All up in the kool-aid, dont even know the flava

SpaRiffic!!!!

One of my friends ( very good friend), got me a wonderful gift. A gift certificate for a day at the Spa. She gave it to me before I had Emma, so if I wanted to go and relax during my last few weeks of pregnancy, I could, or I could wait until after I had Emma and then go. That's the option I chose.

So this past Friday I went to the Spa! Jason had the afternoon off of work ( thank God) and he and Emma ( in her baby bjorn!) went shopping while I was at the Spa. We were hoping she wouldnt need to be fed while I was there, but he stuck to stores close to the Spa so if need be, he could bring her by and I could nurse her.

I started my afternoon of relaxation and beautification off with getting my hair done. I went with hightlights while I was pregnant with Emma and my hair was looking pretty drab and mousy. So, I got it colored. Here it is, dyed brown (to even out my color which was a mix of my natural brown and old highlights) and some fresh new golden highlights.

Yeah! (Dont look down my shirt!)

While I was getting my hair down, one of the front desk girls came back and gave me a gift from my husband.

This Ghiradelli Intense Dark Chocolate with Orange is the BEST chocolate I have EVER had. Hands down. Wasnt that sweet of him to bring me chocolate?

After getting my hair done, I got a manicure and a pedicure.

Hey Sandy and Lisa! Check out the pair of "flippies" they gave me to wear home!

During the pedicure I got to relax in one of those awesome massage chairs while my feet soaked in tub with jucuzzi jets. It was AWESOME.

It was a great afternoon. Yeah for great friends!!!Of course, I did think about Emma the whole time! And Emma nearly lasted the whole time ( about 3.5 hours) without a feeding. During the last 10 minutes of my pedicure I got a call from Jason and I could hear Emma crying (screaming really) in the background. So as soon as my pedicure was done, I nursed Emma in the car for a bit. Im getting pretty good about nursing in different situations/positions. Later I'll have to share my story of how I nursed Emma while carrying on a conversation with another mother, who was  in the same room.  ( Yea, that whole "Im only going to breast feed in a dark closet" thing, never happened.)

The dangers of too little sleep

So, since Emma prefers to sleep during daylight, I get to watch a great deal of late night shows and infomercials. Ive seen it all from the Ear Dryer, to air purifiers, to the Miracle Blade knife set ( which by the way, seems awesome and if any of you have purchased it, let me know). 

Now besides the Miracle Blade knives and the Magic Bullet, I dont get drawn into infomercials. So when I saw an infomercial at 4am the other night about a Cash Flow Generator , I didnt bite. And when I saw it was hosted by two little people ( and by little people I mean midgets, not children), I honestly just assumed that my mind, having had very little sleep, was just playing tricks on me. It's certainly not often you see a little person hosting an infomerical, and this one was hosted by what seemed to be twin little people. Anyway, I just changed the channel.

But my husband? When he caught the same infomerical a few nights later? Apparently did not change to channel but in fact became enthralled with the Cash Flow Generator program ( or maybe he was enthralled by the little people, who knows really). In any case, when I check our email account on Friday? There was a confirmation letter from the Cash Generator seminar people.

My husband actually registered for the darn thing. Im not sure if he is just going to see the little people or if he really believes this program could make us overnight millionnaires.

Of course, you win either way.  If we become super rich? I'll take you all on a cruise. And if the seminar is a total bust but Jason walks away with his picture taken with the little people? That will be entertaining too.

( if you are a Little Person, please know that i am totally not making fun of you, Im just making fun of my husband.).

The dogs! They do still exist!

Gah. How long has it been since I've posted a picture of the dogs? A long time, that's how long. Those of you that only come for the dog pictures are probably like "Man, what's with all the baby pictures? Geez."

Alfred has been a happier dog since being able to get back up on the "big bed" again. In fact, the other night, Jason and I were hanging out on the Big Bed with Emma and Alfred hopped up.  I had Emma in my lap and as soon as I handed her over to Jason, Alfred hopped in my lap. Demanding attention of course. Then later, I turned back a corner of the comforter to lay Emma down on ( cause the underside of the comforter is the cleanest). After playing with her for a while on the bed, I picked her up and brought her back to my lap. At which time Alfred immediately went over and laid down on the turned down comforter. Apparently, anything Emma can do, Alfred can do (better).

And after recieving equal treatment as Emma does, Alfred finally decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about.

As long as Alfred is getting equal treatment, I think he's going to be fine.

And here's proof that Bella still exists.

Bella's discovered her purpose in life is to keep Emma's feet clean. And as long as Emma cant get her feet in her mouth? I am ok with that.

And to prove Holly is still around, here's a picture of her. It doesnt have a story with it like the others, but its Holly, she's so cute she doesnt need a caption.

One month

Dear Emma-

It has been one month since I first met you. One month since your daddy and I truly understood how you can love someone you've just met. One month since you were born.

And already you have changed so much!Those 1st few days in the hospital and then we got you home, we had to keep you awake with a wet wash cloth for feedings. Now, you ask to be fed sometimes every hour! I get such great satisfaction out of nursing you. I was very nervous about breastfeeding you because I wasnt comfortable with the idea. But from the first time I fed you in the hospital, I knew that's what I was meant to do. You need me and I love that. I love it when you furrow your little brow and get a look of such determination in your eyes as you eat. And then when you fall asleep while eating and a little drop of milk escapes your lips and rolls down your cheek. Even in the middle of the night when I am very tired, I enjoy that special bonding time with you.

You have such a variety of facial expressions and your daddy and I love to stare at you and think about what you are thinking. I think I could stare at you all day. 

Im starting to get to know your little coos and crys and distiguish what each one means. More often than not, you cry just because you want your Mommy to hold you and that makes me feel so special.

Im so glad we were blessed with you little Emma.

I love you,

Mommy

Mother and Daughter Outing

Today was Emma's 2nd doctor's appt. It was mainly to get weighed and measured since last time she was a day shy of 2 weeks old and they like to make sure babys make it back up to their birth weight at 2 weeks. (Emma is 4 weeks and 1 day, stay tuned tommorow for her 1 month birthday letter).

Anyway, Jason had to work so this was my first time taking Emma somewhere bymyself. Her car seat plus her in it is way heavy and toting that thru a big parking lot and into the hosptial to get to her doctor was not sounding feasible. (yes, I realize many of you moms can  do that with no problem, but I am a wimp). So thanks to Sandy, and her gift of a baby bjorn that she got for Emma when I was pregnant, it made the day WAY easier. Once we got to the hospital and I parked the car, I just took Emma out of her car seat and put her in the Baby Bjorn and took her in for her appt. Way easy.

Here's Emma in her car seat getting ready to go to her appt.

And here's the base hospital where Emma's pedeatrician is.

And let's here it for Emma! She weighed in at 9lbs even!!! Yeah Emma!! Way to go!!!And she's grown an inch and a quarter to now measure 21 inches and a quarter long!!! YEAHH!!!! All of Emma's measurements were "proportionate" and in the 75th percentile, so she's not skinny and she's not huge.She's just perfect!

Then, since we were on base, we swung by Jason's "office" and he showed Emma off to his coworkers.

Then, Emma and I went to the Produce stand near our house and bought a giant watermelon and a cantelope.

So you can see how large the watermellon really is:

(sadly, when I later cut the watermelon up, it wasnt that pink and doesnt taste that good. )

Then after Jason got home, we put Emma on our bed and just stared at her and talked to her for a while.

                      

See Sandy? Don't you just love my orange shirt? ;)

                     

Now, wish us luck getting Emma to sleep tonight! Yesterday (technically today) she didnt go to sleep until 9am this morning. And we had to be up by 11am to get ready for her doctor's appt.  2 hours sleep is rough!

Tagged

I got tagged by Astrocoz. It's late at night and my brain power is low, so Astro-sorry, but I dont/not willing to understand how to keep this meme going, BUT, I will do meme. Yeah!

What were you doing 10 years ago? 10 years ago I was 16. In fact, 10 years ago probably this month, I was registering for a new high school. I had been in magnet schools since Kindergarden and after a bad 10th grade year grade wise, I decided I just wanted to go to a  normal school with normal school activities like drama and chorus. Switching high schools was one of the best decisions of my life.

What were you doing 1 year ago? I decided to check out my blog archives from last July for this one. And I was nicely surpised at what I had been up to.

A year ago my husband's maternal grandmother died. I wasnt able to go with his family to the funeral (in michigan) but I decided to drive up to his mother's house before they got back from their trip and buy them groceries to come home to. Sometimes, my niceness suprises even me. Im always filled with ideas on how to show people I care for them but usually inability to part with money easily leaves my ideas as just ideas and not actual things I carry out.

Five snacks I enjoy:

• watermellon
• yogurt
• raisin bran
• fudge popsicles
• ice

Five songs that I know all the lyrics to:

I dont know if I can come up with five, we'll see,

• Baby Got Back, sir Mix A Lot (astro- I think all of us from this generation know this one!)
• Walking in Memphis, Marc Cohn
• Fancy, Reba McCentire
• I will Survive, Gloria Gaynor

Five things I would do if I was a millionaire:

• pay off debt
• buy a beach house.
• buy Jason's parents a big enough house that we could live with them if we wanted to. ( must include a room that the dogs are allowed in)
• Go on a second honeymoon to the bahamas
• go on a big cruise with all my blog friends.

Five bad habits:

• leaving leftovers in the fridge.
• reminding Jason of things he needs to do. (I am quite sure this bugs the hell of out him and I dont want my nagging to become a big issue later on, so I really need to stop this one)
• proscratination
• being too tight with money

There were a few more questions on this meme, but Im going to stop here. Feel free to do this one too!

Alfred and I just finished taking a nap on the "big bed". As Alfred gets adjusted to Emma being in the house, I think he's gone thru a little jealousy streak. See, Alfred never pees in the house unless he has a reason, and its never because he "has" to. It's always to prove a point or show he is dissatified with the amount of attention he is getting.

Last week, someone peed on a blanket in the living room that I often use when I am sitting with Emma. I blamed Holly. BUT, after another pee incident, this time in the laundry room-that could only have been Alfred, Ive decided both incidents must have been him. Trying to prove a point.

We havent been ignoring Alfred, he's still been getting treats and what not, but I think I figured out what's been upsetting him.

Since we've been home from the hospital, my suitcase has remained on the chest at the end of our bed. The chest that Alfred uses to jump onto the bed. Sometimes, I will hear Alfred running down the hallway and into the bedroom and then he will stop short because the suitcase is there and he cant get up to be on the bed with me. Sometimes he will whine and sometimes he will just keep walking around the bed, looking for another way up.

Well, I think Alfred not being able to get up on the bed is what has been bothering him enough to pee in the house. So today I (finally) moved the suitcase and let Alfred up on the bed for a nice long nap!

Hopefully no more accidents now!

Reality

1. Jason and I decided a LONG time ago (early in my pregnancy) that our daughter would always sleep in her  room in her  crib. From the beginning. No co-sleeping, no bassinett in our room. She'd be fine in her room in her crib and we had the monitors to hear her, so no big deal. And her room is right next to ours.

*reality*

Night one home from the hospital? Emma starts out in her crib in her room. Maybe 30 minutes later she starts crying and we go get her and calm her down and put her back in her crib and go back to our room. Maybe 15 minutes later, the same thing.  We suddenly felt like horrible people who were abandoning our daughter. So we moved her into our room. And since I didnt expect Jason to set up the Pack N PLay (what she mostly sleeps in now) up in the middle of the night, that first night our daughter slept in her Boppy pillow ( spare me the warnings, I KNOW, I've read the label) ON our bed. And you know we only have a full size mattress. We had to lay very still.  And now every night she sleeps in our room ( but not on our bed anymore).

2. Crying it out.

*reality*

Ha.  I dont know when they've reached "out" but Im not willing to find out. Looking at her little scrunched up face just thinking about crying is enough for me to cuddle her.

3. Sleep when the baby sleeps.

*reality*

This is funny because often times, she doesnt sleep. or she only sleeps for like an hour at a time. Or she demands to sleep on my chest and try as I might, I cant sleep like that. Jason can though.

Besides, since I cant do the "cry it out" thing. Sometimes when she is sleeping is my only chance to do things like eat or go the bathroom or do laundry.

4. I ALWAYS thought that I would not enjoy the first year at all. A baby that just sleep and eats and doesnt walk and talk?

*reality*

What a great age! Shoot any age Emma is will be great. And somehow, she's already growing too fast! I want to keep her small! She's already grown out of the "just born" onsies and that just breaks my heart.  And today we are going to try the next size up diapers. ( Size 1 instead of newborns).  And she doesnt just sleep and eat. She likes to make faces, and look around at things and just sit with mommy and daddy and watch them go all ga ga over her....

5. Time is passing too quickly. and that's the reality.

I printed 30 birth announcements thinking that would be plenty. ( I based this off of my christmas cards totalling 25). Well apparently I either left people off the christmas card list or Ive made new friends because 30 was NOT enough. And I need to get like 15 more made and all the sudden she's almost a month old and I havent done that yet. AHHH.

6. My body would take forever to return to normal and I would hide out in my house until that happened.

*reality*

Carrying Emma all out in front for 9 months apparently is the way to go. Im So lucky that I didnt really gain weight anywhere else but in my tummy area. And while I am very close to my pre-pregnancy weight, I know it will be a while because my tummy looks *normal*. But I am ok with that. Sure Ive got stretch marks. They will fade with time. Sure Ive got a little pooch thing. Why shouldnt I? I only had a baby 4 weeks ago. Im lucky its just a "little pooch thing". It too will fade in time. And if my body never really returns to what it was before? That's fine too. Because Emma is worth it.

The pic on the left is 6 weeks pregnant with Emma. The pic on the right is 39 weeks pregnant with Emma.

Im not brave enough just yet to post a current belly pic, but maybe after my 6 week check up I will. ( and if I do? You will all shower me with compliments because posting a postpartum belly pic would require significant bravery and you should all say things like " stretch marks? can barely see them!" and "pooch? that's cute!")

Watch me whine and be overly sensitive

My grandmother just came to visit.

My grandmother (my mother's mother) doesnt drive that much anymore so a friend of hers drove her up to see us. They live about 2 hours away. They came for lunch and the left.

I dont have a close relationship with my grandmother. I never really felt bonded to her when I was younger and after my mother died, I felt like we were strangers. To be honest, she did and said things after my mom died that really bothered me.

Things not to say to someone who just lost their mother:

" maybe it was for the best"

Truly I could go on and on with a lifetime of things she's said and done but for today ( and for your sanity) I will limit it to just this visit. Cause really, enough was said during this visit to write a blog entry about just that!

My grandmother brought with her a shirt she had ordered from a catalogue. ( A horrendous looking shirt with sailboats and palm trees) She proclaimed the shirt was "way to big" for her and she didnt know "if it would fit around" me, but I was welcome to it.

FIT AROUND ME. Exact words. Nice huh?

Then she called Emma a "fatty". First, breast feed babies especially are suppose to have double chins and chubby legs and arms and what not. It means they are healthy and getting enough to eat. Jason and I have actually been worried lately that Emma isnt chubby enough. Then she talked about how her babies were some much smaller and maybe that was because she was so much thinner. ( than me). Thanks. Thanks a lot.

She also called Holly and Alfred fat. And NO ONE calls Holly and alfred fat. Alfred is muscular and Holly used to be in a puppy mill and therefor has extra skin from being bred so much. She's soft and cuddly. Not fat.

And for me, the piece de resistance was when we were talking about my C-section and my grandmother said that she had her babies "the hard way". Meaning not a C-section.  Trust me, a C-section is no picnic and I am (obviously) very sensitive still about having to have  a C-section and her implying that my delivery was easy really really pissed me off.

Oh. and while I am whining and being overly sensitive, she never asked to see the nursery. So she never did. She only asked to see the car seat we bought with the money she sent us a while back to by Emma something. Who doesnt ask to see the nursery??? Who doesnt want to see all of Emma's cute stuffed animals and adorable outfits???

Anyway, to calm down after her visit, we gave Emma another bath.

Im okay now because Ive got this:

And she always makes me smile.

Nighttime visitor

You know, I am getting used to not sleeping at night. Emma prefers the Late shows. Jay Leno, Conan, and a mixed variety of PBS specials and infomercials.   ( We watched a riveting infomercial on an EAR DRYER the other night. And Ear Dryer. Wow, now I know what all of you are getting for Christmas!)

But last night, my sleep was thwarted by more than Emma. After a midnight diaper change, Emma and I were on our way into the living room for a feeding ( and to catch the last half of Leno of course). I happened to look up at the cieling in the hallway and thats where I saw the thoroughbred of roaches (or devils as Sandy calls them, and rightly so). This guy was HUGE. HUGE. HUGE. And I had almost walked underneath him, which still gives me the heebeegeebees.  Sadly, Jason was at work.

( Why was Jason at work in the middle of the night? Because a unit just came back from serving in the dessert and they arrived last night and the band had to welcome them home)

I dont fight roaches myself. I run and hide. Besides, the fact that this guy was on the cieling obviously meant he was in fine health and might run or FLY away. So Emma and I continued ( a different path) to the living room and I nursed her while wondering if the roach would stay in place until Jason got home.

OF COURSE NOT.

When I was done nursing Emma the roach was not there. Which only meant that it must have moved somewhere else. Somewhere where it was plotting to jump out and scare me later.

When Jason got home (about 2am), the roach still could not be found. And no, I still dont know where it is. lets pretend it found its way outside.