MIA

If there was an award for the worst blogger of the year, I would probably get it. I have become the dreaded blogger who doesn’t update once the baby is born.
I doubt there is anyone out there who will check back in with me after 8 months of being MIA – but just in case I wanted to update.

Grace is truly the light of my life. She is almost 9 months old and is crawling all over the place. I can’t believe she has been in our lives for this long…it seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant.

This community gave me so much support during our TTC journey – I definitely would not have gotten through the process without it, at least not with my sanity. I still read your blogs all of the time, although I am about as good of a commentor as I am blog updater.

I have tossed around the idea of starting a family/baby blog – I feel a bit uncomfortable using this blog (which I started solely as an outlet for my IF problems) as a baby blog. Of course I will probably be just as crappy at updating there as I am here so I am not so sure. When/if I start a baby blog I will post a link for anyone interested.

Here are some pictures of Grace. She sure has changed since the last time I posted pictures!

Showing off her new teeth!


At her baptism


Playing in the pool with Molly:

My mom was in town all last week and it was wonderful! Grace has a very fussy period during the evening so having another pair of hands around was very helpful. She is sleeping pretty well at night thanks to this - it truly has been a miracle for us! She is sleeping about three hours before waking up at night and for the most part I can get her to go back to sleep after nursing during the night. Although last night she was wide awake after our 3am feeding!

Yesterday was my first real day alone! B left for out of town training yesterday morning and will be back on Friday. My pediatrician suggested trying gripe water to help with her fussy times (which at times can be most of the day!) I don't know if it was the gripe water or her being exhausted from screaming most of the day Sunday - but yesterday went pretty well. She was only fussy from 8-10:30 last night.

My mother-in-law comes into town today to help for the rest of the week. I am so grateful for all of the help! I don't know how I am going to do it when B deploys.

Home Alone

Yesterday was B's first day back to work. The day went pretty well - I even got a shower and a walk at the park in. Today has been a little more challenging but I have a sleeping baby now (even if it took an hour car ride to get her there!) so I am happy.

Has anyone ever heard of getting vertigo after delivery? Last Friday - a week and a half after Grace was born - I thought I was coming down with a stomach virus with upset stomach, dizziness, etc. I called the doctor and they confirmed a stomach virus going around and I was more susceptible because of being post partum. That night the dizziness got so bad I fell several times - which scared the hell out of B and I. Now the dizziness stayed and the other symptoms have pretty much gone away. I am not dizzy every day but when I am, I can't shake it. I am hoping this is just a hormonal issue that will work its way out versus actual vertigo which from what I understand has no cause or cure. Awesome.

If anyone has any advice on the vertigo I would love to hear it. Thanks!

She is here!

Grace was born at 1:01am Wednesday, September 24th weighing in at 5 lbs 12 oz and 17.5 inches long. My water broke on the way to the doctor's office 3 days before my due date. We are so in love with her! Here are some pictures:

Cold + 33 Weeks Pregnant =

Peeing on myself. Oy! I never thought at 31 one of my biggest concerns throughout the day would be sneezing and immediately peeing my pants. Even panty liners haven’t completely solved this problem. I have taken to wearing black pants and crossing my legs really hard whenever the urge to sneeze strikes – a little awkward if I sneeze while walking.

Our kitchen is still a disaster zone! B has done an amazing job ripping out the current tile and laying the slate tile we picked out. He should be done with the tile by the end of the week, paint over the weekend, and hopefully schedule the cabinets / countertops to be delivered next week or the week after. Once the cabinets/countertops are in we can start moving the contents of the cabinets/countertops from the nursery to the kitchen. Then we can move the extra bedroom furniture out of the nursery and actually move the nursery into the nursery (which is currently in the basement)!

I can’t believe that my due date is less than 7 weeks away!

Kitchen

Before B left for deployment we decided to renovate our kitchen. The reason being that we HATE our tile – glossy white tile (with hunter green grout!) and dogs do not mix – and the countertops are old white formica-type that are just cheap looking. We will be getting new cabinets, granite counterops, tile floors, and a new paint color.

This is what the kitchen looked when we first moved in (there are now pictures on the wall and blinds on the window):




We decided to use an Amish guy that several of our friends have used. They warned us that he does not work on what we would consider normal timeframes – more he does not work on timeframes period. We have two friends that have used him and while his work was beautiful, he was significantly behind schedule on both projects.

This was not a problem for us because we couldn’t do anything until B came home from deployment. I started talking to the guy in April – explaining what we want, having him come measure, etc. We decided on an August 15th deadline (knowing that our friends said to give a 2-3 week grace period on that deadline).

They are only doing our cabinets and countertops – B is doing the demolition of old cabinets/countertops, ripping up/retiling the floor, and painting. B started ripping up the tile a few nights ago. I had a message this morning that they are ready to install the cabinets tomorrow!

This is what our kitchen floor currently looks like:

– and we can’t use the beautiful hardwoods under the crappy tile because the idiots that put the tile in ruined it!

Holy hell!

Congratulations to Kristen! She had her beautiful baby boy on Saturday!

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Congratulations to Geohde on the birth of her twins!

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Congratulations to Road Blocks and Roller Coasters on the birth of her beautiful baby girl!