July 27, 2005

Elaine was born. At 4:45am. She was my miracle baby. Not because we got pregnant with her (true that was a miracle too) but how she came, that was a true miracle, a total blessing. With Adele I was induced early for PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) basically REALLY high blood pressure. SO when I was 31 weeks and showing high blood pressure again my dr. put me on bedrest. And I stayed there for 8 weeks.

Adele was 2 years old, it was spring/summer and we BOTH were going crazy cooped up in that house but we did it. My dr. told me he'd induce at 38 weeks, when 38 weeks came my blood pressure was perfect. No problem at all. So he said he'd continue to wait. Which made me nervous. I REALLY didn't want to be induced for PIH because I knew i'd have to go onto magnesium again and that stuff is EVIL (I couldn't even focus my eyes for almost 48 hours after having Adele because of it). So we prayed and Matthew gave me a fantastic blessing saying that baby would come naturally. Which was.....not possible in my eyes. I'd HAVE to be induced early or i'd get high blood pressure. And dr. had set a date to induce me on Thursday July 28th. I'd be exactly 39 weeks.

So Tuesday July 26th came and I had a dr. appt with Heather the nurse practitioner. She checked me and stripped my membranes and told me I was having that baby that night. She had no doubt, I was ready to go on my own. I rolled my eyes and tried not to get my hopes up. But by the time I was walking to my car after our appt I was getting strong contractions and they were not going away.

Fast forward to 4:45am Wednesday morning. When I pushed out my 2nd daughter. My second miracle. A wonderful labor and delivery, problems whatsoever. She came out crying like a kitten. Soft and squeaky. She never outgrew the squeakiness. And cuddley! She loved to cuddle, and she never outgrew that either. Miracle #2, or I guess its miracle #3. She nursed. She nursed WELL. She didn't need a shield like Adele, she latched on like a total pro and never looked back (except for one horrific night). She nursed as often as she could for 12 months stopping....last week. At the exact time her Mommy was willing to give it up.


The past year has been wonderful, stressful, crazy, and perfect. I wouldn't ask this last year to be anything but it was. I have my little Lainey to show for it. :)

Sad

When you are SOOO excited when the 10 day forecast says 86....really its just pathetic.

Illness

Moms really do have it rough. Adele had her first fever this past week. (I do know i'm EXTREMELY lucky in this dept) So anyway she's 3 and has never been sick. She's never thrown up etc.. So she took it pretty hard when she wasn't feeling well. Walked around all day saying how she was sick and needed to sleep and needed her "get better bunny." She curled up in her blanket all day with 2 icepacks and her mommy answering to every whim or whimper. She also had to deal with mommy snapping pictures because she was so darn cute and Mommy wasn't used to having a little girl in this condition. But we made it through the day and she is not addicted to Children's Tylenol. Which she kept insisting to her one year old sister that it was good. "Medicine GOOD Elaine! Have it Have it!" She is my little cheerleader for medication. Good thing I was trying to get Elaine the drugs at the time. I have to make sure I put them WAY WAY out of reach from little grabbing hands. She took 4 naps that day, passed out cold in "Mama's chair" which I willingly gave up when she insisted she have it.

I was happy to do it, she's my sweet little baby and I do worship her...........most of the time.
(read below)









But the next day when I was feverish and dizzy? The next morning when it burned to swallow and my headache felt like 100 chipmunks were running around inside my head? This is what I got.


OH yeah HAPPY and ENERGETIC from her FOUR NAPS. So yes Mommy got shafted ladies and gents. SHAFTED. I didn't get to lay down with my blanket and nice cold drinks. If I laid down from delirium I got ATLEAST one kid jumping on me and if I was lucky the other one would just crawl over to me and play patty cake on my face. Yeah and dear old hubby?!? Where was he you may ask? I have no clue. But I do know this. He asked ME why Adele hadn't been fed dinner and HE'D been home the entire night. (k small rant over) so anyway yes. I love being a Mom. :) 

The Great Tomato Massacre of 2006

I've done it. My hands are covered in blood.......tomato plant blood. So really they are green and black....

Matthew planted 18 tomato plants, watered them......and thats about it. He's WAY busy with school at the moment so he asked if I would take them over. I'm thinking he also knew what had to be done and couldn't bring himself to do it. I had to hack branches off the overgrown beasts that were heavy with lovely green tomatoes. They were so huge that the plant was tipping over (even in cages) and breaking on its own. So I had to go out there with clippers and hack and hack and hack. I even found a nice red one in the middle of one overgrown bush!

Oh and I found an ENTIRE cucumber plant with 5 skinny scrawny cucumbers under another tomato plant. That should clue you into how HUGE these tomato plants were. The poor cucumbers were all skinny and sickly looking. From lack of light and water that the tomato plants sucked up.

And still my job is not yet done. I have 4 roma plants that have NO cages so they are just laying on the ground branches growing every which way.....thanks Matt.....grrrr. Anyway so I felt so bad cutting these plants branches off at first. But then I actually enjoyed it....i'm a morbid serial tomato killer!

Growing up

Elaine will be one year on the 27th. She is a baby in so many ways still. She still sucks her thumb, she refuses to stand on her own, she is still rear facing. But in other ways she's becoming a little toddler and its really hitting me hard!

We are now on day 2 of a nursing strike. I believe she's done. She just up and stopped nursing yesterday morning. She will have NOTHING to do with it. If she even SEE'S me unlatching my bra she starts screaming like i'm going to torture her.

So odd considering our last nursing session was so wonderful. It was late at night, probably 9pm. It was her normal session before bed. She nursed really well, was way into it and would even look up at me and smile with her eyes. She would pat me and play with my hair. Then on the next side she fell asleep and unlatched, rolled onto her back and laid there asleep blissfully full.

It was so adorable that I went and told Matthew about it after I laid her down. That night she slept all night long not waking for a earlymorning snack. When she woke up at 7am she wanted NOTHING to do with nursing and hasn't since. So after being in extreme pain i'm pumping and giving her milk in her sippy cup which she seems totally happy with.

Its strange how quickly and surely they show their independence. I know i'm being a good mother because she is so confident and sure of her self. She asserts her likes and dislikes and she is loving and affectionate. I love her so much. This last week she's gotten 2 teeth, she's learned to climb stairs (horrors!) and she is climbing into any basket she can find. Hard to imagine that a month ago she refused any type of movement except army crawling. She now pulls up quickly on everything and is cruising around, driving her sister (who used to put all of her special toys on the couch so Elaine couldn't get them) crazy.


But she and Adele are also having a ton of fun together. Yesterday afternoon they spent hours chasing eachother around and playing with the t.v. and with her exersaucer together. Nothing is better than hearing your girls giggle and scream together while you are cooking dinner. I am glad that Elaine is growing up, and I needed to type this all out so I can remember it fully. She's been such a wonderful baby and the highlight of my year. I remember how wonderfully happy I was when we realized she would nurse. How hard I struggled with the new pains of nursing. It was worth it. It was so worth it.

Its a girl thang

Am I the luckiest woman or what! Nothing is more fun than pretending with your 3 year old, and painting your babies toes. Its just too fun! 

You be the judge

So what do you think? Do you think we look like sisters?? Keep in mind that her skin ALWAYS looks like that. She has gorgeous tan skin. I'm see through in some light. And she's 5'4 and i'm 5'10. FYI. OH and I was blonde blonde up until friggin puberty hit. :)


























*please ignore my hunchbacked fat rolls...........thank you

Sisters

I have had a fanstastic week. My big sister came to visit. I loooooooove my big sister. If you looked at us you'd never think we were sisters (DANG IT I just remembered I didn't get any pics of us together!) But we have been best friends for as long as I can remember. She's 10 years older than me and I shared a room with her (well more like slept in her room, I had my own room) until she moved out when I was 10. She is the best big sister a gal could ask for. She even took me out on some of her dates when I was 7 and she was 17. She would take me to the beach with all of her friends. She took me to get my first makeup, she sat and listened to me bawl about my life in the parking lot of a Bank of America when I was 11, and she saved me from hair disasters by taking me to the best hair stylists she could find when I was a teenager.

She cried for me when she couldn't take away my pain, when she couldn't understand my pain, and when she couldn't take revenge on people who gave me pain. She is there for me when I really need her. She adores me and my family and makes me feel like I am the most beautiful funniest woman she knows. She has a hilarious laugh that makes you want to entertain her as much as possible just so she will laugh. Its this big bellowing hilarious laugh and if you are REALLY funny she'll even snort for you.

I'm a bit sad because tonight she's going home to Cali. And I won't see her again for about 6 months. It rips my heart out when she leaves. I adore her and her children, her children are my sweeties, my first babies, my pride and joy. I dream of someday living near her. Being able to do our monthly manicure/pedicures, going to lunch, even having a babysitter that I know worships my children. I know that dream will probably never happen. But we all have to have our fantasies don't we. :) So I love you sis. You are my inspiration, my hero, my example. I look up to you in all ways except literally (cuz you are a shorty). I love you.

Okay I'll play

Reply and fill in the blanks for me. Then repost on your blog (um..with YOUR name) and I'll do the same :p

Dear Sara,

I _____ you. You have a nice ______. You make me _______. You should _______. Someday I will ______. You + me = ________. If I saw you now I'd __________. I would build a _______ just for you. If I could sing you any song it would be _________. We could __________ under the stars.

Love, _______________
(P.S. ______________.)

Sharing sucks

you know, when you go the fairgrounds (or the 4th of July celebrations grounds like today) and they are selling something reallllly yummy. Like say funnelcakes. And the funnelcakes ain't cheap they are $4. So you only buy one cuz...........its $4!

Then you have to sit down and split it with your husband that you love and would usually do just about anything for. And you look across from you and your 3 year old is eyeing your funnel cake and making unnatural noises and pawing you for some. And you look to your right and your 1 year old is squealing and screeching and grabbing at your plate.......and you end up getting less than 1/4 of that cake because you are the Mom.....and unless you hide it first and run away with it, thats just whatcha gotta do.

School Widow

Yes I am a school widow. Funny since my husband is taking Independent Study courses...Funny since he's has ONE class left. But since he procrastinated guess who gets to go it alone for a month. ME.

So he put off this one class and HAS to finish it by the end of July. Its a Math class, well its Statistics which he insists is not a Math class. But it sounds like Math to me, so its Math. So I get to be a single Mom until then. School Widows out there, do you ever think its totally unfair that because your husband put off school work YOU are the one that has to pay for it? I mean all he has to do is pour over books and that stuff. But you are the one that has to take over all of the hard work that he would of helped out on. The kids 24/7, the house all by yourself, and then on top of that you are all alone. No adult conversation, No sleeping in the same bed with your husband because he gets home at 2am and goes back to work at 7am. Nada. It bites. But I will survive this. Its only a month right? Then he's DONE....until his Masters anyway.