Seven Not So Quick Takes

Friday, December 11, 2009
I apologize for the delay in posting. I have every good intention of posting more, but I just can’t seem to find the time. Not only to blog, but to read other blogs, and to do things on my to-do list. My to-do list keeps growing, and GROWING, and G.R.O.W.I.N.G!!! I have marked very few things off of my list. Pretty depressing, but I’d rather spend time with my daughter and do the “little” things that I must do. Like laundry, dishes, cook, what little cleaning I can manage, and wash and sterilize bottles! FUN STUFF! :) So pretty much, my ambitious attempt to make my blog more entertaining and post more is getting pushed to the back burner. I do have a good plan, that with any luck, and probably a bit of a lack of creativity and lack of sleep I may be able to post once a week! If I write my blog post offline and save it I may manage to post more! HAHA! So here goes seven not so quick takes, as I need to catch everyone up on what has been going on.

1. I returned to work. That alone explains a lot of why I am so busy. Alice is getting into more of a routine…FINALLY! Of course, I now work full-time, so I actually have less time than before. I just have to be more efficient with my time. My husband actually told me the other day that I need to be more “time efficient”, which irritated me. I wanted to scream and slap him, but that would accomplish nothing. So what did I do? I went and got my hair cut and left him with Alice. See he had a long list of stuff that he wanted to accomplish, so I figured if he was in my shoes he would see how difficult it is. Sure you have nap-time, but Alice is not much of a napper during the day. Which during the week is nice and also a bit rough, but I get to spend more time with her. So when I returned home from my hair cut and running a few errands, he told me he doesn’t know how I manage to get any of the stuff I do get done, well done. He hadn’t started on anything that he wanted to do, except the dishes. This basically meant he piled them on one side of the sink, started the water, and never actually washed a dish! While I was happy that he realized how tough it is, I was a bit annoyed that he did not get anything done. Not even one dish! *sigh* He did manage to hop online for about the entire time I was gone *roll eyes*…so I suppose he did manage to get a lot done!
2. We had our first Thanksgiving(s) with Alice! Of course, she couldn’t enjoy any of the yummy food, and I’m sure it was just another day to her, but to me and all of her family members it was a time to realize how blessed we have been. I am so thankful for my little girl. I have no idea how I was so blessed to given her. I’m still not sure I’m deserving of her, or Sean. Without him, I would not have her. And while Sean may really irritate me (and sometimes worse) he is my best friend. I love him so much, and he has given me the best gift in the world!
3. Alice has reached a milestone! I’m a bit delayed on blogging about this (if you follow me on FB you may have seen the post), but she is now rolling over. In fact, she rolled from both sides for the first time on the same day. She was not quite 3 months when she did it. She is currently working on a “dead man’s” crawl right now. I can’t believe that at 3 ½ months she is mobile. I know this because we had gone out to start the car (it is that time of year!) and when we came back inside she had moved 7-8 feet. You’re probably thinking she rolled, but I know she didn’t. She pulled/kicked herself that far. I know she didn’t roll that far because of two reasons: she only rolls to the left (she can roll to the right, but won’t) and there was a couch in the way that she would have had to navigate around. While she is smart, I don’t think she is capable of calculating that quite yet. Plus she only had a few minutes to do all of this. Looks like I need to start cleaning the floors more (i.e. daily) and start child-proofing.
4. Back to the work thing. I found out that my job is getting phased out next year (August-September timeframe, though that is unofficial at this point). I really could not be happier! You’re probably wondering why in the world is she happy about getting laid off??? Well, I get to spend more time with Alice, and because I will get a severance package (roughly 22weeks or so) I will still get paid for awhile. Who wouldn’t be happy about that? I suppose if I had only been at my job for a couple of years I wouldn’t be as happy, but I will have been there for 11 years by this projected timeframe, so I couldn’t be happier! I still can’t believe I have been there for 10 years! That seems like such a long time!
5. So what am I planning on doing after getting “phased out”? Well spend time with Alice of course! However, I also would like to get back in school and get my nursing degree. After having a baby, I find that fascinating, and would like to be a Labor & Delivery Nurse. I may go and get medical transcriptionist training first, so I could work at home on the days I won’t be in class, and that would allow me to still have some income coming in. I’ll keep you posted on all of this!
6. I have been decorating for Christmas. This is a big deal, as I haven’t decorated in several years. I think it has a lot to do with having Alice. While she has no idea what all these lights are (ooh they are pretty!) I want to start traditions for our family. When it was Sean and me, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Perhaps I was suffering from a really long lasting case of the bah-humbugs! Now…well now it is a big deal to me.
7. My sister will be home soon! I can’t wait to see her…and hug her, and kiss her, and keep her for my very own (okay Elmyra)! I haven’t seen Lindsay since Christmas last year. She hasn’t seen Alice in person yet, so I’m even more excited for her to get to interact with Alice. I’m sure if Alice realized what a big deal this is she would be just as excited; if not more. Of course, Lindsay knew at Christmas last year (technically I called her on December 1st to announce the news!) that Alice (well we didn’t know she was Alice then) was in my belly. Lindsay was the only family member who knew. She is so good at keeping secrets! I’m sure it was killing her to not be able to share her joy with anyone else. And she is really good at keeping secrets because we didn’t tell family until after Valentine’s Day, so the poor dear had to keep it all to herself!!!
And just because it has been awhile, a bonus quick take!
8. It has been over a year now since I found out I was pregnant with Alice. I remember seeing that second line on the pregnancy test. I had a flood of emotions, and while I’d be lying to say that I wasn’t scared, all of the other emotions were very positive! I was excited, joyful, ecstatic! That was just a really great time and I can’t wait until one day down the road when I get to see two lines again. Okay, I can wait. I’d like to wait awhile, but there are days that I really miss being pregnant (never thought I’d say that!). And on those days, I wish I was pregnant again or want to try. I just take comfort in the fact that, when the time is right, God will bless us again with another little baby! I just wish I knew when that would be *wink*. Sean only wants one more kid, but I would like at least two more. Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind. That is my prerogative! This is why I sometimes think that people that have kids back to back (to back to back!) know what they are doing. That way if you get to a “stage” where you find it extremely difficult, you don’t have that stage influencing your decision on more children. I’ll just let God handle the kid thing. He knows what He is doing. I just hope He has a few more little rug-rats for us :)

Pardon the Delay...

Tuesday, October 20
I’m going to attempt to make this blog more interesting. That is a big undertaking, so for my few readers don’t get your hopes up too high! I dated this because who knows when I will actually be able to post this. I have a very good reason, and her name is Alice. Alice is 2 months old today…so Happy Two Month Birthday Alice! I’m going to steal an idea from my sister, Lindsay. She does a thing each week called “7 Quick Takes”, and she got the idea from a few of her fellow bloggers. It is basically a summary of whatever you want; seven somethings to be exact. Seven in fact. So seeing as how I want to post more, I figured I could try to incorporate this idea into my blog. Thereby, I will hopefully post once a week J

7 Quick Takes
1. Today is Alice’s 2 month birthday today. Which means that she had her two month checkup. I am very pleased to report that she is doing awesome! She weighs 11lbs 12 oz and is 23 ¼ inches long. Her head circumference is 38.75. Her height and weight puts her in the 80th percentile of all babies her age. Her head circumference puts her in the 50th percentile. They say that head circumference directly relates to size of the brain (which relates to intelligence); I’m not going to worry that she is just average in head size. She had to get two vaccines today. She was supposed to get three, but we decided never more than two at a time. I will take her back in two weeks to get the other one. The nurse didn’t want to give her the shots. She was all smiles and grins, and was talking up a storm to the nurse. The nurse told me her smiling and talking to her made it harder for her to give her the shots. Most of the time babies are fussing or crying, but not Alice. Alice was all happy-go-lucky. That is my kid! Poor thing screamed bloody murder and cried real tears. She hasn’t cried tears yet. I’m happy to report that about an hour afterwards she was back to her happy-go-lucky self. She was a teeny bit more fussy than usual, but no crazy side effects.
2. I got a call from work today. Seems they’ve had a few changes. They got rid of the inclearing work (our checks that come from other banks), and so as to ensure the full-timers get their hours they moved all the branches to late cut-offs. Most of the branches were already on late cut-offs, but a few were so far out they decided to wait. Well now they all have 4pm or 5pm cut-offs. Great for our customers; bad for me. I’m was already having trouble finding someone to watch Alice (more on this later), now they throw this at me. You may be wondering what I’m complaining about. Before we would work until 8 or 9pm. Later than normal hours, but not so bad. The new hours would be 10-11pm. This is really bad. Yeah, I guess I’ll just throw in the towel on finding someone to watch Alice.
3. Finding someone to watch Alice…where do I start? I basically don’t want to leave her. Nor do I really trust anyone to watch her. There are a select few people that I would trust her with. And by trust, I really mean not constantly worrying if she is being taken good care of. Those few people have jobs. *Sigh* I’d be lying to say that part of me wouldn’t be very upset if I didn’t return to work, but that is a very small part of me. The thought of leaving my baby really upsets me. Sean and I went out to dinner the other night, and Ben and Lauren watched Alice. We were gone for three hours. Three hours! I really think it was about 10 minutes down the road before I started missing her…and worrying (Lauren wasn’t home from work yet, so I was a teeny bit nervous). We could have stayed out longer, but the fact is Sean and I both missed her. So we picked her up and came home; where we cuddled and watched the Yankees/Angels game.
4. There are ladybugs EVERYWHERE! I know that this is the time of year that they start to get out of the cold, but I have never seen this many. There are hundreds! Perhaps thousands! I googled how to get rid of them, but it seems they aren’t actually ladybugs, but Japanese lady beetles (or something-I’m going off the top of my head). They have no natural predators here (that explains the amount!) so they are taking over. The best advice I found was to use a wet/dry vac, suck them up, and then dump them far away from your house. WHAT?!?!?! Thanks internet!
5. I have been trying to lose weight. This has turned into trying not to GAIN any weight! I have never, ever, in my life had a sweet tooth this bad. Is it because I’m breastfeeding? Having Sean around while trying to lose weight makes things harder. He likes ice cream, brownies, cookies, etc. He usually asks twice a week if I will make something (not ice cream though-he buys it). I usually do. And because I’ve learned I have NO willpower I end up eating some. Or a lot. I am pretty good at first, but after a day or two I fall completely apart. Must have chocolate!!! The other reason I’m probably not losing any weight is that I usually don’t eat breakfast. Bad I know. Even worse because I’m breastfeeding. In fact, most days I do not eat until about 2pm. I’m that busy, and to be honest I don’t really get hungry until then and find it hard to force myself to eat.
6. Fall is here! I love this time of year because I can use my crockpot a lot. Who doesn’t love their crockpot? I made the best chocolate mousse last week! I found a recipe online (crockpot365.blogspot.com) to try in the crockpot. It was the best ever. Seriously! And it was super easy. Fall also means apple cider-YUM! It is also the start of cold/flu season (which really has been around for awhile now). I am going to get a flu shot this year for the first time because of Alice. It annoys me that every time flu shot season starts up you start hearing horror stories about why you shouldn’t get a flu shot. It is very unfortunate for those individuals that had horrible reactions and now their lives will be completely different from before. That still doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t get a flu shot. Of course, seeing as how I have never gotten one, I’m wondering if I’ll be in that small percentage that has a horrible reaction. Time will tell.
7. It is now Thursday. I will have to think of a new title for 7 Quick Takes, as it is not very quick on my part. It is difficult getting things done with an infant around. I currently have Alice in her swing. I put this clown that my brother and I had when we were little on the tray. She likes to kick the tray and make the clown move around (there is a bell inside) to hear the noise. All I hear right now is her squealing and the bell. I would take a picture and post it, but seeing as how my sister is deathly afraid of clowns (and she is approximately 25% of my readers) I won’t be doing that. I don’t want to scare away one of my loyal readers.
Well, I will be posting next week for sure. I enjoyed doing this 7 Quick Takes…even if it did take me 2 days! And please feel free to comment…I enjoy reading them!

P.S. I just noticed that I haven’t posted in exactly 2 months. You can thank Alice for that ;)

SHE'S HERE!!!

Okay...I know I said I would do a post showing the baby's room. Well, I have something MUCH more interesting today. I have the baby, her name, and pictures!!!

Let me get Alice's (yes, her name is Alice-more on that in a bit) birth story down...not that I'm likely to forget it, but for posterity. Alice was due on August 14th...well that came and went. My doctor scheduled an appt for that following Monday and here is where the tale begins.

Monday, August 17th: I awoke around 4:30am to horrible back cramps and some regular cramps. I get excited thinking maybe something is happening. Sean stayed home from work to accompany me to my appt. We get to the doctor's and they do a non-stress test (passed beautifully), and check me out. NO PROGRESS! So she schedules the induction for 6pm Wednesday...I'd be staying overnight so they could use cervidil to help thin/soften my cervix and then actually induce me the following morning. I stayed home from work because my back and cramps start getting worse and I was not feeling well.

Tuesday, August 18th: I don't know why I'm dividing the rest of this into "days" because it was like one big long one to me! I seriously did not get much sleep Monday night. The pain was getting worse and I kept timing contractions...5 minutes here, 12 minutes there...frustrating! Not true labor! I called work and told them I was officially on maternity leave...I was NOT going to work having back cramps and contractions like that. My contractions were getting more regular, stronger, and lasting longer (some well over a minute or two) but nothing that would get me admitted to the hospital. Around 2 pm, I took a shower and finished packing my bag. This took entirely way longer than it normally would, but it is hard to work through back labor and contractions. I woke Sean up at 4 pm and told him it was time to go. He was adamant that we didn't have to be there until 6 (he swore I was just being a cry baby). So after about 30 minutes of telling him I was serious (and a few threats on his life) I convinced him to just "be a little early". I told him to pack his bag, which he didn't do, because he was sure they wouldn't actually induce me until Thursday morning. We got in the car and headed to the hospital. The car ride was the worst experience of my life! To say that I was screaming, writhing in pain, and clawing the car doesn't really do it any justice. We got stuck behind some large farm equipment and I think I lost it at this point. I was hysterical and IN PAIN! We got to the hospital, and Sean wanted to park the car! WTH! I told him to park by the door and forget about the effing car! We started walking in and he asked if I needed a wheelchair. I told him no, I was okay. But after about 1 minute of waiting on the elevator, I got another contraction that almost brought me to my knees, so he ran and got a wheelchair and told me to hold the elevator! Yeah, that was a task as I couldn't move and the damn door didn't sense my arm in the way. So we get up to the third floor about 15 minutes early (THANKS SEAN!) and I announce to the nurse that I have an appt for a 6pm induction that didn't need inducing! They rushed me to a room, got me in a gown, and hooked me up to the monitors. Sean had gone to move the car and bring the bags up, and got back about the time that the nurse was like, "Well no wonder you are in so much pain! I haven't seen anyone with contractions like this until the transition phase. They are lasting well over 2 minutes and are 5 minutes apart. I can't believe you are only 3-4 cm dilated." She asked if I wanted an epidural to which I said YES! About an hour and a half later the anestheologist showed up and did my epidural. Oh thank the Lord! The next few hours were relatively uneventful. My water broke on its own sometime between 9-10 pm, but I couldn't feel it. I ended up stalling at 5cm, so they went and started pitocin anyway. Sean went home to take care of Bruno for awhile, and my wonderful sister-in-law, Lauren, came and kept me company. She was also at the hospital that day/night because, as coincidence may have it, my twin brother, Ben, had surgery earlier that day to remove a tumor on his parathyroid. Sean returned about 11 pm and I was 7cm dilated. I tried to get some rest in preparation for the big delivery, but that was hard to do with my nurse coming in every hour to check me. They had to get a refresher on my epidural because it was wearing off rapidly (I told them I have woken up during surgeries). Ahh-numbness! Plus Sean was watching TV (ironically he was watching some food show-which angered me because I was starving!) but he went to sleep about midnight.

Thursday, August 20th...D Day!
Around 2 or 3 am, I was 9 cm. I apparently stalled at 9 for the next few hours and heard my nurse consult a few other nurses. What ensued was a gymnastics event! They positioned me on my side for an hour. Then my other side for awhile. Then Sean helped the nurse put one of my legs on some table and I'm sure I looked rather funny. They must have called my OB because she showed up about 5:45 and checked me out. Sure enough, I was still at 9 and part of my cervical lip was still over the baby's head. So she went in and "flipped" it up over and announces it is time to push. She woke up Sean, and together with the nurse, they held my legs and I started pushing right about 6 or a few minutes after. My epidural was wearing off and they were debating about getting another refresher, but I'm glad we decided against it. I was able to feel my contractions coming on before the monitor would pick them up. About 40 minutes later (5 contractions-15 pushes), our little girl was here! Sean said, "She looks like a little alien that has been at the bottom of a pool for too long". The doctor laughed. I was laying there wondering just how ugly she was! They plopped her up on me, and she was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I looked at Sean and said, "She is NOT ugly!" And off she went with the nurse and her daddy to take pics, while they cleaned and stitched me up. I ended up with a third degree tear. Not too bad. Her head is pretty perfect! The dr was amazed that I got her out as quick as I did (I told the Dr I didn't want a baby with a funny shaped head...and that I was starving-could I have breakfast?). She was 7 lbs 11.8 oz (they rounded up to 12) and 20 1/2 inches long.
Very healthy baby girl! Thank you God!

It is absolutely amazing to see Sean with her. He is such the proud papa! He is very good with her. He dotes on her. It brings tears to my eyes to see him hold her and interact with her. I knew he would be a good daddy, but I am amazed at what a good daddy he is. I love him so much more every time I see him with her. I also never realized how much love you can have for something. My heart skips a beat when I lay my eyes upon her. I think it may burst sometimes because I am so happy!

We took awhile naming her. I was stuck on Scarlett prior to her being born, but once I saw her I knew she wasn't a Scarlett. So Sean and I took over a day deciding. I actually came up with her name when I saw her Friday morning. They had taken her to the nursery to do some tests, and when they brought her to me she had this little hat on with a bow. She was all precious! Laying there, swaddled snugly, and I looked at her and thought, "That is Alice Kay." Well her name isn't Alice Kay. When Sean got back to the hospital, I slept for a bit, and then after his mom and stepdad left, I told him we HAD to name her. He wanted to name her Oleandra (a combo of his great-aunt Oly and his mom Sandra) and call her Andi. I was okay with this, until I thought of his niece Olivia and how they call her Oly. I thought that was too close. He liked Kay for a middle name. I told him she was Alice. He said okay, "Oleandra Alice"...to which I said, "Alice Oleandra flows better"...and there you go. Little Alice Oleandra Parsons! Odd...I never in a million years would have thought of Alice. It is German (and related to Allison-which is my sister's middle name) and means noble truth. We are calling her Alice for now, but we may come up for a nickname.

This is when I knew she was Alice!

Uncle Ben with Alice (about an hour old)

This is one of my favorite pictures!

My first time getting to hold her after she and I got all cleaned up. She opened her eyes when I spoke to her!

Alice (5 days old) being held by daddy!

Baby's Room...Part One

I am only going to include partial pictures of the baby's room. Which will mainly only be the bedding/crib. The whole room is not quite completed. Sean and I need to figure out the flooring situation in the room. See some renter before us was obviously raised by wolves (and wolves that smoked at that!). So we (or more accurately Sean) have spent time cleaning the walls/ceiling and then repainting. The floor is also pretty disgusting. I have mopped and mopped the floors and they still seem to be filthy! So needless to say, Sean and I are on the lookout for different flooring. We looked at Lowe's the other day and found a few area rugs that would work, but not necessarily match; and some carpet, but I thought that it would give my baby rug burn!

Anyhoo...here are the pictures of the bedding (and what little bit you can see of the room). I will follow up with pictures of what I have done on my next post. To be honest, I have the pictures of the dressers (all full of tiny clothes!), but I don't have my camera with me. So, without further ado, may I introduce my baby's bedding and crib :)

Oh and I have to mention that when I was putting the mobile together Bruno kept barking at me. See he likes bears (or really any stuffed animal), so he figures it is for him when he sees one. I will have to post a picture of the bassinett in my next post as well, for there is a little pink teddy bear (thanks Kathy!!!) that is soooo soft. Bruno also sat and barked at that bear for a day or two!

Baby Shower!!!

I should just change the title of my blog to "When I Get Around To It!" I have been meaning to do this post awhile ago, but I don't get a very good internet connection at my house, so when uploading images I have found it best to wait until I am somewhere with better reception.


My wonderful sister-in-law, Lauren, threw me a wonderful baby shower! She did such a wonderful job and I am so grateful. THANK YOU SO MUCH LAUREN!!! The shower ended up being a lot smaller than we anticipated as several ladies were sick and unable to make it, but it was still a blast. Lauren decorated the mantel with a bunch of onesies. The food was wonderful; cucumber sandwiches, roll-ups, fruit kabobs, this wonderfully AWESOME marinated cheese & crackers, and some delicious punch (complete with a beautiful ice mold with punch/strawberries/mint). Some pictures for your viewing pleasure (I apologize for the order, apparently Blogger likes them in this order better):

We then played two games. One was a bunch of ultrasound pictures where we had to guess the body part(s). Needless to say, it was fun and hilarious! My best friend, Monica, won the game with the most correct answers. The next game was to guess how big my belly was (with ribbon). Lauren and I went out of the room to put ribbon around my belly to see how big it was. We then waited for everyone to cut of a piece of ribbon symbolizing how big they thought my belly was. This was quite humorous; though I could see how another woman could get upset/offended. My former next door neighbor's grand-daughter won the prize...she had the ribbon just a hair larger than I was. My mom (who kept announcing how HUGE she thought I was) got second to last place...so I guess she is right if she thinks I am that big. You could have almost gone around my belly twice!

I also have pictures of all of my gifts, but that would take forever to upload...not to mention bore you. Plus who knows where blogger would put them, and then you may be incredibly confused about what kind of shower Lauren threw me...traditional? non-traditional? Who opens presents first, then eats cake, and then eats the food??? I'll do another post with a few of my favorite presents :) Plus, pics of the baby's room!!!

A Very Productive Day (for me anyway!)

Oh this heat is killing me! And to be honest, it isn't even really that hot yet. Upper 80's. I just keep reminding myself 8 weeks (well technically less than that now-unless she decides to bake longer; and with this heat I'm willing to bet she will be "done" before that-ha! j/k). I have been living in my bikini lately. Well that isn't entirely true. When I am at HOME, I am living in my bikini. Oh, I bought a new bikini the other day. Very cute! Sean likes it, and said I looked good (or maybe it was sexy?) in it. Anyway, I won't post a picture of that! HA!

So I'm home alone this Father's Day Sunday. Sean went up north to see his dad, stepdad, and Aunt Oly. His Aunt Oly is in the hospital, as she had a heart attack the other day. I'm hoping and praying for her. Feel free to also say a prayer for Aunt Oly. One can never have too many prayers :)

So I'm home alone (well Bruno is here)...and I'm cleaning, doing laundry, and baking apple bread. I LOVE apple bread. It is easy to make, and sooooo good! I will be posting directions at the end of this (a picture will be soon to come-it is still baking). I plan on taking a loaf of it over to my dad; for Father's Day and part of his birthday present. I haven't actually gotten his real present yet. In fact, I can't even seem to find it anywhere. He wants a lavendar bush (or two), and I have checked almost every garden center around here. So in the meantime, I'm bringing him a loaf of bread-APPLE bread! You may be thinking that doesn't even seem to compare to each other, but you haven't tried the apple bread. I would be willing to give up (almost) anything I wanted for a loaf of apple bread.

I also need to really start getting things ready for the baby (who still is without a name-we have it narrowed down but probably won't name her until we see her). I am now 32 weeks and a couple of days. It just seems so surreal that I will have a little baby soon. Her room is not done. Her clothes are not washed. In fact, we are now going to have to buy a new crib (I'm happy about this) because the one Sean bought was missing parts; and those parts are discontinued because the crib is so old. Thanks honey!!! I need to pack my hospital bag, Sean's bag, and her stuff. I need to get my FMLA stuff in order. These last two things I have been purposely procrastinating on, as I'm a firm believer that I will jinx myself. As soon as my bag is packed, and the FMLA forms have been sent in I will go in to labor. I just know it. I also need to get a few spare keys made for the house. One for my father. One for my brother and sister-in-law. These are just in case I go in to labor, and none of my stuff is ready. Plus, my brother and sister-in-law have agreed to puppy-sit their canine nephew. Speaking of my sister-in-law, she is throwing me a baby shower next Sunday! I'm excited! I just hope my mom doesn't annoy me to no end, drive up my blood pressure, embarass me, or send me in to preterm labor. I guess that is probably too many things to hope for (I'm being realistic-you don't know my mom), so let's just hope and pray that I don't go in to preterm labor because of anything she does.

Okay, enough of this jibber-jabber. Here is the recipe for apple bread. I got it from cooksrecipes.com (though I have modified it a bit)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups diced apples
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


Preheat oven to 325. Grease two 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pans; set aside. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla together, mixing well in separate bowl. Stir in flour mixture until just mixed. Fold in apples and walnuts and spoon into prepared loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in the pans before removing to cool on wire racks.

*Now for my changes. I usually use whole wheat flour, but it tastes just as good with white. I don't peel the apples (call me lazy!) and I don't add the walnuts. I add more cinnamon than the recipe calls for (I love the stuff-and it is good for your blood sugar). And to be really honest, you don't need all of that sugar; you could easily cut some of it out. I have made it both ways and I think it tastes a little better without so much sugar (Sean would probably disagree), but make it how you want :) You can also sprinkle some sugar on top of the mixture after putting in the pan.

If this were high school, I'd be expelled for my excessive absenteeism!

I'm back!!! I have finally procured a means to get online while at our new place. Which reminds me...I need to take pictures soon of our new place and show them to you. I had to end up going with a mobile connect card. It has its advantages and disadvantages. I will just say I am still not thrilled at the thought of a 2 year contract on it. *Sigh* I was desperate though. I can't work on my blog (among other websites I like to visit) at work, and how was I going to show everyone my baby girl once she arrived? Snail mail? Argh! The thought is revolting.

Okay, so as I promised in my last post a long time ago this will be picture overload!!! Yeah-how fun! :) First off...Bruno. He is about 5 1/2 months here. He is really just the sweetest puppy...and really well behaved (well most of the time).









Okay and now for my growing belly! I need to take a new picture for this week. In fact, I have all of my belly pics on my computer, but I need to figure out how far along I was in all of them. Doh! So to satisfy everyone, I will only post my latest belly pic. I was 29 weeks (and please forgive any blurriness of the picture or mess in the background). Without further ado...

There is a lot more I would like to write about, but I need to go interview two more pediatricians in just a bit. I will be posting more regularly (instead of once in a blue moon) now that I have internet with me at all times (assuming I have my computer with me). Things to look forward to: pictures of our garden! It is really taking off and thriving. I don't imagine we will have any actually produce until after baby girl gets here (we started the garden a little late). I can't wait for some watermelon, cucumbers, tomatoes...yum! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I've been bad...

but I have a good excuse. Actually, excuses. I have been terribly busy and tired. I have been meaning to update my blog a lot sooner than this, but alas, I am bad!

So what has been keeping me busy.

*Work. The other full-time gal had her baby on April Fool's Day due to an emergency C-section. Mom and baby are both well. I'm happy to report that baby Aster got to go home on Easter Sunday. So we have been short-staffed. And I have been stressed to say the least. Good news now, my other co-worker who was on leave is now back, so I am a lot less stressed!!!

*Bruno. Bruno, you ask? Yes, Sean and I are officially insane. As if we didn't already have a lot of stuff going on this year (marriage, baby, moving, etc.) we decided to throw a puppy into the mix. We adopted Bruno almost 4 weeks ago. He is a very good puppy, as puppies go :) His birthday is the day after Sean's! So he is 4 1/2 months old. I figure this is about as good of training that we will get for the baby (without actually taking someone's baby). He has to go potty in the middle of the night, cries/whines a lot, and requires a lot of attention (and discipline). I will be posting pictures of Bruno later. Speaking of potty breaks in the middle of the night, I should point out that I sleep through those *blush*. Sean is such a great husband (or maybe he is just a much lighter sleeper than I am *laugh*) that he doesn't make his pregnant wife get up to take him out.

*Moving. No, we haven't moved yet. Sean and I decided that the house we were going to rent just wasn't a good idea for various reasons. We have found a different house in Frankfort. It required a bit of work (which may be an understatement), but Sean is doing all of the work himself. I'm optimistic that we may be able to "officially" move into the house this weekend. There will be a future post about this and pics to see the before and after.

*Being pregnant. I have been sick lately. And moody and tired. Now being pregnant doesn't make me stressed. In fact, I have probably been more pleasant than ever. Go figure! Just the stress doesn't help with the pregnancy. I am feeling a lot better today. I found out that Vicks Vapo Rub is okay to use when pregnant, so I slathered some on my feet and went to bed last night. Hopefully, one more night of that and I will be feeling like a million bucks!

So that is why I have been too busy/tired to post lately. My apologies!

Speaking of Little Bit (that is what I have been calling Baby Girl lately-since she still doesn't have a name), she has been a lot more active. I also look pregnant now. I will post some belly progression pics for your enjoyment in my next post. It is a pleasure to feel her move around and kick/punch me. I'm sure I will be complaining about the pain down the road, so I am enjoying it while I can :)

Til next time! Up next, pics of Bruno and my growing belly!

This is so hard!

I never imagined that naming a child would be this excruciating. Thank the Lord I have time before she gets here and I am obliged to name her. At the rate we are going though, her name will end up being Baby Girl Parsons. Hmph! Great parents we are going to be.

In all seriousness, this is really difficult. I really love one particular name. That name happens to be really popular. Gee, thanks Lindsay, for pointing that out! Now I'm debating said name because I don't want my daughter in school with a ton of other kids with that name. My child is unique and that deserves an unique name. No, not like crazy unique. Just unique enough that she stands a good chance to be the only kid named that in school. I could just name her what I want to name her, and go by her middle name (which is yet to be picked either-just as difficult a task) but I don't want to do that. I think the name I like sounds really great with her last name.

Thank goodness we don't have to pick out a last name either. I'm glad that is set in stone! I would probably be in a mental institute if I had to pick out 3 names! So I guess the baby's name is still Baby Girl Parsons. Maybe we'll make some headway in the coming weeks. Or maybe I will. Sean has been no help so far. My sister has; she compiled me a huge list of names that fit my criteria (well kind of). Unfortunately, none of them strike me as "the name". And I'm very glad that I found out what we are having. At least this way we have a few months.

Any tips and advice would be much appreciated.

We're having a...

GIRL!!! Yes, that is right. Apparently, most everybody was wrong. While I was "hoping" for a boy, I had lately starting thinking my little one was a girl. My reasoning behind this is purely based on Murphy's Law. You see we had several boy names picked out, but no girl names. So there opens the name debate. I'm sure this will be a long process. Hopefully it won't be a knock-down, drag-out fight!

I'm sure you all want to see pics! Most of the pics I have are of my little girl's organs. While I care very much about said organs, I'm sure most of you don't care to see the 4 chambers of her heart. (If you do, please let me know and I'll post those) I do have several face shots, quite a few feet shots, and one adorable pic of her sucking her thumb! I got a lot of feet shots because it seems my little girl is shy and modest. Aww, I'm proud. One could also say she is stubborn. My ultrasound tech worked and worked to get her to show us the goods. It took about 15 minutes and alot of prodding. The baby kept moving her legs and feet in a way that still wouldn't allow us a peek. Then she moved her bum so we couldn't see. And finally when we thought we were in the clear and she had moved her feet and legs...she put her hands down to cover! So seeing as how she is obviously not wanting to show off her money shot, I will not be posting said pics! (However, if you really want to see I may rethink it).

So friends and Internet meet (yet to be named) Baby Girl Parsons!

Here she is covering her "goods"

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (and catching up)

I'm bad! I haven't updated in awhile. I mean to, but I ususally end up forgetting or get tired. Enough with the excuses! I will make my best effort to update more regularly. And by regularly, I mean more than once a month. Maybe I'll be able to committ to once a week!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! If you are planning on imbibing, be careful! But also, have one for me!!! Today is Sean's dad & stepmom's anniversary. I do have to say that if they didn't already have this day as their anniversary then Sean and I would have it!!! Today is also the day that I find out whether we are having a little boy or a little girl!!! I have a 3pm ultrasound scheduled...and it won't get here soon enough! My mom will be going with me. I hope Sean is able to go also, but he is working down south, so he may not make it in time :( Either way, I will find out :) I will have to swear my mother to secrecy and silence-this will be the biggest challenge of all. Even more so than me being secret and silent-and if you know me well you know how difficult that is! Of course, after Sean knows then everyone else can find out. It is only proper. So if you are all so very luck-and I do have to say that St. Patrick's Day is a very lucky day-then I may make 2 posts today!

Oh and I forgot to update awhile back that we didn't move to that farm house. But that is a post in and of itself, so check back!!!

Moving on Up!

Well, Sean and I have finally found a place to rent that met our criteria. Not an apartment, no noisy neighbors, land that we can have a garden in, at least 2 bedrooms, and on the north side of Indy. Check all those boxes!

We put a deposit down on an old farm house. Very nice...well except the paint, orange shag carpet, bright blue carpet, wood paneling in the kitchen (hence dark and dreary), and nasty vinyl in the kitchen. Other than that, this place is about perfect! And since all of my complaints were ones of pure vanity, we decided we could deal with it. Now just getting the little old lady to let us "rehab" the place a bit. I can live with the carpet (though I'm sure it is older than I am; maybe Sean too); except in the 2nd bedroom (which will be baby's bedroom). You have to love little, old ladies. They are extremely honest! She said the previous tenants had a flood in the bathroom and the back bedroom got flooded. She mentioned her son tore the carpet up and cleaned it real well, but I'm still hesitant. I don't want any kid of mine crawling, lying, etc in a place where fecal matter may or may not have been. Granted it will be awhile before said child is here, let alone even crawling, but you can see where I'm coming from.

I will have to post pictures of the place after we move in. Maybe it isn't as hideous as I'm making it out to be. My mind could very well be playing tricks on me, but I'm pretty sure the nausea I felt when walking into the living room (orange shag) and the BLUE room (bright blue walls, and blue carpet ~which will be our bedroom by the way) wasn't related to this pregnancy.
I'm optimistic that Sean can talk the owners into letting us "freshen" it up a bit, or however he wants to put it.

And speaking of the owners, well that is a post in and of itself, but I think they are very sweet! So now we just have to start getting packed up, and buy a few things (i.e. washer/dryer, kitchen table) and we are good to go. My dad is excited about this because we will be a lot closer to him. Approximately 9-10 miles northwest of him. I'm sure my mom would be excited too, but seeing as how I KNOW she will ask to move in, I'm trying to put this off as long as possible. So now we are moving on up to a way bigger place and way more north! There are only a few things I'll miss about the place we are in now...Kerry and Kathy! But I know we can still travel down to the southside and see them, and they are always welcome at our place.

Woohoo! Now off to plan my garden for this year....

The BIG Announcement!

Okay...now that I have officially told everyone that needs to know (well minus my employer, but I can put that off for another week or two; maybe three) I can post it here. Sean and I are having a baby!

Yes, you read that right. I am pregnant. I guess the politically correct thing would be to say that "we" are pregnant. However, Sean hasn't been the one dealing with the day to day stuff; other than my moodiness. And well, anyone that knows me, knows that isn't anything new. LOL!
Okay, so you are probably wondering a few things. I'll address what I think you may want to know. If you have any other comments/questions feel free to ask. So here goes:

I am currently a little over 13 weeks; every Friday I start a new week. I have had 2 ultrasounds and will be posting some of the pictures at the end. The baby is estimated to arrive August 14th, 2009. We do not know what we are having yet. We will find out at the earliest at our 20 wk scan; assuming baby is cooperating. I have felt pretty great so far! Not too tired (though I do sleep at least 10 hours a night; sometimes 12). Not too bad of morning sickness. I think I only threw up a handful of times; however all of those were at night, and a few times I think it was the result of food poisoning. You are more prone to food poisoning while pregnant, as your digestive systems S-L-O-W-S down. Supposedly your metabolism increases too. While I have gained minimal weight (think yo-yo; gain some, lose some, etc.) I have not seen any thing to prove this. I have had this "friend" with me called Bloat for some time. Most mornings she is gone, but usually after lunch she returns. Damn friend, Bloat. I am not showing; just look bloated/heavier. You'd think that would be a dead give-away, but alas, I have not always been skinny my whole life.

Okay, enough boring details. Now for some fun pics! Last one (was supposed to be first but it just put the pics in this order) was when we found out how far along I was. It was taken at 8w6d (that is weeks and days-so just before 9 weeks). Then the following ones were at 12w6d. It is amazing how much s/he has grown in 4 weeks! And it was neat seeing the little bugger just flip and twist!



Face Shot!

Arms & Legs!

Spring Fever

Well, you may have noticed I changed my layout. I got tired of the dark and dreary. I'm ready for spring. I'm ready for warmer weather, birds chirping, sun shining, and flowers!!! I love flowers. I also love gardens.

This little "heat" wave that we have been having the past few days (for those of you not in Indiana, it has been in the mid to high 40s the past few days) is making me long for spring. I know this weather won't last. Winter weather will be back, and I'm sure with a vengence. But nonetheless, I am going stir-crazy for planting my garden and flowers. I already have a huge list of all of the stuff I need. I just wish I knew with some certainty, when we will be moving. It is not a question of if we will be moving...just when. I don't want to start my garden and flowers, only to move and not get to enjoy them or take them. That would be like leaving behind your animal.

Speaking of animals...two of my rabbits are driving me nuts! I want to separate them from Jackie Blue. She is a sweetheart. Janie and Roxy...well I don't have anything nice to say about them...except that their little "mohawks" are adorable in winter!!! *Sigh* I can't separate her from her "sisters"; though at times I think she would appreciate it. They gang up on her, bite her, etc. And she is WAY bigger than them. She is just a big teddy bear (err, bunny rabbit).

Well, I hope everyone likes the new layout. Let me know your thoughts. I love comments! I can't wait for spring.

Things that slip the mind...

Isn't it funny how sometimes things will slip your mind? Sometimes small, sometimes big. The small things; probably not that important. The big things; well that is a big deal. How does one forget a "big thing"? Well I don't personally know; unless it is something that is supposed to be a "surprise" or something.

You are probably wondering what I am talking about. Well this morning at 4am, I was rudely woken. Sean's cell phone was doing the "periodic" melody of a missed call, voice mail, or message. So I got up and went pee. I layed back down, and then his phone starts ringing. I made him wake up. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why anyone would call that early. Of course, I'm thinking emergency (or his sister was going into labor-though I don't think she would call him at that time about that). Turns out it was the neighbor, asking him about breakfast (this is what Sean told me). Sean got ready and said he was going to eat breakfast with Kerry (our neighbor). No biggie...I layed there wondering how anyone could hop out of a dead sleep and think about eating that early, but tried to go back to sleep none the less.

Well I couldn't sleep. So I hopped online. Sean came in about 20 minutes later and apologized for waking me up. I told him it was okay; I couldn't get back to sleep. Well a few minutes later I got hungry, so I asked him to pick me up some oj and a muffin. I'm a little fuzzy on what he said, but it was along the lines of ok. Well 10 minutes later, I couldn't wait, so I warmed up my car and drove to McDonalds. Yeah, real healthy, I know.

I got back and sent him a text message saying not to worry about the food, I had it taken care of. He sent me two messages. One saying he was going snowboarding. I told him to have fun. The other one was pretty vague; about our personalities clashing and getting along better. Okay, I'm not all that sure what he was talking about; other than my piss-poor attitude this morning. Sorry...I'm not a morning person. And that is a bit of an understatement...and so is that, but you get the point.

Well, I went back to sleep for a few hours. When I got up, I went outside to check on the rabbits. I noticed all of his vehicles were here, so I was wondering how he went snowboarding if he didn't drive anywhere. Thinking he may still be next door, and hadn't left, I went to check. Nope...not there. So I called my neighbor, Kerry. And this is for real what happenend next (not verbatim, but pretty close)...

Sarah: "Hey Kerry! I was wondering if Sean was with you? He said he was going snowboarding, but his cars are here."
Kerry: "Hey hon! Oh I dropped him off at the airport."
Me: "Huh?"
Kerry: "Yeah, he asked me yesterday if I could take him to the airport this morning b/c he had a flight around 5ish, and didn't think you would want to get up to take him. He said something about snowskiing."
Me: "Huh?" (I'm thinking this is some kind of joke, mind you-like he is right next to him or something)
Kerry: "Yeah, he said something about snowskiing in Utah. I dropped him off about 5 this morning."
Me: still in disbelief "Utah? He went snowboarding in Utah? He just told me he was going snowboarding."
Kerry: "Oh, he didn't tell you. [insert long, awkward silence here] I guess you are upset."
Me: "Umm...well when he said snowboarding (and he did tell me a week ago that he was probably going to go snowboarding, but I'm thinking of the place in Indiana where he always goes) it sounded kind of last-minute. That sounds...planned."
Kerry: "Well, I should say so. He has known for at least a day or two. He really didn't tell you he was going snowboarding in Utah?"
Me: "No."
Kerry: "Well, I give you permission to be upset. Call me later if you want."
Me: "Thanks Kerry."

So back to my original point...how does one forget something that big? I'm sure Sean has a good explanation. In the meantime, I have been wondering if he told me and I forgot. No, I'm pretty sure all I heard was "going snowboarding". Nothing mentioned about a plane, Utah, etc. So I'm confused...and hurt. How can someone that you love and care about just fail to mention flying half-way across the country? To top it off, I found a list of dates on his desk, and I think he will be gone all week. At least, that is all I can deduce from his random list of dates. It also looks like he will be at BeaverCreek Feb. 28-March 5. He has yet to mention this either. So on top of him failing to mention that the snowboarding is in Utah (and it remains to be seen when he will return), but it also appears that he is on vacation this week and didn't mention that either (but he may not be-I apparently know NOTHING).

So I'm wondering what you would do? Part of me just wants to pack up stuff and just leave (at least come Friday). The other part wants to know why he didn't tell me, and talk to him about it. And this other little part of me just wants to bash his face in. Let's hope those two little parts (and I'm sure you know which ones) lose their "steam" so to speak. In the meantime, I'm confused and upset in Indiana...oh and trying not to jump to conclusions.