Foster is here!! A Birth Story

Baby is here! 

I was dilated to a 4 at my Wednesday appointment so we scheduled my induction for the next day, Thursday September 13, at 5:30 am.They started my pitocin around 7am and broke my water around 9. The anesthesiologist came at 9:30 because he had a full schedule for the day so I got my epidural while dilated to a 5. Getting the epidural so early was a huge change from my labor with Archer. I was in pain as soon as they broke my water and stayed that way until noon or so when I was finally dilated enough to get an epidural. This time around I felt very little pain, just mild crampiness. The epi made me sleepy so I napped off and on all day. 

Around 2:45 the nurse checked my cervix and I was dilated to a 9.5. I told her I was starting to feel pain again so the anesthesiologist came back and gave me a bolus of meds so I was completely numb again. The doctor arrived at 3:30 and prepped the room. I pushed 4 times on my first contraction starting at 3:45. Then my doctor said something funny and I laughed and he slid down a little so the doctor said to laugh again and he started coming out on his own, so I basically pushed 4 times and he was out at 3:47pm. (We were racing with the girl in the room next door and won! lol) 

Baby's First Picture

Baby was 9 lbs, 3 oz; 21 inches long; 14.5 in head. He was BIG! But I knew he was going to be big.

We kept it quiet because we knew it was going to be a crazy day and weren't sure (obviously) how long it would take to be in a recovery room. It's a good thing too because we didn't get him back from the nursery until 9pm. I'm definitely not pleased with the nursery staff, to say the least.

Recovery has been awesome. I feel so much better, less physically exhausted, less sore, just better overall than I did with Archer. I only took 2 pain pills and a few motrin at the hospital. I've been taking a few more at home because my back is really stiff, but it's not painful. My stitches aren't super painful and I even left the dermaplast at the hospital lol.
 

I've been up and around since 2 hours after his birth and even cooked dinner yesterday. I'm impressed with how my body handled labor this time around. Other than the pain I'm down 17 lbs and can fit my pre-pregnancy jeans. 

But I must say, I wish it had been this easy the first time, I might not have waited so long. :) I told Chance that and he just looked at me like I was nuts, so I guess that's a no on any future tries. 

Kay Jewelry Review

A few weeks ago my sweet husband took me to the mall after one of my doctor's appointments and said, "Go pick out a ring." I never got an engagement ring since we weren't ever really engaged, just a wedding band at the wedding.

I was...shocked, overwhelmed, worried I'd choose wrong, you name it I thought of it. It was too scary for me to process at that moment. We ended up waiting to do some more research online first. Which, really didn't turn out all that well.

We ended up buying this ring from Kay (or this ring that's similar). It came in really quickly, the one thing I was impressed with. I opened the box and it was gorgeous. Sparkly and just beautiful.

The next day, I was taking a picture of it to send to my husband and noticed a crack or a scratch. I thought, surely not. I've only worn it for a few hours (3 tops), what could have happened?

I went to the Kay store at the mall to ask them what was going on. I get there and one person is at the front desk and one is at the back, each with a customer. I walk to the front desk to wait. Here I stand, 38 weeks pregnant and am not greeted. No eye contact, no hello, nothing. I stood there for 10 minutes without either employee recognizing that I'm there. I walked off.

When I got home I called customer service, the only advice I'm given, "Take it back to a store and reorder it online." (not carried in stores) Ok, not pleased with that choice, but it's better than nothing.

I make a special trip to a different mall to return it. We were greeted immediately by a very friendly employee who seems helpful and nice. Show her the ring, tell her we want to return it. She says ok, she'll go get a manager. And that's where it turned sour. The manager was immediately on the defensive. She explained (in a not so nice manner) that it wasn't a crack but a defect in the gem, which is what we paid for. Had we gotten a higher quality diamond instead of spending less money, we would have gotten a better diamond without this flaw. All true, but terrible bedside manner.

Needless to say, we returned the ring, did NOT order another and have tabled the matter for another time. I didn't say anything to anyone about this process because it seemed too good to be true, and it was. I wouldn't post it here if it weren't for wanting to get it out that the reason this product isn't sold in stores is because it's very low quality and people wouldn't buy it if they saw it first. I'm fairly certain of that.

After this experience I will never buy anything from Kay again. I think the website was a little misleading, unless you know about diamond quality and what kind of flaws are possible. I've had diamonds with small specks or flecks of dark color and that's what I assumed they meant, not this very visible crack-like issue. I think the first store I went to (Central Mall Lawton) had terrible customer service. I've worked in customer service, even if you're helping someone else, you make eye contact and say hello to someone standing 3 feet from you. I think the second store I went to (Penn Square Mall) was upset that they were getting such a large return early in the day and let that color their customer service, which was just as bad as the first store. She could have explained the situation politely without trying to belittle us. When working in customer service, if someone was making a return of a product they were unhappy with, my goal was to win them over so that they would either buy that day or return another day.

Can you see it? 

Fissure running across top of diamond, it was also visible from the sides and bottom

Bierocks

I recently came across this recipe on pinterest and since I love cabbage, sausage and biscuits I thought it was a must try.

I'll be completely honest, I won't tell anyone about this recipe out loud, because I'm still unsure of how to even say it. I was hesitant to post it because there are so many spellings and I don't want to do it wrong. But, what I have seen includes bierrocks, bierocks, bier rocks and runzas.

The recipe calls for dinner roll dough. I have no idea what that is, walmart didn't have roll dough, only biscuits so I used crescents. If you know what dinner roll dough is, use it. I also skipped several steps by using cole slaw mix, which is also what I use for egg rolls. Much easier. I also didn't use beef because I already had the sausage and was making a smaller batch than the original.

They turned out really tasty, though I'm sure I'm the only here who will eat them. Definitely something I will make again as they were quick and easy.


Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent roll dough
1 pound pork sausage
1/2 bag slaw mix
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter, melted


Directions
Roll out dough to 1/4 inch in thickness, then cut into 5 inch squares.
In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until browned; make sure there is no remaining pink color. Stir in cabbage, onions and seasoning with meat (I added a little salt, not too much and pepper). Saute for about 20 minutes. Turn down heat to warm.
Fill each dough square with a tablespoon of meat filling. Seal dough by bringing the four corners up and then overlapping them. Place pastry upside down on a baking sheet; brush each roll with melted butter.


Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for for 10-15 minutes. 

Forty Weeks

I've made it to 40 weeks. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

My next doctor's appointment isn't until Thursday, which I'm pretty upset about since my due date is tomorrow. I wasn't begging or complaining last week, but now I'm done. Baby is full term, big enough, lungs and brain are healthy; get him out! I'm far enough progressed that risk of c-section is low, so I'm definitely put out with my doctor's decision to make me wait four days to even come back for an appointment to discuss an induction.

I'm blessed that Chance has time at home that we weren't expecting, but still. I am so uncomfortable, with a ton of pressure down low and my entire abdomen aching from the weight of the baby.

I will miss the loving, sweet, fun parts of being pregnant, but never the last weeks. I would much rather be holding my 8 pound baby in my arms than my tummy.

Nursery!

Before you ask, I'm still pregnant. Yes, I'm ready to have the baby. No, I haven't yet, obviously if you can see me (which I realize you cannot at the moment). Yes, he's stubborn. Yes, I'm tired of being pregnant. Thanks for reminding me. 

Whew, felt good to get that out. There's nothing quite like the local fair to bring out questions such as these. I'm sure people just don't know what to say and I'm sure I've asked similar (annoying) questions, but still. It's lame when they're being asked of you. 

BUT, that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to share the nursery pictures with you! It's about 90% finished and as good as it's going to get for the time being! 

(The little brown dresser came with the house (meaning it belonged to someone in my family, since it's a family house). I'm eventually going to refinish it, but I don't have the energy right now and I needed a lamp table. This was in Archer's room under his bed until now.) 

Two weeks out

Chance works two weeks at a time away, something I've avoided posting directly here, just because, but it's relevant to this post, so I needed to say it.

He just left for two weeks, and my due date is 13 days away (September 10). He will be home the night before, but we're hoping he makes it and I don't go into labor on my own. I'm not looking forward to being induced (for atypical reasons) but his time at home will be limited otherwise, so I'm going to if necessary.

But the two weeks I want to talk about right now are the ones that just passed. He came home for his days off two weeks ago, and it occurred to me that we had two weeks left in our current way of life. We had two weeks left as parents of one. It's strange to put such quantitative measures on life, but we knew once he went back to work, it would be different the next time he came back.

Life is so strange when lived in two week increments. You spend a few days getting reaquainted with each others bad habits, you spend a few days resting, and then you cram 30 days worth of dr appointments, errands, dinners with friends, birthdays, holidays, etc into 12 if you're lucky.

Then when he goes back to work, I spend at least a day recouperating. Just sitting immobile on the couch watching tv and tanking up on water like a camel. (haha)

So now, in no more than two weeks we will be parents of two. We will have a newborn. I think it's safe to say I'm getting anxious.

4th Birthday and Questions

Today was Archer's 4th Birthday!! He kept saying, I'm still the birthday boy. He didn't quite understand that his party was Friday and his birthday was today, but it was cute that he was hanging on to his birthday all weekend. I like having a birthday week too, so can't say that I blame him. :) 

His teacher sets it up so that their birthday is their assigned snack day, so we took cupcakes and juice. I didn't get one of him looking, but here he is at school! 

We had his party on Friday, but today we had a little celebration at home, just us. When he came in from school he was surprised with his presents. 

Then we had lasagna for dinner, not his request but something he always eats well. And since his candle blowing at his party didn't really work out (too windy), we did it again at home and sang happy birthday. He loves being sang happy birthday to. :)

When it was bed time Mommy read him 4 of his new books, snuggled, and sent him to snuggle with Daddy since he leaves tomorrow for work. But just before bed, I asked these birthday questions. I found these after his 3rd birthday but I asked them this winter so that we would have something to compare to this birthday. It is so neat to see the difference just a few months made in his answers. 

1. What is your favorite color? Red, blue
2. What is your favorite toy? The dragon and the knights
3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples
4. What is your favorite tv show? Pocoyo
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Raviolis
6. What is your favorite outfit? Batman
7. What is your favorite game? Hide n Go Seek
8. What is your favorite snack? Grapes
9. What is your favorite animal? My sheep (when asked for a "real animal" he said, A real sheep)
10. What is your favorite song? Imma Be
11. What is your favorite book? Batman
12. Who is your best friend? Rysen (Brysen)
13. What is your favorite cereal? The one with marshmallows in
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Slide, play in my sandbox too
15. What is your favorite drink? Tea
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Georgie
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Oatmeal
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cake
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Superman
21. Who is your favorite superhero? Batman

Happy Birthday to my big boy! Mommy loves you so much. :) 

Party Time!

Today was Archer's big 4th birthday party! He had so much fun and I'm relieved baby brother didn't interrupt our party plans.

This year we had a superhero theme. I didn't do nearly as much as last year, just a few balloons and primary colors everywhere.

The cupcakes were banana flavored with banana cream cheese icing (which melted with the addition of the food coloring) and funfetti with whipped icing. The toppers were little rings. It was super messy. lol

We only played one game this year, which was spray the bad guy. The kids were rounded up and sprayed cartoon villains with silly string. I found the idea on a blog and pinned it here. It was a little difficult to maneuver with a ton of kids, my advice would be to use water guns and laminated pictures and make it a race or something. But we had lots of littles, so I just let them share the silly string and spray at random.

The party was fun, stressful, and not something I ever plan to do 9 months pregnant again. I love going all out for birthdays and I just didn't have the energy this year. I wanted to do so much more game wise and decoration wise, but Archer was thrilled. My mom picked him up from school and he walked up to the party just a few minutes early saying, "It's Archer's party day!" Made my heart happy.

We're going to have another birthday bash at home on Monday with a few presents and his favorite dinner. It was a great day and this pregnant momma is worn out. More later. :)

Dad's Turn

I blogged the other day that my husband would soon be home and would get to share in the responsibilities of school drop offs and lunch making. He made me escort him a few times to make sure he knew what to do, but today he was solo. I slept in, I didn't even pretend to wake up or ask if they needed help. I was due.

I gave him all of my tips last night (start the oatmeal before waking him up, add a little milk to cool it down, get his robe so he won't be cold because if he's cold he'll try to get on the couch and cover up, make sure you put the sandwich at the bottom so it doesn't get smashed, etc) and he thought I was a little crazy, but hey it works.

I kissed him goodbye before he got dressed, so I had no idea what he was going to school in. :) You can definitely tell Daddy dressed him but I don't mind, because I didn't have to do it.

Recipe: Cavatini

In case you haven't noticed from all of my other recipe posts, I'm all about very versatile recipes. I like to be able to substitute or make changes depending on who I'm feeding. So I promise, this is very easy and it might seem scattered, but it's really easy to make it your way. For that reason, I'm going to word this recipe a little differently than usual.

Cavatini
The must haves:
-1 box pasta
-1 jar sauce
-1 1lb ground beef or pork sausage (or leave out the meat if you want vegetarian)
-1 large package shredded mozzerella
The extras:
-pepperoni
-italian sausage
-smoked sausage, sliced
-1 bell pepper
-1 small onion, diced
-1 squash or zucchini
-1 can sliced olives
-1 can sliced mushrooms

Boil pasta, but keep it al dente so that it can continue to cook once you bake it. Drain and add to pan.

While pasta is cooking, brown meat and onion, then drain.

Mix sauce, meat, and any veggies you choose. I also add a little sugar to my sauce to take the bitter out, a friend uses shredded carrots to add sweetness to her sauce as well as add veggies her family doesn't know about. Pour sauce mixture over the noodles, top with cheese.

Bake at 350 until cheese is melted and golden. I like mine a little brown.

This is called cavatini (like spaghetti) because of the type of noodle used, but it's really just a baked pasta casserole. You can use any kind of pasta you like, I prefer rotini or spiral but you could use a tube like pasta to hold more sauce. You can use all the meat to have a really hearty dish, or add more vegetables. I would avoid veggies that are too watery or cut down on the sauce. I like a lot of cheese, so add more if you want. Like I said, very versatile.

I'll post pics the next time I make this, we just had it the other day.


Shared at:
-Jam Hands

Whew

I am exhausted! It has been a whirlwind of a weekend.

Friday I drove Archer to my friend's house so he could spend the night. Chance was at the lake with his sister and brother in law, I chose to stay home and relax a little as the idea of riding a boat was most unappealing.

Saturday afternoon held a (very) small baby shower thrown by some of my favorite girls in the world and Saturday evening we took Archer to watch Paranorman. It was cute, but I would recommend an older age group for sure.

Today I had Sunday dinner with my family, which I do most weekends, and came home to do a few things around the house, including cooking dinner (which I screwed up). I feel like I'm just now sitting down to the computer for the first time all weekend.

The idea that tomorrow is Monday, which is just the beginning of another crazy week makes me want to hide in my bed under the quilt and refuse to come out. I'm still not used to life on a schedule again after summer break and it's kicking my butt.

This week I have a party at my moms, a doctor's appointment, shopping for the birthday party, and the big birthday bash on Friday. I'm going to be ready for a nap next Saturday, doubt I'll get one, but I'll be ready.

If you're wondering

If you'll remember I said my husband was on his way home. He got in yesterday and now we have to cram 4 weeks into 2 and that doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging or even facebook.

So, if you notice I'm not around much, I'm not avoiding the blog, I'm just busy.

Schedules and routines

As I said yesterday, Chance gets home from work today. His work schedule really sucks and I'm not looking forward to him leaving this time, especially with me being so pregnant and Archer being in school. It's really going to mess up his world.

I always look forward to him coming home, and usually have these grand plans of what we can do and the time we can spend together, but it usually ends up being chaotic as hell and we don't have time for anything. I'm sure that will be the case again this time. But I'm still looking forward to him coming home of course.

Although, this time, I might have a very selfish ulterior motive.

You see, my very sweet, loving husband really doesn't get what it's like to have to get up and take the kiddo to school (or daycare) as he's never done it. He left before school started. So I am really looking forward to sleeping in while daddy gets up, makes oatmeal, gets him dressed and packs his lunch. There's nothing difficult about it at all, it just takes a little fine tuning of schedule and planning ahead.

I literally have to drag Archer out of bed most mornings. He stirs as soon as the alarm goes off, but I let him snooze at least once. Then on the second alarm, I turn on the light and off the fan. I tell him I'm starting his oatmeal and I head to the kitchen groggily. I sleep in my contacts most days (don't tell my dr) so I'm fighting stuck together eyes while I pour oatmeal and water in a bowl and fumble for the microwave buttons.

In the minute it's cooking I run to the bathroom, change my clothes and brush my hair. Back to the kitchen for milk in the oatmeal to cool. Get the kid out of bed and into his inherited Superman robe because it's freezing in our house and sit him at the table to eat. While he's eating I make his daily pb&j, toss in a water and snack of some kind (pretzels, apple sauce, yogurt).

As soon as he's done we pull on clothes, which usually takes forever because he's still cold and doesn't want to get naked. Then it's time for brushing teeth and shoes, which I let him do alone to an extent but I always follow up with a few seconds of brushing for him.

It's really not a long or difficult process, but I'm definitely interested in seeing how Daddy does it wrong  and the chaos that might cause. All while I'm blissfully sleeping in. (one can dream right?)

Nursery To Do

My husband comes home tomorrow and I'm sure he's going to immediately ask what I've been doing for two weeks. The yard is a wreck, the house is a wreck, and the nursery is still exactly as he left it, with the exception of a rug on the floor. There is still so much to do, but I'm just not sure where to start and I can't seem to find the energy to do any of it. I decided today, maybe if I made a physical list I could actually accomplish something in the next two days.

1. Get excess stuff out of closet
2. Hang new closet bar
3. Put up closet organizer
4. Hang curtain
5. Hang decor
6. Move small dresser to baby's room
7. Put lamp up
8. Hang shelves
9.

However, my first bullet needs to be: Find a place to put all the crap in that closet. I just need more room.

And if we're being honest, we both know I spent time writing this blog to avoid actually doing the work. :)

School Update

Archer's third day of school was today.

He happily reported this afternoon that he played with the same friend as last Friday, he still doesn't know his name and can't describe what he looks like. I think it's so neat that he's completely unaware of physical differences (race, hair color, height/weight). I asked him today what he looks like (for the 2nd time, last time all he could think of was "striped shirt") and he said "He's same size as me. And he's brown like me." I'm not at all sure what that means, since he's tanner than most kids but still white, but I think it's neat that he doesn't know that he's "white" or "black" or any other society determined race.

We've gotten the schedule down pretty well also. In the morning he doesn't like for me to just drop him off at the door, he likes me to go in a spend a few minutes "talking" to him before he has to go in his classroom. I told him we would do that until the baby comes unless he got ready before that. In the afternoon I drive through and pick him up.

He goes "all day" which is from 8:05-2:45, though I can drop him off as early as 7:45. It definitely doesn't feel like a full day when you have errands to run, but I'm grateful he gets to go at all. I miss him all day and usually get to school early to pick up him, but I'll be glad for only have one to juggle once the baby gets here.

I was really worried about him learning the alphabet (or even be able to recognize his name) but he's already telling me anytime he sees an A (though he calls it a cross, because of the line in the middle) that it's "his letter." I think that's great progress after only 3 days.