Switching...

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

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

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

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

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...

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

Check this out!

I love coffee

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

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...

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!)

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...

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

Kitty update

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...

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?

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...

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.....

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!

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...

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!

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!