Back at work!

Last week was my first week back from maternity leave. Had a total breakdown on Tuesday when heard baby crying in background while talking to hubby on the phone. SIgh. Am fine now. She's alive and no worse for wear.

For the past several weeks, right after my last post, she has been sleeping until 4/4:30 in the morning. It's as if she wanted me to return to work well rested. We've also eliminated the nightly battle to put her down - her wanting to sleep on her side but being over tired and flipping back and forth between back and side and not falling asleep. We've started to put her to bed earlier! Works like a charm. We were fighting to keep her awake each night until 8pm and it was hard work. Now, we give her the bottle at 7:15/7:30 and she falls right to sleep and still sleeps until 4/4:30. I guess I was thinking that going to bed later would keep her sleeping longer. What a crock of poop. Hubby and I have some alone time too, now that she's asleep peacefully, not waking up every 15 minutes.

Of course, my stupid interal clock still thinks she's waking up at 2, so I wake up at 2, can't fall back to sleep, give her a bottle 4-4:30ish and finally (maybe!) fall back to sleep some time after 5 am. Seriously!

Hubby works Xmas at the firehouse. No biggie. We'll celebrate Xmas eve w/my brother & then his family is coming on Sat or Sun. Not sure which yet.

Baby rolled over from tummy to back 2x last week! Holds head up great, tries to crawl and gets frustrated. Has moved on to 3-6 mos clothes. She is so long, approx 24.5 inches.

Next battle is trying to get her to nap in her crib. Currently takes them in the swing. She can nap in her crib, but gets so excited to see her mobile and the quilt that Nana made that hangs on the wall above her crib, that if she wakes up (when you put her in asleep), she takes forever to fall back to sleep because she's so excited to see everything. Or if we put her in drowsy, she gets excited, takes forever to fall asleep, wakes up 30 minutes later, gets excited...you see the trend. She gets barely any sleep in there. Not sure what to do about it.

Thankful!

Well, we had Thanksgiving here yesterday with hubby's family & my brother. It went well! Baby slept through dinner which was great- I was so worried all morning that she wasn't going to sleep and what not. Well she did great and didn't fuss all day until we tried to keep her awake until 8pm. When she gets her bottle at 8 or later, she sleeps until 2 or so. That I can handle because she doesn't get up again until 7 or so. Sometimes she doesn't like that plan! Work in progress...

So every single adult that has come to visit since her birth has commented on her swing. It's a great swing- Fisher Price My Little Lamb. Everyone wants one in an adult size. Maybe that's my key to financial riches- creating an adult swing that is as comfy as hers looks!

So I have given in and we have ordered a recliner. The ONLY reason we are getting it is because it is a glider and it is cream colored leather, has clean lines, is not over-stuffed/ridiculous, and matches her room. The fact that it reclines is a bonus, i guess. It's going in her room. After this whole vaccination-screaming-fit- nightmare-5 days, we need a more comfortable chair. The old wooden rocker from my childhood is not cutting it! Hubby is trying to convince me to get one for the tv room. I think that recliners are the downfall of civilized life. Really, cup holders and food storage areas in a chair? How lazy can you be??!! They gross me out. It would be nice to have a glider downstairs though..so I'm thinking about it. JUST THINKING!

That wasn't fun

We took Sophie to her 2 month well baby visit and she got her first set of shots. What a horrible spectacle to watch! I had tears in my eyes as she was crying - that horrible cry where she is so upset that nothing comes out but you can see her mouth wide open and eyes shut, face all red and tears. Then the explosive cry. Poor little girl. She had a rough evening too. Hubby is taking her to the Dr visits in the future. I can't watch that again!

She's 10 lbs 9.5 oz and 23.5 inches long. Beautiful, heathy girl.

Back on track & then some

Sweet baby is not only back to one night feeding, for the last two nights she's been going 6-7 hours between! Holy moly! Of course, I'm still waking up after 5-6 hours and can't fall back to sleep. And the cats have been crazy at night lately. I have no idea how she sleeps through it all. I am tempted to put a camera down stairs to catch what it is they are doing. We can hear them racing around, jumping onto and off of things, and in the morning we find cat hair and toys (baby & cat!) all over the place.

The cats are much happier now that sweet baby is sleeping in her own room. The cats hated being shut out of our room for 4 1/2 weeks. Ralphie is still afraid of her, but he is checking her out more often - even though he runs away whenever she moves. Buddy watches over her like she is hers - lets me know if she thinks the baby is upset. Biggy sometimes cares, sometimes doesn't. What's weird is I can' tell if sweet baby even knows they exist. She doesn't get bothered by their cries or kisses. I can't wait until she can sit up in the next few weeks and can see what's going on. I'm think I'm going to get her one of those foam seats- bumbo or something like that. I forget the name. She is holding her head up pretty well now. She gets stronger every day.

Hubby is working his 24 at the fire station today and it is much more mellow at home. I've noticed this the past couple of shifts that he's worked. The baby, cats and I just kind of hang out. I think all of hte running around we do when he is here gets everyone worked up. Not a bad thing. We are all just so happy and relieved that things are going well. I am almost ready to start working on #2!

Oh, and we got ourselves an early Xmas present yesterday - finally got a Keurig - premium! It even makes perfect iced tea- my fave.I love it. Been drinking a lot more coffee than normal now that I am home.

She's been here for 6 weeks! Ooops

I am the worst blogger. I got so caught up in being pregnant that I didn't blog about it.

Well Sophie Grace arrived on 9/21/09 weighing 8 lbs 3oz. She is a beautiful little girl! Well, at 8 lbs, she was not so litte. We haven't been back to the dr since week 2 and she is now 6 1/2 weeks- I think she weighs over 10 lbs, the scale said 11 something. But my scale is always wrong. Anyway, she is perfect. Even now that she's lost half of her hair, has baby acne & a blocked tear duct that leaves her eye all watery & crusty. ha! I think the tear duct problem is on the outs, been doing some massage. And the acne is lessening.

The first 2-3 weeks were tough, but now I love being home with her. She doesn't have colic, has a great temperment, and seems to have overcome her problem w/passing gas! It doesn't hurt her anymore! Yeah! My life revolves around eating and pooping. And cute outfits.

Hubby screwed up the feeding schedule the past two days and I am a wreak about it because I'm the one that hears her and gets up to feed her in the middle of the night. I had gotten her to eat at 12:30 and then sleep until 6 or 7 in the morning. Now I'll have to get up at 4 again tonight. I just have to keep saying to myself- this is only a moment...it's not forever.

Anyway, I still love him. Barely.

It's a Girl!

So we had the U/S last week and it's a girl. Her name is Sophie Grace. I think middle name is Grace, not sure yet. Hubby likes it, so probably keep it. We wanted a boy so he could be a firefighter like his dad, but now I'm really excited about having a girl. Really, who am I to be picky? I am very grateful to be having a child at all!

On a completely unrelated note, right now on VH1C (classic) it's playing the top 100 1-hit wonders of the 80's. Holy moly taking me back in time!!! I lived it, ha ha ha.

Happy Easter

Well, I am not a very good blogger it seems! I never remember to update. But there is good news, I am STILL pregnant! Everything is on track for a normal pregnancy, all tests are coming back normal, and I've seen the baby 2x on u/s and heard the hb 2x and go back to the dr tomorrow for my normal monthly check-up. How cute is the u/s from 12.5 weeks! The baby looks like it's in a hammock with it's feet up and hands behind it head, relaxing, maybe waiting for a beer. LOL. Looks like my DH. ha ha ha

I'm hoping that I'll be able to have my 20 wk u/s a little early, on April 30th. Mom & Dad will be in town on her way from FL to VT for the summer and I would like her to be able to see the u/s with DH and me. Plus it will be DH birthday, so that would be a nice present. Hoping for a boy but will be very happy with a girl as well!

Hardest thing for me is that while I haven't really gained too much weight- 7 or 8 lbs at 16 1/2 weeks, it all seems to be in my belly and boobs. Plus, I'm too small for maternity and too big for my normal clothes. It's very frustrating. My DH and I refer to it as my FUBA, Fat Upper Baby Area!

I didn't have that bad of a 1st trimester, only a few weeks of feeling like crap, and have been feeling great since mid March. I have so much energy compared to Jan/Feb. Tons of work to do to get the house "baby ready". We've ordered the remaining new windows we need, are in the process today of finishing the stripping of the wallpaper in one of the bathrooms (a project I started in the middle of a shower Friday night - decided to pull down the paper I could reach!) We also removed the ugly shower doors and replaced with a shower rod and nice new curtain. We'll be putting in a new light over the sink and painting on Tuesday/Wednesday. It feels like a normal bathroom now w/o those ugly shower doors. We should have taken those down when we moved in!

Next we need to sand and poly the wood floors on the first floor, install carpet in the 2 guest rooms (1 will be baby room) and rip down the walls and ceiling in the dining room and 1/2 bath on the first floor and replace w/sheet rock. The bathroom has crumbling plaster and the DR has painted paneling! Gross. We've put it off for 3 years, the baby has got us motivated, finally. Also need to finish removing the lead paint off the back porch. Next year we work on the outside - we need the driveway ripped out and re-done, a fence in the back yard and a granite curb installed out front, as well as some trees planted. Then maybe the next year we can sell it and move to the suburbs. I love this house, but I hate the city I live in, it's such a dump. Growing up in the Burlington, Vt area, I am spoiled and have high expectations. Craptacular City, NH meets none of my expectations, except there are a couple of nice parks, one only 3 blocks away. I wouldn't go alone though, LOL.

Anyway, I hope that anyone out there that has had multiple m/c doesn't give up. I just kept trying and trying, the odds were in my favor. Even after 5 I didn't stop trying. While it was very frustrating and heartbreaking to experience each loss, I didn't let my disappointment take over my life. My marriage is still fantastic and we have been given a great gift (hopefully it will be a full term baby!) I also attribute this success to taking a baby aspirin every morning since the day I found out I was preggo. I wish my dr had suggested it 4 m/c earlier, but I cannot change the past. Best of luck to all of you this Easter morning.

Pregnant again

Well, I am pregnant again, due 9/23. I feel different than my past pregnancies - i have a lot of nausea and am always thirsty. Very tenders bbs & I am so bloated! My pants are already tight and I'm only 6 1/2 weeks. Sheesh. I am not complaining though, at least I am still pregnant. I have an appt on 2/12 w/ ultrasound, so hopefully things will be great!