Small Victories

A trip to Publix with my two girls with zero meltdowns from any of us.


Taking Alice to the doctor last minute and finding out her jaundice is better.

Going SOLO to Kohls to get some non-maternity clothes that do NOT include any black pants. (that is all I wore this whole pregnancy.)

They're small, but I will take them. :)

Thanks

Giving birth, not sleeping, nursing (pretty much non-stop), taking care of a very energetic three year old and an infant can really wear you down.

I was expecting it to. It should. I should be frazzled, stressed, over-emotional and a little bit cuckoo.

I was with E.

But, I am not feeling that. (okay, I am sometimes a bit more stressy than normal.)

I am just feeling thankful.

Thankful I am not in the hospital with seizures (I was there the last time around with Ella.)

Thankful that our neighbors got us breakfast, dinner and mowed our lawn.

Thankful that my mom made us chicken marbella and meatballs and played in the Dora sprinkler with Ella.

Thankful to hear the love in Mike's voice when he talks to Alice.

Thankful for all the cards, gifts, emails, visits from friends and family to celebrate our new little girl.

Thankful for the meals from everyone....I love that I have not had to cook in a week. So helpful.

Thankful that I was able to run for a half an hour today.

Thankful that I am not pregnant anymore. I love, love, love Alice and Ella but not such a fan of the process of getting them here.

Mostly, just very thankful for our healthy little girls.

NY Times wonders why so many swimming deaths in triathlon?

We've been wondering the same thing...especially after Patrick Kane's passing in May on the swim at Gulf Coast. Seems like it happens a lot. And it hit close to home for us, too.

I mean, these people are healthy athletes...WHY are they dying on the swim portion of the race?

Not any hard and fast answers here, but maybe some more clues.

Article is here.

Adjusting...

That's the word of the day today.

My first day semi-alone with the girls.

My mom did come by for a few hours to help (Thanks, Mom....you're awesome. I appreciate all the help. I know you don't think you're doing much, but entertaining E, as you well know, is a full time job!)

Day went pretty well. Alice had a doctor's appointment in the AM. (She's gaining the weight she lost back and her jaundice is better.)

Getting the three of us out of the door was a challenge. I assume this, like anything else, just takes time to get down to a science. Showering, feeding, changing diapers, dressing everyone took more time than I thought.

I was the rookie trying to figure out which kid should go in the car seat first? (Alice)

Should I carry just my purse with some diapers in it or go for the diaper bag solo or carry both? (went for both, but not a good idea....too much to carry.)

Stroller or no? (Opted out of this and just carried Alice in her car seat. I am not a fan of the whole stroller procedure. Takes too long and too much room.)

The most complicated thing so far is trying to time Alice's feedings (every two or so hours during the day and a little longer at night) around what we have to do and when we have to do it.

Mike just got home. Ahhh...more help. Yay.

But, all in all, a success!! Adjustment in progress....

A good day!

This is me. Sweaty, happy and so thankful after a walk/jog with Ella in the stroller. (Alice is still too little to double them up in the double jogger.)

I decided to take E for a walk for some alone time with my big girl and since I was feeling so good, I felt like testing it out to see how I felt to get my heart rate up a bit. Grabbed my biggest pair of shorts, biggest shirt, doubled up on the sports bras and went for it.

Felt great. So I decided to jog a bit. Felt fine. Didn't push it at all. Just enjoyed moving....very slowly....behind the jogging stroller talking with Ella and working up a lather. Awesome. 25 minutes of moving without the watermelon under my shirt felt amazing.

I have some soreness (duh, of course) but nothing terrible. It feels more like my bones are sore as opposed to muscles.

Day Three

Looks like we've got ourselves a really lazy kid here.

She sleeps. A lot.

We know how this works though. They like to lull you into this false sense of "Oh yeah...we've got a handle on this baby thing" for about 2 weeks with all their sleeping....then they WAKE UP. By wake up, I mean screaming, crying, most notably NOT SLEEPING.

For now though, we're enjoying it. The calm before the storm, so to speak....

Little Alice is a little jaundiced. Had to take her down to Northside this AM to get her bilirubin level checked. No worse than yesterday, so we just need to take her back in Monday. She was looking a little yellow.

Mike and I are good...little tired, but managing fine. I am excited to be feeling so good physically....hoping to take E for a walk in the neighborhood hills later after Daddy does some crossfit. (Mike's officially retired from triathlon now....although I am not ruling out a Favre-esque comeback sometime in the future.)

E, her lollipop and a sleepy Alice.

Home Sweet Home

Ahhh...we're home. Got home last night, they let me out a day early since Alice and I were doing fine. (Yahoo!) You get zero sleep in the hospital...someone is always coming in, turning the lights on, waking you up, taking blood, etc. SO nice to be at home and getting settled in.

Alice is doing great. Eating well and sleeping as well as can be expected. She's a little squeaker...always making some sort of noise. Mike and I took shifts in her room last night on the pullout. Seemed to work well. When you were "off" you got some sweet, uninterrupted sleep.

E's awesome. First thing out of her mouth this AM was "where's my baby sister?".

I had such a nice surprise yesterday at the hospital. My college roommate, Amanda, who lives in Indiana, just busts in the room at Northside. I was like.....WHAT are you doing here??? So nice to see her. She was in ATL for a meeting, missed her flight and Marta-ed it up to see us. Such a good friend. Thanks, Amanda...you made my day. :)

I am doing pretty well, physically. Hands and feet are swollen, but not too bad. Not too sore. Still looking 5 months pregnant now, but I am assuming all these PAINFUL cramps are doing their job to restore my uterus to normal size. Well, at least hoping they are. This is not a good look. :) I have heard that they are more painful the second time around. WOW. Sure are.

E and Alice

Day One

We are all doing well today. Tired (more like exhausted) but so happy that Alice is here and she's healthy and I am as well.

Posted some more pictures below (on right in slideshow).

Alice is off in the nursery getting a test right now and Mike ran into work for a bit to take care of some things. Poor guy was not expecting to be taking off in July instead of August for this baby.

I am doing great. With E, I felt SO out of it. Had a ton of pain and was just overwhelmed. I feel physically SO much better this time around. I can't imagine that the 5 minutes of pushing I did was that taxing on me...I definitely feel a difference. It seems like a lot of the newborn care stuff is all coming back. (Phew!)

My mom and Ella are heading in to see us now....can't wait. I miss E a ton.

Can't wait to get home.

Doing well

Alice is doing great. Already eating, although she far prefers
sleep. I am feeling surprisingly fine, too. Way better than after I
had E. Walking around, not too sore. Just tired.

She was so easy...2 contractions/4 pushes and she was here. Full head
of black hair and all.

Ella was SO excited to meet her. Adorable. Mike's pysched to have a
little doppelgänger, too.

She's here!

Alice Elizabeth arrived at 10:54am weighing 6 lbs. 4oz. And is 19" long.

Were all great!!!

Northside part 3

Were here again...but this time looks like were going to leave with a
baby! My water broke last night (I had no idea though). Some ctx
woke me up around 2:30 am...came on down and now we see settling in.

Want to be the next Dara Torres of triathlon?

Then head on over to this clinic hosted by the Atlanta Luna Chix. My friend, Michelle, is on their tri team and they are hosting a swim clinic for female triathletes...check out the details below. Click on the picture to enlarge.

Sorry I can't guarantee your abs are going to be as ripped as hers when done...but maybe? You never know....

Full Term

Baby girl Parker (we actually think we might have a name, but we are forever changing our minds, so I will wait until she's here to let you all know. I am not one of those "keep the name shrouded in secrecy" people, we're just letting the name "marinate", I guess. See if it fits her when she gets here.) is finally full term. Phew.

Feels good to know if she came today she'd be fine, healthy and not destined for the NICU. As much as I like Lauren, I'd rather see her at the gym NOT taking care of my baby. Plus, now I feel I am allowed to do everything in my (meager) power to aid in her coming ASAP.

First on the docket -- running

I was imagining/hoping the pounding would break my water. No dice. Although, running for a minute is not long enough to break a sweat, much less a bag of water that's been there for 9 months. I am sure it was comical to watch the huge circus freak of a lady trying to run on the treadmill, then stopping after a full 60 seconds (I can't believe this is the same body that did an IM a year ago!!!)....then stretching...then limping....then slinking off and heading over to the mats to stretch...then enviously gazing at all these other people running SO easily....then jacking up "Over the Hills and Far Away" on her ipod to make her feel better...followed by a spin on the relatively pain-free stationary bike.

So, running is out. On to the next thing....

Iheart Iphone

This might take the cake as my geekiest post ever.

I LOVE my iphone. I got it as a birthday gift from my family (thanks again!) last October. Loved it then when I just could get email and use the internet.

Just have to rave for a minute about the new Apps Store on Itunes that is so freaking cool.

I went a little nuts yesterday buying new apps for my old iphone.

A few that we got ---

Wooly Willy -- E can draw mustaches on pics of anyone in my iphone.

IMilk -- this is SO cool. Your phone looks like a glass of milk, no kidding. Shake it and it turns into whipped cream....shake some more and it becomes cheese. Drink from your iphone and it burps. Not a surprise, this is E's favorite part.

MLB App -- Scores/Video of great plays on here 5 minutes after it happens without having to connect to internet on phone. Obviously, I am a nice wife and got this for my crazed Red Sox fan of a husband.

Urbanspoon -- Restaurant finder. Figures out where you are via GPS. You shake the phone. It spins like a slot machine suggesting a nearby restaurant by type of cuisine/cost. You can change the settings and try to find a different kind of food, etc. They give you the address/phone number and reviews of the place. Very neat.

Alright, done geeking out.

Feeling pretty good here. Just trying to deal with my silly body these days. Still contracting. No real rhyme or reason or pattern to them. Just counting down the days until they induce me. I am about 99% sure that nothing is going to happen before then. (Well, that is what I tell myself since I can't deal with life for 2.5 more weeks of maybe I am going to have a baby today.....or maybe not.....or maybe? Yes, I think so. Yes, definitely. Wait....no. Not today.) Such a tease this baby is. :)

We saw "The Dark Night" last night. Yes, I know everyone is drooling over this movie. All I can say is that it was LONG. But, that is probably just the 9 month pregnant crazy lady talking. She doesn't like much these days.

Back to normal...

...or at least trying to mimic it around here. Doing my best to (1) stop complaining about contracting. It does nothing to ease them and I am boring myself (2) just ignore them....well, the best that I can.

Yeah, they hurt.

Yeah, they happen a lot.

But, that's life. Or at least, that is MY life today. My body likes to do this. Deal with it. Nothing I can do about it. I can't complain and whine labor to start (if THAT were the case....the baby would be here already.) :)

Normal routine it is from here on out.

E and I hit our usual spots today. Gym, Publix, heading to the pool in a minute.

Feels much better than being pi$$ed off at my uterus all day long....like yesterday. I think I just needed a day for that though. I am over it now.

It was nice to use my watch to time my workout instead of a contraction for the first time all week.

Here I am smile on my face and all. Belly certainly LOOKS ready for a baby to come!

Groundhog Day?

That's what yesterday...and some of today feels like.

The movie, not the holiday with the rodent.

Quick recap.

Monday -- at Northside with contractions every 7 minutes. Shot of brethine to stop them. Kind of works, kind of doesn't. Head home having some more, but not as bad as before. Either way, these contractions are NOT dilating me any further than the centimeter that I am already dilated as of last Thursday.

Tuesday -- Normal day. Felt ehhh....but still made it through even stopping off at the pool with E for an hour and a half to swim. Head out to dinner with my mom and dad (who just happened to stop by on his way up to see my brother in Michigan). Taco Mac....good stuff. Start timing my contractions at dinner since they're hurting again. 7 minutes apart....now 5 minutes apart....head home....now 3 minutes apart. Call Mike who is at a work dinner at Rathbuns (slightly different from Taco Mac, huh?) just to give him a heads up since he's all the way downtown.

Don't feel like it, but call the doc. They say come on in again. Ugh. Go in. Get another shot. Stops the ctx for an hour and then they're right back at about every 4 minutes. Gotta be in labor now, right? Um, nope! Cervix is still 1 cm. Stay overnight. Have ctx all night long, but sleep pretty well thanks to the wonder drug Ambien. (Wow. That stuff is strong.) They check me again this morning and STILL not dilating any further.

Apparently, I just like to have contractions that don't do anything. My OB said I can expect the same thing until I actually go into labor (when and how I am going to differentiate between what I had last night and real labor, you got me. I was hurting!).

They're not going to try and stop them anymore, but won't help them (induce) either until 39 weeks. So, I am stuck here for now. Contracting and pissed off about it.

Kind of sucks. I am DID (down in the dumps) ever since I got home from Northside. Feel like I cried wolf two times now...interrupted and inconvenienced a lot of my family (my mom and dad stayed at the house last night with E) Mike missed work today and Monday and all for my stupid non-labor producing contractions (lazy mf-ers). Also, I feel like a dope that I didn't know that they weren't "real" since I am not dilating any more.

Oh well, you can bet your a$$ I am not going down to Northside again (1) I am induced or (2) a baby falls out.

Ow

Interesting day here.

Woke up around 3:30am with tons of cramping and some not so fun contractions. That, along with a huge tree that fell down in our neighbors yard (that paranoid me assumed was someone trying to rob us) kept me up.....and I woke up Mike, too. I was getting a little nervous. Thinking....sh%$....am I in labor? I am SO not ready for this. The car seat is full of cobwebs in the garage for Pete's sake!

Take some Tylenol. Manage to fall back to sleep.

Ella wake up call "Mommy want to play tic-tac-toe?".
Still feeling pretty painful contractions/cramping.

Call Doc....just to check to see what is going on. 9:00AM Just not feeling right. Better safe than sorry, right?

11:45 Get call back. Am told to head over to Labor & Delivery to see what is going on.

1:30 Hooked up to the monitors. Ctx are really not joking around now. Have to close my eyes through them. OW. Seem to be having one around every 7 minutes or so.....get a shot of Brethine to stop them.

Ow. That burns. And makes me feel like I just drank 3000 cups of coffee (or so I imagine. Coffee is gross.) Jittery and heart is beating fast.

4:45 Have 3 more ctx. Cramping is better though. Not dilating any more than I was last week --1 cm. Good stuff. Sent me home.

Guess I just have to keep an eye on them and see if they get any worse. Seem to be abating now....just had 2 more in the past half hour or so, but they didn't hurt nearly as much as they had before.

All I could think about in L&D was brownies. I really wanted to bake some brownies. Strange, right. We stopped off at Publix to get dinner and some brownie mix. Yum.

Congrats, Mike

Congrats on a great race, Mike.

We're proud of you.

We weren't gone for long, (about 24 hours) but feels like forever. I think probably since all 3 of us are exhausted. Spectating (9 months pregnant with a three year old, in the rain) is tough. Makes me appreciate that much more when people come to see me race.

Can't imagine that racing is much easier. E was excited to see Daddy at transitions (seeing Daddy and the promise of m&m's were the only things that kept a major meltdown at bay) and had fun cheering for him. She heard someone shout "pick it up!" and that became her mantra. Nice one...especially coming from a 3 year old.

Can't say that I was really wishing I was racing today. I thought I would be super jealous and really want to be out there...must have been some combination of the rain, my utter lack of energy and probably the large basketball I like to carry around under my shirt that made me glad to be cheering Mike on instead of racing.

Some pics are below and also in the slideshow if you're interested.

At the river day before the race. We really like Chattanooga. Very walkable city and well set up.


Waiting for the bus to take Mike to the swim start -- it is a point to point swim.


Swim Exit -- It started POURING while we were waiting. Tons of people fell (and hard) on the concrete here. Looked painful.


The guy running with Mike had to take his shoes off at Mile 1 due to blisters....impressive run!


Done and rehydrating.

Done!

Mike's done with his race...heading home. He did great. Lotsa hills
and we figured out that chattanooga is in fact, the city of rain.

Sheesh. We got dumped on all day. More details to come. I am trying
to convince mike to do a race report for me.

Tennessee bound

En route to the city of um, hills? Hot rivers? Aquariums?

Chattanooga here we come.

Say Cheese!

Here she is at 36 weeks. So cute. Just had a 3-D ultrasound at the perinatologist. Ella was talking to her, saying hello and asking questions....every time the baby heard E's voice she'd smile or stick her tongue out. Fun appointment.

Baby is looking good. 5lbs 12 oz.

1 down....

9 to go! Had an OB appointment this AM and everything is looking good...I am even 1 cm dilated.

Now, I know that means absolutely nothing in terms of when I am going to go into labor (my money is on that I am going to only after getting induced) but makes me glad that all these painful contractions that I've been having are (1) doing something (2) not in my head.

I feel like my life is a series of doctor appointments at this point. From now on, I see the OB, perinatologist and chiropractor weekly.

My saving grace has been my iphone. Just discovered the TV shows that you can buy on itunes and put on your phone. Really handy say if you have a 3 year old that accompanies you on all these boring appointments. We've got "Caillou", "Backyardigans" and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" all on there now and she's so good in the waiting rooms with me.

E and I at 36 weeks. Really not sure what is going on with E in this pic. She looks cuckoo and I look ginormous, as to be expected.

Impressive

Joe definitely takes top prize in the GCOW (garbage can on wheels) contest.

Oh, you weren't aware there was one?

Entry is easy.

Buy a car.
Have some kids.
Let said kids ride in car...and eat/poop/litter.
Take up a messy hobby (triathlon is highly recommended. Lots of paraphernalia and even more dirt.) But any legitimate messy interest will do.
Last step...
Don't clean car. Ever. Even when your significant other calls you "gross". Especially then.

Simple.

Check out how awesome Joe is doing here. I've certainly got my work cut out for me. My two inches of goldfish/raisin sludge on my floor mats just aren't cutting it anymore.

Sticky Fingers

Isn't that the name of a Rolling Stones album? Not 100% sure...Mike would totally know that...and all the songs on it...and have seen them perform it live four times.

Either way....I've got sticky fingers right now. Sticking to the keys. Being crafty today and spray adhesive is all over my fingers, some of the computer and most of the kitchen table. I FINALLY got around to making a shadow box from IM CDA that was over a year ago. I guess better late than never, huh?

E and I Hobby Lobby-ed it hard today. That store rocks....so cheap.

We started our craftiness with a special present that we made for Daddy to wish him good luck in his race this weekend. (Chattanooga Oly) and then I followed it up with the totally forgotten intentions of making a shadow box of all the cool stuff from my IM (numbers, nice postcards, arm band, etc) that I didn't want to throw out.

See?


Baby and I are doing well. Coming up on 36 weeks soon....that would officially make me 9 months pregnant. Whoa. I could do without my tee shirts (that all seemed to fit a week ago!) riding up and showing my huge, white belly all day long and maybe we could lose the 24 urine collection that I am so NOT excited to do tomorrow, but no complaints out of me. Nope, none at all.

E had her long-delayed-by-a-lazy-mom 3 year check up yesterday. She's great. 75% for height and weight and still hating the doctor. Poor kid did NOT enjoy her shot...however, she has enjoyed telling everyone about it today and showing off her "Dora Bambaid".

E and I in the Garbage Can on Wheels aka my Honda Pilot tooling around Roswell this AM.

Tweet, tweet

That's was me all weekend long. Nesting.

Apparently, the instinct to clean and organize is strong enough to overcome even my sometimes messy, somewhat pack rat-ish tendencies.

Fridge -- sparkling
Pantry -- a sight to see
Snack closet -- perfect OCD order (when I organize and clean, I go all out....label maker and all.)
Under our bed -- the 200 pieces of luggage hiding under there were dusted and and the vacuum actually met the rug
Linen closet -- Martha Stewart would be proud

Wow. Wish I had the energy/desire to clean like this all the time. Scratch that. There are about 10 jillion other things I'd rather do (most of the time) than clean. Although, it can feel good. Like today.

Happy 4th!

Hope everyone is having a great day today.

We are so far....slept in...I am savoring these last few weeks of feeling fully rested. So delicious. :) E decided to sleep until 8:45, somewhat unheard of in these parts.

Mike just bricked down on Riverside Rd. He's doing Chattanooga Oly next weekend. (His quote, "I am grossly undertrained to do an Olympic triathlon next weekend.") E and I will be his own personal cheering section....should be fun. As much as I enjoy racing, I really like spectating, too. E's got her "GO DADDY GO!" cheer down pat.

Heading out for lunch in a few then on to a neighbor's 4th party.

35 weeks pic below. I decided to celebrate by throwing up yesterday. A nice revisit to the first trimester. Strange. I didn't feel sick, just was making the bed and had to sprint to the toilet.

Celebrate

I love our neighborhood. We have awesome neighbors (although wouldn't take much to improve on the suspected meth dealer next door at our last house. No kidding. The 7 cop cars that were at their house during E's first birthday was awesome.) Tons of other kids for E to play with. There always seems to be some sort of celebration for the kids (and adults) going on. So nice. We really lucked out when we moved here two years ago. We had no idea how nice this place is for families.

Take the 4th for example. Fireworks that everyone walks over to the golf course to watch followed by a kids parade today (Although the parade sounds better in theory than practice. It is hot as hell out there. All the kids were up until 10:30 last night at the fireworks, so it is a bunch of cranky kids and moms -- me and e included.)

E LOVED the fireworks. She offered color commentary on each one. She was so excited that she just couldn't contain herself. "DAT ONE IS GREEN!!!" "YELLOW ONE" "PINK!!". I enjoyed watching her more than the fireworks. Too funny.

Impatiently waiting for the fireworks.


Watching with Daddy


Parade today (you can see where she cried away part of her cheek flag out of frustration. good times.)


Hope everyone has a great holiday and long weekend!

For the memories

Just so I remember....this post is about what being 35 weeks pregnant feels like. I want to remember since I forgot what it felt like with Ella and (I think) I am not going to do this again. In the scheme of things....this time is pretty special and so fleeting, so I want to try to remember how things feel.

Good stuff
People are nicer to you than when you're not pregnant. They smile at you a lot more...make conversation easier (i.e. when are you due? what are you having?) I like that.

People congratulate me on just being at the gym these days. They have no idea how weak my workouts (30-40 minutes of cardio and some lifting are about it for now) are....but they think it is great I am there. Pretty cool.

The anticipation is exciting. We're waiting to meet our little girl...that is so cool. She's in my tummy, kicking around, just waiting to show us what she's like. I can't wait to meet her. I love getting her room ready, washing her clothes...makes it all seem so real.

I rarely feel guilty about what I eat. If I want something these days, I will pretty much eat it. Not true when I am not pregnant, I am fairly strict about what I eat then. "Back on the wagon" so to speak after this little one comes, so I am making the most of these last few weeks.

Her kicks. They're cool. I like feeling her in there moving around. I love when Ella can feel her moving...she usually shouts "AGAIN!" right after.

And the not so good stuff...

Peeing. All. the. Time.
I am so over this. I really hate public bathrooms (so dirty) and try to avoid them when I can...at 35 weeks pregnant? No avoiding those germfests and most of the time I have "Touch Everything" Ella with me to compound the diseases I imagine we're getting. (Along with her commentary, "Mommy -- you going pee pee? Yay! Good pee pee, Mommy!)

The pregnancy waddle. I have it and bad. I look like a penguin especially after getting up from sitting down at the end of the day.

Wearing the same thing most every day. I can't wait to get back into some cute clothes. Black pants and a tee shirt has been my uni for the past um, 9 months or so and I am getting bored with myself. I was at All3Sports yesterday dropping off Mike's bike and drooling over the cute bathing suits, racing kits and running stuff....and that's just workout stuff! Once I am back to my normal size, Athleta and Title Nine better watch out. I might just buy out the whole store. :) BTW -- I am BURNING my maternity clothes....or throwing them out the window. I never want to see them again.

Sleepy Joe. That's me. I can't wait to get back my normal level of energy. Some days it is there. Some days....not so much. Today is pretty good.

Putting on pants/socks/shoes with ease. You take this for granted, don't you? Me? I fall over, grunt, have to sit down and balance to do these normally easy tasks.