Unconditional Love

To all my parent friends! I read this yesterday and loved it and decided to share! Our kids grow up so fast these days we rarely just let them be kids. A general lack of sleep, the frustration of selling a house, having a new baby on the way...our house is filled with a whirlwind of mixed emotions. This hit me at just the right time to remind me how precious these childhood days are and how truly fast they fly by.

Please, Mom and Dad...
My hands are small. I don't mean to spill my milk,
My legs are short---please slow down so I can keep up.
Don't slap my hand when I touch something bright and pretty. I don't understand.
Please look at me when I talk to you. It lets me know you are really listening.
My feelings are tender--don't nag me all day. Let me make mistakes without feeling stupid.
Don't expect the bed I make or the picture I draw to be perfect. Just love me for trying.
Remember, I am a child, not a small adult. Sometimes I don't understand what you are saying.
I love you so much. Please love me just for being myself, not just for the things I can do.
Author Unknown

Snow cones, Contractions & and Gifts

What a weekend!

I can't remember the last time we had a truly lazy, do what you want, nothing HAS to get done, spur of the moment weekend. I'll have to schedule more of these for sure! I had funny moments, fantastic last minute one on one activities with Alex and best of all a few quiet solo minutes to enjoy being pregnant and feeling the baby squirm. Since we're only 17 days out the kicks and hiccups are limited and it was lovely to slow down and enjoy everything.

Alex and I hit up a local snow cone stand! I've been craving snow cones for oh, 9 months now, but unlike where I grew up there aren't stands on every corner. I finally spent some time on Yelp, found the one snow cone stand within 20 miles of my house and Alex and I loaded up and hit the road. They were delicious and we'll be headed back soon!

A funny moment when I saw Princess and the Frog! LOL Around my house that's not a movie it's a random moment caught with a blurry camera.

Also on the schedule this last week, Alex started swim lessons. Other than one meltdown on a bad day, Alex has really enjoyed his lessons and is rapidly learning how to swim like a fishy!

We're 17 days out from July 1st, Baby's anticipated arrival date and the closer we get the more ready I am! The contractions have started, random, but enough to be the first warning signs that A Baby Is Coming SOON!!!! Bags are packed and waiting by the door, her bed is ready, and I know family and friends are just as ready we are to meet and greet our little Princess. I can't wait!

Pregnancy Brain Strikes...

Ok we all do stupid things at times...when pregnant with Alex I put the milk in the pantry and my cell phone in the fridge, and blamed pregnancy for my absentmindedness. Thank goodness Eric wasn't far behind me and fixed everything :). So far this pregnancy I have yet to do anything truly blog worthy until today.

I met our Realtor, the wonderful Kristin Castillo, at the house for sale for a quick meeting, to snap a few updated pictures of all the new features and to put out two air fresheners. Sounds easy right...well it should have been.

Instead after we had dropped all our stuff off in the kitchen, I assembled the air freshener (one of those nifty new ones that sprays every half hour or so) and walked out to the garage to set it up. As I walked through the door I jiggled the handle and it felt locked, so I flipped the lock, to make sure we could get back in and then shut the door and set up the air freshner...surely you see where this is going. Instead of unlocking the door, I locked it.

So we opened the garage and walked to the front door which Kristin had left unlocked when she went in like all good Realtors do. Well I'm so well trained to lock doors behind me that I had locked that one as I followed her in. So now we're standing outside the house with no purses, no cell phones, no house keys trying to figure out what to do. Luckily she had her car keys and with the gas light on empty in her car we drove to our current house which is luckily close by. We could have driven to my inlaws to get a key but with no wallets there was no way to get enough gas for the car to leave the neighborhood. Even I realized that stranded by the side of the road was worse that stranded at a house with air conditioning.

Once at our current house (thank goodness the garage door panel let me in) I dialed the only number I know by heart anymore, my husbands (since all other numbers are handily stored in my cellphone which was inaccessible) and asked him to help me out. He made a few calls to my Father in law, which went to voice-mail (he has the only other key) and finally with time running short to pick Alex up from school, Eric had to leave work to come home and let me into the house.

I do believe this tops the phone in the fridge and milk in the pantry...

Life Happens

Ever wonder where the time goes? It has been chaos central around here.

We are currently dealing with:

• The ongoing drama of a Tyrant Toddler (I'm waiting for a publisher to offer me a life of easy with a huge advance to chronicle my journey trying to parent this crazy tyrant :))
• The exhaustion that hasn't quite gone away this whole pregnancy
• The morning sickness that made an uninvited return after only a month on vacation
  
• The daily drama of meal planning and keeping our household running...why oh why does that take so much work???
• Scheduling showings and keeping our other house ready for a buyer to swoop in any minute and take it off our hands

Add that to a full time job, a husband that travels and the general day to day stuff that comes out of nowhere and time just flies right by.

I can hardly believe that we're already 6 and a half months along with baby number 2. We can't wait to meet our baby girl and I'm so glad I can take a few solid months off to spend some time with her and Alex. These moments are so precious and they fly by so quickly!

It's a gorgeous day outside and Alex is "helping" aka telling Eric how to clean out the garage. I've had more laughs from him lately. We are really clear on the kind of language he should use and "Oh my God" is not something you hear in our household. Alex, however, doesn't hesitate to correct anyone who crosses his path if he hears those forbidden words. Add that to some gender confusion over boys with long hair, his general "by the book" attitude towards all rules and my kiddo is kind at heart but bossy to the core. It's going to be an interesting few years ahead.

Now off to figure out something yummy to make with Beef Cubed Steaks and then some fun in the sun...Thank you very much Daylight Savings Time!! :)

Guess Baby Synatschk's Gender

So this time around Eric's talked me into finding out what we're having.  And there's not much longer to wait! :) Next Friday, the 19th we'll find out the gender.  A few family members are coming over for the big announcement and everyone else can tune in right here on my blog for a live announcement at 8pm.

For now, what's your best guess?

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Girl



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The USDA is on my list!

Image by edlabdesigner via Flickr

I woke up in an off mood today. I had to deal with my Grandfather’s wake yesterday afternoon, a late evening phone call from my mother reassuring me everyone was okay in case I caught the news (there was a shooting at the funeral home I had left just a few hours earlier), and then I came out of a dead sleep to my husband yelling at my toddler for daring to be chipper before the sun had fully risen. All told, not a set of circumstances that would help anyone be in a good mood. I got my son out of the room, hoping my husband would catch a bit more sleep and wake up in a better frame of mind. Fast forward a bit and I hear “Ohh Traci this is going to make you mad,” …never a good sign.

Turns out MSN ran this article today, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31719136/from/ET/, and like any husband who knows his wife Eric instantly spotted that it was sure to set me off.

When I first started college I was premed. Shortly into that first semester I realized that my future was looking a little more green then red and I happily began following a course load that should pave my way into environmental lobbying. My family viewed it as eccentric but even at that point I knew there was something wrong with how we grow, process and store our food. With the rise in illnesses, cancer, and problems like diabetes becoming a household word, we are looking to medication to band-aid the problem instead of our lifestyle to solve it.

Although I wanted to pursue a career in lobbying my moral fiber would never let me work on an agenda that could harm. I find it irresponsible and ethically detrimental to society for high ranking US officials to knowingly discuss selectively banning known neurotoxins. As a firm believer in the adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” I find it very disheartening that our government would seek to undermine their own label in the interests of big business. Many consumers, including myself, use that label to guide purchases that are better for our family. I for one will be very careful moving forward trusting a label that can so obviously be bought.

Ms. Robinson, I say shame on you!

The Best Laid Plans

are no match for children and dogs who conspire together to torture parents with sleep deprivation. :) I tried to get ahead of the curve last night and worked late into the night, knowing that Alex was off school today and I would be occupied keeping him busy today and wouldn't get my usual uninterrupted 8 hours in. Well by the time I was ready to call it a night, Alex began having nightmares about unfinished milk and needed to be consoled...I was cracking up at that point and reassuring him that he could finish his milk in the morning LOL. I came back downstairs to shut my computer down and the dogs started whining and causing a ruckus to go outside. By the time they decided to come back in (30 minutes later) Alex had picked up his crazy part of this tandem act and was back up crying again. This went on until a little after 2 when everyone settled down and I quickly grabbed a little under 4 hours of sleep. Poor Eric brought Alex to me at 6:30 and then tried to take his sick self back to bed but in my sleep deprivation cattiness I threw a fit that he thought he deserved more sleep since his 9 hours and a day of dozing gave my 4 hour sleep deprived self no sympathy. Cattiness ensued and by the time I finished making the tiny tyrant breakfast he had arrived downstairs to crash on the couch and keep an eye on things while I sit here and work to be both awake and coherent.

Here's hoping you all had more sleep than I did!

Thinking Thursdays

At least one day a week should be devoted to deep thoughts right? LOL! It was a crazy day at work, as anyone within shouting, distance would know. :) I am working on a training series for June and to kick off the marketing for it I have been labeling about a bazillion postcards to be mailed out. Well closer to 800 but still 800 postcards with a return address label, a mailing label, a stamp, you get the picture. They're done and I'm extremely happy with them but that kind of work leaves lots of time for thinking.

So this week I've thought a lot about where I am in my life. I have a great husband, who does far more than his fare share of the housework and doesn't even complain when 3 nights out of 5 he comes home to a wife arguing with the pantry for not giving her inspiration. I have a great job that I love to do, and even with the craziness that accompanies it I truly fell blessed to get to work from home and be here for my family. With Eric's travel schedule its so nice for me to be pretty solid.

I also had to go over to our old house today to meet a contractor work on one of the kitchen appliances (yeah extended warranties, I will mock you no more), and it was like going back to high school after college. The house felt small, and nothing was quite the way I remembered it. The kitchen felt tiny, and it truly brought home how much I really love our home that we are in now.

After the chaos of sickness, drunk drivers, and other daily nuttiness today's reflections really helped me focus on the positive, the good, the joy.

I know this is a sappy post, but what's not to love about a happy Momma?

And just for grins, here's a favorite recent picture of mine! We went to a family member's baptism over the weekend and boy did my little guy have a blast showing off for anyone and everyone! He sang, he danced, he didn't crash until the car ride home!

Thinking Thursdays

I spent today looking for profound thoughts to post about but I love this so much more! :) Alex and I had a blast in the bluebonnets a few weeks ago and when Scholastic ran a contest for their magazine cover I couldn't help but enter. If we make the finals I'll post the info here so you can vote for us and help us win! :)

Make a Smilebox postcard

La Dia del Madre!

What a great weekend. I took the weekend off of work, hobbies and my to-do list and spent it having some great quality family time. Eric’s IPod is kicking the bucket so we spent some of that quality time Saturday at the Domain here in Austin getting to know our local Apple store a bit better. And since Alex isn’t able to visit the Domain without a penny pitching trip to the fountain I snuck in some photo time! Check out the mini scrapblog below!

An organization I happily support, called MomsRising.org knows all about being a Mom and the work it takes and awarded me an honorary Mom of the Year award. You can read more here and spread the fun! ☺


Then Sunday it was off to brunch to celebrate Mother’s day at one of my fave restaurants called North by Northwest, who luckily enough have a great Gluten Free menu for hubby. I’m trying to embrace his lifestyle but cheated today and had an AMAZING pork tenderloin with this fantastic bacon, spinach and cheese risotto. YUM! Then back to the Domain for more Apple store time and home for naps and mommy time.

And how did I spend Mommy time you ask? Filing ☺! I had over 1200 emails sitting in my email inbox and I’m a fanatic for filing all my emails into nice neat folders and only having a week’s worth of emails at at time. Recent craziness has not allowed me time to file and I was going nuts with my overflowing inbox! Am I nerd or what!

Works for Me Wednesday--Frugal, Sanity Saving Tips for New Moms

I was recently asked if I wanted to review some new muslin baby wraps by aden and anais, and to possibly blog about them. They are Australian swaddling cloths and are large enough to continue to be useful after the days of swaddling (or squaddling if you are talking to my father) are over. Since swaddling saved my sanity when Alex was a colicky, fussy wee one, I thought I would give this a shot. Even better, the picture shows the set being given away free to a reader this week!

The wraps arrived and were that lovely soft feel of good cotton, and as the packaging promotes the more you wash them the softer they get! They had cute designs in a light green and brown pattern that was pleasing, but not in any way gender specific, and best of all as soon as I took it out of the package my two year old made a grab for it and took off using it as a cape, thus proving that far beyond their days of swaddling and lulling fussy infants off to sleep, these blankets would still find use around our house.

The blankets are about twice as large as the hospital giveaways you come home with and are very thin, light cotton. They were very easy to use in a typical swaddling fold and my out of practice husband even got a refresher course in swaddling how-to as I was playing with them.

In the last few weeks this cloth has done double duty as a light blanket for our already overly warm Texas nights, is the perfect size rolled up to fit in the diaper bag and travel anywhere with us, and unlike the mountains of nice, fluffy fleece blankets we have left over from Alex’s babyhood, these stack and store in a minimal amount of space.

I’m a huge fan of swaddling babies and am often suggesting to friends that they should try it out to help baby, and them, get more sleep at night. My frugal tip for Works for Me Wednesday is to try swaddling. Before you buy Mylicon drops, before you buy a white noise machine, before you look for the latest gadget you simply must have to help you get some sleep at night, reach for blanket, or better yet a aden + anais double layer muslin wrap (you can win one today for FREE, how’s that for frugal ☺) and swaddle baby up tight for bed.

When we started swaddling Alex my family thought it was some new trend in parenting…but it’s not. Swaddling is a time honored tradition of helping little ones adjust to life outside of Mommy. All that extra space and lack of Mom’s cramped quarters can be upsetting for babies, but tucking them up in a tight swaddle brings back the security of Mommy.

If you’re a recent new parent or even a veteran that is looking for something new to try, check out this week’s contest and give swaddling a shot!



Free Giveaway for Frugal Works for Me Wednesdays!
Aden + Anais is giving one of you a free set of two double layer muslin wraps (retail value $49.95): Read how to enter below and spread the word about this great giveaway!

Contest Rules: VISIT adenandanais.com and tell me some other uses they have listed for their swaddling wraps or something about these wraps that I haven't mentioned in the above post!

EXTRA ENTRIES:
To receive these extra opportunities for entries, you must fulfill the first REQUIRED entry. But for extra entries, you can:
* Tell your own story about how swaddling saved your sanity.
* Tweet the contest with the following text “Traveling the Tightrope Great Giveaway—Free Aussie Muslin Wrapshttp: http://easyurl.net/TTCGiveaway”. Leave the Twitterlink in your comment.
* Blog about the contest - add a link to Traveling the Tightrope and the Sponsor aden + anais
* Add Traveling the Tightrope widget (on the right under the blogroll) to your site OR add Traveling the Tightrope to your blog roll.
*Become a Traveling the Tightrope follower.


One person will be randomly chosen when the contest ends on May 12 at midnight CST. Check back next Wednesday when we announce the winner. I will contact the winner directly through your email or blog link that you leave when commenting.

What A Girl Wants

I spent last week driving around Central Texas with a co-worker delivering marketing materials to my accounts. As we drove we visited on various work projects, families, friends, but the most interesting discussion we had was on the lack of choice that society gives to mothers. It made me sit back and think about how I really feel about where I am right now as a mother, an employee and a person.

In a perfect world that didn’t having me owing far to much money in student loans we might be able to afford for me to stay home while we have young children. In reality though I work to make sure we can afford Alex’s school, groceries and the occasional splurge. Although we don’t live paycheck to paycheck we are a far cry from even considering being a single income household, and usually I’m okay with that.

Lately though I’ve been a bit frustrated with how Alex is reacting to changes at his school, the constant colds coming home and as my workload gets busier and busier, the need to spend family time occasionally doing work. I enjoy my job, my family, and my hobbies but my priorities fall with family first. I truly feel that being home with my kiddo would be to his benefit while he’s young, and luckily I’m blessed with a job that allows me to telecommute so the parade of colds and sick days don’t necessarily derail my work schedule.

But how do parents with less flexible employers manage this. My mother worked for a variety of companies when I was younger and at many of them she could only take off for extreme emergencies. She was a single parent doing the best she could and the deck was stacked against her. If we as a society want to tout that the children are our future we should be a bit more careful of who is rearing that future. Society sees motherhood as a part time affair and doesn’t always give credit where it’s due. Our children spend more time in daycare each day than they do at home, and even though I’m very grateful that my son has a safe and loving environment to be at each day, it makes me sad when I see all that he is learning that I’m not playing a part in teaching him.

Companies should explore alternatives for sick days that allow parents to be home with their children and depending on circumstances, to still manage some of their tasks. This is not to say if you have a puking child you should have to take phone calls, but there have been several days this year when my son was fine but waiting out a 24 hour fever free rule to return to school. On those days I can work and he can play outside thanks to my companies telecommuting policy. With phone forwarding, webinars, conference call lines, web cams and free online resources like google docs there are few reasons left to require a physical presence in the office at all times. Telecommuting, like staying home with your children is not for everyone, but for the most part I think it should be more of an option for those who want to pursue it.

Catching Up

The last few days have flown by in a haze of chaos, grief, and marvel at the irony of life.

Friday my maternal grandfather took a turn for the worse. He's suffered for years from Chronic Pulmonary Lung Disorder (CPLD), and for those of you not affected by the hazards of smoking, this is an awful thing to witness. Over the last few years he has slowly had a harder time trying to breath. He's been on oxygen for several years, suffered numerous bouts of pneumonia and now is on life support after ceasing to breath on his own. There is little to no hope of recovery and in my mind and heart I have told him goodbye.

Less than 24 hours after hearing this news I hosted a baby shower. It was bittersweet celebrating a new life while my grandfathers was coming to a close.

The baby shower was for Alex's previous teacher at his school. It's a Christian private school so when his engaged, but unwed teacher became pregnant she was let go. There was no warning for the students, parents or even the teacher herself. Alex loved her and it was quite an upset to deal with for him. His new teacher is also wonderful, don't get me wrong but we loved the teacher who's now gone. This baby shower was planned for a month and all the parents and kiddos from her class came together to show her how much she is missed. It was a wonderful afternoon and reminded me what a great teacher the school has lost. Alex had a blast having all his friends over, he shared his toys well and everyone enjoyed all the snacks. The adults all got a good laugh too when all the kids simulteanously started crying for different reasons. No worries though we brought out the cake and all was good!


My feelings on her dismissal are worthy of their own post so I'll just say that the Christian principles of acceptance, charity, and helping those in need should not be revoked at the very moment that someone needs them most.

This afternoon we stopped by the garden to see how things were going, make sure the timer was watering regularly and see if the recent hail storm caused any damage. Alex and I (Eric was not as verbally enthusiastic) were quite excited to see most of the plants were already sprouting. :)

Acceptance

Another site I frequent prompted all of us today to post about Children with Disabilities. March is Disabilities Awareness Month and it's a great time to reflect on both an important issue and a parenting challenge that is down the road for us.

Alex is still at that wonderfully innocent age where he doesn't notice any differences. All the kids in his class are his "brothers and sisters". He doesn't see cosmetic differences, ethnic differences or anything else. However as much as I would like to believe that day will never come I know there will come a time when the differences between himself and his peers raise questions for him. When that time comes I hope we can sit Alex down and not only tell him about all the differences that make everyone so special, but more importantly teach him the grace he'll need to truly accept others his whole life. Children are blessings but they come with responsibilities. I accept that my toddler has meltdowns, I understand that he has to have everything his way, I embrace his chaotic, temperamental personality, but I refuse to raise a self-obsessed boy who has too little regard for others. Yep I abosultely refuse...now to implement! :)

This month take a few moments and visit CVS and their site CVS Caremark All Kids Can to learn about the programs and work they are doing to help make this a better world for children with disabilities.

Balance Shmalance

Image by eyeliam via Flickr

Today was a really, really, really long day! Alex is doing better, but the lack of sleep is getting to me. I feel like a zombie most times and tomorrow will be a gargantuan feat to pull myself together and lead some meetings. I asked Alex politely if he would sleep all night for me in his bed and he very nicely told me Sure Mommy, Sure! So here's hoping. Wish me luck I could use it!

I hate when people tell me it's going to be okay...

Alex, my two year old, is having sinus surgery tomorrow. It's an outpatient procedure and is quite routine but I hate the idea of having my two year old put under anesthetic. I've been in denial for a week or so and quite unlike my usual self, have prepared nothing. My parents have been calling tonight to check on him and get the details and I'm no longer able to ignore the fact that before the sun even thinks about coming up tomorrow we'll be on our way to the surgery center.

I took Alex last week on a tour of the surgery center to get him familiar with it on a normal day. I have to say I HIGHLY recommend doing this if you have a young child going through any kind of procedure. The staff was great, and the tour was largely directed at my son and it gave him a sense of the place that I'm sure will be quite disorienting tomorrow.  Most facilities, especially those with experience or that cater to pediatrics, offer some sort of tour or orientation. These are usually held after hours and answer far more of your questions than the brief call you receive to set the procedure up. 

I know tomorrow will be stressful, and will probably turn out okay, (although fair warning that the next person to say that might get glared at!). But I'm still glad to know that when the going gets tough and my two year old decides that he doesn't want to have his blood pressure taken, doesn't want to let go of mom and dad, or have anything to do with the staff, the orange popsicles in the fridge around the corner are a sure fire motivator! :) And if the popsicle doesn't do it the magic button that opens the doors to the procedure rooms just might.  

Sleep Deprivation...Torture by a Toddler

In my less rational moments I think that sleep deprivation was a form of torture developed by someone with a house full of kids that slept like mine does. Alex is a charming kiddo when awake but just honestly doesn't seem to need a ton of sleep. He rarely sleeps through the night, and although we have tried every thing from The Happiest Baby on the Block to our most recent The Night Night Sleep Solution, he just keeps waking up.

At 5 am this morning I wasn't ready to give in and let him up, so I took him back to bed, tried to get him to lay down and it was working until I fell asleep with my head on his bed and forgot to keep rubbing his back. He woke up and got rather upset that I was sleeping on his bed! :)

Luckily Eric and I trade off on each getting a weekend day to sleep in and try to catch up...Today was my day! :)

Days That Make Me Want to Homeschool

What a week. So much has happened I don't know where to start. 

Alex's teacher at school, Ms. Paine and I, have been working very hard with Alex on potty training and lo and behold orange gummy bears were the secret. :) That and a special new potty with a cushie seat. Yep no kidding, my kiddo won't do those hard plastic potty chairs. We had to go find special ones that have a ring of foam cushion for his pottying comfort!  About a week ago he went potty on it and it was a once a day thing until yesterday when we ran out of diapers and pull ups at the house. Like a crazy person I decided to go with regular undies instead of running to the store and I couldn't believe it when he went all afternoon and evening with no accidents and going potty. Then this morning he was right back into them and with only a small accident at school I think it's been a bang up start to a future without diapers! :)

That's the good side, the bad part of today started as I walked into school with Alex and the director pulled me aside to ask if I had gotten her email. For a moment I felt like a 9th grader in the Asst Principals office again and thought, oh no what did I do. It wasn't about me though, it was Alex's wonderful, loving teacher who we adore! She and her fiancee are expecting and since Alex attends a Christian private school that's a rule breaker that apparently her talent, devotion and plans to marry (put on hold right now for financial reasons) can't surmount. I'm pretty furious right now at the church and whoever it was in the church that cared more about their rules than they did about our kids. Neither the kids or the parents were given any warning regardless of the fact that the church knew of this for several months. No warning was given to his teacher and therefore no warning or transition was given to the kids. For most kids this might be a minor bleep on their radar but Alex has had 5 teachers since he started there in May, a grandmother that travels and is sometimes here and sometimes not, a father that travels regularly, and lots of far off relatives. I worry that he is not going to understand why some people disappear and never come back, some come and go, and some disappear for a while but show back up randomly.  Add that to the fact that he is having surgery on Monday, which I'm sure with my drama king will be a walk in the park and you begin to get an idea of how grateful I am that tomorrow is Friday!

Ahh yes now you are saying, "Surgery?" As most of you know Alex has been sick for months. Nothing contagious or debilitating but a constant runny nose, congestion, and cough. It's gone on so long that he comes to us and asks for medicine to make him feel better. I'm not sure what age Betty Ford starts treatment at but I refuse to let Alex be the first toddler on their roster! :) After several rounds of antibiotics, home remedies and many torturous sessions with saline solution and  a bulb syringe we finally are moving forward with a permanent solution. :)

Get Me Out of Here

A post from Alexander's point of view:

So I haven't been feeling well the last few days since Mom and Dad brought me home. I have tried to let them know by lots of crying and very little sleep and yesterday they finally got the message. I went to visit this really nice lady and she thought I looked a "little off." Thanks a lot lady...I've been through a lot in the last few days...you would look off too!

Well like I said, she was pretty nice but she poked and prodded me and sent me to a really mean lady who stuck my heel to draw blood. Boy was I mad at that. Mom kept crying and saying she was so sorry that I was going through this. The heel stick was over pretty quick but what really made me mad was being put in the carseat to go to the Dr, in the carseat to go get blood work, in the carseat to go home, in the carseat to go back to the hospital, all before lunch!

Apparently I have jaundice and need to go get a tan. Well I don't mind that but this constant room service IV thing sucks. Took them forever to get that in and I screamed and fought it the whole time. Once they finally got it in, weighed me (6lbs 9oz) and got me in my room, I was exhausted and happy to wear thier designer shades and nap in the light. Mom finally got to rest too, now that I was feeling a little better each day.

The first day or two of this was okay, but we are going on three days and I am tired of these crazy nurses waking me up at all hours. Tell them to let me go home and leave my poor heels alone!

oh and here is a video of the hospital that I was in while being treated for my jaundice. It was really neat and had very cool paintings.

Baby A Has Arrived

Oh boy what a day!

Written from Alex's perspective :)

Yesterday I was having a great time bouncing around and giving mom some minor contractions, and then today I came wide awake early in the morning when Mom got out of bed WAY earlier than usual. It got a little bouncy and I kept hearing Mom mention a hospital.

Next thing I know I get a huge energy rush. I tried to bounce around and have some fun but I was a little cramped. No sooner did I realize this than someone started squeezing me. I tried to kick mom and tell her to make them stop but I just kept getting squeezed all day.

I finally decided to stretch out and see if I could find more room somewhere and I bumped my head on something. I got a horrible headache and a little bruise, but not long after I bumped my head I was able to see some bright lights. I thought I would hear my Mom but it was some other lady and she stuck this horrible thing in my nose! Boy did I let her know that I didn't like that.

It seemed like a really long time, but I finally got to see Mom and Dad after that. They just kept calling me Alex over and over, not real sure what that means! Oh well. Then tons of people came in and wanted to hold me and talk to me, but I got pretty sleepy and decided to take a nap with my Mom.