Glass etching success

Today Lana took a good nap and mommy got to etch some glass!  I've seen tons of Pinterest pins on cool projects related to glass etching and have been meaning to get around to it for a while now.  I wanted to start by putting our last name on a casserole dish.  Meal train love is so awesome and after those yummy treats go down the dishes remain. I do not know about you all, but I forget what belongs to those kind cooks.  I think it turned out well and I hope to go back and add some design to it or something.

Materials Needed/Used:

Vinyl for stencil

Silhouette Cameo

Armour Etching Cream

Foam Brush

Dish

I will get better at taking pictures along the way and making these posts more entertaining. I promise. Right now I'm just trying to get away from posting everything in Facebook and doing things during nap times :) Happy etching!

Lana is a frequent flyer already!

Our baby girl is no stranger to travel.  Having family out of state and all has created a need to break her in early.  The trips I am going to talk about below added three states, four flights, and the first road trip to her traveling log.  She was almost three months old when this all took place.

The first adventure began with a trip to San Francisco.  Daniel had a work conference there and so Lana and I were fortunate enough to tag along.  The trip started out with a delayed flight, which led to us missing our rental car reservation and the trip to see Muir Woods.  Oh well there are worse things and we will make it back again someday I'm sure.  The first night there Lana slept EIGHT hours!  Things were looking up!  Our first day was rather low key, Daniel went to his conference and Lana and I just took a stroll around the hotel area to get a lay of the land.  We saw the famous cable cars, which we later learned from a very serious tour guide, are not to be called trolleys as they are cable cars.

Lana struggled a bit with burping and napping for some reason, but she was a trooper.  Since I am so behind on blog posts, the details are a bit murky, but we saw the sites and overall had a good time.  Fisherman's Wharf was a neat little area and we learned that trying to get there by walking and pushing a stroller is not the approved method.  We took a cable car back, which our legs enjoyed and our ears did not.  Lana for whatever reason cried practically the whole ride.  Our sincerest apologies to our fellow passengers for that little San Francisco treat.  We ate at a variety of places both inexpensive and not and never really could find the good eats we were hoping for from the west coast.  The last day Lana and I had to take a tour to make sure we saw everything the city offered.  We got to see Ghirardelli Square, the Painted Ladies (aka Full House scene), the house from Mrs. Doubtfire, and the Golden Gate Bridge!!

The action did not stop there.  We got up bright and early to leave San Francisco on Friday to start our next big adventure.  After encountering the urine-filled elevator to get to the train to get to the airport, our flight back to Denver was on-time, delayed, and on-time again.  We made it back safely to the Mile High City and were very tempted to make our way to home sweet home, but we needed to get on the flight to St. Louis for Daniel's cousin's wedding reception and some much needed time with Grammy and Poppy Duck.

Bet ya cannot guess what happened next?  Yep, you guessed it, our flight was delayed.  This delay; however, was a gift from God Himself.  The weather report had included some nasty storms in St. Louis and little did we know that when we were about ten minutes from landing, a tornado had hit and blown debris over the runway closing the airport.  We flew around for a little bit longer before they decided to take us on to Kansas City to wait it out.  Once we were on the ground there and checked in with everyone to make sure all were safe, we waited and waited.  Little did we know the flight crew had one hour left of flying time that day and time was ticking.  Next thing we knew we were gathering our luggage and renting a car to drive.  The end of the story is not nearly as dramatic, thankfully.  The St. Louis visit went by too quickly and before we knew it we were on our way back to the airport for the last flight.  Lana was a CHAMP through it all and we enjoyed our big adventure, for the most part.

We build furniture!

Pinterest really keeps our house busy these days!  I love trying new things and thanks to my Pinterest addiction, I have discovered Ana White's blog.  She makes everything and gives you the plans complete with  the tool list, cut list, etc.  Armed with ZERO knowledge of how to use power tools of any kind really and a very patient husband, we were off to build our first piece of furniture.

Our house was built in 1977 and for whatever reason our family room and living room do not have overhead lighting so we had to incorporate lamps, which I love, now.  Since we have started our home decor projects in the family room (check out our Pinterest inspired shelving post-when I get it up ha), we felt we  needed end tables to hold our lights.  We decided to start with some Rustic X End Tables.

As Ana White instructed we read through the plans and the comments to be as familiar with our project as possible.  Our exciting Friday night consisted of a family outing to Lowes to grab our wood and the Kreg Jig.  The following morning was go time.  After Daniel returned from his hike, he gave me my first tutorial on the miter saw.  I must say I'm a quick study and after measuring all of my pieces twice so that I could cut once, I knocked out the cut list times two since we were making two end tables.

These beauties now complete our family room!

 Now I just have to stain them and they will be finished. Wonder when I will get to that??

Hello my name is Carmen and I'm a Pin-a-holic!

I'm trying to revamp this blog and get it going again.  What better way to do so than to share these yummy treats I found on Pinterest and tried out on my Fourth of July guests.  There was a  lovely corn dip from Miss Sammi Sunshine, some scrumptious Bacon Wrapped Guacamole Poppers from Paradise Grove Avocados and a delicious Sangria from Jessica Fike Photography (odd I know, but that is where the Pinterest post took me).  The reviews from my dear ginny pigs were that the corn dip was good, but my chips were not strong enough so word to the wise, buy the good stuff.  The Sangria was finished off completely and I did not have a glass so you will just have to try that out for yourself.  My fruit consisted of a peach, black grapes, strawberries, a granny smith apple, a pear, and an orange.  The poppers were well received, which when is something bacon wrapped not right?  I will say I waited until the last minute to get the jalapeños (or to send my dear, sweet hubby to battle for the last 11) so I was stuck with the small ones.  More to come...hopefully.

I left on a jet plane, with a newborn!

As most of you know, I had been preparing EXTENSIVELY for Lana and I to go back to Georgia.  We had enough outfits for both of us to last a month.  We had treat bags for fellow passengers to bribe them not to kick us off if Lana did not like flying.

We had the car seat, stroller, breast pump, and everything but the kitchen sink.  We arrived at the airport Tuesday morning two and a half hours early.  The only thing we did not have was a lot of sleep.  Lana had been giving me consistent six hour stretches and she decided Monday night, the night before this crazy adventure, was the night that did not need to happen.  Nevertheless, it was like Christmas day when you run on pure adrenaline.  Lana slept all the way to the airport and was in the car seat/stroller travel system snoozing away when we arrived at security.  She had to catch up on her beauty rest before meeting everyone!  In case you were curious, TSA cares more about security than beauty rest.  This was clear when they advised me I had to break down the stroller so that it could go on the belt.  Okay no big deal...then the kind agent tells me I also have to take my precious, SLEEPING baby out of the car seat and carry her through the scanner.  Surprisingly, this too was just fine.  Lana stirred a little and then quickly returned to dream land.  Whew!

So we get to the gate and as I do during most of my nerve-racking situations, I called my mom.  We chatted and laughed about how silly I am and the events of the morning so far.  I must have had "please be nice to me, I'm a first time traveling mom virgin" stamped on my forehead because I was graced with a lot of nice people and good graces.  The flight was not full so I got to keep Lana in her car seat in an extra seat beside me.  When we boarded the plane and the entire back was empty.  It was close to the bathroom and behind the engine to muffle crying sounds, which meant it was just where we needed to be.  With Lana now awake in her car seat, I made my way through the aisle.  You know how awkward it is to get through the aisle of a plane with a carry-on and not hit anyone already seated?  Well imagine me fumbling with a car seat full of our lovely baby girl and a full diaper bag with a travel pillow attached to one side and an extra bag full of diapers and wipes attached to the other side.  It was a sight for sure and thankfully I do not believe anyone got injured.  In the back it appeared at first that we would have our side of the row all to ourselves!  Could it all really be going this well?? Yes and no would be the answer.  As I was settling in, a nice man comes down the aisle looking as frazzled as I thought I would have been and in need of a seat and a towel judging by the sweat on his brow.  Apparently by then the seat next to me and one further up were the only ones left and he wanted to know if I would mind if he sat beside me.  With my breastfeeding supplies in hand, I advised him that I double as Lana's portable milk machine.  I had hoped being an older man this might make him feel the other seat would be less uncomfortable.  Nope!  He advised me he wouldn't look.  Yay!!  Well he kept his promise not to look, but not to talk was a different story.  I learned all about his talented son, his mom of two intern, and his relationship that might be still in existence despite his difficulty with cohabitation.  In the end it all worked out just fine.  Lana was a well-behaved little girl the entire time and my row companion was very sleepy so talk time was limited.  We landed safely in Atlanta to begin the next part of our adventure, which was, as always, too short, but so fun!

Lana got to meet more of her great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, aunt Pam, uncle Craig, cousins, and so many more.  We felt very loved and blessed the entire week.  The mornings were filled with wonderful conversations, breakfasts, and delicious decaf coffee (from the amazing coffee machine) with my father-in-law.  The days were packed with a lot of quality family time.  And the evenings consisted of sweet conversation time between Lana and her Grammy Duck.  It was a week full of amazing family fun.  We missed Daniel a lot, but I must say I felt a great sense of accomplishment at getting us there and experiencing the many special moments that are just the beginning of such sweet memories.

All good things must come to an end though I guess.  We were all packed up and armed with a little more sleep this time.  My FANTASTIC in-laws helped me get through the rainy trip to the airport and all the way through to the gate.  They have special powers and if we told you we would have to, well we just can't tell you.  We cherished every last second together.  This time I was unsuccessful at getting through it all without any tears.  By the time I got to the end of the ramp I was a teary mess.  People say it gets easier to say goodbye to the family.  I wish I could say they were right, but so far they are not.  I will say it helps to have Lana with me to serve as a distraction of sorts.  Thankfully Lana was a rockstar again on the plane and our fellow travelers were very appreciative.  All in all it was a pleasant experience and my over preparedness (aka stressed out mania) was well worth it.

Mommy's Fun

Hello world!  This week has been great, busy, but great.  Monday I had to go to the doctor for my six week post-partum check up.  Normally this would be a very dreaded experience, well glad to know something still is "normal."  The good part was being reassured that the spare tire that currently resides around my waist and all of the other weird stuff I've been experiencing are to be expected.  Yay!  Another pleasant tidbit was that I am healing very well and the parts are going back to the shop nicely.  Now what was not so peachy was mother nature's gift of more wintry weather.  I am beyond ready for warmer temps and flip flops.  The other unpleasant aspect of this day was leaving my baby girl home with daddy.  It was the first time since her birth that I was going solo.  I was not a fan.  I cried like a little baby.  I felt like the world was going to stop turning, the sun would not rise again, and my heart might literally break into.  Dramatic I know, but sometimes such is the reality of my life.  Luckily it is not yet her life.  She slept like an angel the entire hour and a half I was gone.  She was none the wiser.  While I was thrilled she was good for daddy and that she was okay, a little whimper for mommy would not have hurt anyone would it?  Thankfully I got over myself and we snuggled the rest of the day.  It seems each day is a lesson on how valuable time really is, especially given all of the recent tragedies where lives have been lost so unexpectedly and unfairly.

Despite my dramatic thoughts regarding the Earth's rotation on Monday, I found that all was well on Tuesday.  You may remember me mentioning our lovely Homebuilders group at Church?  Well the wonderful ladies whom I have grown to truly love invited me to join the Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPs) group.  You would be correct if you were just thinking, you have a seven week old newborn who very well may be the brightest child on the planet, but she is not in preschool yet.  Apparently the "preschoolers" part is not a deal breaker requirement for admission.  The moms have kids of all ages.  Lana and I are in baby!!  Well we were this Tuesday when I finally decided to put myself out there and go for it.  You see I have learned many things performing analyzing myself over and over and over again.  One such thing is that despite my previous beliefs about myself, I might not be as extroverted as I thought.  Now this makes the task of establishing a circle of Colorado friends and finding a place in our new community a little difficult.  This kind of venturing out does not come easily for me.  Ask my sweet husband who makes it one of his many pet projects.  I am a social person, in fact on most occasions I love people.  Call it what you will, but there is something that scares me about putting myself out there with strangers, especially ones that I hope to one day make my BFF.  I guess I feel I am not enough in most instances.  For example, I am not stylish enough, educated enough, aware enough of the "it" couples in Hollywood, etc.  Now I realize that this sounds silly to some and to others it may sound a little too heavy, dear diary, for this post, but this is real.  What is enough?  Who gets to determine the level of enough?  I do not have the answers to those questions and I realize that this is a major weakness for me.  Nevertheless, I will overcome and grow up one day. Ha!  Anywhoo...I am not going to make friends and have the blog-worthy adventures I want to write about if I keep us in the confines of our house all the time.  So I was determined to go despite the obstacles rearing their ugly heads.  It was so worth it!  We met the group, had brunch, and socialized.  The group held a devotion and discusion on motherhood being the most difficult. and most rewarding, job around.  It does not come with a paycheck, a retirement plan, vacation days, office parties, etc.  When you have a bad day or things are not going your way, you don't get to turn in your "pink slip" or call in sick.  Please do not think for a red hot minute that I am saying my baby girl is not the BEST and that motherhood is not the most wonderful job I have ever held.  It is indeed and I am loving every moment.  However, as I have mentioned to you all in the last post, there is a tendency to feel the unhealthy need to compare yourselves to others that may seem to have it all together so much better than you.  This group comes together to support and encourage one another through all of these times, good and not so good.  They were real.  They were honest.  They were open.  And they are just what I need in my life.  I felt "normal," accepted, loved, and "enough."  So long story short (haha I know I know I'm long-winded these days), there are at least two very valuable takeaways from this Tuesday with MOPs.  They are:  if you are a new mom, join one of these groups ASAP and if you have similar weaknesses, put yourself out there and reap the reward of personal growth.

The end of the week was not as rosey as the beginning.  Thursday sweet girl had to go get her shots for her two month check up and in preparation for our upcoming trip home to Georgia.  I was so nervous and worried about her possible reactions and a chance of uncontrollable crying.  As with everything else, she was a champ.  She cried when they gave her the shots and then she slept.  It was a fine example of worrying over nothing.  To celebrate the great report from the doctor and Lana's wonderful behavior, we sought some retail therapy.  Lana was the intended patient and as I learned on Monday, she was oblivious.  I guess it too was more for me than her.  Regardless of all of that, she now has several adorable little outfits to model for the Grammys when we go home.  Having a little girl is so fun!!  You always have an acceptable excuse to shop!

Now that it has taken me two days to finish this post, I must bid you farewell for the time being.  I need to make a menu for the week, a grocery list, a to-do list so I do not forget anything, oh and get to sleep!!    More will come soon for sure as we make our maiden voyage back home as a mommy and her mini me.  Goodnight all!

Labor of LOVE

Well it's me again Margaret.  There are so many things to write about and it has been driving me nutty not to get to tell you about them all sooner.  I must get better and more timely because this is also serving as my record and journal of sorts.  Here goes another long post, hope you're ready...

Motherhood is AMAZING!  It is full of emotions, highs and lows, feelings of serious accomplishment and pride and then feelings of crazy doubt and fear.  To start with they send you home from the hospital with this sweet bundle of joy and as many say, there is no manual.  Ms. Lana and I have had an overly joyous learning experience this last month.  I will preface the stories with everyone has an opinion and these are merely mine so take them or leave them, your choice.  The most valuable lesson I learned through it all is that you do what works best for you and your baby and thank everyone for their input.  Second most valuable is try your hardest to overcome the urge to compare yourself to other mothers.  We all have strengths and weaknesses and some will share honestly the struggles and others will hide them and make you feel very incompetent if you let them.  So don't!  Now on to my experiences.

Breastfeeding was our greatest obstacle.  Many of you may recall I had feared this during my pregnancy.  I'll spare you all of the gruesome details of our pain and tears, but I will share a couple things I found amazingly interesting and helpful.  First prepare yourself for when the milk comes in because my time as a proud member of the "itty bitty titty committee" was over in a very BIG way.  It was really kind of scary.  When people told me about leaking, I did not fully comprehend the fun that would entail.  Let's just say that if you shower before a feeding watch out because when you get out that warm water has stimulated your milk and you will flow like Niagara Falls ladies.  Be prepared.  Sadly the scary things did not end there, but some lovely products and tips can help you ignore the not so pleasant and focus on the wonderful bonding experience.  The most helpful product for me was a nipple shield.  You can google for details on how it works and all just know that I LOVE that thing and it has played a major role in my continued efforts.  More jewels are Lanolin and breastpads.  They help you with the pain and the leaking.  A helpful tip from my NP was to apply a warm washcloth and pump prior to feeding to aid in making feeding less painful.  Granted that tip was pretty useless when I found my little friend the nipple shield, but you new breastfeeding moms may want to try to do it without the shield and might need that tidbit.

Sleep is another matter all together.  Now for me I have been blessed with a GREAT baby girl and she started giving me three hour stretches very early.  You will be amazed at what you can do with a three hour stretch of sleep.  She has even gifted me with four, five and six (the six hour stretch only happened twice) stretches.  This was another emotional experience for me because as a new mom I worry that I may be messing my baby girl up already.  I'm sure you will experience this as well.  Thank God for wonderful husbands and family to help you through those times.  If she slept too little, I worried that my milk was not enough.  If she slept the longer stretches, I worried that I should have woke her up because she would be malnourished.  It's a mess people.  This is where you will hear lots of opinions and when you're worried and sleep-deprived you will want to tell them what to do with those.  Some will tell you to wake them up and make them eat.  Others will tell you to never wake a sleeping baby.  Babywise will have you rushing to get into the cycle of sleeptraining.  If you're little bundle likes to snuggle with you to go to sleep, many will imply your baby is spoiled already.  Ugghhh!!! I say enjoy the snuggles and cuddles and if you're baby falls asleep during a feeding or while you're holding them, just ENJOY every moment.  I have found Lana will do this from time to time and yet she still knows how to soothe herself to sleep when awakened and she will fall asleep on her own when placed in the napper while drowsy.  More importantly Lana does very well going to bed now and I do not lose hours of sleep worrying about others opinions or trying to make their method work for us.  Yeah girl power soapbox posting haha

I'll step off the preaching for now and talk about what's going on now in our world.  My mother who kindly gave her household to a babysitter so to speak and managed things from here so she could help me, has gone home now.  It was a great visit.  During her stay we had my Aunt Angie come in town for a week.  They were so funny together and both were very helpful.  Daniel took them on field trips during a couple days so that they did not get house-a-tosis while Lana and I were sticking around the house.  Mom's last week here was accompanied by my stepfather and brother Joey.  What a wonderful time we had that week.  Lana and I were ready to venture out of the house so we all went for a BIG outing to Red Rocks, Boulder for lunch with Louis and Candy, and Golden for Woody's pizza.  Lana handled it all like a champ!  We also got to be together for Lana's first Easter.  It was a truly blessed day.  We made it to church as a family and then had a huge dinner with Andrea, Mark, Tony, and Chloe.  My cup runneth over for sure.  Mom and everyone went home and Poppy Mike came in town. We were very excited and thankful for his visit.  This mommy usually is a blubbering mess when her mommy leaves.  Poppy Mike's visit helped me transition with only a few less tears.  Daniel and Mike got to go skiing, they installed us these nice, new lights in the basement and we all got to hike around Roxborough Park.  Lovely family memories were made.

Now everyone has gone home and we are having our first week solo to start establishing our routine.  Things are going very well so far.  We have been preparing for our upcoming travels and today we are enjoying a lot of SNOW in April.  It has been a busy week.  I have also started to workout again using Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred video.  Boy has that kicked my booty, but it is no fun leaving the hospital without what once was a "cute, all baby belly," and now is a flabby belly.  This mommy has a trip to GA at the end of the month and trips to San Francisco and St. Louis at the end of next month and she needs to fit back in her pre-pregnancy clothing fast!

Well it is almost time for sweet girl to wake up and I used this nap time to type like a madwoman instead of many of the other tasks awaiting my attention like putting away laundry, dishes, thank you notes, reading, cleaning, etc.  Time management is a topic for another day...a day when I hopefully have a great rockstar system to share with you.  For now we tread water and do what we can during naps ha  Have a great week people!  I'll try to share more soon.

Greatest Gift EVER is here!!!

Good Morning Everyone!  It has been too LONG since I wrote, but you'll be happy to read there have been plenty of blog-worthy events to tell you about.  Grab a cup of coffee and settle in for a long post of updates.  I'm writing in between cuddle time, feeding time and diaper change time so it might not be as easily read, but at least you can get the story.

The first blog-worthy event would be my mom arriving in Colorado for her stay.  We had been awaiting the status update at our 37 week appointment to decide when she should make the trip.  We were disappointed to find out the NP that we saw that day did not do the exam until 38 weeks.  Again we hurry up and wait.  Our next appointment came and they told us it did not appear that I had dilated, but we were 50% effaced.  While it was not huge progress, it was some and enough to get mom on her way.  By this time I was seriously ready for baby girl to come out.  I loved being pregnant and overall had a great experience; however, in the end I was uncomfortable and very impatient.

My mom is amazing!  Throughout all of this I have seen and felt her love, dedication, and what it truly means to be a mom.  We moved from Georgia to Colorado because it is what we felt was best for our lives.  The decision to do so has presented many challenges for this time that we did not realize at the time.  We still feel it is best for our family, but we have had to prepare for doing more without our families near.  We have to do more traveling and our families do as well.  In order for mom to make it to the delivery and to help me transition into motherhood, she had to coordinate care for my little brother Joey and her household there in Georgia.  Her trip to be with me is for a little over a month and it is not easy for a mom to leave for that period of time.  Now I fully understand what a big deal it was for her.  I do not think I can ever express how much it has meant to me to have her by my side, but Lana and I will continue to try.

Now for less mushy and more excitement.  Mom arrived and we decided the following night would be our eggplant dining adventure to try to induce labor.  Since we did not have access to the famous Scalini's restaurant back home, we opted for Olive Garden.  I love their eggplant parmigiana so this was a treat for me regardless.  Dinner was a lot of fun.  We laughed and ate our meals with great anticipation of things to come.  Nothing did that night.  Days went by with lots of walks, steps, and little attempts to get our baby girl here.  Nothing seemed to work until we took a ride to the high country.  We were having a great day riding through the mountains and when we started our trip back home, we hit some traffic and the contractions began.  It was AMAZING!  I had been wondering all along what they felt like and if I had been having any that I possibly had not realized.  Now I knew.  We were ecstatic.  They came about 6-7 min apart very consistently for about 50 minutes.  We arrived home to grab our bag and call the hospital when I took a bathroom break and they STOPPED.  So crazy to have them go that way and then just completely stop.  Poor Daniel had been so excited that when he found out they stopped it was like a little glow worm that lost the glow.  I felt terrible.  We all became a little somber and just sort of sat around kind of bummed.

Not to fear though because about 3:20AM the following morning they started again.  This time they were very irregular, averaging about 12 minutes apart.  Daniel and mom were both sleeping and I did not want to wake them to have them disappointed again.  I kept it to myself and my little contraction tracker app on the phone.  When I realized they were sticking around for about an hour, I text Bronda to let her know that might be the day.  Daniel woke up and I told him they were back, but nothing like the day before in terms of time and consistency so he waited and waited.  Finally we decided he should go on to work and mom and I would watch it and keep him updated.  So that is what we did...ALL DAY!  I had breakfast and they stopped for about an hour, snow started falling and we just waited.  They finally picked up again and just kept coming with more regularity and intensity.  When they were coming about every six minutes, Daniel came home to get us since the snow was falling pretty good and he had the Subaru.  We were on our way to the hospital.  AAAAHHH!!  Finally!!  By the time we arrived at the hospital my contractions were coming every 3-4 min and they were seriously strong.  The labor and delivery nurse came to get me in the wheelchair and after one look told them to get me a room because I was definitely in labor.  YAY I did not go and get sent home.  That was of big importance to me.  The nurse checked and I was already dilated to FIVE.

All of the excitement came with a bonus of a lot more discomfort...pain.  Since it was really go time we had to get Bronda here.  Some people may think that it was odd to have both moms and the hubby in the delivery room, but they were my birth team and they were perfect.  Daniel was a given and I could not have imagined not sharing the time without him and his loving support.  My mom provided the reassurance and love that only a mom can give her daughter.  Bronda also provided the love,  encouragement, and strength I needed to pull through the labor to see the happiest moment of our lives.  Now speaking of strength, I was slightly delusional in assessing my superhero like abilities and had made a goal not to get the epidural.  Thankfully the doctor appeared, another key member of the birth team, and kindly explained to me that there was not a medal for going through labor without the pain relief.  He also explained that typically a first time mom dilates at a rate of one centimeter an hour and that was before the hours of pushing.  This valuable information combined with the intensifying pain convinced me that the epidural was a very wise decision.  It was fabulous.  I could still feel my legs and a small bit of pain during contractions, but it was all so much more bearable.  The experience was a lot more enjoyable with that little jewel.

Long story short Bronda arrived in plenty of time amazingly enough.  We all enjoyed a few hours of laughs and anticipation before the nurses came in to "see how I pushed."  Before I knew it the doctor was in and dressed and we were really pushing.  After only 20 minutes our baby girl was here at 11:25PM on March 4th weighing seven pounds and measuring 19 inches long.  I cannot begin to describe fully all the emotions and thankfulness that I felt.  She is perfect and it was love well before first sight.  We kept her close and began learning about one another right away.  Thankfully Kaiser patients get to go home early if they want to schedule a home visit within the first day or two.  We were  happy to accept that option and before we knew it we were headed home with a baby and well wishes.

This novel must be cut short because this mommy needs to get a shower while little Lana is getting her beauty sleep.  Fear not for there have been so many blog worthy events over the last 12 days that I have plenty more to write about.  Hopefully I'll get better at finishing the posts faster so that you do not have to wait too long.

Here is to a new week!

Good evening everyone!  Sorry it has been an entire week since you have gotten to be engrossed in my adventures.  Just kidding...consider yourselves lucky to have been spared the details of this last week.  It was not bad, but it was not anything to blog about.  Basically I cleaned, organized the pantry, the kitchen cabinets, took the Dyson apart to clean it, etc.  There were some delicious meals again this week, but I failed to document them for you all.  They included a repeat of the pulled pork, a delicious homemade chicken parmesan, and a creamy chicken chili with some jalapeno cornbread from scratch.  Thursday morning I had a visitor from my first trimester return, my old friend nausea stopped by and to overstay her welcome.  This combined with a couple other symptoms and the always wise, self-diagnosing, internet search sent this little mama into an anxious state of my sweet baby girl is coming soon and I'm not ready.  I rapidly took the remaining meat I had in the fridge for crockpot meals to the freezer because I did not want it to spoil.  I put the pack-n-play/bassinet together, put more in the hospital bag, and made a list of items I still need to purchase to feel "ready."  Then I proceeded to put myself on light duty and went for a pedicure in an effort to keep her in the oven longer.  Pretty toes are obviously a necessity for this major life event.

Saturday I celebrated the 36 week milestone with a women only breast feeding class and my dear friend, Danielle's, baby shower.  I will say this class was not the best, most informative one I have attended yet, but I did learn some things and practiced the positions to ensure a successful latch.  Daniel had to work, as he has had to do a lot this past week, so he was fortunate enough to miss the boob made out of stuffing and panty hose as well as the lovely videos of boobs and more boobs.  He also missed skiing again.  I feel awful that he is missing all this prime powder time and yet I was proud that I had not forced him to attend the class with me and endure some of the awkward embarrassment it offered.  Silly I know.  I am having a baby and yet I still felt a slight blushing sensation while watching videos of breasts just out in the open and aiming the fake boob at the fake baby's nose and going "tickle, tickle."  Talk about enjoying all of the little moments.

I find myself in quite a predicament these days because I am extremely uncomfortable most of the time and I want to meet our baby girl so badly.  Patience has never really been a virtue I possess and this case it certainly is no where to be found.  However, I know the longer she stays on the inside, the better it is for her and I do want the best for her.  This morning I woke up and made the decision that I was finished complaining about these un-pleasantries and I was going to remember how blessed I am to be healthy, loved, safe, secure, and pregnant.  Really I have nothing to complain about when it comes to this pregnancy.  I have somehow managed to stay pretty well within the recommended weight gain, I have not had morning sickness, I can still wear my wedding ring and I have not had to endure any swollen body parts yet, aside from the obvious belly.  More importantly our baby girl has received fabulous, healthy reports each time we went to the doctor and for that I could not be more thankful.  Sadly my goal this morning did not last very long because the nausea was really bad and I am human and pregnant.  Oh well I am not giving up.  I will be trying to focus on the positives and distract myself for what hopefully will not be much longer. (smile)

Tomorrow starts a new week and while trying to maintain my goal of staying on budget, I will be doing more organizing, cleaning, cooking, reading, window shopping, etc.  Really I will be pursuing any and all tasks that do not require me spending any unnecessary funds.  It is not as boring as it may sound and you may be thinking, "really how much more can you clean and organize?"  Trust me with a nesting mentality and all that has been let go while I was working, there is no shortage of things to do in those areas.  I am incredibly anxious for Tuesday because we go to the doctor for the our big exam and ultrasound to see if I am progressing.  Prayers for progress people.  Not to complain or rush her, I just always enjoy moving forward haha  Well I'm going to go for now and I'll try to get creative with my activities this week to ensure more posting.  Have a great week!!

My Favorite Day of the Week Again

Sundays are truly the best!  We made it to Homebuilders class this morning and it is so nice to see everyone while learning a spiritual lesson.  The other families have taken us in and made us feel right at home.  The Pastor even joined us this morning and he was very friendly.  We were invited to another couple's home for a Super Bowl party and we made it happen.  We did not think it was going to be possible given how much we had scheduled to complete today, but it worked.  I'm so very happy we did too because we were able to see everyone and get to know them better.  We also were able to meet some of their kids and they are all going to be great playmates for Lana.  Last year Daniel's dad made his wonderful soft pretzels at for Super Bowl and I helped.  This year in honor of that tradition and to avoid showing up empty handed at the gathering, I attempted the pretzels.  They tasted better than they looked so I have to work on that part.  Either way it was another great Sunday and this mama can start her week feeling happy and blessed.

Lana got a lot of attention/love today making her Sunday pretty sweet too.  Everyone we encountered, from Church to Lowes, proceeded to tell me how low I'm carrying and how they do not believe I will be making it all the way to the 40 week due date.  At this point I can honestly say I hope they are correct.  I will be just fine if our sweet bundle of girlie goodness decides to make her debut in two weeks.  Now would be okay for my comfort level, but I still have a few things I would like to have completed and she can benefit from the additional time so two weeks will work just fine.

Tomorrow starts my second week of post-employment/pre-Mommyhood.  Daniel is enjoying my sending him off with coffee and breakfast, making yummy meals, cleaning house, and having a happy wife while he still gets the majority of my attention.  I have more cooking/freezing prep and cleaning to do to feel really content.  As usual there is no shortage!  I hope to make tomorrow the main day for cleaning and cooking, then do fun projects the rest of the week.  There will be a mani/pedi adventure this week, a gift from my sweet Bronda and Mike for my birthday.  I have been saving it to have pretty nails for when Lana arrives.  Early next week is our next big appointment so we are hoping pretty nails will help bring about pretty news.  We will see how it all works out though.  Hope everyone has a great week!!

What a great last couple days!  Yesterday was very productive on the home front.  I absolutely HATE filing stuff and to say that I had let it get out of control is well a grand understatement.  We had stacks of papers on top of our nice thrift store filing cabinet find and nothing in it.  I have been dreading that project for a while now and yesterday I finally mustered up the will power to face it.  I am happy to report that while it can certainly be improved upon in terms of finer organizing of the files and a more visually appealing set of folders and labels, it is closer to where is needs to be and that is huge.  I also managed to end the day with that yummy dinner I already posted about last night.

Today was not forecasting to be as amazing given my poor night of sleep, but it turned out to be a success as well.  I'm on a roll what can I say!  I finally had the appointment to get Lana's car seat inspected and I am happy to report we passed!  The seat is installed correctly and ready for her precious presence.  Then after the appointment, I made my second huge trip to the grocery store this week.  Yes that is correct my second day at the grocery store this week.  Hey maybe I'll make some new friends.  I did discover that this pregnancy does have it perks for getting through a grocery checkout lane.  Both Monday and today I was approached by a store employee and had a lane opened for me.  It was my VIP moment for sure.  Anyway, I digress.

I found a crockpot freezer cooking pin on Pinterest last night that looked ideal for my prep work before baby girl arrives.  I don't want us to starve or go broke or get fat eating out so preparing I am doing.  The blog included a handy grocery list of all of the items I need to complete the mission.  The link for the blog I mentioned is Who Needs a Cape.  Tomorrow while Daniel is working around the house and missing the awesome powder at Steamboat, sorry babe, I will be preparing the freezer to hold all of these nutritiously delicious meals.  A post will follow with how it goes so cross your fingers.

After unloading everything, I began preparing another yummy dinner for us.  Tonight's menu included Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas and a Pineapple Sheet Cake for dessert.  Yep you guessed it, these were also Pinterest finds and they were DELICIOUS!!  An odd combination maybe, but hey a pregnant lady wants what a pregnant lady wants okay.  To give credit where credit is due, the links so you too may enjoy these delicious treats.

Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas from mel's kitchen cafe
Miss Susan’s Pineapple Sheet Cake from Big Red Kitchen

Now I did not have monterey jack Cheese for the enchiladas so I used shredded cheddar and the cake called for more sugar than even I would like so I decreased it by at least a cup.  I have included pictures for you because I want to get better at photographing my adventures.  Sorry, but by the time I remembered to take the pictures I was too hungry to really do much so iPhone photo had to do.

As today is the first of the month and pay day it also seemed like a fine time to start trying the cash method as designed by Dave Ramsey.  We consistently have over spent in the areas of dining out, groceries, etc.  You may say well two trips to the grocery store in one week no wonder, I mean how much food do two people really need.  Really it has been because after working all day we felt we deserved good meals and we did not want to prepare them ourselves so laziness won those battles nine times out of ten.  I'm hopeful that my new role, the prep work in cooking ahead, and the cash method will keep us on track.  Our dear friends Diana and Brandon have been following the master and using the cash method for a while now and it has been a success as we have heard.  Wish us luck!!  Now as you can imagine I'm pretty tired so I'll write more tomorrow.  Good night!

7UP Biscuits

Tonight we had a meatless meal for dinner inclusive of water sauteed squash, steamed broccoli, red beans and rice, and 7UP Biscuits.  These biscuits are delicious.  I have made them twice now and not once have we been disappointed.  I used Sprite instead of 7UP because I did not have 7UP, but I'm sure they are fantastic with it as well.  The recipe was a Pinterest find from the Plain Chicken blog.  I hope you try them and enjoy them as much as we do.

7UP Bisucsits from Plain Chicken

Good Morning!  I hope everyone in the southeast stayed safe with the bad weather yesterday.  I did not get a chance to write my post yesterday so I'm doing my update this morning.  When I last left you, I was off to meet Daniel for our Baby Safe class.  The class proved to be very informative and well worth our time and money.  We got to practice CPR on the infant doll, we learned the proper course of action in the events of choking and ingesting poisons.  Some information was kind of common sense, but some really helped us.  For example, I had previously read that Lana would need to sleep in our room for six months as a SIDS precaution and it turns out this is not necessarily the case.  We can in fact put her in her beautiful crib from day one.  I will share a picture of this lovely crib and nursery soon including the pretty bumpers and quilt, which were totally for my viewing pleasure.  They will be removed before she lays her sweet little head to rest in there so don't worry.  We also learned about what medicines and what products we can and cannot use or we must delay using for a bit.  The instructor gave us helpful hints about general safety precautions we should have already addressed such as having a land line so that the emergency responders can get to us about ten minutes faster than if we called from our cell phones.  She also pointed out the benefits of said land line for when we finally are comfortable enough to let someone else watch our little girl.   Others that do not live here and may not be able to direct the emergency personnel as easily so it is just helpful all around.  I had to also suffer the "I told you so," of Daniel when the instructor brought up the importance of having a fire ladder or two because of the fact our house is two stories and well it is just not safe to jump out the window in the event of a fire.  Now we are embarking on our safety and baby proofing our house.  I will have plenty of updates on that I'm sure as soon as we actually start making more progress.

Yesterday was rather windy and cold here so I decided to stay inside and work on some of my to-dos.  I wish those days proved to be extremely productive, but it also feels like I discover, or create, other projects that I feel absolutely MUST be completed before Lana arrives.  It is a never-ending cycle and sadly they are usually things that get added to my dear Daniel's honey-do list.  What did I accomplish you might ask?  Well despite the numerous loads of laundry I have done for Lana already, I still found more thanks to the kind gifts she received at my work baby shower and my last shopping trip.  So at this very moment, I can finally say every single item has been washed and put away!!  She is set at this time.  Her closet is organized and I finally feel that I have it all the way I want it.  Yay!!  I registered her furniture so that I can get updates on recalls and all.  I found a pinterest pin on 40 meals to prepare for the freezer in four hours.  It is my goal to attempt that probably this weekend because I know I will not be feeling up to cooking healthy meals after delivery.  Our guest rooms are complete with clean bed linens for the grammys arrival for their crucial roles as members of the birth team.  We are getting there slowly but surely. 

Last night Daniel went, of his own choosing, to Boot Camp for Dads class.  I have to say that I am blessed beyond belief with this wonderful man as my husband and little Lana has no idea how blessed she is yet, but she will soon find out.  He has actively pursued and engaged in any opportunity that has presented itself for us to learn to be better parents, well except for the breastfeeding class, which is understandable and I fully give him a pass there.  He came home last night so excited about all he learned and the topics they discussed.  There were two former class graduates that brought in their daughters, three and six months old, and Daniel was pleased to report he "still has the touch."  He was able to hold the six month old and she was very content with his company for a while.  He now feels confident that he can assist me with being the protector for our family and keeping visitors at bay when it is not a good day.  He believes he learned tricks to save me on when I cannot seem to soothe Lana on my own or just need a break.  I love that man and look forward to seeing him in action because I have full faith that he will be an AWESOME father.

Well my morning is getting away from me again and so I guess I should get off the computer and do some more stuff.  I am trying to finish the majority of the boring, must-dos so that next week when our weather is warmer I can play.  Have a great day everyone!!

Good afternoon!!  The rest of the weekend did not include too many blog worthy events so I held off writing you all until now.  Saturday ended up being a little bit of a wash for me because I could not get motivated to do much.  Sunday has quickly turned into my favorite day of the week given that we have found West Bowles Community Church.  I truly get excited to go each week and always feel better when I leave.  Normally we go to the Sunday School class called Homebuilders, which is for young families, but this week it was canceled for the ministry fair.  Either way, the people are AMAZING.  We have never gone to any church where the people are so outgoing and friendly.  We both have learned a good deal and it works for our hybrid religious family too, me the Christian and Daniel the Jew.  Basically in that regard, we are blessed to both support each other in our religious beliefs and look for the common areas.  We both are open-minded and like to learn so we make it work, but a church that does not make Daniel feel extremely uncomfortable is always a bonus.  We are still working to find our Jewish home.  Hopefully we will be as fortunate in that search too.  Other than my excitement over church, it was just a regular weekend at home.

Today was my first non-work, week day and so far it has been great.  I got up when Daniel did for work and made us smoothies for breakfast and then sent him on his way with a packed lunch and warm coffee.  Yes I felt very domestic and June Clever this morning.  Then I channeled my horribly lacking Jillian Michaels and did my third trimester pregnancy workout video.  You can assume that was as fun as it sounds.  Next I reviewed my coupons and jumped in the shower to embark on that money saving adventure.  The deals were seriously exciting at King Soopers as was the trip overall.  There I was 8.5 months pregnant pushing around my cart of extreme couponing finds packed so high that I could barely see over it.  I felt a little embarrassed and pleased with myself at the same time.  There was a well-behaved, hansom young boy in the store with his mom that found the fact that I had a "baby in my belly," very interesting.  He also found my cart to be comment worthy.  Out of the mouths of babes.  Then there were the older ladies passing rather judgmental looks like why do you need 12 boxes of Kleenex.  They obviously do not have my never-ending runny nose that some say is a pregnancy symptom.  Or maybe they were unaware that here lately everyone that comes to visit is sick once they arrive, love you mom and Joey!  Anyway I saved 65%, $174 in coupon savings which combines what I pulled and the store card.  I was a very happy little mama.  Then I had just a couple items at Safeway where I saved 74% and some toilet paper from Walgreens that was not the best deal, but a necessary evil I guess.  You can see from the picture above that we are stocked up for a bit.

Now while day time television is not always great I have missed Ellen!  I love her and she has Jillian Michaels on so it is kind of fitting for my day.  After this I get to go meet Daniel for dinner because we have our Baby Safe class from 6:00-9:30pm.  We are excited to try to make ourselves more smart and prepared for our baby girl.  I will hopefully have another blog-worthy day to write about tomorrow.  It is supposed to be a little cold and lightly snowy so I don't know how many adventures I will have outdoors.  Take care all!

Hello blog world!!  Today is the first official day of my post-employment/pre-mommy adventure.  I went into work today for a half day to say good bye and participate in my exit interview.  The interview helped me feel better about leaving my dear work friends because I was able to shed some light on how rough it has been there to the powers at be.  I felt as if my points were received and that is all I could have asked for I suppose.  Once I finally made all my goodbyes (an hour and a half after I was supposed to leave), it was on to better things like a middle of the day train ride and a late lunch with a milkshake celebration treat.  The middle of the day train rides always demonstrate that it truly does take all kinds to make the world go round.  Today's trip consisted of the entertaining girl with multiple colors in her hair talking way too loudly on her cell phone about the dramatic battle with another female over what one could only assume is one SERIOUS catch.

Once the soap opera train ride and lunch were over, it was time to get to work, my new work.  I will spare you the less than exciting details of all of my cleaning efforts to rid our home of Daniel's germs this afternoon and simply say that it already feels healthier in here.  Tonight we decided to have an relaxing evening to help continue Daniel on the road to recovery.  We rented the End of Watch movie and called it good.  The movie was a little too intense for our low-key theme and the language was certainly rough, but overall not a bad pick if anyone's interested.  Now we are patiently waiting for our bedding to finish drying after the sanitizing process it endured.  I realize you may find it hard not to envy the happening night life we lead, but do your best.

Tomorrow we are hoping to have a nice productive day finishing some of the house projects and well, more cleaning.  There may even be a coupon trip to King Soopers to start stocking up on things for when our baby girl arrives and the family comes to welcome her.  I'll do my best to make the tasks as fun and post-worthy as possible.

Good night for now and I promise to bring you more interesting material within the coming days!