A birth story quiz!

Saw this on my friend Jana's site and thought I'd post it on mine too! It's pregnancy/birth questions about me and Reagan!

Were you married at the time? Yes, for 3 years.

What were your reactions when you found out that you were pregnant? I was in shock! We'd been trying but I still couldn't believe it was really happening!

How old were you? 28 when she was born.

How did you find out that you were pregnant? I had been charting my temps (using FAM) and I had a 'triphasic chart', which usually almost always indicates pregnancy, but I didn't want to test and be disappointed again. So, we went out hiking with our friends Kelly and Ben and when we got home, I thought, well maybe I'll go ahead and take a test. I did and it was a very faint positive (because it was late afternoon!)

Who did you tell first? I SCREAMED for Josh and asked him if he saw what I saw!

Did you find out the sex? YES! I knew she was a girl!!

Due date? I'm trying to remember, but I think it was January 16, 2007.

Did you deliver early or late? I delivered her 4 weeks early via an emergency c-section due to complications.

Did you have morning sickness? Like you wouldn't believe. At week seven, I became horribly nasausated and would just sit huddled in a ball praying to throw up. Finally, about week 10?? I started throwing up, so violently that I would always throw up blood. I continued to throw up daily and sometimes several times a day until seven months.

What did you crave? NOTHING. Actually, that's not true! At week five, I craved meat and avacados. After that came the morning sickness and I wouldn't eat for days...maybe a bite or a bite there at times! The smell of garlic, the smell of the outdoors..everything made it worse!!

Who irritated you most? Josh..even though he was also the most helpful!

What was your first child’s sex? A girl, obviously!

How many pounds did you gain throughout your first pregnancy? Let's see, I gained about 6 until I went on the Gestational Diabetes diet (how, I have no idea), then I gained 10 more (luckily that was about month seven when the m/s went away!)...Total was about 22, most of it was water weight at the end that I began retaining. The week after I had her, I had lost 40 lbs.

Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? YES. High blood pressure, pre-e, gestational diabetes, SEVERE morning sickness, -Rh, swelling, migraines, severe anemia...I can't remember what else. I was put on bedrest in the second trimester and stayed there until Reagan began developing complications which led to an emergency c-section.

Where did you give birth? in a hospital.

How many hours were you in labor? I wasn't. I went in for one of my twice weekly non-stress tests at 10 am, which led to more tests, then I was sent home while my doctor contacted specialists and gathered up the pediatric cardiologist, and got all the appropriate personnel gathered, as well as putting the emergency helicopter and Children's Hospital on standby. Reagan was born that evening at 8:39.

Who drove you to the hospital? Josh. We were both very scared!

Who watched? An entire slew of doctors and nurses and Josh. Unfortunately, they were in such a hurry, they didn't cover up the operation, so Josh viewed the entire surgery..including watching me almost bleed out.

Was it vaginal or c-section? C/Section. Thank God for miracles!

Did you take medicine to ease the pain? mmm, yeah! LOL! Actually I was pumped with quite a bit of medicine because of the problems during the surgery. I didn't feel anything for a long time and my head was quite floaty as well...I did try NOT to take medicine as much as I could..I hated that feeling!

How much did your baby weigh? 6 lbs, 5 oz....a good bit of that was fluid that had collected on her. When she finally came home she had lost the fluid weight and actually gained a little bit. She came home at 5 lbs 5 oz.

What did you name your first born baby? Reagan.

How old is your first born today? She is 22 months!

Ten Things I Love About Fall

Jana posted this on her website and I thought I would write my top favorite fall things!

1. Pumpkins! "I love pumpkins, every kind, every size!"--"I Like Pumpkins" by Jerry Smath
2. Crunching through the leaves
3. Baking
4. The GORGEOUS scenery..the colors up here are amazing!!
5. Craft festivals
6. The smell in the air (we live in a part of town that used to be an orchard and you can still smell it in the air on fall days, along with woodsmoke!)
7. Being outside
8. Cuddling up with a good book with the windows open!
9. Apples
10. The way life seems to slow down and you just seem to ENJOY everything more.

Surprise Aunt Stacy...

Reagan can say your name! She was looking at a picture of the two of us together and I told her who you were and she said it immediately! Stacy! Woohoo! (She also happened to see a picture of Josh with his cousin Jason and said "daddy and some guy!" LOL!)

And ask her who she is....she pats her chest and says "Me Reagan". Yes, yes you are my sweet girl!!

Reaganisms--

Reagan picking up the phone:
"HALLOOOOOO! HALLLOOOOO!! HALLOOOO! It's only me!!"

When Josh got home from work he was changing Reagan. All the sudden, she covered her ears with her hands and started yelling: "I just need some peace and quiet!!!" Sheesh..out of the mouth of babes!!!

Menu Plan (Sunday) Monday

This week I'm trying all new recipes! Wish us luck!

Breakfasts:
Egg and Bacon Toast Cups with Fruit
Baked Oatmeal

Lunches:
Family Style Mac and Cheese with Vegetables
Leftovers OR Items from Schwan's

Drinks:
Milk, Formula, tea, juice, coffee

Dinners:
Monday: Chicken with cornmeal dumplings
Tuesday: "Leftover" Makeover chicken
Wednesday: Lasanga with salad
Thursday: Burgers with sweet potato fries
Friday: Chicken with roast, herbed potatoes, bacon and onions
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Chicken with olives, green beans
Monday: Any leftovers

Word puzzle....

Did you know that the average 2 year old toddler SPEAKS between 50-200 words and can put together a few 3 word sentences?

Well, I decided to actually start writing all of Reagan's words down last Saturday...I eventually gave up. She can say practically any word that I say and she uses sentences fluently and correctly...although she doesn't quite understand past tense yet. For example, she'll say "Mommy, it break", when a toy has gotten broken, instead of "Mommy, it broke."

Either way, she's obviously well ahead for her age group and I'm so proud of her!!!

Speaking of her intellectual skills, she's getting so amazing with pretend play. She put two blocks together today and acted like they were choochoos and at the store she was cooking and kept saying "I make! I make!" LOL!

12 Rules of Parenting you can BREAK!!

I'm loving this article entitled "12 Rules of Parenting" by Charlotee Latvala from Parenting's November 2008 issue. I wholeheartedly agree that we set too many rules on ourselves. Let's give ourselves the ultimate gift for the holidays..after all , we're grownups and we're moms!!!

Break free, moms, break free!!

My friends, Tigger and Poo----

Reagan and I were playing on her bed with her Tigger and Pooh pals. All of the sudden, Reagan picked something up off the bed and pretended to eat it. "Hmmm, pickles" she said...she then proceeded to feed Eeyore pickles, which he apparently relished (pun intended). Who knew?? I always thought he ate thistles!

Next, Reagan decided to open Tigger's bottom (he has a false bottom area for batteries), sniffed and said 'eww! poo-pooh!' Poor, Tigger, I guess bathroom skills are hard to come by in the Hundred Acre Woods.

One lump or two?

Reagan was bringing me 'tea' after dinner the other night and she finally sat down as well to have a cup with me. I asked her if she wanted sugar and she screamed "NO!", then turned and sweetly said "Ceam pease". SO SWEET.

Later I was pouring her a second cup and accidently used the 'ceam' pitcher as the 'tea' pitcher. Reagan looked at me like I had two heads and promptly corrected me. Oops! Guess Reagan is the expert on tea making!

Boogies

The other day I was sucking boogies out of Reagan's nose with the nasal aspirator. She was not happy with me because I kept doing it and doing it and doing it, with little success. FINALLY, I was able to get all the dry, encrusted boogies out of her nose.

She sat up with a look of complete and utter relief and said loudly, "BOOGIES ALL DONE!!!!"

LOL!

Toddlers

are the most disgusting creatures on earth. Yes...this is true. Not only will they eat random foods and non-foods from your own home's floor, parking lots, and supermarket flooring; they'll also eat bugs, rocks, cat puke and various other interesting things I wouldn't dream of consuming.

I came to this realization today after I found Reagan sucking on a srubbie I had used to clean the kitchen and wipe down grease encrusted pans. Yuck. She seemed to relish it. UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH.

Reagan

SOOO sweet!

Reagan and I still bathe together. I take my shower while she takes her bath; and sometimes at the end I pick her up and hold her under the warm spray. Well, last night she hardly slept at all because her cold has progressed to her chest AND she was up for the day at 5. So during the end of the shower, I noticed her hands had gone limp, sure enough..she was asleep! I woke her up a few times getting her down in my bed and getting a diaper on her, but she's there now..fast asleep! I guess the warmth was just perfect!

Also, Reagan has been 'reading' to me from her books for a while now, but lately she's started telling me her own stories about different things. I'll show her a picture I'm looking at in a magazine and she'll just go with it. Like a couple of days ago, I showed her a penguin..

r: paingin
m: yep, that's a penguin
r: paingin silly
m: is he a silly penguin?
r: paingin bath
m: he's taking a bath?
r: ewww!
m: eww? he's stinky?
r: paingin stinky..paingin bath.

So stinkin' smart!

So..the matching family pajamas....

Remember how yesterday I posted I was looking for matching pajamas for all of us? And remember how I said I had them custom made last year? Well, BOTH options are completely overpriced--I thought I would SAVE money by going the pre-made route, but no!!! I can't believe how much pajamas cost if you want them to match each other!!!

SOOOO...I'm going to take matters into my own hands, literally. I'm going to rip apart a pair of Josh's old pajama pants and use them as a pattern to make pj bottoms for him...same for me and Reagan...all out of the same fabric. (Joann's has some great Christmas flannels). I figure the pants can't be too hard to make if I'm using an existing pair as a pattern..and it's all straight stitches and no button holes!

Then, I'm going to buy us all long sleeve cotton shirts in the same color..white if I have to! I can always use RIT dye if needed! Then I'm going to applique some cute Christmassy design on the shirt.

Wah-lah! Matching Christmas pjs!!! Stay tuned. The quest will begin next week!

Whew!

This past week has flown by! There are so many amazing things to do in the fall that we've been trying to pack them all in..at the same time getting ready for our trip and preparing for all the insanity that will ensue when we return.

Tomorrow is another busy day starting with playgroup, a trip to grandma and grandpa's house, the post office to mail out some cards, three separate grocery store trips and a stop at the courthouse to get my absentee ballot registration turned in. The following days are going to be packed with more errands, cleaning, getting stuff together, playdates and this weekend we have a couple of fall harvest parties to attend! I can't wait!

I'm also spending tonight looking for matching family pjs for Christmas! Last year I had ours custom made because I couldn't find family sets. This year, I'm armed with a whole slew of websites! If you're interested in starting a new family tradition of matching pjs, here are some great places to shop:

www.woodensoldier.com
www.hannaanderson.com
www.thepajamacompany.com
www.snugasabug.com

By the way, I know my posts have been reading more like ads lately and haven't been very interesting, and I hope to remedy that in a few weeks, until then, PLEASE bare with me!

Sorry it's been a few days since posting! Reagan has been putting Josh and I to bed rather early and waking us up early as well..in fact, I should probably be napping while she is!

Not much is happening here lately. Reagan and I have been making the most of the last few weeks that the zoo is opened...in fact, we'll probably head that way as soon as she wakes up. The weather is beautiful..clear blue skies, the leaves are turning...GORGEOUS! I love fall. We're hoping to take Reagan to a pumpkin patch festival this weekend and I know she'll love it! After all, two of her favorite things are apples and pumpkins!

Speaking of food...one of Reagan's new favorite things to say is "Silly Pickles!" or something like that. She just started saying it so I don't have the phrase down exactly.

Otherwise, we're busy planning our trip to Alabama, getting the house cleaned and ready for Grandma's visit here and preparing for the winter to move in. I'm trying to get as much done for Reagan's birthday party and Christmas as I can since we'll have so much going on right around that time. Ever notice how that is??

I just wish that fall could last a LOT longer than it does and there could be a little more space between Thanksgiving and Christmas...time for us to enjoy it. Instead it's rush, rush, rush, throw all the good holidays together and by January I'm so worn out and depressed that it's all over, that I'm busy planning for next year..which is no way to live life! You should enjoy each second instead of thinking about how to get to the next stage.

Ok, enough waxing philosophical today. I'm going to finish downloading pics and then take a nap! Have a good weekend everyone!

Insanity it this...

We're leaving to visit family for two weeks at the beginning of November. Four days after we return, my mother visits us from Texas for another two weeks. During that time, I'll be hosting Thanksgiving (since she's here with us) and my daughter's 2nd birthday party, as well as doing all the normal holiday stuff including decorating, buying presents and the like....as well as our normal routine stuff (like playgroups, storytime and mom-group events) and all the events that come with winter (like lighting festivals, open houses, Christmas parades.....)

THEN I've promised to make cookies for Josh's office--new and old. AND I'm going to be hosting an open house (for which I'll also have to make cookies and cheese balls) to collect toys and the like for Reagan's Second Annual Christmas Toy Hospital Drive. Those have to be sorted and delivered before Christmas, along with a full dinner for the Ronald McDonald House and cookie platters for the various nurses' stations.

I also need to stay on top of housework, cooking, get bills paid, Christmas cards out and manage to make it to various ongoing doctor's appointments for December. We also need to get Reagan's Christmas and Birthday portraits done and a million other little things I can't think of at the moment.

Did I mention I plan to sleep through January???

Why There Is No Dinner

I STARTED making dinner..yes, started....then I discovered Reagan trying to put her finger along with anything else she could find, in a light socket..which led to me re-baby proofing the house (all the uncovered plugs were now exposed due to me rearranging the house). As I was baby proofing, I discovered a spider the size of my hand...which I then chased all over the bedroom with a bottle of Seventh Generation cleaner..which apparently was not enough to kill the sucker, which is why I am now going to switch back to toxins. This also explains why there is no dinner and why I am hunched..feet up, with keyboard on knees, on the top of a chair...hiding from a giant, BUT VERY CLEAN, spider.