Miles Smiles...

Friiiiiiiiiiiiidaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

2009-11-06T10:45:00.000-06:00

Did I mention that during all of that crap going on this month, I also have to look for a new sitter? BLECH, UGH, EWWWW is all I have to say about that.

Twins update: Cord is still not supplying oxygen to Baby B while his heart is expanding. Can't do this much longer because the lack of oxygen causes brain damage. The steriod shots given to them to help their lungs develop will be effective as of today so docs feel better if they have to take them now. Another ultrasound to determine delivery later today. Prayer is POWERFUL! Keep em' coming!

I am already behind on my mondo schedule/list thing from yesterday. Didn't get the buttercream made because we went to Grin.go's with our friend for dinner. By then it was booboo's bath, boob, and bed time.... On another note, Meltdown.margaritas with banana.pucker are the bomb!

(Why is there a fruit fly getting all up in my face? I don't have any rotten fruit or dead flowers laying around here. GO.AWAY!)

Geez, this post is all over the place....

For all you moms out there, I have a question about milk and solids. Mr. Miles has been eating 3 meals a day now for a while...well in order to ask the question, let me show you his eating schedule first:

4:30AM: nurse
Breakfast: cereal mixed with fruit followed by bottle (nurse on weekends)
lunch: square meal (meat, veggie, fruit) followed by bottle (nurse on weekends)
Afternoon: bottle (nurse on weekends)
Dinner: square meal followed by nurse
Bedtime: nurse

Now, I know you can't tell how much volume he is getting at the nursing sessions because the milk pumps don't have a meter like the gas pumps do...But he nurses for 20-30 minutes total. Given his intake of food (8-10 oz), how much milk should he be taking after meals? Dean had him home yesterday and could only get him to take 1-2 oz every time. Is this too little? But without me being there with the milk pumps, how is he going to get his milk intake if that isn't enough? I tried Dr.Google for the answer and only got how many times to nurse a day. That is fine for the weekends, but what about the other time when he's at the sitter's?

BAH something else to worry about...

I realized I hadn't posted any pics of the cuteness lately.... this is Miles in his first time in a shopping cart, sitting up like a big boy - in Lowe's of course - the big boy store!

And here he is muching on some toes after trick or treating at Mean Aunt Betty's...

Multi-tasking...

2009-11-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

**So I was so proud of myself for typing up this entire post one handed on the minute iPhone keyboard WHILE pumping...Then for some reason, it dropped my wireless connection in the building and closed the mail app! UGH didn't even save as draft!

Let's try it again...

(The first paragraph was about multitasking while pumping but I think that's already covered...)

We are going to be so, so busy the entire month of November! Just thinking about all of it makes me nervous and anxious and want to make a giant LIST! Here's the skinny so far:

Today: buy fondant for Dad's theme-yet-to-be-selected birthday cake (I am so O.V.E.R. making my own MMF when I need so much) CHECK; make buttercream icing for the cake.
Tomorrow: D is playing in the Katy.Taylor HS football game half time show playing some serious high notes with some other old band professionals and the band (his friend is the band director); then we are packing up early from that game and going to see LaRay's (who never updates her blog!) son's HS team play (Since we are going to be way out in the boonies and only 5 miles away already).
Saturday: D is judging some HS UIL band competition in the morning; Me baking cake, possibly finish decorating it; Saturday night Pub Crawl with friends for T's birthday.
Sunday: Finish cake if not done already; D going to Dynamo.play.off. game; Me dropping off Miles with Grammy and going to baby shower (tentative because it is for girl mentioned in post below).
Monday: Cook dinner for family coming over for Dad's birthday
Tuesday: Initial consult with surgeon to discuss gall.bladder.removal.; Dean has band practice
Wednesday: Plant tour (natural gas company I work for)
Thursday: Lunch with some old HS friends reaquainted from FB
Friday - Monday: First airplane trip with Miles to Maine to visit D's daughter and Miles' niece! (HA - isn't it weird that he is 6 months old and has an 11 (12-to-be while we are there) year old niece! Oh the joys of 2nd marriages!)
Tuesday: D band practice
Wednesday: My colposcopy (pap came back abnormal for 2nd year in a row)
11/22: D's birthday; Birthday party for D's 3rd cousin?? on his side (that we just found and kept in contact with as of 2 years ago) at 3PM (other side of town); Thanksgiving dinner @ Grandma's facility with the fam 4PM (complete opposite side of town)
11/26: Thanksgiving with D's fam
11/30: Grandma's birthday

WHEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!

Please Pray

2009-11-05T10:36:00.003-06:00

For all you prayer warriors out there...

Please pray for my friend Katrinia. She has hepatitis and currently pregnant with identical twin boys. They are at 26 weeks gestation. Previously doctors had thought they had twin-to-twin blood transfusion going on (one twin was taking the other twin's blood) because one was much smaller than the other. But after thorough testing, it was determined that Baby B's cord was on the outside edge of her placenta, thus giving him less nourishment.

Baby B is now getting less and less oxygen because of the cord issue. She was admitted to the hospital yesterday on NPO. They are having a final ultrasound at noon to make a decision to take the twins today via C-section. Please pray for the doctors' and parents' decision if the babies (especially Baby B) will be safer and healthier outside mommy's womb.

The Good, The Bad...

2009-11-04T15:20:00.004-06:00

The Good:

Miles is almost crawling! I was told that I had not updated this knowledge to the internets yet. He is getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth (The Humpty.Dance as I refer to it). When he does get moving, he goes backwards! His arms push instead of pull and he ends up 5 feet away from whatever thing he was trying to get! Sometimes his knees do go forward, but when the arms don't move - FACEPLANT!

The Bad:

Dean and the sitter yesterday:
D: "Are you going to continue to keep Miles?"
S: "I don't think so. But I can if you can't find anyone else..."

HUH? She has a doctor appointment next week with whoever she is seeing for her high BP to find out the status since she's been on the BP meds. So she "probably" will not be watching him anymore, but we still don't have a specific DATE! BAH!. The search for a new one begins.... I guess when we do find someone, we'll just tell current lady when her last day is. That is, if she doesn't quit on us before then!

Side note of the bad: Yesterday she also says she "forgot" she was to take her mom to a doctor appointment tomorrow (Thurs) so now Dean is going to keep him while working...again. Gotta love those workin' from home jobs sometimes! Love you Deano! You are such a great Daddy!

Kimbosue's Blog is MOOOOOVING!

2009-11-04T08:10:00.002-06:00

**As of November 9, 2009, please find me at my new home below.**

I mentioned in the past about wanting to move to Word.Press. No hard feelings to Blog.ger, but since I am not sure who IRL is reading this, I don't want to openly hurt anyone's feelings. That being said, I will have some posts and pages that are password protected - this could be because of the content of the posts, and it could also be because I am posting pics of my little man. (Recently a couple of fellow bloggers found their pictures on various websites and even commercially reproduced in another country!) So Miles is going to be protected if I can help it. I want to still participate in ICLW so when that time comes around, those posts will not require a password. (This was one of the main reasons I didn't go totally private).

So for the super secret decoder pen....ahem... code, please email me at kimbosue2 AT hotmail DOT com.

This blog will remain open. The link is still tied to lots of IF blogs, groups, and websites. I hope someone can read through my journey and find hope and strength and know that there is a light at the end of the IF tunnel. Prayer is the key! I love all my IF girlies I met along the way, and I hope to keep your friendships going forward during this next chapter of Mommyhood.

Just for a quick reference... There are pages at the top of the new site: Just Me, My Family (pw protected), Weekly Pics (pw protected), Bucket List, Password?

**This info has been added as text to the top of the blog as a reminder when I move next week.**

Why

2009-11-03T08:59:00.000-06:00

Why does it feel like all of my internal organs are revolting on me? I am already having to remove 1 of the beasts....
Why does my left ovary hurt? And hurt more when I stand?
Why am I getting flashbacks of round ligament pain?
Why am I even thinking about round ligament pain?
Why did the ER nurse say "That doesn't matter" when I told her I hadn't had a cycle since July 2008... because I am BFing? Don't all medical books say as much? Isn't that a "benefit" of breastfeeding?
Why can I not give away Miles' clothes that are too small for him?
Why can I not give away the gear that he has outgrown?
Why do I stare longingly at pregnant bellies?
Why do I weigh more now than I did before I got pregnant?**
Why am I eating so many calories? For the milk production...**
Why can't I lose weight while BF'ing? Probably isn't recommended...**

**updated to add

Halloweenie...

2009-11-02T16:15:00.001-06:00

Another exciting weekend in the household...

Friday was my day off and we did some household chores and ran some errands. That evening we drove to Sweeny, TX to see my boss's son's HS football team play (even though the son isn't playing due to a torn ACL). It was the closest remaining district game to where we live (in relation to where SHE lives in the sticks...) so we went. Kinda chilly willy, but Milesy was all camo'd up and ready for some footbaaaaalll...

About the time we were getting ready to leave, I started getting that not-so-fun-feeling-again. By the time we got home, I was in serious pain. It took all I had to nurse Miles before bedtime. I had taken a couple Tyle.nol and they weren't kicking it. I told Dean I was going to bed because sometimes I can get comfortable enough to fall asleep and the pain goes away throughout the night. This time....not so much. About 12:45 I got up (Dean was trying to finish a movie and still up in the living room) and I told him it was WAY bad this time. I was crying and just UGH. He took my temp and I didn't have any fever, but he felt it and said it felt kinda hard and swollen. "Gotta go," he says. So I changed out of my Christ.mas light flannel pj pants (I am in the spirit ALREADY!) and packed up Miles. Luckily, he stayed asleep in the car seat all snuggled up with a blankey. Off to the ER we go...

There is an ER 2 minutes from us and I was the only patient so that cut down the time in half. 3 hours later* I had a urine test, blood work, and an ultrasound (Didn't expect one of those so soon) of my right kidney, pancreas, liver and gall bladder. Doc says there is 1 giant stone in there. When it moves in front of the bile duct, that's when the pain happens. 2 times in 2 weeks...me thinks 2009 is the year of the removal now. She suggested to have it removed so now I'm hunting for surgeon. A friend from HS (on FB) recommended one that she works with, but he's out of network for BCBS insurance. Anyone else in the Houston area have a general surgeron or laproscopic guy/gal they recommend?

*3 hours Miles slept quiet as a mouse in his car seat, oblivious to what was going on with Mommy.....UNTIL.........the discharge nurse. She comes in all loud and with the loudest voice I have ever heard screams "HOW OLD IS THE LITTLE ONE?" (yes, all caps for emphasis) "6 months. and he's been sleeping the entire time." "OH. THAT'S GREAT THAT HE HAS BEEN ASLEEP LIKE THAT IN HIS CAR......." "WWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" "..........SEAT." Really? 4:15 in the morning and he's awake thanks to that biatch. Oh well, I nursed him when I got home and he went right back down. She had given me a script for Vico.din, but after 5 hours (2 at home, 3 there) the pain was subsiding so I just went right to bed myself.

Slept late on Halloween due to above drama. Made the rounds (more about that crap later) to see the fam and visit Mom's church's fall festival (pics tomorrow - bad Mommy for not downloading them!) of Miles' 1st apple bobbing....or grabbing as it may be. Trick or Treated with his buddy Drew and passed out candy to some neighborhood kiddos...

Here's his first punkin'...

And his first costume....Miles the racecar driver... More pics tomorrow including Maddie the Ballerina!!! :)

Bullet Wednesday

2009-10-28T10:44:00.003-05:00

Another bullet kind of day...

Sitter called in yesterday. Her oldest had been throwing up all night and wasn't sure why. Said it was our call if we sent Miles over or not. Well with all this flu hoopla going on, no thank you. So Dean watched him the first half of the day and I came home in the afternoon to work from home and watch him.
Dean couldn't really get him to take his morning nap and I couldn't get him to take his afternoon nap. He would fall asleep on me and I would hold him for 20-30 minutes before trying to lay him down. The minute I put him down, he would be up on his elbows and head up looking at me and smiling from ear to ear. We were watching the news before Daddy went to band - around dinner time - and suddenly he wants to nap! But he does look like an angel, doesn't he?

UGH - speaking of sitter, we still don't know if she's going to be staying with us or not. I hate to look for someone just to have to tell them "just kidding." Why won't my mom just quit her job already?! Or Mean Aunt Betty? :0)
My favorite (and only) cashmere sweater is not handling the milk jugs very well. I am still wearing it anyway, but when I put it on this morning, I don't remember it being so, ahem...short. Then I noticed the jugs were looking lower than usual - BAH - NURSING BRAS! I already had my hair and makeup done and didn't want to pull a turtleneck over all that, so I had to ask sleepy Dean to help me with the straps - pull them up at least a little bit more anyway...
Another reason for the bra assistance, was because of this awful, terrible, no good, very bad CRICK in my back. I couldn't have reached over my shoulder to do it if I wanted to! I slept hard last night, so I guess I was in a bad position all.night.long.
We carved our silly face pumpkin last night - pics on the camera at home of course! Miles wasn't too interested since he couldn't put his hand in the mush. I was afraid he would swallow a seed. HA - then my pumpkin would grow a pumpkin in his belly. Or maybe not...
Slow day at the office when you've only got emails from baby.center, gym.boree, Mean Aunt Betty, with only 1 work related, all day and you've been here 4 hours already....
Gossip queens at the office are bitches. Know the facts before you open your mouths. Just because you are the one to report something "anonymously" to the ethics.line, doesn't mean you can flap your trap once action has been taken.

IS IT THURSDAY YET?!!!!!!!! (It's my "Friday" this week....)

Happy, Happy BDay to ME!

2009-10-26T10:40:00.003-05:00

What a crazy fun weekend! Friday night my friends Shannon, Shayla and her ~~boyfriend~~ ~~lover~~ ~~man~~ friend Todd, came over. Deano whipped up some margaritas (I had red wine of course) and grilled 2 chickens, squash and zuchinni. The food was fab and of course turned into a drunk fest. Luckilly Mr. Miles was in bed before everybody got crazy. It was like old times - we even played "I Never..."

Saturday I didn't feel like much of anything, even though it was my birthday. I played with Miles a lot and took a nap with him. Didn't even get out of my pj's and take a shower till 5:00! Then we loaded up and met Shannon, T&D, Shayla and her ahem...friend, sister and BIL @ Backyard.Cafe for dinner*. The food was awesome, the wine was flowing, the cake* and presents were amazing! Then we drove over to T&D's new digs - a 3 story townhouse/condo thingy near the.Heights. It fits them perfectly, but no thank you. 12 foot ceilings makes those stairs EXTRA long...

Sunday I spent most of the day making a baby shower cake. It's my 2nd paid order. It's for my neighbor - she's co-hosting a baby shower at her work for 2 chicks having babies. One of them doesn't know what she's having so it had to be gender neutral. Round 2 on the sheep cake... I had intended on putting the 2nd sheep on the side like last time, but this time I actually centered the top cake correctly (HA) so there wasn't enough room for his butt...

Boo Boo played with my cake pans while I was baking...too cute!

Also speaking of cakes...we did the "Cake.for.the.Cure" again at work. They provide a 1/4 sheet cake and icing and we bring the "embellishments." Our theme was "PEAS find a cure." I made the peans and pod at home out of fondant...Then we only had 20 minutes to decorate it. "Challenges" this year were the cake was extra sticky and the icing extra thick. Oh and they didn't give us a spatula (I had brought a small one) or piping bags for writing (I had brought one). They said the "challenges" were in comparison to the challenges those fighting breast cancer face...

Sunday evening we went to Mom and Dad's for birthday dinner - again. Dad grilled steaks and we had salad and baked taters. Mom made me a cake with a pic of me, Miles, and Maddie on it.*

Miles had squash, applesauce, and pineapples for the 1st time this weekend. Yes, I know we didn't follow the rules for 1 new food every 3 days. But Dean didn't know I had given him applesauce Friday and then he gave him pineapples Saturday. Sunday I told him to bring something he's had before because of the 2 new things so close together. So he brought bananas - good he's had these for weeks now - but then he brought squash for the veggie! UGH - we were at Grammy's so we didn't have a choice. However, they thawed out WAY watery. Like too much to even be able to get on a spoon. Totally not what they looked like in the blender. He was still hungry after the chicken and bananas so we thickened them up with some Daddy's plain potato. New food #4 for the weekend! (However he did have the squished insides of a few french fries a long time ago - before we even officially started solids...)

Monday brought total UGH-NESS...
#1. It's raining yet again in H-town. (Isn't it funny how we complained all summer of how dry it was and now we are complaining its too wet) But I am driving myself to work now that the DRAMA.VAN is out of my life so my 350Z gets a little nervous when it rains this much. Houston is not known for its good drainage system. And Zoe is only about 8 inches off the ground....
#2. Not until I got out of the car did I realize that BOTH of my heel tips have rubbed or broken off. Now its like I am walking on nails - seriously can see the silver nail of the heel...as I walked through the parking garage I could tell they sounded different. When I got to my desk I looked at them and the entire tip is gone and I am now slowly breaking off bits of the plastic part that surrounds the heel nail thingy. Can't take them to the shoe repair place because they are just made by "George" and I am embarrassed to get them fixed considering their cost. (Holler if you know where I got them!) So now new shoes are on the agenda.
#3. Left my Pampers.coupons at home and DESPERATELY (like have 4 left TOTAL in the diaper bag or the house) need to pick some up on the way home. Now I have to go home first. BAH...
#4. During pumping session #1 this morning, one side wasn't sucking correctly. Or at all I should say. I couldn't wiggle all the parts enough to get it to start working so I switched it to just pump 1 side, then the other. Turned into a 30 minute session. UGH. Just when I had convinced myself to BF another 3 months and my pump gives up the ghost? NOOOOOOOOO! Luckily I had the manual in the bag so I took a peek at the troubleshooting section. Come to find out that the rubber thingy that goes inside the flange/inside the bottle was torn. This rubber thingy is crucial to the suction. Good thing I have some spare parts at the office. Hope this next session is better...

*totally forgot to take pictures of all of these things...

sorry it's so long - hope you're still reading.....have a great week!

Destiny

2009-10-24T17:24:00.001-05:00

32 years ago today, I was born to be Miles' mommy....

Damn You!

2009-10-23T10:50:00.000-05:00

Damn you gall.stones!

UGH - I had a gall.bladder attack this morning around 2:30AM. When I got up in my sleepiness, I took 2 T.ums instead of 2 Ty.lenol. This didn't help my pain any (obviously) so I was squirmy wormy/in the fetal position until 4:30...coincidentally Miles' nursing time before work. I would have skipped it to squirm some more, but then I remembered I didn't take Ty.lenol after all, just heartburn medication, DUMB.ASS.... UGH - get up, take better med, feed Miles, both of us cuddle and fall asleep in the "nursing.papasan.chair" (that I just can't let go of). I don't know how I fell asleep like that because my shit was still killing me. I put him back to bed, emailed my work peeps, and resumed the fetal position.

By the time I woke up at 7:30, the pain had subsided. I got up, pumped, showered and made it to work by 9:15. It is actually fall-like weather here in the Lone.Star.State - 53 degrees and GORGEOUS blue skies - not a cloud in the sky (at least that I can see from my 2nd-story-cubicle-window-blocked-by-the-world's-largest-crepe-myrtle-and-5-story-parking-garage.) I so don't want to be sitting here... I could be playing with BooBoo or organizing a cabinet or something (don't ask)...

Anyway, back to the gall.stone saga. I have known I have had them since 2006 when my old PCP ordered an u/s. Flash to 2007, new PCP, (didn't like old one in the least bit) and she said I should have it taken care of before getting PG. Really lady...I am going to be 30 this (that) year. I don't have time for surgery, recovery time, etc, etc. I wanted a baby before I was in menopause! So I opted to put that aside and work on TTC, knowing that if I had an attack while PG, there would be nothing they could do about it.

So now I have had my 2nd attack since Miles was born. BLECH. You don't need your gall.bladder, or at least can live without it. So mine is being removed in 2010!

I love a Rainy Night...

2009-10-22T10:30:00.001-05:00

It's been raining like crazy here in Houston since about 3AM! Now that I am off the van and my carpooling buddy got laid off, I have to drive Zoe into work. Zoe = 350Z which is a mere 8 inches off the ground. We all know Houston has serious drainage problems - you would think with all the storms we get, they would do better...

I was a big ol' ball of nerves by the time I finally got to the office today! The 288/610 interchange had high water so I couldn't risk going that way. I stayed on 288, hoping to take 59S. It was so dark and the headlights were reflecting off the water on the road, so much so that I missed the dang exit. Took the next exit and thought I could u-turn and get back onto 59...not so much. So stayed on Alabama and came across a feeder going to the left one way (usually they are right) and there was a sign to get on 59S here...2 ramps one on left of esplanade and one on right. I went to the left one...got a little ways up and had a bad gut feeling that I was going one way on a wrong way street. REVERSED DOWN THE RAMP...back to street...continued on Alabama...found Montrose (familiar...good) turned...found Westheimer (office is off of this..good) turned..Finally made it in 1 hour later!

Hoping the storm is gone-gone by this afternoon so I can have a nice UNEVENTFUL drive home!

I forgot to do my "Welcome ICLW'ers" post on Monday - bad blogger...So here's something I stole from my FB to use as my meet and greet...

KIMBO-OLOGY

***********FOODOLOGY***************

What is your salad dressing of choice?
balsamic vinegarette

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Gringo's lately

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
mexican

What do you like to put on your toast?
cinnamon and sugar or cheese and sugar or Nutella

***********TECHNOLOGY***************

How many televisions are in your house?
2

What color is your cellphone?
black and silver with a white cover

Do you have an ipod
in the iPhone :0)

***************BIOLOGY******************

Are you right-handed or left-handed?
right

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
a mole and a baby :0)

Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
nope

************BULLOLOGY**************

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
not at all

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
I like my name

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
Show me the money!

**************FAVORITOLOGY****************

Season?
Fall

Holiday?
Christmas

Day of the week?
Friday

Month?
October - birthday, anniversary, rodeo, and Halloween!

***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************

Missing someone?
yes

Mood?
fat and happy

What are you listening to?
my fingers do the typing and crepe myrtle branches scraping on the windows (they really should trim this beast of a tree)

***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************

First place you went this morning?
Potty, then Miles' room to feed him

What's the last movie you saw?
Julie and Julia with the girls

***************OTHER-OLOGY*****************

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
way too many to count

Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
it's been several years

Last person you talked to on the phone?
Deano

Last person you hugged?
Miles

Do you always answer your phone?
depends on the caller

It's four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
Definitely Shayla

If you could change your eye color what would it be?
i like my eye color

Do you own a digital camera?
2

Have you ever had a pet fish?
Buddy the Betta!

Favorite Christmas song(s)?
Silver Bells

What's on your wish list for your birthday?
Good times with family and friends...but if you feel you must give me something - write a check to Miles' college fund...

Can you do push ups?
not in many years

Can you do the splits?
that's a negative

Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
excited

Do you have any saved texts?
yup

Have you ever been in a car accident?
1 but it wasn't serious

Do you have an accent?
I don't think I do until I visit family in Louisiana

What is the last movie to make you cry?
don't remember, but lots of them do these days

Plans tonight?
Just hanging with the boys

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
not total rock bottom, but maybe muddy bottom

Name 3 things you bought yesterday.
bananas, lima beans, powdered sugar

Have you ever been given roses?
yes

Met someone who changed your life?
yes

What song represents you?
I am not good with these types of questions

Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?
yes to spend more time with the ones I loved

Have you ever dated someone for over 5 years ?
UGH - yes

Do you have any tattoos/piercings?
pierced ears. There used to be another set somewhere, but I'm not telling.

Does anyone love you?
yes

Would you be a pirate?
ARRRGGHHH (I love to say that!) but that hook hand could pose a problem..

What songs do you sing in the shower?
nothing aloud

Ever had someone sing to you?
yes

When did you last cry?
Monday when Miles got his 6 month shots :0(

Do you like to cuddle?
but of course!

Have you held hands with anyone today?
not yet

Who was the last person you took a picture of?
Miles

Are most of the friends in your life new or old?
Nice mix of both.

Do you like pulpy orange juice?
Who likes to suck their OJ through their teeth like a sieve? NOT ME

What is something your friends make fun of?
Baking, making cutie things, taking cake classes, wanting to take cooking classes...anything I do really (SHAYLA is the only one who makes fun of these things. Everyone else likes me for them...)

6 Month Checkup

2009-10-21T11:23:00.001-05:00

Miles had his 6 month checkup Monday. In the doctor's words, "He is perfect!" We seem to think so as well! He got 4 shots :0( Pentacel, Hepatitis B, Prevnar and Round 1 of Flu (Round 2 will be in November), along with Rotateq orally. He was such a trooper and only cried when the shots were given because they stung his little legs. As soon as Daddy picked him up, he stopped crying - so then Mommy could stop crying as well.

He is doing everything a baby his age should be doing right now: showing excitement interacting with people, recognizes people, rolls over, can sit upright, "stands" if you hold his hands, reaching for objects, passing them between hands and to his mouth, loves to make noise and "talk" to you. He is eating like a piglet! He has cereal mixed with fruit for breakfast, a jar of meat (beef, turkey or chicken), with 3 cubes (ice trays) of veggies and 3 cubes of fruit for lunch and dinner. Each meal is with milk along with an additional bottle 3 more times a day! He is doing so well at everything he tries to do!

So far he has tried - and liked - the following foods: rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, mixed grains cereal, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, mangos, bananas. The only thing he hasn't cared for is carrots, so we've been adding 1 cube to another veggie to sneak them in. So far he hasn't caught on to our trick! This week we are going to add yellow squash and pineapple to the menu.

Here's the stats:

Height: 26 3/4" - 50%
Weight: 17 lbs 10 oz - 50-75%
Head: 17 3/4" - 75-90% (gotta hold that big ol' brain!)

Hope everyone has a great week!

26 Weeks...

2009-10-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Half Birthday to my Boo Boo!

Today

2009-10-16T07:00:00.004-05:00

***........is brought to you by Blogger.Post.Scheduler as the host is currently out of town on a still undisclosed (and unknown to anyone) anniversary trip with the hubby and the baby***

Our 4 year anniversary was yesterday. We usually try to do something for it. Technically we should be "alone" i.e. without baby, but I feel bad. He has spent the past 2 Saturday nights with Grammy/Great Aunt Betty so we could party like rockstars.... I mean cowboys at the rodeo. I can't send him away 3 weekends in a row! Plus this is a 3 day weekend for us so we should have him for as much time as we can!

Location of this 1 night trip is TBD. 1 night because we have tickets to the Dynamo vs. LA Galaxy game on Sunday at 2, so we didn't want to be scrambling back home to make it in time. TBD because, well...just because. Initial talks were to go to Texas.Hill.Country and visit wineries, but well... you can see what bad parents we would seem, having wine tastings and a glass here and there with a Baby.Bjorn strapped on?? Right now the "plan" (loosely labeled) is to drive north or west. No lodging squared away either. Guessing B&B's are out of the question since those are usually saved for couples' getaways....not that my boy would make a fuss....We love random road trips. I hope the first one as a family of 3 proves to be just as exciting!

It's funny to think we have to take a cooler now to keep Miles' food in. The days of only bringing the boobies are long gone for this little oinker. He's been eating a jar of stage 1 meat (turkey, chicken, or beef), 3 cubes (ice trays) of veggies and 1 whole banana (or peaches or mangos coming soon)! WHAT?! And then milk after that. I serioously don't know how his tummy can hold it all. Must be the reason for his multi-day poops! I thought daily poops were a thing of the past - apparently not!

Speaking of...he's already had 2 poops today. How do I know this you ask? Oh that's because Miles is home with Daddy. AGAIN. Sitter has other plans. Dean actually picked him up yesterday at noon. UGH - the one dilemma in home baby care. Still don't know what the outcome of her BP issues will be. I think I am going to put another ad up on our website and see if we can get more hits on someone keeping him. I am so anti-daycare I don't want to put him in until I absolutely HAVE to...

Melody? Mandy? want to share a nanny?

On to other news:

Thyroid test results: negative
Diagnosis: Just a tired and fat (but HAPPY) mommy

3 Reasons to Remember October 15th

2009-10-15T09:30:00.004-05:00

Pregancy & Infant Loss Rememberance Day.

Our 4th Anniversary

The 3rd Anniversary of Grandpa's Death

Love You Always Grandpa. Miss You BUNCHES!

Wordless Wednesday: BAAAAAAAA

2009-10-14T13:23:00.000-05:00

T is for...

2009-10-13T14:10:00.001-05:00

Thyroid....After much Google MD'ing, I am certain it is my thyroid that is messing with me. I am not a hypochondriac like my sister who claims to have every disease and ailment known to man (is it a good idea for her to be in the health industry?) But seriously. The past several weeks I have been T.I.R.E.D. like around 9:00 I am struggling to keep my eyes open. Also, the weight gain I talked about the other day is another "symptom." It's driving me crazy not knowing, so I just called the doctor's office but got the nurse v/m. Probably because it's their lunch time. UGH - why do health professionals need lunch breaks? I want to know my results!
Tooth....as in Miles' first tooth! It's here! It's broke through the gum! And we didn't even know it! Yeah, I know. WORST.MOMMY.EVER! But seriously, he was munching on my finger on Saturday and I didn't feel anything. Then yesterday it was time for booby, but our friend stopped by for a quick visit so I had to give him something to pacify him for a minute and then CHOMP on my finger! AAAHHH! It's on the bottom in the middle, you know standard first teefies. I am nervous now because my great niece who has my great-great-nephew (I know, I am OLD - actually Dean is but that's besides the point!) is 10 days older than Miles got his first 2 teeth about a month ago and his mommy had to quit BF'ing because he was a biter! EEEEKKK! I can only imagine the pain this will cause....Any tips or tricks to keeping him from not biting? My neighbor said she would gently tap on her daugther's cheek, say no, and then if she did it again she would squeeze her cheeks and say no. Eventually she got the point and didn't bite anymore.
Time...How does my boy know what time it is? Or what day it is for that matter? Since I have came back to work, I get up at 4:30 to nurse him before work. I don't do it on the weekends (so we can all sleep in) and he wakes up on his own anywhere from 7:15-8:30. So I decided over the weekend that starting this week, I wasn't going to do the early morning feeding anymore. And because 5:00 AM sounds SO MUCH BETTER than 4:30 AM! Monday, my alarm went off at 5:00. I pushed the button for the video on the monitor. Guess who's flipped to their back, eyes open, fingers in mouth? Yes, that would be Miles. But now that I got up 30 minutes later, I don't have time to get ready, get my crap together, and feed him too. Of course the husband is freaking because he doesn't know what to do with him for 2 hours - milk, cereal, play, what? UGH. So I scramble to get ready and have him get my pump, phone, badge, keys, and shoes together so I could squeeze in a 20 minute nursing session. WHEW - I was all discombobulated by the time I got to the office. But my question is still how come Miles sleeps late on the weekends but expects this 4:30 feeding Monday-Friday only? Makes no damn sense to me. Suffice it to say, I compromised and woke up at 4:45...

UGH - The Rain!

2009-10-12T16:12:00.000-05:00

Not necessarily a title that goes with the post, but man I am tired of the drizzles we have been having the past week or so. Ever since it got "cold" i.e. 65 degrees outside (not like where Leah, Nikki or Nancy live!) , it's been wet and nasty. ICK.

Anyway....I didn't really "win" this award nor was I even nominated for it. But I saw it on several of my bloggy buddies' sites and Nancy even said I could have it if I wanted since she nominated nobody. So here I go:

Here are the rules:
1. you can only use one word!
2. pass this along to 6 of your favorite bloggers (see below)
3. alert them that you have given them this award!
4. have fun! (this is a “rule?”)

The Fun Part:

1. Where is your cell phone? charging
2. Your hair? curly
3. your mother? sweet
4. Your father? changed
5. Your favorite food? beans
6. Your dream last night? none
7. Your favorite drink? tea
8. Your dream/goal? mom
9. What room are you in? cube
10. Your hobby? cakes
11. Your fear? drowning
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? PTA
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something that you aren't? tall
15. Muffins? pumpkin
16. Wish list item? gadgets
17. Where did you grow up? Texas
18. Last thing you did? meeting
19. What are you wearing? skechers
20. Your TV? home
21. Your pets? scared
22. Friends? great
23. Your life? super
24. Your mood? sleepy
25. Missing someone? yes
26. Vehicle? carpool
27. Something you're not wearing? earrings
28. Your favorite store? Michael’s
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When was the last time you laughed? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? weeks
32. Your best friend? S
33. One place that I go to over and over? HEB
34. One person who emails me regularly? Pampers
35. Favorite place to eat? Gringo’s

TAGGED:
On My Mind 24/7
BrandyH2007
Melody
Rae
Nikki
PJ

Back to the Gyn's office

2009-10-09T14:54:00.001-05:00

So I went to the gyn's office yesterday for my yearly checkup. You
would think after having her and Dr. H look at it so many times during
a 14 month span, that she would just give me a free pass...

But no. I even had to fill out all new paperwork even though I was
there in July. "everyone has to once a year," she says.

Physical check of hoohoo and milk makers are good. Pap results in a
few days. Bad news? (and I knew this) I am up over my pre-pregnancy
weight. I dropped all of my baby + IF treatment weight within like 3
weeks. I was estatic because I thought if I lost that much, that fast,
then I would be skinny-minny after 6 months of bf'ing. But no such
luck. I began to notice if I didn't eat a lot AND have snacks, then my
milk production would decrease. So I have been having more calories
but only because I have to.

Doc says that it could be my thyroid. She has seen lots of women's
thyroids act up post-partum. UGH. I thought I was through with weird
things being wrong with me that my friends don't have i.e. IF.

So the lab drew sone blood and I'll have those results soon.

Just something else to contemplate all weekend.

P.S. The van was sent an email today stating that they must start
recruiting more riders, otherwise the van will be disbanned! See, she
thinks she won by me quitting. But looks like I get the last laugh
this time!!

The D.R.A.M.A. continues...

2009-10-08T10:11:00.000-05:00

So the van ride home yesterday was mostly silent. Then (like I knew she would) as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, she held up the keys and asked who was taking the van home because she wasn't driving anymore.
*INSERT SILENCE*
Hello - someone needs to take the van because I am not the driver anymore.
*INSERT SILENCE*
Finally someone spoke up and said that we never intended on not having her as the driver, no one made fun of her driving abilities, this was nothing personal, just a group decision to change the departure time....in so many words.

After 20 minutes of "discussion," it was determined that yes, she would still be the driver, yes we would leave at 6:00, and yes she was totally not happy with it.

As it turns out, I have my yearly PAP today so I didn't have the pleasure of riding at 6:00 this morning. I asked someone who did ride how it was and if they did leave and arrive on time. They did - she complained the entire time - and they got to work on time. VD holds grudges from here to eternity and has said as much. She hasn't spoken to a couple of ladies here in 15 years because of something that happened eons ago. I don't plan on staying in that grudge category of hers. Nor do I want the stress, tension, and DRAMA that comes with remaining on this dramatic ass, soap opera of a van.

This, hereby, is my resignation from Van #7878.

And onto another stressful front...Dean called me yesterday and said he had more bad news. The sitter told him that she recently found out that she has high blood pressure. They are going to begin treating her with drugs to try and get it down. If this doesn't work, the doctor told her that she needs to change her lifestyle to be less stressful i.e. quit keeping Miles. She said he is not stressful in any way, but just less activity. This baffles me because another reason for reducing the BP is because they are trying to have another baby. If MY baby causes you stress, why would YOUR baby not? UGH. She said if she does have to quit, it would be near the end of November - early December. Perfect time to look for a new sitter during the holidays, right?

So basically in 3 weeks, we are going to start looking again - just in case. Because it took forever last time and I don't want to not have a Plan B "in case" she does have to quit.

See - get rid of one stressful point in my life, just to have another take its place...

But isn't this all worth it?

As The Van Turns...

2009-10-07T12:53:00.002-05:00

Today on As The Van Turns....

We have the most dramatic of all vans in our company! There is always some he said, she said, she's wearing too much perfume (me), I have allergies, why does she always get the front seat, he is always late, CRAP going on!

We have been 5-10 minutes late every day for the past 2 weeks or so. To some, this is no big deal, but we have several riders whose managers are getting onto them for missing 5-10 minutes here and there. Because look at it, and in the long run, that's a lot of missed work.

Another manager said something to someone on Monday. He even went as far to say that he needs to make up the time - during lunch or after work. Now being that we ride a van, working "over" really isn't fair to the rest of us who want to leave on time. Roger (van guy - he doesn't read my blog, I can use his IRL name) brought it up on the way home Monday afternoon that we just can't be late anymore and that he isn't missing his lunch time so something needs to happen. He suggested leaving at 6:00 instead of 6:05. Van driver (VD) said no. She doesn't like getting up and leaving any earlier than the last possible minute. This is why she arrives at 6:04 or 6:05 every day when departure time IS 6:05. Meanwhile, the riders are there anywhere from 5:50-6:00.

Another rider recently had foot surgery and in lieu of crutches, is using this knee walker AKA scooter. (They are pretty nifty if you are ever in the need, you can rent them here.) So when we are loading up, he gets in the front seat and Roger takes his scooter to the back to put it in the van. This literally only takes an extra 30-45 seconds, but since the van doesn't arrive until right on time, then we don't end up leaving until 6:06 or 6:07. Now, I know you are thinking, GEEZ, this is only an extra minute or 2 late, but in Houston traffic, this means all the difference in the world!

The van driver (VD) lives the closest to the parking lot we meet in. Literally only has 1 stop light and takes maybe 1 minute from her house. We are supposed to leave at 6:05 sharp but because we have to actually get in the van and not magically appear inside it, it takes a few minutes. VD is of course blaming the tardiness on the scooter loading. This is not true. If the van arrived early like we do, then we would have ample time to get us all in, including the scooter.

So nothing was decided Monday. Tuesday, same song, second verse. We got to our desks at 6:36. At 4:30, we were ready to leave including Scooter Boy - HA - but no Roger. He did exactly what I thought he would do. He stayed 6 minutes over since he was 6 minutes late. It's the only thing he can do to try and prove his point to VD. This morning we were only a couple minutes late, but I am sure he will do the same again. This is making everyone else mad because just like a couple minutes can make the difference in the morning traffic, same goes for evening.

So Roger, Scooter, and I were chatting today and wondered what we could do about our dilemma. Obviously talking to VD is not working because she thinks this is an anarchy and what she says goes. NOT. So I get on the Company Fleet website to read the "rules" and decided to email Fleet to get their input. Basically she said they cannot enforce anything. That is why they leave most of the "housekeeping rules" (as they call it) up to the individual vans (NOT DRIVERS) discretion. This includes departure times, waiting times, radio stations, etc. But majority rules. If all of the riders want to leave earlier, then VD must do so.

Our VD is stubborn and won't just take our word for anything. So I composed an email to everyone and included links to Fleet's pages and screenshots of the areas that indicate this "majority rule" rule. Highlighted in pink just in case you missed it. I sent it and asked for a vote. If you are in for leaving at 6:00, reply all and say Yes.

We have 8 total on the van (which is the minimum by the way. Should anyone drop, the van is history). So far, including me, we have 5 votes for YES. 1 is on maternity leave, 1 hasn't responded, and of course VD = SILENCE. I did tag a read receipt on it, so I know she read it at 11:10. I am sure she doesn't want to answer because she realizes we already have a majority and she is just going to have to suck it up and pick our asses up earlier!

Thank you for the van vent. It is so annoying!

Oh and Fleet did say if she still doesn't oblige with the majority vote, then we have to take it up with HR! If this happens, I am O.U.T.T.A there. I don't need this stupid, ridiculous, dramatic stress in my life! Look, I already wasted a post on the crap!

**UPDATED TO INCLUDE EMAIL FROM VD - sent to van riders and fleet services:

Nice coo. But to make it clear for fleet services and the other riders, I recall there were only 4 of you on the van when this was discussed on Monday. It was not a quorum nor a majority vote.

I am resigning as the ‘driver’ for the obvious reasons. I am remaining as a passenger and will if absolutely necessary be a backup driver. I have notified fleet services that another driver will need to be selected.

I have been a founding member of the Pearland vanpool which is now in its fourth year of service. I have seen many changes and personalities come and go. If you haven’t read ‘Animal Farm’ yet, I highly recommend it.

I began driving the van as a courtesy to you because no one else would drive the van. Everyone refused. I did not want to and have hated every day that I have to drive. I have suffered with complaining neighbors of my family having to park their vehicles in the street because van rules state that the van cannot be parked in the street. I have also had to endure the comments of some people on the van of my driving skills. I have taken great lengths to save YOU $120 per year by minimizing the mileage on the van. I did not have to but I did. I made sure the van was available for you when the hurricane came through last year when the previous van driver refused to take action. I make sure the van has gas, everyone is accounted for and reports sent to Metro. I have had the van at the parking lot on time. I really don’t see where you have been late to work with the exception of the last few weeks where we have had a wounded person on the van that understandably takes a bit longer to get in and out of the van and to where he is going. All you had to do was ask if I could get there a few minutes early to accommodate until he can get around better. I have sacrificed A LOT to make sure YOU made it to work, you never had to worry whether your ride was going to be there or not.

To the few people who decided to go this route, again nice one. But I will be damned if I am going to drive you anywhere.

Kim – I am forwarding your email to Fleet Services. I feel this is a threat towards me and my ability to get to work via the van pool. I don’t understand why you feel you had to include this item.

PEARLAND VAN - BE GONE!

Boot Scootin'

2009-10-06T13:27:00.004-05:00

Mom got new boots, so of course Miles had to get new boots! Aren't these the cutest things you have E.V.E.R.S.E.E.N???? OMG! But they are too big. Smallest size they had was 3 and BooBoo is maybe in a 2 right now - don't know - he doesn't dig shoes really so he's never in them. Plus his feet sweat too much without anything on them! So to wear them, I had to put 3 pairs of socks on just to keep them up. But he kept kicking his feet and they came off anyway. They were a great photography accessory for a while though!

This is Miles, Daddy, and Cowboy Drew hanging out before the rodeo at Aunt Shayla's "house." Neither one really digging their hats... P.S. I must make note that it was Pink Monday for breast cancer awareness. That is why Dean has on this semi-pink-looks-like-I-washed-a-red-shirt-with-a-white-one shirt on. Unfortunately, Miles doesn't have any pink garb and everything I found at the stores had hearts or butterflies on it - not for my cowboy!

This is me, Miles, and Cowboy Drew getting ready for the Grand Entry - have to steal pics from Steph when she posts them as Mama Brenda only used her camera while we were parading around. Also my shirt was PAH-INK! But look at my little cowboy standing up!!!

Our fam at the rodeo. This was right before Mr. Miles took a siesta in Daddy's arms, even with that loud music and horses galloping around!

YEE-HAW!

2009-10-05T14:22:00.001-05:00

By Saturday I was finally feeling back to myself. Still a little sniffly, but otherwise back to normal. Finally I can leave the house – first time since Tuesday! We dropped Miles at Grammy’s house and headed out to the Pasadena Rodeo. We had a hamburger @ our friends' camp (some stay all week to work the rodeo and others have kids who show their animals) before the show. We enjoyed the saddle bronc riding, team roping, steer wrestling, calf scramble, mutton bustin’ (kids ride a sheep with helmets on! Miles is so there!), and bull riding. Johnny Lee was playing afterwards. The Silver.Spur.Club was next - the hangout/bar and usually with a band playing here too. Of course when that closed down we headed to the after party! Got our drank on until 3:30 am!!! Dean was my DD so I could party like a rock star with Shay-la-la! Of course I charged my camera all day to journal the occasion and then left it at home-UGH. Will have to steal pics from Shay if she ever posts them. I did take a couple with my phone though....

And yes, I finally have a new pair of boots! My first since high school! Kind of an early birthday present I bought myself, but hopefully I'll get a real present from my honey too!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Miles has mastered sweet potatoes and bananas. LOVES the bananas! Unfortunately when I made a late Wal-Mart run last night, they were out of like, everything! You could tell it was the 1st of the month because that’s when all the welfare checks hit and people go shopping! Anyway, they didn’t have any good fruit, even frozen, so this week its peaches again, but carrots are new! Tonight he is going to his first rodeo and will be in his first grand entry parade!! Can't wait! Pics coming tomorrow!

Later Buckaroos!

Bananas?

2009-10-01T16:24:00.000-05:00

So it's official. Mr. Miles is too heavy to be lugged around in his
car seat! He isn't at the weight or height limit yet, but he is
definitely pushing it. My boy is so big!!

Speaking of big, we made him sweet potatoes and bananas yesterday. He
has only had the sweet potatoes so far but he loves them! And speaking
of homemade bananas for babies...anyone know if you are suppsed to
process and freeze them or just mush and feed? I scored a bag of
bananas for 99 cents because they were all singles. They were about to
go bad so I peeled them all and ran them through the blender. Poured
into ice trays and froze. Today, they look a little ugly. I know
bananas turn after being exposed to the air, but should I not have
done it this way? And should I not give them to Miles because of the
color? Guess I should have searched the wholesome baby food site
beforehand...

I am sounding and feeling better. The antibiotics and nasal spray seem
to be working...and I am so glad because now I can finally do this
again....

It's the virus

2009-09-30T13:40:00.000-05:00

So the update is that I have a viral infection. Doc said since I had
the symptoms since Sunday that I couldn't take tami.flu, so I am on a
nasal steroid spray and amoxicillin, drinking fluids and resting. Temp
spiked to 101 yesterday afternoon but after resting and Tylenol, it's
back to normal.

Miles is at the sitter's and Dean is at the cardiologist's office for
his bi-annual follow up. Thank goodness for DVR!

Sent from my iPhone

FREAK OUT

2009-09-29T09:11:00.002-05:00

As I type this, I am waiting for my husband to come and pick me up from work. I started to get some sinus crap this weekend and this morning I could barely breathe through my nose. Took some Clarit.tin and Muci.nex (scrares me because its a decongestant and can dry up my boobs AND my nose). I have blown my nose 12 times already and now a little cough.

Of course I asked Dr. Google what he thought of my symptoms, including tiredness and a headache for 2 days, and he told me they were "flu-like symptoms."

How f'ing fabulous...

During flu season, H1N1 season....I develop flu-like symptoms. Can you say scrared shitless? I have tons of friends of friends or family of friends that have either the flu or H1N1. Haven't taken my flu shot this season because work's vendor has been delaying them for a month and a half in shipment. As of yesterday, the clinic has a sign posted "no flu shots until further notice."

GREAT

Did you remember that I have a 5 1/2 month old at home who is too young for the flu shot? And that my sister works in the PICU at Texas.Children's and has several patients on ventilators with the flu?

COMPLETE AND TOTAL FREAK OUT. That is what I am doing right now.

Highchairs are for Babies

2009-09-24T09:55:00.001-05:00

At the last minute, we decided to go out for dinner last night to Cracker.Barrel. By the time I got home, pumped (Miles had just eaten), got our recipes together for the shower this weekend, it was almost 6:45. Everything we have to cook is frozen, thus a really late dinner.

Anyway, we headed to our new Cracker.Barrel for some grub. Packed Miles' bottle and food. Drove the 8 minutes to CB and realized...we can't feed him from the car seat and we didn't bring the Buggy.Bagg for the highchair. I think he's still too small to fit comfortably in a highchair without a little cushion. (Plus the buggy.bagg comes with a little attached pillow to put in front of or behind him for more support!) So 8 minutes back home to get it, and 8 minutes back. Thus, a really late dinner after all...

Me: "Table for 2 plus a highchair, please" - WHAAA? Did I just say that?
CB hostesss: "Sorry we don't have any."
Me: *looks to Dean* "They don't have any highchairs?"
CB: "Sorry. We don't have any AVAILABLE right now. They are all being used."
Me: *thinking to myself* considering this is a brand new restaurant in a booming suburb full of young families with lots of new babies, shouldn't you increase the number of highchairs so you don't "run out?" Seriously...
CB: "We could seat you and just bring you a chair when it's available."
Me: "Ok, that's fine." *mumbles to myself* Feeding a hungry baby from a lap who is new to solids in a public place should be interesting....

After we are seated, Dean actually holds and feeds Miles. He did SO good. Opens his mouth when the spoon comes, swallows and wants another bite. Dean said that he would give him a bite and after he swallowed it, he would slowly start to kick his legs against Dean's legs then getting faster. When the next bite was put in, he would stop kicking, swallow, kick, bite, swallow, kick, bite. It was like it was his signal that he was ready for the next bite. Too funny!

So after he finishes eating and we have ordered, I go ask for a highchair because you know they haven't delivered one yet. No, sorry. still being used. UGH But I will go check to make for sure.

CB boy returns to my table with only a booster seat. Not your typical plastic booster. More like a mini version of their wooden chairs, with arms and a back, that sits in a regular chair.

CB boy: "This is all we have right now."
Me: "OK we'll give it a try."
CB boy: "Well let me know if it doesn't work so I can come get it."
You know, for the next parent who comes in looking for a child seat because apparently they only own 3 boosters and 3 highchairs. WTF?

At this point I am wondering if the Buggy.Bagg is even gonna fit because this little booster is so small, but Miles will be flopping around if we don't have it for the extra cushion....It fits, thank goodness. We strap the booster to the chair and the bagg to the chair and Miles to the bagg. Tucked in the little pillow behind his back and VOILA!

My 5 month old in a booster seat at the Big Boy table!

Weedy Rash

2009-09-23T10:14:00.001-05:00

So on Sunday, randomly, I pulled some weeds from the flower garden in
the backyard. I only went back there to see the new trellis we bought
a few weekends ago from a cool wright iron store. The bouganvilla is
really liking it. Well, next to that is a plant I transplanted from
my Great Aunt Viaud's (pronounced Vee-Oh) 2 summers ago, called 4
o'clocks. Now I have no idea if this is the real name of this plant,
but the flowers open at 4 AM and 4 PM. ANYWAY....we have an empty lot
(STILL) behind our house so all these crazy weedy, viney things like
to take over the flower and veggie garden and were all intertwined in
the 4 o'clocks. I can't have them killing this plant because it means
too much to me. After pulling the weeds, I now have this weedy rash on
the backs of both hands. Red raised bumps. Doesn't itch, but ugly
typhoid looking hands aren't something cool Moms sport these days....

Fail Blog!

2009-09-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

Came across this blog FailBlog today. There are some pretty classic pictures and videos of every day screw ups...from something as small as a typo to anchorman flubs. HILARIOUS.

For example, wouldn't you want to buy this lovely artwork for your son's room?

see more Fail Blog

or how about this for your Dad?

see more Fail Blog

Praying for Sara

2009-09-22T14:55:00.003-05:00

Readers - I have a request. Please pray for Sara Sullivan. I do not know her personally, but read about her in 3 friend's FB updates. She found out she was pregnant and shortly afterwards was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a hard pregnancy but praise the Lord, had her baby girl two weeks ago. They went home thinking everything was fine but shortly afterwards Sara started having seizures. Her situation has taken a turn for the worse and they are not sure Sara will make it. Testing today could determine if she is brain dead. Lets rally around this family, pray for a HUGE miracle and bring awareness to her situation! Thank you!

Click badge on right sidebar to jump to the Sullivan family blog. Her husband has been keeping it updated.

Peas & Pac-Man

2009-09-21T13:30:00.001-05:00

So this weekend, I finally made some homemade baby food - Go Mom! I made sweet peas and peaches. It really wasn't too difficult at all. Just cooked them on the stove till soft, (threw the peas in ice cold water to help soften the hulls), added a bit of water, whirred it up in the Magic.Bullet and VOILA!

I made this:

I have no idea why this picture refuses to be landscape. It is saved as landscape but weirdo blogger wants to reformat it for me.

And Miles made this:

He is doing SO good with eating. Just earlier last week, he wasn't getting the whole concept down of opening his mouth for the spoon and now, when you come at him, he "Opens BIG" (Mom repeats this over and over and over while feeding) and retains most of it in his mouth with an audible swallow. SO.CUTE! So for the next few days its oatmeal cereal for breakfast, chicken and peas (not mixed) for lunch and dinner! He is such a big boy I can't even stand it!

On Friday, for 10 hours, I made this:

It's a birthday cake for Stacey who was having a surprise 30th birthday party, 80's style. Her mom said I could do whatever, so thanks to some ideas on cakecentral, this is what I came up with. Rub.iks' cube on top, Straw.berry.Shortcake, and Pac.Man! I had made a SS figure out of fondant/gum.paste, but her head was top heavy and Thursday night fell over and broke. I was very sad because I worked several hours over several days to make her :( So I had to just print one out on card stock... Her mom really liked it and everyone was thouroughly impressed. I gave myself a good pat on the back for this one. I liked how it turned out, even though Dean said I didn't center the middle layer on the bottom one - and of course this is what I looked at all night long...that and my uneven Rub.ik's color squares...

Here's the fam rockin' to the 80's: Mom in her sideways pony, god-awful earrings, and hanging off the shoulder shirt. Dad in his AC/DC shirt ($4 Good.will find) and Miles in his...yeah supposed to look like some dude that Steph picked out from the 80's. He did have a headband on and Drew matched him...hmmm... hopefully she'll comment who they were supposed to be. What I really wish you could see is my LEGGINGS! They were so old school it was not even funny - they were white (wishing I could have found black for SO.MANY.REASONS) even with the little lace at the bottom of the legs! A good time was had by all. Stacey was truly surpised and I hope she enjoyed the party and the cake!

So I have been having milk.production issues as of late. As in, only like 2 oz per pump. Seems kind of pointless to me when I am not even making enough for one bottle....but after this weekend I am going to try even harder to get what little I am making into my little boy.

When he woke up from his morning nap on Friday, he had snot running down his face for the first time. Then he started this little hack, hack cough - like so pitiful it sounded fake. Called the pedi and the nurse said we could come in, but with him being so young, all he would suggest is home treatment anyway - humidifier at night, saline suction his nose. Call if something changes.

Saturday morning the snot was yellow. Call to on-call doc. Again, same thing. Was worried I would have to send the cake with Steph (and she was way nervous about cake travel!) and miss the party. Luckily it changed back to clear snot, so we were a go for the party. Just when I think I'm going to give up on the BF'ing, I have more reason to keep at it. We're getting into flu season around here and 9,000 people I know are sick with something. Miles needs all the antibodies and strength he can get for his little body so I will keep on truckin'.....

5 months

2009-09-17T12:47:00.000-05:00

Today, I have a 5 month old. I can't even believe it even as I sit
here staring at his pictures. This time last year, I was only a few
weeks pregnant, praying that it would stick. Now, I am practically
counting the days to when he becomes mobile - walking or crawling. (I
still have a strange feeling it's going to be walking first!)

Today Miles is:
~eating solid foods-just meat for now
~a scooter bug when on his belly. Kind of an army crawl but more like
a snake slither. He definitely gets from point a to b.
~jabbering up a storm and laughing all the time (outloud unlike some
people's laughing mutes MB!!!)
~wearing 6-9 month clothes.
~drooling as if he was cutting a tooth but no pearly whites can be
seen quite yet!

Happy 5 month birthday little man! I love you a bushel and a peck and
a hug around the neck!!!!

Bookworm

2009-09-16T09:52:00.001-05:00

Yesterday the sitter took her girls and Miles to Barnes.and.Noble for book reading. They haven't been in quite a while. She said it was eating time for Miles so when the girls settled down, she gave him his bottle. As soon as the lady started reading the book and showing the pictures, he pulled off the bottle and turned around to see the book and listen! She has never read to him so she didn't know that he likes books. And she said you know he's interested when he stops eating because he never stops eating! When we read him a book at bedtime, he totally takes in all of the picture on both pages of the book. He doesn't just stare at one spot, but gazes over the entire thing. I think he'll be a reader like Mommy - and definitely a smart little cookie!

I stole this from Nikki cuz it's damn funny....

BIG!

2009-09-15T09:44:00.001-05:00

Here are some Miles pictures, sure to make you smile.

Otherwise known as, Mom can't think of shit to write about....

Sitting up BIG!

This face always C.R.A.C.K.S me up!

EWWW I don't know if I like turkey or not...

But I do love me some cereal!

9/11/01

2009-09-11T09:14:00.002-05:00

*Picture stolen from here.

Labor Day Weekend = Fun Times

2009-09-10T10:45:00.001-05:00

**I know most of you only come here to see pics of Mr. Cuteness, so please forgive me for not dumping the camera for the past.....oh week or so. Hopefully you will continue reading anyway. And make do with a pic of me and Hubster!**

Weekend Recap:
Friday was my day off so Miles and I met my sister, her 2 BFF's and one of their kids for lunch. It was the first time I'd seen both of them in quite some time. One was at my baby shower, but the other I hadn't seen in probably 10 years - post jail, post marriage, post baby. WOW times have changed. Anywho, the other lives in OK and is have fertility issues as well. Her OB recomended "the best" RE in her area. Neither her or her husband have been diagnosed with anything other than a little motility issues and she doesn't ovulate (but can on Clomi.d). They did IVF last November and got about 13 eggs that fertlized. 7 made it to blastocytes. The transferred 3 (none took) and frozed the rest. In February, they thawed the remaining, but only 1 made the thaw. They transferred that one and it didn't take either. Her doc said there's only like a 15% chance of having a previously frozen embie take. Does this seem right to you? Also, he is not recommending or even suggesting IUI for them. He said, "well it might take 3 tries and by then you're back to the cost of IVF so just do IVF again." They do have some financial strains, but why wouldn't you at least let them try to do it? Because in my opinion, the first try COULD take and that would save you 10K..... She won't push the issue with him at all. They just roll with whatever the doctor says, well because he's the doctor. I tried suggesting my RE (LOVE.HIM) but she says the cost of travel (driving or flying) from OKC to Houston for all the many appointments would eat away at their available fundage anyway. She wants kids so bad and is an awesome aunt, but it just tears me up that they won't push it any more.

Saturday we ran some errands, cleaned the house, had some seafood and went antiquing. Bought a pretty wrought iron XXX for our bouganvilla to climb on. Then we went to Haak.Winery. It's the closest winery to our house. We have been there a couple times before. They have some cool events and you can chill on the patio with a glass (or bottle!) of wine while listening to a band play. This particular day (of course) there was nothing going on, but we wanted to visit and get more wine! We did a wine tasting, bought a glass and took the winery tour. After the tour, we bought another glass and sat on the patio. It was a really pretty day. Oh and did I mention we came home with a CASE?

Note: Reason why there was no entertainment is that Alivin.High.School was having its 35 year reunion on the back patio...And you can see little man's foot sticking in bottom left of picture. He was zonked after shopping and drinking! I mean....it was nap time.

Sunday, we took the boat out to Lake.Houston with our niece (HA -she's 45!) and her husband. It was their first time on our boat, or should we call her Mrs. Thought-she-was-fixed-but-still-having-motor-issues-which-might-or-might-not-be-electrical. UGH. We still had a good time though. Just sometimes when we were driving fast, suddenly we were driving not so fast. We drove the boat to Cedar.Landing.Restaurant and had some good seafood (weird we had seafood both days!). While we were eating there was a thunderstorm coming across the lake. We started back slowly to try and miss it and then there was a thunderhead coming up behind us so then we had to hurry. Caught between 2 storms! Never fear, though Mrs. Finicky-Pants decided to work correctly on the trip back. I even got me a little sunshine! First time all summer!

Monday - Labor Day = ZERO LABOR FOR US...actually it was zero effort for anything actually. I stayed in my pj's all day long! We watched some good old HBO and Lifetime movies! Very restful. Like so restful I was praying I had one more outfit left to wear to work on Tuesday becasue we didn't even do laundry all weekend!

Now suddenly its Thursday. We're going to do our civic, ok not civic, but volunteer duties tonight and help out at the sign shop at the rodeo grounds. Our committe makes all the signs for the rodeo. Like ALL.OF.THEM - entrance, exit, cowboys here, beer tokens, sponsor signs, etc. For example, we made all of the ones shown in the background of this picture which I stole from the PLSR website.

Miles started turkey this week! It's kind of weird because its grainy but looks, smells and tastes like turkey with gravy! He is warming up to it. It's his first food other than cereal. I know some of you are GEEKING because "you're supposed to start babies on vegetables first" but not according to our American.Association.Of.Pediatrics book. There is lots more protein in meat than veggies and the recommended order is meat, veggies, fruit. Meat, however is the one category of baby food that I don't think I want to cook myself. But thanks to the great Allison with step by step instructions and pics! we are going to attempt veggies and fruit on our own. Next week - CHICKEN!

*I have taken photos of this, I promise. Again...on the camera.

Yesterday, my dear friend Steph's grandma passed away. She had been fighting for quite some time. I am sad for her because tomorrow she, Drew, and her mom were flying to Ohio to visit her as she has been in and out of several hospitals. Now, they will be attending her funeral. This makes me very sad. But it also reminds me of something my mom says about everytime God takes an angel home, he has to put another one on Earth in her place. Yesterday my friend Erin gave birth to a 6 lb 8 oz angel named Sydney. And even though they don't know each other, I know they will each hold a special place in my heart for having both graced us on that blessed day, 09/09/09.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

Stats About Me - FB style

2009-09-03T08:05:00.003-05:00

According to statsaboutme (Face.book app)...

You have 431 friends, 311 more than average. 37% are male, 63% are female. 58 are single, 296 are dating or married. If you contracted a deadly variant of flu, you would likely infect 12 people, 2 of whom would die. If you died today, an estimated 516 people would try to attend your funeral. Based on your Facebook profile, you have a 92% probability of getting married. You are likely to earn US$2.7 million and have 2.4 children over your lifetime.

So my apologies to those 2 people I could possibly infect and kill.
I pray that 516 people show up at my funeral.
Pretty sure that 92% probability of getting married is a little off... by like 8%.
And when are that remaining 1.4 children going to show up?

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-02T07:52:00.002-05:00

Baby Rump cake I made last night for a practice run for a shower later this month...

***Updated to add: Here's my afternoon snack. Weird, but yummy!

Ketchup

2009-09-01T08:05:00.001-05:00

It's time to ketchup or catsup or catch up...

Here's a pic of Miles' first cereal bottle. He gobbled it right up! We attempted spoon feeding him some on Sunday afternoon. We got a video of it, but forgot to take any regular pics! DOH. Will have to see if hubby can get that video clip for me...

We are all over the place in clothes these days. Some 0-3, some 3-6, some 6, some 6-9. Guess it just depends on the maker. I made him a t-shirt with an iron on that I got from Hob.Lob eons ago - like before he was born. It is a UPC code with "priceless" underneath. Its a 6 month t-shirt but we put it on him on Sunday and it barely goes over his fat head and is almost too small for his belly!

Miles is laughing hyterically now. It melts my heart! I can give him kisses all over his body and he giggles at every nibble. Daddy can do the "boo" game and he squals every time and sometimes even tickling him everywhere does it. It's so awesome to hear and it brings a tear...(there's a country song in there somewhere...)

Miles LOVES to stand up! Either in your lap or on the floor. And lately, you can stand him up holding onto the ottoman/coffee table and LET.GO and he stands there like a big boy! No wobbles! WHAT? Mom saw me do it on Sunday and was like, you're gonna have a 9 month old walker if you keep up that training...Training? I am not pushing the issue. I am just helping him in a position that he loves to be in. I think he likes to be "taller" so he can see more around him! It only has me a little worried because I have read that some babies never crawl and go straight to walking! When we were at JCP one time for his pics, there was a 10 month old there walking around. It looked so strange because he was so small - like a little mini person standing there!

For the first time since May, we got to take the boat out! It's been having some electrical issues...the wires in that thing are daisy chained together so if one thing goes out, more than likely it will make something else go out, etc, etc. You get the picture. So first it was the gas gauge (hello, might need this when we're 10 miles down river), then the radio (Ok I can live without it cuz we can use iTunes), then the engine...ok this is enough. Anyway, Deano and his friend took it out weekend before last to tinker with it and think it's finally ready. We took it out to this river. It's a nice place to relax. And house look and people watch...I have a feeling there's some waterfront property in our future... It was just me and my boys. Miles took a nap and we took some deli sandwhiches and BEAVER.NUGGETS from Bucc.ee's!!! YUM-O! And look...Dean is already teaching Miles how to drive. I think he was more interested in how that throttle worked though...GO FASTER DADDY!

Here's Mr. Miles weekly pic - Week 19. Holy CRAP - this means I will have a 5 month old on Friday. WHAT? This photo session was quite amusing as he kept grabbing the monkey and pulling him over on top of him!

Don't you just want to squeeze and hug and kiss and love him? I do. ALL.DAY.LONG.

Bad Decision

2009-09-01T06:57:00.001-05:00

What do you breastfeeding mammas have to say about this?

http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2009/08/31/can-pumping-at-work-get-you-fired/

Q&A Answers

2009-08-28T07:00:00.002-05:00

I didn’t really get too many hits on this Q&A thing. So either everybody out there knows everything about me or you think I’m boring and don’t want to know...

Regardless, here’s the answers to the questions I got…

Stacey Queen asked: how do you guys make your own wine? Where did you learn that?

Dean actually started doing this BK (Before Kim). It’s really quite easy. We buy grape concentrate from a local wine/beer making shop.We also bought our supplies from there as well, like the 6 gallon glass jar, bucket, mixing spoons, siphon…. In the concentrate box comes the juice, any additional ingredients it needs i.e. yeast, etc. and INSTRUCTIONS! You follow the steps accordingly. Usually, but not always, it goes something like this (very layman’s terms here):

Sanitize everything
Pour 6 gallons of water into bucket
Add juice and other ingredients and stir
Add percolator to top of bucket (not really called that, but that’s what I call it) it allows air to escape from the bucket while the yeast is fermenting. It makes a bubble, bubble sound you can hear throughout the house.
Wait X number of days for this phase. Maybe add more stuff
Transfer to 6 gallon glass jar
Put on dark shelf and wait X number of days for it to get ready
Siphon from glass jar into bottles
Cork bottles, heat bottle tops/covers onto bottles and add labels. I order ours here. They are much better quality than we could print at home.
ENJOY!

Martha asked:
What is you and Deano's favorite song?

I think there are a bunch of them. But since he is a musician, he usually only pays attention to the tune itself: notes, tone, rhythmn, beat. I like the words. But we both equally suck at names of artists and songs. “Our” song is Tim McGraw’s Watch the Wind Blow By. It would have been the song we danced to at our wedding had we remembered the damn CD and taken it to Jamaica…DOH

Where did you all get married?
Engaged on top of Pike’s Peak, married on the sunny shores of Montego Bay, Jamaica

What do you like about where ya'll live?

Pearland, Texas. It’s a burb of Houston. Growing like wild fire. Seems like there is a new store opening every week! We are in a new neighborhood with houses still being built. COME ON CUL DE SAC - we have one lot still empty. Lots of great neighbors, kids programs, decent schools. Super close to everything Houston and family...

What would you change?

About myself – my weight
About my husband – not a thing
About my life – wish I would have met Deano sooner so maybe I could squeeze out another baby. :-) Pun INTENDED

nancy asked:.

would you eat human meat? Think of craziest circumstance like you are in a country they grow human meat for consumption, so everyone does it. Would you try a bite?

First of all..EWWWWW. Why would you come up with something like this you weirdo? Just kidding. If it was “grown” for human consumption, that would freak me out. I mean, could you imagine being friends with someone and then later realizing they were “from the farm” and you ate them? NO. That is why I couldn’t be in FFA and raise a pig or chicken or rabbit. They eventually end up on someone’s plate and no thank you I could not have eaten Ally McSqueal (cousin’s pig from FFA) And that only makes it worse when you name it….

coke or pepsi?

Coke. I drank Pepsi growing up at my grandparent’s house. For some reason we only drank Coke with Coke floats, but Pepsi is what we had for soda. BLECH. I can’t stand the taste anymore although it does make me miss Grandpa…

last CD you bought/listened to?

See above answer to Martha’s question about favorite song. IF we bought CD’s who would we buy? We could walk into the store and ask the sales guy, “hey who plays this song – dun, dun, dun, dun-dun-dun, dah, daaah” (Dean) or me, “What song has these words ‘Mom caught me smoking and she says NO WAY’.” YEAH. We listen to Pandora or the radio or the music channels on U-verse. But we have lots of CD’s from yesteryear. His – mainly jazz, mine – mostly stuff too embarrassing to list here…

pizza toppings?

Cheese, pepperoni and extra sauce. Please and thank you.

What shoe would you buy if you could buy ANYTHING?

Does it mean I’m not girly if I am not THAT into shoes? I mean really….in order to answer this question I am going to have to Google something and that means I really don’t want to buy it, just looking for a cute answer…HOWEVER, since Rodeo is coming up and we’ll be at the fairgrounds doing our volunteer duties, it will get me in my cowgirl spirit. And that always makes me long for my days of Ropers and Rocky Mountain jeans. My Ropers left via garage sale many moons ago. But I could really dig me some of these beauties….Perhaps an early birthday present from my love...

Crafty McCrafter #2

2009-08-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

I found this really cute idea on Photogrl's bloggy....so I signed up.

And now....it's your turn!

Here's how it works....The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something made by me, especially for you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

I make no guarantees that you will like what I make but I hope you will.
What I create will be just for you.
They say I have a year to get it to you. But I promise it will NOT take that long!
You have no clue what it's going to be. It’s a surprise to both of us at this point.

The catch? You must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

Milk = Milk?

2009-08-26T13:00:00.001-05:00

Who da thunk it....I have been having some milk supply issues lately. As in, not enough for ~~Porky~~ Miles. He is taking about 6 oz at a time from the sitter (you know since el boobies don't have a gauge on them, it's hard for me to know). But when I am pumping at work, I'm still only getting 4 oz -that's total - from both. It's been bugging me so I have been drinking like 3 super-mondo-using-the-cup-from-the-hospital 48 oz'ers every day, but still no change really.

Well this morning LaRay said she had a gallon of milk in the fridge that is going to expire this weekend and to help myself if I wanted any. So in addition to 48 oz of water before the 8AM pumping, I had about 8 oz of whole milk. Now, I don't know of the "whole" was the key ingredient or what, but this morning I got 6.25 oz! (And yes, the .25 is noteworthy!) I was so impressed with myself. So imagine my dismay to only get a measly 2.5 at lunch. BOO Is milk the magic to more milk?

Anyone else notice that when you actually DRINK milk, it makes MORE milk? Or was this just a fluke, leftovers from what Miles didn't take at this morning's feeding???

Speaking of Mr. Perfect - here is his 18 week picture! Can you believe he is almost 5 months old?

Another question, anyone else taking Fenugreek for milk production? Have heard stories both ways on this. Also I think I read it takes 6 weeks to take effect, so that won't help my problem, you know...TODAY.

Dean's band started back up yesterday. They practice every Tuesday and host about 2 concerts a semester. It's a community band out of this college. His old college buddy is the band director there and the band is made up of current students, former students, former professionals, current music teachers, and old farts who do it for fun. (Dean that wasn't for you. You are in the "former professional" category....**) Beins' that my Bunco group meets first Tuesday of the month, I have now had to drop out to take care of mah baybee on Tuesdays... Kinda sad...I'll miss those Drunko nights...., I mean Bunco nights. I am still on the sub list though - for that group and 2 others (all in my neighborhood) so hopefully I'll get the call soon so I can see my girls.

This pic cracks me up. #1 - the saying is priceless and #2 - the look on his face makes me think "Whatchoo talkin' bout Willis?" heehee

Well that's all I can think of for now. Working on a couple posts/projects: crafty mccrafty, modeling chocolate, and of course that Q&A...

Here's another pic of Miles in his jumperoo. LOVES that froggie! It totally mesmerizes him. When we face him to another "station," he turns back to this one every time!

**Our dear friend SI, has a "signature" on her gmail account. Past president this, current director of that, etc. It cracks Dean up so he thought he would compose one for his personal email account as well. Looks like his trumps hers big time....check it out. You didn't know I was married to a celebrity, did you? :-P

Dean
Bachelor of Music
University of North Texas
*Esteemed Member Of UNT one o'clock band
http://www.unt.edu/

Past-President Bowling Club
Sam Houston High School
http://hs.houstonisd.org/HoustonHS/

Phi Mu Alpha member
http://sinfonia.org/

Previous Owner-Dean's Piano Service
http://www.deanspiano.com/

ITIL Foundation Certification
http://www.itil-officialsite.com/home/home.asp

Former Trumpet Player for:

Four Tops
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Four%20Tops.html
Glen Campbel
http://www.glencampbellshow.com/
Jerry Lewis
http://www.jerrylewiscomedy.com/
Carol Channing
http://www.carolchanning.org/
Ray Price
http://www.raypricefanclub.net/
Jimmy Dorsey
http://www.jimmydorseyorchestra.com/
Jimmy Carter
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/jimmycarter/
Ringling Bros
http://www.ringling.com/
Debbie Reynolds
http://www.debbiereynolds.com/
The O'Jays
http://www.theojayshomepage.com/
Steve Allen
http://www.steveallenonline.com/
Sarabanda
***Two #1 hits on top 10 pop charts
http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/8444.10?sstp938Z;;198
Marty Robbins
http://www.martyrobbins.com/

Television Appearances
Channel 13 Houston
Noon Show in Oklahoma City
Numerous Commercials TV and Radio

Albums

Rickenstein
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350141079708&print=all&category=306

Sarabanda
http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/8444.10?sstp938Z;;198
NTSU one o'clock Lab '79 (band nominated for Grammy 4 times)
http://thempm.wordpress.com/2008/10/18/lab-79-north-texas-state-university-lab-band-ntsu-jazz-lab-bands-1979/

Las Vegas Appearances:

Dunes
http://gloriouslasvegas.com/2007/07/09/history-of-the-las-vegas-dunes-hotel/
Imperial Palace
http://www.imperialpalace.com/casinos/imperial-palace/casino-misc/hotel-overview.html
Sahara
http://www.saharavegas.com/home/
Mint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mint_Las_Vegas

Topsy Turvy

2009-08-24T15:16:00.008-05:00

* I have been a very bad blogger lately. You would think with my new "fancy" iphone that I would be blogging more since I don't necessarily have to have a pc to do it now, huh? Must be pure laziness....or it could be that I am having a fantastic time with my little boo-boo so I don't want to take time away from him to blog! HA!

I can't believe I forgot to tell you some BRU drama from our shopping experience the other day. I had a bag of ~~crap~~ ~~stuff~~ gifts that I needed to exchange for other much larger purchases such as the stroller in above linky. Seems like BRU has taken on EVIL.TARGET's satan return policy. Weird, since I returned a whole boatload of ~~crap~~ ~~stuff~~ gifts after the shower in Februrary and was given store credit for them. According to customer service manager (ooooh) BRU is now working under TRU policies. Funny, I always thought them one in the same anyways? But apparently not, and apparently policy has changed since February. Anyway, I had some duplicate things and other things I didn't need that I merely wanted to get store credit for. Apparently the answer is a big, fat N.O. Not without a receipt or a purhcase on your registry in the past 90 days. WTF? That doesn't even make any sense? So all I need to do is buy something from my registry and then you will take this stuff back? (was thinking this, didn't actually give away my evil plan.) But what? And really I am supposed to get receipts for crap that people gave me 4 months ago that I am just now realizing I won't be needing/using? That is impossible?! Some of the things I don't even remember who gave them to me? UGH. So now I have a bag of ~~crap~~ ~~stuff~~ gifts that will be going to the next baby-mamma-to-be that I know - HI KIM AND/OR STEPH!!! heehee

I mean really, who needs 6 color-changing-temperature-telling-ducks? which is how many I would have if the policy hadn't suddenly "changed." BAH!

And how could I have forgotten to post a pic of my topsy.turvy/whimsical.cake? I signed up to take a whimsical.cake.class with my friend Kim. If you remember, she is the one I took all those Wilton.classes with last year...she has turned it into a business, while I am still doing it for friends, family, and co-workers. ANYWHO...she ended up not getting to go because she is 7 months pregnant and had some bleeding that morning. Doc said to stay home and take it easy. So there I was...the lone person taking this class "for fun." SERIOUSLY! Someone asked the class who was taking it for fun and I was the only one to raise my hand! Everyone else was talking about their customers! EEK - talk about nervous pervous! So here is my 1st topsy.turvy cake. It is supposed to look like its going to fall over....that is the point. However, I am glad I snapped this pic in class, because by the time I was home, my topsy.turvy was....well, topsy.turvy for real. The edge of the bottom tier fell off, thus causing a slight cave in on the next layer and so forth... oh well, it still ate well!

I am now a "professional" cake maker I suppose. I should be, hell that class cost $150! It was totally not what I designed. She had us sketch out what we wanted before starting, even colored with map pencils! The middle layer color was airbrushed on - just so we could play with the air brush machine. Me? NOT.A.FAN. Could be because I sat on the back row and the machine was behind me. 12 people all used different colors so my boogers....yeah, they were rainbow.

Speaking of cakes, I am excited to be hosting a diapers.&.beer shower for my friend Kim next month. I am going to be making a practice cake beforehand. I mean, hosting a shower for a professional baker, the cake has got to be Dy.no.mite, right? So I plan on making a baby.rump.cake like the linky one. So work peeps - it's coming soon!

Also I have been reading about No.Fail.Sugar.Cookies which is the bomb sugar cookie recipe because the cookies don't shrink or swell so they are actually the shape of the cutter. I also want to use rolled.butter.cream to cover them. It's like fondant, but buttercream and you can cut it out using the same cutter and just glue it to the cookie, then make the accents with royal.icing. A friend from work is having foot surgery this week so I am going to work on making him a cookie bouquet of these as a "Get Well Soon" present....

Miles had his first taste of rice.cereal last night. We added a bit to a bottle of BM. He gobbled it up and had no issues. Thank.the.Lord! This little guy just takes every change we throw at him with a grain of salt. He is SO.PERFECT! Haven't I said that before? :)

Here's a pic of Daddy entertaining him while waiting in the doctor's office last week.

And here's his 17 week pic...18 is on the camera....at home... sorry for the crap quality. He was ready for bed time so I had to use the phone to take it since I didn't have time to locate the camera.

And finally....this is Miles helping Mommy with the laundry yesterday!

P.S. I am planning on finally answering that Q&A post this week - PROMISE!

My son

2009-08-23T15:17:00.001-05:00

My son, who sleeps through anything!

4 month checkup

2009-08-18T12:40:00.004-05:00

Good news at the pediatrician's office yesterday...

Height: 25" - 50%
Weight: 14 lbs 8.5 oz - 50%
Head: 16.5 "

He received 2 vaccinations and an oral medicine for Rotavirus. Doc said he is growing well, has a big strong neck, and is very impressed with his sleeping through the night! (Insert BRAGGING here)

Again the shots made him a little whiny and sleepy. This is Miles and we were barely 2 blocks from the office...

Q&A

2009-08-13T13:45:00.000-05:00

My friend (un)complicate me, via another friend Calliope, posted a Q&A post on her blog. This is a great way to get to know me (if you care to) and if you don't, then it's just some random stuff about me that will surely blow your mind... HA

I can't post questions/answers that I asked (un)complicate me, as I was rude and didn't participate...only stole her idea! Ask anything you want....almost...cuz DH gets an email of this bloggy's posts - yes, he is too lazy to go the URL and/or read it in his reader - THAT I SET UP for him. (Hi Deano)

So there's the not-much-thought-put-into-it-post-of-the-day. But there will be much thought into the answers of all your wonderful questions!!!!!

But hey! At least I leave with Lots of Love from Miles!

Week 16

I kept meaning to put this on him when we went to watch Daddy play, but forgot....I am sure he will have outgrown it by the time the college community band picks back up during fall semester. Oh well - it is still super cutie!

Rubber.Baby.Buggy.Bumpers

2009-08-11T15:17:00.000-05:00

Today seems like a bullet kind of day...

Lots of stuff happening in the Land O' Miles. This weekend we upgraded to Size 2 diapers! His little booty is getting too big for the 1's. At last weigh in (rough estimate on the bathroom scale) was 15 lbs. He is wearing some 6-9 month clothes already. Slow down little man!

And since we needed diapers in abundance, what better excuse than to visit Ye Olde BRU?! Not to mention I had a 15% off coupon for strollers and we need to get a new one for when Miles grows out of the car seat since we only have a Snap N Go stroller frame. (Note to self to take pic in new stroller since we already took the initial walk in it yesterday - DOH!) We went with the Graco.MetroLite. It is super light, folds easy, has parent cupholders, kid tray, large shade, and the seat reclines to 3 positions. NOTE it's the 1st baby gear item we have that is actually boy color - not yellow or green - YAY!

Miles is a rootin' and a scootin' these days. He's not crawling yet, but he is moving all over the place - like an upside down turtle - he "swims" and rocks on his belly. We put him under his play gym on Saturday - I went to go change clothes - and when I got back I asked Dean why he turned him around - his head was under the mirror/kickpad that plays music and his feet were under the toys hanging down. He was like, "Uh, I didn't!" He did a total 180 just by pushing with his feet and arms!

So since he's been moving so much, at night he's been face planted into the bumper, usually in the corner. This kind of concerns me, but kind of not. The bumper is not shoved down by the mattress, so it has room underneath it for air flow. Also, I have read that if your child is moving around that much that they will be able to move if their airway is blocked. Healthy bodies will wake themselves up if there is a lack of oxygen. And remember he LOVES to sleep on his face -like flat on his face. But there is still that whole suffoctation thing in the back of my mind....SO...I took out the bumper Sunday night.

Monday morning I go up for his morning feeding and what do I find (Dang I need to take a pic of this too!) but 2 chubby baby thighs sticking out the crib! One was almost up to his hip and the other was half way through, kicking on the diaper stacker that's on the crib! UGH - now all I can envision is itty bitty dislocated shoulders and broken legs! Luckily he was just as happy as could be lying there kicking his feet around. But LORD it made me nervous so today I have been researching breathable.bumpers and what other bumper lovin' moms think.

I was all set to buy a breathable.bumper from wally world on the way home, but have now decided to not spend that money and instead use my ultra cutie bumper from the bedding set in a new, make Mommy feel better, not have to spend more money, kind of way. I am going to weave it in and out of the slats (like breathable.bumpers). This will prevent fat thighs and chubby arms from poking out - or under - and also secure it better than just the ties on the top and bottom of the cushion so it doesn't fall on his widdle head. Now if he learns how to untie knots, then I'm in trouble, but until then...

On a totally un-Milesy related note....I finally got that hair do I talked about the other day. I got it chopped and colored - to cover up the badly exposed roots from the outgrown highlights. Here's a pic from when the lady straightened it - why do they always want to straighten my hair? I'm like what.evah. It's going to take you 30 more minutes to do that, but whatever floats your boat miss.

And I couldn't leave you without a picture of what makes me smile everyday....

Isn't it funny that the gas key hole on the wall looks like his earring? HEEHEE

Jumperoo to College...

2009-08-06T10:15:00.001-05:00

Smiley Miley had a good day yesterday. He played well with his friend Avery, however they were playing so much that he didn't get a good morning nap! When Daddy picked him up around 1:00, he slept until 4:30! That little girl tuckered him out!

When I got home yesterday, Daddy put together Miles' new jumperoo. It has so many fun things to do on it, and we don't even have batteries in it yet. I can't wait to see his face when things make sounds! He may still be a little small for it yet, as his feetsies barely reach and his head is about level with most of the toys, instead of above it. He was fascinated by the mirror!

Who doesn't want to nibble on these baby thighs? Full of ooey, gooey goodness I tell ya!

Something else exciting happened yesterday.... Miles has joined the financial world! He now has a 529 college fund (Mommy is custodian) and a UTMA (Uniform Transfers to Minors Act) account. This account Miles is the owner (with Daddy as custodian) - under his own social and everything! Both accounts we can contribute to as regularly as we like. We opted to deposit $50 to each every month, but can increase or add other moneies as we desire. Our hopes are to tell our families that going forward, instead of presents for Mom and Dad, give money to the Miles College Fund! Also future birthday or Christmas money will go to these accounts as well.

The 529 is totally tax free if used for college. Taxed HEAVILY if withdrawn and not used for college. We did find out that if Miles opts not to go to college, we can change the beneficiary to whoever (me, Grammy, Aunt M) and apply to college for them. The UTMA account is more like a savings account, but invested in funds. He can use this money for whatever and becomes the primary owner at age 18. Investor guy said most people let their kids use it for other expenses while in college - books, food, etc. - while others buy cars with it.

I am so glad we have this worked out now and not scrambling to get money together for college when he's in high school.

**Is it bad that I want to create a PayPal button and put in on the blog for donations to these accounts? :0)

Mobile blogging

2009-08-05T11:10:00.001-05:00

Just checking out mobile blogging.

This is Drew, the evacuee baby!

iPhone Awesomeness & Truck Suckiness

2009-08-05T09:32:00.001-05:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged about my new super-duper-awesome-better-than-chocolate & wine-iphone! I have had it for a couple weeks now and LUUUUV it! Dean and I have been on seperate cell providers ever since we have been together. We finally used our pea brains and decided it would be cheaper to get on ATT on a family plan, share minutes, and talk to each other for free! And what better to do so with, than with an iphone. Holy moly this thing rocks!

I would always make fun of iphone owners calling them fancy phones and why do you need a fancy phone and its just a phone and such. But DUDE you don't need any other gadget other than this. It has a phone (duh), texting, calendar, contacts (like with addresses and such), and LOADS of applications you can get from the app.store. Like crazy things I am obsessed with like: mahjong, grocery lists, ebay, craigslist, woot, wine journal, weather, waterslide, tip calculator...the list goes on, and on, and on!

Oh and I forgot the coupon app! Seriously - it uses GPS to get your location, then finds all the coupons for stores near you. You pull up the coupon on the phone and it says "Show to cashier." They supposedly can scan the UPC FROM.THE.PHONE! WHAT! Could this be any greener? No paper coupons? Super duper awesomeness! I tried it last week at Michael's. The scanner wouldn't read it, but she keyed in the number from the phone - what's up 50% off of my new fondant letter cutter outers -seen in action here.

**Updated to add: Coupon app is called mobiQpons!***

Miles is having a playdate with our neighbor Avery today. The sitter needed the day off so Avery's Grandma has offered to keep Miles today - just for a few hours. Daddy will get him after lunch. I hope he has fun! She likes to give him stuff like bottles and blankets. Such the helper!

Actually the sitter being off couldn't have been on a better day. Our Trailblazer decided on Sunday to only blow air out of the a/c vents on our FEET. Really...when you get into a 125 degree vehicle and its 100 degrees outside, your FEET are the last body part you need cooled off immediately! It did this about a month or so ago, but the next day was working again. This time, not so much. By the time I got home from the vanpool lot and getting Miles on Monday, I was drenched! But damn my feet were freezing! Dean dropped it off yesterday at the dealership and they shuttled him home. (Rental car not available unless they keep it for more than 2 days - UGH) Not sure if you remember or not, but our other vehicle....not so suited for baby nor for mom, dad plus baby. It's a 350Z - that's a 2 seater car, no back seat.

About a month or so ago, we had an air bag switch installed (apparently only vehicles made after 2005 (Zoe is '04) have the auto switch to turn it on or off based on body weight). Its the same switch and company used by police departments. They have to turn the passenger air bags off to prevent them from deploying and busting up all their computer equipment in the seat. I digress....we had it installed for times such as these - emergencies only. So the dealership shuttled him home and he picked up Miles in the Z. I was WAY nervous, but thankfully she lives in our neighborhood so there were no major roads involved.

So thankfully the sitter is off today so we don't have to put him in it again -he just got walked across the street. The truck was supposed to be ready this afternoon. But Dean just got an email from his old work phone (Voice over IP) with a message from the dealership that the truck is ready.....left at 4:55 PM YESTERDAY. UGH - we could have avoided that whole scenario! How annoying. We left them current numbers so I guess they just didn't look at the paperwork and only looked up the account in the computer to come up with a number he hasn't used in 2 years! Also thankfully the part to be replaced was covered by our warranty so we only had a $100 deductible! SWEET!

Now it's time for some internet opinions, but first some background.....

The Z is paid off.
The Z only has 2 seats.
The Z is not really baby friendly - only for emergencies.
I ride a vanpool to work so only drive to a parking lot 1 mile from home.
Dean drops off Miles in the truck, then drops the truck off in the vanpool lot and takes the Z home.
I drive truck to pick Miles up (I pass sitter's house on way home).

Other than the car switcheroo Dean plays every day, there are really no negatives to the current situation....besides during the rare occasion that the truck is in the shop and/or unavailable - like if Daddy takes it to pull the boat.

Do you think we need to buy a 3rd vehicle?
Or would you trade in the Z - EVEN.THOUGH.IT'S.PAID.FOR.AND.MOMMY.HEARTS.HER- and get another baby friendly-mobile?

Missing Miles Gives Mom a Headache

2009-08-03T16:10:00.001-05:00

So the moo-cow birthday cake was a hit! It is the cutest cake I have made so far, and definitely the funnest! I got inspriation from several cakes on cakecentral. Everyone loved it and thought I should do it full time. HA! (The sign reads: Cowabunga! It's your birthday!)

I ran out of powdered sugar doing the moo-cow-cake, so the one today was just a "regular" cake - cinnamon sugar-pecan pudding cake. It's served cold with whipped cream. We're having it shortly so I'll let you know how it tastes. If its good, I'll give you the recipe! (**Updated: Birthday guy left work early! We will have it tomorrow instead**)

On the way to Grammy's house, I started getting a massive headache. Probably because my brain was on overdrive thinking of everything that could go wrong while we were away. Yes, only a phone call away, but still....Needless to say, on our "date" night all we did was dinner. By the end all I wanted to do was put my head on the table! We went home, I pumped, and fell asleep on the couch. What a great date I was!

Anyway, Mr. Miles was missing mommy too because he did not sleep well at all for Grammy and Grampy! He is sleeping through the night - 7 or 8 - hours with us, but he only went down for like 1.5 hour chunks, then they rocked him, then 1.5 hours later doing it again. Finally gave him more milk around 3AM and he slept til 7. I think he just knew they wanted to hang out with him so he wanted to play more. Mom said he wasn't even fussy when he was doing all that waking up - just talking and grabbing his feet and sticking his legs in the air!

We have donated some of our baby toys to Grammy's house - some we have 2 of. I had thought he was still too short for the jumper, but Grampy's been itching to try it out so they put him in it and he had a good ol' time. Said if he stretched his toes enough he could reach the floor to bounce! My little boy is growing up TOO fast!

Bouncing Baby Boy!

I finally added new weekly pics over there -------------------------------------->

Week 14 - with new circus monkey!

Week 15

Did I mention everything is going into his mouth?

Too random for a real title...

2009-07-31T10:35:00.001-05:00

I have had all kinds of blog post ideas rattling around in my brain this week, but no time to actually do them. Why do I dream about blogging? Because I am a total dork I suppose!

Miles has slept all week upstairs in his crib. Previously it has only been a night or 2 a week. Most nights, he has been asleep all night...but last night...

We are attempting to wean the pacifier already - especially at night. He doesn't NEED it, it's just more of a comfort and helps get him to sleep quicker. But DANG last night...he was kind of restless, like he couldn't get comfortable so at about 12:30 the stupid sucker fell out of his mouth. This produced crying. So up the stairs Daddy goes to put it back in. 1:00 it happened again. Up the stairs Mommy goes. This time I rocked him too and put him on his tummy (makes me SUPER nervous to do this at night. It's different during naps when we can watch him) but he sleeps more deeply on his tum-tum. I didn't even give him the sucker when I put him back down and he slept like a champ. I couldn't even wake him up at 4:30 feeding time - it was like one of those dream feeds. Then Daddy had to wake him up at 7:30 to go to the sitter. He is usually awake on his own by then.

Miles is still getting baths in the super.duper.awesome.(especially for boys)clean.water.tub. It is made for kitchen sinks, so that's where we are for bath time. As of last night, he is so long that he doesn't even fit on the kitchen counter - we lay him on a thick towel while getting the water ready and during dry off time. His head hits the tile and his feet are almost over the counter. WHAT! So this prompted Daddy to bust out the measuring tape and our estimation is 24". We also have one of those teddy.bear.bath.sponges that goes in the tub for him to sit on. He is so big that he needs the room that the sponge is hogging for himself! We took the sponge out last night, but his legs are almost over the marked "feet" section!

He is laughing out loud now! Seriously laughing! He will never do it when we are trying to get him to...you know like when we want to get it on video. He just does it whenever. It is so precious! Like he is totally happy with his little life here with us!

He is still wearing some 3 month clothes, but 6 months in others.

The formula supplements are going well. Some days the sitter doesn't have to give him any, but when he needs just a few more ounces than what I pumped, he takes it like a champ!

I just got off the phone with Grampy. And guess what?...............Miles is going for his first official overnight tomorrow! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! I am totally freaked. Not that Grammy and Grampy won't known what to do - I mean they did raise 2 totally normal (well mostly) daughters of their own without any issues. That is what Dean told me, "Hello - they are his grandparents!" I know, I know. But he is going to be away from us for so long! The most he is away from me is 9 hours while I'm at work. This will be like 14!! And at night! What if he has a bad dream? I know it will be fine and we are only a phone call away....but I am still way nervous.

While Miles is spending some QT with Grammy and Grampy, we're going on a date! It's not that we don't go out with him - because we do - ALL THE TIME. But without him, I will be able to eat my dinner at a normal pace and not have to shovel it all in before he wakes up or try not to drop something on his head while eating (Chinese restaurant the other day - he was so tired he only wanted Mommy and our food had just arrived! Tried not to drop sweet and sour sauce on his purdy little head!) Maybe we'll even catch a movie or a band!

We'll be picking him on our way to SI's Mom's BDay party. I am making a cow cake for the party. Already made the little figurine out of fondant/gumpaste. He is a cutie! Well, I guess it's a she since she has udders! HEEHEE. I am also making a bday cake for a guy on my team at work for Monday. Not sure what I'm doing there yet. I have really been wanting just a "normal" cake - non-decorated, Bailey's Irish Cream with chocolate frosting, but I can't find a decent recipe anywhere....Plus it's not MY birthday, right? Anyone got one laying around?

I am FINALLY getting my hair done next week. I am need of some desperate help. Haven't had my highlights done since...oh I was about 6 months pregnant! I have worn it pulled up in a clip since coming back to work because when its down, those roots are a'SCREAMIN! I have decided to back to plain ol' brown and be without the highlights for a while. Hubby likes them, but they are high maintenance. And obviously if I only have time for an appointment every 6 months, they are not for me anymore!

Speaking of me and maintenance....I am also getting a pedi for the first time since coming back to work. Yes, you read that correctly. My son is 15 weeks old today and I came back to work when he was 9 weeks. Do the math....6 weeks without a pedi......in the S.U.M.M.E.R. I am so embarrassed to don a pair of flip flops!! Doing that in the morning....

So between beauty maintenance, baking, date night, and bday party, looks like my weekend is DONE!

Sorry for all the ramblings, but at least it looks good in a nice outline kind of way! :0)

Have a good weekend!

**Oh and I promise updated weekly Miles pics and more cutie Miles pics and cake pics (run on sentence anyone?) next week!**

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-29T07:21:00.002-05:00

This is where my hands are most days....

Terrific Tuesday

2009-07-28T10:23:00.000-05:00

I read this in an email from Baby.Center today: If you're feeding your baby formula, you can expect to pay between $1,300 and $4,000 for a year's supply. YAY more money for wine!

I think Miles might be teething. I can't feel anything on his gums, but he is a drooling machine! The sitter is having to change his clothes because they are SOAKED! And his fist is constantly in his mouth.

His other new trick is whenever he is laying on his back, his legs are straight up in the air. I think this is the next step to having his feet in his mouth!

Last night we put him to bed in his crib upstairs. We have done this a few other times and they have gone smoothly. Last night he was SO restless. I had the monitor turned way up so I could hear him (his room is far enough away that without the right volume on the monitor, I wouldn't hear him at all) and all I could hear was his body moving against the sheets. I looked at the monitor and he was flopping his head from side to side and moving his arms and legs all over the place. Of course this kept us awake because of the monitor amplifying what is normally a quiet sound. Finally about 2:30 Dean went up and put him on his tummy and give him his sucker (Dean HATES the word "paci"). He naps very well on his tummy but he did the same thing this way. 3:00 we moved him back to the pack n play in our room and he was golden. So an hour and half later....I had to get up to feed him before work. UGH am I dragging this morning.

Tonight, Deano is playing in the Galveston.Beach.Band again. It is very Americana, even playing in a gazebo with buntings hanging from it. The band director is 85 years old, as are some of the players. His dad started the band in 1934. They play every Tuesday night during the summer. Check out the link. My favorite from the article: "Benches provided. Mosquito spray recommended. Admission is free."

And you know I can't leave without a pic of the little guy! He is smiles 24 x 7!!!

The Center Ring

2009-07-23T13:12:00.001-05:00

Forgot I needed to recap our circus visit from Tuesday.... The "pre-show" was cool, although the website said doors open at 5:30, we sweated outside the gates until 6:00 - why - nobody knows. We got to walk around and see the elephants, horses, tigers, puppies, pot belly piggys, and porcupine (yes - he even had a little act!) up close and personal. On the otherside of the arena were the clowns, jugglers, etc. You could try on circus outfits, get autographs, and watch little clown acts.

We ended up leaving at intermission - 9:00! - because it was just too much for Mr. Miles. It was way loud for his baby ears and he started getting startled anytime a loud noise would happen - and with clowns falling down and throwing things - you can imagine there was a noise for all of it! The minute we got outside he wasn't figedety at all! I won't bore you with all the pics (Thanks S, stole some from your page)....but here's a few.

During the pre-show the elephants were throwing tires around like balls!

The crazy clown BFF's...
All of the clown bunch!

Me...ABC Style

2009-07-22T07:00:00.003-05:00

Good thing I checked my personal email while here working at my desk....I totally forgot it was ICLW already!!

So for those of you who haven't been here before, here's a little rundown on Kimbo's life...ABC style.

A - Annovulatory - random cycles and no ovulation - that's me
B - Boy - what I secretly hoped we were having when we decided to not find out the gender
C - Chocolate - the 3rd love of my life
D - Deano - the awesome and understanding DH
E - Excited - how I feel every day when I pick up Miles from the sitter's
F - Four IUI's - what it took for us to get pregnant
G - Grandpa - who I miss so, so much. I am so sad he wasn't able to meet his great-grandson
H - Home - my favorite place to be these days
I - Injectibles - Meno.pur, Folli.stim, Ovi.drel
J - Jealous - of my friends who get pregnant so easily
K - Kimbosue - a childhood nickname that has stuck with me 31 years later
L - Low Motility - DH's slow swimmers
M - Male factor - that's DH due to a varicocele
N - Nervous - that I won't know how to be a good mom
O - Oral meds - clo.mid, pro.gesterone, pro.metrium
P - Poor morphology - DH's swimmers are bad!
Q - Quiet - what my house will never be again
R - Red - the hair color I wish I had
S - Son - my first born, my one and only (probably ever) Miles Monroe, born 4/17/2009
T - Tomatillo sauce - my fav sauce on enchiladas
U - Unagi - my favorite sushi!
V - Vagina - what was looked at, poked at, prodded at WAAAY too many times over the past year
W - Wine, red, red, red - my total fav. And did you know we make our own?
X - Xrays - teeth only. Think I'm the only one that hasn't broken any bones E.V.E.R.
Y - You - Thanks for stopping by and you try coming up with this list next time...it's hard!
Z - Zebra - the Little.People animal my friend S always calls Giraffe when playing with her son! (OK, not really about me, but what else starts with Z? And really, I love telling this story about her all the time!)

Circus Supplemental

2009-07-21T07:45:00.002-05:00

The day has finally arrived....

The day I knew would come...

The day I had to send formula with Miles to the sitter. :0(

When I picked him up yesterday she told me she had ran out of milk. I have only been pumping 4-5 oz at a time and she said he's been taking that plus like 1 more oz out of another bag. The timing couldn't have been more perfect though, on Miles' part. She usually feeds him around 4:15 or so, but yesterday he was either having another growth spurt or was just extra tired from his long weekend and slept from 3:00 until I picked him up at 5:20. So that was a blessing, otherwise she would have been dealing with a screaming, starving baby.

It still makes me sad though, to know that I can't keep up with his needs anymore. But it also makes me happy to know that he is growing and is one step closer to starting solid foods. The books I've read say you can start 4-6 months. I want to wait until his 4 month checkup with the pediatrician on 8/17 to see what he thinks.

Any other BF'ing moms supplementing too? What are your thoughts?

Tonight we are going to the circus! YAY! We are going with S&J, Drew, and Fun Aunt S.I.!! It will definitely be Miles' first circus and I think Drew's too. You can go an hour and half before the show starts and get to walk on the floor of the arena meeting clowns, riding elephants. Should be lots of crazy fun!

I'll leave you with some pics from the weekend.

Week 13

Birthday Party/Girl #2

Birthday Party/Girl #1 (sitter's daughter)

I love to sleep on my face!

Grammy giving her 1st bath!

Everyday is a New Day

2009-07-20T09:03:00.003-05:00

So this is how this glorious Monday started….

-While riding in the van, start digging through purse to find badge.
-Can’t find badge, must have left it at home
-Walk to security desk to get badge. 1 person in line, wait for 5 minutes while security dude finishes with her.
-5 minutes later – finally have temp badge
-Walk to badge in. Try 4 times, not working badge.
-Walk back to security desk. Now there are 2 people in line.
-Wait 10 minutes – 5 minutes for each person.
-While waiting, security guy says “I’ll be right with you” like he hasn’t seen me before.
-Finally my turn again…hand bad badge to security dude. Security: “You’re turning in this badge?” Me: “No, it doesn’t work.” Security: “OK can I have your ID badge?” Me: (blank look on face) Security: (pulls out HIS ID badge)“You know, the one with your picture on it?” Me: “I left it at home. Remember, you just gave me this temp badge like 10 minutes ago?” Security: “Ok miss, I can get you a temp badge since you left yours at home.” Proceeds to reissue SAME NON-WORKING badge….Security: “Oh this one doesn’t seem to be working, it’s not in the system.” Me: (trying not to roll eyes or sigh aloud)
-Finally get to my desk 20 minutes after I got here with working temp badge.
-Completely empty out my purse…..and find my badge!

**BIG SIGH**

3 Month Photos

2009-07-17T09:11:00.002-05:00

JCPenney sure does a good job with my little Smiley Miley!

Blogger Bullshit & OnStar?

2009-07-16T10:36:00.002-05:00

I am so flippin', flappin', flabbergasted!!! I CANNOT fix my blog code!!! I cannot get a picture to display as the header! Then I uploaded a new template and lost some of my "gadgets" particularly my blog list and my braces bunch list. UGH. I have copied all of the HTML for my other gadgets in the event they are erased too....

Just trying to spruce things up a bit. Found a FAB template on cutest.blog.on.the.block but it won't upload? I follow the instructions and put it in a HTML box, but when I click save it just hangs there forever and a day (have tried 4 times) and then I just have to cancel.

So in the meantime I have no header image, no title and no cutey background!!!

I am still tempted to go to wordpress for password protected anyways and I heard they have some really cute templates, but if all I am doing is importing my current HTML into their app, won't I have this same jacked up dilemma???

Wordpress people - tell me how much you love/hate it? I know you can't tinker with the code over there (not that it matters since this is obviously not my forte - WHAT I work in IT????)

On a completely other note, I had to call OnStar for the first time yesterday. I had picked up Maddie from the groomer and then went to get Miles. The truck was still hot from sitting in the parking lot all day, so I left her in it with the AC on. Went to get Miles and asked him if wanted to go see his puppy in the car... Sitter's girls were like, "Puppy? Puppy? Where's the puppy?" so we all went outside. On the way I say OUTLOUD - "I hope Maddie didn't lock the doors." She loves to stand on the arm rests to look outside (she's short) and always rolls down windows or turns on the seat heaters (why they put these in cars sold in the South is BEYOND me). Oh but this time....she locked the doors. (JINXED myself by saying it I guess!) So Maddie is in the truck, my keys are in the ignition, and my cell phone is in my purse - also in the truck....

Good thing I convinced Dean to put the OnStar stickers on the window - they have the phone number to call on them! Borrowed sitter's phone and within 5 minutes, it was open!!!

Next time remember to leave a window rolled down....

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-15T10:43:00.002-05:00

Fuzzy picture or not, it's damn cute!

Excuse Me...

2009-07-14T10:40:00.002-05:00

Please excuse my mess...I'm trying out a new template and have saved off my widgets. Hopefully I can read enough XML to figure out how to get everything back in working order if this crap doesn't work...

** Edited to add...gotta love it when the templates from 3rd parties and blogger still dont allow me to put a header image instead of my title. right now i have the title very small in black font so its not visible. had to do some coding to get an additonal header to show pic. so now i revert back to old code and my damn blog lists are gone. UGH.

someone give me some XML advice?!

Weekend in Pictures

2009-07-14T09:32:00.004-05:00

The luau cupcakes with hisbiscus'ish flowers, petals, and "sand." The cupcakes themselves were strawberry and pineapple.

Miles with his lei!
This happens EVERY time she steals my camera. She LOVES taking pics of herself! Oh and pay no attention to the little piggy in the background loading up her plate of seconds!

Happy Birthday to Uncle Dougie!

Week 12

The.Damn.Pump

2009-07-13T15:49:00.000-05:00

**Not sure if you commentors click to get follow up comments so I'll answer here again:

Nikki - No more swaddling required. I can do warmer pj’s and nix the blanket TONIGHT!

Beautiful Mess – Bought the maroon lampshades - need pics. Now the problem seems to be the art niche which is painted RED is clashing with the maroon lampshades....maybe we'll have to paint.

PJ – ottoman does store stuff. I LOVE IT!

On to the posting...

Had a good weekend. I spent most of the day Friday baking and decorating cupcakes for my brother in law's 30th bday party. It was a luau so I made flowers - hibiscus'ish with leaves - out of fondant for the toppers. I also crushed graham crackers and used that as "sand" under the flowers. Turned out pretty cute - damn that camera is always at home when I need to post a pic from it! The party was fun. We went early to help setup, back home for a 2.5 hour nap with Miles, then back for party time. Needless to say we were homebodies yesterday. Nothing but channel surfing and napping!

So about that pumping question I asked last week. I am starting to get nervous about my volume. I mean, I know that it is known to fluctuate throughout the day - more in the morning and tapering off...but as Miles is growing and needing more, I am afraid my supply isn't going to be enough for him. I mean, some mornings I crank out 9 oz and leave for Deano to feed him when they wake up...and usually he takes all or most of that! Then my 8:00 pump gives me about 6 and the 11 and 2 usually only around 4, sometimes only 3. I don't think a baby who takes 9 in the morning will be satisfied with only 3 in the afternoon.

So then the sitter usually feeds him around 4 and I pick him up around 5:15. But I last pumped at 2 so I immediately have to go home and pump since it's my time and he's not hungry yet. I get 6ish at this time too.

So total that's 4 bags to send the next day with the sitter ranging from 3.5 - 6 oz. It just doesn't seem like enough to me. I gave her my supply I had stored up for backup/emergencies/need to combine with a smaller bag to make a big bottle. So right now I only have 1 emergency at home (in the event I'm tied up at work or the vanpool is) and Dean has to feed him. If I continue giving her my 4 pumps every day, how will I ever store any up for myself?

I don't think I can pump anymore after work than I am already - which is only once. Because I feed him around 7 then again at 9 and then its beddy-bye for us. If I pumped between those 2 feedings, I wouldn't even have any time to spend with Miles. Do you see my problem here?

Also, given the storage/pumping situation, how can I successfully go out of town - even for a 2-3 day trip without having anything to give the sitter/grammy while we are gone?

My only solution is to pump all weekend long in prepration for upcoming trip to get some storage for me. But if I do that guess what? I'm chained to that damn pump all weekend and don't even really have a weekend to do anything with Dean or Miles. UGH.

So.frustrating. The Damn Pump!

Out with the Old, In with the New...

2009-07-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

The old furniture is sitting in its new home....the wine room. That is until Mean Aunt Betty can come pick it up for her son. Seems I didn't need to post it on Craigs.list after all since she saw the pic and read that we were getting rid of them on the bloggy!

Here are pics of the new stuff. I think we may have over purchased because we don't have quite the floor space we did before, but I LOVE the ottoman (had to have it) and also the chair and a half. It feels like the perfect spot to curl up and read a book to Mr. Miles!

I took these pics this morning around 5:45 AM so it was dark outside and the only light on in here was the 1 lamp so objects may be lighter than they appear...

Speaking of lamps...what do you internets think of the shades? The previous ones were the regular "lampshade shape" and cream. These are squared off and blazingly white. The white makes the light brighter, but with the dark tables and couches I think we may need tan or maroon (yes that is why the plastic is still on them!).

Also, the end tables....TOTALLY not the ones we picked or paid for. But I think they are better and probably more expensive. I need to take a better picture of just the table, but there is a bottom piece, kind of a shelf, more like a dust collector since Miles will be crawling at that level soon - and under that is a little drawer. Like inches off the ground - weird, what could you put in there...anyway, the cool part is that half of the table top lifts up (its hinged) and you can store crap in the table itself. I like this but I don't like this. It is way awesome for storing but you can't keep stuff on the front half of the table in the event you need to open it, right? I think I like it more than I don't like it. Dean especially likes it that I can keep all the magazines that used to litter the table tops in those cubby holes.

Overall, what do you think of the new setup?

Mr. Miles is doing so good. He has been sleeping through the night for the past 3 weeks (minus one day when he got up extra early for some reason) and this week for the first time, he slept through the night in his crib, in his own room. SNIFF. I woke up a couple of times to look at him on the monitor and there he was miles (ok only yards and stairs) away from Mommy snoozing like a big boy!

We had been using a blanket to cover him, but tucked on the sides and end of the mattress. He is such a little wiggle worm when he sleeps (gets that from Momma) that he is out of it and at the total end of the bed by morning. Guess we'll need to switch to that Halo.Sleep.Sack tonight. Never used it before. It was in the tons of stuff we got from Holden. Anyone have any luck with them? I think the one I have is a Medium, so hopefully it fits him ok.

**Way off topic and for another post, but wondering - how many of you BF'ing people out there are worried about not having enough to give to the sitter/daycare while you are away at work?**
Here are my favorite people - 2 legged and 4 legged - being cozy before bedtime on the new couch!

I just got an email from BRU about some water toys made by Aqua.Leisure that were recalled. Here's the link to the recall list. We have the deluxe.baby.boat. I got it last September or so from OneStepAhead. It was on super sale so I got the baby.boat before I even had a baby! And I knew we would need something like this when we take Miles out on the boat to play in the water.

Oh well, at least they are giving me a full refund. Now I can find something even cooler!

Cuz I'm cool like that, I'm cool like that...(what's that song?)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-08T07:08:00.000-05:00

In our pygmy palm in the backyard...

From this...

To this...

Weekend continued...

2009-07-07T08:05:00.001-05:00

Saturday we went to a pool party at a neighbor's house. Miles likes the water, but he doesn't like his wet diaper. I mean, he can barely stand to be in a pee diaper, much less when its soaking wet from a pool. I haven't bought any of those little.swimmers yet because I didn't think we'd be swimming that often, but now I think I might get some. I asked the sitter yesterday if she would like to take her girls to the pool/waterpark (in the neighborhood) and she said she would on days her husband was off so they could both watch them. So I'll be packing his trunks this week!

He likes it more when his feetsies are in the water, but not his butt!

Saturday night we went to a fireworks show that our South.Belt.Cookoff.Committee sponsors. The proceeds we make from the cookoff pay for the fireworks. It was great seeing everyone since we missed the actual cookoff this year. Mr. Miles was born during Beans Judging! He was really watching the fireworks and only jumped once during the the show and that was during the finale when there was extra booming!

This is Mr. Miles watching the fireworks from Mom's lap! The wind was blowing kind of hard so I was covering his ears for that and for the sound.

Sunday we went to a bbq/pool party at Miles' brother's apartment. He cooked some briskets for his 27th birthday! Happy Birthday Josh!

Week 11 - Happy 4th
He is really developing a little personality now. He smiles all the time and I love it when he smiles at me - like he really knows who I am and will smile when I come to pick him up. It totally melts my heart!

LOOOOONG Weekend (to be continued)

2009-07-06T16:22:00.002-05:00

This weekend seemed to take forever! I'm not complaining in the least bit since I got to spend more time with my man and my little man. But we were busy, busy Thursday - Saturday and finally got to rest and relax yesterday.

Thursday night we had dinner at this quaint restaurant with friends. They don't have a liquor license or sell beer, but you can bring in your own wine and a for a small $1.95 corking fee, they will open and serve it for you. I brought 2 bottles of our homemade wine and had the
Sun dried Tomato Ravioli (
Stuffed ravioli with ricotta cheese tossed in sun dried tomato cream sauce). It was FAN-TAB-U-LOUS!! I actually had to tell myself to not finish it all so I would have some to take home for lunch the next day. It was awesome! Anyway, that wasn't the most awesome part of the night. Our friends S & J (evacuees) are expecting baby #2! YAY! She "announced" it to us by putting a shirt on Andrew and asking us to look at him. The shirt said "Big Brother!" How fun is that! I know they are very excited and nervous about this new chapter in their lives. LOVE YA GIRL!

We have been tied up in a refinance on our house for months now. Apparently when the rates dropped everyone and their dog decided to refi so the paperwork has taken a lot longer than expected. Anyway, the guy called last week and said since our mortgage amount would be changing to just skip the next payment until they can get everything ready. Well we had already paid July so now we won't be paying til September. SWEET. But remember we aren't good savers and if there is extra money lying around, we need a reason to invest it, right? And what better reason than new living room furniture????

This is our old set we are currently selling on craigs.list. Selling the couch, love seat, end tables and coffee table. (Note: my living room is NEVER this empty. We removed the lamps and everything from the tables - and all of Miles' toys - from the pic so crazy craigs.list peeps wouldn't think it was for sale too).

So far we have had about 5 hits on it. One college bound kid wants only the tables, another lady in a new house wants only the couches DELIVERED (what? don't you know how craigs.list works lady? we post, you pick up), and several others that wanted more info but only one (college kid) has come to see them. He actually was going to take the entire set and at the last minute his dad called and said a buddy at work had a sofa set for him for free... and well free beats anything...

Anyways....Mr. Miles was a champ at the furniture store on Friday. We were there so long I had to give him a bottle, then we broke for lunch cuz Mamma was starvin', then we went back! We had gone there intitially looking for a sectional but after scouring the entire store at them, realized with our crazy room layout (TV niche to the left of fireplace) we wouldn't be able to get ample seating for the TV in a good relaxing position i.e. recliners pointed 90 degrees from TV = NEGATIVE from husband) during our lunch break is when we realized this. So when we got back I found an awesome storage ottoman that I had to have. I have always wanted one of those oversized leather ottomans. The "cushions" can be flipped and serve as table top trays and underneath them is storage for blankets and such. So then the game was to find a couch/love seat combo that matched it! Once those were found (can't find a linky to them because I don't remember their name and there are like 952 "brown sofas" on their website!) we picked out end tables to go with (same story as above). We are keeping our lamps (I HEART them. Have had them since my 1st apartment) but they have been spray painted a flat black color to match all the other wrought iron in the room. New stuff is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. Tonight is furniture move out! WHOOP! Will post an "after" pic!

**I have taken too long to post this and now it is time to go - can't be late for the van - so I'll finish up the long weekend post tomorrow - hopefully with 4th pics - if I can remember to bring the flash drive with me to work (SIGH)**

SMOOCHES

Web Site Story....Get It?

2009-07-02T09:53:00.002-05:00

Hilarious video about how we live these days in the 21st Century!
Thanks for the linky James!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

FOOOOOD!!!!!!!

2009-07-01T10:52:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's getting close to my lunchtime which could be the reason behind this post, but still...everybody eats right? :0)

Last night we had the B.E.S.T. dinner! I randomly found a recipe I wanted to try while looking for a link to the B.E.S.T. Baked Bean recipe to give to LaRay.

We had Rosemary.Ranch.Chicken.Kabobs, cream corn, and semi-homemade cream spinach paired with a Trinchero.Cabernet.Savignon (thank to the Spec's run yesterday!). I read the reviews on the chicken recipe and they sounded great, but I cannot tell you how SUPERB it was! The ranch really did keep the chicken extra moist and the rosemary gave it just a hint of an herby taste. Perfect!

If any of you want to try it and don't have any fresh rosemary, hit me up because our rosemary bush has turned into a rosemary TREE! (Reminder to self to take a picture of it)

The spinach (remember I L.O.A.T.H.E. vegetables, especially green ones) was great too. Dean wanted something green while I was voting for Bush's.Baked.Beans! So I had a can of spinach and decided to add some whipped cream cheese and a splash of milk to attempt to make cream spinach. The last time I tried it came out looking like...well, spinach with cream cheese floating in it! This had the perfect consistency and everything. So proud of my semi-homemade self!!!

We're going to 2 different July 4th functions this weekend and I need to take appetizers to one (serves 10) and dessert to another (serves a lot more than 10). Anyone have any good recipes to share?

Also, check out Martha's Shrimp/Chicken with Feta Cheese recipe she posted today. YUM-O!

And what about this lovely - Snicker Apple Salad - that was emailed in my babycenter daily email! AWESOME - and you gotta love a "salad" that has Snickers in it! That is my kind of salad!

2 granny smith apples, cored and diced
2 red delicious apples, cored and diced
1 (6-pack) snickers candy more, diced small (or more if you want!)
4oz cream cheese, softened
1 small container cool whip

Mix all ingredients, let stand ½ hour and serve!

I told you I was all about food today....I got this in an email today too. I think it will be my new life motto!

A good piece of chocolate has about 200 calories. As I enjoy
2 servings per night, and a few more on weekends. I consume
3,500 calories of chocolate in a week, which equals one pound of weight
per week.

Therefore...

In the last 3 1/2 years, I have had chocolate caloric intake of about
180 pounds, and I only weigh 165 pounds, so without chocolate, I
would have wasted away to nothing about 3 months ago!

I owe my life to chocolate!

Famous Friends

2009-06-30T08:00:00.002-05:00

I don't have anything new and exciting to talk about but here's a link to a pic of my totally fantastic famous friends. They made the Houston.Press magazine this month!

WHOOP - for those of you in Houston, the pic is actually in the magazine too, not just online. Maybe I can use their notoriety to get me some free shit somewhere...

Weekend Update

2009-06-29T10:57:00.003-05:00

Mr. Miles is still sleeping through the night! I just can't brag about him enough. I know other babies his age that still aren't doing it so I know how blessed we truly are!

Friday was my day off (9/80 schedules for the summer) so I spent a lot of time hanging out with my little man since my big man still had to work. It was nice to be able to feed him instead of that blasted machine! Our friends L&R were coming over for dinner to celebrate her birthday. I spent Friday afternoon making her birthday cake below. (Also shown is the bday cake I made for Jason last weekend) We had lasagna and a really good salad. It was inspired by a salad I had here on Thursday night. It was FAN-TAB-U-LOUS. It was spinach leaves, pecans, cranberries, feta cheese, a couple of fried shrimp (left these out for dinner) and a raspberry vinegarette (homemade an herb vinegarette with dinner with thyme from the garden!). Everything was extra yummy!

Saturday we ran errands - BabiesRUs and the wine store - HA! What a combo! I needed to get a couple things for a girl that had a baby at work and I REALLY wanted/needed/had to have this little gym for Mr. Miles. His little legs have been going 90 to nothing lately and I feel like we don't have any good toys for his legs. I mean I have a jumperoo (2 actually) but he's still too short/doesn't have total head control yet for them. Plus I had a 15% off coupon that was going to expire this week....so you know...I HAD to use it. Needless to say, Daddy wasn't happy when he saw the price tag "just for a baby toy." But I had researched them and this was the one I was getting NO.MATTER.WHAT. It was the only one that had a music/lights kick pad and can grow with him and "taught" so many developemental milestones (read the website for info). After remembering about the coupon and reading all the good info on it, he finally caved. My research/begging/pleading padi off though when we got home and put the little guy on it for the first time. It has several settings - one for continuous music and another for music initiated by kicks. Daddy thought we should put it on continuous because "he's too little" but Mommy knew otherwise. It only took about 1 minute for Miles to catch on - when I kick, there is music and lights! SO CUTE! Also, in case you interested in getting your own cutie pie one of these, it doesn't play the same annoying repetitive tune every.single.time. It goes through several and they are nice little diddys (is that a word and if so, is that how you spell it?). Finally Daddy had to tell Mommy what a good choice this was and that Miles really loves it. HA! Mommy DOES know best!

The wine store visit was to purchase more corks, sleeves, and grape concentrate for our next batch. We bottled our Chilean Merlot this weekend. It's been percolating/brewing/aging since November. The last bottle didn't have enough to make an entire bottle, so we got to have a glass and let me tell you, it was awesome - if I do say so myself. :) The next batch is a strawberry white merlot. Should be ready in about 5 weeks - perfect summer wine to chill with by the pool...er...we don't have a pool, so maybe the neighbor's pool?

Speaking of pools, Dean was craving to be outside even though it was 117 in the shade this weekend. He was also pouting because we didn't have a pool and the neighbors didn't invite us over. So he busted out the kiddie pool we have and we all got in our suits and sat in it! I do have to say we looked a little hillbilly, but it was cool and refreshing.

Miles apparently had/is still having a growth spurt. I know in our classes they said they usually have one at 3, 6, 9 weeks and 3, 6, 9 months. But since he was born almost a week early, I guess you could say he is 9 weeks now - even though he's really 10. He was eating and sleeping a lot more this weekend than he usually does. He didn't want hardly any activity time on Sunday after his feedings - just right back to sleep. We can definitely tell he is growing!

This morning when I woke up at 4 BLASTED 30 he was stirring in his crib so I decided to feed him instead of the machine. I hoped afterwards he would go back to sleep so Daddy could catch a few more z's and he did so that was good. It felt so good to get to feed and hold him before going to work. Last week all I got to do was give him a goodbye kiss on the head. Today we got to cuddle!

Speaking of the little cuddler, here are some pics for your viewing pleasure. I added the last 2 weekly pics of him and Mr. Monkey over there--------------->

Smiles for Miles!
Spit bubbles are the new thingMom, Miles, Desiree, Bryson. Bryson is 10 days older than Miles. I can't figure out their relation, but Bryson to me is my great-great nephew!!! HA!

The Artalls during a nature trail walk

***Hopefully you made it this far. I really didn't mean for this post to be quite so lengthy, but we had a long weekend and I needed to share!

Blogger Enhancement

2009-06-25T15:17:00.002-05:00

Anyone else who uses blogger having posting issues? I typed the previous post yesterday and set it to post today at 9:15 AM. Was wondering why I didn't have any comments on my hilarious post (ha) and went to check it out. It had a status of "scheduled" so I checked to make for sure I didn't change the date to next month or something and no, it was today. I had to click the Post button again to make it actually go. Anyone else or is this my new "enahncement?"

P.S. Lovin' the new siggy flashy thingys. Thanks Brandi - I got them where you got them.

How You Find Me

2009-06-25T09:15:00.002-05:00

So that FEEDJIT thingy over on the right shows the location of people coming to my bloggy. It also shows how you got here i.e. a web search or direct link or whatever. I just browsed the past 48 hours worth of logs. Most of you come to me directly - probably a bookmark/favorite or from your reader. However some of you find me by searching for things.

Such as...

blogspot.com - OK
bloglines - OK
cyclesista - OK
Life and Times of Kimbosue - OK
1st Dentist - weird, but OK - took you to my post about my first post-baby dental appt
Miles.Monroe - how do you know my baby's name? Unless you think it is super duper awesome and you are trying to see if there are any other super duper babies out there already by this name. And if so, then you found him so step off the name bitch.
metallic taste in mouth 5dpiui - I remember posting about this symptom and am guessing you have it too and looking for other ~~weirdos~~ IUI'ers that had it.
IUI protocol - I did the same, so I get this one.
Kimberly (Insert Middle Name) (Insert Maiden Name) (Insert Married Name) Blog - WHAT? how do you know all my bidness and why do you think you can find me on the WWW with my entire name for all to see? I didn't think you could find me this way. So I just Googled the same and guess where it took me? STRAIGHT HERE. How you ask? Because I am a DUMBASS that's why. I put my Face.book badge on this page! FB has my entire name!!! That is my entire name (minus my middle so whoever you are in La Porte, TX - you really do know me) And bein's (that's Dean's fav word) that I don't have El Bloggy listed as my "website" in FB, I can't be having these 2 things tied to each other. There are some FB peeps that I don't want reading about my bidness - real bidness or lady bidness (thanks Jennepper for the term!). Hell some of those peeps are family and don't even know about El Bloggy.... (Hence FB badge - DONE)

which leads me to that whole going private thing I talked about the other day. The people I was concerned about reading me don't give 2 shits about what's going on in my life...(OBVIOUSLY or they would have answered my inquiry as to if they are reading me or not )well maybe they do give 2 shits, but not enough to read about it without me offering up the information directly. You know because I am not posting about THEM therefore they don't want to read about ME.

WHAT.EVER.

So now I will feel free to rant and rave about whoever whenever I feel like it. I don't right now because I vented to some friends and got what prompted that private speech off my chest already. But believe you me, I have enough drama in my life that I know there will be something real juicy coming soon!

P.S. My people search for mostly "normal" things to find me. Check out some of the crazy things people search for and find Nikki! She is loads of laughs - caution - her favorite word begins with F...

Hooters, Buggys, Bumbos

2009-06-24T14:02:00.003-05:00

Not too much time to type here...can you guess why? Cuz it's almost PUMPING TIME! (And do NOT feel free to insert loud cow noises here - AHEM AJ'S MOM!!!)

I fed Mr. Miles last night at 9 and he fell asleep on my chest shortly after. I was waiting for Daddy to get home before actually putting him in the bed so he could at least see him for a minute. Dean had a trumpet.gig last night in Galve.ston and didn't get home until almost 10:45. About 10:15 I called to get his status and he was still too far away. We finally went to bed. I should have done what I was telling myself to do and that was go to bed as soon as Miles fell asleep at 9:30. 4:30AM was too much today. I have taught myself to not use the snooze button because I can do it so easily in my sleep that I don't even realize I do it and end up doing it 7 times in a row! So this morning I just turned it off....and slept for 15 more minutes. Remember I said I get up at the last possible minute? I needed those extra minutes. So no leg shaving for me today. I had to race to the pump! And eat breakfast in the car. Lovely.

And to the nursing comments yesterday....I have a nursing smock but it must be made out of 5000% polyester because it is hot as hell. One time I put my head under it with Miles and couldn't breathe myself so I quit using it. I didn't want him sweating under there. And I don't think I could swing nursing in a grocery store. That is too weird for me - walking around with it hanging out??? Sitting in a crowd was my max I think.

Thanks for the Hooter.Hider offer Nikki. My address is coming at you shortly. I gotta try it out, plus the name is hilarious! I can't wait for someone to ask - what is that? HOOTER.HIDER!! HAHAHAHA!

Speaking of funny product names...Buggy.Bagg. I ordered this one in the Stripes pattern today. I held off on getting a cart cover until I found one I really liked and that I knew fit my fav grocery store's carts. I saw one of these last week and LOVED IT! The mommy told me you could get it online only - I found some local retailers here that sell them but they are not conveniently located to me. Laziness = shipping, but I digress... Not only does it cover the super wide carts all the way - front to back and side to side - it also has a "diaper bag'ish" zippered bag on the backside to store diapers and toys in addition to toy loops and cup holders. No additional diaper bag to tote in. It works on high chairs too. And as a bonus, you can actually put it on the cart one handed while holding bouncing baby boy (or girl) in the other. There are step by step instructions with pictures on the website!

And here is the bouncing baby boy in his bumbo for the first time....(Shout out to the 'Stros behind him LOL)

Back to Work, Back to Pump

2009-06-23T10:55:00.003-05:00

So the 1st day wasn't TOO bad. I cried a little and was sad, missing him mostly. This pumping thing all day is for the B.I.R.D.S.! It seems like just when I get settled in at my desk, doing, I don't know, WORK, I have to leave again! Like I just went at 8:00 and now I go at 11:00. I can understand why women quit BF'ing so soon...as soon as the pump starts pissing you off, you pump less, which decreases your supply, which leaves no milk for baby, which turns to formula. Ah, but I digress. My goal has always been to stick it out for 6 months minimum, so that is what I am still aiming for. I CAN DO IT, I CAN DO IT, I CAN DO IT!

Yesterday I was longing for an actual feeding with Miles - not The Pretend Miles Machine - but when I picked him up yesterday afternoon around 5:15, the sitter said she had just fed him at 4! UGH - I had pumped at 2, so that meant I had to pump yet again at home. And good damn thing I brought it home with me. I was going to leave it at work so I didn't have to lug it back, but thought that just MAYBE I might need it if he wasn't hungry or something. Then we had dinner with a work friend at Grin.go's. 3 margaritas later (them, not me. I only had 1-1/2) Mr. Miles was hungry. It is hot as blue blazes around these southern parts lately so I really didn't want to go feed him in the truck. These boys convinced me to do it in.the.restaurant. AND I DID! WHAT??? Yes, me...Mrs. Modesty herself busted out the milk machines in the restaurant. It was a tad bit better than doing it in the restroom, right? (Icky nasty germs EVERYWHERE) And we were sitting in a booth in the bar so I was able to turn towards the wall and cover with a blanket so there wasn't anything showing. But STILL!! All I could imagine was an image that J had told me about. He said there was a lady in his bar BF'ing also - one hand on the boob and the other holding a daiquiri!!! That was me...almost. EEEK. What has becoming a mom done to me? :-) I am doing all kinds of crazy things!

I am still on our van pool and since we are on our summer 9/80 schedule, the van leaves the lot at 6:05 AM- which was hella early for me pre-baby. Now I have to feed or pump before I leave the house which means getting up earlier (I was getting up at the absolute last minute before...like I had exactly enough time to shit, shower, and shave to make it on time!). So now I am getting up at 4:30 AM - holy crap that is so early - before the sun, before the rooster even! I have gone to bed around 10:30 these past 2 nights and let me tell you sisters (and 1 brother - what up J.Y.) 6 hours of sleep ain't cuttin' it for me. Somehow I am going to have to give up my 9:00 shows/not stay out so late/not get on the internet so I can get to bed earlier...maybe like 9:30. I think 7 hours should work for me. Because right now...I need a nap.

But wait...it's time to pump again!!!

Day One

2009-06-22T13:58:00.001-05:00

Today is Day One...9 hours without my little man, 9 hours of catching up on emails, 9 hours of thinking about what my little man is doing without me, and 9 hours of pumping in the luxury of the lactation room...well not 9 hours, but 3 times a day. I didn't have a chance to visit the room before I left so today was the first. I was expecting a recliner or sofa or something, but it's just regular office chairs with a table, a clock, and some magazines. But I guess that's better than some places. A company I previously worked for, the women had to pump in the restroom! GROSS.

I am sad that I have to be away from him and was a little teary this morning, but overall I feel good about where he is. His sitter is hispanic and teaches her girls both English and Spanish, so he'll definitely benefit from that - especially since we're in Texas. Both of her daughters really like him and are into baby dolls right now so they are helping take care of him. And since he is the perfect child - only cries when wet or hungry, never fussy (knock on wood) he is a dream for anyone to watch. I can't wait to pick him up this afternoon to give him kisses!

I went to the gyno last week and told her I was still spotting since delivery and that I had a few days of bright red blood (versus old blood). During the exam, she said one of the internal tears I had seemed to have reopened and caused the bleeding. So then a few days of just spotting again and then on Friday - BOOM - back to looking like a regular period. Gone are the days of no period due to breastfeeding :0( I had to bust out my box of tampons from last JULY! BLECH. Now I have to think about diapers for the little one's bum and tampons for mine!! How lovely.

Mr. Miles started something new last week - a pouty bottom lip. We saw it for the first time when we put him in his swing and he looked up at the mobile and stuck his lip out. After buckling him in, we turned the swing and mobile on and he was all smiles! He has been so smiley lately. He makes me smile when he smiles! And he is cooing and babbling like crazy. It is too cute!

I know I am a week behind in posting a weekly pic. Haven't hooked up the camera lately. Will do soon, I promise.

How is everyone's Monday?

P.S. I forgot to say he is sleeping through the night about every 5 out of 7 nights! AWESOME! I got 7 hours of sleep last night before work. See...I told you he was the perfect baby!

Missing Miles....

2009-06-17T09:26:00.003-05:00

Well, I must have jinxed myself...He slept 4 nights in a row through the night. Then Sunday, we were up at 5AM again. Which isn't too bad considering I will be up at that time or earlier starting next week when I go back to work :0( but for a weekend...it's a little early. He did that Monday night too, then last night he slept from 10:15 - 6:00. WHOOHOO! But man were the boobies full!

Speaking of boobies, today will be my first test at pumping most of the day like I will be at work. I just dropped Mr. Miles off at the sitter's for the first time. It's a practice run for them (the sitter and her daughters) but also to give Mom some time to get situated for work. Like I have this whole box - actually 2 - boxes of "desk stuff" that I had when I worked at the past 2 jobs. For some reason, I never took it to this job even though I have been there since February 2007. I wasn't nervous about not lasting long so I'm not quite sure why I didn't take it with me. But now I have lots of Miles pictures to set around so I definitely have to take it with me. I need to see the boy all day long so I don't miss him too much.

I have my first dentist appointment in half an hour - the first one since we started seeing the RE. Dean had his cleaning on Saturday and I told him to schedule me an appointment. The dentist said that I definitely need to come in, especially since pregancy hormones can sometimes do a number on your teeth. Never heard of that, but hey -she's the specialist.

Tomorrow Miles and I are FINALLY having lunch with work people. Crazy that its just 2 days before I will be seeing them in the office every day!

Friday Miles is going to the sitter's again :0( And that night we are actually plan-free!

Saturday is a housewarming post-Ike party at the evacuee's house, followed by a BBQ at Dean's fellow band member's house. Mean Aunt Betty, err Great Aunt Betty is babysitting for the latter party. I have to spread his time around all the relatives!

Sunday is his 1st Father's Day. We're having lunch at Grammy and Grampy's with Aunt M and Uncle D, then visiting our niece's house (niece - HA she's 40+!!) because their daughter is in town from GA with her new little boy born 2 weeks before Miles. It will be their first time to meet!

Hopefully we'll have more pictures to post soon. Too lazy to get out the camera since I'm leaving in 15 minutes now. Speaking of pics, we took his 2 month ones at JCP yesterday. He is getting TOO big TOO fast. I miss him already....

Sleeping All Night?!

2009-06-14T21:36:00.004-05:00

So I have been told that I have an awesome baby...not that I didn't already know this! But compared to other babies his age, he is doing extremely well. Since Day 1, we haven't been woken up every 2 hours (or even every 5) at night. We always had to wake him up to eat. The peditrician said the other day, now that he has gained enough weight that we don't even have to do that anymore and if he gets hungry, he can wake us up - at least until he is about 4 months old.... But for the past 4 nights, he has slept 8-9 hours straight through the night!! We were so excited about this! Especially me, since I haven't been able to do this in about the past 5 months due to my killer heartburn while pregnant, and then getting up to feed him. I have heard this is a miracle at his age and every night it has happened, I have crossed my fingers that it will happen the next night and so far it has. I hope I just didn't jinx myself for tonight though!!!

Can you believe Mr. Miles is 2 months old already! I need to take him to Penney's for his 2 month pics! He has quite the 2nd month...

1st real smiles
talking/cooing
holding head up for minutes at a time
1st camping trip
1st boat ride
1st concert
1st Astros game
1st Mother's Day
1st swim
Moved into size 1 diapers
grabbing onto toys and our shirts

On another note.... I have been thinking of going private on this blog. I have a lot of stuff I would like to get off my chest from time to time, but don't want to hurt anyone's feelings who may or may not be reading me. When I first started this blog, it was to keep everyone up to date on our infertility journey. I sent an email out to everyone I knew IRL - well at least those friends and family who didn't mind reading out my eggies and ovulation cycles - but now I'm not sure who remains. I know I have several "followers" who subscribe to my blog, but most of those internets are bloggy friends, who I wouldn't be speaking of during said rants or bitch sessions I need to be having....Without having to send out an email to all of the IRL people asking if you are still reading...which would in turn only make them want to START reading if they aren't currently...could you leave me a comment if you are still reading and I know you in real life? Also, for those internets who would be interested in continuing to read me if I do go private, could you leave me a comment as well?

Also, if any of you are private yourselves, can you still participate in Mel's ICLW? Or does requiring a password prohibit people from coming to you?

And finally...those always precious pics....

I couldn't wait for him to be able to wear this!

Miles' older girlfriend....by 1 day.

Please ignore the ginormous milk machines oozing out of this bathing suit...

Wordless (almost) Wednesday

2009-06-10T11:02:00.000-05:00

Week 7

Father's Day Astros Game
Daddy and Grampy

Taking a nap with Great Grandma

So sweet...

Miles - 7 weeks, Andrew - 17 months, Coy - 17 weeks

2009-06-09T22:51:00.000-05:00

So hopefully when I go back to work, I'll be a better blogger....for some reason that sounds opposite what it should be right? Shouldn't I be blogging more now since I'm not spending time at work? But I am in front of a computer all day at work so I guess I have more opportunity to post something rather than now when I have to take time away from baby Miles to do it...

I only have a little while to type before it's time to eat again and I'm too lazy to get the camera and cord so the pics will have to wait til tomorrow - and for Wordless Wednesday no less! So today, you get the words...

Last Friday, Mr. Miles met his future babysitter (we'll call her Ms. A) and her daughters. They are 4 and 1.5. I think they will all get along just fine. Ms. A held him and patted his bottom and he fell right to sleep! The 1.5 year old is very into dolls right now so she is real helper when it comes to the baby. She swung his swing (without him in it) and gave her Mom the blankey. Ms. A set it aside and the daughter said, "No, baby blankey" and put it on Miles. So sweet! He is going to be staying a few hours next week with her to get used to things and so Mom can get ready for work.
Also last Friday, Miles went to his first concert...well not a crazy loud concert...but a concert in the park. Our Parks and Rec Dept puts on free concerts May and June that feature local bands. This was a jazz band that we have heard before. Dean is friends with the lead guy and the drummer. The grandparents and S, J, and Drew met us out as well. We are going again this week to see this band. We saw them last year at a Jazz Festival. He is crazy fun with a baby grand in the middle of the stage. During Great.Balls.of.Fire, he had poured liquor on the piano and set it on fire! Crazy fun! Dean is buddies with the sax player in this band. I think we are going to see them here on Sunday as well. They are having some type of sax showdown...Miles will definitely be hearing lots of music similar to what his namesake played!
Sunday we invited Grammy and Grampy over for dinner and to give Daddy and Grampy their early surprise Father's Day gift. I bought 4 tickets to the Astros game tomorrow - Miles first baseball game!!! AWWWW...definitely have pics of that!
The boat is still having issues - electrically - affecting the gas gauge, radio, and the motor. You can be in full throttle, hauling it across the water, and the engine will slow down for no reason. It's been like this since Memorial Day weekend. Dean tinkered with it this weekend himself because even though its still under warranty we can't get it worked on. Why you ask? Because #1 the dealer we bought it from no longer sells that brand and #2 the only dealer that does warranty work is in Waco - a mere 194 miles away!! UGH. We took it out on Sunday for a trial run (it worked like a champ hooked up to the water hose in the driveway) but unfortunately still has issues. It's back in storage for the week - those damn HOA rules prevent us from keeping it in the driveway...so we'll have it out back this weekend for some more wire rearranging. The wiring harness is apparently daisy chained...meaning one wire is connected to the next so all things are dependent on each other...explains why the gas gauge went out, followed by the radio, then the engine...
Yesterday we had lunch with Holden and his mom. Then we went to the town center where Holden got to play in the water fountains that squirt up from the ground.
Today was a long day for the little boy. We left the house this morning with plans to have lunch with Aunt Mel and Great Aunt Maggi (in town from San Antonio) in Pasadena. After lunch they were going to see Grandma and Miles hasn't been since Mother's Day, so we went too. Lots of sweet pictures taken of the 2 of them...it was Miles nap time and he snoozed for about 30 minutes in his Great Grandma's arms! While there we got a call from S that our other friends Coy (born in Feb) and his parents would be in Pasadena meeting her for dinner (and bringing my Pampered.Chef order from Jan!) and wanted to know if we could meet them as well. Instead of coming all the way back to Pear.land just to go back to Pasadena, we went to an empty Grammy's house to eat and a quick nap. I had talked to Aunt.Shayla earlier about possibly visiting since we were in the area, so then we went to her house for about 2 hours. THEN we met everyone (Aunt.Shayla went too) and Daddy at Texas.Roadhouse for some yummy steaks and rolls with cinnamon butter - MMM MMM! We are finally home after being out and about for the past 9 hours. My little man is tired! Has been sleeping since we got home...
Tomorrow is the Father's Day Astros game....
Thursday we are double booked - OOPS - lunch plans with work people and Ellie (Miles future wife born 1 day before him) and her mom...still not sure how to handle this...my pregnancy brain can't be blamed anymore...
Friday and Saturday I'll be working on a Spider.man.Birthday.cake for a friend....
And to throw in just something extra fun for the week....I think I may have got my period today??? WTF is going on with that?! I was so looking forward to a benefit of breastfeeding of not having a period!!! And since I TOTALLY forgot to schedule my 6 week post partum appointment....I couldn't get see until the 22nd. The brown spotting hasn't let up at all and then this afternoon, it was bright red. I freaked and called the doctor. Nurse called back and said it was probably my period and sometimes that just happens (lucky me) but that Dr. S said that the spotting definitely should have let up by now...she was able to move my appointment up to next Monday...still a week away, but a week earlier. That's what I get for not thinking of the appointment in time. Hey - I remembered to get the boy put on my insurance in under 10 days (the cutoff is 30) but 6 weeks away wasn't ever on my mind...
Speaking of weeks...I'm down to 2 more to go for being home with my baby boy. TEARS
Pictures of all of the above tomorrow!

Good night Internets!

2 Month Checkup

2009-06-04T15:32:00.002-05:00

My baby boy had his 2 month checkup today. Technically he isn't 2 months old yet, but almost - 7 weeks tomorrow. He got shots for Hepatitis.B, po.lio, pneu.mococcal.disease, dip.htheria, tet.anus, pert.ussis, rota.virus, and Hi.b. Miles cried so hard and loud it made Mommy cry!

Dr. W said he is doing great and growing right on target. He says we can let him sleep through the night if we want and if Miles is okay with it. Before he's 4 months old, we still have to feed him if he wakes up to eat, but other than that, he can sleep the night away. WHOOHOO! I already think he will do that without an issue since he's been sleeping 4-5 hours already and that's with us waking him. He's only woke up at night on his own like 3 times since he came home!

I also had a question about him spitting up - out of his nose?! He hardly ever spits up, but sometimes when he does it comes out of his nose and is just disturbing to me. It looks gross and like it may hurt because its thicker than regular snot. Dr. W said that sometimes it is just so forceful that it comes out the nose instead of the mouth - no problem though - totally normal. Mr. Miles is smiling so much more at us now. It is too cute! He responds to tickling of his feet and when we make awesome adult sounds like "coochie coochie coo!"

And now on to the statistics!

* Height: 22.25 inches - 50th percentile
* Weight: 9 lbs 15.5 inches - 25-50th percentile
*Head: 15 inches - 25th percentile

This is the little booger with his first even bandaids.

And after the shots...he was/is out like a light.

Bras and Books

2009-06-02T08:15:00.000-05:00

Just a few pictures to humor you...

* When I was feeding Miles a while ago, he pulled off after a few minutes (like he usually does - I guess he needs a break or something) the milk was still streaming out. Like a straight shot towards his face. If he turned it would have been in his eye! Reminded me of this...

* I received my G cup in the mail today. I thought about what sex.toy.packages must look like because instead of the return address saying Bigger.Bras. - you know the name of the company....it says this.... BGB: code name for Bigger.Bras?

* And speaking of said bra....here she is in all her glory. I picked this one (sorry James you may want to skip this section) because when you open the booby.flap, it has a support all the way around the boob instead of just on the bottom. HOWEVER....the picture on the website did NOT, I repeat DID NOT have all this lacy frilly PINK RIBBON all over it! Not only is there a retardo bow in the middle of the boobies, but one on each side with an extra loopy loop. BLECH. This is so not my style of bra, but I guess if it serves its purpose, it's all good, right? Oh and did I mention that it was $60? $60 for a lacy, old lady, pink ribbon nursing bra. Really?? Actually, I wanted 2, but I wasn't going to spend over $100 on a bra I didn't know I liked....so we will see. Maybe my dresser will be adorned with 2 of these beauties here shortly....

* Here's a cake I made last week for S's birthday. It's the first cake I've made since Little Man has arrived. It only took me 3 days between diaper changes and feedings. That's not entirely why....the royal.icing flowers take a day or 2 to dry before you can put them on.

* Here's a side view.

* And finally a present for Miles from Grammy and Grampy. A personalized book. It has lots of fun hands on pages...like a zipper as a gator's mouth and when you open it, you can pull out his tongue, a turtle's shell that snaps on and off to reveal his heart, ribbons to tie on a giraffe's neck... My sister's friend makes them. Mom saw one of them at Easter and ordered it right away...the delay was knowing what name to have embroidered on the front. Dad told me she actually called the girl from the hospital to tell her Miles' name. She couldn't WAIT to give it to him! Thanks Grammy!

Memorial Day and Updates

2009-06-01T14:21:00.000-05:00

So I am either a bad blogger or a good mommy....either one could apply, but I'll go with being a good mommy as the reason for my bloggy absence. Miles keeps me hopping!

I've missed uploading 3 weekly pics already....so here are weeks 4, 5, and 6. He is growing like a WEED! He looks like a little man!! Holding up his head for 1 or 2 minutes at a time, focusing on things, listening to our voices and sleeping 5 and 6 hours straight through the night. A few of these times was because Mom was too tired to wake up on time, but Miles didn't wake up either so I guess we both needed the sleep!

Memorial Day Camping was fun this year. I can say once you go lakehouse, you never go back. I don't think we'll be able to tent camp again! For the weekend, it was Grammy, Grampy, my aunt and uncle and us. Sister, bro-in-law, and cousin came up for the day on Saturday. A group of us went out Saturday on Dad's boat and caught 54 bass. Sunday another group caught 61 bass. So needless to say, we had a big ol' fish fry Sunday night! Miles made our pic, but he didn't go out fishing. It was way too hot for his little head so Aunt Betty stayed home to babysit. Don't worry, she didn't mind a bit. She hates fishing so she was all for it!

This was Miles' first boat ride. He pretty much missed most of it due to him napping. He was so cuddly in the lifejacket and then add the wave action and he was done! I can't wait for us to get to take him on many more boating trips!

This is my favorite pic of the weekend. The middle porch had a rocker and a swing. Anytime Grampy held Miles, this is where they went. They love each other so much and Grampy is so proud of his grandson!

I said he was growing like a weed? Well, remember when this shirt used to fit? Oh my little baby is growing up!!

Breastfeeding is still going well. My biggerbras...com bra is en route and should be here today. A G cup for crying out loud! Thursday is his 2 month (really 7 weeks) appointment. I am going to ask the doctor when we can cut out his middle of the night feeding. Its obvious he is able to sleep for longer than 4 hours at a time now and he is gaining weight so I don't think that will be an issue. Any other questions I should be asking?

My maternity leave is offically over so today is Day 1 of vacation. I am taking 3 weeks in addition to the leave so my first day back will be June 22 - also the day of my 6 week post-partum appointment. WHAT! Oh yeah, I forgot to make my appointment early so I called today and the main office doesn't have an opening until July and the Pearland office until the 22nd. So not exactly 6 weeks, but it'll do I suppose.

Our babysitter is coming to meet the Little Man on Friday. I really hope they get along well and he takes to her easily. We have been giving a bottle every now and then or when Mommy is out with the girls. He has zero issues with nipple confusion so that's a blessing. He will also be staying with her for 3 days before my official back to work day to get used to things at her house - not all day, just a few hours.

I hope to be blogging more often, but with only 3 weeks left with my little booger, maybe not TOO often... speaking of, he is waking up from his nap so I must bid you adieu.

Until next time....

Breastfeeding Injury?

2009-05-18T17:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, seriously that is the funniest thing I have ever heard of (aside from a relative of mine having rotator.cuff.surgery due to tearing his rotator.cuff playing Wii.baseball!!) but I really do have one!! The past few nights my right arm has been going numb and my hand all tingly. I couldn't figure out why and Dean suggested that I had a pinched nerve in my arm. From what? Oh wait...here I am feeding Miles the next morning and my arm is doing it again....Yep, you guessed it...the way I have to hold righty when feeding him cramps up my damn arm! Have you ever heard of such a thing? So now I have to stretch my arm out so it doesn't get worse! WHO KNEW!!

On another random note...my aunt had a nuclear.stress.test done today. Afterwards, she asked if she could be around people tonight (We are meeting her and my parents to plan for our camping trip) and the tech said it was ok, but would there be any kids? She said yes, they asked how old and she said 1 month. They said it was ok to be in the same room, but that she couldn't hold him?? WHAT?! Since when does someone receive SO MUCH radia.tion during a stress.test that it can come out of your skin and transfer to another person??? That just seems so disturbing to me. Has anyone else ever heard of this? And if she hadn't thought to ask about it, what could it have to to Baby Miles?

Martha - I know you know something about this...

1 Month Old Already?

2009-05-18T12:55:00.000-05:00

***WOW - time really flies I guess. I actually typed this up Thursday thinking I was getting a jump start on it - just needed to take the weekly pic and post it. Apparently I got a little busy with Miles this weekend and am just now getting to uploading the pics and posting! I promise more this week, but right now we are on our way out the door to meet Aunt Laura for lunch!***

Holy Moly! Can you believe Mr. Miles is 1 month old already? 4 weeks ago this precious little guy made his debut into this world. I cannot even believe it. AND he is already growing up so fast and getting so big! He'll be walking before you know it!

Miles' development thus far:
rolling over to stomach a few more times
can hold his head up for several minutes - while on tummy or while holding him
starting to make real baby noises like cooing and other sounds other than crying
we had to move the seat belts up a notch in the car seat already! He's getting too tall!
Dean attempted to measure him the other day and he was 23 1/4!

We have had 3 shower free mornings - WOOHOO!

He is still eating really well - every 3 hours during the day and every 4 at night. I really feel like a milk machine lately. After he eats for 30 minutes and I play and/or change him for a while, then I pump for 2o minutes, 2 hours later - repeat. Between squeezing in a shower, food or laundry in those small 2 hour windows, my day is done!

He still really loves being outside. The minute you walk out with him, he literally melts in your arms. Like his arms and legs go limp and he totally relaxes. I am glad he loves the sun so much since we do things outside a lot.

We are taking him to Pen.ney's tomorrow for his 1 month pictures. Any ideas on what to do? I don't even know what he should wear.

Here is with Mr. Monkey at 1 month!

Mother's Day....the best one!

2009-05-12T11:35:00.000-05:00

I guess life with a newborn leaves time for blogging only once a week. I can't believe its been a whole week since the last post! Miles sure does keep Mommy busy...eating, eating, eating, diapers, diapers, diapers! Speaking of diapers, Mr. Miles surely does NOT like to sit in a peepee diaper. Sometimes he starts crying before the Pam.pers.stripe changes color! We are going through a ton of diapers because of this. Where most kids could sit in a wet one, then poo in it so you're only changing one....we're changing 2! We went through an entire box of 84 in just 5 days!

My sister's fever finally broke Sunday morning after 4 days. Hopefully this is an indication that the flu is on its way out. The test results still are not back to confirm the type of flu it is. The clinic she went to didn't have an on site lab, so they had to send it out. Apparently it takes 7-10 days to get the results back...gotta love the urgency during this so called "pan.demic."

Last Wednesday we went out to dinner with friends and Miles' future wife, Elliana. She was born 1 day before Miles in the same hospital. Everyone kept asking if they were twins or how far apart they were. When we said they were 1 day apart, they thought I had been in labor for 48 hours!! The waiter cut off their faces....but here's a pic of all of us - the in-laws - HA!

Friday we picked out our newborn photos. I can't wait to get them in. They are precious! We also went to Grammy's graduation on Friday night. I was a little nervous about going since he was just 3 weeks old that day. Plus the flu.panic was still rampant and there would be a lot of people there so I was nervous about all the germs people would be spreading. But things were pretty calm. Daddy kept Miles in the B.jorn and he did great...until he peed and then it was time to get that diaper off. He got changed, but then was acting really hungry. He wasn't due to eat again for another 45 minutes or so, but given this is the 3 weeks mark he may be going through a growth spurt so I couldn't exactly tell him no. I had to feed him in the truck - in the dark. That was interesting to say the least. Then of course, he pooed so I had to change that before going back in. We made it back as Grammy was walking off the stage. I didn't get to hear her name, but at least got to see her walk. She was very proud and we were very proud of her! (I have the Mom badge here for real....can you see the pacifier clipped on my shirt and hanging down at my elbow?!)

We are going on a family "camping" trip again this year for Memorial Day, only this time because of the baby we are renting a lake house versus tenting it. We bought Miles' first life jacket last week too. It fits infants 0-30 pounds. I tried it on him yesterday and it fits pretty well considering he is very much at the low end of that weight range. But he is definitely growing. Just look at his 3 week picture with Mr. Monkey!

Sunday was Mother's Day...my first ever. It was so great. I really never thought this day would come when I could celebrate Mother's Day as a mother, and not just with my mother. My parents, Dean and Miles made it very special for me. We had lunch at my parent's house - Dad and Dean made everything so me and Mom wouldn't have to. My parents gave me a necklace with a mother's pendant - of a mother hugging a child. I tried to fight back the tears...then Dean and Miles gave me a Mother's.Ring, but I am calling it my Family.Ring. It has Miles', Dean's and my birthstones in it. So sweet! The tears creaped up here again! Dean said he asked the saleslady how many stones you could fit on it, then told her the months he needed. She asked "how many kids do you plan on having?" She thought the 3 stones were for 3 kids! However, she did say you could fit quite a few more on the band. EEK! That's a little soon for me to be thinking of another baby this soon. I want to love and enjoy every moment with this one. But isn't it funny that as soon as you have a baby the first question everyone asks is "when's the next one?"

Our 1st Mother's Day

What a better day for Miles to meet his Great Grandmother than Mother's Day! It was a good day for Grandma. It was obvious she knew what we were talking about when we told her this was her first great grandson. Then when Dad told her that his middle name was after Grandpa's middle name, she started crying! It was so sweet! I hope all you Mothers out there had a blessed day - those with babies and those with fur babies!

Prayers Please

2009-05-07T12:51:00.003-05:00

Please keep my sister in your prayers. She is a PICU nurse and recently cared for the patient who died of the swine.flu. She stayed away from us for about 5 days and was told if she had any symptoms, that they would show up in the first 48 hours. However, yesterday (9 days after the exposure) she was diagnosed with the flu. Blood tests are forthcoming to determine if it is the regular flu or the H1.N1 strain. She came by to visit Miles this past Monday.

Please keep our family and my sister in your prayers.

There's a 1st Time for Everything...

2009-05-06T14:43:00.001-05:00

Well it's a week full of firsts even before the "first" I was referring to yesterday! I forgot we took Baby Miles out in the Baby.Bjorn for the first time on Monday. Well...when I saw "we," I mean Daddy. He was so proud. He's been waiting for so long to use it. We took the profile shot so we could compare what he looked like "carrying" Miles compared to Mommy! LOL He looks so tiny with his short little legs and you can barely even see his head poking out!

The family en route down the block to get the mail - the big outing of the day. It's the best we could do to get all 3 heads in the picture - at least parts of all of them!

Last night was my first time to take Miles out by myself - Dad had band practice. I was a little nervous at balancing my purse, the diaper bag, getting the car seat out of the truck without banging his head, etc. It wasn't nearly as tragic as I dreamed of. He had eaten before we left so he had a full belly. The restaurant is only about a mile from the house and he fell asleep on the way. He stayed asleep the entire time so we had no drama with crying babies or dirty diapers! We met SH and Andrew out for dinner at Mimi's.Cafe and of course had to take a photo to commemorate it!Speaking of firsts...thanks for all the baby boy diaper changing tips because for the first time this morning...we had a shower free diaper changing! I carefully studied the peepee to see if I was about to get sprinkled on and covered it up just in time! Thanks for the tips!

And another adorable pic of Maddie and Miles. Funny, they both turned their heads right when I was taking the pic, but it looks like they are both looking at something across the room!

Happy Tuesday!

Miles of Miles' Smiles

2009-05-05T12:00:00.005-05:00

Miles is already growing so fast. He has changed so much just in the past 18 days. Can you believe he is 18 days old already? WOW. Just looking at his Week 1 vs Week 2 pictures - there's a link to them both over there -----------------> He is already getting so big! His eyes are so big and blue and he is smiling at me every day. Whether or not he knows he is smiling at Mommy is another thing, but he is definitely smiling! Smiles for Miles!

Week 2

Mommy still has yet to figure out how to not get peed on with the first diaper of the day. We made fun of those wee.wee.tee.pees we saw at the store, but I am beginning to think that may be the way to go! I was surprised a few times - peed in my mouth, remember? But this morning I opened up the diapee and let it get exposed to air (advice from neighbor with a son) and then put a wipe over the peepee (advice from someone else) while I cleaned up his bum. Just then I saw his pj's growing a shade darker blue than they had previously been. He peed with the wipe on! And of course, it isn't absorbent enough to take on a fountain of pee!! So then we had to change clothes and get another new diaper - I already had the new one under the bum!! Any tips from moms of boys is appreciated.... I know SH said to put the diaper on the peepee while changing, but I guess I am not understanding how this works if you still have to clean the bum??? Maybe I need a personal demonstration...

Here are the letters I made for Miles' room. Sorry the pic is of them on the floor...Daddy has yet to hang them up. SP - I found the letters your friend used at Hobby.Lobby and used scrapbook paper to cover them. It was super easy! I tried to pick paper with colors pulled from the paper used on the L so they tie together. You may have to click on the pic to make it bigger to see the patterns, but there are stars, polka dots, stripes, gingham/plaid, and the orange is a washy look. It ties well with the bedding. Hopefully Daddy will hang them today so I can get rid of that last empty wall.

We took our newborn pics at Laura.Odom.Photography on Friday. They turned out great. We still have to pick out the ones we want. How we will decide, I have no idea. We also picked up our maternity pics. They were ready the day before we went to the hospital so obviously we didn't have time to get them....I'll see if Dean can scan them today so I can show you a few of them...

We have 2 major events for Miles this week - his first restaurant trip with friends (and his future wife who was born the day before him) and his first graduation ceremony! Cross your fingers he stays quiet for this. His Grammy is graduating with a teaching certificate on Friday.

2 Week Checkup

2009-04-29T17:07:00.001-05:00

Today was my 2 week checkup. Dr. W and his nurse are very nice and try not to hurt me if they can help it. I did really good with my statistics. Check 'em out!

Height: 20 1/4" That's the 50 percentile!
Weight: 7 lbs That's the 25 percentile!
Head: 13 3/4" That's the 20 percentile!

I got my Hepatitis.B shot while still in the hospital so I only had to be poked once today for the Newborn Screen. That kind of hurt, but Mommy was holding me and rubbing my back so I didn't cry for long. By the time Dr. W came in, it was almost feeding time again and boy was I hungry. Luckily, Mommy brought a pacifier with her. It's a new kind...MAM or something like that. The nipple is shorter than the other one I have tried a couple times. But it always came out of my mouth because it was too big. This one is just right and it fits perfectly on the new pacifier holder Mom just got in the mail. It even has my initial on it! Now everyone will know that it's mine.

Here I am relaxing after the doctor visit. This is one of Mommy's favorite outfits. It says I love Mommy, I love Daddy all over it. Speaking of outfits....HOLY MOLY...My friend Holden was born April 2008 so we are exactly one year apart. He isn't having any more brothers or sisters so his Mommy gave my Mommy ALL of his clothes for the past year! Mommy took a picture of it all. She still hasn't gone through it yet - I think she's doing that tonight when I take my evening nap. But can you believe it? Holden's Mom Rocks!!

2009-04-29T13:40:00.001-05:00

Hopefully I can get this post done before we leave for the pediatrician's (Dr. W) office. I am finding myself to be extremely short on time these days. It is amazing what you can acomplish in 2 hours while the baby is napping though!

I have started to pump. Just to see what I can get out of them, if I can tackle that beast of a machine (not really a beast, just very intimidating), and to practice when I'll have to use it for real. I've been looking at it for few weeks in the box. Dean kept asking me when I was going to bust it out. I was chomping at the bit to purchase it before Miles arrived "just in case" and then looking at the thing, I was scared as hell. Number 1 - I really didn't want to feel like a cow. SERIOUSLY! Not 3 weeks ago we were watching something on Discovery.Channel about dairy farms (Dean likes weird shows, what can I say?). They showed how everything is mechanical and the cow goes into this secluded area - reminded me of a lactation room - but with fences instead of walls so the cows could still be with their friends. WHAT? Anyway, this machine comes up, sucks their milk, analyzes it for hormones and what not. It was crazy what it could accomplish without human intervention....I digress. My machine is not so automated. And with righty being so much bigger than lefty, the double pump thing is killing me. I can't do that one armed hold thing the chick in the manual does. I have to actually hold each one because I have to hold the bottle/shield not only ON the boob, but to hold the boob UP. Yes, they are that big. And no it is not a blessing. I am sure I would have just as many milk duds (as someone so lovingly refers to them) in little boobies, than I would in these beasts. And could the noise be more awful? It might as well be going, "MOO, MOO, MOO, MOO!!!" I've only done it 3 times now but only got a max of 3 oz. That time was out of lefty after Miles ate from that one. (He didn't eat very much that time) but otherwise I have only got 3 oz total from both. Is this normal? How much should I be producing at this point? When he is needing those GIANT 8 oz bottles, how will I ever fill them? **Sorry this boob pumping paragraph was so long!**

Miles has officially "christened" Mommy and Daddy with a pee pee shower! Daddy was changing a diapee in the changing area and heard this (not sure how to spell it) CCCCHHHH. He said he had been thinking of turning on the sprinkers in the backyard and thought it was water spraying the window. Nope! It was Miles spraying the top side of the changing pad! It was arched completely over the top of his head hitting the plastic. The only pee that got on him was a couple drops when he was finished! Mommy got it a completely different way. I was giving him a bath on Saturday. Laying on a couple of towels on the kitchen counter (he's too small for the tub still) and I was concentrating on shampooing his hair since at the time he still had his cord and couldn't be scrubbly bubbly all over. Then I feel this wetness on my face and IN MY MOUTH! I didn't think I turned the kitchen sprayer on...then I looked down just in time to catch a mouthful!! I had left him uncovered and myself open for attack! It was mucho disgusting. But still funny. Daddy had a good laugh at it anyways...

We both read several baby books while pregnant. We have adopted a couple of theories/options/philosophies from each and they are working quite well. From Happiest.Baby.On.The.Block, we are doing the 5 S's - Swaddling, Side/Stomach, Shhh, Swinging, Sucking. Technically we only use the swaddle/shhh combo for nighttime sleep and the shhh/swing combo for naps. It is amazing. He will go from screaming to sleeping in minutes! We are also using the E.A.S.Y. method from Baby.Whisperer. Eat, Activity, Sleep, You. He eats, we play with him or by himself, bath or diapee change (keeping him awake is key), then sleep, then time for You/Mommy/Daddy. That method is driving our schedule. And speaking of schedule we are trying the PDF from On.Becoming.BabyWise. PDF - Parent Directed Feeding, versus letting the child determine when eating time is. This is working perfectly with the EASY method above. With PDF, the book says that you create the metabolism habits of your baby. This makes them wake at their scheduled feeding time. At first I thought - yeah right. But we were previously having to wake him up for his nighttime feedings and for the past 2 nights he has woken up on his own - at the exact times we would be waking him. It is awesome!

Finished just in time....I have 7 minutes to pee, get my shoes on, get Miles in his seat so we can go! Talk to you soon!

Miles Updates

2009-04-27T10:37:00.000-05:00

2 Posts in less than 30 minutes...with a baby no less. But he is taking a nap and I am using my shower time to catch you guys up on Baby Miles Land!

Colo.strum was not enough for our little man. Over 2 days, we ended up giving him 3 of those 2 oz. bottles of formula the nursery gives you. He was hungry, hungry! I felt bad that I didn't have enough to feed the little booger, but it was just because Mom's milk hadn't come in yet.

Speaking of milk, it did finally come in Tuesday afternoon. Boy was Miles happy about that! I didn't even realize it was in (I don't get that let-down, tingly feeling I read about in 100 books) so imagine my surprise when he finally pulled off the booby and he had milk all over his face! He has been munching ever since! And btw, Mom LOVES Lano.lin!! He was getting a bad latch on righty because it is significantly larger than lefty so I think it was hard for him to get his mouth situated right. I finally corrected that problem, but by that time righty was TORE UP. Lano.lin to the rescue. That stuff is awesome!

When Miles was 5 days old - he rolled from his back to his tummy! While on his tummy, he pushed up and held his head up! Then proceeded to roll BACK onto his back! ON DAY 5!!! Can you believe it? I think we have ourselves a little overachiever! He has been holding his head up every time we put him on his tummy too!

Miles' billirubin level was 8.5 at the hospital. While this isn't high or even in the low risk category, it is at the high end of the normal range. (shouldn't this still be considered normal then?? whatever) so we had to visit the pediatrician on Wednesday. When Dr. W saw his results and checked him out he couldn't figure out why we needed to come in. Miles didn't have jaundice on his skin, just a little in the whites of his eyes. But Dr. W said that when babies are jaundiced, the jaundice starts at their eyes, works its way down the body, and ends in the eyes again. Since the level was so low and it was just in his eyes, he said this meant he was on the tail end of it - so no worries. Everything else checked out just perfect - like my son!! ;0) I also got congested a few days before going to the hospital. It has not gone away yet and I asked Dr. W what I could do about it that wouldn't affect Miles, and he said "suck it up" (Seriously - he did!) because any kind of decongestant would help dry me up, but it would also dry up the milk supply. Miles would not like Mommy if that happened. Anyone know of a baby friendly, milk friendly solution to congestion - bring it on!

We had our first mini outing on Friday. We needed to pick up the prize for the baby guessing game (see below - Steph C if you are reading and want to be surprised, don't look at the last pic!) and Mommy needed some nursing bras. I had a couple of nursing tank tops, but those puppies weren't cutting it. The weight was a little much for that flimsy material!!! We went to Barnes.n.Noble and Mother.hood.

Baby Miles' umbilical cord fell off Saturday night during a Daddy Diapee change. I was glad to see it go because it got in the way of the diaper, but I am also sad. That was the last piece tying Miles to Mom. :0( I still have it, though I'm not sure what to do with it. Our neighbors came over last night and she is Hispanic. She kept her kids' cords. That's kind of creepy because its basically dead tissue from inside her body, right? Her mom told her to bury it. Apparently that's a Mexican tradition? Kind of like planting a tree when a baby is born, but instead you plant the cord??? WEIRD. What did you guys do with yours?

Miles and Maddie are becoming fast friends. She is also quite the Mommy Doggy to him. Plus the paw print onesie is perfect!!

Look Ma! No more cord!

And here's the prize for the baby guessing game. A CD by his namesake. And what a perfect album Daddy had picked (before we got to the store) Miles Smiles!!

And before you ask....had Peanut been a girl the name would have been Marley Ladine. Marley because we liked it (before the movie was released ;0) ) and Ladine was Dean's mom's middle name. The prize for that would have been the Marley & Me movie...

The Birth Story...

2009-04-27T09:37:00.001-05:00

Even though I wasn't on any pain meds to make me loopy, there were pieces of the delivery day that were missing from my memory. Just because things were so crazy and I was a little bit excited about other things!

So we went to the hospital on Thursday, the 16th to turn in our 24 hour urine collection. Dr. S made it sound like we were just taking it to the lab and waiting on the results. We knew if we failed we would be induced the next day. We didn't know they were going to take blood and put me on BP and fetal monitors while the tests were being conducted. We got to the lab at 5:00. About 7:15 the nurse came in to say that we failed the test. The last time I failed it was by 1 point, this time it was by 20. Since I was already "term," there was no reason why we couldn't go ahead with an induction. So the nurse said we would be admitted to the hospital, spend the night and be induced around 8:00 Friday morning. She started my IV and put in Cervi.dril to soften my cervix. Apparently L&D was busy that night because she said we wouldn't be taken up until 10:30 or 11:00. This also meant no dinner for Kimbo. No food since lunch time.....GRRR...

We started making our phone calls. I had made a "call bracket" for Dean so he wouldn't have to call so many people. Well, since we weren't going through what we thought we would, you know rushing to the hospital after my water broke at 3 AM....Dean broke the rules and started calling and texting people not on his list. Then both of our phones started blowing up with congrats and questions about when Friday things would get going...

We got a room in L&D around 10:00 and attempted to get a little sleep in before the big day. Dean had a lovely night on a fold out chair-bed. He was wishing we had opted for that $500 a night suite with the full size bed for the Dad!! At 7:40 AM, Dr. S took out the Cerva.dril and broke my water. At 8:10, they started the Mag.nesium Sulf.ate in my IV to keep my BP in check and 10 minutes later I got a finger oxygen sensor and Pito.cin was started. I really didn't know I was having contractions. I just thought I was cramping really bad. Those continued for a few hours and then I started getting bottom pressure, to quote my nurse. After a few of these, it was time for the epi.dural. This was around 10:00. The Pito.cin was stopped for the epi to be inserted and was turned on afterwards. Around 12:00, my nurse (patients on a Mag drip get a 1-for-1 nurse) went on her lunch break and I got a sub. The sub was older and more informative - at least she told me more about what was going on. Dr. S doesn't like to check the cervix very many times after the water is broken due to infection. But around 12:45 I told her that the pressure was getting much stronger and I think that the baby is ready to come out. She again reminded me about Dr. S not wanting to check often and that I was scheduled for a check at 1:30. I told her that I didn't think I wanted to wait another 45 minutes, so she agreed to check then. Good thing, I was already 9 cm! She then says, "How do I get a hold of your husband?" because around he same time he had gone to lunch with my family. I said I can get a hold of him. So I sent him a text message that said "9 cm. Lunch is over." Apparently it was a scramble of everyone to get back upstairs because they thought the baby was coming right then!

By then the regular nurse was back and with her on one knee and Dean on the other, I pushed through 4 rounds of 3 pushes - maybe 15 minutes. They said they could see the head and then the nurse yelled, "Stop!" I was like HUH? No more pushing. WHAT? WHY? Well Dr. S needs to actually deliver your baby. Oh OK then...let me just squeeze my thighs together to keep this little guy inside! WTF???

So the nurse makes "the call" and suddenly I feel like I'm the star on a movie set. Like 15 people come in with carts and equipment galore to get things setup. Dr. S came in and I pushed for about 10 more minutes and he was on his way out. The cord got wrapped around his neck while she was turning him so she had to cut it - fortunately for Dean - he didn't. Then the nurse who's closest to me says "one more push" so I did. Well Dr. S had apparently said to stop pushing because she was getting something situated and wasn't expecting my last push. Dean said just like THAT - there he was - like a rocket out of the hoo-hoo!!! LOL

7.5 lbs and 19 3/4 inches of pure love. He is so gorgeous - I know that's not what you say about little boys - but he truly is! Big blue eyes (hopefully they stay that way) and the cutest little button nose!

Antepartum (vs. Postpartum) rooms were full. There were 2 ladies who were also on a Mag drip that were waiting on stretchers after their c-sections for a room, so we hung out in L&D for a while. We were finally moved about 8:15 and had a couple more visitors before 9. We roomed in with him the first night. It was so crazy. I still couldn't believe I had a little baby of my very own!

Here are a couple of pics. This first one is his Week 1 pic. I am going to take a pic every week with his monkey so you can see how much he is growing! Watch for a new photo album over there ---------> with the weekly pics!

Miles and Mom taking a much needed nap on the couch!

Miles.Monroe

2009-04-21T14:20:00.001-05:00

As you all have probably figured out by now, we've been a little tied up since last Thursday...

Miles Monroe was born on Friday, April 17th at 3:49 PM. He weighed 7.5 pounds and was 19 3/4 inches long. I promise a birth story soon, but for now here are some pics to get you by!

He is so good and so sweet and I love him to pieces already!

P.S. The Baby Game winner was Stephanie C!

So we failed the pee

2009-04-16T20:11:00.001-05:00

So we failed the pee test. Will be induced tomorrow @ 7 AM! Peanut is coming soon!