Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The hard part about blogging

So... I've been blogging for a little while now. I know I haven't posted much, but I have posted some. Generally I have a LOT to talk about. Even in my Thirty's, my Dad still tells me to take a breath when I tell a story. But when it comes to writing, sometimes I just can't think about what to write. Ya know, between the breastfeeding, working full time, changing diapers and catching spit up, sometimes I just don't have the brain power or the inspiration. Sometimes it's hard for me. In 2010 I will vow to blog more.
The other hard part about blogging is a direct result of my curiosity. Some of you may have noticed I put a little thing at the bottom of my blog that allows me to watch the traffic. (You'll only see this if you scroll ALL.THE.WAY.TO.THE.BOTTOM.) But get this... the more I write, the more traffic I get. HA! What a Concept! So, now I'm addicted to watching the traffic which makes me want to write more (see 2010 resolution above). And watching said traffic cool. I can count the page loads and see if YOU are new or returning guests. The problem with this is... I'm a very curious person and I want to know WHO is reading little ole me...
So, please tell me who you are....leave me a little comment or find me on Twitter!

Four Christmas's and a Wedding Shower

Not like Four Wedding's and a Funeral. Not that I would know, because I never saw that movie. I wonder if RedBox has it. Seriously...RedBox. That cracks me up. I mean COME ON... I digress.... We had/have Four Christmas's and a Wedding Shower this season. We are done with all but one Christmas celebration which will take place on this Saturday. I'm so impressed with little Sydney. Through all the staying up late, noise, paper, boxes, presents and general over stimulation, she did great. She only had one minor meltdown and I think that's because she was scared because she woke up in a strange dark room all by herself in someone else's house. I think I'd be scared too.
Here's how it all played out. Thursday Night - the Eve. Ever since I met Frank in 2002, we have ALWAYS spent Christmas Eve with his Grandma and parents. The last two years, his sister and her family joined us. We eat Ham on Rolls, Grandma's Beans, and Potato Salad, then let Grandma open her gifts. We don't get home until after 9, which makes for a late night for baby because she is usually in bed around 7. Christmas Morning, we get up, this year earlier than usual because we are no longer on my schedule but Sydney's. Then we wait. Staring at the tree. with longing eyes. Actually this year, I put the baby down for a nap and did laundry and filled the dishwasher. I know, On Christmas... But hey, it's got to be done! When Frank goes to pick up Abby, we then get to open gifts. Baby did great! She took hold of the paper and tore it up, immediately followed by putting it in her mouth.
Video to follow when I get 5 minutes to upload them....
Then back to Frank's parent's house for more festivities which include Christmas Sausage and baked Pasta and other goodies, followed by gift opening and games. Sydney did great at opening those gifts too! She got an awesome VTech Learn & Discover Driver. It's awesome and she loves it! She got other noisy toys from her Aunt's and Uncle's as well as a sweet pink afghan made by none other than her Uncle John. I might just steal it for myself until she's old enough to really appreciate it. Before we knew it, our day of fun was over and it was time to go home... Another night past baby's bedtime.
On Saturday we spent the day with Grammy's family at Cousin Kevin's AWESOME house. OHMYGODIMSOJEALOUS! That house was awesome. So awesome in fact that you couldn't even tell that almost the entire family was there. Baby did good and all my uncles just loved her. She got some pretty sweet clothes from family too. BUT didn't really nap ALL day. For those of you with babies, you totally get what I'm sayin'. NO NAP = CRABBY BABY! HAHA! Not my baby! She was awesome until she woke up by herself in the DARK in the Master Bedroom. In which case she proceeded to cry until we wrapped her up and took her home. She was back to sleep before we got out of the driveway. Another late night, but she did good.
Sunday we spent the afternoon at my cousin's Wedding Shower, followed by a little shopping at Costco.
Sunday night she slept ALL NIGHT LONG, from 7:30pm to 6:00am! YAY for me! I thought it was a fluke, but she did it again last night... 7:30pm to 5:30am! We'll see how long that lasts!!!!!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

The REAL Postpartum

Now that baby is 4 months old, I think the real postpartum has set in. Well not really, but maybe a little. I've read how the sleep deprivation and the body changes that you go through during the first few weeks can lead to depression, but I think the real depression begins when you go back to work, still haven't had the baby sleeping through the night, and you realize how broke you really are. At least that's how it is for me. When I first went back to work - more than 2 months ago, I was bragging because MY was sleeping through the night. Was is the word of the day here people... She was only waking up once in the night. Now that she's no longer sick, I thought for sure we'd go back to our old ways of one waking per night....NOT SO PEOPLE! The last 2 nights she has been up 3 times. I'm not sure if it's because she has been soothing herself to sleep with the help of the Baby Einstein Sea Dreams Lullaby Soother and wakes up not knowing how to get back to sleep or if it's because she's at the beginning stages of teething. But either way, it SUCKS for me! I'm also not sure if she's really waking up or if I hear her making noise and immediately go to her. That's the downfall to having her crib in our room. But without another bedroom for the baby, what do you do. I'm hoping that this week will be better... because Momma needs some sleep.
And as for being broke... no one really tells you how much it costs to have a baby. Well maybe they do and once again I didn't listen. Note to self: Learn to listen better. Between daycare and diapers, it's a money pit. I think I better find a way to tap into this Billion Dollar Baby Business. And I also better figure out how to use this blog to make money...any suggestions?

Saturday, December 19, 2009

The Cat Named Rascal

So, today my cat went to kitty heaven. RIP 8/1/91 - 12/19/09

She's been my cat since 1991, however has been living at my parents house through college and after I moved out 2002. This cat, named Rascal, was a crazy little bitch. She would bite you and claw at you every chance she got ever since she was a kitten. Even though she was my cat, when I moved out, my Dad sort of took to her. She would sit on the arm of the chair and meow at him when she was hungry until he got up and fed her. Then hours later in the dark of night, as he walked through the dark house, she would jump out and attack. Each of us suffered horrible claw marks to our calves at one time or another due to her attacking. And as much as she pissed us off when she did it, we would still laugh about it. She was the runt of the litter and taken away from the clan about a week earlier than she should have been so I could have her as a gift. The first night I had her she curled up on my pillow next to me. At that time, so small. Even at her biggest, she didn't really weigh much, but she always looked huge because of her long hair. There's a taxidermist that lives down the road from Mom and Dad's so we often joked about getting her stuffed because my Dad would miss her so much. We didn't get her stuffed today, but I might have to go in search of a stuffed toy animal that looks like her to give Dad just in time for Christmas. Dad also always asked me when I was going to pay the back cat support I owed. I always just laughed! Maybe someday I'll pay up!

Rest in Peace little kitty. Have fun playing with Rex, Daisy, Spike and Mooch up there... I'm sure Spike and Mooch are tormenting you and Rex is letting you hide by him. And Daisy is walking on the ceiling.....

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Breaking the Silence

Now that we have a baby and still need to get out the door on time - well actually earlier than we used to, someone has to be the first one up. It's usually always been me, so I guess some things never change. But now that we have a baby and her crib is in our room, since there's nowhere else for it, there's also no more snoozing the alarm. I found that out the hard way twice this week. If I don't get up to shut it off during the first few seconds of it going off, baby wakes up. And if I snooze it so it goes off again in 10 minutes, she most definitely wakes up. And if that happens, she's up almost an hour before I'd like her to be, which usually always makes Dad wake up too. And he is not happy about being up anytime before 7 on most days. I used to think it was totally annoying that I was the first one up in the morning, and I still sort of do, but even though it's the beginning to another rat race day, I sort of like it. I'm the one to break the silence of the night. It's so quiet, everyone in the house still sleeping soundly. Sometimes I even have to check to the baby because she's sleeping so soundly. I hate to turn on the shower or the blow dryer because it's so loud, but when those aren't running I like that I can just enjoy the quiet. It's a different kind of quiet than daytime naptime or after her bedtime. I just can't explain it. It's one thing about the morning and getting up early that I like, even if I am the first one to break the silence.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Mom and Blog

So, I guess I'm a Mommy Blogger. Since I'm a mom and I blog about my kid and other stuff, that makes me a Mommy Blogger. Ok. I can handle that. I also follow a lot of other bloggers, and it wasn't until I recently read a blog by Jason over at DadCentric that I realized that most of the bloggers I follow have had some detrimental thing happen to their family. His child was sick with Kawasaki Disease when he was a baby. Other bloggers I follow have had horrible things happen to their kids, their spouses or themselves. I'm not sure if these bloggers started their blogs in order to keep family and friends updated to the status of the bad thing or if there was another reason. I haven't done the research, but all I know is that I'm scared that something bad might just happen to us because I follow these other blogs. I know that's stupid, but after reading the horrible things that happen to some people, I can only wonder. One thing I do know is that I'm inspired by how resilient these families are even given the circumstances they have been faced with. I also know that I'm thankful I have a healthy, happy baby and that my family is healthy too!
Speaking of that healthy, happy baby...here she is!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Aquaphor & $100 gift card giveaway!

So, I follow Kristy and her blog here and she's awesome. Go check her out. NOW! AND if that's not good enough, she also reviews things. Yes, and you can see that here.
Right now she's doing a little giveaway for an Aquaphor gift pack and $100 Visa Gift Card. It wasn't until I read Kristy'r review of Aquaphor that I figured out that we need to be using it in this house. A girl at work said this stuff rocks and baby has some bad dry skin on her chubby little legs and we need to get that handled. Doc said use Aquaphor. Well, OK. Funny how I didn't hear of it before but now I've heard how awesome the stuff is from three different people in a matter of a few days.... I'll go get some tomorrow. Until then I decided that I need to get those entries in for Kristy's giveaway because that $100 gift card would be a great little stocking stuffer for the teenage step child!
Go to check out the site and get a chance to win for yourself!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

What's with the Ears?

In early November, I blogged about the baby being sick. Well, she still is. Yeah, that's right. It's December freaking 11th and she's still sick. We've been to the doctor count it 4 times in the last month and I've been called to pick her up early from Daycare 3 times. So, on Nov 10, I took her to the Doc because the stuffy nose was just hanging on. Doc said she was fine, it was just a virus. If I had only known that was not the worst of it. The next day she was better and I foolishly thought we were home free. Then the day after that (Thursday) she got worse. Then over the weekend she got a little worse and then progressively worse throughout the week. That Thursday, the 19th, they called me from daycare becuase she wouldn't eat. I called the Doc and got her in. They again said it's just a virus and her ears look fine. Little bit of Tylenol here and there and she should be feeling better in no time. Ok, that's easy. By the next Wednesday, which mind you was the 25th, the day before Thanksgiving, Daycare called again, and yes I had to leave early to go get my babe because she wouldn't eat and was VERY fussy. Once we got home, she seemed fine just a little fussy so I didn't worry about it. By Saturday the 28th, she had a cough when she woke up. I made the decision to take her to the Doc again. Spend $10 at the clinic or spend $100 at Childrens ER. That's an easy pick, don't you think? Diagnosis: Ear Infection. Fluid in both sides, left worse than right. They started her on Amoxicillin. She proceded to get a little rash by Monday. Great, allergic, just like me. So I called the clinic after hours and they said NO MORE AMOX. Ok. The next day she started Azythromyacin for 5 days. Her last dose was Saturday the 5th - Yes December 5th. She seemed better but not great. So, I sent her to daycare again Monday. They called me again, just before 5 because she had been screaming and again wouldn't eat. My child is not a screamer. When Miss Madeline (the best first daycare provider a girl could ask for) called again at 4:40 on Monday afternoon, I immediately called the clinic...again. Clinic closes by 5 but the nurse said bring her to Urgent Care. Ok, done. This doc said she STILL has fluid in her ears and the rash is not an allergic reaction. Another anitbiotic started Monday night. Now we are at Friday. She seems to be doing better, but has started to grab at that left ear. I'm not sure if this is something she just learned to do or if her ear hurts her. We see her regular doc tomorrow for her 4 month appointment. Hopefully the ears will look better because I am beginning to approach the end of my rope. Seriously.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Stuff - cheap and free

So...I'm a sucker for cheap and free stuff. And especially if I have a coupon. So today when I saw this, I thought I better share. Because it's awesome.
Burt's Bee's has a Grab Bag that is an awesome deal. Check it out here. It's over $50 worth of stuff for $20 - including FREE SHIPPING. Which in case you didn't know, I'm also a sucker for.
Check it out. And if you get Burt's Bees from me, you'll know I got it for cheap!
And since I'm also a sucker for bloggers giving stuff away, I'll be posting more soon!