2 Mommies and a Baby

Moving...

2007-04-19T11:25:00.000-04:00

Fine. We did it.
I gave into peer pressure.

But I really DO like it. I like how easy it is.

I've moved to Wordpress (sorry Estelle)

You can now find us here.

Link to us now at: http://2mommies.wordpress.com

my hot ride

2007-04-19T09:46:00.000-04:00

OKAY - It's actually not so bad now that I got a muffler on the car.

The interior is apparently a really hot commodity - royal blue and black with baseball stitching! Very Pimpin'!

Introducing....my new (previously loved ride)....the Subaru WRX....SEXY REXY!!!

Kylie is here!

2007-04-18T23:22:00.000-04:00

Congrats to Wendy & Karen. She is beautiful!

our boy is back

2007-04-17T21:40:00.001-04:00

102_0852
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

We had a night without the boy.

Last night, he stayed at Lois' parents' house.

Our night consisted of eating dinner at their house (not going out to eat), coming home at 9 pm, reviewing our taxes, paying bills, reviewing Lois' unemployment stuff, taking Tylenol PM and going to bed with a kiss on the cheek.

We definitely missed him! It was a little quieter around without him!

Welcome back little buddy!

unimaginable

2007-04-17T11:04:00.000-04:00

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the victims at Virginia Tech. Also to the classmates who endured and witnessed such a horrible scene.

Now, being a parent, seeing something like this is even more traumatic and heart-wrenching. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this tragedy.

Toy of the Week

2007-04-16T10:23:00.001-04:00

The Tiny Love Symphony Light and Motion Mobile is the Toy of the Week!

Andrew is going through a stage - at least we hope it's just a stage - where he apparently needs constant attention.

He likes motion and being entertained. He needs to move around. If you put him down, he cries. If you hold him, then sit down, he cries. It's tiring.

I've been itching to get him a mobile hoping it would entertain him. Suz gave us the Symphony-in-Motion mobile that Kaden loved so much, but we couldn't get it to work. So, I returned 2 of the 3 Bumbos we received as gift and I bought the newest one - the Light and Motion Mobile.

HE LOVES IT!!! He spent almost 30 minutes in the Pack n' Play last night staring at it, and was in there again this morning.

Be forewarned, putting any mobile on a pack n' play is performing a work of art. A hole or expansion of an existing corner is necessary. Plus, it is all jerry-rigged and crooked, but it works.

I highly recommend any of the mobiles from Tiny Love!

- - -

I had to post this for my own humor.

I was a waitress and a bartender before law school and have worked as a retail manager and other various customer service positions. I would like to think that I understand what it is like and am a little more patient than some customers. When actually, maybe I am more critical because I know that even on bad days, you can perform basic levels of service. The problem is that many people just don't listen.

This was an actual conversation that occurred at Dunkin Donuts drive thru yesterday morning.

Setting the Scene: this is the DD that is solely a drive thru, no walk in part. It always has horrible customer service and the wait is forever, but I go all the time anyway because it's right by my house. It's 10 am on Sunday morning, it's pouring rain and I have 12 cars behind me.

Talking Box: Can I help you?

Me: I would like a medium coffee light and sweet and a large Vanilla Chai.

Talking Box: Vanilla coffee?

Me: No, a medium coffee light and sweet and a large Vanilla Chai.

Talking Box: (long pause) Is that all?

Me: Yes.

Talking Box: (no response)

I drive around to the window.

Sixteen year old (SYO) girl at the window: You have an omelette?!?!

Me: No. I do not have an omelette. I have a medium coffee light and sweet and a large Vanilla Chai.

SYO (looking very confused): a large French Vanilla coffee?

Me: No, I have a medium coffee light and sweet and a large Vanilla Chai.

SYO has three coffees and a bag of food sitting in the window. She shuffles a few things around, places the bag to the side and puts the three coffees in the window again.

SYO: That will be $5.60.

Me: Are you sure? For two coffees??

SYO: Yes.

Me: A large Vanilla Chai is $2.22 by itself. A medium coffee is probably, what? $1.59? How is that $5.60?

SYO: Ok, hold on. (plays with register) Ok, that will be $7.30.

Me: If I thought $5.60 was way too much for 2 coffees, how is $7.30 any better? I'm guessing my total order should be less than $4.00, correct?

SYO: Well, it's due to the combo?

Me: How is 2 coffees a combo?

SYO: You have an omelette combo.

ME: I do not have an omelette, I have a medium coffee light and sweet and a large Vanilla Chai.

SYO: You don't have an omelette?

Me: No, I have a medium coffee light and sweet and a large Vanilla Chai.

SYO: (now taking a very long time at the register) Oh, that will be $3.95.

Me: That sounds about right.

SYO: (after taking my $4) What did you have?

Me: a medium coffee light and sweet and a large Vanilla Chai.

SYO: (after handing me the 2 coffees) Thank you for coming to Dunkin Donuts.
Me: Keep the change.

When I got to Billy's house for our guy morning task of putting the muffler on my car, I handed him his coffee and said "Good luck. I don't know what might be in that cup. It was 4th string quarterback day at Dunkin Donuts."

Mr. Crankipants

2007-04-13T08:56:00.000-04:00

Andrew has not really been himself this week. Or maybe he is being himself and is just uncomfortable a lot.

It's funny that now he's cooing and smiling, that he can go from happy little guy to mad little guy in about 2 seconds flat.

Ben and Salina brought Emma over Wednesday night and Emma made about 3 semi-cries in the time that they were at our place. Andrew screamed most of the evening. Emma kept looking around all concerned about who was making that awful noise.

- - -

As a Rutgers alum and a women's basketball fan, I guess I have to make one quick statement.

I'm sure this will spark some feedback, but I have very little feeling on the Don Imus firing. I have never liked him and always found him offensive. I personally think he should have been gone years ago. He's said thousands of hurtful, racist, sexist things and everyone has turned the other cheek. Many people find him insightful and funny. (I've had people tell me that they listen to his show for the interviews, is that like reading Playboy for the articles?)

These young women, who should be focusing on their accomplishment, their college classes, their own worlds, are now the center of such a controversy that they never deserved. It's so sad that in this century, these fine, incredibly talented young women are enduring this debacle when they should be enjoying the highlight of their careers! Their grace through all of this has been tremendous.

I can go on and on about this. I'm tired of hearing about Don Imus. I'm tired of hearing people defend him saying it's just one comment. I do agree that we've accepted his behavior for years, why is this the firestorm that's finally brought him down?

I do not understand offensive humor. I have no desire to see Borat, I can't stand Don Imus and I can't even tolerate Howard Stern for a second.

What is it about offensive humor that makes it so popular? How can rich men in business suits who consider themselves liberal listen to Howard Stern every day on their Sirius radios?

Maybe I'm just missing something.

Some quick pictures...

2007-04-11T09:31:00.001-04:00

Here’s Andrew in his Easter outfit!

Yes, it's Ralph Lauren (it was a gift) with Yankee booties. Auntie Suz would be mortified!

This was the car behind us on the way to Long Island!

And finally, this is the blanket I made this weekend. It’s the extent of my creative and artistic talents – tying 2 pieces of fleece together.

Lois said we should have done a Mets blanket.

Sorry, I didn’t see any Mets fleece.

I didn’t look for any, so I definitely didn’t see any.

News Flash!

2007-04-10T09:30:00.000-04:00

GREAT NEWS!

Kaden had an appointment with the cardiologist yesterday and guess what!?!?!
The fluid surrounding his heart is gone!
And...he is having successful use of his left ventricle!
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers during his surgeries and hospital stays.

MORE GREAT NEWS!!

Congratulations to Momai and Mombi on the arrival of Griffin!!!!

We can’t wait to see pictures!!

ANDREW’S NEWS!

We had a pediatrician appointment yesterday morning. (Going with Lois’ rule of using cute doctors, our pediatrician is very cute – and young!)

Our little meatball is 21 inches long and ….12 lbs 7 oz!

Wow!!!

I don’t think there is any question of us underfeeding the child. He came home from the hospital 8 weeks ago at 6 lbs 5 oz.

During the appointment, he had 5 shots! Poor little guy!

I had to hold him while the nurse did it. One second, he was smiling and cooing at me, the next, he was screaming bloody murder. I felt awful – like I was leading a cow to slaughter.

Mommy Loey, who was unable to watch the shots and almost cried when she saw the little drop of blood on the sheet, had no problem ripping off his band aids later – how mean!

VACATION NEWS!

It’s booked!

We are going to Provincetown during Family Week this summer!

We’re going to be there July 26th-July 30th, so we’ll get to experience 2-3 days of Family Week!

I know we are not in a great financial position to be talking about going anywhere on vacation, but we’re going to do it the least expensive way possible!

CAMPING!

In a trailer, not a tent. But if Andrew does cry all of the time, we’ll leave him outside to be raised by wolves! – such horrible parents we are!

Smiling!

2007-04-08T22:31:00.000-04:00

Yes, we are smiling now...even some laughing noises here and there.

Isn't he just adorable!?!?!? I know I'm a little biased...

I'm not sure if he was just loving his bouncy seat or he was trying to flirt with Shawna, Salina and Emma!

Happy Easter!

2007-04-05T22:50:00.001-04:00

ugh

2007-04-04T14:29:00.000-04:00

EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL! HE SLEEPS ALL NIGHT! HE NEVER CRIES! HE'S ALWAYS HAPPY.

At least that is the story my mother-in-law will always hear.

She was incredibly critical to my friends sitting at her table at the baby shower about how poorly we are doing as parents, feeding him, etc.**

So, we are never going to tell her if he is being fussy or if he is responding poorly to anything we do.

Therefore, if she ever watches him and he's not perfect, we'll just say

"Well, that's funny. He's never been like that for us!"

It is my goal in raising this child to make sure that certain family members have little influence over our child.

On the feeding front, contrary to my MIL's opinion, he's doing well. The kid is quite beefy, he's definitely not starving. We're alternating between Good Start formula and breast milk with rice cereal. His pooping is better and we are burping him every ounce to try to prevent the spitting up. He goes crazy when you pull the bottle away to burp him, but it works out better in the long run!

Plus, he's definitely not a fussy baby all of the time. He's fussy when he's hungry or gassy. He's happy and interactive several times a day (mostly the morning).

Sheesh, this poor kid with two ignorant unresponsive mommies are parents, right?

**My friends were absolutely mortified by my MIL and Lois' sister-in-law during and before the shower - more to come on that in another post. I hope they don't read my blog.

Shower present of the day!

2007-04-03T09:33:00.001-04:00

We received so many wonderful, incredible gifts on Sunday. We are still blown away by how generous our friends are.

Our kid is set for a long, long time.

Last night, after performing major surgery to get the darn thing on the crib, I discovered why we were so anxious to get this thing:

The Ocean Wonders Aquarium is the "Favorite Shower Present of the Day for April 2, 2007"

Once I finally got the damn thing on, I put Andrew down in his crib (which he is never in) thinking that he wouldn't notice it.

He loved it! He just stared at it and when it stopped, he made little sad noises until I came in the room and turned it on again.

Everytime the light got brighter, he let out what could be considered the beginnings of a giggle.

It was adorable.

Of course, he didn't stay in the crib after 4 runnings of the aquarium, but it's a darn good start.

Baby Shower!

2007-04-02T10:00:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was our baby shower put together by our greatest friends!!
It was so amazing and everything was perfect!

Our friends are so unbelievable and wonderful!!! (Not exactly sure what we did to deserve them!)

Thank you Suzanne, Shawna, Salina, Spiewak, Fedigan, Nina & Liz!!!

Here are some pictures!

***UPDATED*****

MORE PICTURES

More to come later!

We had such a wonderful time!

random update

2007-03-30T09:39:00.000-04:00

I've really been unable to blog or read much of our buddies' blogs out there during work hours. Work is busy and it's not the sort of job where I can goof off too much.
I don't want my friends out there to think I'm not paying attention, I'm just doing most of my catching up on nights or weekends!

In our news, Andrew is getting better.

The pediatrician (who we really like) didn't want to put him on Zantac or anything, so she suggested we do a heavy mixture of the breast milk with rice cereal. It seems to be working like a charm!

He's getting to be a little porker now. Not sure what the current weight it, but we are much more aware of how much he's eating.

Last night, in one feeding, he ate 6.5 ounces of the breast milk with the cereal in it!

He wasn't going down in the crib, so we put him back in the bassinet in our room for a little while and he had 3 nights in a row where he slept for 5 or 6 hours straight! Last night, he even put himself to sleep in the bassinet!

The first night he did it, we looked at the clock when we woke up and wondered if he was still breathing!

And for one more update....(sorry the post is so long)

I'm buying a car.

It was pretty much down to my brother's WRX, a used Mazda 3 and a new Toyota Yaris.

The Yaris bombed in Consumer Reports and the used Mazda was almost $14k.

I need a car that will go 16-20k miles a year. And I don't want to buy something used without a warranty (I gave up on ebay searches).

Plus, the funny thing is that one of car dealers who was a Volvo/Subaru dealer basically talked me out of buying a car from him and into buying my brother's car. He said I can probably drive it for 2 years, then trade it in and get pretty close to the same amount I paid for it. Furthermore, it's AWD, which will be super nice to not leave Lois stranded when I go to work in a snow storm.

The car shopping experience was horrendous.

I went into a Toyota dealership to buy a Yaris. The guy kept trying to sell me the top of the line Corolla. He wouldn't listen to me and he kept calling me "Molly."

His follow up letter said "thank you for your interest in a Corolla Sport." I wanted a bottom-of-the-line Yaris, you ass!

I got tired of the question "How much money can you put down on a car?"

None. Nothing. Zilch. We bought a condo a year ago, bought a car for Lois in September, I switched jobs, Lois was on bed rest then lost her job (no income since Thanksgiving), we just had a kid who only can keep down the most expensive formula. The timing sucks.

No one has in stock that car on autobytel.com that's the manual transmission, no options $11k car. They do, however, have a much better deal for $3,000 more.

The Honda Fit is expensive once you price it out. And the gas tank is located under the driver seat. That's scary.

The Nissan Versa is one of the better options but you can't get one for under $15,000.

These cars with great gas mileage have 1.6 or 1.8 Liter engines that don't go faster than 65 mph and have no side curtain air bags.

I want a $10,000 car that lasts me at least 100,000 miles. I must be asking for the world.

I'm still bitter about the Hyundai. I bought the car because it was $10k off the lot with no money down. It had a 100k mile warranty and I was a law student making $100/week.

When the engine blew, the mileage was 100,530.

I tried calling service departments, Hyundai dealership managers, the corporate headquarters, consumer affairs divisions, etc.

"Don't you guys have some good faith policy to fix something when the warranty just expired? Don't you want to avoid the bad PR that a Hyundai car will only last through the week it hits the warranty?"

Nope. It's not worth it. The car isn't worth it.

It's amazing how much value your car has to you (when it's functioning). 2 weeks ago, my car was invaluable to me, getting me to and from work without hassle. Then, (POOF) just like that, it's worth shit.

No, it's worth less than shit.

It's a car worth less than shit that I still owe the bank $1,800 on.

It is currently sitting in Bill's driveway. I cleaned it out (which was very sad) this weekend and there it sits. It sits until I can pay off the lien through Chrysler Financial, get the title to it, then donate it to someone who will come tow it (i.e. kidney foundation, local tech school, etc.)

This is what my ride is now worth.

I am buying the Subaru WRX. It’s a hot rod with a rear spoiler, turbo hood, white exterior, 5-speed manual transmission and leather interior. And the leather is custom – black and royal blue with baseball stitching.

Ok, the car's not really screaming suburban-mom-lawyer-professional. But it works.

Hell, I'm lucky that my brother is totally hooking me up – for under $10k. I'm taking a used car loan from USAA that will cover the taxes and registration, with an extra $500 to put towards paying off the Hyundai. (YES, I LOVE USAA - the interest rate on USED cars is less than some new car financing available other places!)

I just want this ordeal to be done and over with.

I feel better putting my son in the Subaru than some of the other cars I test drove.

The only down side is that I need to get all of my local cop stickers and shields onto the car ASAP. With an engine like this, I am going to get into trouble on the highway! (LOL, I'm not known for being a slow, patient driver).

- - -

Oh yeah, and our baby shower is on Sunday. I can't wait!
We have the perfect outfit for Andrew all picked out!

after a long day...

2007-03-28T20:53:00.001-04:00

ATTN: CONNECTICUT RESIDENTS

2007-03-27T13:49:00.000-04:00

Click here to read the proposed bill - An Act Concerning Marriage Equality.

Please click here to take some action!

A UConnn-less final four

2007-03-27T07:40:00.001-04:00

I don't know what happened. UConn didn't show up last night.

They got crushed by a Pokey-less LSU.

It wasn't due to lack of a fan base.

This was the best picture we got because Andrew started crying moments after it was taken.

- - -

In other news, Andrew is doing better on just breast milk. He still definitely has some constipation problems here and there, but it is much better than when he was on Enfamil Lipil.

Today, Lois will try to get him into the doctor. We are thinking he might have reflux. In the past week, he's been spitting up more - even an hour after he eats, and he seems to be in pain right as he's spitting up.

Maybe the pediatrician will have her own recommendation for formula - we are currently leaning towards Good Start since it was overwhelmingly recommended by people.

growing up too fast?

2007-03-25T20:33:00.001-04:00

I know that we are letting our little boy spiral out of control with his wild lifestyle.

We’ve already shown you pictures of him sharing a pack n’ play with a younger woman, Miss Emma.

Now, they are drinking together.

And Andrew is putting the moves on an intoxicated and half naked Miss Emma after a few bottles.

What to do with our little Casanova?

Yes, I know we are twisted.

about poop

2007-03-23T11:55:00.000-04:00

If you don't like discussion on bodily fluids or bowel movements, move onto another blog - sorry for the TMI.

It's amazing what you will talk about, what topics of conversation can be thrown around the dinner table, once pregnancy hits.

During pregnancy, child birth and now, having a baby, it seems that no line of discussion is off limits. It doesn't even matter who is in the room anymore.

Now, I can talk and write about poop like I was discussing shoes or the ridiculous weather.

Our boy has been on formula for 36 hours. He was good yesterday, meaning he didn't cry all day. And he had an ok night.

This morning, he was very cranky during his pooping. Last night and this morning, his poop was a little different.

It was thicker. Same color, just thicker. Know what I mean?

Yesterday, Salina gave us some Enfamil Gentlease, so we're going to try that for a few days.

In the meantime, we are stocking our freezer with the boob juice in the hopes that we will be back on that soon with no problems.*

We're hoping we don't have "that crying kid" forever. Well, we'll love him even if he is.

*NOTE: we are very happy to be using the Playtex drop in bottles since clean up and warm up seem so much easier. Plus, the Playtex bags are so much cheaper than the other breast milk storage bags - HOWEVER - we discovered last night that the bags that ziploc would be easier. We must use 2 8-oz Playtex bags with a twist-tie for storage purposes. We'll probably keep using the Playtex, but we just didn't think about it when we bought the 4 oz bags.

sleep

2007-03-21T21:47:00.000-04:00

Those who watch American Idol...WTF????

- - -

We are suffering from a little sleep deprivation in our household lately.

We're trying to figure out if we just have one of those babies who cries all of the time for no reason, or if something is wrong.

He was awake all night except for a total of about 2-3 hours. All day today, he went down for about 5 minutes at a shot, waking up crying.

We're tired. He's upset about something, or nothing at all.

We are thinking of going solely to formula for a short period to see if anything changes, then try breast milk for a short period.

You feel so bad when you don't know what the problem is. Poor little guy.

Happy Anniversary Lo!

2007-03-20T09:58:00.000-04:00

I played Home by Michael Bublé six times on the way to work this morning. Yes, I do realize that the music doesn’t quite fit with the Fast and the Furious style of my current mode of transportation but I just couldn’t stop hearing the song.

Things are going to now get sappy.

Today is our anniversary. 7 years ago today was our first kiss and 3 years ago today was our illegal New Paltz wedding. (Our civil union anniversary is in October - we can have more than one anniversary!)

I keep thinking back about when we first met in December 1999. Our lives were definitely going two entirely separate directions. Lois had left her ex and was hanging on trying to maintain a relationship with the twins. She was regaining a relationship with her family – one that was non-existent for 7 years. Lois was trying to get back to being independent.

I was a lost soul. I was waiting tables, bartending, drinking after work, being destructive, teaching high school during the day, trying to figure out life. I was applying to law schools because I didn’t know what else to do. I was also going through life as a straight girl.

I thought Lois was cute the first moment I saw her. She thought I was a screwed up, spoiled, straight girl. I think she made a decision not to get involved with me. I don’t know what was going through my head; I just wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. And I knew I wasn't straight.

Despite her attempts to not get involved with me, it happened. After we hooked up, she kept waiting for me to freak out. I never did. I couldn’t wait to be out. I was so thrilled about finding something that I didn’t realize I was looking for.

The first 5 months of our relationship was hiding things from my parents (I was living at home), sneaking off to parking lots or stealing time together in various places. It was like we were in high school doing something fun and forbidden.

I left for law school 5 months after we got together. Neither one of us had any expectations at all.

I was bad at relationships. When I felt I was losing control, I pushed her away. I tested her constantly, and yet she still persevered, even when she wanted to strangle me.

Through 3 years of full time law school, we saw each other almost every weekend (only 2 missed weekends). Lois made the 3 hour drive on Friday night after work, arriving exhausted. Some nights, it took her over 5 hours. Some Sundays, she’d stay until Monday and leave at 4 am. She was so wonderful and I was under appreciative, only getting sad and frustrated when she’d have to leave again.

There were many times when I would be an asshole, and she would just not give up on me.

7 years later, I am 50 lbs heavier and she still loves me.

Lois is wonderful.

She’s one of those people who no one could say anything bad about.

She has the biggest heart and the sweetest smile.

She does way too much for me, and she always has.

She makes me feel so warm inside and comfortable with myself.

Every issue I have, she embraces and tries to help me work through it.

She challenges me and doesn’t let me get ahead of myself.

She gives me something that I never thought I could have, nor did I know I was ever missing it.

My house is not a home without her.

Her smile will light me up across a crowded room.

Hearing her voice over the phone melts me.

Just holding her hand gives me the most comfort.

Watching her go through pregnancy and childbirth, which neither one of us ever in a million years thought she would do, was the most amazing and beautiful thing I have ever witnessed.

She is sensitive yet stronger than she knows.

She puts up with me.

She is probably way too good for me.

- - -

Lo,

I love you...more.

I need you...more.

You are my everything.

Happy Anniversary!

Holly

March Madness

2007-03-19T22:55:00.000-04:00

What a night for women's basketball!

Go Red Foxes!!!!

There is a little March Madness going on in our house.

Andrew helped me cheer on Marist tonight.

(Don’t look at me, I look terrible. Look at the cute boy I’m holding!)

They could go up against Tennessee next. I can't wait!

Here’s his St. Patrick’s Day outfit. Uncle Pat gave him this outfit, so sad to say he’ll outgrow it by football season. ;-)

GO LADY FOXES!

2007-03-19T09:09:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am a UConn Women's Basketball fan, but I, of course am a Marist fan through and through (my undergrad alma mater). It's never on TV, but I try to at least watch tournament games.

Can you believe the women knocked off Ohio State??

Go Red Foxes!!!!!!!!!!!!

- - -

In other news, the weekend was nice. After spending 2.5 hours trying to get home in the snow on Friday (a usual 30 minute drive), I was hoping for a little down time.

Instead, I spent Saturday car shopping with Suzanne, my car dealer expert. It was an incredibly discouraging experience and I was beyond frustrated when it was over.

The problem is that I owe money on the Hyundai. I would have bought a Toyota Yaris on Saturday if the dealer wasn't being so shady. I will probably never have Andrew in it, so I am less concerned about the safety thing.

But, I can't even afford the cheapest new car on the market and payoff the Hyundai. And I need to buy something with a warranty and the certified pre-owned cars are overpriced.

The Toyota dealer spent most of the time trying to sell me the $18,000 Corolla Sport and kept trying to divert me from my desire to buy a manual transmission, no power package Yaris (maybe $12k or $13k).

So, I am back to the drawing board this morning.

Plan A is to call the Hyundai service center and see if they will try to fix the car under warranty. I mean, really, they give 100k mile warranties and 6 days after I hit 100k, the engine blows?

Plan B is to try to pay off the Hyundai in a few short months. My brother has graciously lent me his car, which I will probably buy from him if Plan A doesn't work out. I will pay him off as quickly as possible, so I don't have a car payment.

So, I am driving the Chad-mobile for now. It's a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Turbo with 57k miles. And I think the originally owner was a drug dealer in Bridgeport, so the car is a little "pimped out" or "souped up," however you want to put it.

It's a white car with royal blue leather custom seats and a "amplified" muffler. I've been driving the car less than 24 hours and have already been mortified by pulling into my quiet condo, a nice gas station in Niantic, CT and this morning, pulling into the courthouse parking garage. Whether or not I am keeping his car, I am getting a normal muffler put on it.

I feel pretty cool driving the turbo-loud car around blasting Shawn Colvin.

- - -

the end of a day

2007-03-15T23:47:00.001-04:00

The car is a goner.

The mechanic was trying not to offend me when he was telling me about the blown radiator and possible blown gasket and the fact that the work is more than the car is worth.

He did offer to get rid of it for me, but that would only work if the damn thing was paid off.

Sigh.

We made the end of the day better.

Lois picked me up at my office with a change of clothes and I gave her a Happy Anniversary card with tickets inside.

Tickets for this show.

Everyone knows Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, right?

Pat is Lois' favorite (tied with Melissa Etheridge, of course)!

The show was INCREDIBLE! She totally rocks - - They both completely rock!!!!

We even had time for a quick bite before the show where we had the best chicken salad and the best cole slaw ever!

And, we made it home before the snow really started!

Despite being a little mad at me for spending money on her, I think Lois really enjoyed herself. She even admitted that she might find Pat hotter than Melissa.

BTW - I discovered today that my insurance company, USAA, not only the best car insurance company ever, but also is hooking me up with a great car loan!

a day

2007-03-15T13:52:00.000-04:00

Mommy Holly is having "a day."

Our anniversary is the 20th (7th anniversary our first date and 3rd anniversary of our illegal New Paltz wedding) and I am taking Lois out for an anniversary surprise tonight.

But based on the location of the surprise and the events of my day so far, we probably won’t be dining together and she will have to come get me which will put her in the worst traffic time and direction (plus the fact that it’s supposed to snow, rain, sleet and whatever tonight).

Ahhhh, the events of my day so far.

1. I had a conversation with another lawyer here and realized how many more hours I need to bill to make any money.

2. I am buried at work (why do I have time to write a blog entry?)

3. Other lawyers who are too busy want me to do their work for them

4. I just looked at my bank account and realized how hard we have been hit since Lois stopped working in November.

5. And the best for last...my Hyundai let me down this morning. I spent 30 minutes in the middle of the road in the rain this morning conversing with a city cop waiting for a tow truck while smoke poured out of the raised hood of my dead car and 90% of the people I work with drove by and asked "are you ok?"

I don’t need this. I can’t afford this. I brought my car into the shop in December to make sure I got things taken care of before my 100,000 mile warranty was up on the car. I hit 100,000 miles last week. Last week.

I kept thinking how this car needs to last me another year. Just another 12 months. It’s been good to me so far. It’s been a great car - $10k brand spanking new, 100k mile warranty, stick shift, tape deck, 4 cylinder engine.

Now the f*%ing piece of garbage fails me less than 7 days after hitting the end of the warranty!?!??!

I know I can’t spend my day fretting about this, but what the H-E-double hockey sticks am I going to do if this is a $500+ problem?

Sigh.

I need to get back to work. I have to bill mad hours.

Tonight will be fun dammit.

Spring Outing

2007-03-14T22:14:00.000-04:00

Am I the only one stunned that Sanjaya is still on American Idol?

- - -

Mommy has been crazy busy at work this week, so the blogging is at a lull.

Momma is getting worn out because little Andrew has been restless for the last 24 hours. Today, the little guy was awake ALL DAY - going down every several hours for a max of 10 minutes at a time.

Momma figured she would take him for a walk to give him some air and hopefully tire him out.

It was the first Spring day (and last one for a little while with snow in the forecast this weekend)!

The wearing the kid out plan hasn't worked so far. It's now 10 pm and he still hasn't napped. And we are not starving him this time!

weekend overload

2007-03-12T10:59:00.000-04:00

Ahhhhh...sleep.

Things have been much quieter in our household since we started feeding the poor starving kid the appropriate amount of food.

So what do we do?

We go and screw him all up with over-stimulation and awake-time this weekend so he was a Mr. Crankypants by weekend’s end!

On Saturday, Lois’ old (old as in “former” not as in “old”) softball team threw Andrew a little baby shower. It was a blast!

Everyone went crazy with the presents and our little guy is going to be set with baby athletic wear! (I promise to post some pics)

It started at 4 pm and we got home at around 1 a.m. (12:00 pm before we changed the clocks).

The little guy was passed around, walked into other rooms when we got too rowdy, and fed and changed by everyone else. We had so many babysitters in the room, Lois and I could have gone out to dinner and a movie - that is if we weren’t having so much fun where we were.

We know the poor guy was probably overwhelmed and overstimulated, but he was WONDERFUL! He slept here and there, ate well, didn’t cry much and was the hit of the party!

As we drove home, we knew we kept him out too long and there was too much going on, but he did so well!!! We are not stay-at-home people too often and we were glad that he seems to be okay (sometimes) when we take him places.

He does scream bloody murder when we put him in the car seat, but usually is quiet (asleep) about 2 minutes after the car starts moving.
We spent most of Sunday at home so he, and his mommies, could have down time. Of course, he slept most of the day, only waking up to eat 3-4 ounces at a time before going back to sleep for 2-3 hours.

Last night, he was sleeping during his awake time, so he made our sleep time his awake time last night. Serves us right!

Emma and Andrew sitting in a tree...

2007-03-10T13:23:00.001-05:00

Who me?

2007-03-10T13:18:00.001-05:00

poor starving child

2007-03-09T09:54:00.000-05:00

He’s been crying all day for almost 3 days.

Lois couldn’t take a shower because he would cry 2 minutes after she put him down. She couldn’t go to the grocery store or out to lunch.

Nursing seemed to be the only thing that calmed him down. So, to avoid creating any comforting habits, we did an experiment yesterday and tried to bottle feed as much as possible.

Apparently, we’ve been starving him.

It wasn’t comfort that he needed, it was food!

At one point last night, he took 5 ½ ounces in one feeding. After that, he was a happy guy for 2 ½ hours, until he was hungry again.

Sure beats breast feeding every 45 minutes!

Now, I know I will have some critics, but we are not overly into the breast feeding thing. For one, we want to know how much he is eating. Secondly, bottle feeding allows me to participate in the eating time as well.

A newborn needs about 19 ounces a day (correct?) and he’s probably not been getting that based on what her supply seems to be!

I think this experiment was predicated by Lois pumping on a regular basis and still only getting 1 – 1.5 ounces per pump session. She’s trying to pump frequently, listening to everyone’s advice about pumping even after you think you are done, etc.

Right now, she’s just not keeping up with this little piglet!

A friend at work recommended Motherlove More Milk Plus which I ordered from amazon.com to try it out. Hopefully, it will increase Lois’ milk supply.

I am taking Lois out for our anniversary next week and we were nervous about leaving him with someone if he was going to be inconsolable without his Momma’s boob!

I think in one day, we are already doing much better – we’ll see how Lois is doing when I call her in a little while!

As for the previous post I wrote about sleeping. I guess I was wrong. He is just not a sleeper. (Maybe because he’s always hungry – hopefully this will change soon now that we are feeding him!)

Yesterday, he was awake from 7:30 am – 2:30 pm with only 2 15-minute naps in the middle.

Then last night, he was awake from 6 pm until maybe 11 pm. He did sleep for about 10-15 minutes in the middle in his swing (which apparently only puts him to sleep when it’s on HIGH – he wakes right up if you turn it down or off).

He wasn’t really upset last night, he was just chilling out, staying awake for a very long time, staring at the lamp while making faces.

I spoke to a friend at work who has an 18 year old son. She told me that some of the traits a baby has in the womb and as a newborn will stay with him forever.
Andrew was always active in the womb, always awake and moving arms and legs around now and will probably be a high energy kid. It’s like he doesn’t want to miss anything. Sleep is just getting in the way of his alert time as far as he is concerned!

UPDATE:
I just called Lois and Andrew is sleeping. She nursed him for 30 minutes, then gave him a few ounces by bottle. He was content for a little while and then fell asleep. She made dinner for Salina’s birthday tonight, she cleaned the kitchen, shredded cheese for nachos this weekend and is even contemplating taking a shower before he wakes up!

the head

2007-03-07T12:11:00.001-05:00

Wow, that picture is bigger than I wanted. Oh well.

We've been trying the swaddling thing. We had the kiddopotamus Swaddle Me things (which are great) and we recently were given a Miracle Blanket by a co-worker.

The poor kid is partially mummified by the contraption. It does seem to soothe him sometimes, but Lois thinks he hates being swaddled because we always struggles against it.

I am not quite sure if it's helping with his sleep or not, or if he finds it calming. The poor kid seems hungry all of the time, so it's hard to tell if he's crying because he's hating being swaddled or he's just hungry AGAIN!

For now, we are not being overly diligent on the swaddling. Lois never does, I'm the one who puts him in it.

I think he looks cute, Lois thinks we should start calling him "the Head" because all you see is a potato sack with a head sticking out.

Poor kid.

blog and templates

2007-03-06T14:24:00.000-05:00

I've been goofing around with templates and I'm getting very frustrated.

I really wanted to find a cute baby/kid type template that was unique.
I found a few but they don't seem to line up right when I try to change my template (like I have all of the side column and the body/posts are at the bottom)

I am considering moving to Wordpress, and I already found a template somewhere that's CSS that I like. However, I don't have the attention span or the technological intelligence to "get" Wordpress.

Do I need to use a host? Is it hard to learn how to post on Wordpress? change templates? add pictures?

Any blog savy readers out there who want to help me out??!?!??

I really appreciate any input!

not the real thing

2007-03-06T08:27:00.000-05:00

When Andrew was waking up this morning (watching them wake up is so darn cute), he made a few signs that he was going to start crying.

I leaned over him with the pacifier saying "do you want your binky?"

Lois walked by and said, "Hol, he's hungry. Asking him if he wants a binky is like asking you if you want an O'Douls.

Good point.

Emma and Andrew again

2007-03-04T15:33:00.001-05:00

emma and andrew 3-3
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

Lois and I have a few favorite songs.

The song "Sleep" by Melissa Etheridge is probably the most "us" song.

Close to every night we get into our position with me on my back and her in a "half-spoon" with her head on my shoulder to fall asleep.

(Then usually, once she's asleep, I roll her off and we just spoon. I've been doing this for years and only recently Lois woke up as I was moving her. Now, she likens it to me "throwing her off".)

I digress.

We often giggle as we occasionally sing this verse to each other:

I want to lay down on your shoulder
Just inside your arm
I want to listen to your heart beat
And your breathing on and on
I want to lay down on your shoulder
Surrender to your peace
And go to sleep

That's what I was thinking of when I saw this picture.

It's too cute and I think poor Emma and Andrew are going to be tortured with many more pics like this.

The parents are finding this too cute - they will hate us when they are 16.

manic eater

2007-03-02T12:47:00.000-05:00

We are not worried about Andrew’s eating.

He’s been gaining well – he’d better, based on how much he eats.

2/8 (birth) he was 7 lbs 0.5 oz
2/10 he was 6 lbs 5 oz
2/11 he was 6 lbs 9 oz
2/13 he was 6 lbs 14 oz
2/26 he was 7 lbs 14 oz

He is taking to nursing just fine and lets us know when he’s hungry. I mean, REALLY lets us know.

And this kid is ALWAYS hungry.

At first, I was a little cautious. “Gee, Lo, are you sure they’re supposed to eat THAT MUCH!?!?”

But, I was told by my wife and others that the kid is 3 weeks old, when he’s full, he’ll stop.

The other night, Lois fed him for 30 minutes and he was still hungry shortly thereafter. I supplemented with formula that night (some we have only done a little bit at night less than a handful of times) and he drank 2 ounces of formula! Then, he ate again less than an hour later!! What a little piglet!

The pediatrician told Lois the other day to try to go 2 hours between feedings. This, we’ve been doing slowly. An hour and a half, then an hour and 45 minutes. He gets very cranky when he’s hungry.

He gets frantic and manic when he’s hungry. It starts with several attempts to shove his entire fist or as much of his hand as possible into his mouth and suck vigorously. This is usually followed by his incredibly unhappy old man face (I just gotta get a picture of that face) and then he will attempt to suck on his collar or sleeve if it’s within his frenzied searching mouth.

Poor starving child.

We’re working on the scheduling thing. I did give Lois a chart (which I am revising myself) that I found here.

But it seems difficult to keep filling out a damn chart and keep up with the little guy.

Randomness about March

2007-03-01T12:05:00.001-05:00

uconnw~1
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

It's March.

That means Andrew will be a month old soon!

That also means March Madness time!

Go UConn Women!! (The regular season Big East champs and #3 overall).

Thankfully, the baby shower is pushed back to April 1st. That will cause little interference with the Final Four scheduling, because I'm sure that was the most important scheduling item on the minds of our friends who are throwing us the shower.

Another March thing - since it seems be to coming in like a lion tonight - is that it I need to complain for a quick second about winter driving!

First of all, I consider myself a very good driver. I drive a 4 cylinder stick shift Hyundai with almost 100k miles, horrible tires and front wheel drive and I am still a very good winter driver.

Here's a quick list of things that frustrate me about driving in wintertime:

1. People who don't clean off their cars. I know that Fairfield County, Connecticut is swarming with 5'1" soccer moms who cannot reach the roof of their Suburban/Expedition/Hummer/Sequoia, but that's what extender brushes are for. It is highly annoying (and rather frightening) to be behind one of these vehicles on the highway when the huge chunks of ice and snow are being hurtled towards my little Hyundai that I carefully cleaned every bit of snow off.

2. Pick a speed. When it is above 40 degrees and it's lightly snowing, creating light rain conditions on the ground, it is totally unnecessary to go 25 mph on the highway. And vice versa, there is no need to go 80 mph or tailgate when it is heavily snowing and icing.

3. Gas station squeegees. We pay an arm and a leg for gas. Sometimes I even go inside and pay a $1.25 for a Diet Dr. Pepper (which is outrageous). The least, the LEAST, gas stations could do is put a little soapy water in those squeegee bins. I have yet to encounter one gas station this entire winter that has anything more than mud in their bins. I still use it anyway since it's a temporary fix to not being able to see out any window.

4. In bad weather, hang up the cell phone. I use a hands free microphone as is the law in Connecticut. Very few other drivers seem to care about this law. However, the rule should be that if you have problems talking and driving during normal weather conditions, do not, do not, do not chat away on your cell phone in snowy conditions, it makes you doubly dangerous.

5. And finally, pay attention. Follow signs and pay attention to other drivers. Pay attention to people stopping ahead. Pay attention to other cars sliding or having trouble with conditions. Pay attention to the speed of traffic before you pull out in it. Pay attention - you are not the only one out on the road who doesn't know how to drive in bad weather!

Thank you!

I feel better now.

Andrew's girlfriend

2007-02-27T17:33:00.001-05:00

emmaan~1
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

Lois’ pregnancy buddy had a baby girl yesterday!!

After 36+ hours of labor, Emma Leona was born at 4:24 pm on Monday, February 26, 2007 at 7 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long.

Congratulations to the new Mommy and Daddy!

As for Andrew, he is very excited about his girlfriend.

There is already talk that this could be the first picture in their wedding album some day!

shower help

2007-02-26T12:10:00.000-05:00

Ok blog friends, we need some help from the gifted and creative out there!

We never had our baby shower, but have decided (due to some urging by friends) that we need to do SOMETHING and will have a meet and greet style baby shower at the end of March so everyone can meet little Andrew.

It will be not overly formal, but friends of ours really want to do it for us and are being pains about not letting us pay for any invitations and decorations. It’s annoying.

We are doing a book wishing well by putting little cards in the invitations with this poem:

I want to be a bright child
As smart as I can be.
That is why I’m hoping
My mommies will read to me.
If you plan to bring a card
Please take another look,
I would like to learn my ABC’s
From your favorite storybook.
Please sign your name
As your personal touch.
Baby Andrew thanks you
Beary, beary much.

I am also putting on the invitations that we are registered at Babies R Us and www.cordblood.com, but, I don’t want people to feel overly obligated to bring gifts.

Here’s the deal:

Since Lois was on bed rest, we cancelled our baby shower in December. We were going to have 2 showers, but never got to scheduling the 2nd one. Now, we are doing our own thing, Lois’ mother will have a pool party for their family when summer gets here.

Some people have sent us things off our registry or outfits and some have brought gifts or other stuff when they’ve visited Andrew in the past 2 weeks.

Plus, since Kaden is now 10 months old, we are getting essentially ALL of his hand-me-downs and we are in pretty good shape for clothes.

I know people will not show up empty handed and I hate being presumptuous by even putting where we are registered on the invites – but I know we have to.

Is there some cute way of letting people know that...
1. we really don’t need more clothes ?
2. don’t bring something if you have already given us a present ?
3. is it really tacky to tell people where we would like gift cards if they really felt obligated to give us something (like amazon.com, Target, etc.) ?

Any ideas out there?

the first real bath

2007-02-25T19:07:00.000-05:00

We had our first bath today!

Don’t worry, we have given him some sponge baths, but his cord only fell off last Monday and Lois wanted us to both be around to do the bath together.

Plus, we had to buy a space heater so the bathroom was about 100 degrees so our little guy didn’t freeze.

Not that it mattered, he wasn’t the happiest of campers anyway.

Beware, there are some naked baby pictures below – he will hate me for showing this to the world someday.

First bath 2-25 pic 1
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

Ahhhh, warm bath water!

fist bath screaming
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

I am not having fun at all! Why are my mommies laughing!!?!?!?

first bath 2-25 pic 2
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

Are we done yet?

first bath 2-25 pic3
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

Phew, that was exhausting.

fist bath 2-25 finally
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

Here’s Andrew recovering from the traumatic bath experience that his horrible mommies put him through.

pretty good kid

2007-02-22T21:59:00.000-05:00

So, things are going pretty well. I've been back at work and crazy busy, so my extra time is a little limited.

We're trying to figure everything out with our little guy.

He's pretty good at letting us know when he's hungry - the sucking on the fist is a big clue.

He screams bloody murder when we are changing his diaper and a few times for no reason at all. It's tough when we live in a condo with thin walls and don't want our neighbors to think we're beating him.

The sleep thing is going fairly well so far. He's good for 4-5 hours at a shot, it's finding the secret that puts him to sleep that eludes us now and again.

I like the book The Happiest Baby on the Block. A friend at work also gave me the Baby Whisperer today, but who's got time to read??!?!?

Right now, we're trying the Pachelbel Canon in D as a possible fall asleep song.

I'm sure it will put me to sleep first.

Babies! Babies!

2007-02-20T22:04:00.000-05:00

She's here!
The TADPOLE is here.

Congrats to the Frog and the Frog Princess!

Week 2

2007-02-19T19:05:00.001-05:00

We’ve been busy!!!

Sorry for not posting sooner. And I am going to be lazy again and just put the slideshow at the bottom of the post.

We’ve had a bunch of visitors in the past week and a half. And we’ve now been on a bunch of outings!

Lois took Baby Drew to the grocery store on Thursday.

On Friday, we took him to my former place of employment. After an hour car ride each way and about 2 hours of being the center of attention, he was exhausted.

On Saturday, Baby Drew (or Baby Andy as cousin Elliott calls him) got to meet his cousins Elliott and Ben and Uncle Chad and Aunt Nicole.

On Sunday, we went to Suz’ and Kaden’s and saw the Fedigans, and a bunch of people and kids, and hung out with Harold and Kaden. It was so much fun!!!

His jaundice is almost completely gone and he’s still eating and gaining like a champ.

More to come later…

more pics

2007-02-15T08:29:00.001-05:00

Baby Drew is doing wonderfully! Thank you everyone for your well wishes and thoughts!!!

He had some jaundice, but the levels are low enough that photo therapy is not required. In some pictures, you can tell how yellow he is.

He's also a big eater. Some babies are picky about binkies, nipples and bottles. Andrew is content with anything. Lois feels like she spends all day either feeding him or pumping. And she finds both quite boring.

Due to his insatiable appetite, the little monster is almost back to his birth weight (which should take 2-4 weeks). He weighed just over 7 lbs at birth on Thursday. On Saturday, was discharged from the hospital at 6 lbs, 5 ounces. Sunday, at the pediatrician, he was 6 lbs, 9 ounces. By Tuesday, the pediatrician weighed him at 6 lbs, 14 ounces. What a little porker!

We think he is the most beautiful baby ever - I think he looks a lot like Lois.

We are having a ball. We had a small breakdown at the hospital where family and hormones came crashing together. Lois' mother showed her true colors and needless to say, after crying for a few days, we settled on using Lois' last name for little Andrew, even though we had all along planned on using mine. We are getting over it and at least we can change it in the future when we are ready to deal with the b.s. We are not going to let any of that take away from the joys of our little boy! As for me, I have not been in a room with my MIL since then and it will just take a little time.

As requested, here are some more pictures of the little guy! No clothes fit him! We discovered that some brands make a Newborn size which is 5-8 lbs instead of the 0-3 months which is usually 8-12 lbs. It doesn't matter, he's swimming in the newborn clothes. The way he's eating, though, he'll be in 0-3 months in less than a week.

She's Here!!!

2007-02-14T14:30:00.000-05:00

Riley Elizabeth has arrived!!!

Andrew's bio half sister is here!

Congrats Stacey and Angele!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

2007-02-14T14:29:00.001-05:00

Our birth story

2007-02-12T20:58:00.000-05:00

Sorry, but it's a little lengthy!

Many of our friends and family members have told us about how long you have when the labor starts. It’s not like in the movies when your water breaks and you rush to the hospital, taking corners on 2 wheels.

Many women have time, packing bags and watching TV while timing contractions for hours before leaving for the hospital.

Our story seemed a little more like one of those movie scenes.

I guess I had about 8-10 signals at work on Wednesday that he was coming.

Two lawyers I work with made comments about how busy we were and how the baby has to wait a little while to come. Lois’ mother had a dream about her dead father and commented about the meaning of an impending birth.

For 10 weeks, I left work every night with my laptop and everything I would need for a few days, left my To Do list with the status of every file on my desk for my secretary and all of the files put neatly away.

Wednesday night, I was late for dinner with Salina and Ben so, for the first time in 10 weeks, I left completely disorganized. On my walk to the car, another lawyer and I were talking about how I felt bad leaving the office not prepared for the first time and how that probably meant that he would come that night. She laughed and said she was one week early, and like us, had no signs that he was ready to come. Her water just broke and her son was born shortly after.

It was a little prophetic.

When I got in the car at 6 pm, I called Lois, apologizing profusely for running late.

“Hey, it’s probably no big deal,” she said, “but I think I leaked a little fluid today.”

“You think? When? How much?” I asked all of a sudden feeling like this was going to be the night.

“Not much. It might just be urine, I did drink a lot of water.”

“Call the doctor.”

“I don’t want to be an alarmist. It’s probably nothing.”

“Call the doctor, let her tell you if you are being an alarmist.”

“I’ll just wait for you to get home.”

When I got home, Lois announced that we were making it to dinner, she wanted a burger.

We called the doctor from the car and told the answering service that Lois was leaking some fluid. That was at 6:50 pm.

At 7:00 pm, we got out of the car at the Sycamore and I walked around the car to the passenger side to meet Lois as Salina and Ben walked up. Lois was standing outside the car leaning over and holding onto the car door handle.

As I got close, she said to Salina “you know what we were so afraid of happening??? Well, it’s happening!!!”

She turned to me and said “I’m wet down to my ankles!”

We jumped in the car, but not before we told Salina and Ben to order us two onion burgers and some onions rings and meet us at our house.

Yes, even after Lois’ water broke, I guess we thought we still had all of the time in the world.

We headed home because Lois “absolutely had to put something dry on.”

As we got home, she changed and she started using my golf towels as pads.

It was 7:15 pm.

We called the doctor again and told the answering service that Lois’ water broke.

At 7:30, Salina and Ben arrived and we inhaled our burgers, fries and onion rings (not the meal that the midwife had in mind when she suggested Lois eat something before leaving to the hospital).

All of a sudden, Lois’ face changed. The contractions had started.

They were 35 seconds long and less than 4 minutes apart.

We jumped up and got Lois into the car. I put towels all over the front seat of the Lexus and Salina jumped in the back seat.

We called the doctor from the car and said we were on our way to the hospital.

As I decided I had the best excuse ever if I got pulled over, I flew down the highway at 85 mph with Ben having a ball keeping up with me, as Salina timed the contractions from the back seat.

They were about 2.5 minutes apart and 45 seconds each.

We got to the hospital after 8 pm and were in the delivery room by 8:30 (I think).

The nurses didn’t seem to think anything would happen soon and I made some phone calls.

Lois’ labor was all back labor. I felt so bad. Every time she had a contraction, she would roll to her side and I would push into her back. The midwife from our office was teaching a birthing class in the hospital, so she came up and calmed Lois down a little.

The doctor came in around 9:30??? – my time frame is so screwed up.

She couldn’t tell how dilated Lois was due to the scar tissue.

Somewhere around 10 pm, she went in with some long instrument and broke through the scar tissue, breaking what was left of the water.

Shortly thereafter, she announced that Lois was 5 cm dilated.

The contractions and back labor continued. The nurses were so fabulous, one of them actually went to high school with Lois and she came in to help.

During all of this, as we entered the hospital and announced to every doctor, nurse and security guard we met along the way, that Lois wanted drugs, whatever drugs she could have.

Apparently the anesthesiologist was in an appendectomy. Since Lois usually gets through pain by blurting out humorous things, she yelled things like “where the hell is that epidural? Did anyone miss that I wanted an epidural? An appendectomy???? That’s not major surgery! I need the epidural!”

She never got the epidural.

A little before 11 pm, we convinced Lois to get up to use the bathroom and try out their spa shower. She leaned against the wall as she was contracting and the hot jets hit her back.

The contractions were getting harder and quicker. When she was on the machine, they were going up to the high 80s (whatever that means).

The doctor poked her head in the shower and asked Lois if she felt like she could push.

“YES!” was the quick response.

As she continued her diatribe about how where the hell was the anesthesiologist behind the big steel spa shower door, I looked at the doctor and asked “she’s not getting the epidural, is she?”

She shook her head.

“You tell her!” I told her.

She got out of the shower and she was 10 cm. It was just about 11 pm.

At 11:15 pm, she started pushing!

She did wonderful. There was a lot of yelling and F-bombs, but she did so great.

At 12:07 am, Andrew arrived into the world.

It was the most amazing moment of my entire life!!!

I watched him come out and got to cut the cord. I held him for a long time while Lois was getting stitched up.

He is amazing. In every way.

Lois is amazing for bringing him into the world!

Love is....

2007-02-08T15:39:00.001-05:00

Andrew Michael

We had burgers....to go.

2007-02-08T10:15:00.000-05:00

Lois and Holly are the proud new parents of a baby boy!

Andrew (middle name undecided)

Born: February 8th 2007 at 12:07AM
7lb. 1/2 oz. 19 1/4 inches!!

Both Mommies are doing great, and Andrew is beautiful and resting comfortably... although he is the loudest kid in the nursery....

PS. Lois's water broke as we were ready to walk in and have a burger, we left but our friends Salina and Ben brought us burgers to go!!

birth story to follow, when Holly finds time, don't hold your breath!

Posted by guest,
Suzanne and Kaden

another wednesday

2007-02-07T10:50:00.001-05:00

sycamore
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

For the past few weeks (since Lois was off bed rest), we have met Salina and Ben for dinner on Wednesday night.

Each time we leave, we make plans for the following Wednesday.

Between Lois (who thinks she will deliver any minute) and Salina (who probably will deliver any minute), we joke that we will inevitably not make it to the following Wednesday dinner and will most likely one couple will be visiting the other in the hospital.

We've made it, yet again, to another Wednesday.

Today, we are 39 weeks (how crazy is that?) and Salina will be 38 weeks on Friday. I don't think anyone would have thought that we would be going out to dinner, child free, at this point.

So, why not go big and greasy!!!

The Sycamore is probably the best burgers in the area. Tied for a close second are Red Rooster and Super Duper Weenie.

If we make it to next Wednesday, Valentine's Day and our due date, we will probably do dinner closer to Salina and Ben's house so at least we will only be 5 minutes from the hospital!

Lily is here!

2007-02-07T09:16:00.000-05:00

Congrats to B. and Red - Lily is here!!!

And she's beautiful!!

working hard

2007-02-06T20:46:00.000-05:00

It doesn't seem like Andrew is in any rush to come into the world.

However, Lois is taking the midwife's advice to get things going to heart. I guess that since our little boy is sunny side up, the midwife in our office suggested working with a therapy ball (again, which we don't have because Lois got rid of it) and that she should clean the floor on her hands and knees.

Lois is so determined to do her nesting while trying to get something moving, she's been very active around the house.

Before I go any further, I can say this with all of the love in the world.

Lois is incredibly stubborn and doesn't always listen to restrictions on what she can do - albeit she did do very well on bed rest.

Today, she moved the 2 couches to clean underneath them and...and....she also went up the pull down stairs to get into the attic.

Let me say that again.

She went up the pull down stairs into the attic.

Stubborn ass is lucky she didn't get hurt.

(She went up there because she picked up Kaden from day care and forgot to grab his diaper bags. He had a stinky dinky and all of the non-newborn diapers are in the attic).

small hospitals and stuff

2007-02-05T09:37:00.001-05:00

swing
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

Andrew has his swing!!

Lois' aunt came by yesterday morning and brought the swing and the baby monitors. We don't get to see them as often as we'd like, so it was a great, albeit short, visit.

We put it together right away and Lois was excited about something we've gotten for really the first time. This was the only thing on the registry that she picked out. (Not because I am a controlling bitch, but because she was completely indifferent to anything).

- - -

We made it through the Super Bowl without having a baby.

I don't think I would have cared too much if I was torn away from the TV. Other than the very first play of the game, it was very lackluster.

I still enjoy a good football game, even if my team isn't in it, but for some reason, neither the game nor the commercials were all that terribly exciting.

I guess, Congrats to Peyton and the Colts. I rooted for the Bears only because every single sports commentator, journalist, and office pool had the Colts taking it with a good sized spread.

- - -

We tried to get into the hospital yesterday before the game to do a quick tour of labor and delivery.

Our OB said to call around 3 pm after the shift change and if it's not busy, they'll show us around.

Lois called and they said they were too busy to do a hospital tour.

"There's a woman laboring right now," the nurse told her.

Lo hung up the phone and looked at me deadpan.

"They are way too busy for us to have a tour, there is ONE woman laboring right now."

We know it's a small hospital, and we don't really need a tour, I'm sure we'll find where we need to go.

But I am a little concerned that the staff is only able to handle one laboring patient and nothing else at all.

We haven't had Bradley or childbirth classes, no hospital tour...we're so unprepared for that part. Well I'm sure we'd forget anything we learned anyway.

90% effaced

2007-02-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

We had an appointment yesterday and the midwife said that Lois is 90% effaced.

This might mean something to other 38 week pregnant women, but to be honest, Lois might have been 90% effaced for the past 11 weeks.

She's not dialated and the midwife couldn't do the scraping to get things started because of the scar tissue (from the LEEP procedures 12 years ago).

The cervix appears to be stuck together. They might actually have to pry it open prior to delivery.

Isn't that a twist from the "OH MY GOD, YOUR CERVIX WILL FAIL AND HE WILL FALL OUT" scare of the past 2.5 months!?!?!?

It also appears that despite all of his movement, he is still sunny side up. She suggested some thera-ball exercises. I used to have a great thera-ball but someone made me get rid of it when we moved. Hmmm. figures.

groundhog's day

2007-02-02T11:15:00.001-05:00

First of all, for those of you who may know very little about Molly Ivins, please read this.

She was a truly amazing woman. I hope that people continue reading her work and that many torches will be picked up in her honor. And it doesn’t matter what your political beliefs are, everyone can learn something from this woman’s life!

- - -

Secondly, I realize that today is Groundhog’s Day (my father’s birthday and apparently, Mrs. Fedigan’s favorite holiday), but I am not as ecstatic about Punxsutawney Phil not seeing his shadow this morning.

We’ll have an early Spring. Whoop de freakin’ doo.

We haven’t had a winter for crying out loud!

I woke up this morning ready to go out and clear off my car from the remnants of the Nor-Easter that they had warned us about earlier in the week. I peeked outside, wiped my eyes in disbelief, then peeked outside again.

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

I live in Connecticut. I am a downhill skier. I like snow.

Okay, so I like snow a little more when (a) I am skiing in it or (b) when I am watching it fall from my living room window on a Sunday morning when I have no where to go, but don’t like it as much when I am trying to get my little self home from work safe and sound in my little Hyundai (which is pretty much like driving a giant sled with airbags.)

I do enjoy driving in the snow sometimes, because I think I am very good at it. We will usually be 2 of 10 people at the mall during a snow storm because we get cabin fever and like being adventurous.
However, I digress.

This winter has downright sucked. We are in New England, I live here because I like the 4 seasons.

We have had 2 or 3 dustings this winter. A dusting consists of a light white look to the grass and no need to wipe off your car. (10 minutes of defrost is plenty).

I know my local friends will be mad at me for wanting snow. I’m sure that anyone who lives in Denver is thinking, “Screw you!” And I know that fate will probably come back and bite me in the ass – such as Lois going into labor during a 2 foot pummeling of snow, but BRING IT ON!

Since I can’t go skiing this year, I still need my snow fix.

So, I do hope a little that Punxsutawney Phil is wrong. I think Punxsutawney Phil’s forecasting has only a 39% success rate. Then again, why we base our beliefs of future weather conditions on a groundhog, I have no idea.

the ugly side

2007-02-01T09:50:00.000-05:00

It’s February.

That means he is going to be born THIS MONTH!

Today, I wanted to share with my readers a TMI entry – it’s about the dark and ugly side of pregnancy. If you are slight of heart or weak of stomach, please turn away and move on to a lighter and more uplifting blog.

You see, pregnancy is a beautiful, amazing, wonderful, magical thing. But, to be perfectly honest, it is not all sunshine and roses and sweet smelling moments!

Pregnancy is feeling bloated and fat, burping, farting, hiccupping, heartburn, gagging, puking, gasping*, snoring, hacking**, runny nose, sneezing, discomfort, moaning, whining and, I saved the best for last, “inking.”

What is inking, you ask?

Remember the line "awww, you made me ink!" from the little octopus in Finding Nemo?***

Yes, Inking.

Inking happens when you sneeze, throw up, gag, or just for no reason whatsoever.

It is for this reason that pregnant women must still use pads. Got the picture? It’s not pretty.

A night of preparing for bed might entail a few "hacks", a gasp or two, some moans, then a bigger hack and a frantic roll off the bed, run to the bathroom followed by some expletives and a need for new undies.

"Did you ink?" I usually ask.

You body is no longer your own when you are pregnant. Your body is under the control of this being inside of you that starts kicking your ass when it’s smaller than the nail on your pinky finger.

You are subjected to swift kicks in the gut, ribs, bladder, etc. You will be awakened at 2, 4, 7 am from hiccups deep within your belly. You will have heartburn 4 hours after you have eated a seemingly harmless piece of bread.

But, this is all worth it. (I can say that with ease, because I am not the pregnant one)

I still think Loey is the most beautiful woman ever!

When this little boy comes, he will take over the burping, farting, whining, gasping, throwing up, etc. for Mommy Loey.

And we will think it’s the cutest thing ever!

*the gasping, we discovered, may be sleep apnea. Lois gasps for air when she’s sleeping. It’s slightly disconcerting, but we’re getting used to it

**hacking, to me, is that noise we make that’s the beginning of the throw up – but in this case no throw up happens. I don’t know how Lois is so sure that there’s no puke behind the hack when she does it. She does it a lot, sometimes while making dinner. Weird?!?

***for the slower members of the class, it’s when you pee a little

38 weeks

2007-01-30T21:44:00.001-05:00

Jan29
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

I can't believe we've made it to 38 weeks!

I don't think anyone thought we'd make it this far, especially us.

How cute is Loey all pregnant in my boxers!!

On the baby front, he's moving just as much as he was weeks ago. Now, we can feel what is his foot, maybe it's a knee, or when he sticks his butt out.

Lois stated to me tonight that she is ready for this kid to be here, but not ready to bring him here. What do you mean there is no stork that just brings the baby here?!?!?

sportswear
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

And, don't worry sports fans! I may be lacking in my college team wear, but I have not neglected my Yanks or my Pats!!

game on!

2007-01-29T22:22:00.001-05:00

michigan
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

We are college football fans!
Ok, I am a big college football fan. Lois doesn't understand why bowl games take priority over Lifetime movies.

My family is a big football watching family. Even my mother partakes in college football watching.

I went to Rutgers. My sister went to Penn State. My father went to USC. My mother got her PhD from UConn (we are UConn Basketball fans). My brother-in-law is a HUGE Notre Dame fan and his best buddy, Steve, is a HUGE Michigan fan.

This is what we received in the mail from Steve today! It's the first college football gear!

C'mon! Where's the rest of my family members!?!?!? Am I really going to put my kid in Michigan wear??!?!?

Well, at least it's not an SEC team.

Lois' comment?

"I sure hope the BIG HOUSE is a name for their stadium."

LOL

sorry to disappoint

2007-01-29T16:57:00.001-05:00

My lack of posts doesn’t mean that he’s here yet!

Sorry to disappoint!

Despite Lois’ best efforts to walk as much as her body allows and make bold statements about spicy food, castor oil, ginger, jumping jacks, etc., he is not here yet.

I still believe it’s not going to happen until after February 14th, but Lois doesn’t want to hear that.

This weekend was busy and work is crazy today.

My brain is too filled with theories on complications of improper tax assessments from independent valuation companies to comprehend something as light hearted as a fun-filled blog entry.

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

"he's never coming!!"

2007-01-25T17:58:00.000-05:00

Lois seemed to think that once she started walking around, things would move along quickly.

We hit 37 weeks and Lois is uncomfortable, so she thinks he should come now.

Guess what?

He's not ready to come anytime soon!

We had the appointment today. She's as effaced as she was 9 weeks ago and is not dialated AT ALL!!!

She was sorely disappointed.

Most of the OB office seems to be placing bets that she will be induced at 41 weeks.

My mother seemed to be a little sad that it doesn't look like he will be born on her 60th birthday tomorrow.

going first

2007-01-25T09:25:00.000-05:00

Lois' pregnancy buddy, Salina, is due 10 days after us.

At her appointment yesterday, she was 50% effaced. She's had Braxton-Hicks contractions for months and now, she's getting cramps.

After all of the worries about us having Andrew in December, I'm betting Salina and Ben a dinner that they go first!

teenage boys

2007-01-24T11:51:00.000-05:00

I know that when you have a child, you want to protect them and keep them safe to the ends of the earth.

I know that I will from Day One. (Hell, I have since the day we found out we were pregnant!)

The thing that I am most fearful of is the day our boy turns 16.

Yes, I know it’s early to be worrying about this, but I can’t help it.

We all know teenagers and college students aren’t always the most careful, smart people on the planet. Boys, especially so.

My fear is that my kid might do some of the things I did in high school and college. I know I can’t prevent him from making some of those not-so-smart decisions, but maybe he’ll be a little smarter than I was.

My best friend from when I was 3 years old was killed in a car accident our junior year of high school. He wasn’t the reckless type, neither were the other kids in the car. The accident was most likely the result of a brief moment of bad decision making and possibly some black ice.

Lois’ nephew, let’s call him Boy Wonder, just turned 17 and while he doesn’t make the smartest decisions, he lacks the motivation to be overly reckless.

He joined his local volunteer fire department, so he’s already had a pretty good dose of reality as he’s been on accident scenes of fellow students who have tried to drive their cars 80-100 mph in 30 mph zones. Less than 2 weeks ago, he had to see a friend of his who didn’t survive a 110 mph collision with a tree.

On Friday, he sat in our living room telling us how he had learned from what he had seen.

Last night, Boy Wonder totaled the car we gave him.

He’s okay. So is his 14-yr old brother who was in the passenger seat. They are both probably feeling a little banged up today. The other driver refused medical treatment, so thankfully, no one was seriously hurt.

We gave Boy Wonder a 1999 Kia Sportage convertible that doesn’t go fast enough to be overly dangerous and is worth about $500.

The accident wasn’t due to speeding or reckless driving, it was due to a 17 year old inattentive driver making an “unsafe turn.”

We were hoping that despite his lack of attentiveness or full awareness of what is going on around him, that he was experienced enough in his firefighter role to be more cautious than the average 16-17 young man behind the wheel of a car.

I know you can’t control the decisions your children make. My mother probably never wants to know about the bad decisions I have made in my life, and somehow lived through.

But you do hope that you can impact your kids enough that they think a little, respect themselves enough to be concerned about consequences and respect others enough to consider how their actions might impact other people.

We have time to try to ingrain some common sense into Andrew’s head in the next 17 years. Hopefully, some things stick in there.

blinds

2007-01-23T14:02:00.000-05:00

We ordered blinds. They had to be custom because we wanted something nicer than the $4.99 blinds currently in the baby’s room.

We ordered the Bali cellular shades, blackout style and cordless for complete baby safety and comfort.

$300.00

Let me say that again.

$300.00

The flipping blinds cost more than the crib.

That's an Inno, PSP or even an autographed Tedy Bruschi jersey for Mommy Holly that is sacrificed in the name of blinds.

(Like Lois would let me spend $300 on any of the above anyway)

Damn.

another post about being ready

2007-01-22T10:13:00.000-05:00

Am I upset about the Patriots loss?
Yes
Am I surprised?
No

We left Salina and Ben’s house at halftime and Ben was telling me how the Patriots will definitely win. Considering they were winning 21-3 at the time he said it, it was not an outrageous thing to say.
"I never think the Patriots can’t blow a big lead. Plus, Payton Manning never goes quietly into the night."
By the time we got home, got Lois her Mylanta and crawled into bed for some major football action, the score was 21-21.
Throughout the night, as the Patriots never put up a fight, Lois kept turning to me and saying, "Wow, your team really sucks!"

Well, they were definitely not Super Bowl quality this year. That was very apparent last night.

- - - -

A friend of mine once said that when the 40 week pregnancy was contrived in the big scheme of nature (however you believe it was all created), it was a perfect amount of time.

During much of the pregnancy, you are excited but really scared about ever wanting it to end, to have to go through child birth.

Once you’ve been pregnant for close to 40 weeks, you just want to get that F%$*ing thing out of you.

True?

Yes.

Lois is ready. I know I’ve said this before, but she’s really ready.

She’s cranky and whiney. She’s tired of the heartburn, she’s tired of the rib pain, she’s tired of the back pain, she’s tired of not being able to walk up the stairs without wiping herself out. She’s tired of being pregnant.

Now, she keeps saying "he’s never going to come! Dammit.After 8 flipping weeks of bed rest, he’s not going to come. I probably could have been up doing jumping jacks 5 weeks ago and he wouldn’t have come. Dammit!"

She’s very warm and happy and sunny right now. As probably most women are 3 weeks before their due date.

And for crying out loud, I’m exhausted.

I know that I am not the pregnant one and very little sympathy should be had for me, but I will bitch and moan anyway.

I slept for about 4 hours last night in total. 3 things kept me awake all night.

1. Lois is never comfortable. She must reposition all night long. Each reposition requires some heaving, loud sighs and a forceful motion that seems to move the entire bed.
2. There are these loud gasps that happen. Lois says that every so often, she feels like she is choking and has a gasp for air. When I am just at the point of falling back asleep, I hear this gasp and jolt awake with my heart racing ready for the next statement to be something along the lines of "Holy shit, my water just broke!"
3. Pregnant women snore. Really loud. Like a linebacker or a sumo wrestler might snore. And they don’t think they snore at all.

Time is now slowing down. It feels like he will not be here anytime in the near future.

This does seem like a really long pregnancy. It feels like we’ve been pregnant for 2 years.
Does it seem exceptionally long to anyone else?

36.5 weeks

2007-01-21T09:16:00.001-05:00

36.5 weeks
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

Lois woke up yesterday feeling and looking more pregnant.

Has she popped?

I think it's adorable.

And she still has no stretch marks!!!!

And now that she's mobile again, she gets to wear the cute maternity jeans we bought right before the BRI (Bed Rest Incident).
She's still not "huge" though. But at least it's getting a little harder to hide!

a baby room!

2007-01-20T19:22:00.000-05:00

I seem to be a flickr idiot, so I'm sorry.

Here are some before and after pictures of Andrew's room (I think you can tell which are which!)

No, the drinking did not commence until we were done!

Our friends are so wonderful. And My mother even drove up to help!

www.flickr.com

exciting weekend ahead!

2007-01-19T10:51:00.001-05:00

pats2
Originally uploaded by hollykr1976.

GO PATS!!!!

I'm ready for a weekend of fun furniture moving and painting with my girlfriends!! (And my mom too!)

We promise not to open the bottles of wine until the room is at least 80% completed.

Sunday morning may bring an outing to Target - if Lois is up for it!

And Sunday night??!?

What's going on Sunday night?

Oh yeah, FOOTBALL!!!

..and dinner at Salina and Ben's, of course. I know Ben is a little disappointed that we won't be watching his 'Niners, but my Patriots are playing WOO HOO!!!

Plus, we will only be 5 minutes away from the hospital we are to deliver at, so, just in case Andrew wants to come on Sunday, we're ready...so long as it doesn't interfere with the playoffs.

ha!

2007-01-18T21:33:00.000-05:00

So Consumer Reports retracted that car seat report.

See an article here.

I can't wait to show it to Lois' mother.

baby needs

2007-01-18T11:21:00.000-05:00

This little guy is still so darn restless!
Everyone talks about how you don’t feel much movement in the last month because things are so tight in there.
Uh uh
So not true.
Our little guy just finds more space to move to.

Of course, he never does it long enough for me to run down 2 flights of stairs to get the camera or camcorder.

But when he moves, he moves OUT. He did something which could be comparative to the Macarena on Monday morning, or the hokey pokey

left shoulder in, left shoulder out, right shoulder in, right shoulder out, butt in, but out, shaking all about in there

This morning, Lois had a HUGE lump on her right side. It was almost like his entire back and butt were sticking out sideways.

Very cool. Weird, but cool.

---

On another note, I am again asking for advice from the parents out there.

We postponed out baby shower(s) in December because Lois was on bed rest. We figured we would have it when he came. But now, we are just trying to figure out what we definitely need to have in the first month after he is born before the shower.

Here’s what he have so far:

- bassinet (no sheets yet) (thank you Suz)
- newborn clothes (thank you Suz)
- wipes
- a few diapers
- crib (in the box)
- pack and play (still in the box)
- car seat and stroller
- some bottles (thank you Suz)
- breast pump (thank you Suz!)
- crib bedding (thank you S&A!!!)

We might be in real trouble if it wasn’t for Suz.

Some things were purchased from our registry that I might like to have before the shower, but may not be absolutely necessary, such as:

- swing
- baby monitor
- bathtub

What else do we need for the first 4-6 weeks??? Is it rude to ask around to find out who might have already bought things???!?!?

We are having a painting party this weekend and I might have the changing table too! Is it possible that I could get his room set up this weekend?

36 weeks

2007-01-17T15:51:00.000-05:00

We made it to 36 weeks!

Holy crap.

I don’t think anyone, including us or our doctors, ever thought we would make it to 36 weeks.

On being thankful...

I must offer the highest praise to Lois who listened to the doctors, didn’t cheat, didn’t complain about the food I provided to her (mostly take out) or the lack of cleanliness or organization in the house and didn’t completely freak out about my being responsible for the household in every way, shape and form.

(Although, she did make a few comments here and there about how she clips coupons and goes to the grocery store for "food with which to make meals" and I seem to spend a lot of money only to bring back "snack food.")

On being back to normal...

Lois just called me after her doctor’s appointment. The OB told Lois today that she can "go crazy" and do whatever she wants. I told Lois she should be a little cautious about "going crazy" but maybe we can actually have a meal outside the house!

She is now a "normal pregnant woman" – whatever that means!

I need to clarify if this means any form of intimacy is a possibility. I didn’t want to ask Lois with her mother in the car.

On being early...

The one positive thing Lois held onto if he was born early was that he would be small, i.e. less painful for mommy when he comes into the world.

Now the joke it, after all of this, this kid is going to be late. The 10+ lbs, 2 weeks past the due date kind of late.

Just kidding honey!

Not really.

On being ready...

We are ready for him now, and he is getting stronger and healthier every day. I am getting the room together this weekend and have all of my work priorities in order so if I have to leave, I won’t be stressed out.

He now can come now. Anytime. Well, any time except for this Sunday between 6:30-10:30 pm or Sunday, February 4th between 6:30 – 11:30 pm.

Just kidding!

Not really.

good news

2007-01-16T21:51:00.000-05:00

1. Lois is back to work.

2. Her belly button popped back in.

Work involves a 1/2 mile drive to work, walking 50 ft to her desk and playing computer games pretty much the entire day, with a few interrupting phone calls here and there.

The belly button thing is apparently temporary. I assume that after a Big Mac extra value meal, it may pop out again.

---

Tomorrow afternoon brings another OB appointment, then the purchase of the crib. It's another big exciting day for Lois.

excited utterances*

2007-01-15T21:29:00.000-05:00

Lois needs to work on how she starts conversations or reacts to kicks or moves.

She called Jody last week and started the conversation like "Jody, I'm so scared!"

It was a gossip call, but Jody had one shoe on grabbing for her keys.

Lately, she's been saying a ton of "OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH"s or "Oh My God!"s at a fairly alarming tone. After a giant heart rate blip, I soon realize that she is fine.

Usually, I ask her if she's okay about 25-30 times per day to make sure. I think she's getting a little tired of that.

Saturday night, she gave me another quick scare when she stood up and said "OH MY GOD!" as she held her belly.

No, it was not a water breaking moment or a contraction. Apparently, her belly button had popped out.

Everyone in the room slowly released the breath that they had just held in. Thank you again Lo for stopping time with an excited utterance.

---

And here's one for the "oh how our lives have changed" category...

We're using shot glasses from my collection again lately.

Every night, I take down a different shot glass from the shelf and Lois does a shot of....

Mylanta!

Whoopie!!!!

We are wild and crazy girls!!!

---

*I think the term "excited utterances" is one of the few things I remember from Evidence in law school - one of those hearsay rules. Hey, I'm not a litigator.

new blogs

2007-01-15T08:29:00.000-05:00

Hey readers!

Even if we don't always comment, we love keeping tabs on all of the blogs we visit.

This blog community is a wonderful thing!

There have been a lot of changes in these families since we started all of this almost 2 years ago!

Here are two new blogs of women ready to start this journey!

Please visit their blogs and offer any advice or thoughts!

Mommies in the Making

Starting this life

---

Also,

I think Loey would be mad at me for spending any money right now, but I really want this shirt for Andrew.

It comes in a onesie!

"I've graduated!!"

2007-01-14T21:27:00.000-05:00

First of all - GO PATS!!!

Secondly, I want to say that I am recovering from my breakdown and we had a very successful weekend.

Saturday morning, Lois stayed in bed for a while. Lois was on the phone with Suz when she heard vacuuming.

"What did she break?" Suz asked.

This is what Lois saw when she made it downstairs:

What is it? It's our living room - our cot-free living room!

She was so excited. All she kept saying was "I've graduated! I've graduated! I've graduated from the cot to the couch!!"

Yes, friends, she has graduated. She can now move around, a little.

We had a wonderful morning in our clean living room as I made her a great breakfast!

She took full advantage of her new found freedom as we spent 1/2 of the day at Salina's baby shower and a few hours at Laura and Nancy's afterwards.

Ok, so she spent the entire time on the couch in both places, but at least it was a change of scenery.

Congrats Lo! I can't believe how well you have done to make it this far!

my own little breakdown

2007-01-12T08:14:00.001-05:00

Lois has had a few breakdowns during this pregnancy/bed rest thing. Actually, she’s only had maybe two. Which is pretty good.

It was me who had the latest breakdown.

I’m not sure what really set me over the edge, but it happened last night.

I was upset because I was busy at work and had to leave to play tennis in my mother’s group because I was too absorbed in life that I forgot to find a sub.

I was upset because I have to much to do at work and had to bring work home and hate leaving this “new great career job” for other obligations.

I was upset because if Lois went into labor last night or today, I would feel awful about all of the loose ends at work, and I hate feeling that way.

I was upset because I just didn’t want to screw everything up.

I was upset that I needed to get stuff to eat for dinner because I hadn’t been grocery shopping and all Lois had to eat in the house was frozen bourbon chicken and one piece of pizza.

I was upset that I was going grocery shopping at Stew Leonard’s and I didn’t know what to get because Lois wasn’t with me.

I was upset because I heard that Target was having a HUGE sale on winter infant clothes and I really wanted to go get some 12-18 month stuff but Lois couldn’t come with me.

I was upset that Lois’ mother hasn’t bought the crib yet and is using the fact that I don’t have the room done as a reason.

I was upset because everything costs money and the town property taxes are due this month.

I was upset that Lois’ boss is being an ass and will fight having to give her unemployment so she will be hanging in this oblivion of unpaid leave until she finds another job.

I was upset because I am so out of shape and heavy that my clothes don’t fit and one hour of tennis made my back hurt again.

I was upset that my stupid Hyundai is less than 2,000 miles away from the 100,000 mile warranty being up, it’s been in the shop 3 times in the past 8 weeks and still has that fucking rattle somewhere underneath the car.

It’s all silly little stuff, I know.

I’m not much for crying but Lois cracked me last night, knowing that something was wrong.

We cried together as she held me in bed. Then, I fell into a fit of restless sleep for the rest of the night.

I feel awful that she’s the one going through the insanity of the bed rest, no income thing and I’m supposed the be the one keeping everything together. The last thing I want to do is stress her out even more.

On my way to work this morning, Bryan Adam’s “Have you Ever Really Loved a Woman” came on and I cried. I think it was the “can you see your unborn children in her arms?” that did it to me.

Sigh.

In the grand scheme of things, I know there are so many bright sides to what we are going through right now, but I still just needed a breakdown I guess.

who knows

2007-01-10T22:38:00.000-05:00

Lois is irritable and testy.

She’s tired.

Last night, she put the Christmas stuff away, cleaned up all the bills, threw away junk mail and sorted the bags of crap that had accumulated around her cot in the last 7 weeks. (Nesting, maybe??)

Tonight, she hasn’t been feeling very well.

Either she’s about to go into labor or it’s going to be a very long next several weeks.

BTW - the doctor joked today that Lois will probably go late and have to be induced. This made Lois even more irritable.

normal pregnancy

2007-01-10T16:09:00.000-05:00

I get nervous when I don't go to Lois' doctor appointments and then don't get a call from her until an hour after the appointment started. I guess with the non-stress tests, these appointments do go on forever.

All they did today was the Group B strep test and measure her belly. No vaginal ultrasound today to check the status of the cervix.

They told her that they are treating her as a normal pregnant woman now, no need for the constant cervix checks.

They are not lifting her bed rest just yet - (she can go to the baby shower this Saturday and probably back to work next Tuesday).

But the good news is that she can go to the hospital we want to go to, and we are not in the "critical" stages anymore, for the most part. This does not, of course, mean that she can get up and start dancing!

As for me, I leave work everyday with my entire work area ready to not be in the next day. I have a Word document in which my secretary and my boss' secretary have the document ID # for that basically has everything I could possibly be working on, where to find it, who to contact, etc. which I take very pristine notes on and save at the end of each day.

This is going to happen! It could happen soon, it could be another 3 weeks, who knows, but the end is in sight.

Wow. Holy crap.

35 weeks!

2007-01-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

Why can I write so much today, because I am sitting at work on a 2 hour conference call with a utility company client.

We are at 35 weeks today!
Lois has a appointment with the OB this afternoon!

She's hoping that it will involve a positive report and possibly even a slight lift on the bed rest. Lois is even hoping to be back at work tomorrow.

We don't want to push it, but if her co-worker picks her up, she goes 1.5 miles to work, sits at her desk with her feet up and plays computer games all day, at least she's out of the house and getting a pay check!

Plus, Lois is determined to make it to Salina's shower on Saturday. That will be her big "outing" for the week.

We'll see what they say.

We keep talking about what is going to happen when Andrew is coming!

No one can tell us what it's going to be like. It probably won't be a typical labor where she has all the time in the world. With the cervix issue, she'll probably be very effaced, but maybe not dilated. She hasn't had contractions yet, so we don't know if she will have any before she totally effaces.

What if she's home alone? Before 35 weeks, she was going to call an ambulance and go to the local hospital. Now that we've hit 35 weeks, we want to go to the hospital 30 minutes away which is where our doctor is. But what if I am 40 minutes the other direction at work?

We're coming up with all kinds of contingency plans as to who will drive Lois to the hospital if it happens that way.

I, on the other hand, think she's going to go to one of these doctor appointments and they are just going to look at her, tell her she's ready and send her to the hospital.

And I'd like to see her go 2 more weeks. If possible. She hates it when I say that.

car seat

2007-01-10T09:32:00.000-05:00

Our car seat is in the car!

Lois' brother (a local cop) had his buddy (a certified installer) put it in the car yesterday!
He said that our car seat was the Cadillac of car seats, very safe and easy to install. (Take that Consumer Reports)
He didn't have any foam at the police station yesterday so we'll have to get something under the seat so it doesn't ruin the leather in the new car.

...and

No progress has been made on Andrew's room at all.

But, I moved the glider chair and pack n' play out of the garage and into the basement last night.
After moving a bunch of crap around, I was able to do something we haven't done in months....actually park a car in our one car garage!

It was a huge accomplishment for me.

Of course, I would love to park my car in there since I don't have the "automatic start" on my car, but since Lois isn't driving lately, her "posh" car gets the garage. My little Hyundai sits outside in the cold.

We need to make sure that the pregnant mommy's car is well preserved and ready for action - for a quick drive to a hospital!

Auntie M.

2007-01-08T21:45:00.001-05:00

For several years, Lois and I joked about having a baby. I mean, we joked about it but never had any real motivation or actual conversations about DOING it.

Lois was steadfast in that SHE wasn't going to be the pregnant one and I really had little motivation to do it either, especially since I was beginning a career.

Then, about 2 ½ years ago, we were at a baby shower for our friend Spie and we sat next to her mom, M. Now, I had never met M. before, but she was a known name in my household when I grew up because she was the most famous golfer in the area before women could golf in so many places.

Spie told me that her mother was old school and wasn't the most liberal person on the planet. However, one this certain day, the first day I actually got to speak to this woman that I had heard so much about, she changed everything for us.

She spent the entire afternoon going on and on about how we absolutely MUST have a baby, how great it would be, what are we waiting for, etc. We were flabbergasted.
I mean, here was this woman, who may not have been the most open-minded towards gay couples years ago, in her 60s, just marveling at how wonderful it would be if we had children.

That was the kick in the rear that we needed. Shortly after that, we began our donor search (2 known donors were lined up, then they backed out for similar reasons - which is better anyway).

Lois turned to me one day - after swearing for years that she didn't want to get pregnant, she didn't need to be the bio-mom - and she said "I want to try. I don't want to regret not trying. You have more time, I want to try now!"
And here we are!

Now M. has 2 granddaughters and spoils them as frequently as possible. And when we found out we were pregnant (both times), we just had to tell her personally! She's been so excited about all of this!

We haven't seen too much of M. in the past year or so, usually it's by phone or email. She's been battling cancer on and off for years (currently cancer free), so she tries to lie low after chemo sessions. She is such a trooper!

And she is very excited about a baby boy!

Yesterday afternoon, Spie came over with a "little" bag of stuff from M. She called and said "my mother went crazy again! I have bags from Kohl's!"

I couldn't believe it when she showed up with this:

And the warm toasty bundle for those cold New England winter days - hey it was 72 on Saturday!

Lois spoke with M. last night to give some much deserved thanks. And to try to convince her that she went overboard and better not show up with anymore stuff when we have the baby shower!

I can't wait for Andrew to be old enough to get golf lessons from his Auntie M.!!!!

sleepless nights

2007-01-08T10:03:00.001-05:00

Lois’ mother said something this weekend about your body prepares you for sleepless nights with a newborn.

Now, Lois’ mother is one of those people…how should I put it…she’s a “often wrong, but never in doubt” type person.

She worked outside of the home for 2 weeks when she was 17 years old, watches TV all day, but is the expert of all things. (i.e. The one consumer reports child seat report is the only fact there is to her, all place crashes must be tied to terrorism, etc.)

I know she will never change, so I just bite my tongue. A Lot.

I digress.

She was going on about how prepared Lois will be for waking up at all hours with a crying baby because nature is preparing her for it.

I left it alone.

This morning, Lois announced to me that her mother was correct.

She is sleeping about 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off all night.

She gets comfortable, then Andrew gets the hiccups (which in his case makes his whole body jerk), then she gets a back spasm, then she has to make a big incident about trying to roll over, then she has to pee, then her rib hurts and she has to readjust herself, then her heartburn starts in again so she has to try to sit up a little. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Poor thing. The finding a comfortable position is a doosy. It takes a lot of shifting around, some grunts and many, many pillows.

I don’t have this problem, because I take Tylenol PM before I get into bed with the hyperactive pregnant sleeper.

It’s also funny because I realize that Lois is carrying very small. The doctor always comments about it (Andrew seems to be fine, so it’s not a concern) and I realized how small Lois was when I was talking to a woman on line at Babies R Us who is only 33 weeks and looks like she was 40 weeks pregnant with triplets.

But the bed rest has made her muscles fairly useless so the belly is heavy and frustrating regardless of its size, or lack of size.

I hope Lois does find some peaceful restful nights before the little guys gets here.

As for me, I keep my Costco-sized Tylenol PM at my bedside for nights like those.

a good pregnancy

2007-01-07T12:38:00.000-05:00

Lois has been a little Chatty Kathy this weekend, usually in the early morning hours.
Yesterday, it was at 5:45 am when she felt the need to tell me every piece of news or goings on that she neglected to tell me throughout the week.

This morning, she at least waited until 7:30 am.

She started with “aside from the whole cervix thing, this hasn’t been a bad pregnancy.”

“You know, aside from the entire bed rest thing.”

“Well, except for the 3 whole months of throwing up in the beginning.”

“And except for the back pain.”

“Oh, yeah, and aside for the stabbing pain in my rib.”

“And aside from the incredible heartburn!”

“Aside from all of that, it hasn’t been that bad!”

safety panic

2007-01-05T13:44:00.000-05:00

I don't want to be one of THOSE parents who is overly neurotic about everything.

I am not going to panic about everything.

I want to thank Estelle for being a voice of reason on more than one occasion.

We were a little perturbed this morning when every major news source was announcing that our car seat - the one we decided on because it was "one of the best" in safety ratings - just failed all of the new tests by Consumer Reports.

My mother-in-law already spent the morning making Lois feel like we will be putting our child in a moving death trap if we stick with our Britax Companion infant seat! What horrible parents we must be!!!

car seat ownership!

2007-01-05T09:56:00.001-05:00

THANK YOU TO MY GIRLS!

P-FED, LIZZY, SUZ, SHAWNA, SALINA, SUE W., NICOLE!!!

You ladies rock!

We now have a car seat/travel system!!!!!

Here’s the catalog pic of our exact system.

Now, even better, we have offers from two different cops who are child safety experts to come to OUR HOUSE and install the seats!

We are just too spoiled aren’t we?!?!

another cute doctor

2007-01-04T09:18:00.000-05:00

Thank you everyone for your comments. I made Lois read them, and she's regaining energy to keep him in there. I did promise her that if she makes it to January 13th (35.5 weeks), I will allow* her to go to Salina's baby shower.

I did let* her out of the house for a little bit yesterday.

We had the orientation at the pediatric office last night.

The office has "well" waiting rooms and "sick" waiting rooms and does not have any toys due to the spread of germs.

I know my pediatrician when I was a kid did not have separate waiting rooms, and I am pretty sure there were toys in the waiting room, the toys that we sneezed on when waiting for our "sick visits," and those toys were not Lysol-ed every 15 minutes either.

The doctor who ran the orientation was very young and she was cute. (Every knows about how Lois must pick cute doctors: dentist, OB/GYN, etc.)

They have a bunch of doctors, but you always see the same pediatrician, so we have to pick one. Therefore, it looks like we are using them and will be choosing cute young orientation doctor as our pediatrician.

- - -

I opened up the Expectnet game again.

I’m inviting anyone to come back and place more guesses, now that we are closer (and we know it’s a boy), we are going to rely more on the date and time!

I’m hoping the winner is a date as close to the due date as possible!

*my use of the words "let" and "allow" make it seem like she will really listen to me. however, those of you who know us can probably all laugh at that since we really know who's boss in this relationship. lol.

34 weeks

2007-01-03T15:55:00.001-05:00

I think it's a little funny that Lois thinks that when she's ready, that will be it.
She thinks that we'll get to 35 weeks or 36 weeks, and he will just come into the world.

I keep telling her this kid could be full term or even late. She hates it when I say that, but she’s now agreeing with me that she doesn’t have control over it.

As for an update on Andrew . . . (it’s not all about us I guess)

She had another appointment with the doc this morning and he’s estimated to be about 5.1 pounds. Of course, they tell you that the estimate could be off by 10% either way, which is significant enough.

The ultrasound did show his chest moving with each breath. How cool is that!?!?!

However, he is still facing outwards and the doc expressed that the child birth would be a little easier if he was facing backwards. You would think as active as he is that he would have rolled completely over by now, but apparently he’s pretty much in the same position as he was 8 weeks ago.

And it was discovered that Lois’ rib pain is attributable to his constant kicking of her right rib. Ouch.

Everything looks good.

The hospital bag is now ready. Tomorrow night, we get the car seat. Friday, we may be getting the crib. If he doesn’t come before tomorrow night, I think he will not arrive until February.

Murphy’s law of preparedness, right?

a little longer

2007-01-02T16:48:00.000-05:00

Lois is ready.

Not exactly ready for the child birth part, but ready for bed rest to be over.

And if pushing the child out sooner rather than later ends the bed rest, then I think she’ll embrace the child birth.

She has joined some Yahoo! Groups that involve bed rest and other pregnancy complications.

We know how lucky we are that she has only been on bed rest for 6 weeks so far and that everything seems to be looking good for the baby so far.

We know how lucky we are that we made it this far – we’ll be 34 weeks tomorrow.

But she is uncomfortable, miserable about missing very simple daily activities, tired of TV, achy due to the cot in the living room, the muscles have atrophied and Lois has actually lost weight (probably from losing all that muscle).

We went on full alert on November 22nd that this kid could come any minute. We are ecstatic that he’s stayed put as long as he has.

I am pushing for 3 more weeks, Lois is thinking that at the 35 week mark, she’s getting up and doing some sort of exercise that involves jumping jacks or a trampoline.

He did get the steroid shots, so we should be in fairly good shape at this point. He should be over 5 lbs.

We have the orientation at the pediatrician’s office tomorrow night and Lois is determined to go. She’s been so good this far, that I want to have her come with me.

Then, Salina (our pregnancy buddy) is having her baby shower on January 13th. We’ll be over 35 weeks then and Lois thinks it’s imperative that we make it to that.

When I heard our OB say she’ll lighten up on the strict bed rest at 36 weeks, Lois seemed to hear her say “35 weeks.”

I am estimating this little guy will be born on January 26th (my mother’s birthday).

Actually, after all of this drama, I’m thinking he’ll come past his due date. Lois will kill me for saying that.

Lois is convinced he is coming this weekend. I don’t know why, but she’s convinced of it. I think she’s just wishing it.

No, the room hasn’t been touched. No, we still don’t have a crib. No, we have not gotten the car seat yet. We should get it on Thursday night, then Lois’ brother, who is a cop, will have his buddy who is certified come over and install it for us.

Hang in there a few more weeks, Lo.

Andrew needs just a little more time. Hell, we need a little more time too!

Happy 2007!

2007-01-01T18:05:00.000-05:00

I just realized that I don't have one picture of us together from the entire year.
Suz took this one on New Year's Eve for us in a rare, Lois sitting up moment.

2006 has come and gone and are happy to report that Andrew did not decide to come too early.

Let's hope he doesn't come for a few more weeks and that he is so healthy and happy that we can take him home with the hospital with us!!!

- - -

To break in the new year, I want to start with a breast pumping question for our readers.

This conversation was a little odd, but my mother and I discussed breast feeding and breast pumps yesterday. She suggested that we don't get a breast pump because they hurt. She said you can milk your breast manually, it's much better.

I have found this perplexing and we have asked our friends locally about not using a breast pump and the consensus so far is that my mother is crazy.

I don't want to be harsh towards my mother, but it was 30 years ago that she had to worry about that.

Anyone have any comments on pumping? I am now confused about the entire thing.

Happy New Year!

2006-12-29T09:55:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year’s to everyone!

2006 had some ups and downs, but overall it was a good year!

We finally bought our first place together
We got pregnant
We saw several babies arrive into the world
I got a great new job

As for 2007, I am contemplating which of my various resolutions I will actually follow through with this year. Here are my resolutions, with some remarks which may give insight into the reasons for why I never follow through with them

1. Lose 45 lbs. (I would be happy with 30, do I have to watch what I eat to do that?)
2. Work out (this involves getting up before 6 am and the treadmill is 2 stories away)
3. Stop drinking so much soda (although it is hard since I have discovered Black Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke)
4. Be a more patient driver (it’s difficult to do when so many people don’t know how to drive)
5. Be less of a clutterbug (hey, the clutter doesn’t bother me)
6. Be more financially responsible (that’s really Lois’ job)

I guess the biggest resolution, one which I hope to actually follow through with, is to be the best damn mommy (second to Lois) to my little boy that I can be.

That might be doable, right?

Oh, and I leave you with a picture of our little Kaden from Christmas Eve. That's my hat he's wearing, but I have a feeling it looks much better on him!

Here's to Kaden and Suzanne having a happy, healthy, prosperous and hospital-free 2007!!!

Financial responsibility

2006-12-28T12:57:00.001-05:00

My First New Year’s Resolution for 2007 – Be Fiscally Responsible.

Sometimes, I am like a kid.

Usually, Lois is able to keep some reigns on me just a little. Not so much lately since she’s on bed rest.

Most of our arguments are about money.

I usually don’t mind spending it, she usually wants to give me a $20/week allowance.

It’s not like I go out clothes or shoe shopping and drop several hundred dollars all the time, it’s more the $2 Dunkin Donuts coffee, $10 take out for lunch, $30 for going out here and there, $25 for a college football jersey. That sort of spending.

So, I need to be better. Like right now, we have a new car payment, a mortgage payment, student loan payments, other stuff and ONLY ONE INCOME. It’s a little scary.

But two things I did yesterday and today really made me happy. (I am fairly easy to please).

One:

I spent $10 on lunch today. It consisted of a diet root bear, a bag of ruffles and a grinder (hoagie to those of you in Philly, sub to the Jerseyites) from the “#1 Grinder” deli in Connecticut – Nardelli’s in Waterbury. I am in absolute glory sitting here with my large Italian Combo grinder with EVERYTHING, including the hot sauce. It’s really the greatest sandwich I have ever had. It totally made my week.
Next week, I will actually go to the grocery store deli and bring my own lunch to work.

Two:

I spent $9 adding NFL Network to my cable plan. It’s $6.99/month + the $2 installation fee. It’s not just the NFL Network, it includes Turner Classic Movies, Speed Channel, Fox Soccer Channel, College Sports TV, Outdoor Channel, BET on Jazz, Fox Movies FXM, Tennis Channel, etc.

When I mentioned something about talking to the cable company yesterday, Lois asked me if I did anything that costs more money. I was very silent for a while, hoping she would get sidetracked onto another issue and forget she asked me that question. It didn’t work. So I promised to cancel it after January.

Why do I need NFL Network, you ask?

Because MY ALMA MATER IS PLAYING IN A BOWL GAME!!!
And since it’s an essentially obscure bowl game, the Texas Bowl, it is only being broadcast on the NFL Network.

Please note that all other bowl games are being shown on ESPN, CBS and ABC.

So, I am buckling down on the spending (I promise LO!!). I am overlooking the $100 that I spent on Lois’ baby gift and the $33 that I just spent putting gas in the car this morning ($2.45/gallon was a deal!).

My New Year’s resolution (#1 in a list of many) will be buckle down and be smarter about money.

I will be driving my car to work from now on. My 4-cylinder Hyundai with 97k miles and a noisy rattle gets about 15 miles/gallon better mileage that Lois’ car.

I will bring lunch to work like I used to do when Lois was taking care of me.

I will make sure that I think "will Lois kill me if I buy this?" before I make any decisions to swipe the debit card.

And I promise to stop rationalizing "she can’t kill me, she can’t get out of bed."

I guess it's official

2006-12-26T21:02:00.000-05:00

I guess we have finalized Chubby's name.

Changing our minds now would involve removing a lot of stitching.

Now it's in writing:

Here's our diaper bag, courtesy of Suz and Kaden.

Here's Andrew's froggie towel, just like Kaden's hippo towel. Thanks Suz and Kaden!

And the GIGANTIC bag was from me. Lois told me she'd be mad if I spend any money on her for Christmas, so I made up our hospital bag - to be used later as our weekender bag for our trips up to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Niantic.

The hospital bag I got her had: new robe, slippers, jelly beans, hair ties, lotion, body wash, bath crystals (for her bed rest foot washes), Ritz crackers, Sweet n Salty granola bars, breast pads, her favorite lip stuff and a boppy with cover. Not bad, huh? (Thanks to everyone who helped me with item ideas!)

Now we are working on the middle name. Lois might be changing her mind about Keenan.
We're now tossing around a few others. Michael? Richard? Joseph? It might take us a while to settle on that.

baby stuff for Christmas

2006-12-26T10:14:00.000-05:00

We went to bed on Saturday night realizing that we had nothing for this baby. We tried to find a little humor in the fact that if he came the next day, we were like completely unprepared 17 year old parents.

Since we cancelled any baby shower plans due to the bed rest situation, and since we’ve been so preoccupied with just worrying about the little guy, worrying about the loss of an income, we have done almost nothing to prepare for the actual arrival of our son.

I have not moved my guest furniture out of the baby’s room, I have not purchased paint, I have not been crib shopping (the one we wanted is discontinued).

We don’t have preemie clothes, we don’t have bottles, a breast pump, receiving blankets, newborn diapers, a changing table, etc.

We laughed to each other how irresponsible we are, that unsure nervous laughter.

Then Christmas came, and we feel a little better. Thanks to our family and friends.

Suz and Kaden presented us with a diaper bag, some onesies, clothes, lotion, etc. We got a bagful of bottles and receiving blankets from little Kaden. Lois’ sister-in-law got us a basket of preemie clothes (which we are hoping we won’t need) and I presented Lois with her hospital bag – of which I need to actually get together a little better. Pictures of the diaper bag and hospital bag will come tonight or tomorrow.And, again thanks to Suz and Kaden, we do have a bassinet. Plus, I was told that receiving blankets work just fine, not to worry about the bassinet sheets.

The diapers we can get on the way home from the hospital.

The room will be worked on soon. The crib is not necessary for a little while.

Somehow this will all come together.

I’m not stressing about it. (yeah, right)

We hope everyone had a happy, healthy and safe holiday!

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-23T20:41:00.001-05:00

the girls visit

2006-12-23T16:12:00.000-05:00

Lois had a visit with the girls today.

They seemed a little disappointed that we didn't have any presents for them yet, but we promised to take care of them after they do Christmas at home.

We thought they'd be bored out of their skulls, but watching TV all day is an okay Saturday activity for 10 year old girls. Other than some slight disagreements about a show called Rob and Big (don't watch it), the day went well.

home for christmas

2006-12-21T21:24:00.000-05:00

we had an appointment today and the news was great!

no hospital stay for loey!

the doc says things look really good. she's been doing great with the bed rest and the numbers look stable. the doctor thinks she can make it to 36 weeks.

lois, of course, is happy about the news, but is trying to swallow being on bed rest for another 4 weeks.

another hurdle

2006-12-20T08:47:00.000-05:00

We've made it to 32 weeks!

This is one of those major brian and lung development hurdles. We obviously want him to hang in there longer, but we can let out a little sigh of relief.

As for the pregnant mommy, she is doing a fabulous job! As hard is it might be for her to watch me do the Christmas shopping, cookie baking, vacuuming/cooking/cleaning(or lack thereof), she's been quite the good sport.

And, all of a sudden, she looks very pregnant. She hasn't shown much the entire pregnancy, then overnight on Sunday, something happened.

I caught a picture of her on one of her rare standing moments, on her way back from the potty. She will not be happy that I'm sharing the pic because she didn't make herself up or anything.

I think she looks great.

Keep up the great work Lo!

just like lawyers

2006-12-19T22:14:00.001-05:00

For the last hour, 4 guys have been outside my office window bickering about how they are paving a particular spot of our parking lot.

Once some activity actually started, my managing partner came into my office and we both stared out the window commenting on how much like a beer commercial the work seemed to be.

One guy was dumping asphalt, one guy got on the roller and three more guys stood around watching everything occur, leaning against the building.

We laughed about if they are all getting paid the same amount by the hour for the entire job.

"Just like lawyers," he remarked laughingly, then we both looked at each other and thought we should actually get back to work.

No, we won’t be billing our clients for that time.

instilling morals

2006-12-19T09:56:00.000-05:00

I am starting to really look into myself to see what kind of morals and habits I will be showing my child.

One of my biggest faults is that I am impatient. I clearly have my father's patience, which he got from his father.

My impatience is usually much more apparent when I am behind the wheel of a car.

Hey, I can’t help it that 85% of all drivers out there don’t know what they are doing.

Lois and I are friendly people, at least I like to think so. We have great friends who don’t seem to think we are assholes. We talk to people on line in the supermarket, make friends with our servers when we are out to eat, hold the door for people, etc.

I am hoping that somehow I can restrain myself from letting the “dumbass” comment slip out of my mouth when someone pulls out in front of me and let my child observe the niceties that we have to offer.

The holidays are a tough time to love your fellow human beings. Trust me, I know.
I worked retail during the holidays for about 8 years. One Christmas, I managed the “Holiday Shoppe” at Bloomingdales in White Plains, NY. You have some very nice spirited people but there were also very many high maintenance Paris Hilton Westchester County types as well (there I go making a generalization about people). No offense Senator Clinton.

I could write a book about that experience.

I’ve gotten off task here. Where was I?

I am hoping that we raise our child right. No kid is perfect, but I am hoping that our kid is respectful, holds the door for someone, picks up and hands a person back the quarter that fell out of someone’s pocket, that stops and apologizes if he accidentally bumps into someone, doesn’t talk about people behind their backs, is a good friend and a good person and sees the world as full of human beings, not classifications.

That’s what I hope to teach my kid. If he doesn’t become a engineer or scientist or surgeon (notice I leave lawyer out of the list), it’s okay. I just hope he’s happy and enjoys life because people treat him as well as he treats people.
I just hope he’s a good driver and will be a little more patient (and drive a little slower) than his mommy.

great christmas news

2006-12-18T22:28:00.000-05:00

a cute little boy we know went to the doctor today. this adorable little guy got some great news.
the fluid around his heart is almost totally gone!

way to go Kaden!!

Sunday 12/17

2006-12-17T21:57:00.000-05:00

Time goes much quicker when you have great friends to hang out with.