Yoga Baby

365 days? We'll see...

So I've decided I'm going to jump on the bandwagon. The crazy wagon, that is. I've seen all these blogs talking about doing a years worth of pictures....one picture a day for a whole year. I'd really like to try it. I think it would be neat to see the whole year spread out like that. So, I'll certainly try!

Parker and I are sick, again. I have a horrific head cold (what's new), and she has a runny/snotty nose. Joy.

Christmas was good, exhausting, and felt like it would never end. The in-laws went overboard as usual, but we're planning on putting a stop to that soon.

I got a sewing machine, a very nice necklace, two attachments for my Kitchen Aid, and a purse. My parents got us a GPS unit for the car. I also got a NorthFace jacket with matching gloves and a hat. Lots of other things as well. Parker got some clothes, toys and books. Oh, and a new "big girl" car seat.

Parker's dance

Do do do do

I can't believe I never got into Christmas music this year. Seriously, I think I listened to my Gene Autry CD once, when I was decorating the tree, and that was it. It's not that I'm not in the spirit, it just isn't grabbing me for some reason this year. Maybe next year when Parker's older and has learned how to cover her ears to block the sound of my singing.

I keep trying to get up and do laundry today. Laundry is so BORING. You wash the same clothes over and over again, and fold them, hang them up just to wear them, toss them in a basket and do it all over again. If, let's say, I was folding laundry and I pulled a new top or pair of pants out everytime I reached in the dryer, now, that would be worth it! Laundry is oddly rewarding though...when I actually have the time/energy/desire/no life to fold them and put them away, I feel so accomplished. I feel like a grown-up. If I were good at math, I would figure out how much it costs with water/electricity to run the machines so I could put a price tag on that feeling.

Oh, and I must mention how giddy I get when Parker actually naps in her crib. Most days, she'll sleep on my lap. I never really thought much about breaking that habit when she was younger, because I was happy to have her sleep on me, and just happy that she was sleeping! Now, I ache, I yearn, I crave alone time. I love her, and I love spending every minute of my day with her, but it's nice to have 10, 30 minutes, even an hour of alone time to just do whatever I want, without checking on her, feeding her, entertaining her, just thinking about her. I'm sure that sounds cold, but if you're a mom, you'll understand that. Some days, if it's early enough, I'll lay down and rest too. I find on those days, she only sleeps 30 minutes, tops. On the days I stay up and say I'm going to "do stuff", she'll sleep for an hour or two.

Today, I've clipped three papers worth of coupons, folded a load of laundry (yes, LAUNDRY), and sat on the computer, lol. Well, I did tidy the living room a bit. I'd love to de-grease myself in the shower, but she wakes up if you turn it on during the day.

Ah, freedom.

This week will be crazy. Monday, I have a photo shoot for a co-worker in the evening. I also have Zumba class tomorrow morning. Tuesday, I have a wedding that I'm taking pictures of. Wednesday, we're going to Troy's family Christmas Extravaganza. Thursday, we're here, alone. Maybe some Chinese food will be involved. Friday/Saturday, headed to good ole Botetourt for Christmas with my family. Whew. Makes me crave a glass of wine just thinking about it.

P-Pie

I got up and did the Cardio Power class today. I was only able to do a half hour instead of the full hour--I was waiting for the childcare to open with my friend who went with me. I think I'm going to go back tonight and try Kickboxing. I'm not able to workout at the Y this weekend, because they don't offer childcare on the weekends, and Troy's working nights. Joy.

We got our Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee machine last night. It's awesome, I'm addicted. It even came with a little cup and saucer and then a big glass mug. So cute. Not bad, for 10 bucks!

I've got loads of laundry to do! I cleaned out the closet and my dresser last night, so I have a BIG bag of clothes to take to Goodwill sometime today. I hate giving away clothes, but it's getting to the point where I've held onto these clothes that don't fit/are old/I don't wear, and I have no room for new stuff! I know I'll probably get a gift card or two to Old Navy or Gap for Christmas, so I need room!

School starts in two weeks. Books cost so much! I can't believe it's 300 dollars for my A&P books! I'll be buying them used for sure. Thank goodness for Financial Aid!

Quite proud

...of myself. I found a website that offers restaurant gift certificates at a LOW price, and they were having a special. I got 100 dollars worth of gift certificates for 8 bucks. Pretty awesome, no?

Hubby and I will be using a quarter of that amount for lunch tomorrow. Mmmm, Legend.

I really enjoyed watching the Biggest Loser finale last night, after realizing that a new season starts back up on January 6th! How awesome is that??! I was seriously about to go through some serious withdrawls. How can I make it through a Tuesday evening without my Biggest Loser/stuffing my face with crap binge?

I made it back to the gym today, but found out I was too late to hit up Cardio Ballet. I did 3 days of classes last week. I feel like I'm coming down with a cold today, so I'm not sure if I'll make it to Pilates tomorrow, but I'd like to try! Today, my friend Amber joined the gym, and we did some elliptical madness and then I did 3.5 miles on the bike. Parker's happy to have a friend in the daycare--Amber's daughter is turning one next week.

I'm also trying desperately to drink more water. I found an online calculator, which says that I'm supposed to be drinking 112.5 ounces of water a day. WHAT?! Yes, that's 7 bottles of water. I made it through 4 and a half today.

Parker, Troy and I went down to Roanoke this weekend to attend a Compassionant Friends candlelight service in memory of my brother. It was very nice...beautiful, yet heart wrenching.

Parker got her first doll from my mom! She LOVES it. She also started saying DaDa this weekend. I heart her.

Ah, the holidays...

Crazy time of the year. Trying to make sure all the Christmas cards are in envelopes, stamped, addressed and sent in time. Buying the perfect presents for everyone, when you have no money. Cold, yucky and rainy weather that you have to go out in with a 6 month old.

Oh yes, it most certainly is the MOST wonderful time of the year.

Now, on with the pictures!

pictures

Thirsty

I went and took a Zumba class today. Man, it kicked my butt! I'm glad I did it though, it was a LOT of fun. I plan on going Monday/Wednesday/Friday now. I'm contemplating going to Yoga tomorrow morning, but I'm not sure.

Contests!

Win a Medela Freestyle Hands-Free Breastpump from Nature's Child - Wholesome goods for Mothers and Babies

Win a Free Organic Embroidered Ergo Baby Carrier Hands Free System from Along for the Ride

Blog This

I've SO got my hands full these days. I thought I was busy before! Ha!

Parker's 5 months old now, and while she's not crawling yet, she's still a handful. She's a sweet baby, although she has her high maintenance moments!

I'm also watching a 9 month old 2-3 days a week now. Now, talk about a handful! She's crawling/standing up/getting into everything. It's nice because it gives me an idea of what Parker's going to be doing in just a few short months!

I'm also still taking pictures. I started doing that more for other people in July. I have my own website, though I haven't updated it in a while: www.pspphotography.net

I also spend a lot of time online, reading blogs and posting on message boards. I have a great network of friends online, and I really wish some of us lived closer!

Here's where I spend most of my time:

www.justmommies.com (I co-host the Fertility Charting Board, the June 2008 Playroom and I'm a Mommy Guide for the July 2009 Due Date Club!)

www.craigslist.org - self explanatory

www.yahoo.com

www.gmail.com

www.richmondmommies.com

www.sparkpeople.com

www.target.com

www.amazon.com

www.ebay.com

www.diaperswappers.com

www.frugalmomsrock.com

www.thepioneerwoman.com - Like to cook? Wish you could cook? Just looking at the pictures of her baking makes me drool

www.findingyourself.net - I LOVE Erin's posts, she always makes me laugh!

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I wish I had more time to write....oh well! More later!

PS:

GET OUT AND VOTE TODAY!

Wedding Photography Giveaway!

I read other blogs a LOT more than I post on my own. I came across this blog contest from the message board I frequent (JM), and in order to get entries, I'm posting about the giveaway here!

I found a fabulous woman who does some excellent photography. She just recently re-vamped her site, and is setting out on a quest to explore her world and take more pictures outside of the box.

She's giving away a photography package for one lucky couple. Here's the rules:

http://rawsiiportfolio.blogspot.com/

1. The engaged couple must be nominated by someone other than themselves (can be anyone who knows them) and the nominating letter must explain why the couple deserves a free Rawsii Wedding package and include a photo of the couple. The more personality expressed, the better! Stories will be confirmed prior to announcing finalists. Nominations should be emailed ONLY. Send to weddingstories@rawsii.com . Winners will be required to sign the standard Wedding Day Agreement and Photograph and Publicity Consent and Release Form with Rawsii. All stories and images submitted become the property of Rawsii and will not be returned.
2. The couple’s wedding must take place between the dates of 1/1/10 and 12/31/10 in the Continental U.S. (this excludes Alaska and Hawaii). Void where prohibited.
3. All nominations must be received by 11:59pm EST on January 31, 2009. Rawsii reserves the right to select finalists without disclosing reasons or criteria. Finalists will be confirmed no later than March 30, 2009. Three finalists will then be presented on the Rawsii blog for public voting on April 1, 2009. Public vote will be final. In case of a tie, Rawsii reserves the right to cast the final vote.
4. The winner will receive the Smashing Fabulous Wedding Package, valued at $4200, which includes full day coverage, a 30-page (60-side) Storybook Album, and online proofing. In addition, the winner will receive the High Res images on DVD, and a 16x20 Gallery Wrap (an additional value of $1000.) All travel and lodging expenses will be covered by Rawsii. Winners will be required to sign standard Wedding Day agreement with Rawsii, minus any clauses pertaining to an exchange of monies.
5. To be eligible, the couple may not be under any contract or agreement for wedding photography with Impressions Studio or Rawsii or any other wedding photographer of any kind as of the date of entry. Cancellation of an existing contract with Impressions Studio or Rawsii will render a couple ineligible for the contest.
6. Another friendly message from my awesome lawyer, Matt: Rawsii reserves the right to change the contest or contest rules at any time without notice. No purchase necessary to win. Void where prohibited. (thanks Matt!)



If you're interested, shoot her an email, or post a comment on my blog! Good luck and happy wedding planning!!!

Wow...

It has been what seems like ages since I've posted on here, huh?

Um...at lot has happened since the end of May!

Parker was born on May 29th, 2008 at 11:08 pm. She will be 5 months old at the end of this month!

I went back to work, then decided to stay home. I love being at home with P everyday, though I do miss work. We go back and visit often.

I got braces, and I've started to finally lose some weight. Parker and I go for daily walks, and then I work out on the Wii Fit in the evenings.

That's about it in a nutshell. I'll come back and post something a bit more meaningful later, when I have two free hands! ;)

Sorry!

Sorry about the lack of updates!

I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately, and just generally nervous.

I'm being induced this week. We'll go in Wednesday May 28th at 3:30pm and I will get Cervadil...and then have my water broken the next morning, if needed. Hopefully we'll have Miss Parker on Thursday, May 29th!

I'm very very nervous, but very very excited at the same time. I'm ready to be a mommy, but very nervous of the pain, I guess. Even though I've worked as an OB/GYN nurse, you never really know what to expect. I have no clue how it's going to go, there's so many variables. Troy will be wonderful, I know, and I'm so grateful for him, he has no clue.

I might update once more on here before we go, with pictures of the nursery and such. I plan on taking my laptop to the hospital, but who knows how much time I'll have to get online. We will take plenty of pictures though!!!!

"Cyber Shower" gift pictures!

I belong to a "mommy" message board, and we all got a secret buddy to send a cyber shower gift to. I didn't know who I was getting a gift from, and the person I sent to didn't know who had her.

Today was our designated day to open the boxes, and here's what I got! And of course, one extra picture of Charlie Murphy in "his" crib, for good measure!

Yes, more...

Picture crazy...

Nursery progress...

Horrid picture of me at 35 weeks and one day. I think I'll go stick a needle in me and pop myself.

Baby madness

Now that I'm out of work, my days are spent in what I like to refer to as "Baby Hell". Seriously, I do nothing other than work on baby stuff. How can one spend day after day of folding baby clothes, taking tags off of miniature socks, setting up diaper caddies and sanitzing pacis?

Well, if you have nothing else to do...and you know if it doesn't get done now, it never will, I suppose that would give you some motivation. I feel like I'm getting nothing done. As much as I am miserable and want this kid out of my body, I panic about her coming now, and her room not being ready.

Which I think is really code for ME not being ready. Sigh.

Troy's pretty oblivious to everything, I think. He's been working so much lately because I'm out of work...so I really think he could care less about what I do around here all day--as long as there's some progress when I get home. However, I get in trouble when he thinks I've done too much...as evidenced by me not being able to sleep at night due to my back killing me. I figure it's just my body preparing me for the lack of sleep coming my way soon.

I really do think she'll be here this month. Well, let's put it this way: I have NO intention of making it til June. We'll just see if this little one and my body will cooperate.

I really need to clean the kitchen today...it's getting really foul. We had to move everything in there last week to have the carpet installed, and I just have a hard time spending a length of time doing anything. I have to break up everything in little 10 minute sessions. Plus, which would you rather do--clean a kitchen or put away cute baby things? Exactly.

I bought that movie '27 Dresses' yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. The DVD player is still sitting in the kitchen, obviously not hooked up to the TV. I also got Mario Kart for the Wii, and I did manage to hook the Wii up to the TV. It's a fun game...but I think it'd be a lot more fun if you play it with someone else. I got bored.

The tornado here the other day was insane. I finally got over to the shopping center yesterday to do some returns at Target, and it was amazing the amount of people there taking pictures of the blown out store fronts. I think they said the damage was in the 2million dollar price range. Nothing compared to what happened in Suffolk, but still. Crazy that it happened only a mile from our house. Crazy that I had been out at that shopping center a few hours before it happened. Lucky, I guess.

Troy's parents are coming Sunday to help with the baby's room. Put together the crib and hang curtains while Troy starts to empty the Pod. We've had our house in that stupid Pod since last summer when we were trying to sell the house. If I could take an Ambien and sleep through Sunday, I would, and that's all I'm going to say about that.

Well, I either need to get back to work, or take a nap, so I'll sign off.

Can't believe it's been this long!

Wow...I haven't posted since November?!?!?

So much has happened since then!

We found out in late December that we're having a girl, Parker. We had the big ultrasound in January, which showed that she had some fluid in her kidneys. Not that big of a deal, but enough to warrant follow up ultrasounds.

Troy and I went to Florida for vacation in March, and the day we came back, I came down with a nasty case of the stomach flu, which landed me in the hospital for a few days. That was ohhhh so much fun! After that, I had a follow up ultrasound, which showed that Miss Parker not only still had some fluid on her kidneys, but that she's small for her gestational age. I was ordered to start taking protein supplements(yay for Boost shakes) and to rest as much as possible while still working. At that time(mid-March) she was weighing only 2 pounds, 8 ounces.

On March 27th, after working a bit too hard at work that week, I started having contractions. I was sent home to rest...and was told that I was about 50% effaced! Already! Very scary and shocking!

The next day, the contractions had not stopped, so I was sent to labor and delivery to be monitored. I was given some nubain(a narcotic pain reliever mostly used during labor) to see if that would stop the contractions, and it did for the most part. I was told that I had an "irritable uterus" and was put on modified bed rest. Meaning, I could get up and sit on the couch and do projects and such, but mostly to stay down.

I was allowed to go to my baby shower hosted by my mom and family on April 5th, and it was SO much fun! Troy and I traveled down to Roanoke for it, and stayed the night at the Hotel Roanoke. We had a blast.

I had a doctor's appt this week, and we talked about me going back to work. The contractions had gotten much more sporadic, and I was feeling better. We decided to wait until after my next follow up ultrasound, but my plan was to return to work next Wednesday, the 16th.

Troy and I ran around a TON on Thursday before lamaze class, and right before we went in, I started having painful contractions. They lasted all evening, and I was really starting to get worried, so I put in a call to my doctor.

Yay for another trip to labor and delivery! NOT! I spent the night there Thursday night as they tried to get the contractions to stop. They thought maybe I was dehydrated, so I got some IV fluids. Then I got some more Nubain, and even that didn't make the contractions stop!

I finally got a nice cocktail of Demoral and Phenergan to make me pass out around 4 am, and I stayed drugged for the day. That combination was able to stop the contractions, and we left the hospital around 7am.

So...long story short, I'm back on bed rest for at least another 2 weeks. Doctor's plan is to get me to 34 weeks(I'm 32 right now) and then let me do as I please. If I were to have Parker now, she would spend a considerable amount of time in the NICU. At 34 weeks, she'd probably still stay in the NICU, but not as long. If I can make it to 36 weeks, we think she'll be just fine.

So...hopefully I'll be better about updating this here for the next few weeks! I certainly don't have much else to do!

We have another baby shower next weekend, as long as I get the go-ahead for that one.