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!