Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Parker

I am so pleased to announce the arrival of our precious bundel of joy!!! He was born on Monday night at 10:09 weighing 8 pounds and six ounces! I am also pleased to say that I had a natural birth without any medications and I remained very calm cool and collected which is saying something for me as I am usually not!  I think I even surprised the doctors!  I think he looks a lot like his dad especially if you saw his dads baby pictures!  Now the true adventure begins without all the things that come with having a baby!




Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Waiting game....cloth daiapers...and other shenanigans

Waiting games....I despise waiting for things.  I am not a very patient person and I am easily excited by special occasions or anything else that could be potentially exciting so this whole waiting for Parker to make his entrance into the world is really starting to irk me.  I do believe its irking me more because it seems that I'm not making any progress anymore....

At my 36 week appointment I was 50% effaced.
At my 37 week appointment I was 2 cm. dilated and 70% effaced.
At my 38 week appointment I was 2 cm. dilated and 80% effaced.
AND at my 39 week appointment I was still 2 cm. dilated and 80% effaced...no change, nada, nothing, zero, zilch. At least each of the other weeks had some progress and I was moving forward but it seems I'm stuck at this stage until he decides that its time to come out!  As my dear grandmother told me on the phone yesterday "when the apple is ripe it will drop!"  So when he is ripe/ready he will come out!  So now I am just waiting for this exciting occasion and wishing it will be sooner rather than later! 

After our appointment yesterday we went to all the local stores to return some things from our baby showers!  One of those things being diapers!  It seems that I got one package of diapers in every single gift I received!  That is very nice and I am sure that most people are very excited about getting diapers however I am planning on using cloth diapers (gasp) and the disposable ones are not going to be very useful for me!  I feel like I've told almost everyone I know about using cloth diapers and how excited I am about using cloth diapers and yet I still received so many packages of disposables!  I wonder if they think I am going to change my mind? Or if they think she is the looniest chic I know and there is no way she is going to go through with this? Or if they are just like she is not thinking clearly she obviously needs a push to use disposables?  Who knows but I am of the stubborn sort and I AM going to use cloth diapers and it makes me want to use them even more when I get such odd/baffled looks from the people I tell that I am using cloth diapers!  Their guffaws just make me even more motivated to use them!  I am going to use some disposables when I am at church or I have someone else watch him because I do not think its fair for other people to have to change a cloth diaper especially when most seem so opposed to it!  BUT 90% of the time he will be in cloth diapers!  Now I really hope that since I've put this out there for the whole wide world to see that I don't eat my words! :-) 

One of the other things we returned last night was all the Johnson and Johnson baby soaps/shampoos that we received!  My mom thought this was silly as that's all most people ever use including her!  However after reading This Article about their soaps it made me think twice about using it on my baby!  Now these two cancer causing ingredients have also been found in some Aveeno products as well so I also got rid of the Aveeno products that had these bad things in it!  We decided to try Earth's Best brand so we shall see how that works out!  I've also ordered a few things that we were needing for Parker's arrival such as a baby book, a monitor, some more cloth diapers and cloth diaper detergent!  The only thing I can think of that we do need a some point is a breast pump which I am going to get from my sister in law (one of her friends is an OB nurse and can get me one from the hospital she works at!).  So I am feeling all ready to go!!!  I've ready my baby books (What to Expect When You're Expecting and Baby Wise), I've gotten everything set up and washed, I've cleaned most of the house thoroughly, I've finished a scrapbook, I've started/almost finished my Christmas shopping and now we are just waiting on Parker's arrival!!!!  Until then I will find some other things to do around the house, maybe I'll play the piano, make some cards, cook/bake, do some crafts and continue cleaning the nooks and crannies that seem to always stay dirty!  Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!!!!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

4 Years

Four years ago I married my best friend!  I am so proud to say that we are more in love than ever and our relationship is continuing to grow each day!  We are far from perfect but we are perfect for each other!  We don't always see eye-to-eye or have the same ideas but that's life!  In the past four years we've built our house, gone on vacations, got to know each other better than I'd ever realize, experienced many losses, built numerous lasting friendships, grown in our faith and started a family!!!  I am so blessed to have him by my side each step of the way through this journey of life!!!  I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us and what new adventures come our way!  I do believe that starting this fifth year will bring about a whole new set of challenges and dilemmas but I know we can get through it!  With our first baby on the way anytime I know this next year will be quite an adventure!!!  I love you babe and I can't express how much I appreciate you!!! 

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Ohio

So as many of you know I had a trip planned for Ohio the 26th, 27th and 28th!  Let me first explain a bit about why I was going to Ohio being 36 weeks pregnant!  Over the past 6 years that I've been dating/married to my husband my mother has heard my mother-in-law talk about going on bus trips to the Longaberger Factory in Dresden, Ohio.  Shes talked about how much fun it is, how you can get awesome shopping deals and much much more.  So of course my mom finds out about this Longaberger Bus Trip that was scheduled for October 2011 and she started planning right away!  I think she started talking about the trip in December 2010 and by January 2011 she had me talked into it!  She really wanted to take a trip together before I had kids and thought this would be the perfect one!  So I agreed!  It wasn't just my mom and I on the trip it was also my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and my hubbys great-aunt who is kinda like his grandmother.  So we paid for our trip in January to reserve our spots and then in the beginning of March I found out I'm expecting and that when we left for the trip I would be 36 weeks along!  Needless to say the trip was something I wanted to do with the lovely ladies in my family but I was really dreading it because I didn't want to deliver my first child without my husband in OHIO!  After getting permission from my doctor on Tuesday and having the reassurance that the hospital in Ohio does at least take my insurance in case of an emergency I was set to go!

We left at 7:30am on Thursday and rode on a charter bus for entirely too long with a total of 49 people (all ladies except for our driver).  We had our own private shopping trips at certain shops where we were given extra discounts and then settled into our hotel rooms late into the night!  I got to sleep with my sister-in-law who is an amazing sleeper and is not disturbed by people who get up multiple times a night!  She didn't hear me get up at all which is impressive!  On Friday we spent most of the day at the Longaberger Factory store where I did get one basket, some cute tumblers, a recipe book and thats about it!  After the store we went to the 7 story Longaberger Headquarters (picture below) where we heard a lady speak who has been with the Longaberger Company for over 30 years and after that we had another private shopping trip to another basket store where all I bought was a liner for the basket I got earlier in the day.
picture courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longaberger_Company

The picture above is a seven story building shaped to look like Longabergers most popular basket the market basket.  Its insanely large and they've flown a small plan through the handles.  The handles are also heated so that ice doesn't stick to them in the winter! 

We were supposed to shop most of the day on Saturday in the town of Dresden and then leave to head home by 2 or 3 however we had some unexpected weather concerns and we left Ohio at 8:45am to come straight home.  We took a longer alternate route because of the snow (yeah snow in October????).  I was not offended by leaving Ohio early as I was already sore and exhausted from the day before and I was really looking forward to seeing my hubby!  Also if some of those ladies had any more time to shop I don't think we would have been able to fit everything on our bus!  We were already packed to the brim!

Overall the trip went really well and I did have a good time.  I enjoyed spending time with my family and as always I loved shopping.  It was nice to meet some of the other ladies on the trip!  One of the ladies was 80 years old and she was so spry!  It was amazing!  She has 6 daughters, 15 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.  I do think she had more energy than I did!  I was the youngest person on the trip and most of the ladies were probably in their 50's or older.  They were all so sweet and they all doted on me quite a lot since I was pregnant.  They all wanted me to be first in line for bathrooms and offered me their seats etc.  They were so cute!  Everyone was so nice and that definitely made the trip more enjoyable and comfortable.  I am super thankful that Parker decided to stay put until after the trip!  Now he can come whenever he's ready!!!