Our family has been ripped apart

Matt was killed in a car accident on July 20. I started a new blog at day-three.blogspot.com.

Chloe Rolls, Noah Poops

On July 11, 2011, Chloe rolled all by herself from back to belly for the first time. She was three months and 10 days old. I just saw it for the first time myself a couple days ago, lol. But her teachers informed me of this accomplishment the day it happened. Yay for Chloe! Now, I can barely lay her down all the way before she starts to roll over. She is all about it. But then she gets mad so I have to pick her up or roll her back.

Last night, Noah started taking off his diaper and saying "boop" (that's "poop"). So I brought him to the toilet and he sat right on there and had a nice conversation with me, which primarily consisted of the words "boop", "potty" and "uh oh". And guess what? He went poop! And he also wanted to tear off a bunch of toilet paper and put that into the toilet while he was doing so. I had to stop him after the second time for fear of a massive clog but he proceeded to tear off little tiny bits while I held the roll in place. But I was very proud of him! So good job, Noah! Over the weekend, he took off his diaper and peed on the living room floor because I was preoccupied with Chloe and no one else felt like doing anything. Slackers.

I love it when I'm expected to be in two different places doing two different things at the same time.

Speaking of which, Matt is leaving me in August for a WHOLE EFFING WEEK. WTF. I am going... to die.

I think we are heading up to Michigan on September 2. We will go straight up to Crystal Lake for a couple days and then head down to Grand Rapids and then leave on the 10th. Those are the plans for now. And we are hoping to have Chloe baptized while we are up there, too. We'll see! I guess we could have a joint birthday/baptism party for both of them. :)

what's all the fuss about?

That's what I originally thought about Aden + Anais swaddling blankets. Then someone mentioned how nice they were to use as nursing covers in the hot weather. So... Baby Steals had some up for grabs for cheap so I ordered one. Holy amazing. First of all, these blankets are gigantic. And they really are so light and breathable. It just makes me want a slingified woven wrap that much more! I don't love the idea of wearing Chloe in any of my carriers outside because it gets so hot but they are all I have! So a choice we have not. Someday. Anyway, I used my AA outside at the park last weekend to nurse her and it was perfect. Now, I just need to perfect my nursing in public skills because it is quite awkward to nurse without my Boppy, lol. I rely on that thing too much! I may have flashed a bit of boob. Hopefully no one was looking. Oh well if they were.

I find that a common question these days is, "How long will you breastfeed?" I just say... I really don't know, lol. I guess as long as everything is working out fine, I see no reason to put a deadline on it, you know? I'm not going to count on making it a whole year right now just because I learned from my last experience that smaller goals are best. I am just happy each day I continue to be able to breastfeed. If I do make it to a year and even longer... then awesome! The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months and then continuing to two years or more with the addition of solid foods.

Anyway, it was flooding downtown after work yesterday. That was pretty cray-cray. I had to turn around and take a very long detour to the daycare. And today, when I went to nurse Chloe on my lunch break, she decided she would just take a nap instead. So that means her extra 2-ounce emergency bottle will most certainly be used since her second bottle would have been given a lot earlier than if she had nursed. I hope she is not ravenous when I pick her up but she probably will be!

2-month checkup.

It is so amazing to look at Chloe, look at how much she has grown and know that every bit of that has come directly from me! Not only did I grow her inside my belly for nine months but I continue to provide 100% of her nourishment and keep her growing. :) Duh... that's what breastfeeding is but I guess I never thought of it that way before. It is sooo awesome. I'm still sad I missed out on this experience with Noah but at least I get to experience it once in my life... if not again in the future. :D


So, needless to say, her 2-month checkup went great. She is 12 lbs, 12 oz! And 23 inches long. I felt so bad that she was all smiley and happy... yet, little did she know, she was about to get three injections in her thighs. :( So she totally freaked out as soon as she received that first poke... she let out a heartbreaking cry for a second but as soon as I scooped her up, it was like she flipped the switch and stopped immediately. I nursed her and then we left. She was sleeping when I dropped her back off at daycare.


Pumping has been going... just okay. Let me tell ya, it's definitely not my preferred method of milk removal, lol. I have to work my butt off to get enough milk for Chloe's bottles the next day. I make 12 ounces: Two five-ounce bottles and one two-ounce bottle just in case she's extra hungry (but that bottle is not always used up). I have to pump at least four times a day to get that. I pump twice at work and as much as I can at home until I have enough. I'm more thankful every day that I am close enough to go nurse her on my lunch break! Somehow, today I managed to go over by three ounces so I have three extra ounces in the fridge right now. :) That's a good feeling! I think I hit that point where my supply regulates itself based on whatever Chloe takes. So, instead of that nice, hormone-driven "oversupply", so to speak, I'm just producing what she needs. And, of course, the pump is not nearly as efficient as the baby so I don't expect to get as much as I was getting when I pumped my first week back at work. Oh, well... all the hard work is definitely worth it. And if I do have to pull out some formula to mix into breast milk one day, oh well. It's not the end of the world. But I'm going to try to avoid that. :)

This morning, however, I discovered leaked through my shirt for the first time, lol! Chloe didn't eat at all from my left side all night long so I guess that's to be expected. She woke up once to eat at 4:00 so I brought her to bed (she had fallen asleep in her swing) and fed her from my right side. I obviously was too tired to think straight and just fell asleep without switching sides. I thought about it but I just couldn't do it, lol. Plus, she fell asleep, too, and I didn't want to wake her. At least it didn't result in a plugged duct! I've had like four of those now and they hurt! I just pumped first thing this morning to relieve the pressure and got an extra ounce and a half. :)


I kept Noah home sick on Monday. He had a fever early that morning but then it was gone when I checked him again at 8:30. What the heck? Okay... so after his more-demonic-than-usual-meltdowns and congestion, we thought, "Oh... no. Two year molars." It is about that time, after all. So... we're bracing ourselves. This is the big daddy of teething woes and, with all the trouble Noah has with his teeth coming in, we know this is definitely going to be the grand finale. In a not-so-fun way. I will keep you posted on that news front, internet world. But maybe it will turn out to be uneventful (yeah right).

Where do I begin? I don't know... I feel like my brain has melted in the last couple of weeks. Life is a whirlwind right now. It's rare that I have a few minutes to just sit and relax without a kid attached to me. :P But that *did* happen on Monday. Matt and Noah fell asleep on the couch and Chloe slept in her swing. So I had a few free minutes and it was amazing! And thank God for Fridays. Those are the days where I either leave at about 3:00 or 12:00 and it's really the only guaranteed "me" time I get. Of course, that is spent working on the house but at least I can do it without being interrupted. :D

This week my morning pumping output has been less than impressive. So this morning I tried double pumping instead of single and it gave me two more ounces! I ended up with 6 oz rather than 4 oz and Chloe eats 5 oz for her morning bottle so that's perfect. I also ate oatmeal when I got to work, which is said to help increase milk production. If I could get that much again this afternoon, that would be awesome but I'm happy with 4 oz for my afternoon sesh. At least I'm ahead 1 oz for today. :) I hope I don't have to pull from my freezer stash again tonight!

I'm also going to add in a short pumping session when I get home from work since I make a small bottle for Chloe to eat right before I pick her up from daycare. Only about 2-3 oz or so. I think I'm actually going to keep that one at 2 oz from now on. Just enough to hold her over until we get home. Then I can finish her feeding at home and pump afterwards or pump first thing if she seems satisfied.

Anyway, I bought June Christmas presents yesterday. :) I got some wooden M&D marionettes for Noah (a prince and a horse) and some Babylegs socks and leg warmers for Chloe... I just couldn't resist even though I'm trying to refrain from buying her more clothes, lol. Oh well. It's not like she'll know; she'll be 9 months old.

It looks like my mom will be paying us a visit on July 7! An extra pair of hands, yayyy, lol.

Brrrr....

It is COLD in this office today! But that's better than being sweltering hot... which is the norm, lol. Yes, I am back to work. My first day was last Wednesday. It has been going quite well. Chloe has adapted to daycare just fine it seems. She takes the bottle well. The only thing I had to change was the nipples. I increased it to a medium flow because the latex slow-flow nipples just made it take her forever to finish a bottle. That was probably part of the issue at home, too. So now she is on the silicone medium-flow ones. Anyway, she was sleeping when I dropped her off this morning so that made my job easy. I have been going to nurse her on my lunch break every day around 12:00 or so. That has been going well. And pumping has also been going well; I am getting great output! More than she eats so far so then I have a little extra if I need it.

We got a babysitter on Saturday night so Matt and I could go enjoy a nice dinner at Wasabi 88. Which is REALLY yummy! It might be my new favorite place for Japanese. But I still have love for Japan Inn. After that we went over to Coldstone. And then we stopped by Best Buy so that I could have my phone looked at, lol. Now we run errands on dates, too.

I am still in the process of painting Noah's room... have been for the past month, lol. I should be able to finish this Friday though since it is my half day. Fingers crossed! Although even if I finish I will probably still need another coat of brown. Curse that. I hate painting. And yet I still do it for the sake of cuteness in Noah's room. I can't wait until it's all finished but it will be a while because now we are on a strict budget, lol. So I will have to buy piece by piece each month. :P Hopefully by Christmas it's done! I still need new crib sheets, wall decals, floating shelves, art and changing pad covers.

Noah's bedtime has been all sorts of messed up. Well, he goes to bed perfectly whenever we have a sitter. But when we're home, he cries and whines for hours and then just ends up falling asleep on the couch with Matt. :/ And this morning he also decided to wake up at 5:00... so of course, he fell asleep on the way to daycare, lol. Matt takes him to daycare now and I take Chloe. But I have to do drop-off and pick-up for both on Thursday because Matt has a seminar thing at 5:00. That is going to be interesting.

That's pretty much all that has been going on lately. Home projects, toddler craziness and back to work. It's our new normal!

grocery trip.

Success! We took our first trip together as a family of four to the grocery store today. It was a bold move, I must admit. One seven week old who likes to nurse almost non-stop and hates being in her carseat plus a very testy toddler who freaks out over anything that even remotely resembles a ball or balloon = recipe for disaster, right? Thankfully, it wasn't that bad. And Harris Teeter gives balloons to children so Noah gets a balloon every week. Oh, not to mention free cookies, too.

I nursed Chloe in the parking lot while Matt and Noah continued into the store. We caught up with them after Chloe seemed satisfied and I had her situated in the Beco. Well, let me just tell ya, Chloe is not exactly the babywearing type. I hope she grows into it but right now, it's just not her thing. I was able to wear her for maybe 10 minutes and she really started stressin'. I thought, "Oh, no... I'm going to have to sit on a bench in the front of the store and nurse her for all to see," lol. I would have, of course... but I tried just taking her out of the carrier first and holding her in a blankie. That made her happier and she actually fell asleep while I was carrying her and stayed asleep for the rest of the endeavor. Of course, that left me without any hands to help but I directed the cart and pointed out what we needed to Matt and he threw it in the cart. It worked out pretty well.

One frappuccino spill and a full shopping cart later, mission complete. Really not too bad. Matt had to go alert someone to the minor spill after Noah decided to pick up one of our fraps and drop it. I totally saw that coming but, like I said, my hands were tied with a sleeping infant so there wasn't too much I could do, lol.

But both kiddos did really well. And I think I'm going to up the ante on my carrier supply and order a ring sling for Chloe as soon as I can. Since she hates the wrap and hates the SSC, I might as well branch out and try a sling. :) Maybe, just maybe... she will be a sling baby. I hope so because I love to carry my babes. I'd actually like to try Noah in a back carry in the Ergo and see how he likes it since I haven't been able to wear him since early on in my pregnancy with Chloe!

Got Chloe's May Christmas gift! :D I was getting a little worried as the end of the month was getting close and I still didn't have anything for her! I'm trying to hold off on buying more clothes-y types of things (like what I just bought) because that's pretty much all she has so far! Besides a stuffed animal. So I don't want to get her anymore stuffed animals either. She has a couple of onesies that I'm going to get embroidered with her initial, another onesie with a little lion on it and a bloomer set. And now the headband. I hope the deal-a-day sites start coming up with some infant toys! But the headband is super cute anyway. :)

news flash.

I finally got Chloe to take a bottle... from ME! The only reason I tried is because I thawed some breast milk yesterday with the intention of having Matt give her a nighttime bottle but I completely forgot. Thawed breast milk is only good for 24 hours so I figured I better give it to her sooner rather than later.

I've been going back and forth about whether latex or silicone nipples are better for her so I started off using silicone because the last time we used latex, it collapsed. I also kept her in her swing so she would recognize it as a different way of feeding and not expect the breast. Well, that doesn't work for her. So I decided a.) I'm switching back to latex and b.) I'm holding her close. I made sure not to tighten the nipple ring too much because that contributes to the nipple collapsing. SO...

I held her close to my chest and put the bottle at the level of my breast to make it as close to BFing as possible. She accepted! Also, she was hungry but not starving. I think that trying to give her a bottle when she's starving just pisses her off. I was sure to snuggle her close and maintain eye contact since she was lacking the skin-to-skin contact of BFing and I think it's important for her to not feel disconnected while feeding. It worked. I offered a 2-1/2 ounce bottle and she ate two ounces. :) Then I nursed her for comfort, lol. Plus, I think she takes less from a bottle than she does from the breast because the bottle is inferior in her eyes so she doesn't take more than she must for survival. I'm sure this will improve over time.

I pumped this morning and I got over in ounce in like two minutes! I thought that was exciting, lol. I couldn't finish this awesomeness though because Chloe woke up. It is challenging to start a freezer stash! I'm in good shape though. I have plenty to start Chloe at daycare and for occasional babysitters. I could probably stop pumping if I wanted to but I still try to pump if I have some time just for back-up's sake. And I should probably at least try to continue to pump so my boobs will get used to it for once I'm pumping at work. I can't believe I'm going back in two weeks! Two weeks from tomorrow exactly.

We got a babysitter for the first time since Chloe was born last weekend. I felt so bad leaving her because she was crying and I warmed up a bottle for the sitter to give her but she wasn't taking the bottle and Noah had just nailed her in the face with one of his toys... it was awful. I wanted nothing more than to nurse her but we were just barely leaving in time to make the movie and I didn't want to ruin it for Matt, lol. So I just sucked it up, trusted the babysitter to handle two under two and spent the duration of the movie stressing out. Matt called her right afterwards and everything turned out just fine. Noah went to bed SO easy for her (of course) and Chloe eventually took to the bottle.

We got paint for Noah's bedroom makeover! Well, the transition from it being Noah's nursery to a bedroom for Chloe and Noah. :) I'm excited to get started; I just need to find the time! I have a feeling this is going to be a looong process.

I had my post-partum checkup yesterday. Everything checked out fine although we didn't really spend time talking about me and just chatted about Chloe and whatnot, lol. But I'm assuming everything checked out fine since my midwife didn't say otherwise! :P

Well, Chloe is sleeping on me and I would like to move her so I can get some laundry done and do the dishes, prep the room for painting, etc. Lots to do! I didn't get anything done yesterday because I had my appointment at 10:30, got home at 12:00, ate lunch and then took a four-hour nap. :x

i'm confused.

When somebody says they need to have surgery to get their gallbladder removed, the typical reaction is something along the lines of, "I'm sorry... [etc. etc. etc.]".

But when somebody announces they have c-section surgery scheduled, the typical response seems to start with something along the lines of, "YAY!!!!"

??? Oh well.

bottle rejection.

Ahh, Chloe decided she wasn't going to take a bottle from Dad tonight. And I felt so bad watching her cry that I just nursed her. I think maybe her plan was to nurse herself to sleep so that's why she was so pissed because now she's falling asleep. I tried the silicone nipple instead of latex but that was just as bad if not worse. So now I have 3 oz of thawed/warmed up breast milk that I will end up having to dump if she doesn't take a bottle at all tonight! If she takes a good nap, we'll try again when she wakes up. We'll try the latex nipple on the Drop-Ins and if that still doesn't fly then I guess I will try one of the Avent bottles... even though those nipples are similarly shaped so I'm not confident that will make a big difference. But she's taken this bottle twice now so she should be able to take it again! Maybe I waited too long between bottles. Her last one was on Tuesday. :/ So note to self: Don't go longer than three days between bottles...

So now that we have our two munchkins, I am so excited about taking family trips in the future! Noah has already gotten a decent amount of trips in... Charlotte, Mt. Vernon, Washington DC, Myrtle Beach, Michigan, Boston and Charleston. We will probably take them to Disney World for the first time when Chloe is 3 and Noah is 4-1/2. That... I am SUPER excited for. :)

We just need a big family car before we can start doing things as a family, lol. Which we will HOPEFULLY be getting this month! I even looked at a minivan. I know. But I don't think we will ever get one. We will probably end up going with a Chevrolet Traverse since it's a three-row crossover and Matt gets the GM family discount. I really can't wait!

I gotta run to CVS while I have a good window of opportunity (right after Chloe ate)... until next time... !

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Look for one of these little charmers in your mailbox in the next couple of weeks. ;)

I found Noah's May Christmas gift already! It's the tool set, shown in the upper right of the picture. That could be dangerous... but hopefully by the time Christmas comes around, he'll understand that it's NOT funny to bang a toy hammer on the TV screen.

I've been pumping since Saturday. I wonder if the frequency of Chloe's nursing sessions affects how much I'm getting when I pump. It must be. The first time I tried was in the morning and I ended up with about two ounces total. I tried again while Matt was feeding her my pumped milk with a bottle (which worked out great) but then she finished her bottle before I was finished pumping so I switched to just nursing her because she wanted more than the two ounces. I ended up with a half ounce from just one side. I will combine that with my output from Sunday morning, which was three ounces so the next bottle she receives will be 3-1/2 ounces. That will give us a better idea of how much she needs to eat at each feeding. We obviously know it's more than two ounces!

Anyway, I'm hoping that once I start pumping on more of a regular schedule, I will get more. As long as I can pump enough in one session to satisfy what she needs to eat each time, I'll be happy. If not, I will look into getting a new pump. But I will definitely plan to go nurse her on my lunch break daily because she is the most effective "pump" I will ever have, haha. That will help ensure my supply and one less pumping session during the day is fine by me. Pumping is kind of pain. I don't know how or why exclusive pumpers do it, lol!

more newborn pics, pumping, bottles, etc.

Well, I will start with Chloe's newborn session part two. It went so much better than her first one! It probably helped that Matt and Noah weren't there to disturb the peace, lol. Or maybe moreso just Noah... bless his sweet little heart. This is one of my absolute favs from the session. She's so perfect! And I'm glad we did these when we did because her baby acne is getting worse by the day, LOL. I guess she got her mom's terrible skin genes. Sorry, Chloe.

Today we ventured out to Babies R Us... which, as we all know, is dangerous territory. Today was especially dangerous because it was my first time ever going out to look for things for Chloe. All the clearance items were BOGO free but I really didn't find as much as I was hoping to find. I ended up getting a cute onesie for her and some shorts for Noah. I also got her a set of sleeveless onesies from Carter's and an Amy Coe onesie. Then I got an Amy Coe tee for Noah that will go with a pair of plaid shorts he has that didn't really go with any of his current shirts. And I got a 4th of July t-shirt for him. Chloe already has an adorable 4th of July dress. Since I'm on the topic of clothing, Chloe has moved up to the 3 mos size already! She's growing so fast. Even one of her 6 mos sunsuits fits her loosely now. I guess that says good things about my milk supply! ;)

Tomorrow, I'm going to start pumping. I'm kind of nervous about it. I just want to make sure I do everything "right". So I think I will start in the morning after Chloe wakes to eat and then goes back to sleep. And I guess I'll just pump next when she is eating from a bottle and during her naps. I'm really not trying to build a "stash" but I guess it couldn't hurt to have some extra around the house for babysitters and whatnot. I just want to pump enough to make her next bottle that Matt will feed her with and also enough to begin her first day at daycare. So we will try that tomorrow for the first time and see how it goes. I got the Playtex Drop-Ins nurser starter set today. These bottles have gotten the best reviews across the board so that is why I'm going to try them first. My Avent bottles worked out fine for Noah in terms of him liking them... but we had plenty of leaking issues if the nipple wasn't screwed on JUST right and that's not something I'm willing to toy around with when it comes to breastmilk... for obvious reasons!

newborn photos.

There is a sneak peek of one of Chloe's newborn pictures up there. Will is coming back over on Wednesday to try some more poses and whatnot. Let's just say Chloe was less than cooperative for the photo shoot, lol! The one day she finally gets incurably fussy is the day she needs to be an angel! But he still managed to get some really cute shots. In between the meltdowns and nursing sessions... which pretty much left him with a 30-minute window of time. So I feel kind of bad about that even though I guess there's really not much you can do, right? Actually, I did consult with some others who've been through the same thing and it seems that is just the way that newborn sessions go. All the super cute pictures you see when you Google "newborn photography" are just split-seconds where the photographer got lucky. :P And I am not the only one who's gotten pooped on nor is Chloe the first baby to have peed on her props, hahahaha. Oh, man... I am thinking I will keep her swaddled on Wednesday. Maybe that will help. And I will crank the heat up to 80 instead of 75, lol. Here is one more preview!

happy easter!

Well, today was a wee bit stressful but not as bad as yesterday. At least Chloe took naps today! And she slept most of the night but it took forever for her to GET to sleep. She finally stayed asleep at about 2:00 and slept until 8:00. Ate at 8:00 and then slept until about 11:30. I guess she had some catching up to do. I'm so glad she slept so well because I had a terrible headache last night and had been wanting to take a nap all afternoon yesterday and didn't get to. :( Chloe was pretty fussy last night so instead of nursing her in the bed, which didn't seem to be working, I moved the glider and the swing into the bedroom and tried nursing her while rocking and then moving her to the swing... that failed. Twice. So then I went back to the old trick and she finally fell asleep. I just don't know what her deal was.

Anyway, Chloe and I attempted to make it out the door for church at 1:30 this afternoon but she had spit up on two different outfits and I was half-dressed (really not even sure what I was going to wear), it was almost 1:00 and I just said, "Forget it!" Matt took Noah by himself. Not something I would have ever attempted, that's for sure.

Chloe does spit up a lot. The symptoms of GED and a forceful letdown/oversupply of breastmilk are annoyingly similar. So any time she is fussy, I worry about her being in pain (like last night). But even if she does have a mild case of reflux, I can take comfort in the fact that breastfeeding is the best thing you can do because it digests quickly, therefore leaving much less time for reflux to occur. Plus, breastmilk is a natural antacid, which kind of makes me wonder if that's why she nurses SO OFTEN. Who knows... she only really became fussier a couple days ago because she NEVER fussed in her first couple weeks. I let her sleep on her side. Sometimes it sounds like she's burping and gulping... which isn't a good sign (silent reflux). Anyway, it's probably more comfortable for her to sleep on her side and I'm right there next to her so that makes me feel better.

We let Noah eat quite a bit of candy today, LOL. Sign us up for parents of the year! ;) So he's been pretty wild. And definitely not going to bed yet like he should be. He just dumped his basket of toys out in the living room. I set up an "egg hunt" in the backyard for him. We will have to upload that video! He was all excited to go search for eggs and put them in his basket. He also did an egg hunt on Friday at his daycare's Easter party. We've got that one on video, too.

Ooh, so Express had free shipping on all orders today. I purchased this large tote thinking I might be able to use it as another diaper bag for Chloe. It's cute and summery. I also got some black sequin sandals.

And Papa John's had everything 50% off today if you ordered online. We definitely took advantage of that for our Easter dinner. :) Yum yum!

karma.

Noah GOT BITTEN at daycare yesterday! I mean, I know it's no laughing matter but we have to laugh a little bit (no pun intended) because he bit someone just the day before, LOL. Apparently, four of the boys were brawling over pillows and Noah ended up at the bottom of the pile. :P Noah does not mess around when it comes to pillows.

Thank God he went to bed easily tonight. It's so hit and miss with him. His teeth must not be too bad tonight.

And ((AI SPOILER ALERT))...

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Just received notice that Stefano is voted off American Idol. Boohoo. I liked him okay but his performance last night was not good.

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I would have loved to see Jacob go though. LOVED.

My girl April gave me a bunch more clothes for Chloe today. :D Thanks, April! AND a super adorable flower headband. :) We went to visit the office this afternoon. It was pretty quiet since most everyone was gone but Chloe got to meet two of my co-workers!

Tomorrow Chloe is getting her "newborn" pictures done (even though she barely qualifies as a newborn anymore, lol). I'm super excited for them! Should be a lot of fun... maybe not for her as much as it will be for me. :P I have a few ideas for her "outfits", one of course being her birthday suit with the headband on that April bought for her. And I also have these cute little beanies that my cousin knit. Then I have this red knit hoodie sweater that buttons and the buttons are little ladybugs. That's all I have so far!

Our TV has been broken for a week now. The lamp burnt out so we ordered a new one that we actually received in the mail today but now that we have that, we discovered that our DirecTV got fried when lightning basically struck in our backyard during the storms last weekend. It had also fried the board on our air unit. That was one crazy and LOUD (and bright) lightning strike, for sure.

Well, Chloe slept pretty great last night... although the fact that she sleeps next to me probably helps her sleep so well. And it's great for me because I can basically nurse her while I sleep when she does wake up. The only one who doesn't really win in this situation is my husband, lol! But if we had a KING SIZE bed, I'm sure he could still sleep in there with us, no problem. Sigh. If only.

april christmas gifts... check.

I was able to purchase something "gender-specific" finally... for the "noob" (whom we now know as Chloe)! I got the diaper set (pic on the far left). It's a pink paisley top with chambray bloomers. :) Too cute. I got it in size 12 mos so she can wear it in the spring.
And Noah's gift this month is probably going to be a stocking stuffer - it's a children's orchestral CD. I know he loves music so I think he will like this. :)

April is all done! Now I have to wait until May before I can buy some more goodies for the kids.

quicklike update.

Because it's rare I have any down time! But Chloe had her two-week checkup yesterday. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 2 oz! So that's great... she is gaining well and in the 75th percentile for weight. She is also a whopping 22 inches long - that's the 95th percentile. She's already doing better in the height department than Noah is, lol! They also had to re-do her PKU test. :( That part sucked. I was kind of looking forward to no needle pricks but nope! It went quicker than it did in the hospital, at least.

I found out just now that Noah bit another child at daycare today. :/ Greaaaat. We have THAT kid~! Hopefully that is just a one-time incident. I'm not even sure how to get him to not bite other kids when he doesn't do that at home (but he does bite himself... is that weird? Yeah, I think so.).

My birthday was last Friday! Matt got me an HTC Evo Shift. :D That was a great gift! Although I am having issues with the SD card already. So hopefully I can figure that out because right now it's not letting me take any pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I took some of Chloe today wearing her "0 months old" sticker. :P I bought a pack of month stickers from Etsy and that was included so I figured I'd use it! Even though she's not quite as little as she was when she was first born. I also picked up a few things at Target with her today. I got some onesies and fruffles (headbands) for her Easter basket... but I did take one of the fruffles out today so she could wear it for her pic, lol.

I got some Hello Panda cookies (strawberry and chocolate), animal crackers, bubbles, balloons and sidewalk chalk for Noah's easter basket. I want to fill some of those plastic eggs with candy so he can do an egg hunt but I could not find any! I also got him some new shoes. And Chloe also got a new blanket.

Oh, and Chloe was sleeping when I got to Target so I figured I'll just leave her sleeping in her car seat and I'll take out the stroller. So she was fine and slept... blah blah... then I'm going through the baby clothes section and she starts to cry. My fear. Because we all know that means she wants to eat. I took her out of the stroller and held her but she definitely wanted to eat. So luckily there was no one near me and I took our the nursing cover and got her situated (I'm glad she's still small enough that I can nurse her using one arm) and continued shopping, LOL. I wondered a.) how many people even knew what was happening and b.) of the people that knew what was happening, how many gave me dirty looks. I tried not to make eye contact but a kind fellow who worked there actually struck up a conversation with me while I was nursing her. I don't know if he even had a clue but he said he had a seven month old so he might have and just didn't care... which is awesome. I was kind of scared he was going to be like, "CAN I SEE HER?" lol So of course she started to get fussy again eventually... I know she had a dirty diaper, too, so that probably made her mad. I'm standing in the middle of the main aisle trying to get her re-situated, which wasn't happening, so I just took her out from under the cover and carried her... I very well may have flashed someone. Who knows.

it sure is nice not having to pee every 30 minutes.

But I don't know how I'm going to last the rest of my life never getting pregnant again! It's addicting, the whole thing. From the excitement of trying to conceive to holding a brand new, freshly created human being. But then again, it is a LOT of work (mostly having a newborn onward). The thought of being done is kind of nice. But we'll see. I'm torn, LOL. Guess I don't need to be worrying about this now! But every time someone just has a baby or announces a pregnancy, I'm jealous!

yippy skippy!

I took Chloe to the pedi's office this morning, just for a weigh-in. She is up five ounces from her appointment on Monday! Yay! She tipped the scale at 8 lbs, 9 oz. :) On a not-so-yippy-skippy note, I think I was crazy to think that we could travel with a week-old infant. :/ It was quite the day today after the doc appointment. I spent all afternoon packing for me, Chloe and Noah to head to the beach for the weekend. Well, in between feeding her, of course. So it took me FOREVER to pack because she wants to nurse like at least every hour but it's usually closer to every 30 minutes. She rarely goes a full three hours between feedings (that's only if she's sleeping). So anyway, we finally got everything packed and I installed her car seat base into Matt's car, thinking I could somehow sit in between her and Noah. Ummm... no. I could not even get one ass cheek in the seat. So then I was freaking out because I don't like not being able to see her because she has like no neck muscles and her head likes to flop forward in her seat... or to the side... something that looks very uncomfortable and not safe. So... I just sat in the front seat and we took off. But wait. I just couldn't stand it so we went back so I could see if there was any possible chance that someone could fit in the middle of my car's back seat with the two seats. I moved her base over and sat in the middle just to see if Noah's seat could fit next to me. No way. In the meantime, Chloe starts crying so I rock her in her carseat before putting her back in Matt's car. But that didn't last too long so I ended up taking her out to nurse her while Matt stopped for gas and food. This went on and on. Then I had to take her out and nurse her in the parking lot of Noah's daycare. Then again at some random truck business on our way out of town. And trying to put her back in her seat pisses her off all over again so then I have to nurse her some more. It's like a chain reaction. I eventually just tried to stand back there next to her and lean over so she could nurse but that wasn't good enough. She has to be in my arms, of course. At that point, we were all stressed out and feeling extremely uneasy about this whole thing so enough was enough. We canceled! THANK GOD. It took us forever just to get back home but once we walked in the door, I felt like it was worth all the trouble just to realize that... that trip was not happening, lol! I absolutely cannot imagine how long it would've actually taken us to make this normally-two-hour trip but I'm guessing at least four hours, considering it took us two hours just to get 30 minutes out and then come back home. Yuck. But now we are home and happy and Chloe is sleeping in her swing. So breastfeeding is awesome but doesn't work well for road trips. If she was older, I would just pump a bottle and feed it to her but I'm not ready for that yet. That's going to be an entirely different story when that times comes, I'm sure.

I just ordered these adorable month stickers from Etsy. :) I feel kind of bad that I didn't do this for Noah but I didn't find out about these until he was already several months old!

Chloe is doing fantastic. She is such a good baby; she RARELY cries (only in the car so far, really... because my boob doesn't stretch like that, unfortunately). We haven't really had any sleep issues. Of course, she nurses constantly but the side-lying position is my best friend forever. At least I can relax (and sometimes doze off) while she's eating. Poor Matt hasn't been able to sleep in the bed since she came home. At least now he has the air mattress to use since my mom left today, lol. But I'm so thankful that he's allowing us to have the bed to ourselves so I can just sleep next to her and I don't have to constantly get up at night to feed her. Because last night, for example, I nursed her for like three 60-minute increments. Plus, babies just need to be next to their mommy's skin when they're still so new. They've been in our bellies for nine months! She is just so precious.

Anyway... her poopy/wet diapers have been really good so I think I can depend on my boobs to work properly this time! I'm nervous that having to pump once I go back to work is going to ruin everything but we'll see. Hopefully not. I will probably contact the lactation consultants at the hospital once I start pumping to get some good advice about how much to send to daycare, how often to pump at work, etc.

post-partum expressions.

Clever title, eh? I remember after I had Noah, I came home and just felt like a piece of me was missing (a baby bump!). Like... I missed being pregnant to the point of feeling sad. It was really weird. I attributed it to the baby blues. This time, I feel SO much better than I did after having Noah, physically and emotionally. I have no idea why. I was at home cooking dinner the day after giving birth and I felt awesome. It's just strange how the two compare so I figured I would write about it!

Anyway, Chloe had her first checkup this morning and it went great! She weighed in at 8 lbs, 4 oz, which they said was completely normal (7.5% below her birth weight).

Side note: I think it's safe to say our scale at home is less than accurate, lol - but at least using the same scale before and after a nursing session showed a 2 oz gain.

My milk definitely came in yesterday so from here, she should start to gain up to an ounce a day. She has been eating like a champ. We are going to go back for a nurse's visit just to get her weighed again on Thursday morning since I told them I was paranoid about having what happened with Noah happen with her! Everything looks good so far though. Also, her jaundice level was almost nonexistent and this is the point where it would be at its peak so that's good news, too!

So anyway, my pubic bone was killing me early this morning. I think it might have been the fact that I was in the same position for a long time and it was just putting too much stress on the same area. But I ended up Googling since I couldn't sleep and I guess that's a pretty common gripe after pregnancy. I didn't get it with Noah though... must be having two kids so close together did me in, lol. It should get back to normal with time. It doesn't bother me much during the day, at least.

chloe.

I think I love her name more and more every day. It's simply sweet; feminine but not frou-frou. And I have no doubt that choosing Isla would have just thrown us into that group of parents who constantly have to correct the pronunciation of their child's name... at least around here, haha. But Chloe fits her. And Chloe Marcella is music to my ears. :)

Noah has been... accepting, for the most part. Of course, he wants to hit her with things and grab her face but... other than that, it's all good. He is definitely doing more to get our attention though, bless him. And that would be negative attention, for the record. He's turned into a little terror child I've never seen before since we brought Chloe home. I have been trying really hard to give him loving attention because obviously he's not getting as much from me as he's used to. I did almost everything for him and now I do almost nothing for him. I would get up in the early morning hours if he woke up and go rock him back to sleep, I would wake up with him in the morning and make him breakfast, I would give him his bath every evening after dinner, etc. So his world has just been turned upside down! But I know we will all adjust in good time. I still do what I can for him whenever Chloe is not nursing (which is pretty much all the time right now, lol). But his demand for our attention has seemed to increase ten-fold. :/ Hopefully that will pass...

Speaking of Chloe nursing, I think it's going well. I'm pretty sure my milk came in today since my boobs have been feeling quite heavy and tender. I can tell that she is getting milk since I can hear her swallowing and there's milk all over her mouth when she pulls off, lol. I was paranoid yesterday because I weighed her on our scale at home and it showed 8 lbs 4 oz. But I weighed her again today and it was 8 lbs 8 oz... and then again after a feeding and it was 8 lbs 10 oz (which is where she was in the hospital before we left). So I'm hoping these are all good things that will continue. I think we were having some latching issues, initially, but it is improving. I actually had a freak-out moment overnight when she would fuss at the breast. I didn't know if it's because she wasn't getting anything or what and I considered going to make some formula... but I KNEW that would probably mess me up. So I didn't. I tried burping her because she seemed quite gassy (in fact, she farts almost nonstop) and then tried the other breast and that worked out better. Then she fell asleep for three hours and I had to wake her to eat again. Her pee pee diapers have been fair today and she finally pooped for the first time today! So that's a good sign.

But she is nursing right now and I definitely don't want to type with one hand anymore.

birth story.

I added a link above to the novel-length version of Chloe's birth story but here is a summary in case you don't feel like you need or want all the details. :P

I started timing contractions at 6:00pm on March 30. I labored at home for 12 hours before heading to the hospital around 6:00am on March 31. My midwife performed a cervical check once we got to our room and announced that I was 8 centimeters!

I spent about four hours total laboring there at the hospital, most of which was in the bath. I agreed to let my midwife break my bag of waters, which was actually bulging out of my vagina! So, of course, I had to reach down and feel it. She broke my water while I was in the bath and noticed meconium in the fluid. Thankfully, this posed no complications for the birth. The baby’s heartbeat was being checked periodically by fetal doppler. I was also able to go without a saline lock.

I was going to have a water birth until the fetal doppler did not pick up the baby’s heartbeat after multiple attempts by the nurse. I was instructed to head back over to the bed so I could get checked with the EFM. Luckily, the EFM picked up the baby’s heartbeat right away and everything was fine. I remained on the bed for the second stage and gave birth to Chloe Marcella on my hands and knees after just two contractions! She joined the world at 10:08am on March 31, weighing 8 lbs, 15oz and measuring 20.5 inches long. All I ended up with was a “papercut” but no stitches. I am barely even sore and Chloe and I are both doing great. :)

such a wonderful day!

I just had the most amazing birth experience ever! Chloe Marcella was born at 10:08 this morning, weighing 8 lbs, 15 oz and measuring 20.5 inches long. It was a lot of work but the most rewarding work I've ever done! :D

I will work on writing a "formal" birth story soon. :)

no sleep for me.

guess i was able to doze for a few min between contrax... but they are too intense when i'm laying down.

now find i vocalize my way thru.... and standing and leaning is the most tolerable position. just waiting for these bad boys to pick up in frequency.

btw, a shower feels great on my belly but actually laboring in a bath is kind of nasty.

ctx are about 2 min apart - may head to hospital soon? not sure....

attempting to sleep.

I'm going to see how this works out... contractions have been spaced about five minutes apart for the last five hours, lol. Varying in intensity but mostly mild, when you look at the big picture. I totally just took a shower and reapplied my makeup... and dried my bangs.

By the way, contractions aren't too bad in the shower... the water feels so good on my belly. I think I'm going to have Matt bring me my cool compress so I can keep that on my abdomen while I attempt to fall asleep.

Wish me luck!

contractions.

Yep, I've been having timeable contractions for the last two hours, woohoo! They are still 5-1/2 minutes apart so obviously I'm in early labor but that is better than nothin'!

Okay, that's it - I'm out. American Idol is coming on and I need to focus. On both labor and American Idol.

update: 41 weeks, 4 days

Because I told y'all I wouldn't leave y'all hangin'. I'm a woman of my word. Listen to that Southern slang.

I've been restricting myself to sitting on the yoga ball or the floor since yesterday... except for the few select times I forgot about my couch ban... like this morning. Only for a little bit. Gotsta keep the hips open so baby can stay low! I've been doing a little bouncy bounce, hip circles, etc.

I started feeling some mild contractions this morning around 6:30 or 7:00. Well, probably before that since I'm pretty sure I was having some in my sleep right before I woke up because I was dreaming about timing them on my phone. But when I say MILD... I mean mild. Don't get excited.

These babies are only lasting maybe 30 seconds, on average. In fact, let's check the stats (I've really been timing them on my phone's nifty little app). Average duration: 28 seconds. Average interval: 6 minutes, 52 seconds. So yeah. Nothing really to write home about... but I kind of am anyway. Just because it's exciting because I've never gotten to actually time contractions before, lol.

So... I just ate some Frosted Mini Wheats to keep me calm, full and focused... you can't be too prepared. I really need to paint my nails now so that I'm fully prepared for big events in my future. Even if that big event is forced to happen on Friday. But I should be doing plenty of walking today since my mom and I are going to go do a little shopping around G-Vegas.

I chuckled to myself this morning during my bubble bath when I remembered an emotional milestone being "loss of modesty" when you're far along in labor. Since I really don't have much modesty to begin with, that wouldn't be a good one to gauge my labor, bwahaha!

So I'll just describe these contractions for memory's sake. They're a little sharp on the lower half of my abdomen... right down by the waist of my pants. It starts out as a slowwwww build and gradually gets sharper and then subsides. The peak pretty much feels exactly how a strong period cramp feels. And these are pretty wimpy contractions so it's not too bad. Some are a little bit stronger than others.

And... I guess I better get crackin' on this whole nail-painting excursion. My mom is still asleep... I'm going to try to keep any semblance of labor signs a secret from her because I get the feeling that she will call every single person saved in her phone's address book if she even gets wind of the mere POSSIBILITY that I'm in labor.

update: 41 weeks, 3 days

Well, GREAT news! When my midwife went to strip my membranes today, she said the baby was definitely lower so if she wanted to break my water today, she could. Woohoo! That means I will not have to be induced with Pitocin, as long as baby stays low. So I'm only allowing myself to sit on a yoga ball or the floor to keep my hips open and allow baby to remain low.

That really lifted my spirits today. And my mom is in town now so I no longer have to stress about the possibility of having to head to the hospital at such an odd hour that it might be difficult to find a sitter for Noah.

The plan of action now is... wait... walk (aka shopping)... and I'm going in for a second round of membrane stripping Thursday morning if nothing happens before then. Acupuncture appointment is still on for Thursday afternoon. After that, it's in this baby's hands until Friday morning when its little home is going to be ruptured, lol.

Sorry, baby... but you just can't stay in there forever.

update: 41 weeks, 2 days

I'll start off by saying this little one almost had me going yesterday. I was feeling quite crampy and uncomfortable while (TMI alert) going to the bathroom. It was pretty much worse than a contraction because I was having contractions while, at the same time, (TMI alert still in effect) feeling like I had just gotten an enema. 'Nuff said.

So I had a checkup today (I MADE IT!) with my midwife and she checked my pieces. I also had an ultrasound and fluid levels are great; placenta looks good. I opted out of having my membranes stripped because I didn't want to risk forcing anything to happen tonight out of fear of having to find someone to watch Noah. I know it could still very well happen but anything to try to avoid it helps, lol.

But I am returning to the office tomorrow to get my membranes stripped (at which point, my mom will be in town so we will have a 24-hour sitter available). I'd also like to note the fact that baby is high... meaning an induction will NOT begin with my water being artificially broken (AROM) like it was last time. That's kind of a bummer... but I'm willing to try something different. That something different being put on Pitocin right away. :/ Oh, I should probably clarify that because the baby is still high, cord prolapse would be too great of a risk with an AROM right off the bat. So I'm hoping that if my uterus got a little taste of Pitocin, it would kick things into gear and I could be taken off to see how I progress naturally... if it comes down to that.

If nothing happens between tomorrow and Thursday, I'm going in AGAIN on Thursday morning for a second membrane stripping and then I have my acupuncture appointment in the afternoon. I mean... seriously. Give me somethin' here!

So... that is all I have for now. Oh, and the ultrasound showed that baby's definitely got some hair. And if/when my water does break, it is going to be quite the production. I'm kind of scared about going out in public after learning that little fun fact.

for your viewing pleasure.

I present to you my 40-week belly! Aaaand... a new haircut! I thought today was the day... because it was payday... to get my hair cut and eyebrows waxed before I don't have time to mess with it for a while.

I also did some damage at Babies R Us and Target. Let's start with BRU. I got some little newborn hats and onesies that I truly didn't need but this way the little guy or gal won't have to wear the hospital hat and they were buy one, get one 50% off. I also got some Medela HydroGel pads because I remember sending Matt out searching high and low for those bad boys in the early days of nursing and he couldn't find them anywhere! So now I have some. I also got a nursing cover. And some laundry detergent since I had a $5.00 off coupon. And then, of course, I had to browse through the clearance rack for Noah because all clearance items were buy one, get one free. I got him some new PJ's and a t-shirt. Oh, and let's not forget replacement pillows for the wipes warmer. That reminds me, I forgot to look for some new washcloths at Target but oh well. Lastly, I picked up some plates for Noah because he still has no toddler plates, lol. So I got a pack of those and a new style of sippy cup for him to try (all Gerber Graduates items were buy one, get one 50% off so... duh). I think that was all the damage I did at Babies R Us today. Luckily, I had that $5.00 coupon, 20% off one item (the nursing cover) and $40.00 in gift cards.

Now Target is where it gets dicey. So my intention is to only go in there for a closet shelf, two more storage totes in navy blue, some granny panties for my post-partum and/or laboring self (I don't do hospital gowns) and check out some sandals for Noah since the weather is getting too warm for closed shoes. Okay, wait... I did pretty good after all. I got all of the above plus a pajama t-shirt for myself that was on clearance for $4.00. I thought that would be a super cute & comfy top paired with a pair of the black hipster panties (Hanes, also purchased) to wear during labor. So one extra thing... not bad. I guess I did more harm at BRU. Oh and I also got a little Sterilite container to keep my bobby pins and hairties in.

I should also add pictures of the awesomeness that is now Noah's and #2's closet.



Check THAT out. Assembled at 40 weeks pregnant. I only messed up a small part but no one needs to know where that is. Have you ever seen so much storage? I don't even know what to do with it.

my crappy immune system.

It looks like I will be getting hit again with another cold this week. Ugh... I hope that's a sign that labor is nowhere near because my throat hurts and I'm all congested. I feel like ass. I cannot birth a baby in this condition!

Fast-forward to Monday... I didn't get to post all this stuff right away because for some reason our laptop will not let me post anymore! So now it's Monday.

I've got my 40 week checkup today but I will be seeing the nurse practitioner since my midwife is out for surgery. I'm hoping this baby can hang on until next week when she will hopefully be able to help me out in labor!

Today is my first "official" day of maternity leave. I was not able to sleep well at all last night so after I got Noah ready for daycare and ate breakfast, I went back to bed, lol. Then I went to the store to pick up a few things (namely, taco shells since I forgot about that important ingredient for tacos when I was grocery shopping on Saturday). I confirmed my chiro appointment this Friday and am trying to reach the hair salon to get a haircut on Wednesday but I can't seem to get through! >:( Anyway, I spent some quality time in the bedroom putting all my clothes away which is always a huge feat for me. I would still like to sort through the contents of my dresser and declutter my nightstand but that will have to wait. I need a break. I've got to leave for my appointment in about 20 minutes.

I totally forgot to divulge the results of my consignment sale excursion last week. My co-worker and I went to this huge sale that they put on twice a year here in town where anyone can consign any kind of baby items they no longer use. Side note: I am pretty excited that I now know where I can get rid of all of the baby items I'll no longer have a use for... and get some money for it! It's basically like a community garage sale that this person hosts inside an empty building but it's specifically for baby items. Anyway, we went and I made out with six shirts, a rashguard (that just happens to go perfectly with Noah's new swim trunks), two pairs of pants and three pairs of shorts for Noah... all for $33.00! A couple of the things were still brand new. I think the best deal I scored was a pair of Ralph Lauren khakis for $1.00. So that was pretty exciting. I can't wait to check that out again this fall. What an awesome idea.

I wanted to take a picture of Noah this morning but I completely forgot. He looked so adorable in his little argyle sweater vest since today is picture day at Childtime. I hope he smiles good! :D His last portraits didn't turn out so well. :/

And I still feel like butt. I can't breathe through my nose but at least my throat is a little better and my mucus is clear, lol.

and today is the day.

The magical day, also known as "estimated due date." The key word there being "estimated." I don't feel any different... I don't feel like anything special is about to happen. I started re-sorting through all of Noah's old clothes and putting them into boxes according to season. I left out all the seasonal newborn stuff that this little one may be able to wear. We just got back from our weekly grocery excursion and I also ran into Babies R Us to take advantage of their special offer today: If you buy two huge boxes of diapers, you get a free $20 gift card. I figured, this baby is going to need diapers so I might as well get a free $20 out of it! I like to start out using disposable diapers with newborns since they poop every 30 minutes but I'm certainly waiting on our tax refund with much anticipation so that I can increase our cloth diaper stock.

So anywho... hamburgers on the grill for dinner this evening - with mashed potatoes and corn. Yummy. This has been my fifth consecutive week cooking dinner every single night. Can you BELIEVE that? I can't. But I find that I enjoy getting home from work and cooking dinner every day. It's fun!

Speaking of work... work is no more (until June) for I am officially on maternity leave! That's pretty exciting. It's going to be weird not having to wake up & go to work Monday morning.

And so we wait.

yes, you will know.

It amazes me, some of the people who call and ask Matt if we have any "news." Really? Yes, we had the baby three days ago but decided not to tell anybody. I mean, seriously, do you remember how long I was pregnant last time? Just wondering. Am I in an ill mood? Possibly.

However, I would like to continue updates on this blog while I am laboring... just for memories' sake... because I'm sure I can come up with some pretty funny things to record. It's just a matter of how far I can get in labor while maintaining blog updates. That's the big question. Maybe Matt could take over for me at some point.

So if you're truly worried that we are going to keep the birth of this baby a big, bad secret, fear not. Everything will be right here. I promise.

st. patty's day.

Hey! It's my fantasy birth date! But I'm actually feeling a little tired today so I'm not so sure it's a good day to have a baby. Maybe this little one needs to wait until the 31st so that I can use next week to nest and REST. I make the mistake of blaming Noah for my tiredness but, in reality, I just wake up in the middle of the night and I can't seem to get back to sleep. I just feel like I'm laying there for hours. Noah wakes up once and it takes me 10 minutes to rock him back to sleep and he's done. I guess that's easy in the grand scheme of things.

Speaking of next week, I'm so glad I take my maternity leave before I have the baby because I can't tell you how annoying I can see it being if I walked into work every morning past my due date and heard, "You're still HERE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Wow. But I'm also glad to have any opportunity "past due" to just rest up and prepare the house.

names, sprinkle, etc.

I was just checking up on my little name poll and here are the standings as of right this second:

Chloe Marcella is in the lead with a total of 56%. Isla Colette has 47%. Landon William is in the lead for the boys with 100% and Landon Phillip has 50%.

I pretty much agree with those standings. I might favor Chloe a little more than Isla and I think I favor L.W. over L.P., too.

So about this sprinkle thing... a "baby sprinkle," if you will. My co-workers surprised me with a bag full of baby goods last week! I thought that was super sweet of them. I got (or baby got, I should say) some burp cloths, onesies, pacifiers, lap pads, a Boppy cover and some dishwasher baskets. And also a gift card & some cashola. So now that I'm on the topic of baby necessities, I better make myself a list of all things BABY that I might need to purchase in the near future so I can keep my thoughts organized:

- Closet shelving unit (Target)
- Bookshelf (Target)
- Storage bins (Land of Nod)
- Nursing pads (almost forgot about those)
- Nursing cover (which I think I will be using my gift card on)
- Book organizer (Land of Nod)
- Crib sheets (Target)
- Crib (eventually)
- Feeding chair (eventually)
- Convertible car seat (eventually)
- Bottle labels (for daycare)
- Woven wrap carrier (not really something I NEED but we'll throw it in there)
- Cloth diapers (Kushies prefolds with Thirsties covers)
- Wet bag (another one for good measure)

Speaking of cloth diapers... to anyone who laughed at me when I was pregnant with Noah about using cloth diapers... who's laughing now?? I love cloth diapers!

- Washcloths for wipes (Circo & Carter's are the best)
- Disposable newborn-size diapers (because they poop so much)

new plan of action.

Okay, so I'm not seriously thinking that I can schedule my baby's arrival. That's one of the obvious things out of your control for which you sign up when you become pregnant. However, I find no harm in positive thinking. And I REALLY need some positive thinking this week! I found out this morning that my midwife needs to have some minor surgery done next Monday... two days after my estimated due date. She will be out for 1-2 weeks after that, meaning that if I go until labor during that window of time, I'm SOL for having her attend the birth. I guess I need to be thinking positively whatever the outcome is, but I would really like to believe that this baby loves me enough to either a.) arrive by Monday or b.) hold off until the 31st. Being that the 31st is dangerously close to an induction (but don't get me wrong, I will gladly take that chance if it means my midwife is there!), I hereby declare my new fantasy birth date to be this Thursday, March 17, at 1:00pm (and that has nothing to do with the fact that it's St. Patrick's Day)! But any time around there is good, too.

Just please, sweet little one, if you care at all about Momma's well-being (and your own), PLEASE come soon! I will give you whatever you want. ;)

So aside from all that, things are fine. I have been feeling contractions here and there... some stronger than others but nothing timeable. If you know anything about prostaglandins and where they are found at their best, you will know that Matt is going to be a very happy man this week. Sorry, TMI.

Fundal height: 39
Heart rate: 140's
Weight: Don't even go there.
Heart burn: As terrible as ever.
Pee: Too frequently.
Sleep: Almost nonexistant.
Sciatica: A pain in the (literally) rear.

ideal timing.

The BEST option would be to go into labor in the early morning (like 6:00 or 7:00am), have Matt take Noah to daycare as usual and then give birth in the afternoon (like 1:00pm). Then, Matt could spend the afternoon bonding with us for a few hours, go get Noah from daycare and bring him to the hospital to visit and then Matt could take Noah home and just stay there with him for the night and we wouldn't have to worry about finding overnight arrangements for Noah. Then, Matt and Noah could come back the next morning (or just Matt if it's a weekday) and then check out of the hospital. This must occur on a Tuesday, Thursday or Friday since that's when my midwife would be able to oversee the birth AND daycare would be open for Noah.

So let's look at our options: March 15, 17 or 18 (which are pretty unlikely considering my EDD is not even until the 19th)... OR... March 22, 24 or 25. Actually, the latter week would be optimal since I will already be on maternity leave.

OTHERWISE... if I can't start labor in the early morning like I would prefer, then it must hold off until the 29th when my mom gets here so she can watch Noah on the off-hours. If not the 29th, then the 30th is out because my midwife has to be in the office so we would have to hope for the 31st, which is just stepping on the toes of induction.... because that would happen on April 1st if I didn't go into labor on my own.

SO. With all that being said... giving birth at about 1:00pm on March 24 would be my favorite circumstance. My midwife will be there... daycare will have Noah... Matt can take the afternoon to bond as a family at the hospital, then go pick up Noah and bring him back to meet the new baby, then they could go home for the night. Then Noah could still go to daycare the following day for at least a couple of hours while we get checked out of the hospital and settled in at home. Then Matt can also be with me the following Monday to help out (and that would only end up being three days he has to take off from work) and my mom will be arriving on the 29th so then she will be there to help while Matt goes back to work! So if anyone wants to send me "March 24 at 1:00pm" vibes, that would be spectacular! :D

march christmas gifts: check.

For the little Nohster: An accessory to his wooden railway set that I bought for him in January!


















And for the little noobster: A pack of organic bodysuits from American Apparel. And its the last month that I won't know the sex of this child! Then I can start buying super cute girly things or more awesome boy things. :P

give me sugar or give me death.

I can't get enough sugar. I just want to eat the entire candy aisle in the grocery store... and some cookies and ice cream, too. I CRAVE it. Ugh. Please... I've gained enough weight already. But there is a mountain of chocolate in our office thanks to our "candy man" who brought enough leftover Valentine's Day stock to easily last us until he brings the leftover Easter stock (but at least I won't be here for that... although I'm sure there will still be some leftover by the time I come back).

I had my 38-week checkup this morning. Baby's heart rate was in the upper 130's. My fundal height was measuring 39cm and my midwife guesstimated the baby's weight to be around 7-1/2 lbs right now. The swelling in my feet really took off over the weekend, lol. It's pretty annoying when it gets so bad that I can feel it on the top of my foot... but right now, it's all good. Physically, I feel like I'm about to crumble or spontaneously explode. I never really understood why a lot of women complained about being pregnant toward the end. 40 weeks is 40 weeks, that's what you signed up for! So I'm still trying not to complain too much but I definitely understand why others do now, hahaha. It was not this bad with Noah! I don't know if it has to do with the fact that this is my second pregnancy or my pregnancies were relatively close together or what... but it is taking a toll on me now. But I only have a little time left so I can deal with it.

I've had my eye on these amazing nursing tops from Undercover Mama for a while now and Babysteals.com has them at 50% off today! I ordered two... and I hope the sizing works out okay. So I've got my two Bravado bras and two nursing tops on the way. Now I just need my boobs to work, haha. But seriously.

So last night I woke up at 1:00... 2:00... 3:00... 4:00...

I woke up to pee at 1:00, 2:00 and 3:00. Mostly because something disturbs me and I either a.) realize I really must go or b.) I better get up and go in case I need to go comfort Noah and I cannot rock him while having to pee... I tried it last week and it's torture. But at 4:00 I really did have to go rock him but since I just went pee at like 3:15 or something, I figured I'd be okay. So I did that... then realize he peed a LOT in his sleep last night... so much so that his diaper leaked. I had him all rocked to drowsiness and found this out. So I changed his diaper while he was laying in his crib, just hoping and praying that that wouldn't disturb him to the point of wakefulness (it didn't, thank goodness). Then I decided that Cinnamon Toast Crunch sounded really good. So I had some of that. Then I went to the bathroom again and finally went back to bed around 4:30.