Saturday, December 29, 2012

Our Christmas in pictures!

This was the best Christmas we've had for as long as I can remember; it was just like the Christmases I remember from when I was little!  We spent lots of time slowly opening gifts, snacking delicious food, and relaxing with family!  It. was. AMAZING!  It was also Poppy Ballerina's first Christmas, so that made it memorable, too!  We spent the day at my mom's house in our jammies...and a full face of make up!  Aside from a few turf wars over new toys, the day was a success!!!

Ladies playing while I bake!

Poppy just looks scared!

Photo shoots are hard!

Poppy -- 7 weeks



Santa's reindeer secretly LOVE puppy food, so we left some of that, too!


Lulu with her new Abby Cadabby






Santa brought a PUPPY for Cam and Alyssa!



Rocco, and australian terrier puppy










Poppy and Rocco!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Thankful.

I wasn't going to say anything about the shooting at Sandy Hook because my words cannot do justice to how I feel.  But how can I go on without acknowledging the fact that it happened?  This happened many states away from where I live, and yet, I do feel a loss.  I feel so sad for the parents who lost their babies and for the families who lost their loved ones.  The pictures of the children and women lost make the whole event just that much more real, though, as hard as it was, I'm glad that I went through and read about each victim.  I would want the world to do that for my family member; I wouldn't want them ignored.  It just makes it harder to go about my daily life without thinking about them and how their families must be feeling today.

Then I look around my house and feel so thankful.  We're spending this cold, snowy day inside with french toast scentsy burning and a huge fire in our pellet stove.  Christmas music is playing in the background where Poppy is sleeping and Scarlett and I are making reindeer noses for our neighbors and friends.  Life is so good.  

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

So What Wednesday

So What Wednesday
  • Scarlett is SO about who is in fact the big sister and the baby sister.  She refers to Poppy most often as the big sister.  And we don't correct her because we think it's cute!  So not good.
  • We have all the cloth diapers ready to go, but I'm not ready yet.  I'm a terrible hippie mom and I'm starting to realize it!  I just am loving the smallness of 'sposies!  Once I run out, though, it's cloth all the way...for real.
  • Gisele having a baby girl named "Vivian" makes me kinda wish we'd gone with that name!  We were going to spell it with an "e" just like Vivien Leigh from Gone with the Wind, though!  Almost name twins!
  • We are going for it -- aluminum tree all the way this year!  Now I just really need to scrounge up a light and a stand...!
  • I straightened my hair and did a full face of make up only to realize that I hadn't even washed my face yet.   And I didn't wash it all off and start over.  I waited until after I'd run all my errands!
  • I voted for the People's Choice Awards.  I mean, how much free time do I have?!  Apparently, too much!  But I wanted to support Live! with Kelly and Michael!  Oh man, this is sounding worse and worse...I'll just stop here!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Living with a toddler is hilarious!

"Mummy," as she yanks on my ear lobe, "what are all those polka dots?!"

HA!  (I have TWO piercings in each ear, not "all those!")   Silly lady!



Sunday, December 9, 2012

SANTA!

We went to see Santa and his elves!  Scarlett is at the perfect age to start our family traditions and get excited about Christmas!  It makes me feel even more festive and DEFINITELY means I have to be on top of my stuff.  Scarlett gets into the whole festiveness of the season; we talk about Santa and his reindeer, read all of the best Christmas books, and we even watch classic Christmas movies!!!   (A bonus for this year is the fact that Poppy is still so little that I can focus on starting our traditions with just Scarlett!)  Next year, we can both show Poppy what is up!   This is going to be so fun!

"May I please have a guitar?"  --Scarlett to Santa this year...I was concerned that she didn't know what a guitar was.  She calls lots of instruments, "guitars."  I asked her what she would do with a guitar and she folded her right arm up and started strumming with her left hand.  Where did she learn that?!  So if she's a good girl, hopefully Santa will come through with a guitar!  ;)


Scarlett's pretty impressed!

This year, we're doing something a little different from the past few years; we're putting up Frank's vintage aluminum tree.  My family always put it up at his house, but then, after he died, I got it.  I was living with Tyler and Mary, so we put it up in our apartment.  The bulbs were so fragile and kept breaking, so to preserve them, we started using a real tree.  I let Scarlett pick -- real tree or silver tree -- and she wanted the silver tree!  Yessss!  It will be the first year that the little ones get to see the aluminum tree!  I stocked up on Christmas Wreath home fragrance and we're setting up the tree this afternoon!   Christmas traditions in the making...!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Baby 3??!

When Scarlett was just a month old, the thought of another baby was terrifying to me!  I couldn't imagine even being pregnant while taking care of Scarlett, let alone actually having TWO children to keep happy and healthy.


Already a grumpster!

But this time around, I feel so differently!  Poppy is an absolute perfect baby!  I had no idea Scarlett was a more difficult baby...I thought that I had it easy because there wasn't any crying or colic.  Maybe difficult isn't the right word, but she was very needy.  And she never slept!  Ever!  She just started actually sleeping through the night a few months ago.   Not Poppy!  My little angelbaby sleeps in 3-4 hour chunks at a time already!  She's even slept from 10pm-4am a few times!  Makes life a bit easier when you have some sleep!

Other than rocking it out in the sleep department, she's just an all-around calm, content baby.  Which brings me to baby 3...that is the big question in my mind these days.

Already putting up with Scarjo "love."




Tyler, before Poppy, was adamant that he wanted ONE baby.  Only one!  He always says, "Scarlett's perfect!  Why mess with perfection?  Let's quit while we're ahead!"  Well, look how that went...!  Now we have two and three just feels like the PERFECT amount of children.  To me.  Tyler is adamant that he wants no more babies!  But I'm twenty-nine.  How can I close up shop before my thirties?! That thought just makes me so sad.

Tyler does make good points.  If we stop now, we'll have time together while we're still young.  It'll cost less money and we can afford to give more to the kids we do have.  That's all true and everything, but my main reason for considering stopping now is just because I don't want my attention stretched too thin.  It was seriously the saddest thing for me when I knew that Scarlett would have to share me.  Knowing that I was giving her a sister did little to quiet my fears and guilt.

So baby 3 is still up in the air...but we have a few years to figure it out!  :)

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Liebster Award Nomination!!!

I was nominated for the Liebster Award!!!  How cool is that?!  It's really surprising fun that people other than my sister are reading my blog!  

Thank you, Stephanie -- what a fantastic surprise!!  (Fyi, her blog, And Baby Makes 10, is so fun!)




This award is given to new or up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers...the award is then passed along to other bloggers in the same category to help spread the word and support one another.

If you receive the award, there are a few rules to follow...
1) Each blogger nominated must post 11 things about themselves
2) Then answer the 11 questions the tagger has asked
3)Blogger must then create 11 questions of their own to ask the bloggers they decide to nominate
4) They must choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers to nominate and link them on their blog post
5)Bloggers must be notified of their award!
6) No tag backs!

11 Things About Me:
  1. I bake cookies for the dough; the cookies are just a happy consequence!
  2. My danskos are an everyday staple in my "mom" wardrobe, but in my head, I still feel like the queen of high heels!  I swear, I'm going to rock the heels again, once the girls get a bit older...!
  3. After working in an elementary school for three years, I decided to go back to school for my masters degree.  I completed one class, then I found out that I was pregnant.  When both babies are in school, I swear I'll go back...I can't imagine homework on top of everything else right now!
  4. I love that I get to say, "the girls," now that I have two of them!
  5. Make up, sunless tanner, and fancy perfume makes my world go 'round, but I'm such a granola mom! Breastfeeding for two years and cloth diapers are how we do things around here -- I had no idea I'd be like this until I actually had babies.
  6. Shopping for little ones is way more fun than shopping for anything else--oooh, the cuteness!  Make up is right up there on the list, though!
  7. I drive a Jeep, but I'm more of a car girl.  Volkswagon Passat (wagon for the room), please!  
  8. I'm an in the closet tanorexic!  Though it's been a year since I've actually gone, I'm starting to get the itch...
  9. All through college, I worked at Bath & Body Works.  It was so fun that once the little ladies are a bit older, I'd love to go back part-time to get out into the world a bit!
  10. For Christmas decorations outside and for our tree, I'm a colored lights type of person, but I love white lights for accent decorations!
  11. I'm a huge lover of books, but lately, the only things that I've been reading are blogs!  The best thing about bloggers that I've found is that it's nice to get a sneak peek into real people's lives/get ideas for things to do with the girls!
(Those were really difficult to come up with!  Now for my questions...!)

Stephanie's Questions:
  1. We were considering "Meggie" as a name for baby 2, so I re-read The Thorn Birds.  Way more depressing than I had remembered!
  2. Urban Decay eyeliners and a Tarte lippy.  I used my "push present" (gift card to Ulta!) a few weeks ago -- thank you, Tyler!
  3. A "congratulations for your baby" gift from Tyler's aunt.  I loooove snail mail, so I'm psyched for the Christmas cards to start coming...!
  4. Sylvester Stallone, Dalai Lama, George W. Bush, Nancy Reagan, Frida Kahlo, Tia & Tamara Mowry, and 50 Cent all share my birthday, July 6!
  5. Buying matching Christmas jammies with the entire fam and then staying in them all day!
  6. Margaret is after Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind, and Karen is after my dad's sister.  I was Meggie growing up from The Thorn Birds.
  7. Scarlett giving Lulu kisses!  A rare moment for them!  ;)
  8. No idea!  With a newborn, it makes travelling and vacationing a thing for the future...!
  9. Twenty-nine!  The big 3-0 is coming next...
  10. One.  My sister!
  11. Yes!  I love instagram!!!  Megkb76 -- come follow me!


Questions for my nominations:
  1. What is your biggest guilty pleasure?
  2. If you could travel one place in time, where would you go?
  3. Can you tell me about one of your favorite blogs?    
  4. Did you buy a Powerball ticket for the $550 million jackpot?!
  5. What are your top name choices for your next baby or pet?!  (I probably won't steal them!;)
  6. Are your holiday cards ordered?!  Is your tree up??!
  7. What's one thing you love about where you are from?
  8. What is one of your biggest pet peeves?
  9. What is a favorite someecard that you've found??  
  10. Recommend a favorite children's book.  (From your childhood or that your kids like.)
  11. Where is your favorite place to shop online?
My Nominations!
Kate As Of Late -- Kate
  Life as a Seed -- Crystal
 Once Upon a Dime -- Katie
   Where Your Treasure Is... -- Melissa
Charmed Life -- Heather

It's going by too fast!

Guess who is ONE MONTH old...?!

Little Miss Poppy Ballerina!!!  I can't believe how quickly the last month has passed...



We have had a few changes to get used to, but it has been way less traumatic than I had anticipated before Poppy was born.  Spreading out my attention has the biggest challenge, but I'm getting so much better at it, so it's less threatening for Scarlett and she is working on not being in Poppy's face to give love.  She just wants to gobble her up, and Poppy is not having it!  Things are going so well, and I think that the transition has been so smooth because Poppy really is an angelbaby!

Poppy eats every hour or two, which cramps my social life with Scarlett's daily activities, but I just wrap Poppy in the moby wrap and that puts her to sleep until I can get home/to the jeep to nurse her.  So far, Poppy has been to the library, Scarlett's toddler time and "school" (play group), Governor's Restaurant (a few times!) and Friendly's, Gap, Old Navy, Children's Place, Bath & Body Works, and Walmart.  Lots of shopping and she's always great...as long as I don't keep her in her car seat!  She is not a fan!

To leave the house, we do have to put Poppy in her car seat (obviously!), so the activity has to be pretty important to get us to leave the house.  It must be worth the trouble!  She cries and fusses as soon as she's strapped in.  The only things that can get her calmed down are her WubbaNub and just the movement of the jeep.  Not fun.  But it's the only difficult thing about her!

Smiles!


Her toes poking out crack me up!

Me too!

"I understand why some animals eat their babies." -- Wanda Sykes


Friday, November 30, 2012

Can you believe it?! {birth story edition}

I just have to write down all of the crazy things that happened during my hospital stay.  There were lots of mistakes made, in my opinion/experience, and if this was my first birth, I wouldn't have known to speak up.

  • I was never given a hospital gown.  They are ugly as sin, but decidedly more comfortable than laboring and delivering in your underwire bra and husband's t-shirt.  After Poppy was born, the realization that they were never going to give me a gown was sinking in and I asked for one.  
  • I was never offered meds after birth.  No pain relief or any of the other NECESSARY ones...I knew enough to ask for them and was given oxycodone.  Sweet relief!  
  • No squirt bottle.  No pads.  Nothing was offered to me until I spoke up and told the nurses that I was going to shower (hint, hint!).  For real.  
  • The skin-to-skin time had to be demanded.  That Southern nurse had a great accent, but terrible bedside manners.  She, nor any of the other nurses, asked me what my plan was for after the birth.  Although Poppy was swamped by the four specialists at birth, once she was cleared, the l&d nurses kept her and started doing their clerical work/baby measurements before letting me do skin-to-skin with her.  After my mom was like, "Um, you need to have your baby back."  
  • That dang Southern nurse came in TWICE to take my baby.  Once for a bath and then again for the hearing test.  I never just give my babies to the nurses.  Ever.  So Poppy was never bathed and I went with her for (both) of her hearing tests.  
  • The nurse hadn't added the mattress to my bed after the birth.  I didn't have to leave the room after delivery, but there were supposed to be changes made to the room to make it less labor-ish and more recovery-ish.  Didn't happen until that night at the shift change at 7pm after I had asked for a pillow to sit on because my nether regions were so uncomfortable.  
  • This is really just my speculation, but something was up with that epidural...it just wasn't right!

So there it is...my list of gripes.  If I ever get pregnant again, I'll switch doctors just to avoid that hospital.  I'd do it all over again for little Miss Poppy Ballerina, though!  She really is an angelbaby...probably my payback after my monsterbaby Scarjo!  ;)





Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Poppy Ballerina: a birth story

Let me preface this by saying that my birth plan was simple.  I was to be very medicated.  Extremely medicated was even better.  With my first baby, I was induced 5 days late and given my epidural at 2cm dialated.  I felt nothing when she was born.  That was my goal for baby 2's birth...

On November 1 at 2:40am, the contractions were so strong, they woke me up!  They were lasting about one minute and coming ten minutes apart, which was great, but I knew to wait until 5-1-1 (five minutes in between them, lasting one minute, after one hour of contractions) to go to the hospital.  Just when I was about to wake up Tyler, 80 minutes later, the contractions started getting further apart.  Twelve minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes...until I was getting them about once every hour.  This continued for the next day, through the evening.  I was contracting through Alyssa/Grammum visits, getting Scarlett ready, and a trip to the playground.  It made for a very long and uncomfortable day.

That night, we did our normal bedtime routine with Scarlett, but as she slept beside me, I was timing my contractions.  When I think back to this, I'm happy because my contractions were a distraction to the fact that it was the last time I would put Scarlett to bed, just the two of us.  I had been dreading this night since February, but at that moment, I was thinking about getting to the hospital to get my epidural.  No time for me to be sentimental!

By 2:00am, my contractions were coming regularly, so I knew it was time to shave my legs, so I hopped into the shower!  After I was clean and ready to go, I called my mom to have her come stay with Scarjo.

A few minutes later, my mom arrived.  We chitchatted to the background noise of Nashville while Tyler got last minute things packed into the jeep.  Then we were off to the hospital...!

The roads were empty at that hour; it felt surreal that it was finally time to go.  I had envisioned that ride for the past few months, wondering when it would happen and what it would be like.

We pulled into our normal parking lot, parked, and walked the fairly long distance to the doors only to realize too late that they were locked!  (I will say that Tyler offered to drop me off and then park, but I insisted that I could walk.  I didn't want to be a drama queen about my contractions that were now coming every 3 minutes.  I was convinced that I was still in early labor.)  Our hospital closes up shop at 8pm.  After that, you must be buzzed in through the ER entrance.  (This was a different process than what we went through at our last hospital where Scarlett was born.)

When we got off the elevator on the 2nd floor, it was quiet and calm.  I felt a little silly because I was convinced that I was probably only two or three centimeters dilated.  With Scarlett, my labor was forever, so I was prepared to deliver the next night.  Maybe.

Well, we approached the nurses at the front desk, and I said, "I think I'm in labor."  They escorted us to the nearest room, #5, and gave me a cup.  When I was back from the bathroom, the nurse, Tina, told me to lay down and she hooked me up to monitors and took my blood pressure.  Being nervous and still contracting, I asked her if they were going to admit me.  She said, "Honestly, if you were really in labor, you wouldn't be able to talk.  You're smiling and chatting.  You're probably not in labor.  BUT, some people surprise us."  Then she went about her business getting things together around the room.

To say I was crushed would be an understatement.  I had been contracting irregularly since Halloween night and then regularly for a few hours.  I was over it.

Even though she doubted me, Tina had me take off one leg of my jeans to check me.  Much to her surprise, I was SEVEN CENTIMETERS dilated!  Woohoo!!!  Take that!  Well, that's what I thought in my head!  She was so shocked that she had the other nurse, Amanda, come a check to make sure she was right.

Once it was confirmed I was in active labor, they started the process of admitting me.  I was adamant about receiving an epidural, so they started fluids and contacted the anesthesiologist.  The whole thing was going on as I was just focusing through each contraction.  They were really great about stopping their questions and waiting silently for my contractions to end.  Though they also were starting to say things like, "You're doing really great, you could do it without an epidural." and "You're already 7cm, I'm not sure we'll be able to get you the epidural before you're ready to push."  I was not hearing any of it.  I wanted my drugs!

Things started happening really quickly at this point and are sort of jumbled in my memory.  This is how I remember the sequence of events...

My anesthesiologist arrived.  He was a very elderly gentlemen who had rolled out of bed to get to the hospital.  He seemed like it was just a walk in the park for him and was very nonchalant about everything.  My blood pressure dropped way too low, so Tina was pumping me full of something to bring it to normal levels.  There were three nurses and the delivery doctor (not my own or one who I had ever met before -- disappointing) all standing around my bed watching my machines.  Freaky!  But that wasn't the worst part.  After a while of my blood pressure fluctuating from normal to scary low, they decided to turn off my epidural.  I cried.  And then the contractions started coming and I was shaking all over.  Transition.  I cried some more.  Then everyone left except Tyler and the new nurse from the shift change at 7am.  This new nurse was a traveling nurse from down south with a beautiful accent, but not much knowledge about the hospital.  She was there one minute and replaced by yet a different nurse the next minute.  I was 9cm dilated and this strange nurse was telling me to push.  I found out later that they were hoping it would raise my blood pressure, but at the time, I was so frustrated and confused.  I just cried and half-heartedly pushed.  I remember I kept asking why I was pushing and asking them to turn on my epidural.  No one was there and the new nurse had no idea what was going on with me.  Finally, my original nurse came in with a new anesthesiologist who gave me a shot of something magic that made my contractions painless.

I stopped pushing.  My Southern nurse came back (she had had a migraine and needed meds) and the new anesthesiologist came and approved turning back on my epidural.  Then they checked me.  I was ten centimeters, but I had felt them checking me and started to panic.  Dr. Stein came in and reassured me that I was numb, I'd just feel pressure when the baby came out.  This was not very reassuring after she started talking about how she hadn't actually had children, but her friends had kids and they were pretty much her own.  Not. The. Same.

It was time for me to really push at 7:40am.  Everyone left but Tyler and my Southern nurse.  I pushed and pushed and pushed.  At about 8:30, Tyler informed me that Mary was in the waiting room and Scarlett was on her way with my mom.  That just made me want the whole ordeal to be over with.

One second, the nurse was telling Dr. Stein that it'd be a little while longer, then she walked to the machines to look at something.  I just kept pushing every time I felt like I had to, but didn't tell anyone.  (It was weird that I was laying alone on the bed with just Tyler...)  Then the nurse came over and saw the baby's head -- she called for the doctor!

It was go time; one push later and head was out!  As the shoulders came out, I stopped pushing, but everyone screamed to keep going.  That dang epidural was not working and I could feel everything!  But a few seconds later, the baby was out!

At the time, I was oblivious to this, but apparently the baby had had a bowel movement during delivery after her head was out.  They were concerned, so as soon as she was born, Poppy was rushed to the heater and four nurses worked on clearing her out and making sure she was okay.


Poppy was fine, but unfortunately, we missed out on those first few moments together.

Poppy Ballerina was born at 9:00 am on November 2, 2012.  She was 7lbs. 11oz. and 20 3/4" long.
No cutting the cord for Tyler -- he was fine with that as long as she was okay!
 Mary came in right after she was born!  Scarlett, Alyssa, and my mom came 20 minutes later.  That whole morning was spent just introducing Poppy to her cousins and skin-to-skin time with me.  Perfect!



Alyssa was fascinated with Poppy from the very beginning!

Poppy brought her big sister gifts!




Alyssa is a fan of baby Poppy!

Big cousin Lulu with Poppy! 






Happy, happy, happiness!!!  I'll save the Negative Nelly things about the hospital and nurses for a different post...!