Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Good Night, Sleep Tight

Sunday night hubby and I went to Barne's & Noble and bought this book Good Night, Sleep Tight The Sleep Lady's Gentle Guide To Helping Your Child Go To Sleep, Stay Asleep, And Wake Up Happy by Kim West. We have had so much trouble trying to get Samantha to sleep through the night. At her tender age of 11 months, she has only slept through the night a handful of times. And has never slept more than 9 hours in one stretch (besides the first 2 months). A pea from peadom inquired about something similar got me to thinking about what we could accomplish with a book to go by. Let me tell you, A LOT! I am so amazed with the results of this authors strategies. We never had this problem with Katelyn, she was sleeping through the night at 3 1/2 weeks old. She was always a great sleeper, an early riser... but a great sleeper. I learned that babies from 9 -12 months of age do not need to be fed in the middle of the night. They can actually go 11 hours without food, as long as they are eating well during the day.

Sunday night, I decided to take away that nighttime bottle. When she woke up, I went in there and sat next to her crib, shushed her, rubbed her little leg, arm, back and talked to her. I was in there over 2 hours. She didn't cry the whole time, but wanted me to pick her up and play with her, to feed her. But the thinking is, she needs to be taught how to soothe herself to sleep. It's not as bad as it sounds. Just typing it out almost makes me feel like a meanie, but I understand the philosophy behind it now. There are several stages of sleep, and one of these we actually can wake up to get a drink of water, arrange the blanket, etc and not ever realize it. Most times we do the above and go back to sleep without ever remembering we were awake. If your baby doesn't know how to self soothe, then she will just wake up and expect you to put her back to sleep... either with a bottle, rocking her, etc. Night two wasn't much easier, but she did stay lying down in her bed sucking her thumb, and only cried/whimpered a little bit. Last night, she slept all the way through. I hope by my bragging on her and this book it wasn't a fluke. But, I will keep this up, as I really think this approach is one that will work.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Happy Hearts Day

Doug and the girls came home late last night all smiles, with food from Ruby Tuesdays. I had a salad and a cheeseburger, that was so good. Doug tells me that he is going to be giving me my valentines present early because he will have to work all day today. So we ate dinner and he went out to the car. In he comes with a bag from Kay Jewelers.

I look in the bag and see two boxes. One is wrapped, and the other isn't. He tells me to open the one that isn't wrapped. I look inside and see my gorgeous diamond ruby pendant ring has been fixed and cleaned. He bought this ring for me on our first wedding anniversary, and I had mentioned earlier in the month it would be nice to have it fixed. Somehow, the ring part had become damaged. It was no longer a perfect circle and looked like it had been squished on one side. Ruby is my birthstone, and I have grown to appreciate the beauty of it as I have gotten older. I can't keep my eyes off of it, it's just so beautiful AND he remembered I wanted it fixed.

Next, I open the gift wrapped box. To my surprise, he got me a beautiful gold necklace with a matching ruby stone with diamonds to hang from the chain. It's a lovely peice, but I'm worried I will break the chain and lose the ruby in it. He told me I had to show it off today, and would like to see me wearing it every day. Did I mention I was worried about breaking it? I looked online to see if I could find pictures of the jewelry, but couldn't find an exact match like mine.

Now I have to sneak out today and buy for Doug and Katelyn. Of course, I will be waiting to go out until Katelyn gets home, so I will definitely have to be sneaky about buying her gift. What do you get a 9 year old girl anyway? Maybe clothes and some shoes. ;)

Happy Valentines Day!

Monday, February 13, 2006

He's being sneaky, and I love it!

Doug has been so swamped at work lately, I feel a little alone when I can't chat with him through MSN. I noticed he was away sometime after 4pm today, and decided to call him.

Me: Do you think you will be leaving close to on time today?
Doug: I'm on the road now
Me: Wow, you'll be home soon then, huh?
Doug: No. I've got to make a pit stop, then I will be on my way.
Me: Where are you going?
Doug: None of your business. *smirk*

You could just hear the smirk in his tone of voice. I asked him to hurry home and see about taking Katelyn over to Paula's to drop off the cookies we made saturday for the community service project her troop was working on. He said if he got home in time, he would do it.
Next thing you know, he's walking through the door. He tells Katelyn to hurry up and find clothes for her sister, and to get the cookies ready to go.

Now I have all this free time to myself, what am I going to do?

SHOWER! I feel so tired and worn down, a nice uninterrupted shower will be heavenly!
That just means I need to get my booty out of here and in that bathroom. :)

Happy early Valentines day Doug! (you stalker you *smirk*)

Sunday, February 12, 2006

ahhhh the snow


I love the snow!

I wish I weren't so darn big and pregnant, I would be right out there in the middle of that mass of white stuff called SNOW! Katelyn and Bubby (my mom's stepson) made this snowman yesterday while it was still snowing. I wish they would have made the darn thing in our yard.... oh well.

Katelyn decided she wanted to make her own snowman, in our yard this time. Here she is with her little buddy.


Samantha is becoming part monkey. We caught her after the fact just sitting here ever so quietly, minding her own business. I wish I could have seen her get in this position.

And of course, the snort pose ;)

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Chili Day





It snowed!!!

I'm gonna take pictures here in a little bit to show off. I've been waiting on a good snow for a while now, I really think I have been jipped this year. Old man Winter just didn't have it in him to come to Virginia I guess... until today! :) It's still snowing, it looks like we have about 3 inches on the deck. The roads look clear from the front window.

I knew the snow was suppose to make an appearance yesterday, so I bought the makings for chili. I'm about ready to get that started. A perfect wintery meal in my opinion. My mom and step-dad have come over for a put it together day. Cameron's baby furniture still has to be put together (Doug just finished his dresser), and mom bought Katelyn an armoire and a shelving unit for storage Thursday. They are downstairs working on Katelyn's new furniture. The armoire looks like it will entirely replace the storage for her clothes she was using in her old bedroom closet. Finally, we are getting things done!

By the sounds of it, I will be posting a nursery picture this evening as well.

Katelyn's GS troop decided to do a community service project instead of the traditional thinking day this year. They were going to meet at a church and make homemade cookies and deliver them to the people at Ronald McDonald House here in town. Of course, my lovely friend Mr. Winter showed up and now we get to make the cookies individually at home. It's been fun letting Katelyn measure all the ingredients and follow the recipe. We are making chocolate chip cookies and Ooey gooey butter cake. Hopefully that will be enough from our household. :)

I will update more later, this should prove to be an interesting day.

Here's the update... We got pictures of Samantha out in the snow, it was so cute! I have a ton to share as I couldn't pick one favorite :)

We sat Sam right down in the middle of the snow, and she just looked down like WTH?!

Katelyn took her for a spin in the sled.... hilarious, because then she fell out.



Samantha had enough after about 10 minutes of the snow.

Friday, February 10, 2006

He's away on vacation!

Trying to get a shower, and Samantha and I dressed and out the door to the doc's by 9am is a challenge. Brushing my teeth this morning, I put the toothbrush away, and it falls into the toilet. At least I had already brushed my teeth! Doug digs it out of the toilet, and puts it in the sink.
Me: Why didn't you just put it in the trash?
Doug: I figured you could soak it in hot water and use it again later.
Me: ewwwwwww are you crazy? You wouldn't do that with your own toothbrush!
Doug: laughing. Yeah, well....

Ewwwwww.

Samantha and I leave the house, and I realize I am going to run late for the appointment. It wasn't too terrible as I was only 10 minutes late, and they were running behind. We wait for 25 minutes and I get back there for my NST. Right away she couldn't find little man's heartbeart. She leaves and comes back, says come with me. Panic sets in kinda quick and I said, where are we going? She laughs and said, you get another Ultra sound. Phew!

Lisa, the U/S tech found his heartbeat right away, he's moving and doing fine. He's laying on his left side with his head down, so his back is more up against my belly. Just him being onery I guess. That was great, and I hope they give up trying to give us those NST's.... little man obviously doesn't want them messing around with him... ;)

My nurse Kim asked me once she got me back in a room if I wanted to be 'checked'. I said, no I'm not having any contractions these last few days... All I want is a date to schedule an induction. She then tells me My doctor is away on vacation for next week.
You're kidding me right?! I see this one doctor for 37 weeks and he won't be here to deliver? No fair! My doc comes in and I said we need to go past my due date and induce when you come back from vacation! He laughs, and we talk about it. Little man isn't nearly as big as Samantha was at this time last year, so he agrees.

I have to go see another doc next friday (my due date), and hoping I haven't delivered by then he will see me on Monday the 20th, and take me to the hospital for an induction :) I know it sounds silly wanting to wait to have this baby, but it makes a huge difference if you can have your own doctor deliver your baby. He delivered Samantha last time, and I am hoping he will this time too.

Ok, little man.... stick around just 10 more days bub!

Thursday, February 9, 2006

I'm so lonely without you babe

I heard back from my OB's nurse yesterday evening, and they have me scheduled to come in early Friday morning for another NST and a visit with the doc. I pray this NST goes much better than previous ones.... don't think I am up to another 3 hours of monitoring at the hospital.

Let's hope we schedule an induction date too!!

Doug has been getting more work shoveled on top of him over the last two weeks at work lately. It's weird. He doesn't mind staying busy, but when he is taking over all his boss's work too, it's just not right. He's actually telling his boss what to do, and nagging him to finish up his work. I hardly have a chance to chat with Doug on MSN anymore. He's been distant at home too, which I know is work related. Not only from his daytime job, but our small home business as well.

I feel bad I can't walk down a flight of stairs to do a load of laundry.
I feel bad I can't get down on the floor right now to help assemble the crib and dresser unit.
I feel bad I can't program yet to help alleviate the stress of having to do it all.

I feel lonely.
And sad.
and sorry...

I miss you Doug. I wish I could help out more with the things only you can do at this time. I do promise to cut you some slack, and be more understanding of you having too many irons in the fire. I pray this sciatic nerve pain starts healing quickly as soon as I have our son. I'm sorry this pregnancy has caused you so much extra work, and me so much pain.

I'm not sure if any of this makes much sense, but I want you to know I love you, and I hope if you are holding even the slightest grudge against me (even though you do not show it), that you will forgive me for not helping as I wish I could. I love you.

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Little man spooked us

I had my weekly OB appointment yesterday, and I was actually a little early. I'm usually strolling in with Samantha to sign in, right on time with none to spare. It was an afternoon appointment, so Katelyn was with me. It's always nice when she is there. She helps keep Sam occupied, and I have someone to help me pass the time.

We had the ultrasound, and as usual little man wasn't in the sharing mood. He hasn't given us one good 4d facial picture yet. He was low in my pelvis so there was no point in trying for that face shot. After that, time to go see the Doc. He checked and I was dilated to 2, so he checked to see if he could strip my membranes. He did, but I'm not sure if he did it enough, sure didn't feel like it did the last time I had it done with Samantha (only 11 months ago... lol) right before she was born. He checked the heartbeat, and said he wanted a NST (non stress test) done because he thought his heart rate dropped below 120.

Off to do the NST. I didn't have a good time with the NST last week either (ended up having to have an ultra sound that day because of the non activity on the NST) and kinda dreaded having this done with both girls with me again. The technician had a hard time finding little mans heartbeat, and then he wasn't moving much. She buzzed him, gave me a drink and left. After 40 minutes on that darn machine, my Doc's nurse came in and told me I had to go to Triage.
They said his heart rate was too low and they wanted to monitor me at the hospital. (it's right next door)

I immediately got tears in my eyes, wondering who to call to come get the girls. I call Doug first and ask if he is on his way home yet(we have been at the doc's over 1 1/2 hours already) and he said no. I told him he needed to hurry over to the hospital, and to call my mom, that they were taking me straight to Triage. The nurses were great in assisting me with the girls. Trying to keep everything light and cheery so Katelyn wouldn't get upset. We get set up in the room where they get you hooked up for monitoring and in walks Doug and my mom. I don't think I had been there 15 minutes, and was so surprised to see him there already.

It was such a relief though when he walked in the room. He's like my knight in shining armour, he always makes me feel better, just by being around. We find out we are going to be there 2-3 hours. The technician said I was lucky because I didn't have to get in one of those hospital gowns, and that was a good sign I wouldn't be there longer than the initial time frame. After an hour or so, we convinced my mom to drive my van to her house and get the girls out of there. Samantha hadn't been able to get down and play in like 3 hours, and Katelyn had homework to finish up. (Good thing I grabbed her right off the bus, as her bookbag was in the van)

Doug finally asked after being there 1 1/2 hours what they were looking for, and how serious it was that little man and I were there in the hospital. The tech said that it's not as scary as it was made out to be. They just had to figure out little man's base heart rate, to see if he was getting enough oxygen, and to see how he reacts to my activity... such as laughing, moving around, etc. My Ob's practice should seriously explained it to me a little better.. they were patting me and telling me not to cry... but they weren't explaining why I shouldn't cry. I mean, I didn't cry long at all, only while on the phone with Doug because I was scared, but I dried up those tears real quick so I could be strong for Katelyn and Sam.

They checked the ultrasound from earlier and little man looked great, he passed 8 out of 8 (for whatever they are looking for when they do that) and just wanted to keep me a little longer on the monitor. Doug had a great time playing with the little thing they use to listen to the heartbeat with. Little man kept moving, or I would move and cause them to lose the constant heart beat... so Doug kept moving it around and finding it again. He saved the tech a lot of work, she thought it was cute him standing over me to make sure little man's heart was being heard.

Going on 2 1/2 hours there, Doug said something funny... he got me to laughing so hard and all you could hear was me laughing and this whoooosh whooosh bumping sound from inside my belly being echoed around the triage room.... Next thing you know, the Doctor on call walks in laughing and saying, what's going on in here? LOL Kinda embarrasing. She released me and said that although little mans heart rate is lower than they like, it's a good rate for him, that he responds well to activity and he is getting plenty of oxygen.

I have to call the OB doc today to find out when he wants to schedule an induction, that they are not going to let me go past my due date because of the GD (gestational diabetes). It's really coming down to the wire now. Doug and I are just so thankful that he is ok. Little man is going to be a character too... we can't wait to meet him! :)

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

All the important stuff

has been purchased for little mans nursery.

My mom took me out Sunday to pick out a crib and dresser for his room. It came as a complete surprise to Doug and I. Needless to say, we are tickled that my mom did this for us. She has never been able to really help in a big way with the girls when it came to their nursery, but with her inheritance she was more than happy to do this for us. Doug is going to spend tonight in there getting the crib and dresser put together. I am thinking we should go ahead and get all his clothes washed too.

The nursery was painted while I was in Michigan. Katelyn's Girl Scout troop leader Paula, asked her Cadette's if they wanted to do a service project... They said Yes. They primered, then put up both colors of paint (a sage green and a light beige), and they put the border up and painted the shelves. It took them about 8 hours to get it all done, over three days. I was so shocked when I had come home from MI to actually see it done. I would like to come up with a way to thank them for giving up their Saturday and a day off of School to come over here and get it done for us. If you have any idea's, let me know :)

I will post a picture once the crib furniture is up and the bedding washed and placed in it.

There is a place online that as other accessories to little man's nursery theme. I will buy little bits at a time to get all the cute stuff. So far we have the bedding, the border, mobile, the lamp, wall hanging, and valance. I would love the hamper and rug next, and the little hangers for sweaters and stuff.

I'm going to the doc this afternoon to get another ultrasound and to see if I am dialated any. I had some good contractions Thursday night, and a few since then... let's hope! I would love to have him before Valentines Day :)

Friday, February 3, 2006

Fly fly away



My grandfather's funeral was on Wednesday. I couldn't attend because I am at the end of my pregnancy, and I had just got back from Michigan Saturday night. There was no way I could make that long drive again so soon. My cousin Amy and I were pretty torn up about not being able to go. She had time off, but didn't want to travel by herself with her two children. It's hard with little ones by yourself in the car almost 12 hours.

Katelyn, my oldest daughter thought we should release balloons to honor gramps.... and I thought it was a wonderful idea. We went to the store yesterday and bought 6 blue balloons (his fav color) and 1 angel balloon. It was beautiful. It had a verse from Psalms on it, I wish I could remember it. It made us tear up reading it. Amy came over with her two children, and we tied all the balloons together, said some words of love and rembrance, and we all let go. We watched them fly, fly away. We wondered how far they went, seems like we watched them go for 10 minutes or so... it was pretty windy too.



We will miss you Grandpa!

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

I miss my gramps

It's been a long week.

My grandpa and most of my extended family live in Michigan. My aunts are twins, one lives up there and the other in VA with my mom and I. My aunt that lives here took off up north to see how gramps was doing (he's been sick for a very long time - he's a tough old bird) and called me on 1/24 to tell me he is not looking well. I decided if I wasn't dialated that I was going up there with the girls to see him one last time. Confirmation from the Dr and an OK to go was given, so all day wednesday 1/25 I ran around town making arrangements for the trip that night.

My uncle and mom went with me. We made great time considering it was snowing in WV and we didn't speed at all (I learned my lesson in July '05 - damn Ohio Turnpike) on the trip up. As soon as we made it in town where gramps was hospitalized, we stopped in to see him. He was on a floor where the girls couldn't see him, Katelyn was so upset and crying she couldn't see him. I felt so darn bad for her. He had deteriorated so much in the last 6 months since we had seen him last. I didn't get to spend but 20 minutes with him because they were having a hard time trying to get the dialysis going.

We decided to go ahead and drive to my aunt's house that lives up there in Mi (an hour away from the hospital) and we unpacked our bags and took a nap. I told Katelyn to pray that they move gramps to another floor so her and sis could see him. We were lucky, because that evening they moved him to another floor. The next day we went back to the hospital to see gramps. His eyes literally lit up when he saw the girls and I. He understood from before that I wouldn't be able to make the trip up to see him, so he was so surprised and I could tell how touched he was to see us. He's Hungarian, and along with the distinct nose feature, the ears are a bit pronounced as well. He loves little Samantha's ears... he calls them 'honky ears', which means hungarian ear to him (large earlobes... lol) :)

I left Saturday morning after saying one last goodbye to him. It was hard leaving knowing he would probably die in less that a week. Hospice had started treating him for comfort measures only, as there really was nothing to be done for him anymore that was working. He past away Sunday 1/29. His funeral is today, and he's getting a military 21 gun salute. At the viewing he was saluted by so many officers and other soilders, my mom and aunts say it was very touching and beautiful... hard to hold back the tears.

I still have not grieved for him yet. It's so unreal I won't be able to take a trip up there this summer to show him his newest great grandson. I hope he is comfortable in heaven, looking down on us, and able to see his grandling when he makes his arrival (which is SOON..I'm hoping early, and this week.... lol)

I love you Gramps. Peace be with you.
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