting. We picked the color "lime sherbet". It is a great color. Here are some before and after picks. We also found a really cute curtain rod, which is not in the pictures because James hung it later. It has big pink jewels on the ends. Very girly :) We still have a few things to hang up but we are almost done.

James got in on the painting for a bit too.

After

The last day they were here we went to the Arch. We had a bit of an adventure on the way and learned that no matter what Papa will try to navigate from the back seat. I did not go up but everyone else said it was really pretty up there. They have 2 gift shops and one of them is set up like a 1870's general store. I really liked it. We got some old fashioned candy and bread for snacks, which we ate sitting on the steps looking at the Mississippi. They also have a little museum that I was impressed with.


So that is the update for now. Tomorrow I am 37 weeks so officially full term. Update for baby prep to come this weekend.

Slider's 2nd Birthday

I have been the very dedicated mother to one corgi puppy for almost 2 years now. Slider (our little BERGER...hehe) turned 2 years old on July 5th. I decided I needed to make this a special birthday for him. Yes, I know he is a dog. But he has been through a lot. He was stressed the month leading up to the move (lost excess hair and gave himself hot spots). Then we everything in "his" house disappeared. He got loaded up in a cramped car and we drove for 2 1/2 days to arrive at a huge empty house. Then we had service people show up every day for almost 2 weeks. So it has been just a little crazy for him.

My snuggle puppy :)

So to start off the day we snuggled up on the floor while I drank my coffee. Normally I would have taken him to a park or for an extra long walk but it was 105 degrees so staying inside was our only option. Slider loves to snuggle on the floor. I then looked up some recopies for doggy cakes and here is what I found.
A peanut butter cake at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/doggie-birthday-cake/
and a cream cheese icing at http://www.dogtreatkitchen.com/dog-treat-frosting.html They also have comments and other options for the recipies. Here is what I did:


Peanut Butter Cake:
ingredients:
1 egg
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup honey (optional- i did not add this because I didn't have it)
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup whole wheat or white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the egg, peanut butter, oil, vanilla and honey in large bowl; blend well. Stir in the carrots and mix thoroughly. Sift together the flour and baking soda and fold into the carrot mixture. Spoon into greased pan. Bake for 40 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out to cool completely

I could not find my muffin tin or any of my small pans ( I think they are still packed somewhere) so I used as small casserole dish. The cake is very dry so it crumbled as I removed it from the pan. I think that honey might help hold it together. I just placed the pieces together, because Slider does not mind. If doing again, I would make in a muffin tin (even a mini muffin tin) and defiantly make sure I wait the 10 minutes (I got impatient)

Cream Cheese Icing: 
Ingredients:
8 ounces of cream cheese (low or fat free)
2 Tbsp. Honey
2 Tbsp. plain yogurt (low or fat free)
3 Tbsp. Flour (approx. amount, you might need a little more)

Mix first 3 ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Mix in one tablespoon of flour at a time until you have a good consistency for spreading.

I did not use the honey because I did not have any. Instead I used peanut butter. I also used a little more than 2 Tbsp. of yogurt. I would defiantly suggest letting the cream cheese get to room temp before making.

I then spread over my crumbled up cake and decorated with carrots and treats.

my attempt :)

Slider going to town on his treat

Slider really liked the icing and ate all of that off the top first. After a few bites of the cake we took it away so he would not get sick. I then broke up the cake and used them as treats for the next few days. This is why I suggest the mini-muffin size. He got this cake instead of dinner that night because we did not want a sick corgi. If I had smaller sizes I would have just supplemented his dinner with it.

Slider also got a new nylabone. His favorite. Lots of belly rubs and a few dropped carrots while I was baking. We also played his favorite games. It was a long day so he ended up falling asleep in Daddy's lap :)

Here are a few of the pictures of slider over the past 22 months that he has been a part of our family :)

The day he came home

what a cute face:)

he crawled right up next to me and fell asleep

He falls asleep in the funniest positions

he likes to sneak up on the couch

It was so sad after his surgery but he still smiled at everything !

Slider likes to play games with daddy on the computer

See he still sleeps funny :)