A Baby Story

Sunday night I went to sleep on the wrong side of the bed...literally. We have a co-sleeper and thought it might be logistically easier if it were on the side of the bed opposite the door for easier coming and going in our room. Unfortunately that is Aaron's side of the bed. I thought we could give swapping a try for a night and see how it went. I warned him, before I went to bed, that if I couldn't sleep I was waking him up to switch. After some weird dreams, a drooling incident (that's a whole post of it's own) and waking up at 4:30am with my back killing me, I decided I had had enough with HIS side of the bed. I grabbed my pillows (which is like 100 when you're 9 months pregnant), got up, grumbled to him to scoot over and nestled happily into the right side of our bed.

Eight minutes later I had my first contraction. This was no false alarm, no pre-labor. This was what I remembered from the last time. How had I mistaken my 5 hours of fakers on the 14th for this?? As I laid there through the first few, I smiled. It was time. I was finally going to have this baby!!! I waited until 6:00am to wake Aaron and let him know. At that point the contractions were 5-6 minutes apart and getting stronger. I decided I'd better eat and get a quick shower before we had to leave for the hospital. At 7 I woke Natey up and grabbed the last of our stuff and put it in the car. As I watched my handsome little boy run around in his jammies I began to tear up. This was the last time he would be an only child. All of our worlds were about to change forever. We snapped one last picture as we left the house. It was a gloomy day out as we left our house. We had planned to drop Natey off and then go to the hospital, but by the time we left the house at 7:30 my contractions had sped up to 3-4 minutes apart. I figured it would be a better bet to take me first.

I got to the hospital at 7:40, got settled into triage and waited for my midwife. When she arrived 15 minutes later, she checked me and I was dilated to 5cm. They were getting my room ready so I stayed in triage and waited for Aaron to arrive. He got there, my contractions started getting stronger and I was moved up to my labor and delivery room at 8:55am. My midwife checked me again and I was dilated to 8cm. It all seemed a little surreal this time. I was more in control. I knew what I was doing. I trusted my body and the fact that I had done this once before without drugs. There was only one point during the last 2 contractions before I started pushing when I looked at Aaron and said, "I'm scared". He smiled at me and said I was doing a great job and we'd have this baby out in no time. At 10:31 am I delivered my beautiful baby girl, Arielle Lorraine. To say it was amazingly fast would be an understatement. I could not believe it only took 6 hours from start to finish. As they laid her on me, I though she seemed so small. After carrying 35 pound Natey around, I couldn't fathom that she was 9 and a half freaking pounds!!! What?? I just delivered a gigantic baby, with no drugs, and I didn't so much as tear. How, on earth, is that possible??

For those of you who played the game, I wanted to show proof that she was, in fact, born the morning after the last guess!! Between my blog contest and the pool from my baby shower we raised 76 dollars. Since no one got the date right, it will all be donated to the MS society. What is even better is my work has a matching gift program, so a total of $150 will be donated in my mom's name!

My midwife was amazing, yet again. I loved the experience I had when I was pregnant and delivering Natey and this time was no different. I even followed her to a new practice and delivered at a different hospital than I preferred to have her. Truth be told, I would have a baby in a Walmart if she would deliver me!

Aaron was the best partner yet again. He has such a quiet calm about him that it always helps to calm my nerves. I know he truly believes in me and it reassured me all the way through.

Natey came to visit us that evening. He is the proudest big brother I have ever seen. He loved holding her and is always wanting to touch her face. He was so gentle with her and seeing them together melts my heart!

I felt surprisingly great after having her (obviously since I was tweeting and updating Facebook, via my beloved BlackBerry, 45 min after she was born). I feel a lot calmer this time. Maybe it's because I feel like I know what I'm doing. I'm not all panicky and freaking out over every detail. I let them take her to the nursery so I could get some rest (which I didn't do when Nate was born) and I felt like I was ready to go home the next day. They did her 24 hour check and said we were free to go!

Now we're home and she is the best baby. She sleeps well, is feeding well and I'm even getting rest when she sleeps. Keep your fingers crossed that it stays this way and I will update more as the days and weeks go by!

I know you want to squeeze those cheeks. How could you not??!!

"Nesting"

I have given new meaning to the word "nesting". Most people equate nesting with organizing, cleaning and preparing their home for a new baby. Don't get me wrong, I have done my fair share of that in the past 2 weeks since I have been off of work, but I take the word to a whole new level! The "theme", if you will, of baby girl's room is birds. The inspiration for her room was the 2 yellow bird cages I found one Saturday while yard-saling. I wanted something sweet and girlie without gagging myself in pepto bismol pink so I painted her room a pale shade of limey green and the bedding takes care of the pink factor. I don't have the crib set up since Natey is still sleeping in it still, but here is what the bedding looks like.

About a year ago I saw a pattern to make fabric birds. Liz made one and I attempted to make one, but I tried to be all smarty pants and use my sewing machine, and it was fugly. Yeah, it didn't work. These babies need to be hand sewn. There was also a picture of a mobile made up of these birds. I thought it was the cutest idea but, not even being pregnant at the time, didn't really have a use for it. Fast forward a year and I had picked out the room decor and it just fell into place. I was meant to make one of these mobiles! It looked simple enough. Cut out coordinating fabric, enough for 11 birds. Sew and stuff birds. Sew birds to the sticks. Attach sticks together and hang. In reality it was "that easy" but VERY time consuming. It took me a total of 10 hours to finish this project!

Here are the birds just after I sewed them.

And here is the final product!!

I love how it turned out. The hardest thing was getting the branches balanced. I swear, if you ever make one of these start the balancing at the bottom! You can't really get a feel for the color of the room since I took these pictures with no natural light, but after the nursery is all put together I will do a post showing the whole thing!! Oh and baby girl, if you were waiting for me to finish this project before you arrived,

I'M DONE!!!! YOU CAN COME OUT NOW!!!!

Wordless Wednesday- 40 Weeks

Post-it note that the lab tech stuck to my belly at yesterday's weekly visit!

I concur!

False Alarm

No baby yet folks. Sorry to get everyone worked up yesterday. I never had "false" or "pre-labor" pains with Nate. I was kinda hesitant to tweet anything until I had been having the pains for a while. I was contracting at about 7-10 minutes apart for a little over 5 hours. They weren't bad, but it felt like it did when labor began with Natey. I guess I got a little excited, but truth be told, I wasn't ready. When it started with Nate, I was ready. I felt like I had everything finished and I was rested and geared up for the long haul. When it started yesterday, I went into a frenzy. We ate dinner, I did the dishes, finished organizing baby clothes, straightened the family room, swept, and blogged a little. I guess it was good motivation if nothing else. I still have 3 tasks I'd like to get done today and have this adamant thing about her NOT being born on the 15th, so let's hope she holds out another day or 2...or 3. The best thing about it being a false alarm is the fact that I got a full night's sleep last night. I went to bed at 10 and Nate so graciously let me sleep until 7am for the second day in a row. This past week has not been restful since he has been sick, so I am glad to have gotten 2 nights in a row of rest. Who knows, they could be my last ones for a while. I'll keep ya posted, but I might just wait until I'm on my way to the hospital before I say something this time. Don't wanna be the pregnant girl who cried baby!

Natey at 2 years 5 months

You are almost 2 and a half my big boy!! You will be a big brother in just a day or two. I am excited and scared all at the same time. I have had you all by your lonesome for such a short time and now you will have a little sister to look after. You seem to be loosing your babyness and it makes me sad, but the "big boy" in you is coming through like crazy. You say some of the funniest things and are just talking your head off these days.

• You are quite fresh, which I don't really appreciate! You seem to mock me with some of your deliberate acts and facial expressions. I try not to laugh because you make me want to rip my hair out sometimes, but you are innately funny and I can't help myself.
• You went to your first movie in the theatre the other day. We took you to see Astro Boy and you did pretty well. Granted we took you to the ghetto theatre, where I was sure there would be only 5 people there, but you only got antsy the last 15 minutes or so. You are now obsessed with Astro Boy and "Keys keeper" (Peace Keeper-the robot).
• You love Bolt & Aladdin and would watch them all day if I'd let you. Your rendition of the super-bark is pretty funny, especially right now when you have lost your voice a little from this cold you have.
• You are getting more and more defiant and are telling me no at every turn. I hate threatening with timeouts all of the time, but it seems to work (mostly) so we'll stick with it for now.
• You are completely potty trained during the day. You tell me when you have to go and haven't had an accident since that awful day at big daycare. You go into the bathroom and pull down your own pants and can pull them back up most of the time. If we could get you in the big boy bed at night we might be able to keep you from peeing through your diaper all the time!
• Your memory is impeccable. If I tell you something before your nap, you will wake up asking for it. You will even remember things I told you last week, like who we are going to see or things we plan to do.
• You have all of your teeth and are getting better at brushing them. Mommy still gets a turn after you, but you do a pretty good job. Your favorite part is the "rinse and spit" at the end.
• One of your favorite lines right now is, "No way who-zay" (that's the way you pronounce it anyway).
• You always want to go visit "cousin big Lily" and get upset every time we drive down the street by her house and don't stop there.
• You are still Batman, daddy is Robin and I am Batgirl. You get upset when I call you Nathan and you are in character. You also correct me when I call you Darlin. "Me not Darlin, me Nathan!!"
• You weigh 34.5 pounds and are 37.5 inches tall! It amazes me that you had such a growth spurt in the last 5 months! I had to go out and buy size 3T and I'm pretty sure all of the summer stuff I bought on clearance will not fit you by the time it gets warm here.

Well, as I am writing this post, I am having contractions. Your sister will be here before you know it. You are going to be the best big brother and I look forward to telling you next month just how gentle and amazing you are with your baby sister!! Just know that mommy loves you so much and I will try my best to make you feel just as special and loved as I always have.

Big Boy Room Reveal

As promised, yes I know it was AGES ago, here are some pictures of Natey's Big Boy room!

There was no comforter on the bed since my cat decided to make it hers for about a week, and it was literally COVERED in her hair, so I had to wash it. This is what the comforter looks like (I didn't get the sheets or that hideous bed skirt).The room has changed slightly even since I took these pics a few days ago. We put an area rug in and, for now, his big boy bed has been relocated to the living room and his crib has been moved in. He took one nap in the bed and that night I tried to put him down in it for the night. Twenty minutes later Aaron found him standing in the kitchen. When he asked him if he wanted to go back in his bed, he said he wanted to sleep in his "cribby". I figure we don't really need the crib for a little while still, so we moved it into his room so we could paint the nursery. I think he just has to get used to sleeping in his new room before he decided if he likes the bed.

There is still nothing up on the walls except the dinosaur decals, but I am having a hard time deciding what to put up. I ordered some prints from our family photo shoot in Montreal and will be putting some up in his room. I especially love the one of him all superimposed. I think he will get a kick out of having that one up in there! One of my favorite things about the room is the gourd lights with the pieces of glass and shells dangling from them. We actually bought them in Mexico when I was pregnant with Nate and we never put them up in his room. They hang in the corner over his puzzle table and they look really neat all lit up.

So there ya have it. Sorry it took so long, but I hate posting unfinished rooms. I guess if I waited to get wall art up before I did the reveal, we'd probably be showcasing his teenage room or something.

Baby girl's room is painted but only has a dresser in it, so I will hold off on that one until I can set up the crib and get the other stuff moved back in! You know I just like to keep you in suspense anyway!!

Random Ramblings

Crap, it's Thursday. I know I am usually rejoicing at this point in the week, but it seems the week goes spinning by unnoticed when you aren't working!!!

Let's recap:

Monday: Did abso-freakin-loutely nothing. I needed a day to decompress. Went to lunch by myself and had my birthday massage (a gift from Joelle).

Tuesday: Did about one million loads of laundry or so it seemed. Nate got a fever, it turned into a high fever of 104.9, we ended up in the ER of Children's hospital in the middle of the night, left because it was 4 am and we would still have to wait 2 more hours, drugged him with Motrin, got a total of 3 hours sleep, prayed I wouldn't go into labor because I was exhausted.

Wednesday: Woke up to miracle boy with NO FEVER (so random). Got a pedicure, got my hair did. Still had done nothing on my house to-do list except laundry. Cursed in my mind at my lack of motivation. Went to sleep at 8pm since I was tired and needed to get rest. Woke up 3 times in the night (2 because of my congested little boy and once to pee).

New Hair and 2 new zits on my chin (talk about adding insult to injury of being so pregnant I could explode)!
Festive and girlie toes for my trip to the hospital!

Thursday: Nate decided 5:45 was an awesome time to wake up for the day. Thanked God that I decided to go to bed at 8pm last night. Took Natey to daycare so I could get SOMETHING accomplished! Got the crib moved into Natey's room since he is still not sold on his big boy bed. Painted the nursery. Love the color!! Went to lunch with my friend. Attempted to catch up on a few blog posts.

It all seems like a lot even though it is a whole bunch of nothing!!!
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Nate is officially potty trained and can go pee all by himself! I'm talking, tells me when he has to go, taking off his own pants and undies, peeing and (mostly) pulling them back up when he's done! I also found those diaper doublers which have solved the night time peeing through issues we were having. Woo hoo!
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I am 6 days from my due date. Good Lawd I wanna be done, but have a feeling baby girl is going to come exactly on her due date. I wanted her to be born on 11/11, but since that has passed, I am really holding out hope that she comes on the 18th. I think it would just be the universe's way of turning the worst day of my life into one of the best. It will be even crazier if she comes between 1 and 2 am on the 18th since we think that's when my momma passed away.

39 week pregnant belly shot! Sorry about the headless shot...see above for head...
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I have loads more to do tomorrow and I will finally give you the reveal of Natey's big Boy room! I know, I suck! I will be tweeting when I go into labor so if you don't hear from me, and you don't follow me on Twitter, check my sidebar for updates!! You still have some time to get in on the CONTEST!! Check the sidebar for more details!

Iron Chef- Side Dishes

Heidi over at Sacred and Profane is hosting Iron Chef-Blog Style! This month's theme is holiday side dishes. I was going to enter my bacony, cheesy twice baked mashed potato recipe, but I'll save the hoopla of writing it all out with measurements (since I don't measure) and just tell you to add some cooked chopped up bacon, sauteed mushrooms, and sour cream to your mashed potatoes and then top with cheddar and slap those puppies under the broiler. Your family will thank you, however, your waistline and cholesterol probably will not!

Oh, so now that you've drooled all over the place, I'm guessing you want to know what I am actually going to enter as my recipe...

For those of you who are perfectly content to open a can of gelatinous cranberry sauce and watch the ridged blob shimmy out of the can, this recipe is not for you. For anyone else who would like a fresh, delicious cranberry sauce recipe, listen up!

Kam's Kran with a Kick

1 1/2 cups Apple cider

1 can of frozen cranberry juice cocktail concentrate(or cran-apple or cran-cherry if you can find it)

1/2 cup Sugar

1 12-ounce package fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained
½ cup craisins (dried cranberries) (about 2 ounces)

½ cup dried cherries (about 2 ounces)
2 tablespoons orange juice
¼ teaspoon ground allspice (optional)

4 Cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon Orange zest

6 cloves

Directions:

In a pan, bring apple cider, frozen cranberry juice concentrate, orange zest, orange juice, sugar, cloves and cinnamon sticks to a boil. Stir and simmer for 15 minutes until sugar dissolves. Remove cloves if they are still in tact. Add dried cherries, craisins and fresh cranberries. Increase the heat and bring to a boil. Cook on high heat, stirring until cranberries begin to pop, about five to ten minutes. Reduce heat, cook on low until relish begins to thicken, stirring occasionally. Remove from stove and discard cinnamon sticks. Pour into a bowl to cool.

I always make this the night before Thanksgiving so it is nice and chilled for the festivities!

First Day Off

Today is officially my first day of maternity leave.

I had grand plans of the one million things I was going to get done today.

So far I have managed to drop off Natey, go to the chiropractor since I kind of over-did it yesterday, go to Babies R Us to get a few random things and sit in front of my computer catching up on blogs.

I have no less than 4 mountainous piles of clean laundry to fold.

I have a bathroom that is screaming to be scrubbed.

I have a nursery that is finally ready to be painted.

I should probably pack my bag for the hospital.

Instead I am going to change my shirt (into a tee since it is almost 70 degrees!!!), go grab some lunch by myself, then come home and read a book until it is time to go get Natey. I will make dinner for the boys and then join my friend Joelle at the spa for my birthday massage.

Today I will relax. Tomorrow I will work!

Random Ramblings

I am super happy that it is Thursday. I missed my Rambling last week and felt jumbled all weekend. Oh, wait, that is just due to the fact that my pregnant brain could be mistaken for a bowl of oatmeal right now! Anywho, on with my rambles...
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I am 38 weeks and 1 day today!!! I suppose that means I could technically pop at any time. I am hoping for the 11th. A week early, but still enough time for me to finish my house projects and not have to go all the way to the end. All I know is, my midwife has informed me, that I am not allowed to go into labor this Saturday or Sunday because she is going to the Patriots game! Ha! I love her!
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Today I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I work today and tomorrow and then I do not come back here until February 1st!! Can I just say how stoked I am. Notice I did not say I will have no work until then, because we all know newborns are definitely work, but no coming to my job every day! I had a list a mile long that I have been slowly chipping away at all week and I am almost done.
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I will be making the most of my week off next week! I have a massage on Monday (my birthday present from Joelle), I'm getting my hair cut on Tuesday, I've got a few more classes of prenatal yoga, somewhere in there I will be getting a pedicure and going out to dinner with my friend, oh and I am going to a girls night of cheese and chocolate goodness on Saturday! If you hadn't noticed I am trying to get in all the fun I can before I am confined to the house with an infant for the next God knows how long!!
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Natey got both of his vaccinations last night. Seasonal and H1N1. I feel a bit relieved that he finally got them. He has to go back for the booster of the H1N1 in a few weeks, but I am just happy he has some initial protection. I am getting so sick of people getting everyone up in arms about the vaccines when they have NO idea what they are talking about! I am a Microbiologist, who happens to work for a pharmaceutical company (not any of the companies that manufacture the vaccine, just so you know I'm not biased by that!!), and it frustrates me to no end when I hear people making unfounded statements about it. The fact of the matter is, children are dying from this flu (H1N1). It is just the beginning of flu season and we already have 74 pediatric deaths due to the flu (all types as of Oct 24th). Here in RI there have been 3 children in the last week that have died from H1N1. I am not going to tell you that you have to go vaccinate your kids because it is not my place to say that, but as a pregnant mother of a 2 year old, I made sure to get the both of us vaccinated as we are in the highest risk categories. My newborn will only have immunity that she gets from my body and I believe that the benefit at this point outweighs the minute risk of getting vaccinated. Granted, I requested preservative free doses for both myself and my son and also requested the injection for Nate rather than the Flumist (nasally administered live, attenuated virus), but given the choice of facing flu season uninoculated vs getting him the Flumist, I would have taken the chance. If you want to talk specifics about the vaccines, feel free to email me. {Steps down from soapbox}
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I suppose I should get back to work and wrap up everything I need to get done! I am on cloud 9 today....minus the waking up at 5:45am this morning. Thanks, stinky, rotten daylight savings time and no one letting Natey's internal clock know that he should be sleeping in!!

How do I love thee?

Dear Mr. Clean,

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Your bald, shiny head. Those muscly arms. Your sparkling blue eyes. That fashionable solo earring. Your very image screams clean due to your lack of body hair and bright white tee. I love your products, especially my favorite invention of all time, the Magic Eraser.

The first time I held that disappearing chemical miracle in my hands and watched the ease with which the grime disappeared from my white claw foot tub, I thought I might cry. It was amazing! I immediately went to get my husband to show him how easy this little white brick made cleaning. I went a little berserk cleaning things after that. I scrubbed my entire kitchen floor with one, on my hands and knees, no less. I removed every spot and stain I could find on every approved surface in my house.

I praised your amazingness to anyone who would listen. I put you up on a pedestal that I was sure no one could ever knock you off of. One day I was in Target, browsing the aisles of wonderment and, to my amazement, I saw it....the Magic Eraser mop! I just knew it was the answer to my mopping prayers. I came home bragging about it to my hubby even before I got it out of the package. I knew it would be magnificent. Imagine my utter disbelief and disappointment when I dipped the mop in water, placed it on the floor, began to mop my grime away and the little plastic pins that held the mop together broke upon impact. I had literally pushed the mop a whopping 2 feet when it practically disintegrated before my eyes.

I must have done something wrong. I examined the mop and tried to re-attach the screws to no avail. I conceded defeat and returned the mop to Target. I was sad but, alas, there was another Magic Eraser mop with a different design! Surely, this would be the magical mop for me. I bought it, took it home and it didn't even make it to the floor this time before it broke!!! I wet the mop, tried to squeeze the water out of it and it broke into 3 pieces.

I am broken hearted. I feel betrayed. Mr. Clean, why have you done this to me? I bragged about you, talked up your charms to anyone who would listen and, for what? Your mops suck! I guess I am resigned to a life of Cinderella-esk scrubbing on my hands and knees with my original love, the little white brick that could...

Halloween

2007

2008

2009