ThisFinnGarianMama

Switching...

2007-05-13T00:20:00.000-04:00

For now, please visit my wordpress blog. I'm giving it a good trial run. The link is in the post below. Please let me know what you think!

Wordpress

2007-05-10T22:35:00.000-04:00

I kind of like blogging on Wordpress so most likely I will be blogging there for the time being... please visit my blog there. If I decide to stay with them permanently I'll put up a post here letting everyone know.

Strep throat and possible new blog location

2007-05-09T14:35:00.000-04:00

It sucks! I got the "official" call from my doctor's office this afternoon. I'm really glad I went and filled the Rx yesterday, at least I got a head start on it. I am feeling a little better... it still hurts and if I do too much, I still feel it, but at least I got some sleep last night... all the nights before that, I woke up each time I had to swallow because it hurt so much!

I am experimenting with another blog location, at wordpress.com. The link to that blog is here - I have imported most of what I've got in this blog, and right now I'm just playing around with layout and trying to get a few features in it that I like with blogger. I'd hope you'll check it out and let me know what you think! If I switch over permanently, I will post about it here and probably send out an email too.

SPOTS

2007-05-08T14:41:00.000-04:00

I am pretty certain we've both got strep throat!! We both have white spots in our throats now (we keep asking each other, "where is the penlight?" because we've become compulsive throat-checkers) and my husband is on his way to the doctor. I didn't have spots yesterday when I saw my doctor, but I filled the antibiotics today. I'll probably find out the culture results tomorrow but if I've got spots, they've got to go!

Fortunately the kids seem to be ok. But, they are the ones in the house who are nursing!! Behold, the power of ees!

YouTube favorites

2007-05-07T22:23:00.001-04:00

Talking cat
This cat is hysterical! Wait til you see what he was so pissed off about...

Twisted Sister - Christmas special
I never really got into this band, but the lead singer is so funny looking and they did a great job with this song!

Like the Numa Numa song? Here are a few!
Napoleon Dynamite
World of Warcraft
The Navy

Here is another favorite of mine - the Norwegian Army's rendition of "Kokomo" - (Kosovo)

I don't know why I like this one but it's a couple of Arab guys rapping about how much they like meat!

Enjoy these for now! Unfortunately, the video of the Russian belly dancer I thought was awesome is no longer up on You Tube. I'll have to search around for more of them sometime.

If you have your own YouTube favorites, please post the link in your comment! (Laura, you had a really funny Japanese potty training video!!)

Sick Sick Sick...

2007-05-07T19:06:00.000-04:00

This SUCKS!!! I almost never get sick, so when I do, I sure do whine a lot! I started getting a sore throat late Thursday night and over the weekend it was so bad I could hardly swallow! I was running a low grade fever too, it got up to almost 100 and that was with both Tylenol and Advil! My husband got it too, and his temp was almost 102! Sophie was even crabby, had a low fever and wasn't sleeping very well, and was spitting up a lot more than usual. I called my doctor this morning and they said there have been a lot of people coming in with really bad sore throats, and about 50% of them have been strep!! I had a temp of 99.4 with Tylenol on board so I asked to be seen, went in this afternoon and they did a throat culture. So I'll find out probably Wednesday if anything showed up. I am thinking it's going to be negative, I think people with strep throat are way sicker than I am, I can function a little as long as I keep up with the pain meds. My head hurts and my neck glands have been so sore that I can't sleep because the pillow pressing on them hurts. And I wake myself up whenever I need to swallow because that hurts too! Ugh! I really, really hate this.

So far, it looks like Will is the only one who seems to be doing OK. I'll find out in the next few days if he is going to get it or not. That's funny, because usually he is the one who brings sick into this house!

As an add-on, I have a few clips from You Tube that I really like (besides the fat rant) that I need to post up here - mainly because they are funny, but there is one cool belly dance clip that I really like, this lady can really dance... there is some great belly dancing going on in Russia right now! When I have time (yeah right) I'll have to do a You Tube post...

A Fat Rant

2007-05-04T19:05:00.000-04:00

Check this out!

I love coffee

2007-05-02T16:30:00.000-04:00

I had been caffiene free for a really long time... since before I was pregnant with Sophie because I was having such a hard time sleeping. Then I avoided it while pregnant, because along with the sleeping problems, I didn't want my blood pressure to go up - it never did, but I didn't want to make it worse either! But now, OH am I enjoying my coffee... Sophie is sleeping better but she still wakes me every few hours to nurse, and that's fine... but I often cannot get the two of them to nap at the same time. If I can, I usually get frustrated because Sophie is too restless or Will wakes up too early. A little caffiene has made me a better mother. I would rather drink it, than be mad at them both all day long. I seriously, feel like a new person. Who'da thunk it?

Mountains -o- poo

2007-04-28T12:18:00.000-04:00

OK, so I got up this morning, and Will (who is almost 2 1/2) woke up a bit later. I went to his room and he was in his crib, and he said "pooped". Sometimes he does poop first thing in the morning and he had a tell tale brown spot that had come through his pajamas. Nothing in the bed though so poopy pajamas is fine!

I got him on the changing table (with plenty of cloth diapers under him) and when I got his diaper open, I had a sinking feeling. Last night when I was cooking dinner, he wanted to eat and when I asked him what he wanted, he said "corn". (I can hear your sighs and gasps already!!) So I found a can in the pantry and he ate half of it for dinner! And we all know what happens to corn, right? You know, the corn conundrum? No matter how well you chew it, it always comes out looking like corn, and I probably don't need to say more!

So, to make a long story short, I used up about 10 baby wipes (I normally use 1-3 depending on the day, Clane is the one who routinely uses 10 - men!) because he literally had poo up to the bottom of his shoulder blades! This poop rightfully deserved its very own bag!!

Thunder thighs...

2007-04-26T11:48:00.000-04:00

Sophie weighs 13 lb 4 oz!! That's a whole half pound HEAVIER than Will was at this same age!!! She is 23 1/2 inches long, which is the same length Will was at 2 months. It's funny because she was 2 inches shorter than him at birth and almost a pound lighter. She's a chunk! I make a ton of milk though and she's a good eater... plus I think I've just got genetics on my side. We make big babies! I thought she would be between 12 and 13 pounds, but now I know why my wrists are shot... she exceeded my expectations!

2 month update (9 weeks today!)

2007-04-23T10:14:00.000-04:00

Things are starting to get a little bit better but not fast enough for this tired mama! Sophie is doing a lot better at night, she is finally agreeing to sleep during the time when she would otherwise be awake. And that is a huge relief for all of us. Now if I could actually sleep before 1 am or past 7:30 am or both, I'll be really happy! Otherwise she is doing great, she really looks big to me and is in quite a few of her 3-6 month outfits now. I will take her to the doctor on Wednesday and I'm guessing she is between 12 and 13 pounds. She is getting a little more predictable with her naps too so that makes life a little easier for me!

We set a date for her baptism, June 17th which is Father's Day. Will was baptized on Mother's Day 2005 so this is really cool! She will have two godmothers, my good friend Amy and Clane's sister! Both were just thrilled to be asked to be godparents!

We had some pictures taken at Sears this weekend... what a racket... wish I could take better pics or at least had better backgrounds because it's a rip off I think! They did come out nice, but I think once the kids are in school, we won't do Sears anymore! Will was near hysterical and refused to cooperate... the one shot she got of the 4 of us looks kind of harried but it's the best we could all do! Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow!

It was our 5th anniversary on the 20th and we had a nice dinner at the Italian place where we had our reception. I had a lemon chicken breast with capers and it was so good! We had some really awesome wine too, I'll be wanting to get more of that from somewhere! Will was a PITA but Sophie slept through most of it! I'm tellin ya, 2 1/2 is not for the faint of heart!! Clane bought me a really cool weather station, by Davis Instruments. I'm excited about it because once we get it up and running, and get the data online, we'll be sending it to the NOAA to help them with their forecasting! It's a really cool weather station and I'm really excited about it!

Clane also found Saturn this weekend through the telescope and it was the first time I ever saw it. It was very tiny but you could clearly see the rings. He didn't tell me what I was looking at but I knew right away, it was really neat... Hopefully he'll be able to find it again some clear night!

Sophie is 7 weeks old...

2007-04-10T12:55:00.000-04:00

and we all have colds! UGH!!!!!!! Will had his first cold at 5 months. So 7 weeks is a little young! :(

Kitty update

2007-04-06T22:38:00.000-04:00

So I brought her to the vet today, and the vet thinks it's related to her allergy problems with her skin. She said that the irritation probably caused a clot to form, and it basically cut off circulation to the tip of her ear, which turned necrotic and fell off! It could have also been an injury, but since she is no longer a rambunctious youngster who plays outside, I would be surprised if that's what it was. Her weight is still good and her scabs, although they aren't gone, are definitely better.

On a side note, one little town in the UP close to where I grew up, got 38 inches of snow during this latest storm they had up there. Go Painesdale! That's a lot of snow!

Just a little update...

2007-04-05T18:17:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted here in a while so I thought I'd check in...

Nights have still been really hard. I think she is getting better, at least a little more predictable and she is stretching out her feedings a little more too. But it's not quick enough for her mama. I'm still sleep deprived and some days I feel crazy from lack of sleep. It's not even "tired" or even "exhausted" anymore, it's just completely insane. Any moms who have been there/done that will understand what I mean!

I got some information about my 20 year high school reunion today. I am thinking we will probably be in the UP for it, but I'm not sure yet how to work out the logistics. I will need to either go home to nurse Sophie or find a place to pump, because she will still be exclusively breastfed in July and I won't be able to go that long without either pumping or nursing. I am sure we will be able to work something out, I might attend part of it but not all of it. I actually don't even know yet if we'll be up there... but it might be nice, it's kind of a milestone year. I don't feel that old, it's funny! It's hard to imagine it's already been 20 years.

My husband has a 4 day weekend now for Easter. I've been waiting for this weekend ever since he went back to work after Sophie was born!

My dad is coming for a visit next week so that will be nice. I don't think we've seen him since last summer.

Sophie is 6 weeks old now and is just a chunk! I need to get more pictures of her. I just got some but she is sleeping so I'll need to get more once she wakes up again. She's got lots of chins and big meaty thunder thighs and I love them! She's definitely getting plenty to eat! I still have oversupply problems though, and she seems to struggle with that daily... poor baby. Oh well, I know that once she gets older she will come to expect it and probably even like it...

Oh and now my cat (the scabby one) is missing the tip of one of her ears. So it's off to see the vet tomorrow. It looks like it's healed up ok but since she doesn't go outside, I can't imagine what happened???

Hmmm... notice a theme?

2007-03-30T15:39:00.000-04:00

The titles of my last two posts are vaguely reminiscent of songs by the Doors...

I wonder how I should interpret that? LOL

Yack three times Baby... yack some more today...

2007-03-30T15:29:00.000-04:00

My poor daughter. Every time I try to nurse her laying down (so we can all sleep!) I flood her with milk, she swallows air, she starts to cry, then she yacks all over! I gave up trying to nap with her today because she spent the first 20 minutes of my son's (way too short) nap time crying and yacking because I nursed her side-lying while trying to get my son to fall asleep.

Sometimes I feel like this is never going to get better. I think I have resigned myself on the sleep thing though, I am just going to have to suffer and just expect no sleep and to be tired all the time. There just isn't anything we can do about it. We already sleep either with her or very close (in an Arm's Reach co-sleeper, side carred to the bed) and she can nurse as often as she needs to all night... there just isn't anything else we can do. I know it will get better but I also know we could be doing this for many months yet and I just don't have it in me to think about it.

I am even eliminating dairy from my diet in case that's the problem... I'm sure it will do no good but it's at least something I can do easily as I already don't eat much of it to begin with...

Also, my allergic cat, who still has fleas despite two (almost 3) months of Frontline, now is missing the tip of one of her ears. So it's back to the vet for us next week. Will anything ever get better around here?

Days turn into nights.... nights turn into days.....

2007-03-23T17:27:00.000-04:00

Uggghhhhhhh sleep deprivation!! It sucks so bad! No wonder it's used as torture in some parts of the world, because it renders you unable to function! It seems like all my days have run together in one big blur, a pile of poopy diapers and endless sitting in the lazy boy nursing. Sophie is cute as heck (despite a bad case of baby acne) and she's growing like a weed... she weighed 11 pounds this Monday at the doctor's which is a gain of 2 pounds in 3 weeks! And, I can get one pair of old jeans on, buttoned and zipped. They are not comfortable, nor would I wear them out anywhere, but I can get them on! Otherwise I'm still in my stretchy stuff and one pair of maternity jeans when I feel the need to wear jeans. They are stretchy and more for early pregnancy or postpartum.

She still insists on being up in the middle of the night, often for hours... and trying to keep her awake more during the day really doesn't help. I guess this is one of those things that will pass, it will resolve itself one day, but it sure is hard now. I'm just so happy it's Friday, counting down to the weekend is the only thing keeping me going. And mercifully, Clane has 4 days off at Easter which is only a couple of weekends away.

On another note - I am attempting to make my life a little easier by actually planning my meals for the week ahead of time. I have never done that in my life, I like to cook and have usually made meals with little planning until that afternoon... unless it involves thawing out a large piece of meat. But I am hoping it will help streamline things. I will be able to pick one of the meals I planned on, get all the stuff out (because I sat with the cookbook and made a list before going to the store) and just make it without stressing about what to cook. I am using the America's Test Kitchens book right now, about everything I've made from that book has been really good. So I'll see how long I can keep this up!

We have crocuses blooming too, they came out this week!

3 weeks old!

2007-03-12T12:20:00.000-04:00

Wow, it just doesn't seem like it's been that long already! I just can't wrap my brain around it! When I try to remember what it was like being pregnant and waiting for her, I can barely remember it, it just seems like a dream from long ago. It's kind of weird how that feels. I am sure being so darn tired isn't helping! Nights have been pretty brutal, she seems to have her usual "baby fuss" period from 1-3 am instead of in the evenings like most other babies. She was always awake in my belly at night, so I'm thinking she is still on her usual routine. I am hoping she gets it figured out... or at least I hope Clane and I can figure out how to work with it in such a way that we each get enough sleep to get by.

Breastfeeding is going well. I have oversupply problems (no surprise there) and actually had to block feed for 7-8 hours on one side to get rid of the green poop! And I'm leaking like a madwoman! If Sophie eats too much, up it comes... she actually got my face yesterday, ick!! At least breast milk doesn't stain and doesn't smell bad! (Even her poop smells like sour cream!)

Today I went through all the clothes we got as gifts and put them away. I also went through Will's clothes again and pulled out all the stuff that is either too small or will be too small come summer. I am going to need to do some serious clothes shopping for both of them! I know I am going to be donating a lot of Will's old clothes, we got a lot of them as hand me downs and a lot were for the wrong season. There is just no way I'd use them all, even if we had another boy.

It's my first whole day here alone with both creatures, and so far, it's going OK. Sophie is taking a nap and thank goodness for PBS, that's all I have to say!

I've got some pictures together but I would rather not post the link to them on my blog since it's public... if anyone wants to see the pictures and I haven't already sent them to you, just leave me a comment with your email in it and I'll send you the link!

Just a quick update...

2007-02-28T19:28:00.000-05:00

I've got Sophie in the Moby wrap right now - it's about the only time I get computer time! Things are going fairly well... during the day she is pretty content, but nights have been really hard! Last night she screamed for several hours, was pretty much inconsolable! :( I finally swaddled her tightly, against her will, and she passed out after that, around 4:30 am!! I hope this is a short lived thing because it is really exhausting and heartbreaking! She is getting more used to sleeping in her bed rather than on us so that will help a little bit. I think if we can help her get her days and nights straight, that will be good. Of course she is only a little over a week old so it sounds par for the course!

Otherwise she is nursing well, she's got a different style than Will - he gets down to business and doesn't waste time... she has to make sure things are "just right", yells at it a bit, and that can take a few minutes before she finally latches and gets down to eating. She saw the doctor on Monday and had already gained back her birth weight plus 4 more ounces - she's 9 pounds already!

We really appreciate the emails and well wishes.. I haven't had much time to get photos uploaded but when I do, I'll be getting them out to everyone!

Birth Announcement!

2007-02-22T00:03:00.000-05:00

Sophia Katherine was born Monday, February 19th at 9:41 am, weighing in at 8 lb, 12 oz and 19 inches long! I had several days of labor followed by almost 26 hours of labor at the hospital. We are working on getting breastfeeding established. I had some interventions I had not wanted originally but looking back, I made the right decisions, because of the long labor, I would not have been able to get through it all without them. We are both healthy and for that, we're thankful.

More to come later... no time now!

Home, baby still in

2007-02-17T13:25:00.000-05:00

I'm not real happy about this, but I think I'm in what is called "prodromal labor". I should have expected it since it took 50 hours for my son to be born with "all guns fully loaded" so to speak. We went in, and I'd made very little progress, so my doctor ordered a sleeping pill so I could sleep, I took it, and we went home. I'm having some contractions today but they are mild and pretty far apart. Will stayed with grandma and grandpa last night and that went well, but my husband went and picked him up this morning since not much is happening right now.

There really isn't much I can do at this point, alternate activity with rest and when they pick up again, waiting til they are stronger, then giving doc a call and going in again.

Thankfully nobody has been calling us, freaking out! That would REALLY piss me off at this point, so I've dubbed our house, and all electronic devices flowing into, and out of it, a NO FREAK-OUT ZONE. I don't want to talk to anyone who is going to freak out about anything! No negative energy, please! If *I* can be patient enough to let this happen, I certainly expect everyone else to be patient as well! (After all, they are not the ones going through this!)

I'll update as I am able. The nurse last night was a sweetheart and I can only hope she is our nurse when we go in for real the next time!

I'm in labor, going in soon

2007-02-16T19:08:00.000-05:00

I am in labor, no doubt about it. Right now I'm having contractions about every 4 minutes apart, for about the last couple of hours. They were mild all day, then suddenly they became like this! I called the doctor and she said to come in when we're ready, or when I really have a hard time getting through them. We might wait here for a bit, then go, these contractions seemed to come out of nowhere so we probably shouldn't wait too long! We'll be emailing out a birth announcement later on and when I get home and get a chance, I'll post about it here too.

I am amazed at how much easier these contractions are to cope with, than when I was induced. It's like night and day!

Could be early labor...

2007-02-16T11:32:00.000-05:00

I could be in early labor, in fact I probably am, but I don't have ANY idea how long it will be... I had such a LONG (50 hour) labor with my son (even though it was induced) so we're just hanging out at home today and I kept my husband home from work. Depending on how things go, I may or may not get a chance to update this again if we need to leave for the hospital later - in any case I will post again if I'm still here or maybe my next post will be a birth announcement! :)

More to come!

Sorry...

2007-02-15T10:12:00.000-05:00

For all you hopeless romantics who thought it would be SO cool if we had a Valentine's Day baby, you're out of luck!!

The next holiday, according to my calendar, is President's Day. :)

Doctor update

2007-02-13T13:34:00.000-05:00

I am certainly not going to complain, but my doctor has done a complete turnaround on the whole induction thing! I'm SO relieved! She made me so mad last week! I had a non-stress test yesterday at the hospital (they watch baby's heart rate to make sure it behaves normally with movement and contractions, if you have any) which was totally fine, and today when I went in, we were both totally fine. So even though she did offer to induce if I wanted, she seemed completely OK with me just going home and letting nature take its course. I am also 1 cm and 60% effaced so at least all these contractions I've been having are doing SOMETHING! Maybe now that she is off my back, I can relax and go into labor. Either way, the baby will come when the baby is ready, and that's fine with me. I will have another NST at the hospital on Monday and see her again on Tuesday.

I have my moments of feeling pretty good and optimistic, to feeling really bad and just MAD that I haven't gone into labor yet. I suppose that's all par for the course. If I'm feeling OK tonight, I think we are going to head to the mall to do some walking. I plan to do some shopping as well, because I'm not going to haul my big pregnant ass all over the mall and not buy myself something to make me feel better! Even if it's another book! I've been going through a lot of books lately, I've read Jimmy Carter's "Palestine - Peace not Apartheid", I've gotten halfway through "The Iraq Study Group Report" and "The Weathermakers" which is about global warming. With all that heavy and depressing reading, now I am reading Bill Bryson's book about his travels through Europe. He is really funny and I've enjoyed every single book I've read by him! (Thanks Dad!) I got really tired of reading books about birth and breastfeeding, so I had to get something different!

I still think my due date was yesterday and not the 7th, but I'm too lazy to change my ticker. I'll put up a new ticker when the baby is born. Just do your own math and subtract 5 days. It's not that hard! :)

It's my dad's birthday...

2007-02-09T13:42:00.000-05:00

And it doesn't look like he'll get a new grandchild today! *sigh* Sorry Dad, we tried!

Unless something unexpected surprises the heck out of us, it looks like it's business as usual....

More contractions...

2007-02-08T09:26:00.000-05:00

I had a TON of Braxton Hicks again last night, and whew! They hurt! They weren't bad while I was laying down to go to sleep so at least that was good, I got a fairly decent night's sleep. But if I was up walking around, I could barely stand it. I could have spent some time walking into the night but I figured if it was really turning into labor, I needed to get some sleep first and foremost. I'm having a few mild ones right now but it's nothing that I'm excited over at this point.

My husband asked me if he should stay home today and I told him no, he should go to work. Will and I are getting together with some friends this morning, he will play with the other kids and us grownups will be working on some stuff for La Leche League. I need to continue on with life as usual!

I would love to have this baby tomorrow because it's my dad's birthday. I have a feeling it won't be that much longer anyway, definitely within the next week.

"Due"?

2007-02-07T09:40:00.001-05:00

Today is my due date, I guess. Honestly I would be more willing to go with the 12th, only because when I look at my dates and the bigger picture it makes more sense. In any case, I saw the doctor yesterday and she royally pissed me off by attempting to get me used to the idea of induction - I'm not even due, this is a totally healthy pregnancy, and there is no reason for it! So she will have to make a very convincing argument, if I do need to see her next week in the office. I will not be induced because of the day on the calendar. I will consider it if there are concrete signs that the baby is not well or if I am not well, but otherwise, she will have to step outside her comfort zone and live with my decisions. In the meantime, she suggested (at least!!) evening primrose oil and red raspberry leaf tea. I have both so yesterday I started taking EPO and drinking as much tea as I could stand.

Yesterday after my appointment I met Clane for lunch. I started having Braxton-Hicks contrations during lunch and I had them for the rest of the day, they were still going when I went to bed. I have had a few this morning and I am sure they are helping things along, but they are really nothing to get excited about.

I am going to the hospital for a non-stress test on Monday if I'm still pregnant, and I will see the doctor again on Tuesday. I know at that point she will try to get me to set an induction date but she will have to be pretty convincing. If my NST is normal, and her exam checks out normal, I will go home and continue to wait. Unless she can tell me that the baby is definitely compromised, she will have to bear with me. If I am really only 40 weeks on Monday next week, in my opinion, it is still jumping the gun and really inappropriate to be talking about such an invasive procedure! I'm just really mad that she is laying all this on me now and that I have something else to worry about when I should just be relaxing!!

Otherwise, all is well. My BP is excellent, I am showing no signs of trouble, the baby sounds great and is doing very well, so there should be no need for this kind of crap, right?

Maybe a LITTLE is happening...

2007-02-04T19:46:00.000-05:00

Things are going along well! I'll see the doctor on Tuesday, supposedly my "due" date is Wednesday the 7th but honestly I think it is more like a week from now or so. In any case, on Thursday night I had some pretty good contractions, they lasted well into the night but they were mild enough that I fell asleep before they went away. I had more on Friday but they weren't as frequent. By the weekend, they had pretty much stopped. Just some practice, they weren't painful or intense, just enough to notice them. Every little bit helps! I still don't think I will have this baby for another couple of weeks. It's just my gut feeling about it.

I also think this baby is going to be smaller than Will. He was 9 lb 8 oz and I just don't feel as big or swollen like I did with him. I am still wearing my wedding rings but my legs have gotten pretty puffy.

Aside from some minor organizational stuff, we are pretty much ready. The clothes and diapers are all washed, we have the baby bed upstairs now and all the bedding for that is washed. I've washed the car seat cover but still need to wipe down the car seat itself and have Clane install the base. I'm all stocked up on breast pads (I leaked like a maniac last time, for a really long time too) and baby wipes and still have a ton of baby wash that we're still using with Will. All I need is my body to start gearing up a little more intensely! I'm glad that I don't feel too bad most of the time, that's making things a little easier for now.

We're down to a week...

2007-01-31T20:25:00.000-05:00

.... I guess! Actually when I saw the doctor this week, I told her something I'd thought for a while, that my due date was wrong. She went back in my chart after talking with me about it and looked at her wheel, and agreed that I was probably due closer to the 12th. 5 days isn't that long, so it's still pretty close, but I think it would make a pretty big difference if I go "late". If I'm 42 weeks by the "official" due date, that's a huge difference from being 41 weeks and 2 days. So although I am still hoping to give birth sometime in the first two weeks of February, this, I think, will help buy me more time if it doesn't happen.

NOTHING is happening by the way. But I am continuing to do well, and so is the baby. My blood pressure is stable and the baby is doing very well. I've got the usual aches and pains of the end, but it's nothing I can't cope with. I had a pretty negative-feeling day yesterday, but today I am feeling better. I know that I could really go into labor at any time, despite that not much is going on that I can tell! Babies come when they are ready and when I look at the big picture, it's really not going to be that much longer.

Another scabby cat update!!

2007-01-29T09:51:00.000-05:00

Saturday night, I was combing out one of the cats (not the allergic one, but the other one - Kali), with a fine comb instead of a brush. She has a really thick coat and tends to get matted if I don't use a comb to get way down to her skin. She wasn't shedding much (thanks to changing their diets, their fur is growing in really nice now) but when I went to take the hair off the comb, there it was - a flea!! And it was ALIVE!!! I got all grossed out and the rest of the night couldn't stop scratching myself!

I put a call in to the vet first thing this morning. I wanted to get some Frontline or something similar because I don't want to mess around with this!! The vet called me back and was ECSTATIC that I found the flea! She now thinks this was 90% of P's skin problems, because allergic cats only need one flea bite per WEEK to get rashy and scabby and miserable! I will be going in later today to pick up the flea meds and we'll start them tonight. They checked P for fleas each time I brought her in but never found any - but she definitely could still have them. She told me I did well and was very happy I found the flea.

I can't imagine that a person would be SO happy that I found a flea, but that's just me! :)

Just added a new link...

2007-01-26T12:23:00.000-05:00

Please check out The Shape of a Mother. Being pregnant and giving birth changes our bodies, there is no denying that! We are so used to seeing "flawless" bodies in the media, entertainment and advertising, that many of us tend to feel bad or hopeless about how our bodies look during pregnancy and after childbirth. This blog is really important, I think, because it shows pictures of what REAL women look like, not the doctored up, Hollywoodized versions we might have in our minds!

Besides, we mommies have EARNED these bodies! And we worked damn hard for them! We are beautiful and that's just the way it is!!

38 weeks

2007-01-24T22:36:00.000-05:00

I tend to look at the 38 week point as the final countdown! Although it could still be several weeks until the big day, baby is pretty much done developing and the birth could really come any time and things would be fine. I am continuing to do well. I can feel that the baby has gone further into my pelvis, as I am having quite a bit more pain and pressure there. It feels like my joints are coming apart! But it's all normal, and it's a good thing at this point. I had some strong contractions last night, but I think I brought them on myself by just having a busy day and doing more than I probably should have. After a snack, a big glass of water and a nice long shower, they had mostly gone away and were completely gone by the time I went to sleep. They all help though, and I try to focus on that rather than thinking of it as a false alarm. Overall I really don't feel that anything is really happening, so we're just taking each day as it comes. Will lifts up my shirt and yells "BABY OUT!!" into my belly button so I am hoping one day soon, the baby will listen to him and come out to see us!

My blood pressure is good so that part will always make me happy!

Today was a pretty good day! I got together with some fellow La Leche League members to work on a few things and that went well. One of the girls has a son about my son's age and they were playing together so well, that we stayed for a good part of the day! Since we didn't have to run interference with them very often, we got a lot of work done. I'd been wanting to go through this stuff for a long time and it was good to be able to sit down and do it! It's getting me really excited to be breastfeeding an infant again! And the boys had a lot of fun, they played together exceptionally well, working out their own problems, cooperating, sharing, it was all really good!

We moved some furniture (well, my husband did the moving) in our room to make room for the baby's co-sleeper. It's neat, it's like a big bassinet that attaches to a regular bed. I am hoping that will make life easier for us for night nursing. Will still really needs to be in the crib and I don't really want to buy another one of those! Even though we didn't take any furniture out of our room, it still looks a lot bigger to me. It will be exciting to see the room all set up, although I'm not sure we'll leave it that way for now. The co-sleeper is pretty big and I need a lot of room to get out of bed in the night right now.

I feel like I'm in a pretty good mood today. I hope I still feel like this tomorrow! Seems like I'm irritated most of the time these days. That annoys me too! *sigh*

Nothing's happening...

2007-01-21T11:55:00.000-05:00

In case someone is looking at my blog to see if anything is happening with my pregnancy, you're out of luck! There is nothing going on at all. The only thing is that all I want to do is sleep, and I don't want to go anywhere or do anything. Otherwise, nothing has changed or is happening at all! I'm pretty certain there will be no baby this week. :)

37 weeks and scabby cat update!

2007-01-17T14:16:00.000-05:00

All is well, and quiet, with the pregnancy! My blood pressure is excellent, my weight is still good, the baby is doing fine and measuring right on. The doctor said that I could to into my own little labor and it's just a matter of time! So that was all good news. I wound up having to call her later in the day, but I'll keep the day in chronological order so I don't mess up the story. :)

Later in the day I had to take our scabby cat to the vet for a check up. My friend came with me to help carry the cat in and entertain my son. The vet thought she was doing well, she hasn't lost any weight and her fur is growing in nice and thick and shiny. She thought the scabbiness was improving as well, and agreed that continuing to give her cortisone shots could be more of a risk than a benefit at this point. (I don't want a diabetic cat and neither does she!) So we didn't even get charged for the visit, and she would like me to call her back in a couple of months to let her know how things are going.

While we were at the vet, I started seeing spots. After a few minutes of that, I realized I was getting a migraine! I haven't had one in over 8 years but I knew right away that's what it was. I got us all home, dropped off my friend at her house, and got everyone out of the car. By that time I'd missed calling my doctor's office by about 7 minutes. The aura (the flashes of light/spots) was just about ending and I knew I had about 30-45 minutes before the pain started. I called her answering service and about an hour later she called back, and offered to call in a prescription for me. The funny thing was that I'd taken Tylenol before heading to the vet, because my back was hurting from all the running/sitting I'd done earlier and I didn't want to sit there in pain. Usually, in my experience, taking Tylenol for a migraine is like taking a pee on a forest fire! But, I think this migraine was to be a really mild one because I never really did get a bad headache. My husband picked up my prescription and I took some of it, and although I felt a few twinges (and now I'm hearing static - weird!), it never did get bad. The last one I had lasted for 3 days! Clane took care of Will the rest of the evening and I got fairly OK sleep. Today I am tired and feeling a little out of sorts but my headache is gone and I haven't needed to use anything else for it.

But all through this, the baby has been doing her usual sleep for several hours, then wake up and kick me, pretty much like normal. And my blood pressure continues to be excellent. I'm just taking it easy for today. So we'll see how this all turns out!

36 weeks! And more on scabby kitty...

2007-01-10T22:16:00.000-05:00

I'm really in the home stretch now! I have hopes of having a January baby, but, in all likelihood, I will have a February baby - probably later than the 7th! I see the doctor every week now and all was well yesterday. My blood pressure continues to be excellent without meds, and she is happy with everything else. There is really not much to report, just that things are going along well and even though it feels like it might take forever, it's really not that long. And the time seems to be going by so fast, with Will to take care of! I'm always busy it seems!

Our kitty still has scabs. :( They are mainly on the front part of her neck, and although there aren't new ones that I can tell, the vet still wants to see her next week. We are probably going to get her another cortisone shot, the vet said there is often a seasonal component to food allergies in cats. She didn't want to keep giving the cortisone but she wanted to get rid of the problem before spring came and brings her more allergens. The cats are doing great on their new food, even Kali's fur is softer and shinier than it's been in a long time. She doesn't have that funky greasy feeling she had to her fur (especially where she can't reach it to groom herself) before and P's winter coat is growing in nice and shiny and thick. So I am hoping P checks out OK and maybe this last shot is enough to clear it up the rest of the way. Trying to brush/comb out the scabs is so gross!! It grosses me out each time. Funny I've seen SO many nasty things, yet scabs on a cat just make me queasy!

Funny cat site

2007-01-06T23:08:00.000-05:00

I found this on a friend's blog, you need to go check it out if you like cats with a sense of humor. I should take some pictures of ours with stuff on them. It's really hysterical!

This is getting old...

2007-01-04T14:13:00.000-05:00

I'm really quite sick of being pregnant! Everything is getting old... the pelvic pain, being tired because I'm not getting enough sleep because I CAN'T sleep, getting so short of breath, getting all winded just from getting up... I am going to ask my doctor (who is an osteopath) if she can do some adjustments on my hips or something because I can barely walk! I'm SO not happy right now! Thank goodness we're getting down to the end, because it's all I can do to make it through the day half the time. I actually got a few things done here today - cleaned a couple of toilets, scrubbed the sink in our bathroom (it was really bad), did laundry, went grocery shopping... it would be a fraction of what I'd normally do during a non pregnant day though.

Thankfully my blood pressure is still really good... :)

34 week check up

2006-12-28T21:39:00.000-05:00

Everything is going just fine! I showed her a copy of my birth plan and she said she agreed with everything I wrote and handed it back. So that was easy! (I knew she'd be ok with it anyway!) My blood pressure is good, she asked me to take it every day now so there aren't any surprises. The baby is head down, and was facing with her back to my back so that kind of concerns me about the possibility of more back labor when the time comes. Overall it was a good visit, the baby sounded really good and she estimates that the baby is already about 6 pounds!!! So I am thinking I'll have another 9-pounder. She estimated Will's weight at 36 weeks to be 7 pounds, and 5 weeks later he was born at 9 1/2 pounds. So she was right on. Hope things continue to go as well as they are!

Christmas is done for another year...

2006-12-26T14:37:00.000-05:00

My poor 2 year old was SO overwhelmed!! He had been sleeping really well for about a week (he didn't wake us up at all for quite a few nights in a row) and after Christmas Eve, he kept my husband up all night! And the next morning, Christmas Day, he finally stopped opening presents and just wanted to sit and watch his new Bob the Builder DVD, he wanted nothing to do with any more gifts! He was just DONE! He had a pretty restless night last night too, but he's got a lot of nasal goop and was coughing and snurfling throughout the night. That was mixed in with him yelling "NOOOO!" in his sleep and kicking the bed! I had insomnia again and once he got settled, I went back to our room (my husband wasn't feeling the best so he slept on the couch) and read for about an hour, finally after 5 am I got back to sleep.

This past week was busy but one wonderful highlight was that I got to see my friend Laura and her little girl (who will be 3 in January). Her husband had been deployed to Iraq with the Army and just got back in November, and they were visiting his family about 45 minutes from us. So my son and I went up to see them for the day and we had a really nice time! I got to see her this summer too, so it was a real treat to see them again. He will be retiring from the Army (technically he's done in 1 1/2 years but due to the Iraq war he will not be able to leave just then) and when they are finished, they'll be moving to Michigan, they've got property all set to build on right near the family they were visiting. So it will be wonderful to be able to see them more often!

I am realizing now that I've got only about 6 weeks left until I'm due. I don't have that much to do, and less to get, but I do need to wash diapers and baby clothes so the poor kiddo at least has something to wear! We also have not picked out a boy's "just in case" name, we keep talking about it and the conversation keeps going down the road of "EEWWW, that's a weird name!" It's so much easier to find names we don't like as opposed to names we like. And we want it to sound good with our last name too.

My husband is off all week and already it's going by way too fast. We knew it would though. I see the doctor for my 34 week check this week, then in 2 weeks I see her weekly until I'm done. It's hard to believe we're already almost to weekly visits. I've got so much cervical pressure so early with this one that I can't imagine I will last to my due date, but you never know, I'll probably be sitting here on Valentine's Day wondering where my little Valentine is...

I can't ##@*#@# sleep!!!

2006-12-19T13:48:00.000-05:00

How cruel is this..... I am 8 months pregnant, my two year old still wakes me up in the night, so what does my stupid pregnant brain do? It keeps me up! My son woke me up at 4 this morning and, yes, you guessed it, I'm still up. Everyone (including him) was peacefully asleep in the house EXCEPT THE PREGNANT ONE... why??? The thing is that I am SO tired I can barely function, yet my brain will NOT let me sleep! I've had about 9 hours in the past two days combined.

I am hoping I can fall asleep with him when he naps in a little while. Yesterday I tried that but could not. Watch, today I can but he'll only sleep 1/2 hour. I feel like I just can't win, and I'm about to start clawing my eyes out in sheer frustration!!!

Third trimester Christmas shopping...

2006-12-17T12:46:00.000-05:00

Can we say, OW? Oh my, I think that was my last big shop until much into next year. I got a couple of hours to myself last night to go to the mall and get a few things for my husband and son. By the time I left, I was so sore I could barely walk... between pelvic pain, my ankle bugging me again (darn joints), and my back hurting from hauling around the jacket I knew would be off in the first 5 minutes and my purse that does not stay on my shoulder, and the bags of gifts, it was just kind of tiring!! Now today I just feel bad, I think I did too much last night. Ahh well, I remember this feeling from before... it will just keep getting worse until after the baby is born. Nothing much you can do about it, pace yourself and that's about it. It was kind of nice to not shop with my toddler who now hates the stroller and wants to do nothing but ride the rides at the mall (and run away from me) but it was still very tiring hauling myself around with my stuff. Although I do enjoy getting gifts for people, I really have begun to intensely hate Christmas shopping, I think it's mainly because of all the other people out. I think people need to do more hunting (like hunt and shoot their own meat) because maybe they would get it out of their systems and not be so hell bent on finding "the perfect gift" for all the 1,000 people they are shopping for. Christmas is way too commercial anyway and this year I was extra crabby to be a part of that. Ugh.

Funny how this post started out by me complaining about feeling sore and then it changed to me hating how commercial Christmas is, there is just TOO much crap out there!!

32 week check up

2006-12-12T15:14:00.000-05:00

I am happy to say, things are going very well! My blood pressure was totally normal (it has been at home too), and the baby sounded really good. I am measuring 33 cm (should be 32 at 32 weeks) which is a little big for now but she was not at all concerned about it. I have gained a total of 23 pounds. I expect it will probably wind up being between 25 and 30 - as I get bigger I won't be able to eat as much. I set up all the OB appointments I will need from here to the end - I actually made them through 41 weeks, being the eternal pessimist that I am! If I go before then, I can use one of them for the baby's check up and someone else can have any other(s) that are left! I will be seen in 2 weeks at 34 weeks, then in another 2 weeks at 36 weeks, then it's weekly until the birth. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out. The only thing I REALLY want is to go into labor on my own, without any inducing drugs at all. From there, I know I can handle whatever comes next.

Today it is raining. All the snow we got over a week ago is now melted. Today after the doctor's I went to Yasmeen's (Middle Eastern store in Saginaw) and got some baklava, stuffed grape leaves, a huge jug of olive oil and a few other things. I just love that place! Tonight I am going back to Saginaw for some La Leche League business. My son is napping right now and giving me a little quiet computer time. I try not to do any work while he is sleeping because I need a break too when I can get one, but it is tempting especially when I have a mountain of dirty dishes in the kitchen... I'll feel better once that's all taken care of!

Owie Owie Owie...

2006-12-09T22:56:00.000-05:00

OK, this stinks. I'm getting to the point where I'm just sore a lot more now... especially later in the day when I've been up and doing stuff! I do NOT like this part! I wish I could take off my belly and give myself a break, then put it back on. 31 1/2 weeks is too soon for the baby to come, but it hurts... all I can do is take Tylenol and try to change positions. Laying down feels the best, but then when I get up, I've got pubic symphesis pain from the pressure on my hips. Just can't win!! It feels like I'm aching in different places this time, more along the sides of my belly than the last time. Not happy at all! :(

Something funny...

2006-12-07T15:10:00.000-05:00

I saw this in someone's siggie on a message board today:

Deep thought: Some people are like slinkies - They don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

LOL

Does anyone read this?

2006-12-06T10:13:00.000-05:00

Or am I just blowing a lot of hot air? LOL

If you have stopped by to read this, please leave a comment so I know I'm not just prattling on and on to nobody...

31 weeks and my blood pressure is NORMAL!!

2006-12-06T09:59:00.000-05:00

I am SO relieved! I made it this far with normal blood pressure - also no episodes of tachycardia that I've noticed! It was right at 31 weeks during my pregnancy with Will, that my blood pressure was high enough to start medication, and I would have sudden, unexplained what my doctor thinks was supraventricular tachycardia - an abnormal, too-fast heart rate. The meds I took both lowered my blood pressure and kept my heart rate under control. I have been waiting for today, because I really was hoping to make it this far without needing medication!

One thing I noticed this time is that my blood pressure has stayed about the same. The last time, it started creeping up a month or two before it actually got high enough to cause problems. I am not sure what the rest of this pregnancy will bring, but I am hoping my body will hold out and that I won't need meds or monitoring at the end. I'd love to finish out this pregnancy in peace! I'm not going to hold my breath, there is always the possibility, but it sure would be great. I'll be checking it a few times a week just to be sure.

I can't believe I'm only about 2 months from my due date. It just seems like it shouldn't be coming up this fast. Now the next big hurdle (after seeing what happens with my BP) will be going into labor on my own. I am going to dig in my heels and refuse induction unless something is really going wrong with either me or the baby, but I won't consent to it just because I'm late. I simply can't be away from home that long this time. And it was a miserable experience, I'm sure I caused us much more grief than I needed to by being so impatient. Either way I am sure it will be a totally different labor this time, they all are, especially once you've already done it.

I have been talking to Will alot about babies getting nursies - he gets really excited when we go through all the list of animals that nurse and then I'll tell him that the baby in my tummy will nurse too. And that there will be plenty of nursies for him! I can't wait to see what he thinks when suddenly I have milk again!

30 week check up

2006-11-29T14:43:00.000-05:00

Everything is going fine - my doctor told me, "I can't find a thing wrong with you!" My blood pressure, thankfully is just fine, I am going to watch it closely from here on out though, because the last time I was pregnant, I had to start medication at 31 weeks. Plus, I was having abnormal heart rhythms and had to see a cardiologist. I am really hoping that my body copes with this better this time, so I won't need any meds or anything else. My 1 hour glucose test was great at 85 and I'm not anemic or anything so that's good too. The baby is head down and measuring just as it should. Every now and then, I can feel something bony (maybe a shoulder or elbow?) digging into the right side of my pelvis, it doesn't hurt but I don't remember Will doing that. It must be comfortable that way because it happens a lot.

I will post a link to a belly shot as soon as I can get my husband to take one!

What a miserable week...

2006-11-24T18:50:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, we were all sick. Throwing up, diarrhea, it was lovely! I threw up for the first time in probably at least 10 years. We were all just so miserable! Other people in my husband's family had it also, Will got it first and we got it later. We are still not quite back to normal, it has been hard to eat and for a couple of days it seemed like I lived off Gatorade and crackers. Not at all fun, especially being 29 weeks pregnant!! I still have a little nausea on and off, and last night had a bad headache and had to go to bed. Will even puked yesterday morning - even though he'd gone a few days keeping everything down. You can just tell by watching him that he's not feeling completely normal yet either.

Clane has this whole weekend off for Thanksgiving - 4 days in a row. It's always nice when we are all here together! We had Thanksgiving dinner at his parents' house, it was the first Thanksgiving that his sister was home in about 15 years. The food was good but none of us could eat much! And Will was just not his playful self. He usually jumps right down and wants to go find the dog and play with his toys, but yesterday he clung to me and would not look at anyone or let anyone touch him for a while.

I made sweet potato pie from the American Test Kitchens cookbook. It came out really good, it's not heavily spiced so you could really taste the flavor of the sweet potato. You also blind bake the crust, and while it's still hot, you sprinkle brown sugar on the bottom before putting in the filling. It was great (in fact pretty much everything I've made from that book has been really good) and will probably be the recipe I will use from now on for that pie. I enjoyed it even though I could not eat much, just had a small piece with real whipped cream too! Mmmm.

Everything with the baby seems to be going well. I am getting more pain in my pelvis now, as the joints all start to soften up. I had my 1 hour glucose tolerance test last weekend, and my doctor's office does not call you with normal labs - so I am assuming it was fine. I'll see them again on Wednesday. I'm going every 2 weeks now, isn't that weird? It doesn't seem like I should be that far along already. Yet it still seems like I've got a really long wait til the end. I'm sure the holidays will make that part go fast, but January into February will probably be the slowest part, and nothing much happening to break up that time. Guess I'll be doing a lot of knitting. My blood pressure is good too, but it was OK until 31 weeks with Will... I'll be watching it closely from here on out.

Happy Birthday Will!

2006-11-11T22:35:00.000-05:00

Our son turned 2 today! I can hardly believe it's already been two years. Most of it has gone by in such a blur, I think mainly due to him being such a poor sleeper until recently. We had a pretty good day. This morning we picked up his cake (Hamilton's Bakery in Midland, MMMMM do they make GOOD stuff!) and then it was off to Toys R Us in Saginaw to shop for his presents. (Talk about last minute!) That place was a zoo! We wound up getting him a bouncy horse, a toy airplane, an Aquadoodle and some Sesame St. Aquadoodle accessories. Aquadoodle is cool, and the accessories are neat too, just get them wet and the colors appear! Very neat! The only problem is, he keeps insisting on chewing on the tips of the makers!!

Once we got home, we started getting ready for our little party. I made some sloppy joe mix and put it in the crock pot, we had baked beans (just Bush's) and chips/dip, raw veggies/dip, cheese and sausage and crackers. It was work getting things together but I always like having people over for this kind of thing so it was nice anyway! Clane helped out a lot because I was so sore the past couple of days, I could barely move! I'm better today now, I think it was partly the weather, and partly that a couple of days ago it was really nice out and I probably did too much.

Will had a good time opening gifts as you can imagine, and had a REALLY good time with the cake! He blew the candles out easily and wanted "more" so I had to light them again for him to blow out a second time. Then he ate cake and it got everywhere of course, we got some great pictures of that! It was just a really nice time. Once everyone left we watched the movie we made of the party and then dug out the tape from the end of my pregnancy wit him. I was huge and could barely move! Of course I burst into tears several times today, managed to hold it together while everyone was here and got all hormonal again once it was all over. It didn't help that we watched old tapes of him as a newborn. And the house on the tape when I was pregnant - it was so CLEAN!!! You can tell I wasn't chasing a little one around! The baby slept straight through the whole party tonight, even slept through my eating a corner piece of cake with a mountain of frosting on it. She woke up when everyone left. I am hoping she's a better sleeper than our son!

Overall it was a really good day! I also want to wish our friend Ella a happy 3rd birthday - it was way cool that Will was born on her birthday even though the labor lasted WAY longer than I'd wanted (about 50 hours), it was still really cool. And happy first anniversary to Chris and Sarah!

Third trimester...

2006-11-01T15:37:00.000-05:00

Here we are at 26 weeks, it seems like I shouldn't be this far along yet! We are starting childbirth class (BradleyMethod) tomorrow, I remember talking with the instructor at the beginning of summer and asking her to put us on her class list. She said we'd start the beginning of November when I'm starting my third trimester, and now here we are! I think having another child to care for has made this pregnancy go by very fast!

I really feel pretty good. I get a little achey at the end of the day, sometimes my ribs, back and belly hurt. But it's not every day, and it's not constant. Generally I have some energy and feel fine most of the time! Will wants to wrestle but I just don't want to be jumped on! Other than my legs swelling ALREADY, I really haven't felt awful like I did when I was pregnant with Will. We are still watching my blood pressure (I should go take it just to see) since I started medication at 31 weeks the last time. I was definitely happy to be having a baby when I was pregnant with Will, but wasn't real happy being pregnant because I just didn't feel good for most of it. But now, I'm happy to have another baby, and happy being pregnant too, I just feel well most of the time and that helps!

Not much else to add except I got news about Lisanne (the link to her blog is on the right!), she had her daughter last night, way to go Lisanne!! I can't wait to see pictures! Reading your hubby's update made me cry, hormonal wreck that I am! :)

Good chance it's a girl!

2006-10-19T19:25:00.000-04:00

We had another ultrasound today, and although the tech didn't get a perfect view, she was reasonably sure we're having a girl! So I went out and got a bunch of girl clothes (been waiting to see, so I knew how to shop), now watch it's a boy anyway! The tech who did Will's ultrasound was not totally sure he was a boy either, but she turned out to be right... so we are thinking our hunches were correct this time. We are pretty excited!! :)

My cat is allergic to fish!!

2006-10-18T22:32:00.000-04:00

Last week, one of our kitties (we call her P but her name is Panthera) was hiding out in the basement. For those of you who know her, she is gregarious, always underfoot, always yelling for something! And she and Will love each other, he mauls her all the time and she loves it. So I went to find her and see what was going on, since it's unlike her to hide, and she was covered in scabs!! Like all over her body! So I called the vet the next morning and got her an appointment, and in the meantime started reading... and found out that scabs all over is a huge sign of food allergies! AND, it just so happened that Meijer was out of their regular Iams food, so I got them something different... I thought, "Hmm, salmon! That would be a nice change!!"

So the vet checked her all over, gave her a shot of cortisone (which made her better literally in 1-2 days) and gave me some antibiotics to give her. Unfortunately she needs them for 3 weeks (the skin problems are kind of like a staph infection but not contagious) and I'm having a heck of a time giving them to her. I have to towel her and she drools out half of it. She's also on some hypoallergenic food for now. The vet recommended some new food, I got some and it's got all kinds of stuff in it - sweet potato, blueberries, rosemary... they like it though!

I have to bring her back in on Friday for another check up, and to get more antibiotics. I really wonder how much of it she is getting, since she drools out half of it now. Usually they have you mix it with tuna, but since she is allergic to fish, I have eliminated all fish from their diet right now. I just don't want to take steps backwards at this time! Poor kitty.

Will peed on the potty!!!

2006-09-27T22:54:00.000-04:00

We were sooo excited!!! He was in the bathtub and he looked over to the potty and pointed and said "pee." This isn't anything new, he's been saying that a lot, since he comes into the bathroom with us reguarly. So I asked him if he wanted to pee on the potty and he said yes. I got him out of the tub and sat him on the potty (we have a baby bjorn seat that fits on our toilet.. our bathroom is kind of small for a little potty chair) and at first, nothing happened. He's sat on the seat several times since we got it, but nobody really expected anything to happen. I've also been making small straining sounds to get him to try out those muscles... and tonight, when he did it, he actually peed! He looked kinda surprised, looked down to see what was happening, then got this huge smile on his face! We were all so happy and proud of him! I told him anytime he wanted to pee on the potty he could come get us and we'd help him.

Since he's only 22 months old, I really didn't expect him to do this, and I'm not sure when it will happen again... we are really positive about it though, whether he goes or not, we always make a big deal of sitting on it. And he could sit in a wet/poopy diaper for a long time and not care! So we'll see where it goes from here. What a big milestone!

20 weeks and all is well

2006-09-21T22:41:00.000-04:00

I had my 20 week checkup (that's halfway already!) the other day and everything is going just fine. I won't get another ultrasound until about a month from now, but I really have a feeling it's a girl. I've only had one dream about the baby, and in the dream it was a girl, but I thought Will was a girl too and I was wrong. I just feel so totally different this time, it seems like my pregnancy with Will was a lot more intense and I felt a lot worse. Even my skin was broken out more. This one, it's a lot more mellow, I have more energy, the baby moves but not as active as Will was. It will be interesting to get to know him/her and see how different they are! This is such a trip!

Here is a picture of me at 20 weeks. Just for comparison, here's 12 weeks!

20 weeks and all is well

2006-09-21T16:03:00.001-04:00

. stupid blogger...

20 weeks and all is well

2006-09-21T16:03:00.000-04:00

Middle Eastern grocery in Saginaw!

2006-09-15T15:45:00.000-04:00

I am SO happy!! It's only been open for a week, it's called Yasmeen's and it's on Bay Rd, across the street and kitty corner from the Olive Garden. Their prices are really reasonable, and they even have Halal meats... which I'm sure nobody else in the area sells at all... there aren't many Muslims here but I'm sure they will be very pleased! The owner was very friendly and helpful too. I'm going to be shopping there as much as possible, they are going to be opening up a deli soon too. This is great! :D

Remembering 9-11

2006-09-11T19:53:00.000-04:00

May all who lost someone on such a horrible day find peace in their hearts... even if it's just a little more than last year. I watched the coverage on TV today and was reminded of the enorminity (hope that's a word) of it all. I saw a display at a bank today as a tribute to FDNY firefighters and got so choked up I had to leave. What a sad day.

Back from our trip to the UP

2006-09-08T20:08:00.000-04:00

And I was so sad to leave! :( I know I won't be back for quite a long time, since it was really hard to sit in the car as long as I did, even with breaks. My poor tailbone! The good thing is that my mom is coming here for a visit at the end of this month, and my dad, possibly for Christmas. But it's not the same, I'm really homesick this year, really bad... can't do much about it now though. :(

Once I get some pictures up on Shutterfly I'll post the link here. But I haven't had the time to do it yet. Between Will, laundry, housework and just being pooped, it's not real high on my list of things to do!

We went to this park on the way back here, and saw this really cool big spring, I'll post some pictures we took of it later on. If anyone is in the Manistique area or en route along that part of US 2, it's well worth the stop! It's in a state park so you need to pay the fee to get in, but it was just so neat, I would happily go back.

The pregnancy is progressing nicely. I feel babe move all the time now, just nice little nudges, not the crazy whacks of later on! I have a feeling I might be getting a little colostrum now, even though I can't get anything to come out. I'm basing that guess on the character of recent poopy diapers. Colostrum is a laxative, and, well, you can guess the rest! He's been wanting to nurse more often too which is another sign, makes me happy and more confident that we'll make it til I have real milk again.

Being home was nice, it was a little cooler, very dry though, and I got to spend time with my friend Laura (see her blog!) who I hadn't seen in over a year. I saw other friends too, and family, it was just nice to be HOME... I do miss it a lot although I'm still happy, for many reasons, to be having my children down here. I just cried the day before we left, I was not happy to be coming back, ugh!

More later when I get more pictures!

We are having...

2006-08-29T19:24:00.000-04:00

One baby! :D Little stinker kept its legs crossed!! I'll have anothe chance though, because they need to get more measurements that they couldn't get today. So in another month, I'll get to see Baby again. For now, I've got cute pictures of thumb sucking and a couple of other poses, all looked good that I could tell! It might be a couple of weeks before I get the pics scanned in but when I do I'll post the link.

16 week pregnancy pic!

2006-08-25T23:33:00.000-04:00

I just thought I would post this to show my progress. To me, I look like I did at about 23 weeks with my son! But they say you show sooner after your first. I guess my tummy has gotten all stretched out! I am having an ultrasound on Tuesday, so hopefully that evening I'll get a chance to post the results here. Going to the UP on Wednesday so I won't have time to email everyone separately. I am going to try to wear the same shirt each time we take photos, so my progress is more obvious!

Belly dancing pics

2006-08-24T13:42:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd post links to a couple of pictures a friend of mine took recently. She had a bunch of friends over for a night of food and dance! We had a really good time! She had all her costume stuff out so people who had never tried it before could put on some coins and shake their booties! I was probably about 10 weeks pregnant in these pictures. I was so tired earlier that day, that I felt like I'd just crawled out of a hole but managed to pull it together anyway! (I was very glad I went, it was fun!) And, that is a sword on my head in this picture. I'm not sure when I'll be dancing again, but I'll get some pictures when I do!

16 week check and all is well...

2006-08-22T15:51:00.000-04:00

We saw the doctor today and heard a nice, strong heartbeat, that is always so nice! I've got my ultrasound in a week so hopefully we'll have some nice pictures and find out if it's a boy or girl. I think we both think it's a girl but I was wrong the last time! But so far everything is going along the way it should, I'm measuring right on time and my blood pressure is fine. I'll hopefully have more news next week, and a link to some pictures too!

It's 64 in my hometown right now...

2006-08-10T14:59:00.001-04:00

Why does it have to be 83 here? I am SO tired of sitting inside all the time because anything over the upper 70's is just too hot and I get sick. Hopefully it's not in the 90's again when we go up for Labor Day.

It was soooooo nice out tonight...

2006-08-10T14:59:00.000-04:00

It just reminded me of home!!! Windy, cool, it just felt so good. I have the A/C off for the first time in I don't know how long, and all the windows open. It is SO nice to have fresh air in here instead of the nasty recycled stuff that has been in here for the past 6 weeks or so. Even now it's windy out, it's never breezy in the summer at night here, I've got all the windows open and it's supposed to get down in the low 50's tonight. I'm going to be in heaven!

Seriously, when I went outside, it felt like I'd crawled out of a hole, even better than coming out into a warm spring day after a long winter. This summer has been worse than winter, in my opinion. The heat makes me so sick!

Same crap, different day!

2006-08-08T14:43:00.000-04:00

I don't have a lot to report on today. Thankfully I am feeling a whole lot better, I'm not sure what the problem was the other day but today I managed to get dressed before noon and get out and run a few errands. Will needs new shoes soon, he's outgrowing his current pair, so we went to the mall. I found just what I wanted right away, so that was great! I really don't like the mall!! Picked up a few things from Target too.

This house is just a huge mess. It seems like no matter what I do, it re-messes itself up when my back is turned. Or, maybe, could it be Will? Could be!!

Oh do I feel like CRAP today...

2006-08-06T22:31:00.000-04:00

I am just NOT happy about this part of pregnancy. All day today, I have felt just down and out... no energy, headache, pukey, tired (that's not even the right word, more like run over).... my husband sent me downstairs to our guest room and I was down there from 2 pm til almost 7 pm... spent most of that asleep. I went to bed late last night (had a Coke - BAD!) and just didn't sleep well, couldn't get Will back to sleep in the morning either. It is so hard when I feel like I have nothing to give, my energy bank account, if you will, is bouncing, I'm constantly a few cents from going in the red. I just hope that I feel better, I don't want the whole pregnancy to be like this. I didn't get that second trimester energy the last time, and now I don't have much hope for it this time either. My poor son. I feel like he's getting the rotten end of this because I'm just no fun to live with right now.

We spent yesterday out and about, went to look at a car not far from Clane's folks' summer home, so we went up there too and spent the day. I was feeling kind of sick from the heat, and a nap helped, but we didn't eat well because we were on the go, and it was too warm I think, but Will had a really good time playing in the lake and it was nice and relaxing. I just think I'm paying for it today.

Well enough of this, I really should be spending this time getting to sleep instead of getting sucked into finding more stuff to do online...

Google Earth is really cool!

2006-08-04T23:35:00.000-04:00

You can download it here. But, a warning... it is VERY addictive!! (Laura, I even looked up Ft. Irwin... weird!!) We just spent about 45 minutes looking up places we went in Germany, lots of places in Michigan and didn't even get to a lot of the really cool stuff. What a fun way to waste time online, as if we need more!!

Nursing

2006-08-02T23:00:00.000-04:00

Today my son brought me a few of his toys to get nursies. He brought me a black bear puppet, lifted up my shirt, and put it to my boob! I pretended to nurse the bear, figured bears get nursies in the wild so why not pretend? But then he brought me this lego car (he has a bunch of those giant legos) and INSISTED that I nurse the car! I started to, then thought, this is crazy!! So I told him that cars can't get nursies because they don't have mouths. He was very persistant but eventually gave up. Then a few minutes later, he repeated the whole procedure with this little snack cup we put crackers in for the road. I had to tell him all over again about the no mouth thing. Anyway I found the whole thing highly amusing!

We regularly go through the "cats get nursies, dogs get nursies, whales get nursies, elephants get nursies, cows get nursies... birds don't get nursies..." I suppose now I need to add "cars don't get nursies, containers don't get nursies... " etc.

Blogs from Lebanon

2006-08-01T20:17:00.000-04:00

Oh my. This just makes me want to sit and cry. I'm not sure how much of it I can stand to read. I just wish it would all stop, and soon... but something tells me the whole country will be leveled before it does.

Too #$&#&$ hot!

2006-07-31T21:43:00.000-04:00

It's still 86 degrees with a heat index of 95 degrees. Did you make note of the time? Almost 10 pm. Did I tell you I hate summer? Please snow... please snow... please snow...... and I am getting on my knees and thanking God for whoever invented central air. If I could get away with it, I'd set it at 65 degrees! But, I'll have to settle for 76, and even that's generous considering how hot it is. This kind of weather makes me want to move as far north as possible. I just hate it!

Friend in Beirut

2006-07-31T16:36:00.000-04:00

I have an email friend of several years who is Lebanese and has lived in Beirut for many years now. I had not heard anything from her and thankfully she was able to email me today. Things are just so horrible over there, and it makes me so upset, I just can't stand the thought of it, especially reading about it from someone right in it, first hand. She said they don't even feel sad anymore because it is just too much. :( Thankfully they were able to go up into the mountains so they aren't in the city anymore, she said the bombs from the airstrikes go so far underground that you can't hide from them anywhere.

It is now 97 degrees here at my house, heat index of 107. I really, really am starting to intensely dislike summer. It is still supposed to be in the 90's at 8 pm so too hot to even take Will out to play. This is the time of year I start wishing for snow!! Don't be mad, if you lived inside my body, you would too!

No time for computer!

2006-07-28T10:22:00.000-04:00

I see that it's been about a month since I updated this!! Honestly, I've been SO tired from this pregnancy and chasing around a 20 month old that I just can't hardly move some days. Since I'm 12 weeks now I was really hoping that I wouldn't feel so bad still, but it's not really going away. Yesterday I was so tired that I knew I would fall asleep, it was just a matter of where it would happen. I could not stop it!

I had my 12 week check up yesterday and things are all going fine, all my blood was OK too. I am not immune to toxoplasmosis like I thought for sure I would be, but that's ok... no cat box for me I guess! I have not gained a pound either which is fine by me, I wouldn't think I would need the extra weight at all. If you want to see my belly pic for 12 weeks, here is the link. I just feel sick and fat and now I've got a cold which is not helping!

We spent some time in the UP (Houghton/Hancock) this month and it was really nice. Although there were a few days that were way too hot for me, I just stay inside in the A/C because the heat really makes me sick. It was wonderful to be home though, I got to see some friends and my parents and got out to Lake Superior a couple of times. I didn't want to come back here at all!! I am really homesick. I want to go back over Labor Day because that will probably be my last trip up until next year now.

Yesterday my son was so funny. He has a Sesame St. coloring book, and he went through the whole thing, drawing lines through everyone's noses! Then he would get a different color crayon and do it again! He was all serious about it too, and did NOT want me coloring with him! (Usually we do it together and then after about 30 seconds he turns the page on me!)

My friend Laura got a blog started and that's really the main reason I updated this one! (You inspired me!! ) I put it in my links, please go have a look!

All is well...

2006-06-29T22:39:00.000-04:00

I saw the doctor today and things are going perfectly. Not much to say really! I'm just irritated that their new scale weighs me about 6 pounds heavier than the old one! My bathroom scale was the same as their old one and now it's way off! I think it's a conspiracy!

Anyway all is well but I figured it was... next month hopefully we'll hear a heartbeat.

I have a good friend who went in today to be induced, it's her first! I haven't heard a thing yet so I hope it's all gone well and that she didn't have a 50 hour ordeal like I did!!

Finally, an update

2006-06-28T22:52:00.000-04:00

I'm 8 weeks pregnant now and the nausea is just starting to really bug me. Either that or I just had a bad day. I managed to make it through my dental appointment today, but since then I've just felt yukky! It is really hard being pregnant with a toddler. He needs a lot of attention and I just don't have the energy half the time. Either I can go out and play with him, or make dinner, but not both. I hope as things go along that I'll be feeling better in the very near future! For a while there, I didn't even feel pregnant, but this is a very familiar feeling now and it's back! I have been taking naps with him every day too because it's the only chance I get for a good rest... so that's been limiting my computer time.

Tomorrow I see the doctor for my first OB visit. I am sure things will be fine, it all seems to be going along normally!

Despite the nausea, I had a huge, sudden Taco Bell craving tonight! I'd gotten Will to bed and as I stepped out of his room, I thought... nachos bell grande!!! So after joking with my husband, off I went and got one of those and a 7 layer burrito. I have just felt starving and sick all day today and I just got done eating, it tasted soooo good and I'm sure it's really bad for me! Hopefully this will be a rare occurance because I don't want to make a habit of it!

This weekend my dad is coming for a visit and we're going to see some relatives on Sunday, then it's to my in law's summer home for a couple of days. We'll be off to the U.P. since I haven't been home in over 6 months... I'm really looking forward to it and I HOPE I am not sick the whole time!!! I was feeling so good there that we made travel plans... not I'm not so sure but I'm not cancelling them!

Some big news!

2006-06-14T22:15:00.000-04:00

Clane and I are happy to report that I am pregnant, and we are expecting in February! It was kind of a surprise, we knew we wanted another baby but did not expect it to happen so fast! I am about 6 weeks along now and feeling pretty good. I feel totally different than I did when I was pregnant with Will, it seems like I was a lot more tired and sick by this time. I kept a diary so I've been referring back to that. I am also craving meat which is very strange since I am usually a semi vegetarian. I had a whole can of salmon for lunch today! So I must need the protein. I've also been eating things not typical for a woman in early pregnancy... like kale and swiss chard (with lots of garlic!)! So maybe I'll feel better this time around.

Not much else beats that news... I'm off to create a new ticker now, to add to my big collection!

OHHH! The bread!

2006-06-04T17:03:00.001-04:00

In my last post in May, I promised I'd report back about the bread I made from "wild" yeast. Well, it did not turn out the best. It did rise, and had a mild sourdough flavor but it was very dense and just was not one of my best creations. This past week I made Parker House rolls, which turned out REALLY good! The problem was I made them too large so if you eat one you are really full. It made many so half of them went into the freezer so they wouldn't get moldy. The heat/humidity here in the summer (even with A/C on) is not kind to homemade bread! If you click on the link above and try them, you will need at least 2 more cups of flour than it says. My dough was REALLY wet until I added a lot more. Worth the time though!

More sickness...

2006-06-04T16:52:00.000-04:00

It seems like my son is always sick. :( My mom said I was rarely sick as a child, and formula fed at that. My 100% breastfed, never-a-drop-of-formula in his life son seems to be constantly sick these days! He either has a virus or it's his teeth... but it sure has made for some horrible nights since about Wednesday night. I feel like the walking dead. And it feels like this week has lasted several years. You would think a sick child would at least happily nap, but not my son! No way. He's been running some pretty good temps that have been completely resistant to Tylenol, which worries me a bit but at least Motrin brings them down.

Today I made a pasta salad out of smoked salmon today that was pretty good. Think: tuna pasta salad with mayo, onion and celery, but with smoked salmon. I'm happy! Since my husband does not like canned salmon, it's ALL MINE!

I recenly had a birthday and had a little money to spend. So this week I've spent a lot of time on Ebay bidding on stamps for my collection. I had been watching a few auctions that I was really interested in, but unfortunately the price went too high for me... but I was able to get something similar but not as nice/large as what I'd originally found. However between the things I have won, I should be plenty busy adding to my albums for quite a few months!

Yesterday my neighbor Annie came over and we sat in the garage having a few beers. It was funny because we looked a little like the guys on King of the Hill standing out at the road with beers... except we sat in lawn chairs with the garage door open! It had been raining on and off and we just sat and watched Will play and watched the traffic go by. (He was in the middle of one of his Motrin doses so was feeling ok at that point.)

Not much else to say, except this month is the month of birthdays. My mom, step mom and mother in law, AND my hubby's grandma all have birthdays this month. So does my husband and one of his good friends. We have quite a bit of shopping to do!

The week flew by!

2006-05-26T13:30:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe how fast this week went by. It was my birthday this week and that was fun. A friend and a couple of family members stopped by. Then my husband and son took me out for Italian food to the place where we had our wedding reception, we ate outside and it was wonderful! I had lobster ravioli. Yum! My husband got me some really nice things, some music, a really nice soup pot that has baskets for steaming or cooking pasta and a barrister's bookshelf. That's a shelf with glass doors that come down. It's for my colletction of Breyer Horses that I started getting when I was a little girl. I haven't had them displayed for many years so I am excited to unpack them and get them out. I even made little leather shoes for them that I painted silver! It used to be so much fun. I hope they are in good shape as they were not packed very well. They haven't been moved much so hope they are ok. I'll know more later!

I had no idea that you could "catch" wild yeast from the air and grow it in water and flour. I have never made sourdough bread before and did not realize that that's how it worked. I have my dough rising in pans (a lot slower than normal yeast dough) and I'll bake it in a couple of hours. It will be interesting to see how it turned out. I didn't use a recipe at all, just 1 cup of water to 1 cup of flour and let that sit out for a day, then I "fed" it with more flour and water last night. This morning my "sponge" was big and spongey and had a rather pleasant smell so I figured that was a good sign. I'll report back on my bread later!

My in laws have a summer home in Au Gres, MI and we're heading up there tonight to spend the night. They go there on and off all summer. It seems to be a central meeting place for family so it should be nice.

Sunday and Monday we are going to spend here, working on getting some things done. I know I want to get my horses up and I always have a lot of stuff to do... and Clane will probably do car work.

I will report back later on how the bread turned out. In the meantime, the Baltimore Orioles are back! I have put out dishes of grape jelly for them, and they always announce they are there with a nice whistle. Last night I was weeding the flowers right near the part of the deck with the jelly, and the male was really mad at me and scolded me til I left. Then ants get into the jelly so that usually attracts redheaded woodpeckers and catbirds! We get some interesting birds around here. I haven't seen any hummingbirds yet but earlier this year we had a pileated woodpecker at my suet! I will have to dig through my pictures and see if I can find one to post. I unfortunately didn't get any really clear, good ones. The orioles are not happy when I try to take their picture but I'm not going to give up!

Hope everyone has a good holiday weekend!

It's Monday UGH

2006-05-22T10:32:00.000-04:00

I've got the Monday blahs! This weekend was pretty good, other than I have not gotten rid of this cold yet. If it's the same one my son and husband still have, I can look forward to being sick until the end of June. No fun!

I got a little free time on Saturday and went out shopping alone. I had a gift card from Bed Bath and Beyond so I went and picked up some things for the kitchen that I've been wanting. I have a straw dispenser (my son loves straws), a pitcher with glasses (I love a pitcher for cool drinks in the summer), one of those plunger style measuring cups for soft, sticky ingredients so you don't have to scrape out the cup each time and a mist can that I can fill with my own oil so no silicone dioxide in my food! Clane picked up a huge tool chest yesterday and spent a bunch of time sorting his tools in the garage. He needed one and we both feel better now that he has one. It's good! And the amazing thing was that it fit in the back of the Durango and the door closed! That was lucky!

Yesterday I made a stir fry for dinner. I like doing those because I get to use up veggies that are in the fridge. This one had sirloin, peppers, broccoli, carrots, onion, ginger, garlic and bamboo shoots. Will had a sampling of everything. He decided that broccoli is finally ok, we call them "trees" and he just went to town on them! He liked the beef a lot too. I have decided that I will now purchase most of my beef from Hensler's Farm in Freeland (just past the airport, WELL worth the drive and the extra few $$ per pound) or Graham's Farm in Rosebush (I get this through our co op). I cannot believe the difference in Hensler's beef vs. the beef from the grocery store... theirs makes the grocery store beef look anemic!! And the difference in taste is amazing. But best of all, the animals are treated well and that is a huge concern for me. I will happily pay a farmer to take a caring attitude toward their livestock. I just do not think I can get grocery store meat anymore, and that's fine, I look forward to not handling drippy meat packages! Yuk!

Tonight I have a meeting in Saginaw, part of my training to become a volunteer lactation counsellor. I'm not sure what we're all doing but I'm looking forward to it. Will gets to stay home with his Daddy because I won't be able to pay a bit of attention to anything happening in the meeting if I am chasing him all over! Otherwise I'm hitting the mountain of laundry today and trying to get a few other things done, perhaps even catch a nap with my son.

Now I've got a cold...

2006-05-17T21:36:00.000-04:00

I wound up having to call the doctor's office to find out if everyone has this cold that just hangs on for weeks. And they said it's going around. I at least could get some cold medicine for Will that has helped, although he and Clane seem to be feeling better. Now I've had a sore throat since Saturday and my nose is getting plugged up more today. My mom left this morning and she's got a cold too! Hopefully we don't have them for weeks!

The house is all quiet now that my mom is gone. I miss her already! It was really nice having her here. She and Will had so much fun together.

I found another place to get local eggs today! I'm happy, and they are only $1.50 per dozen. They are nice and big too! I got a big jar of honey from the farmer's market, along with a good loaf of bread and a hanging flower basket for the front. It will be really nice when summer gets going and there are more people selling things there. Anyone who lives locally here should go check it out!

Over the weekend I made a really wonderful Hungarian walnut torte called a dios torte. It calls for a dozen eggs and not much flour at all! And coffee buttercream. I brought it to a potluck at my sister in law's new house, and it went over very well. I enjoyed it! But it's one of those things that you have once every few years or so! Yum! :)

Oh... about Will

2006-05-11T21:35:00.000-04:00

He is 18 months old today!! I can't belive how fast the time has gone. He is still working on that molar, his gum looks so swollen and sore, I can hardly stand to look at it. Hopefully it will come through soon!!

Rain ARRRRGHGHGHGHGHGH!!!

2006-05-11T21:26:00.000-04:00

My mom is here visiting as you know and our guest room is in our basement. I woke up this morning and met Mom in the kitchen and she said, my bedroom floor is all wet! So I said "NOOOOO!!!!" and went downstairs. When I saw all the water, I said "NOOOOOO!!!!!" Then I came up and called my husband at work (which I never do that time of morning) and when he saw who it was he thought "NOOOOOO!" and then I told him what happened and he said "NOOOOOO!!!" and came home from work. I vacuumed and emptied the shop vac probably 6-7 times today and we still are not done. We took out the carpet from the guest room because the padding was acting like a big sponge and keeping all the water inside it. The other room is where the main computers are and a bunch of parts and our stuff from college, papers that we didn't want to toss but didn't need to be up in the filing cabinet, etc. That room is SOAKED.

I think it will take a few days work to get that room sorted out enough so that we can pull out the carpet there too. I am actually glad to see the carpet go, I think it is silly to carpet basement floors, especially with padding, unless you know you are going to always have a dry basement. We have always had water problems in our basement. We put gutters up but I think the ground got so wet and two of the spouts drain near a drainage ditch that is full... all of these things did not help. What a mess!!!

RAIN and TEETH!

2006-05-10T21:36:00.000-04:00

It is FINALLY raining! We haven't had a good rain since over a week ago, and it was at least a week to 10 days before that. It is raining now and will rain for the next several days. Good thing because it's been so dry. My flowers will be happy! I've been watering them but rain is better I think. Of course that will water the weeds too but maybe the ground will be soft enough for me to pull them out.

And, my son is FINALLY going to get a molar! He hasn't had a new tooth since November. He's got all 8 of his front teeth in but nothing more. His gums have been swollen for a while now but on one side it is getting purplish and I can see the tooth beneath the gum. So I wonder how long the poor little guy is going to suffer this time around?? Teething must be really awful, good thing we don't remember it! I don't recall my wisdom teeth bugging me though when they broke through, I was in high school and it didn't hurt or anything.

We are having a good visit here with my mom. She had medical stuff and so far so good. She's all pooped out between the 14 hour bus ride that was more like 16 hours this time (she said an accident delayed the bus) and we've been running every day since she got here. Tomorrow we don't have to go anywhere til dinner time, then we are going to a potluck for Green Seed. I am making hummus and tabouli for that, and throughout the day I will be making a big pot of ham bean soup. I have a ham bone in the freezer and I've got beans soaking right now as we speak. If it's raining and cold it will be a good day to make soup.

Our gutters are working pretty good, my husband worked so hard to get them up and then we had no rain for so long. Today was the first real heavy rain we've had in a really long time, and the gutters were like a waterfall!! They are working well. Although we'll have to do some experimenting with a couple of downspouts because they cross sidewalks.

Maybe I'll be able to update this more in the next few days because we don't have a lot of running to do!

It's the weekend again!

2006-05-05T22:29:00.000-04:00

It's FRIDAY! Friday is always my favorite day. Hubby is home from a long week working, we can spend the evening relaxing, it's just a big relief! And, tomorrow my mom is coming for a visit. She'll be here around 2 weeks I think. It will be so nice for her to see Will. She hasn't seen him since Christmas, this will be the first time she saw him walking. We are going to have a busy week next week, I have some co op stuff to do and she has a couple of medical appointments. It looks like the weather is going to be wonderful. Monday will be my first visit to an organic farm where the co op gets pasture fed beef and chicken and eggs. I'm really looking forward to the visit. Will loves cows so if he can see some close up it will make him happy!

I don't have many interesting things to report right now. Will still has some post nasal drip that is giving him a gunky sounding cough but it's slowly getting better. We did not spend time out in the pollen today so hopefully that will mean less coughing tonight. We went to a friend's 1 year old's birthday party today and that was fun. He played really well, I think he is finally learning more about kids his age, he is starting to play better with them. Although he did hug the 1 year old and he hugs hard... knocked the poor little guy to the floor (Will towers over him!) and made him cry! But I think all was forgiven in the end. I'll plan to have them come play here soon. He also said his first name today, it was "Ella"... she's a friend of his, 1 year older to the day!

As for weekend plans, I am pretty sure the Midland Farmer's Market opens tomorrow morning so I think we're all going to go see what's there. I want to do a lot of shopping there this summer. Buying locally is important to me! Even if I go and just get a loaf of bread. I know my mom will want to get some groceries and I'll be getting a big bunch of produce from the co op on Monday. Otherwise I'm not totally sure what else we have planned. We might go visit my in laws as well.

Most of the flowers I planted this past week are doing well, there will always be a couple of annuals that don't look so good but for the most part they are happy. I cannot believe we have lilac bushes blooming down here already. We had an early and warm spring! It's really dry though, we sure could use the rain, if nothing else to wash the pollen out of the air! The pollen I think has been especially bad this year, but I haven't had trouble which makes me happy. Maybe it's all the raw honey I've been eating. I hope so!

Hysterical!!

2006-05-03T10:27:00.000-04:00

I just absolutely think this website is hysterically funny!! Go check it out and have a laugh on me!

Want to support a good cause?

2006-05-02T15:11:00.001-04:00

I am a member of La Leche League of Saginaw, which as you might know provides information, help and support to breastfeeding mothers. We are doing a fundraiser right now, to raise money for books for our library (we loan them out to anyone who wants to read them), pamphlets for people who need help and we want to be able to buy breast pumps to loan out as well. You can help by going to Current, Inc. and just start shopping. When you are done, you need to select "Michigan" from a drop down menu, then on the next page make sure to select "La Leche League of Saginaw" since there is another group there which is plain "La Leche League" and if you pick that one, our group will not get the funding. Then continue to fill out the rest as usual, and that's it!

Current sells gift wrap that is nice, greeting cards, scrapbooking stuff, garden stuff, housewares and a lot of other little things! And our group gets 50% of all sales. Thanks for your help!

Wrecking crew!!

2006-05-01T19:48:00.000-04:00

Even though dinner turned out really good, my son destroyed my kitchen in the process! Then when I was finally done and exhausted, instead of running away from me like he'd been doing for the past couple of hours (outside and in) he decided he wasn't going to leave me alone!! I finally got him playing by himself so I could put my feet up for 15 min. I did not take pictures of the destroyed kitchen but maybe the next time I will.

My husband will probably find a spatula under his pillow and a sippy cup in his underwear drawer!

Flowers and cooking

2006-05-01T17:10:00.000-04:00

I took this picture yesterday when I was playing around with the camera. Flowers are proving to be tricky, it seems like the camera wants to focus on everything but the flower even though the flower is in the little rectangle! I'll just have to keep practicing. I think this is called a flowering plum, in any case Clane got it for me for my birthday a few years back. It's my birthday tree!

I am making stir fry tonight for dinner. It will have chicken, red pepper, onions, garlic, ginger, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. I might throw a little carrot in there too. I'll serve it with brown rice. I love stir fries, they are so good and you can put about anything in them! Yesterday I made some biscuits that had yeast in them. Never tried that before. They came out ok. They were Paula Deen's recipe from Food Network.

Pheasant

2006-04-30T14:01:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to show off a picture I took earlier this spring. I got really lucky! I took it through our dirty basement window!

Gardening

2006-04-30T13:42:00.000-04:00

The past two summers, my flower beds have totally gone to hell. I was just far enough along in my pregnancy the first summer that I could not bend down and it hurt anyway... then last year my son was still young and it was so hot I could barely stand to be out. There was no way I was going to take him out in that heat! So now this year I have a royal mess. I did a lot of digging earlier this month when the ground was nice and soft, but now we haven't had much rain and our clay soil sets up like concrete. We are supposed to get rain this week starting today so maybe I'll be able to get more of that done. It's just awful!!

I already planted some annuals (our last frost date is generally May 1) and wound up having to cover them one night due to a freeze warning. Fortunately I did not lose any plants but I was in such denial that we would get frost anymore! Last night we went to Menards and I bought another flat of annuals, some geraniums for pots for the front steps and a couple of perennials. Our ground is hard as a rock right now. I thought I was going to break my shovel! I'm hoping to get the rest of the annuals in today. I always get this gardening bug in the spring and then by the time it's mid June, it's too irritating and too hot and it all starts to look like total crap!

Right now it is overcast, 76 degrees on my deck (in the sun and faces west) and we are supposed to get rain later this afternoon. The last of the rain gutters are going up today, my husband and his sister are working on them while I man the baby. Once he's up I'm putting shorts on and going back outside. This is the perfect temperature for me, any hotter and it's too hot! (Yooper that I am!!) Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Woo hoo it's the weekend!

2006-04-29T14:20:00.001-04:00

I decided to post a little while my son is taking a nap. His cold is getting a little better but it can't go away fast enough for me! My husband and his sister are putting up gutters on the house right now. And, as soon as Will wakes up we'll go outside to play. It's nice here, 77 on my deck but overcast. I want to weed my flowers today but we haven't had much rain and our dirt (which is mostly clay) sets up like cement! It's really irritating!

I have not done much cooking since we went out for dinner last night. I did get some new sweetened condensed milk though and made my magic bars! (If you google it, you'll find a lot of recipes.) They are disappearing quickly. Funny how lettuce and celery and stuff like that doesn't disappear as fast!

I am not sure what else we have planned for the weekend, we need to go get more gutter part and we will probably drive around looking for another car. The Achieva has 200,000 miles on it and Clane is making it run with rubber bands and chewing gum! Not really but it feels like that sometimes!

Heh! I'm at a loss for words. That doesn't happen often!

What's cooking tonight!

2006-04-27T22:20:00.000-04:00

I really wanted pasta so tonight I made some. All my produce was organic so that was good! The pasta was not but it was what I had in the house. First I blanched 3 tomatoes to remove the skins, then I seeded and chopped them. I minced some garlic and sauteed it in a good amount of olive oil (I did not skimp on the olive oil this time around). Then I added the tomatoes, a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. After that I put in some red wine and chiffonaded some basil. I had a little dressing made from olive oil and fresh parsley from another day that needed to be used so that went in as well. I boiled some orchiette pasta and once that was done I added it to the tomatoes along with a bit of the pasta water. Then I let the sauce thicken back up and we ate. It was good! I served it with some old rolls I turned into garlic bread. If we'd had room, I would have eaten some of the grilled red peppers I did the other day, just grilled with olive oil and salt and dressed with more olive oil and chopped parsley.

We all liked it except the baby. He is usually good about trying new stuff but he would have nothing to do with it tonight. Oh well, his loss!!

Did you know...

2006-04-27T10:16:00.000-04:00

That if you keep a can of sweetened condensed milk in your cabinet for several years, it will, all by itself, turn into a big brown blob? Well, it will! I went to try to make those magic bars (you know, with the chocolate chips and coconut?) last night and after getting the butter and graham cracker crumbs in the pan, I opened the milk to pour it and something wasn't right! So now I have 1/2 cup of butter + 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs in my fridge just waiting for something. Last night I learned that if I purchase a can of sweetened condensed milk I should really use it within a few months! The worst part was, that my fantasies of a nice warm sweet chewy melted chocolate bliss and goodness went straight out the window!! I suppose I could have taken more butter out of the freezer and found something equally delectable to make but I have no energy (see previous post about toddlers and boogers) and I just didn't have it in me.

The moral of this story is, do not trust that cans keep things from going bad!

Toddlers and boogers don't mix

2006-04-26T20:43:00.000-04:00

My son Will has a cold right now. He does not yet know how to blow his nose (although we are trying to teach him) so as you can imagine, his face is a mess!! He can't blow it but he can wipe it all around! Not fun at all! (Don't even get me started on how bad nights have been lately! I'm feeling quite run down!) Thankfully he is playing and showing all other signs of not feeling too bad except he will not sleep. That's funny. I usually want to sleep constantly when I don't feel good.

Toddlers and shredded cheese also are not that good of a combination. This is one of the reasons he gets a bath every night! However, toddlers and cats can be ok depending on the cat. One of our cats does not appreciate being cornered or "played" with but the other one is very doggy and seems to love the attention, even the 17 month old kind!

I should go, it appears that he is melting down in the other room. Must be time for bed. Notice I said bed, not sleep!

Shalom in the Home

2006-04-26T15:28:00.000-04:00

You know, I really like Schmuley! I was telling my mom that I like him so much, he makes me want to become Jewish! I just think he's really neat and the way he helps people with his problems is gentle yet very effective it seems. I guess I need to get one of his books.

Speaking of books, I'm reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" right now and it makes me never want to ever eat meat from a grocery store again! Actually it makes me not want to eat most foods again! (That's highly unlikely except the meat part.) It's a real eye opener providing all the info in there is correct to the best of his knowledge. He was on NPR one day and Clane (my hubby) bought me the book. It's really interesting!

My first blog

2006-04-26T14:26:00.000-04:00

As I sit here writing this, I am wondering who would want to read it and why? But then a friend of mine reminded me that I have a lot of interests. I'm a second and third generation Finnish/Hungarian mom of a 17 month old son. I'm an RN although now staying at home, and I've been married to my wonderful man for 4 years. I'm a little bit of a hippie, we use cloth diapers and I belong to a really nice little food co-op here in the area. I am also active with La Leche League which supports breastfeeding mamas.

I've got a pet parrot who yells at my son and the cats, I used to scuba dive in college and I love collecting postage stamps and doing a lot of art stuff. I'm interested in all sorts of stuff, if you care to keep reading (if it's not too boring) you'll find out all kinds of things. I love to cook and will probably frequently post about what I'm making on here.

ThisFinnGarianMama

Switching...

Wordpress

Strep throat and possible new blog location

SPOTS

YouTube favorites

Sick Sick Sick...

A Fat Rant

I love coffee

Mountains -o- poo

Thunder thighs...

2 month update (9 weeks today!)

Sophie is 7 weeks old...

Kitty update

Just a little update...

Hmmm... notice a theme?

Yack three times Baby... yack some more today...

Days turn into nights.... nights turn into days.....

3 weeks old!

Just a quick update...

Birth Announcement!

Home, baby still in

I'm in labor, going in soon

Could be early labor...

Sorry...

Doctor update

It's my dad's birthday...

More contractions...

"Due"?

Maybe a LITTLE is happening...

We're down to a week...

Another scabby cat update!!

Just added a new link...

38 weeks

Nothing's happening...

37 weeks and scabby cat update!

36 weeks! And more on scabby kitty...

Funny cat site

This is getting old...

34 week check up

Christmas is done for another year...

I can't #*#*@*#*@*# sleep!!!

Third trimester Christmas shopping...

32 week check up

Owie Owie Owie...

Something funny...

Does anyone read this?

31 weeks and my blood pressure is NORMAL!!

30 week check up

What a miserable week...

Happy Birthday Will!

Third trimester...

Good chance it's a girl!

My cat is allergic to fish!!

Will peed on the potty!!!

20 weeks and all is well

20 weeks and all is well

20 weeks and all is well

Middle Eastern grocery in Saginaw!

Remembering 9-11

Back from our trip to the UP

We are having...

16 week pregnancy pic!

Belly dancing pics

16 week check and all is well...

It's 64 in my hometown right now...

It was soooooo nice out tonight...

Same crap, different day!

Oh do I feel like CRAP today...

Google Earth is really cool!

Nursing

Blogs from Lebanon

Too #*$&*#&$ hot!

Friend in Beirut

No time for computer!

All is well...

Finally, an update

Some big news!

OHHH! The bread!

More sickness...

I can't ##@*#@# sleep!!!

Too #$&#&$ hot!