Veteran's Day

Today is the day, if you don't do it any other day, to THANK A VET!  These are the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to put country before self.  They ensure you live a FREE life.  DO NOT EVER take that for granted.

Happy Veteran's Day.

Halloween is over....

Time to move on to the next holidays. It is insane to me how quickly the last three months of the year fly by. I figure the biggest reason for this is retail outlets that have the next holiday on sale before the current holiday has even passed. I was in one on the day before Halloween and the Halloween things were bunched into one aisle on "clearance" while a huge section of the store was already set up for Christmas. Did I miss Thanksgiving somewhere along the way?

Halloween was a "season" for us this year. I volunteered to do the Trick or Treat Street event at the kids' school. It was a raging success with upwards of 450 guests at the event. That meant I had to feed AND entertain all those people. I had a great group of volunteers, the hardest working being my hubby! We will most likely end up doing it again next year, too. The next day, Halloween itself, we walked in the school's trick or treat fun run, did trick or treating in the evening and I threw a 40th "boo"thday bash for my wonderful hubby.

Needless to say, November 1st was spent on the couch!

Time to party in the streets!

So, Squeaks slept for 8 hours last night! EIGHT, count them....1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8!!! That's alot!!! I would like to say it is because she is a great baby (which naturally she is) but I think I might have to attribute it to the immunizationSSSSS she got yesterday. Fingers crossed for tonight!

Dr. Brown, I love you!

We had tried everything we could think of and Squeaks still would not take a bottle. She spit it out, screamed, kicked, you name it. I felt it was starting to hinder her bonding with her father because she would get so upset about the bottle that she would stop going to him at all. While I absolutely love that she loves ME to pieces, I was not getting ANYTHING done, ever because I was holding her ALL THE TIME! A couple of nights ago she took a Platex with drop in liner, latex nipple, bottle filled with warm water. Her latch was good so I filled it with formula and she spit it out. So, I start to figure maybe besides the nipple itself, the formula is not her favorite thing. So I pump a little breast milk and she took it. WOOHOO! But,....she is still sucking in a ton of air when she swallows and it takes forever to get her to burp. I made a special trip to WalMart (my least favorite place in the world sometimes) and picked up a Dr. Brown's bottle because I was told they really work. And you know what....they DO!! She took the bottle (still with water or breastmilk so, part of the issues was certainly her distaste for formula), drank it all up and NO AIR intake! Dr. Brown, whoever you are, you are my HERO!

Next issue...how to make the breasts produce enough to build up a supply!

FORTY!!!

Today my hubby is 40! I can't believe it. That means I have known him for more than a decade. I vividly remember having his coworkers (he was in Singapore at the time) surprise him by decorating his cubicle before he got into the office. He THOUGHT he had gotten away from that little "tradition" by being international for his birthday, but I got him anyway! Of course, it was 2am when he called to "thank" me for the gesture. HA! Today, however, times are so different. We are both working from home. No pomp and circumstance until dinner time when all the kids are home to watch daddy open his presents. Lucky for me, Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. So....easy peasy, we have a COSTUME 40th shindig ahead of us. It should be a great time. We are looking to have about 40 (fitting!!) people at the house. There will be imbibing for sure...and we don't have to drive anywhere...woooohooo! Anyway, Happy Birthday to my favorite hubby!

Hump Day

Not sure what to write today. The days all seem to blur together. I got some sleep last night, I guess that is a highlight. My sisters are coming to visit this weekend for 3 days. That is super duper. But, other than that, life with an 8 week old is pretty much the same every day. Nothing much changes until the big girls are home from school and basically that is the same every day, too! Monotony is a good thing, though.

Juggling....

I am still trying to figure out how best to work from home with a baby in the house. I SHOULD be working when she sleeps. But, it seems that as soon as I put her down and start working she wakes up. So, right now the best time for me to get ANY work done is after 9pm....but, that is when I am tired! So, how is this going to work out? I am managing to get in the 4 hours a day I want to work but they are all over the place and I don't feel I am getting anything done well. It would be soooo nice if the kiddo would get on a schedule of some kind so I can plan my days (and SLEEP at night!!!).

Single parenting

God Bless single parents! That's all I gotta say! I have no idea HOW (or why, sometimes!) they do it. Especially, with more than one child. YIKES!

saturday

So, I just organized the closet which was LONG overdue. After having been in maternity clothes for, what seemed, an eternity I had forgotten what I owned! Some of it HAD to go the way of the dodo and some of it was saved so I have a size/style to aspire to in the coming months of weight loss! But, boy what a freaking boring chore! No energy to do anything else now. But....the day must go on....laundry hell, stinky bathrooms, some work for my job, trip to the punkin patch and corn maze, whats-for-dinner?, oh yea...and feed/burp/clean up baby at least 10 times each!! Do you remember when Saturdays meant sleeping in, having brunch out and seeing a matinee?!?! I vaguely recall the hazy days of youth! My girls have NO idea how easy they have it!

woohoo

I actually got to scrapbook last night. Squeaks almost sort of cooperated. She let G-Man hold her for about an hour (a miracle these days), then I nursed her and put her in the bouncy chair at my feet for about 2 hours (also a miracle!). We then nursed and she slept for 2, 4 hour stretches. Is this a sign of the day we will have? I certainly hope so because today is volunteer at school day and I could use a QUIET Squeaks! Fingers crossed.

Let's bring you up to date

So, I had my baby. A beautiful, precious, angel girl. But....the three of you who actually read my blog already knew that! :)

Summer flew by. I have been TRYING to do just about everything under the sun since school started. I volunteer in both big girls' classrooms on Fridays (WITH new little girl in tow!). I volunteered to be the Daisy (girl scouts) troop leader. I volunteered to be in charge, not just HELP mind you, of the Trick or Treat Street at the kids' school which just so happens to be the BIGGEST event the school holds. HAAA! I am also on the National Volunteer "board", so to speak, of my sorority which is a 2 year term. I am the Treasurer of my local National Panhellenic, sorority stuff for you not in the know, Alumnae group. All of this is on top of my full-time (which is only part time until January) job, that my boss thankfully is letting me do from home in the hours when the Squeaks actually sleeps (therefore I am working at 7am and 11pm...he he he), and my scrapbooking "business". I think this last pregnancy must have sucked what was left of my sanity right out my va-jay-jay when the kid came because I am most definitely INSANE!

Around the house we got a backyard, late in the summer. It will be ready to play on in the Spring when the ground thaws now that it is already freezing at night. G-man has been REALLY busy on his backhoe and tractor. We also "inherited" (with the help of more of our savings account) ANOTHER tractor and a "but it is so cool and I can mow the entire 7acres in under an hour" Kubota, zero turn, riding lawn mower (to the full priced tune of $11 grand!! which thankfully did NOT cost us that much!!!).

The big girls learned to swim this summer. Little big girl, the Doodlebug, lost 2 teeth! She is just one tooth short of her big sister. School is going well so far. My two Spawn of Satan are unnaturally the teachers' faves...not sure how that is possible!! :)

All in all I should say we are pretty blessed!

Tuesday's update for my Monday trinket

So, my husband is still on the weekly, trinket gift kick. Its pretty funny. Yesterday he did the whole 8 Maids-a-milking rhyme and I got a BREAST PUMP. Totally practical at this point in time. More importantly, it made me laugh. :)

Mojo Monday #90

I came across this very FUN blog for paper-crafters/card makers. Mojo Monday! Basically, they put a sketch online every Monday for a card and people take the sketch and make it their own. This week is sketch #90 and I decided to give it a shot. I was trying to "think outside the box" as best I could. I made a net from embroidery floss in place of a triangular piece of paper. I think the card turned out well for my first attempt at (a) making a net from floss and (b) making a card from a sketch with no measurements.

I used all Close to My Heart products. The most fun was getting to use my brand new blending pen to make the "Twighlight" stamped fish into a Rainbow Trout and then using clear embossing powder to make it look wet. This is the April Stamp of the Month - World's Best Dad! It's fitting since the big day is just around the corner!

Breathing should be easier

I don't remember being so short of breath with either of my other pregnancies. I remember babies sitting up near rib cage and being uncomfortable but, nothing like this. I can't fill my lungs. I feel light headed and short of breath alot. I notice it most when I eat something, anything, in any amount. Its odd. Makes me feel tired all the time.

On the flip side, that is my only complaint this time around. I only have reflux if I allow myself to get "hungry". I am sleeping fine, except for the peeing 100 times a night (which is a given!). No back pain.....YET! I am not as heavy, thank goodness.

So, I guess as long as the docs aren't concerned about my shortness of breath, I shouldn't be either.

Its Monday

Today is Monday. Since my birthday, 3 weeks ago, I have found little gifts around the house for me, from my husband. He has gotten into the habit of setting up a trinket gift and a little "poem" (sort of) for me. Our baby is due on a Monday and I am getting to sense these trinket gifts will go until then! Its fun. But today, there was no trinket. It thew me for a loop. Until I got a call at the office from hubby telling me to check under the front seat of my car. Thank goodness it wasn't something edible because it would have stunk up the car before I EVER discovered it through all the half-colored kid menus, empty food containers, sweaters, shoes, basic-crap, etc., I usually have in the car. Today I got a silly dashboard hula dancer that my girlies think is the greatest thing ever! It makes me smile!

Blog facelift

I am messing around with updating my blog. I was getting tired of it being pink. Blue looks less obtrusive to the eyes, in my opinion. I am also trying to figure out how to add more than one photo to the "profile" section. So, bear with me!

Another year, another day

So, I had a birthday yesterday. It was mellow, low key, nothing to brag about. But, it was nice. Our youngest "graduated" from preschool (or Pre-K as she would most likely correct!). It was quite the festivity. Most importantly, though, was that her teacher showed up to give out diplomas. Poor Mrs. A. lost her husband just 4 days ago but dragged herself out of bed, away from her 3 young grieving kids and showed up to give one last hug to each of her "adopted children" to wish them well on their summer vacation. We are blessed to have such caring people in our children's lives. Now, what to do with the kids for the summer...thats another post altogether!

Unicorn cake

Oh to be 5 years old! Unicorn cake, please! It isn't the "lotsa unicorns prancing" which she requested...but you get what you get, honey! Lucky for her, I managed to keep the cake from decapitating itself from the weight of its head, by some fancy "dowel" work and leaving it headless for 8 hours :)

Been a LONG time

So, my dad harassed me yesterday for not keeping up with my blog. Is it not enough that I have a facebook, website and myspace!?! Apparently, the answer is NO! So...here I sit, forcing my brain to think of SOMETHING to write :) It is a hard thing to do...not thinking in general, just trying to think of something interesting to write! We are having a baby...yes, ANOTHER baby. We had our half-way-there ultrasound yesterday. Everything is going well. Baby has all its parts, they are in working order. Even if we wanted to find out the gender (which we do not), the child was having none of showing us anything! Of course, this is MY child...stubborn...from point of conception! :) I guess that is about all that changes in my little world....children, they grow or get added to the family! Ta ta, for now (dad...since I think you are the only person who reads this)