The first Christmas

We had our first Christmas celebration today. Went to MawMa's and got to see both her daughters and all of their kids, it was great to hear MawMa literally squeal in glee to see her oldest granddaughter and great-granddaughter. Munchkin was the life of the party, even though she slept through most of it. Everyone was so happy to see her, I think I only ever held her when she was hungry and needed fed...
I'm looking forward to saturday and going to the Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up at. It's my favorite Christmas tradition. And then Christmas day we're going over to Ber's house to open presents. It'll be so much fun.
Husband hasn't heard anything from his siblings, and nothing from his mother either, so I don't believe that we will be seeing them. And it's very sad to me, I understand his feeling towards his mother at this point (to tell the truth I'm more than a little upset and very disappointed at her responses as well) but I am not going to oppose his decisions concerning her. However, I know he wanted to see his siblings, and from one sister we haven't even heard back from, and the other we never got any solid plans for a sibling meet up and exchanging of gifts.
I suppose if nothing else we'll just surprise visit the siblings that live in Kansas and drop off their gifts, but I know Husband really wanted to have some sit down time and show off Munchkin to his brothers that haven't gotten to see her yet, who knows what will happen.
As for me, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed and being hopeful.

Further Adventures in Cloth Diapering

Today about washing, well, hand washing. Luckily after our first foray into it Husband and I have realized that presently we cannot constantly cloth diaper, we just don't have enough pre-folds to do so.
Our current plan is to cloth diaper during the day when we can keep a better eye on Loki and make sure the urine isn't staying close to her skin, and then we are using disposable diapers at night. We're also trying to develop our schedule of how we take care of/wash the diapers. We've been letting the dirty ones soak in cold water, and then right before we go to bed, we're using the tub to hand wash them. It's not much fun, but I'm the luckiest woman in the world, because not only does Husband help take care of the dirty diapers as they're dirty but he also helps me hand wash, poor guy, he learned to hand wash just so he could help me out and make it seem like I wasn't the only one trying to make things work.

Tell you what, I got damn lucky with Husband, he's my partner, not just the head of the house. And he always makes me feel as if I deserve to be by his side, that I am his equal in that way.

With Loki's slow but steady weight gain Husband and I made the decision that unless she wakes up we're letting her sleep for up to 6 hours a night. It was a little nerve wracking last night, just the worry in and of its self, but I think it's better all around for us.

Well that was nice...

Husband, Loki and I went to church again this morning (honestly it's easier getting up for church now that we have a kid, cause we've gotta get up anyways) Husband enjoys it, because he gets to re-connect with people he used to see every Sunday when he was younger and i enjoy it because I just flat-out missed going to church. We have a little bit of a drive unfortunately, but since things are working out so well I really do think it's worth it. The church is giving us what we want this time around, for me a good worship service, songs I enjoy and a lot of them I actually know, plus a few new ones thrown in, and an engaging service that gives me lots of opportunities to take notes. (yeah, I'm one of those people that enjoys taking notes during church)

Adventures in cloth diapering!

Well, we've only got one disposable diaper left, and right now it's being saved for a rainy day (well one newborn size diaper left, we have like 5 size 1 diapers that were given to us after she was born) She also got her first real tub bath today, and she was not very happy with the water, let me tell you what. After that we proceeded to put on her first cloth diaper, and I did it wrong :( I thought something wasn't wright, but couldn't put my finger on it till I was nursing her and surfing you tube about cloth diapering. Needless to say I felt rather silly and slow. So after she was done eating we took it off and started over, getting it right this time thankfully. I'll be honest though, cloth diapers are not flattering to a baby girl's figure.
Husband was joking about 'fat bottomed girls' and then Loki started fussing, so laughing at himself and the timing of her fussing Husband said he would be nice and not make fun of her newest fashion accessory. Luckily for me Husband didn't make me feel silly or like an idiot for getting things wrong or for being so nervous about all this. And maybe he's right, I'm sure everything will go fairly well, worst case scenario we'll just have loads more laundry to do, and we'll be saving money not buying disposable diapers. Now I just have to get over my apprehension and hope that soon I'll have the extra money to buy the two different sizes of knitting needles so I can start making my own cloth diaper covers.
Our first change went well, even though Loki hadn't wet her diaper, the fabric was just slightly damp from her bath earlier. But we had a successful change, and even when Loki started urinating during the change it was no worries, thanks to my quick movements in getting wipe under her so the urine didn't get on her onesie.
All in all, today will be good, I'm sure of it.


I hope. 

New Project

Thanks to my little sister, I'm actually going to be voluntarily taking tons of pictures of my daughter. At her suggestion I am going to take a pictures of Loki every morning when we get ready for the day, Sister wanted it so she could see what Loki wears every day, but MawMa gave me a different perspective, if you think about it wouldn't it be cool to have a little slide show of every day of her first year? Just to see how she's growing day to day. And yeah, you won't see much change at first, but as it goes that would just be cool to see.
In more baby news, we'll be running out of the last of our disposable diapers probably tonight or tomorrow morning, so then it's the (slightly scary) plunge into cloth diapers. And I for one am scared shit-less. Husband has no worries, and I so should be taking a page from his book, but let's be honest....I am very good at stressing myself out for no damn reason.
In further baby news, my daughter is adorable :)

I kinda feel like a cow...

Not in the oh my goodness I'm so fat type of way, no, it's more of I feel like a milk cow, feeding little Loki every two to three hours, and every four hours at night. Plus pumping some in the middle; all in all, life is very much on a time schedule now. Every where I go I have to check the time and make sure I'll be somewhere that I can feed Loki within at least three hours of her last feeding.
All in all, parenthood takes a lot more planning that I thought it would....but in all honesty - worth every second.

New life!

I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Saturday November 26,2011 at 12:51pm. She was 7 lbs 9 ozs. 18.5 inches long. She's almost a week old now, it's unbelievable how quick it's gone by, I tell you what though, the transitional period kinda sucks, getting used to keeping her on a feeding schedule and getting used to the whole breast feeding process, it is so not as easy or as uncomplicated as I thought it would be.
Well, off to feed her again :) tell you what though, my nipples are starting to get sore, I hope they toughen up soon...

Wow...it's been a while

I am now 38 weeks pregnant, and have dilated to 3cm, last checked (well, that was almost two weeks ago, but  checking again isn't really going to do anything one way or another, and I don't like being touched by strangers all that much right now)
Well, since last update I've been to the hospital once more, last Saturday. At 36 weeks 4 days, because I couldn't feel Loki moving, again. So we went in, and on the way there I started having contractions again. By the time we got into the hospital, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart, and I was still dilated to 1 as I had been when in the hospital at 32 weeks.
So we hang out at the hospital for a while, Loki's now moving fine, the stubborn little child, and my contractions are still steady, right around a 4 on the pain scale. So they come in a check me for dilation and I've now moved up to 2, then an hour later 3. Thankfully after that I stayed at 3, but my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, just to spite me.
But thankfully, the doctor let me go after 5 hours of being in the PSU we got sent home, and told to come back if my contractions worsened to the point of not being able to talk or walk, or if my water breaks....and I'm still waiting for my water to break now.

I've been told it'll be any day now, I've been measuring at 40 weeks since last week, and so far as we can tell Loki's head down and just waiting for things to get started.
It's amusing, when we go places in public (or just to visit people) I always kinda plan ahead about what to do if my water breaks...so far it hasn't happened yet, obviously. But we went to the Palace for the $1 Tuesday movies, and I asked Husband "If I go into labor during the movie do you think we'll get our $2 back?" it made him giggle.

Well...I have a stubborn baby

Who was half determined to come out 8 weeks before her due date. She hadn't moved in almost 13 hours, so my doctor sent me to the hospital and less than 15 minutes after I checked in I started having minor contractions. Well really long story shorter...they contractions escalated and I dilated to 1 cm and my cervix was soft. So they ended up giving me a steroid shot to help Loki's lung development incase we couldn't stop the early labor. Now it's almost two days later, and I'm just now coming off of the magnesium sulfate. According to one of their tests they drew tuesday when I checked in they are 99% sure that I won't deliver for two weeks fingers crossed I'm still getting minor contractions but they said that's normal for how far along I am. So all in all....not bad, not good, and I have a new appreciation for my own bed, I really miss it... But hopefully will be in it soon.

Yay for lists!

I do so love lists...and it's how I get things done, so here is it for today: (and I will check off as I go)

doctor appointment
gather laundry
wash laundry
put away last weeks laundry
put away this weeks laundry
empty dishwasher
have a resting period
drop off rent check
get mail

Yesterday I didn't get anything done before Husband got home. But I did get my car cleaned out and re-filled the fluids that were low. So I was quite proud of everything I got done yesterday.

But anyways...off to do laundry!

Fun update and 1 minute writing

I love the One-Minute Writer Blog so I responded to today's prompt . Please go check the blog out, it's a wonderful exercise to get started with.
Complex would have to be life in general right now, having to deal with the fact that I'll be having a baby in just 10 weeks is unbelieveable still. Simple would have to be my joy at crafting. I've finally got knitting down pretty well, and I'm quite proud of myself, for it.

As for all things baby, things aren't going to bad right now. My sleep has improved somewhat, I'm not quite as sore every morning at the moment. I have had to stop myself from wearing flip flops from now on (or at least I'm trying not to) because the lack of support from the shoes actually hurts my feet pretty badly...so I'm either barefoot or in tennis shoes...and I really don't like tennis shoes....and socks. Well, I like socks but not if I have to wear shoes with them. I also have my second baby shower on Sunday, should be quite interesting, and hopefully I'll get some cloth diapers out of the deal....I really need some of those, and I'll be starting on knitted soakers soon I believe, so fingers doubly crossed.

Anywho, Husband has been working this week! He's got some promising job applications in also, so we're both looking forward to the pay check next week :) Hopefully his company will continue giving him these odd jobs to keep him working more consistently. Or even better we hear back from one of the places Husband has applied this week. We're just keeping our fingers cross that everything keeps going well.

29 Weeks 2 Days

How Far: 29 weeks 2 days

Size of Baby: butternut squash- pictured here:

Total Weight gain: -43 pounds (lost 50, have finally gained some of that back)

Gender: Female

Movement: no real kicking, mostly moving around, getting jabbed a lot...

Sleeping: getting up at least once or twice to pee still...waking up with sore hips, so I end up doing a lot of twisting and turning at night to get comfortable.

Moods: I've been a little sad lately, but I'm thinking that was more of a bi-product of last week's sadness rolling over still.

Cravings: Smarties, ice water, and coca-cola (only the name brand tastes good anymore...it's kinda irritating)

What I miss: Not feeling uncomfortable and running my body into walls/doorways

Symptoms: hip pain, braxton hicks (that was scary)

Best moment: probably laying in bed while Husband talks to the baby

Doctor News: I am measuring at 31 weeks, which they have told me is completely normal. Also I have been told I don't need to worry about gestational diabetes.

It's been a while.....update

Things are going a little better than they had been, finances are just a little looser, and life isn't quite as stressful....although still plenty of stress to go around.
Last week we had a friend of ours pass on unexpectedly, so a lot of morning last week. It was nice to see everyone come together in the wake of her passing though.
I did end up getting insurance for myself and the baby through healthwave. So that's a plus, but we still get less than $25 a month for food stamps due to Husband's job being evil and lying to the SRS about how much he works.
But that's not much we can do to change that at this point in time. I'll update later today with pregnancy news, and new baby stuffs.
And once again I say I'll try to be a more punctual blogger, although we all know how well that usually ends up turning out.

I'm still around

Just can't focus, so I haven't been writing much....hopefully will be back on my game soon.

Edit:
Okay, feeling a little more organized brain wise (only a little though) I have to say...I am REALLY wanting some vanilla ice cream and tang....REALLY wanting it, like you have no idea.

I am 25 weeks along now, and I feel Seraph-Anne moving a lot, Husband still hasn't really felt her move more than just the once. She keeps stopping as soon has he touches my belly. She'll stop kicking, but keep summer-salting, and when Husband will put his hand on my belly and just talk to her she'll just move around, but not kick for him. It's so cute, because if she's not moving and he starts talking to her, she'll start moving. It's the most adorable thing I've seen like....ever

So Exciting! (but still nerdy)

Husband has just finished reading the 5th book in the Song of Ice and Fire series....OH MY GOSH!!!! He told me the ending, because it wouldn't ruin the rest of the book (I'm only around page 390 something, I really need to get on that) I am just so pumped up to read right now! But I'd have to sit still long enough to get anything read...and that's a problem for me lately.

In other news, heartburn is a bi**h....I hate it, I need some papaya, I've been told that helps. But alas, no money, still so hopefully soon we will get some relief. I should have my unemployment card by Monday, and Tuesday I should have my first payment on there. I've also heard the post office will be hiring soon, in the next couple months. And that is awesome, I've been looking for data entry jobs, and that is perfect for me. I just have to take a written test and then they do the typing test, and lord knows I type fast enough for that, at my peak I was up to 90 words per minute. But I need to find a typing program again, I need to work on my 10 key skills, they're atrocious.

Went to Twist tonight, and had a wonderful time, I swear it's one of my favorite places to just *be* plus the talk was good, and people were pleasant to hang around.

Ow, Pregnancy Hurts

My body is sore from trying to sleep, both sides of my hips hurt, so no matter which side I tried to sleep on, it ended up getting sore and hurting. And from that my lower back hurts...like majorly. Plus yesterday they mowed the lawns here at the apartments, and my allergies are always worse the day after...it sucks. That and my belly just hurts, no I'm not really worried about it, but I will call my doctor later just to be sure nothing is wrong. There isn't any cramping, but just pressure and soreness. I think because I'm growing again. I hit 24 weeks pregnant yesterday, and I had Husband take a picture, and since the beginning of the pregnancy I have worn the same shirt, but we haven't taken any pictures since I was around 16 or 18 weeks....and looking at the picture from last night I have defiantly gotten bigger, even with still loosing weight. I just can't wait till it's very obvious I'm pregnant, even in the pictures it's not 100% clear. Oh well, I've got plenty of time for that left....trust me.

An interesting side effect of me being pregnant, the dog, so long as Husband isn't distracting him will follow me around from room to room, and if I'm in the bathroom, he'll be sitting right outside waiting for me to get done and come back out to the other room. I guess he's just more protective than he used to be.

Nerdy Things (non-nerds beware)

The whole party was killed yesterday (which was only me and Pretty Boy, so it really wasn't that hard) Although it was a little frustrating, especially considering my character saved Pretty Boy's from having his brains eaten by a mind flair (or illilad) But in the end a Chuul got me in it's pincers and I couldn't get out of the grapple to cast a spell anyways...long story short, with a lot of damage being taken by my from both the Chuul and Pretty Boy's character we both ended up dying....so we're continuing on with the campaign but with new characters.
And since we thought it would just be the two of us again for the actual playing, we decided to make a brother/sister duo of Druids, both of us are Aasignar, the opposite of the Tiefling, (a celestial descendant as opposed to a infernal) Well we got a text from Fireball later on in the evening, asking if we were going to be starting up DnD again, and so we responded positive, told him what level to make his character and to show up next Sunday around 4. Later we got another text, but this time from Little Brother, also wanting to play. So going from a two person party to a four person party...I can't wait for Sunday!!!
Besides, I've heard Husband giggling manically in anticipation of the game...that's always a good sign.

Ouch

As I type, my phone is next to me with the speaker on and I'm waiting to talk to the unemployment people about when they will be sending my card out so we can actually get some money...cause lord knows we have no money right now. We're also going (as soon as Husband gets out of the shower) to the SRS building to file for Healthwave (the state insurance) and food stamps, plus WIC if we can do that there, otherwise I'll be filing for that online when we get home.
All in all a fun day of begging the government for money, I just hope they take us in this time...cause we're really freaking broke.
In other news, we had a wonderful and I mean fan-freaking-tastic weekend. Got to see a special friend, had fun talking to Roommate when she was home, and Husband and I got some quality time together doing nerdy things. Speaking of nerdy things: Actually...nerdy things will be put in a different post, cause there's a lot there...
So today's gonna be pretty full, and oh so much fun, but I'm sincerely hoping everything goes well and according to plan...and that I'm not on hold over an hour, so far it's been, okay it's only been 15 minutes, and that's not horrible yet, Husband was on the phone 45 minutes last time....anywho, I'll talk about nerdy stuff in another post and update about how things went today later.

*Edit* after call a total of 5 times, being hung up on 3 times and dropping the phone once, I was on the phone for a total of almost 3 hours. Finally the 5th time I called in less than 5 minutes I had gotten to talk to a person, changed my address and will get my card by Monday at the latest....
Food stamps we're having to gather information for them from both our jobs, and then after that we will be able to find out within 30 days, I hate the wait, but hopefully we'll qualify this time, cause we really need the food stamps and the health insurance for sure...I can only pray that we make it.

Pure Joy

Husband felt Loki kick, really kick this morning. I had been in the computer room just fooling around, and she started moving. So I went into the bedroom and told Husband to roll over and we'll see if Loki will keep moving for her daddy. And we both laid there for a while, and then *kick* and I saw Husband's head rise up and he just looked at me with this look of shocked joy, just pure shocked joy on his face and said "is that her?" and I nodded and he just looked at me. And I just hope I remember that look on his face for the rest of my life.
It was so precious it makes me want to cry. I honestly don't think that life can get better than that moment for the next couple months.

Well, some good news, and some indifferent news

Good news--I was finally convinced by Husband to call the unemployment people because I have had no hours from work for the last three weeks, and *fanfare please* I qualify!!! So very happy day for us! I'll get to start filing on Sunday, but I need to call them tomorrow because the first time I got unemployment, when it was finished I shredded my card...so I need to make sure they're going to send me a new one. I was just so stunned and excited that I was able to get unemployment that I forgot to talk to them about it then.
Indifferent news-- we didn't end up going to the church Sunday, we're going to try for their Saturday night service (especially since we can't afford to go to the monthly get together) but we did make it out to the grandparents for a nice family dinner, and then out to my parents for a little visit (Fun fact, my parents have been married for 30 years as of today!) and when we went to visit, mom gave me my very own bread machine! I'm quite excited, I can't wait till we have some extra money so I can buy supplies and start making our own bread.
Well Husband and I got a fair amount of cleaning done in the baby room/study. Still haven't found out anything about a crib, Husband has someone he needs to call tomorrow that gut be able to get us a free one, which would just be the bee's knees, but we got much more organized. And that makes me feel much better.
Loki is moving right on time tonight, doing summersaults in my belly, kicking my bladder as she rolls around. it still feels very odd, but I do enjoy knowing she's still moving around. Plus it's really nice to know she's a girl...

Well then...

Tomorrow hopefully Husband and I will be starting to find our own church to regularly attend. It's quite nerve racking for me, I really dislike new things, and especially crowds of people. But here's hoping everything goes well. I'll try to post what I think about the church tomorrow...if I don't forget.
In other news, Husband and I had gotten a crib from a friend of a friend for free...and now we found out why it was free. While trying to put it together today, not only are we missing the bolts and screws required for it to be held together, but we find out that even if we could put it together it doesn't seem safe enough to place a child of any age inside...so we're back to square one on that one. But hopefully we'll find a nice crib to add to the baby registry we've created.
Well, I'm off to dig through the drawer of cords to try to find the one that hooks the camera up to the computer...at least that's what I'm hoping to find.

Been away for a while again...

and I guess this proves it...

Well if life wasn't hard it wouldn't be life...right?

Well, this week has been really fun. I'm pretty much off work right now due to stress, and Husband is between contracts for work right now. I feel a lot less stressed, to be honest, which is a very good thing. The nurse at the health department actually suggested that I quit my job.
So I may start looking for a data entry job, lord knows I can type, when I was taking classes and working on it, I had gotten up to 90 words per minute. In the mean time I'm helping Husband look for a job also, with both of us doing so it helps him, makes the stress of finding a new job a little easier on him when we share it.
I keep trying to finish this blog, but I keep getting distracted by the internet, right now it's Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim, I suggest people look it up, the video is awesome. It's got Christopher Walken in it, if I remember right being in the music video re-started his acting career. But Husband told me that, so i'm pretty sure I'm right.
I suppose that's all for now, I am going to try to keep up with this blog, more so that I have before, and I'm going to try to update my crafting one as well, I'm trying to keep myself going and creative so hopefully I can get my etsy shop up and running. I'm thinking of making cross stitch book marks, since I have a fair about of counted-cross stitch material and lots of extra thread....It sounds like a good idea to me at least.