Not a fan...

of being sick. Seriously -- it just sucks. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm keeping my perspective. I don't have a serious illness, it's not life threatening...it's just a cold. But it sucks.

It's the kind of cold where your throat is raw, you have back of the throat drainage, a cough that uses your entire chest and body/head aches. Doesn't that sound FANTASTIC???

I think the hardest part is to not lose my patience at home. I find myself being snippy faster -- I've apologized my fair share of times to Mitchell today. I think I'm just so ready to be laid out on the couch instead of chasing him around and everything that comes with a 3 month old girl. (How did THAT happen, by the way???)

Anyway - -I'm off to couch land. Just had to whine first. I hate being sick. I wished it hated me enough to leave me alone!!

Run, Run, Run

How do I manage to get so busy? I swear -- my life is just passing me by and I'm too busy to realize it. I blink and it's Wednesday. Blink again and it's Mid-May. What in the world?? Wasn't it just February? Wasn't it just Saturday? I can't keep up.

I always end up filling my calendar and then wishing I hadn't but it's a double-edged sword. I have many people I enjoy spending time with and that the kids enjoy seeing. In order to see them, you have to actually make an effort and get together. Then, there's M's school, there's my clients, family obligations on the weekends, working for my mom, running errands, MOPS, etc. It's just crazy. There seem to be a lot more showers, weddings, birthdays, reunions, parties, etc. this year than before. Maybe it's just that I'm more in tune with how hectic the pace of my life has become but I don't know.

I think it's a good problem to have -- better to be busy and active and stimulated (especially for the kids) than to be sitting around bored with nowhere to go, no one to see and nothing to do. I do cherish quiet days though and they seem to be few and far between these days. I think the key is to make a huge effort to slow down when I know I need to -- the hard part is saying no to things. That's really hard for me.

Okay, off to do laundry before I go to my mom's to work. Oh, and I need to make a list of what to pack for our weekend trip and....

hee hee

Feeling really blessed...

Ever feel like you're starting to get yourself into a little funk? Here I was feeling all sorry for myself because I've been tired, Mitchell was a pill yesterday, Georgia couldn't make up her mind about eating/sleeping/etc. yesterday, Chris has been working long hours again making me a pretty much single mom M-F, and I am now having trouble pumping milk again. Plus, I started seeing clients again and am trading daycare with my neighbor, so basically two and more likely three mornings will be taken up and now I have that stress to deal with.

I tell ya though, all it takes is watching the news to remind me of how EXTREMELY fortunate and blessed I am. That did it for me last night.

I mean, first of all -- I'm an American. The freedom and priveleges that come with being a citizen here are pretty much taken for granted on a daily basis. I'm also married to the most wonderful man - - he really is my soul mate and about as close to perfect a match as I could ever hope for. I may not be sure of much, but I am certain that he loves me at least as much as I love him. My children are two of the most beautiful, sweet, cuddly kids on the planet, and for whatever reason, I was chosen to raise them. Just being their mom is enough for me on most days -- except days like yesterday when I'm arrogant enough to be "blue" about piddly little things. My family is amazing, so is my husband's -- you know, I'd say 75% of the stress and drama we have with them is because people want to spend more time with us and our kids, or be involved in our lives in some way. (Why is that something that becomes stressful?) We own a nice home (nicer than I give it credit for), we have two nice cars, clothes for ourselves and our kids, more than enough food to eat, health insurance, and not much -- but a little money in the bank for a rainy day.

What in the world was I so upset about yesterday? Really -- it's embarrasing when I let myself get like that.

I was just watching the news.

Tub of goo...

That's me! And my stomach. And my thighs. And my rear end. And...

UGH. I FEEL SO FLIPPIN' FAT!!!!!!

I think I'd feel big anyway, but the fact that I lost 30 pounds (or so) before I got pregnant is not helping anything. My clothes were the smallest I'd worn in YEARS and now I can only fit into what were then my "fat" clothes.

I know baby weight is something, but I only have myself to blame. I have this enormous jelly-belly pooch after Georgia's birth and do you think I've done even ONE situp yet? No. 10 weeks and counting -- ugh. (again) I have made an effort to walk, but other than, no workouts of any kind from this sad sack of fatty tissue. Also -- I haven't been eating the best. I have had a MAJOR sweet tooth for some reason, which is strange since I am usually more of a muncher on salty/snacky things. This whole breastfeeding thing also has stimulated my apptetite like CRAZY!!! I am ALWAYS hungry -- ALL THE TIME. Makes it hard not to eat.

This week - I plan to tackle the food issue. Just healthy snacks. I will let myself eat as much and as often as I want to, but only healthy stuff. I'm the start of my own problem in that regard, so I may as well be the solution as well.

Also -- I want to try and work out twice this week. I feel like that's realistic. Do a tape, lift some light arm weights, do some lunges, etc. Hopefully I can make that happen.

I'm just so sick of nothing fitting right, nothing feeling good when I put it on, my thighs meeting again each time I walk. :( Wish me luck -- I'm ready to lose this weight.

Ups and Downs...

I think that grandparents have selective memories. I can't believe that I was a perfectly well behaved 3 year old all the time. Not with the stories I've repeatedly heard about myself. Sometimes I will vent about M's behavior to my mom and she says "He's three." Well, DUH, I know that. I don't expect him to be perfect all of the time, but I do expect him to listen to me and be good MOST of the time. I think lowering your expectations and standards with behavior only leads to one thing -- worse behavior because there's nothing to reign them in.

I was talking to her the other day on the phone while I was filling the tub for him and was telling her about him having a COMPLETE meltdown leaving the park, dumping (not spilling) his milk all over the kitchen table, turning the sprinkler on FULL blast in the back yard, running down the sidewalk from dh (thinking it was a fun game) -- all that day. Oh -- I forgot -- that was also the day that he asked for a drink of water while I was making dinner (fish). I filled up his glass at the sink and when I turned around, he had the trash can lid open, a horribly pained look on his face, and was spitting something weird looking into the trash. When I was filling up his water glass, my child had reached up on the counter and taken a bite of RAW TILAPIA!!!! Are you kidding me?? In the 3-4 min. I was on the phone with my mom and filling the tub and gathering his pj's, he managed to turn on the tub in MY bathroom full blast, climb on his sister's crib, and pull the "screeching streaker" move. Gee -- wonder why I was frustrated with him that day?

I don't want to make him sound like a brat -- he's not. He's a really good boy, but that day is a good example of a day where they ONLY times he'd do what he was told were when we'd raise our voices or take toys away from him for the day. That makes me sad because those are the days where I feel like all I do is say "No", "Quit it", "Please stop", "Put that down", "Get back here", "Calm down", "Get off of there", "Don't touch that", etc. It's exhausting and just doesn't feel good in general.

What's the alternative? Let him go, touch, play with, climb on, throw, eat whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and for however long he wants. I don't think so.

Most days are NOT like that, but the days that are give me grey hairs and it seems like he just laughs all day long because he's just getting a kick out of pushing Mommy's buttons or something.

Okay -- as I type this -- he took a break from dancing with The Wiggles to come over and tell me "Mommy, I love you. Let's have hugs." **melt** See, not all days are like that! (Thankfully, or I'd be writing this on a coconut shell from Hawaii.)

Playing Catch Up...

My brother had to have emergency surgery to remove his appendix on Sunday and ended up having some more trouble after they released him from the hospital Monday night. He got readmitted on Tuesday, so all day Tues/Tues night/Wed I was over at their house helping watch my 2 nephews. I'm pooped and am so happy to have been able to help them, but now I'm swamped in at home. Laundry is piled up, housework is everywhere, phone calls and emails to be returned, etc. And where am I? Escaping it all --- hee hee.

Ugh -- back to the mountain of neverending "to do's".

Oh, Mitchell has a program at preschool tonight -- I hope he actually sings and doesn't pull the shy act on me. :)

Just curious...

If you actually read this thing, would you just post in the comments of this little one for me? I usually feel like I'm talking to myself and I only know of two people that have told me they read it -- Hi, Kim & Amanda! :) Other than that, I think it's like self-therapy or something. Hee hee.

Thanks! Just curious to see who all is keeping up with this. (Watch -- it will give me stage fright and I will come down with Bloggers Block or something.)

Happy Tuesday! Off to eat an Easter egg.

Easter weekend...

was INSANE. Seriously, I feel like all we did was drive, eat and change clothes. Over and over. And over and over.

Friday night we colored eggs, but Chris was so tired that he wasn't into it at all. Not that I think he would have been anyway - -but he and Georgia (sleeping on his chest) just kind of sat there waiting for us to be done so we could go to bed. Mitchell had a great time and asked to "cook" some more. That's all that matters, right? They did come out pretty good, actually.

Saturday we had my nephew's 3rd bday party way across town at 10:30. It was fun -- at the fire station and then the rec center -- but kid bday parties are always just loud and crazy. My parents kept Mitchell from there and we took Georgia to Barnes and Noble with us to shop for an anniversary gift for our friends. Came home, freshened up, fed her and out the door again we went. Got home a little after 9.

Up at 6 to get ready for 9:30 church. Had to pick my grandma up on the way -- met my parents and Mitchell there. Georgia and I had to cut out after communion (and I had to cut in line -- good thing my dad was an usher) because I was about 2 minutes away from running around with a wet shirt.Then we piled in the car, drove back across town for brunch at my IL's. We got there at about 11:30 and stayed until about 3. Georgia screamed the whole way home which means my shirt (through the pads and all) was soaked by the time we got back. She had pooped in the car and was just really mad and VERY pissed. So, we changed both of our clothes, and Mitchell's shirt -- he had chocolate on it. Pile back in the car and drive back across town to my mom and dad's for dinner. My brother ended up getting really sick and my sister in law had to take him to the ER in the middle of dinner. Turns out he had appendicitis and had emergency surgery to remove his appendix last night. Scary!!

I'm just totally wiped out today. I missed doing Easter Bunny stuff -- all because we were running around trying to make everyone else's day. Well, next year -- it's going to be less US rushing and more US relaxing. I think it just gets to be way too much. I am sure there will be some toes stepped on and feelings hurt when we don't see absolutely everyone but you know -- people need to understand what we go through with all of this. I felt exhausted and cranky at the end of the day -- so did Chris and the kids definitely did too.

I think the worst part is that I wasn't able to focus on the real meaning of it because we were so busy rushing around all day. Next year will be different -- I can't do that again. Can't wait for Mother's Day. Sigh.

Remember Ziggy?

The cartoon guy. I always remember the little guy sitting at his desk at work, buried under an overflowing inbox and a puny little pile of stuff he managed to get into his outbox.

I feel like Ziggy.

Between laundry, cleaning the house, feeding Georgia, potty training with Mitchell, cooking and dishes, pumping milk, cleaning that/bottles, and getting the three of us cleaned up and bathed every day -- I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle.

As soon as I clean something, all I have to do is turn around or blink and it's nasty again. I just did a mountain of laundry last week and I already have 3 loads waiting on me again. The floors are disgusting. I need to vacuum. Again. I still have to figure out when I can clean up Georgia's closet and our closet. Forget about some serious cleaning -- I'm convinced it's just NOT going to happen.

I'm sure this is how I'll feel till the end of having kids at home -- so maybe I should be thankful that this is the situation. It means I have a family to love and keep up with and that the house isn't going anywhere. I can take messy, I just can't take filthy. I guess I'll live with clutter and fight the dirt. My kids and my husband are more important -- I'm sure I'll get over it, it just feels overwhelming most days.

I'm torn about whether a bigger house would make it worse or better -- more house to clean, but more space to put stuff. That feels like half our problem -- no room for anything. Anyway -- that was my thought for the day.

Potty training...

is NOT my favorite thing in the world. I think it's just so frustrating. Not for him, but for us. We know he can do it, he just doesn't care.

I've also found that potty training is something that is REALLY hard not to feel that tug of peer pressure/wanting to keep up with other kids thing for me as a mom. I just feel like he's the LAST one potty trained out of all of our friends with kids his age and some kids have been diaper free for a year now! (Holy cow -- that's a lot of extra money!!) I also don't think it helps now that we have two in diapers -- extra frustration with trash, cost, actually changing them, etc.

I'm afraid to jinx myself but I think we might be close to turning a corner. The other night after his bath I had Mitchell all wrapped up in his towel and we were singing songs. All of a sudden he stands up and says "Mommy, I think I want an Elmo sticker." (He can pick a sticker if he pees in the potty. We have a little chart on the wall next to the toilet.) I said "Well, that means you have to sit on the potty and go pee." He says "Okay!" and jumps right on up there. Boom! Instant pee in the potty.

I about fell over. And cried. I was SOOOO proud of him!! I mean -- to not pee in the tub, to not get up there when prompted but to have this all be his idea because he felt like he had to go -- that was AMAZING. He's almost 3 and a half and he's NEVER sat on the potty on his own. Ever. It was really cool!! I made a HUGE deal out of it, we went downstairs so he could brag to Georgia and Daddy and he got his "pee pee chocolate".

The next morning I asked if he wanted to go pee on the potty and he said "Sure." His pull up was dry from overnight (this is the part where we know he can do it) and he hopped up there and boom! Instant pee in the potty again. He also went another time yesterday!

I think we might have BIG issues transitioning to other potties, but we'll just get him successful where he's at first and then branch out. I got a new video and two new books at the library for him this morning. We'll see if he cares about those.

Wish us luck!!! I'm SO ready for this to be done and I'm hoping he's one of those kids I keep hearing about. You know the ones that train themselves in a week when they decide they want to do it. That would be fantastic. And unbelievable. :)

A literal mountain...

of laundry. Seriously. It was piled on top of our tall, cylinder basket halfway up the wall. Another pile on the floor next to it, and yet another full basket downstairs.

How in the world does that happen? There are only 4 of us!! I think we just have been so busy running around that we've changed our clothes a lot. Plus we had several poopy incidents this week, and I changed all of our sheets. Still...that's a LOT of clothes. I don't mind doing laundry, but that was a daunting task. It took me 45 minutes just to sort it all. I have 3 of the 6 HUGE loads done, 3 more staring me in the face today. I'll win -- I'm a woman on a mission now.

Sigh.

I still need to dust, vacuum, clean the bathrooms, do the floors, and clean the oven. When? Not sure. This weekend probably. There just isn't enough time in the day and the weather's been so nice that I haven't wanted us to stay cooped up in here. What's the poem that goes around by Erma Bombeck -- the dishes can wait, I chose to spend time with my kids instead? That's my inspiration.

I think I'm making the right choice -- it just makes coming home to a mess a little difficult. Oh well, it's one or the other!!

Too many people...

Okay, I'm a people person -- I like people. Like being around them, watching them, getting to know them, listening to them, etc.

HOWEVER...

There is a point where too many people make an otherwise enjoyable time not so enjoyable. This was definitely the case at the zoo yesterday. I got there and was like "Holy Crap" as we drove up. We were like the 10th car in line, just to turn into the parking lot. I have a zoo membership and we go at least once a month if not more and I've NEVER seen it like that. I guess it was just spring break families, but I think the fact that it was also over 60 degrees for the first time in a while after some snow got everyone excited to be outside. I do have to say that it was PERFECT weather wise for a trip to the zoo.

So, we finally park at the very far corner of the lowest level of the parking lot, wait like 5-10 min. for the elevator and get up to the gates. The longest I've ever waited in line at the members window was like 3 people. I waited in line for 10 minutes. Mitchell was GREAT. I was so scared he was going to run off and it was just a mess of people. He stood right next to me and held my hand the whole time. (Thank you Lord, for small miracles.)

Of course, I need to point out, this is the environment I chose for my first ever non-store related outing with the two of them by myself. Just my luck!! It was fine but instead of a leisurely stroll through the zoo with our friends, we constantly had to keep yelling at the kids to stay with us, and navigate through more strollers and wagons than I cared to see. The wait in line for tickets to ride the carousel and train was 5 minutes, the wait to ride each of the rides was 10 minutes. Not bad, I know, but it's not Disneyland, it's the Denver Zoo!! It was just crazy.

Luckily, we made it until about 5 minutes before we left without behavior issues and then we just started having a nap-needing mini meltdown. Didn't want to walk, didn't want me to carry him, didn't want to ride in the wagon with Hailey, didn't want to do anything. So, I ended up carrying him and pushing the stroller up this huge hill. Not fun - but hey, a good workout, I guess.

Anyway, I'm glad so many people were able to enjoy the day at the zoo, but I would say I just survived it. Oh, and NO WAY am I going to Disneyland until she's in kindergarten!!

Spring Fever...

I have it!! I'm SOOOOO sick of being cooped up in here. It's been cold and windy and with kids that were already a little sick, especially baby G, I'm not all that excited about having them out in that kind of weather.

Well, it's supposed to be in the 50's and 60's this week and I'm PSYCHED. I just want to get out in the fresh air and sunshine and I know that Mitchell needs it as badly as I do. We're getting a little sick of each other, I think. There are only so many consecutive days you can be locked up inside these four walls staring at each other. The toys are old hat, I'm old hat, he wants to just get out, run, and get dirty. I want to get out and walk. They have built some GREAT parks out in our neighborhood and Mitchell loves to play at them. They're a nice walk away too, which is great for me. Can't wait until we can do it DAILY.

I think that I need to do some spring cleaning, too. My friends from lamaze class with Mitchell all pitched in and got us a gift certificate for housecleaning. We get a 2 hour cleaning session -- I just need to call and schedule it. I think I'll see if they can come sometime next week, preferably when Mitchell is at school. It will be so nice (but weird, I'm guessing) to sit here and watch someone else clean my house!

I'm done with winter -- bring on the spring weather!!

The kids are sick...

Yep, even Georgia. It's so heartbreaking to have a person that teeny tiny be sick. It started out that she was congested last week. I remember expressing a bit of concern to a couple of people about it, but always got the "all newborns are stuffed up" thing. Then she had her 2 week appt on Wednesday -- he didn't seem concerned, but she wasn't too bad at that time. Well, Thursday rolled around and I felt like complete poop.

Wake up Friday morning, Georgia's miserable and so am I. Fight through Friday and looks like everything's fine -- I'm in the bathroom around the corner and hear "cough/splash, cough/splash". I thought "Oh no!!" Sure enough, Mitchell had thrown up twice all over the living room. (After eating his red fruit snacks, btw. We have light grey carpet. Yes -- it was as pretty as it sounds.) There was quite a bit of mucous in it, even though he didn't sound stuffy and hadn't been coughing, I had a feeling it was the same thing as G and I were dealing with.

He woke up Saturday morning -- yep, he's got the crud too. (Personally, I'm suspicious that he had it first and showed up sick the latest, but we'll never know.) This weekend basically just SUCKED because the three of us were just sick. Poor Chris -- hope he doesn't get it. We whipped out the lysol and clorox all weekend and both of our hands are dry as bones from washing them over and over.

Throw the illness on top of a huge temperature drop and a snowstorm and boy howdy! Does it GET more fun than this??? Only when your kids don't sleep - like last night. Mitchell was up from 1 - 3:45. So fun!! NOT. Ugh. We even gave him tylenol which usually makes him conk out, but that didn't help. He was just awake and looking miserable. Oh well. He's up and at 'em this morning and doesn't seem to be feeling too badly, so hopefully that's a good thing. The encouraging thing about him is that his snotties are still clear. Georgia's got all of this green and yellow goo that makes me a bit nervous. Oh well, we called the ped and they said it sounded like we were doing all of the right things -- I'm just ready for her to feel better and breathe easily. Poor thing -- she's too little to be sick. Makes me so sad. :(

Okay -- he's done eating breakfast now. Gotta run -- should be a LOOONNNNGGG day. Oh, and Chris has to stay late tonight -- I don't know who's more upset about that -- him or me. Both, I guess. Oh well, wish me luck with today!!

Little guy...

My Mitchell is the sweetest boy. I know that he has his moments, and he has a temper (hmmm, where would he have inherited that from???), but his spirit really is so dang sweet.

Today he woke up from his nap when the phone rang -- I have to figure out how to turn the ringer off on our new phone upstairs -- and came downstairs. I could tell he was still really sleepy so I turned on Sesame Street and we just snuggled under a blanket on the sofa together. (Georgia was asleep in the pack n play.) He was laying there and just cupping my face in his hand. Every once in awhile he'd kiss me on the cheek. Then, out of nowhere he turns to me and says "I love you very much, Mommy. You're great." **melt**

Come on! That's the SWEETEST thing and I will just have to remind myself of exactly who he is next time he's trying to smack me during a tantrum! :) He is such a good boy and luckily he's bought into all of our praise and encouragement about being a good boy and making good choices this week. Seems to be motivating him. Tantrums and fits are still here, but not as often and not lasting NEARLY as long. If we leave him alone, he just needs a few minutes to calm down and gather himself. (Plus, save a little face, I'm sure.)

Anyway -- feel like I've only rambled about Georgia, her pregnancy, her arrival, blah blah blah. I really am appreciating the sweet, sweet boy that we have at home. He's a blessing and I can't believe I'm lucky enough to be his mommy. I just love him to pieces. He's spending the night at my inlaws tonight and I'm teary right now because I miss him. It's too quiet!

Hmmmm...

What to say? What to say?

Got a new hairdo -- didn't lose a lot of length, put some layers in. I think it's cute and I got rid of some of that hair -- felt like I had a helmet head. Amazing how good a haircut can feel. Wish I could hire someone to wash my hair for me every day -- why does it feel so much better than when I do it myself??

Oatmeal raisin cookies are yummy. They also make husbands and sons give you hugs and kisses. :)

A hot cup of coffee on a cold day with snow falling is really a nice thing. Especially when you can share it with your husband.

My house will never stay clean. Ever. Just realized this and thought I'd share.

If there is a sport on television, my husband will watch it and find a side to root for. If there are no sporting events on, he will settle for sportscenter that he's already seen before. Twice even.

Once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator...even though I've been stalling for over an hour, my laundry still sits there and I still have thank you notes to write. Sigh. Oh well..

No plans...

It is SOOOO nice to say that we have no plans for today. None. At all. Not one thing.

Sometimes life just gets too crazy and I end up just running around. Whether it's running from here to school, running errands, heck...running up and down the stairs 49 times doing laundry... it just feels good to have a day where I can sit on my bootie and not do a darn thing if I don't want to.

Is there laundry to do? You betcha. Dirty dishes? Definitely. Bathrooms to clean? Of course!

Guess what -- there are also oatmeal cookies to bake, naps to take, books to read, kids to play with, a husband to cuddle with and good music to enjoy. My couch needs me today. Those cookies are DYING for me to whip them up. The backyard finally gobbled up my two guys and their soccer ball.

What a great day -- for doing NOTHING. (We are going to church though.)

Totally on a different topic -- just picked Georgia up out of the swing to put her in the pack n play for the rest of her nap. I absolutely LOVE IT when I pick her up and she gets all froggy with her legs and little but. Ugh. She's gonna grow too fast...soon she won't fit on my chest, under my chin all snuggled up. Too soon I'm going to be holding someone else's newborn saying "My kids were never this little."

Leave it to me to cry about her getting too big when she's the littlest she'll ever be. Sigh. As if I don't have enough to worry about. I think for today -- I'll just decide to cherish her the way she is and give her more snuggles and kisses than she needs.

Off to the oven for some cookies!!!

I have two children.

That is the strangest thing to say.

"Hi. I'm Tara. I have two children." WHAT?!?! How in the wide world did this happen? Okay, hee hee, I know HOW it happened, I just mean...how did this happen so fast? When did I blink? I feel like it was just yesterday that we were bringing Mitchell home from the hospital and now he's the "Big" brother. Blows my mind.

Chris and I were driving the other day and he said "So, we're a family of four now." I said "I know...it's weird, huh?" It's definitely a good thing and we are of course thrilled that Georgia is here and part of our family...it's just quite strange to have it be a reality.

We have two carseats. We have a highchair and a booster seat. We have a crib and a big boy bed. We have a boy and a girl. We have a swing next to the train table. It's just so bizarre.

I know it will get harder -- I haven't left the house by myself with both of them yet, but so far so good. I did get both of them ready by myself on Tuesday and we were out the door in time for school, so that was good. (I let Chris sleep in -- sort of wanted to do it as a test run.) I think Georgia is falling into a pretty good feeding routine that will work out with us getting out of here on time in the mornings.

I think the most surprising thing about having two kids is how it feels to say that out loud. We are so very blessed...two little cutie pies. What did we ever do without them??? (And what in the world did I do with my TIME???)

Georgia is here!!!

Okay, so a week and a half later...and I finally remembered that I have a blog! :)

After all of that stuff leading up to her birth, really all it took was someone telling her she COULDN'T be born last weekend, and boom...there she was, insisting on it! Apparently the doctor on call from my ob practice requested no inductions last weekend because she had a big charity function to attend. Well, Saturday afternoon Georgia decided to kick things into gear anyway.

I got a big, huge contraction out of the blue, enough to double me over on the bed and use some breathing to get through it. I told Chris that it was DEFINITELY a real contraction and that I thought this was the day. We kept our eye on the contrax and for the most part they were 8-10 min. apart for the better part of 2 hours. When we called the ob to tell her that, she was hesitant to let us wait for my father in law at the house because she said you just never know how quick these 2nd babies want to come out. It ended up being fine. He arrived like 15 minutes later and we were on our way.

We got to the hospital around 5, and by the time we got checked in, up to the L & D floor, settled in, paperwork filled out, etc. they checked me and I was at 5 cm and totally thinned out. I about did a happy dance!! I told them that my plan was to hang out and walk around as long as I could before getting my epidural because I didn't want to be stuck in bed the whole time. They were fully supportive of that and we were on our way. Unfortunately, it was all back labor again. That pretty much stunk, but you take what is given to you, right? I actually felt good about just breathing through them and doing this little hula hoop swishy circle thing my nurse showed me. My AMAZING coach and hubby did a great job of helping me through them and we had a good laugh at him hula hooping along with me for awhile. They started getting stronger and I had Chris push really hard on my lower back to get me through them for the middle-last part of the time.

Oh, I should add that since my doctor was at the charity function, she had another doctor covering for her. Not a doctor from my practice, but someone entirely different. Never heard of her, never met her, knew nothing about her. I do know that if our doctors trust her, then I have good reason to trust her, so I tried to go with that, even though I was pretty nervous about it. She came to see me and the plan was to get my epidural at 9, then break my water and go from there.

Well, at about 8:30 I got a KILLER contraction and I looked at Chris and said "Okay, this is getting stupid now" and we decided to just go ahead and get the epidural at that point. So, about 15 minutes later we got that going. Ironically, even though I lost the pain, the hour or so after getting my epi was the absolute WORST part of my labor. I got the shakes like CRAZY, my blood pressure dropped a bit and I was TOTALLY nauseated. I just felt really scared...our AWESOME nurse (Danny was his name) told me that it was partially because I'd been in total control of everything for so long and now I didn't have that control. Makes sense, huh? Anyway, we cleared out my family (mom, dad, brother, sister in law) to the waiting room and just tried to concentrate on resting, breathing and calming down. Worked pretty well.

I stalled out at about an 8, but you know, that may have just been Miss Georgia biding her time until my doctor was done with her dinner engagement. She got to the hospital around 10, checked me and had them start pitocin. An hour later and we were good to go. I pushed for about 20 minutes and everything was over. She came out and was good and healthy from the start.

I cried when she cried and just couldn't believe how fast it all went. She weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz and was 20 inches long. She has black hair, just sort of peach fuzzy on top and then quite a bit in the back. She's gorgeous and sweet and we are SOOOO beyond blessed to have her in our family.

I was right...we didn't know we were missing her here until she showed up. It's like she's always been here. Mitchell loves her and Chris and I are completely smitten. It's crazy that you'd choose to return to these sleepless, worrisome nights, but every time we hold her and look at her, there's no question that she was meant to be from the start. She's a little miracle and my heart is full with love and appreciation for the gift of her life with ours.

What a great day!!

And I didn't even have my baby!! :) I know, I know...if you've read any of this then you're wondering how it's possible that my miserable self managed to enjoy an actual day of pregnancy at this point. Well, it's simple...my hubby and my little boy did it for me.

We got up yesterday morning, lounged around, ate some breakfast and got Mitchell ready for school. Chris and I dropped him off together -- he did pretty good again, yay! -- and came back home. Neither of us had showered yet, so we did that and decided to try and eject Georgia with another DTD session -- obviously unsuccessful, but we did laugh through most of it. Finished getting ready and had a nice lunch at Quiznos. I swear, they have the BEST sandwiches, but my good gracious they're expensive. It was $17 for a kid's pack and our 2 sandwiches. At a sub place, but oh well...we chowed down. :)

We picked Mitchell up, who promptly informed us that he had a great day!! Hooray!! Oh, and EVERYONE was like "You're still pregnant?" Um, yeah...thanks there Captain Obvious and crew. (See me rolling my eyes.) Seriously, what do people expect your response to be? I'm SO over telling people about my last appt, how far I'm dilated, when our induction appt is, blah blah blah. Just wish us well and move on with your lives, people. Oh well, that was the last time I have to endure that torture, because he doesn't have school again until Tuesday and that will be baby-having day if she doesn't come before then!!

So, after we got Mitchell settled in the car with his lunch, we drove to the fire station to get the car seats checked. I've had M's seat checked there several times and got the information off of our hospital's website. Well, we pull up and I go to ring the doorbell for some assistance and there's this sign on the door. "Due to city budget cuts, the educational programs and car seat checks have been discontinued." :( Isn't that sad? We called my mom to have her look on the internet and the only other place doing any checks yesterday was like a 45 minute drive. No thank you. (Besides, Chris wouldn't waste the gas -- hee hee.) So, that's still on the ol' "to do" list. I think there's a place doing them today so we might swing up that way and get it done.

So...Chris asks if I want to go see my Grandpa at the cemetary. I was talking about him earlier in the day and how much I miss him, and we didn't end up making it out around Christmas so I said sure. Mitchell fell asleep in the car, so we just left him in there while we visited the gravesite. (It was like 100 yards away -- don't worry.) Usually I just like to go see, remember some special memories and say "Hi". Well, I got really emotional yesterday -- just kept thinking about how much he would LOVE spending time with Mitchell and how he's probably hog the cuddling of one Miss Georgia Reagan upon her arrival. I just started crying -- poor Chris. He said he didn't mean to make me sad --well, duh. Not you making me sad, buddy. I just miss him a lot, but I'm glad we went to see him. I know he's watching over us.

So, Mitchell was awake when we got to the car so we changed his pull up and drove to the BEST park a few miles away. The boys had an absolutely FANTASTIC time together. They were climbing and sliding and running and jumping. Just having so much fun. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so that was a bonus, too. We let Mitchell play for about half an hour and then decided to get some walking in. There is a little pond you can walk around at this park, so we headed that way. It was like paydirt for Mitchell -- TONS of ducks and geese flying in and swimming in the melted section of the frozen pond, and on the other side, a HUGE excavator and dump truck working hard. He saw the truck after hearing the "Boom" from the rocks being dumped in and said "Whooooaaaaa...look at that, you guys!! That's AWESOME." :) So, we watched the trucks for awhile, then we watched the ducks/geese for awhile. He would just giggle like crazy when they'd fly in. It was such a fun time! We took my 40 week belly shots in front of the pond, actually.

Then we coaxed (okay, bribed) Mitchell back to the car with the chocolate chip cookie from his kid's pack lunch. Drove home and we all just bummed around until we were hungry for dinner. I watched Oprah and took a nap, not sure what the boys did -- they watched the repeat of the Daytona 500 and played ball, I know that. Then we got up, went to dinner and came home. We watched the Olympics and read with Mitchell. (By the way, Mitchell loves to watch "The Impics." :) Put him to bed and called it a night.

It was such a fun day. Chris and I were talking while we were driving and I told him I was so sorry that he was missing work. He said that he wasn't sorry at all. He said the reason he works so hard is so that he can enjoy some family time without having to worry about having enough vacation or sick days -- he can take them when he needs them. Says he doesn't have one ounce of guilt about not being at work -- said this IS paternity leave. I'm where I'm supposed to be. He also told me that there's a big wide world out there that he misses every day by sitting in his office and to be able to see it through Mitchell's eyes and share it with us as a family is his favorite thing to do and he wouldn't trade it for anything. It was really nice to hear him say those things because I really felt like my little false alarm meant he was wasting his time -- he thinks he'd really be wasting all of our time if he was at work. Sigh. Love him.

Not sure what's up for today...and I kind of like it that way. Don't get me wrong...I'm still READY for her to make her entrance and join our family, but another day like yesterday wouldn't be so bad.