When thr3e Become OnE

One year and a day ago

2011-01-11T12:53:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow at 10:48 (PM) I will be a mother to a one year old. One year and one day ago I was sitting on my sofa with a box of chocolates making videos to my dear sweet unborn child begging for her to come out. I can remember getting dressed to go to my over due appointment where my midwife performed an ultra sound to check on J and make sure she had enough fluid around her, I remember thinking maybe when I get there she will tell me oh my word child we need to get you over to the first available birthing suite because you are in labor! well and that didn't quite happen. instead I left with tears streaming down my face because tomorrow I would be induced.

I came home, ate, and ate and ate, and bounced around on our med ball hoping for a miracle, J was now 11 days past due. I decided to give up and watch the bachelor, by the time the show ended my contractions were five minutes apart. I went to bed with a smile on my face because I would soon be a mom.

fast forward to now, When talking with my husband he will say he knows it's been a year, a year is a year and she has been here that long. and then there is my view..... I can't wrap my brain around it. I look at her with amazement remembering those nights when I would lie awake holding onto my enormous stretched belly and feel her rolling around and kicking, laying there wondering when she would enter the world, would she be early, late? or who would she look like? would she latch on easy, do I have everything I need to bring her home from the hospital, is m house clean enough to bring her home to, will I know what to do as a mommy, and now here we are almost a year later and we have all survived, now, and it has been an amazing year, more than I ever expected.

becoming a mother has brought more joy to my life than one could imagine. I am so thankful for both my husband and my daughter. Words cant express my gratitude that I have for my husband for sharing in the dream of me staying home raising our child/children to come. I no longer wake up to an alarm clock, instead it is the sounds of my sweet girls giggles and sometimes cries, I no longer have a clock to punch, but have a little hand to hold.

My contractions began at roughly 9:30 (tonight) only a year ago, I finished watching the bachelor and then went to bed, remembering what I had learned in birthing class, that giving birth was going to take strength so sleep when possible. by midnight I was doubled over with pain, I crawled to the bathroom on all 4's and began to time my contractions, they were now 2 and 1/2 minutes apart.

I wake up my husband

he calls the Doula

I could no longer talk through the pain

we load up the car, and off to the hospital we go

only to be told I was 1 cent dilated and needed to go home

here I am facing this day one year later, watching my little J walk around the house saying "uh oh" as she drops a toy, or "Mama" when she wakes from her nap. And I sit in pure amazement. how did a year pass already, the girl I once dreamed of meeting is now sitting on my living room floor playing with her toys.

I love her, more than she will ever know, because sadly we still have to go through the " I hate you mom stage" and the " you never let me do what I want to do" stage and all the other stages, but I look forward to them. because one day I will be sitting looking back on where we have come.

I love you Jada, and thank you for making me a Mom.

11 months

2010-12-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

Jada,

ignoring the fact that It has been more than a month since I have blogged, you are 11 months old already and are doing so many new things, I knew I had to find the time to sit down and jot them down.

this month you have taken your fist steps! you started off with one or two and today you walked the entire length of grandmas kitchen! I counted 26 steps, you walk several times through out the day and just pop yourself right up from the sitting position onto your feet and you take off, although crawling is still your number one go to way for getting around I think given a few more weeks that wont be the story.

we gave you juice for the first time the other day it was 50/50 actually a little water and a little apple juice and you Loved it, it was the first time you ever sucked down your entire sippy cup!

daddy and I have been working on words with you a lot this month as we have noticed your favorite way of communicating is through grunting and although this is cute and funny at the same time, we miss hearing daddy and momma :)

your hair is getting longer! its so cute, although your great grandma is still waiting for it to turn curly ( not sure who you would get curly hair from ) we are excited that you were able to wear your first pony the other day.

you are still a napper which I love, you sleep 12 hours a night and then nap 3 times a day each lasting a minimum of an hour and and the longest 2 hours.

we figure this is the last time we will have to order formula because you will be going to Organic Milk after your first birthday!

you are still a book worm, you love to lay on the living room floor with your books spread all around you and you love to sit on mommies lap as I read to you.

I think you are starting to look a little like me, well only some times and its usually from the side view and you have to squint your eyes and stand on one foot, YOU ARE SUCH a daddies girl! you look just like his baby pictures and your face lights up every time he walks through the door from work.

you met your aunt Cari this month for the first time, she flew in from Florida and stayed with us for a few days, you loved her, this video of you learning to walk was taken when she was here, she was so excited to have been able to share in this moment with us all.

you have 6 teeth now and are enjoying lots of new foods that require you to chew

your still wearing 12 to 18 month clothing

now that you are able to stand on your own you love to dance too! I admit several times through out the day we will turn on some music and dance just the two of us :)

you have been a complete joy to watch grow up and these past eleven months your dad and I have cherished, each night when I tuck you into bed and give you a kiss on your forehead I am thankful for you. you are my Sunshine little girl and I love you so much.

Love,
Mom

We're Back

2010-11-15T06:01:00.000-08:00

Let me start by saying, I was totally downplaying my anxiety about leaving Jada for the first time in that last blog post, it wasn't because I was worried about her with my mom, or that I was really worried about her, it was more me. I have a very routine oriented personality, so much that I HATE that but can't seem to break it, you know, the type: writes everything down in her agenda, does things with out even noticing that when I do them I do them the same way EVERY time, very anal, total type A personality... so this was about me leaving my "usual routine" gosh see I write that and i know how weird that sounds.

so as I was looking forward to our good time that was a head of us, and appearing cool on the outside, my stomach was in knots, were talking plenty of trips to the bathroom before heading out the door, and then while driving down the road I got quite the headache, which i believe was the tension that was building up on the inside finally being released. ( again, not ever really realizing that I was freaking out about leaving) however, once I pulled up to pick up the hubby from work I was feeling much better and was ready for the fun to begin!

we had a BLAST, Our night was to kick off at Sushi on the Rocks but wouldn't you know on a Saturday night downtown at 8:00 there would be an hour and a half wait?!?! no worries though, we went across the street to claddagh and enjoyed a drink and an appetizer, I believe when we finally say down to dinner it was 10, probably the latest I have ever eaten dinner but boy it was amazing, and so picture worthy, the table was filled with the most amazing sushi one has seen, it was Delicious.

After dinner a few from our group headed back home and others went to Tastings, which was totally my kind of place. I mean a wine bar .. hello. it's such a great idea to, I think we totally need one of these here in town. I put $20 bucks on my card and was good to go. they had taste any where from 2.50 to $10, and as I said before you could purchase a glass or even a bottle too. however what I didn't know was when the bottle got too low the machine would shut off and one of the employees would come over and replace with a new bottle and would pour the rest of what was left in the bottle into your glass ( um hello, awesome... ) and for some reason this happened to me 3 times... I swear I wasn't on the hunt for this to happen, I mean well. maybe. kinda. sorta. I was.

it was about 1:00 when the taxi dropped us back of at my girlfriends house and we stayed up till 2:30 am having girly conversations and chugging water, I must have had 8 tall glasses, we were going to the gym that morning at 9AM and I sure did not want to have a nasty headache from the enjoyment I took part in the night before. I remember thinking I hadn't been up this late since becoming a mom, and it was just what I needed.

and would you believe I was up bright eyed and ready to go at my usual time 6:45, like clockwork I tell you, no alarm needed. Nick joined me for some breakfast downstairs and about an hour later Lauren walks down pony tail sideways one eye opened ( just like the good ol college days ) and I believe she says something along the lines of " some things never change" :) I love her.

after a great work out at the gym we were off to shop.. ( separate post to come, lots of great finds! )

we were headed back home by 4:30 when we stopped for one more quick date at Naked Tchopstix, thats right, sushi two days in a row. I was a happy camper, the ride home Nick and I kept talking about how much fun we had and how excited we were to see the little one. I am truly grateful to have such great family and friends. We had a fabulous weekend and are sure Jada did too.

A night Away

2010-11-13T09:24:00.000-08:00

In just a few hours Nick and I will be heading to Indianapolis to spend the weekend with my college roommate/made of honor, sister friend Lauren. J will be staying here in town with my mom, this will be our first night away from each-other, I am sure she will be fine, my mom is going to stay here at our house with her that way she is in her bed and her normal surroundings, and I think I will be fine too, a night away with the Hubby will be nice.

we are kicking things off with Dinner downtown at one of our favorite Sushi restaurants "Sushi on the Rocks" I haven't eaten here since we last lived in Carmel, so my mouth is already starting to water. There is also this really cool new place called Tastings, which is a wine tasting place where you put money on a card ( kinda like a wine debit card :) you walk around and read the descriptions of the wine and if you want to taste you slide your card in and either purchase a taste, a glass or the bottle.

then tomorrow we will be visiting the Indy North Crossfit gym to get a quick work out and then Lauren and I will be off to shop... asdkfjh!! I can't wait, Trader Joes, World Market, the Home Goods store... bring it on!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

10 months

2010-11-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

well J you are ten months today...

your 1st birthday is quickly approaching ~~OMWwhat the heck, how is my baby almost one?!!!??!~~ being your mom for these last ten months has been so rewarding, being able to be home with you each and every day, watching you learn new things, experience new thing,~~even when you pick out the dust bunnies on the floor and insert into mouth~~ I am always there for you, and this is something I hope you grow up knowing. You truly are an amazing child J and I look forward to watching you grow, I know you are only ten months now, but I gotta admit there are several nights when I lay awake thinking about our future mother daughter conversations, the first time I drop you off at school, your fist away at camp experience, your first heart break ~~watch out whoever you may be , this little girl has a pretty tough daddy~~ your first sleep over, all that stuff... well, it's fun to think about, but this is where we are now, ten months... and believe me I have enjoyed every second of it.

* you have mastered the stairs, a few times.. we really need to get a gate.

* eating solids 3 times a day in addition to 4 (4-5) 5 oz bottles

* I have noticed you only say Momma when you are hungry, or really sleepy, every other time its da, daa daa, daddy...

* you have stood on your own for 3 seconds a handful of times so we think you will be walking by your first birthday.

* you Love your books, if I lay a toy out and a book 90% of the time you will go towards the book

* still sleeping great, 12 hrs a night, sometimes though you wake up and just want to be with mommy, you will fuss and I go into check on you and lay you back down and you cry, but if i pick you up you immediately place your head on my shoulder and are out like a light, so we have slumber parties in mom and dads bed maybe once a week..

* you still only have the 4 teeth top and bottom 2, the top ones are starting to come down more, I see a super cute christmas card coming soon!

* wearing 12 months and some 18 months (they are pretty big)

thats about it as for what's new, although tomorrow night you will have your fist night away from mommy and daddy ( separate blog post coming soon ) Gigi is coming to stay with you at our house while we go to Indy to visit some of our friends.

you are an adorable baby J and you continue to bring smiles to everyones face who meets you. Happy 10 moths buggy!

Love- Mom

Random weekend facts

2010-11-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

* it Snowed.. and it snowed a lot, I was out running some errands with my grandmother and J and when we walked out of Macys my car was covered.

*got my grandma to realize there was no way she was an A cup that in fact she was a full C cup, and now both her and her bras are much happier, thank you lady at Macys.

* we went on a road trip saturday morning to visit my father in law and nick and I went back to the crossfit crown point gym to get a work out in and visit with the cool peeps at the gym, this gave my father in law just some good grandpa and J time, and all was a success.

* we cleaned out the garage. yippee, we now are ready for the snow as the cars will be protected.

* did 3 really long work outs the past 3 days. looking forward to a rest day on Monday

* I enjoyed an entire bottle of tabor hill wine this weekend. by myself.

* got lots of hubby wifey time, as the hubs was off saturday and today

* enjoyed some quiet time reading our new BC pick, the year of living biblically by A.J Jacobs, can't wait to talk to the rest of the girls to see if they are finding it as humorous as I am.

* crawled in circles around the house, with a naked baby. there is something completely adorable watching your baby chase after you will a full on cheese smile.

* enjoyed another 1/2 bottle of tabor hill wine .. all... by .. myself

* was amazed by the fact that every time i go to chipotle its always a different price when i order the SAME THING, every time.

* J is learning to kiss, and it is the most adorable thing ever.

* having dinner tonight with the grandparents, which is always good fun

* found the perfect pair of closed toe wedges at Aldo!! they should be arriving in mail wednesday this week

Hope you all had a great weekend, and ps: I realize this was maybe a lame post, but I had to post something to get rid of the bikini pictures I last posted :)

PEACE!

60 Day Challenge

2010-11-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

the 60 day challenge is over at the gym, everyone had great results. there was a tie for first place and also, 2 runner ups. I was one of the runner ups and scored a gift certificate to use at The Mark of Uptown Kitchen ( two of the restaurants I previously blogged about) I am happy with the results I have seen in myself the last 60 days and will continue the challenge on my own, I mentioned I would post my before and after pictures if I won, and although I was not the winner, I think I still owe it to you all to post them, why? I am not exactly sure... ha... but here you go.

I am excited for the results I am seeing with out doing anything crazy, and the fun part is that I am enjoying the hard work its taken to get here. my mind set is totally different than ever before instead of focusing on weight loss I have been focusing on strength, but to build strength it takes hard work, which doing the hard work then sheds weight...

on another note of personal progress today I was able to do the first RX Work out today ( RX means prescribed)!! it was called "Randy" and it consisted of 75 snatches with 55 #'s. I completed this in 8:06
to say I was excited is a complete understatement, I might have even fist pumped when I was finished... ha.

so there ya have it, maybe I will have a new set of pictures in another 60 days... who knows.... but then I thought of this...

OMW.... I am going to get like this again one day!!!

but boy are they worth it :)

Trick or Treat...

2010-11-02T06:02:00.000-07:00

This was J's first Halloween and she was our sweet little Pig.

while being overwhelmed with options of costumes this year we decided to go with the pig outfit from the Baby Gap because it looked so warm and its a multi functional costume, she now has a cute warm velour outfit and a cute little Pig hat that she can wear separately through out the winter. it was a win win. Not to mention how cute she looked in it.

we had lots of Trick O treaters this year, our neighborhood has lots of kids so I expected this but I was shocked to see this the loads of cars parking on our street, and the amount of kids that would pop out of the cars and run up to the houses, this seemed to be a destination neighborhood and my candy bowl was proof to that. This was the fist year we bought candy to hand out to trick or treaters, we figured we would have quite a few kids so we went to good ol sams club and bought two big mixed bags of goodies... next year we may need a bit more, as I can recall more than a few times putting 1, thats right ONE tootsie roll in the poor little kids bag.

J had a good time waiting by the front door and seeing all the kids dressed up in costume. luckily we didn't see any really scary ones. the kids got a kick out of her costume too...so J's first Halloween was a good one and we hope you and your families was as well :)

oink oink

Book Worm

2010-10-25T05:32:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking in order for me to blog anymore, I should set a reminder alarm on my phone... but honestly it's not that I don't ever think of blogging anymore, its just that READING has taken place of my blog time. All you mommies out there know that there are only certain times in the day that we can break away and do "our own thing" which usually in our house happens around nap time, this is when I would blog, but lately I have taken a big interest in reading.

One of my girlfriends recently had the idea to get together a book club, and boy is it fun. there are about 10 or 11 of us, we get together once a month in which we sit around chit chat about the book but somehow wind up talking about or kids over many glasses of wine. this is good times I am telling you. Our first book we read was the help, and this months pick was the Island, I enjoyed both of them although I am not quite finished with the island just yet.

any who, I do miss blogging a bit, so I will try to make more of an effort to get on here and scribble some thoughts down, until then my coffee is getting cold and my book is calling my name.

9 months

2010-10-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

well little J you are 9 month old today! we just got back from your wellness check up at you are 20 lbs
(75%) and 29 in ( 97%) long! very healthy baby.

you are getting so big and learning so many new things. This past weekend you had a daddy daughter day and daddy took you out for a 3 hour run and you loved it, although you slept a lot of the time in your stroller, you guys stopped and watched other little kids play a football game and then made a visit over to great grandma Nora's house. ever since you have been crawling around the house saying da da da da da da da.

you have your top two and bottom two teeth in and more are on there way as you are always looking for something to put in your mouth.

your starting to take to your sippy cup now that mommy bought one with the straw, and you are holding your own bottles... still drinking 5 bottles a day anywhere from 4-6 Oz each time.

Finger foods were new this month to you, for the most part you pick it up and play, I cant understand why you stick toys in your mouth but when it comes to actual food you want to squish it or crumble it.

your into all the cute little girl outfits now that you are wearing 12 mo. every time I am in Target I find myself picking up something for you, its just so hard to resist.

pictured above is your new favorite face, ( with some added Brussels sprouts on your chin) you are so silly, you have been making this face a lot lately accompanied by fast breathing in and out through your nose. you crack me up, and when I make this face back at you that is exactly what you do... you just giggle giggle giggle.

this past month Gigi took you out and got you some really neat toys, like your musical table that you love to crawl up to and then stand and play, you even push it, thats right... you are kinda sorta walking! you also have another toy called the Zaney Zoo and you love to walk with that, so it wont be long and I bet you will be off the ground.

you found the stairs this month, you love to climb them so we have to keep our eye on you at all times. I am not quite sure yet if I should teach you how to come down or keep telling you not to go up them...

I started taking you to Lap sit this month at the library and you love it, we read, dance and sing, and you also get time to play with the other kids. you love books, every week after lap sit we check out a new CD for the car and a book for each night of the week to read before bed time.

you LOVE little kids and other babies, you have been having more and more play dates with your little friends, and its so cute to watch you interact with them, although at times you still go off and do your own thing.

this was your fist trip to the pumpkin patch, it was a very cold day out so we didn't get to take to many pictures but it was so fun and a new fall tradition :)

it's been a blast watching you learn all of these new things, you are such a fun little girl!

Love, Mom

A vegetarian's path to Paleo

2010-10-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

Where to begin... I have wanted to sit down for quite some time to just scribble down my thoughts on this stuff... but what would I focus on, what I am doing, how I am doing it, why I am doing it ? did I need to address all of those things before just blabbing on about how I feel... well maybe so here goes...

4 years ago I became a vegetarian, this was brought on by becoming conscious of the way I ate as I was starting to become very passionate about the importance of physical fitness and living a healthy lifestyle. within those 4 years I read a lot of books, did a lot of research, watched a lot of video's... after a while, the physical fitness part of my interest began to die off, I noticed that I was able to maintain my figure pretty well with just my way of eating and began to slack off on the working out part.. you know the whole 70/30 notion... that whole 30 part took a back seat for a while...

fast forward to now, my interest in living healthy has only advanced as now I am not only taking care of myself but my family. I have continued reading and learning and i must admit my views have changed. after having J I really wanted to ~~get back into shape~~, get into shape. I was ready I wanted to get serious. I was going to give Crossfit a try. most of my close friends and family who know me well ,know that I am a very driven person when I have a strong interest in something, and the all around health for my family and myself is very high on that list of importance to me, which is why I have continued to read, and research.

fast forward to now Now... I have been a member at a local crossfit gym for a few month and have seen amazing results, however the results are not the only thing driving me, it has been the most fun I have ever had while working out, never did I ever think I would be front squatting, back squatting, overhead squatting, I mean who the heck knew what a clean an jerk was or a sumo dead-lift high-pull... not this chick. and here I am drenched in sweat, collapsing at the end of a work out and continuing to go back each day. it's an addiction, but a good one. it is here that my views on nutrition changed.

with my enthusiasm for crossfit I started looking into the way these athletes ate, this is where I was introduced to the Paleolithic way of eating. not long after I joined the gym the owner had put together a 60 day challenge which I blogged about before, it has been 41 days and we have 2 weeks and 5 days left. the challenge has been going great, however It was ridiculously hard for me to get adequate amounts of protein at each meal with out eating meat with the added limitation of beans... and what I had always looked at as sources of protein like almonds and nuts... those were now considered the health "fats" I was screwed... and wanted so badly for this to work because the amount of research I had done all supported it. Dr. Loren Cordain, Ph.D and Robb Wolf became my go to peeps for nutrition. I picked up a copy of The Paleo Solution, the original human diet and was sold.

It seems as though this way of eating has been getting a lot of attention lately which is great, I realize I have yet to really describe what the paleo way of eating is so in a nut shell its meat,fish, nuts, seeds, fruit and veggies. no dairy, no grains ( gluten) no sugar. Although I considered my vegetarian way of eating very healthy, I soon realized how much I had become depended on things like pastas, breads, and cheeses , and thus added some bulge around the mid section and brought out a very big sweet tooth.

with the change in diet, I truly believe in the results I have seen, not only physical, I went and had my blood work taken. glucose : 82,triglycerides 52, LDL cholesterol 62, HDL cholesterol 52 with a total cholesterol of 124. as I mentioned we have 2 weeks and 5 days left in the challenge and the winner of the $350 is announced but for me this has become a lifestyle, it would just be super duper awesome to walk away with the $350 bucks in my back pocket. ( and if I win, I may just post my before and after pics... )

I have listed some bitts of info for some who may wonder what you eat if you arent eating dairy and grains, and just a few of my favorite things:

I have been getting our meat from a Local Butcher shop DC Meats , as they have antibiotic free, hormone free, and grass fed meats.

non dairy milks : almond milk, coconut milk and when I want something sweet DARK CHOCOLATE almond milk... it is heaven.

fats: olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, and avocados

there are tons of gluten free options at your local groery, but I try to keep a limit on the amt of foods I buy that come with a list of ingrediants, but each week I come home with a bunch of Larabars they are great.

almond or coconut flour instead of traditional flour or whole wheat flour.

locally there are two great resturants that allow us to stick to this way of eating while enjoying a night out.

and if your a researcher like me I would highly recommend the paleo solution book already referenced in this blog as well as the primal blueprint and the cook book.

a few good web sites

www.robbwolf.com

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

http://everydaypaleo.com/

now you know my deepest darkest secret, I am a nerd for nutrition. and Robb wolf has become my new Dave Ramsey.

Two years

2010-10-04T16:49:00.000-07:00

When I met you, I had no idea how much my life was about to be changed.. but then, how could i have known? A love like ours happens once in a lifetime. You were a miracle to me, the one who was everything, I had ever dreamed of, the one I thought existed only in my imagination. And when you came into my life, I realized that what I had always thought was happiness couldn't compare to the joy loving you brought me. You are a part of everything I think and do and feel, and with you by my side, I believe that anything is possible. Thank you for the miracle of you... you are, and always will be, the love of my life.
-Linda Lee Elrod

Happy Anniversary Nick, I love you.

An un expected Goodbye

2010-09-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

This Is our dog Sparticus, my husband and I got him while we were in college he has been a part of our family ever since, he was in our engagement and maternity photo shoot, although I will be the first to admit he took a back seat since J was born. We called him Sparty and he was nothing short of a wonderful protector and friend, there wasn't a day he wasn't happy to see you, even if you just went out for a minute to take out the trash, the second you walked back in the door he would jump in circles with excitement. Nick and I are holding on to the fun times we had with Sparty like running off leash in the woods, pulling us on our rollerblades, eating doggy ice cream cups, laughing at the way he would always growl at UPS trucks or any truck of that size, the road trips to florida , how he looked like a person sitting in the front seat of the car, playing doggy in the middle ( keep away) playing hide and seek, he would always get so scared if you would sneak up on him.... how his lip would get stuck on his tooth and he would look so silly.... only today we hold onto these fun times as memories.

it's funny how even a dog can give you a new perspective on life. Sparty was only 5 years old, not an old dog, he was walking around and playing with Jada last night as usual, and before we went to bed he ate, as usual... and around 1:45 am I heard light whimpering noise coming from downstairs, Nick checked on him, we knew something wasn't right, then I felt his stomach and it was rock hard, I typed in boxer dogs tight stomach into a google search engine and read about "bloat"

we decided I would take Sparty in the the emergency vet hospital to be checked out, while there, we learned that he in fact did have the classic case of air in his stomach and his stomach had twisted meaning the air was stuck and surgery ( a very expensive surgery) was needed asap, only the Dr wasn't so sure surgery would work, as too much of his stomach could have been dead at this point, or because his heart rate was high, he could go into shock during surgery.

sitting alone in a room with your dog, making that dreaded phone call home to your husband to make a decision is the hardest thing I have had to do to date. As much as I have complained of the every day doings of a dog since becoming a mother, the shedding, the mouth noises, the drool, the food on the floor, having to put chairs on the sofa at night so he doesn't sneak up and get the drool, hair and food on it.... these will now be things I miss, I wasn't ready... and its going to be hard...

he loved you J, he loved to protect you and play with you.

this is my favorite of all favorites, this photo was taken in college, at my old apartment where dogs weren't allowed. ( shh)

our original family of 3

look J, daddy has Earings.... this was a typical study session, Sparty with his Master.

the good ol' days when it was man and his best friend, college roommates, sharing one bed.

hey always had lots of love to give

kisses for my Mr man

the last kiss, the hardest kiss, I will miss you buddy, there will never be another dog like you.

SPARTICUS - here is my husbands blog and what he took the time to say today.

we Love you Sparticus.

FGB

2010-09-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

this past saturday Nick and I took part in a crossfit fundraiser called fight gone bad, it was to raise money for the fallen soldiers. it was a great time. it was my first time participating in an event with other athletes for crossfit other than our usual days at the gym. I was pretty proud of myself and set a PR (personal record) well it was pretty easy to set seeing as though this was only my second time doing it, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

Fight gone bad consists of 5 movements/work outs done a minute at a time as many reps as you can and then at the end of those 5 minutes you rest for a minute and then go again for a total of three rounds.

the movements are

20'box jumps

push press

sumo deadlift highpull ( 55#'s)

wall balls (55#'s)

rowing (for calories)

you then add up the number of reps you did for all of these and that makes up your score... I did 200 and was very happy with that, the last time I did 161, nick did 428 ( also a PR) because his last score I believe was 380 something... and I believe the weight he used was the recommended mens weight of 75#'s

we had a great time and it was for a great cause, Nick and I were in the same heat so we got to kind of compete against one another which was fun because as i was doing my box jumps wanting to quit I looked over at him and saw he was still going strong, which inspired me to keep going. I am very grateful that we both enjoy doing things like this together, and little J was watching from the sidelines with my dad, it was a great day. here are a few pictures...

while you all are sleeping....

2010-09-16T02:23:00.000-07:00

last night J was pretty tired and was ready for bed by 6:45 ish...

this is where it all went wrong.

9:30, we hear cried over the monitor, daddy goes re positions her and lays her back down.

Daddy and I go to bed

11:20 cries over the monitor, loud ones, accompanied by runny nose sounds

I suctioned her nose which she does not like at all. and then tried to give her her paci which only lead to further frustration for her because she couldn't really breath when her nose is having whatever problems they may be having, runny/ stuffiness and then you go and plug up the only air hole left...

I hunted in the basement for the humidifier
found it, and set it up in her room,

meanwhile i make bottle and give to her

3 mins after finishing bottle she spits it ALL back up, on myself and her

12:00 AM to the bath tub we go

12:15 fresh jammies and diaper, tuck back into bed

12:30 my head hits the pillow

12:45 J is still talking in her crib, daddy and I decide to bring her into our bed

12:46 foot in dads face
12:47 finger in mommies eye
12:47 I am now wondering how with only an 8 month old and a husband suddenly out king bed feels like a twin as my leg is half off and one tip on my nose is still able to rest on a pillow
12:48 J tried to crawl off bed
12:49 mom repositions her
12:50 she's looking pretty sleepy
daddy was asleep all the way back at 12:45

1:15 she is out. arm on my arm foot above the covers, making me too nervous to do a quick pull, you know so I could be comfortable with the blanket all tucked up under my neck

3:15 I wake up to some movements in the bed, and am then greeted with a wet kiss on my forehead, I atempt to lay her back down when I notice, her diaper seemed to be half on half off....

3:16 flip on bathroom light
3:16.5 face falls into hands as i notice a giant circle of wetness in the center of out bed
3:17 jammy and diaper change for J
3:20 lay her in her bed
more cries, daddy comes in
3:22 I am back in our bedroom stripping the sheets, sponging up the wetness that was starting to seep into matress...

3:23 realize, what am i doing with no sheets how can i get back to bed, where i so desperately wanted to be...
3:23 decided to take off bottom sheet and just use cover sheet on the mattress for the rest of the night

daddy gets J to bed

3:25 YES! I look at him like he is the man , and ladies he was the man at this moment.
3:26 head hits pillow feeling so very thankful as I drift off to dream land
3:42 cries on monitor ..........
3:43, I realize I need to toss in the towel and head downstairs....

I am not sure what today brings, but I feel it will involve lots of black coffee and our PJ's

day 13

2010-09-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

today is the 13th day of the challenge and I am doing pretty good, I am down 4.5 lbs and am feeling tighter all around. as part of the challenge we are to keep a food journal which I think really helps, I mean come on who wants to write down that they indulged in two giblets, a glass of red wine, barnabys pizza, and a few slices of potato wedged from Bw 3's... I mean not me... ( agh hem agh hem) but moving right along, I have been doing pretty good with the diet for the most part, I am eating lots of fish and veggies, so much so that I had to cut down on the amt of veggies because I wasn't able to finish them and I was feeling as though I was eating too much food.

what my diet consists of is meat ( which for me is Fish, and soy meats) veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds NO DAIRY and NO GRAINS

and I am measuring the amt of food at every meal that way I am getting 21 grams of protein 18 grams of carbohydrates ( supposed to be 27 but it was too much for me ) and then 4.5 grams of fat, this goes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. the carbohydrates come from the fruit and veggies protein from the meat and my shake I make and the fat usually comes from olive oil, nuts, seeds, or avocado

although I believe I had a clean diet before the challenge I must say my body fells so much better while working out, I recover better, not nearly as sore as I used to be and I have been able to increase the amt. of weight I am able to lift. its amazing what cutting grains and dairy can do for you.

I am really enjoying the challenge and although I have no clue where everyone else is at, I am happy with my progress and hope to continue getting better.

8 MONTHS

2010-09-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

here we are baby girl, 8 whole months you have been around, and boy are you EVERYWHERE now a days.

people always told me " oh just wait till she crawls, thats when the fun begins, and she will be into everything" and boy were they right, I find myself cooking and you are down at my feet trying to climb up my leg, or when I am sweeping you chase after the broom, you are fascinated with cords and will crawl under the computer desk if we take our eyes off of you for even the fastest second. I can only imagine what it will be like when you are walking because soon we wont have any toys to restrain you in, yes honey mommy used the word restrain.

yours great Grandma Nora calls you a little Road Runner baby because we are always on the go, but you truly are an easy baby and you make that all possible.

you are a big girl now and when we go to the grocery store you sit in the front of the cart ( but only because your mommy bought one of those covers that protect you from all those nasty cart germs.) still fm time to time I will wear you in the Moby wrap while we are out and about especially if you are getting sleepy because you still like to take naps on mommy :)

you are starting to pull yourself up on the sofa, and other low things in the house

your two bottom teeth are in and you are getting more because you are a drooling everywhere. you have handled the whole process very well though.

I have cut back on increasing the amt of your solid foods because you have stopped drinking a full 6 oz, I now give you 5 bottles a day and they are 5 oz each, I will give you solids twice a day but only two to three ice cubes which I believe are about 1.5 oz a piece.

you are wearing size 12 mo, and I have recently purchased some 18 mo leggings due to your cloth diapers but they are a bit big still and the 12 mo fit you great for now

here is a picture of you and Mommy's good friend and college roomate Lauren, see how big you are getting? when daddy and I have you out we have been asked several times, is she walking yet, how old is she, 12 or 13 months.... you are a very active and strong baby I can tell you that much, how you are pictured in this photo above should give you a pretty good idea of how you were at this age always wanting to stretch out, get down.

this past sunday was your fist time down in the Nursery at church, you bypassed the baby room because you are able to sit up on your own, I was a little worried about dropping you off, only because it would be the first time you have been with other kids, and adults when I wasn't around, and when we got there, there were about 11 babies ALL CRYING ( talk about a way to ease a mommies worries, NOT) so daddy and I kissed you godbye and watched you crawl over to a toy and after about a minute and you were still content we walked up to the service.
we just sat down and we see "jada Grace" appear on the screen, oh no I thought, but daddy jumped right up and said I will go see, turns out, some other little baby tackled you, talk about a rough first day, daddy held you until you calmed down and then sat and played with you for a few minutes, the ladies working said that it was a very full service and they were pretty short staffed, daddy showed the woman your favorite toy and that if you got fussy to try to give you that, daddy came back up and joined me in the service and 10 minutes later we see "Jada Grace" we decided to take you out and daddy played with you out in the front atrium, we will give it a try next sunday I am sure you will grow to love it :)

while out on a walk last week we were approached by another mommy who informed me that there are lots of us fist time mommies in the neighborhood and they all get together wednesdays in the afternoon, so you and I joined them this past week and we walked for about an hour in the neighborhood, I am so excited to have met such great mothers and their babies, there were 7 babies that day all ranging from 3 to 13 months, so there are lots of kids here in the neighborhood for you to grow up with.

so there you have it baby girl, your 8th month wrap up, and now I must go scoop you up from the living room floor because it looks as though you are getting ready to get yourself stuck under the side table.

Love your Mommy

Fittest in the Region

2010-09-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we packed up the car and headed to Crown Point for a crossfit competition titled " the fittest in the Region" and I WON!

Just kidding, I didn't compete, I however did take lots of great pictures. I watched as three crossfitters from the Box I go to competed, one being Nick ( the hubsters), the other our coach (Brandon) and the ever inspiring Amy. they all did great, and it was so fun to watch. there were a total of three WOD's, the athletes knew what the first two were but in order to find out the third they needed to do well in the fist 2 and then move on. and let me just tell you, that 3rd work out, just watching them I wanted to be on the beach with a pina colada in my hand and someone standing over me with a beautiful fan. yep, it was a tough one.
here were the 3 WOD's

first WOD
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 of
225# deadlift
55# kettlebell swing
chest to bar pull ups

second WOD
21-15-9
burpees
95# thrusters
24' box jump

Third WOD
Toss a 45 # sand bag over a 60 ft wall and then jump the wall (5x)
push a 165# prowler for 200 m
pull a 165# sled 200 m
15 overhead squats with 95#

for 3 rounds.

Here is the hubsters himself jumping over the wall.. it was great to see all the athletes go hard and give it there all, very motivating to watch and see where it is I want to be. even though I did enjoy a nice couple of pieces of Barnabys pizza at the end of the night :)

here are a few more pictures

in process of doing burpee

Overhead squat

sadly, this happens from time to time... thankfully though it wasn't any of our three competetors

and last but not least we couldn't leave out a picture of daddy's biggest fan

she was a "hootin and a Hollerin"

overall Nick took first place, Brandon second and Amy took fist in the women's heat. Nick was very excited and is itching to do more competitions in preparation for sectionals in March. it's truly amazing watching him work so hard for something and enjoying every minute of it.
3 rounds…

toss a 45# sandbag over a 6 foot wall, jump over the wall x 5
push a 165 # prowler 200m
drag a 165 # sled 200m
15 Overhead squats at 95#

Day 1

2010-09-01T05:10:00.000-07:00

here we are it's september 1st, this marks day 1 of the 60 day challenge. the before pictures and measurements have been taken and were off.....I decided to do a mix of the paleo and the zone for now and see how that works, if it gets crazy hard doing the math and measuring then I will just stick with the paleo but I want to give it a try for at least a couple of days and see if I can intertwine the two. I will be going to the gym later this evening and hope to get a good run in before it gets to be some crazy 90 degrees outside.

last night I gave away my coffee creamer, block of cheese, yogurt and the ever so loved vino... now that is some serious business when a girl gives that stuff up, but I have to be serious, there are 12 people signed up which = $300 big ones for the winner...

and boy do I want that to be me :)

60 in T - 7 days

2010-08-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, remember when I wrote that really motivating post about how I was going to dedicate 90 days of my life to get fit and get in shape, and well I did 30 of them and posted my results, and well I just never got back to "ya'll" with the rest of my transformation, well I am here to tell you that I am sorry, you see, those other 60 days didn't quite happen. Not because I didn't want to do them ~~I was just to lazy to do it by myself~~ you see my husband went out of town for work for a week and I was left home as a single parent for a weeks time and I was going to pop in the P90X dvd's while he was out to make up for my work outs that he was having me do, and what happened? first day i popped one in and well I learned I am not a DVD type of girl, I needed someone in my face like good job or keep pushing yourself and what not, and the dvd just wasn't cutting it.

so here we are... all moved into our new house, settled in and all so what have I been doing as far as working out? well we joined a Crossfit gym ( which are the types of work outs I was doing during my 30 day transformation) and I have been LOVING it, and guess what?!?! the gym is putting on a 60 day challenge

http://brandon83.wordpress.com/60-days-of-discipline/

its a $25 buy in and the winner takes home the cash, even more motivation right!??! so I have 7 days to get together a game plan, wish me luck and this time I am motivated and promise I will be back with my results. Wish me luck!

7 months

2010-08-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

Baby Bug,

You are 7 months old (+2 days) here are some of the fun things that you are now doing

* crawling, you are all over the place, but you would rather walk, or so it seems. when you crawl you bear crawl more that anything which is where you have your feet plat on the ground and your legs all the way extended and then you take off, you try sometimes to pop your body off the ground, but you have to crawl before you walk.

* pulling yourself up, this is new within the last few days and you haven't quite done it yet, except for in your crib which as soon as mommy saw this we put an end to it when daddy got home from work and we lowered your crib all the way.

* you say momma, but not all the time, so when you do it brings tears to my eyes because its in such sweet moments like the other day you were sitting in daddys lap and he kept saying where is momma, say momma and yor little mouth would go mammamamamma and them finally momma would come out and then I would clap and say "yaaaaay" and you would do it again. so sweet.

* you have your bottom two teeth with the 3rd pushing its way through

* wearing size 12 month clothing

* you are ready for the big kid tub mommy just has to get to the store to get one of those tub suction mats.

* your favorite toy by far is your Sophie the giraffe ( you love to chew on her little legs and nose.

* I still have you eating only 2 solid meals through out the day and you are eating 4 6 oz bottles every 4 hrs.

* naps usually consist of one long one (1 - 2 hrs ) and 2 or 3 other short ones

* your adorably cute little Michelin arms are starting to deflate a bit now that you are so active with the crawling, but don't worry mommy has lots of pictures to show you just how cute they are.

Daddy and I just can't believe how big you are getting, and as each month passes you amaze us with your new developments. I look forward to the day I can share with you all the many pictures and videos that we have taken of you, always remember mommy and daddy love you very much!

Itch in the Kitch

2010-08-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

the other day while flipping through the TV guide during one of Jada's naps I came across the movie Julie and Julia and read the info section about it and saw cooking and blogging, and I was sold. this movie was Great, and ever since I have been wanting to explore new recipes as I seem to have gotten in a rotating routine between a few good meals.

I must admit I had never heard of Julia Child before, and boy does she use a Crap-ton-O butter in her cooking, the idea seems very entertaining.

today I set out on a mission to the library in hunt of a good cookbook, one that would allow me to stick with our vegetarian ways but also be fun and entertaining.

I came across one called a year in vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop and low and behold, in the same section I found Julia Child and Simone Beck Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I was excited to have found 2 great books and plan on flipping through them this evening after Jada goes down for the night!!

agh the life of being at home again!

weekend wrap up

2010-08-02T06:11:00.000-07:00

this weekend was pretty packed for our little family but we all had a good time. Saturday was our family reunion for my mom's side of the family along with my cousins high school graduation party and then Sunday we went to watch my brother compete in battle of the bands, needless to say we all got some sun this weekend.

the family reunion was lots of fun this year with all the babies, last year three of us were pregnant so this time around we had a 6, 7 and 8 month old babies stealing the attention of all the grandmas. I believe this weekend was the most I have ever shared my little baby during her whole almost 7 months existence, but we all had a fun time.

and Jada is quite the trooper, yesterday we were out in the parking lot of woodwin and brasswin watching the battle of the bands competition and she was just hanging out in her stroller playing with her Sophie the Giraffe, taking naps, laughing and singing along, she was just perfect, for the entire 5 hours we were there. Nick and I really enjoyed watching my brother play, he has been in this band called Second Season for a while now and Nick and I have yet to see him play because his shows are usually very late at night and in a smoke filled small bar, so when yesterdays show came up we were very excited to get the opportunity to hear him along with the other bands.

you can hear them here http://www.myspace.com/secondseasonsb

- although this is not the type of music I would just pop in and listen to, they are a FANTASTIC band, and watching them in a show setting was very fun and I really enjoyed watching my brother ( the drummer) doing something he is not only amazing at but something that he LOVES. so take a look at their band and try to make it to a show if you are in the area!

they placed second out of the competition, and still took home a nice cash prize and some other fun things.

so there you have it, that was our fun filled weekend.

agh hem. hello...

2010-07-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

testing, testing
1, 2, 3
is this thing on?

Why hello, yes thats right I am back, so it's been two months, where have I been, what have we been up to? well lets just say A LOT, lots of things I could have blogged about like the purchase of our fist home, and the all of our painting projects we have been up to around the new house, or how about my going back to work, yeah I never did blog about that, however I did try to get on and type out a few words for Jada's monthly milestones... but boy has she been up to a lot ... learning to crawl,sitting up in her crib,singing, being as cute as ever.... so how about this. rather than write about all the things I have left out,

how about we toast to new beginning?

because I QUIT MY J-O-B ( the one I have had for the last 3 yrs)

today is my first day back to doing what iLove.
-mopped floor (check)
-Cleaned (check)
-kiss on baby (check)
-trash out (check)
-kiss on baby (check)
-Laundry (check)
-kiss on baby (check)
-make baby food (check)
-kiss on baby (check)

truth be told, I did learn that I can enjoy working, I did love the extra money that I was making and Jada was at home able to spend the time I was away at work getting to bond with her Gigi Ma, so this past month was a great learning experience and it really opened my eyes. I love being this little girls momma and I could enjoy having a career too, just not one that involved ridiculous hours..

so with that said...

stay tuned to see what is in store for us, and I promise I will be back to tell you all about it.

6 months

2010-07-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

well Jada as mommy has been a horrible blogger the past two months, I somehow still find the time to keep up with your milestone posts. You are six months old today!! I can't believe it... you are 1/2 way to your first birthday. Yesterday we traveled out to Michigan city to take your 6 month pictures and you were fantastic, much better than your newborn session I must throw in there (thank you for that.) I can't wait to see all the pictures, the one above was a Sneak Peek for us, you sure were a little Ham so I am sure it will be hard for mommy to choose.

you really have become your own person, you have an adorable personality, always smiling and laughing, and when in your bouncy seat every now and again you get overwhelmed with excitement and start to flail your little arms and legs around. Daddy and I are so entertained with you, who needs blackberry's and I phones when we have you!?!?

you are still wearing 6-9 month clothing with an occasional 12 month thrown in there.

you are eating 6 oz every 3 hrs which ends up being 5 bottles a day because you are a very routine baby, you wake up at 6 AM and go to bed by 6:30 Pm... you get fruit in the morning and a veggie at night before your bath, we still have yet you give you something you don't like... this last month we have introduced you to butternut squash, spinach, zucchini, apricots, & Avocados... now that you are ready at 6 months, I will be making you some whole wheat breakfast cereal.

new this month you are now sitting up! you can sit up on your own for a good amt. of time too, we took a five minute video of you the other day! you are even doing tricks when sitting up, yesterday mommy was tossing you your stuffed ball and you would pick it up and toss it back( kinda)

your really beginning to test the waters with crawling, you get up on all 4's and rock back and forth, gigi thinks it will happen during this month. we can't talk our eyes off of you for 2.1 seconds and you will have rolled off the blanket on to the hard wood and scooting yourself all over the place.

you love when mommy sings to you, and Im not even talking little lullabies... sometimes mommy goes all out and will dance and sing just for fun, and you just smile and giggle, one time daddy even caught me and said I was like a rock star to you, Ha.ha.ha.

you love love love Books, when I read to you, you follow with your eyes, looking at each page, you have one book that is wooden which you love because the pages are thick enough for you to turn.

Mommy went back to work this month, so you have been home on your regular routine and Gigi comes over to take care of you while mommy and daddy are at work, we are currently looking for a Nanny to start in August which i must admit they have to have a 5 star rating in order for them to be considered. You are doing well with the change, for the most part its just 4 days a week.

You are just the most precious little baby girl Jada Grace, and Mommy and Daddy are absolutely smitten with you.

Love forever & Always

-Mom

5 months

2010-06-13T17:56:00.001-07:00

well Buggy here we are again, you are yet another month older. At 5 months here are some of the interesting facts about you.

* your just about ready to graduate out of your 6-9 months clothing, have to admit I am not sure what size is after this though... are we really about to enter 12 months??!!?

* you are pretty much off breast milk completely, as mommas milk just decided to leave town, you are on a organic soy base formula and every now and again we switch it up and give you a bottle of goats milk. You eat 5 times a day every 3 hrs starting at 7:30 AM I tried very hard to increase my milk by taking herbs, and even cried a lot about it with some girlfriends, but I am happy to say that you have been doing well and are still just as happy. you also are now eating solid foods, which I have really enjoyed making for you. you have now had bananas, sweet potatoes, and pears. I don't know which is your favorite because we get the same reaction with all of them you nom nom nom them down and make cute little noises and lean forward in anticipation of your next bite.

* People are always commenting on what a "happy Baby" you are. You always have a smile on your face. but I believe you have special ones for when you see mommy or daddy. your eyes just light up when you see us looking over your crib in the morning.

* you reach for any and all things, my hair, my wine glass, your toys.. you hold on to things pretty well too, last week before daddy left town you carried out his banana for him holding it in your hand, just the cutest thing I tell ya.

* when on your tummy you push up on your hands all the way and you get a really long neck like a giraffe

* you have now been in a pool and LOVED it, you are such a water baby

* you are sleeping through the night, with an occasional wake up fuss, but once I give you your paci again you go right back to sleep.

* you are able to pull out your paci, you hate that you can do this because the second you take it out you look at it and study it and then try to place it back in but so far its more on the lucky side if it actually makes its way back into your mouth.

* you are t teething.

* your sleeping in your own room in our new house!!

* you recognize Sparty ( our boxer dog) now and even laugh when he walks past some times.

* you are so content on your own, which I have to admit has made it very helpful with moving into our new house, you love to look at your hands or play with your toys.

you see chick, you are an easy baby who is loved very much! I am excited to see all the new things that will take place this month. a tooth?!!?! maybe..

no. Time.

2010-06-04T08:45:00.001-07:00

I am alive
I just have NO TIME
right now to sit and blog....

Just moved into our house..

I will return, please don't leave me

thanks!

BAAA-Aa-aa-hhhHh

2010-05-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Remember my posting about "pump day" well here is a little update, I ended up pumping at every feeding for a week straight wanna know how many OZ I was able to store up in my fridge.. you got it NONE. Yeah I know I was so disappointed, turns out Jada was taking everything I had Plus she was showing signs Of needing more, after many shed tears ( by both of us) I entered into the daunting task of researching Formulas... I came across one from natures one called baby's only Soy, I like that it is Organic, and that they use brown rice instead of corn syrup.... plan was to order this and still breast feed and when she acted like she needed more ( which is not at every feeding) I would supplement with this, SO i went ahead and ordered 1 can to try it out.

well turns out Jada didn't have time to wait for it to come in the mail, and after a really hard day for the both of us I headed to our local health food store to talk to my trusted friend AKA my knight and shining baby saver named Aaron... He has always been so helpful with any ?'s I have had in the past all dealing with babies and or pregnancies, I know but hes a man well ladies he is an awesomely helpful man who happens to be a daddy himself and has done extensive research on everything babies...

So there I am running into the store with mascara running down my cheeks muttering out the words "my milk supply is not enough for my little girl" ( which my the way i look totally silly because a I am crying in a health food store and secondly my daughter has rolls all over her body... how is it possible that she is not getting enough milk)

so he recomends that I try some Fenugreek suplements and he garantees me that my milk will come in within days SOLD! he says this herb is great I now take 2 of these herbal capsules 4 times a day.. I just started today so I am hoping my supply increases ASAP.

in the mean time I am waiting on the formula to come in but Aarom opened by eyes to GOATS MILK, thats right folks goats milk, hence the title of this post if you were feeling a little lost :) I will admit that I had never thought of this before because I figured only breast milk or formula when have you ever heard of goats milk?! well i gave it a listen to what he had to say. because our family is a vegetarian who also does not drink cows milk, I didnt want to start Jada on a cow's milk based formula and then when she turns one introduce her to soy or nut milk.. so my choice of formula is soy base.... which Aaron agreed would be the right way to go for us.

however, they did not have that brand of formula I ordered ( although they sell it) they were out, therefore he said I would try goats milk, he said it is the most like breast-milk and once I looked at the ingredients I was happy, they read : goats milk, vitamin d3, and folic acid. Now like I said this isn't formula but I am not just giving her this, I am still and will continue to nurse as my number once choice therefore she is getting all of the vitamins that my milk naturally makes along with the DHA and the prenatal vitamins I am still taking, so the goats milk is solely a supplement...

it is advertised as a "real milk" alternative for toddlers.. meaning parents who don't want there toddlers drinking cows milk, this is the part that made me a little leery, but after coming home and doing research I was amazed at how many other families recommended this and are using this instead of formula, there are lots of reviews if you are interested on amazon, the brand that we are using is called Meyenberg..

I gave it to Jada and she LOVES it. I was very pleased that I now have something to use as i am waiting on my milk supply to increase, but so far I have been able to nurse her as much as I have been as well as mixed it up with pumping therefore when I make the bottles she is getting both goat and momma....

I am hoping that this fenugreek will kick in my supply so I can carry out my wish of breast-feeding for the fist 12 months... so stay tuned

and in the mean time

BAaahahah

watch out world

2010-05-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

On May 15th, Jada decided she would roll over, and as I thought, she decided the perfect time would be while mommy was washing a dish and daddy was out on a run. when I discovered her on her tummy , I placed her on her back again and ran into the office to grab the camera, when I came back hoping to capture her in action I was too late, there she was on her tummy again... so I sat there for the next 45 minutes holding the camera trying to capture something great... and nothing, she wasn't going to show me.

shortly after she went down for a nap and when she woke up we headed over to grandmas for breakfast, and it was there that both Daddy and I witnessed her roll over for the first time, even if to her it was her third.

What you just watched was her rolling two days later, it's her new favorite thing now, it's funny how just one day it's like she just said well I think I am ready to roll over now, we look forward to all the many new things she will be learning!

Four Months

2010-05-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

Jada you are four months now and a handful of fun. You are seriously miss happy all day long and I LOVE it, makes a momma feel like she is doing a good job. you are always smiling and you recently enjoy sucking in a bunch of air making a squeal noise while to flail you arms and legs around and your eyes get really big, yeah thats probably one of my favorite things you do.

You are still so close to rolling over it just hasn't quite happened yet, its like you got all the way over to your side and then you are content with your new view there and you just hang out for a while. sometimes you like to be a little sneaker though and when I lay you down on your blankey and play your praise baby DVD and leave the room to go make the bed or something of that nature I come back in and you are in the process of the roll with your head lifted and all, so please stop that, momma wants to see you when you actually decide to go all the way.

We had your 4 month check up yesterday and you are 26 inches long and weighed 15.6 lbs, You still are only being fed BM but I did pick up the Super baby food book yesterday because I am just getting so excited to make you your food! we will still probably hold off on giving you any sort of solid for another month, especially because Daddy is going to be going away for a little while for his job training and he wouldn't want to miss all your cute and silly faces that we are guessing you will make the first time you taste foods.

you are wearing 6-9 month clothing now and are just about ready for some shoes, no not because you are ready to walk silly, but because your feet are starting to actually be a size instead of little itty bitty infant feet.

you still have all your cute little rolls, but it is actually pretty funny, you are a very thin baby..most people wouldn't guess this because they see you with your clothes on, but every night before bath time we give you nakey time for about 15 or 20 minutes and you hang out on your tummy and back and we even let you practice standing and seriously once that big ol cloth diaper is off of you and you are standing up you look like the cutest little string bean.... yes you have rolls, but really they are more like creases ha, either way you are adorable and I just love you so much!

you love to play patty cake on my lap while I bounce you up and down and act silly, that is usually when we get an out loud laugh.

your still in love with the bath tub and you kick and splash every time you are in there, we give you a bath every night and it is usually your special time with daddy and he gets you all dressed in your jammies and puts you to bed.

well your growing up kidO and well,

your just the cutest little buggy

Love Mamma

how it went down

2010-05-12T05:14:00.001-07:00

here is how it all went down yesterday

pump time oz Ate

6:50 5 3

920 3 5 ( she ate the left over 2 oz from first feeding)

12:20 3 3

3:20 3 3

6:20 2 1/2 2 1/2

I fed her roughly an hour after I pumped, so her last feeding was at 7:00 and then we put her to bed, I pumped one last time at 9:20 and got another 2 1/2 oz and she woke up at 10 so I gave that to her. making her total 19 oz from roughly 6 am to midnight.

she slept great during all of her naps and even night time, she LOVED having her paci, I believe that is what helped her sleep because she just wanted something to sooth her, however at 3:40 she woke up and I tried to give her paci and she didnt want that so I knew she was hungry, so i nursed her instead of pumping b/c it was just easier at that time since she wanted it "now" so I am guessing since that was close to the morning hour where your milk supply is up pretty high I am going to say she got 3 oz... but I will go ahead and count those oz into todays feeding since it was past midnight... after she ate I laid her back down to sleep and she slept til 7 Am.

Todays plan is to pump again and see what we get out of today, but yesterday was much success.

Figuring it out... again

2010-05-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

today had been a dedicated PUMP day.... you have heard of hump day well this is Pump day, after talking to my dear friend Mo about miss Jada's eating routine and how she has been fighting her nights sleep I have taken her two pieces of advice and we will see where it takes us.

instead of nursing I will be pumping and giving Jada a bottle that way I can measure out how much milk I am producing in a day and how much she takes at each feeding ultimately trying to figure out why at four months she is wanting to eat every 2 hours... no joke. because she eats so frequently I can never find the time to pump as i would literally be nursing her, then pumping and then nursing her again, and trust me thats no way to live... so this morning I pumped at 7 and got a total of 5oz, fed her and she only took 3oz she played for an hr then went down for an hour nap and woke up hungry putting her fists in her mouth, so I warmed up the other 2 oz from earlier and then pumped this time I got 3oz ( 2:30 hrs since the last time I pumped) and she took it all.. so so far this AM she has taken a total of 8 oz in 31/2 hrs. we will see how the rest of the day goes but so far this is making perfect sense to me, most 4 mo olds eat once every 4 hrs and and take in about 6-8 oz... where as my little jada bug eats twice within a 4 hr time span but still getting the same amt of oz, basically what I am saying is that her mamma just has small TaTa's that don't hold a lot of milk at once making her need to break up her feedings...

Jada has never been a paci fan and instead was using her thumb, and lately the thumb hasn't been cutting it,so I have become a human pacifier... not so fun when I am trying to get things done around the house... so I went out and purchased a 6mo paci hoping that maybe the bigger nipple will be what she is looking for, because all of her other paci's that she never liked were all newborn size, so we will see how she does with this and my thinking with her frequent night waking being that she wants to be soothed back to sleep instead of actually being hungry.

I truly think a Mom's job is never done, aren't we always trying to figure out our little ones.

Jada's Dedication

2010-05-10T05:36:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was full of fun events for our family, On saturday we had Jada dedicated at our church, we had lots of family and a few friends that were able to join in on this very special day. As you may recall a post I did was back in December about the christmas gift I received from my mom where she had my wedding dress cut and used the pieces and the beads to make a nice gown for Jada ( or future children ) to wear to their dedication, well this weekend she got to wear it.

At the moment in time we were running a bit late to the church and we had family scattered all over I didn't realize how special it was to me knowing that she was wearing the dress I married her daddy in when we vowed before God, but as we were standing in the line I looked over at her in her daddies arms as she was chewing on a part of the gown and my heart was warmed over.

It was such a special day for our family, we have now proclaimed in front of our friends and family and church, that we will raise our little girl to know who Jesus is and to put her trust in God. Her daddy and I committed to trust God's promises made to us and Jada in his word. To seek God and seep scriptural guidance in the way we live and parent Jada, to discipline and show her grace, to teach God's word to her and live out the gospel in our home, to pray for her and teach her to pray, and to partner with the church community seeking accountability and leading Jada to do the same.

After the dedication we all came back to our house for a nice cook out, it was great spending time with family and friends, we had lots of delicious food and everyone was able to give Jada a nice kiss on her plump cheeks :) Thank you to all who shared in this very special day.

on this Mothers Day

2010-05-09T15:40:00.001-07:00

Dear Mom:

Happy Mothers Day . Thank you for always being there for me when I needed you most, You have truly showed me what it means to be a mom. Not only are you a wonderful mother but you are also a phenomenal grandma , so thank you mom, thank you for all that you do and all that you are, and thank you for giving birth to me so that I too could grow up one day and experience the great Joy that being a mother brings.

Love- your Beaner

To my Jada Buggy: Thank you for being you, for all of the smiles that you bring to my face. you are the most amazing little girl who melts mommies heart with every coo that you make, there is nothing in this world that I have enjoyed more than spending each and every day with you , watching you grow and learn. I will always love you forever and ever.

Xoxo-Mom

I can not believe I am doing this, repeat, I CAN NOT BELIEVE I AM DOING THIS

2010-05-06T04:52:00.001-07:00

remember how I talked about getting serious and wanted to tighten up by after baby Bod and committed myself to 90 days of work outs... and I mentioned how I took my before pictures and how icky icky ew ew they were and that I would only post the before pictures if the after pictures showed a whole new me .... and holy stinking cow, this AM we took my 30 day pictures, just 30 days, and I am not kidding you it brought tears to my eyes! this is just 30 days 30, 30, 30 .... thats not many at all and there is so much change. I honestly thought it over a million times, chels do you really want to post these photos? but this is a huge milestone for me, I have 60 more days of this transformation and it can only get better, and this is my journal, only its open for public review :/

icky icky ew ew .... there is nothing about this picture that made me feel comfortable with posting it, but I did it.... look at that stomach... do you see the rounding from under my chest down to my hips, even the width of my hips...thats the biggest area I noticed the change, but all around my body just feels lifted and tighter.

and to be completely honest.... I have enjoyed every second of the past 30 days, My work outs have taken anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes 6 days a week and are based off of crossfit training. I did not change my diet because I feel as though we are already a family of clean eaters,in both of these pictures my body was receiving the same nutrition but with the addition of working out my body has changed. At first I was sceptical, I thought here I am wanting p90x which the work outs take anywehre from 60 mins to 90 mins and Nick says he can train me and I will get results by just working out 5 - 20 minutes 6 days a week? but I trusted him, and OMW these work outs are not just 5-20 minutes of casual lifts... it's serious stuff... I used to be timid of heavy weights but I am really enjoying the challenge.. my moto has been " if I can give Birth, I can lift that"

and so the journey continues....

11-1-3-5-7

2010-05-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

what's up with the title of my post right? well those my friends are the times I was up last night, you got it 11, 1, 3, 5, and then 7 AM so what was going on ? I will tell you.

I gave Jada her night time feeding and put her to bed at 8:00 I however wanted to stay up til 10:30 last night because of the HILLS ( yes the drama still captures me) So I headed into the bed room and shortly after the ever two hour awakenings began.

11:00 Jada is playing in her crib and starts getting fussy, I get her out and feed her and place her right back to bed, she made a bunch of sweet noises and we were all off to bed again

1:00 she is awake again, bright eyed and playing in her bed and began getting fussy like mom come get me out... so I feed her and place her back to bed

3:00 Same thing

5:00 Same thing only this time, after I fed her she didn't want to go back to bed she was laughing and cooing and well she just was awake, so I decided to come out in the living room and lay her out on a blankey on the floor and popped in her Praise baby DVD ( 30 minute video thats A lot like the baby einstein videos) I however grabbed a pillow and a blanket and made a nice little bed on the sofa.

the video was 30 minutes long and when it was over she was wide awake so yes i started it over and let it play about 1/4th of the way through and then realized it was now 6 something and It would be time for her first nap....

I put her in her crib and went back to bed, thinking she would sleep for her typical first nap of the day time ( 2 to 3 hours) and well folks she was wide awake shortly after 7...

I think what is going on is a mixture of two things.... one she is in the beginning stages of teething therefore she is wanting to nurse to sooth her b/c she doesn't take a passy and although you have seen the great pictures of her sucking on her thumb she hasn't been so impressed with that lately, its just not cuttin it for her... I have bought her teething toys which she enjoys but there isn't one that she is drawn to for more than a few minutes. I have purchased the Hylands all natural teething tablets and those my friends do work, when she is in an ever so frustrated state and trying to jam both fists into her mouth, these suckers work wonders..

secondly I think my little buggy is ready to venture into the world of solids, obviously starting with the rice cereal and then later introducing the fruits and veggies. while it is obvious by the looks of my little chunker monkers she is very healthy just off mommas breast milk but I think that if she was on rice cereal and breast milk she would be more balanced. I have always heard of introducing solids at 6 months but the more research I have done I have discovered that some babies are ready at 4 months, I picked up a cute little baby cook book the other day from the library and discovered that they had the meals listed out by age the first foods starting from 4-7 months. so this is something I plan on discussing with our pediatrician at Jada's 4 month appointment which is coming up next week. she is already so interested in what mommy and daddy are eating and she lights up she she sees me drinking my morning smoothie...

so thats just my mothers intuition of what could be causing the frequent waking up at night time... although I would enjoy a full nights rest of more than a two hour span I do enjoy those moments between just me and her ,holding her while she falls asleep, there is something so sweet about those moments that I never want to forget.

Four Generations

2010-05-04T04:34:00.000-07:00

this past Sunday after church we drove out to my grandmas house for Jada to meet her great-grandparents for the first time. You see they live in arizona during our midwestern winters and then spend the summers back here. I was so excited to have Jada meet them, although they have seen the gobs and gobs of pictures that we send them via e mail every day there is nothing like holding and breathing in the scent of out little chunker monkers.

you may be looking at that photo and thinking 4 generations... who is that little girl in the purple, that my friends is my little sister. she is 7 yrs old, thats right Jada has a 7yr old aunt but boy does she just love her to the moon and back, they are so cute together, Madison loves to read and play with her.

it was a day well spend this past sunday, church, eating lunch and visiting with family. Those are my kind of Sundays :)

future rules

2010-04-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

Alright Momma's, now although we have some time to figure this stuff out, I can't help but think about it as it is in the news so much.. know where I am going with this? I am talking about cell phones and social networking sites.

we have all seen the horrible stories in the news of just how cruel kids can be and now with the social networking sites they are making it easier to reach a mass amount of people. now although cell phones and social networking sites can be used in many useful ways, I am noticing that the teens don't seem to be using them in such ways, which leads me to this post.

As a parent it will be my duty along with my husbands to raise our daughter to know right from wrong and to be able to not just know but to act on what is right and always be able to look at herself in the mirror and be proud of who she is and the choices she makes. HOW-EVA, I am her momma, and I also believe it is my duty to set her up for success, which to me means not giving her free reign on these things.

for instance, this is just some of my thinking with a cell phone, will my child have a cell phone?, yes she will, with my job I have often had many convos with mom's and dad's asking me what the appropriate age is for a child to have a cell phone and I always answered well, when you believe the time is right and you have instilled in them what it means to have the phone and they are aware of what the rules are because lets be honest every family is going to be different.

for me, having a cell phone will come in handy when I will be away from Jada weather she be at a practice of some sort to staying the night at a friends house, I want to be able to get ahold of my little girl when I want to get ahold of her, however with such privilege comes rules :

1) no going to bed with the cell phone - you got it, bed time is bed time, not txt time or check FB status ( although your mother does this, hey right now I am breast feeding in the middle of the night and I need something to do) but you as a young girl/ teenager you need no reason for a phone at night time.

2) momma has the right to say hand -it-over at any time, meaning if I am driving in the car and you are sitting in the passenger seat just texting away and I am talking to you and you are like ya ya ya and paying more attention to the cell thingy HAND-IT-Over... thats right, it is a privilege not a right girlfriend.

onto social networking sites - Now I am a BIG OL fan of FaceBook, love, love , love wasting my time on there while Jada is sleeping... but lets be honest, when it first came out it was meant strickly for college students, trust me I remember visiting a friend In Oregon and him telling me all about what facebook was and I never heard of the thing before and when I came back I was talking to a lot of my friends about it and BAM next thing you know our college was added to the list of schools, it was great to catch up with old friends you went to school with in the 2nd grade and what not, but then it was used as a dating tool, and girls posting not so momma friendly pictures of themselves, and teens using it as a bullying tool, and the list goes on and on...

and there are a baJillian social sites, facebook, myspace, twitter, and honestly when Jada is older and wanting to get into this stuff who the heck knows what it will be all I know is that I am going to be an informed momma. Yes I have facebook and Yes I have a twitter account and Obviously a Blog, I often ask myself, will I have these things as Jada gets older? or will there be a time in my life when all of a sudden face book no longer matters, Kinda like AOL was my life blood when in middle school and now although I remember my SN and Password ( HA..) I have no interest for it...

so those are just a few of my thoughts and I just wondered have you thought about these things? What do you think your rules will be?

Help Us Decide

2010-04-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

yaya! so this is our house, I finally drove by today to take some pic's. I Love, Love, Love, Love this house... I can't wait to close on it and finally move in. As I mentioned before it is a historic home built in 1926 to be exact so it is a very solid home.... however, let take a moment and hold our breath as we look at the color the house is currently.....

although some dig the color yellow, I must say I am not one to like it on a house, so I thought I would post some pics and I would Love some feedback from my readers on Ideas... the grey is cedar shake and the yellow is aluminum siding... I would love to have the aluminum taken off and replace it with cedar shake, but I don't think that will be in the budget right off the bat so to start, we will paint. Here is where I need some input... I honestly kinda like the grey... sO i was thinking maybe a tan with grey, GASP I know, some peoples reaction to my saying that is like my reaction to grey and yellow on a house... but I for some reason see it being very pretty and it would pull some of the brick out more.

or I have thought of painting the entire thing the same tan/brown/ color just different shades, my reason for 2 tones well they are different materials so I figure that is what will be the safest...

also on the To-Do-List is to take out the shrubs around the house and porch, I am just not digging them, to me it blocks the house off too much, I will replace with pretty flowers and mulch of some sort...and although I LOVE LOVE LOVE the tree that is in front of the porch, after driving by today and seeing it fully bloomed the thing is freaking massive, and from the street you can't see the front of the house, which is why in these pictures are taken from the side of the house.

so lay it on me, what are your color ideas... and don't just stick with my gray/tan or tan/brow theme be honest , I am all up for any ideas.

One Piece or Two?

2010-04-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

With summer just around the corner which means it is approaching Bathing suite season... and I am faced with a dilemma, will it be a one piece or a 2 piece.... although I have been going strong each morning and sticking to my work outs that still doesn't mean that I am totally comfortable with parading around in a 2 piece....so who knows, but I have found that whatever I choose I can find a similar style in either one, take a look ...

I am digging the whole ruffle thing... but my Hubby is not a fan ( do you all remember Vienna from the bachelor?!?! I know how can you forget, well remember her Green Swim suit she wore on the ship?!?! well my hubby HATED it and made fun of it every time she wore it...) now although the top on this suit is different than hers the bottoms are the same... he thinks they look little kid-ish... but Oh well :)

so what are you other mommas going to go with this summer? oh and PS: the bikini top those straps come off and It looks even cuter!

3 months

2010-04-12T08:26:00.001-07:00

that's right Buggy you are 3 months old today and you are growing leaps and bounds! These past few days you have been doing so many new things its unreal. last night while Daddy was giving you your bottle you wrapped your hand around it and were holding the baba like a big girl! daddy couldn't believe it he called me over to take a peek myself and I snapped a picture, look at you, perfect position, you were even helping tilt it back. it brought a tear to my eye.. you amaze me all the time girlfriend.

in other 3 month old news mommy and daddy bought you a new seat called the Bumbo seat and you love it, the seat helps you sit up like a big girl and you enjoy it a lot because you are able to look at both of us instead of one of us having to hold you. Look at those tiny little feet.... stinkIN cute I say .

today I decided to go through your closet and dresser to take out all the little clothes that no longer are fitting you because you are growing like a weed I tell ya, you are know wearing 6 month outfits, you aren't into 6-9 months yet you are still wearing 3-6 or just a plain old 6 month when we can find it. you are so darn cute I must admit I enjoy getting you dressed in the morning, daddy calls you my little doll baby because he thinks I enjoy playing "dress up " with you, and well he is right :)

so not only are you sitting in a big girl seat, helping by holding your own bottle, you also are attempting to roll over!!!!! I have taken videos of your attempts and will post one later on.

Also, this saturday we took our first road trip with you, we packed up the car and headed to Hobart to visit grandma and grandpa U. let me just tell you our car was pretty packed, daddy had to strategically pack everything up so we could all fit... Mommy hopes to be getting a new vehicle at some point but right now its just not in the deck of cards so we make the good ol car work for now.

you are sleeping great still, you are never fussy unless mommy missed your window of activity time to nap time and I lay you down a little too late, at that point then it takes a little bit of work to get you down to nap but not too bad.

you are still sleeping in your pack and play however you are totally ready for the crib, especially because you are so active now, you need some room and with you lifting your feet and throwing them down I don't think its too comfy to hit a hard board, you would much rather pay on a soft mattress... but mommy doesn't want to part :/ but we will do what's best for you so I think we will try it out this week and see how it goes.

you have recently found your thumb and are loving it... you see you usually just gnaw on your hands or cute little arm rolls when your arms are exposed but now you have found that you can actually suck your thumb, go figure you never ever want or will take a passy but your going for the thing that we can never take away haha... but really you don't do it all that much just when you wake up out of a sleep and try to put yourself back down.

you see little missy you are up to big girl things now, every where we go people stop mommy because they want to take a peek at cha, you will generally smile at them but nothing like the smiles mommy and daddy get :)

we love you buggy and are enjoying watching you grow!

my Baby is growing up

2010-04-08T05:56:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe in just four more days our little girl will be three months old! she amazes me every day and it is a true joy to be her momma. Lately here in the Midwest it has been pretty Rainy ( April showers bring may flowers.... and allergies) so we have been staying in the house and having PJ days, in doing so I have been able to really pay attention to what Jada's routine truly is... although some of you out there may be reading this are thinking "your child is about to be three months old and you just now are learning her routine" and well my answer to that is yes... I mean she has always been an easy baby and takes her naps and is a good eater but I just never kept track of when she was doing those things, she was just doing them and there wasn't a problem, but since we have been home the last three days I have paid attention and kept track to when she does these things and oh my word do we have a TEXT BOOK BABY!

she does everything on the clock. she is amazing. I figured I would post what her schedule is well... just so I can look back one day and see where she was @ 3 months so here goes.

7 - wakes/EAT
play time
8:20 NAP
9:40 EAT
play time
10:20 NAP
1:10 EAT
play time
2:15 NAP
3:10 EAT
play time
4:30 NAP
5:45 EAT
play time
7:00 Bath
8:00 Eat
9:00 BED
4AM EAT

granted the minutes aren't to a T everyday but she has been within those hours the past three days. I must admit it feels great to know that I am doing what she wants, when I lay her down for a nap I play her little nature sounds and she looks at me and smiles I giver her a kiss on her forehead and tell her to enjoy her nappy and then I exit stage left :) she doesn't even fuss .. I go back in 15 to 20 minutes after she is asleep and I turn of her nature sounds. now knowing what her routine is I will be able to better gage her when we are our running errands, for instance we go visit my grandparents a lot and now I will know when to lay her down for naps while we are there instead of holding her ( i know understand why she would fuss after a while of being there)

oh and PS: my work outs have been going great, and fit perfectly in her routine, so by the time I finish my work out she is just waking up to greet me with her morning smiles!

Your momma loves you Buggy!

Our Little Bunny Foo Foo

2010-04-05T12:40:00.001-07:00

Daddy with his little bunny Foo Foo! her cheeks were pinched a whole lot yesterday, thats just how cute she was :)

the next 90 days

2010-04-05T05:10:00.001-07:00

I promised I would be using this weekend to come up with a plan for me to get motivated and do something about the spillage.... and well here is what I have come up with.

for the next 90 days Nick ( my hubby) will be waking up with me between 5:30 and 6:00 every morning and training me. why 90 days? well my friend Kaley mentioned that she and her hubby were doing p90X ( which also looks super interesting to me- but I didn't want to spend the $ just yet, in fear that I wouldn't stick to it ) so I figure with my hubby being a personal trainer he could pretty much kick my but and hold me accountable.. and if I stick to this for the next 90 days and still want to purchase the P90X program then I will.

my hopes is that by the end of this 90 days I will be able to do pull ups and have no more spillage! and no, I don't plan on quitting working out after the 90 days... I just set a goal of 90 days to get in a routine and transform my body... so I took my before pics last night and my weight... and NO i will NOT post the before pics.... well I will think about it, but my after pics have to look reallllly good in order for me to post the before pics :)

so today was day 1 and I must say it feels really good to have gotten up, worked out, showered, and eaten breakfast all while Baby is still sleeping!

Spillage

2010-04-02T07:12:00.001-07:00

ok, seriously, I am in dire need to find motivation to sit down and do some sit ups, seriously.... I feel so pathetic that I am taking the time to sit down at the computer to complain about the spillage I have going on over the top of my pants rather than sitting down to do some stinkin situps... I mean seriously... whats the deal?

so since giving birth to our beautiful baby girl, my hips are still not back to the way they were before which I have not come to terms with the fact that they are going to just be staying put where they are, but this flab? I can do something about the flab... I need to kick it in gear with this 80 degree weather we have been having latley swimsuit season will be here before I blink again... so what to do what to do!??!

I have been walking atleast 2 miles every day, but I need to be RUNNING, and I need to be doing weight training... I know what to do but dang... why arent I doing it? don't you just hate when you know what to do but you arent doing it? I know its totally stupid right? especially when I have a hubby who works out 2 times a day and when ever he is bored he's doing sit ups or wall push ups or something else... yeah I know I am pathetic, you caught me....

well I promise I will be spending my weekend trying to find the motivation to work on these things, today the family is going rollerblading for 6 miles down the east race... so that should be fun and a good work out..

if you have any suggestions feel free to shoot them my way, please and thanks in advance!

the Happenings & what Nots

2010-03-29T07:28:00.000-07:00

*yes I have been away from the blog now for 10 days, and these 10 days have actually been flying by and I just haven't made the time to sit down and write about what has been going on with us. but I have great news WE PURCHASED A HOME!!! we will be closing on June 1st. We were about to find a beautiful house in a historic neighborhood with a fenced in back yard and a front porch. I am so excited about home ownership! I will finally be able to decorate and hang things on walls and know that they can hang there for as long as we like, with no end date in sight of when we have to move out. I have been moving every single year and sometimes twice with in one year since I graduated high school in 2004, well it will finally be 2010 when I move into the house my family will call home and we will share many memories in this home!!!! I am sooo looking forward to the remodeling of the kitchen, ahh to design my own kitchen, kasjdfkadsj I am just so excited about it!

* in preparation of moving out of the current house we have been renting Nick painted back all the rooms to the colors that they were when we moved in ( per the homeowners request) I guess my colors were to decoration specific!? so Jada and I packed up and moved out for the weekend and stayed over at Grandma Nora's house so we weren't breathing in any paint fumes and daddy would come over once he was finished painting for that day. so now that the house is back to the colors it was when we moved in come June 1st all we have to do is carry all of our belongings out, sweep the floors and we are OUTA HERE!

*In Jada's world she is babbling all the time now, she has discovered her vocal cords and makes the cutes little sounds. she is growing so fast, she is no longer an infant she is a baby!! I just love all of her little faces she makes when she hears different noises. We have been attending church with her the past few weeks and it is so nice to have that back in our sundays! Jada sits with us and sleeps the whole time, although our church has a very great children's ministry, I just cant break away from her yet. she had her first laugh a few days ago and has since been trying to have the laugh come out but she is coughing instead which is very funny and cute at the same time, she will figure it out one day I am sure... boy if not can you see her every time she wants to laugh she coughs instead hahaa that would be quite a site.

well thats what we have been up to ... I will get back to better blogging I Promise!

A morning conversation with her Daddy

2010-03-29T06:06:00.002-07:00

historic homes

2010-03-19T06:20:00.000-07:00

well we have been looking at houses on the internet now for a while and today we are headed to tour some homes in an old historic area today. We are pretty excited and hope to find a few that we are interested in. Yes that is right I said historic, I am pretty into artsy fartsy unique stuff and I think it would be really awesome to have an Older home and then gut out the inside into todays modern style. I figure the older homes have the good solid sound structure which will hold up with the remodeling on the inside, and we can make the house a home this way and it will be unique to our style.

It is very important that we get a home that is priced right that way we are able to afford the remodel job, because it would just not be a pretty sight if I had to live with checkered green and white floors in the kitchen with yellow cabinets, Im just saying...

Nick and I have never gut a home other than when we went to New Orleans to help with samaritans purse disaster relief, but lets be honest, it was easy to gut those homes because we didn't have to fix anything, we just ripped out floors and wally and stripped the house to the studs, but we have hope, and well Grandpa who is ever so skilled, but I must say Nick and I are up to the challenge, we want to do this ourselves with well a lot of supervision.... I think the project will be fun and Lowes will become my new BFF!

the Search continues

2010-03-17T05:52:00.000-07:00

I mentioned we were going to meet with the realtor on the house I so dearly loved to ask more questions, and then put in an offer. This appointment was set for 4:00 yesterday afternoon, at 2:00 I got a phone call from our realtor stating that another couple put an offer in on the house and that we would have till 7:00 PM to place an offer in, she also told us that the other couple who had already placed an offer in, that her realtor was going to call them back to let them know that we to were placing an offer ( giving them a chance to up their bid) well my friends, We lost the bid, but it's ok, after walking through the house again, it was a bit small and we noticed that all of the vents in the house had no duct work, meaning that the heat/air conditioning would have to heat or cool the crawl space which is all thats under the house and then it is pressurized gravity fed through the rest of the house.... so these were some things we learned during our last walk through that we would have replaced once moved in, also a new water softener.. so we went in with what we felt was the best we could offer for that house based on what that house could offer us and we lost, so although I loved the new HGTV touch and cute charm that house had our search must go on....

What's been going on

2010-03-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

So much is going on with the Urankar family, I have neglected my blog, my apologies. but now I am back and here to tell you a bit of what has been going on.

as many of you know we have been renting a house for a while and our lease is up at the end of July, so we have been talking about where we will be moving next.. renting, buying, moving to another city? so this is one subject matter....

another topic we have been tossing around is me staying home with out little buggy. There is nothing more that i would love to be able to do than be a stay at home mommy, so we have been looking at our budget and tossing out other ideas to bring in a higher income in order for me to be home.

so tying those things together, my mr hubby man finally took his certification exam with ISSA and he passed! which means he is now a certified personal trainer which = great possibility for extra income. what he want's to do is market himself to small businesses and offer a free consultation and then a great group rate for personal training, that way he is able to set his own hours, which would work nicely with the job he currently is working because he is off by 5:00 every day and has the weekends open.

now we also have begun our search for a home....

and we found one

thats right
it was the second house we looked at
and I FELL IN LOVE
it was like when I found my wedding dress, I was so ready to purchase, I didn't need to try any more dresses on, I was sold. and that is exactly how I feel about this home!!!

we will be going through the house again this evening and sitting down with the realtor because we have more questions that we would like answered and then if everything sounds good from there we are ready to put in an offer!!!!

I am just so excited and smiling ear to ear, I couldn't seep last night as I was arranging our furniture around in my head of that beautiful house I want so badly to call home!

so stay tuned I will post something later about how our meeting goes with the realtor... so many exciting things going on!!!!

Two Months

2010-03-12T16:08:00.000-08:00

well miss Jada another month has flown by and you are now two months old! You are doing lots of new cute things and mommy and daddy are still staring at you all the time. here is what you have been up to this last month.

* you weigh 12 lbs 10 oz and are 23 1/2 inches long!

*You met your Nanna for the first time- you brought a smile to her face every morning.

* you enjoy floor time, you love to lay on your back and just kick around,you are always moving, even Nanna commented during her visit that you remind her of daddy the way you are always so active.
we also give you tummy time but you don't care all that much for it, however you hold your head up so well while you are on your tummy. we have floor time about 5 times a day at least for about 20 minutes each.

* when I am nursing you you do this super cute thing when you fumble with your hands and then you clasp them together. it makes my heart melt every time. You are eating about ever 2 and a half to 3 hours still, with the past few days leaning much closer to the 3 hour mark.

* you still love your baths only now you are a moving and a kicking all over the place, daddy thinks pretty soon you will have outgrown your tub!

* we tried you in a bouncy seat that hangs from the door frame today at grandmas and you loved it, and can you believe you were sitting in the exact same seat that mommy sat in 24 years ago? - now your still to little to bounce but you held your head up like a big girl and smiled the whole time and mommy bounced it a little for you.

* your smiling all the time and making the cutest coo sounds, and when your laying on your changing table and I make a click click sound with my mouth and you smily and stare and try to imitate what i am doing, it is the cutes thing in the world, and yes mommy shows that trick off to everyone! your even starting to have facial expressions, you lift your eyebrows a lot when someone is talking to you.

* your a little drool bubble now too, when I am holding you ( face out- it's your absolute favorite) and I am walking around the house every now and again I will hear a splat on the floor and I look down only to find drool, sometimes you even have little bubbles of it on the corners of your mouth, your just so darn cute!

* now that the weather is much nicer we go on walks together just about every day through the neighborhood. you always enjoy them, you stay awake for 1/2 the time and the other 1/2 you are asleep

* you follow us across the room now so well, even when you are sitting in your swing which is moving at the same time, you are able to follow us.

* your sleeping has been AH MAZING! both naps and nighttime. actually last night you slept from 10:45 to 6:00 Am I nursed you and you went back down till 7:15 then you woke up to play for about an hour and then I put you in your swing and you fell fast asleep, and are still asleep ( it's been just over 2 hours already) You are sleeping in your pack and play still in mommy and daddies room, because I still wake to change your diaper and feed you during the night, however if you have many more nights where you sleep through the night then we may move you to your crib!

* you still love the moby wrap, but now I don't ware it to have you take naps, you just enjoy being in it while we do household chores :)

* no noise bothers you, actually I think noise puts you to sleep, for instance the sweeper, the hair dryer, loud crowds of people, you just conk out at the sound if your tired.

* your hair is fuller on one side and mommy is not too sure what to do with it, so sometimes we do a side sweep, and sometimes we still brush it forward, however you don"t have a bald spot so thats good. I still love to have you wear the big flower bows your so stink-in cute in them and I actually think you like them too.

* you now enjoy your swing and nature noise on your pack N play. I think pretty soon hear you will like to look up at your play mat and maybe hold on to a little rattle....

* you are now wearing NO SNAP on your diaper, that means that the size the diapers are now are the size the diapers will be till you are potty trained.

* you are wearing size 3-6 month clothing but really much of that has to do with your cloth diaper because I have noticed when we travel and I use the biodegradable inserts instead of the cloth your pants get so much longer and look pretty baggy. I bought you your first pair of jeans this month from the gap size 3-6 months but they are still too big, so it will be another few weeks till they will fit.

To the Man I Love

2010-03-04T07:43:00.000-08:00

This is the man I love, he is my best friend, my Husband and the best daddy to our little girl. Not a day goes by that I am not thankful for the man that God put in my life. here are a few pictures of our beginning to now, I will love you Forever and Always.

yes, these were the days when I has a slight obsession with the tanning bed and well junk food :/ hey I was a sophomore in college.

yes i know, still tanning, but hey I was running at this point and dropped 30 lbs thanks to my Mr wonderful becoming my trainer. - we look like little kids :)

The day we said we will spend forever and ever together.

Honey moon, Jamaica

Bun in the Oven

When we became three

When my heart became Mush

you are a wonderful husband and an amazing Daddy, Thank you for being who you are, you mean the world to me and I am forever grateful to call you my husband.

Nanna's Coming to town

2010-03-04T06:54:00.000-08:00

We are so excited for this weekend here at the Urankar household, why you might ask? well because Jada Gets to meet her Nanna for the very fist time!! Nicks mom lives in Florida and has only seen pictures of her first grand- baby but come tomorrow at 11:00 she will get to see her in person and kiss and squeeze her cute little cheeks!! I must admit I am really looking forward to seeing the look on her face when they meet for the fist time! Tracey will be in town from Friday to Tuesday and I am really hoping for some sunny weather so we can do lots of walks in the neighborhood with Jada bug.

We are also excited because Uncle Mitch and Sam will be coming in town tomorrow night as well, and then nicks Aunt and cousins will be coming to meet miss Jada on Sunday so it looks like an eventful weekend. but Mommy will be sure to keep Jada on her schedule because I am sure that just as fast as she got on schedule she can just as quickly get off and we won't be having any of that thank you very much.

although we will be having lots of fun here this weekend, my Hubby will be out of town competing in the CrossFit games at the Arnold classic. The competition starts of Sunday however he is leaving Saturday morning to go to the Arnold Classic events. I am so excited for him, he has been training very hard and although he has only been training for two months for this competition specifically, he has always been in shape so I am sure he will do great, and I really hope he gets to move on because I really would love to see him compete, but it just didn't work out this weekend as we have the family coming, so if he makes the cut which is the top 30 then he will move on to the next phase which will have a competition in another two months and you can bet Jada and I will be there, this time we will just have to be rooting him on from home. My dad is going along with him for this trip along with 6 of his other buddies, so I am sure he will have more than enough screams from his gang that is going along. but we wish him the best of Luck!

now.. I just need to get to the grocery store and get the guest room ready for our action packed weekend!

Mall outing number 2

2010-02-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

your shocked aren't you? here just two weeks ago I swore I wouldn't go to the mall until Jada was old enough to ask to go and what did I do... you got it, I went back out to the mall, I had to concur the fear, and well my mom came along too which made me feel more confident.( thanks mom)

we had a BLAST!! Jada was such a good girl, she slept the WHOLE time I mean the entire time!! todays shopping trip was supposed to be all about "me" you know I need come clothes now that I am not working and not prego, because that made up most of my wardrobe before. I got some super cute sweaters, I seemed to have been drawn to them all day long. but when we got home and I unpacked my bags, I noticed that little miss Jada got 4 outfits from the gap, 4 from Macy's and a cute sweater from Target, oh and we can't forget her precious little easter dress!!! it was a fun day I must say and I am so tickled with her easter dress!

while at the mall I just kept thinking I can't wait to go home and shock all my readers that yes, we did it we have a successful trip to the mall !!!

transition continued...

2010-02-27T18:09:00.000-08:00

Today marks one week exactly from when we started the sleeping transition for our little girl, and I am pleased to announce that she is transitioned!! we are so excited, we didn't slip once during the whole time, but I have to admit she made it pretty easy on us. She has spent every nap and every night sleeping on her own in her pack and play, and even some naps in her swing. We are so proud of her. With her transition I have been able to pay closer attention to her cues now and after keeping track of her feedings and nap times I have noticed a trend... I usually BF her at around 7:30 then give her a bottle ( dream feed) at 8:30, I then BF her for just a quick feeding at 9:00 and then she is in her bed by 9:15 and she's asleep till 2 or 3:00, however last night she was down till 3:45! we couldn't believe it. the transition went a lot smoother than I ever dreamed, honestly the first night was the only bad night, and don't get me wrong that first night was really rough, but she is a quick learner I guess, because that very next morning she was napping in her play pin, and swing.

this transition has been very nice for our family, although I miss the "all the time access" to kissing my little girls sweet head and breathing in her yummy baby smell, its nice to cuddle with the hubby again, and nice to be able to fix all my meals at home with both hands now instead of one :)

were so proud of you buggy!

Hip Hop with a GangstA Wave

2010-02-25T07:06:00.000-08:00

last night daddy started dancing around with Jada and it was just too cute not to grab the camera.. I have no idea what song is playing in the background, i just put our TV on the "todays hits" and this is what we got, I love her little "gangsta" wave at the end, so here I present to you Jada's first dance video....

Transition time

2010-02-22T09:34:00.000-08:00

this past Saturday Nick and I decided it was time to have Jada start sleeping on her own, not off in her own room just yet, but in her pack N play. she will be 6 wks old tomorrow, and so far every night she starts out sleeping on my chest or her daddies. the first few weeks it was nice because we could cuddle her and it was easy to make sure she was always ok, and well because I am breast feeding it made it so nice to just roll over and bam she was fed. well now that she has gotten older and is able to sleep longer when we put her in bed with us, she would sleep from 11 to 4, now those are some solid hours that both nick and I should be enjoying along with Jada, but well lets be honest when you have the most precious being to ever enter your life laying on your chest, you don't sleep all that well as you are very cautious of not blocking her air ways, and making sure that she is comfortable. So after a few conversations, we knew it was time to get her used to sleeping on her own, because eventually she will be moving into her own room with her crib.

now we are actually doing two transitions at once, we are 1)having her sleep in her own bed, 2) we are wanting her to go in her bed with out being asleep yet. that way she doesn't wake up like what the heck, where am I , when did I get in here... and so as she gets bigger she will be able to be used to going down for naps too.

so the good news, because I am writing this you know that I survived :) but let me take you back to our journey that began saturday at 10:50PM

here is what her schedule looked like that night.

fed her at 8:20 ( then I went to bed and she stayed up with daddy for a little longer)
fed again at 10:50 ( after she ate, I burped her of course and then placed her in her bed)

she fussed on and off till her next feeding, we let her cry for no longer than 15 minutes in a row then either daddy or I got up to rock her pat her back and tell her she was ok, she was so calm as soon as we picked her up, then as soon as we placed her down she was fussy again...

ate again at 1:15AM

fussed, slept for 20 minutes till next feeding

again at 3:07AM

fussy

again 5:55AM
she SLEPT HERE!!
and 9:20 AM

by this time I thougth what had we done, when she was sleeping on us she would eat anywhere from 8 to 9 and be out till 4 am and I would feed her and then place her in her bed and she would sleep till 7 or 8 and wake to eat again...

but Nick and I promised that no matter if it took 2 days or 2 weeks we wouldn't back down and we would stay strong for one another and take turns getting up with her..

so now its Sunday and we said that we would place her in her bed for naps also, yes this child has been very cuddled her whole existance so far, for all of her naps she would be sleeping on me or asleep on me in her moby wrap, so as you can see this would be yet another transition for her...

and well the naps went about like her bed time the night before... although she did have 2 successful 40 minute ones...

so here we are sunday night...

night number two of the transition

I said a quiet prayer before I headed into bed that she get rest and have a good nights sleep... and I whispered in Jada's ear that mommy doesn't want anything for her birthday but a good nights sleep :)

so last night I fed her at 8 and then went into bed as she stayed up a little longer with daddy

nick brought her in at 10 and I fed her and then placed her in her bed, this time telling her good night Jada, its time to go night night.

she fussed, but NOTHING I mean NOTHING like the night before, this time her cry was not a OMG get me the heck out of here... this night it was just man im frigin tired, I wish I knew how to just close my eyes and fall asleep... now although she didn't fuss loud she did continue to fuss till her next feeding,

but It hit me like a tun of bricks while i was laying there and she was doing what I call " fake crying" it was that cute waa waa stuff I thought try to play the nature sounds for her, you see, her pack n play has a speaker on it and it will play music or nature sounds or even an ipod its pretty awesome... and it even has a cool blue circle thing it displays on the ceiling... so i reached around and turned it on and she was in awe... I peaked at her and she was wide eyed staring at the blue dot with a smile on her face... YAY!!!!! I found something that works ( seriously that is the best feeling ever as a mom)

so I got her up to feed her at 12:20

and placed her down in her bed and she SLEPT SOLID, til 5!!

she ate again at 5 and then went back to sleep in her bed

till she woke up at 9:10 to eat again

she stayed up for a little while to dance in the living room with her mommy to celebrate a successful night of sleep and my birthday...

then she went down fo a 45 minute nap in her bed :) and I took a shower...
and now

SHE IS NAPPING IN HER SWING while I am blogging....

thats right... in her swing... this is amazing... for the last 6 weeks I am not kidding when I say she ALWAYs sleeps on us... the only other place she has ever fallen asleep was in her car seat... so this has been a wonderful transition thus far, I am sure we will have more sleepless nights... and we are prepared for that...

JADA BUG YOU ARE THE GREATEST DAUGHTER IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!!

Love your momma !

momentary doubt

2010-02-17T12:13:00.001-08:00

today Jada and I had plans with two of my other girlfriends and their babies to have lunch in the food court and then walk the mall. I must admit my mind began to envision this trip starting yesterday afternoon, questions began popping in my head, would I have enough time to take a shower and get myself ready and get her ready, what is her feeding schedule going to be tomorrow, what if she sleeps in, what if what if what if.... you see, Jada has been out with me before on short little trips in and out of places, and she has been wonderful she actually has been in a very deep sleep during these outings, but for some reason, this trip had me questioning weather we were ready or not...

now because we would be mall walking, this meant this would be the first time we would be using the stroller, so what does a mommy who is obsessed with planning and wanting things to go smoothly do? thats right, I went down in the basement and brought the stroller up, making sure that I knew how to open and collapse that sucker like a Pro, you know, I didn't want any embarrassing moments in the slushy filled parking lot. next step, making sure I could snap the car seat in the locked position, once I had that down I decided it would be a good idea to place baby in the seat and then push her around the stroller in the house so she was someone familiar with this new movement.... she had smiles on her face,and looked super content.

I must have pictured a million times over and over, ok I will park my car, pop the truck, pull the stroller out, pop it open, grab the diaper bag and throw that over my shoulder, then grab baby and lock her seat in the stroller and make our way towards the door.

after the stroller run through I made sure I had everything I would be needing in her diaper bag, diapers check, spit up rag check, blanket, passy, nose sucker thingy, change of clothes, hooter hider ( mommies breast feeding shield from the public )but paste, check, check, check, check, check, I had it all. we were ready.

before bed i placed the stroller by back door so I could put in the trunk in the AM.

this Am when I woke up for Jada's first morning feeding my mind quickly began to analyze the rest of her days feeding... ok so if I am feeding her now at 8 am, that means she will eat again at 11 great, this will be right before we go to the mall, so she should be fine, well then 10 rolled around and she was ready to eat again, oh no I thought... now this looks like she is wanting to eat every 2 hrs again today ( must be going through a growth spurt) this means by noon she will be hungry again...

so the rest of my morning until the noon hour was spent wondering how she would be... I was comforted when at 11:30 she had fallen asleep in her swing. 11:50 i got her placed in her car seat, and she looked like she was ready for our little adventure.

the car ride was quiet, I kept looking back in her mirror and she was super content and just looking around and then I came upon grape road...

WAAAAAHAHAHAHAH

wowzers, I mean the girl was going to town, I must admit my palms started sweating, should I send a txt to my girlfriends now and tell them we cant make it, even though I was in teh parking lot??!?!?! yes the thought crossed my mind...

but we didn't, I figured once i got her out of the car and in the stroller, she would be better, ya know a little change of scenery...

so i did the routine that I ran through my head just the day before, got the stroller out first, got the diaper bag then baby and we were headed into the mall...

she was quiet walking up to the mall, but once inside she let it all out once again,
poor sweetie, I'll get you out of the seat...

my heart was going out to her, and thats when my mind was kicking me in the rear end CHELSSIE ELIZABETH you should have stayed home... what in the world are you doing having your little Jada out here at the mall... she's just 5wks old!!!

now we al hear about those over cautious mothers... well thats me, I will go ahead and label myself that right now, germs freak me out to be honest, add that up with me being a new mom and I am a mess... I believe as she gets bigger I will get better at this but for now, she's just so little and counts on me for everything, therefore I feel if I can prevent something from happening at all then by all means I will...

so any how back to the story. I met my girlfriends and had gotten Jada out of her seat, she seemed to like that better as she quieted down, and then after trying to give her her passy I realized it was 12:30 and those tears were probably because she was hungry, and if she was going to be on her 2 hr schedule like she was yesterday, this meant I would be right.

here it was, time to feed her for the first time in public. the food court bathrooms didnt seem to be the right place for this, so we made our way down to the nearest department store ( sears) I placed jada in her seat and headed that way, not even 1/2 way there she was not enjoying this... so I decided i would get her out and hold her the rest of the way there...

trying to steer a stroller and hold a baby who needs neck support still was a bit of a struggle... I could feel the eyes of other people burning on me, I am sure they were thinknig awe what a cute baby but all I could feel they were thinknig was OMG, that mother has no idea what she is doing, and why is that baby out here , she looks so small, way to young to be out at the mall, how selfish that mother must be...bringing such a young baby to the mall.... what a horible mother....

just get to the bathroom just get to the bathroom ( is what my mind kept repeating)

we made it

she ate, and I sat there about ready to cry, thought I would call the hubby I knew he would tell me I was a good mommy and everything was going to be ok... DUN DUN DUN no phone signal in the bathroom. so there I was, sitting in and old hard back chair from 1930's in a public restroom wishing I could click my heals together and be back home in my pj's with my happy baby girl...

I decided after the feeding it would be best for jada and I to head home, my mind began to then run through play by play how I was going to have to get her strapped back in her car seat walk back through the food court out the doors into the cold and put baby, diaper bag and stroller back in the car.

luckily my girlfriends understood and encouraged me that I was brave for trying.

so Jada and I made it back to the car and she fell asleep for our car ride home, I was able to talk to the hubby who did encourage me that I was a great momma and that had she not been fussy during this trip I would not have ever questioned my ability as a mother. he was right... now that I have been home for a few hours I must admit I am feeling much better, as I am in my warm flannel Pj's and baby girl is napping on my chest.... however... we will be steering clear of any mall outings again until she is old enough to ask to go :)

I kid I kid.

I love you Jada bug.

Big girl

2010-02-15T09:37:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it but it looks like our little girl is getting sooooo big. she is
now 23 and 1/2 inches at 5 weeks, weighing in some where in the 11 lb range! Daddy measured her while she was laying on the changing table and we looked at the measuring tape in shock, how is that possible... just 3 weeks ago she was 21 1/4. she is a growing girl, now who knows if we took the measurements exactly like the do at the pediatricians office, but either way this girl is super long, you can tell just by looking at her how she has grown, we even had to bump up a snap on her gro baby diapers!!! I wondered why she never stretched her legs out much but as soon as you take her diaper off her legs go a dancing... so yesterday while changing her into her Pj's I thought hmm let me just try to bump up a snap and she if the diaper still fits and wow it does, and she was kicking her legs out as straight as they could get, I felt so bad, but instantly felt so good knowing that we fixed it!!

she has even improved her sleep/eating schedule, her typical eating schedule is now consistently every 3 hours. this past week her night feedings have started at 9 pn, she stays awake with daddy out in the living room while mommy goes to sleep till around 11 or 11:30 then she goes to sleep, she sleeps till 4 am waking to eat and then goes back down until 7am something to eat again and then goes back down again until 10am. Last night was her first night sleeping in her play pin the whole night, ( she usually starts out with us in our bed on either my chest or daddies.)

we are so proud of you Jada Bug! you are a growing baby girl.

One Month

2010-02-12T05:03:00.001-08:00

Jada, Mommy & Daddy can't believe that today you are ONE month old! You have been an excellent baby, and we have loved getting to know you. Mommy will admit that when we first brought you home, I had feelings of how am I supposed to know what she is trying to tell me with her cries, but we figured it out after a while. Having you in our lives has been incredible. Daddy and I love to just look at you, and pretend we know what you are thinking about by judging your facial expressions. here are some of what you have been up to during your fist month of life.

You Love to eat, sometimes mommy calls you her little chunky monkey, but I just say it out of pure cuteness, and daddy and I joke because he was a really good eater too when he was a baby, and truth be told he still is. This is just yet another quality that you share with your Dad, I joke with our extended family that you are purely Daddies baby, my job was just to house you. seriously, he even claims you have his belly button.

We just learned about a week ago that you LOVE the Moby wrap. I wrap you up in it about three times a day, just yesterday you were kind of fussy and couldn't find a comfortable position in my arms so I pulled out the wrap and Whaa Laa you were instantly comforted and passed out for a nap, in the mean time I was able to vacuum, do laundry and make our bed, all while you were asleep in the wrap on my chest.

You have been waring your Gro Baby cloth diapers since you were 1 week old, and you seem to love them, I know we do, you haven't had any explosive accidents, and you look so darn cute in them.

You started out wearing the NB clothing and still are able to fit a few of the NB outfits we have for you but mostly you are wearing 0-3 months.

you love to take baths, and you splash around like a little Pro swimmer.

We are not sure of your weight at this exact time because we haven't been back to the pediatrician since your two week follow up, but Boy did you show some improvement while there. When you were born you weighed 8.15 by your first week appointment you weighed 8.9, by your second week appointment you weigh 9.7! now that you are a month Daddy and I think you are around 11 lbs.

you still seem to have all your hair you had at birth, which really surprised mommy, I didn't expect you to have hair because I was bald till I was two, but you did and it was brown! again - DADDies girl, however as each day passes it does seem to be lighting up.

We had your newborn photo shoot well a little after you were a true newborn, we waited till this past sunday, so just before you turned 4 weeks, and let me just tell you, you hated it. I am not sure if you were tired, hungry, or just weren't loving the camera, because we tried everything, daddy walked around with you as you fell asleep but then you would quickly wake yourself up as soon as we tried to position you for a cute picture, so mommy fed you and that didn't seem to fix it, you just spit up.. So we have yet to see those pictures yet, but however they turn out it will be a memory, you even peed on daddy that day during a picture where we had your diaper off!

You seem to eat about every 3 hours, sometimes a little sooner and sometimes a little later, night times being the later times. I have been keeping track on my blackberry of every time you eat and go down for naps that way I can see what your natural patterns are and see if we are getting on a schedule.

your first bottle was the day you turned 3 wks, daddy gave it to you and you did great!! at least once a day mommy give you a bottle with added probiotics to build you a nice strong immune system!
about a week ago you developed your little baby acne, but don;t worry it's not a crazy case, you have some on your ears, scalp, cheeks, chin and forehead, we have stopped putting lotion on your face and are waiting for it to clear up.

sleeping.... well sleeping you are now doing very well at during the night. however naps, I am not sure why, but you like to nap while I hold you, I have tried every time you fall asleep on my to take you into your crib and about 1 minute later your crying, and then when you are picked up you are out again. your silly... I have enjoyed the extra snuggle time with you, but would also love for you to be able to take naps in your crib. I don't know how you know the difference between a nap and bedtime because at bedtime you will sleep in their.... well that is after the first few hours. you usually start out on mine or daddies chest till you get into a nice deep sleep and then after first feeding in the night we put you in your play pin that is also in our room and you sleep the rest of the night ( only waking for feedings)

you and daddy stay up together in the living room during your fussy time which is between 9 and midnight but more recently you have fallen asleep around 11:30, mommy goes to bed during this time so I can get some rest since I wake with you for feedings and diaper changes.

you first started smiling with your eyes closed, so obviously it wasn't at us, unless you were smiling because you heard our voice or were dreaming of us, but now you are starting to smile with your eyes open which is so fun for us. you still do your blank stare A lot which always makes us laugh but the smile is so cute!!

you have been holding your head up since birth I kid you not, you have such a strong neck, now obviously you weren't really holding it up since birth but you have been popping your head off our shoulders since birth and trying to hold your head up, now you have it mastered, you are always lifting your head off our shoulders you have a very strong neck and back ( again daddies girl)

you are truly an amazing baby. this first month has been so fun I can only imagine what is in store for us. we look forward to watching you grow, but remember don't grow too fast!

Love - Mommy

my lil chuncka mungsters

2010-02-11T07:17:00.000-08:00

Daddies Birthday

2010-02-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

My husband will be turning 26 on Saturday!! woo hoo I love birthdays! I am so excited for him, it's his first birthday as a daddy.... which means I think that he should get an extra cute little gift from his daughter... so I need some ideas, what do you think would be cute to give daddy from his little one month old?!

I have thought about purchasing something that goes along with what I have already purchased him, which I can't post just incase he decides to check out my blog ( highly doubt he will be visiting, but I just need to be careful I don't blow the big gift) but then I thought it might be cute to get something different... so please help :)

this is a Big weekend in our house, Jada will be ONE month on Friday, Nick turns 26 on Saturday and then it's Valentines day on Sunday!! Lots of celebration for us...

thanks in advance for the ideas...

Buh Bye Dairy

2010-02-09T06:56:00.000-08:00

So here it is, Lately I have been finding myself more and more saying "she's not normally like this, and I have been wanting to pull my hair out trying to figure out how I can comfort my baby girl, because at times it's as if there is no right answer and she's all Leave me the Heck alone Ma....

Jada is four weeks old today and this past week she has been fussier than normal, wanting to eat off of her schedule so much so that I forgot what her schedule was and stopped keeping track of the times I would feed her and just gave it too her when I saw her rooting for it... When we first brought her home her fussy time was from 10 to 2 AM, then it changed from 9 to midnight, and we are still at the 9 to midnight time for the most part but this past week its seems to be starting around 630, or 7:00.

So I decided it was time for me to pay better attention because I needed to come up with some sort of conclusion, try something new, then if it doesn't work well we will toss it out the window. ( not my baby girl, the Idea)

the symptoms I have been seeing frequently this past week has been a slow down in the poopy diaper depO.... only one poopy diaper a day, now when she makes it is a pretty explosive one but its as if she works all day at getting that one poopy to come out. she was having any where from 3 to 5 good poopy diapers. Now during the day she will grunt and make animal noises and I can see her face getting red, and she will fuss and has gas that accompanies this, but no poop... then typically really early in the morning around 6 am it will make its way out. also there are times during the day and evening when nothing seems to calm her down, and she has started to get some baby bumps on her face, just a little ( which I know is normal) but she hasn't had any till recently.

also new, this past week she has been spitting up, the fist three weeks she never did this, I know babies spit up, but this is new for her, yesterday specifically she spit up after just about every feeding. so after putting things together, I figure maybe it is what I am eating, and well looking at my food journal .....FRIGIN CHEESE is the number one culprit. every morning before my hubby goes to work he makes us a breakfast smoothie with a bunch of yummy good stuff like fruit flax meal, wheat germ and well Yogurt, then for lunch I typically have fresh cold veggies maybe and apple and a Cheese and avocado sandwich or cheese and olive sandwich, or if I don't have a sandwich sometimes I have almonds fruit, veggies, and a CHESE STICK... So you see, some how cheese is always making its was on my plate... I don't drink cow's milk, we drink SILK soy-milk,

So my idea, well I am going to eliminate Dairy from my diet and see if we have some change.

It can take anywhere from 2 - 3 weeks for milk protein to leave your body ( says some internet website) so I am will be giving this a whirl for the next 35 days. thats 5 weeks, an hopefully we see some improvement, because seriously there is nothing worse than hearing your baby scream crying and you are holding her in your arms singing to her and rocking her, and patting her on her back and nothing seems to work, it's like sticking a knife in a mommas chest and saying you have no idea what you are doing.

so this is where I am going to start. if any of you mommies have other suggestions please feel free to mention them.

3 wks

2010-02-04T13:36:00.000-08:00

this video should have been uploaded on Tuesday February 2, because this was the day she turned three weeks but ya know life happens when your busy being a mom. anyhow, I can't believe all of her changes she's made in just these three weeks.
One of my favorites has been her focus, when she is laying down and I go to pick her up she really stares me over, looking right into my eyes, its the greatest feeling because I know she knows I am her mommy.

another new that has happened now that Jada is three weeks, she has been introduced to the bottle and throws it back like a champ, she also has been enjoying the MaM passys, but she's still not too much of a fan, I think she feels tricked when we give it to her but it soothes her for a little while.

as for her physical changes, I just lover her bright big blue eyes and now accompanying them are her ultra super long lashes. I knew she had them, they were just hiding between her eye lids but boy have they popped!

so there you have it. our little girl, three weeks old.

I got Peed on.....

2010-02-01T06:01:00.001-08:00

twice.....

Last night was bath night, and I was in Jada's room getting her all undressed and she was so happy and alert so I called in daddy to snap some quick photos, when we quickly realized we have no naked booty pictures of out little Buggy so we decided to snap one... I kid you not about 3 seconds after this photo our little one let of a little coo and then the greater lower half of my shirt was suddenly soaked...

I hadn't a clue what to do... so I just put my hand in cup form below my shirt hoping to catch anything that wanted to go onto the carpet ( my brain couldn't tell me "hey chels, walk to the bathroom its like 2 seconds away and hold her over the sink..")

Nick and I laughed about it and head into the kitchen for bath time, as nick was getting her water ready I was holding her and talking to her when all of a sudden my arm,shirt,pants, all that was feeling trickles and then I heard it hit the hard wood floor and Im all " OMG she is peeing again" and yet my brain still didn't say CHELS HOLD HER OVER THE SINK.... instead I sat there holding her, laughing, getting Peed on.....

Oh well it was a great family moment, Nick and I got a good kick out of it and miss Jada was ever so content.

Lesson learned, do not remove diaper until moments before entering child in tub :)

Labor and Delivery Pt. 3

2010-01-29T08:11:00.000-08:00

yes, this should be the last Part, I just felt the need to make these post's as long as my labor felt ( hehe ) I will now try to wrap up the rest of our story quickly without leaving out the details.

After I was checked and told that I was at 7 cent my mind began to get overwhelmed and I told myself the pain was getting worse, that my body wasnt going to hang on much longer, it had already been so many hours, I was just sure I couldn't take much more of this. I turned my head to my husband as he wiped the hair from my face and I told him, Nick I am really thinking about a Banana.... now this needs some explaining ( banana was my code word for medication AKA Epidural or some sort of relief) nick and I wanted to have a code word that way no one from teh medical team would know what we were talking about and nick knew how much I truly wanted a natural delivery so we thought a code word would be good that way nick could talk me out of it with out the medical team ever knowing that I was thinking about it, because we were aware of the fact that If I had said the word epidural that the staff would then say ok lets go with it, instead of truly going by what I wanted from the start. The funny part is, when I said I am really thinking about a banana my Doula so sweetly said, " I have an organic banana in my bag, here let me get you one." HAHha Nick then explained to her that no she really doesn't need a banana she is just tired, and that I really didn't mean that I wanted an actual banana.

So Nick did a great job, he looked me in my eyes and told me Chels, no you don't need a banana you are doing great and will continue to do great, this is what we wanted, and we are getting so much closer through each contraction, now I had done a little more complaining and then told him that I just wish he could be in my situation and I could be standing on the side of the bed trying to talk him through this, this made us both smile and the next thing I knew I was back rolling with the contractions...

not ever needing A banana.

we tried other positions and the clock kept moving forward, it was now time to be checked again and I was a good 8.5 centimeters nearing 9 and my midwife was phoned. My midwife told my nurse that she was on her way and that she wanted to break my water when she got there, and not to have anyone else do that.

It felt like I waited for the midwife to get there for literally 2 hours because knowing I was so close now I was so ready for the next step and to get back into the tub, finally Kristin ( midwife) walks in all perky with a bright smile, and she says she was going to check me, during her examining me she said wow yep I can feel the bulging bag of water, and your a good 9.5 to 10 centimeters. she then moved her finger and POP I felt a very very warm stream of water come a flowing. YAaYAY that was it, my water had broken and she didn't have to use that long plastic pokey thing to break it because it was so low and bulging! and boy was she right, she told me at one of my previous appointments that I was going to have a lot of water come out when it broke and did I ever. Once this was over, the water was drawn up in the tub and when I was told it was ready, I kid you not I flew off that bed and ran to the tub... I can remember everyone in the room laughing saying look at her, she is so ready, just a few hours ago she couldn't even walk the halls.

Once in the tub I knew it was time, this was my final destination and I would be there until I was holding my little girl in my arms.

the contractions were about 4 and 1/3 minutes apart and the first few I didnt feel the urge to push, and then "THE" contraction came and I went ahah ohh wooeww eee and boy did I feel the need to push, and that first push let me tell you I had NO FLIPPING IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING, I then panicked a little and said wait, I never really learned how to push or how to breath and I need to know, my team could tell I was getting a little nervous there and my doula just told me to brethe and bring my chin in pull my legs back and roll with it, she was going to be there to help me.

now that each contraction I was having I was having the urge to push, the position I was in was on my back in the tub, head leaning back where my husband was ( on the outside of the tub) and under my legs was a sheet that my husband was holding behind me that way when I had a contraction he would pull the sheet tight and I would put my arms under my knees and pull my knees up to my chest and bear down. OMG did the pushing hurt, to me this was the hardest part, and I had to mentally keep telling myself I had to do this, this was the part that I had to do, I had to get her out, there was no turning back.

I pushed and pushed and pushed, my chart says that I only pushed for 45 minutes however, I am told that that time doesn't start until they start to see the head... I believe I was in the tub for around 2 hours pushing, just not successfully.

I remember when I could finally start to feel so much pressure and I just knew that was her head, it was the craziest but most miraculous feeling in the world, to know that my child was getting to enter the world and that no matter how bad it hurt or how hard it was my body was actually doing it, a couple more pushes and I heard them say your doing it chels don't stop pushing we see her head, and then I heard OH my goodness she has a full head of hair, what??!? that is what did it for me I was determined to see my little girl, she had hair? I was expecting a bald baby, bc I was until the age of two and I never had heart burn during the pregnancy.

I pushed and pushed and pushed and then all of a sudden I pushed harder and bared down and then I felt her come out so fast, I couldn't believe my eyes, there she was, she was out oh my goodness there was our daughter. and before I knew it she was placed on my chest and I was in awe, I kept repeating oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness, and I was stroking her head, she was beautiful, her eyes were WIDE open, and she was so clean ( thanks to the water birth) she was perfect with her little cone head and all... she took our breath away, daddy and I kept staring at her in awe that this is our gift from God and she is our daughter, as we studied her features. She looked just like her daddy, Nick felt as though he was looking back at his baby pictures as he was looking at her, talk about a proud daddy. he was so in love.

the water was then drained from the tub and there was a warm blanket placed over Jada as she lay on my chest and then Krisitn told me that I needed to push one last time to get my placenta out.... so daddy got to hold jada, he ripped his shirt off because skin to skin contact was so important to us and he headed into the other part of the room and just held her.

meanwhile, I gave my one last push to birth the placenta, at this point I was overwhelmed with emotion, I was not a mommy and my little girl was in the other room on her daddies chest. there wasn't a worry in the world. I was then given two hands to help pull me out of the tub and as soon as I stood up I lost blood, and a lot of blood, they quickly placed a big blanket on the side of the tub and told me to sit down, they then twisted my body carefully lifting my legs out of the tub so they were touching on the ground my midwife told me she needed me to stand and walk into the other room to the bed so she could stitch me back up. when I stood again another large amt of blood loss. I could tell that my staff team was looking a bit nervous, I just remember feeling shaky and cold, but that I wasn't worried, My little girl was here and all else was in Gods hands and I was going to be ok. I made it back to the bed and had to receive a shot of pitocin in my right hip to help stop the bleeding and then two numbing shots in my birthing area to numb the feeling of the stitches.

During the last part of my delivery Jada came so fast and her shoulders were larger than her head therefore my midwife had to corkscrew her out, which that mixed in with how fast she came during the push I suffered a second degree tear but was told that it was a straight one, and received a good amt of stitches. as for the blood loss, I lost an additions 600 ML, after doing my research since I have been home I believe this was due to the cytotec that was inserted the monday before I delivered ( one of the side effects was heavy bleeding after birth) therefore, in the future I will decline the use of this medicine.

so there you have it my birth story. Natural birth was all that I could have ever hoped and dreamed of, although it was a long labor the end result of holding your precious little baby girl in your arms is unlike anything else in the whole entire world. The natural high you feel after giving birth is incredible, its as if you are off in a place and its just you and your baby in pure happiness, nothing else is going on around you, its surreal, life changing, and breathtaking. I would do it all over again just to be where we are today.

FOOD - think about it

2010-01-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

thats right, I am taking a quick break from talking about the new love of my life my little baby girl, and I am going to talk about FOOD. For those of you who know me know that I have been the girl who loves her grocery stores,which by the way, the greater south bend/granger/Mishawaka area GET WITH IT, we need to bring in a whole foods or trader joes, even a fresh market... I know there are not many people who literally enjoy going to the grocery store but ever since my sophomore year in college when I started to take my health serious and began working our and became a vegetarian ,thinking about what goes into my body has been a passion of mine, and when Nick and I were living in Carmel we had the most wonderful grocery stores right at the end of our drive way almost and it was incredible, to shop in stores where you know that everything is safe and is actually FOOD is an incredible feeling.

So I am talking about this because yesterday Oprah's show was about food and begging people to think more consciously about what they put in their bodies. She had one of my favorite food authors Michael Poland on her show and he talked about the benefits of eating Organically, He has written many great books such as the omnivores dilemma which I read in college along with in defense of food. His new book out is titled food rules and can be purchased on Amazon for as little as $5 bucks, thats a steal so if you are at all interested I urge you to grab a copy. Now many of you know that I am a info/ book junkie I just love to research things that I am passionate about and a couple years ago on the Oprah show she had jessica sinefield on her show talking about how to puree veggies and sneak them into kids recipes or the regular meals you make for your whole family to enjoy and I was so excited I hopped right over to Barns and noble after the show and picked up my copy of the book. now even though my hubby and I are both vegetarians and we get plenty of veggies I loved the recipes in here, one of my favorites was to puree butternut squash and then just used egg whites and add the squash to your eggs ( it makes them have the yellow color to trick the kiddies) but it taste O So Delish. and I knew that we would have kids one day and I would want to make their baby food and wanted to know about all the different veggies that you could puree.

ok back to the show

so yesterdays outside of having Michael Poland there she also had alicia silverstone on who was advertising her new book called the Kind diet, this book seems very similar to Skinny b*tch which I also read and loved but it just has much kinder language. these books advocate for a vegan diet which I have done from time to time and will give it a go again sometime but I have found each time that my love for cheese truly never goes away. however I purchased this book today because I always love to read about new ideas and who couldn't use more yummy recipes laying around the house and when I read something it motivates me more.

So I wanted to write this post to get some of my thoughts out there and maybe it will interest someone else to look into their kitchen and see what it is they are eating and make a healthier decisions for them and their families. everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I just think it is important that we understand that the food that is out there today although it is called the same think as it was 5o years ago things are now genetically engineered to be different. the cow that used to take years to be slaughtered now takes months to gain the same amt of weight, why? because they are injected with growth hormones, that you then ingest. there are so many other options, I am not saying everyone become a vegetarian or vegan, because there are grass fed animals who are well taken care of who aren't fed these antibodies or injected with hormones. its all about making a healthier decisions.

if you are interested in finding out information for yourself there are great web sites out there, Oprah plugged the film FOOD INC yesterday which you can find On Demand or order off Amazon, but there are other videos out there like Meet you Meat. Fast food nation, and Earthlings that are also loaded with good information, or just google search Michael Poland and you will get some great web sites with information of eating organically.

I just think its all about balance, so many of us work out in the gym to feel better and look better for out outward appearances but eating is such a big part of it, the foods we put into our bodies also contribute to our outward appearance and play a part in the way you feel. its a package deal, so just think about it, form your own opinions and feel good about what you are eating!

2 week check up

2010-01-28T04:28:00.001-08:00

thats right, our little baby girl is now past two weeks old, I just cant believe how fast the time has flown by. Last tuesday at her one week appointment she weighed in at 8.9 lbs and was still 21 inches long, the Dr had me schedule a two week appointment because she wanted to see her back up to her birth weight which was 8.15, well ladies and gentlemen at this appointment which was now only Eight days from the last she weighed in at a healthy 9.7 lbs! can you believe that that is almost one whole pound in eight days! she was also measuring at 21 1/4 inches so she grew 1/4 of an inch! we are so proud of our little girl! because I am solely breast-feeding and have yet to start pumping I have been unsure how much milk she is getting so it feels great to know that she is thriving and doing so well. The Pediatrician also is very impressed with her skin color, she says she can tell she is very hydrated. Which let me tell you, judging by the child's diapers and how well she feeds I would sure have hoped she would be well hydrated!

her next appointment isn't until March where she will be two months, well thats all I have time for now miss Jada is calling my name :)

Sweet Sounds

2010-01-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

Here is our sweet baby girl during our morning time on the sofa.

Labor and Delivery part 2

2010-01-24T11:51:00.001-08:00

Once in the room, I met our labor and delivery nurse whose name was Paula, she was such a sweet lady, couldn't have asked for a better nurse, she mentioned to me that I could slip into the hospital gown if I had wanted to now, ( I was in my own PJ gown up to this point)but i assured her I was not wanting to be clothed at this point I just wanted the Tub again. My doula and Paula drew up the warm water and I undressed. At this point I had my mother, Nick, the doula and Paula. They were all such a great team , couldn't have asked for anyone better. Once the water was ready I slipped into the tub and was there for a good three hours, words can not explain what the water did for me ladies, I swear by it, I was wrapped up in the towels that came out of the steamer for the upper part of my body and the lower part was submerged under water, I remember having me head tilted back on the blankets and my mom rubbing a cold cloth on my forehead and sipping ice cold water from the cup next to me. I got a lot of good rest in-between my contraction while in the tub, I believe they has slowed to about 4 and 1/2 minuted apart and were lasting about 60 seconds. I just remember feeling the best while in the tub, but then came the point of where we needed some more movement, Paula told me for every one position I was in on my back she wanted me in another position on the front or side, so it was time to get out of the water.

with help, I made it back to the bed where I sat backwards on my knees with my arms hanging over the back of the bed and I moved my hips in a circular motion. This position hurt, but I felt progression, and with the encouragement from my husband and the rest of the team I was able to stay in that position for a little while, just resting my head of the back of the bed, I can remember at times thinking is this really real? am I really feeling this? and then I would feel the cold drool coming out of my mouth onto the side of my face and I realized that yes it was real and I was coming in and out of this.

I believe it was at this time when I became very impressed with the memorial staff, I hadn't been offered a single drub, nor an IV, did they really read my birth plan, this was amazing. I was very grateful. it was so nice to be free from machines, cords, wires or be looped up on any medicine.

so like I mentioned before my whole time frame is off, I never once read the clock but I do remember asking what time it was throughout this process because the farther the hours stretched I knew my body had to be progressing. I ate some jello, graham crackers and drank lots of water and cranberry juice during my labor, nothing has ever tasted so good, I remember mom putting the graham cracker in my mouth and I would just close it and let it melt, any extra motion at times seemed so draining.

we did a few other positions, sat on the ball, laid on my side, got back in the tub, tried to walk out of the room ( nick wanted me to see the kitchen?!?!?! ) not sure why the kitchen but you gotta love him, I believe he just wanted me to have a specific goal of reaching but this was not possible, I got to the door, out into the hallway ( oh by the way I was back in my night gown at this point, not walking halls naked )We quickly turned back around and my doula suggested I get in bed and take a nap. My mom got a nice cot bet and fell asleep, nick lay next to me in a reclining chair and went to sleep and I was in the hospital bed wrapped in warm blankets on my side, the doula had gone down for some coffee and something to eat. I remember laying on my side and catching a glimpse of my sleeping husband and he looked so peaceful, I remember thinking he is going to be a wonderful father, and began to wonder what he was experiencing during all of this, he looked so tired, like he was getting good sleep. my contractions would kick in again and I would breath through them one at a time, and then drift off to sleep again. It felt like my doula was gone for a while because when she came back I said I really want to get into the water again, nick was still sleeping and so was mom, Paula was not in to room but I am not sure where she was.

Doula ran the water and I got in, i remember it was very warm but it felt so good to me, a few moments later Paula returned, and saw I was in the tub and checked the temp and said wow this water it way to warm, we need to check babies heart beat, so I was quickly checked, and told that I needed to get out of the water ASAP. I got out and made my way back to the bed, I am not sure what the temp of the water was or what babies heart beat was at this moment but I know that it made paula very nervous, and after I had been laying on the bed for a while and we still had no change, she brought it two large ice packs and placed them around my belly. I began to worry a little, what had I done, Paula listened to the heart beat again and then told me to pay back as she put the breathing mask on my face, at this moment I was so scared, to have an oxygen max on my face and I knew that it had now been a good 30 minuted I had been out of the tub and still no change. I began praying and shortly I was able to have the oxygen mask off and we worked through some more contractions out of the water.

during this time we had learned that the reason the water got so hot was there was some sort of water bust, and the pipes all got messed up through out the whole hospital, they ran some water again to check it and it looked rusted... OH NO I thought, was I not going to be able to have the water birth I had wanted to badly?!!?that was the one place I felt the most comfortable, was I going to be able to do this drug free now? all of this was running though my head while my body took each contraction one at a time.

I was checked shortly after and was now at 7 cent.

Labor and Delivery Part 1

2010-01-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

As you may recall my post on January 11th when I went to the Dr to get my non stress test and ultra sound done to make sure baby girl was doing well, and at that appointment we learned that baby was in deed doing very well, and well my cervix was not favorable meaning I was not dilated yet, at that appointment we agreed to insert cytotec, this was to ripen my cervix and make it more favorable, one of the side effect can be to over stimulate the uterus AKA: make you have some pretty heave contractions. after the pill was inserted I lay there for a while, then get strapped up to the contraction monitor thing for a few minutes and we could see that I was having contractions just an hour after the pill was inserted. Nick and I left the appointment and headed home...I was having some pretty nice contractions, and nick and I just looked at each-other smiling thinking that this was really going somewhere, we were going to have a baby. I dropped nick off at work and drove home, he picked up some yummy jersey mikes veggie subs and headed home behind me. by the time I got home the contractions were a little stronger, and since the Dr had scheduled for me to go into be induced the following night at 8 PM, I decided to call my grandpa to come pick up Sparty ( our dog) because they were going to be keeping him for a few days for us when it was time for baby to come into the world.. so by the time I arrived home and the contractions were stronger I just figured it would be smart for sparty to leave that evening just in case anything happened.

now that Sparty was gone, nick and I sat and enjoyed our yummy meal together, got in our Pj's and watched the Bachelor together... yep thats right my hubby likes the show too... during the show I was surprised that the contractions seemed closer together and figured now would be a good time to start timing, and before I knew it they were 5 minutes apart. WOW, we are getting somewhere, nick was excited, as was I because I was not in any pain, just a few moments of uncomfortableness...

the bachelor ended and we get into bed, I lay there and I believe I fell asleep for a little while, but then awakened to stronger contractions, I decided to get out of bed and walk around the house, this is when I noticed that walking was not fun... I went to the bathroom as I felt a weird urge to go to the bathroom, I sat down and noticed my legs were shaking a bit and I was having a bloody show... I got out my phone to time the contractions and they were now 2 and 1/2 minutes apart... WOW I thought, so I called my husband to come to me, and told him what was going on, nick called the doula to inform her and she said that it sounded like I should head to the hospital, as I was unable to talk during some of these contractions and I was leaning over on some of our furniture..

we pack up and head to the hospital, during this ride I was on my knees in the back seat bent over at the waist leaning on a pillow taking each contraction for what it was worth, just listing to my husband telling me it was all going to be ok, and he was so proud of me, and that we were going to have a BABY!! the ride on the toll road didn't seem to bad, before I knew it we were at the hospital. Nick and I walked in and were greeted by our doula, we checked in and walked back to the triage room... I had to stop during each contraction to get to the room, for some reason walking was just not working for me.

I get to the room, undress into the gown and prepare for my check, they strap up all the monitors to check babies heart beat and my contractions, they were impressed by the intensity of the contractions the monitor showed I was having and for how I was handling them, once we saw baby was doing great, they checked my cervix, and I was told well.... your at 1 cm.... and 50% effaced... UMM EXCUSE ME?!?!?!

how is this possible?!?!? I have to get to 10 and I have been having 2 and 1.2 minute contractions and this much uncomfortableness and I am only at a 1?!??! this is when they phone kristin my midwife to see what they want me to do, kristin suggested that I take an ambian and go home and sleep through, as she figured I was just experiencing the side effect of the over active uterus.

I was very displeased, ahh did I really have to pack back up and go ride in the car again, knowing that the contractions weren't going to slow down, this was so hard and disappointing... but I got through it, we headed to the car, and agreed that the doula should go home so she gets rest as I would need her 100% because if I was going to be going through this through the night I would not be getting any sleep.

nick and I arrive home and I take the pill, hoping to sleep and that did NOTHING, I lay in bed and I felt groggy but these contractions were going strong... I called my mother and asked her to come over, I told her we have the guest bedroom downstairs and she could sleep there, but i needed someone, I wanted to have nick sleep so he was rested but I needed someone with me, mom arrived at around 1:30 am and we walked around downstairs together and she massaged my back, I was having very bad back labor at this point , it brought tears to my eyes and had my mind spinning, it was hard to concentrate, we kept all the lights off and my eyes closed to help me go into " a different place" somewhere where I would be able to escape..

an hour had past when I told my mom I needed to get into the tub, we came upstars and my mom started the warm bath water.... I remember hearing the water running and feeling my mind at ease, knowing that I wanted to be in there so bad, telling myself the water was going to relax me, and the warmth would offer me time to close my eyes. I got into the tub and water had never felt so great. I lay there with by head resting on the side of the tub and my mom was drizzling water over my belly as the water in teh tub was not high enough to cover my HUGE body at this point..

I remember slipping in and out, my eyes opening and closing, getting rest and then waking up, I had some more bloody show in the water and my mom figured we should call the doula again. The doula arrived at our house around 6:30 I think, honestly I am not to sure with the time frame at this point, but I do know I continued in the tub for a bit after she was here, and then she wanted to get me out into some awkward positions because of my bad back labor, she wanted to try to flip baby.

I did not like this, I remember them helping me walk back into my bedroom and our doula telling nick to gather a bunch of towels, funny I don't remember if i even had a towel around me as I walked back into my bedroom, I remember siting up and then being told to lay flat on my back, only as I extended back I felt a rolled up towel right above my hips... OWW OWWW ouch!!! I say, this was no fun, I was then told I needed to stay in that position through a few contractions because this was going to flip baby Jada and get her in the correct position for delivery... after about 5 minutes I hear my doula say, ok we have to get her up, we need to get to the hospital..

we all gather things up, nick and I head to our car, my mom to hers and the doula to hers. We pull out of the drive way and I went back into the position I was in during the fist car ride, I remember praying lord let this be it, I cant go back to the hospital and then be told to head back home, please let this be it.

we arrive to the hospital and it was now 10:30 AM we walk to triage again and I was checked, I was 4.5 cm and 80% effaced.. GOLDEN TICKET TIME!!!! yes what relief I was so thankful, they phoned my midwife and they came back into my room to tell me that the hospital was willing to admit me, but that kristin wanted to give em the option to go back home because she believed it would still be another 12 to 15 hours before I would be delivering.. WHAT I thought?!?!? are you CRAZY lady?!?!?! I am going no where but the labor and delivery room thank you very much and good bye!

we packed up the stuff, handed my birth plan to the labor and delivery nurse and walked to the room.....

Oh so much

2010-01-20T17:05:00.000-08:00

There is Oh so much to Blog about, there have been so many times I have wanted to run to the computer and write out what has gone on within the day with all the new experiences of being a new mom but I just cant find the time to break away from baby, but now I have a little bit of time so here goes....

for starters, I can not believe that I have been a momma to a beautiful baby girl for 10 days now!, Wow the time flies it defiantly didn't go this fast during the end of my pregnancy :) I have enjoyed the many moments nick and I have shared with our beautiful heathy baby girl, we truly have been blessed with a wonderful baby. becoming a mother is unlike anything else I have ever experienced, in the beginning I will admit, the first days at home my mother instincts had not yet kicked in and I found myself thinking come on chelssie you read ALL the books, you should know you should know, but now that I have relaxed more, we are taking it day by day and continuing to learn each-other. one of my first mistakes that I laugh at is mistaking Jada's cries, you should have seen it, fist day home the first slightest mouth movement and a little bit of cries out popped the boob, my feeding chart was quickly filled... but thankfully we are now following a schedule, one that her body has actually designed and I was able to pick up on, she seems to get hungry every 2 to 3 hours and will eat very well, we then change diaper and try to have some open eyed time but during the burps she tends to fall fast asleep again.

Last night was her fist bath because her umbilical cord feel out on tuesday night during one of her diaper changes, I thought it takes a couple weeks to fall out but hers just came out exactly a week of being born. she seemed to love the water and had her bright blue eyes opened the whole time. I bet we have a water baby on our hands, she was hanging around for so long because she liked the environment then when I delivered her I had her in the tub, so I think its safe to say the chick will love the water. Daddy video taped while I did the washing, he has been fixated on taking pictures of his little girl, I swear we have our nikon camera, his iphone, and our flip HD cam corder out at all times and as soon as he comes home from work bamm hes got them all turned on. He's a great daddy, I have loved watching him hold her, and take care of her.

We had Jada's fist Dr's appointment this past tuesday, for her week old birthday and she weighed 8.9 which was the 75% and length was still 21 inches which was the 90th%. Dr said she is very healthy and checked out great, she wants to see us back in a week to make sure that she is back up to her birth weight of 8.15. She eats so well but also has been very good of dirtying diapers so we are sure she will be back up there in no time.

in other news lets talk about sleeping.... Jada is a wonderful baby, but the hours of 10PM and 2AM just dont agree with her, it's as if we are holding someone elses baby during those hours, nick is so shocked each night hes like OMG its like clockwork... and really it is... during the day she if really pretty easy, sleeping, eating, diaper changes, play time... but night time between those hours is rough. I asked her pediatrician and she told me that normally its the hours of 6 and midnight that are rough and that its normal, that her system just cant figure out if shes tired or hungry, and she gets flustered... so daddy and I have been doing very well with not being overwhelmed with this its just hard to hear and see out baby girl so stressed :*(

She hasn't quite got the passy thing down yet either, before she was born I bought a few of the MAM brand because my girlfriends recommended them, and I know the hospitals use those, but I wasnt sure if I ever wanted to use them, and then the hours of 10 and 2 came around and wowzers I figure the girl needs something to help sooth her becuase I know shes not hungry that whole time! so we try to give it to her but she cant seem to keep it in her mouth, so she flails her hands around in her face trying to suck on them and continues to get frustrated... poor little girl, all I can do is squeese her and and tell her everything is ok and I even sing to her... matter of fact daddy sang to her the other night, I came out to get some water and he was trying to sooth her and I walk back into the room and hear him humming to her and Im all " awww how cute, he's singing to her" and then Im all... wait what is that I know that tune..... and it was totally some American song HAHA like not a lullaby like " I am proud to be an american, where at least I know I am free song.... we both laughed about it in the morning, but that moment it was soothing her so we didn't discuss it at that time.

well this is a jumbled together post but I wanted to get something out, baby girl is waking up now so I gotta go... hope to be back soon!

Our little Jada Grace

2010-01-16T11:33:00.001-08:00

Here is our beautiful little girl. Jada Grace was born Tuesday night January 12th at 10:48 Pm, I will post labor and delivery story sometime in the near future along with other fun pictures of our little beauty but for now I just wanted to give you a glimpse of the little girl who has stolen her mommy and daddies heart.

things are a Rollin

2010-01-11T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today at the Dr's appointment we checked in and first had our non stress test taken, this is where I sat in a reclined chair with a monitor strapped to my belly, we got to hear the heartbeat and then see the contractions on the monitor and as Jada moved I was to press this button, that way they could track to see if she was stressed out in there, this lasted about 20 minutes, I just lay there closing my eyes listening to my little girls heart beat flutter.

my midwife came in after the 20 minutes and said baby looked Perfect, not a sign of stress at all, she then went over what was to happen next, she said that I would go in to get my ultra sound done to check to make sure miss Jada had enough fluid around her still, and that after that I would get my cervical exam done, If my cervix was found to be in the favorable stage then they would wait to have me check into the hospital till Wednesday morning at 8Am to start the induction process, but if my cervix was not favorable then I would check into the hospital tomorrow night at 8PM for them to start the low dose of Pitocin and keep track of my progression through the night, and if nothing progresses over night, they would up the does in the am around 7 or 8 wednesday morning and move the process along from there...

So we got the ultra sound done and she had plenty of fluid, they told us we have one happy camper in there. so momma and baby scored a 10 out of 10 on the test. next up cervical exam... and I was found to be not favorable, meaning my cervix had not been in the place we would like it to be at this point, although I had made a little progress from the last appointment it was just a little bit, so she sort of forced more than her fingertip into my cervix... but still considered me to be a finger tip dilated. which now meant that we would be checking into the hospital Tuesday Night at 8 pm to start the low dose pitocin drip.

It was then offered that my midwife could insert a small pill called cytotec which is used as a cervix softener in hopes that this could possibly be enough to soften my up and contractions come on their own in hopes that we could go on our own and avoid having to be induced. we asked to be alone for a minute and discuss with eachother how we felt about it and also phoned our doula... after finding out that is would be a small dose of 25 micrograms we felt that this would be a good idea, rather than risking my cervix staying the same as it was currently and checking into hospital and having the low dose of pitcin not work and have to have them up it, so we opted to go ahead and do the cytotec.

my midwife came back, inserted small pill, it was now 3:45 and I lay there for 20 minutes on my side. next I had to get on the monitor again for a short 20 minutes to make sure Jada wasn't stressing out with all that had taken place and she was still perfect. this time on the machine I noticed my contractions were stronger, they peaked at the number 30 where as before the cytotec and exam they only peaked at a 13 or 14, so we are hoping we are moving in the right direction!!

we finally were out of our appointment at around 4:30 and I headed to bank to deposit some money into our act, and then headed home, my contractions at this point are staying consistent but totally tolerable, so we decided that it would be a good idea for Sparty ( our dog) to be picked up tonight instead of us dropping him off tomorrow just in case we go to hospital tonight or early morning. So I came home and packed up our little boy and sent him off with his great grandpa. Nick brought home some super delish Jersey mikes Veggie sub and I was in heaven...

so now that I have a full belly, my plan is to make sure everything is organized and ready and relax with a nice warm shower and enjoy the Bachelor. so crazy knowing that the process has begun, and it will be only a matter of time before we are holding, and gazing upon our little girl. I will try to keep you all posted with as many updates on here as possible, but after we check into the hospital I will be limited to just my Blackberry and will update via facebook. but no worries once we are back home and I am rested I will post our labor and delivery story...

so keep those prayers coming, they have been greatly appreciated by my husband and I. so stay tuned, but were getting closer :)

bullet points

2010-01-10T04:32:00.000-08:00

Today is now January 10th, I realized I haven't posted anything since the 7th so I wanted to write something but I am not sure where this will be going, as I am currently writing this with out a title, so maybe this will just be a bullet post.

* since my last post I must admit that my spirits have been lifted, I am sure this is due to all of the prayers that have been put out there for us and all the wonderful txt messages, or e mails, even phone calls I have received, so thanks so much for that.

* This weekend Nick and I acknowledged that this will be the last weekend just the two of us no matter what, so we have called this the "date weekend." we laughed a little because mostly what we enjoy doing together is just being with each-other, were not big into going out to eat, sitting at the movies, but when we do get out we like to do the more adventurous things, which well I cant do right now at 41 weeks pregnant. so we have enjoyed out time together just the two of us so far, friday night I made a yummy dinner for us and we then went to the grocery store. saturday we woke up and had breakfast together and sat around in our pj's for a while, and then cleaned the house as a "team", after the cleaning was finished we got cleaned up ourselves and went out and did a little shopping and then off to my grandmas for her saturday night dinner with family and then the two of us went to enjoy the dollar theater movie Couples Retreat, Great movie!I ate a whole box of sour patch kids by myself... well ok I gave nick a few orange ones.

* there have been a couple times that I looked down at my belly and just repeat the date, ex: last night I was sitting on the sofa with nick and my grandmas just watching Jada roll around in my tummy and I watch in amazement and then say... its January 9th! ( like omg what the heck haha... she should totally be here already) but this has been a much more positive way of looking at it for me, b.c boy being down in the dumps is nooo fun, not a mood I like at all, so thanks to everyone and the hubby who helped bring me back up in spirits in just a few days.

* last night we watched a family video while at my grandmas of when I was just a baby girl playing drums on my dads lap, it seemed ad though I was just more interested in eating the end of the stick but hey, whatever works, as I sat there watching the tape though I couldn't help but notice my lack of hair growth and yes I was like one in the video and I had nothing but fuzz... this must be why my mom tells me she glued hair bows on me till I was two. we also watched another film of my brother and I in the bathtub, yeah I know, no parents could ever get away with a video like this now a days, but it was hilarious, however I owe my brother an apology, I was a little stinker....but boy he was the cutes little baby when he got mad :) watching these videos I mean my grandmother has a million VHS films of us growing up made me very thankful nick and I have purchased a video camera that way we can capture every important and silly moment in our little girls life.

* well I think this is all the things that have been going on since my last post, I will be back tomorrow with information from our doctors appointment, the appointment is set for 2:30 and she told me it would be longer than normal due to the non stress test and ultra sound, then we will still have my regular appointment and then the discussion of what the plan will be. so stay tuned

What happened to out with the Old in with the New?

2010-01-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

its a new year right, I am ready for new beginnings, and have been mentally preparing for quite a large new beginning for the last 9 months, and I find myself still waiting. here is the skinny.

I went to the Dr's office today because yesterday I had a little leakage and more mucus plug and just wanted to see where I was at, I had been having contractions but honestly at this point I am starting to doubt to even call them that, just because there is not the progress like I have wanted. we got there today and lay on the table waiting, not having felt any contractions since last night, and feeling a bit bummed about that, my midwife walks in. I lay back and she uses a speculum to swab to see if I had in deed ruptured my water, but before she even swabbed she said, nope, your still in tack, she did also use the tissue paper trick thing as well where the paper is to turn blue if it was leaking your amniotic fluid, and well mine stayed the same color. She then checked my cervix and left me with the same information as monday, still only a fingertip Dilated. but she assured me again that my cervix is in a great position.

I asked her what is going to happen come monday, she said monday if we check you out and everything looks good with baby on ultra sound we will suggest taking cervidil that day and Tuesday if nothing happens monday evening. this will be used to soften my cervix making it more responsive to contractions. this would be the fist step in the induction process, but when I leave monday there will be a date set for the induction to take place in the hospital, which would be before Friday of next week because that would be my 14th day past the estimated due date.

this by far has been the toughest part for me through out this whole pregnancy. I have been fortunate enough to have a non complicated pregnancy, no morning sickness... no bad pains, I can even still cross my legs.... I have very much enjoyed this pregnancy and feel as though I have made a connection with my baby very early on, I knew when we got pregnant that I wanted a natural birth, and have been extremely pleased with how healthy the pregnancy has been, it never made me doubt that there would be another way. now being 41 weeks pregnant tomorrow, I have realized that I am unsettled with the idea that I may need some help to get my body started in the birth process.

I know to some, they cant understand this, but to each their own. this is what I have wanted, and planned for. and now knowing that plans may be changed is just making it hard. yes the ultimate goal is to hold my little baby girl in my arms and I just want to get her here the safest way possible, In my heart for the past 9 months that way has been non medicated, but now approaching a deadline, and my body showing such slight progress, I am trying to prepare and ready myself for the other options.

for those who know me know this is hard, and I just ask that you please send prayers our way for a healthy delivery of our little girl, because that is what is most important.

Nick and I are both so ready, the finish line of the old is staring us in the face and we are so ready to start with the new.

the anticipation builds

2010-01-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

so today I had a little more fluid leakage and more lower abdominal pressure, all good signs. I decided that I wanted to get out of the house today and drove myself up to babies R us to look around and walk the local shops there like Target and marshals, not really on the hunt for anything other than a baby swing, I was more or less just getting out of the house and walking. while walking the abdominal pressure persisted and got lower into my groin area, I am no Doc but I think this is her head getting pretty low, hopefully when its actually go time she wont have too far to travel down.

when I got home I was still staying active doing some bounces on my birthing ball and walking up and down the stares, I even thought about putting together the Brentwood swing I got for our little girl today while I was out running around, but instead I just decided to vacuum the living room and then open up the box and lay out the pieces nice and neat so when daddy gets home he can put it together :)

I think after dinner we will be going over to my dads house and I will walk a little on the treadmill and see if anything progresses from there, but if not, I do have an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:30 with my midwife to be checked and see what the fluid i am leaking is... not quite sure how they will determine but we will find out. I still have my appointment set for monday for the non stress test and ultra sound but I am hoping that we wont have to make it that far. so the anticipation is still building and I will try to keep by blog updated with the most recent info as the time passes...

but for now, its time to go encourage the Hubby to put together the swing :)

sleeping like a baby

2010-01-05T05:57:00.001-08:00

after yesterdays excitement of progress I slept like a little baby, not exactly what we had wished for but I believe I am just resting up for the big event that we know is nearing. it was hard for Nick to get up again and go to work today, he is so sweet and so anxious, he just wants to hold his baby girl and he knows I am ready to kiss her little cheeks. He gets nervous leaving in the morning knowing that I am home alone just fearing that labor will kick in so intense and so fast, I have assured him that I will be ok and I know as soon as I call him he will be on his way. so I will be home yet again today in hopes for more progress while he is at work hoping for a phone call.

"Show"

2010-01-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

its 7:35, I am getting ready to have some good girlfriends over to watch the Bachelor and drink some sparkling grape juice, but just wanted to update on more progress, I had a passing of what i consider a blood clot, and then a couple hours later I had a long jelly like string of "show" ?!?! I don't know what to call it other than that, so Lots of prayers, and fingers crossed, hopefully time with the girls we will get some good laughs and i will continue in the right direction, but for now I am so excited, still no pain, but I have had cramps and lots of belly tightening since my appointment... stay tuned :)

Call to the Midwife

2010-01-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

so after blogging, my midwife has returned my call and I informed her of the CHANGE since I had left her office, and what she informed me of I wanted to post here. so she says that this could all be from her checking me, if there was any left over jell it could liquify and also the bloody little bit and brownish that I saw, could have been from the check... but she's hopeful, she said to keep an eye on it, if it was my water then it should continue to leak throughout the evening and because I was negative for strep b I have the 24 hrs, so to keep eye on it and if its still leaking by morning call and they will get me in to check me out.

but she said hopefully labor will begin for you, she knows nick and I are so ready!

CHANGE

2010-01-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

Today I had my apt with my midwife, I am now 4 days past due date, nick came home to pick me up and take me bc of bad road conditions, we arrive not knowing what we were in for, would this be a reg apt, would we have an ultra sound, will i have a vaginal exam? so we went with high hopes that we would be told hey, your ready to have a baby!!

midwife came in and I was checked, as you remember my sad post from last monday of being told by a male ob that well your cervix is completely closed and here is a pamphlet that will tell you when you are in labor.... so today the repost is that my midwife says my cervix feels very nice ( thank you very much) and that she can get just the tip of her fingertip into the cervix so although I am still not dilated she can feel that I am thinning out, but cant tell me how much because she would need to be inside my cervix and well she cant be with just a fingertip...

So we were not disappointed because why? well thats improvement... she also told me that her head is very low which is good, she thinks is just Jadas positioning that is holing up labor because my body aka cervix, feels ready other than the dilation part, which she assured me can happen in 0 to 60 seconds anyhow... she once had someone be completely closed and 4 hours later call back and say she wasn't feeling that great and she came back in and was 8 cent!!! crazy, so anyhow we left by scheduling the ultra sound and non stress test for monday the 11th of January at 2:30... but my midwife didn't seem to think i would be making that apt, actually when she left the room she said... maybe I will see you later :)

now I was sure she just wanted to make me happy :) but I was, on the car ride home nick and I were talking about random things, then he dropped me off and I asked him to go to the gas station to get gas in my car and washer fluid... I came in the house and hung up my jacket.....

and
I
felt
a
Little
wet

hmm I thought, now hey this is totally TMI maybe, but its my blog so if you don't like, check your self out now...

so I went to the bathroom and noticed a "fluid" spot.... was this my water, was this the start of my water?!?!? I don't know, it could be... hmmm, I wiped, and yes it looks to be water, then i wiped again, this time a little bloody show.... like pink water....

I call nick, hey honey..
maybe my water is breaking?!?!

what?1
maybe?
what do you mean?
should i come home now and not get gas?!?

noo nonon no get the gas, i am feeling totally fine, normal actually, just wanted to tell you maybe this is what is going on...

b.c who knows right, i mean i was just checked at the dr 40 mins prior, maybe this was just from that....

changed the underwear and the next thing was to eat

I ate a bowl of cottage cheese and 3 clementines... mmmm delish!

all while doing the booty shaking I was told to do by my midwife to help better position her....

called my doula to let her know, and she asked if i was still "leaking"

did a quick check

and there was a new spot in the fresh undies...

GOOD SIGN!!

then later there was more brownish pink show, that has a different consistency other than water, so was this my mucus plug? part of it? or my water? who knows... but all I know is right now I am still feeling good and wanted to get as many thoughts out on the blog as I could...

so it could be 24 hrs, 48 hrs... I don't know maybe 5 days.... maybe tonight, who knows but all I know is this is CHANGE and I / WE are excited!!!!!

40.3 weeks time to get Serious

2010-01-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

Today we is January 3rd, due date was January 1st, so I woke up today with a mission,I took care of my nesting duties... washed bed linens, cleaned carpets, yes i actually cleaned them with the steamer thing, then vacuumed. Then I was going to do all things I could to stimulate baby... so far I got a wonderful pedicure... i say wonderful because well i received 2 of them not just one.. thats right... my first lady did a horrible job, were talking i was so disappointed I had tears in my eyes and my momma noticed, so she said asked what was wrong and I vented... the lady didn't even rub my feet, she didn't even scrape my heal junk... and look at the paint job, seriously I could do better even with this huge belly.... ( yes i made a big deal, but helloooo I am 40.3 weeks pregnant and emotions are running high. so with all that being said my mom said something to the woman who was now working on my moms manicure and she Gladly RE DID the whole thing, were talking feet dipped in the hot water, cleaned, lotion, rubbed,hot towels on the calfs.. the whole 9.... it was wonderful, she even did a new paint job. LOVED HER, So thankful....

my doula then came over for some nice reflexology AKA an awesome foot rub, enjoyed 2 cups of red raspberry leaf tea, had some hubby one on one time... and now we are headed out for a little bit of shopping which will involve walking... when we come back home my doula left some clary sage essential oil that i plan to put in the new humidifier the hubby got me and breath that in while enjoying a nice hot bath.... because that is also said to help induce labor... so wish us luck, maybe we will even stop somewhere for dinner while we are out and I can eat a whole plate of spiciness!!

so come on Jada Bug .. this time it's not just mommy who's super anxious... Daddy has told me it would be really nice not to have to go into work tomorrow :)

ZerO days to Go

2010-01-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

If you have ever paid any attention to my little baby ticker over in the right hand corner that has been counting down the days till our little Jada Bug is due to enter the world, you will notice that as of today it says we have ZERO days let to go, thats right Zero, however I am not finding that to be true... looks like we are going to have some days to go seeing as though I am still Preggers... so what to do, do I take the ticker off so its not a constant reminder that says hey look over here look at me, yep thats right, you should have had your baby by now... hmmm decisions decisions...

Mommas Plea

2009-12-31T15:44:00.000-08:00

My little Girl's nursery

2009-12-31T15:17:00.000-08:00

Bitter.... Sweet

2009-12-30T10:10:00.000-08:00

So I have been unsure how to start this post but knew it was blog worthy. I am talking about my Christmas Present I received this year from my mother. Now before I start this post I want you readers to know that I have told my mother that I would be blogging about this and that I was going to be honest about what I was feeling that Christmas morning and that it is not intended to hurt feelings, this is just a BIG oL deal and something I want to have written about to look back on, so here goes...

I knew this Christmas my mother had been working on something special, she cant barely keep secrets when she excited about something, so a couple of months prior to chirstmas I has started piecing things together not "digging" for info I just never forget anything and as time rolled along things started to click...

to give you some Ideas of what I am talking about here is one early morning while my hubby was still asleep his txt msg alert sound went off on his I phone, for those of you I phone users you know that the phone displays the text message on the front of the phone, I looked to see what it was and saw a txt from my mother to my hubby saying I need you to do me a favor but I need you to keep it a secret... I never said anything about it to him or her i just thought hu i wonder what that could be... few weeks later same scenario but this txt read hey, you think you can get me what i needed you to get for me today?

fast forward to thanksgiving, I was sitting on the sofa with my mom looking at the black friday adds when she says to her mom " hey mom, where did you get those things done again, my grandma says "Michael's" at that moment I remembered my grandmother putting together mikes and his fathers army jackets in these shadow box things... in which my mom replied to yeah, thats where I am going...

so like I said i began piecing info together, later that thanksgiving day we were at my grandmas digging through her old christmas decorations and we all got to pick what we wanted for our houses as they no longer put up a tree b/c they are in arizona during christmas, so it was very sentimental listing to all the family history behind certain pieces, My grandmother also gave me my old rocking chair that she bought for me when I was a little girl and I was so excited to be taking it home with us that night not our little Jada Bug, this is when I heard my mom lean into nick and say shes so going to love her Christmas present this year because she is getting into all this sentimental stuff...

ok sorry i know I am making this long and I haven't even gotten to the bottom line here... so any who, with all of this info stirring in my head, I never once asked nick to spill the beans, I never even told him i saw the txt msgs from my mom, and I never looked back at his phone to see his replies to see if i could figure out what the "it" was I just knew it was a surprise that she was working on for christmas...

few weeks past thanksgiving I am at home now watching say yes to the dress and I thought Oh my wedding dress, thats still at my mothers house, I should get that out of there and bring it home and put it in the spare bdrm down stairs, they had just gotten a cat and I didn't want to take any chances even though it was in a bag, and also she had been asking me to pick up some of my other things that have been at her house so I figured I would go pick it up.

I headed to her house, no dress, it wasn't any where I had seen it before, not in my sisters closet, not in her closet, no where...my heart began pounding out of my chest but I knew it couldn't be too far... I just was very nervous and I guess at this point you can say I began to speculate that my christmas present was going to involve my wedding gown...

but what? was she going to preserve it? that about all I could think of, until I remembered this one time early on in my engagement after I found my dress talking with her about a show she had seen on TV where they took the mothers wedding gown and made like a photo album cover for their wedding album and then used extra material to make like a baby pillow for the nursery... OMG , OMG, OMG, OMG was my mother going to cut up my dress?!?!?!

I replayed all the bits and pieces of info i had retained and quickly dialed my husband,

I told him i was at my mothers house to pick up m dress and it wasnt there, and I know she is planning something nice for this christmas that she has put alot of work into, but i need to know does this involve my wedding dress because it is not here...

he was quiet and then says chels, honestly I don't know, your mom was talking about doing alot of different things, and I am not sure what her final decision was... ( see he wasn't giving any info up and like i said i wasn't digging, but at this point i was panicked)

so I left my moms house without my wedding gown that day, hoping that on christmas morning I would see it again, and that is was just preserved.

we arrive christmas morning to my mothers house and I see a very large box under the tree that my little sister kept saying chels that big one is yours!!! she was so excited for me to open it...

then came my turn to open the gift...

and this is what i unwrapped..

I was so nervous as I pulled off each piece of paper, and i stood in the back of it, and at some point my body tensed up because I realized that the size of this box was not going to be able to fit my "whole" dress in it, by this point i kreeped around to the front b/c i wanted to look at it, but i didnt want my mom to see my face as i was unsure of what it looked like at this point and i didnt want to hurt her feelings because i knew she put so much hard work and money into doing this, but OMG my wedding dress was chopped in 1/2...

I didn't get to see it one last time, I didn't get to show Jada, I didn't get to see Jada try it on, I didn't get an option of what I wanted to do with it...

So i placed my hand on the box and mumbled, its Pretty... but I couldn't help but look at it and feel some sort of creapy feeling, like it almost looked like it belonged to someone who died and never got to wear their gown so it was framed as this piece... crazy I know but thats what it felt like at the time..

this was me in my dress just a year and a few months prior

My mom then started to speak up and say chels I know your feeling a little upset right now, and you probably want to cry and thats ok, and thats when the tears started flowing and my lip started to quiver off my face and she kept talking, I know you wanted Jada to see your gown , or try it on, or give her the option of wearing it, and i am sure that is why you are really feeling sad is that right? and shook my head yes and then she said " now open this"

so i opened another box and this was inside.

this was a gown made 100% from my wedding gown from all three layers, down to the beading... my tears started to flow even more, my mom says, this is a christening gown that ALL your babies will be able to wear not just Jada, and so she will get to wear your wedding dress one day.

close up of the front with the bead work, side view of the bunching with the beading

back view..

So at this moment I was an emotional mess, I loved this idea, and I loved the gown that my babies will be able to wear and that it had such meaning but then at the same time my dress no longer existed... It was a hard moment, and I will admit, still is hard to grasp, but I know that one day down the line I will be very grateful for this and I will appreciate it for all that it is, right now it is just hard to know that my dress is gone, and to be honest I know it was just siting in a closet before and now it is displayed for people to see and it is in a keep sake box, but it was just a year ago that i was married... I think i would have been ready for this in a few years, or maybe if I was even asked before it was done....

but now I have a beautiful gown that My baby Jada will be able to wear for her dedication and I have a shadow box to display my gown, veil , and tiara. it is still going to take some time getting used to but I do think both items are very beautiful, bittersweet I guess you could say.

Tears and a Medium Chocolate Milk Shake

2009-12-28T11:45:00.000-08:00

today I decided after all the changes I was experiencing through out the weekend that I would call into my Dr. Office and see if I cant get looked at. They got me in with a regular OB there because my midwife is only there on Wednesday. after I hung up the phone with the office I had an appointment scheduled for 1:15 and had a smile ear to ear... I showered and got cleaned up, ran the sweeper to have that nice line look in the carpet and made sure that babies car seat, and our packed bags were all easily located, that way if we found out good news we or someone would have been able to go pick them up for us.

I picked Nick up for the appointment and we headed downtown. walked in the room and waited for the Dr to walk in, he comes in and asks " so you have been having consistent contractions?" Im like no... I just have had a noticeable amount of pressure in my lower abdominal area and had menstrual like cramps, but nothing that has ever been timed... he says ok well lay back and we will take a look ( mind you this is my first vaginal exam to check progress) and he says, Well her head is down so that is the pressure you are feeling but your Cervix is completely closed. he tells me I can sit up and get dressed and he will be right back with a pamphlet that will tell me all about how to tell if I am in actual labor... seriously Mr I know I will know when I am in labor, you can keep your stupid pamphlet!!!!

So I got dressed and he came back in the room... handed me the stupid pamphlet and said well i see you have an apt for wednesday and honestly you can just cancel that and I would just com next week sometime... oh really Mr. thats great because NEXT WEEK IS PAST MY DUE DATE....

so i smiled said thanks and walked out.

I walked out knowing that the next time I walk in that office it will be January FREAKING FOURTH AND I WILL BE PAST MY DUE DATE!!!!!!

I don't think I said a word as Nick and I walked to the elevator, or to the car or even when we got out on the road...

there were a lot of things running through my mind, but i didn't want to formulate sentences...

and then i figured I better just get the phone calls out of the way, so I called mom, dad, and grandma to tell them all our baby is happy and healthy, and mommas cervix is closed so she will most likely be pregnant for the rest of her life.

everyone is so encouraging and I truly appreciate it, but I am allowed to feel some frustration right now at-least for a little bit, and you know what I was even entitled to that nice Medium Chocolate Milk shake I got on my ride home...

Antsy Pants

2009-12-27T08:11:00.001-08:00

yep, I am anxious... ready to go into labor, thats right I am ready, BRING IT... everything on my "to do" list has been crossed off. her room is finished. I am HUGE. Daddy is super excited and wants to hold his little girl, and so am I. so yep, I have Ants in my pants right at the moment, is it normal to be so bored that you want to go into labor? I mean seriously. its a beautiful sunday home with my hubby, and we are both like what cha wanna do today? and we cant come up with anything, i said maybe go to a movie, he says are you sure since you are this close to being due? and Im like well ya a movie doesn't really sound great, I don't want to go out to eat ( I need that shirt that says DONT FEED ME) b/c in case you didn't read above I AM HUGE.

we are 5 days away from the Due date but I have to admit yesterdays changes in my body and the way i was feeling really made me feel like she would be coming soon... but then today arrives and she is just enjoying her little home in there... so who the heck knows but Jada, your Momma is Super Antsy so whenever you are ready just know that your mommy and Daddy are ready too!

39 weeks.. MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-25T04:38:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas Morning, and here is what has been going on. I reached 39 weeks today which means the actual Due Date is just 7 days away from now, but wow has out little One dropped. Look I have a curve again, well kinda, hha, well let me tell you I am now really understanding that we are getting super close. yesterday she wasn't moving much ( I def still had the 10 + kicks so no worries there) but she just wasn't rolling all around, I was sitting on the sofa feeling my big ol belly trying to see if I would excite her to move which wasn't working to well like it normally does so I got up to stand up and I felt a drop into the pelvis, no joke, no it didnt hurt hurt it just really caught me off guard, I literally stood up and felt gravity just pull at my belly. so that was clue number one. a few hours later we were getting ready to go to my grandmas for the traditional christmas eve with my dads side of the family and shortly after arriving I had nick in the back room with some scissors cutting the waste band off of my maternity pants bc it was digging into my pelvis area ( yes these were one of my original purchased maternity pants and the band at one point did come under my bra but now it wasn't even coming close to half way under my belly button, so I folded it down and then wore a bella band over it.... NOT GOOD IDEA, I had my hands in my pants the whole drive to grandmas and like I said once we arrived, i had nick in the back room snip snipping away at the front part of the band....

we all ate and opened presents and she became more active then, but I was feeling motion much lower like her arms or something, so again now the bella band was feeling to tight, but I had to keep that in tact, that was the only thing holding up my pants by now....

I look at the clock and its 6:50 we had to hurry out to make it to church at 7:30 with the roads being icy and all, we made it to church in time, but boy getting out of the car was a little different this time... felt like it took longer, once I was out we walked into church with the hubby and my brother and sister and went to save a seat for mom.... after sitting there for a while, I started getting a really mild headache located at the base of my head, and at the back of my ears... it was weird, but something told me to ask nick to get me a water, he came back and I chugged..... this is when i realize, my pants are literally digging into me, and I am totally not comfortable what so ever, and this freaking bella band I want to rip it off and sling shot it across the room....

nick could tell I wasnt feeling myself so he nudged me and told me it would be ok if we left... leave church on Christmas eve?!?!!? thats what I thought.... but then I looked down and saw my poor shame of pants and concentrated on the pain in my head and though , yeah lets head on out...

we came home and I got in my comfy Pj's and i made some hot tea, I walked into the living room and literally BAM lower back pain, weird it just set in.... but yes I was having lower back pain, I got on our birthing ball and nick rubbed my back, then my feet and calfs, and then my head.... by this time I decided something could def be going on and I should head to bed and get rest just in case....

while laying in bed thats when the lower I dont know to call them contractions b/c they dont last long but I can only describe them as lower pelvis pain like maybe she is squeezing a nerve for like 30 seconds and then letting go... its sharp but quick... well I had those a while and then shortly i drifted off to sleep.... at 11 I woke again, same thing, and 12:45 same thing, and the head pain was still around but not bad, by 2:15 I woke up and was just WIDE AWAKE, with nothing....but i just could not sleep, so I came out ate some home made granola and made a prego smoothie and turned on animal plannet and watched the deep blue or something like that, I stayed up till around 4:50 and got back in bed and slept till just a bit ago...

so today is Christmas morning and we are getting ready to head over to my moms for christmas breakfast in our PJ's.... So so far today there are no signs but I def think my body is getting ready, and is showing me some pretty good signs that I will be holding a little girl in just a few short days :)

Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and stay tuned for some more updates!

Time to Sit back and Relax

2009-12-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

no more Workey for me...

time to sit back, relax and wait for this Beautiful Baby girl to enter the world.

today I filed for my FMLA time which will cover me through the rest of this year, and then if Miss Jada is not here by the 1st of the new year I will re file to be covered until she is, then once she is here I will be on the good ol Maternity Leave for 6 weeks and then after that I will have to file a leave of absence if I choose to take longer, which I will, I believe 6 more weeks... but any who... thats the plan....

so now that I will be off work until she is here i should be more relaxed which can aid in labor, I have read that stress can keep you from going into labor, which i can understand.. so we will see what happens. but YayYa for no more work!!

now lets just hope and pray that everything gets filed correctly and I get paid!

Sleep Positioners

2009-12-20T05:29:00.000-08:00

Alright, question, as we are coming down to 12 days till the due date, I am trying to make sure we have everything ready.. and the sleep positioned idea came into my mind last night and I was wide awake tossing and turning trying to figure out if I should get one or not.... for those of you who don't know what it is I am talking about it looks something like this

they actually make lots of different styles, but I just don't know if I should or should not get one.... so I thought I could trust my trusty blogger friends, so please help me out, should I go out today and get one of these? what are the pro's con's? do you think Baby will like it? to me the pro is while they are an infant it will keep them on their back while sleeping so i won't have to worry AS MUCH as I would possibly with out one... but are they comfortable? I mean I think about me in my sleep and I like to roll around just a little..... so as you can see I need some helpful input here... please and Thank you :)

Getting Ready..

2009-12-19T10:48:00.001-08:00

in preparation of the Big Day I have been cleaning, almost every day... I will sweep the carpet, dust, clean the counter tops, you know just to stay on top of things, that way when we leave the house in an uproar,well in case we leave the house in an uproar, it will still be organized and clean when we come back with a BABY! I know this is very common for pregnant women to do when the end is in site so i am not freaking out about it, but I am pretty sure my carpet is yelling at me....

in other news, its ok you can laugh, I was at Walmart the other day and i bought a waterproof mattress protector for just my side of the bed, just in case my water breaks while I am in bed or something crazy like that happens, you know just trying to prepare myself, and I figured for $8 it was worth it not to have to clean a smelly water stain out of our mattress after we arrive home with a BABY!! and nick was fine with it, as long as it didn't go on his side of the mattress.. haha

I also have packed the bags.. well kinda sorta, Jada's is all packed in her cute diaper bag, and mine is packed but not all the way as there are certain things I will still be using on a daily basis up until its time to get up and go so I figure I will just have a written list of those items so come Game Day I will just grab my list ( or nick will grab my list) and throw everything in the bag....

camera is charged, cell phone charger is packed ( we had an extra) video camera is charged, I tell ya we are getting ready around this house....

Jada on the other hand... I think she's getting more and more comfortable inside her mommas womb... some days I feel like wow she really wants outta there, by the way shes moving and the contractions I get, and then there are days where I feel like I am only 6 months pregnant and she is just a swimming around with all the room in the world or sleeping... so who knows what she's really up to, but her and God know, and one day here I will e receiving the greatest gift of all :)

the dates

2009-12-17T05:00:00.000-08:00

today marks the first date picked for me to deliver... which made me want to post the peoples picks on here so I will always have them to look back at. Now although today seems like a huge stretch now that it is here, it was my husbands pick a Loooong time ago and so he has told me these past few days, I know its not going to happen on the 17th, but I am too stubborn to change my date. So yes he picked the 17th but he doesn't really think it will happen today, but he says he's already picked and isn't allowed another date ( but he has secretly told me between the 21st- and the 28th)

so here are the dates people have picked so far..

17th - nicks
19th- Madison ( my 7 yr old sister)
21st- Mo
23rd- Grandma Nora
24th- Sam
25th- Aunt Rhonda
28th- Mom's pick
29th-grandpa Tom
Janurary 3rd - Uncle Al

Looks like the 21st through the 28th is a pretty good pick, what are your guesses?!?! January 1st is my actual Due date.

Shake Ya Booty

2009-12-16T08:51:00.000-08:00

Today I had my 38 week appointment with my Midwife, baby and I both checked out fine, I even got a compliment that i still had ankle bones, she was pretty impressed ! any who, so Jada's heart was right in the 140's she so consistent, no complaints here. I gained less than a 1/2 lb, ( also great news) so during my appointment Kristen ( our midwife) told me that Jada was on my right side, pretty far over... which I of course knew because hello I can totally feel her, but anywho, Kristen said that Jada's head was down like it has been for a long while now but she still needed to drop lower into the pelvis because she could still feel her whole head, she also told me that she wanted me to start doing some booty shakin, thats right she told me to bend over with my back flat belly towards the floor, grab onto the kitchen counter and shake my booty... this should help her get more lined up in the center instead of her trying to get comfy on the right side because what can happen when she is over there is that her body will want to turn which would mean instead of her remaining face down like she has been forever now, she could turn and be face up which would mean the crown of her head would be at my tailbone which means BACK LABOR on top of Labor.. and hello no thank you.... so I will be doing lots of kitchen booty shaking !

I asked kristen if there was anything I could do to help the baby drop and she told me the hip shaking will also help with that, but that it is completely normal if she doesn't drop until right before labor kicks in, she says that happens a lot, and that I should feel when she drops because there will be lots of pressure in my pelvis area when I am sitting and also standing, I wont want nor be able to cross my legs and I will be visiting the bathroom often while walking with a waddle, now I must admit I feel like right now I pee all the time and waddle already, I def. can still cross my legs and sit comfortably.. so I must say i do agree with her that there still is some dropping that needs to take place.

towards the end of the appointment she told me that when I leave I need to schedule out all the rest of my appointments for week 39,40,41,and 42.... my jaw dropped... seriously this is a possibility?!?! but I did it anyways... I must admit I am ONLY hoping to have the 39 and 40 wks appointment... but whatever needs to take place is what will happen, so I just need to prepare myself that we ultimately could have 5 weeks left...

ok seriously, that just seems CRAZY!

Full Term Baby

2009-12-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

today marks the 37 week mark which means FULL TERM! a day I have been hoping for, now resting knowing that I made it to the marker where she is fully developed and now is just getting bigger and stronger. I had my appointment with my midwife this AM and thing went great, did the usual weight, blood pressure, urine screen and answered any questions I had... today on the scale I hit the 30 lb. mark... thats right, 30 lb's I have gained thus far, hopefully it will only be a few more tops which is probably so as I have averaged 1 lb to a 1/2 lb @ the past few week appointments, boy its the second trimester that gets you though :) any ways moving right along...

baby girls heart rate sounded beautiful, 145 beats per minute she sounded strong and consistent, just what a mommy wants to hear, as she was measuring me I was having a contraction ( she told me I was, I wasn't actually feeling anything) so I am measuring still a little past 37 weeks, but she thought that could just be due to the contraction. so after all that we went over a little worksheet of some things I can start doing in order to help thin out my cervix, since it starts off the thickness as your index finger and has to thin out to as thin as a piece of paper which is known as effacement, there are some things I can do to help this process, here is what was on the list...

sex-the prostaglandins that are in semen help soften the cervix, making it more responsive to contractions
Evening Primrose Oil- this is a substance that changes into prostaglandins which is the same as what the semen does to help soften the cervix, they recommend taking it 3-4 times daily by mouth
Nipple Stimulation-when nipples are stimulated the body secretes oxytocin, which causes contractions, they say you are to replicate a movement similarto the intermittent squeezing that would happen if the baby was nursing, do this for 5 minutes on 5 mins off for a 20 minute period.
Red Raspberry Leaf Tea- this encourages the uterus to let go and function with out tension, allowing the uterus to work more effectively making birth easier and faster, you are to use one teaspoon of dried herb per cup of boiling water, drink 1 to 3 cups per day
Clary sage- use this oil in your bath and rub on belly
Balsamic vinegar- this contains a derivitive of pitocin
and last but not least, Castor oil cocktail ( although not recommended til 41-41 weeks of pregnancy) which I hope not to see! - this is the nasty stuff you g ma prolly told you about

so there you have it. that is what was recommended to me, not to do all of those, but just to pick some things off the list and do it like it was "homework"

after my appointment I deep cleaned my car, vacuumed all the dog hair out and threw away trash and sanitized making it good for our eventual right home with baby :) I even took the old speaker box that has been in my trunk since i was 16 years old out ! no need for base with my music, I will now be needing room for a stroller, and I clipped my college graduation tassel from my rear view mirror, I decided carrying a baby around in car I didn't want people to mistake it as a high school graduation tassel... call me crazy, and truthfully it was plain just getting in the way. After this was completed I went to the grocery store and STOCKED up I mean STOCKED up..... I got a whole lot of goodies.... that way when labor decides its going to happen, we will have food in the fridge and pantry and I even got stuff that will be easy for daddy to make :) I also stocked up on the little travel size things like a tooth brush for me and daddy , shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, tooth paste, and mouth wash for our stay in the hospital come delivery time... all of this is just getting super real and extra exciting...

and not to mention, our little girl has been MOVING like she was a professional dancer no joke. I got some great videos on my blackberry but cant figure out how to send them to my computer to upload them on here... but they are crazy, and its been consistent throughout our whole days work of events, even during my nap!

well now that I have thoroughly typed out my excitement with the day, I should go get dinner ready.... but boy and I getting so EXCITED to meet my precious baby girl!!

a new Discovery

2009-12-08T13:44:00.000-08:00

So today while driving home from work I had a new discovery... on my way home I passed a small school and saw a bunch of little ones all lined up walking out of the school towards a bus and here is what happened.....

I pick up the phone to cal my husband Nick

ring...

ring....

Nick: Hello

me: hii honey, do you have a minute

Nick : sure whats up?

me: so i just passed this school that had a bunch of little kids outside and I know this is so far away and your going to say there are going to be soo many things that are going to happen in her life before this but just listen to me...

Nick: haha ok

Me: I just realized that we are going to have a little girl who is one day going to line up and listen to her teacher and wear a backpack and go to school and make friends and all that stuff ( tears in my voice- not sad ones happy ones... )

Nick: haah awwe Chels, your right that is a ways away from now but that will happen.

me: I know its just crazy, here I am like getting all excited that we are having a baby, and a baby is going to move in with us and we are going to take care of a baby.... but we are having a DAUGHTER like a real live PERSON who is going to grow out of being a baby and be a person who wakes up to an alarm clock and gets herself dressed and grabs her backpack and goes to school... OMG OMG OMG!!!!

Nick: I love you

me: I love you too honey

Hehe Whoo Who

2009-12-08T13:37:00.000-08:00

tonight is our last bradley class... or as my grandma refers to them as our hee heee whoo whoo class.... I can not believe it has already been 8 weeks!!! Nick and I have really enjoyed these classes together and now that they are coming to an end, its so real, I remember signing up for the class thinking OMG I will be 37 weeks when the class ends and she could totally come like any time after that... and here we are... at the last class.. Tonight's class will be focused on whatever we want to discuss, we will practice more positions for labor and breathing techniques but after that it is free game so we can just ask all the questions we still have.

this class has been great for nick and I, we now have a Much greater idea of what the body goes through during the birth process and ways to help aid it naturally. we learned the different stages of labor and when to know you are transitioning which is great for both of us to know this information because Nick will better be able to tell where I am at and can talk me through. our teacher has been wonderful, Maureen Favorite is her name and I totally recommend taking her class if you live in the area! so as tonight comes closer it is bittersweet, I am sure our class will get together from time to time to see each-others babies which i am sooo excited for!! the first one in our class is due December 18th and then I am next in line for January 1st.... so I am not sure if the other couple will be there tonight but i am assuming they will because I haven't gotten an e mail with a birth announcement... it's all becoming so so real! we are super close, and the time keeps passing quickly, everyone says it starts to slow in the last month, but WOW not yet, time is still melting off the clock....

oh the joys in life

2009-12-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

Ahhh to the excitement... that's right, I am talking the excitement of the Medela breast pump, I just ordered mine last night thanks to a nice 20% off coupon becuase these suckers are not easy on the wallet... so saving 56 bucks with free shipping I was all over that. now lets take a look a this here machine, I mean really take a look at it, you have an extra stylish modern black back pack, when walking down the street which i am sure I will often be doing toating this pump around with baby in arms HAHa but really, I am very excited about this, it has verry good reviews and with it being a double pump i figure I can get the job done the quickest when it is time to come back to work : / it will also help in the beginning of helping to bring my milk in if our little girl takes a little longer to get a good latch. do any of you momma's have this pump? if so what have your experiences been? Oh the joys of entering into motherhood :) - and I am not being sarcastic

the B word

2009-12-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

more like the S word but whatever... I ' am talking about group B Streptococcus... I am sure most of you women who are pregnant or are already mommas know exactly what I am talking about so I am not going to take the time to get all "dictionary" on here but the main point being is that I got tested for this at my last appointment which was tuesday and today I found out my results...

NEGATIVE!!!!!!

I wanted to post earlier about my fears and anxiety i was having pre test but figured it would do me no good... I would just wait it out and pray it out... so today when my midwife called to give me my results I was sooo excited and called Nick right away and said are you ready to do the happy dance?!?!?! he too was excited for this news. our biggest reason for excitement you may be wondering?!?! well there are many, first being because I tested negative i will not have to have an IV attached to me when I go into delivery, most of you already have read our goal is to have very little medical intervention throughout the birth process, and if I had tested positive I would have had to be hooked up to an IV and they would have had to administer an antibiotic ( 2 doses) before i deliver, that way it reduced the risks of baby getting it while passing through the birth canal. so with no IV line ready to go, when the pain gets crazy mazy like people say I wont have a line ready to just plop some drugs into ( which makes me thankful.) also with no IV I will be able to walk and move around freely...

another big reason for excitement that we have learned in our bradley method classes is the hospital really pays attention to strep B positive mothers meaning they put A lot of emphasis on it which brings A lot of restrictions, for instance if baby and I are healthy and everything is looking good to go Nick and I may decide to request that we be able to leave within 24 hrs instead of the 48, but not if I had tested + for strep B because they would want to keep eye on baby and make sure nothing develops....

so although Strep B is highly common, and the risks being passed on to baby are low,especially when antibiotics are given,for us not having to deal with any of that is going to be a true blessing, and brings more hope and encouragement to the birth plan and Nick and I have taken the time to come up with together will go smoothly.

Thirty SiX

2009-12-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

So here is the deal, these pictures were both taken today because this marks 36 weeks, I lifted up my shirt a little for the second photo because to me it looked like she was lower that earlier... did she drop?!?! YIPPIE!!! I have been feeling contractions starting Tuesday evening at labor class, nothing like OMG iam going into labor or anything, just my body getting ready I would say, although they were persistent and time to time uncomfortable to the point where i had to change positions I was sitting in, I was excited. Wednesday there were a few and today, maybe a couple but no pressure just the tightening of the uterus up top. as you can see from my face, I am very excited to be at this week marker... hard to believe that this time next week i will be considered Full Term! it's truly hard to believe as excited as I am to hold her in my arms and watch her daddy stare at her, I can honestly say, I am not rushing anything because I also realize that once she is out and enters the world, I am no longer Pregnant, which means no more little kicks, flutters and little rolls, no more waking up in the middle of the night dreaming of what she will look like, no more belly, it just truly makes me so thankful for the entire experience. Pregnancy is a truly wonderful and amazing experience and I have greatly enjoyed every moment of it, not one complaint.... so we have an estimated 29 days left till little Jada Grace will be here, and I am sure it will come soon enough. until then, I will be enjoying the "daddy snuggles before bed"where we both place a hand on my belly and feel her dancing around.