Settling In

So it's now been just over a week since we brought Mister Man home from the hospital. Perhaps my memory isn't the greatest, or maybe it's just because he's my second baby, but everything seems much easier to adjust to this round.

Sleep is still fairly elusive, but the sleep I do get has been sound at least. With Nadia I was so terrified of SIDS that I got up every five seconds to check that she was still breathing. Granted.. I'm still terrified of SIDS, but I'm handling it in a much less manic way this time. Mister is a lot less demanding and fussy than Nadia was as well. As long as his belly is full and he's not naked, he stays pretty much content.

I had started out trying to nurse, but just like with Nadia it became frustrating FAST. All the advice I find/get isn't very helpful. Apparently if you just "latch them on right, it doesn't hurt at all!" I was cracked and bleeding by day 3, even with the help of the nurses and LC at the hospital, but decided to just barrel through it in the hopes that it would soon pass. I really, really don't want to give up nursing. I made it 6 weeks with Nadia before giving up entirely and they were the most painful, frustrating, heartbreaking weeks of my life. I keep telling myself if I can just make it one more day, that I can do this.

One thing I have this round that I didn't the first round is an actual working breast pump. I tried to pump after the nursing fiasco with Nadia but could never figure out how to use one. I am relieved to find out it was most likely the cheap pump and not that I'm a moron. I found out the last month of my pregnancy that if you are on WIC, you get a free pump if you choose the nursing option. It's a manual, but it's a Medela manual and that means it actually works! Simple: Insert boob, pump out milk. I pumped a few feedings so that Tim could take over a few while I try to let everything heal up a little more, but it is still killer when I nurse. I have checked his latch over and over and everything looks right, I'm putting enough in his mouth, over his tongue, his lips look like the fishy face they are supposed to, and so forth. Who knows? At this rate I'm considering pumping exclusively. At least that way he still gets the breast milk.

BTW, if you read this blog and happen to be one of those wierd moms that is a member of the "Breast Only-Bottles are the DEBIL" cult, just move it right along, okay? Advice I can handle but the down-talk, holier than thou breast only thing really bugs me. I have all but given up asking for advice on forums because the minute you mention a bottle or even a paci they just swoop down on you and peck out your eyeballs, and I happen to really LIKE my eyeballs.

Other than that, Nadia seems to be adjusting rather well to the new baby. She's actually been a HUGE help ever since we brought Mister home. She loves going to fetch things and sitting next to him and watching him. Tim is back at work now and on night shifts. It's a total bummer, but not nearly as stressful as I imagined it would be. Still, I can't wait until he has some more time off.

Baby!

So I was supposed to go in to the Dr.'s office for a check up on tuesday to see how things were moving along and such and whether or not we would be able to induce on friday. Well the office called about an hour before my appointment and cancelled it because Dr. Bowen ended up having a delivery.

I wasn't exactly happy about it, but as it turns out, I didn't end up needing to reschedule it anyway. By late tuesday night around 10 pm... I knew that I was miserable and it wasn't going to be too much longer. Sure enough at around 5 am on wednesday morning my water ruptured.

We called Angela to come and sit with Nadia and went straight in. By 6 am I was all set in the room and they were already coming in to administer the epidural. I wasn't sure I was going to use one this round since with Nadia it didn't work and was more trouble than it was worth. However, I changed my mind and thank goodness. That guy is sooooo my new best friend. The epidural was in and working in less than 20 minutes.

By 8 am I was already at 8 cm and after less than one hour of pushing, at 2:49 pm wednesday afternoon, my Mr. Man was born. He came out doing a summersault. Literally. The doctor literally had to catch him. I swear if he could talk he would have been like, "Tada!" Calvin Edward was born, weighing in at 8 lbs, 8 oz; and 22 inches long.

Thanks to the awesome guy who did my epidural, three hours after Calvin was born, I was already up and walking around and getting a shower. He obviously knew what he was doing. My recovery was super fast. We spent the last couple days at the hospital and finally got to bring him home yesterday afternoon. So far, he is a very relaxed and groovy kind of baby. The only time he really fusses is when we are changing him. Apparently naked is NOT his favorite.

We are still settling in, but between Mom and all of her friends I shouldn't have to cook for like a week. I'm seriously in casserole heaven over here right about now. LOL We are actually settling in pretty easily. Tim is off for the next week so that makes everything much easier. Nadia has been a doll and very eager to help in any way she can. Bless her heart. I think she thought Calvin was going to come out as a two year old. She keeps asking if she can help him learn to walk so they can play. LOL

And now I'm off to get in a little bit of nap and something to eat... not exactly in that order. LOL

Irregular Tammie Wine Glass Giveaway

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Are You Kidding??? Seriously???

My friend Barb and I are always joking about how I wake up with a certain amount of patience per day and once it's used up... it's gone! Well today was definitely one of those days.

So I had to run to the grocery store for a last few minute things for supper. Keep in mind, I'm 39 weeks pregnant, the baby has dropped and I'm VERY uncomfortable on the best of days. So I run in, and I grab my 4-5 items and then go stand in line at the register.

The store was fairly busy, and I used to work at a grocery store, so waiting doesn't usually bother me. I wait behind this guy who is apparently one of those freaks who stocks up their basement with canned goods for the next nuclear holocaust, and then I place my few items at the end of the conveyor belt. After the cashier finishes his transaction and he leaves, I walk up to the register so I can start making out my check while I wait for her to ring the groceries. Well, she hadn't turned on the conveyor belt yet, so my items were still sitting at the end of the register.

This is where things get crabby. A family comes up behind me. This 10-12 year old girl looks at me standing by the register... sees my groceries at the end of the belt and then WALKS UP TO THE REGISTER AND SETS HER SHIT IN FRONT OF MINE. Her mom seriously stands there, watches what's going on and doesn't say a DAMNED WORD! NOTHING! So then I have to explain to the cashier that the items she is now ringing up are not mine and that mine are still sitting at the end of the belt, after I waited behind nuclear holocaust guy. She continues to check out the girl. The mom goes into another line to check out the rest of her groceries. And then I have to wait for the cashier to get change and stuff for the girl who jumped in front of me. The whole situation was very awkward because I'm still standing there with my nearly filled out check while this girl is practically joined at my hip waiting for me to move out of her way. I was pissed. I was LIVID.

What bothers me more than the girl's actions is that there were no consequences for them. The mother did absolutely nothing to correct her or anything. Shit, if I had done something similar at that age, my mom would have went haywire in the store and then woe be unto me as soon as we got home. It's no wonder kids these days have such a warped sense of entitlement. I just can't imagine how I would react if my kid did something like that to someone. And yet there was nothing from the mom. Nothing. No apology, nothing.

Needless to say, my patience meter is now on empty!

Um......Help?!

Ok, so here's the skinny: I'm in a swap for "crafty Momma's" where I have to put together a little package of home-crafted goodies for another person's child. My partner has a 1 year old little girl. After researching some age appropriate toys I came across a pattern for a cloth ball that I thought would be fairly simple and fun for a little one.

Apparently, I have over-estimated my sewing abilities. LOL For some reason as I'm trying to stuff this ball, it's beginning to look worse and worse. First of all,.... it isn't very round... it resembles more of a pin-cushion type of shape. Aside from that the stitching around the top and bottom of the ball is starting to pull out. So the stitching, I can fix... but why is my ball... well.. NOT? Why is it flat?

Has anyone made any of these?

Fraudulant Bounty Paper Towels

I think all of the people working in advertising for Bounty Paper Towels are a bunch of morons. Have you seen the commercials? They usually go something like this:

Little Timmy or Little Sue is in the kitchen or the like, in the process of making a HUGE mess. Pouring whole gallons of milk on the floor, shaking up soda bottles and spraying sticky orange carbonated beverages all over the place, and so forth. Enter Mom, who upon seeing said mess smiles a big cheeky grin and shakes her head at the "cuteness" of it all while grabbing the Bounty Paper Towels.

Just once I'd like to see the commercial where this mess happens to be the 100th time that Little Timmy or Sue has made for the day, even after being explicitly told by Mom NOT to even step foot in that kitchen again. I want to see the commercial where Mom comes in and sees the mess and completely loses her mind and her face turns purple while she tries to splutter out something along the lines of: "WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU???!!!" Or how about Mom sits down and just starts crying because she just can't take it anymore? It would certainly be more realistic to me.

I mean, I know when you have kids, messes happen. And sure, sometimes I can just grab a towel and clean it up and no big deal. But let's face it, there are times when no matter how much you love your kids, that mess ruins your whole day. Perhaps what the adverts are saying is that somehow buying Brawny brand paper towels endows one with the super power to clean up every mess with a big cheesy grin on your face... which could be why I've never managed it. We always buy the el-cheapo brand. Maybe one day I'll spring the extra two bucks and find out.

Socks and Gloves

Lately, Nadia has taken to wearing this pair of hot pink gloves she found in a drawer ALL the time. She wants to wear them around the house, outside in the yard, to the store, to the doctor's office... she has even slept in them the last 3-4 nights. Yesterday she added a pair of mismatched socks to the mix. I recently discovered that the reason for this is because they make her hands more like "paws."

Nadia has always had what some would term an "overactive" imagination. This is mostly inherited as both her father and myself have always been imaginative sort of odd balls. The rest of it is all her. Ever since she was very small, she has had an unyielding love of all animals. She learned to bark before she learned how to speak in full sentences and her favorite pass time as a two year old was to stand on the front porch and bark until she got all the neighborhood dogs to join in the fun. Now she loves them all: cats, dogs, cows, horses, giraffes, elephants, alligators, zebras... show her an animal and she can tell you exactly what it is, what it eats, what sound it makes, etc. Wolves, lions, and dogs seem to be her favorites to impersonate. Hence.. the paws.

I was quite a strange child growing up as well... so you'd think I'd be a little more equipt to handle her expressions. However, I can't even describe to you the looks you get as a mom when you are pushing a cart through the grocery store while your four year old daughter is posing as a "Dog named Simba" in the basket. Hot pink paws out and all. *Laughs* I'll admit, sometimes it's slightly embarrassing... but then I just have to laugh and go with it. She may be a strange cookie, but it makes her happy. Besides, I did goofy things as a kid too and my mom always just went with it. I turned out just fine! *twitch*

Whimsical Halloween Inchies

These are for a swap. I just joined it today, but I couldn't wait to make some little halloween inchies! I'm supposed to send 4 to each partner, but I haven't decided who is getting what yet. These are all hand drawn onto white card stock and colored using markers and gel pens. They are then affixed to black 1/4" foam backing and each has a little magnet on the back so they can be put on the fridge if my partners so choose. I'm thinking of laminating them too just to make sure they don't get messed up.

I have a few more little halloween goodies to throw in as well but I'll wait and post all of that once I have these ready to send.

I think my favorite inchie has to be the witchy shoe.... or possibly the cat... no.. definitely the shoe! LOL

Sew Much Baby Gear!

So, once I got my hands on a temporary sewing machine, I went ahead and finished up a few quick projects that I had been itching to get into. The first is this reversible baby sling, which I made as a gift for another lady who is expecting around the same time as I am. I like the black and little white flowers. The inside is solid black for when Daddy wants to wear the baby. The front has a double pocket just like the one I made for myself.



Next up on my to-do list was to try out these neat little diaper burp cloths that everyone has been posting left and right. I had seen several on the Sew Momma Sew flikr group and followed a link to an awesome tutorial. Talk about EASY!! and SOOOOO CUTE!

The animal print below was left over from when I made Nadia's teepee and made for a really cute burp cloth. The middle print is fishes. The green on the left... well to be honest.. the hubby and I still haven't quite figured out what it is yet? It looks like a pig... drinking beer? LOL Probably not entirely appropriate, but I still think it's cute.


This set of three all have little polka dots. I think all of the little fabrics made for some cute cloths. These will make nice baby gifts, now if I could just find someone who is expecting a girl, I can make up some girly ones. LOL

Borrowing

So my sewing machine I think, has finally seen it's final day. Bless her heart, she's had a long life. The machine was pretty dated when my mother purchased it. This is the machine I learned to sew on. I grew up watching Momma sew all kinds of things with it; from baby clothes for my sisters, brother and I, to pillows, curtains, dolls... and even my wedding dress. Yes... this old machine was responsible for the dress for my special day... a dress that my Mom and I sewed and worked on together.

Then yesterday, while in the final stages of adding a pocket to a baby sling I am making as a gift it just... kicked the bucket. I have a whole table of projects that are cut out and waiting for me to finish up... but she just can't sew another stitch. I brought it back to Mom's and she plans on bringing it in to see if it can be fixed.

In the meantime, I am borrowing a similar machine from a friend to finish up all of my baby projects. Even if the old dear comes out of the shop ok, I think it's time to give her a break and so have decided to finally break down and buy a new machine. I will hopefully be able to afford to get a new one next week, but we shall see.

In the meantime I have some projects in the works, mostly baby centered. Calvin is due any day now and I have so many ideas I want to try from the Sew Momma Sew groups on their website and flikr. Including: diaper burp cloths, a changing pad, bibs, and I still need to sew up one or two more baby slings for gifts.

After all of that, it will be time to start looking into some holiday things. I have some fabric I want to use for either some pillows or a table runner, some halloween trick or treat bags to make up, as well as costumes to start on. This is a busy time of year when I can really let the creative juices flow.

Baby Sling

This is a picture of the baby sling that I just finished up sewing a few days ago. I had one my first pregnancy and Nadia simply LOVED it. If anything could soothe her, it was being carried around in the sling. Somehow, in the move over here though, it fell through the cracks and got lost.

I was researching the benefits of using a baby sling a few days ago and kept coming across pictures of all of these beautiful and colorful slings. They didn't have those when Nadia was little! I looked into some pricing, but ALL of them were fairly expensive. I just knew if I could find a pattern I could sew one up myself and thankfully, several of the companies who produce them provide patterns for free for moms that are looking for a more cost-friendly option.

I decided I like the look of the little "pouch" or "pea pod" types of slings better than the ring versions. Those rings just make me nervous. I'd be afraid the cloth would slip and the baby would fall out. I used the pattern provided by the Karma Baby website and it turned out beautifully!




Their design adds on a front pocket and toy ring for extras. I added a double pocket on mine for storing an extra bib, burp cloth, diaper, nookies, toys, or what-have-you's. It came together super fast and easy! So easy, that I went ahead and made up another one as a gift for another lady that I know is expecting right at the same time as I am!

For more information about baby slings, their benefits and the pattern I used: visit
Karma Baby's Website

Waiting

As of right now, I'm 38 weeks pregnant with my second child. There he is, up there, in all of his sweet and precious glory. It has not been an easy journey to meet him. After the birth of my first child (a darling girl named Nadia), we went through what is termed as "Secondary Infertility." This is the inability, for whatever reason, to conceive and carry a baby after successfully conceiving and carrying one. A lot of people think that infertility is a problem that couples face when first trying to have a baby, and this is sometimes true. However, secondary infertility is responsible for about 80% of all infertility cases.

We tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant for just over 2 years, until finally.. just two weeks before Christmas 2008, we passed the test! The pregnancy test that is! I guess I never realized just how easy I had it my first time around the pregger's block. With my first, I rarely, if ever experienced nausea or morning sickness. I was pregnant during the winter, so I didn't swell or have a lot of discomfort or any of the "normal" things that women go through during pregnancy.

This round has more than made up for it! I have had near constant Nausea from the word "go," as well as killer heartburn the last few months. Being pregnant in the summer has been miserable, and my feet stay swollen to about three times their normal size. I've had every icky, uncomfortable, and even occasionally, painful symptom that goes with waiting to be a mom.

I know that when the little man above decides to make his appearance that it will all be worth it. Every bit of it... I'm just tired of waiting at this point. LOL I'm so anxious and just.. well ready to deliver. This is the only bit that has been remotely similar to my first pregnancy: The stress of WAITING. Just any minute now... but it's never soon enough.