Tuesday, December 25, 2007

merry christmas



merry christmas everybody. i love christmas. i was so excited last night. i could barely sleep. we woke up early and went to my mom and dad's house. i felt a bit bad about leaving miles' mom on christmas. she had to drive home and visit with grandma charlotte.

it was so fun at mom's. we had champagne with breakfast and opened presents. oh my gosh. there were so many presents. it was overwhelming. mason seemed content to just play with the stuff in his stocking. his cousin zena tore through her presents at lightning speed.

dahlia's first christmas and she slept through most of it. she was so cute. everybody loved her. it was so fun to get to show her off.

my sisters jen, christina and i went to visit our friend rebecca and her family. we go every year. their house is always so beautiful and perfect.

we were back at my mom's house for dinner and then miles, ray and i went to visit my friend carla and mark at her family's house. i love to visit everyone on christmas. it makes the day so festive.

i was disappointed to find my parents had already gone to bed when we got home. it was only 9:30. i can't believe christmas was already over and it was time to go home. i still had lots of energy. i wanted to hang out.

i think next year we might host christmas at our house. i think my mom is getting tired of hosting. we would have to give up our mini tradition of visiting everyone, but it would be nice to stay put and relax a little.

Monday, December 24, 2007

christmas eve



merry christmas. i can't believe it is already christmas eve. today was just crazy busy. we usually go to miles' grandma's house for christmas eve to visit with his mom and grandma. this year miles' mom came to our house. we didn't know she was coming until two days ago. needless to say i was not ready. i was running around like a crazy woman this morning getting the house clean and the groceries bought. miles took the kids with him to visit his aunt, and drop off the christmas gifts. i was sad to miss it. there is no way we would have been ready though. i wish i would have had time to plan something more special. i love to host parties and would have liked to do something really nice for christmas eve. this was just such short notice that i had to keep it simple.

my mother in law showed up around four o'clock. we had a nice easy dinner. we got a store bought pie that i thought tasted terrible. it just killed me to not have a homemade dessert. we opened gifts after dinner. mason loved this silly toy car that has a pig driving it. so funny. miles and i have to finish wrapping some gifts for tomorrow. i miss going to the midnight service at church. the candlelight service was always my favorite. maybe we can find a church near us for next year.

anyway, christmas is here and i am so excited. my baby girl's first christmas. i hope everyone has a loving day.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

christmas card




we finally mailed out the christmas cards today. yay. they are so cute. i can't believe we actually got them in the mail on time. we didn't have time to write a personalized message on each one. oh well. next year we will get them done earlier. we went to a photo place in the mall last week and it was a nightmare. mason screamed the whole time. dahlia started crying also. it was a mess. these pictures were taken at home by the christmas tree. how nice. we had our own photo shoot. they turned out so cute. i love the picture of mason. we even saved money!

we are all sick. we have colds. i wrapped tons of gifts today. i love to wrap presents. tomorrow dahlia will be 4 weeks old. wow. i am excited about the holidays now. i am in a good mood. it really feels like christmas.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

three please

i want another baby. my family thinks i am crazy. the whole time i was pregnant i said this was the last one. no more. two is enough. now i changed my mind. i want another one. i always thought i would love a big family. i have 5 brothers and sisters. i loved the chaos. maybe it is just the hormones. giving birth is just the best feeling in the whole world. bringing home a newborn is just magical. you just can't help but smile every time you look at that little face. this just can't be my last baby. one more please.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

co-sleeping


we now have four people in our bed. we swore we would not let dahlia in our bed. we learned from our mistake with mason. there is no room for four people we said. we will have her sleep next to the bed in her cradle while i breast feed. then she will be moved to her room in the crib. ha. we are weak. she did sleep in her cradle for a couple of weeks, but then the heater broke. it was way too cold for a newborn to sleep alone. we had to huddle together for warmth. so we let her in our bed. now that the heater is fixed, she has decided she likes to sleep in our bed. hmmm. this is all too familiar. how did we let this happen again?

Saturday, December 1, 2007

sleepy girl



oh how i love to sleep in my swing... if only there was enough room for mom next to me.

spin



mason had fun today showing off his spinning toy to our friends.

Monday, November 26, 2007

dahlia's birth

i thought i should write the story of her birth before i forget it.

monday was my doctors appointment. when she checked me she said i was dilated 3 centimeters. wow. i was so surprised. i had not felt any pain beyond the usual braxton hicks contractions. hearing that really got me excited. miles and i were sure she would come before thanksgiving. my doctor thought i would definitely give birth before the weekend. miles and i got everything ready to hand off the thanksgiving responsibilities. just in case. it was a good thing we are so organized. on tuesday i lost my mucus plug. i don't remember that happening with mason. that was weird. again i got really excited thinking that tuesday was the day. nope.

on wednesday i woke up at 6 am to start working on the thanksgiving food. i got the house all cleaned and table set. miles and i got lots of the chopping and food prep done. at this point i was sure she would stay in until after thanksgiving. i wasn't feeling any contractions. miles and i worked all day until about 7 pm. the house looked beautiful. just perfect. i love the way my house looks before a party. my sister christina and her daughter zena were supposed to come over to help prepare for thanksgiving. at around 8 pm i told her not to come. she still had not left her house and would not get here until after 9. i was exhausted. i was going to bed. i had done enough for the day.

at around 12:30 am i woke up with my water breaking. this time it was not the trickle of fluid like with mason, but a huge gush of water that soaked through my pajamas and on the bed. i was so freaked out. i called miles. he was in the office playing wow. my brother bob was online with him and miles told him my water broke. it was strange because my mother called me about 5 minutes later. i had no idea how she knew i was in labor. i didn't know that bob had told her. i was so disoriented and confused. i didn't know what to do next. i decided to take a shower and calm down. miles was so funny. he kept saying we need to get to the hospital. what are you doing? i was doing my hair. i wanted to look good in the pictures. i am so vane. i could tell this labor was moving much faster than the last one. i was having contractions so bad i could barely put my shoes on. i told miles i couldn't tie my shoes and he gave me slippers to put on. please. i was not going to go to the hospital in my slippers. i managed to get my shoes on and packed my bag.

i was stalling for time. my mother, brother and sister were on their way to our house so they could watch mason for us. they live about 45 minutes away. i realized i was not going to make it. i told miles we better go to the hospital. he was so panicked. he kept saying i told you we need to go. he got mason in the car super fast. we were on our way. i called and told my mom to meet us at the hospital instead. it was about 1:30 am. we got to the hospital in about 5 minutes. we had to go to the emergency entrance. the main entrance was closed. they were very quick to admit us and take us up to labor/delivery. poor mason started crying when i sat in the wheel chair. he wanted me to hold him.

when they checked me i was dilated 6 cm. i was in so much pain. god labor hurts so bad. my mom, sister and brother showed up and took mason to the waiting room at the end of the hall. it was so funny that my brother bob came. he was there for the birth of my son, and i thought it was so sweet that he wanted to be there for the birth of my daughter also.

i was really in a ton of pain. i remember saying i forgot how much labor hurt. it was strange, because i was so tired that i really wasn't in the mood to be in labor. i just wanted to sleep. i asked the nurse to give me something for the pain. they had to hook me up to an iv first. god. that took forever. my veins are hard to find. by time they got an iv in me i felt like i had to push. they checked me again and i was dilated 10. it was too late to give me any pain killers. the nurse was very nice and looked at me with an apologetic face telling me it was too late to give me anything for the pain. it wouldn't help me and it would only drug the baby. i would have to go without. good lord. that was fine with me as long as it was time to push. i was not as tough this time. i just went ahead and cried. when mason was born i was much tougher. i held in how much it hurt. this time i had nothing to prove. labor hurts. no use pretending to be brave. i was biting my hand and hitting the railing during the contractions. they kept telling me to breathe.

i was so ready to push. there was only one problem. my doctor was not there yet. agh. it was a little after 2 am at this point. the nurse kept saying. just try not to push. just wait. if you can't wait any longer then i will assist you and your husband in delivering the baby. i remember thinking what the hell is she talking about. help my husband deliver the baby. is she nuts. there is no way i want miles delivering my baby. i think this idea really freaked out miles. thank god my doctor showed up 2 minutes later. i have never been so happy to see my doctor in my life. it did not take long to push the baby out. i was screaming i am going to die, and saying various cuss words. i felt bad about cursing in front of my mom and doctor. they are both so religious. my doctor did have to give me an episiotomy. she did that with mason also. as soon as she made the incision dahlia popped out. she was born at 2:49 am. only 2 hours after my water broke. she was in a hurry to see us.

she was so beautiful. i remember saying she is so beautiful over and over. i put her to my breast right away and she started sucking. we have not had any problems with her breastfeeding. yay. my sister and brother came in to see her. they were so shocked that she was already here.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

first bath


dahlia had her first bath today. it was very exciting. she doesn't seem to like the bath as much as her brother. i think she was cold. we probably should have waited until her umbilical cord fell off, but we are impatient. i love her so much. it is so fun to have a baby. she is so little.

Friday, November 23, 2007

thanksgiving baby




well she is here. little miss dahlia june was born on thursday morning, november 22 at 2:49 am. wow. she is so beautiful. i love her so much. she weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces, and was 19.25 inches long. so cute. she was fast too. my whole labor only lasted 2 hours. i did it completely natural. no pain killers at all. ugh. it hurt so bad. thank goodness it was over quickly. i will post the full story later.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

saint christina




my sister is a saint. she took mason and her daughter zena to the aquarium today. she met up with a couple from work and their daughter. she is so wonderful. i didn't even have to ask her. she volunteered. i felt bad about not going with them but i couldn't resist some time alone. so what does a 36 week pregnant woman do with a whole day alone? she cleans out the pantry of course. i think i must be close to going into labor because i cleaned out the whole pantry and the freezer. i took everything out and scrubbed every shelf. i haven't done that since we moved in. i also cleaned the cradle. i am now ready for the baby.

christina said mason loved the aquarium. he kept pointing to all the fish saying fishies, fishies. i was sorry i missed it. she took these pictures. she is just the best sister ever.

Friday, November 9, 2007

bath time


oh how i love to enjoy a peanut butter sandwich in the tub. yum yum.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

happy halloween


yay halloween! mason was so cute today. we drove down to visit my parents and to take mason trick or treating. my sister christina and her daughter zena went with us. mason and zena were so cute. it was so funny to watch mason. he was not shy at all. he kept trying to go inside peoples houses. we were trying to teach him to say trick or treat. he loved all the people giving him candy. i was impressed and a bit shocked that he wore his buzz lightyear costume. he cried every other time that i tried to put it on him. i had brought some skeleton pajamas as a back up, but we didn't need them. i was so happy that miles was able to go with us this year. last year he had to work and missed the trick or treating. this year was so much more fun. now i just don't know what to do with all this candy. yikes!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

first haircut




we finally took mason to get his haircut today. he was so good. i was shocked. i was worried he would cry. the lady did a really great job. he looks so cute. he just sat there and played with the toys she gave him. i can't believe we waited so long to do this. it was easy. he is such a big boy now. all grown up.

here is a before, during and after photo. no more hippy hairdo.

Monday, October 8, 2007

2 years old




wow. my baby is 2 years old. so cute. he ended up being sick on his party day. it was so sad. my poor baby. he got the flu and threw up all over me. lucky me. we still had a nice party. he seemed fine for most of it. my mom and dad got him a cool red car. he loves it. it looks amazing. i was so bummed that he was sick. i was looking forward to his party. i am so glad it was just family. it would have sucked if we had a bunch of kids over and he was sick. it was nice to have the family over. my mom's birthday is the day after masons so we celebrated them together.

he has been talking a lot more. learning new words everyday. i wonder how he will handle having a baby in the house. i am 31 weeks pregnant. so close. happy birthday angel. i love you.