I Can't Even Jump To Your Face!

Here's a little conversation I had with Oliver on the way to daycare this morning. Oliver: When Addy is one, I will be five! Me: Yep, that's right. Oliver: How old are you mommy? Me: *sigh* Twenty-nine Oliver: Oh Wow! I can't even jump to your face!! Me: What does that mean? Oliver: I can't jump to your face to get in your face and give you kisses. I am getting tall though. My legs are pretty big, and my arms are almost as long as Owen's! (his friend from daycare)

Introducing : Adelaide Marie (post initially written a month ago)

Our little girl is two months old today! I am attempting to keep up with this blog again, but I know how that usually starts with the best intentions and then floats to the back of my mind again. And with two kids, the odds are really against it. But here is what I can tell you about little Addy. She came into this world relatively easily. During my last week of work before I was intending to go on maternity leave, I started to have contractions. So I spent a sunny Monday morning timing them with my handy iphone app, tracking so that when they were five minutes apart I could go to the hospital. This pregnancy was kinda unkind to my body so I was anxious to have it over with. I took Oliver for a little walk around the neighborhood. That will go down as one of the best walks ever, getting some last one on one time with my son before his sister arrived. Shortly after we were done walking, Josh came home from school to be there once shit got real. That was about one pm. We spent the rest of the day watching shows on Netflix and lounging while family members came to visit and help. Anyway we went to the hospital at 10:30 and were admitted at 11. We were moved to the delivery room and watched the contractions on the monitor for a few hours. To add extra fun to the childbirth experience, I was sick with a nasty cough, and every time I had a coughing attack the contractions would start up again. It felt like a long time before the anesthesiologist came in for the epidural. The nurse had been building him up as one of the best ones around. Of course, he had to poke my spine with the needle about three times before he found a good spot. I'm pretty sure I've got some nerve damage from it, because I've had several weird headaches and shooting pains ever since. I'm hoping that it will go away, and maybe I'm just sleep deprived and not getting enough exercise. It helped with the contractions somewhat, but I could feel a lot still. The hardest part of the delivery was waiting for the doctor to arrive. I was slightly disappointed to hear that the Dr. we'd been working with wouldn't be able to make it. The nurses that we had this time were very friendly and helpful so overall it was a pretty positive experience. Once the other doctor got there, it only took a few minutes of pushing before Addy was out. Once she was out it was a mix of holding, cutting the umbilical cord, weighing, photographing, and happiness. The first few minutes of both of my kids lives are kind of a blur to me. I wanted to make sure I nursed her right away so that we could begin to establish that. After all the checkups from nurses and the breastfeeding, our family in the waiting room got to come in at about 4 am. My family waited patiently in the waiting room for hours, and all napped at one point or another. All except for Oliver, who was not only up the whole time, but apparently very energetic. He stayed up until 5:30 in the morning and then just crashed. But not before he got to meet his new baby sister. The rest of our stay at the hospital was pretty normal, except that Adelaide had a case of jaundice in which the Dr. noticed that her bilirubin levels were pretty high for her young age. Thankfully he noticed this within the first day so we got her under the lights quickly. Unfortunately, this meant that the only time we could snuggle with her was when she was feeding. The first few days she spent most of her time in the baby nursery. We got lots of naps that way but it sucked not having her in the room with us. Anyway, the hospital lets you stay in the maternity ward for two nights if you wish to stay that long. Addy was going to need more time at the hospital. Our pediatrician suggested that we move down to the pediatrics ward, while my nurse suggested that we stay on the maternity ward. There was a bit of a power struggle between the two of them. We really didn't know who to believe, we just wanted what was best for Addy. So we ended up moving down to the pediatrics ward, where at least Addy could be in the room with us. We still had to leave her in her little bilirubin box all day but at least we could look at her. We ended up staying in that room two nights. Josh had no couch to sleep on anymore so he had to sleep on the hard linoleum floor, while I got the uncomfortable couch. The nurses came in every five hours or so to prick Addy's feet. On Friday morning her bili levels had gone down enough that we were cleared to go home that evening.

Priorities. Organization. And woot.

So I know I said I would post twice a week...that is "ideally." Turns out, life is pretty busy. I am reassessing some of my priorities to make time for some things that are important to me as well. This blog isn't especially high on the list, but I do like to write so I'm keeping it in the runnings. And hopefully my writing will improve if I write on a semi regular basis. Hooray for improved writing skillz.

I have a lot of things that I want to do, so I am probably going to cut back on some things that aren't as necessary or important. I spend more time on facebook than is really necessary, lots of time adding music to itunes and my ipod, time watching tv cause all I want to do after working a long day and taking care of my little guy is just to veg. It's good to have downtime but as a mother and someone who works full-time, time is very precious.

Some things I want to do more of : guitar, paint, draw, write, go on photo shoots, exercise or get outside. I am hoping that Oliver might enjoy doing some of these things with me!

Some things I want to do less of: laundry, vacuuming, dishes. Time to donate some clothes and use less dishes!

Anyway, in the process of finding the right balance, getting organized and making room for the things I used to love doing.

Hello Again

It's been a long time since I've blogged, and I'm not even sure anyone reads this anymore. But now that I've adapted to working full time and become slightly more organized, I'd like to pick it up again! And hopefully I will do more than one post per month this time...my goal is a couple every week. I don't know if anyone actually reads these but I like to write so why not.

I'll start off with

Things I love February Edition (breaking myself in gently, so I'm not being too creative or original here :))

1) Sasquatch Lineup Announcement, Feb 6th...can't wait to find out who will be there this year!
2) Packers in the Super Bowl...usually I could care less whose in the superbowl, but this year I'm rooting for my bro in law's fav team
3) Josh is going to school FULL TIME...I am so happy for him :)
4) Ollie says I am Spiderwoman, and he is the Green Globlin
5) Two empty canvases and new paintbrushes in my possession...thank you Aaron Bros sale!
6) January and February are probably my least favorite months of the year...so I've been spending my days off cleaning, organizing and donating things we don't need...might not sound fun but it's nice to feel like I have some control over my life again
7) 50mm 1.8 lens :)
8) Parks and Rec
9) Dresden Files books
10) Little Big Planet...want to get the second one soon.
11) Taking my vitamins and taking better care of myself
12) Running on my parent's treadmill
13) The dollar theater
14) Playing in the backyard with Ollie
15) Making my own coffee in the morning and attempting to kick the Starbucks habit
16) The pedometer app on my phone
17) Watching people power walk in the mall...hilarious because some of them get very into it...more power to em
18) Robot Unicorn Attack...free pc game...it is ridiculous but strangely hypnotic
19) Sleep. Sleep is ALWAYS good.
20) Borders
21) Shooting hoops with Ollie in what was the dining room...right now it's the basketball and car track room
22) When Ollie asks me "How's your day, Mommy?" Five minutes after we woke up.
23) Chicken Gyros from Gyro Shack
24) Empanadas from Tangos
25) Angus and Julia Stone:



26) Awesome new people
27) People who've stuck with me through everything
28) Newly received iPhone
29) Wallet my sister made me for Christmas. It has pretty birdies on it.
30) Small little sketchbooks that were on sale at borders and fit nicely in my purse

30 Things I Love -- September Edition

1) Kings of Convenience, and Angus and Julia Stone--perfect soundtrack for fall
2) Halloween candy
3) Library books
4) Digital Photography information sources...so much to learn for my new job
5) Oh yeah, the fact that I work at a camera store!!!
6) My fantasy football team...oh wait, scratch that...they are 0-4-1. But I still love the league that I'm in because everybody gets really into it. I don't even like football that much and it's fun.
7) Cleaning, must be getting old because I actually enjoy it sometimes
8) Thursday date nights with Josh...sometimes they are family nights with Oliver, but we set aside that night for just our little family
9) reading Ollie halloween books
10) Nightmare Before Christmas
11) Boo at the Zoo
12) taking Ollie trick or treating for the first time this year
13) spiced apple cider
14) Pumpkin pie
15) Maple bars
16) We got a PS3 for 50 bucks! Which means blu-ray and even more video games!
17) Maybe someday sitting down to watch Gangs of New York, which we got from Netflix about 2 months ago...seriously it's like a four hour time commitment...but Scorcese is usually worth it right?
18) Planning some fun trips for way in the future
19) Imagining who might play at the Sasquatch music fest next year
20) Two straight days of Ollie time every week
21) Some good shows coming to Boise...Ghostland Observatory and Guster
22) Warm socks
23) Getting excited for Thanksgiving, Oliver's birthday, and Christmas
24) Actually being able to buy people presents this year
25) Pumpkin patches and corn mazes
26) ebay
27) photo frames
28) zucchini bread
29) music that makes me want to dance/spaz out (Matt and Kim, Passion Pit, old school hip hop)
30) Last but certainly not least, God's love

30 Things I Like - August Edition

1) Having a job!
2) Sugar cookies
3) Fair food
4) Ollie's new robot shirt
5) Redecorating
6) Taking Ollie on play dates
7) Only 3 months until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1, Woo hoo!
8) Redfish Lake and the Sawtooths
9) Floating the Boise River...must do at least once this year
10) Canoes...hopefully will have one some day
11) Top Gear...that show is hilarious
12) The red flowers that are still alive in our yard
13) Bob Dylan
14) Tin Man miniseries on instant netflix
15) Despicable Me
16) Shooting Stars--saw some during the Bob Dylan concert
17) Workin'
18) Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" album
19) Green Tea
20) Giving coral catnip and watching her freak out
21) Playing tennis with my dad
22) Hikes and walks
23) Naps anytime
24) Air conditioning
25) Mountain streams
26) Painting again
27) Learning new things
28) Ollie's using his potty chair
29) Pizza Pizza Pizza
30) Playgrounds and parks