Jillian is HOME!

I went in to have my routine u/s with the specialist on Monday and they found that the fluid level had dropped quite drastically. Jillian's projected weight was right at 6lbs and I was 38 weeks along so the doctor suggested an induction that day. I was caught off guard, as D was 4 days late and we waited him out, but decided it was safer to have her here early rather than wait and let complications arise.

So I told DH to come home from work and finish packing his bag. D, Jillian and I had been packed for weeks! He rushed home and we called the Grands to let them know to assemble. The troops met us at the hospital shortly after we arrived at 10am.

I was taken to triage to be monitored and checked. I still hadn't been checked since my dr and I agreed we would wait until 39 weeks to do so. Surprisingly to most everyone involved, I was already dilated to 4, 50% effaced and -3 station! All on my own!! And I was having contrax!

I was thrilled. That meant no cervadil, only pitocin. My dr knew I wanted to try med-free again so he said to watch me and see if hte contrax picked up on their own or if we should administer pit. I was also waiting for an L&D room to open up. Apparently the storm system convinced a lot of babies to be born that day

Four hours later we were given a room in L&D. They started pitocin at the lowest setting and the contrax picked up but were bearable. Pit was upped to 4 and they got stronger but still not close enough. They let me stay at 4 for a while so I could catch my breath before upping to a 6.

That really got things going. I hadn't been rechecked and was dying to know if I'd progressed at all. With the contrax one minute apart and as intense as they were I assumed I had. The nurse checked me at 6pm and said I was still at 4cm so I called for an epi. That's when the contrax really got bad!

The epi was in at 6:29pm and I waited for it to kick in. The shift change is at 7 so the new nurse came in and asked when I was last checked. My current nurse said just before the epi. She suggested we check again to check if I'd progressed at all. Surprisingly I was now complete! Only 45 minutes after being checked!! My bag of water was bulging and she could feel the head. They called my dr and he rushed in.

He snipped the bag with scissors (it was hanging out of me), I pushed twice and she was here! Tiny little thing so no tears or stitches needed. The NICU team was called since she is so tiny. After observing her for 30 minutes they determined that she was healthy enough to stay in the regular nursery.

We are home now and doing our best to adjust. Thank heavens for meal lists! We've already had one meal delivered and will get another one tonight. Yay!

Arghhh, Matey! There be thieves, afoot!!

Recently Dominic has been obsessed with pirates. We picked up a few books at a consignment sale a few months ago and one of them was Pirate Pete's Giant Adventure. He and Daddy read it most nights at bedtime and Daddy even does the different voices. **swoon**

We recently expanded our Pirate Pete collection when Daddy got on Amazon and ordered the other 2 in the Pete series. We are partial to the Giant Adventure, but that is simply b/c that was our first one to be exposed to AND there are many fun voices to play with.

Last night while Dominic was sleeping I crept into his room and stole one of his new prizes: a longhorn that he chose to buy as a reward for doing his daily chores. See the chart below:

Anyway, I found a blank treasure map online that I have had printed out for about a week and decided it was time for a full-on treasure hunt! Daddy and I had fun sketching out the details and route. I got it all set up and rolled his map up just like a real pirate would and left it by his bed.

I took photos along the way, because that's the way I roll, you now.

Pirate D after finding his sword and hat.

Using his "spyglass" to help find the next clue.

X marks the spot!!

Avast ye, we found the gleaming booty!!

I must say Dominic was pretty into the whole treasure hunt. I think we'll have to design one for Daddy one day so he can go on a hunt of his own. Maybe the treasure will be in the oven! Not the baby in the oven kind, the sweet chocolate-y kind, I mean.

Aaaaaa-Men!

This past week we've had a silent visitor in our home. He has watched over us as we slept, played, eaten and conversed. Silently overseeing our daily routine and blessing us at every turn, he stood stoically on our mantle.

Since my husband was out of town on a church retreat I was happy to have him here. I was comforted knowing that a visual symbol of him was present in my home. Dominic and I prayed the prayer of vocations daily while David was away and once he returned home the boys continued the ritual before bedtime each night. I love that I was able to capture them in prayer before the chalice.

I love to see Dominic join his hands in prayer. There's just something about seeing such an innocent soul paying homage to our Lord that makes me smile. His joyful proclamation "Aaaaaa-Men!" at the conclusion to any prayer makes my heart burst with pride. How will I ever survive his first holy communion?

In separate, but strangely connected news, I have a lunch date with one of my meetup pals tomorrow. She has been the subject of one of my previous posts: the one about Laura Ingalls?? Anyway, she is Jewish and we are, obviously, Catholic. The interesting thing about her is that she is a practicing Jew, not just Jewish by title. As a practicing Catholic I know all too well the distinction between title and action.

I'd love to talk religion with her but I'm not quite sure how it would go over. I am actually fascinated with Judaism. Afterall, Jesus was a Jew himself. I am intrigued by the traditions held by the Jewish people. It's certainly not easy to be Jewish, just as being Catholic is not exactly the easiest religion to "adhere to".

Oh well, this is really just a rambling post about religion that somehow worked it's way into my brain and wanted to come out and play. I'll let you know how the "lunch date" goes!

Birthday Blessings (aka: Can life get any sweeter??)

Today is my 36th birthday. I have a mere 23 days until I get to meet my only daughter, I am crazy in love with my husband and I have the world's sweetest little boy. My cup truly runneth over.

Here is how we celebrated my birthday tonight. Can life get any sweeter??

Click me! I'm a video!!




Happy Birthday to Mama, indeed!

36 weeks and my mind is STILL running on high

This is my self portrait taken yesterday in a state of creativity. I was tired of the same old belly shot so I thought I'd try it from different angles. I dunno...I'm kinda liking this one for some reason.

Anyway, the school year is rapidly coming to a close and my neighborhood group is beginning to wind down. I will continue to be the coordinator for our playgroup and I'm starting to compile a list of activities we can do this summer to keep us all from losing our minds. Here are some of my ideas so far:

** Have a playgroup garage sale.
** Weekly picnics.
** Have a movie night.
** Host an etiquette tea party.
** Splashpark outings.
** First Tuesdays at the Art Museum.
** Pool parties.
** Potluck happy hours for mom's night.
** Day at the horse races.
** Putt-putt golf.
** Minor league baseball family nights.
** Arts/crafts themed playdates.

I realize some of these are lofty ideas, especially with me having a newborn on the way in 27 more days, but don't some of these sound so fun???

Project 3 completed!

So, my little cheater book for Jillian has taken a bit longer than I had originally anticipated. I don't mind at all, though, I want her book to be as detailed as Dominic's. It's only fair, right?

First, I printed out my belly shot photos from each month. Then I went through my journal and wrote down all the important dates and details for the month (dr appt dates, HR's, etc.). I made each month a double spread and started to place the photos.

Since this was a pre-made book, some of the pages had lame stickers and I did my best to rip them out without tearing the paper underneath. For the most part I did okay. There are a couple of pages that are totally not my style, but they are done, right, and that's what matters!

Now I just need to continue contributing to May and June and we'll be all set! It's hard to believe I'll be 36 weeks along this Tuesday!

I took some photos of the completed book and then it hit me...you probably aren't interested in seeing my pages. So, I won't post any, but if you are REALLY jonesing to see them just let me know and I can make a montage photo of the pages to post.

Project 3 of SB week: playing the preggo card....AGAIN!

The above photo montage from Jillian's shower is my attempt to hold you over with some nice eye candy until tomorrow. Here's the story:

We didn't exactly get to the store for more ink, but I did get to Mike's to get some adhesive. Confused? Yeah, me too. What was I thinking buying adhesive? What did I expect to adhere? Oh well, I was able to use it for a few things today.

Well, I started to get some things done, scrapbook wise, and then the sleepies hit so I had to take a nap. I've got my book from yesterday just waiting for photos. I PROMISE I'll get ink tomorrow. If you are wondering, the title of yesterday's project is: Simple Pleasures.

Today's project is a lame excuse for a scrapbooker. I cheated and bought a pre-made book at Mike's on sale for $20!!! Poor Jillian isn't even here and she's already being treated with the second child syndrome! I just thought this way at least I have the backbone of a pregnancy scrapbook and all I have to add is photos (which is not doable right now) and the little extras.

So....tomorrow I will work on these two projects whole-heartedly. The Simple Pleasures won't take long at all and today's cheater book shouldn't be too bad, either.

Photos of both coming soon. Pinkie swear!

Project 2 of Scrapbook Week: Simple Pleasures ****UPDATED!!****

As promised, I have some photos of the Simple Pleasures book for this project. Amazingly, I was able to get some photos printed without running to the store! I have a small PictureMate photo printer in the closet that I forgot about! So glad I remembered it, as it saved me some hard earned $$ and time today.

Anyway, here are some photos:

An accordian style book of your favorite things!

What exactly is a Simple Pleasures book? Here's the explanation page:

Back page of the accordian book.

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Sorry to postpone this post, but we had much too busy of a day to work on anything crafty. Not to mention the printer is out of ink and I'm totally out of adhesive! What's a crafty gal to do?

Looks like a trip to Mike's is in the works for tomorrow morning! I think you'll get a kick out of the idea, though, so stick around and check back often. I'll try to get the post up ASAP.

National Scrapbook Week

This week is National Scrapbook Week. What, you didn't know that? HA!
As a former big-time sb-er, I am aware of this little known title.

So in honor of this week, D and I will be doing something crafty each day to celebrate.

First up is a little book I like to call: "While you were sleeping". Jillian Grace will be here in just 36 more days (give or take) and I am anticipating a rough adjustment to naptime here. Since D takes one good nap from 11:30 to 1:30 I am hoping that I will be able to get at least ONE naptime that overlaps!

I have done a lot of research on naps and siblings. The advice that I am planning on taking is to ensure that D gets to have some mommy time during one of Jillian's naps- just the 2 of us.

In anticipation of this time, I had D sit down with me and we brainstormed some quiet activities that we can do just the 2 of us. Surprisingly, he was able to name off 11 events! Pretty good, huh?

I came up with the other 26. Here they are (if you are interested):

1. hide and seek
2. watch a movie
3. read a book or two or three
4. do a puzzle
5. bake cookies
6. fingerpaint
7. play-doh
8. color pictures
9. make kool-aid
10. eat ice cream
11. make a movie
12. sing songs
13. go swimming (with monitor on)
14. play in sandbox
15. make crayon stained glass
16. scrapbook
17. funny faces photoshoot
18. blow bubbles
19. sidewalk chalk
20. bubble bath
21. photo scavenger hunt
22. play a game
23. whipped cream letters
24. have a picnic
25. toss balls into laundry basket
26. make a fort
27. make puppets
28. plant a flower
29. make a card
30. create a bedtime story
31. face paint
32. lemonade stand
33. trace yourself
34. play mad libs (adapted, of course)
35. make a puzzle
36. make jello
37. race cars

Why 37 activities, you may be wondering. Well it's one for each day until Jillian's EDD. We made a paper ring chain and on each ring I wrote an activity from the list above. Each morning we will pull one off and put it in a basket in the playroom. This is our countdown to Jillian.

Once she is here we will pull a ring out of the basket each day during her nap to see what activity we will do that day. I am really hoping this works!! I plan on taking a photo of us each day doing the activity and putting it into a scrapbook.

Check back tomorrow for another scrapbook-y idea!