Just a Reminder That I've Moved!

I'm having a great time over on wordpress now. Come on over and see me sometime! Oh, and don't forget to update your blog roll and readers!

My New Blog

What's Been Going On In My Life Lately

Ok, So I posted before that things in my life are changing and I'm hoping it's for the better.

Last week was my final week of babysitting. I am both happy and sad about this change. I'm happy in that I'll finally be able to get my life back on track in terms of doing my own thing, cleaning when I want, etc. I'm sad because I will miss both Baby Girl and the money it brought in. But, now that I'll have my time back during Bugs nap, I'll be able to post on my blog more, be a part of my online baby boards that I have been sadly neglecting since well before Christmas, reconnect with online friends and I can get my cleaning schedule back on track.

I'm hoping that with the lack of babysitting, I can also get myself back on a decent eating habit. After I started babysitting, my eating habits went down the drain. I haven't been the best person to count on for eating breakfast, just ask my mom, yet I always make sure Bug has something to eat first thing in the morning, generally a bowl of cereal or a piece of fruit. While I was baby sitting, I'd have to shower and do most of my cleaning first thing (vacuuming, sweeping, general straightening, cleaning the cat and dog pans, etc) because it was all stuff that needed to be done before the day could begin. This left little time for me to sit down and have a healthy breakfast with Bug. I would normally put a cup of tea in the microwave and would either forget that it was in there long after the beep or be seen scarfing it down quickly right as Baby Girl arrived. I usually get hungry around 10am or so if I don't eat first thing and since I didn't want to eat in front of Baby Girl because she'd want what I was eating (I didn't want to share...lol), I just didn't eat. Also, I wasn't always the best at eating with the kids at lunch. I'd stay with them and supervise them, but at the same time I'd be finishing laundry or trying to check my email. I often wouldn't eat until well after Bug went down for his nap...usually around 2pm...I'm hoping that since I don't have to clean first thing anymore, I can sit down and enjoy a relaxed and hot meal with my son. And, I know I can sit down and eat lunch with him since there is no need to rush to get other things done fast before the quietness had to envelope my house.

The other thing I'm hoping for is for less stress. I am starting to think that watching Baby Girl was messing with my stress level and my health, as well as my diet. I started stressing over if I'd picked up all the little toys Bug was playing with and put them out of reach. Did I clean everything I needed too? Was Baby Girl going to be exceptionally whiny today? Was she going to give me attitude when I told her no? Was she going to eat? Was she going to finally drink her milk? Was she going to nap well? I fully believe that my parenting style and Baby Girls' parents parenting style were completely different. There are things that I just had to accept that never would have flown with Bug. Anyway, I'm not entirely convinced that my stress level has anything to do with, but I'm waiting to see if A) my stomach pains that I've been experiencing each month go away and B) I get pregnant. Darling Hubby and I have been sorta trying since last July, but it's been a no go. I'm sure fate has reasons for us not getting pregnant yet. I'll be sad if we don't have a second child, but I'm just enjoying Bug right now.

I'm hoping things will get better for me and Darling Hubby in the relationship department, too. Lately, like I said, I've just been feeling stressed out with keeping up appearances, so to speak, and how my day goes that I just feel burnt out at the end of the day. Fingers crossed that now that I'm getting back on my own schedule, I'll get better about being a snuggler.

As for the 2nd income, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I've been doing some writing for Associated Content, which my friend Annie over at Fried PorkChop told me about. They pay you for writing articles for them. So far I've been paid for 3 of the 4 articles I've written. Maybe now that I'll have a bit more computer time I'll be able to come up with some article topics, as well as blog topics.

And since so much has changed in my life I figured I'd make one more big change. I'm moving. Now don't start to worry, I'm not going to physically move from my house (I like it here), I'm moving my blog. I decided a while ago that I wasn't going to participate in the big bloggy move that my friend Megan was a part of, but when I checked out her new blog it made me think that a change could be good for me, too.

So, after some consideration, I'm moving to wordpress. After checking out their site I decided it would be easier to use then Blogger, although I have nothing against Blogger. I think I just need easier in my life.

Come check me out at my new digs - http://sarandipity9702.wordpress.com/ It's still a work in progress, so pardon the dust until I can get everything sorted out and cleaned up. Don't forget to update your blogroll, if I'm part of it, and your blog reader.

Blast From The Past - Bug's Birth Story

So after posting my previous post about Bug's 3rd birthday, I got to thinking about his birth story. I remembered typing it up and posting in on my old LiveJournal, so I headed over there and dug it out of the archives. So, for those of you who never had the joy of hearing how Bug came into the world, here you go!

Originally posted on Live Journal, February 11, 2005 @ 2:17PM. It has been edited for spelling and names have been changed.

Well, Bug is finally here after one heck of a ride. If anyone wants to know how things went during delivery, here's the birth story (I actually have a moment to type it...he's sleeping in his swing after eating...yeah!)

Well, on Saturday January 29th, I woke up at 1am with minor contractions. They weren't too painful and were about 10 minutes apart or so. That lasted all morning. I ended up watching TV all morning in bed until around 6am when Darling Hubby finally got up. He had asked me on Friday to cut his hair so, while I was in early labor, I'm cutting his hair...lol We thought that labor would progress faster so we got up and milled around the house. By 6pm things had started to move along a little better. I was timing contractions all day long and they were finally consistently about 3-6 minutes apart. I called the doctor and she said that I could come in and get checked.

At the hospital, they checked me and I was only about a 2. They admitted me since I was so overdue and hooked me up to all these different machines and IV's. I could have slugged the nurse that put in my IV. She tried in 4 different places on my hands and arms until she found a place where she wasn't hurting me. A couple places actually started to bleed all over the place - the bed and the floor...that wasn't fun. I had so many wires and hoses coming out of me that it wasn't funny. There was the contraction monitor, Bug's heartbeat monitor, my IV with the tubes for the Pitocin, Glucose solution, and Penicillin (for the group B strep).

My friend Rachelle from back home arrived around 8 (I was talking to her on the phone before I went to the hospital and I was supposed to call her once they admitted me.) Her boyfriend told her just to come up because more than likely, he would be born within the next day or so. I was actually trying to call her on her cell when she was walking in the door.

They kept checking me and I was dilating pretty slowly, despite the pitocin. They broke my water, which wasn't clear...meaning that Bug had already had his first bowel movement. There was a risk that if he inhaled or swallowed some of the amniotic fluid that he could get pneumonia or have other breathing problems.

Around midnight, the contractions were coming closer together and were getting pretty painful. I was near tears most of the time and squeezing both Darling Hubby's and Rachelle's hands. I was actually afraid that I would hurt them. I ended up begging for the epidural. They made Darling Hubby and Shell leave the room - probably because if he heard the doctor say "oops" he probably would have decked him. The anesthesiologist who came in to do the job had no sense of humor and didn't make me feel all that comfortable. He actually scared me because he poked me in the back with a pen to mark my spine. I jumped and he was like "it was only a pen...you need to hold still." He never warned me...Can't be prepared for something if I don't know someone is going to stick me with something. Anyway, I felt much better after the epidural was put in. The only downside was that I couldn't get out of bed and walk around, much less go to the bathroom. They had to insert a catheter...luckily I couldn't feel it. So add to the previous list of wires, the epidural in my back, the catheter, and 3 cardiac monitors - to make sure that I was handling the epidural without heart problems. They also hooked me up to a blood pressure cuff that was programmed to check my pressure every 15 minutes. It was hard to get sleep when your arm is squeezed every 15 minutes. Plus, when they changed my positions (I couldn't move on my own) if they put me on the side with the cuff, it would register that my pressure was high causing a monitor to beep, annoyingly, until a nurse came in and turned it off...they had to keep doing that.

I was also starting to get really hot so they were giving me wet cloths to wipe my face with and the nurse even turned down the heat. Poor Darling Hubby and Shell were freezing. Rachelle had on 4 layers of clothing, plus she had one of the blankets from my bed.

By morning, I was starting to feel the contractions again because the epidural was starting to wear off. They kept changing my positions to see if they could get the pain to go away, but it wasn't working. They were going to give me more meds in my epidural, but there was an emergency c-section that required the anesthesiologist and all the nurses. Someone was having triplets...ouch!

Ok, so

Well, after the whole triplet chaos, they came in and gave me some more medication, but that was really all they could give me because after a few times, the medication would become toxic. It helped for about an hour and started to wear off again. My doctor came in and checked me...I was up to 7cm. They decided to up my pitocin and insert a monitor to see exactly how strong my contractions were...yet one more wire...I was actually begging them before they started all this for the c-section because I couldn't take it anymore. The doctor said they couldn't do that without a good medical reason. So I had another 1/2 hour-45 minutes of pain. It turns out that my contractions just weren't strong enough to keep me progressing and with the fact that Bug had already had his first bowel movement, it was necessary to get him out sooner rather the later.

They got me all set to go into the OR. Darling Hubby was given scrubs to change into. We called my parents just to let them know that I was going into surgery, in case something happened. I was pretty scared at the aspect of being gutted like a fish, but it was for the best. The new anesthesiologist was great and actually had a sense of humor. He made me numb from my chest down so I couldn't feel a thing. They wheeled me into the OR and moved me onto the operating table. I still had the cardiac monitors, the blood pressure cuff, the epidural, the catheter, the IV, and now these inflatable air casts that would breath to keep the blood flowing in my legs. I was shivering uncontrollably because at this point I was so cold and scared. They put this big plastic pillow across my arms and started blowing warm air through it. They covered it with a towel and it kept me nice and warm. I still felt bad for Darling Hubby once he got in there because he was only wearing thin little scrubs and it was pretty cold in the room.

They checked to make sure that I was completely numb. I guess they were pinching me pretty hard with some instrument. I could feel them rubbing my belly down with the orange liquid. I didn't feel them cut me open, but I could feel a ton of pressure as they were digging around in there. It was like a great weight was lifted out of me when they pulled Bug out. Darling Hubby got a couple pictures, but the doctor was in the way so you really can't tell where his head is and whatnot. Normally they show the mom the baby over the screen, but since there was the problem with the meconium, they whisked him off to the corner to check him and make sure his airways were clear. I, of course, started to cry the instant he started to cry. I was just happy that he was breathing and crying. It was another 45 mintues until they got me sewed back up. Darling Hubby snapped a couple of pictures of Bug after they cleaned him up. He did well on his apgar scores with and 8 and a 9.

He was born at exactly 12:12pm on January 30, 2005, weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 13oz, 21 inches long. He's doing great, except for the breastfeeding, but he's eating formula like mad and gaining weight. He lost a pound before being released from the hospital, but as of Monday the 7th, he was back up to 9lbs 11oz.

Well, I had better get going. Bug's going to wake up soon for his feeding and I'm sure he's going to be hungry. Later

Better Late Than Never Birthday Post

Ok, so this post is only nearly 2 weeks overdue, but hey, life keeps getting in the way of my blogging time. I think from now on things will get better in that department (and a lot of departments in my life), but first, here's my birthday boy, who turned 3 on January 30th!

The little girl, Baby Girl, that I babysat (I'm no longer watching her) and her parents bought Bug this little Lightning McQueen remote controlled race car. Bug loves it. It runs around in a backwards circle and when you push the button on the remote control (very 3 year old friendly) it goes forward. He zoomed it all over the house that day (except when it freaked out Baby Girl,) and for days after. He also got the book Philadelphia Chickens by Sandra Boynton. If you've never heard of Sandra Boynton or her books, you should go check them out! Bug's newest song addiction is the Belly Button Song. We also have the Belly Button Book which is where the song came from. Needless to say, it's stuck in my head right now...


For dinner, I made Bug's favorite meal...Spaghetti with homemade sauce. Here he was being goofy for the camera. Typical 3 year old...

After dinner we broke out the present. He was so excited to open it.

He got the DC Super Friends Green Lantern on a motorized scooter thingy...

He really wanted Daddy to open it...and fast...like the Flash!

Here is Green Lantern running around...veeerrrryyy slllloooowwwlllyy, I might add... around our living room with Bug in hot cold pursuit.

The only problem with the above toy is that it's very hard for a 3 year old to affix the Green Lantern to the scooter. I'm always being asked to help with it, which gets a little tedious when you've got your hands occupied with something else. Then, it gets placed on the floor to slowly run amok into the corners of the room until Mommy tells Bug to move him...But, at least he's happy and Green Lantern can now hang with his other super friends, Batman, Superman, and Flash, in the superhero bin under the TV.

All in all, I think his actual birthday was a good one. I can't believe that my baby is 3 now. He's come a long way from that little (I say little even though he was nearly 10lbs) baby that needed me to do everything for him to a head strong 3 year old who only wants me to do some things for him. I'm sad to see my little baby go, but I'm glad he's becoming self-sufficient and can do things for himself, tell me what he wants and needs and is just all around joy to be around.

We had a mini party for him on Sunday, the 3rd with just my parents. I'll post pics of that later on when I get the chance. That was when we had cake and ice cream, so fear not, I have pics of him blowing out the candles.

So Much To Do...So Little Time!

So, my mom and dad are coming up for a little "mini party" for Bug's 3rd birthday on Sunday. We are just having lunch and cake and ice cream...Nothing fancy. I decided that this year might be too much for him if we invited family and friends so we are keeping it small...super small. My mom and dad missed out on Bug's first 2 birthday parties so that's the reason I invited just them. Plus, they never come to visit so I figured if I could get them out of the house for a day it would be good for them. Let's hope they don't disappoint. I think Bug is looking forward to their visit.

I have a ton of stuff to accomplish before they arrive. You know, I have this thing where I have to clean pretty well before family comes to visit, esp my mom since she's a clean person...you could eat off her kitchen floor. I wouldn't recommend that in my house. My floor is clean and swept daily (and spot cleaned when those sticky spots start showing up), but not always mopped clean... Anyway, I'm a list maker so I figured I'd make a list of all the things I have to do here for all the public to see (and maybe hold me accountable) and that way I might be more apt to get it all done before they arrive Sunday morning, provided the temperature won't drop below 40 and it's not icing or snowing...

I'll update this post and cross things off as I get them done.

1. Bake Bug's birthday cake
   Bug helped me with that this morning...it's currently cooling.
2. Decorate Bug's birthday cake
3. Clean the kitchen (Empty dish drainer, wash dishes, empty dish drainer again, wipe down counters)
   
4. Clean the bathrooms. I even cleaned the tub...even though mom won't check there...at least I don't think she will!
5. Sweep and mop the bathrooms, kitchen, living room and dining room floors.
6. Vacuum the rugs in the office, living room and Bug's room. Although I'm sure I'll do this again Sunday morning.
   
7. Finish putting away all the dried laundry.
8. Sweep the front porch.
9. Clean out the cat and dog pans.
10. Make my bed. gasp!
11. Dust
12. Straighten up all the toys and put them away.
    

OK, let's see how much I can get done before Darling Hubby gets home. Provided it's not icy outside we plan to go out in search of a big boy mattress for Bug (A local Mom and Pop store is having a mattress sale so we'll go check them out) and then to Friendly's for a birthday treat. Bug LOVES Friendly's and he's got a coupon for a free kids meal. Then, I get up tomorrow and start tackling all the stuff I didn't get done today...on top of grocery shopping...ugg!

Food For Friday 2/4-2/8 & 2/11-2/15

OK, it's time for another edition of Food For Friday. I'm feeling rather disorganized with my menu this time around, although I've actually started prepping for it Thursday...and I'm not disorganized...really...it just feels that way.

Sunday 2/3 - My parents are coming for a visit for Bug's b-day. I'm making Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu. I made this last week and Darling Hubby just LOVED IT!! It's definitely something that's going in the recipe box!

Monday - Craft night - Sadaf's turn to cook. I will probably make Hamburger Helper before I leave.
Tuesday - Breakfast for Dinner - Bacon/sausage/SPAM and eggs with toast or maybe French Toast.
Wednesday - Pizza
Thursday - Game Night - Turkey Burgers and Homemade Fries
Friday - BBQ Spare Ribs, mashed potatoes and veggies

Monday - Craft Night - Rose's turn to cook. I'll probably make burgers/dogs and fries before I leave.
Tuesday - Rotisserie chicken breast, stuffing and veggies
Wednesday - Stuffed pork chops, rice-a-roni, and veggies
Thursday - Crockpot Beef Stew - Nothing says Happy Valentines Day like a beef stew! lol
Friday - Tacos

A Quirky Meme

My friend Annie over at Fried PorkChop has bestowed me (amongst other things that I will get to later) with the great task of a meme...well, here goes...

The directions:
(1) Link to the person that tagged you.
(2) Post the rules on your blog.
(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
(5) Let each random person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

(ONE) I once collected TY Beanie Babies...yes, I'll admit it...I was a beanie baby junkie...I was a member of their beanie board and stalked it on occasion. It was like a drug high (although I've never actually been high on drugs, so I really wouldn't know what feels like, but I can assume) when I came across some new ones in the store that I didn't have in my collection. I HAD THEM ALL for a while. Slowly that phase in my life petered out. I've boxed some of the ones that I really liked and put them away. I've sold a few and donated some. I've moved on to collecting Eeyores...although I haven't felt the need to buy EVERY SINGLE ONE I SEE in a while.

(TWO) I DVR my soaps so I can watch them later. I only watch All My Children and One Life to Live, but AMC falls right when I put Bug down for his nap so I'll watch OLTL and then go back and watch AMC. I need to know what's happening in Pine Valley and Llanview.

(THREE) Like Annie, I sometimes I wish I could go back and do some of my high school career over again. I wouldn't be as serious as I was all the time. I wouldn't always have my nose in a book or be teachers pet (come on, I really liked being the teachers pet). I think the one thing I wouldn't change would be my time spent in band. I really think that helped define me. My memories in band are the what remind me I was happy in HS.

(FOUR) I hate to be late to meetings or appointments so I'm always at least 10-15 minutes early. When I was in high school I'd always arrive to marching band practice at least 30 minutes early. I'm a clock watcher, too. If things aren't on time by my watch it drives me crazy.

(FIVE) I sometimes count my steps when I'm walking. I always count my steps when I'm going up or down the stairs, esp in the dark so I know where I am and I don't fall. I sometimes count to help me fall asleep.

(SIX) I hate when my grocery list isn't neat. If too many things have been written in badly (i.e. the handwriting is bad) or things have been crossed off, I have to rewrite the whole thing. I like pages to be neat and tidy.

Ok, there we have it...six random things no one should really know about me! lol Here are the people I'm tagging... Shannon, Corey, Stacie, Lori, Meghan and Keara