Happy Thanksgiving!

Going into Thanksgiving, I want to list the things I am thankful for:
1. My healthy baby boy. Every single child brought into this world is a miracle and I am so thankful that my little man is healthy (though his skin rash is annoying me, maybe he's teething, or maybe the poor kid just got stuck with his mommy's skin problems).
2. My wonderful husband. He is so supportive and loves me and his son so much. When I'm in another room, I love listening to the two of them play. Adam has figured out how to tickle Dylan and Dylan has the best laugh in the universe. Listening to Adam play with our son just makes me love him more.
3. My parents. They are so ready to help with anything we need and I don't know what we'd do without them. Especially when we ask my mom to come stay to babysit, she doesn't hesitate.
4. Our babysitter. She is a friend of ours and is saving us so much money by being willing to take care of our little man while I work in the morning. She works second shift, which means she gets home around midnight, and is up for me to drop off the little man at 7:20 every morning. Luckily come January my schedule will change and it will only be two days a week instead of four.
5. My job. I've asked for a year now to be made full time and that still hasn't happened. I am frustrated at times, but I am still grateful to have a job at all. And I won't say yes to a schedule like the awful one I have right now ever again.
6. My car. The silver bullet has over 183,000 miles on it and it's still kicking. Really well. Knock on wood. I won't lie, I cheated on my car driving my parents 2006 Chevy Impala SS and I enjoyed it tremendously, but I love my car. The Impala was a LOT of fun though (sshhhh, don't tell the silver bullet).
7. Our new furnace. Over the summer, our air conditioner died, and due to the tax credit, we got a new a/c and furnace. And our new furnace is amazing when compared with the old one. The old one didn't regulate heat well and the downstairs was always freezing. The new furnace keeps the downstairs warm and the upstairs is the same temperature as downstairs. The old furnace kept the upstairs at least 10 degrees warmer than the downstairs and made it so difficult to sleep.

I'm sure there are many more things I'm thankful for, especially all my wonderful family and friends.

I love PBS

So, in the mornings, I watch PBS kids. Dinosaur Train, Sesame Street, Sid the Science Kid, Word World. Dylan may watch a little, but mostly he's eating or playing on the floor and PBS Kids is the background. I know he doesn't really know what he's watching, but I love it! I did not think that I would be watching PBS Kids so soon, but it really is my favorite. I have watched some Nickelodeon and Disney and they suck in comparison.

And, because I love PBS so much, this weekend when I was up for a feeding at 1 am (when is that going to stop, I wonder), I turned on the TV and it was on PBS. It just so happened that it was an episode of NOVA about Dogs. How dogs are descended from wolves, how dogs are so in tune with human emotions, and how the silver fox breeding program in Russia shows how it was possible for wolves to become docile. It was so super interesting that I had to show it to my biotechnology class today.
It's 53 minutes long, but if you have 53 minutes to spare, I highly recommend Dogs Decoded.

what i have learned about diapers

Of course, everyone has a different opinion about diapers, but I thought I would share mine (that's what blogs are for anyway, right?).

Of course, now that there is a little one in our midst, we are constantly trying to save money. I have found that using store brand diapers is a great way to save. All diapers leak every once in a while. I have found no diaper that leaks more or less than any other - expensive brand or store brand. When Dylan was a week old, every diaper leaked because of having to put vaseline in the diaper. Once the vaseline stopped, the leaking decreased a lot, and once we moved out of the newborn size diaper the leaking decreased even more. So, now, number two diapers leak every once in a while but number ones I think have only leaked twice in the past two months. No matter what brand. So, now for how I feel about those brands:
1. Pampers - are great but expensive. 40 diapers is $10 not on sale (of course, they do go on sale and it is usually pretty easy to find coupons - including in every package) They even make a cheaper diaper and a more expensive diaper. There is a difference, but not really worth the price in my opinion.
2. Huggies - suck. (and are expensive, same price as Pampers) They're thick, they fold back on themselves so they're not nice and easy to wrap up before throwing in the garbage, and I all in all do not like them.
3. Luvs - are comparable to the Pampers cheaper diaper. They're alright but still on the expensive side (a little cheaper than Pampers and Huggies, but not enough).
3. Up and Up (Target brand) - are awesome. They are thin like Pampers but $6 for 40 diapers (I'm still talking size 2s, Little man is still skinny!)
4. Comforts (Kroger brand) - are alright. They are a little bit thicker (not as thick as Huggies though), and they are cheaper than Target brand.

All in all, I think I will probably mostly use Target brand (plus they are polka dot diapers, you can't go wrong with polka dots). The name brand diapers also have characters that you have to pay for (Sesame Street, Winnie the Pooh, and Blue's Clues). Seriously, your little one's excrement is being collected in these things, why do you need to decorate them with fancy logos. Polka dots are awesome and apparently save me $4 a package.

As for wipes, I really like Comforts (Kroger brand). They're thicker than Pampers but they pop out of the container like Pampers (they're folded like Kleenex tissues). Huggies are scored and so you often pull out more than one wipe (annoying). BUT, the Huggies wipes container is the best.

Long story short: Buy Target Diapers, a container of Huggies wipes, and then Kroger wipes refills.

what i've learned...

... now that I have been a mom for almost 7 weeks. It is by far the most amazing thing I have ever done. There have been some tough times and we have rolled with the punches. This is what I know:
1. Breastfeeding is amazing. It was by far the most painful part of the entire process (yes, I think it was more painful than labor). All was well and then all of the sudden when Dylan was about 1.5 weeks old, it became so painful that every time he latched on I would have to bite my finger to prevent myself from screaming in pain. And that lasted for 5 days. And then the pain was gone. Those were the hardest days for me - desperately wanting the pain to go away and feeling absolutely helpless because Dylan was hungry and I was the only one who could feed him. I was in so much pain and afraid to use the breast pump because I was told by so many people not to introduce an artificial nipple to Dylan otherwise he might not breastfeed. I finally used the breastpump and it didn't hurt at all and Dylan did okay with the bottle and still prefers me to the bottle. I really think that all the pain I was in could have been gone sooner had I tried pumping sooner because the pump really helped me heal. I did try to make myself feel better by reminding myself that it could be worse - women can develop bacterial and yeast infections and have to breastfeed with that. It didn't really help because it was still so painful. I am SO GLAD that I got through it because now everything's wonderful - the pain is completely gone and Dylan and I are working so well together. Now the problem is that he prefers me to the bottle making it difficult for anyone who's watching him when I'm not around (which makes me feel great, but I know that it's not fair for everyone else).
2. Newborn diapers leak. A LOT. Dylan has grown into Size 1 and he doesn't leak out of his diaper nearly as often now. In the newborn diapers we were getting peed on all the time because it was just coming out of the top of the diaper. Not to mention when we were changing him the pee would fly.
3. Be careful when changing them. Because they will poo on you. And breastfed baby poo is projectile. We've all been pooed on while wiping Dylan's toosh. Runny projectile poo. Awesome.
4. I cannot carry on a conversation without talking about breastfeeding and baby excrement. Obviously, considering this blog post.
5. I love love love out baby bouncer - it's like having a baby sitter when no one else is around! The chair vibrates which is so super soothing to the baby. We have the FP Precious Planet Khaki Sands bouncer.
6. I love our bassinet. It vibrates and plays different sounds - the best being the sound of a heartbeat. It helps him fall asleep without being in our arms (though sometimes we have to hold him). We have the First Years Carry Me Near bassinet. And if we take the bassinet part off, a changing table is underneath. I will say that the bassinet part is SO heavy without Dylan in it that I would never carry it around like they claim you can. And, sometimes Dylan will start waking up, and I have to be honest, I hit the vibrate button on the bassinet and he will fall back asleep. It's like a snooze button on the baby. And sometimes just what I need to completely wake up and feed him. I love it!
7. You really do need a ton of onesies. And he really does wear several a day. Because he spits up all over them and then they're soaked. Luckily we have so many super cute ones. And we get to see him in all of them!
8. I LOVE MY BABY. I want to look at him all the time, and am constantly amazed that something so small and perfect and beautiful is all mine. And I like to look at all his different parts and decide if they're Adam's or mine. He definitely has Adam's fingers and toes. He has my chin, nose, ears, and red hair. He has Adam's forehead. I cannot decide whose eyes he has. Yesterday was the first time I thought he looked like he has Adam's shoulders. And he's ours. So much love!

Dylan!

I had my son, Dylan John, on June 28, making him three weeks old and 3 days old! He is a wonderful little boy and I cannot believe how much I love him! He looks a LOT like me, and he has red hair! He is a very good sleeper, usually only wakes up once during the night (though sometimes he winds up awake for 2 hours which isn't fun at 4 am). I ended up having a C section (turns out I have a weird shaped pubic bone and will have to have a C section for any future children as well) and am recovering perfectly. I was having problems with my hip bothering me for at least the last three months of my pregnancy and that pain went away immediately with the delivery of Dylan. People have asked me if I miss all those baby kicks, and I haven't had time to notice that I'm not getting kicked inside anymore.

I just love him so much!

38 weeks!

It has been a long 9 months, but the end is very very near and soon a baby will be here! I am uncomfortable most of the time, can't take a proper deep breath, and am so going to miss getting kicked and punched by baby. I have gone to classes, gotten a tour of the hospital, and am now waiting patiently for something else to happen. I haven't slept through the night in months, I have no dexterity in my hands and tend to drop everything, and I cannot bend over. I haven't had to deal with much swelling (some, but not much), I haven't had much heartburn (again, some, but not much), and it really has been like all the awful side effects you hear about from pregnancy skipped me (thank goodness!). I'm being induced next week, I'll know more tomorrow after I go to the doctor. I'm getting really anxious and excited. I really want to meet my little peanut!!

I also have watched quite a few movies/tv shows with people going in to labor. From what I've heard about what will happen, probably the most realistic is "Knocked Up". The goofiest is when mommy-to-be's water breaks and they rush out the door ("Friends" Rachel). I'm sorry, but if your water does break, you're not going to go anywhere without changing your clothes (when you're at home, if you're on the street you cannot do that -"Sex and the City" movie)! You have enough time for that at least. And then there's the immediate rush to the hospital because mommy-to-be had a contraction ("Sex and the City" Miranda, "Steel Magnolias" Darryl Hannah character). Contractions start long before you must rush to the hospital. 30 mins apart, then 15 mins apart, 10 mins, and no need to go to the hospital until they're 5 mins apart and that's lasted for an hour. That's a lot of contractions before needing to call the doctor or head to the hospital. In "Knocked up", Alison started having contractions and waited at home (in the bathtub) for Ben to get there and take her to the hospital. Probably the most likely thing to happen, though I would be worried about sitting in the tub and not being able to tell if my water had broken or not.

from the mouths of babes

My parents and Eli went out for breakfast this morning. After their meal, the waitress came by the table. The following exchange occured:
Waitress: How was everything?
Parents: Great, thanks!
Waitress (Leaning in to Eli): How was your food?
Eli: I farted!
Waitress: What?
Eli: I farted!
Waitress: okay... (and she walked away)

The waitress may not have understood Eli-speak, but Nana did, and has been laughing ever since!

shopping for maternity clothes

today, i went out looking for something to wear to a wedding that adam and i are going to in a few weeks. jcpenney has a decent selection of maternity clothes online, so to penneys i went. I found a cute really dark blue jean skirt on clearance for $12 - so I'm feeling like I got a pretty good deal. I also tried on a bunch of maternity shirts. They all hit me mid-thigh and were so long that I just looked really short and wide in these ridiculous shirts. Each shirt I tried on would have looked great it they were at least 6 inches shorter. Apparently I'm supposed to be 6 feet tall in order to not look like a weirdo in these maternity shirts. My next step is just look for bigger regular shirts, because I am not a fan of these maternity shirts. Regular shirts don't make me look so short!

TMI

Alright, I realize I may be having a bit of a TMI moment right now, but I'm putting this out there anyway.

My child thinks my bladder is a punching bag. If my bladder gets too full and is invading baby's space, good golly does this kid put the beat down on my bladder until I drain it. I think the personality of a first child (especially my first child) is shining through already.
What a little peanut.

One of my students just said to another student "Well aren't you a smarty pants? Smarty wanna party!?" They really are hilarious.

monthly update

apparently I am down to only blogging monthly. I'm really going to have to work on this. But, what's been happening?

1. Baby. I'm at 24 weeks. I feel baby kicking lots. It's so neat to have something moving inside me that isn't me. Baby is especially active while I'm in class. But as soon as baby's around Adam, baby stops moving. If you've ever seen Adam with a baby, you will be immediately amazed because he has an extraordinary power to lull baby to sleep. I've decided his amazing ability even works in utero. He has felt baby twice, but I know he's ready to feel more kicks and baby is just not cooperating. I have also entered that stage where I am HOT all the time. Over the winter my mom was amazed that I was spending so much time under blankets. Now, I'm hot all the time... particularly while I'm in class teaching. My students told me tonight that I'm waddling already.

2. Furthur. Was AMAZING. third row seats and totally fabulous. Phil and Bobby were fantastic. John from Dark Star Orchestra only sang three songs while we were there (he's the 'Jerry'), while most of the songs were sung by Bobby or Phil and Bobby together. I have a top ten favorite grateful dead songs (and they move up and down the list, but mostly the top ten doesn't change) and they played 2 of my top 10 - and considering the number of songs that are in the Dead repertoire, I'm amazed that I got 20% of my top ten. What are these two songs, you ask? Uncle John's Band and Scarlet Begonias. So fantastic. Which, Scarlet Begonias is extremely often combined with Fire on the Mountain in concert, and they continued that tradition this night too. Other highlights - China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Eyes of the World (sung by Phil), Jack Straw, Wharf Rat. We had to leave early to catch the train, and I checked out the setlist the next day. We missed Box of Rain, which is my mom's all time favorite song, and in my top ten, but we had to catch that train! Bummer, but oh well. Of course the people watching provided some entertainment. In particular, a guy was dancing like a nutso, even during intermission. My favorite was when he stuck his ticket on his forehead and danced around staring at the ceiling like the ticket was his ticket to the universe. Absolutely hilarious. I'm not really doing him justice, but believe me, he was great people watching material.

3. My dad. Broke his leg. At the bottom of his fibula. The poor guy has a boot on his foot and cannot put any weight on it. He's been pretty bummed out about it, but I went and saw him this past weekend and he has a system of using a walker, scooter, and wheelchair, so he's getting around pretty well. He's accidentally fallen twice since this happened and aggravated his leg again, but he seems to be okay. He goes to the doctor in three weeks for another x-ray and to find out if everything's healed or not. Nerve-racking!

Alright, that's all for now.

weekend of fun

My doctor wanted me to not travel for a few weeks because things were not in the right place in there. After going to the doctor again last week she okayed me to travel so I had to venture home to visit little Eli monster man (and parents and brother and sisterinlaw). I got to spend a lot of time with the little two and a half year old terror and it was so much fun! He's started reading books to you, instead of you reading to him. He is so freaking cute! He read a book to me about animals, telling me what all the animals are and what color they are. He's so good at his animals and colors and shapes, and he's learning counting (right now he always skips 4, and sometimes skips 4,5,6&7). The last time I saw him he only knew 1 and 2. It's been a month and such a huge difference in what he knows. And, whenever you ask him something and he doesn't know the answer he says "I don't know" and it is the cutest thing EVER.

I'm at the 20 week mark now, so I'm halfway done baking the bun in my oven! I went to a used clothing store over the weekend and was able to get quite a few maternity shirts and pants, and all clearance was $1! Such a successful shopping trip! My hair is growing out faster on the left side of my head than the right, so my wonderful sisterinlaw gave me a great haircut over the weekend. It took her a while to even it out my crazy hair, and she also said that my hair was even thicker on the left side of my head, i suppose adding to the whole growing faster thing. She did a great job, despite my head being ridiculous.

So far I feel totally fine, still am not feeling movement but am looking forward to it soon. We had another ultrasound last week, and when Adam would talk, baby would move even more. So I'm really looking forward to feeling baby's reaction to daddy's voice. :) :)

a name for baby

Adam and I haven't spent a whole lot of time thinking about baby names. So many people have offered suggestions, which I listen to none of them. But I have also been told that we need to come up with a name for baby to use in the mean time. I have just been calling baby "Baby", but that is not very creative. I also don't want a nickname that is gender specific. Yet, I keep calling Baby a he, and that really makes me want a gender neutral nickname until Baby comes out. I've loved the ideas that friends have used for their babies, and I need to come up with something as great at theirs!
We have started talking about decorating Baby's room. Adam wants to paint the room blue with clouds and stencil in trees. :)
My hair is growing faster on the left side of my head than the right side. It is making me keep my hair in a ponytail most of the time. It's subtle and probably no one else would notice unless I point it out to them, but I know that it's goofy, so ponytail it is. Hopefully my wonderful sis-in-law can come visit soon and fix this ridiculous problem.

baby news

we had our first ultrasound yesterday. baby was super active, rolling around and not cooperating with the tech at all, and making me laugh quite a bit. when she measured the head, the screen said that the size of the head corresponded to 16 weeks, so I am as far along as I had thought (which the doctor questioned at my appointment on wednesday). The tech showed us baby's feet and legs and arms and hands. When she was looking at baby's head, she was even able to show us baby's brain in there, which was super cool. Baby was opening and closing his/her mouth and waved at us a bit (we got a picture of that!). Whenever the tech went to look at baby' nether regions, she had us look away since we don't want to know the sex of the baby, but I think it's too early to tell anyway. Everyone of my parents generation who finds out what we don't want to know the sex of the baby thinks that's great, everyone of my generation is totally disappointed and a little mad at me (especially my brother) that we're not going to find out. I'm totally entertained by this.

Poppie

My grandfather (my mom's dad) passed away on Tuesday. He was 92. He had fantastic handwriting. He liked to sing, especially Irish songs - I think one of his favorites was "Oh Danny Boy." Whenever anyone offered him another drink (beer years ago, pop now), he would say, "Just one more, then I have to go." Or he would say, "I'll split it with you," and he would split the next one with you too. His favorite drink was a Bloody Mary. He loved to tell jokes, jokes that were so corny they were funny. At Poppie's 90th birthday party, there was a clown at the restaurant making balloon animals. The clown made a balloon hat for Poppie and he donned that hat with such pride, enjoying every minute of his party.
When I told him I was having a baby he clapped and bounced (as much as a 92 year old can bounce), making him the second most fun person to tell I was having a baby (Adam was the first). Everything about him was so sweet and funny. He sent cards for Left Hander's Day (August 13) to the four people in the family who are left-handed, myself included. He would always marvel at my eating, since I used my left hand to do it.
I found my last birthday card from him this morning. It said "Granddaughter, whereever you go, whatever you do.... my love will forever be with you." I'm sure it made me cry a little when I got it, but I immediately forgot what it said. Needless to say, when I read that this morning the tears wouldn't stop.
I will miss him always, but he is finally reunited with my grandmother again, after 26.5 years apart.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?n=fred-a-smith&pid=138554383

how do you like them apples?

2009 was a great year for me and my Adam. It started with moving into our house, then I finally finally finished my PhD, then I had so much fun planning our wedding and actually having our wedding and being married. We finally went to San Francisco, a trip we were hoping to take for a very long time and it was so so wonderful. And then we found out we're having a baby! I don't think it would have been possible for 2009 to get any better.

So, what's up for 2010? It goes without saying that we have to get our house ready for baby! We know which room we will use as the baby's room, it's just a matter of figuring out what to do with the desks, book shelf, and futon that are currently in that room. Luckily our master bedroom is big, but it will need some rearranging. We are so excited for the coming months - I'm really really looking forward to the first time my baby kicks me! And I'm looking forward to the nausea that comes and goes so often to stop completely. I have not vomited thoughout my first trimester, making me feel like I'm having a very lucky pregnancy so far, but today Adam drove us from the fort back home and I couldn't look out the window because it was making me feel so sick. And I've never had a problem with motion sickness (I'm one of those weirdos that can read in a car - so often people have been amazed that I could read without vomiting). I've also been dealing with a lot of dizzy issues (which isn't helping with the nausea). I really thought I was done with the nausea, but apparently not. Hopefully I will be soon!

Another pregnancy update - my belly is getting really hard. My pants all still fit, so I'm not really showing yet, but I have a hard belly! Alright, I think that's all for now. Happy New Year!