21 posts tagged “andrew”

Our plans for today (Andrew's birthday and work's holiday gala) changed several times before finally deciding. Definitely no holiday gala, but Thursday evening i came down with the flu, just a nasty quick bug, so Friday pretty much sucked. i woke up feeling okay today though so we had Grandma babysit while Andrew and i did some shopping at the outlet malls and then hit Winco. Not exactly a romantic date =) but we had fun. Found some nice shirts for him as a b-day present (i was going to go shopping on Friday while he was at work but with a 101.7 fever, i could barely stand or hold Allison). Also bought an adorable Christmas outfit for Alli to wear when we go see Santa. That'll be fun.

Speaking of beautiful babies, this little girl hasn't been nursing very well. It started over a week ago, where she'd latch on and eat for a while then pull off and fuss, then scream if i tried to get her to eat more. i've tried every possible position, being overly full, empty, dark room, bright room... no difference. i was hoping our trip to the pediatrician the other day would solve it, maybe with an ear infection or something, but she was at a loss as to why Alli wouldn't be nursing (she suggested burping more but no luck). Especially at 10 weeks. i'm afraid that even with pumping, my milk is going to be seriously affected. i think unfortunately she prefers the bottle and has had too much binkie time. i haven't stopped trying but since day one of us breastfeeding it's been a huge challenge.

We were talking about our awesome babysitter (my mom) and realized how lucky we are to have her.... she loves Alli, she does a great job, she's always (well, so far...) willing and able, she lives fairly close-by, and she's cheap =) just had to give her pizza and birthday pie. So, we love her.

Another rough night, more frustration, lots more grumpiness... oh God, and it's only Tuesday... time to get this sleep book. Most of the moms i've nannied for have used a similar method and, while it's hard, they swear it works. i probably won't let her "cry it out" until 3 months, but it'll be good to read it again.

i've been talking to several people from Craigslist about doing childcare in our home. Nothing more than a few emails back and forth so far because most SAHM (stay at home moms) only charge mere pennies to watch other people's children; the average is probably $30/day! They don't like hearing what i charge, even though it's way less than my normal nanny wage. i have no clue how i would be able to get up at 7am and WORK after nights like we've been having though. Two or three hours of sleep?? i wouldn't be a very good Mommy or nanny. :(

i'm amazed at how much Allison is eating lately. i thought it was a growth spurt but after 2 weeks i think it's just her appetite... the Dr. reminded me at my last appointment that she "has our genes". Clearly. At least i'm able to pump much more (went from 1-2oz to 5oz finally).

i love her to pieces, obviously, but it's so hard to enjoy her right now. Andrew is doing his best (i'm sure no matter what i would always expect more from him...). He takes her when he gets home from work; she's a fussypants by 8pm and i'm exhausted. Yesterday it was incredibly sweet, watching my husband slowly dance around the room with our tiny daughter.

Most of my pregnancy was hard, the NICU was very hard, learning to breastfeed was hard, being alone with Alli was hard... we'll just have to get through this too.

Life just keeps on zooming by... and i still feel like a zombie with so little sleep.

This last weekend was spent with family pretty much. Yesterday we tried to sleep in, relax, then went to Mom's for dinner (was good, of course). Saturday we went down to Roseburg for Andrew's Grandma's funeral which wasn't a funeral at all but a big family get together (later, Andrew said that's what he wanted when he dies, just a party with family, not a service/burial/funeral or anything). The 3+ hour drive is okay since Alli sleeps in the car but we're STILL working on the breastfeeding (needing to pump in the dark at rest stops is annoying). i think she's only nursed long enough to get satisfied once or twice in all this time. She mainly falls asleep after 10 min. or so, no matter what i try, so all we can do is keep working at it. The nipple pain isn't an issue anymore and her latch, i know, is perfect... but i do feel like a bit of a failure as a mommy (ya know, "what's wrong with me...") She'll be 6 weeks old on Thursday and yesterday she weighed at least 8lbs. which is great.

i have my 6 week OB check up next Tuesday. i'll need to discuss my daily headaches and see if my blood pressure is still an issue. My c-section scar looks good, i guess, though it still itches. The big surprise is that my period showed up last week (NOT FUN!) even though i've been pumping non-stop since she was born (i was hoping the breastfeeding/pumping would delay the whole menstrual thing for a while), so now i need to discuss with my doctor getting pregnant again. Andrew wants me to, he even figured out when i'd be due if it happened next month... but it would mean that i couldn't really work, which would mean no new car, no new place, no extra money etc. i guess we'll see what happens.

Mom's homemade pumpkin pie makes a great breakfast. =)

Okay so last night was not fun. i started full time "Mommy duty" so Daddy could head back to work this morning. Alli was awake from 2:45am til 7am (and we had gone to bed at 1:30am). Nursing, pumping, feeding, cleaning bottles, changing diapers, changing outfits, cleaning throw up... repeat repeat repeat. Plus i have to find time to pee, drink, eat, do laundry, take a shower, make dinner (yeah right). i thought i was exhausted before, when Andrew was helping me out so much but i was seriously wrong. i have discovered exhausted (i suppose this is when i have to watch out for PPD). i love Allison so much and i miss Andrew. Things will get easier, some day i'll get more sleep, i just wish my headache would GO AWAY!

This new video game/exercise bike for kids is a great idea.

i forgot to mention Andrew's new schedule. Starting the day of my baby shower, Sept. 9th, he's working Sundays 7-3:30pm and Monday through Thursday from 10:30-7pm. They started new Sunday hours at his work so this was the best schedule we could get. i don't think it'll be that bad. At least he won't be doing random Saturdays anymore.

The other thing my doctor mentioned today was about going into labor. He said that the large majority of moms will go full term and have healthy babies. Then there are a tiny sampling that for whatever reason will go into labor early and have their babies sooner. In between those is a tiny portion that go into labor early and with medicine and intervention will have their labor stopped. So it'll be interesting to see which category i fall into.

So i had my gestational diabetes class today. Andrew went to work early this morning so that he could attend it with me and i'm so glad he did. =) There were only two other pregnant women there, along with one spouse, and the teacher was really good. She answered all of our questions, gave us lots of information and showed us how to test our blood sugar with one of these. A couple hours after lunch, my # was 89. i'm still not sure what numbers are acceptable when (except that anything over 120 at any time is bad and under 60 is bad) but i have a follow-up appointment in a week to make sure i'm doing things right.

We talked about what to eat, how much and at what times. It feels like i'm being forced into a cruel diet while my body has never ever been so hungry. Poor Alli... i mean, normally this would be fine, i'd welcome the nutritional advice, but this baby needs food! i had a snack of 7 crackers with tuna when i got home, which counted as my "carb choice" for the afternoon but i was miserable waiting for Andrew to get home for dinner so i also had 2 plums and some peanut butter (plums are bad, didn't you know). Now i have to be careful at dinner; supposed to test 4 times a day: before breakfast, 2 hours after breakfast, 2 hours after lunch and 2 hours after dinner...

It's going to be a LONG 10 weeks but it's going to be worth it.

Let's see... 27 weeks! i survived another hot and muggy day here in Portland (the humidity is so unusual, it sucks). We've been slowly unpacking boxes, trying to find room for everything. Andrew's step-grandma passed away last week so he took the day off and we went to her funeral at the last minute yesterday. My contractions have calmed down so it seemed safe to go (the only issue now is my *CRAZY* hunger... thank God for Dairy Queen). i got to meet more of his family (step-brother and so on) and see his dad and step-mom. Then we came back and got to work unpacking and reorganizing... it's looking much better, just need to conquer Alli's room.

The hunger thing is interesting. This morning at 5:30, the typical time zoe kitten likes to start playing on our heads, i had to get up and eat a banana or i was going to die. Tuesday night Andrew made a trip to the store for me. What sounded good? Fudgesicles, corn dogs, watermelon, cereal, mac and cheese... and he got it all for his poor pregnant wife. Mmm okay now i'm starving. My third trimester starts next week! She'll be here in 3 months =)

So i'm a sick girl. On Friday my cough, the same one i've had for weeks, got MUCH worse. Saturday, while Andrew took Zo to the vet's, i spent a while at the urgent care clinic. That's always a fun time. Turns out i had a fever and, after i told her i was 23 weeks pregnant and hacking up green stuff, she gave me an antibiotic along with codeine cough syrup. i'm still feeling lousy, even after my nap this afternoon. i'm so tired of coughing!!!! We did meet Andrew's parents in Gresham for breakfast this morning. It was nice to see them after not getting together since we got married. The breakfast joint we ended up in, which seemed more like a dive bar, was really good.

Thankfully my boss said i could stay home tomorrow and get better, so i plan to do that. Mmmm sleep. Alli hasn't seemed to mind all this sickness; she's still incredibly active, kicking to her heart's content. In 3 weeks i'll be in my 3rd trimester already. Wow.

i love my belly. i plan on asking God why he felt that pregnant women needed fuzzy bellies though...

Coming home, stripping everything off and watching my baby move is one of the best things about being pregnant right now. The other night Andrew had his ear to my belly, talking and singing to her, like he does most nights, and she kicked him in the head. Too sweet. =)

And the kitties are still best friends.

Not sure where this quote came from but i like it. It's applicable a little more than usual these days, which shouldn't be too surprising with our upcoming move (Andrew put in our 30 day notice today--thank you sweetie--so we can get a bigger/cheaper place), my irrational, tired moods, his stress at work (something new), the idea of becoming parents and the tiny amount of time we see each other during the week.

"Today is the eighth anniversary of my first date with Jeremy. We consider this our anniversary because we never really had a "hey, let's be together" moment; we had a series of moments and decisions. Eight years ago, I decided not to stand him up. A few weeks later, I decided to end my current relationship. A few weeks after that, we decided not to see other people. A year later, we decided to live together; we decided to buy a house; we decided to give each other various legal powers and to make each other the recipients of our retirement plans. And nine or ten times a year, we decide not to leave in a huff.

We still have dumb fights. We had one last night over where we ought to eat; we had one last weekend over the same issue. (I blame them both on the closure of virtually all of the good, cheap restaurants in our neighborhood. We seriously might have to move if we want to make it another eight years.) The difference between our dumb fights now and our dumb fights eight years ago: we have each admitted that we hit a point pretty early in the fight where we realize we're just venting, and we're waiting for the tension breaker so we can laugh and forget it and get back to the process of being best friends.

Which we are. I've never had a best friend before, I don't think. I've never had someone so tolerant of my irrational moods and my absolute dorkiness. And I've never been able to tell someone that they are annoying the *bleep* out of me or that they've really hurt my feelings, without expecting that the next step is that one of us is going to walk out forever.

In many ways we are entirely different people than we were four years ago, and four years ago we weren't the same people we were when we met. We've changed enormously and I imagine we'll keep changing. I like him a thousand times more than I liked him eight years ago, and I think we make each other better people.

He rubs my neck even when I'm acting like a bitch, and I bring him coffee even when he made me mad the night before. He spends his Friday nights reading with me on the sofa. I'm not a hearts and flowers kind of girl and I'll never have a hearts and flowers relationship, but this is close enough for me.

And every time I decide not to leave in a huff? That is the best decision I've ever made."