Epidural = Best Invention EVER

i'm sure you've all been anxiously awaiting a post about me and max, but i've been so completely consumed by him for the past 9 days that i haven't found any time until now (he's napping in his bouncer and probably won't wake up until around 11:30). isn't he cute? i love that he still likes his hands up by his face, just like in all the ultrasounds.


















first off, i highly recommend getting an epidural to anyone who gives birth. i spent about an hour and a half feeling the pain get worse before asking for it. well, that's not really true. my nurse told me they could give me something through my IV before the pain got really bad, then we could call the anesthesiologist for my epidural. well, i took the pain meds through the IV, and all it did was make me sleepy - and the contractions still hurt way too bad for me to sleep through them. which sucked. really, i think the pain would have been more bearable if the contractions were more than 2 minutes apart right from the start. as soon as dr. g. broke my water, things started moving FAST. so anyway, i asked for the epidural, which i got around 9:45, and i felt absolutely no pain after that. i got a walking epidural instead of the regular variety (basically just a lower dose of the drugs), so i could still feel and move my legs, though my left one was a little tingly. by the time i got the epidural my contractions were coming every minute. this was probably because of the pitocin that was used to induce my labor, which they ended up cutting off completely after about another hour (it was making the contractions too intense). so basically, all the pitocin did was get things moving. it was started at about 6:30 a.m., dr. g. broke my water at 7:30 a.m., and max arrived in the world screaming his bloody head off at 1:32 p.m. after exactly 3 contractions worth of pushing (about 5-10 minutes).

chad was really freaked out by how fast things went. dr. g. came in to check my progress about 1:15, then all of a sudden they were moving in a delivery table and taking apart my bed to prep for max's arrival. then we were pushing (but not for very long), and i didn't feel a thing. and suddenly we had a baby. i'm pretty sure chad was in shock. he said he needed a little more warning. i mean, we were fully expecting not to have a baby until late into the night, but things just went so quickly. then dr. g. stitched me up and took care of me while chad went over to the other side of the room where they were cleaning max up and weighing and measuring him (7 lbs, 7 oz, 20.5 inches). then the baby nurse handed max over to his daddy, who held him while dr. g. was finishing up with me. then chad handed max over to me once my bed was all in order, and we had a nice little family moment. we spent about an hour, just the three of us, learning how to breast feed, and just marveling at this little person we made. then chad started making phone calls and we let his parents come in to meet their grandson. deva and vanessa were also there to greet max on his first day in the world. then they whisked max off to the nursery for an hour or so for tests. but they brought him back right away. both days we were in the hospital, max was pretty much chillin' in my room, which i loved. every time they took him off to the nursery for something, they brought him right back.

my mom, sister, aunt, and brother arrived later on that afternoon (my sis had a CAT scan that day in preparation for her tonsilectomy) to spend some time with us. then we brought max home last wednesday. i'm not gonna lie, it hasn't been easy, what with having to feed him every 2-3 hours and figure out to sleep somehow at the same time. the past few nights, chad and i have been doing shift sleeping. i've been pumping bottles for chad to feed max while i sleep for a few hours, then i stay up with max and chad goes to sleep. max refuses to sleep in his crib. he does pretty well in his bouncer, though, so i think we're just going to try letting him sleep in the bouncer in our room. this shift sleeping thing isn't going to work for us next week when chad has to go back to work. we're trying to gradually get max used to sleeping in his crib, but so far he's only lasted about half an hour at a time in there. hopefully moving the bouncer into our room and letting him sleep there will work out for us.

ok, the little guy is waking up now, and he needs a diaper. i have so much more to say about him, and hopefully i'll find some time soon.

This Is So Not Right

dudes (and dudettes), i live in the south. the extremely deep south. which means that once in a blue moon in january we will have low temperatures in the 20's and highs in the 40's (as opposed to our usual lows in the 40's and highs in the upper 50's to low 60's or warmer). but we should NEVER experience a high temperature of 39 degrees. if i wanted to live in a climate with high temperatures barely above freezing, i would move up north (to like, tennessee or virginia). but i LIKE it warm. and i don't like the fact that is currently 37 degrees and raining, and it's not getting any warmer today. blah.

The End Is Near

so i just got back from the doctor (well, i made a few phone calls before i logged on here), and max's birthday is all set to be monday (martin luther king day)! yay! i'm so stoked about it, in case you can't tell. i am so ready to have him be on the outside, it's not even funny.

today's ultrasound looked really good. max decided to let us have a look at his cute little baby cheeks today instead of just his cute little baby back, and he looks suitably plump and cute, even on a fuzzy ultrasound. he weighs approximately 7 pounds 12 ounces, though the sonographer did say that ultrasounds tend to overestimate the weight a wee bit. but dr. g. says that 7 lbs 12 oz is just about perfect. sounds ok to me. i would be worried if he were over 8.5 lbs, but 7.5 to 8 lbs is fine with me. he's still measuring a few days behind where i actually am in my pregnancy (he measured 38 weeks 4 days today, but i am actually 39 weeks 0 days), but he's a good weight, he moves a lot, and he appears to be just fine. and he's going to be born on monday! unless i go into labor before then, which dr. g. says is definitely a possibility.

as it stands, i have to go to the hospital sunday night at 7:30, when they will give me something to help dilate my cervix and possibly start some contractions, though i am assured that any contractions at that point will be very mild, and i should be able to sleep through them. then first thing monday morning (6 a.m.), a nurse will wake me up, and i can get up and shower and stuff (thank god, because not showering makes me feel really icky). then around 8:00 a.m. dr. g. will come in and check on me and probably go ahead and break my water and start me on oxytocin to get the contractions going. so we will have a baby sometime on monday. once again, yay!

Stupid Blood Pressure...

as you may know, i went back to dr. g. yesterday so she could check on my progress with this whole baby thing. the news was pretty much the same - 1 cm dilated, but this time i'm about 50% effaced (i.e., my cervix is halfway thinned out), so i am making some progress, however slow it may be. my blood pressure was 158/90, which is bad, and i'm getting headaches pretty frequently (a symptom of high blood pressure - up until the last few days, i haven't had any symptoms). i'm also swelling up a lot, especially when i go to the lab.

so, taking all of that into account, dr. g. doesn't want to let me go the usual two weeks past my due date before they induce labor. she wants to see me in her office again on friday, and she wants me to have another ultrasound to get a biophysical profile of the baby. then we're going to schedule a day to induce next week. when i left her office yesterday, dr. g. and one of her nurses were checking her calendar for a day for me to deliver next week. we will schedule it on friday.

dr. g. actually said that if i'd been 2 or 3 cm dilated, she would have brought me back in yesterday, and we would most likely have had a baby by now. but alas, i was not. dr. g. definitely wants me to deliver soon (so do i, duh), and neither of us wants me to have a c-section (the very thought scares the crap out of me). since i'm still not very dilated (the first 3 cm of dilation can take two to three weeks and go largely unnoticed except by a doctor or midwife), dr. g. also decided to strip the membranes on my cervix to try to speed things along. i must say, that was a little painful (though i'm sure it's nothing compared to actual labor), and so far nothing has happened. i don't think dr. g. expected me to go into labor between yesterday and friday, though. i think she mainly stripped the membranes to try to get me dilated a little more before we induce next week. the point is, no matter what, max will arrive before his due date (which is next friday).

chad's a little bit concerned about this scheduled induction thing, mostly because of my strong desire for privacy. he's sure that as soon as we tell his parents when we're scheduled to induce, they'll rush right over to the hospital, never mind that they will most likely be sitting there in the waiting room for anywhere from 8-24 hours or more. and of course, they'll want to see me. i absolutely refuse to have anyone in the delivery room except chad, and i'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of visitors while i'm in the middle of painful contractions... or while i'm drowsy from the epidural and just want to nap. i've had this discussion with my mom, and she is not surprised by my desire for privacy (she's had 25 years to figure me out, after all). i want to have our families there shortly after the baby arrives, but i don't want them rushing in right after the baby's born. i'd like to have at least a few minutes with max before a flock of family members rushes in and snatches him away. and it's basically going to be up to chad to make sure i get what i want in this situation. he thinks it would be much easier to keep people out of the room if he could just call them when we get to the hospital (at which time, i would theoretically be a few hours into labor, and it would take 1.5 to 2 hours for our people to make it to the hospital). and he's probably right. but i don't know why we can't just tell them what time we're scheduled to induce and then have them come to the hospital 6-8 hours later. we can always keep them updated with phone calls. so i'm not sure how this is going to work. i guess if they're ok with potentially spending the night in a hospital waiting room, i'm ok with it too, as long as i don't have to keep being bitchy and kicking people out of the room. i guess some people want a whole herd of supporters around while they're in labor, but i am SO NOT one of those people. just so you know. i want my family and friends to be there to see our baby, but i really DO NOT want them around for the messy and uncomfortable parts.

Dear Max...

dear max,

please come a little earlier than your EDD (that's estimated date of delivery in pregnancy-speak). you see, you really need to be here before january 28 because that's going to be a pretty hectic week in the family. your lovely aunt sammi (your mom's baby sister) is having surgery that day. see, she's been staying really sick lately, and the specialist is not willing to wait until her spring break to take her tonsils out. so your nana will be a little preoccupied that week feeding sammi ice cream and popsicles.

also, your grandpa has to go for jury duty on january 28, and i know he really wants to be here to greet you after you come into the world.

so, do your relatives (and your parents) a favor, and arrive ASAP, ok?

love,
your mom

Waiting Game

and i'm so not good at waiting. at my doctor's appointment last week, i was informed that at this point we're pretty much just waiting for me to go into labor. max has reached full term (though my due date is still 2.5 weeks away) and would be perfectly healthy if he were born right this minute. he probably weighs about 7-7.5 pounds right now (he was 6 lbs. 12 oz. at my ultrasound last week), and i am SO READY for him to come out of my uterus and into the world. however, dr. g. was not so encouraging as far as telling us that max will arrive any minute. her exact words were "you still have a lot of work to do on your cervix." she used those same words at my appointment yesterday, though she did say that i'm 1 cm dilated. which is pretty much nothing, but it's better than last week. she also gave me copies of my medical history sheets to give to the labor and delivery nurse when we finally do have to go to the hospital.

i'm considering cutting back my hours at work a little sooner than i'd planned. i had originally planned to work my 20 hours per week at DISL and still do HPLC on my own stuff two days per week right up until max is born. however, i am now thinking that might not be such a good idea. my blood pressure is staying pretty high these days, and my feet and ankles are now pretty much swollen all the time - but the swelling somehow manages to get even worse when i go to the lab, despite my sitting around with my feet up on a stool while i pick samples and stare into a microscope. sounds like a pretty low-key job, right? you'd think so, but i am the queen of finding ways to injure myself, and yesterday was a doozy in that department. i pretty much tried to cut off a finger or two when capping a little teeny glass sample vial. that takes a special kind of talent, right?

here's what happened - i spent all day picking the little critters out of a sample of benthic material from the delta and sorting them into vials of alcohol. i labeled all the vials and was putting caps on them when one decided that instead of getting a lid put on it, it wanted to shatter into zillions of pieces right as i was pressing the cap down on it. so, picture my fingers holding a little plastic cap about a centimeter in diameter and pressing down onto a little glass vial as it shatters. then picture shards of glass slicing into the side of my right hand ring finger to the left of the fingernail and gouging out a chunk of skin while a different shard of glass slices up my thumb. now imagine all my lab mates freaking out a tad as a i drip blood down the hall on the way to the bathroom to rinse the cuts out (can't have little pieces of glass stuck in there, you know). in their defense, i was bleeding pretty profusely, so some of their freaking out was justified. so katy and susan came into the bathroom to check on me, and i sent katy off for neosporin, gauze, and medical tape (believe me, band-aids just wouldn't suffice at that point) while susan volunteered to clean up the blood i'd dripped down the hall. i wrapped my cut and bleeding fingers in paper towels, and charlie went for ice. then katy came back and bandaged up my finger and thumb with neosporin-covered gauze, and i propped my arm up on the counter with my hand pointing up and tried to simultaneously keep ice and pressure on the bleeding wounds. a fair amount of blood managed to soak through the gauze on my finger, and katy changed the bandage for me before i left work for my doctor's appointment. i sat there with ice and pressure on the cuts for about 40 minutes before i had to leave for the doctor's office, and i was still bleeding when we changed the bandages before i left. it was pretty gross. the bleeding had stopped by the time i got home from my doctor's appointment and exchanged the gauze for regular band-aids. i did make my finger bleed again last night when i cleaned it out with peroxide before changing the band-aids again. and now it hurts pretty bad. and i'm sure it will for a long time. i think i'll have to go out later to by more band-aids, since i'm almost down to the really tiny and oddly-shaped ones in my variety box.

on a less bloody and gruesome subject, chad and i finished the nursery last week. i would have posted pictures then, but as you are aware, my internet was not working. so you can look at them now and get all those bloody images out of your head.


standing in the doorway of the nursery















the crib/changing table with the sweet wall decorations
















the crib bedding and mobile
















the corner behind the changing table with the diaper stacker, bookshelf, diaper champ, and laundry basket (it's full of new clothes that need to be washed before max wears them)




















the changing table has convenient drawers and shelves for storing clothes, burp cloths, and extra diapers and wipes




















the corner with my sweet rocking chair




















the nursery is all ready to go. now we just need the baby to put in it. you hear that, max?

Philadelphia goaltender stops 54 shots in victory

so, why doesn't antero niittymaki get more starts in net for the flyers when he has games like this? i'm sure you all know how i feel about this guy (i pretty much love him), but for some reason martin biron has been getting all the love this season, even after playing rather poorly in several consecutive games at times. with the two absolutely phenomenal games niitty has played in his last two starts, i'm wondering if he'll be playing in atlanta on tuesday. after all, his career stats against the thrashers are leaps and bounds better than biron's, and he's playing amazing hockey these days. i guess we shall see.

AT&T Sucks

first things first, i will wish everyone a happy new year (belatedly) and vanessa a happy birthday (it was yesterday). i would have done this much sooner, but at&t conspired against me. bastards. see, our phone (and thus our dsl) went out monday night (new year's eve) and was just repaired this morning. i also had issues with it last friday, if you recall, but they fixed it when i called that time. but when i reported the problem on new year's day, nothing was done and my report was ignored. i didn't really expect it to get fixed on new year's day, but i thought that surely someone would check it out on wednesday. however, i was mistaken. despite my leaving contact information, no one ever called to let me know what was wrong with our phone line or tell me if and when someone would come to our house to check it out. so on thursday i called AGAIN to see what was up - and those bastards told me the problem was with our equipment (not true, btw) not their system. which means that they just don't do anything? that's nuts. especially since the automated reporting system just tells you that if they send a technician out and the problem is with your system only they'll charge you $85 to fix it. they also ask for contact information just in case this is true so that the technician can get in touch with you. so i was expecting a phone call at the very least but got nothing.

anyway, we unplugged absolutely everything in our house from the phone lines and then chad disconnected our house from the line outside. and we called our phone number. and got a busy signal. on a line that was not in any way connected to anything in our house. obviously, the problem was NOT with our equipment. so chad called them back this time and told them that they'd better send someone over to fix it ASAP and credit our bill for the 5 days of service they didn't deliver or they'd be losing a customer. so they told him they would send someone out this morning. we never saw or talked to anyone (which we should have only had to do if they had to come inside the house), but our phone line and dsl are working once again. but at&t and their shitty customer service still suck.

The World Is Full of Surprises

wow. this has been a very surprising weekend, hockey-wise. first, the ice pilots really made a game of it against the league-leading texas wildcatters friday night (though the 4-1 loss wouldn't suggest that), managed to pull out an overtime win against florida last night in a very exciting game, and lost by just one goal tonight, taking a really crappy game after two periods and making it exciting in the end. overall, this weekend was the best i've seen them play all year (we missed their most phenomenal game of the season wednesday night against mississippi)... and this crappy team has won 3 of their last 5 games. impressive for them. and i'm really digging the new guy, jason bloomingburg. and the not-so-new-anymore guy, bryan esner. i was really stoked when we got him from south carolina, and that trade seems to be paying off. both of these guys are very small in stature (don't let that 5' 11" claim by bloomingburg fool you - he might be 5' 8"... but boy did he kick dan collins's much larger ass in their fight tonight), but they have really great energy.

so after spending much of the weekend in pensacola, i came home tonight to this headline on at&t's hockey page. i never thought i would see 'hatcher leads flyers past' anyone. he is SO NOT a scorer (as his diminutive 80 goals in 1,022 career games will attest)... and he's not that awesome a defenseman, either, if you ask me. but i am quite glad that the flyers pulled out the win over florida. i am also happy to see antero niittymaki finally getting some love - and that he posted a shutout. he should really get more playing time than he does, even if martin biron has established himself as the no. 1 goalie in philadelphia.

Christmas Photos

the christmas tree with all the gifts at my aunt jo's house















chad and i are chillin' on the couch before the gift-opening madness begins















my little sis opening her big, huge present...




















a sparkly pink electric guitar!




















sammi's dog tinkerbell likes to snuggle up with mom















unfortunately, i don't have any cute baby pics, since dylan didn't arrive until after 9:00 p.m. on christmas day, after chad and i had gone home (we had to work, yo). :(

but just you wait. next year, there will be ALL KINDS of cute baby pics. damien will have dylan christmas morning (he'll be 3 by then, so not exactly a baby, but he'll still be adorable), plus we'll have max (hopefully, we'll have max really soon 'cause i'm REALLY tired of being pregnant)! yay babies!

Craft-y Books

i have had this book for a while now, but i just now felt the need to express to the internet how much i love it - mostly because i haven't had a whole lot of time lately to do anything crafty. it has great illustrated instructions for different knitting techniques, and the patterns included in it are really cute. i am currently working on the crib blanket from this book, and i think it's going to turn out really well. there's also a pattern for a really cute wrap cardigan that i want to try (whenever i get a chance).














winter always makes me want to knit up a storm, and i am also in the process of teaching myself to crochet using this book. i find knitting much easier, but i plan to continue with the crochet thing as well. so far, the only thing i've managed to crochet is a sock for my camera. it turned out pretty well. maybe someday soon i'll master something other than single chain crochet (which i really still haven't mastered). hopefully, this book (which i have ordered from amazon but haven't yet received) will help with that. i've heard good things about it.
















another book that i've been wanting for a long time but just now bought is one skein wonders. i have a ton of leftover balls of yarn from other projects, and i'm lacking ideas for how to use them. you can only make so many scarves, you know?

on a different note, i do plan to post a few christmas photos, but my phone line is being bitchy today, and i'll have to wait until my connection is more reliable to upload photos. for some reason, we are only getting a dial tone intermittently, and that is screwing with my dsl something fierce. so not only is my dsl not working right half the time, but i can't even use the back-up dial-up service. i have put in a call to at&t, and hopefully they will resolve the issue soon.

Bizarre Dreams

i know they say that when you're pregnant you tend to have some bizarre dreams, but this is ridiculous. i'm pretty sure that pregnancy-induced dreams are supposed to be about the baby or childbirth. true, i have had some baby-related dreams, but they've all been normal - about what life will be like once the baby arrives. i've had no weird 'i'm going to give birth to a monster' dreams.

over the past couple of nights i've been having really strange dreams that have absolutely nothing to do with babies. the night before last i dreamed that chad was friends with tom brady and i was trying to get him to go on a date with vanessa on her birthday. that totally came out of the blue. vanessa's birthday is coming up pretty soon, and she is a fan of tom brady, but still. i have no idea where that came from.

then last night i dreamed that i was a gummi bear caught in a tale of espionage while the theme song from the disney cartoon played on a loop in my head. i don't remember the details, but there was definitely a scene in the dream in which i downed some gummiberry juice and barely escaped death by some weird plunger-like bomb by bouncing the hell out of there. i can't even tell you how long it's been since i've even thought about that show, which i did watch pretty fanatically when i was a kid.

bizarre, i say. bizarre.

Getting in the Mood...

for christmas! last night i decided to bake and decorate sugar cookies while i watched the holiday again (gotta love those post-thanksgiving $3.98 dvd's). this weekend i'm going to try a gingerbread cookie recipe that katy gave me... and probably also make more sugar cookies to take over to the 'rents when we head over there for the standard christmas festivities.
































after baking up a storm, i decided to take a photo of our wee tiny christmas tree with all the gifts under it. actually, a couple of gifts aren't there anymore, and one hasn't made its way under the tree yet, but you get the idea.





















some gifts have already made their way to their recipients. vanessa, deva, chad, and i had dinner at outback sunday night and exchanged christmas gifts there since we won't see each other again until after the holiday (well, we won't see deva or vanessa until after christmas - chad and i see each other all the time since we're, you know, married and all). here's what i scored:

from deva
















from vanessa















from chad.















this was not a gift i received at outback (we bought it at wal-mart earlier that day), and it was not a surprise, but it is what i wanted for christmas - a coffee pot that i cannot shatter into a thousand pieces while i am washing it in the kitchen sink. i think that makes it worth the $60.

Have I Mentioned Lately...

that i am SO OVER this whole being pregnant thing? because i am. i have gained a whopping 26 pounds so far, with most of those being concentrated in my middle. and it SUCKS. all the baby books have been talking about swelling and ways to deal with or avoid it for the past couple of months, and i've pretty much been like, "what are they talking about? my ankles are fine." but for the past couple of weeks? my feet and ankles look like freakin' balloons at the end of the day. not to mention the back strain that all that extra weight on the front causes. and bending over? not gonna happen. when i try it feels like all my guts are getting squeezed up where my lungs are supposed to be. and the baby is now big enough to simultaneously press against my hip bone and my rib cage when he feels like it. which is weird. but it's pretty cool (and reassuring) when he moves around in there.

my last doctor's appointment was friday morning, and my blood pressure was high again (156/80), but nothing else looks weird, so dr. g. has still pretty much concluded that as long as i don't have any other symptoms, my wacky bp isn't a big deal. my next appointment is new year's eve. we'll get another ultrasound then to get an idea of how big the baby is. the baby books say he should be between 5 and 5.5 pounds right now (and that in two more weeks he should weigh 6 - 6.5 pounds), but he's been a little smaller than the books' estimates every time they've measured him so far. we shall see, i guess. after new year's eve, i'll being seeing dr. g. every week until max is (finally) born. while i am a bit nervous about the actual labor and delivery part of this, i am looking forward to the moment all that is over, my body is once again my own, i can bend over comfortably, and we have a baby to show off.

Another Hurdle Jumped

so the last big obstacle to getting my ph.d. is officially behind me (well, aside from actually writing and defending my dissertation). today i took the oral portion of my comprehensive exams, and i must say, it could have been far more traumatic than it actually was. i will admit that i did not know everything my committee members asked me (but who really gives a damn about plant signaling pathways that you don't actually work on, anyway?), but overall it went pretty well. and at the end they pretty much sang my praises and told me i could pretty much start writing my dissertation because they're pretty darned pleased with my progress thus far. i still have a fair bit of chemical/data analysis to do before i'll really be ready to get down to business with the dissertation writing, but it's good to know that my committee is ready and willing to see this thing finished and hand me my doctorate.

now to plow through that freezer full of samples...

What the Hell Am I Going to Do With All This CRAP?

in my mind, i have reconciled the fact that at times i can be an unreasonable heinous bitch. although i have not outwardly expressed these feelings, i am feeling like one right about now. i just sometimes get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of STUFF that makes its way unbidden into my house. the intentions are good. i know that. which is why i feel like an unappreciative and horrible person. but my house is cluttered enough as it is with things that i actually need so that the mountains of extraneous crap that is absolutely non-functional make me crazy. but some people are compulsive shoppers, and they don't consider whether the person they're buying random crap (that will most likely never get used) for has either the space or the use for it. it is how some people show affection, buying things. but it is very hard for me to appreciate this fact when the THINGS in question have no purpose and come in jumbo-sized shopping bags full of small items and 30-gallon totes.

i enjoy a stuffed animal every now and then. but i do not require twelve of them at a time. that sort of makes it impossible to appreciate their individual cuteness. one would suffice, i promise. particularly considering that i just received four of them not three weeks ago. i don't even know what else is lurking in all those bags and boxes.

how exactly do you make someone understand that you love them and you know they love you so it is unnecessary to dump loads of random stuff on you at every visit - tactfully? is that even possible? can you simultaneously express love and affection and reject gifts that you neither need nor want? or do you just sit back and say nothing? believe me, over the years, plenty of unwanted junk has made its way to the local goodwill or been sold one way or another, but the current influx has reached titanic proportions that i lack the ability to deal with. is it feasible to reduce the number and increase the quality of gifts that people insist on buying for no discernible occasion? i mean, i like gifts as much as the next person, but one or two items are much more appreciated than fifteen or twenty.

Baby Items Inventory

well, i said i'd make a list, and here's what we've got so far. i'll keep updating this as we get new items, so i'll post a direct link to this on the sidebar and change the title to include the date of the latest update.

THINGS WE HAVE
Furniture - we're pretty much set
Crib
Crib mattress
Rocker w/ ottoman
Dresser
Changing table w/ pad
Bookshelf
Side table

Nursery Decor/Accessories - we're pretty much set
Musical crib mobile
Small plastic storage baskets (3)
Medium wicker storage basket
Large plastic toy storage tote
Laundry basket
Diaper champ disposal system
Floor lamp
Wooden tree w/ monkey wall hanging
Wooden letters – MAX
Diaper stacker/organizer (white)
Bedding
Crib bumper pad
Waterproof crib pad
Crib sheets – 5
Dust ruffle
Sleep positioner
Comforter/wall hanging
Quilts – 3
Fleece blankets – 4


Baby gear - we're pretty much set
Diaper bags – 2
Bottle cooler w/ ice packs
Winnie the Pooh suitcase
Play yard (Evenflo Baby Suite in Zoo Friends)
Play yard sheets - 2
Swing (Fisher-Price Rainforest Open-Top Cradle Swing)
Fisher-Price Infant-to-Toddler Rocker & Bouncer, Barnyard Friends
High chair (Evenflo Expressions Zoo Friends)
Stroller (Evenflo Journey Premier travel system in Zoo Friends)
Infant car seat (Evenflo Embrace)
Cosco Scenera infant to toddler convertible car seat
Sling carrier
Baby monitor

Bath - could use some more/different bath toys and a bathwater thermometer/ hot water indicator
Hooded towels – 9
Washcloths – 25-30
Infant bathtub/ toddler tub seat
Rubber ducks - 3

Feeding - bottle warmer might be nice (but not necessary)
Playtex drop-ins nursing system – two 4 oz., three 8 oz. bottles w/ nipples and caps; box of 4 oz. liners
Breastflow bottles – two 5 oz., two 9 oz. w/ nipples and storage caps
One Avent 4 oz. bottle
Bottle/nipple brush
Medela Harmony manual breast pump
Playtex breast milk storage system
Lasinoh breast milk storage bags (box of 50)
Bottle and nipple drying rack
Clear plastic bin for storing sterilized feeding accessories
Bibs – 20
Burp cloths – 4
Cloth diapers – 12
Nursing pillow

Keepsakes
Baby memory book
Baby’s 1^st year calendar
Baby’s 1^st piggy bank set
Baby hand/footprint kit
Precious moments keepsake box
Care bears pillow
Picture frames - 3

Toys/soothers
Pacifiers – 5
Pacifier attachers – 3
Pacifier cases – 2
Ocean wonders portable mobile
Teethers – 3
Rattles – 3
Stuffed toys – 10 (1 large monkey, 1 small monkey, 6 small bears, 1 large noise-making lion, Winnie the Pooh)
Ocean wonders aquarium gym/play mat
Baby’s 1^st Laptop
Ball
Puppy Puppet
Leapfrog Colors and Tunes Octopus
Vtech move and crawl ball

Books - would like more
Winnie the Pooh – Stripes
Sassy Baby’s 1^st Books set
Animal Babies in Deserts
Seek and Slide Shapes
Baby Einstein Numbers!
Sweet Dreams (soft bedtime book)
Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Sticky Money (w/ audio tape)

Clothes
Newborn/ 0-3 months - no need for more of this size clothing
Onesies –6 short-sleeve, 2 long-sleeve
Side-snap t-shirts - 3
Pants – 4 pair sweatpants, 1 pair blue corduroy
Pants outfits (w/ top and maybe hat/booties) - 3
Footed sleepers – 17
Shortalls - 2
Infant gowns – 4
Hats/caps – 7
No-scratch mittens – 6 pair
Socks (0-6 mos.) – 16 pair
Booties (0-6 mos.) – 3 pair
Shoes (0-6 mos.) – 1 pair

3-6 months - no need for more of this size clothing
Light jacket
Sun hat
Heavy jacket
Onesies – 8 short-sleeve, 1 long-sleeve
Jeans – 2 pair
Pants – 5 pair
Shorts outfits (w/ matching top) – 3
Pants outfits (w/ top and maybe jacket) – 3 short-sleeve, 2 long-sleeve
Footed sleepers – 8
Infant gowns/sleepers - 1
T-shirts – 5
Short overalls – 1
Shortalls – 4
Socks (0-6 mos.) – 16 pair
Booties (0-6 mos.) – 3 pair
Shoes (0-6 mos.) – 1 pair

6-9 months - no need for more of this size clothing
Light jacket/hoodie
Footed sleepers - 6
Onesies – 12 short-sleeve, 0 long-sleeve
T-shirts - 4
Pants outfits (w/ top) – 3
Shorts outfits (w/ top) – 1
Short overalls - 1
Shorts – 2 pair
Pants – 4 pair
Socks - 12 pair

9-12 months
Onesies – 8 short-sleeve
Pants/shorts outfits (w/ pants, shorts, and top) – 2
Sweatsuit (w/ pants and jacket) - 1
Shorts - 2 pair
Jeans -0 pair need this
Polo shirts - 1
T-shirts - 1
Socks - 12 pair

12-18 months
T-shirts - 3 short-sleeve need more shirts
Onesies - 1 short-sleeve
Pants outfits - 0 short-sleeve need this
Shorts - 1 pair
Jeans - 0 pair need this
Socks – 6 pair

18-24 months - need pants, shirts
Onesies - 2 short-sleeve
Pants/shorts outfits - 1
Socks - 6 pair

Other - need baby-proofing items (outlet covers, cabinet and drawer locks, etc.)
Receiving blankets – 8
Changing pad covers – 2
Diapers – 1 pack newborn Huggies, 2 packs size 1 diapers (Huggies and Pampers)
Wipes – 1 tub w/ 5-pack of refills, 2 travel packs
Diaper rash prevention – 3 tubes rash ointment, one tube petroleum jelly
Hand sanitizer – 2 large bottles for nursery use, two small bottles for diaper bags
Diaper disposal bags – 2 boxes (50 each)
Baby shampoo
Baby body wash
Mylicon gas drops
Infant Tylenol
Infant Motrin
Johnson's Vapor Bath
Medicine dispensers – syringe and spoon
Nail clippers
Emery boards - 12
Nasal aspirator - 2
Digital ear thermometer
Hair brush
Comb
Toothbrush
Tweezers
Rounded-tip scissors
Bathroom space saver

Baby Inventory?

thanks to holly, who did something similar on her baby blog, i'm thinking of making a baby inventory list here on my own blog. this probably would have been most helpful a few weeks ago before my baby shower (and my mini baby shower, or baby shower part deux, which is happening later today), but if nothing else it should help me keep track of things we have. i'm pretty sure there isn't a whole heck of a lot that we still need, but i'm sure there are things that would be nice to have. so later today i may take stock of all the baby things we currently have and start a post dedicated to that.

as i mentioned, i will be having baby shower part deux today. i'm excited about it. since there were a few people who couldn't make it to the big baby shower a couple of weeks ago, they decided they wanted to throw me a sort of mini shower today. so we're planning on having dinner at chili's and getting more baby stuff. yay! and this time chad has to go, since both kelly and carly are bringing their significant others. i think he's ok with it since it's pretty much just dinner at chili's with some baby gifts thrown in. but it is very sweet of kelly, carly, and ali to do this for us. riiikka will also be there to join in the fun even though she was at the first baby shower as well. the more the merrier, i guess. plus, she's never been to chili's, so i'm contributing to her quest to experience as many american restaurants as possible while she's here (riikka is a student from finland who is getting her masters degree here, so she'll be in the states for about two years).

Kind of Over This Whole Pregnancy Thing

so today was a pretty laid-back day for me. i had a doctor's appointment this morning, and i was planning to work at DISL for a few hours afterwards, but i didn't get out of there until almost 12:30, so i didn't think it was worth the drive down to the island. what did i do instead? i shopped.

actually, i went shopping at target this morning, too. i bought a bunch of baby stuff, and some other random things. then i went to the doctor, and my blood pressure is pretty much just nuts. it's all over the place. today it was 128/92. so my systolic pressure is pretty much fine but now the diastolic pressure is high. geez. but all else still appears ok, so dr. g. isn't too worried about it. i have, however, gained a LOT of weight over the past 2.5 weeks. i knew that before i went and got weighed. i could feel it. i have gained 6 pounds since my last appointment. wow. that puts my total weight gain so far at 21 lbs, which is still at the low end of what all the baby books say i should have gained by now (your pregnancy week by week says that my total weight gain so far should be 21-27 lbs. - i've been running a bit lower than their recommended weight gain, so i guess i just caught up).

with an extra 21 lbs. riding on a short girl (and with additional pounds accumulating every day), i am really starting to feel... uncomfortable. all the extra weight right in front is making my back hurt, and those extra pounds are just making life difficult in general. so i'm pretty much over this whole pregnancy thing. i'm ready for the bundle of pooping, screaming joy that is the end point of all this.

anyway, after my doctor's appointment, i ate some lunch and hit up babies r us for some of those not-necessities i mentioned a few days ago. this time, they had all the letters in 'max' (the first time i looked, there was no x, and katy said when she looked there was no m), and they were far less expensive than the $7.99 letters they had before. these were only $4.99. yay! i also bought a few items of clearance baby clothing. i really enjoy baby shopping. i think chad kind of hates it. but i really love it. if we didn't already have pretty much everything we need, i could spend SO much money. but i'm exercising some restraint (mostly because i realize that if go too crazy with the buying, we'll have no place to put anything).

once i got home i went ahead and packed my bag for the hospital and a bag for the baby. not because i think i'll need them any time soon (my due date is still 10 weeks away), but it's always a good idea to be prepared. and i'm pretty sure i got an email from whattoexpect.com that said something about packing a bag a few weeks ago. so this time i won't have to call chad and tell him everything i need and where it is... and then have to call him back 5 minutes later because i forgot about something (which is what went down when i got stuck in the hospital a few weeks ago). now he just has to grab the bag.

tomorrow, i'm off to my mom's house to celebrate her birthday and my sister's. it should be fun... and there will be cake. and presents, though not for me. i really enjoy giving presents, though. i'm excited about what i got for them.

29 Weeks Photos +

it's been about a month since i last posted any pregnancy photos, so here are a couple of shots of me at 29 1/2 weeks (that's about a week shy of 7 months). i've been wearing the same t-shirt (i have two of the same shirt in different colors) so the photos will be comparable.











































in other news, deva and vanessa hosted a lovely baby shower for me on saturday, and we got TONS of great baby gifts (now i have to get copies of all the pictures from nessa). we're pretty much all set except for a few small necessities (diapers, wipes, baby powder, etc.) and a few small things that are unnecessary but that i just want (and currently have cash and gift cards for), such as a bottle drying rack, some nursery storage baskets, big wooden letters to spell MAX on on the nursery wall, etc.

after the shower, chad and his dad moved the bed out of the former guest room (now the nursery, yay!) and into the office (which is now our guest room/office/media room), which required the rearrangement of lots of furniture. then they put the crib together. yesterday i picked up the crib bedding set that i'd ordered and got that all set up (including a cute musical mobile with jungle animals). i also sorted through the millions of baby outfits that we got at the shower and came to the conclusion that we do not need anything (and by that i mean we need NOTHING) in the newborn, 0-3 month, or 3-6 month sizes. so if anyone out there has the urge to buy us baby clothes, keep it in the 9 month size and larger (we really need the larger stuff, or one day we'll realize that max can no longer wear anything we own and he'll have to go naked). oh, and don't buy warm clothes in the 6-9 month size, because that falls in the range of june to september, and it is HOT here in the summer, guys! so 6-9 month baby clothes should have short sleeves. if by some freak chance it turns a little cool then, i have one little hoodie that should do.

chad's parents generously told us to go out yesterday and buy the other couple of big ticket items on the registry (swing and high chair) and put it on their credit card (they put chad on their visa account when he was in high school, and he still has a card). so we did. we also took back a couple of things that we got two of at the shower and traded them in for a play yard, and we also bought a second car seat for chad's truck and a few general baby care items (medicine dispensers, thermometer, brush, baby nail clippers, etc. - it was all in a convenient kit), along with more baby socks (i just know that we'll end up losing a bunch of those) and a pack of cloth diapers to use as burp cloths and for general baby clean-up.

after all this gift-receiving and furniture rearranging, our house is once again a huge disaster area (it was absolutely spotless for about 6 hours on saturday, after we cleaned so our parents won't know we live like slobs and before we brought in tons of other stuff and started moving things around), so i'll post pictures of the nursery once the furniture in there is arranged to my satisfaction and it is free of empty boxes and plastic wrappings.

to conclude this post, i'd like to send out a general thank you to everyone who gave us baby gifts, as chad and i have had to spend very little money on baby things (and the money we have spent, we probably didn't have to, i just felt guilty about letting other people - read: our parents - buy everything. that same guilt led to me to buy a less expensive [but still high quality] high chair than the one we registered for - if it had been my money i would not have bought the one on the registry, either, though it is very cute).