Graze With Me

New Products

2012-01-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

I don't show my groceries on here anymore because I'm usually trying to juggle a cranky baby, get the perishables into the fridge and I end up leaving the rest to put away during nap-time or after Lyric goes to bed. Instead of a full grocery post, here are a few new-to-me products that I've tried lately:

Snyder's York Peppermint Pretzel Sandwiches

These pretzels are amazing. I thought regular chocolate covered pretzels were addicting but put some peppermint cream inside?? YUM. This bag lasted less than 24 hours in my house.

Coconut Oil

I originally bought this to use as a moisturizer for Lyric. She has some dry patches on her face and in her eyebrows so I figured this would help. It does help, but it reacts funny with her skin chemistry and she ends up smelling like rotten milk. Ick.

I'm going to buy either some grapeseed or apricot oil for baby girl but now I'm stuck with a whole jar of ($$) coconut oil. How should I use it?? I know I can cook with it but is it only up to certain temperatures? Can I bake with it? I don't like the flavor of coconut at all so I'm apprehensive. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Blueberry Muffin Larabar

I wanted to try the Cappuccino flavor as well but I couldn't track it down. This one is pretty good - but Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough still wins out for now.

Squeezable Pizza Sauce

Since we are ~~old fogies~~ parents now, we are home every Friday night so I have officially dubbed it "Pizza Night". I used to buy the cans of pizza sauce but they always went bad or smelled/tasted like "fridge" but this squeezable bottle is so handy! Brush your dough with a little olive oil, spread some sauce on and top with a crushed garlic clove and add toppings. Yum.

In other news, we went to the doctor for Lyric's 4-month appointment yesterday. She is in the 20th percentile for weight, 40th percentile for height and her head is in the 25th percentile. My little peanut!

We were also given the go-ahead to start her on rice cereal whenever she seemed "ready" but after doing some research and getting advice with a few experienced moms I think we might skip that step and jump right into baby-led weaning as soon as Lyric seems ready for solids. I'm excited to introduce this little munchkin to some good, healthy food!

Four. Months. Old.

2012-01-19T14:34:00.001-07:00

One. Month. Old.
Two. Months. Old.
Three. Months. Old.

Four Months Old!

This month Lyric:

weighs 11 pounds, 10 ounces
learned how to roll over from tummy to back
took out her pacifier, yawned, and put it back in three times in a row (I was astonished....hasn't happened since)
chuckles when I say "Hip? Hip hop? Hip hop anonymous???"
loves it when I clap her hands to play "Patty Cake" and do "This Little Piggy" with her toes
sucks on her bottom lip, hands, wrists, fingers and forearms whenever she can - this makes it harder to tell when she's hungry
took her first long road trip (8 hours) and did pretty well on the drive, the time spent there however, is another story :(
turns into a stark raving lunatic when bathtime is over & she's being toweled off
takes short little cat-naps all day long
is definitely in the throes of the 4-month sleep regression & growth spurt (I miss sleep....)
has the softest tuft of fluffy hair all over her head - big difference from when she was one month old!

Outtakes from 4 month photo shoot:

What's New?

2012-01-16T10:51:00.001-07:00

How about some updates?? I haven't been lifecasting much anymore but there are some bits and pieces I want to share.

The neighbor/dog situation -
I have spoken with another neighbor who also witnessed the whole incident. In fact, she went over there and spoke with the mom and said that she seemed completely detached from the whole thing. She also said that those dogs were without food and their water bowls were completely frozen over. :( So basically they are fighting because they are just trying to survive. Needless to say, I have called the Humane Society (so did our other neighbor) and I have been closely watching the dogs and making sure they are being fed and watered. Our neighbor has also taken to throwing dog treats over the fence just to make sure they get some nourishment. Hopefully those poor animals will get the attention and love they deserve.

Baby girl -
Lyric has been a busy little girl these past few weeks. Last week she rolled over for the first time and has done it a handful of times since. Unfortunately Dave hasn't seen it yet. She also laughed for me on Friday! It was the cutest little chuckle. I tried to get her to do it all weekend for Dave and on Sunday afternoon she did it again - yay! Also, she is going through her 4-month growth spurt (and possibly sleep regression). She has gone from sleeping 8-11 hours straight to waking up to eat every 1-2 hours all night long. Yikes. It's like the newborn stage all over again.

Napping as I write this post....

We also took Lyric to the aquarium for the first time this weekend. She loved it! I know she won't remember any of it but she certainly paid attention to every exhibit and we made it through the whole aquarium without a meltdown so it was fun for everyone.

I keep telling Dave that he and Lyric have the same head and ears from the back so I finally got a photo just to prove it to him. Isn't it cute?

It reminds me of this scene from Forrest Gump. :)

New book -

I have heard a lot of good things about Baby-led Weaning and I can't wait to get started as soon as Lyric is ready for solids. I know that every parent goes about this (and everything else) in their own way and I think this will work the best for us. I've always been really hesitant to give my child rice cereal as her first food because it's nutritionally junk food (just my opinion) and I think that there are much better ways for her to get her iron and other necessary nutrients. Can't wait to see how it goes in a couple months.

Changes in our home -
Well we got another 1/4 of a cow and 1/2 a pig from Nebraska recently. All hormone free and from a small farm. I love knowing where my meat comes from and it's just like any other food, buying in bulk saves a ton of $$$.

I've also started repainting our bottom living area in our house. We decided to move our living room down there, buy a huge sectional couch, and make the upstairs room just a sitting room without a TV. This means we'll have a ton more room so we can actually use our Kinect without having to move the heavy couch back 3 feet each time. PLUS, it means we can have a huge baby-proofed area just for Lyric to run around in. I can't wait. :)

Last but not least - Dave bought an old Pepsi machine and turned it into a kegerator. He used to keep it at the shop but none of his techs were contributing to the beer fund so he brought it home and now it lives in our garage.

It's currently filled with two kegs, one New Belgium's Sunshine Wheat and the other O'dell's Easy Street Wheat. I'm a huge fan of wheat beer so I'm excited. However, until baby girl is done with her growth spurt I'm just admiring it from afar.

What's new with you this week?

Roasted Broccoli

2012-01-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

When I first found out I was pregnant, my first thought was how healthy I was going to eat. I would eat plentiful amounts of every vegetable under the sun. Ha! Then morning sickness hit. And I couldn't even look at a veggie let alone eat any.

The worst offender?

Broccoli. Especially cooked broccoli.

This aversion still haunts me. I find that even now, I really have to force myself to choke it down. I don't want my daughter growing up watching me gag down broccoli so I wanted to come up with a good way to make it palatable again.

I don't know about anyone else but my personal favorite way to eat most veggies is to roast them. So I took a recipe that I've used for brussels sprouts (courtesy of my cousin) and applied it to my most loathed veggie.

The result?

I can't stop eating this stuff! Trust me, if I willingly roast a whole pan of broccoli just for myself, this method will make your veggie-hating friends and family change their ways.

Ingredients:
fresh broccoli (I have tried frozen, it's too mushy...use fresh)
a few T olive oil
2 fresh garlic cloves, minced (garlic powder will work in a pinch)
pepper
seasoned salt (just a sprinkle is all you need)
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees & line baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2) Chop all your broccoli into uniform bite sized pieces and mix in a bowl with a couple tablespoons olive oil, pepper, seasoned salt and minced garlic. Spread onto pan in a single layer.

3) Roast broccoli for 40 minutes, stirring half way through.

4) Broccoli will be crispy and may even break apart at the ends when touched - this is ok!
5) Sprinkle with a handful of parmesan cheese.

6) Wrap foil into a pouch and let sit for about 3-5 minutes to let the cheese melt and broccoli absorb a little more moisture.

7) Enjoy!

(Yes, I really did eat the entire batch in one sitting. I can't believe how good it is.)

Tonight

2012-01-11T18:38:00.002-07:00

Tonight I have some kale chips in the oven, a tuckered out baby girl sleeping upstairs in her crib and a house to myself because my husband is out with the guys. Which explains why I'm eating kale chips - he thinks they're "weird crunchy rabbit food".

I had an interesting afternoon. After coming home from my New Motherhood group and the chiropractor, I put Lyric down to play with her toys and heard a ton of commotion from the neighbors in back of us. Our backyards face each other so I know that this lady either has a ton of kids or runs a daycare. They also have 4 or 5 dogs who keep us up all night with their barking. Yeah, not a fan of this neighbor.

Anyway, the commotion sounded louder than just kids playing (plus it was 20 degrees and windy so I thought it was weird they were even outside) so I went upstairs and looked out our bedroom window over the fence. What I saw horrified me. Their St. Bernard was attacking and ripping into one of their mid-sized dogs with a vengeance. Kids were screaming, the smaller dog was howling the worst howl I've ever heard and the mom was trying to break them up and hysterically crying. It was so bad. This dog just went all Cujo on the other one and was ripping his floppy ear off (from what I could see) and there was a lot of blood. Oh god. I panicked, started looking up numbers for animal control and was running up and down the stairs. I just couldn't bear to see it but it was like a car wreck - I couldn't look away.

(Crap, I just burned my kale chips...)

Luckily, they were able to break the dogs up and the next thing I see is a man running after the St. Bernard with a metal shovel. Guys, I had to shut the blinds. I don't know what to do. I heard no sounds after that and yes, the dog is fine, I can see him now. But holy crap what to do. Do I call animal services? Do I talk to them and tell them their pet situation has gotten out of hand? I mean there were at least 6 kids in that house who had to see that. Poor guys. Plus, the dog who was the victim is just penned up in an enclosure, hiding! They didn't even take him to the vet! I don't like getting into other people's business but I'm torn. Suggestions?

Ok, so after that horrible note, let me end this short pointless post with some good news - my little girl rolled over today!! I was so nervous she wouldn't accomplish that milestone by her 4-month checkup. She hates tummy time so we didn't do it as much as we should. But now she knows how to roll back on her back so it's so much better. Yay. :)

My First Mom Injury

2012-01-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well last Thursday I officially had my first "mom" injury. Wednesday night I somehow slept on my right arm wrong and by the time I got up on Thursday morning I knew something was off. It felt like my ribcage was crooked and I had a janky rib sticking into my shoulderblade.

So, I did what any ~~idiot~~ normal person would do - I started rotating my shoulder every which way and began popping my back and stretching all over the place. This, of course, made everything worse. I somehow managed to pinch a nerve in my rotator cuff and my entire right arm and shoulder went numb. If I even tried to move it I was struck with a shooting pain from my elbow up to my back.

I was going to wait it out and see if it got any better but when I realized that I wasn't even able to breastfeed my baby without screaming in pain, I knew I had to get myself looked at.

I somehow managed to get myself and Lyric dressed, crying out every time I had to lift my arm more than 6 inches. Whimpering, I managed to get her in her carseat and off we went to the chiropractor.

However, when we got there, his sign said he was closed until January 2nd.

Trying not to cry, I looked around me. I was either going to find a chiropractor to fix me or I was headed to the hospital. I was NOT going to go back home in the condition I was in. I managed to find another chiropractor on the same side of the street so we got back in the truck and drove over. Once again, I somehow managed to get both the diaper bag and the carseat out of the truck.

This now begins the story of one of the most humiliating moments I have had in a long time.

I walked in, explained my situation to the receptionist, and told her that this was a "chiropractic emergency". So the very nice woman grabbed the chiropractor and we walked into the other room where he began asking me questions about my medical history. We chatted for a bit and my shoulder kept getting worse and worse. I could hardly focus, the shooting pain was so intense.

Finally he acted like he was going to be able to adjust me but then I was given a clipboard with 5 pages to fill out. Um. Crap. Hey buddy, I couldn't even raise my arm to shake your hand and you're giving me paperwork?! I didn't want to be "that lady" though so I tried to fill out the first form. Not two seconds after writing my name, Lyric starts screaming bloody murder.

I had interrupted her naptime so I knew this was going to happen. So, I start rocking her carseat and shushing her while trying to fill out the godforsaken form. Not happening. She was PISSED. And here I was, helpless and one-handed when all my baby is screaming for is for me to HOLD HER and I couldn't. It was awful.

I grab the carseat in my left hand and round the corner where the receptionist is sitting. I tell her that I can't fill out this form and my baby is screaming and I just need to get adjusted NOW please and thank you. She grabs the clipboard from me, frowns and goes to get the doctor.

So here I am with a screaming baby and I'm in so much pain I can't take it. I start bawling too. Now here comes the receptionist and the doctor who are both looking at me like I'm a nut job. And believe me I felt like it! They ask me a couple more questions from the form as I sit on the ground, sobbing and one-handedly removing my hysterical 3-month old from her carseat. I try to bounce her on my leg and suck it up but it's too late. Once I start crying, I have to just get it all out.

So that's what I did. I asked the doctor to just PLEASE ADJUST ME and make this pain go away so he had me lie on the table. The receptionist held Lyric who finally began to calm down while I sobbed into this strange man's table. HOW EMBARRASSING.

About 10 minutes later and a tear and snot stained me is finally feeling better. Unfortunately the damage is done. I'm humiliated at this point so now that my pain is subsiding I'm crying because I feel like a complete tool. The receptionist is still bouncing Lyric around the room and I can tell she's going to start fussing again. But the chiropractor then leads me (still sniffling) over to another table where he lays me down on several ice packs and covers me with a blanket. I lay there, shivering and with tears running down into my ears while several other patients arrive. Oh good god. They ooh and aah over the baby while I'm lying on an iceberg trying to compose myself. WHAT. A. DAY.

Moral of the story? Don't carry all your crap (diaper bag, carseat, baby, etc) with just the one arm. You will be off balance and someday your shoulder/arm will give up and it is not a good feeling! The chiropractor told me that this was a really common area for new moms to have trouble with and to switch off which arm I use to carry Lyric and to use the stroller as much as possible.

Oh and even though this guy worked miracles with my damaged arm, I'm fairly certain I will never show my face there ever again. Because now - I'm "that lady".

Lyric's First Christmas

2011-12-28T19:20:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it's almost 2012?? Crazy. This year positively flew by, especially the past three months. There's nothing that can make time go at warp speed like a baby. It's amazing how fast she's growing.

We had a nice and peaceful Christmas Eve at home. We split a bottle of champagne after Lyric went to bed and Dave grilled some pork chops and roasted potatoes while I made the best roasted broccoli ever. (Recipe coming soon.)

Christmas Day we had plans to have dinner with our neighbors but their daughter got the stomach flu. Rather than expose ourselves to that, we crashed our friends' house and they graciously set two extra seats at their already full table and made us feel at home. It was a last-minute impromptu meal but we all had a great time!

We didn't spoil Lyric too much this year since she's so little. I got her a new toy and her grandma and grandpa sent her a hat, a festive headband and a gift certificate. Perfect for baby's first Christmas!

Happy Holidays!!

2011-12-23T10:50:00.001-07:00

Modern Lace New Year's

Turn family photos into holiday cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

What I Ate Wednesday

2011-12-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Ever since I started scheduling my weekdays, life has been a lot easier. I know when I can get a chance to eat, when I can start laundry, sweeping, vacuuming, etc. It's really nice. The chaos of having a newborn has slowly evaporated and now we have a fun-loving, smiling infant to spend our days with. Three months is my favorite age so far - it just keeps getting better!

After a happy wakeup at 5:30 am I played with Lyric for a while, changed her diaper (got peed on - twice) and changed her pee-soaked clothes. I figured she wasn't up for good so I fed her around 6:00 and then put her back down where she slept until 8:00.

Dave and I got up, made some decaf coffee and he played with Lyric while I dressed and washed my face. Then we had tummy time while he ate breakfast and left for work. After a little bit of playtime she was ready for a nap. I took the opportunity to make some breakfast for myself.

Breakfast burrito with cheddar cheese, eggs, potatoes, peppers, onions and mushrooms.

Now that the 30-day Home Workout Challenge is over I can officially eat sweets again. These have been staring me in the face ever since last weekend. Chocolate never tasted so good.

Unfortunately, while the 30 day program might be over, I am still only on Day 20 of the workouts. I took a few too many rest days but I'm still going to finish the workouts.

Lunch was small but satisfying - roasted garbanzo beans (I hate the term chickpea) and an apple with almond butter.

I snacked on some granola with almond milk and more chocolate during her afternoon nap time.

Baby girl woke up around 3:30 and it was all I could do to keep her happy and awake until about 5:45 when I took her upstairs, put her in her pj's and put her to bed. I think she's going through her 3 month growth spurt because she's getting hungry more often during the day and it seems to be wearing her out. Hope it goes back to normal soon.

After she fell asleep around 6:00 pm I snacked on the rest of the roasted garbanzo beans.

Then, after pumping I grabbed a small glass of wine and started on dinner.

Leftover chicken enchiladas, broccoli, cauliflower and roasted butternut squash.

The rest of the evening was spent on the couch with my hubby sipping wine and eating another (couple) chocolates. Get these temptations out of my house!

Why I Love Breastfeeding

2011-12-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

There are so many benefits to feeding your baby breastmilk and I'm not going to rant on about how good it is for your child and his/her immunity and health, etc. Those are all amazing benefits, yes, but I know that formula fed babies are happy and healthy as well. Every mom does the best she can for her child. This is a judgement-free post!

Ready to eat, Mom!

What I'm talking about is why breastfeeding works for me.

It helped shed the baby weight - I gained 25 pounds with this pregnancy and I lost 20 of that in the hospital. But the rest of it just fell right off. I was back in my pre-pregnancy jeans just 5 days after giving birth.
Convenience - In the middle of the night I just unclip my nursing tank and feed Lyric before she can fully wake herself up. If I had to prepare a bottle? She would be hysterical by the time I had it ready for her. In public it's just so easy to throw on my nursing cover and feed her wherever we are. No worrying about bottles to clean, hot water or accidentally spilling her food (I'm a klutz remember?).
Bonding - Even though those middle of the night feedings interrupted my sleep, they were (and still are) my very favorite times with my daughter. She's cuddly and sleepy and I love the way her little body curls around mine and her hand finds a spot to rest on my chest. <3
It's FREE - nuff said.
Incentive to watch what I eat - I know I feel better eating healthy foods but that doesn't always keep me from going overboard with the sweets. The knowledge that what I'm eating helps make nutritious milk makes me think twice before I have a plate of cookies for dinner.
BUT I can eat like I'm still pregnant! - Breastfeeding torches calories (about 500/day) and I can definitely tell that my hunger levels are still in overdrive. I love it - when I was pregnant and super hungry I never worried about the weight gain because it was 'for the baby'. Well, now that I'm breastfeeding it's the same way. I'm going to miss being able to eat those extra calories!
Appreciation for my body - I still can't believe I made a person. I grew and nourished Lyric for 9 months and my body still continues to produce the perfect food for her to grow big and strong. Whenever women talk about being super anxious/nervous about their ability to give birth or to breastfeed I always tell them their body was made for it. Just have faith, relax and let nature take it's course. If it works, it works - if it doesn't, it doesn't but it's truly amazing what the female body can do.

Any other nursing moms have something to add? I'd love to hear from you.

Three. Months. Old.

2011-12-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

One. Month. Old.
Two. Months. Old.

Three Months Old!

Nicknames:

Sweet Pea, Ladybug, Munchkin, Little Bean, Darlin' and Baby Girl

This month Lyric:

has definitely discovered she has hands and fingers - she is grabbing at everything, sometimes even grasping what she was aiming for and sucks on her right hand/fingers all the time
has spotted her feet wiggling around and looks surprised every time
went from LOVING being swaddled at 10 weeks to HATING it one day later - and to think, I was worried she'd have to be swaddled up until her toddler years
still hates tummy time with a fiery passion
now has a consistent bedtime every night at 6:30 pm and rises for the day at 6:00 or 7:00 am
wakes up once a night to eat after about an 8 to 11 hour-long stretch of sleep
currently weighs 10 pounds, 12 ounces and fits into almost all of her 3 month clothes
had her first visit to the Harley Davidson Santa & Mrs. Claus!

Happy three-month birthday my little munchkin! I can't believe I have such a beautiful blue-eyed daughter. :)

20-Minute Workout That Will Kick Your Butt

2011-12-08T16:37:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post today - I have an 11-week old little girl who has her first cold. :( Runny nose, cough, sneezing and a watery eye. Poor thing.

I don't do workout posts on here very often. Ok I never do workout posts on here. But I did this one as part of the Home Workout Challenge and it kicked my butt.

I loved it.

See, I'm one of those weird people who secretly like being sore after a good sweat session. That's usually how I judge the quality of a workout. If I'm not sore, I didn't push myself hard enough.

This workout is 20 minutes long, requires no equipment (you don't even need shoes!) and the cool part about it is that you can do it again and again to improve your "score". All you need is a clock with a second hand or a stopwatch (I use the one on my iPhone).

First - warm up your muscles. I don't care what you do, just get your body moving a bit. Jumping jacks, butt-kicks, shadow boxing, etc.

Then start your timer and begin.

3 rounds (rest 1 minute between the rounds):

1 min static squat
1 min squats
1 min plank
1 min sit-ups
1 min arm rotations
1 min push-ups

Go to a squat position and hold it for one minute, then do as many normal squats as you can in one minute. After that, go to a plank position and hold it for one minute, then do normal sit-ups for one minute. Finally, stretch your arms straight and rotate them in small circles for one minute, then do as many push-ups as you can for one minute. Rest one minute and start the second round. The total number of rounds is three. Your score is the number of squats + sit-ups + push-ups.

My score - 200

This workout is killer. My arms and shoulders are so sore today! I'm definitely saving this one for future use. Please let me know if you give it a try!

**Edited to add - Arm Rotations: Stand with your arms straight out on either side of you, parallel with the floor. Then rotate them at the same time in small circles (about 6 inches) forward for 30 seconds, then backward for 30 seconds. You should feel the burn in your upper back and in your shoulders.

My Favorite Snack

2011-12-05T16:25:00.001-07:00

Now that it's officially winter here in Colorado, I'm pretty sad that many of my beloved fruits aren't in season anymore. But as much as I miss strawberries, watermelon and peaches (oh how I miss peaches...) there is one fruit that I am so happy to see again - pomegranates!

Although they are a pain in the you-know-what to open up and separate, they are SO WORTH IT. Crunchy, juicy and tart - mmmm, I love a good pomegranate aril. My favorite way to eat them is so simple. A giant scoop of plain Greek yogurt, a spoonful of peanut butter and a handful of arils.

I have had 5 bowls just like this one over the past 3 days.

Lyric doesn't like the cold weather either.

Good thing I have a nice, warm fleece coat to bundle her up in when we leave the house. Because it's going to be a while until she gets to try her first pomegranate.

Friday Facts

2011-12-02T12:39:00.001-07:00

During naptime, do not, I repeat, DO NOT pick up and try to play with your baby if she wakes up crying. This means she is NOT DONE NAPPING. And will now be impossible to put back to sleep.

The Home Workout Challenge is still going well. The workouts are short and easy to accomplish during naptime or after Lyric goes to bed. The Paleo diet plan however.....um, yeah. Not a fan.

Giving up caffeine and chocolate in the same week does not bode well for me. Though I am happy to say that I haven't had any sweets or dessert since Thanksgiving (!), the break from caffeine is more for Lyric - she sleeps better when I avoid it.

Brussels sprouts used to be one of those veggies I stayed away from. But ever since tasting my cousin's recipe for them on turkey day, I had to try it out for myself. Fresh (not frozen!) brussels sprouts, olive oil, fresh garlic, salt, pepper and shredded parmesan. Quarter sprouts, drizzle with oil, sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic and roast for 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, toss and serve.

The above plate also contains my first attempt at cooking pork cutlets. Meh. Anyone have a recipe that doesn't result in a tough texture?? I can't seem to get it right.

Someone has discovered that she has hands. I'm having way too much fun with it.

I'm slowly getting the hang of this stay-at-home-mom thing. We have a growing routine and an almost set bedtime (7pm). We also go out on certain days of the week to run errands and go to a motherhood group and a breastfeeding group. The biggest hurdle? Winging it. I need a schedule. Lyric needs a schedule. I do certain things on certain days (laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.). It's going well - some days it's an attempt at organized chaos but it's a slow process.

I miss chocolate. And coffee...

Thankful For Workouts

2011-11-26T20:56:00.001-07:00

Sorry to disappear on you like that, it's been a busy week. I'm sure most of you can relate! We had a really great Thanksgiving at my cousin's house in Denver. My parents came down and we had a lot of fun. Lyric did really well. She slept the whole way there and back which was fantastic. It was her longest road trip so far and I'm really thankful that she likes her car seat. We have a 6 hour drive coming up in January and my fingers are crossed it goes well.

- FOOD -
Before I started the Home Workout Challenge and my version of their nutrition plan I was eating sandwiches like this almost daily -

Rotisserie chicken, cheddar cheese, avocado, hummus, spinach and a sprinkle of Spike seasoning. Delicious! My parents brought a chicken with them when they visited a couple weeks ago and we cooked it on our grill. It lasted us through a meal for four, several sandwiches and a large batch of chicken noodle soup.

My mom also cans a ton of different foods, one being her Cowboy Candy - jalapenos canned in a bread & butter pickle recipe. Sweet and spicy all in one. They are amazing. Especially with some cream cheese and some salmon on a Triscuit.

We have another quarter of a cow coming from Nebraska in January so I've been trying to use all of our beef from the last one. For any new readers, my in-laws have a friend who raises hormone-free cattle, pigs and chickens. Every year we order a cow and split it between several of our friends. This year we actually got half a pig (100 pounds of meat) as well as a 1/4 cow (200 pounds of meat). Makes me feel better about my meat consumption knowing that I'm supporting a small-town farmer who raises happy animals in a good environment, not some factory farmer who is employed by Tyson. That and it's super cheap, less than $2 a pound - you're not going to find a good steak or quality ribs anywhere for that!

Anyway that was just a long winded way of saying I've been eating a LOT of beef. Sloppy joes, chicken fried steak, meatloaf and taco salads.

The steak above was my dinner on Monday night, I apologize for the horrid flash photography. Blame daylight savings.

For Thanksgiving I was to bring dessert so I made two options - Cranberry Walnut Bread and Peanut Butter Cup Blondies.

Oh man, the blondies were AMAZING. Instead of adding chopped peanut butter cups and 1/2 cup dark choc. chips I used 1/2 cup peanut butter chips and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips. They were incredible - gooey with the taste and texture of cookie dough. Definitely making these again for Christmas!

So, the whole giving up sugar thing? It's been hard. Really hard. I knew I had a sweet tooth but it's funny how often I think about dessert. It's like my night isn't complete until I have something sweet to cap off dinner. I'm happy this 30 day program allows a weekly free day but even with that it's difficult. I know it's just a learned behavior and I can get rid of it over time but right now I just want some damn pie!

- WORKOUTS -
These are going really well. Yesterday was a rest day and good thing, because my legs were SORE. My abs are getting a good workout too, but I've had to ease into it since they have been through so much this year already. Here are the workouts from this week:

Warm Up - (same each day)

Two rounds

10 big arm rotations forward and backward
10 bend and reach
hip flexor stretch (15 seconds per side)
10 squats
10 push-ups
10 sit-ups

Day 1 - FIT TEST

1 round

1 min. squats
1 min. rest
1 min. sit-ups
1 min. rest
1 min. push-ups
1 min rest
1 min burpees

Day 2 - Push-ups, Sit-ups and Squats

10 rounds:

5 push-ups
10 sit-ups
15 squats

Day 3 - Five Rounds of Sprints, Kicks and Burpees

5 rounds:

30 floor sprints
20 jump kicks
10 burpees

Day 4 - 50 All

50 squats
50 jumping jacks
50 high knees
50 butt kicks
50 squats legs wide

Day 5 - Rest & Stretch

Day 6 - Burpees, Push-ups, Sit-ups and Burpees

10 burpees

10/1 push-ups, sit-ups
1/10

10 burpees

The workout starts and ends with 10 burpees. In between you will do 10 rounds of push-ups and sit-ups so that the first round consists of 10 push-ups and 1 sit-up, the second round of 9 push-ups and 2 sit-ups and so on until in the final round you will do 1 push-up and 10 sit-ups.

-------------

Crazy how they are so simple, yet so effective. The biggest issues for me have been with the burpees. I just can't do them! It feels abnormal to jump back like that and I can't lower myself to the ground without just collapsing on the floor. I usually just do a modified version of them but I feel bad for half-assing it.

Anyway, it's been another long day and Lyric has been asleep for about an hour - I'm going to head off to bed so I can get some sleep too!

Home Workout Challenge

2011-11-21T10:30:00.001-07:00

A week or so ago I was contacted by Elisa from Home Workout Challenge. She asked if I would like to participate in a 30-day workout challenge based on Crossfit-style bodyweight exercises along with a tailored nutrition program.

I figured I would seize the opportunity and after talking with my dad, we agreed to do the 30 day challenge together. I would love to gain back some muscle mass that I lost during pregnancy and my dad is always up for a new workout program so I'm excited to see how this goes!

The best part? All the exercises are performed using just your body and a stopwatch and take less than half an hour each day. For someone who doesn't have easy access to a gym or a long period of time to work out, this program suits me well.

The not-so-good part? The nutrition program for the first week is ridiculously strict. It's based on a Paleo diet which is basically meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts, veggies, oils and water. No coffee or tea unless absolutely necessary. New motherhood with no caffeine?? Shoot me.

Here is the list of foods:

Lean meat

Lean beef
Flank steak
Sirloin steak
Chuck steak
Lean veal
Lean pork
Pork loin
Pork chops
Lamb chops
Game meat
Minced meat/Ground meat

Fish and sea food

Cod
Haddock
Herring
Mackerel
Mullet
Pike
Perch
Salmon
Trout
Tuna
Crab
Crayfish
Shrimp

Poultry

Chicken
Turkey
(Eggs)

Vegetables

Artichoke
Asparagus
Avocado
Beets
Bell peppers
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Carrot
Cauliflower
Celery
Cucumber
Eggplant
Kale
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Onions
Parsley
Radish
Seaweed
Spinach
Tomato
Zucchini

Oils, nuts, and seeds

Coconut oil
Fish oil
Flaxseed oil
Olive oil
Cashew nuts
Pistachio nuts
Almonds
Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Sun flower seeds
Sesame seeds

Notice there is no dairy, sugar, grains or fruits. This is basically because the above foods put your body into a fat burning mode (according to these folks) and any carbohydrates will slow the fat burn.

At this point postpartum, I am only 1.5 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight so I'm not looking to lose fat. In fact, as a nursing mother, I NEED fat stores to keep up my milk supply so I'm not going to mess with that right now.

Calcium is a very important nutrient for breastfeeding so I will need to keep the dairy in my diet. I'm also not going to completely cut out grains but I will stick to whole minimally processed grains only. Sugar is something that I definitely eat too much of and I will commit to going without sweets and desserts for the duration of this program. Fruit is probably going to be the hardest food to give up, and I'm still not certain that I will. I just can't see how something that grows from the earth and naturally has one ingredient should be avoided.

So what WILL I be eating this week? I plan to amp up my protein, avoid added sugars and refined carbohydrates and increase my vegetable intake. My dad is going to be a little more strict about his diet so I will make sure to talk about his experience as well as my own.

My breakfast today - three eggs with half an avocado. Water to drink. All "approved" except for the butter I cooked the eggs in.

Anyway, another good thing is that this program allows a "free" day once a week to eat whatever you have been craving in order to boost your metabolism. (Obviously my "free" day this week is going to be Thanksgiving!)

I may not be able to post each day about my foods and exercise but I will do updates as often as possible. I'm really excited to get back into shape beginning today with this fit test:

FIT TEST

1 round

1 min. squats
1 min. rest
1 min. sit-ups
1 min. rest
1 min. push-ups
1 min rest
1 min burpees

Wish me luck! I'm sure I'll be a sweaty mess afterward so maybe Lyric will let me join her during bathtime?

Two. Months. Old.

2011-11-19T11:04:00.001-07:00

One. Month. Old.

Look who is two months old today!!

This month Lyric:

started sleeping in her crib every night (at 6 weeks)
has lost a lot of hair on the sides of her head from turning her head back and forth constantly
has been sleeping about 5-6 hours straight most nights (I'm still sleep deprived...)
is consistently gaining 6 oz each week
cries uncontrollably when she is tired - instead of just closing her eyes and going to sleep
smiles and sticks her tongue out at us
is beginning to realize she has hands and bats at toys and reaches toward stuffed animals

7 Must-Have Baby Products

2011-11-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

For the first several weeks of Lyric's life that was exactly how she felt. (Thanks for sending me that magnet, Mom!)

It took a long time (8 weeks and counting) to get into a routine and learn her cues. Obviously I expect her to change it up on me once I finally think I have it "figured out" but such is life with a baby! Once I think there is something that works wonderfully, it loses whatever magic it had. Like the swing. It used to help calm the crying but now it just makes it worse.

Here are my top 7 baby products (for now), in no particular order:

Aden and Anais Swaddle Blankets

I was given a 3-pack of these as a baby shower gift and I. LOVE. THEM. They are soft, lightweight, stretchy, and once you learn how to properly swaddle, they work miracles for a baby who likes the comfort of a nice tight swaddle. I use these multiple times a day as part of our sleep/nap routine. As soon as I get Lyric wrapped up she calms down almost immediately so I can work on getting her to sleep.

Nuk pacifiers

I always agreed with Dave when he said 'no pacifiers' but for a baby who like to suck, they are a must! After two weeks of being a human pacifier I figured it was worth a shot. I tried multiple brands and the Nuk 0+ month size ones fit well in her mouth. She's still learning to hold onto it but it helps calm her down and makes her sleepy within minutes. Plus, once she spits it out, I take away rather than jamming it back in. As long as she doesn't NEED it to sleep, I'm ok with her using it once in a while. Luckily, she is an amazing night sleeper so I only use it for naps.

Itzbeen Baby Care Timer

This timer follows me everywhere. It was such a lifesaver in those first few weeks when sleep deprivation was at it's peak. I couldn't remember to look at the clock when I nursed or would forget the last time I changed Lyric's diaper. This little gadget has two different ways to track the time between feedings, diaper changes, etc. 1) when you press the button on the right once it starts a timer OR 2) you can hold down the button and can set an alarm to go off in a certain amount of time. (Like if you want to feed every 3 hours, you just set it to go off in 3 hour increments.) I don't use the alarm function at all, I find it's easier to keep track using the timer function, but that's just me.

Tiny Love Developmental Mobile

I read a lot about mobiles and this one got great reviews. It's baby oriented, colorful, has multiple moving parts, plays music, has cute characters and is gender-neutral.

I don't use it a lot, maybe once or twice a day to entertain a happy Lyric when I need to put away laundry, change clothes or run to the bathroom. But I love how it captures her attention and I don't feel as guilty for leaving her alone when she's watching it - at least it stimulates her brain.

Boppy

Support for bottle or breastfeeding, useful for tummy time, functions as a baby seat or a donut for a sore bottom...what can't this pillow do?? A must have for sure.

Washable Waterproof Pads

I was gifted a 2-pack of these waterproof pads and while they can be used for any surface (crib, pack and play, etc), I like to use them for diaper changing. They are machine washable and large enough that they catch all the fluids that happen to escape. It only took a few small "accidents" before these became a permanent fixture on our changing stations.

Healthy Baby Bottom Cream

We've been lucky so far when it comes to diaper rashes (or I should say Lyric has been lucky) and I credit it to two factors: 1) this cream and 2) drying off her bottom before putting a new diaper on. I keep a clean soft cloth at each changing table and I pat her bottom dry each diaper change so her sensitive skin isn't always wet.

Any moms out there want to share must-have items for your baby? Recommendations are welcome!

Auction Winners

2011-11-15T14:52:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday my parents came over for the weekend and babysat Lyric while Dave and I attended the 2nd Annual Hoopla For Hope. It's a 1950's themed event put on by The Matthews House which is a local charity that supports at-risk youth who are lacking in familial support.

Dave dressed up as a greaser (think Danny Zucco) and I went as a '50's housewife (aka myself, just from a different era). We didn't get any photos of our entire costumes but we did have some fun with the photo booth at the event.

The event also had a silent auction with numerous donations provided by local businesses. Among the spa packages, staycations, beer tours, hockey tickets and baked goods were two different packages that Dave and I bid on.

Me: the wine barrel from Vinocopia Winery.

Dave: the two day golf weekend at a fancy course.

Well, go figure - I won mine! It was a little more than I'd normally pay for wine ($200) but it came with a fancy barrel filled with the equivalent of 8 bottle of Malbec as well as a marble slab and cheese slicer.

I was a little worried I wouldn't like the wine that I paid so much for but it's quite good. Nice and smooth.

We also stayed for the live auction. Long story short - Dave ended up going back and forth with another bidder for the African Safari....AND WON! I was a little peeved because he went $400 over the amount we agreed on but whatever, it's for a good cause. We have two years to use it but we are now the proud winners of a 6-day trip to the Zulu Nyala Heritage Safari Lodge complete with freshly chef-prepared meals and twice daily safari trips! Holy crap.

Of all the places we talked about going, Africa was never on the list but it sounds amazing. I'm sure we won't use it until Lyric is at least a year old but I'm excited!

Have you ever won anything in a silent or live auction?
This was my first time participating in any sort of auction but the live one was much more fun. I love the little paddles.

Has anyone ever been to Africa??

What I Ate...Monday?

2011-11-14T10:20:00.001-07:00

Not quite as catchy as "What I Ate Wednesday" but these are my meals from last Wednesday so I think it counts, right?

Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal with Sunbutter and apricot jam. Hot chocolate mixed with coffee on the side.

Throughout the morning I snacked on homemade venison jerky, an apple and some almonds.

For lunch I broiled a sun-dried tomato tortilla with spinach, pepperoni and cheddar cheese. Can you tell it was grocery day? I'm surprised I was able to find something decent in our bare fridge but this was pretty delicious.

I left for my weekly breastfeeding group around 3:30 and dropped Lyric off at my husband's shop before I went grocery shopping. I had a monster of a shopping list and I knew that I wouldn't be able to fit it all into the cart along with her carseat. I can't wait until she can sit in the top of the cart - it will be so much easier!

Since I managed to munch on the rest of our Halloween candy I felt the need to fill our candy dish with something sweet - mint truffle kisses. These are basically the same thing as Andes mints...and just as addictive. I had a handful while preparing dinner.

I made meatloaf in muffin tins (they bake faster than in loaf form), mashed red potatoes and buttery corn. Total comfort food and all of my husband's favorite foods.

I also had a small glass of wine after I fed Lyric.

Which reminds me, I have an interesting story involving wine but I'll save it for my next post. Let me just say that it involves a wine barrel....that I now happen to own.

6 Week Growth Spurt

2011-11-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is 7 weeks old today!

We've had an interesting several days here. Lyric has sprung headfirst into a full-on growth spurt. Not only has she officially outgrown all of her newborn clothing but she has been cluster feeding like crazy!

On Wednesday last week I noticed that she was extra fussy and not napping well. Then on Thursday she was eating every 1.5 - 2 hours when she had previously been going 3 - 4 hours between feedings. Eating that often meant either a 20 minute nap or no nap at all. Frustrated mommy + fussy baby = nobody's happy. Plus, MY hunger and thirst were out of control. Luckily the lack of naps also meant long stretches of sleep at night. Thursday night she went almost 8 hours straight!

The constant nursing slowed down a bit by Saturday which worked out well since Saturday night I had my first girl's night out in a long time. I was finally able to have a glass of good champagne (YUM) and a Rio margarita, aka the BEST margarita ever. Man, I missed those.

Since becoming a mom, we've had to cut down on eating out a lot. I assumed that eating at home more often would translate to a higher grocery bill but surprisingly, it hasn't. I'm not entirely sure how that works but our grocery bill is actually lower now....weird. Anyway, here are a few of the meals that I've been enjoying lately:

Iowa Girl Eats' Cheeseburger Pizza: (Make this!! Dave raved about it.)

Green smoothie - frozen bananas & peaches, almond milk, vanilla extract and spinach.

Breakfast scramble with eggs, leftover veggies and potatoes, avocado and a mandarin orange.

I haven't taken the time to capture a whole day's worth of food again but I will soon - just to show you that being a grazer and a SAHM is a combination that works well. I almost never have time to prepare and eat an entire meal during the day. Snacking on bits and pieces of food works well for me!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T12:00:00.000-06:00

Creative? Yes, but....yikes. Talk about deja vu.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-30T15:11:00.000-06:00

We spent all day at home yesterday.

A feat I have only seen my husband successfully accomplish maybe 5 times in the 7 years I've known him. I think having a new game for the Xbox and three pumpkins waiting to be carved had something to do with it.

But first, breakfast:

See that one lonely piece of bacon? That would be the homemade bacon that Dave made a few weeks ago. You should have seen the look he gave me when I asked for a piece with my yogurt and egg on toast...his jaw hit the floor. Then he sighed, looked at the 6 pieces he had on his plate and gave me the smallest one. That man likes his bacon!

Then when Lyric went down for her morning nap (yes, I have finally gotten her to nap during the day, thank GOODNESS) we got to pumpkin carving. Dave hollowed out the pumpkins while I got out the stencils. Then when Lyric woke up, we took turns carving. After about 3 hours, we were done!

His - aka the most difficult one.

Mine - I couldn't decide between the owl and the cat so I did both. Sorry L, I carved your pumpkin for you.

She was a little mad at me for stealing her big pumpkin. But I figured she needed one her own size instead.

Lunch was a salad and half a "panini", pressed in our waffle maker. Genius. I used cheddar cheese, mayo and leftover bacon stuffed brisket. I'm not a huge fan of the bread heel but this wasn't bad.

Tonight we have our first date night on the schedule! Lyric is 6 weeks old tomorrow and we are having our friends watch her for a few hours while we grab some drinks and enjoy a fancy dinner. I'm so excited but I know I'll be on pins and needles the whole time we're away from her.

I hope everyone has a good Halloween, we're not trick or treating or anything fun like that because ~~we're lame~~ Lyric is too little. Next year! This year we're just staying at home and handing out candy.

Goodbye Fall

2011-10-26T12:11:00.001-06:00

Well I've said it before and I'll say it again - fall lasts for approximately two weeks here in Colorado. Then, every year around Halloween, we get our first snow.

Our poor tree! Dave shook off the snow that was weighing it down to avoid the loss of any branches. Unfortunately a lot of trees don't make it through storms like this, some die and a lot of them lose their largest branches. That's the worst part about these early snowstorms, all the leaves are still on the trees and can't support the weight!

We have about 12 inches of snow at the moment and it's still slowly floating down. It's safe to say I'm not going anywhere today. One of the perks of being a SAHM.

In other news, look who took a bottle for the first time! We gave her a couple ounces last weekend and she took to it like a champ. Date night here we come! Now I just need to start pumping more often to build up a supply.

I watched Food, Inc. for the first time this week and was really grossed out by all the factory farming. It made me extremely grateful that the meat we have in our freezer is from one cow raised on a small farm in Nebraska. (Here is the post where I talk about how we obtain our beef.)

Speaking of meat - Dave wanted me to share one of his creations with you guys. A few weeks ago he bought some side pork to make his own bacon. He cured it for a week in the fridge with a dry rub, smoked it in two different smokers with hickory and applewood chips and then sliced it thick w/his meat slicer. Well, not only do we now have 10 pounds of homemade bacon, he also decided to smoke a brisket (local, hormone free, etc.) and stuff it with a few slices and some onion. Even though I'm not a fan of bacon, it was pretty tasty.

Crazy man. He loves his smoked meats!

And because I'm a total hypocrite, I went and ate fast food right after swearing to myself never to order meat in a restaurant again. In my defense my only window of time to eat lunch was while driving and I was starving! Subway needs a drive-thru!

I'm ashamed. Even though it was only the second time in 2011 that I ate fast food. The first was at KFC when I was 35 weeks pregnant and had a craving for their biscuits!

How often do you eat fast food? Where do you go most often??

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-24T16:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was one of those perfect fall days. You know the ones I mean. Not a cloud in the sky, crisp leaves under your feet with a slight breeze. Perfect sweater and jeans weather.

So we took full advantage of it and brought Lyric to the pumpkin patch.

Baby's first pumpkin - she looks real impressed huh??

Lunch was a mediocre hamburger, nothing special. I also snagged a pumpkin muffin, which was amazing since I hate pumpkin. But I really liked it! Maybe I'm starting to come around??

We left after a couple hours when Lyric decided to get fussy - but she fell asleep almost immediately back in her carseat, yay!

And now we finally have some fall decor (I love the mini pumpkins!) and some pumpkin carving to do!

One. Month. Old.

2011-10-19T13:22:00.000-06:00

Wow.

Has it really been a month?? It feels like one long dream.

In the past month Lyric has:

outgrown almost all of her newborn clothes
started making small cooing sounds
been smiling as she falls asleep or when we make exaggerated faces at her
gained exactly the recommended amount of weight (6 oz/week)
transitioned from sleeping in a bassinet in our bedroom to the bassinet in her own room
been out to restaurants with us 7 times, with only 2 of those times ending in complete baby meltdowns
accompanied me to the grocery store each week

I've been told by numerous people that the first month kicks your ass and I have to say - it's true.

Not that there haven't been many blissful moments but I'd be lying if I said that being a new mom is easy. It's not so much the sleep deprivation that gets me, it's the crying. The inconsolable, red-faced, "I don't know what else I can do for you" crying. I had always heard how hard it was to care for a colicky baby and it's true. It's exhausting. I can only hope that this is a phase that passes soon because oh man, some days are rough. Many times I have convinced myself that she is so sick of being with me but I know that's not the case. I am her world, her caregiver, her source of comfort and nutrition. It's just too easy to get into that "I'm a failure" mindset when nothing I do makes the crying stop.

But seeing her happy again at the end of it sure helps make up for it!

What do you think, Lyric? Do I get an A for effort??

Lunch

2011-10-14T12:00:00.000-06:00

I'm loving leftovers lately.

When it's just me and Lyric at home during the day, having a one part meal all ready to go makes eating so much easier.

Burrito bowl with brown rice, kidney beans, chicken w/taco seasoning, cheddar cheese, spinach and ~~a brown~~ avocado.

This is the view I come downstairs to each morning. Such a Daddy's girl already - I love it.

My Recovery

2011-10-12T14:29:00.000-06:00

(The Birth Story can be found here in case you missed it.)

Warning, the following might be TMI for some of you.

After the doctor had stitched me all up the nurses started to massage my uterus to help the blood clots come out and encourage it to shrink down. OUCH! I started humming again to get through the pain just as I did before I received the epidural. Once I had finished skin-to-skin & breastfeeding Lyric for the first time the nurse helped me to the bathroom to clean myself up a bit. My legs were a bit wobbly from the epidural but I managed to walk to and from the bathroom with minimal assistance.

The hospital we were at has a policy that once you give birth you are then transferred into another room on the same floor where you will "room-in" with your new baby. In fact, the hospital also has a tracking system (everyone called it baby LoJack) and your baby is immediately fitted for a little ankle tracking device along with 3 other tags that match those worn by both of the parents. If you even attempted to bring your baby past the doors of the recovery wing the tracking device would go off signaling an alarm that puts the entire hospital on lockdown, stopping all the elevators and locking all doors. No kidnapping or bringing home the wrong child at this hospital!

Our hospital also did not have a nursery at all, in fact, you room with your baby the entire time and all procedures/tests are performed in your room. No separation of baby and mother ever.

Lyric was born at 1:36am and it was about 5:00am by the time we were moved from the delivery room to the recovery area. When this transition happens the hospital plays Brahms Lullaby on the speaker system which is heard throughout the entire hospital. This song is played for every baby born...makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it.

Once we settled in our room we had a window and were able to watch the sun rise. Lyric nursed fairly often, every hour to two hours and there were people coming in our room almost immediately to perform tests on Lyric, watch me breastfeed, checking up on me and giving us paperwork, instructions and information packets. At this point (late Monday morning) we had been up since 4:25am on Sunday so I'm not sure how much information they expected us to remember. I just wound up getting really frustrated because between Lyric nursing on demand and the nurses/pediatrician/hospital staff coming in every couple hours we weren't able to get any amount of sleep until that afternoon.

Talk about sleep deprivation, going 36+ hours without sleep and then only being able to get 2-3 hours (if I'm lucky) at a stretch for the foreseeable future. I was getting annoyed when people kept telling me to "Get your sleep now!" and it's SO. TRUE. It's quite amazing how the human body can adapt though. I can honestly say that on the rare occasion that I get 3-4 hours at a time I feel like a completely new person. I can't wait until I get get 6, 7 or even 8 hours again. It'll be bliss.

Recovery Pain
If you recall, I had to get an episiotomy. I was pretty swollen for a while and moving from a horizontal position in bed to a standing position was quite difficult for a couple days. I found that sitting on a hard surface was almost easier than being on a soft one. In the hospital they gave me pain spray, industrial sized pads, regular pads, mesh boy-shorts and a peri-bottle. Of course I took it all home with me when we were discharged the next afternoon. Because 1) we paid for it! and 2) everyone I've ever talked to has told me to steal everything that isn't bolted down. Oh, we made sure we did! Receiving blankets, snot suckers, baby wash, a few diapers, wipes, a large mug for ice water...not to mention all the stuff for myself.

They offer sitz baths as well but I never got around to it. The nurses said that sometimes it's not an option not to take one for some women. Luckily I didn't fall into that group, even with the episiotomy. I did start doing Kegels almost immediately. I still do them every day. I took ibuprofen twice a day for about a week and I was also given a prescription for Percocet but I only took one. I was also really lucky in that I never suffered from hemorrhoids at all during my pregnancy or afterward. That was always one thing that scared me...even more than an episiotomy actually. It took me quite a bit of time to get up the nerve to look down there. I think it was about 5 or 6 days after Lyric was born? By that time the swelling was completely gone and I had even been out for a couple of walks. Apparently I got the magician of doctors because I couldn't see a difference! No visible stitches. I couldn't even really tell where the incision was or what length it was. It made me feel much better.

Oh, also - they give you stool softeners at the hospital as well as a prescription for some. TAKE THEM. It helps you get over the "fear" of pushing and potentially damaging your already sensitive self.

Unfortunately I didn't get off completely pain-free. Remember the back labor I talked about? Well I'm pretty sure I bruised my tailbone because here I am 3+ weeks later and I'm still in excruciating pain if I sit in a certain position for too long. O U C H. I'm ok for about an hour on the couch or in a chair but it gets so bad that I have to shift around and either walk a bit or bounce on the exercise ball (Lyric likes bouncing with me too). I'm wondering when it's going to go away, if ever. If it's still this bad at my 6 week appointment I'm going to ask my doctor what I can do about it.

Breastfeeding
So far so good! I think the fact that I was able to feed Lyric right away really helped get the ball rolling. Also, I'm not going to take all the credit for this. She is an amazing eater. I think I got really lucky. Her latch was nearly perfect at the beginning and I never experienced cracked nipples or bleeding. I used the lanolin a few times before showers and that was all I needed. Funny because I have a whole box of stuff that I can't return - nipple shields, soothing gel pads, etc. Oh well. Better to be over prepared than under.

She eats about 8-10 times a day and I've been going to a breastfeeding support group every Wednesday where I weigh her, feed her, and weigh her again to see how much she is consuming at each feeding. It's really reassuring and helps me relax to know that she's getting enough. I hope I can continue to breastfeed for at least 6 months. Ideally, I would like to go for 12 months but I'm taking it one step at a time.

I have a pump but I haven't used it yet. I do have a variety of bottles to try out as well but I'm kind of at a loss for how to go about storing it and such. It's a bit overwhelming. I plan to ask about this at my breastfeeding group this afternoon because I hear that 4-6 weeks is a good time to introduce a bottle (given by dad) and I don't want to miss my window. I also have no idea how to go about pumping without winding up with an oversupply or otherwise messing with our schedule. It's shocking how much information there is to learn when you have a baby - I feel like you can never be fully prepared!

Again, if anyone has any questions about anything please let me know. Other moms, if you have any suggestions about pumping and bottle feeding please feel free to contact me (jessieberney@gmail.com) or leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you.

24 Hours With A Newborn

2011-10-10T09:54:00.003-06:00

12:00am - I'm sitting in the recliner in the nursery, nursing Lyric. She woke up at 11:45 after about 2.5 hours of sleep so I unwrapped her swaddle, changed her diaper and put her in some pj's.

12:20am - I put her down in her bassinet at the foot of our bed and quietly climb under the sheets.

2:30am - Small grunts, lip smacks and whimpers emit from the bassinet. I open one eye, sigh, wrap my sweater around my shoulders (I'm always cold) and grab Lyric. She's leaked through her diaper and the blanket, her pj's and her are soaked. Damn. We round the corner into the nursery and I turn on the 7 watt bulb so I can see what I'm doing. I strip her down, change the diaper (I hate Huggies btw, they fit her funny and LEAK!) and blearily try to find a clean sleeper in the closet. I find one that is 0-3 month size and she swims in it but it's dry and that's all I care about at the moment. I feed her for the next 20 minutes and she falls asleep. I try to burp her a little and then carry her back to our room.

3:15am - I hear the grunt and gas that accompanies a dirty diaper the second I lay her back in the bassinet. Damn! I debate how bad it might be to just let her sleep but I can't bring myself to so we go back into the nursery (5 steps away) and I change her diaper yet again. Now she's awake so I nurse her a little bit again so she will drift off.

4:00am - I finally get her calmed down and we go back into the bedroom and I toss my sweater on the dresser, army crawl under the covers and land in a pile near my pillow. I fall asleep immediately.

5:40am - Small grunts, lip smacking and a whimper. I wrap my sweater over my shoulders, grab Lyric and change her diaper, feed and burp her. Back to bed at 6:15.

6:45am - Guess who's awake and ready to start the day?? (Hint: not me.) Luckily this is when Dave takes over for his morning shift. He gets up, makes coffee and brushes his teeth then comes back and grabs Lyric so I can get some rest.

9:30am - I'm up and mentally tallying the list of things I need to get done. Laundry, laundry and more laundry always seems to top the list. I put a load in the dryer and notice that the cats have gotten pissed about the state of their litter box and peed on the floor. I hate pee today, it's out to get me.

9:45am - I grab a quick breakfast of an almond poppyseed muffin and a red plum. Ice water on the side.

Dave sets a sleeping Lyric down in the pack & play and I inhale my food while he showers.

10:10am - Dave leaves for work and I play the never ending game of trying to see if I can get the laundry in the dryer before the baby wakes up and needs to eat. Not to mention the fact that I'm still in my pj's and my hair is a rat's nest.

10:20am - Laundry finishes in the washer right as Lyric cries. I change her, (whoa baby, that was a bad one!) feed her and make a mental note not to forget the laundry.

10:40am - She's done eating and I know if I set her down I will regret it....but I can't sort the laundry with one hand. Sniff sniff...wow someone needs a bath. Should I give her a bath now or wait til Dave gets home....? I haven't done it on my own yet but I'll have to learn eventually right?

11:10am - I put the bath idea aside for now and finally get her to drift off and lay her down. I sprint downstairs to get the laundry in the dryer. I clean the litter box in record time as well.

11:15-11:45am - I get some paperwork done that I've been putting off and I finally balance my checkbook for the first time all week. Then I eat a quick snack of coffee yogurt before the baby wakes up.

12:00pm - I grab Lyric and take advantage of her sleepy state to cut her fingernails. I do this every couple days so she doesn't scratch herself.

She lies there half awake and can't decide whether to wake up or not. I'm hoping my yogurt will hold me over for a while since it doesn't look like I can put her back down for a bit.

12:55pm - Diaper change! My stomach is rumbling but Lyric gets so mad when I lay her down awake so I'm not about to poke the bear. I take the downtime to make funny faces at her and play with her hands.

12:59pm - Baby girl has hiccups. So cute.

1:05pm - Time to nurse. I have my laptop next to me and am working on the birth story. Typing with one hand makes it go pretty slowly though.

2:10pm - Still parked on the couch. The dryer stopped running and I'm hungry....

2:30pm - Lyric looks drowsy so I take a chance & put her down, grab the laundry, fold it and then get some food all in a matter of minutes. Yay lunch!

Roast beef, swiss cheese, spinach, mayo and mustard.

3:05pm - Dessert - Goldfish honey grahams. I also managed to start another load of laundry since I realized that Dave is about to run out of clean boxers and jeans.

3:30pm - Diaper change and time to nurse again. I love breastfeeding but it's quite the time-suck. Good thing I'm a multi-tasker. But it's hard to get anything done when she balances herself on me like this:

5:30pm - Lyric has slept so much today. I hope I don't regret it later tonight. Especially since I've been so occupied that I haven't been able to nap when she naps. I've never been able to do that. It's supposed to be crappy weather here for the next few days and I'd love to take her out for a walk but I don't want to wake her up. Hmmm. Guess I'll wait it out and see if we have time for a stroll around the block before dark.

6:00pm - Bowl of honey nut Chex w/almond milk.

Lyric needs a diaper change but is still asleep. I run around putting away the first load of laundry and toss the second load in the dryer while I have the chance.

6:15pm - Guess what came?! The birth announcements! Yay, time to stuff & address 75+ envelopes. Good thing I made address labels at work before I quit.

6:30pm - Lyric wakes up, diaper change followed by feeding. The usual.

7:15pm - Waiting for Dave to get home. Lyric is a wee bit stinky. I hear the garage door opening...daddy's home. That means it's bathtime!

8:30pm - Dinnertime. A chicken and cheddar quesadilla and a salad with Caesar dressing. I made Dave his meal first and I held Lyric while he ate then we switched and I got my chance to eat. We seem to do that a lot lately.

9:00pm - Lyric is fussy so I take her upstairs to calm her down. I change her, nurse her and rock her. Unfortunately she's wide awake and it's 10:30 before she drifts off.

10:35pm - I take a quick shower and hope she doesn't wake up.

11:00pm - I climb into bed, get comfy and as soon as I relax into the covers I hear the cries from the bassinet. Damn. Back into the nursery to check the diaper and rock her.

Unfortunately Lyric was up from 11:00pm until 4:45am. I finally heaved myself into bed only to wake up to her cries at 5:20am. It was a rough night, it was also the first time she has had her days and nights mixed up. Here's hoping it doesn't happen again anytime soon, I was a zombie the next day!

Lyric's Birth Story

2011-10-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

Sunday morning, September 18th, I was woken up at 4:23am by a POP! on the right upper side of my large 40 week, 4 day pregnant belly. I had always heard that you could feel your water breaking but I had no idea what to expect. Plus, statistics show that only 8-25% of women experience premature rupture of membranes before labor begins. Surely I wouldn't be in that small group, right?

Wrong!

As soon as I felt (heard??) the POP! I was still for a moment and then all of a sudden I felt an unstoppable trickle. I got out of bed faster than I ever have in my life and rushed to the bathroom. A few drops escaped along the way but as soon as I sat down a warm fluid began to slowly come out. Not all at once like you see in movies since the baby's head basically acts like a cork. It was just a few drops here and there but it was definitely not a loss of bladder control or anything else - yep, my water had broken. This was it. OH MY GOD.

**Also, let me preface this by saying that I tested positive for Group B strep which means that if my water broke I was instructed to go right to the hospital to get on antibiotics. If I had just started having contractions I could have stayed at home.

I grabbed a hand towel and shoved it down my shorts to catch the flow and went back into our room to wake up Dave. Unfortunately we had stayed up past midnight the night before playing Kinect bowling with some friends so we weren't going into this with the best night of sleep under our belts. I turned on the light and shook him awake.

"Dave! My water broke...it's time to go!"

His eyes popped open and he jumped up. "Ok! Let's do this! What do we need? Do I have time to shower?"

I laughed, "Yeah you can shower, I still have to put the last minute stuff into the hospital bag. But call the hospital first and tell them we're coming in. Ask for a room with a tub!"

So he makes the call and gets into the shower as I walked from the bathroom to the bedroom. I made the bed. I walked back into the bathroom. I put my hair in a bun. I walked back to the bedroom and changed into a pair of capris and a tank top. I walked back the bathroom and announced "I don't know what to do with myself!!"

Dave pokes his head out of the shower and just laughs at me. I smile back and realize that I'm starting to shake from all the adrenaline. I grab my cell phone and call my mom who lives 6 hours away. She doesn't answer....I call again. She answers and I tell her my water broke. She says that she'll leave as soon as she can and will see me soon.

By this time Dave is out of the shower and we gather the over-packed hospital bag and all our stuff. I toss some vanilla greek yogurt and some cereal in a tupperware container to eat on the way. We leave our house for the last time as just the two of us.

We arrive at the hospital around 5am and check in. I am immediately given a robe to change into and am hooked up to the IV and given a bag of penicillin for the Group B strep as soon as I sit in the bed. I am also strapped up to a fetal and a contraction monitor right away. The doctor on call checks me, I'm 2 cm and 75% effaced. He also tells me that he leaves at 7am so a new doctor will be taking over. Sadly, it's not my doctor so the 9 months of appointments and discussions go down the drain.

Our friends who we had been with the night before actually woke up their 11 month old son and brought Dave coffee at 6am. I couldn't believe they got up and came at such an early hour. They stayed and chatted for a while and then all of a sudden three nurses rush into the room. I am immediately told to roll onto my left side and someone straps an oxygen mask onto my face. What the...? The nurses then tell me to get onto my hands and knees. In a hospital gown. So basically my ass is in the air and we have visitors....fun. The two guys actually turned around and faced the wall immediately. Then they all left the room to give us some privacy. Apparently the baby's heart rate had plummeted (from her laying on the umbilical cord) and they needed to turn me to see if it would go back up. Luckily it did and everything was back to normal a few minutes later. I finally look over at Dave when it was all over and he was white as a ghost and looked close to tears.

Once we calmed down, our friends came back in and said their goodbyes. Then it was just Dave and I. Once the penicillin was administered I had a 4 hour window before I was to be given another dose. We took advantage of this time to walk the halls to get labor started. I was given socks, another gown, padded mesh undershorts, and wireless fetal/contraction monitors and off we went.

From about 7:30 until 10:30 I alternated walking with bouncing on the exercise ball provided by the hospital. We watched tv and also had another visitor while the contractions were building up. I met the new doctor on call, a gruff older man who immediately started throwing around words like pitocin and induction so needless to say I wasn't too pleased with him.

By the time I had to be hooked up to the IV and administered more penicillin at 10:30am I had been having regular contractions every 5-10 minutes or so. The pain was all in my lower back, right on my tailbone and the only thing that helped them was for me to bend forward and have Dave press hard against my tailbone. One thing that I found weird was that I couldn't handle any sounds that were repetitive, like music. I could handle having a movie on in the background but if there was a song playing or when the end credits came on? Drove me INSANE.

Around 11:30am I had already thrown up several times in a row and wasn't really able to keep down anything other than water and applesauce because of the pain.

Resting between contractions.

I was checked again and was at 3.5 cm. Again, the doctor mentioned pitocin but I held strong and said that I would prefer to wait. He gave me a few hours and said he would make the call then. I got down on the floor and leaned over the exercise ball to manage my contractions. Dave was amazing, he stayed beside me the entire time and pressed with all his might against my back when I asked him to. I asked the nurse to fill the tub around 1:00pm and I remained on the floor draped over the ball until about 1:30-2:00 when my mom showed up and I was able to gather the strength to walk the 6 feet to the tub. But not before I threw up all over the place again. :( Dave was grateful for the break and the help from my mom, since his arm was completely numb and he had had to pee for about 4 hours. He said his eyeballs were yellow and his back teeth were floating.

I climbed into the tub and tried to let the water relax me. But since all the contractions were in my back, I couldn't lay back and enjoy the weightlessness that the water provides. I found myself hunched over the side with Dave pressing on my back and me humming a low tone to get through each contraction. I'm not sure when the humming started, maybe around noon? But I found that matching my pain with a long humming sound helped me get through each wave. Just stopping to take a breath was so hard to do, especially when the contractions were at their peak.

The doctor came in when I was in the middle of all this and seemed pleased that things were progressing on their own. I asked him to check me but he said that I would have to get back into the bed for that. I passed on that since I couldn't imagine moving at this point since the contractions were right on top of each other. After about an hour in the tub I couldn't take it anymore. The humming helped but I started to feel overwhelmed and with each contraction I kept thinking epidural epidural epidural! Then when it was over, I was fine. Totally normal and felt great. Too bad the normal breaks didn't last too long because at about 3:00pm I decided that was all I could take and asked for the epidural.

I was helped out of the tub and moved to the bed. I was hooked up to the IV with penicillin again as well as the monitors that had been taken off while I was in the water. Then I was checked again and told that I was at 4.5 cm which was kind of disheartening. That's it? Really? Evidently it takes the longest to get to 5 cm though so I guess I was right on track. Soon the anesthesiologist came in and got me all set up. I was sitting on the side of the bed hunched over a table with a pillow on top facing Dave, who was holding my shoulders. A contraction came and I had to reach behind me and press on my tailbone myself to keep it from exploding out of my body (or that's how it felt). I was scolded by the anesthesiologist for doing so though, but I honestly didn't care. Then he numbed my back and inserted the needle. It was a breeze and I couldn't feel any of it. I told him he was my hero.

Soon after I was on cloud nine. AMAZING. I was given a low dose so I could still feel and move my legs and roll from side to side. And I was finally able to lie on my back. The catheter in my back was attached to a machine and I had a little button that I could press if I needed a higher dosage. I also received a catheter in my "front" since there would be no more bathroom trips.

Dave was so happy too. I think he needed the break as much as I did. He was so amazing the whole time, never left my side and even though his arm felt like it was going to fall off he pressed with all his might every time I asked him to. He later told me that when I was in the tub he felt like asking if I wanted the epidural but he didn't want me to feel pressured.

My mom, on the phone with my dad giving an update.

At this point, I was told that I no longer had the freedom to eat anything I wanted to as I did before. That was one thing I loved about our hospital though, they told you to bring whatever you wanted to eat/drink and to move around as much as possible. Until you get the drugs that is, then you are confined to the bed with water/flavored waters, ice chips and popsicles. Whatever, I felt like a million bucks and didn't care that I couldn't eat. I had an orange popsicle and sipped on some water.

Updating friends via text.

Unfortunately the heart rate dropped again and freaked everyone out. Little girl just kept rolling over on her cord! We went through 4 nurses during the time we were there and it was like clockwork. Every time the nurse's shifts changed, the baby's heart rate dropped. We decided that she really hates change. Just like her dad. :)

I was checked a couple hours later and I had only progressed to 5 cm. My contractions were also slowing down. So frustrating! So the doctor brought up the pitocin again and this time I conceded. I knew that getting an epidural increased my risk of cesarean and pitocin was the logical solution to get the contractions going again. They started me on a low dose and kept increasing it every hour or so to get things moving along. I also had an internal contraction monitor inserted to determine the intensity and effectiveness of my contractions.

We had a few more visitors and watched some of the Broncos game. Around 9:00pm I knew that I should rest at some point so I closed my eyes for a bit,

and so did my mom,

but Dave was a giant ball of energy hyped up on 17 cups of coffee and a giant can of Red Bull. Lol.

I never managed to sleep at all since there was just too much going on. Every hour I was checked and received the same disappointing news - I was only progressing about 0.5 cm per hour. The night is pretty fuzzy in my memory at this point, (honestly the whole day FLEW by) but I remember being checked again by the nurse (#3) around 10:00pm and her telling me that I was 6 cm. Also, my epidural started to wear off on my left side. I started feeling contractions in my side and in my back but just on the left. Because of this they called the anesthesiologist again and had him give me another dose. It ended up being too much and I couldn't feel my legs AT ALL. I lost what little feeling I had before and my bottom half felt like a dead weight.

At 11:00pm the nurse came in to check me again and within that hour I had progressed to 10 cm and +2 station (meaning the head dropped down into the pelvis 2 cm) and was ready to start pushing! Unfortunately exhaustion had caught up with me at this point so I asked for a popsicle to help give me a sugar boost and some calories for energy.

I ate the popsicle while shaking like a leaf, I was so nervous/excited/anxious/freaked out by what I had ahead of me. As soon as I finished the popsicle I immediately threw up. Again. At this point the next nurse, Holly, had started her shift and came in to introduce herself. The baby's heart rate dropped again as I was throwing up and that was our introduction, me getting rolled over and trying not to barf all over myself and those around me.

The doctor came in and checked to make sure I was ready to start pushing and he also told me that the baby was face up (hence all the back labor!) and needed to be turned. He started talking about forceps and I just couldn't process it at that point. I knew I couldn't deliver her face up but I was so apprehensive about the use of forceps. Luckily the doctor was able to turn her manually (not sure how or when...) but after that I was allowed to push her out without assistance.

I started pushing at 11:45pm and I felt so good and energized! I also had my eyes closed almost the entire time, weird I know, but it worked for me! The epidural was starting to wear off a little bit so I could feel my legs again and we were trying different positions to see what worked and what didn't. They tried to get me to look in a mirror and see my progress but I just couldn't bear to see it. It wasn't motivating for me at all even though I thought I would like being able to watch. My hand was guided down at one point to feel her head and I remember feeling hair and thinking her head was squishy.

I pushed for about 2 hours and towards the end the heart rate dropped again and the doctor made sure I knew that I had to get this baby out NOW. He said he was going to give me an episiotomy to help it along and I agreed. As soon as he made the incision I could feel the head coming out but it wasn't enough so he had to cut me again. After that on the next push she came right out! I couldn't believe it - at 1:36am on September 19, 2011 my baby girl was here!

As they were weighing Lyric and cleaning her up I felt a light tug and looked down to see the doctor slowly pulling the placenta out by the umbilical cord. He put it aside and got to work on stitching me up. When I asked how many stitches I had he said "A row. Probably about 10 or so." Yikes. I try not to think about it. Right after they weighed her I placed her on my chest for skin to skin and to do the Breast Crawl. It was pretty amazing how well she did without much assistance. Yay for human instincts!

I plan to post about my recovery as well, but are there any questions you guys want me to answer? I don't mind because I honestly wish I had someone tell me all their dirty details just so I knew what I was up against. So let me know if there is anything you have questions about.

Post Baby Belly: Week 2

2011-10-03T09:54:00.002-06:00

Hello!

It's been quite an adjustment getting used to being a stay-at-home mom. Definitely a lot more work than having a regular 9-5 that's for sure! It's a 24/7 job and my time "off" is when I get to take a shower and leave Dave in charge. But as long as she's not crying, he loves taking over. In fact, every morning when she wakes up at 5:30-6:00 he takes her after I nurse her and lets me sleep in for a couple more hours. It's wonderful.

I went to a breastfeeding support group last Wednesday. It's hosted by the Women's Clinic and they meet every week. I'm trying to get myself involved in more "mom" activities so I don't go CRAZY sitting here at home every day! Lyric is a little too young for story-time and other active groups but I'm on a mission to meet new moms that are in a similar situation. Any tips from my mom readers??

Week 2 belly photos:

Back in my jeans! I can only fit into one pair though - they're the very stretchy forgiving pair. Ladies, you know which ones I mean. I'm just happy to finally be out of maxi dresses and stretchy pj pants!

The front view - ugh, that line!! When does that go away? My belly button is kind of a mess too but whatever. This isn't the time to be picky....

BTW - I'm currently working on Lyric's birth story, I know how much I liked reading other birth stories when I was pregnant. I'm still fuzzy on the timeline though so I'm waiting on a copy of my medical records to refresh my memory.

Post Baby Belly: Week 1

2011-09-26T16:49:00.000-06:00

Today my sweet little Lyric is one week old!

Already an ornery little lady, isn't she? :)

So my last pregnant belly photo was taken at 39 weeks:

And here we are with what was in that belly:

One week after birth:

Let's compare that with what I looked like back on New Year's Day when I found out I was pregnant:

Not quite yet but I have to say that I'm SHOCKED that my body transformed so quickly! Amazing what breastfeeding and a Belly Bandit can do.

Pre-pregnancy weight: 118 pounds

Day before giving birth: 143.5 pounds

One week after birth: 122 pounds! (please don't send me hate mail...)

Again, I'm shocked. I'm sure a lot of that is due to a significant loss of muscle mass since I didn't work out at all during my pregnancy. I definitely feel weak and mushy right now. As soon as I get the go-ahead to start strength training again I'm on a mission to get some of that muscle back!

Meanwhile, my mom was here this whole week and left today. I'm going to miss her feeding me and caring for me. She went above and beyond and I'm so thankful for everything she did for us! Love you Mom!!

A small sampling of the foods I was served this past week:

Welcome back English Breakfast tea!

Off to scrounge up something else to munch on, gotta keep up that milk production!

New Role and Winners!

2011-09-25T20:21:00.000-06:00

I know I've been absent for a bit but please bear with me as I learn to conform my life and priorities around my new role as a MOTHER.

Let me just say that it's by far the most amazing, overwhelming, fantastic, humbling experience in the world. I've never been more in love.

I mean really - how can you not fall head over heels for this face??

But I do have one other little bit of business to address quickly before I start with all the baby/belly/food and other update posts on my agenda - I promised a prize package if someone correctly guessed the date that Lyric would be born.

It looks like I have two winners:

Diana who said - "19th!! And I better get snacks...or a visit!! I love how your inlaws always invite themselves..."

and

Megan L. who said - "I'm thinking Sept 19th, whatever date it is I know you'll be cool as a cucumber! =)"

So would you two ladies please email me at jessieberney@gmail.com with your addresses?? Thanks!

And just because I'm a proud mama here are some more pictures of my baby girl bonding with her proud grandpa and snuggling with her daddy. Lots of love in this household!

Introducing Our Daughter...

2011-09-20T19:25:00.000-06:00

Lyric Charlotte

September 19th, 2011

1:36 am

6 pounds, 14 ounces

20.5 inches long

After 21+ hours of labor both mom and baby are doing beautifully! More details to come soon....off to enjoy my new addition!

Waiting With Ghirardelli

2011-09-16T16:04:00.000-06:00

Still without a baby over here. I did have some slightly painful contractions yesterday afternoon that got my hopes up but they soon petered out after I went to bed.

Also, please take a second to congratulate Brittany, she had a beautiful baby girl yesterday!!

While I don't yet have a baby to introduce you to I do have a ton of chocolate courtesy of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program and Ghirardelli.

Since Dave doesn't like dark chocolate I have this giant selection all to myself. What a horrible conundrum for a 40+ week pregnant woman to have huh?? ;)

The chocolate even came with a little food and drink pairing booklet and as hard as it was for me to ignore the wine recommendations (SO CLOSE I CAN TASTE IT....) I went for the one that paired well with black tea.

Well, it wasn't really "black tea" but I think that red raspberry leaf tea with a little honey and milk mimics black tea pretty darn well. Plus, it helps tone the uterus and prepares the body for labor. It's actually tasty too.

The Twilight Delight 72% Cacao was pretty darn good. Smooth and rich with just a little grittiness from the sugar crystals. I also had to try the Sea Salt Soiree (remember my obsession with Lindt Sea Salt chocolate bars??) which was quite amazing as well. Not too sweet, just a hint of sea salt and the almonds added a nice texture.

Thanks Foodbuzz and Ghirardelli, you've made this waiting game a whole lot tastier!!

It's a Due Date, Not An Expiration Date

2011-09-14T11:53:00.004-06:00

Fact: The average length of pregnancy in first-time mothers is 41 weeks and 1 day. The average length of pregnancy in women with prior births is 40 weeks and 3 days. (Source)

Today, September 14, 2011 is my "official" due date.

This date was calculated based on my ovulation date of December 22, 2010. Remember my post about different ways to measure the length of a pregnancy? How about ways to just measure time? If you're measuring months, most folks I know go by the date. So today, at the 40 week mark, I am almost 9 months pregnant. If I make it to the "average" of 41 weeks and 1 day, it will be September 22.

December 22, 2010 to September 22, 2011 = 9 months exactly! I love numbers. And it just so happens that 22 is my lucky number. My birthday is June 22, which actually makes the day I got pregnant my half-birthday.

All this to say that I'm pretty sure I'm not having a baby today. My doctor checked me again yesterday and I'm still 50% effaced and 1cm dilated. I'm still sleeping well and have only recently started getting up to pee once during the night. This started about a week ago and I'm thanking my lucky stars that I can get up, go, and fall right back into bed without any issues. I'm trying to get as much uninterrupted sleep as I can...while I still have the option. :)

Unfortunately I think I may just be the only person around here that is ok with today being my due date and my feeling like this baby just isn't ready. I can't call anyone because I'm afraid to get people's hopes up. Anytime I do call someone I have to start the conversation right away with "Hi, I'm not in labor...." My mom calls me every day and we chat about how it's going - luckily she keeps telling me "no pressure" but she's the only one!

My in-laws are coming out to stay with us this weekend. Uninvited. They're staying for an undetermined amount of time. Talk about pressure...it's ridiculous. I'm not going to rush this child out of me! This is what my body was made for and this is the first time I have done this. LET. ME. BE. It will happen when it happens and I'm ready and waiting for when that time comes.

Every day I feel like I have to remind someone (usually Dave) that it's a DUE DATE - not an EXPIRATION DATE. This little watermelon in my belly has all the power - starting very early on! Our whole lives will revolve around her and I, for the time being, am perfectly ok with letting her call the shots. Especially when it comes to her own birthday!!

~~~~~

As you can see, I've already called the 22nd as the day I think she will come. Anyone else care to venture a guess?? If you correctly guess the date I'll even send you a prize package. I'm thinking some chocolate, Larabars, tea/coffee and a fancy mug to go with it....so let the guessing begin! (Also, I know my doctor will NOT let me go past 42 weeks so the cutoff date is September 28th.)

The Pregnancy Diet

2011-09-13T11:34:00.002-06:00

This is a topic that I've been meaning to discuss for a very long time. Before I got pregnant I would always joke about how I hoped I would never let myself go and be one of those women who ate and ate and ate because she was "eating for two!". I knew that it required about 300 extra calories/day (once you're past the first trimester) to grow a tiny human and having been a calorie counter back in the day, I knew what 300 calories looked like.

I went into pregnancy thinking that I was going to work out on a consistent basis and maintain my muscle tone, go for daily walks, etc. To be perfectly honest, I haven't done what I would consider a "workout" since the day morning sickness hit me 6 weeks into this pregnancy.

I have however, been wildly surprised by how much my eating habits have been affected. In the very beginning, before the constant nausea and dry heaving set in, I ate normally. Fruits, veggies, etc. Very healthy and clean. But once week 6 came around bringing 24-hour nausea and food aversions I subsisted on bagels, cereal, some fruit, frozen burritos and package after package of saltines. I remember one day Dave and I were driving down the road and we passed a restaurant called Supreme Buffet - just the word "Supreme" made me dry heave so badly I almost had to pull off the road. It was disgusting. I felt disgusting and the only thing that saved me was the fact that I was still taking a daily prenatal vitamin (still am) which made up for my less-than-stellar diet choices. While I wasn't throwing up, I still lost about 5 pounds from weeks 6-14 when the nausea suddenly stopped and I felt like a real person again.

The initial food aversions, however, decided to stick around. I couldn't even look at broccoli without gagging. Cooked veggies still make me cringe. I don't know if it was because of the warm weather but any hot meals immediately turned my stomach. Cold meals like sandwiches, all types of carbs, fresh fruit, baked goods and raw veggies were my foods of choice for the majority of this pregnancy.

In one of my last posts I received a question from Jessica. She asked, "How do you feel your eating has changed towards the end of your pregnancy journey?" I would say that it hasn't. I still eat small meals, though now it's more out of necessity than preference because my stomach is competing for room with the small watermelon that lives in my belly.

The one thing has has changed is that it's become more of a chore to make myself eat multiple times a day. It's kind of sad, I went from "living to eat" to "eating to live". My passion for food is there somewhere I'm sure but it seems like I lost a lot of that. I never experienced those "feed me NOW!" types of cravings and my hunger levels are certainly not overwhelming. I really don't feel that my eating has been out of control at all in terms of portion sizes and moderation. I just wish I enjoyed the preparation and creative aspect of mealtime as much as I used to.

Yes, I do indulge quite a bit more than normal and I'm sure once I make a visit to my dentist I will regret all those pudding cups and slices of chocolate zucchini cake. But along with the not so healthy treats there have been numerous fresh and healthy choices as well. Not being able to fit a lot of food in my stomach helps me make better choices when it's time to eat.

At the tail end of my pregnancy I have gained a total of 25 pounds, an average weight gain for someone of my size. The pounds crept on slowly after the first trimester and never once have I felt that I was eating too much or too little. I've been a big proponent of intuitive eating for a few years now and that is exactly the approach I used.

I am not, however, at all happy with my fitness level. There is a lot of work to do before I can get back to my old self again and I hope that with a little determination and time, I can get back to where I was in terms of muscle tone and strength. But, I'll talk about that when the time comes!

Until then, I'm off to my 40-week appointment. Last week I was 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated - wish me luck!!

Baby To-Do List Update

2011-09-10T17:17:00.001-06:00

Just a quick update on the 2,565,118 things that I had on my to-do list before the baby comes. We're nearing the end (4 days till due date!) and I'm pretty proud of all that I've accomplished in these past few weeks. I think I can finally say that we are ready!

Interview pediatricians - I suck, I was supposed to do this months ago but....I forgot. This is something I'm just leaving up to chance because there will be a pediatrician on staff at the hospital. If I don't like that person we will try another (and so on) until I find someone.
~~Arrange my insurance through work to cover my "leave" - I'm not coming back but I'm entitled to a paid leave (and extension of my benefits) so I'm using it!~~
Hunt for a new insurance plan that covers our family without being outrageously expensive. My plan to continue with my work insurance fell through - we'd be going from $230 a month for two people to $1,235 a month for three. HOLY SHIT - the coverage is AMAZING but good god! I'm covered through the end of the year and we'll probably create a group plan through my husband's business for 2012.
~~Compile addresses and print labels for birth announcements.~~
Pick out/purchase birth announcements and see about hiring a photographer for newborn photos for said announcements. Can't really do this until the baby is here.
~~Pack hospital bag.~~ Got everything except my camera, hairbrush and makeup all packed and ready to go.
~~Tour hospital.~~
~~Take childbirth classes.~~
~~Take breastfeeding class that comes free with childbirth class.~~
~~Yell at contractors that they "better be finished with the basement by September 1st!"~~ They finished up yesterday (9 days after promised completion date). I'm still peeved that the whole process never included a fully enclosed glass shower - just the tilework. So basically we went through 1.5 months of hell with the end goal of having a second FULL BATHROOM and there's still no place for our guests to shower. Such bullshit.
~~Pick out sinks, tub, cabinets and lighting for bathroom in basement.~~
~~Buy a bed, mattress, bedside tables, lamps, bathroom fixtures for guest room/bathroom.~~
Find a way to not only get a hell of a deal on a fireproof gun/rifle safe but also find a way to get it down into the storage area in basement before the walls are painted (I know we'll scratch at least one wall trying to get it down there, those things weigh 500 pounds!). Yeah, that never happened.
~~Interview the 10-15 people who have applied to be the service writer at my husband's shop and start training one immediately so he can come home at a decent hour when the baby comes.~~
~~Write thank you notes from last baby shower.~~
~~Take all useless crap from basement to the dump.~~
~~Get the carpets professionally cleaned after the basement is done and before the baby comes (very small window).~~ Got it done today!!!! Whoo-hoo!
~~Have the A/C and furnace serviced (I have a coupon from Living Social.)~~
~~Get all the air ducts cleaned since they have now been coated in concrete and drywall.~~ Best $482 we ever spent - the air flow is SO MUCH BETTER.

For the nursery/baby/me:

~~Put together stroller, install car-seat and have inspected. (Dave)~~
~~Hang shelves, install blinds, put together storage shelves, and move recliner into nursery (Dave).~~
~~Diaper bag (I registered for one and someone bought it but I never got it...? Weird.)~~ I ordered one for myself, though I'm still waiting on it to arrive from Zulily.
~~Trash can with lid~~
~~Lamp~~
~~Nursing bras, tops and other accessories~~
~~Belly Bandit~~

Come on out whenever you're ready, little girl - we're waiting for ya!

What I Ate Wednesday

2011-09-07T09:43:00.000-06:00

I don't often post my daily meals anymore but since I'm retired now I have a little extra free time to photograph my daily mini-meals. I also figured I would show everyone what a 39-week pregnant woman eats. That is what a 39-week pregnant woman who is a self-professed GRAZER eats - I really can't speak for the rest of them...

Breakfast - a few handfuls of Kashi Honey Sunshine at 7am while instructing the guys from American Furniture Warehouse where to put the bedroom furniture in the basement.

Followed by a bowl of plain Greek yogurt (Fage), Udi's Au Natural granola and some Sunbutter.

A few hours later our contractor was working away in the basement when the HVAC company showed up to check out our furnace, A/C unit and clean out all of our air ducts. Just so everyone knows, having a contractor still not even close to finished at one week past his PROMISED completion date and me being one week away from my due date does not make me a happy camper. It's been a frustrating week, to say the least. Not to mention all the deliveries and last minute repairmen coming to the house. Still need to get the carpets cleaned too!

While the HVAC guys worked away at cleaning the 6 years worth of dust and cat hair (plus all the recent drywall dust!) out of our vents I munched on some watermelon and a chocolate almond coconut Clif Mojo bar.

After three hours of work - and sufficiently giving my two cats coronaries with the giant vacuum (they're petrified of the dustbuster!) - the air ducts were finally clean and it was time for lunch. Sprouted everything bagel toasted with melted pepperjack cheese and avocado with a handful of cherry tomatoes from my mom's garden.

I took advantage of the break in chaos to make a quick trip to the store where I snagged a gingerberry Kombucha to sip on for the rainy drive home.

Once home I met with the inspector for the "final inspection" of the basement - yup, still not done. NEVER HIRE A CONTRACTOR WHO IS A FRIEND. It's so hard to make him understand that when I said "Done by September 1st" I really meant it. Grrrrr.

Instead of getting angry with him I snacked on my two biggest cravings, a nectarine and a pudding cup.

Dinner was eaten late (8pm) so with no more chance of natural light I was unable to get a decent photo. I made baked chicken parmesan (this recipe) with egg noodles and steamed green beans. Delicious and simple, can't beat that.

I'll leave you all with a current photo of my belly, one week away from the due date! Pretty amazing what our bodies can do, isn't it ladies??

Our Nest is Ready

2011-09-01T10:53:00.001-06:00

Who would have thought that in a matter of months our junk room could go from this:

to this:

and finally, to a nursery!!!

INSIDE THE DRESSER:

Side note: Are these not the CUTEST hats you've ever seen?! A childhood friend of mine crocheted them for me along with a matching blanket. The little flower decals are sewn onto buttons and removable/interchangeable. I love them.

THE CLOSET:

I open up the closet and stare at these little bitty clothes all the time....can't wait to see a baby in them!

Homemade blankets, shopping cart cover, bath supplies, nursing supplies and a collection of (borrowed) swings, playmats and a Bumbo.

ON THE OTHER SIDE:

A rarely-used rocking recliner from the living room (instead of an expensive glider) to curl up in, colorful bird artwork (by my mom) and you've seen the travel system.

Mirrored bird decals from ModCloth (warning - that site is as addicting as Etsy).

Mostly-packed hospital bag and the Boppy.

Speaking of Etsy, this Boppy cover is the first thing I purchased when I found out we were having a girl. It's funny that I fell in love with the polka dot theme because we have received so many clothes and blankets with polka dots.

The back side is a paisley pattern (that I also LOVE).

Shelves for books, toys and knickknacks.

We also have another white shelf sitting above the crib/dresser on the opposite wall which will soon be filled.

We're planning on painting letters that spell out her name (a secret until her birth day!) and either nailing them above the shelf or placing them on it.

Lastly, an impulse buy at the hardware store that I think will be very handy - our main thermostat is on another floor so this helps us know how comfortable the temperature is in the nursery.

Be back in a bit with updates on the rest of our "Nest" - the basement is thisclose to being finished!

Retired

2011-08-24T11:11:00.001-06:00

As of last week I am officially "retired" from my job. (Which required a slight update on my About Me page.) Some friends took Dave and I out for dinner last week for a retirement party. Weirdos. As much as I love being at home curled up with a cup of tea and a good book, it's SO strange not having a set schedule each day! I thrive on routines and schedules, at least during the week, and having so much down time is a bit unnerving.

I keep reminding myself that since I am unable to perform my duties at my old job now (too much lifting and bending required) that it's ok to not be pushing myself so hard anymore. I know so many women work up to their due date (and besides the perk of a paycheck) I now understand why - you'll go crazy otherwise! Just sitting here, 37 weeks pregnant and thinking of what I can possibly do to keep my mind occupied. It's harder than you'd think! Luckily I have a hefty to-do list that I've been knocking out. I've also found myself nesting like a mad-woman. Vacuuming doors, corners, baseboards and spiderwebs, arranging and re-arranging the closet in the nursery, washing EVERY blanket in the entire house because oh my god THE CAT HAIR, etc.

The mental aspect of going from a regular 9-5 job to being at home each day is a lot to take and it's only been a few days! I feel like this is my little vacation before the REAL work starts and I should be enjoying it but I also feel guilty that I'm not contributing and Dave is getting up and going to work every day. I'm just trying to savor each day as much as I can. I've also started packing lunches for Dave and making nice dinners each night while I still have the time. I think he appreciates that and it helps me feel useful around here - there's only so much I can do by myself.

I've been trying to save money and gas so I try not to drive every day. Unfortunately we live out in the 'burbs so either I drive into town (15 miles) to get sh!t done or I just stay home. Yesterday was a stay at home day and I think today might be as well. Luckily staying at home has it's perks - such as:

Baking the best chocolate zucchini cake in the world (my mom's recipe). And eating three pieces of it.

Eating a delicious and fresh lunch off a real plate and not out of a plastic container in a dark breakroom.

Netflix- oh how much I love you!

Admiring the nursery (photos coming soon) and getting the travel system out and pushing it around the house. If I wasn't wary of getting cat hair all over it I'd strap Pepper in and take her for a walk!

Can't wait to see a BABY IN THERE.

Finally - for any of you who are interested in seeing a pregnant belly move, here is a little bit of the fun I experience each night after I shower. I swear you can see her body parts poking out at about :44 seconds.

Belly Update - Week 36

2011-08-16T11:15:00.000-06:00

Wow.

Thirty six weeks already? Where has this year gone?? It's amazing how fast time seems to fly by when you have a huge change looming on the horizon.

This week's photos were taken in the office at my husband's shop - which is surprisingly cleaner than our house at the moment. We're living in a full-on construction zone and everything inside is covered in a fine white dust. Anyone have a trusty dusting method or product that you swear by? I usually use microfiber cloths but this calls for something a little more intense. Does Pledge work well? I'd like something a little less toxic though.

Speaking of "greener" cleaning, there have been a few changes in my routine since becoming pregnant. I used to use Comet, Scrubbing Bubbles, Windex, Melaleuca, Clorox, etc and now I only use two items - baking soda and white vinegar. (I still use Comet in the toilets FYI.) But baking soda and a little water make a great paste that scours sinks, tile and counter-tops. Also, I mix white vinegar (1 part vinegar : 2 parts water) in a spray bottle and use that for a daily kitchen cleaner. The smell can be a little intense but I don't really mind it.

Did you know that you can also make a glass cleaner with 3 cups water, 1/2 cup baking soda and 1 cup white vinegar? Cheap and effective! Here is a site that lists 1001 uses for for white vinegar for those of you who are interested.

So the belly - well, it's slowwwwly growing. I haven't seen much difference in the last couple of weeks & I'm afraid my doctor is going to yell at me. I know it's not a lack of overall weight gain since I am right on track at about 25 pounds. I guess I just carry small (not complaining though!). It's funny to see people's reactions when I say I'm 36 weeks and they raise an eyebrow in disbelief.

A few things:

I'm still energized enough to get things done but only early in the day. Once afternoon rolls around, I start walking slower and slower and my productivity all but stops. Taking advantage of those good days as often as possible!
Not really into food very much these days. Pudding and peaches are still my top two favorite things to eat but the rest? Meh. I eat but the enjoyment just isn't there.
Speaking of food, I have had two really bad episodes of acid reflux &/or heartburn in the middle of the night. Both Saturday and last night (Monday) I woke up with a throat full of acid and had to sit up to avoid vomiting all over the sheets. Last night was so bad I got up, gobbled two Tums (YUCK), drank some water, walked around and then had to prop myself up enough to keep the acid down.
I caught some sort of cold/flu from our friend's baby this weekend and it's hitting me hard. I knew I shouldn't have let him chew on my keys! My least favorite pregnancy symptom has definitely been the lack of an immune system. Prior to this year I hadn't been sick since Christmas 2008!
Speaking of colds, sneezing is an event when you lack core strength.
I'm starting to get used to being assisted by nice strangers when I'm running errands. I never thought I would appreciate it but I really do! Although some people are just clueless, yesterday at the grocery store I had a guy try to squeeze by me in the check-out line and he kept saying "Excuse me, excuuuuse me!" and all I could do was stand there because I had nowhere to go! Dude, see the belly?? I can't just suck it in!
I finally caved and bought some baby clothes at Target - can you believe I have gone this long without buying any clothes for this little girl?! It's amazing how much clothing you receive at baby showers and from friends who have kids. (That's actually why I waited...)
I've actually managed to check quite a few things off my To-Do List this weekend. Makes me feel good!

Baby To-Do List

2011-08-11T11:29:00.004-06:00

I had no idea just how many things my brain could process at one time. If you think planning a wedding is a stressful experience, try planning for a baby! I know the experienced moms out there are shaking their head thinking, "Oh dear, you have NO idea." but I'm a planner. I like change, don't get me wrong - I'm beyond excited for my life to turn inside out (I like a challenge!) but - I'd really like to have all my ducks in a row before it happens.

So, because I would like documentation of this (quite frankly, I just need to spew some word vomit here) I figured I would make a post out of it.

On my to-do list:

Interview pediatricians - I suck, I was supposed to do this months ago but....I forgot.
Arrange my insurance through work to cover my "leave" - I'm not coming back but I'm entitled to a paid leave (and extension of my benefits) so I'm using it!
Hunt for a new insurance plan that covers our family without being outrageously expensive. My plan to continue with my work insurance fell through - we'd be going from $230 a month for two people to $1,235 a month for three. HOLY SHIT - the coverage is AMAZING but good god!
Compile addresses and print labels for birth announcements.
Pick out/purchase birth announcements and see about hiring a photographer for newborn photos for said announcements.
Pack hospital bag.
Tour hospital.
Take childbirth classes.
Take breastfeeding class that comes free with childbirth class.
Yell at contractors that they "better be finished with the basement by September 1st!"
Pick out sinks, tub, cabinets and lighting for bathroom in basement.
Buy a bed, mattress, bedside tables, lamps, bathroom fixtures for guest room/bathroom.
Find a way to not only get a hell of a deal on a fireproof gun/rifle safe but also find a way to get it down into the storage area in basement before the walls are painted (I know we'll scratch at least one wall trying to get it down there, those things weigh 500 pounds!).
Interview the 10-15 people who have applied to be the service writer at my husband's shop and start training one immediately so he can come home at a decent hour when the baby comes.
Write thank you notes from last baby shower
Take all useless crap from basement to the dump
Get the carpets professionally cleaned after the basement is done and before the baby comes (very small window)
Have the A/C and furnace serviced (I have a coupon from Living Social to use!)
Get all the air ducts cleaned since they have now been coated in concrete and drywall

For the nursery/baby/me:

Put together stroller, install car-seat and have inspected (Dave)
Hang shelves, install blinds, put together storage shelves, and move recliner into nursery (Dave)
Diaper bag (I registered for one and someone bought it but I never got it...? Weird.)
Trash can with lid
Lamp
Nursing bras, tops and other accessories
Belly Bandit

Just a couple things that I have to get done in the next 4 1/2 weeks. A little stressful - luckily I work well under pressure. I just wish I knew exactly how much time I have! Unfortunately I don't have that luxury so I've been busting my balls trying to check off as much as possible from the ever-growing list!

Foodie Friday

2011-08-05T07:30:00.003-06:00

I had the day off yesterday because of a doctor's appointment so I took the opportunity to do a "this is what I ate today" post while I had the time.

Pre-breakfast:

Peaches are so fantastic right now, I can't wait until I get my hands on some Palisade peaches! (Those of you in Colorado know what I'm talking about...)

Breakfast:

Plain Greek yogurt (Fage) with cinnamon, honey, sliced banana and walnuts.

Followed by another peach - this one had it's pit already split in half. Ever eaten the little nut on the inside of a peach pit? I have, it's like a rancid almond, I don't recommend it.

Lunch:

Half a piece of whole wheat naan broiled with refried beans, shredded cheese and (unpictured) avocado. Sugar snap peas for crunch.

Snack:

Homemade beef jerky. My husband has two appliances in our kitchen that we call his; the meat slicer and the smoker. I'm surprised how often he actually uses them.

Snack #2:

After the ultrasound/Dr.'s appt it was around 4 which to me means time for a pick-me-up. Since I'm not drinking caffeine I went with an iced soy decaf latte and a chocolate peanut Clif Mojo bar. <--- Did you guys know they make those in s'mores flavor now? They are amazing.

I also stopped off at Walgreen's for a couple of essentials - shaving cream, an eyelash comb (my eyelashes are starting to grow back!), a fun new nail polish and of course, diapers. I buy diapers every time I'm in a store that sells them. Makes it seem less expensive that way....plus now I have a whole stockpile to try out and see what brands work best.

Sparkles are fun. Plus, no obvious chipping when it starts to peel off.

Snack #3:

I ate the apricot because there were only two peaches left and I needed them to last me one more day.

Crazy, I know.

Dinner: (exactly the same as lunch)

Dessert:

Pudding of course! I can't seem to go a day without it anymore...

Week 34 - Hair!

2011-08-04T17:15:00.002-06:00

Lots of things going on these past few weeks. Sorry for the lack of blogging - I promise it will get better. Let's see what life has in store for the next ~6 weeks:

Finish up work, I put in my two weeks TODAY which means my last day is August 18th. Craziness. I'll be 36 weeks pregnant at that point and transitioning to weekly doctor appointments so I figured that was a good time to focus on this growing baby girl instead of projects at work.
Our basement is getting finished - we are adding a master bedroom (for guests not us), walk-in closet, storage space and a full master bath complete with standing shower, dual sinks and a HUGE bathtub that I can't wait to use. However, it's still a disaster right now - wanna see?

I try not to go down there too often because IT STRESSES ME OUT too much! Thanks to the concrete being jack-hammered, our entire house is now filled with a fine gray dust. Even with dusting every few days I can't keep up with it. Also, there have been issues with our water being turned off, our A/C not working (!!!!!) and there are flies freaking everywhere.

When the basement is finished (aiming for Sept 1) I still have to furnish it enough to make it usable and decorate it. That'll be quite the adventure at 38 weeks.
Our nursery is pretty close to being complete. We have a couple of shelves to hang, buy the rest of the crib bedding, assemble the stroller/travel system and we're going to move a recliner out of the living room and into the nursery for middle of the night feedings. I can't justify spending $$$ on a glider when we have a perfectly good recliner sitting (mostly) unused in the living room.

That's most of it for now. Besides the last minute shopping for baby supplies, washing baby clothes and general nesting I think that about covers it. Lots to prepare for!

Speaking of which, I had my 34 week appointment today complete with ultrasound. The clinic I go to only offers one ultrasound at 20 weeks and that's it unless there are complications. Well, at 32 weeks my Dr. thought I was measuring a bit too small so she set us up for another peek inside the womb. I was a little worried for a while but I could tell that this baby is sort of wrapped around my torso instead of in a little ball in the middle of my belly.

Luckily everything looks fine and I'm right on schedule, they said some women just tend to carry more toward their back than in front.

Not much going on from the back....

...or a whole lot in the front either.

But take a look at the side view! No hiding that belly. ;)

A few notes and numbers:

Days of work left: 9
Weight gained so far: 22 pounds
Stretch marks: 0
Swollen ankle (cankle) incidents: 1. Last weekend I had a baby shower and then spent the rest of the day driving around and walking all over town which left my poor ankles huge. Very attractive.
Dates I think she's going to come (due date is 9/14): either 9/11 or 9/22. Of course 9/10/11 would be pretty cool too.
Our baby has a full head of hair AND eyelashes and is DEFINITELY a girl. :) . She already weighs about 5 pounds, 1 ounce. I've heard that babies double their weight in the last month so that number is a little scary even though I know it's just an estimate.

Her little face from straight on - see the white streaks on the eye toward the left? EYELASHES!

Cravings: peaches, watermelon, chocolate pudding, peaches, peanut butter M&M's, refried beans, peaches and avocado. Did I mention peaches?? :)
My belly button is now completely flattened out. I had the top and bottom of it pierced at one point so there are also 4 little scars accentuating it. Not the prettiest thing to see. Also, I have a couple of blue stars tattooed on my lower abdomen and so far they are a little stretched but still very much intact. Yay!
Childbirth classes are August 27-28th. We're doing a full weekend-long class instead of the long 6 week course, it just works better for both of us.
Days left until due date: 41. EEP!

My 7 Links

2011-07-29T11:31:00.001-06:00

Since I'm seriously hurting for some post topics (pregnancy brain has taken over!) I thought I would follow the crowd and go with the ever-so-popular "7 Links" post today.

Most beautiful post - One Year Ago Today...

My one-year wedding anniversary post which is really just a whole bunch of pictures from the big day. Dave still carries the role of my best friend and we've been together now for 7 years - amazing.

I love looking back at our wedding photos!

Most popular post - Blender Bottle Review and Nail Art

I have no idea why this post has received so many page-views, but it has. Maybe because in the title I used two different phrases that are often searched for? It makes no sense. It was one of those posts that took 2 minutes to write and then WHAM, it became my most-viewed post by a long shot.

My second most popular post is My Skin Care Routine, which I put a lot of work into and am glad is getting some attention.

Most controversial post - "Light", Fat-free and Sugar-free CRAP

I don't know if this was all that controversial or not but this post about diet foods was written when I didn't have too many readers. I was provoked by the way my in-laws eat and when I saw my nieces and nephew eating sugar free syrup I just wanted to explode. I expected to get a lot of negative comments on that post but I never really did.

Most people I know think that fat-free and sugar-free foods are the best way to cut calories but when you feed that junk to children? Ugh, makes me sick to think about it.

Most helpful post - Acupuncture: Brain vs. Body

Some of you may remember that I was diagnosed with a blood disorder last year called thrombocytopenia. It basically means that I have very few platelets in my blood and I would bruise easily and not be able to clot if I were injured or bleeding in any way. Kind of a big deal when you want to have a baby. So I went from one oncologist to another at the Cancer Center of the Rockies trying to sort this out. Long story short (and over $7,000 later) we still had no answers as to why my body wasn't producing platelets. Short of a bone marrow biopsy, I had undergone almost every test my doctor recommended.

Then, I tried acupuncture and was diagnosed within minutes. Shockingly enough, I've been tested every few months since then (August 2010) and my platelets have remained in the normal range. I don't know what it was the healed me other then just deciding to get better, dammit but something worked.

A post whose success surprised you - New Obsession

I don't know if it's "successful" or not but it sure got a lot of attention from somewhere, this was a simple post (fluff really) about a breakfast cookie, my new obsession with Sriracha and some strange and out of focus pictures of my husband and his cat.

I'm almost embarrassed by how many people came across it who were probably thinking "what the...??"

A post you feel didn't get the attention it deserved - Pregnancy: How Many Months?

Recently I posted about the TRUE length of an average pregnancy - 266 days from conception to birth. I did my research and even a bit of math (ICK) for it yet somehow it seemed like no one was interested. I proved without a doubt that the actual length of a pregnancy is in fact LESS THAN NINE (it's actually 8.72) MONTHS long and sort of left it at that. What I didn't mention was just how much it aggravates me when women claim that 40 weeks is equal to ten months.

Come on ladies, DO THE MATH and stop complaining about it being longer than it really is. We have enough important things to focus on!

The post that you are the most proud of - Proud Dad - Post #1

This was a guest post written by my dad the day after he walked his only daughter down the aisle. It makes me cry every time I read it.

Confessions of a Pregnant Blogger

2011-07-21T14:38:00.000-06:00

Blogging is difficult to do when you are the busiest you've been in two years at your full time job. Normally we average about $1,500/day but the last two weeks have been an average of $7,500/day because of a conference here in town. Insanity. (I work at a print shop for those who don't know.)

Being slammed at work gives me less time to be consumed with thoughts of organizing and cleaning the nursery, washing baby clothes, writing thank you notes and the fact that our house is a construction zone (basement remodel!). This may not be a good thing considering I'm having to fight the nesting instinct because I'm so tired when I get home.

I have a knot the size of Texas in my upper back that my chiropractor can't seem to get rid of. Feels like someone is driving a screwdriver into my shoulder. Unfortunately I hate massages so I'm at a loss.

I also hate pedicures. Just the rubbing/touching/squeezing part...basically, I suck at being pampered. I do love the freshly painted toenails though! Especially because I can't reach them anymore.

I'm not digging the amount of attention I'm getting each day from strangers. Everyone has some sort of advice to offer right after asking the (now dreaded) question "When are you due?"

Advice such as:

"Don't forget, pregnant women need to drink a lot of water!" No shit.

"Looks like you're buying some healthy foods there - but make sure you don't overeat." Thanks for that sound advice, I'll be sure to take it to heart.

"Are you planning on nursing? Because there is a reason they have lactation consultants at the hospital." Evidently.

"You should use formula instead of breastfeeding, it makes the baby sleep longer between feedings." Yup, uh-huh.

(I should have introduced those last two to each other....)

I eat a chocolate pudding cup every day. Sometimes two. Ok, almost always two.

Baby Shower

2011-07-17T19:25:00.003-06:00

This Saturday marked my first baby shower! We had tons of good food, all generously provided by my mom and none of which I took photos of - I know, I'm ashamed. I didn't think to take a single photo of the delicious spread. However, I did pass off my camera to my cousin, Betsy (Hi Bets!) who captured the day on 'film' for me.

We began with a few games, all orchestrated by my mom. A quick introduction from everyone present, some word games and then a diaper changing contest. In teams of two, three groups had to compete to see who could change a diaper the fastest - each contestant with one hand tied to their partner's.

My friend Becca and I won, but I give her all the credit. Not just because she was the "right hand" but also because she has a 2 1/2 year old girl and is a pro at all things diaper-related.

Next was the most unexpected part of the shower - my mom sat me down at the table and proceeded to make me into a baby with her acting as "my" hands. She then "fed" me a cupcake and some water - which left me wet and just a little covered in frosting. Much to the delight of my friends....and to my embarrassment.

One word: Sticky.

Then it was time for gifts.

I received so many adorable outfits, toys, teethers, blankets, pillows, photo frames and baby gadgets thanks to these wonderful women who came to support me. You all have no idea how much each gift was appreciated and to those of you who read my blog, thanks again for coming!

And to my mom, thank you so much for all the planning you did and all the work you put into this - it meant so much to me. See you for the next one in two weeks!

Monday's Meals

2011-07-12T07:57:00.000-06:00

This weekend sure flew by quickly - we had a wedding on Saturday, a birthday party on Sunday and I had a million errands to run on Monday.

The wedding was very nice, I was a little worried about being at an outdoor wedding in July but it was in the mountains and the weather was a perfect 70 degrees. Dave was one of the groomsmen and I was actually supposed to be a bridesmaid but the bride was nice enough to let me slide on that duty at 31 weeks pregnant. Talk about never being able to wear a bridesmaid's dress again!

I even had my first taste of champagne since New Year's eve. I drank all 2 oz of this little cup and I could definitely feel my cheeks getting red. I'm going to be such a cheap date when I can drink again.

Yesterday I had a ton of to-do's on my list and I figured it's also been awhile since I've posted a day's worth of food so I made sure to document each bite all day long.

Breakfast:

Chopped apple cooked with 1/3 cup hot cereal mix (from the bulk bins), water and soy milk. I added flaxseed, cinnamon and a ton of peanut butter.

Snack:

Smoothie with frozen banana, berries, peaches, soy milk and vanilla extract.

Lunch:

I went to a new-to-me spot in town, Jason's Deli. I'd always heard so much about it but never seem to find myself on that side of town for lunch. I got a turkey avocado sandwich, chips, a pickle and a lemonade. It was good and not a bad price ($8) for the amount of food I received.

I spent the majority of the afternoon at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond and the grocery store. I was trying to get some new dining room chairs but the cheapest I could find were $50 each (we need 4) so instead I bought some $12 felt pads for our current ones. I felt so thrifty! Then I went and ruined my frugality by spending $205 at Target. I'm convinced that a nesting pregnant woman is Target's ideal customer.

Snacks:

I nibbled on the Cheez-Its while prepping dinner - fajitas. I made a batch of my homemade tortillas and sauteed some cube steak, bell peppers, onions and mushrooms.

I had one fajita with avocado, sour cream and cheese and another plain tortilla with a bit of avocado and melted cheese.

Dessert:

Just a few bites of a not-so-ripe cantaloupe that I cut up for the week.

There you have it! I'm not a calorie counter anymore so I can't tell you how many calories, carbs or grams of protein I ate all day but that's ok. I prefer the intuitive eating style of honoring your hunger and respecting your fullness. It's not an exact science but it has certainly worked well for me over the last couple of years.

Especially when it comes to pregnancy.

I know so many women who take the whole "eating for two" idea a little too far. I can't see myself doing that because I know that rapid weight gain isn't healthy for myself or my baby. Pregnant women only need about 300 extra calories a day to gain a proper amount of weight. Plus, when I'm deflated and struggling with sleeplessness the last thing I want is to feel badly about abusing my body with unnecessary portions. That said, I'm not going to freak out about losing the "baby weight" immediately either. I know that I will fit back into my clothing eventually but it's not worth worrying about - not with a newborn already stressing me out!

Belly Update - Week 31

2011-07-10T12:20:00.008-06:00

Here we are at 31 weeks!! Depending on how your mind processes weeks and months I'm either almost 8 months along (not really the case) or I'm almost hitting the 7 month mark (my due date is 2 months and 4 days away). Either way I can't believe it - our life is going to completely change VERY soon.

According to my doctor and about 20 of my closest friends, family and acquaintances, I am ALL baby. Not a whole lot going on elsewhere. Still able to fit into my pre-pregnancy bras which is totally not the case with almost every other pregnant woman I know of. Not fair! Why won't the boob fairy visit me...?

My first baby shower is also coming up next weekend! While I'm getting super excited for it there is something that is really bugging me. I mentioned previously that I registered at MyRegistry.com which, at the time, seemed like the best idea since I could register for items from different stores. Well, here we are 6 days before the baby shower and only one gift has been purchased. As a total procrastinator I always wait until the last minute for gifts too but I'm not sure that everyone is aware of how this registry works. It's all online ordering which, for most stores, takes about a week to get your item once it's been ordered.

I know this sounds like the ultimate 'white girl problem' but I guess I'm worried because the only stuff I really need or want is on the registry. And quite frankly, we just can't afford to buy it all ourselves. I'm going to feel so awful if I wind up returning things from well-meaning folks just because we need to get $$$ to afford the stroller/car seat/baby monitor/crib bedding or whatever. But man, babies are expensive!

Some new happenings:

I'm super jumpy. Not like Oh, you scared me! jumpy, no it's more like Holy hell what was that oh man can't stop shaking that almost gave me a heart attack jumpy. The last time we were out on the boat it was a little windy so the water was choppy and every time I got sprayed by the cold mist I jumped about 12 inches off my seat and my arms flew into the air. EVERY. TIME. I knew it was coming but I just couldn't help myself. By about the 22nd full-body flinch my husband slowed the boat down to a crawl so I wouldn't startle myself into early labor.
It's getting harder to breathe. And eat. This little girl is slowly crawling up my torso and restricting my air intake. I'm sure the day is coming when I finally get a kick to the rib-cage. I was hoping I might avoid most of the painful rib kicks since I'm pretty tall (5'8") but I'm not sure how much room she will eventually take up. All I know now is that I am constantly dropping food ALL OVER MY big belly because if I bend forward to eat I can't breathe!
My maternity clothing options are getting pretty limited. We're down to a couple of dresses, a skirt, a pair of capris, a pair of shorts and a handful of shirts. I also have my black work pants but those are starting to get a little tight too. I'm hoping I can just tough it out and fit into the same stale outfits over and over without having to get more items. I've already told my boss that the day I can't wear my stretchy work pants I'm either officially out of there or coming to work in a maxi dress. I can't afford to spend another $50 on extra long, maternity black dress pants just for an extra few weeks.
This isn't new but my eyelashes are still falling out. I have a large bald spot on my upper left lid that is making me extremely self conscious. It's amazing how much stuff gets into your eyes when you don't have lashes to block it out!

Stats:

Days until due date: 66 (Holy crap holy crap holy crap.)
Pounds gained: 18
Stretch marks: ZERO so far! Here's hoping it stays that way.
Times little bean has gotten the hiccups: Too many to count, I swear she gets them so often these days. It's so cute to see the little bump bouncing in rhythm.
Cravings: Watermelon, Nutella, pudding, anything with melted cheese, ice cream w/hot fudge, baby swiss Cheez-Its and iced tea.
Aversions: The texture of meat (pieces of chicken/steak/etc), cooked veggies (broccoli especially), tomato sauce and greasy or deep-fried anything.
Crying sessions this month: One. It was so stupid, I went to the restroom and my entire skirt hem accidentally got dipped into the toilet as I sat down. I was mortified, shocked and crying like a madwoman all at once. The worst part is I didn't realize it until after I stood back up. So, so gross.

Oh and I also bought my husband the best shirt ever. Since I've been showing more and more I'm getting off the wall comments and unwanted attention in public so hopefully this keeps some of the more touchy-feely strangers at bay:

I'm making him wear it to a family reunion next weekend - we'll see how well it works!!

I'm On A Boat...

2011-07-03T20:27:00.000-06:00

Anyone know that stupid song?? One of our friends plays it on his iPod every time we take the boat out on the lake. It's annoying yet sorta hilarious at the same time.

As the title says, we took our boat out today to Horsetooth Reservoir. It was a perfect day for boating. A little crowded at first but the line that was supposed to take 2.5 hours to get through only took us 30 minutes. The sun stayed hidden for a while but since it was 90 degrees outside it was nice to have a little cloud cover.

One of Dave's employees blew up a (brand new!) tire on Dave's truck this week so we used my truck to pull the boat up the mountain - I'm so proud of my baby, she did a wonderful job! Gotta love that we made use of the V8 engine with a tow package. (Can you tell I'm a mechanic's wife?)

That monster of a boat makes my Hummer look so tiny....

Dave wore his favorite shirt. ;)

We even had a couple flags out to show off our American pride.

Lunch was turkey, ham and cheese sandwiches and baby swiss Cheez-It's. I also downed an entire container of watermelon by myself and finished with a pudding cup. Being pregnant certainly has it's perks. Oh, and before anyone yells at me for eating lunch meat just know that 1) it was all we had 2) I was hungry and 3) our friends brought it to share with everyone and I wasn't going to be picky.

The guys swam for a bit after the sun came back out but I just stuck my feet in. I haven't taken the plunge and purchased a maternity swimsuit yet but I think I will next weekend.

One thing about having a baby in your belly is it makes your posture a lot better. I usually slouch a lot when I sit but having to keep room in my torso for this little one sure makes your back straight as an arrow.

Like my view??? It's growing - 30 weeks and counting...

This view was pretty good too.

When we came home I made use of some leftover produce and made two large glasses of juice. I used lemon, grapefruit, carrots, celery, romaine and apple.

I also snacked on some more Cheez-It's - this flavor is addictive.

Not exactly the most well-rounded dinner so I think I'll head off in search of something with some protein.

I hope everyone has a good (and safe) fourth of July. Have some beer/wine/margaritas for me!

San Diego Part 3: The Zoo

2011-06-30T07:42:00.000-06:00

Missed the first two?

Part 1: Mission and Pacific Beach
Part 2: Rental House and USS Midway

When I told people we were going to San Diego for our babymoon, almost everyone asked one of two questions: 1) Are you going to the zoo? 2) You're going to Sea World right? Well, we didn't get to Sea World but we did set aside an entire day to check out the famous San Diego Zoo.

My favorite animals were the playful otters,

the sleeping koala bears (I WANT ONE),

and the polar bears.

But by far the best entertainment was from this guy. He just kept popping his head up over and over.....

Hi dad!!! :)

We walked around for hours exploring each section of the park. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to see the pandas (the line was horribly long) so I was a little bummed that we missed one of the main attractions. I was starting to feel some pretty intense low-back pain after being on my feet for so long so we called it a day and rode the gondolas down toward the exit.

(Can you spot my parents in car #31?)

All in all, San Diego was a great spot for our last getaway before the baby comes. It was really nice to get both my family and Dave's together for the first time since our wedding (May 31, 2009) and I think we all had a really good vacation.

We have a pretty busy summer ahead of us, including some renovations on our house, but I will try to post as much as possible. Especially about the two (maybe three??) baby showers I have coming up!!

Birthday Girl

2011-06-22T09:39:00.001-06:00

Today I am 26 years old.

I started my morning with a cup of black tea (with half & half and honey) and a slice of my husband's homemade birthday carrot cake (his 29th birthday was yesterday).

Which I then finished up with a pint of raspberries and a piece of toast with avocado. Gotta keep this little bean healthy!

I picked out some clothes to change into after work for a nice dinner out with friends....

This maxi dress is getting a lot of use this summer!

...and I even went out and got myself a fun manicure. Little indulgences make me so happy. :) Happy Birthday to me!

Did I ever mention that I have crooked pinkies? It's something I inherited from my mom's side of the family and to be honest, I kind of hope I pass this little quirk on to my little girl.

Do you have any weird dominant features that run in your family? Do you like them?

Belly Update - Week 28 (Nesting)

2011-06-20T18:05:00.000-06:00

Week 28 - Baby is the size of a head of cauliflower.

I'm feeling pretty good these days, a little on the heavy side. Not sure what my weight gain is at the moment but I'm thinking somewhere around 14-15 pounds total. I'm officially OUT of 99% of my pre-pregnancy wardrobe, the last 1% being sweaters, over-shirts and the occasional billowy top.

I'm so thankful that the last third of this pregnancy is during the summer. Dresses, skirts, tank tops and flip flops are super comfortable and I'm so happy that I'm not buying maternity coats, sweaters, pants and having to wear socks and shoes all the time. I can't even cut my own toenails anymore!

Also, I haven't been talking about my workouts much and that's because there really haven't been any. I've been trying to walk in the evenings but after working on my feet for 8 hours I really just want to put my feet up. We do walk around a lot on the weekends which makes me feel better. However, my arms were starting to lose some hard-earned tone and I just couldn't let that happen so I have been doing strength training 3x a week for that.

Today I spent the majority of the day being my own technical support representative. We FINALLY got internet at our house (yes, I've had a blog for 2.5 years without home internet access - my boss should have fired me) and I've spent most of the morning setting up our wireless connection. Also, my husband's birthday is tomorrow so I gave him his present on Sunday for a Father's Day/birthday combo.

We've never been into video games of any sort, that whole Wii craze definitely passed us by. But, now that we'll be spending a few more weekends at home starting this fall, I figured having another (active!) form of entertainment was essential to him not going crazy. So, the lucky guy got an Xbox 360 with Kinect.

It's been ~~a pain in the ass~~ interesting to get it all set up but I must say it's pretty fun! We don't have many games yet but I did sign us up for Netflix as well so I feel like I'm getting something out of this deal too. :)

Another interesting fact is that I experienced my first "nesting instinct" today. After running to the grocery store I was putting away groceries and noticed some crumbs at the bottom of the fridge

Well one clean shelf turned into another and the next thing I knew I was scrubbing the entire fridge with soap and water. I really couldn't stop! But, it looks nice and organized now and that makes me happy.

I'm sure there will be many more nesting episodes to come in the next 2.5 months, I'm curious to see what I ABSOLUTELY HAVE to clean next.

Father's Day

2011-06-19T18:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the world. I know, I'm probably biased, but I honestly think that I'm one of the luckiest women out there to have grown up with such a wonderful father. He taught me so much and I'm still always learning from him.

Dad - you're going to be the best grandpa ever!!! I can't wait for my daughter to meet you.

Grandma's Brownies

2011-06-15T09:31:00.000-06:00

When asked my about my daily diet instead of spouting off all the random snacks/meals I like to eat, I generally respond with, "I like to keep it simple, mostly stuff your grandmother would recognize as food." This means I tend to stay away from processed and packaged foods 80% of the time. There will always be room for fun foods and nothing is ever off limits (that's what the other 20% is for!) but I like to make my own desserts and snacks because then I know what goes into my body. Plus, it's cheaper and I get to fill my kitchen with wonderful aromas.

Yesterday I had a hankering for brownies. So I pulled out my recipe box and grabbed my go-to recipe handed down from my Grandma Lillian.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil
1 cup sugar -------- Blend together.
1 tsp vanilla

Add 2 eggs - mix well.

Add:

1/2 cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
(optional) 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I prefer my brownies nutless....)

Pour into a (greased) square pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.

While your brownies are baking, eat something nutritious (that your grandmother would recognize as food) so you have a valid excuse for dessert afterward.

Tomato, cucumber and spinach sandwich with mayo.

Let brownies cool for at least 5 minutes, if you can wait that long.

Cut into squares and enjoy! Preferably with a glass of ice cold (almond) milk.

Your grandmother would be so proud.

Wrapping Up the Second Trimester

2011-06-09T08:56:00.000-06:00

Well, here we are at 26 weeks and 1 day, or the beginning of week 27.

I can't believe I only have 14(ish) more weeks to go. It seems like I just announced my pregnancy to everyone! Most sources refer to the 27th week as the last of the second trimester so I thought that I would sum up the "honeymoon period" of pregnancy while it's still fresh in my mind.

Symptoms that have disappeared:

Morning sickness. THANK GOD, this only lasted from weeks 6-14 because I don't think I could have taken it much longer. I have had a couple days where I felt a little nauseated but nothing, nothing compared to what it was.
My thyroid has gone back down to a normal size and I no longer feel as if I'm wearing a too-tight turtleneck all the time.
Food aversions. I can't even look at broccoli but everything else is pretty appealing. I still prefer raw veggies over cooked but that's not a big deal. I've been eating a ton of fruit lately trying to keep my sugar consumption down.
Anxiety. Not really a "symptom" but I find that ever since week 15, when the baby started kicking, I feel much more at ease. Every now and then I'll worry if I haven't felt her for a bit but all I have to do is eat something sweet or talk for a bit out loud and I get some sort of reaction. (She just kicked me and did a little somersault right when I typed that!) I love that she almost always reacts when my husband and I talk to each other. It's like she doesn't want to be left out. :)
The drooling/watery mouth. Spitting all the time so I wouldn't gag on my own saliva. So glad that's gone!

Symptoms I'm still waiting on:

I've always heard that as soon as your uterus starts to grow, your bladder is immediately affected. Mine, not so much. I've had to get up three times TOTAL in the middle of the night to pee the entire time I've been pregnant. THREE. Yes, I pee a lot during the day because I'm guzzling water but I must have the biggest bladder in the world because as long as I go before bed, I can make it through the night just fine. And that includes those 12-13 hour nights from the exhausting first trimester.
Cravings. Am I just missing the point here because I thought pregnant women had CRAVINGS. I don't. Not any more than before at least. If something sounded good to me pre-pregnancy I would make a mental note and eat it the next time I had the option. Same thing with pregnancy. Like last weekend I wanted some ice cream with hot fudge. But I didn't get a chance to have it, so you bet I will be on the lookout for it this weekend. I've been more lenient with my food choices for sure but I'm still waiting for that "Oh my god I need watermelon/chocolate/cheese/etc RIGHT NOW and I will kill whoever gets in my way" feeling.

Newest symptoms and medical complications: (some of which may be TMI but I wish someone had told me this stuff so I feel obligated to share)

The best thing about the second trimester is that you feel like a normal person again. I actually plain forgot I was pregnant a couple times! It's such an amazing feeling to go from that sickly, tired person to your old self almost instantly. That feeling was short lived though, as my body is moving slower and feeling heavier these days.
Bacteria and Ph changes. Basically, I have had a yeast infection the ENTIRE second trimester. I've been on antibiotics 5 times for it and it just. keeps. coming. back. My doctor says that it's very normal and my body is just adjusting to the new levels of hormones. I've been taking a daily probiotic for nearly two years which unfortunately isn't helping. I'm at my wit's end and SO SO sick of getting a prescription filled for a pill that I know will only help me for a few days. I hate relying on pills for anything.
UTI's and kidney infections. I've only had the one but it was scary enough to completely freak me out. Kidney infections, when left untreated, can lead to premature labor and hospitalization. Luckily, I caught mine in time and went on 7 days of antibiotics but I'm not convinced it's completely gone.
Heart palpitations. I've mentioned this a while back but not to my doc. When I went in for the kidney pain I finally told her about it and started a whole whirlwind of testing. I had to see a cardiologist and get an EKG last week (result: normal) and also an ultrasound of my heart on Tuesday (result: normal). Then, I was fitted for a 24-hour heart rate monitor and I get the results at my next appt with the cardiologist on the 24th.

Wearing a ton of wires and 5 electrodes is really uncomfortable when you have to wear maternity clothing! That little screen is supposed to clip to my waistband....um, what waistband?!

Statistics:

Total weight gained so far: 11.5 pounds
Number of people who made rude pregnancy comments to me yesterday: 2 (both were men)
Number of times I've been asked, "Are you excited?": 12,554,633,232 (next time I'm going to say no and see what reaction I get!)
Servings of angel food cake with strawberries (and sometimes homemade whipped cream) this week: 2 and counting!

Fair Foods

2011-06-08T09:58:00.001-06:00

How many times have you been to a county fair and just wanted to eat everything that you saw? I'm not normally a huge fan of "fair food" but some things are just meant to be.

Like snow cones...

Sorry I had to.

Or funnel cakes...

Or even the elusive root beer float...

Well this weekend we found ourselves at a car show where they just happened to have all of the above foods. I grabbed a Tiger's Blood flavored snow cone right off the bat. It was delicious. Full of chemicals and dye, yes, but still pretty darn good on an almost 90 degree day.

Then I spotted the newest addition to all fair foods - the deep-fried Snickers bar. Yup, we went there. It was Travis, the master of all things fried, who after spotting the stand ran like a fat kid towards the cookie jar (his wife's description, not mine). Once he got over the novelty of the whole concept he placed his order. I think the look on his face says it all, don't you?

To him it was a little slice of heaven on a stick. To the rest of us, well, it was good. Tasted just like a Snickers bar left in a hot car to me....

Yes, even I took a small bite despite my hatred for all things fried.

After we all sampled it, the rest of the Snickers bar was passed back to Travis who devoured it.

Before the end of the day I finally had my hands on that root beer float but Travis, on the other hand, is still jonesing for that second deep-fried Snickers bar that he couldn't get his wife to go buy for him.