Who's your daddy?

Happy Father's Day to the love of my life!  This guy is not only the best husband, but he's pretty much the best daddy around!  I could already tell he would be a good dad because of the way he is with my nieces and nephews.  Case in point, I arrived solo at my family's house not to long ago.  My nephew, Hayden, ran up and gave me and hug and then looked around and asked, "Where's uncle Aaron?"  I told him that he couldn't make it.  This statement was followed by Hayden saying, "Great.  Who I am going to play with now?"  When, my niece, Ava lived with us, I was definitely her favorite.  I mean, we had dance parties, tea parties, read books, and I watched her baby why she went to the store and work.  Now, you can forget me, she is Aaron's girl all the way.  It's the cutest thing when she sees him.  Her face lights up and she runs to him to give him a hug all why screaming, "Uncle Aaron!"

I can already tell that Nola will be a daddy's girl.  Nothing calms her down like being on his chest with her head resting on his shoulder.  It is amazing how much your love can grow by watching your husband with your child.  I can't wait to watch Nola grow up with him.  Here's hoping that she loves roller coasters, water slides, amusement parks, and camping.  All things that I do not like, so that her daddy has a playmate.  He deserves one. 

Monthly May Tales

Forgive me, this list will be short.  I'm not even sure what happened before Nola was born.  May was more awesome than this list shows.  How could it not, we welcomed our baby to the world!

.  Nola's birthday, May 18  .

.  having my mom and husband with me in my hospital room  .

.  Courtney Helton Photography  .

.  having my first sub sandwich after Nola was born (not so good was seeing it again the next day, blah)  .

.  having my mother-in-law's help during the first weeks  .

.  getting my shower gifts from my work, even though I didn't get to go  .

.  having my boss call and check in and bring said shower gifts to my house  .

.  the full moon (I believe the hype now)  .

.  celebrating mother's day at my house with my family  .

.  seeing Aaron bawl like a baby when he held Nola for the first time  .

.  finally shaking Nola's jaundice  .

.  Qdoba naked burritos  .

.  co-sleeping with a baby (I know I said I'd never do this)  .

.  perfecting my roasted vegetable lasagna  .
.  making two Target trips and having Nola sleep through them  .
.  milkshakes from Baskin Robbins and a million other places  .
. chicago dogs  .
.  fitting back into most of my clothes  .
.  having a lady at Target tell me I look incredible to have a one week old  .
.  Fisher Price...I love you guys!  .
.  Calypso St.Barth line at Target  .
.  getting a mother's day card and gift from Mr. O and not expecting it  .
.  having a great nurse, who did get somewhat annoyed with me, during delivery  .
.  having enough gift cards to get my breast pump  .
.  moving the dresser up and getting things done in the nursery  .
.  having people cover my shifts at work, just in case  .
.  cicadas..yeah, just kidding  .
.  having lovely friends stop in to visit and bring food  .

When to say no to vacuuming

This is the back of my sweet baby's head taken when the damage done by the FOUR vacuum attempts during delivery had started to heal.  She only has a few scabs left now, three weeks later.
In hindsight, I would have said no to the vacuum, but I was a little out of it at the time.  Next time, delivery will be different.  That's for sure!

Things motherhood has already taught me

1. I can shower and shave (maybe not the perfect shave job) and be completely clean in ten minutes tops.  Hey, when ten minutes is all you have, then you (in the words of Tim Gunn) make it work!
2. Make-up is no longer a requirement, but merely a suggestion.  So far, no one has screamed when they have seen my unmade up face out and about.  Now mind you, I will still have a decent outfit on.  No mom jeans for this girl.  Hells to the no.
3. I can eat my entire dinner with one hand.  Sometimes it's my right (dominant) hand and sometimes it's with my left hand.  Who knew I was ambidextrous this whole time?
4. I only thought I was multi-tasking before.  Um, I'm feeding the baby while I type this.  I'm trying to figure out how to get everything done.  It is a challenge.  Housework is going to be a........to fit in.
5. When I have showered, eaten, and had a nap, I feel like I am king queen of the world.  Yes, that was a sad reference to the Titantic.  Might I add that I've never seen this movie in it's entirety.  Do you remember dating and "watching" a movie?   Yeah, this is one that I "watched" with a date. For the record, I've never seen Forrest Gump either.  How unamerican is that!?
6. I owe Fisher Price big time for saving my sanity up to this point.  Baby girl, does not want to be put down, but she'll sit here for about an hour and she'll stop crying and will sometimes fall asleep to this.  Fisher Price knows what kids/babies like. I'm hoping when she's a little bit bigger she will also love this.  Right now, it's just a-ight for her. For any expectant mothers out there, these are must haves!
7. Sex is all I can think about when I'm told I can't have it for six weeks.  Even sleep deprived and extremely tired, I am still a hormone-raging teen aged boy.  Yes, you guys wanted to know that.
8. Being spit up on, screamed (this child can wail!) at, woken up at all hours and pooped/peed on all goes out the window with one little smile and my gosh, those dimples.  There is no way that I'd let anyone else get away with what this child gets away with.
9. You will get peed on, numerous times regardless of how you think you won't and have diaper changing down. 
10. Huggies are not as good as Pampers.
11. You will allow things that you would never allow before.  The other day I looked down and realized I had poop on my arm.  I have no idea when it happened or how long it had been there, but I just shrugged my shoulders.  Normally, I would have been grossed out and would need to shower. 
12. Speaking of poop, breastfeeding poop is the best.  Seriously, hardly any smell.  You know, I'm a nurse, so I have had plenty of encounters with poop. I should know good poop when I see it.
13. If you have an iPhone, you should definitely have this app, if you have a newborn.  It keeps up with everything for you. We've had to go back and forth to the doctor and every time they want to know how long she's feeding and how many wet/dirty diapers she's having.  This app tells me everything!  I love it.  It was well worth the $5 price tag.  Plus, I can download any of the info into spreadsheets, if the doctor needs to see them.
14. Having my mother-in-law here, though it scared the crap out of me to think about beforehand, was a huge blessing.  Otherwise, my house would be shambles and I would have never eaten.  She constantly had food in my face to eat.  Now, I'm lucky if I eat two meals and one snack a day.  Letting someone help you is good a thing not a bad thing.  You can't do everything yourself.    Also, we ended up with this awesome drying mat, a new coffee grinder, yellow crib sheets, a new spatula, groceries for three weeks, a painted upstairs bathroom, and the curtain hung in the nursery.  Let's give it up to my in-laws.  They really know how to be spectacular guests!
15. Date nights are even better now.  We're going on another one on Wednesday night.  We're going to see Cirque du Soleil!  Also, I love my husband even more, if that's even possible because he pretty much rocked my world beforehand.  Maybe that's why the whole sex thing is driving both of us me crazy!
16. Four and half hours of consecutive sleep feels like 10 hours of premotherhood sleep.
17. Having the baby cry for a little bit will not kill them, especially if they are full, changed and should be content.  This is especially true if you are finishing up on something or doing something that makes you happy.  A happy momma equals a happy baby.  I'm glad I figured this out at the beginning.
18. My world is forever changed and will never be the same.  I will figure out a new routine eventually.  Things are slightly chaotic now, but I can deal with it and know that eventually it will get better.

Updates

I made this entry at work the night before I went into labor.  Looks like my praying and wanting her to come that night worked.  I thought I finished the entry, but apparently I never posted it.  Craziness.
Yeah, so I'm not keeping up with this blog like I need to.  Any followers, still left?  I can't believe that May is closer to the end than the beginning.  Time is flying by.  I don't even have a kid yet!  I'm sure it'll be even harder then.  Of course, I won't be working for FOUR glorious months!  Aaron keeps saying, "You do know that you have to go back, right?"  Yeah, yeah, husband, I know.

So, news that has happened over the last month that you may or may not know:

• The baby was measuring small, so I had to have an ultrasound.  Turns out she's bigger than my doctor thought.  Looks like she'll be closer to 7-7.5 pounds.  Ouch.  I guess I really am all baby.
• I have one more work day left and I'm home free and don't have to work anymore.  Woot!  Yes, I've managed to make it this far working.  I'm very grateful for that.  I welcome her to come tonight, so I don't have to work tomorrow.
• Speaking of that, two weeks ago my doctor told me that I could go at anytime.  As if you wanted to know about my private parts, I am 100% effaced, 1 cm dilated, and the child is at 0 station or engaged to come down.  Yeah, I've been 100% effaced for almost two weeks.  It's craziness.  Apparently, this child is stubborn.  I'm hoping this means that my labor will proceed quickly, since I don't have to wait to dilate and efface.  My doctor said at the very least I should be a few days before my due date, which is 8 days from today.
• I'm still planning on going naturally.  I've been reading a childbirth book, which I'm almost finished with and I feel pretty prepared.
• False labor sucks.  Yeah, I had false labor for 4.5 hours last Monday night.  I only slept for two hours.  My back hurt so bad and the pressure in my pelvis was insane.  I didn't even realize that my stomach was getting tight for the longest time.
• I have tried everything to get this child to come. I've walked, did squats, tried jogging, sat on my yoga ball, did pelvic tilts, soaked in a warm tub, and had lots of sex.  Yes, you wanted to know that too.
• Tonight is the full moon.  My fingers are crossed that there is some truth to the old wives tale.
• My mother-in-law came into town for my family shower.  She brought the curtain that she made and the baby bedding.  She did a phenomenal job.  Seriously, it looks better than the $250 bumper on Etsy.  I told her she should open her own Etsy shop. 
• The nursery is coming along.  We still don't have it finished, but honestly, I'm not too worried about it, since she won't be sleeping in there for months anyways.  It is going to look so good though.  Pictures will follow when it's complete!
• I felt great until the last few weeks.  Now, I'm tired and ready.  I'm going to miss being pregnant though.  I really have been lucky. 
• We seem to be pretty prepared.  I have an extra pair of scrub pants and pads at work in case my water breaks.  Our bags (including snacks, water, reading material, camera, ipod player, ipod, baby bag, clothes, towels, toiletries that can be tossed after our stay, hard candy for labor, etc.) are officially packed and sitting at the foot of our bed.  The pack and play is up.  The swing and bouncy seat our up.  The bassinet is beside our bed and ready.  There are wipes and diapers in the bonus room, our room , and the nursery.  All clothes 3 months and under are washed and put away.  I still have tons of clothes to wash from all the showers that are larger sizes.  The car seat is in Aaron's truck.  The house is fairly clean, but I'll be doing more if I don't  have this child by Thursday.  Oh the funniest thing probably is the fact that on my side of the bed there is plastic covering the mattress and I'm sleeping on an extra really thick comforter, just in case my water breaks.  We did this all in about 4 or 5 days when my doctor told us that she could come any day now.
• We had three baby showers.  I still have one more to go.  It's my work one.  They are hoping that I make it, but chances are, I won't be there. 
• I have eaten more junk than I care to admit too.  Oh, chicago dogs, why do I love you so.  I'm very lucky that I've only gained 26 pounds.  I've eaten 26 pounds of Reese's. I'm sure and drank gallons of Dr. Pepper.
• I really want to see Bridesmaids. 

Hello, world...

Sorry for the hiatus, this lovely little lady joined our world on May 18 at 6:04 p.m.  She weighed in at 7 pounds and 6 ounces and was 21 inches long.  Our world is forever changed and we're completely smitten with her.

She and I both had a rough time with her coming into the world, but we're both doing splendidly now.  Still trying to figure out a routine.  Man, it's hard!  I can't get anything done, but I vow to try to at least blog once a week, but hopefully more.  The little firecracker likes to be held constantly.  That's a problem.  She also thinks that night time is from 3:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. (with feedings in between).    Yeah, I'm a little sleep deprived.  I wouldn't change it for the world though. 

My mother-in-law and father-in-law left this morning, so finally, after three weeks, we are on our own.  As much as my mother-in-law helped me out, I'm glad it's just the three of us.  It's the only way we can get a routine down, I think.  I'll keep you posted on our journey.  Hopefully, sooner rather than later. 

April Smiles

Was it me or did April really fly by?   April is always busy for us.  We have birthdays galore and Easter, of course, but this year, we had even more things on our calendar due our soon to be here baby girl.  It was filled to the brim with love, laughter, and smiles.  Here's hoping May is just as great, but how could it not be with a baby on the horizon.

.  not one, not two, but three baby showers..yes, we are very blessed  .

.  my birthday and lovely birthday dinner out with Mr. O  .

.  I finally got the sushi that I had been craving (nothing raw, folks!)  .
.  celebrating my sister who turned the big 30  .
.  watching the nephews hunt for easter eggs.  Can't wait to have a little girl who can participate  .
.  my brother and Aaron (the biggest kids of them all) trying to find the perfect spot to hide the prize egg  .
.  visiting with the mother-in-law  .
.  my mother-in-law giving us the wonderful gift of our baby bedding and curtains, which she made and did a fabulous job  .
.  so many wonderful baby shower gifts  .
.  chicken marsala  .
.  dinners with both my family and Aaron's family  .
.  dinner and ice cream with B and D  .
.  seeing my brother so excited for his band to play a show, which I unfortunately missed  .
.  homemade pimento cheese (fo' reals)  .
.  3D ultrasounds  .
.  a baby that's healthy and growing, even though I measure 2-3 weeks smaller than I'm supposed to .
.  a nephew turning another year older  .
.  seeing friends that I haven't seen in a while  .
.  Phil on Modern Family  .
.  laughing about horrible mexican food...no hot plates there  .
.  Adele's new cd  .
.  chicago dogs...I know, I shouldn't love a hot dog so much  .
.  lunches that turn into mini baby showers  .
.  strangers coming to my rescue when my car broke down  .
.  not getting hit when my car broke down in the middle of an intersection at night  .
.  turning 33 and the baby turning 33 weeks in the same week  .
.  childbirth class, which we actually liked and seemed to be really helpful  .
.  getting a free (practically brand new) ipod player from a coworker  .
.  flea market purchases and date days with Mr. O  .