In the still of the night

I'm thankful for the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Nick at Nite. At 3 o' clock in the morning when the baby is screaming, my sanity is hanging by a thread, and all the other stations are playing "Paid Programming," Nick at Nite keeps it real with The Fresh Prince and for that I am grateful.

Home Again

Everything went wonderfully when Mia arrived last Thursday. I was induced, got the epidurral shortly after, and she was delivered late that afternoon after 2 1/2 pushes. She weighed 7 lbs. 10ozs. She has a full head of dark hair which will probably fall out before long! (Darek's did).

She's a champ at nursing, but how long does it take before I stop wanting to scream everytime she latches on? (Seriously, I can't remember - and it kills!). The nights are alright. She's usually up until about 12am-1am and wakes up every 1.5 to 2.5 hours - I'm surviving on adrenaline and sugar (thanks neighbors! :)

Darek is handling things pretty well. The first couple of days home were tricky. He acted like Blayne and I had betrayed him. It absolutely broke my heart - he didn't want me to sit by him, talk to him, or help him with anything. I cried after he went to bed our first night home. Luckily my parents were there to pour love and attention on him. He wanted my dad by his side constantly - all day long we'd hear him saying "Pop!" And my dad was there to play cars, read books, and run all over the house.

My mom left Thursday which also brought me to tears. I was seriously scared to be left alone with two kids. Plus she kept the house clean and everything humming, besides keeping me entertained. Luckily, Blayne has been wonderful and he has this week off work. All in all it's a trip to think that we're parents to 2 kids, but what a blessing.

Another Update and TheDressList.com

Blayne came home early! Yay! I went to the doctor on Monday and the baby's heart rate was really high, so they hooked me up to some monitors. They said I was having a lot of contractions and would most likely go into labor anytime. Welp, that got Blayne to come home, but sure enough the baby is still cooking. Now I'm going to be induced tomorrow, Thursday.

And in completely unrelated news, we're doing a $100 giveaway for my Website, TheDressList.com. To enter, you just write a comment and post the link, www.TheDressList.com, on your Blog or Facebook or MySpace. We can track the links and a winner will be chosen at random. Obviously it helps me spread the word so thanks to anyone who's up for it!

Update

4 more days 'til I'm induced.
3 more days 'til Blayne gets home.
2 more days 'til my mom gets here.

I'm feeling absolutely fine. In fact, at this point it still seems like I'm better off just keeping the baby inside, what with Darek waking up every night at some point screaming. But I really am excited.

I also want to give a shout out to the most wonderful neighbors on earth. They've given me freezer meals, kept our driveway cleared of snow, watched Darek, and have given constant offers of help. Although I occasionally bemoan the fact that we don't live near family, our wonderful neighbors have made up the difference.

Worrying

The bottom line is, I'm a worrier. I worry about everything I possibly can. And with a new baby coming very shortly, I have several things that keep me up at night besides heartburn and indigestion.

I'm due on Sunday, February 1st and Blayne will be out of town in Jacksonville, FL the Monday-Thursday leading up to that Sunday. The doctor said I could be induced on Sunday, Jan. 24 (the day before Blayne leaves) or Friday, Jan. 30 (the day after he gets home). My fear, of course, is that if I don't get induced on Sunday, the baby will come while Blayne is gone.

Welp, we've decided to risk it and be induced on Friday, Jan. 30th. I have wonderful friends and neighbors who have volunteered to help if the baby decides to come early. But that's not going to happen, right?

Christmas in Iowa

We flew to Iowa for Christmas this year and it was wonderful. All of my seven siblings, along with my grandfather, were there (and we all stayed in my parents' house).

I'm now just 4 weeks away from my due date and we're getting excited. We're reminded with the beginning of the New Year that everything we have comes from our Heavenly Father and that we're dependent on him. We're grateful for all that we've been blessed with.

Darek loved to sit on Aunt Grace's lap because she could get the dog to come sit with them too.



Cousins! It's definitely a love/hate relationship :). They loved being around each other, they hated sharing the toys.


My parents have a barn full of sheep and Darek absolutely loved feeding them.

My brother, Joe, and my niece, Reese.

(That's both Boston and Darek tackling Uncle Jackson.)