by Courtney on November 10, 2011
Well, we did it. My first day back to work and Annabelle’s first day of day care is behind us. Thank God. I’d love to tell you that I was anxious about this day all for nothing and it all went swimmingly, but it didn’t. And if one of us had a bad day, I wish I could say it was me missing my daughter like crazy and she was just happy as a clam in her new setting. Unfortunately, she really struggled for a good portion of the day and my biggest fear came true – she wouldn’t take a bottle.
There’s nothing like getting a text message from your daycare center saying; “She was fine earlier, but she’s really upset now and won’t take a bottle. Should we call your husband? Is there anything we can do?”
WHAT! I was expecting them to be the pros! I don’t know, what do YOU guys think you should do – I thought you saw this all the time! Is Annabelle like some extreme case or something?? This is at 10:45am. We’ve got a long day to go.
Ay yi yi. Talk about a guilt-ridden working mama! I realize now that I didn’t try hard enough to get her to take a bottle with ease. I tried occasionally and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. It would become a battle of the wills and if Annabelle got too upset I knew I could always stop pushing her and just let her drink straight from the tap. It’s hard to give tough love to a 3-month old baby when you know you can take the struggle away in a nano second. Everyone kept telling me – including the daycare lady – that if she’s hungry, she’ll eat. She won’t put up a fight forever. I figured they see this all the time and know all the tricks on getting a baby to take the bottle. But apparently Annabelle is a stubborn ‘lil chicki poo who only wants mommy’s boobies.
I called twice during the day and both times I hear her crying in the background. She was really putting her foot down in the morning, only eating 1 ½ ounces when she’d normally eat 4 oz. My husband even dropped in at 11:30 to try and feed her and she wouldn’t eat for him either. I decided that I can’t keep calling, they’re just going to have to deal with it and Annie B. is going to have to learn.
Needless to say; I was thrilled when Jeff offered to pick her up at 4:15 instead of waiting for me to get home at 5:45. Thankfully, the daycare lady said the day improved a bit, with Annabelle finally taking in a total of 6 oz. for the day. This is less than half of what she would normally take at this point. And to top it off, she slept a total of ONE HOUR all day!!!! She normally naps every hour and a half anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half! My poor little baby.
Obvy I was thrilled to pieces to see my little girl when I got home and pop her on the boob for a nice long 3 hour feeding. I think I kissed every inch of her face about 30 times over. She finally put her hand up to make me stop and then I was just kissing the inside of her wittle baby hand.
Work was kind of….nice
I thought for sure I was going to be a total mess dropping Annabelle off today. Hell, I was already crying last night before putting her in the swing for her evening nap. I didn’t want my last night of my maternity leave to be over. I tried to give myself plenty of time when we got there this morning so that if I had to leave and come back about 40 times, I could. It was a hectic first day because it was picture day at the center. Plus, the 8 o’clock hour is a busy drop off time for parents. So I didn’t really have time to stand there and dwell on what was happening, I had to get her stuff situated and leave for work. I shed a few quiet tears before leaving, but I just tried not to think about it as I walked out the door and got on the train.
Once I was at work everyone was stopping by my desk hugging me and welcoming me back. I caught up with my team on what’s been happening for the last four months, and it turns out life goes on without me. It was strange riding the train like a little professional and walking into my cube after being away so long. My calendar still said July. My phone rang and I looked at it like a caveman looking at a phone ringing – like, what the hell do I do with that??? Do I answer it?? Nah, I let it go to voicemail. Not that I remember how to check it.
The day was work-free and purely social with a couple pumping sessions in there – which I can see getting old REAL QUICK. All in all, I realized that I like going to work. I got a thrill from discussing some new marketing ideas for 2012 and going like 30 minutes having a conversation that had nothing to do with babies. I needed this.
Thankfully, I’m part-time for the rest of the year so I don’t go back to work until next Tuesday. Working definitely makes me appreciate my time at home so much more. I was so excited to get home for tacos, good TV, and holding little Annabelle. She is like Christmas morning to me.
I’m going to work on the bottle issue this weekend and hopefully we can make a breakthrough. Eventually Annabelle will come to realize that when she’s at daycare she drinks a bottle and when she’s with mommy she drinks from the boobie. And I know she’ll grow to know and enjoy the daycare ladies and her new surroundings. Plus, the socialization she’ll experience will be so good for her. Like anything else, we all adapt. We thought having a newborn baby was tough that first week and then it become like second nature to be a parent. This is no different. For now, I’m just going to enjoy my long weekend with my baby girl and appreciate every minute I have with her. She’s such a gift.
by Courtney on October 16, 2011
My, how time is flying by. I can hardly believe it, but Annabelle is officially 3 months old today! When everyone says “enjoy this time now because it won’t last long” – they aren’t kidding! Little AB is getting bigger every day and her personality is really taking shape. She is SO sweet and I just want to eat her up with a spoon! I think she’s going to have a good little sense of humor because she loves to smile and she’s on the verge of true giggles any day now. Everyone always comments on how happy she seems because she’s very generous with that little smiley face of hers’! We’ve finally gotten into a good little groove where I know her likes and dislikes; what works and what doesn’t; and what just about every cry means. All of this just in time for me to go back to work in a few weeks… *sighs*
When I think about what life would be like without Annabelle, I just can’t. It would seem so empty to me now. I mean, what the heck was I doing with all that time I had before?! Oh ya, obsessing over Twilight and Robert Pattinson. Having a baby certainly puts things into perspective, and you realize what’s important. Suddenly, the things that were so important to me pre-baby just aren’t anymore.
But who knew SO MUCH would change in my life after having a baby? I’m still the same girl, right?
I’ve been thinking over the last few days how much my life has changed since having Annabelle and how much I personally have changed. Annnnd I would say it’s a lot. I mean, everything revolves around the baby’s sleep and eating schedule now. I live my life in 3 hour intervals. Eat, play, sleep – repeat. I have limited freedom. Going to the movies is a luxury now, not a weekly habit. Dinners at restaurants now include constantly watching the baby and doing everything we can to ensure she stays quiet in her stroller so we can eat without having to take turns holding her. If we have the opportunity to go out to eat by ourselves, Jeff and I end up talking about Annabelle and looking at pictures of her on our cell phones the entire time!
Where’s the old me?
In terms of how I’ve changed; I definitely don’t have the same confidence as I used to. I’m at a plateau with my weight loss because I really need to start eating a healthier diet, but I guess I’m sort of finding comfort in “comfort food” in the midst of all these life changes. Like, as a new mom you don’t get a lot of time to yourself to enjoy things like getting your nails done, shopping, or even just reading books. But I do have time to go through the drive-thru at McDonalds and get a cheeseburger and fries! Mmmm! But I know; it’s so bad for me.
With my post-baby body still not being anywhere near where it needs to be, I’m not even trying in the fashion department. I just don’t even care. I feel like people look right through me as I walk around in yoga pants and a ponytail pushing my stroller. I donned a bikini at the pool the other day and I should’ve been mortified by my body, but I didn’t even care. I figured; no one is looking at me anyway! It bothers me because I used to be SO into fashion and looking my best.
Other than my lack of confidence and fashionable wardrobe; I find that all the fun I used to have in feverishly following pop culture happenings – namely, all things Twilight – isn’t as exciting to me now. I don’t visit Twilight blogs anymore or buy all the magazines that feature a ‘Robsten’ story. I’m even not counting down the days for Breaking Dawn – it’ll get here when it gets here is my new attitude! I don’t even make time to blog like I used to. My pop culture blog (Pop Culture Junkie) has all but died and I have no pull to revive it. And I’m not even blogging on Life At Thirtysomething as much anymore! What’s happening to me?? Blogging has been a huge passion of mine for the last 2 ½ years! Does everything about my life have to change since having a baby? Is there any semblance of the old me?
I think I’ve fallen into the same trap that most mothers do where they make it all about their baby. Once Annabelle is squared away napping in her swing, I have just enough energy to get on Facebook and veg out in front of the TV. I know I need to set some goals for myself to change my diet, try harder in the fashion department, and make time to do the things I love, like blogging and reading. Hopefully going back to work is going to give me the structure to my day where I have time to read on the train, go to the gym on my lunch break, and blog when Annabelle goes to bed. And of course, it’ll force me to get some cute clothes and not phone it in with the yoga pants everyday!
My my my, babies can certainly turn your world upside down. But that being said; I wouldn’t trade my new life for my old one. I may not be as fashionable or as thin as I used to be; but I’m a good mom and my baby is happy and that’s more important to me anyway. Being skinny would just be icing on the scrumptious kissable baby cake, and I’ll get there! 
by Courtney on October 6, 2011
I did good on the plane mommy!!
I was so nervous to take Annabelle on her first plane ride last Thursday. We had a 4 ½ hour flight from California to visit family in Indiana, and I was a freaking stress ball the whole day leading up to that plane ride. I lost sleep over it days before as I methodically planned out how our day was going to go; between feedings, diaper changes and what she was going to wear on the plane. I knew the altitude change could cause her some discomfort, so I wanted to be sure to feed her as soon as we took off so she was swallowing, which would help relieve the ear pressure. Buuut, of course Ms. Anna B. decides she wants to eat as soon as we got on the plane. NOOO! This isn’t how I planned it – she was supposed to wait for the plane to take off! Jeff was getting so irritated with me and told me to calm down and I replied back curtly: “Jeff, just deal with me, OK?” This is odd for me because usually I’m the laid back one and he’s the one always getting his panties in a bunch. But on this day, my panties were all bunched up.
Thankfully, the plane took off within 15 minutes of our departure time and AB was still hungry, so I poured her another bottle and she sucked away as we climbed to 30,000 feet. No big deal. She slept some, ate some more, looked around a bunch, pooped a couple whoppers in her dipe and I had to change her in the bathroom – which, thank the Lord, had a changing table (Virgin America)! I felt sorry for the poor woman in the aisle seat. I apologized in advance for any annoyance sitting next to a baby will surely cause. Recently, a girl in my mom’s group recounted an icky story about her baby’s first plane ride which included a bitchy ice queen in the aisle seat next to her. I was practically shitting myself when I realized we were in the window and middle seat. But halleluiah, aisle lady was a grandma just returning from visiting her newborn grandson – jack pot! Annabelle turned out to be a dream baby the entire flight. She never cried and when she started to fuss I just stuck her on the boob and all was well in the world. The noisy tikes were the toddlers. Especially the one directly behind us that had a penchant for screaming like the Boogie Man was jumping out of his closet. *sighs*
What the….teething at 10 weeks????
I'm not trying to be difficult, mommy! 
SO, what do you think about the most when you go visit your family and you have a new baby? That’s right, BABYSITTERS! I had my week of baby free outings all planned out. Movies, football tailgating, date night, girl’s night – whatever. Hey, what are two sets of grandparents good for anyway? But I never even saw it coming………after trying to feed her a bottle several times to no avail, and noting the absorbanent amount of drool pooling on Annabelle’s chin in the last couple of weeks, we realized that she’s showing all the signs of TEETHING!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! The average baby starts teething at 7 months. Annabelle is not even 3 months yet!! Apparently early bloomers can teeth as early as 3 months, and in some cases, they may not cut a tooth for several months, but they’ll show signs early. I mean seriously, of all the weeks to go on a bottle strike, it’s the week when I have babysitters coming out of the woodworks? Child, this just ‘aint fair!
I guess the bottle’s nipple must hurt her sore gums when we try to stick it in her mouth and so she tongues it away and cries this heartbreaking cry of pain unlike the hungry or sleepy cry. And here I am getting up first thing in the morning and staying awake until midnight pumping bottles to have for all my baby free nights and it was all for nothing. Jeez, what does a formula fed baby do when she’s teething? Does she go on a bottle strike and just cry a million hungry cries? Does she eventually give in? I don’t know how those mothers get through this part. But I now feel chained to my baby. I was a nervous Nelly on date night last night. (Thankfully, she slept the whole time we were gone.) Today I ventured out to the mall to walk around and within an hour and a half I got a frantic phone call from my husband that went something like this: WHERE ARE YOU ANNABELLE IS CRYING GET YOUR BUTT HOME NOW JEEZ WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN I’M DYING MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!! So I rushed home feeling like I was in jail. Good grief, I hope this bottle strike biz doesn’t last long. I’ve gotta go back to work in 6 weeks!
But you know what the worst part of teething is so far? It’s that nothing feels better to my baby then gnawing on her mommy’s nipples to relieve some of the gum pain. GREAT. No, it’s awesome. Feels amazing. (OMIGAWD MY NIPPLES ARE DYING!!!)
Oh and the other amazing part is that I now have to take my baby tailgating in the Baby Bjorn on Saturday. Really, who wants to see a mom drinking a beer with her baby chilling on her chest and then breastfeeding a while later? People are judgey and mean. Screw it; I’m making Jeff hold her. People don’t judge father’s holding babies and drinking beer. It’s like, expected.
So this is my glorious vacay back home so far; a teething baby out of her element with a 3 hour time difference. Oh and, she’s suddenly showing favoritism and will only let mommy and daddy and my mom hold her. Anyone else gets cry face and bleeding ears. SUPER!
This goes to show that just when you thought you had it all figured out, your baby will throw you for a whole new loop, and you’re back to square one. *shrugs*
Oh well. I’m pouring a drink for myself — I need to numb the nips before baby’s next feeding.
by Courtney on August 16, 2011
When I was pregnant it used to sort of annoy me when people would tell me; “Oh, having a baby is SO MUCH WORK………..but it’s so worth it.” I think it irritated me because it wasn’t like I expected motherhood to be a cake walk or anything! And I felt like what people were really saying was; “Holy shit, having a newborn is Hard-As-Hell and can suck buuuuuut….oh, how can I put a positive spin on this??? …..But it’s SOOOO worth it!”
Now, just about every day someone asks me how motherhood is. They might phrase the question; “OMG, congrats! Don’t you love it?!” And my response just so happens to be… “Well, it’s a lot of work…that’s for sure. But I love my baby to pieces so it’s so worth it! I’m just figuring out parenthood one day at a time!”
Hmm…sound familiar? Now I get it! You see, it IS a lot of work. Your whole life changes when you become a parent. Your schedule is now dictated by your baby’s feeding schedule and sleep times. I’m now three weeks into being a mommy and I would describe my days somewhat like Groundhogs Day! It’s pretty much the same schedule with a little variation from day to day based on what our ONE outing is; whether it be out to lunch, to the store, or simply a walk in the stroller. With breastfeeding, you get about a 1 ½ -2 hour window of time to get some things done, such as laundry, cleaning, taking a shower, writing a blog, etc. before you’re back to feeding again! But that’s only if the baby will let you put her down! Sometimes you work that entire window of time to get her to go to sleep and she finally does 30 minutes before her next feeding! Ahh!
Tummy time!
Luckily, we’ve got little Annabelle on somewhat of a schedule, where she eats every 3 hours and she knows her days and nights. She goes to bed after her 10pm feeding and gets up around 3am and 6:30am to eat, and then sleeps until 8ish. Problem is; I don’t really know what to do with her when she’s awake! I feel like my husband and I spend all her awake times trying to get her to go to sleep! I actually just discovered yesterday that she’s old enough now for “tummy time”! We tried this when she was 4 days old and she hated the hell out of tummy time, but at 3 weeks, it’s kind of interesting to her! She kicks her legs and tries to lift her butt in the air. I swear; this little girl is going to be crawling WAY before I’m ready for it. Plus, she already lifts her head on her own!! In those 15 minutes of tummy time yesterday I feel like I saw a whole new side of Annabelle. I’m used to the eating, sleeping, crying Annabelle…now I see that she’s old enough to learn stuff or physically try new things, and suddenly I fear she’s growing up too fast! But I’m realizing that I need to start doing more stuff with her than holding her and feeding her. Everyday it’s a learning experience.
The next thing I need to tackle is getting on a real routine where I can start putting her down for naps at the same time each day and I can find time to do other things, like go to the gym or maybe go to Baby Boot Camp with her. I have anxiety about joining a boot camp or mommy and me yoga class because I don’t want her to break out into a crying spree that only ends with a boob in her mouth. A boob in the mouth isn’t so convenient when I’m trying to push a stroller with 15 other moms and keep up with the pack! But surely I’m not the only mom that worries about this – or has to deal with a screaming baby at the most inopportune time! Oh, the insecurities of new motherhood…
It’s amazing how quickly life changes in a single moment in time. I know things will get easier as little AB ages, and quite honestly, she’s a pretty darn good baby, so I don’t have a lot to complain about. It’s just getting used to the fact that I don’t have the freedom I once had and this is my new normal. I hope to create a schedule that affords me some more time to not only get some much needed things done around the house, and to start a new exercise routine, but also a chance to blog more regularly and share this journey of figuring out motherhood as I go! So stay tuned!
Any moms out there have advice for how to get your baby to nap during the day, or books I should read on getting your baby on a schedule?
by Courtney on August 1, 2011
After 41 long weeks of pregnancy, my baby girl has finally arrived into this world! I’ve blogged about my entire pregnancy; from finding out I’m preggers to wondering if my baby was ever going to be born being that she was a week late! So folks, I’m super excited for you to finally meet my Stage 5 Clinger – little Ms. Life Changer – Annabelle Grace! She was born on Monday, July 25th at 8:56am, weighing in at 7 lbs and 5 oz and is 19.5” long. She’s a total baby doll. Precious as can be – sweet as pie – and cute as the cutest button! There’s so much to say right now that I almost don’t know where to begin! But since this is her birth story, we’ll back up a week ago to Sunday the 24th, when I went into the hospital for my scheduled induction.
Even though I had a scheduled induction, I was still holding out hope that I’d go into labor naturally up until the last hour before leaving for the hospital. I just wanted to experience labor pains and my water breaking and nervously going to the hospital, excited for what’s about to happen. I wanted the element of surprise, which I wasn’t getting with an induction. But it is what it is – my Stage 5 Clinger wasn’t budging. Jeff and I arrived at 8pm and within an hour or so, I had a Foley Balloon inserted which is supposed to help the cervix mechanically open, preparing me for a pitocin injection at 5am on Monday morning, which would force contractions to start. Despite the fact that I was 41 weeks pregnant, I was still only 1 centimeter dilated and about 70% effaced. The nurse said she expected me to deliver my baby sometime Monday evening.
Not going to lie, the insertion of the balloon hurt like hell. As soon as the doctor left, I cried. I was thinking; OH GOD, if I’m crying over this, how the hell am I going to handle labor? It’s going to be a long night! I felt like a wimp. The nurse told me I’d experience some mild cramping from the balloon, but I noticed not too long after the balloon was inserted that I started feeling contractions and they’d last maybe 45 seconds and come and go every 3-4 minutes. I asked my nurse if it was possible for Mother Nature to step in at the same time I’m here to be induced and I could go into labor before the pitocin shot. She said it was unlikely since this was my first baby. But I was sure I was having contractions because it was more than “mild cramping”. As the pain increased, I asked what kinds of pain meds were available. I felt like the nurse was thinking I was a total pussy because in her mind I wasn’t even having contractions and I was already asking about narcotics and epidurals! So she gave me some pain drug that made me feel totally high as a kite and it did numb me…for a bit. But then my contractions got stronger and they felt really trippy being on this pain drug. The pain got worse and I was telling my judgey nurse to get me an epidural stat! I didn’t care if I hadn’t even had my pitocin shot, I was suffering! It’s all a bit of a haze, but about 1 or 2am, the anesthesiologist came in to save my day. I was a little nervous about the epi shot because of all the hoopla surrounding it and how big that needle is that people always talk about. But hell, I never even saw the needle because dude was behind me! And with my level of pain, it literally felt like a freaking bee sting! It was a joke! Ladies – don’t’ fear the epidural shot. It’s nothing! Within about 20 minutes or so, the lower half of my body was numb. Relief!
Then, I slept. And slept…
The nurse would come in periodically through the night/early morning to check me, and by about 4am she informed me that I was now 5 ½ centimeters dilated and will not need a pitocin shot anymore! Ha! So I was right – Mother Nature stepped in before the pitocin injection had a chance to come near me – awesome! Then, I went back to sleep. By about 7:30am on Monday my new, nicer nurse (shift change) came in and told me that I was now 10 centimeters dilated and will be pushing as soon as the doctor gets there. I’m all; WTF? So aside from those 1-2 hours of horrid contractions pre-epidural, I slept through my entire labor? How. Freaking. Awesome. Around 8:15am my nurse said we should do some practice pushes, so we got into position — by the way, this moment is so surreal to me because it’s what I’ve seen in movies and on TV my entire life, but I could never actually picture myself in this position — and I pushed. The nurses were impressed, telling me I was a great pusher and they could already see the head!!! But we needed to wait a little longer for the doctor. I was like; do we really need a doctor anyway? By 8:30 the doctor arrives and I have 4 sets of pushes (which have 3 rapid pushes in a row per set) and my baby is born – 25 minutes later! *Tears*
Holy swollen mama!!!! But look at that wittle girl....!
It was a bit scary for a couple minutes because she wasn’t crying. Suddenly, it went from a room of 4 people to about 15 people, either working on the baby or working on me. They told me the baby was just stunned because when she came out the chord was wrapped around her neck twice. This has always been my fear. But soon she was crying and they were placing her on my chest. I did that ugly cry thing where I close my eyes and try not to cry but I fail miserably and just look pitiful as I sit there shaking in silence! But obviously they were tears of pure joy to finally hold my baby – that little thing that had been kicking and hiccupping and rolling around inside me for all those months! I couldn’t believe I was finally meeting her. And she had my nose…and my lips! When you’re able to see a reflection of yourself in your baby so fast like that, it’s………………….it’s hard to explain the miracle of it all…
My next blog will be a part 2 of this birth story to discuss what nobody ever seems to talk about – the after birth. And breastfeeding…oh the breastfeeding….. (ouch!) Ya, nobody ever talks about the “ouch” part either!
What’s in a name?
The name Annabelle Grace has a special meaning for me. Back in 2006, my Granny passed away and I was absolutely devastated. She was the classic grandmother that cooked the best Southern food and doted on me just as a grandmother should. I was HER stage 5 clinger when I was a kid! :) When she passed, I told Jeff immediately that I wanted to name my future daughter after her. And her name was Anna Grace. But when I moved to California 4 years ago my boss at the time was named Anna, and suddenly the name reminded me of work! So for a while I kind of lost interest in the name. When I found out I was pregnant I was reading a list of top baby names and I really loved the name Isabella, but it was the #2 baby name in 2010. I just didn’t want her to have the same name as 5 other girls in every classroom she’s in growing up. I moved all the way down the list and my eyes landed on name #73, Annabelle. There it is, I thought. This is the perfect combo of my two favorite names. I could pay homage to my Granny but the baby will still have her own name. I added Grace as the middle name and ta-dah, Annabelle Grace it is. And I love it so much.
Thanks for reading!
by Courtney on July 21, 2011
Nope, I have not had my baby yet. Yes, my due date was Monday the 18th, and today is FRIDAY the 22nd. And I’m still f-r-e-a-k-i-n-g pregnant!
The anti-climatic passing of my due date has caused me to feel somewhat depressed in the past few days. I wake up every morning at 9am with the sun shining in and no contractions or a soaked bed under me (you know, from water breaking!) and I just pout as a lie there. I’m almost through three full weeks of maternity leave with no freaking baby! There’s only so much you can do to pass the time before it starts feeling like Groundhog’s Day and you’re doing the same thing over and over again. The highlight of my day is going to the dog park with my husband and red puppy and walking the 20 minute loop around the park. That’s about it! And then every few days or so I go to the pool and do my own little version of water aerobics to help with flexibility. Today, Jeff said he was going to the gym and I wined; “Well, what am I supposed to do?” And he said I should go to the pool. I then said; “I’m so sick of the pool.” And Jeff’s all; “Who says that???”
The hard part is that throughout this whole journey you look toward this arbitrary delivery date that your doctor gives you and everything revolves around that date. You begin to love the sound of that date…the number becomes perfect to you – it’s going to be your child’s birthday! And then when the date comes and goes with zero fanfare, it’s SO deflating. And then people are constantly calling, emailing, texting, Facebook stalking trying to find out the latest news and all I can say over and over again is: No baby. Annnnnd it can definitely add to your depression/frustration over this whole lack of a baby situation! Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s really sweet that so many people are interested. I just didn’t realize HOW MANY people were this interested! It’s pretty cool actually.
The bottom line, I will have the baby by or before Monday, July 25th – my official induction date. So I’ll be a mommy in 4 days or less. So when I say it like that, it makes this entire blog post sound kind of complainy for complaining sake! But I think those ladies that have had late babies can attest to the feelings I’m feeling. It doesn’t matter that you know the baby is eventually coming; it’s just that you can’t wait to meet your little one that even one more day is too many days to wait!
But now I’m trying to just be patient and enjoy my final days, baby free. Patience is a virtue they say. Soon, I will be doing ‘round the clock feedings, diapering, and sleeping – all with a super packed schedule that is recommended in my current baby book “The Baby Nurse Bible”. After reading this schedule, it really opened my eyes to the hard work this is going to be – not that I ever thought it was going to be a cake walk! But there’s something about seeing a 24 hour schedule laid out for you in half hour intervals that include; “Mom, take a shower”, which definitely makes reality set in. Sooooo…maybe I should shut up about going to the pool?
Alrighty peeps, this will be my last blog post before the baby is born! I’ll try to get my birth story out as soon as I can find some free time to blog after the baby is born! Hmm….free time after the baby is born…. Perhaps these are mutually exclusive things here? Ha! Well, I’ll do my best! I’m sure my excitement over sharing the news will help me power through! Talk to you on the other side!
by Courtney on July 12, 2011
I have never prepared for anything more in my life than for having a baby. Ok, a wedding is a very close second because that was a year and a half in the making and included loads more money, pre-marriage counseling with a priest, pre-cana courses, moving in together, and a body overhaul that included Weight Watchers and lots of time logged on the treadmill! Come to think of it, all that wedding prep was a lot of work too! But having a baby certainly seems more life changing and educational than which wedding flowers are in season and the best honeymoon destinations!
I feel like I’ve been preparing for a guest to arrive that is taking their sweeeeeeeeet time in getting here! I’ve had the nursery done since May, I have a diaper caddie sitting in the living room complete with diapers, wipes, and hand sanitizer and those dang newborn sized diapers are so darn cute that I just want to use them already! I’ve had my hospital bag packed since early June, and the car seat has been secured in the car by a professional car seat installer since mid-June. We’re ready for baby. Like, really ready. Oddly, I’m a big time procrastinator, but you’d never know it by my baby nesting gusto! My husband finds it fascinating to watch! Ha!
So I figured while I’m waiting around for the baby to enter her new home and see her room for the first time, I could at least show you, my dear readers! So I’ll first say that I didn’t go crazy fancy or uber creative in putting this motif together. Originally, I lacked creativity because I didn’t know the first thing about decorating for a baby room. After doing a search on “baby nursery decor” I was blown away by the little worlds that people have created for their babies with the use of wall decals, cool paint and a hip modern style. And after seeing that, I DID want to have fun with wall decals like trees and her name in fancy font like what I found on Etsy.com, but my husband put the kibosh on that. He couldn’t get it out of his mind that the decals I was thinking about are not like stickers or something tacky – they were super freaking cute! But oh no, since we were paying to have the walls freshly painted, we weren’t going to be applying anything else to the walls besides picture frames. WHATEVER. FINE. Sometimes all that “out of the box” decorating creativity is intimidating anyway!
So together, we chose this cute bedding set from Babies R Us that is a jungle theme for girls. Jeff’s family has a thing for monkeys because apparently his dad used to look like one, so Jeff was in love with a girl room that incorporated monkeys. Great – this decision was easy and not too girly for him! The colors however, were not that easy to deal with when it came to painting the room. Originally, I wanted to avoid the traditional baby pink walls for girl rooms. But my new bedding was lilac, browns, olive green, and orange. A lilac room would really match well with what we had, so I decided on a two-toned painted room with lilac on top and beige on the bottom. So not all pink! We added a chair rail to break up the paint and crown molding along the ceiling for a nice finishing touch.
I’m really happy with the way it came out. Ya, I didn’t get my decals, but I think the room is really cute, comfy, and most important — practical. It’s my new favorite room in the house! And it smells like jasmine with one of those good smelling oil scent thingys with the sticks! I often just go in the room and sit on the glidder and rock back and forth imagining my little girl…
So without further ado…enjoy the baby nursery! (You can click on the image to enlarge!)
The bedding collection, crib, dresser, and glidder/ottoman set are from Babies R Us. The leaning shelf was purchased on Amazon.com. (I can’t remember the exact brand!)
by Courtney on July 11, 2011
Yum yum!!
A week ago when I got an invitation to attend a surprise bachelorette party for my friend this weekend, I was sure I’d have a baby by now. BUT, if for some god awful reason I was still preggers by the time the party rolled around, I figured the “live entertainment” – read: STRIPPER – would send me straight into labor! So I was all about it! I was told recently on Twitter that the key to having your water break and going into labor is to have someone make me laugh really hard. And what better occasion to be laughing my ass off than to watch some sweaty stripper rub his sock filled G-string all over the bride-to-be? This will be GREAT! I even told my husband it would be a good idea for him to drive me to the party and just wait in the car for when I’m being rushed out bent over in labor pain! Unfortunately, I had no such freaking luck.
During the pleasure party portion of the event, I struck up a nice conversation with one of the other ladies about having babies; her experience at the same hospital I’m delivery at, what to look out for, postpartum expectations, etc. We talked about the miracle of childbirth and how you’ll never love someone so much until you first hold your baby – all while passing dildos and bullets (if you don’t know, Google it) between us onto the next person in the circle!
Then it was time for the *entertainment*. I just prayed that no one got any ideas about pointing the stripper towards the pregnant girl for a lap dance or anything. Any time you’ve got a room full of women and a stripper, 9 times out of 10 the stripper will go for 1) the Bride and 2) the shy girl in the corner desperately avoiding eye contact – i.e. the PREGNANT GIRL! Because hey, it’s funny to watch people squirm right? Well sure enough, the stripper had to give preggo a little special attention. Ugh! I tried to smile through it, but when I saw the pictures that were of course snapped like the paparazzi during these 30 seconds of discomfort, my face looks like I just ate a mouth full of Sour Patch Kids! Ha! But despite mama’s discomfort, the baby seemed to be enjoying herself. The music that pounded through these massive speakers that the stripper brought in certainly replicated the feeling of being at da club and obvy little girl could hear it plain as day! She particularly liked the song “SHOTS” by LMFAO! Girlfriend was dancing all over the place in my tummy! Finally, 6 hours later, after waiting around to enjoy a piece of the vanilla, butter cream and fondant penis cake, I was on my way home. Still pregnant, no labor pains – just ringing ears.
I still have one week until my due date, so I should really save the drama filled “I’m still pregnant post” until I’m beyond my due date, but honestly, I just thought for sure I’d be a mama by now. Like I said; pretty much every single person I’ve talked to went early with their first baby, so I was sure the same would happen to me. Come to find out, it’s actually more common for first time moms to be on time or late in delivering their baby – not early. I must’ve just been talking to a lot of freaks of nature lucky women who went early.
Baby bump watch CONTINUES – week 39!
Pretty much all Babycenter.com says this week is that baby is just “waiting to greet the world.” But every day she’s just getting fatter to help control her body temperature after birth. Yet another reason I want to have the baby now – I don’t want to be on the evening news for birthing the largest baby in Contra Costa County! The good news is that at my 38 week doctor appointment last Friday there is some progress being made on the birthing front, so this is good. Now it’s just a matter of time.
Tomorrow night my husband and I have a dinner date at the local pizza parlor where apparently they have this “Preggo Pizza” that has been known to stimulate labor –with 43 documented success stories on their website of women giving birth the same day or next day after consuming this pizza concoction! In fact, my childbirth preparation instructor from a few weeks ago is among this crowed! She told us the story of the preggo pizza and how she was delivering her baby the next day! Crossing my fingers that this pizza can work its magic on me!! We’ll see!
Well, we did it. My first day back to work and Annabelle’s first day of day care is behind us. Thank God. I’d love to tell you that I was anxious about this day all for nothing and it all went swimmingly, but it didn’t. And if one of us had a bad day, I wish I could say it was me missing my daughter like crazy and she was just happy as a clam in her new setting. Unfortunately, she really struggled for a good portion of the day and my biggest fear came true – she wouldn’t take a bottle.
