Thursday, March 29, 2007

Homework...for you!

While I off on my girl weekend I'm assigning homework for my readers. Yep, you heard me...you gots some homework to do.

Our "big" ultrasound is next Tuesday. Your easy homework assignment is to guess what the baby's gender is. Here are some things that might sway your vote...

I burp frequently (didn't do this with Lily)
I started on a salty food kick but have switched to sweets
Baby's heart beat was 140 BPM at the last doctor appointment
My prego belly is more out front but a little sideways too
I've had heartburn twice already...only had it towards the end with Lily
Chinese gender predictor charts say boy
I have a stuffy nose ALL the time (never had that with Lily)
I think boy; Randy thinks girl (we don't care either way!)

That's about all my symptoms. Leave your guess under comments. We'll know the winner or winners on Tuesday. Actually, that's a good point to make. It's safer to say we HOPE to know the winners on Tuesday. That means the baby has to cooperate. If the baby doesn't cooperate we won't know. If the baby doesn't cooperate don't blame us. We are not planning to keep the "big" secret from anyone. We want to know too! Get guessing... Boy??? Girl???

Who eats dirty diapers?

I have thought a bit about using cloth diapers with this new baby. Most likely I would only use them at home over my maternity leave but I'm hoping this would be 12 weeks. That is a good amount of time to help the environment, right? I haven't made the commitment yet and I am a tad hesitant because the upfront cost is expensive and I'm not great with laundry as it is. I have some researching, reading, and decision making to do.

While discussing cloth vs. disposable diapers on my favorite pregnancy website the issue of dogs dying from eating disposable diapers came up. I can't tell you how many dirty (mostly pee, but not always) diapers Max, our male dog, has eaten. TOO MANY. It's a pain in the butt cuz he leaves the diaper in itty, bitty pieces. Warning, you may want to stop reading if your tummy is queasy...he will eat out the pee which usually has soaked into the diaper well enough to saturate the inner lining which turns to gelatinous mush. Not only does he eat the majority of the gelatinous mush but this is also scattered around scene of the crime, in tiny pieces. Sure, you're probably rolling your eyes, asking why would we leave a dirty diaper laying around. That is a very good question and one that I always ask myself as I'm picking up the itty, bitty pee-soaked gelatinous mush pieces. We always change Lily on the floor, almost always in our bathroom. Usually we are always changing her outfit or getting her ready for a bath. We take the time to wrap the diaper as tight as possible but sometimes it get left on the bathroom floor. Strangely enough, Max has some superdog power to sniff out a dirty diaper from across the house, become invisible while eating the diaper, then turn back into the dorky dog with dorky puppy dog eyes while we discover his recent meal. Thankfully our female dog has no interest in eating dirty diapers. It must be a male thing.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

2:30AM--Randy and I heard a fairly loud thud that wakened us from our peaceful sleep. We both agreed it had to be Max, our dog, trying to get into the spare bathroom toilet bowl. Ya know, for a little middle of the night refreshment. But I felt around the bed and both dogs were sleeping peacefully. Randy and I got out of bed and started to determine what we should do. We turned on the main, very bright light, and turned off the white noise of my fan and the hallway air purifier. Randy instructed me to stay upstairs while he investigated the main floor. I grabbed my cell phone. Randy and the dogs searched the entire house and discovered the basement door was unlocked. Very uncharacteristic of us. The dining room window was unlocked. Again, very uncharacteristic, especially since we NEVER open it because it has NEVER had a screen. This adds to my panic. Randy and dogs (although they would rather be sleeping) continue to check each and every possible hiding spot but nothing. No sign of an intruder. I breathed a sigh of relief. Randy comes back upstairs and I re-check the spare bathroom. Then I ask him "Did you take down the shower mat I hung in the shower to dry?" Randy didn't not take down the hanging shower mat. So there you have it...the finale of our 2:30AM story...the shower mat fell and created the loud thud we heard. As I laid in bed, trying to get back to sleep, the only thing I could think of, with a grin on my face, was that my blog post for today was finished.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

As I am approaching the ½ way mark in my pregnancy I have thought about how to deliver this baby. With Lily I received the epidural around 8-9 centimeters. I don’t think it helped. I felt everything. It hurt. I felt the pain and pressure and even felt the lidocaine injection and stitches afterwards. Lucky for me I didn’t care at that point, I had a new baby girl to look at. They could have done just about anything and I would have smiled and said “okay”. I probably would have giggled too but I still felt every swipe of the needle stitching me up. Every swipe. Basically I felt like I delivered naturally. I went into that delivery knowing I wanted the epidural but I tried to stay open minded...just in case. That didn't work out so well. When it was discovered my labor progressed faster than expected my labor nurse made a bold statement that I didn't have much longer and I could do it naturally. I don't know if I even responded to her, if I did I likely threw her a nasty look that translated my overwhelming desire for an epidural. I thought I was more open minded for the possibility of not getting an epidural but obviously I wasn't. I tried to prepare myself that maybe my labor would be fast because my sister-in-law had 3 babies that shot out of her about as fast as her husband was paying for chinese food in the hallway. But that was my sister-in-law and well, you could barely tell she was pregnant when she was 9 months along. With my balloon belly (don't get me wrong, I loved my balloon belly) I didn't compare our pregnancies too much and didn't put too much thought into comparing our deliveries either.

I like the idea of having a natural childbirth mainly for the ability to move around. Once you get the epidural you have to stay in bed. Although there are limits to moving around due to monitoring the baby which I am just peachy with. I’ve been a baby nurse…ya know the one that comes in time for the grand finale to welcome the new one with fierce towel wiping (we do this because we like our newborn babies crying and pink). It's very important to know the status of the baby throughout labor. They are affected by every contraction and can react in ways baby nurses don't like to see. So I know the importance of monitoring the baby throughout delivery.

I want things to go as smoothly as possible, who doesn’t right? Although my decision at this time is to get the epidural I still read up on both topics. Mostly cuz I know each delivery is unknown…unknown when it will happen and the course that it will take. I will try and stay open minded about EVERYTHING. Even if I required a c/s I have faith and trust in my OB that it would be necessary. I really, really don’t care how I deliver, it’s the watermelon sized reward that matters.

There is A LOT of heated debate about having a natural delivery vs. a delivery with an epidural. Just like breast feeding vs. bottle feeding. I could care less what each person thinks is the BEST. It’s funny to me how one person can be so judgmental and put others down because their way it the BEST. Anyhow, at least it causes me to roll my eyes (I’m good at this) instead of getting my blood to boil. I don’t care. I try to support every one of my friends/family in their decisions. Even if I choose an alternate way…it doesn’t mean my decision is better than someone else's. I really hope all my friends know this and that I will always support them in their decisions. The following is a comment from a pregnancy website I often read. The article was about natural childbirth and this was the very first comment. As you read, especially the end, imagine my eyes rolling, over and over.


"Hi, I have been reading some of your stories and most of them are great. However it upsets me when I read or hear peoples comments putting down natural childbirth and the women who choose not to get high during delivery. It's childbirth, it's supposed to hurt. My husband has been told people who have babies at home are just stupid. Well excuse me, but women have only been delivering in hospitals for less than a century! Women who have babies at home naturally are truly strong, I speak from experience. I have a very low pain tolerancy yet I was able to deliver a 9lb. 10 oz. boy at home with no meds. I tore and required stitches, yet I would not have done it differently and am about to have my second child at home. Ladies, don't be discouraged by what other people say. Those who choose drugs can't appreciate what god has chosen for them and it makes it all to easy for some to keep having kids they can't care for. I know we share a special bond with our children because of the level of difficulty it took to bring them into the world that no woman who didn't feel it could ever understand."
-- Jessie

In my spare time

I like to read other blogs. Mostly mommy or pregnancy related blogs. Those are the topics that interest me these days. Gee, wonder why? It's fun to read about other moms that have a child Lily's age or ladies who 20 weeks pregnant like I am. So...I have filled up my side bar with lots of cool, fun blogs that I recently found. If you're interested take a look, if not they are there to help make my time go faster.

3 days and counting until my girl weekend. I am getting a little nervous about being away from Lily. I have only been away from her overnight ONCE. I am excited to sleep in a hotel room with no baby cries in the middle of the night or dogs pinning my legs BUT...I will be sad to not hear those baby cries if they happen. I will be sad that I won't help put Lily to bed each night, holding and rocking her while Randy reads 2 long or 3 short bed time stories. I will miss singing rock a bye baby while cradling her in my arms before placing her in the crib. I will miss seeing her in the morning as she walks around her crib playing with her mobile until she's ready to be picked up. I will miss the squirmy diaper changes and meal time messes from her spilling a plate full of food. I do know that my absence will be good for Randy and Lily. They will spend quality time together without an interruption from mom wanting to be included in their play time. But when I return home Monday you can guarantee I will pick up Lily from daycare ASAP and hug her and kiss her like no other.

Monday, March 26, 2007

I think it's fixed...

I hope. I still have to add the crazy hip mamas code but for now...it's back to normal.

We said good bye to our friend, Donny. He was great entertainment (let me tell you, this boy has stories, good ones that make married people drool) and is always fun to be around. We spent Friday night playing games with Donny, California Dave and Sara. Now this always gets interesting. Mainly cuz the boys talk trash and California Dave has a game side that comes out that you would never expect. California Dave and Sara are actually changing to Oregon Dave and Sara but I don't think that name sounds as appealing. I didn't change them to Colorado Dave and Sara and won't be changing them to Oregon either. Obviously they like to move.

We had a babysitter Saturday night! Yay for some family living close by (hint.hint.family--move!! It's pretty out here). Randy's sis and family watched Lily so we could behave like 21 year olds. For me, a pregnant 21 year old. We ate and bowled at Lucky Strikes. Okay, so I bowled like a 81 year old. I wish I had video of Donny's bowling technique. Imagine this...your sitting behind him and he's getting ready to bowl...as he reaches the "don't cross this line" line his arm flings behind him with the bowling ball in place, his arm reaches his ear and everyone is ducking behind him. His bowling ball hits the floor like a cater from outer space and flies down the alley to hit 1 or 2 pins but they all fall down out of sheer terror. But...another video might have been even better...video of California Dave trying, trying his hardest, to bowl as fast as Donny but ended up falling on his ass instead. California Dave is a tall drink of water so this caused a few tears to fall.

Sunday brought a quiet day as Donny returned to his home. Randy started ultimate frisbee, thank goodness, cuz it's been SO long since he last played. It was torture for him to not play last fall due to building a freakin' rocket. At least his priorites are straight. I ventured to SuperWalmart with Lily which has been determined to be my LAST SuperWalmart trip with Lily. Picture this...17 month old not wanting to sit in cart...17 month old fighting with mother to stand in cart...17 month old not wanting to get in car seat to go home...bald mother due to hair being pulled out (by herself, not 17 month old).

Prego Brain

It appears I have messed up my blog format. As you can tell. The computer typically doesn't like me and well, I don't like the computer. I hate the coding stuff...email, I can do that. I can type and surf the web (I can surf REALLY good) and that's where I draw the line. Last Friday I decided to join the crazy hip mamas blog group and had to insert their coding information into my template. Sounds like fun, right? Well I started deleting away parts of my code without a care in the world. And this is the result...a freakin' crazy messed up blog. This is all probably due to my computer incompetence but since I am pregnant I can also blame my lack of normal brain function due to baby sucking it from me.

Stayed tuned. Hopefully someone will rescue me. Randy???? Staci????

Friday, March 23, 2007

Photo Friday

I'm participating in the Crazy Hip Blog Mamas Photo Friday...today is messy photos. The rules are pretty general and can include any messy picture...of a baby, house, backyard, etc. I don't tend to take photos of my messy house...usually the messy house photos are the background to a messy baby. I really don't want to post any messy house or backyard photos cuz they aren't pretty...but this little girl is...

My own personal chef

I could get used to having a personal chef. This morning, upon coming downstairs, was a homemade breakfast burrito made by our temporary personal chef Donny. Donny arrived from California yesterday and unfortunately had to wake up at an awful time of 4AM to work. Lucky for us his work included making breakfast. It was delicious.

Randy and Donny are off snowboarding. Guess where I am? Working! I remember a long time ago…the days of doing whatever you wanted and not having a care in the world. No one to tell you where to go, no one to tell you to do work. It was called college. While I did work at least 2 jobs it was EASY. Orange Julius isn’t exactly rough work, sometimes it was rough explaining for the millionth time the difference between the orginal Julius and the smoothly but that’s another post. But then again, my current job isn’t rough either. It’s the typical 9 hour work day that is rough.

In November Randy and I purchased passes to Cooper Mountain. I was excited to get back into snowboarding. I wanted to take a lesson to improve my skills and become really good. Good enough to keep up with Randy, which he would say is really good. But…before using the first of the 4 visits we discovered I was pregnant. My doctor was okay with snowboarding/skiing in the early first trimester so I kept thinking I could use my pass. Time when by…holidays kept us busy and I never used my pass. I am okay with it…I don’t mind “wasting” the money because of my growing belly. I look forward to next year when I can attempt to improve my boarding skills. For now, I will just complain that I’m working while the boys are snowboarding.

One week and counting…until my girl weekend! I’m going away with my 2 best friends, Kerry and Melissa. We are planning a lot of shopping, shopping, and more shopping. We also plan to get spa treatments…ya know…from all of that hard work shopping.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

I have a new friend that I met through work. He's really cool and fun to hang out with. I enjoy having breakfast with him. He's not very talkative and he kind of runs away from me when I get too close. But he's my friend. My colorful friend.




Meet M.J.

My heart is melting...

The best feeling in the world is when my 17 month old daughter walks over to me with her arms out, wraps them around my neck, and gives me a hug. Lily hugs are the best.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

I guess I can't get enough of posting videos. This one was taken last night after dinner. She had already played outside and her belly was full...she was in crazy mode!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Last night I took a few videos of Lily. The one I wanted to post was too many MBs but I could post this video. Randy likes to tease Lily by occupying her Spongebob chair to which she will ask nicely for him to get out. She was also using him as her ottoman.


Monday, March 19, 2007

Weekend recap

The party for Nathaniel and Staci was a hit. We had a great showing of people (and a ton of kids!) and luckily the weather was perfect so we could spread out. The usual crew stayed later and played board games. As always it was a lot of fun. As Nathaniel and Staci were packing up the girls and leaving it hit me hard that it’s coming to an end. We will still see them on our trips to visit family and they will likely visit CO which helps with saying goodbye. I guess with all the party planning I forgot about the upcoming move and how sad it makes me. I can’t say much more cuz I’m pregnant and it’s not good to get a pregnant woman worked up.

Sunday was another beautiful day. We planned to have a lazy day…and it was for the most part. We spent a lot of time outside with Lily. She LOVES to be outside. So much that when we were ready to come inside she almost never is. I had to distract her so I took her upstairs to the spare room. To clean. It’s a mess, huge mess. For the past few months everything has been stored in this room. Our friend, Donny, is visiting from California this weekend so I have to clean it. Lily “helped” or at least kept me company. It’s funny how she can be entertained with a golf ball, empty boxes, and old wallets. She managed to keep herself busy for a long time while I tried to organize the room again(I did the same thing about 2 months ago). I did make some headway and removed 2 boxes of garbage and transferred a ton of baby items to the basement. I have a lot more work to do but it always feels good to organize. The countdown is on….Donny arrives Thursday.

Donny is one of our old college friends. He is always entertaining and I know we will have a lot of fun and funny times this weekend. Thankfully there will be no wood ducks around.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Is it 4:30 yet?

It’s Friday afternoon. I have nothing to do. I want to be at home. But I’m at work. With nothing to do.

Today we are 18 weeks pregnant. Wow, 18 weeks. It’s crazy how the time flies in a sense but in another it slowly creeps by. When I’m waiting for a doctor appointment or test results time is like a turtle in action. When I don’t have any pregnancy reminders (not yacking up my brains, peeing every 3.5 minutes) the time is a fast Randy’s driving (haha, just joking to the parents that are shaking their heads). My belly is growing and is laughing at most of my clothing choices. I purchased a belly band (tube top looking sort of thing that hold up your pants when the buttons don’t like each other or holds up too big maternity pants) and it’s been my friend for sometime. But…there is a problem and it lies in hiding the belly band. Most of my normal shirts are too short (or getting there) and most of my maternity shirts are too big. I'm trying to save all my shopping for my GIRL WEEKEND at the end of March!! Hopefully my belly will let me wait!

Randy called me at work yesterday as he was arriving home. He said there was a package by the front door and it was from Grandma McG. I sat there thinking what would she be sending a package for??? It wasn’t a birthday, holiday, etc. About 2.5 seconds later I let out a big “uh huh…it’s for St. Patrick’s Day.” Sure enough, Lily got a Kelly green teddy bear from her grandma and grandpa. St. Patrick’s Day IS considered a holiday in my family.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Money, Money, Money

Randy and I were raised totally opposite when it comes to money. We both come from 2 parent working families and we both started working at a young age. The difference lies in how we spend money. Randy will spend more money on something, say a pair of shoes, because he knows buying a nicer quality will mean the shoes will last longer. I tend to buy cheap shoes that wear out quickly and this process repeats itself until I’ve spent as much as Randy did with his 1st pair (that he’s still happy with). I have a hard time spending a lot of money on myself. If I have money to spend I see how many cheap products I can get. In some ways I’m okay with this because it keeps my wardrobe dynamic but in other ways it’s frustrating that I can’t get over the guilt of purchasing something nice. When I do buy something expensive it’s because Randy is there cheering me on, almost forcing me to buy it. For my last birthday I really wanted some new running shoes and I fell in love a pair of Nikes that were super cushy. If Randy wasn’t there I would have left the store empty handed and found a pair ½ the price (from past experience wishing I would have bought the ones I really wanted). For the longest time I wouldn’t let Randy toss his shoes on top on my new Nikes in the shoe closet. If I had a gold pillow I would have kept them there.

My financial tendencies have played a role in some home furnishings. About 1.5 years ago we purchased a slip cover for the sofa in our living room (the first thing people see when they come in the front door). To save a few bucks we purchased the loveseat fit instead of the sofa fit. It was like putting a fat man in a little coat. We tugged and pulled to stretch the material over the sofa when the elastic finally threw in the towel and ripped. Our new loveseat slip cover elastic was now ripped and we were stuck with it. Ever since that day 1.5 years ago we have been tugging and pulling to hide the very noticeable seams that scream a cheap ass bought the wrong size.

Every time I walk by that sofa (which is about 6 times a day) and cringe I thought I had learned my lesson. Apparently I didn’t as Randy pointed out last night. The dining room curtains. No laughing Staci (she was there when I brought the first set about 2 wks ago). If Randy was the buyer he would have found the ones he liked and bought them right then and there. No fuss. Not only do I buy the cheaper curtains but I buy many different cheaper curtains. I purchased not one, not two but three sets. Now I get to return the other two sets along with the wrong color sofa slip cover (cuz it was cheap) I purchased yesterday. I also get to return 3 different rugs cuz I couldn’t decide which one I liked best. Did I purchase all these items at the same store? NO. Returning items to 3 stores is now on my to-do list. Yay for me (as Randy laughs). But it’s all worth it because I finally purchased the antique color sofa slip cover we have been regretting not buying for 1.5 years. I’m on cloud 9. My next mission? The family room curtains. Oh boy…here we go!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Last night Lily was in a super happy mood. After we got home, we hung outside and played ring around the rosey. Now she will "sing" along and usually falls down in the beginning. I also pulled her in her red wagon up and down the sidewalk a few times. We chatted about the world outside while she snacked. She is getting very good about repeating words we say. Last night she said house, tree, and car. All first time words! The past 2 days have been crazy with new words and have included socks, shoes, there she is (per daycare), and thanks.

We are preparing for a p-a-r-t-y this Saturday. It's a going away/celebration of 3 additional family members for our friends Nathaniel and Staci. I like to have parties and like when family comes because it forces me to clean like a super woman. I already enjoy a good house scrubbing but something about people and new people coming over makes it kick into overdrive. Do I clean cracks that people probably wouldn't see? Yes! The minimal dust on all the doors WILL be noticed. The dust on the ceiling fan and definitely the dust on the living room light (even though it's 10 feet high) will be noticed!! Deep down I really do know that most people won't notice or won't care...but it's a great excuse to clean, clean, clean. It is making it hard to work all day...I'd rather have a day off to work on my to-do list, feeling the satisfaction of marking off each finished chore.

Regarding baby #2--I am still feeling great. I am trying to wait patiently for the kicking, head butting, elbowing to start but I am not doing so good. I can't wait for a good kick in the ribs to have that reminder things are going okay. I have tried multiple times (last being 5 minutes ago and before that was this morning in bed) to use my mind powers and make the baby move. Nothing yet. I know it will happen soon but to me it's not soon enough.

Monday, March 12, 2007

CHICAGO

Our trip to Chicago was GREAT. Flying with a walking, non-negotiable toddler was…PAINFUL.

Here is a recap of our journey...warning…lots of poop included. We departed Colorado on Wednesday afternoon. The first 2 hours and 10 minutes of the 2 hours and 30 minute flight was good. Tiring but good. As a parent you have to provide non-stop entertainment so planning for the airplane trip is key. Different snacks, drinks and toys are a necessity. Not just different toys, but NEW toys. Not just toys but straws, band aids, paper and highlighters, airplane magazines, etc. You have to switch (or more likely you’re forced to switch) toys every 3-5 minutes. If you find a toy that can extend that time frame, say up to 10 minutes you have done something beautiful. The toy that provided a longer interest was a travel magna doodle. Anyhow, the last 20 minutes of our flight was filled with mad, upset, disgusted, crying toddler. Anything we tried to give her (especially food and drinks to help with the descent) just made her more upset. A nice man offered gum for us to give her. Gum…for a 16 month old just doesn’t work well. It was a nice offer anyway. Finally she started drinking which helped immediately. Then we proceeded to get our bags which took forever. All Lily wanted to do was walk and of course, play on the dangerous, baggage thing. Finally we got onto our shuttle and Lily fell asleep during our 45 minute drive to the hotel. The hotel was very nice. Our room had a living room separated from the bedroom. The bedroom had a really nice comfortable looking bed but I couldn’t tell you if it was what I imagined. Lily got the bedroom; we slept on the pull out couch. Might seem silly to some but it was nice to have her sleep in the pack-n-play in the bedroom where we could shut the door and not disturb her. Plus she tends to wake up at night while traveling and will go back to sleep on her own…if she doesn’t see her parents who frequently share the same room.

My work conference was wonderful and very informative. The first day I could hear what I thought was Lily’s voice and looked behind me to see Randy whisking Lily away from an open door just before she ran into our conference room. They were exploring the hotel and came upon our room. It was cute and made me want to be with them. But overall, the work part of the Chicago trip was great.

Thursday night ended with dinner at our hotel. Mark, our friend that lives in Chicago, joined us. Lily didn’t want to sit still long enough to get through dinner. Randy and I ended up taking turns following her in the hotel. She loved to have the freedom to roam. Frequently she would wave and say hi to random people. A couple even commented that they saw her earlier with her dad roaming the same halls.

After my conference ended Friday we “moved in” with our friends, Zach, Jeanette and baby Jack. Jack isn’t much of a baby since he is actually about 4 weeks younger than Lily but much taller than she is. They did the normal toddler act of playing around each other but never really playing with each other. Occasionally they would make eye contact but it was rare. Lily loved playing with Jack’s toys, especially because he has a lot of sesame street toys (ELMO!) and a cool, but loud, car she would sit on but didn’t care to take it for a spin. Friday night ended with Randy trash talking during multiple games of Sequence with Z and Jeanette and Mark and his wife Jenn. We won more games but because we decided to play one more last game and winner took all, Mark and Jenn were the champions (but only until the next night…more to come later in my long post).

In case you’re wondering why I warned you about poop…well here it comes. Saturday morning resulted in 3 different diaper blow outs and 3 baths. For those that don’t know exactly what a diaper blow out means, well just imagine poop everywhere requiring an immediate change of all clothes (which always absorbed the runniness to some degree) and immediate bath because wipes do not take care of business. Besides the gastrointestinal issues Lily still acted okay. She wasn’t 100% but pretty good. After morning naps the gang all headed to the Chicago Children’s Museum. Jack and Lily loved walking all around and exploring all the cool contraptions, streams, slides, butterfly screens, etc. It helped wear them out which worked lovely for Jack who took his afternoon nap without a problem. Lily decided she would fight the sleep process and ended up with a second wind before crashing hard in the evening. We had to wake her up to eat dinner and put her back to bed not long after. Zach’s parents babysat while the 6 of us went to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant that also had international karaoke. Usually if Randy is around karaoke the chances are high you will hear him belt out some Axl Rose tune but he didn’t even take part. He was almost completely asleep during dinner but managed to get his old man act together in time to bowl. I had my career high game of 124 and was thrilled. I was even more thrilled when I threw the cards back on the table and re-challenged Mark for the Sequence championship from the night before. I ended up knocking down one more pin than him so now Randy and I are Sequence champions! With the time change we ended up going to bed around 3:30AM, only to wake up at 4:30AM to change another diaper blowout. We slept in the same room as Lily so after the diaper blowout putting her back to sleep was interesting. She was happy and wanted to play but when I turned out the lights and started walking her around the room she laid her head down on my shoulder. I put her in the pack-n-play next to the bed and draped my arm over the side. She loved knowing I was that close and it seemed to help her get back to sleep, eventually. For approximately 20 minutes she would stand up, feel my arm, kiss my face (I basically was sleeping on the edge of her pack-n-play) and lay back down for about 5 minutes before repeating this process a few more times. Even though I was extremely tired, it was very cute and I loved every minute of it. We changed another diaper blow out (how can one little thing empty so much???) later that morning before leaving for the airport.

The return flight. Oh boy. Randy and I were filled with upset stomach anticipation of what lie ahead. Lily was entertained by the airplane headphones and window for the first 15 minutes. She ate during take off but proceeded to get pretty upset. She played with some new toys but we could tell she wasn’t going to be content the whole flight. Finally Randy took her to the back of the plane and walked around with her. I was about 10 rows from them but I could hear her muffled cries so I went back to help out. I walked around with her for about 10 minutes until I felt a huge explosion in her diaper but the result…she stopped crying and fell asleep. The poor thing still had an upset tummy. Unfortunately, she had a messy diaper most of the flight but she slept until we landed. It was wonderful. The blanket helped contain the smell which we changed immediately after landing. We got our bags without a problem and got to our car (which took every last bit of energy from us).

Lily loved being back at home. She started rolling around on the couch and making silly faces. She would go from toy to toy smiling the whole time. Traveling is fun and being around our good, dear old friends is wonderful. Returning to the place we have made our home is great way to end our journey. Besides all the poop and issues with sleep we had a great time, thanks to our Chicago gang. They are a good bunch of people, very kind hearted, always make us feel welcome and we love them.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Lily's way or the highway

Yes, we are dealing with Miss Independent to the fullest. I believe the 16 month old behaviors we dealt with last evening are the start of the terrible two's. It began as we were leaving daycare and ended once she closed her big, brown eyes. As we were heading to our van Lily decided she wanted to walk instead of being carried. But once we arrived at the van she wanted to keep going. When I attempted to put her in the car seat she freaked. She was NOT happy. I tried to calm her down for a few minutes but I was only able to calm her ENOUGH to put her in the car seat. She never really cheered up during the car ride home (5 minutes total but it seemed like 75 minutes to me!) and continued to throw her fit after we arrived home to a surprised Randy. I was expecting her to jump into his arms but she wouldn't let me put her down. Finally we managed some laughs and smiles after we let her get crazy outside. I think she has spring fever or hopefully just a case of the Mondays. I'm trying not to anticipate day care pick up today but I have thought about my plan of action. I have a bag of tricks up my sleeve if necessary. Also, I've been meaning to read a parenting book called Toddler Wise. I already read Baby Wise and followed a few recommendations and they worked really well. Mostly they recommend routines, not rocket science, but routines work. Before having Lily, I was babysitting a 8 month old and I followed the parent's bed time ritual. To my surprise (I've done a lot of babysitting in my time) the little tot went to bed, awake, without a problem. They followed the recommendations of Baby Wise. The co author is also a pediatrician that I used to work with and belongs in the practice of Lily's pediatrician. Off to do some reading...

One quick note...we are headed to Chicago tomorrow and won't return for a few days. It's my first work conference that I've been to, paid to go, and everything is paid for!!! Yahoo!!! It's not Hawaii or Scotland but at least it's not Denver. Randy and Lily are coming along and plan to hang out at the pool and meet friends for lunch. We have some great friends in Chicago that we will stay with after my conference ends. Lily will get to hang with Jack who is a few weeks younger than she is. We have never met Jack and they have never met Lily so a lot of fun is expected! If you haven't heard from me then no worries, I will be posting bright and early Monday morning.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Weekend recap

We had a very busy and very fun weekend. Friday night started the action with Randy picking his friend, Ted, up at the airport at 11PM. Ted was surprising his girlfriend, Kristi and since he showed up at midnight it was a surprise. As Kristi says it was a very happy surprise. Early Saturday Randy was off lead a group of camoflouged-gun toting-crazies to shoot each other (i.e. paintball). Staci and her kiddos and Carolyn and her little girl came over for a play date until Staci left for a baby shower. It was good experience to have 3 little girls (all under 3 1/2 !!!). Having the other little girls around was good for Lily. She hasn't had to share her toys much and this was a test. At first she was reluctant, especially with Elmo, but with a little coaching she relaxed a bit. We put on music and danced around the house, built forts, and read many books. By the time the girls left for the day, Lily went down for a nap and so did I! Randy came home from paintball in one piece (minus some skin on his chin from a shot that went under his mask).

Sunday began a little crazy. We watched a couple home improvement shows with breakfast and that energized us. Are you ready for this??? I cleaned my closet. I even cleaned the space above the dresser in my closet. I organized my clothes. I should have take a picture but then I would have needed to show before photos and that's just embarrassing. I do have to say because it's MY blog that Randy has more space in the closet. There. I did escape for some Jenni time and went shopping. I had a blast walking down each aisle and taking my time. I was on a mission to find new curtains for our family room (currently curtainless) and Randy told me to find some new ones for the dining room too (yay! I've been disliking the current ones for some time). My past habit is purchasing the clearance curtains and not liking them so purchasing more clearance curtains and still not liking them. This time I am taking my time to find the perfect curtains. If we decide to keep the new ones in the dining room I will post a picture. Staci and Randy both gave their approval, now I just need to hang them to know for sure.

On Sunday afternoon we welcomed friends for game day. I never actually played a game but instead tried to keep the girls entertained. I tend to resist any game that isn't Cranium, Apples to Apples, or Catch Phrase. I don't even know what game was played but I know it involved catapult figures, guys with swords, etc. Let's just say I enjoyed reading books, blowing bubbles and pulling the girls in the wagon more than learning a new, weird and crazy game. Luckily the weather was very nice and we spent some time outside. Lily played ring around the rosey and LOVED it! She would walk with her feet side to side and fall down after everyone else did. She had the biggest smile on her face.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Lily Pictures



This picture was taken last weekend. Randy was finishing up his bamboo floors and Lily was making sure he did everything correct. I love her hand on his shoulder.





This was the day we stayed in our pajamas all day. Here is Lily saying "nigh-nigh." You can see how long her hair is growing and curling up on the sides.