So, for the past week or so, I've found myself thinking a lot about newborn babies and pregnancy. I think Jim and I want to wait until Penny's a year old before we start trying for #2. But I can't stop thinking about being pregnant again. I miss it. I miss my big round belly with a little baby inside. I miss walking around in cute dresses and leggings because that's all that will fit me. I miss wondering about who the little person inside me will be, who they'll look like, what kind of tiny personality they'll have.
I felt so good when I was pregnant. I'd never felt more beautiful and sexy and voluptuous. I mean, of course I had my bad days, but really, most of it was very enjoyable. Even my labor and delivery went well. I'm so grateful for it all, and I can't wait to do it again. I can only hope my next few pregnancies (because I want 3 or so kiddos! I know I'm insane!) go as smoothly as this one did.
I read other mommy blogs and am a member on BabyCenter.com so I see newly pregnant women all the time! It's killing me! Honestly though, I know I shouldn't allow myself to have baby fever. Penny's just 4 months old and it's just not possible nor feasible for us to get preggo with #2. NO NO NO MEREDITH! GET IT OUT OF YOUR HEAD WOMAN!
Ah, Penny's waking up from her nap. Gotta go!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
busy
Well, I haven't updated much because I've been really busy. The Valentine's Day weekend was full of family and friends, and it was really great!
Jim's parents came to visit us Saturday and Sunday. They hung out with us during the day and we ate Chinese food for dinner (it was sooooo yummy) and then they watched Penny for a few hours and Jim and I went to the mall and walked around for awhile. It was nice to get out of the house, just the two of us.
Sunday morning they came over and Jim's mom made us an amazing breakfast casserole and french toast and fresh orange juice. It's always a treat to have Jim's mom cook for us, she definitely knows her way around the kitchen!
Then I had to work, so they headed home. So I worked and then my best friend Mikaela and her 3 year old son Sullivan came over for the night. I missed them so much and so I was really happy to have them here to visit. I made us dinner Sunday night (Basil Pesto Chicken and angel hair pasta = OMFG SO GOOD) and then Monday we went to the larger mall in town and spent a few hours hanging out and letting Sullivan play at the play place. It was a really nice way to spend the day together. I miss her so much!
Here are some of the best pics of the weekend:
Penny and her proud Grandparents!
Smiley girl with her Grandma!
Me and my best friend, Mikaela (this is now one of my favorite pics of us)
Sullivan sitting on a mushroom, I just love his face in this one!
Sullivan getting ready to JUMP!
Penny laughing it up with Aunt Mickey
Penny's got her Valentine's Day party headband on!
Jim's parents came to visit us Saturday and Sunday. They hung out with us during the day and we ate Chinese food for dinner (it was sooooo yummy) and then they watched Penny for a few hours and Jim and I went to the mall and walked around for awhile. It was nice to get out of the house, just the two of us.
Sunday morning they came over and Jim's mom made us an amazing breakfast casserole and french toast and fresh orange juice. It's always a treat to have Jim's mom cook for us, she definitely knows her way around the kitchen!
Then I had to work, so they headed home. So I worked and then my best friend Mikaela and her 3 year old son Sullivan came over for the night. I missed them so much and so I was really happy to have them here to visit. I made us dinner Sunday night (Basil Pesto Chicken and angel hair pasta = OMFG SO GOOD) and then Monday we went to the larger mall in town and spent a few hours hanging out and letting Sullivan play at the play place. It was a really nice way to spend the day together. I miss her so much!
Here are some of the best pics of the weekend:
Miss Penny has begun holding her bottle!
Penny and her proud Grandparents!
Smiley girl with her Grandma!
Me and my best friend, Mikaela (this is now one of my favorite pics of us)
Sullivan sitting on a mushroom, I just love his face in this one!
Sullivan getting ready to JUMP!
Penny laughing it up with Aunt Mickey
Penny's got her Valentine's Day party headband on!
All in all, it was a fabulous weekend!
Penny has been a ton of fun lately. She's beginning to realize that she has a voice, her favorite thing to say, especially when upset about something is "um gee" and Jim and I just love it. We eat up all her cuteness. So far, 4 months has been my favorite age. She's sleeping through the night finally, and omg does she sleep! 10 hours usually! It's insane. I kinda feel like someone is going to jump out at me and say "haha! all that sleep wasn't real! this is all a dream!" My body doesn't really know what to do with all this sleep. I've been used to the 3-4 hours at a time, wake up, feed her, go back to bed for another 3-4 hours thing. Now I don't need to wake up? This is weird.
**Warning, this next few paragraphs is about breastfeeding (oooooh scary!)**
Lately my milk production hasn't been so great. Penny hasn't been very satisfied after a feeding (from both sides) and I've tried everything. Drinking more water, taking fenugreek, pumping more too, etc...Nothing has helped. I think my boobs have just kind of had it. Which kills me, but at the same time, I've been worried about Penny's growth.
The doc wasn't worried that she only gained 8 oz from the end of December til now, but I am. She was growing like a weed until now! I just worry that not only was she not getting enough, but that I'm to blame for her not growing properly. Her pediatrician just said, we'll see how it goes at 6 months, then we'll see if we need to do anything about it and that some babies are just tiny. Well, part of me thinks that that whole conversation made my milk stop working so I'd have to get her formula, and sure enough, we did. I gotta make sure she's getting enough food, ya know? She's not the type of baby to cry when she's hungry, unless she's STARVING, but if she's got a little bit in her belly, she's content. So I never knew she wasn't really getting enough. But when I make her a 6-7 oz formula bottle, she guzzles it down.
UGH. I feel a bit like a failure. I wanted to breastfeed for a long time, and I still do, just not for every feeding. Usually just a couple times a day now. I'm going to at least do that as long as my body will let me.
Anyways, here are some cute pics. :-)
**Warning, this next few paragraphs is about breastfeeding (oooooh scary!)**
Lately my milk production hasn't been so great. Penny hasn't been very satisfied after a feeding (from both sides) and I've tried everything. Drinking more water, taking fenugreek, pumping more too, etc...Nothing has helped. I think my boobs have just kind of had it. Which kills me, but at the same time, I've been worried about Penny's growth.
The doc wasn't worried that she only gained 8 oz from the end of December til now, but I am. She was growing like a weed until now! I just worry that not only was she not getting enough, but that I'm to blame for her not growing properly. Her pediatrician just said, we'll see how it goes at 6 months, then we'll see if we need to do anything about it and that some babies are just tiny. Well, part of me thinks that that whole conversation made my milk stop working so I'd have to get her formula, and sure enough, we did. I gotta make sure she's getting enough food, ya know? She's not the type of baby to cry when she's hungry, unless she's STARVING, but if she's got a little bit in her belly, she's content. So I never knew she wasn't really getting enough. But when I make her a 6-7 oz formula bottle, she guzzles it down.
UGH. I feel a bit like a failure. I wanted to breastfeed for a long time, and I still do, just not for every feeding. Usually just a couple times a day now. I'm going to at least do that as long as my body will let me.
Anyways, here are some cute pics. :-)
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
For the second book off of my #75 friend recommended book list, I chose to read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
Well, I'd certainly seen the movie. I used to watch it over and over when I was a kid. I loved it, I loved the story, I loved how Dorothy was this meek little girl who ended up being strong and independent and stood up for herself, I loved that each of her friends brought their own little lesson to the story. I loved the witch, I loved everything. I even had a pair of ruby slippers when I was a kid, although in the book they're silver. They made them ruby in the movie because it's much more appealing to the eye, ya know?
The book I had never read before, not even once. I didn't know it was a chapter book and I had no idea how different it was from the movie. The main bits and characters are there, but there was so much left out from the movie and a few things changed around. The flying monkeys for example, they're actually good guys in the book! I had no idea!
I decided to read it to Penny, just to see if she'd tolerate me reading to her that much. And the first night alone she let me get through 38 pages of it before drifting off to her own little Emerald City. And then every night after I would read it to her until she fell asleep and she would lay with me and look at the pictures and be attentive and she seemed to really enjoy it. I can't wait to read it to her again when she's a little older and can ask questions and get into the story more. And I can't wait to watch the movie with her too!
So then I thought, wow, I really do love this story. I really enjoyed it and plan on reading it again. It made me fall in love with it all over again. :-) I think it might be cute to do a kid's room with a wizard of oz theme, so I decided to check out what Etsy had to offer that was W.o.O. related and I found some cute stuff!
These totally adorable modern take on the ruby slippers (even though in the book they're actually silver!)
And then I thought, maybe Penny could be Dorothy for Halloween next year? Guess what I found? THESE. 
So cute. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read it again to Penny when she's a little bit older. I hope she loves it as much as I do! And now I'm going to start A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
Monday, February 7, 2011
4 months old and other things
laughing at nothing in particularPenelope is 4 months old today. She is 17 weeks and 4 days old. I cannot believe how fast the time has flown. She is now rolling over from back to front, and can hold up her head pretty well now, for a few minutes at a time. See?
She was watching hockey with her daddyShe's growing up so fast. I try to take pictures everyday so that I can capture every moment of her. I don't ever want to forget her like this. I love this age. She's finally *really* seeing things and grabbing things and smiling and starting to laugh a little. She also does this little dance with her legs that we warmly refer to as "the baby shuffle" and likes to yell while watching hockey with her daddy.
I can only imagine what kind of comments I'll have about myself in this picture 18 years from now. Penny looks lovely though, her little chubby cheeks!Her 4 month appointment is Wednesday, so I'll get to find out just how big she is. I think that she's got to be around 15 lbs or almost. She's getting SO big! Also, she's TALL! She's got these long legs and seems to stretch out for forever. I'm not looking forward to the shots, since those are never fun for anyone. I feel so bad for her. Poor thing. But I think Hubby will get to go this time too, so he can console us both because I know I'll cry with her. I did at the 2 month appointment. haha
I've recently started working again. It's part-time for now but will hopefully turn into more closer to full-time as we need the $$ right now. But honestly, working again makes me feel really happy. I never thought I'd miss it but I really do. It's nice that I can work from home, I feel lucky that this opportunity fell into my lap!
Lately I've been dealing with some weird health issues. My left thumb went numb about 2.5 weeks ago, then my right ring and pinky fingers are numb, and now for the past week my right foot has been numb and is getting harder to walk on. My left foot has a slight tingly-ness to it, but isn't quite numb yet. I've been to my doctor and he's referring me to a Neurologist this week. I'm hoping I can get in to see her ASAP because I really just want some answers. I'd really love to know that I have some pinched nerves and just need physical therapy and not that I have a tumor or something awful. My doctor mentioned the word neurologist and I started tearing up, I was hoping it would just be poor circulation or a slipped disc in my back or something, but it's not. Now I have to go see a neurologist and pray that I'm ok, that this is fixable and that I'm not about to get some terrible diagnosis. I think my biggest worries circle around me not being around for Penny. Even typing that sentence is scary. Maybe I'm overreacting, but not having fully functioning limbs is scary, no, it's terrifying. Every day it's getting more noticeable and a little bit worse, mostly in my right foot.
Even worse, our financial future is depending on what my health issue is. Whether I just need physical therapy or if it's a tumor and I need surgery, our health insurance is up in 10 days and we have to either switch to a cheaper insurance with less coverage and a MUCH higher deductible or sign up for crazy expensive Cobra to continue our current insurance. This is INCREDIBLY stressful, because if we do the Cobra, we have to break our lease and move back in with my parents. Even if we don't do the Cobra, that's still a possibility.
Things are pretty stressful at the moment. I won't lie, I'm pretty nervous about a lot. I've bitten off all my damn fingernails because I'm so nervous. I'm scared for our future, I'm scared for Jim, I'm scared for Penny. I'm scared for me. All I know is, I need to fight so I can be here for this wonderful little girl:
Lately I've been dealing with some weird health issues. My left thumb went numb about 2.5 weeks ago, then my right ring and pinky fingers are numb, and now for the past week my right foot has been numb and is getting harder to walk on. My left foot has a slight tingly-ness to it, but isn't quite numb yet. I've been to my doctor and he's referring me to a Neurologist this week. I'm hoping I can get in to see her ASAP because I really just want some answers. I'd really love to know that I have some pinched nerves and just need physical therapy and not that I have a tumor or something awful. My doctor mentioned the word neurologist and I started tearing up, I was hoping it would just be poor circulation or a slipped disc in my back or something, but it's not. Now I have to go see a neurologist and pray that I'm ok, that this is fixable and that I'm not about to get some terrible diagnosis. I think my biggest worries circle around me not being around for Penny. Even typing that sentence is scary. Maybe I'm overreacting, but not having fully functioning limbs is scary, no, it's terrifying. Every day it's getting more noticeable and a little bit worse, mostly in my right foot.
Even worse, our financial future is depending on what my health issue is. Whether I just need physical therapy or if it's a tumor and I need surgery, our health insurance is up in 10 days and we have to either switch to a cheaper insurance with less coverage and a MUCH higher deductible or sign up for crazy expensive Cobra to continue our current insurance. This is INCREDIBLY stressful, because if we do the Cobra, we have to break our lease and move back in with my parents. Even if we don't do the Cobra, that's still a possibility.
Things are pretty stressful at the moment. I won't lie, I'm pretty nervous about a lot. I've bitten off all my damn fingernails because I'm so nervous. I'm scared for our future, I'm scared for Jim, I'm scared for Penny. I'm scared for me. All I know is, I need to fight so I can be here for this wonderful little girl:
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
#9 - Try a new recipe each month
February 2011 - Bruschetta Chicken Bake
Ingredients:
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 package (6 oz) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for chicken
1/2 cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders
1 cup Kraft shredded low-moisture part-skim Mozzarella Cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Place tomatoes with their liquid in medium bowl.
3. Add stuffing mix, water, and garlic to bowl with tomatoes.
4. Stir until stuffing mix is moistened. Set aside
5. Place chicken in 13x9 baking dish, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
6. Top chicken with stuffing mixture.
7. Bake for 25 minutes
Scrumtrillescent Things - February
First up, This GORGEOUS wedding hair piece. If I had found this before I decided on my birdcage veil and two flowers, I probably would've used this along with it. So beautiful!
This pretty love puzzle ring. I usually can't stand silver and gold together, but this is a nice mix, not too gold, ya know?
This zombie valentine had me cracking up.
I think it's perfect for any couple who has a morbid sense of humor. love it.
I think it's perfect for any couple who has a morbid sense of humor. love it.
I'm usually not a lingerie kind of gal, but these are super cute.
For anyone who knows me, this adorable cupcake plate is something I neeeeeeed to have.
For someone having a February baby girl, this beautiful knit cocoon makes for a great photography prop!
I would like to learn how to make these for Penelope, because well, I think they're adorable. trendy schmendy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)