Ok, it’s been 6 weeks….Errr, 7.

I did not die in labor, I promise! I am not writing this blog from heaven.  But phewww….the first few weeks of baby mama-ing is something! Big kudos to all the ladies out there who are single or go back to work before 6 weeks.  You deserve a major award.  So what happended the last almost 7 weeks?

1. I had a baby on October 30th, 2009 at 11:04pm

2. I had a horrible birth. Failed Induction, 30 hours of labor, No progress (only got to 3cm!), Crazy acrobatic Baby putting me in an obscene amount of pain, ended up with a cesarean section….LOL. Didn’t I plan a natural birth? No drugs? Yup…baby and uterus had other plans. But I’m tough. Was up and at’em about 6 hours after delivery, it sucked but I managed.

3. But, I had a perfect, DAUGHTER!! 8lbs, 15.4oz, 20″. We named her McKenna.

4. I managed to intiate breastfeeding…and guess what… were still going! It is hard work. When I say hard , I mean it. Like I would opt to be in labor again and again if it would mean an easy time learning to breastfeed. Everyone tells you it’s hard….nobody tells you it’s so hard that you will HATE IT WITH A PASSION for about 4-5 weeks….and if you managed to stay tough those first weeks, you will make it. I’m finally starting to see the benefit of my hard work.  It’s finally getting easier than harder, more convenient rather than less convenient….and better for me and McKenna. So if you are ever contemplating nursing, definitely do…but make sure you know that it really sucks for awhile….no pun intended.

5. We through a welcome baby party at my parents house!

6. I enjoyed thanksgiving.

7. I decorated for christmas, bought and wrapped christmas presents.

9. I found a few spare minutes to knit! Keyword, few.

10. My hubby has been home since a few days before Thanksgiving. He will continue to be here until the first Monday of January (we think)….when his new job starts.

11. Christmas is very near, we have been going to parties already and have a few more coming up.

12. We booked McKenna’s baptism for Feb. 6th…party afterward at Veasey Memorial Park.

13. I am sewing McKenna Baptismal Gown….get this…out of my wedding dress!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay tuned for pictures!

14. My chubbalicious baby is outgrowing all of her diapers………so I have to sew an entirely new stash like ASAP.  I’m talking we may have a few days left with out current stash! So stay tuned for pictures!

15. Speaking of cloth diapers. WE LOVE THEM. They are going better than I had ever anticipated. Even Rob, my husband,  loves them.  He was on board from the get go…but I never thought I would hear “these disposables suck, the cloth ones are so much better” come out of his mouth.  But it’s the truth.  We have not had a single accident or explosion in a cloth diaper…the few disposables she’s had…something has come out in every single one! And talk about clean. We do not have a single stain on our cloth diapers even after 6 weeks of use!

Ok, so I hope that updates you on how things are going.  I hope to blog a bit more from here on in. Perhaps keep track of my sewing, knitting and cooking a bit better….and a place to track my weightloss attempts….which BTW, I have lost all the baby weight already. Just need to get started on my regular weight now.

Hope everyone has a spiffy holiday and a new year!

Bad News..

Most of you know who read this blog and or my Facebook updates… but Rob (my husband’s) comapany is closing. They shut down his location without warning on Tuesday.  They offered to let him work in the second location until 11/23/09.  So, what a crappy time for this to happen to us but what can we do?

I’ve e-mailed friends and family to help us keep an eye open for positions that Rob would be qualified for.  A lot of them have responded with well wishes and good leads!

So I thought I’d just make a post about it as well on my blog and upload his resume as well.  He is an Automotive Technician with specialty training through the FORD ASSET program. He has his Associates Degree in Applied Sciences as well. He is an extremely hard worker…almost to a fault.  And I’m not just saying that because he is my husband.  The 1-2 times he has been legitimately sick in the last 10+ years I’ve known him, he goes straight to work. Doesn’t even think about calling in sick… and well some employers don’t really want you dying on the garage floor so they have sent him home those two times….talk about good work ethics, huh?

Anyways, Here is his resume.  I guess Auto Technician’s don’t usually have resumes…or so he tells me.  So to even make this very basic resume up for him was like pulling teeth.  But it can’t hurt.  RobertLawson

Thanks for keeping an eye out for us.

Update

Yeah, I suck at maintaining a blog but, oh well. Things are moving along at The Lawson’s. Baby is due this week. Crazy! Most of the To-Do list is complete. A few things (like quarter round, and some painting…..like husband things) didn’t get done. Oh well, good enough.

We did a big grocery shop on Saturday night and I started prepping meals to put on the freezer today. I will finish tomorrow. Planning on 1 lasagna, 1 meatball w/ sauce, 2 mini meatloaves, 1 columbian potato stew (okay decided this is not going in the freezer…we will eat it for dinner), 2 Campbells Chicken and Rice Casseroles, Breakfast Burritos for Rob, Pizza Packets, couple bags of marinated chicken, 6 Apple Bread Loaves, 6 jars of homemade applesauce, 1 Pork Tenderloin with Glazed Carrots, 1 meal of pork cutlets breaded, 2 trays of spicy baked macaroni, 2 trays of enchiladas….some amazing lactation cookies….. I think that will do. LOL!  Now obviously this is for more than a week….it should hold us over for major grocery shopping for about 3 weeks of dinner (with some easy things thrown into the mix). Of course we will have to go to the store…but not really worry about what is for dinner until Thanksgiving time! And my mom is going to bring over some deli meats and cheese and onion rolls our first day home with baby so that will be helpful for lunch and if we don’t feel like putting something in the oven right out of the hospital.   I love cooking in advance.  I really should do it more often.  I mean how easy is it to go to the supermarket once a weeks for produce, drinks, and snacks??  Easy!!!

Well I had more to type but silly me just realized that my pitting edema is back….like woah…and perhaps I should prop my feet up….before they explode.  I really should pay more attention to things.  Adios!

P.S. Hope to post pictures of the Baby’s Room tommorrow….and I will post pictures of the baby too when it gets here!

Things are getting done!

My to-do list is getting shorter! Check it out…bottom right column of my blog. I still have a bunch of things to do but, the majority is done or underway! My goal is to have everything complete by 37 weeks. That is 3 weeks from today. Wish me luck.

While I’m here, check out the baby’s most recent portrait:

Not much to update on the baby front though… I still feel great, my hips are giving me trouble at night though while I sleep try to sleep.  The baby is big… 5 lbs 3 oz at 32 weeks.  Yeah, so if that measurement is correct we are talking somewhere near 9 lbs.

We started packing the hospital bag last night.  Kinda early but, you never know. I just put the things we need but don’t use currently in there… camera, aromatherapy oil, heating pack, chocolates for the nurses, birth plan, nursing cover…toiletry set.  The rest will come when I’m in labor.

31 week update!

I am doing soooooooooooo good. A little too good. Someone knock on some wood. LOL. My bout of eczema is gone thanks to the high dose of clobetasol they put me on on Wednesday. I am very, very grateful for that. That was incredibly annoying.

My baby shower was on Saturday! It was really nice. I hope all the guests had a good time and it wasn’t one of those dreaded boring showers…I really hope it was fun! It was a cupcake theme, with pink and green colors. I got almost every single thing I needed. Rob and I have a very short shopping list thanks to everyone for being soooo generous. It really is appreciated. I did manage to get 27 onesie type short sleeve shirts in size 0-3 though (8 of them were gifted to me before the shower). Soooo, if no one minds I may switch those out for some long sleeves or a larger size. LOL! Here are a few pictures from the shower:

Sooooo…what else.  I’m still measuring 6 weeks ahead(???)…I was spot on until 24 weeks. Then at 24 weeks I jumped to 6 weeks to big….got an ultrasound.  Everything was fine, still 6 weeks to big so they have me scheduled for another ultrasound on Sept. 3rd.  So technically I measure “Ready to deliver” already. LOL.  Even though my baby bump is not quite huge, it apparently will get ginormous from now until then.  If it stays like this…at delivery I will measure 46 weeks. LOL.

I’ve been working on sorting and prepping the baby gear since Saturday.  I have about 50% of my to-do list complete.  I’d like to make an effort to get some of the harder tasks done quickly…before I’m uncomfy.  So look for more stuff to be finished in the next 2 weeks.

I just had an amazing idea…..really my mind goes  a mile a minute.  I want to make freezer meals for after baby….and I don’t have enough freezer room…but my IN LAWS HAVE A DEEP FREEZE.  HEHEHEHEHE. EVIL LAUGH.

TTFN!

My To-Do List

The following things need to get done before October 1st!! This is going to remain on the right side bar of this blog until it is all finished.  I will cross out items like this when complete.

• Make a budget — live by it.
• Call car loan, consolidation loan to lower APR- threaten to move to another bank if they won’t.
• Call Comcast to cancel house phone, and lessen cable package.
• Paint bathroom walls
• Wallpaper bathroom closet doors (its a focal thing, it looks good)
• Hang new shower curtain(buy or make) & towels/rug
• Make/buy some type of new art for bathroom
• Thorough declutter and deep clean of bathroom, including vanity and closet
• Sew a cord sock to match living room wall
• Bring end table, black cube & various unused stuff in living room to basement, make room for play pen and swing.
• Thorough declutter and deep clean of living room
• Tack down quarter round in hallway
• Paint white trim in hallway, bathroom, kitchen and bedroom
• “Souvenir” 8 milk crates — Rob’s job.  I’m not souveniring anything.
• Sew diapers & accessories, nursery bedding, nursery curtains, quilt, and 8 undercover crate slipcovers
• Thorough declutter & cleaning in baby’s room including office closet
• Organize and Remove Fabric & Crafts from baby’s room
• Fix Baby’s dresser
• Purchase & install kitchen closet shelving & organization.
• Thorough declutter & deep clean in kitchen. Cabinets, dishes, pans, everything
• Thorough declutter & deep clean in bedroom. Under bed, closets, dressers, everything
• Wash bedroom walls??  Fireplace made them dingy.
• Wash comforter/bed skirt put them back on bed
• Buy new pillows- yuck. Enough said.
• Remove hooks from bedroom walls.  Patch holes and paint over.
• Wash plantation blinds in all rooms
• Use wallpaper seam glue on kitchen focal wall…starting to lift.
• Wash all baby clothes and diapers.
• Make a batch of laundry detergent
• Bring AC’s down to basement.
• Wash windows inside and out
• Re-hurricane proof our bathtub enclosure… don’t ask.
• Run an Oven Self Clean
• Get baby gear ready
• Install Carseat
• Clean out trunk of car
• Put stroller in trunk
• Get a Christmas List going
• Clean Out Garage
• Learn to Knit
  

Typing just to type…I guess.

Nothing fancy to write about…so I will just type random stuff.

This weekend we went to TBones with Bill & Cheryl to celebrate Fathers Day/Birthday with them.  Then we had a cookout/eat in in the rain on Sunday…Got home about 7pm and I stayed up till midnght cleaning.  Not sure why, I was just getting sick of some clutter that was around the house.

This week is going to be my last full week at work.  Map Guys last day open is June 30th unless some miracle were to happen.  But I’m okay with it.  We have a huge list of things that needs to be done before the baby is here…I know, I made the list on friday night, and having the time off I’ll be able to tackle one item per day…atleast! I will update you on my “list” July 1st…so I can keep on track knowing some of you are watching.

Have to go to Walmart tonight and do a little grocery shopping and pick up some cans of formula…I have our dinners planned out and ready for the week but we need lunch and snacks stuff…

Dinners I can make this week:
Grilled Chicken with Mash Tatoes and Green Beans
Coke, ketchup and Garlic Grilled Pork Sirloin with Cucumbers and Corn
Hamburgers with Corn
Breakfast for dinner (Bacon, eggs, Toast)
Fajita Chicken over Rice and Beans
Homemade Pizza

Crap…I just remembered I have two vegetable plants in my trunk!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Hope everyone has a great kick-start to their summer this weekend! Rob and I went to a family birthday/cookout for Dillon on Saturday. Dillon turned one! Sunday was a lazy day, cleaned, did laundry, assembled swedish modular furniture… typical stuff. Tommorrow we are heading to the beach to lay out.  Get a tan.

The baby‘s room is slowly coming along now. Bits and pieces here and there. Here is a picture of the IKEA cubby’s Rob constructed this morning. In each cubby with be an “undercover crate” like this—> THE UNDERCOVER CRATE. But it will be in fabric that go with the nursery ensemble I am sewing in the near future. The cubby is a bit on the large side… but whatever, it will serve it’s purpose.  And hopefully we will only live in our cramped quarters for a few more years.

So in case you haven’t noticed the color scheme is lime and red, and sock monkey.  LOL.  We will use mostly primary colors and lime in the furnishings and decorations.  (Johnny Cash is such a camera ham.  He has to be in every photo.)

I’m 18 weeks today.  Still feel great…well great until I realize I’ve done to much and then I start aching.. But can’t really complain about that,  I just need to realize when enough is enough.  It’s hard to do when you feel gosh darn great most of the time.  Friday I am shooting some prom photos.  I will post a link once they are editted and online.  I’m kinda excited and nervous at the same time. LOL.  Paid photography gig.

We have our “Level 2 Anatomy Scan”, next Tuesday June 2nd. Which just means the mid-pregnancy ultrasound in which they look that all the organs and structures have developed properly.  That is going to be fun, we are going to Olive Garden after as well.  He He He.

So what happens at 18 weeks???  Let’s check it out…

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He’s busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you’ll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they’re still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he’s born. If you’re having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you’re having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

Hello!!!

I just wanted to stop in and say hi!  Not much going on with The Lawson’s lately. Working, Sleeping, Eating….that’s about it.  I did hear about a new way to Save for goals this morning from an online friend!  It sounds so great!  It’s called SmartyPig.com  .Basically it is an online banking account that works by setting up goals and timelines.  So for instance I wanted to check this out…so I set up my first goal of Maternity Insurance Co-Pay.  Our co-pay is $1,000 and we will need that by November give or take.  So I plugged in $1,000 and November 2009 and it automatically tells you that you need to deposit X amount per month to reach that goal.  It also hooks up to your checking account and takes out the “X” amount on a pre-selected day monthly.

Rob and I have been doing really good with our ING account putting a good chunk of change into it weekly.  But this one seems fun and is a bit stricter as you can’t touch the money until you hit your goal.  I think it is great for smaller, short term goals.  But big goals I would be leary of having so  much money tucked away.  Anywho, another neat thing is that you can post a widget on your blog, facebook etc, or share your e-mail address with people and they can deposit funds into your account as well (with out seeing any of your personal data).  That’s really nifty….and if someone asks you what you want for your bday gift just say a Smartypig.com gift certificate…. and sure enough the funds go to your goal!

I think I will continue to use this for X-Mas Money, Vacay Money, Bday parties… stuff like that.  Very cute idea.

https://www.smartypig.com/friends-goals/1c55c6de-632c-4a7d-a377-80ecde60de3d

April 14, 2009 = 12 weeks 2 days.

I’m almost out of the first trimester.  Almost out.  Depending who you ask, some may say I’m already out but….If you divide 40 weeks by 3 trimesters the answer is 13.3333 weeks per trimester.  So officially by my calculations I have one week, one day left to go.

A lot has been going on at my house and it’s almost back to livable conditions.  Tonight will be the first time we will be able to sit on a couch in weeks, since the water damage.  I am dreaming of cozying up on my new chaise sectional with Rob and Baby Johnny Cashews and my DVR’ed HOUSE.   Don’t get me wrong, I still have alot to do.  But basically the living room is 100% done, the baby’s room is painted…now to just paint the trim in the rest of the house, hang shelves in the kitchen closet, redo the bathroom…..and my bedroom needs a fresh coat too.  Yikes, me have a lot to do still!

I’m such a loser though and missed going to Mi Mexico Lindo last night.  Fundraiser for St. Monica’s…and I had agreed to meet my family for dinner at 6:30.  At 6:15 on my way to Nashua….realized “OH CRAP!!! MI MEXICO LINDO WAS TONIGHT”.  Trust me I was very sad about it. Mi Mexico Lindo is my favorite restaurant.  Favorite.  And it just so happens to be in walking distance to my house.  Sorry Grandpa, Lyn, Michelle, Allen, Alex, Rachie, Kristine, Randy, & Aisling…and Sorry St. Monica’s….this is what happens when a stressed out lady gets good news and has 3 calendars instead of just one. 

Rob and I had a fun week last week.  Between fixing our house, painting, eating fast food and working we managed to go to the midwives.  They said I had to find an OB/GYN, then they said I could stay, then they said I had to go, then I found a new doctor, then they said I could stay, then they said I had to go.  Then I said “Latas!” and they said please stay and have all your prenatal appointments with us and deliver with and OB/GYN.  Yeah, no.   It was a fun appointmeent anyways.  They couldn’t find the baby, heartbeat, the uterus or the mysterious cervix…  I like to pay magic games with them and I hide everything when putting n my paper gown (that I managed to split in half becuase I tucked it under neath me so tight, that was funny—Ms. Modest rips her gown in half).  So off to the hospital we went…and we got an ultrasound and low and behold…I have a uterus that decided it wanted to have about 15 contractions in 5 minutes (thank god I can’t feel it but we saw them….it was weird–the ultasound tech was like wow…you keep having contractions…we asked her about it and she just said my uterus is probaly saying to itself “You want me to do what?”.  I concurred.), a cervix (I swear to god, they even took pictures of it for me—lmao), a baby that likes to move a hundred million miles a minute, and said baby has a heartbeat of 162! Here is the crappiest picture ever.  But you can tell the legs and feet are humanish.  Actually this photo you can see me just about to have a contraction. On the bottom the two bumps going into the empty space are just starting to pull up…they’d pull all the way up and almost close the empty space and we aren’t sure where the baby went but a few seconds later it would come back.  LOL.

On Saturday, Rob , Matt (Rob’s brother—not  mine) and I made our confirmation!!  Can you believe it?  Only took me 9 years.  I finished the classes about 9-10 years ago.  And finally did it.  I had to redo the classes though,  it was worth it.  Now the humanish animal cracker pictured above can get baptised. The service was about 2 hours and 15 minutes long.  It didn’t seem to long though, it was full of all kinds of easter Vigil traditions.  Very neat to see.  Even if you aren’t religious, you should go to an Easter Vigil Mass once in your life, it’r really neat.  You might as well go to St. Monica’s as people have told me ours was much better.

Going to Ikea on Sunday to pick up some curtains (maybe), some shelves and potentially a rug.  Hope it’s a worth while trip.

Have a good week!