The Holly Wall

18 Month Update

2012-02-05T11:51:00.008-05:00

Wow...I can't believe Lainey is already 18 months old. Then again, other days I can't believe she's only 18 months old! She is growing and doing great. Even her hair is starting to come in a little thicker (but we're still a long way from hair clips and the like). She was 80% for height and 70% for weight. I can't remember the exact numbers now but she's about 25 pounds and like 32" inches or so. The doctor said she's doing great and she is!

What she lacks in hair, she more than makes up for in language skills. Seriously...the girl talks up a storm! I couldn't count all the words she says if I wanted to and she's getting really good at pronouns and short sentences ("I dropped it. I'll get it!"). She can repeat nearly anything we say and has started memorizing parts of songs and books and will sing/read along.

Our mini-Troy not only talks a lot like her Daddy but she is also totally OCD. One of her favorite things to say is, "Oh no! Made a mess!" She usually says this about our garage in general (and she is right...it is a mess). At least she knows who to attribute that to ("Ew...Daddy's mess!"). That's right.

It is nice that she can communicate so well because I understand that that is the root of many a toddler tantrum. But we definitely are not immune to these. She is already asserting her independence every chance she gets. Some days it seems like her favorite word is "no" (and if she's really annoyed, it has two syllables..."NO-uh!"). Our biggest battle lately has been brushing her teeth. This often ends up in screaming matches with her Daddy or I pinning her arms down and forcefully brushing her teeth for her. At least her mouth is usually open from the screaming. But it really doesn't get your day started right. The doctor told us to be persistent though and just battle through and brush anyway. She needs to know that we won't cave. I can't wait for this phase to pass. :-P Other things she really does not like include getting out of the bath, diaper changes, not eating the second she decides she is hungry and not getting the food that she wants. Hey, who doesn't like cottage cheese and turkey dogs with ketchup at every meal? And heaven help us if we don't have whatever fruit she happens to want.

But all in all...this is a good age. She can play by herself, she loves being read to and she is a cute, sweet & funny girl. Her personality is fun to watch and I can't wait to see how she does as a big sister. I think she will love it. I hope she will love it (and her baby sister).

Lainey with her buddy Jack Jack

Chilling in Jack Jack's recliner

Mini Troy

I told you we do what we have to do with the teeth brushing, even if that means doing it in the bath with the cat around.

Happy girl! Still loves that dang paci and bunny. I don't have high hopes of getting rid of either any time soon.

Doh-mesticated

2012-01-15T14:50:00.003-05:00

Well, folks, it's 2012 and I feel like I'm finally hitting my stride. Maybe it's nesting kicking in, but I feel like I'm finally getting into a comfortable groove with the whole work, mother, wife thing. I know, I know...I'm a little slow. When I told Troy this newsflash, he said, "Well, it's been over a decade...it's about time!"

I'm not sure why I feel so settled into things. Maybe it's the fact that Lainey's much more self-sufficient now. She's walking, she can feed herself (for the most part) and she can entertain herself in her playroom. I've also been a much better cook I think. I've never been very culinary but I've been trying out lots of new recipes lately and feel much more comfortable in the kitchen. I can't really take credit for the cleanliness of our house considering we have someone clean it every three weeks. But I do feel like I've been much better at managing my time at home in order to keep things tidy and cleaning up in between the cleaners.

You're probably thinking, "Well, that's great Holly. But you know you're getting ready to have another baby..." Yeah...that's why I wanted to jot this down now. I know in 3 months, things will be upside down again in this house so I wanted to remember the calm! Maybe so that when I get frustrated about not having any time with a newborn, I can read this and remember that it gets better and that I can handle it.

Seasonal Selection

2012-01-02T16:40:00.003-05:00

As the holidays are now wrapping up (yes, we're finally getting the last of our Christmas things stuffed back up in the attic), I wanted to reflect on one of the oddities of this time of year: seasonal foods. I can't think of any other time of the year when they briefly come out with such deliciousness only to take it away again. Why must I wait a whole year to have these treats again?? The only other thing I can think of that they do this to is Cadbury eggs at Easter (which coincidentally is my favorite candy...why do I always fall for the temporarily available things?). For the past week I've been scouring the local stores for my Cranberry Sierra Mist but I think it's all gone. So good-bye non-stop Christmas music, festive lights and Pumpkin Spice Coffeemate. So long holiday classics on ABC Family each evening and white-fudge covered Oreos. Oh, how I will miss you all...

Christmas 2011...better late than never

2011-12-31T14:04:00.014-05:00

Ah...this has been such a nice Christmas break! I realized not too long ago that I had several vacation days left and since they're use it or lose it, I decided to take them all at the end of the year. I took the 16th off but took Lainey to April's and spent the day doing my errands and baking all of my holiday treats. I might have to start doing that every year! I made 9 loaves of pumpkin bread, 2 batches of peppermint bark, 2 batches of pumpkin-spiced oatmeal pecan cookies, 2 batches of Chex Mix (one regular and one extra seasoned) and a batch of reindeer munch. I tell you...I never felt so domesticated. I even put on an apron and got my stand mixer out. I loved it! Meanwhile, I'd thrown a put of chili together and I had some of my best girlfriends over for a little birthday party for myself. We had a good time just hanging out, talking and eating. I wish we could do that every weekend!

Back to my vacation plans...my last day in the office was the 21st. On the 22nd, Lainey and I went to Jamestown and Troy joined us around dinner time. We did Christmas with my family on the 23rd. And I mean, basically my whole family. My Grandmother and an Aunt & Uncle on my Mom's side were there and then all of my Dad's sisters and various other parts of their families were there. It was a packed house and so much fun! Lainey of course had to entertain everyone and she got a ridiculous amount of gifts, including a little kitchen, books, a purse, a baby doll and stroller and various other things.

Christmas Eve morning we got up early and made our way to Goldsboro because we needed to be there by 10:00 for the annual brunch. We stopped at our house on the way to unload the gifts and then we were off. Sort of. We had a little snafu on our way out of town. I had Lainey in her cute Christmas dress (see our visit with Santa). Troy and I were driving separately because we knew we needed the 4Runner for presents while the Honda would have our luggage (totally need a minivan). Troy being oh so patient, he took off out of our neighborhood to get to brunch while I loaded Lainey in the Honda. I had just gotten on 540 to scoot around Raleigh when Lainey started saying she needed a diaper. Well, I couldn't just leave her in a dirty diaper and I thought I smelled her so I called Troy and told him I was going to pull off to change her and then get right back on. Long story short(-ish)...you cannot trust a 17-month old. I stopped at a gas station (because I needed gas too and thought I'd be smart and do both). I checked her and she was just a little wet. Since I already had her tights and everything off, I figured I'd change her really quickly in the backseat while getting gas. But I guess when that cool air hit her little bare rear end, it made her have to go. So now she had managed to pee all over herself and the backseat. Oops! How could I made such a rookie mistake this late in the game? I called Troy who of course was about 30 minutes ahead of me at this point. So I did what I could with a few napkins and wipes and stripped her down. We arrived in Goldsboro with her wearing a diaper and jacket and covered up with my sweater like a blanket. But the good news is that we made it to brunch!

The rest of our time in Goldsboro was much more relaxing and again, Lainey racked up. Don't get me wrong, we did too. Troy got a remote-controlled helicopter and cornhole boards and I got Tupperware and a new robe. These are the things we asked for...why does it sound like I'm elderly and married to a 12 year-old?

Anyways...here are a few pics to recap the festivities (in reverse order because I don't feel like shuffling them around). :)

Photo Up & Over-Load

2011-12-20T22:10:00.009-05:00

Okay, I have a bunch of cute pics of Lainey lately that I just have to share because they make me laugh when I look at them. :)

First, a few more pictures from our day at the mall when we visited with Santa. This first pic is of her enjoying some fries at the Cheesecake Factory. She was super excited about them and somehow apparently knows the word "fries" because she requested them over & over:

The second & third pictures are immediately following the Santa encounter. That is one salty-looking baby. You'd think she was traumatized. I suppose she was considering moments after these pictures, she was sound asleep. Poor thing.

The holidays are a busy time and require some multi-tasking. They can also be a little stressful...

But let's not forget the "reason for the season" and try to enjoy the magic and wonder that it brings! :)

Merry Christmas!!

Santa Claus is coming to town...

2011-12-18T11:56:00.007-05:00

Santa's been hanging out at all of the local malls since, oh, Halloween I think. last weekend, we had to go to the mall so I gritted my teeth and decided I would put Lainey in her Christmas dress, "just in case." I did not have super high hopes but I at least had the forethought to change out of the pink sweater I originally had one and throw on a green shirt in the event that I ended up in the Santa picture. This was a wise move indeed. Behold the 2011 Santa picture for the Bentons:

Thankfully Crabtree Mall has the best system ever. When I saw the short line for Santa, I thought we had lucked out and hopped in line. Then one of Santa's elves with a laptop came down the line and asked if we were registered. No, I said, but the line was so short I thought I would take advantage. "Um, there's actually a 2-hour wait right now. You have to register and we text you when you should come get in line." Genius! So I gave her my cell number and we went and had lunch at Cheesecake Factory with Troy's Mom and her friends who had joined her for the mall trip. Sometime while wandering around Belks, I got a text that the wait was approximately 12 minutes and there were 9 people in front of us. So off we went and got in the super short line for Santa. Lainey was great because we weren't in line that long and I went ahead and took a few pictures just in case things didn't work out with the Big Guy:

Then it was our turn. Lainey insisted I carry her to Santa and then she just kind of stared at him. She warmed up a little and even gave him a high-five (after I did). But when Santa asked if she wanted to sit in his lap, he got a big ol', "No!" So Santa said, "Mom, how about you sit on my lap and put her on the far side away from me?" So that is what we did. I was so concerned with not putting my full weight on the poor guy and crushing his lap that I didn't even check to make sure Lainey's dress was straight or anything. But I think the picture turned out pretty cute, especially after Santa grabbed a stuffed reindeer for Lainey to snuggle (smart guy...he's done this a few times I think).

The other good part of that day was that it was my last trip to the mall for this year (I hope!). I am done with all of my shopping, save a quick trip to Target today to grab one last item. I was very pleased with this holiday season for our house. I had our house completely decorated and ready to enjoy just after Thanksgiving. All of the bins and boxes that the Christmas decorations came out of were stashed in the now-empty spare bedroom, along with all of the gifts and wrapping accoutrement. I even took last Friday off and spent the day doing my holiday baking and treat making for the neighbors. My only grievance this year has been that it has been an especially warm December. And because of that I think, people have not been so quick to haul out their decorations. It is sad when driving down my street, there was only one lonely house that was decorated (until you got to our end of the street). I made Troy get out there and put out our lights weeks ago so that motivated our immediate neighbors to do the same but otherwise, our neighborhood has been a bit lackluster this year. In any case, I think I'm going to suggest we drive around and look at the lights tonight, even if we have to wander a bit.

Happy Holidays to you all!

The Holiday Season

2011-12-03T13:46:00.007-05:00

There is just something about this time of year. It is my favorite time of year, and not because my birthday is tucked away in there somewhere (don't worry, I nearly forget about it now too). No, there is just something magical and almost tangible in the air!

One magical thing so far this season: Rowdy is now behaving! He must have known how close he was to becoming someone else's problem because for the past week, he's been totally normal again. No more messes on the carpet and he's even been a lot more social. He must be feeling the sentiment of the season too!

Our Thanksgiving was very nice. Lainey was able to partake this year and thoroughly enjoyed that. My parents loved having us and seeing Lainey running around now (yes, running...the thing about waiting until you're absolutely sure you can walk is that you're pretty much a pro from your first steps). She is so cute toddling around! She used to Franken-baby with her arms in the air or swagger around like a tiny cowgirl but now she looks much more normal. She kept my parents entertained with all of her new sayings, like, "Move!" (yeah, we're working on adding "please" to that), "Eat your food!" (accompanied by a wagging finger) and "mess!" As you can tell, she's becoming quite the little bossy-pants. Her Daddy is also teaching her some key phrases, like, "poots" (while pointing to her rear end or calling it out when she hears someone else poot) and "giney" for her vajay-jay which she has discovered during diaper changes. Thanks Troy. :-P But even though her vocabulary isn't the most scholastic, we are rather impressed with it. She picks up about a new word a day it seems. This week has been "tree" (Christmas tree appearing in her living room), "man" (for every snowman she sees) and "nasty" (April apparently says this a lot while changing their diapers and said now Lainey goes around telling the boys they're nasty).

As for the other little nugget, she is thriving and kicking! I'm 23 weeks this weekend and "blossoming" as one coworker said. Better than a male coworker who say me and said, "Whoa...you got big! When are you due? Man, you have a long way to go." Ah...back to those fun days! My third trimester with Lainey was pretty much made up of people telling me how huge I was so I expect nothing less this time around. :)

So getting back to the magic of the season...I am slowly decorating. Lainey likes the sparkly "balls" on the tree and swats at them more than the cats. Actually, the cats just like to sleep under the tree and otherwise leave it alone. I'm thinking I'm going to take a day off work and stay home and bake which I am oddly excited about. I have made sure that I'm stocked up on things that I think one needs for baking, like vanilla extract and baking soda. This should be an adventure! But being home by myself, baking and blasting Christmas music seems like a pretty perfect day right about now. I almost wish it would snow! :)

Sh*tty Kitty

2011-11-17T21:38:00.003-05:00

Okay, veering off the baby course for a moment here to reach out to the blogosphere for some help/advice/just to vent.

So...for those who aren't familiar, we have two cats. Lately one of our cats has been having some behavioral issues. Namely, he's been "messing" on our floors. I have taken him to the vet and they have determined there is nothing physically wrong with him and that it is totally behavioral. This is unfortunately not the first time I've gone through this with him. While Troy was deployed and I lived at home, he also started having behavioral issues. That time he was throwing up blood. After a $500 trip to the emergency vet, it was determined that he was "stressed" and was put on Buspar (the anti-anxiety medicine that people take). That helped and then when we moved into our house, I was able to ween him off of it. Well, now he's having this lovely issue and I am at my wits end. Obviously, we cannot have an animal pooping around our house with a toddler and another baby on the way. Like I said, I took him to the vet last weekend to implore them for some help and they were basically no help at all. This vet obviously blamed us. Like, it was our fault for going and having kids and upsetting Rowdy's delicate world. Well, I hate to tell you but the people come first in this house. The vet recommended that we put litter boxes all over the house, try various litters to see what texture he likes best and get a $55 pheromone diffuser. As stupid as all that sounds, I did many of those suggestions (Troy was not happy about the diffuser...I think we're gonna try to take it back). Everything was great...for 4 days. Now he is worse than before. He is still pooping all over the house but this time with gusto. It's not just a steaming pile on the dining room rug (which is a hand-dyed one-of-a-kind that Troy lugged back from Afghanistan mind you). This time it is little piles all over the place...all over the loft (on the other rug from Afghanistan, natch), down the stairs, on the carpet...all kinds of fun places. Oh, and this time there is blood in his stool. And he won't eat. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH HIM??? Troy is totally at the end of his rope. He tells me every day that I just need to say the word and the cat will be gone and I'm not allowed to ask questions. But I just can't. Rowdy is 8 years old and we have had him his whole life. Plus, I know that taking him to the pound would be a death sentence for him. If he's having these kinds of "stressful episodes" at our house, I can't imagine how he would act elsewhere and they would surely put him down. I DO NOT need this stress in my life. Every day when I come home from work and find some new mess on the floor, I just want to grab him and throw him out the door. But I feel bad because I know he is acting out because we have Lainey and another one on the way and our lives aren't like they used to be when he was a happy lap cat. Honestly, we never even see him anymore. He basically lives under the guest bed and comes out when we're not here to sh*t all over the floor.

Whew! Sorry, I needed to unload a bit (no pun intended). But seriously...if anyone has any suggestions (really...anything...I am desperate), please please let me know. Otherwise I'm afraid our sweet Rowdy will not get to live here much longer.

It's a girl!

2011-11-17T21:17:00.005-05:00

I think most people were guessing girl this time around. We do make cute ones. ;) But yes, Nugget #2 is indeed a little girl! Troy called it the second the ultrasound tech moved into that area. He was like, "I've seen that before!" I was really excited. As much as I complained about the fact that we didn't get our ultrasound until nearly 21 weeks (with Lainey it was around 18 weeks), I'm now glad for the wait. The baby looks so much more developed and we got great pictures of her! They gave us a disk with them and we got a few 3D pictures and it is amazing how much she already looks like Lainey.

After our appointment, we decided to go to Buy Buy Baby. And I have to admit...it just wasn't that exciting. Since we're leaving the nursery as-is, there really wasn't much to look at. After making our rounds of the store, we decided that the only things we'll need to purchase for this little girl will be furniture (Lainey's will go with her to her new room) and a double stroller. So we looked at the furniture and picked out a set that we like and I had already done research on the stroller so we briefly checked it out. And...that was it! Then it was on to dinner because Troy said he "needed a drink."

So more to come but we're very excited about having another little girl. I think Lainey will love being a big sister and I think this little girl will probably want to be just like Lainey. We're still working on a name...we have one that stands out but I want to marinate on it a bit and make sure it's the one before releasing that information.

20 Weeks - Halfway!

2011-11-13T21:38:00.006-05:00

I know I have slacked off on a few weeks' worth of pregnancy posts lately but really, there hasn't been anything all that interesting going on. I am steadily getting bigger but I feel about the same. A few pluses that I've noticed this time around: I don't get up to pee very often in the night and my boobs aren't super sore. Those may not seem like very exciting things but believe me, it helps! My muscle pain is still pretty bad but it's clearly just one of those things I'll have to deal with this go-round.

Here are a few pictures to show my progression as of late:

This was me at 15 1/2 weeks. I'm not sure why the picture is so bad but it gives you an idea.

There I was at 17 weeks. And here I was the other day at 20 weeks:

I can't tell if I think I'm huge this time around or not. I don't feel especially large but I think I might look a bit bigger than this time with Lainey. The other day at work, I was walking down the hall and my coworker was exclaiming that from the front, I don't even look pregnant and how cute my bump is. Little did she know that I had just come from cutting the waistband of my pantyhose because they were strangling my muffin top.

Big or not, this is an exciting week for us. We find out on Thursday what we're having! I feel a little bad because we have not darkened the door of a baby store for this little nugget so far and with Lainey, we went every Sunday just about. But we've been waiting to find out what we're having because that will make all the difference on what we need to purchase (and if we need to do things like repaint the partially pink nursery). So...plenty more to update later this week!

October Recap - Part 3: Halloween

2011-11-13T21:17:00.006-05:00

Okay, final post about October...but I wanted to share a couple of pictures from Halloween. It really wasn't very eventful this year. It rained so we only went next door and across the street and we had about 10 trick-or-treaters. Last year, we had a ton of kids that were bused into our neighborhood so I bought a huge bag of candy. So...now I have most of a huge bag of candy left in my house. Troy and I have slowly been working on it but I think I should take it to work or something to get rid of it (although I'll probably just keep it at my desk and eat it there instead of here...doh!).

Anyways...here is what you all want to see:

Lainey was not loving her bee costume at first.

Mainly because the hood part was too big on her tiny noggin. But things improved and she didn't seem to mind after awhile.

Especially when she got candy! Which I then took away from her. But she liked shaking it just as well.

October Recap - Part 2: Zoo Trip

2011-11-09T20:36:00.008-05:00

Okay, I might get caught up on October before this month is halfway over! :)

So, the second weekend in the month we went to the zoo. I love going to the zoo! This time we went with two sets of neighbors who have kids a little older & younger than Lainey. The weather was awesome and we all had a good time. Lainey didn't totally get the animals unless they were really close and obvious but she had fun.

Lainey's first glimpse of animals...giraffes!

A bunch of monkeys...

Despite everything there is to see at the zoo, this was by far Lainey's favorite activity of the day:

Yup, she just wanted to play in the rocks by the walkway. She pitched a fit when we made her move on so we could see the rest of the zoo. We are such mean parents. :)

I love that you can see her delighted face in the reflection of the glass.

She really enjoyed this turtle because it kept swimming right up by the glass and she thought that was pretty neat.

It was a fun day and everyone was worn out by the end of it!

October Recap - Part 1: Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-05T21:17:00.011-04:00

I know it's November and all know, but I am just getting around to posting about all of the fun stuff we did last month! Here's how it went...

The first weekend of the month, we went to a local pumpkin patch. Not the giant one that everyone talks about around Raleigh but a great smaller one that is right near our neighborhood. It was perfect.

Lainey got to wear her little Halloween shirt, it was already feeling like fall and she had a great time.

She played in the corn crib...

She got to pet the bunny in the country store...

She enjoyed picking out a pumpkin and the hay ride...

Well, mostly enjoyed the hayride (she didn't want to sit in our laps).

Lots of fun and we got two pumpkins! But this is my favorite little punkin:

15 Months

2011-11-01T21:26:00.008-04:00

We went for Lainey's 15 month appointment last week. She is doing great and growing! She's a little more than 21 pounds (45%) and 31 inches (70%). Tall & skinny...there are worse problems to have!

The doctor was impressed with her vocabulary (she says 30 or so words) and said that is a direct link to intelligence. She is a smart little thing! She talks all the time and even strings short phrases together.

She's been wearing 18 month clothes for awhile now and just recently moved to size 4 diapers. We're still working on walking. She can do it (she started taking some steps on her own weekend before last!) but she still prefers to cruise or hold our hands. She'll get her confidence up though and will be walking all over soon enough. She's also still slowly growing some hair (which is still a strawberry blond).

Here are some pictures from a recent shopping trip (the girl loves to shop!). It started out fun...

She shopped til she dropped...

She then threw a little tantrum when we got home...

Such a cool girl...she likes her Barbie sunglasses. Or mine...

Snuggle with my Snoogle

2011-10-11T21:33:00.001-04:00

Since I was off for the Columbus Day holiday, Lainey and I met my Mom at Southpoint to do some shopping. We had a great time and I got some more maternity clothes for work (like, nice ones…from a real maternity store and not Target or Old Navy!). While I was in the store, I also picked up this little number. Fun looking? Yes. Comfortable? Ooooh yes.

I think you're all aware of my super-cheap tendencies, which extended to all of my maternity purchases last time. When I was pregnant with Lainey, I just bought a regular old body pillow at Target and then later, a belly wedge. Those got me through the little aches and such I had that time around. Well, that wasn't going to cut it this go-round. My sciatica is so bad that my tailbone, back and hips just ache pretty much all the time. Every time I sit down, something pops and it's just generally uncomfortable. We have already purchased a new mattress to try to help alleviate my pain at night. And while it has helped, it just can't provide the support a bunch of pillows can. Sunday night I was awake in the middle of the night for about an hour and a half because of it. So I grabbed a regular pillow and put it between my legs. Then I grabbed a smaller pillow and shoved it under my belly. Then the body pillow was added to give me support behind my back. The next morning, Troy got up and went running and when he came back, he said he thought someone else had crawled in the bed with me at first. Let's just say, it's a good thing we have a king-size bed! So that's where the Snoogle comes into the picture. I told Troy I was going to look for one of those enormous maternity pillows. He looked a little frightened at first but then he glanced at the overstuffed bed and agreed.

Wow. Why didn't I get one of these the last time? I whipped that thing out last night and climbed into bed (really…I had to get over the thing!) and wound it around me and went right to sleep. I woke up some in the night but that was more because I had to go to the bathroom than anything else. It was so comfy! I think this morning was the first morning in a long time (um, maybe ever in this pregnancy) where I woke up feeling refreshed and okay with hitting the button on the alarm clock at 5:45 to get up.

Thank you Snoogle!

14 & 15 Weeks

2011-10-09T18:20:00.002-04:00

Time keeps trucking along! Fall is proving to be pretty busy for us and even when we don't have every moment scheduled, we keep managing to find stuff to do because this time of year is just awesome. But...the update!

- Boobs are now huge again (for serious). But I can still kind of sleep on my stomach and I don't have to wear a sports bra all the time so there's that.
- Yes...the sleeping on my stomach is definitely going away as my belly gets larger.
- Oh the sciatica. I stepped wrong in Target today and it took my breath away. I've started sleeping with a pillow between my legs because I've heard that helps.
- I think I have have started to feel some little movements. Nothing strong obviously but just a little something a few times to let me know there's a person growing in there.
- Still favoring salty foods. Can you believe there is a red velvet cupcake in my fridge right now that's like 3 days old? And a bunch of cookies that have hardly been touched? But I thought about a pickle the other morning at 9:30 and my mouth started watering.
- I'm slowly easing into my maternity wear again. I actually haven't worn any maternity pants to work yet but I have to wear my belly band all the time. Shirts are a little tougher but there are still some I can get away with.

The baby is an apple this week. I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is going! But 6 more weeks until our big ultrasound.

13 weeks

2011-09-24T07:35:00.002-04:00

I went to the doctor yesterday and got to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Everything sounded good! Of course I had a little list of questions in my purse but when the doctor (finally) came in and asked if I had any questions, I cheerily exclaimed, "Nope!" Doh...I always do that. Oh well...it wasn't anything big deal. I got my flu shot while there and that was my main question so there's that. I was a little disappointed to learn that I go back in 4 weeks for another heartbeat check and then 4 weeks after that for my ultrasound. I was thinking that I would go back in like 5 weeks from now and they would do my ultrasound but I guess we have to wait 8 weeks to see this little peanut.

The quick update:
- Still feel good...about the same
- Of course I didn't get around to organizing my maternity clothes last weekend but this really needs to happen as I have less & less that I can wear
- Can still sleep on my stomach!
- My 92 year old grandmother and I both have sciatica
- Still the same tastes in food...could have soup every day for lunch and be happy
- The belly is growing! Definitely have a little bump now. A coworker even asked me the other day if I was pregnant just based on a glance at my belly. Which is a good thing but of course my first thought was, "Oh my gosh...I must look fat!" I think I have some issues.

12 Weeks

2011-09-18T07:42:00.002-04:00

Last week of the first trimester! Then the fun "mester" can begin. :) Not that this one's been too bad...here's a recap of the past week:

- Still sleeping on my stomach! :)
- All sick feelings are gone.
- No real cravings...still prefer salty over sweet and not a huge fan of meat.
- I can still button a few pairs of pants but everything else gets the belly band.
- Wore a maternity top for the first time on Friday (because I feel like all my other tops right now just make me look fat, not pregnant...the worst part about the first trimester in my opinion!).

I'm looking forward to about a month from now. That is the most fun part...I'll actually look pregnant, we'll hopefully find out what we're having (you all know I like to plan for stuff) and I should start to feel the baby moving. But all in all, things are good! I, for one, am enjoying the recent change in the weather. I think it's the perfect time to transition to my maternity clothes so my goal for today is to get them out and readily accessible in the closet and bedroom. Oh, and the baby this week is a lime.

The joke's on us!

2011-09-11T17:07:00.002-04:00

I feel like I'm always apologizing for my absence on here lately. But this time, it was because I had big news to share but just couldn't share it yet. Yup, you guessed it...Baby #2! Our due date is tentatively April 1st...or April Fool's Day. ;) That doesn't bother me because I know some lovely people born on that date. Also, when I went for my first real doctor's appointment, she had me measuring about 4 days earlier than that so I think we're looking at the end of March. But either way, holy cow, we're having another baby!

In case you, like me, are not great at math (especially trying to count backwards), that puts me at a little over 11 weeks along. This pregnancy has been very different than with Lainey (which Troy of course is taking to mean it's a boy but we'll see!). With Lainey, I instantly had sore boobs and lived in a bra 24/7 and couldn't sleep on my stomach. This time, no soreness in my chestal region (which Troy attributes to them being "broken in" now...he's probably right. Poor boobs.). I also did have some nausea and I never had that with Lainey. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad and has pretty much passed now. And probably a good thing, I have not been craving sweets or ice cream. Instead, I want salty foods and oddly enough, I could have a salad with every meal. I even fixed one at 10:00 the other night and Troy just shook his head. Hey, it could be worse, right?? Basically, if I could have Olive Garden's soup, salad and bread sticks every day, I would be one happy preggo.

This past week I went back and read the blogs of some friends who have had a second child and it was kind of fun to read about their pregnancies the second time around. Since this time I have a nice layer of padding around my middle, plus my uterus decided to instantly gain about 5 pounds, I'm already wearing my belly band and imagine my full maternity wear won't be too far off.

The baby is already about the size of a fig and my next doctor's appointment is in about 2 weeks. We have one little ultrasound and could see the flutter of Baby #2's little heart. We're really excited and obviously a little nervous since Lainey will be about 20 months when this next one comes along! Good thing she is such a good baby. Especially since everyone tells us that this next one will probably be quite the handful just because that's the way things go. I guess time will tell! And I'll be sure to keep you posted. I'm going to make an effort to be much better about blogging to document this pregnancy. For reals...I know I always say that. But I really will try.

Now...I think it's time to go fix a salad...

What a difference a year makes

2011-08-08T17:48:00.003-04:00

I am a total slacker at this blog and I apologize. Lainey turned one on July 21st and I am just now getting around to posting about it! Here are the stats...weight: 20 lbs, 4.5 oz (45%), height: um, yeah...I can't remember but I know it was 70%. "Tall & skinny!" the doctor proclaimed when she walked in. Everything else was of course fine and she is healthy and developing just perfectly.

The Saturday after her actual birthday, we went and had professional pictures done at UNC's campus. We should be getting the proofs soon and I can't wait to see them! Although it was about a million degrees at 9:00 a.m. so we'll probably all look extra shiny.

Later that day, we had her birthday party. I thought it turned out really well! We resisted the urge to go overboard and invited friends & family over for some burgers & dogs...and cake of course! After polling FB, I ordered the cakes from Harris Teeter and was very pleased. Apparently if you order for your one year old when you're still pregnant, you can get the little "patty cake" for free. I did not plan so well in advance so I just paid the $6 for it. And it was worth it because she loved it!! Mostly the icing...she was peeling off handfuls of it and stuffing it in her mouth. But hopefully someone got some cute pics and will actually pass them along (???).

We had a good crowd though and it was really nice because all 3 of Lainey's great grandmothers (2 of them getting ready to turn 92!) were able to be here for it.

So what has Lainey been up to lately? Generally being cute & sweet and doing all of her "tricks." She still likes to do animal noises and she babbles all the time. She is quite adept at cellphone usage and can navigate her Aunt Lala's iPhone without issue. Her new thing is texting...she gets my phone and does those little thumbs. Ah, they grow up so fast these days!

We transitioned to milk & sippy cups only without issue which I was pleasantly surprised about! We'd been giving her water in a cippy cup for awhile now and for the last two weeks before she turned one, we made her last bottle of the day half with whole milk. Since she did fine, the doctor recommended just going cold turkey to all milk and no bottles. So we did and she seems perfectly happy with that!

She's also getting better & better at signing. She picks them up so quickly now! I showed her the sign for "sleep" just once and she now does that when I ask if she's sleepy. Not that it isn't obvious though because she will come over to me and lay her head in my lap or get the blanket off the couch and rub it on her face. :) So sweet! She also signs "more" and "hungry" and "please." The other day, I fed her lunch and then ate my own. We had similar lunches except that she had lima beans while I was having leftover mashed potatoes. She was really acting like she wanted my potatoes so I let her have a bite. Well, then she starts emphatically leaning over and going "uh! uh!" so I said, "What do you say?" and she signed "more" & "please" back-to-back. So obviously I had to give her all my potatoes because it was just so cute. The best was when I said, "That's right. More please!" and she signed "more" again and then said "eeese!" That kid sure is cute. Not that she isn't fully aware of that fact! :)

She's also getting a ton of teeth (at least 3 up top) and growing some more hair. It's a little slow to come in, but there are funny long strands now and the back is filling in nicely.

I can't believe she's already one. I must say, it's been a pretty awesome year! My only complaint is not getting to spend enough time with Troy & Lainey but maybe one day our schedules will slow down a little more to allow us more family time. For now, I'm just enjoying what I've got! :)

Friday Night Lights Out

2011-07-16T10:53:00.002-04:00

We lead such an exciting life now. Just a recap of yesterday evening:

- Went straight from work to home, picking up Lainey on the way
- Fed Lainey dinner
- Night-time ritual of bottle, brushing (both) teeth, book and bed
- Ate dinner
- Cleaned up from dinner
- Went to bed

Please note that bedtime was about 9:00. The sun was still setting. Oh, I did forget to mention that I read my new Parents magazine once in bed so I actually didn't go to sleep until 9:30-ish.

Who am I??? I was listening to Katy Perry's "Friday Night" yesterday. That was (somewhat) us just a couple of years ago and now this. I suppose we're getting (gulp) older and we are in the family way now. But surely it doesn't have to be like this!

I think we're going to have to enlist a baby-sitter soon and do something crazy. Oh yeah...I think we might go see Harry Potter. Party time!! ;)

4th of July

2011-07-10T15:56:00.011-04:00

We had a very busy but fun 4th. We originally weren't planning on doing anything but then last minute decided to do everything. After I got off work on Friday, we drove down to Hampstead where my parents have a condo (it's not on the beach but relatively near the beach). My parents and my sister were also there for the weekend.

On Saturday, despite the heat and smoke from the nearby forest fire, we headed out to Topsail Beach for Lainey's first beach trip. I knew it wasn't a great start considering she wouldn't take her morning nap so she got about 10 minutes of sleep in the car. Then when we got there and got her out of the car, she somehow got sunscreen in her eyes. So that was not fun. Even with my washing her face with a wet clean washcloth (at least I was smart and packed that in a Ziploc bag!), there's just not really anything you can do about it until it runs out. So she cried and screamed for about an hour and a half and I think that did the trick to get it all out.

I had idealized visions of her playing in the sand and taking a peaceful nap on a blanket while listening to the ocean waves but that was a joke. However, once she had a little lunch (some applesauce and Cheerios with a sprinkling of sand I'm sure), she was much better. And she loved the water! She is definitely a water baby.

So that was only 1/3 of our 4th weekend whirlwind. Sunday morning, we got up and left my parents' condo to go to Goldsboro. We went to Troy's aunt & uncle's house to spend all day Sunday hanging out at their backyard pool. Man, that was nice! It was so relaxing and pleasant. Lainey loved just hanging out in the pool, no matter if just in our arms, in her float or on a float with us.

I need to re-remind myself to stop doing that with my chin in pictures.

Anyway! So that was fun and relaxing. We spend the night and then on Monday we went to Troy's Mom's house to spend the day. They live on a small lake and that is where our jetski lives. Have I not told you the story of they jetski? Ah, another time...but the condensed version is, we have a jetski that Troy rebuilt that lives at their house. That ended up being a fun day but started out with me spending most of it in the house by myself because Lainey was napping while everyone else played outside. It's okay though...after she got up and more people showed up (meaning more people to help watch the little ones), I was able to go play on the water too. I didn't take any pictures outside, but I did get some of Lainey in her patriotic onesie and jeggings. Now that she's crawling, she finds dresses problematic, even though they are so cute.

Turtle

2011-06-19T11:45:00.004-04:00

I've probably been called many things in my day but Speedy has never been one of them. At least, not without a hearty dose of sarcasm. It seems that Lainey has picked up this trait as well. She is just kind of poky! :) Lately she has been taking about 45 minutes to eat dinner and she waited until just shy of turning 11 months to start crawling. Yup, that's right folks...we've got a mobile munchkin!

Troy was gone for 2 weeks for his Annual Army Training. Being a pseudo single parent for that time was tough, but that is another post. But before he left, Lainey was getting so close. She was finally figuring out how to get up in the crawling position (if she could just get that pesky leg to cooperate...) and I was just hoping she would hold off. I assured Troy, "Hey, she's waited this long. Surely she can wait two measly weeks!" Yeah...not so much. She put it all together and starting crawling the Wednesday before the weekend that he came home. I hadn't told him (or anyone) because he'd said he didn't want to know. So Friday evening he comes home. And he's unpacking and he shows me the medal that he was awarded for his general awesomeness and Lainey seemed interested in it. He placed it a little away from her to "encourage" her along and of course she crawled over to it. He looks up at me and I'm all, "Ohh...wow. Did you see that? That is something...she just crawled." And he was all, "Uh-huh. Somehow I get the feeling that's not the first time she's done that." I like to think it's a good thing that I'm such a bad liar.

So anyways...my poky little nugget. She's moving! But she moves at turtle speed. And just as I suspected, she is not all over the place. She simply crawls to get to something and then she happily sits up and plays with whatever it was she went to get.

In other Lainey news, she is also (finally) getting her second tooth (two months after the appearance of her first tooth at 9 months). She eats like a champ and is still our little chatterbox. She says, "uh-oh" in the appropriate context, points at our cats and says "Ow" (that's her meow) and goes "woo woo" whenever she hears a dog bark. She loves loves loves the kiddie pool my parents bought for her and is a generally happy and sweet girl! :)

Updates & stuff

2011-06-05T09:12:00.003-04:00

Things have been busy busy at the Benton household. Lainey is growing and seems like she learns a new "trick" every day. Yesterday, she whistled. Swear! She did it three times. Thankfully Troy was there to hear it too because at first I wasn't sure that's what I really heard. Too funny. We have also been making lazy attempts at teaching her some basic signs. So far she has yet to sign anything back to us. Instead, she's gone straight to answering us. When I do the sign for "more" when feeding her, she has taken to nodding or shaking her head in reply. Where does she pick these things up??

Yesterday she and I met my Mom in Burlington to do a little shopping. I was actually able to find some things which was a nice change. And the only things purchased for Lainey were a cute little food tray (can't wait for her to hurl that at my face) and a hat because my Mom decided I need to have one to keep in the car at all times. :) I also decided that I should buy a new bathing suit top. I just don't feel comfortable wearing my old bikinis with my post-breastfeeding boobies and post-C section belly. Also, you apparently can't lose those last 10 pounds of baby weight by not exercising and eating lots of junk. Go figure. So...I was on the quest for a tankini. Now, am I mistaken or did they not used to have cute ones? It seems that only octogenarians wear these nowadays as those were the only types that I found. It's like Tommy Bahama's grandmother out there, y'all. I finally found a decent top that I will pair with some plain black bottoms I already own. It will go lovely with my lily white legs!!

In other news...there's not much other news. Troy's business is doing really well. In fact, he's considering hiring someone later this summer (so if you know anyone with an interest in IT, let me know). I'm in a little bit of denial that my baby will be a year old soon. But I better get on the ball if I plan on actually doing anything for that milestone!

More pics to come soon. :)

10 months

2011-05-21T11:48:00.007-04:00

Lainey is 10 months old today! Soo...perfect time for me to do her belated 9 month upadate. ;) At nine months, she was 18 lbs 5 oz and 27 3/4" long (45% and 50%). So right on track and healthy as can be! She is such a funny girl. She seems to be pretty advanced as far as language and fine motor skills but not so much with stuff like crawling or moving.

She still just has the one tooth but has been teething off and on so I'm sure more will be coming along soon enough. She's been doing great with finger foods! I haven't pureed anything in awhile. Her absolute favorite thing has been chunks of cheddar but she also seems to really like chicken and hamburger. Her old favorites, peas and green beans, have now dropped to the bottom of the list but she is still a good eater and eats and pretty balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy (cottage cheese is another favorite and is often how I sneak veggies in which is totally gross).

Like I said, she loves to talk and make noises. She says "Uh-oh!" and "cat" every now and then and other than that, it's lots of baby talk and such. She can clap and wave really well and has recently been trying to blow kisses (she does it with the back of her hand but that's pretty close). She figured out the sippy cup and snack cup (you know, one of these) both on about the second time trying. She has also recently begun to get frustrated over the fact that she can't move but just gets really angry if you try to get her in a crawling position. She seems to have a double dose of stubborn, being a Benton and a Burkehart. Oh boy! That will be especially fun in a couple of years, I'm sure.

Anyways, she is a great baby. She goes down ridiculously easy for naps and bedtime (she seriously loves her crib!). She loves books and music and the kitties (although they don't seem to return the love). She has a generally sweet disposition but she can get, uh, fiesty. She's definitely a little girl as she can be kind of prissy about stuff (it took her awhile to be okay with picking up banana pieces because they're squishy).

We're just really enjoying watching her grow and discover new things all the time!

I dunno...she seems kind of bored with us though. ;)

Easter

2011-04-27T21:09:00.013-04:00

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. You probably got either Friday or Monday off and are therefore refreshed. I did not (it is a state holiday but not a bank holiday apparently). But I still had a great weekend!

Saturday was my Dad's birthday. The fam-bam all got together for dinner at my parents' house. Three somewhat odd things about the day:

1) It's not only my Dad's birthday, but his younger sister's and their mother's (but she passed away several years ago).

2) After dinner as we were all hanging out in the living room, the picture over my parents' mantle just fell off the wall and went crashing to the floor out of nowhere (loud bang, glass shattering...). We think Grandma was upset that she was missing out on the festivities. :)

3) Lainey got her first tooth for her Grandpa's birthday!

(You can't see it but it's there!)

Then Sunday was obviously Easter. My Mom bought Lainey an Easter ensemble, complete with one of those headbands with the giant fake flower, white sweater and matching sandals. The sandals were the only thing she actually wore (besides the dress, of course).

She was surprisingly good in church. I did have puffs though...and timed it to give her a bottle during the sermon. Sneaky sneaky! But she also enjoyed just people watching and playing with the bulletin so that works too.

After the service, everyone got a flower to put in the big cross outside. Lainey really got a kick out of that!

I know you're probably thinking, "Aw, what a cute family!" but it takes work to get a shot like that. Most of them turned out something like this:

Yeah...

Brace yourselves...

2011-04-23T14:06:00.005-04:00

You will no longer have to hear about my boobies! I can hear the blogosphere cheering.

Yup, that's right folks...we're officially done nursing. It really just kind of...happened. The day before Lainey turned 9 months, we just stopped nursing. I had figured for awhile that she wasn't actually eating when she would wake up around 5-ish. Then the other morning, she just didn't wake up until it was time to get ready for work. So we just left. And she was fine! And that was that...no more nursing.

It's been a little sad but kind of like when I quit pumping, I got over it quickly. I can get drunk and take Advil and drink lots of coffee now (which, incidentally, would need to be done in that order). Not that I have. But I can! I have my body back. Although, quite frankly, I'm not sure I want it. It's rather, um, soft. And things aren't where they used to be. I certainly don't remember needing to tuck my boobs in my pants before (I kid!).

So that's it folks! I know we're all happy not to have to worry about or discuss my chestal region any more. I think I see rainbows and bunnies and happiness. Oh, or maybe that's because it was just Easter...guess that leads to my next post...so stay posted (pun intended)! ;)

This cow barely has any milk

2011-04-05T22:14:00.002-04:00

I am in such a happy place with the nursing now, let me just tell you. When Lainey turned 7 months, we started supplementing with formula (mainly just for her last bottle before bed but every now and then I'd have to send one to April's too). Apparently if you give my boobs an inch, they take a mile because by the time Lainey turned 8 months, she was getting formula for every bottle except I nurse her first thing in the morning (and I mean first, like, around 5:15). And you know what? I'm perfectly happy with this. I quit pumping at work about 3 weeks ago and that has been great. I no longer have to lug that big pump bag around with me or stress about when during the day I'm going to sneak away for 10 minutes at a time or any of that. So much better! But I also love that I'm still nursing her in the morning. For one thing, it makes getting up that early a little easier because I get to spend some uninterrupted time with my baby. Plus, it's also just a lot easier than getting up and going downstairs to fix a bottle. So if this arrangement could last until she's a year old, that would be awesome! Or, until she gets teeth and starts biting me. At this rate, who knows which will come first! Just teasing...actually, we're thinking Lainey might be teething (for real this time). There's a distinct bump in her lower gum line and she had a total meltdown out of nowhere last night but seemed to be explained when she was trying to get anything (even grabbing the front of her pjs) and trying to get it in her mouth. We gave her some Tylenol and she almost instantly calmed down. So we'll see! Maybe she'll have a tooth sooner rather than later.

Speaking of my fears of her slow development...she still isn't moving either. She still hates tummy time so we're thinking the chances of her crawling are getting pretty slim. She does get so mad about being on her stomach that she now can kind of wriggle herself in a circle and Troy reported some backwards movement this morning. Progress? Who knows. I know everyone says to not wish for her to be mobile (and I really don't mind...it's nice to just plop her on the floor with toys and know she's good!) but she's 8 1/2 months old now and I can't help starting to feel like we need to get something happening before she's 1. And I'm not really worried about her developing slowly. I know every baby is different. And she is perfectly healthy in every way! I just like to pick on her about not having any hair or teeth and not being able to move. That's normal, right? But I absolutely love my little nugget. She's a great baby and is so smart. She loves sitting and playing and talking and being read to. And her new favorite thing is the dancing. Oh man...that is funny! I gotta say, she's got a lot of rhythm for a white girl! (Coming from a white girl.) I'll be sure to post a video soon...it is too cute! In the meantime, here are some pictures:

Mainly me, with a side of baby

2011-03-23T21:23:00.004-04:00

Hello blog world! So...unfortunately, I am unable to log into gmail (and therefore this blog) while at work. Which is a real shame because that was usually where I would have time to update this blog. But I will just have to be better about making time to update things in the evenings.

So where were we...ah, yes. Me. Last weekend, I finally went for a much-needed hair appointment. I got highlights and had my cut shaped up. Everyone has been commenting about how good my hair looks. She didn't even do anything all that interesting to it but I think it just goes to show how drab it looked before! So I am very pleased to have brightened things up and it's amazing how much more I feel like myself with some highlights. :)

I also went shopping. I didn't strike gold or anything but I got a few new pieces that I needed (including a super cute pair of black peep-toe heels that murdered my feet today). So...probably more on that later as I will hopefully slowly acquire a work wardrobe.

I suppose you want to hear about Lainey, no? She turned 8 months old on Monday. Wow! She is growing and developing and is just so cute and so smart. :) She unfortunately had her first ear infection weekend before last. I think the most unfortunate part about all of that though was finding out that she, like my sister, is allergic to penicillin. Fun times. But we got that under control and she is all better now. See how happy?

We're thinking of getting her into karate. Or maybe women's tennis. She's already good at sporting the headbands.

I need a mommy makeover

2011-03-11T22:13:00.002-05:00

Really...I keep waiting for Stacy & Clinton to jump out at me at work any day now. I can't recall a time when I have felt so blah and drab (and that includes during pregnancy!). Getting up each morning at about 5:15 doesn't really leave me motivated to spend much time getting ready. And I haven't purchased much in the way of (non maternity) clothing in a few years because before I was pregnant, I worked from home. So now I feel totally out of place in my corporate office where women wear smart suits and fashionable heels. I find myself trudging around in NY & Company pants, Target boots and JCPenney tops. I haven't gotten my hair cut in a salon since I was out on maternity leave and I haven't gotten a pedicure since I was pregnant. Who have I turned into??

I'll tell you who...those bedraggled Moms you see out at Wal-Mart in Target jeans and knock-off Ugg boots. I'm not quite there...but that is where I'm headed if something doesn't give.

I know a lot of it is because I don't have a leisurely pace anymore. I get up at 5:15 to leave my house at 7 and don't get home until 6:15 and go to bed about 10. I'm exhausted all the time and can barely get dinner on the table, much less plan out or shop for nice outfits. Also, I'm cheap. Troy picks on me about this all the time but it really is true. But when you pay a mortgage payment in childcare each month, you feel guilty about shopping for fancy clothes for yourself.

So, Stacy & Clinton, come & get me. Just please don't let Carmindy go crazy with the bronzer or Nick to insist I need a short bob.

Cuteness

2011-02-21T09:44:00.006-05:00

I just needed to share some cute pictures of my girl. :) Enjoy!

Foods of all sorts

2011-02-21T09:17:00.005-05:00

So you know how I said breastfeeding is another whole post on its own? Well, you knew it was coming...here it is. But I also plan on discussing baby food if that makes it any better. ;)

The roller coaster of nursing Lainey continues. There have been so many ups & downs...I'm not even sure at which point we currently find ourselves! As I've noted, I started a new job about 3 weeks ago. Well, this occurred at the same time that Lainey turned into a little piglet and has increased her dietary needs. That posed quite a problem as my boobs apparently got stressed from the task of pumping at a new place. My supply dropped a lot and my boobs felt empty (sorry but it's true!). I have since been having to dip into my freezer supply every day. I finally got myself back up to where I was pumping enough to provide the daycare bottles but I didn't have enough to feed her in the evenings (we found this out after a few nights of Lainey waking up hungry in the night). So I started giving her 5 oz bottles from the freezer and she started sleeping through the night again. Hey, I think it's worth it! That also allows me to pump in the evenings and give me that last 3 oz I usually need for bottles the next day.

Things have been fine but as my freezer supply has dwindled, I knew what needed to come next. So last night, I thawed 4 oz and added one oz of formula and held my breath. But Lainey didn't even seem to notice! So...on the eve of her turning 7 months, we have begun the supplementing stage. It really isn't a big deal and even my doctor assured me at her 6 month appointment that you really only need to nurse the first 6 months because that is when they get all the health benefits (after that, it's just free food she said). So I shouldn't feel guilty and should be patting myself on the back for all that I've done. But I can't help but feel a little bad about it. And just to make it super special, it's a two-fold guilt. Part of me feels bad that I couldn't get her all the way through without using formula and part of me feels bad that I kind of want to give up the pumping and just be done with all the hassle.

On a brighter note, Lainey is now also eating baby food and that is going really well! To update what I said in a previous post...she does not like avocado. We tried that yesterday for lunch and when she started dramatically gagging, I gave up and switched to bananas.

This is her excited face...waiting on the spoon.

I have been making most of what she eats. My parents got me a Cuisinart stick blender for Christmas and I love it! It has a whisk, blender and chopper/grinder attachment. The last of these makes fixing baby food a breeze and I end up with lovely concoctions like this:

Success!

2011-02-21T09:14:00.001-05:00

Okay, after much trial & error, I finally posted my first video. Sorry it's not very good quality but it's really the sound (and just the first 20 seconds) that are the impressive parts. :) More to come I'm sure!!

Technical difficulties

2011-02-21T08:25:00.001-05:00

So, obviously loading the video didn't work. I'll try to work on this during one of Lainey's naps...

Big girl

2011-02-20T10:11:00.007-05:00

Lainey is 7 months old today. I can't believe it! She is getting big and really thriving. This seems to have occurred because I no longer starving her. Apparently, girl was hungry. I am still nursing (which is another whole post) so she was getting about 4 oz about 5 times a day. After she turned 6 months, we were given the green light to start giving her pureed fruits & veggies. I went out and bought a few Gerber 1st foods to try out some things to see what she liked before attempting to make a bunch of baby food. Let me just say, she hasn't met anything she hasn't liked so far! I started out giving her one container of food for dinner around 6:30 and then a bottle about an hour later before doing our bedtime ritual of changing her and reading a story. After about a week, our nanny started telling me that Lainey was crying whenever her bottles were empty. So, even though it stressed me and my boobs out, we upped her bottles to 5 oz. I also started sending a container of food during the day for her to have at lunch. That made for a super happy baby! Then she started crying when her food was gone at night so I gave her 1 1/2 containers...and then 2. Then yesterday she cried so much after sucking down her 5 oz bottle that I then had to nurse her on top of that. What a little piglet!! But like I said...thriving. As soon as we started feeding her more, she mastered sitting up on her own, grew more hair, said "cat" and "mama" and gained like 5 pounds and 6 inches (okay, not really...but she is definitely a lot bigger!). Also, I don't mean to brag, but my baby is totally a genius. When I say that she said "mama", she was totally reading it off this book: Well, she definitely was holding this book and it was the first time she said it! And she said "cat" when Sparky jumped up in the glider with us one day. I know you don't believe me which is why it so happened that I caught it on tape. Behold:

We're not sure it wasn't just a fluke but she has since called our neighbors dachshund "cat" and when the cats walked in the room one day, Troy goes, "Lainey, say 'Hi cat'" and she promptly parroted him. I'm just saying...pretty impressive! And really cute & funny. :) Oh, and to all you people who joked that our kids would be so pale & so blonde, it seems the joke's on you! I mean, pale, yes. But blonde...actually, not really. We have moved to the recessive of recessive genes and appear to have more of a redhead on our hands. Actually, it's kind of a strawberry blonde. Troy is already stressing out about having a hot redhead as a daughter. She may never be allowed out of the house on her own.

Runnin' on empty

2011-02-06T08:40:00.006-05:00

Well hello friends. It seems I've been away from here for awhile! I do have good reasons that I will share now...

The past few weeks have been very busy. The biggest part has been that I have changed jobs. I had been kind of casually looking (you know, dusted off the resume on Careerbuilder and checking craiglist here and there) but then an opportunity kind of dropped in my lap. To be honest, it's still no dream job and definitely not doing marketing like I had hoped but it was more money and, well, that was pretty much enough for me.

So I've been busy wrapping up loose ends at my old job and starting my new one. I took a week "off" in between (and that totally deserves "" because I was busier that week than when I was working!). During that week, I took Lainey to the doctor; the cats to the vet; did a marathon shopping day with Lainey, my Mom and sister (Lainey does love to shop!); got this house in order; thoroughly cleaned and then topped it off with a massage. Man, that was a good week. I could totally do the stay-at-home mom thing, especially when Lainey spent two-and-a-half days of it in daycare. ;) Hey, I needed to get stuff done and didn't see how I could handle two cats and a baby at the vet...don't judge. But it was so nice actually cleaning the house to my old standards, being able to plan and cook meals, run errands at a leisurely pace and play with and enjoy my family. Ah well...like I said, this new job is more money so there's no way I can get out of working now! Troy is super excited (he already has plans to order a new engine for the jet-ski). In all seriousness though, we really did need the extra income...my increase will basically cover daycare costs to put us back where we were before having Lainey (which was certainly not luxurious but definitely comfortable and not having to struggle and scrimp and save). It couldn't have come at a better time too because we had just done a budget after the New Year and realized we had like $40 extra a month after bills and groceries. Not really...but kind of.

So I have a legitimate excuse for my absence this time! But I will try to be better (I feel like I've said that before...). I've only been at my new job a week but I like it so far. Everyone is really nice and I stay busy, which I like. The biggest downfall though...the commute. Because of Troy's unpredictable schedule, I handle the drop-off and pick-up for Lainey every day. My new job is 8-5 (my old one was 8:30-5:30) which I thought I was so excited about because one of my gripes with my old job was the fact that I got home so late. Well now I get home about 10 minutes earlier than I did. Wee!! I now get up at 5:30 and leave the house at 7 to get to work at 8. Say what? Well, you see, Troy doesn't get up until around when I am leaving for work and lately Lainey has been waking up for the day when my alarm goes off. So I have to juggle getting ready in the morning with entertaining her and getting her ready. (And before I get the comments that he should be getting up earlier to help...it really wasn't his fault this week...he has worked 3 weekends in a row and last weekend got a total of 9 hrs of sleep for the whole weekend so I was trying to be nice and let him catch back up. And, yes, he will start getting up earlier to help!) There just really aren't enough hours in the day. How do people do it? And have time for other stuff, like blogging or TV or washing their face before bed? And dang it if Troy didn't break my crock pot (Jaclyn, I was totally going to try out your recipes!).

Six Months

2011-02-06T08:27:00.003-05:00

Okay, so Lainey's more like 6 1/2 months now...but I wanted to give the the update!

Here are the stats: 15 lbs (25%...the doctor said babies often slow down with weight gain around this time bc they're burning more calories), 26" (~60%), 2 shots (but just cried for a second...she quit before they even got the band-aids on her) and a perfect bill of health! The doctor said everything was good and she was perfect (of course!) and that we could introduce stage 1 baby food and keep doing what we've been doing. Some good news...she also said that at this age, she is just capable as an adult at going from dinner to breakfast-time without eating. She had gotten into a fun habit of waking up around 4 a.m. to eat and the doctor said it is totally okay to make her wait until a more normal time, like 6-ish. She must have heard her say this because she started sleeping through the night that very night!

Wordless Wednesday = Highchair Play Time

2011-01-19T16:53:00.005-05:00

...and we're back!

2011-01-18T09:11:00.005-05:00

It seems like every one of my posts lately starts out apologizing for my absence due to being so busy. I won't do that this time...but, really, we've been busy! ;)

I guess I'll start off where I left off...Christmas. In a lot of ways, I can't believe it's only been about 3 weeks since then. It feels like a lot longer! We had lots of celebrations as usual (4 Christmases in all this year...I think in the near future we will be scaling back the travel and separate celebrations). On the morning of the 23rd we drove to Goldsboro to celebrate with Troy's side of the family. That was fun because a lot of that crowd had never seen her so she was a big hit. We spent the day with Troy's Mom's side which included his stepsister Ashley and her family. Lainey enjoyed watching her boys play and open things and all the shiny bows and paper. We were all spoiled with gifts and have been getting lots of use out of everything! That evening we went to hang out with Troy's Dad's side of the family since some of that crowd was heading out of town before Christmas Eve. They were all thrilled to see Lainey and she got some more good stuff. On Christmas Eve we headed back over to celebrate with Troy's Dad's side at the annual brunch that his Uncle Kenny & Aunt Marilyn host. It is so delicious!! After that, we had to pack it up and head on to Greensboro (with a stop at our house on the way to unload newly acquired gifts and grab the Greensboro gifts). We spent a relaxing Christmas Eve evening and Christmas day morning at my parents' house. It took hours to open presents!! Most of them were for Lainey from my sister (she is just a little spoiled by her Aunt Lala!). Once we finally finished, we went to Lexington to have lunch with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins on my Dad's side of the family. The best part about Christmas day though was the snow! I thought it was pretty neat that Lainey's first Christmas was a white one. But it did make for a treacherous ride home that evening. But it was such a pretty snow and was the perfect topping to the holidays.

Now, you'd think that with a 5 month old baby, that would be the end of our travels but I was just getting warmed up. We packed up and went home on Sunday but Lainey and I were just there one night before heading back to Jamestown. We spent Monday night and got up Tuesday and rode with my Mom to take my grandmother back home to Georgetown, SC. We just spent one night in Georgetown but got to see my aunt, uncle and cousins while we were there. Lainey hadn't been down there since she was 2 weeks old so it was fun for them to get to see her now that she's getting so big! Then it was back to Jamestown for a night and then finally back home for me on Thursday. Whew! Lainey and I were both tired after all of that but it was great having a 4-day weekend to rest up before heading back to work.

New Year's Eve was a new experience now that we're parents. We went nextdoor for dinner and to watch the ball drop. Lainey fell asleep on the couch and us adults had some champagne and watched the Dick Clark special (which was sad to tell the truth). Lainey woke up about 1 so we packed up and went home and all went to bed. So it was just slightly different from last year when we went out to a club (even though I was 12 weeks pregnant). But even last year I left at 12:05 and went home and went to bed so not too much different! Staying up is just not the same when you still have to get up to nurse your little piglet about 5:30 or 6 a.m. and then she is generally awake for the day.

So that was our exciting Christmas break! I will have to add in pictures later (because let's face it, that's really why you're here!). But more to come...there's been a lot going on! :)

Giggles & The Clown

2011-01-13T13:50:00.004-05:00

Lainey started laughing the other day and it is the cutest little noise you've ever heard! So far she will only do it for Troy (because he's the only one who acts foolish enough to elicit her happy giggles). That makes him super happy though. He says that he knows she'll soon be doing it for everyone but for right now, it's all his. I tried to take video of it but of course she wouldn't do it when the camera was on so I have 3 minutes of Troy jumping around looking crazy and an amused but not laughing baby watching him. It was pretty cute though...take my word for it. Troy said when he heard it, it just melted his heart. He apparantly missed an Army conference call that he totally forgot because he was so into playing with her. He realized it yesterday morning but said he didn't care and that he would have jumped around all night just to hear her keep laughing. I'll keep working on trying to get video of it (and then figure out how to get that video on this blog).

Quick update

2011-01-05T10:49:00.002-05:00

Wow...has it really been since the middle of December since I posted on here? Things have been busy, needless to say. We had several rounds of Christmas including lots of travel. Then I had a nice 5-day weekend last weekend at home to just get stuff done and relax a bit. We put away all the Christmas stuff, I organized my closet and Lainey's and we shampooed the living room carpet. Do we know how to have fun, or what?

I promise to get on here and post a better recap of the holidays but to tide you over, here is some cuteness:

(This is what she wore on Troy's birthday)

The Seasonal Rush

2010-12-13T14:42:00.011-05:00

Man, it's been busy lately! Sorry for the absence on here...there has just been too much going on. We spent the weekend after Thanksgiving recovering (well, at least I did). We also gave Lainey her first taste of oatmeal (first taste of anything besides my milk!) that Saturday after Thanksgiving. She made a few weird faces but she did great with the spoon (she kept wanting to grab it) and the whole feeding thing. Troy would go, "Ahhh!" and she would do it too and he would stick the spoon in her mouth. Voila!

She gobbled it up but then she had a rash the next day so we waiting a little over a week to try again just in case it was a reaction to it (it wasn't). We've only given it to her three times but she seems to like it okay. And that old theory that it makes them sleep through the night is so not true. That hasn't worked at all for us!

On December 4th Lainey saw her first snow. It was the perfect kind...the trees and grass were covered in white but the roads were clear. My Mom had come up to do some shopping with me and it was perfect to put us in the Christmas spirit!

Somehow, I have managed to get our house decorated for Christmas. I love this time of year and I love Christmas stuff so I always like to get the house decorated right after Thanksgiving to enjoy it as long as is reasonable. And since Lainey is still so little, there's no need to childproof so I could put out all the usual stuff. Here is our tree when it was nearly done (we did eventually get out the real tree skirt...the cat was just a stand-in).

What with everything going on, we have been tired! We've had shopping, parties, decorating, cleaning (okay, not really)...you get the idea...we've been busy! That will really wear you out.

But with everything going on, we did make time to go see Santa yesterday (despite Troy's concern that his lap was a breeding ground for germs). The line actually wasn't too awful and everyone in line was very nice and patient. I think the holiday spirit was actually rubbing off on some people! Lainey took a nap in her stroller so we had to wake her up when we got close to the front of the line. When we plopped her in Santa's lap, she just looked around. She wouldn't smile but she didn't cry and that was good enough for me. Instead she just looked at us like we were crazy (because, well, we looked crazy...us and Santa's "elf" shaking bells and a light-up Rudolph trying to get her to smile or look at the camera). But I think the picture turned out really cute and she was so cute in her dress that her Aunt Kristen got her!

And finally, be sure to bundle up...it's cold outside!

Thanksgiving Recap

2010-11-30T10:26:00.002-05:00

Well...we made it (mostly). It's a good thing Lainey won't remember her first Thanksgiving because it wasn't terribly memorable. I ended up getting strep throat but had to suffer through the holidays undiagnosed which wasn't pleasant. I yo yo-ed between freezing with chills and sweating out fevers. My throat hurt so badly that I wasn't even much in the mood to eat. We came home from Goldsboro on Friday and I sacked out on the couch for the weekend while Troy did stuff around the house. It was actually really nice...just snuggling on the couch with my baby. We put our tree up and turned the fire on and it was very cozy.

So now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it is full-speed ahead to Christmas! It's just a little more than 3 weeks away and I am not even halfway through with my shopping. But this is my favorite time of year and I am excited that we have a baby to celebrate this year. She may be too little to be all excited Christmas morning when she gets to open her toys but her Daddy will make up for it. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T14:17:00.004-05:00

We are excited about Lainey's first Thanksgiving. She can't really enjoy the food this year but it's the holiday for her favorite toy, Durkey (we can't tell if it's a duck or a turkey but she loves it. I'm sorry I don't remember who got it for her but thank you!!). She's also been enjoying some arts & crafts with April:

I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving! From our turkey to yours. :)

Four Months

2010-11-22T15:27:00.003-05:00

I wanted to make this a separate post even though it involved yet another trip to the doctor for Lainey. This one was a good one though! (Also, as a side note...we really do like our pediatrician's office. The doctor we saw on Friday was an anomaly and the staff there was really great throughout everything.)

Lainey was four months old on Sunday. She now weighs 13 lbs 14 oz and is 25" long. She's 50% for weight and 75% for height (that girl's got some long legs). Troy said that she tried to talk over the doctor so she obviously seems to be feeling better. :) She is still exclusively on breast milk (which the doctor encouraged us to do until 6 months unless she starts to act hungry after feedings) and is doing great developmentally. When she hasn't had a cold, she's been sleeping through the night since about 3 months but currently, she gets up once or twice to eat which is fine with me.

Generally, she is a healthy and happy baby. She loves to talk and she now likes to grab and hold or shake things. She would like to be able to sit up on her own but for the now, the Bumbo does the trick. She also hasn't rolled over lately. She did it for a few days and then hasn't done it since. Go figure. Now she likes to push up on her elbows and talk (of course). ;)

An (Or)Deal a Day

2010-11-22T14:05:00.009-05:00

I like to think we are responsible parents but after the past few days, I am thinking about not taking Lainey to the doctor again! Kidding. Sort of.

It started when she had a low-grade temperature Wednesday evening. She had a higher temp of 103 Thursday morning so I stayed home and we took her to the doctor at 10. They said she probably has a virus but they wanted to do some labs to rule out an infection. They did a CBC (finger stick to test her blood) and that said her white blood cell count was high. So then they wanted blood and urine samples. Well, in a little baby, that means an IV and a catheter. Which was bad enough until it proved difficult to get any samples out of her. Her chubby little arms did not show any veins and she had just peed all over the exam table before they decided they needed a urine samples. We finally had to go to LabCorp so they could do a third IV and get a blood sample and the nurse managed to catch some pee in a cup (while she had her third catheter in). Then just for good measure, they gave her a painful shot of antibiotics. So that was a difficult day...I hated to put her through all of that.

Sick baby :(

Friday, we were back at the doctor for a follow-up visit at 3:30 where they had told us they would probably just give her another shot. Boy, were we wrong! This doctor said that she wanted to rule out meningitis and that we needed to take her to the Wake Med Pediatric ER for a spinal tap. Excuse me? We were shocked and upset. Her way of comforting us? Yelling, "Your baby is not going to die! Babies don't die from this!" Somehow, that wasn't so comforting. But we packed it up and headed across town to the ER.

Traumatized baby at the doctor's office

Thankfully, the ER doctors said they didn't see any reason to do a lumbar puncture on her. By this point, Lainey no longer had a fever and had been playing and talking and seemed fine for the most part. So we were relieved to hear that. But since they had her there, they did a chest x-ray which showed some upper respiratory inflammation (because of her cold). We finally got home from that around 9:30.

In her little hospital gown

We were exhausted after Thursday & Friday but had to get up early on Saturday to go back over by Wake Med for a follow-up appointment at our pediatrician's office (that location is the only one open on Saturdays). That was the appointment that we should have had on Friday...in & out, no scary tests or crazy doctors. They had to do another CBC but that was it. She said Lainey seems okay, probably just a cold but she was going to prescribe a round of antibiotics just to cover all the bases. Good enough...we left that appointment and headed home. Whew! I had been ready for the long haul too...I had packed toys for Lainey and granola bars and a water bottle for us.

After we got home, Troy's Mom came for a short visit, followed by my sister. In and around that, we also hung out some next door for the Carolina/State football game (still not our year). We didn't so much get to rest on Sunday, but we did get lots of good food! Troy's Dad's side of the family always gets together the Sunday before Thanksgiving to celebrate and it was great food and fun times as always. :) Lainey loved it...she was held and passed around the whole time and everyone said how cute she was (of course!). By the end of it, she was passed out and snoring loudly.

So that was our unexpectedly long weekend! I am really glad this is a short week because I'm worn out.

What a difference a year makes

2010-11-16T09:45:00.008-05:00

I realized last night that it was a year ago yesterday that we found out that I was pregnant. I can't believe it's been that long! It seems crazy that in a year we've gone from this:

to this:

I remember that day a year ago...it was a Saturday morning and Troy and I were getting ready for the UNC vs. Miami football game. My parents, sister and friend Carrie were coming to our house and then we were going to tailgate and go to the game. I was a few days late and that never happens to me so I thought I'd take a test. I had actually taken one on Wednesday morning but hadn't seen anything so I tossed it. This time, there were instantly two pink lines. Hmmm. I took it into the office where Troy was on the computer and showed it to him and said, "I think this looks positive. What do you think?" He took a look and casually said, "Yeah, looks like it." and went right back to the computer. Um, hello??? So I went over to my laptop to look up (again) the test directions to see if it really was positive. I was so floored and Troy was just so casual! He said, "Why don't you take another one to be sure" or something so I went and did that. I think it was about the fifth test when he started to get excited. I guess he just didn't really believe it at first! (Yeah, and I fished out the test from Wednesday morning and there were definite but faint lines...I guess I was just too sleepy to see them.)

So that was the beginning of our journey to becoming a family of three. It is still strange to me and still a work in progress trying to fit everything into our life now. It just seems so...full. In a good way! But very busy. As Troy says, I'm still working on finding my "mommy groove." But so what if I only get about 1/4 of the house cleaned each weekend or that it's sometimes hard to see the table for the mail. We're happy and healthy and have an awesome baby with giant cheeks.

The First of Many Firsts

2010-11-04T13:44:00.007-04:00

In the past two weeks, Lainey has had her first real cold and her first Halloween. Then last Wednesday, she rolled over for the first time! I don't have it recorded yet but here is my little chatterbox doing some tummy time at daycare last week:

Wednesday evening, we were all in the bonus room. Troy was playing his new X-Box (oh boy) and so I had Lainey on her play mat on the floor with some toys. I thought we'd do some tummy time so I turned her over onto her stomach. She ordinarily is not a fan of tummy time so I was ready for crying. But instead she lifted her head up in sort of a push-up position and then got one arm under her and flipped herself over onto her back. I was shocked! I said, "Troy! She just rolled over!" and he said, "Nuh-uh!" and paused his game while I flipped her back over. Sure enough, she repeated her trick and looked surprised but pleased to find herself back on her back. So I grabbed the camera, flipped her back over and sat back to record. Yeah...mostly just screaming and crying. I guess she'd had enough! I kept trying for awhile but she just got more and more angry so I gave up. I will have to capture it another time. (And I will try to post the video from that night even if it doesn't show her rolling over!)

When I dropped her off at daycare the next day, I told April how she had rolled over. She was so surprised and said they had done about 30 minutes of tummy time on Wednesday without her even attempting to roll over. She said she would work on it with her today and sure enough, before lunch I had an email (and the picture above) saying that she had done it at least 3 more times. I am just so glad that Troy and I got to see this "first first" for ourselves. I know with her being in daycare, we will likely miss a few of these milestones. So it was nice to get to see this one. And now she can stop growing. Seriously.

Boo-tiful weekend

2010-11-01T14:27:00.004-04:00

We had a nice Halloween weekend. My Mom came and stayed with us. On Saturday we went to the Smithfield outlets to do a little shopping. Even though Lainey has her first cold, she still managed to be really good (shopping is in her genes!) and we had a fun time. Then Sunday of course was Halloween. We didn't dress Lainey up in a costume but we did stick her in her Halloween onesie. Unfortunately the matching pumpkin hat no longer fit and the onesie just barely fit. Here are some pictures of our little punkin:

Is it Friday yet?

2010-10-28T13:41:00.004-04:00

This morning I got to experience getting spit up on as I was getting ready to leave the house for work. Nearly the last thing I do each morning is to get dressed to try to avoid this. So I had just gotten dressed while Troy got Lainey dressed. Then I carried her downstairs and went straight to her carseat to put her in and saw that she had white spit up all around her mouth. I was like, "What the...?" and then I turned me head and saw that my shoulder was covered. Gross!! She hadn't even made a noise or anything but she obviously had managed to throw up on me on the way downstairs. So of course I had to go back upstairs, rinse off my shirt and find and put on a new one. Then I had to clean her up and we finally left the house. So much for being on time! And I had been so proud of myself because I was wearing the first outfit I put on (which never happens). Sneaky baby...

This is not a pic from this morning but it is the outfit she is (was) wearing!

Hot & Cold

2010-10-27T17:07:00.003-04:00

Isn't this some crazy weather we're having? As I write, we're under a tornado watch and it's about 85 degrees outside and about 85% humidity. Hard to believe it's the end of October...but that is NC weather for you. And right on track...it will be cold by Halloween. It always is which was always a bummer because it ruined the cute outfit you had planned to dress up in. That is why this year I think I'm going to wear adult footie pajamas so Lainey and I can match. I'm not really sure what that will actually be as a costume other than comfy and that is okay by me.

Lainey will definitely want to be comfy as she is getting over her first cold. The poor thing was all congested yesterday when I got home from work. She would cough and sneeze and she sounded like she had a lot of phlegm in her chest. I just knew that this would spell a bad night for all of us. Just the night before, we had finally decided to forego the middle of the night feeding and see if she would just go back to sleep. It went okay but that was before the cold and all the mucus. So color me surprised when I woke up last night at 2:39 a.m. because I was becoming painfully, ah, full and not at all because of Lainey. I actually had to get up and pump and then she didn't wake up until 5:20 wanting to eat. And even with a cold, that girl is a morning person. When I go to get her out of her crib, she gives me a big sleepy smile and then lifts her legs up for me to get her.

It is so cute! She does it on the changing table too. (I know, I know...it is ridiculous how much she looks like Troy.)

So I'm hoping that tonight will be another good night and that the weather will change to actual fall temps and that Lainey will soon get over this cold.

PS - Thanks to everyone who helped me out with advice on how to care ofr a 3-month-old with a cold. Everything everyone said was a huge help! Well, except the rum & Coke (sorry Cheesy...although Troy did have a beer and I think that helped him feel better).

Not a designer

2010-10-22T10:36:00.001-04:00

So...how do I get my blog back to the good old basic layout? I can only find the new Blogger templates and even the "Simple" one isn't it.

2010-10-14T16:06:00.000-04:00

Bored at work = eating chocolate = NEVER FITTING BACK INTO MY PANTS! :-P

Funny Phonics

2010-10-11T11:42:00.007-04:00

I just wanted to get this down so I wouldn't forget...Lainey has been making all kinds of vocal strides in the past couple of weeks. I have a feeling that she will be a bit of a talker (gee, I can't imagine where she got that from! She is definitely Troy's mini-me.). She now has very distinct words/sounds for her moods. For example, things that end in "-ing" are her "I'm upset" sound. I have been waked in the night to her frantically calling out "ghing ghing ghing!" She also says "bing" and I swear she says "un-GEE!" (like she's saying she's hungry). I'm not crazy...Troy has heard it too! When she is happy and content, she makes "oo" sounds. She has been practicing for Halloween with her "boo"s but it is becoming more of a "boof." One of my favorites is when she is really happy and she smiles really big and goes, "hoo!" (that was likely was she was doing in the picture April send in the post below...I know that face!). Lainey has also been laughing a lot. She gets tickled with herself and will squeal. Then she kind of looks surprised like, "Did that noise come out of me?". I keep trying to capture her talking and laughing on video but she is wise to both my phone and the camera (both of which can record videos). Yesterday she was talking up a storm to me but the second I hit the record button, she clamps up and stares at the camera apprehensively. So I have minute-long videos of her giving it a look. Which is still cute, but not exactly what I was going for.

Overall, she is just growing up so much! I can't believe it...she seems bigger every day when I pick her up from daycare. April even commented today that she looks like she grew over the weekend. She really is getting bigger, as evidenced by these thighs:

She pays attention to us more and seems more aware in general. She is also moving her hands and arms with more purpose and not just the general flailing of a "new" baby. Lately, she's been pulling up her blanket or dress to her mouth and sucking on it (or her fist...just whatever gets stuffed in her mouth). I always thought she looked like a little Peanuts character but I never really pegged her as a Linus.

Super cute baby belly!! :)

Weepy Wednesday

2010-10-07T13:51:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was my first day back at work and therefore dropping Lainey off at daycare. We have found a great person to watch her at her house with 3 other little kids (after this month it will just be a total of 3). So I'm really happy with the situation except for the fact that I have to leave her.

If you know me, you know I try to be super organized. So I had everything all ready to go and the morning went great getting ready and I left pretty much on time. We arrived at April's house and I tried to hold it together. I decided it was best if I tried to make the drop off pretty quick and that helped some. But then Lainey started crying and gave me The Lip. If you haven't witnessed it, it is very dramatic!

That did not help my efforts. I got out of there as quickly as I could and tried not to cry all the way to work. Here is a breakdown of my first day back:

Pros:
- Had some sense of purpose because I got up, dressed and out of the house before lunchtime.
- Got to wear my new black pants that I got on clearance at Target for less than $14.
- Said pants are already too big. (Good thing they were so cheap!)
- Got to eat lunch when I got hungry, go to the bathroom when I needed to and drank plenty of water throughout the day (if you have a baby, you understand these things).

Cons:
- Have spent countless hours crying.
- Had giant zit pop up in the middle of my face that morning.
- Ended up eating a Lean Cuisine from before I went on maternity leave.
- Missed all of my Food Network friends.

I don't even think I need to mention the fact that I had to leave my baby for the day. That was absolutely heartbreaking. I am now well into day two and it has not gotten the least bit better. It's funny because I never really envisioned myself as a stay-at-home type but I could totally do it! With my newfound love of the Food Network, I think I could learn to maybe be a good cook (?). Ah well...it is what it is. At least I get super cute pics of my baby during the day from April like this one:

Super Swaddle

2010-10-05T15:20:00.006-04:00

So...I think we have found the answer to our sleeping problems:

This wonderful swaddle blanket made our Lainey sleep like a little angel last night. Big thanks to Christina for hooking me up with a few! I determined a couple of nights ago that Lainey gets cold at night. This wasn't too surprising...she has hated being cold pretty much her whole little life. We've always been swaddling her in a blanket at night but she was kicking out of them, even when we switched to bigger blankets. The other night, she woke me up at 5:30 just to have me re-swaddle her and she instantly went back to sleep. So I decided this swaddle blanket might just do the trick and my neighbor Christina said she had some that her Jackson wouldn't use anymore. Man oh man...I wish I had been using these all along! I think it was a combination of the swaddle blanket and us turning on the heat last night, but Lainey essentially slept through the night*. I even had to wake her up at 7:30 this morning! Wow!! Fingers crossed that she continues to do so well since I start back to work tomorrow...

Yes...the dreaded time is here. I got up this morning and did a dry run of getting dressed and going to daycare. I needed to go anyway to drop off her supplies and the check. We stayed for about an hour and I feel really good about things there and I know Lainey will be fine. I'm definitely more worried about me in this equation. Mommy is not doing so well. I came home and basically cried my eyes out from about 10-2 today. Even while I was doing it I was upset that I was wasting precious time in my last day with her but every time I looked at her about thought about the fact that I would no longer get these wonderful hours spent with her each and every day, I just couldn't help but well up. I've never been away from her for more than about an hour and that has only happened about 3 times. I knew I would be upset but I just didn't expect it to be this tough.

I hate to admit it but there was a time when I even wondered if this whole baby thing was such a good idea. The first month she was here was kind of tough. I mean, I loved her and all but I wasn't constantly flooded with overwhelming emotions like I thought I was supposed to be. Dealing with a newborn who does little more than cry and scream at you and chew your nipple into a bloody pulp just wasn't quite what I had expected with motherhood. But as time (and her period of major gasiness) have passed, I have fallen deeply in love with my little baby. I mean, how could you not love this face??

She has the best gummy smiles and has been working on squeals of laughter. And those giant cheeks go perfectly with her big blue eyes. She's just so cute! Plus she really is a sweet and good baby. We are really lucky, I know. I hate to not get to be with her all the time, especially now as her personality develops more and more each day, but I know it will be the best for our family. Obviously, I'm doing it because we need me to work financially but I think it will be good to have some balance of being outside of the house some too. I'm not exactly a domestic goddess and I'd be lying if I said I could be happy cooking and cleaning all the time (although I have begun a new love affair with Food Network on my maternity leave. Maybe one day I will even try out some of those new recipes I'm forever jotting down!).

So...wish me luck tomorrow! And if you see me, please don't ask me how it was unless you are armed with Kleenex.

*Because she slept for so long, I had to get up at 3:30 to pump and I woke her up. But even then it was just enough that she wanted to eat and go right back to sleep without any fuss whatsoever!

Updates

2010-09-29T19:00:00.005-04:00

Thank you to those who commented on my previous post. I don't even want to say it because I'll probably jinx it but I think posting about her bad sleeping habits did (as my friend Shay would say) a reverse-jinx: she slept great last night and was an angel today! Now please please please let that trend continue...it makes life so much more pleasant. ;)

Also, I realized I had not blogged about Lainey's 2 month appointment. Yes, she got the dreaded shots and the band-aids to prove it:

(Sorry this is sideways...I'm not quite sure how to fix this)

She weighed 11 pounds 4 ounces and is not freakishly long. They obviously measured her wrong last time because this time she was 22 1/4" long. So she is right about 50-60% for height & weight. The doctor said she's perfect and seems to be doing just great so we'll keep doing what we've been doing because it seems to be working okay.

As for me, I bit the bullet and got a haircut. I'm not sure that everyone is wild about it because not a lot of people have seemed to notice even though I cut about a half a foot off but I don't care. It's wash & wear which is great. Here are the before & after pictures (bear in mind that this is how the stylist fixed it "after" and it does look a bit mom-ish and that's not how I've been wearing it):

I know it looks like Lainey doesn't like it but she does, I promise. She was just upset that the Heels lost the football game that day. In other news, Troy went to NYC last weekend for our friend's wedding. I stayed behind for the obvious reason and ended up going home to Jamestown last minute to visit with Lainey's Grandmama and Grandpa. They were super excited to see her, as usual. Then I went home the day before Troy came home and it dawned on me that that would be the first night I'd spent alone with Lainey. To be honest, it made me a little nervous. Not that I can't handle her on my own. I'm the one who gets up in the night as it is and I'm with her by myself all day every day. But it's just nice to know that someone is there. You know, just in case. But we did fine and were happy to get Daddy home the next day. That is, until he showed up all sick and stuff. Hopefully we won't be catching that (see previous post about the not sleeping...this is my fear if she gets sick).

So now you're up to date on our exciting lives! :)

Going backwards

2010-09-28T10:20:00.004-04:00

It seems that my sweet baby, while still sweet, has decided to start moving backwards in her progress at night. She has always been a pretty good sleeper, generally just getting up twice in the night (but really would only be once when I start back to work because the second time is usually about 5 or 6 and I would have to get up for work then anyways). Plus she is pretty good about eating, burping, getting a clean diaper and going back to sleep. But not anymore. Oh no...not anymore...

Let's take last night for instance. She was screaming and fussy in the evening so we put her to bed in her crib around 8:30. She was out like a light and slept great until 1:20 a.m. Then she woke up hungry so I got up, fed her, burped her, changed her and put her back down and she went right to sleep. Perfect! But...then she was up just 2 1/2 hours later (which incidentally is her span between feedings during the day...it's always right around 2 1/2 hours between daytime feedings) at 3:45 a.m. This time, it was not so smooth. I changed her first to see if maybe she would just accept a diaper change and go back to sleep. Big mistake. She screamed bloody murder as soon as I moved her to the changing table instead of sitting in the glider to feed her. She wailed all through her diaper change. So then I was definitely going to try to feed her to calm her down and get her to go back to sleep. Yeah...she ate for about 5 minutes and then passed out. So I thought, "No problem...we'll just put you back in the crib and I can go back to sleep." Except that the second I put her down, she started screaming again. I tried the paci which worked okay except that it would fall out of her mouth when she was on the verge of sleep and then she would scream (this is why I generally do not use the paci at night). I tried rocking her, walking with her, burping her...everything. Every time I would put her in her crib, she would cry. Finally in desperation, I turned on the little noise machine. It was on the creepy heartbeat sound. She instantly got quiet and quickly passed out. Sigh! So I crawled back in bed at 4:30 thinking that I could finally get some sleep (if I could get over the fact that it sounded like "The Tell-Tale Heart"). And I did...until 6:00 when she woke up crying again. This time I wasn't even going to try not feeding her. I got up and went through the usual routine and she was again a little fussy going back to sleep in the crib but I got her back down. For one hour. Yup, she was up again at 7. Now, I had planned to start getting up this week around 6:00 to get used to it for when I go back to work next week (yuck, did I really just have to say that I go back to work next week?). However, I acquired a splitting headache somewhere around 4 a.m. so I was trying to catch up on a little sleep. This plan obviously didn't work so well.

And this was not a fluke night! She has been doing this the past couple of nights. Plus, today she has been super fussy. Twice she's fallen asleep so I've tried to put her down for a nap in her crib. Each time it has only lasted about 5-10 minutes before she is frantically crying. This is such a change from my baby of a week ago. She had gotten to where she wouldn't even really cry much anymore. Instead, she would "talk" until I came to get her when she woke up, day or night. It was so sweet...going in there and her looking up at me and saying, "Gheng gheng gheng!"

As I mentioned, I go back to work next week so this is rather bad timing for her to suddenly become a bad sleeper. Plus, I don't want her to now become fussy during the day because I don't want her to stress out the lady who will be watching her. The past few days, it has not been enough to hold her all the time, she also wants you to walk around with her. She has always been such a good girl at entertaining herself. I could put her in the bouncy seat or Boppy lounger and get stuff done around the house and she would just hang out. I hope these days are not lost entirely and that she will be back to her old self. Perhaps she's just going through a growth spurt? Or doesn't feel well? If anyone has suggestions, I'm definitely open to them...

Big stretch! It's tough staying awake all night...

The many faces of Lainey

2010-09-13T15:06:00.001-04:00

Too cute not to share! She has become very expressive. :)

(Click the above photo to get to a slideshow...sorry the first pic is so dark but it's the only one like that!)

Seasons Change...

2010-09-13T10:41:00.004-04:00

I thought I would start out this post with a lyrical tribute to Expose. I do think I actually got that line right, unlike some other songs from my childhood. I apparently had a knack for making up the lyrics when I couldn't understand them and my sister thinks this is hilarious. Just the other day, I had to call her to inform her that I finally figured out that Phil Collins was singing, "She seems to have an invisible touch" and not "She sees a hat and gets it for her top shelf" like I had been singing since I was about 7. Also, Michael Jackson does not say "Show me hot monkeys" but "Show them how funky." I like my interpretation on that one better, especially considering Bubbles but whatever.

Anywho...back to the seasons changing and all that. Who's ready for fall?? I am! I love this time of year. Football is back, I'm not sweating every time I go outside and I don't have to shave my legs every day because I can wear jeans. Troy and I were so excited about the NFL season kick-off last Thursday that I bought some Harvest Moon beer and fixed pigs in a blanket for dinner (you know, in honor of the pigskin). We were so amped that we both fell asleep on the couch a little after 9. Just call us super fans. Thankfully, all the action happened in the first half so I don't really feel like we missed much.

As for Lainey, she is growing like crazy! I know I say that every post but I have evidence this time:

As you can see, she's about to outgrow her Boppy Lounger. Her legs dangle off so she has to pull them up in her froggy position. She's also getting pleasantly plump (I take credit for all of that!). She officially outgrew her newborn clothes & diapers over Labor Day weekend. I knew that she had when she had two back-to-back blowouts in her newborn diapers that shot up the back and got all over her onesies. Her clothes have been getting a little tighter in the belly and her pants had been too short for awhile. So she's now in her 0-3 and 3-month clothes and size 1 diapers. She is smiling a lot more now and also doing a lot of "talking." I bet she's going to be a real chatty Cathy like her Daddy. :) She slept through the night one night last week but it was just a fluke. She's had a bit of a cold so she hasn't been sleeping as well but hopefully that will be behind us soon. Other than that, she's been getting more blond fuzz and new creases in her thighs.

And before you all send notes saying that I look great (really, you don't have to butter me up!), that is a maternity top and I am covering my saggy belly with the baby. But I feel great and have decided to suck it up and buy some bigger clothes so at least I have some stuff to wear now. Will I ever get my body back? (Don't answer that.)

Because I know you've been wondering...

2010-09-03T07:02:00.003-04:00

I bet you've been thinking lately, "I wonder how Holly's boobs are doing?" Much better, thanks for asking. ;) They actually have been doing better. It turns out that the lactation consultant at my pediatrician's office lives in my neighborhood (and we actually went to the same middle school and she's married to someone who graduated from Ragsdale with my sister...small world!) She is super nice and actually came over to the house last Sunday morning because my left nipple has been badly cracked since Lainey was just a few days old. It case you aren't keeping up, that is 5 weeks people! That is a long time to have an open wound on your nipple, especially when you have a hungry little animal gnawing on it every few hours round the clock.

But I digress...Jen came over and recommended nursing only on the right side and just pumping the left and giving Lainey bottles for a couple of days. That was the ticket! I am now mostly healed and hoping for a full recovery soon. So maybe I won't have to talk about my boobies all the time now. Maybe.

A (pleasant) side note about then though...Lainey has recently started smiling. I've caught a few little grins here and there on camera but I can't take pictures of when she does the best and biggest grins because they would all have my boob in them. When she is getting ready to nurse, her whole face absolutely lights up and she gets the cutest grins! Sorry world...guess those are just for Mommy. :)

And speaking of eating, I think Miss Benton is going through a growth spurt or something. She has been eating nonstop. Like, really...I feed her and about 30 minutes to an hour later she's screaming and wanting to eat some more. Um, really kid?? My friend Megan said she might just be trying to increase my milk supply. Which is crazy because I'm a milk machine! Either way...it meant that last night I went to bed about 11:30 after feeding her and then was up from 2:20 - 4:00 a.m. for a back-to-back feed, burp, change session. And then up at 6:00 to do it all again (I was just able to put her back in her crib a few minutes ago...at 7:00...after she tried eating for a third time in a row but the last one she was just faking and wanting a pacifier to go back to sleep). These chubby cheeks are proof that she sure is eating well!!

Splitting Hairs

2010-08-31T16:01:00.003-04:00

Perhaps it is the time of year...even though I've been out of school for 8 years now (whoa), I still always get that nervous stomach at back-to-school time. I think for everyone it brings a time when you want to start fresh and make some changes. I always remember when I was little doing our back to school shopping and getting a new wardrobe. I thought it was interesting that I've lately seen several people posting about haircuts. I think it's my back-to-school self, but I too had been lately pondering making a change. The biggest hurdle is that I'm a mom now...and I don't want mom hair. But isn't that what it is when you cut your hair after you have a kid? Even if it looks good, it's like, "Oh, she had to get a mom cut." Am I right??

Anywho...my long hair has been annoying me lately. It's so thick that it's like wearing a blanket on my head. Not so much fun in this exceptionally hot summer. And just in the past couple of days, Lainey has started grabbing a fistful of it (usually when she's in a gassy rage and so she's not very gentle). It's not like I do anything with it...I either wear it down or pull it all up. I've never been great at fixing hair. Plus, it takes like 10-15 minutes to dry my hair (and yes, blow drying is necessary...you don't want to see the frizzy wavy mess it looks like when it air dries!). That is some valuable extra sleep time in the morning people. Also, I have been thinking for awhile about donating it to Locks of Love if I cut enough off since it's not been colored or anything and is super healthy after nearly a year of prenatals.

So it sounds like I'm all convinced, right? Well, not completely. I know it's dumb but I'm a little afraid to cut my hair because I'm 30. I mean, I'm not getting any younger and I probably won't ever have long hair again after this if I cut it. So do I hang on to it as a symbol of my fleeting youth? (Again, scared of "mom hair".)

Help me out blog people. Should I cut it or not? If so, how much? Bangs? Bob? Suggestions please!! :)

Growing like a weed...

2010-08-26T10:25:00.006-04:00

...but as pretty as a flower!

Lainey had her one month doctor's appointment this week. She now weighs 9 lbs, 4 oz and is 22.5" long! That is quite a lot of growth and the doctor was extremely impressed. Guess I can stop worrying that she's not getting enough food from breastfeeding. :) And I think we should get her a basketball soon considering she's in the 98 percentile for height! I knew she would be tall but yeesh! I just can't believe how much she is growing up right in front of me. Even this morning, I swear she's gotten bigger overnight. She has still exclusively been in newborn outfits but they are starting to get a little small (and her newborn pants are all totally too short...I think all her lengthening has been in her legs!). She's also still in newborn diapers which is a surprise. Guess we'll buy another box of those...

In other Lainey news, her umbilical stump fell off around 3 weeks and she got her first real bath last week (at 4 weeks...I wanted to be sure to give her belly button time to heal).

See that cute belly button?? :) She started out okay but then her Daddy was taking too long and she got cold.

She has also started practicing her smiles. She is so cute...she usually opens her mouth and then turns the corners up into a big gummy grin. I have been trying to capture it on camera:

Four Weeks Already!

2010-08-18T20:44:00.003-04:00

I can't believe that four weeks ago right now, I was laboring away, waiting on the arrival of our sweet Lainey. I am just so amazed at how different our life is now! It has been challenging for sure but definitely a change for the better. :) We are slowly settling into things and figuring out this parenting business. Lainey has really been a great baby and is already growing and changing. She looks a lot more like her Daddy now (which makes him extremely pleased with himself) and she is starting to fill out and not be such a skinny little baby. She's still in newborn sizes (something I thought she would never wear!) but her legs are growing faster than anything else. She has footie pajamas that she loves and I think I'm going to have to cut the feet out of them soon! They still fit everywhere else but it's getting hard to shove her feet in them. :) She is also working hard on various expressions and Troy swears he's gotten a few little smiles out of her. I mostly get her serious old man face or her excited "oooh" face (especially when she's getting ready to eat). She is just such a cutie! I seem to be getting even less sleep lately though as her eating habits seem to be evolving. She used to eat every 3-4 hours for about 10-15 minutes and only on one side (the doctors said she's a "very efficient eater"). Now she wants to eat every 2 hours for 10-20 minutes and sometimes she even wants back on after being burped. This is making it extremely hard to get anything done in about the hour that I have between feedings now. I sure wish she would start eating more like 20 minutes every 4 hours but we'll see! Right now, when Lainey wants to eat, Lainey gets to eat.

In other news, I went shopping yesterday to try to find some "transitional" clothes. I tried on clothes all over the mall for hours with my Mom. What did I end up getting? A meternity top that was on clearance at Destination Maternity. I feel like I'm going backwards...

Happy Friday the 13th!

2010-08-13T12:05:00.002-04:00

It's actually started out pretty well around here. Troy had to go to the bank this morning and worked remotely some so he hung out a little longer than usual which was nice. And after he left, Lainey fell asleep in her bouncy seat (and still is!) so I was able to shower, get dressed, start doing some laundry and lay out what needs to be packed for our quick trip to Goldsboro this weekend. Not too shabby!

Anywho...as I was packing and having my usual trouble lately of what to wear, I had to ask a couple of questions:
1) Why are nursing tanks and tops so fitted? With my post-pregnant flabby belly, I am not really feeling like wearing anything form-fitting. Also, my boobs are huge and these tops are all just super low cut tanks. So you can imagine it: my giant rack all out on display and then my soft belly pudged out just below that. Really nice.
2) Why don't the people who make maternity clothes go ahead and make them so they are also later conducive to nursing? This isn't something I thought about while pregnant but now all I feel comfortable in are my maternity tops but they all have to be pulled up from the bottom to nurse and this is kind of annoying.

I think I need to make a trip to Target and get some new clothes.

Okay, okay...here are some more pictures

2010-08-12T17:49:00.005-04:00

Trying out some tummy time (we're not fans just yet):

Before we realized how tired we were:

I love her little sleeping poses...she does this one a lot. :)

Long time, no post

2010-08-12T17:31:00.004-04:00

I am still around people! And doing much better, thanks. :) Thankfully I got over the mastitis of last week and now we are working on getting my left nipple to heal from the bad cracking (sorry...you just have to deal with these kind of details from a breastfeeding mommy!). It is still pretty painful so I went to see the lactation consultant at my pediatrician's office today. She is so nice and actually lives in my neighborhood. She was really helpful and said we're doing great (I admitted that we hadn't been but I have been diligent lately about researching proper latch and working towards that at each feeding). So hopefully things will get all cleared up on that front soon (the prescription-strength nipple cream she is starting me on should also help).

Anywho...let's not talk about the boobs for a minute, shall we?

Last weekend I took Lainey on her first road trip. I wondered if I was stupid, crazy or both but it actually turned out really great. My sister came up Thursday evening and then us three girls drove to Jamestown Friday morning to my parents' house. Then we all loaded up (in two cars...there was no way all of us plus the pack 'n play were going to fit in one vehicle) and headed to Georgetown, SC to my grandmother's house. It proved to be a bit more eventful than I would have liked when we hit a monstrous storm a little more than halfway there. It rained so hard most people had to pull off the highway or slow down and put their hazards on (we did both eventually). It was also so loud that it woke up my blissful traveler (have I mentioned that Lainey loves the carseat and that it works better than Ambian and a cocktail on her?). Then she of course needed to eat and be changed. That was interesting because it all had to be done in the car in a Hardees parking lot. But it all worked out and we arrived safely to find nearly my Mom's whole side of the family waiting at my grandmother's to meet Lainey. Needless to say, she was a hit and they all said how cute she was. She even scored some more baby gifts (she is so spoiled!).

The next day, we drove to Charleston for my cousin's engagement party. That was also a lot of fun but it was again interesting and challenging having to constantly go upstairs to nurse or change her. We're getting there.

Here is a (really bad) picture of 4 generations, spanning in age from just over 2 weeks to very nearly 91 years old:

Case of the Mondays

2010-08-04T12:03:00.005-04:00

This week did not start off so hot. All of our company left on Sunday and we were finally alone with the baby. This was nice but a little intimidating. Plus Troy was going back to work on Monday so it would just be Lainey and me. I knew this was nothing I couldn't handle and she really is a great baby but still. My "baby blues" also kicked in at this time so I found myself uncontrollably weepy due to my hormones. I was encouraged when Monday actually started off okay. Troy stayed long enough in the morning so I could get a shower and get dressed. Then Lainey napped in her swing. She was mostly awake the rest of the day and just hung out and looked around and was generally good. However, I started to not feel so hot as the day went on. I was tired and feeling run down and my left boob hurt. Not to be too graphic, but Lainey had done a number on that nipple with her "efficient eating" (that's what the pediatrician said because she feeds for about 10 minutes on one side per feeding and that's about every 3 hours). So I had been putting lanolin cream on it to try to help it heal. Then I realized late in the day that my left breast was really sore and hot to the touch. I remember saying to Troy on the phone, "I just really hope I don't have mastitis or something." Well, somewhere around 6-7 that evening, I was pretty sure that's exactly what I did have. I looked it up online and I had about half of the symptoms (swollen, red in one area, hot to the touch). I had also read about my friend Meredith's misadventure with mastitis (although poor Meredith had it much worse than the usual case). By this point, I was at the end of my rope and was so exhausted and upset. Troy had come home from work only to immediately leave to help our friend Rob pick up a piece of furniture. I texted him, desperate for him to come home and thankfully he was on his way. But I felt bad...he came home to me feeling awful and not even wanting to take care of our baby. I think it scared him a little bit that I just thinking about feeding her made me cry. That night continued to just get worse. The fever and flu-like symptoms kicked in and I had an awful night. Thankfully Lainey slept well and only woke up once in the night to eat and then went right back down.

So Monday was pretty awful for my first day home alone with the baby. Tuesday was so much better. My Mom came in the morning and took me to the doctor and they got me on some antibiotics. Then she took us to Lainey's 2 week appointment where the doctor said she is perfect and we totally agreed. :) Lainey now weighs 7 lbs, 12 oz (2 oz more than her birth weight!) and the doctor was really impressed. She also has great muscle tone and is already strong and holding her head up pretty well. All in all she's just a great baby and we are so lucky. We are also lucky to have such great friends and family. After our appointments my Mom bought some groceries for us and helped clean up the house while I took a nap. She even got dinner ready before she left to go back home. I can't even begin to say how helpful she has been over the past two weeks!

So...things are starting to look up and we're all getting a little better at the Benton household to adjusting to our new life. Lainey is so cute and sweet that it's hard not to be encouraged to just move forward for her sake. And Troy has been wonderful and helpful and a perfect Dad. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and I will leave you with these adorable images so as not to completely depress everyone. :)

Elaine Caroline Benton

2010-07-31T17:52:00.005-04:00

Wow...what a journey to get where we are today! I wanted to journal about Lainey's birth story so I wouldn't forget anything. Unfortunately, it has taken me 10 days to finally sit down in front of the computer long enough to do it but here goes...

Tuesday started out like a normal day. We got up and got dressed and ready for work. I was busy all day but managed to leave a little before 4 p.m. to come home because I knew that the hospital would call between 5 - 10 to let me know when I would be admitted. I came home, changed and finished packing the hospital bag and Troy and I ate some dinner and did some last little things around the house. At 7:30 someone from Rex called asking if we were ready to come in. Um, yeah! So off we went and we arrived at the Birth Center right at 8. We were checked in and I got settled in and changed into my hospital gown. We were so excited...I couldn't believe that we'd soon get to meet our baby!

That night the doctor gave me Cervidil and checked me at around 10 p.m. Apparently I was having some small contractions but was still not dialated at all. At midnight they came back to remove the Cervidil and to check me again (still no progress). They also gave me an Ambian so I could sleep and told me they would come get us up around 6 in the morning. Man, that Ambian did the trick! I went right to sleep and woke up at 6 on the dot. I got up and showered and then the nurses came in and hooked me up to my IV (Pitocin and a saline drip) and monitors (my contractions and the baby's heartbeat) around 8 a.m. And so began a long day of waiting. Family arrived, visited and milled about and I started having contractions. The doctor came and broke my water at 11:45 a.m. to see if that would speed things along because I was only 1 cm dialated. Wow...what a flood! My sister joked about everyone needing gollashes and she was about right. Not to be gross, but I gushed water for hours and had to repeatedly have the bed pads changed. Hours went by of gushing and contracting. During this time, we visited with family and watched the Pirates of the Carribbean movies (the cable was terrible...thanks P&C!). Around 4 p.m. the doctor checked me and I was only at 2 cms. That was a bit discouraging. They said that basically my body wasn't taking the hint and getting the kick start that the Pitocin offered. This wasn't terribly comfortable though because I was having basically back to back contractions with no break in between but the contractions weren't actually being productive. They kept upping the Pitocin level and around 8 p.m. they asked if I was sure I didn't want the epidural. Troy and I talked it over and I decided to get it so I could get a good night's sleep because it seemed I would probably be pushing late that night or early in the morning.

The epidural wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and then the pain relief was great (though it was weird to be all numb). We carried on a bit more and about 10 p.m., the doctor checked me again. There was still no progress and he said that he thought the baby was so large that my contractions were just kind of squeezing my uterus and the baby but not pushing down to get me dialated. He said that it was time to start thinking about maybe a c-section. I was really disappointed to hear that...that was my worst fear: that I would labor for hours and then end up having to have a c-section. The doctor said that I could continue to be in labor all night and we would still probably arrive at needing to have a section so we could either do it now or later. Troy and I talked to it over with the doctor, then the nurse, then each other and then our parents. About 10:30 we called the doctor in and told him that we were going to go that route.

From the time we said go, it was a whirwind of activity. We barely had time to bring our parents up to tell them our decision when the nurse kicked them out to get me ready for the OR. Within 10 minutes they were wheeling me down the hall and zipped me into the OR. That was a bit frightening because Troy had to stay outside and the OR was full of people who were all busy prepping stuff but no one was really talking to me. They moved me onto the operating table and began getting my anesthesia going. Then my doctor came over and talked to me for a minute which was comforting and Troy was able to come in to sit at my head. Side note: we were so exhausted by this point that he actually took a cat nap while waiting for someone to bring him into the OR. Only Troy could fall asleep right before his wife has major surgery and his baby is born! The surgery was really fast...it wasn't painful at all, just lots of pressure and then they pulled our little girl out and she instantly started crying. Troy got to watch the doctor actually pull her out and then he left with the nurse to watch them clean and weigh her.

That was by far the hardest part. I got to see her for just a second and then she and Troy were gone and the most difficult part of the surgery started. There was so much pressure as they stuffed my insides back. All I can remember thinking is, "I wish they would just stop for a minute. If they could just give me a minute, I'd be okay." Apparently, I was totally white and green around the gills and was shaking but I don't remember any of that. The anesthesiologist shot a few things into my IV and that was the last thing I remember. Then next thing I knew I was waking up in a different room and Troy was by my bed with a nurse on either side. I was so out of it...it felt like I was trying to wake up from the deepest, hardest sleep of my life. I was fighting to hard to be awake. I asked Troy how long I had been out and he just told me what time it was which meant nothing to me. Then the nurse said, "Now I'm going to just press down to check your abdomen." Holy cow...I have never felt such pain my life. I gripped the side rails of the bed as hard as I could. I'm not sure what else they did but it was just a few minutes and she had to do it again. That was the worst! Then they were wheeling me off again, this time to my post-partum room. Then I finally got to really see my baby.

So all in all, it was a long and tiring process but this made it all worth it. Elaine "Lainey" Caroline Benton was born at 11:43 p.m. on July 21st weighing 7 lbs 10 oz (yeah, the doctors were totally wrong about her size!) and measuring 20.5 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful and we are so in love with her. We have been taking lots of pictures and I'll of course be updating the blog with those. Right now though...I'm going to go enjoy my sleeping baby. :)

Just the two of us...

2010-07-19T20:47:00.002-04:00

...but not for long! I am writing this on the eve of being admitted to the hospital to be induced. Actually, they will admit me tomorrow and probably break my water and see if I'll go into labor on my own and then actually induce me Wednesday morning.

I can't believe we are here. It seems like it has been so long and also that it's flown by. I can't believe I've been pregnant for nearly the last year. I can't believe I've grown a person inside me...and that now it will be coming out to live with us. So weird! I also pointed out to Troy that it is our last night at home as just a couple. I'm sure it'll never be the same but that we'll never be able to imagine what this has been like (before the baby).

I just wanted to take a moment to get this down so I won't forget. It's just so amazing to me...I'm about the experience the greatest thing in my life up to this point! (I said that to Troy at dinner and I think he was a little insulted at first but marrying someone - even someone you truly love - just can't compare to growing someone!)

So...thank you for all of the thoughts, prayers and well wishes. It really means a lot to me. And thanks for following my little preggo jounrney on this blog! It will now obviously become all about Little Miss Benton and I can't wait. :) We'll post pictures as soon as we can!

The Final Countdown

2010-07-15T14:50:00.003-04:00

Has anyone else noticed that I usually update my blog on Thursdays? Not sure why that is. Anywho!

So...the big news for us is that by this time next week, our baby girl will be here! I went to the doctor yesterday and they said that I have not started towards labor but because the baby is rather large, they scheduled me to be admitted Tuesday night and induced on Wednesday. Which is exciting and weird all at the same time. To be honest, I'll be a little disappointed in my body that I couldn't get things going in a timely fashion on my own but I also don't want to let things go too long and then have no option but a c-section. I'm still holding out hope that labor will progress naturally and that I'll be in the hospital having this baby before my induction date but time will only tell!

In the meantime, I think I'm going to buy a Hanes XXL and write on it in permanent marker: "I'm due on Sunday. It's a girl. Yes, I'm very excited. No, we're not settled on the name yet." I went to Sephora today and was the main attraction. Every worker there asked me this litany of questions. I kind of wanted to call a meeting or make an announcement from the registers so I could answer everyone at once. One girl kept coming back over to talk to me about my pregnancy, plans, experiences, etc. All of that is fine, it's just a little funny. Plus, she was a little pushy (I mean, when you ask if we've picked out a name and I say, "Well, sort of...we've got one we like but we're still not 100%" you don't come back with "Oh...well, what is it?" Yeesh people.) The other thing I think is really funny is how everyone always asks if I'm excited. Do you really think I'm going to say, "Hell no! Have you SEEN a birthing video??" although I think that's going to be my next response. :)

Also, apparently I have the pregnancy glow. I thought it was just because it's 96 degrees and humid because it's July in NC but hey, if people think I'm glowing, I'll take it. It's a lot more flattering that just looking like a sweaty girl with facankles. I think my work sees through this though because they keep asking if I'm okay and hinting that I maybe look a little worn out. I guess toting around this extra 40+ pounds is starting to weigh on me (pun intended). By the end of the week, I just want to spread out on the couch and get a massage. Too bad my days usually end with my running some errands on the way home and then cooking. Oh well...I keep hoping gravity will be kind and get things moving.

So keep us in your thoughts & prayers that I will go into labor soon and that it will be smooth and problem-free. Baby will be here soon!!

Sweet Baby

2010-07-09T10:54:00.002-04:00

Okay, I know I promised a slideshow of belly pics but then when I put it together, I was not sure that I was ready for that to be out on the interwebs! It's a lot of large bare belly. I might still...we'll see.

I know I've been a little absent from the blog. I had a couple of worrisome doctor's visits but everything's fine. It started with my 37 week appt where I was measuring 41 weeks. Um, yeah. I have always been concerned that she would be a large baby because I was (I weighed 10 lbs, 7 oz...go ahead, pick your chin up) and it was suspected that my Mom had undiagnosed gestational diabetes. So this is something I've brought up repeatedly but my doctors have never seemed very concerned. After all, my 25 week glucose test was fine. But last week they were a bit surprised by this and decided I should go back for another ultrasound to get an idea of how big she is. Wednesday I went in for that appointment and they checked her and her measurements were kind of off. She was a bit misproportioned with her head measuring small and her abdomen measuring quite large. Needless to say, I was very concerned and upset.

They decided to send me to Duke Perinatal Consultants to get a more high-tech ultrasound just in case their measurements were wrong. After all, her head is now very low so it was hard to get a good angle. So we went this morning...and they were right. I was really upset but the doctor was great and explained that it's not so much that she has a small head (she's just petite) but that her stomach is really large. She said that this is usually an indication that the mother has had some sort of diabetes. Well, imagine that! I gave her the background on my mother's experience and how large I was and she was shocked that my doctor's office had not kept a better check. She was really surprised when I told her that on a few visits, I'd had elevated sugar in my urine. She said, "And they didn't check you again?!" Nope. Soo...the baby is fine and she said there's nothing to be concerned about but I feel terrible that I've been poisoning her with my peach milkshake infatuation. This also explains the facankles. So even though I'll be 39 weeks on Sunday and am so close to the end, I'm going to work really hard to cut back on my sugar to see if that helps any. I'm just relieved that she's healthy and fine...she'll just have a big belly at first. So now we're just waiting on her to decide to come out!!

July = Baby

2010-07-01T14:19:00.002-04:00

I apologize for slacking off a bit in my blogging. To make it up to you, I plan to add a slideshow on here of the belly pics we've been taking weekly since finding out I was pregnant. It has really been interesting to watch my belly (and other things) grow! It's funny looking back...I thought I was so obviously pregnant around the beginning of my second trimester and now I look at the pics and it's like, "Oh, what a tiny little bump I had!" And then we get to 24 weeks...

Anywho...we've been busy getting the house together and washing baby things and just generally preparing ourselves for the fact that we will soon be bringing a tiny, helpless little person home. That just almost doesn't seem legal.

Now for the Holly & baby update. To put things into perspective for you, I'm typing this at work while wearing flip flops and with my feet propped up on an empty paper box under my desk. So needless to say, the recent boiling temps have been taking their toll on me. By the end of the day, my feet and ankles are huge. Troy has coined the term "facankles"...as in, not just cankles, but fat cankles. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I also quit wearing my wedding bands a few weeks ago because if my hands would swell, it was awful trying to get them off and I didn't want to end up having to have them cut off or something. So now I look like a knocked up floozy with facankles.

Baby is still doing great...just getting crowded. She now does what I call her fish flop where it seems like she gets to frustrated at her lack of space that she does one mighty flailing to change position. It's pretty entertaining. :) And I still love when she pokes her little feet out. I can't wait to grab those little feet!

I go back to the doctor tomorrow morning so we'll see if there has been any progress from last week (where they said no dilating and they think she'll sit tight until sometime around her due date). I'll keep you posted!

It is easy being green (sometimes)

2010-06-24T11:33:00.002-04:00

My friend did this on her blog and I thought it was a great idea so I'm doing the same. By posting the "Green" button on the right side of my blog, I'm having a tree planted to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from this blog. If you'd like to do the same, just check out this site.

The Heat Is On

2010-06-17T16:05:00.006-04:00

Seriously, it is way hot out. I love how we have an "unseasonably warm" summer when I'm pregnant! Oh well...thank goodness for A/C.

So I am now officially one month away from my due date. The scarier fact is that the baby will be full term a week from Sunday. Yikes! The little green lady to the right just keeps on marching closer & closer to 40 weeks and I am just dumbfounded. Here's hoping we'll be ready!

One thing that definitely helped was a shower that my sister and friends threw for me last week. It was so much fun and BB (Baby Benton) got lots of great stuff! Here I am enjoying a (virgin) daiquiri with Aunt Laura:

It was a fun tropical theme. Keeping in that theme, baby is about the size of a honeydew melon this week. And I look like 2 grapefruits on top of a watermelon. I can't imagine getting much bigger but I'm sure I will with another month to go. It's funny though...I guess when you get close to 9 months, you cross some threshold. Now people have started telling me that I don't look that big (so they are obviously lying). Even Troy has started to say that I look totally normal except for this large bubble on the front of me (which is actually a compliment considering before he just told me I was huge). ;)

I hope you are all managing to stay cool in this heat. Have a great weekend!

I Win

2010-06-10T14:23:00.001-04:00

Troy just ordered a desktop for the house. Should be here before the baby he says. I have the best husband! :) Soo...hopefully pictures again soon!

Baby Update

2010-06-09T16:39:00.002-04:00

First, a little disclaimer. I apologize for the recent lack of pictures but we have a slight situation in that Troy has moved his office out of the house and taken our desktop (and Picasa) with him. We are hoping to remedy this problem soon (like, before our baby gets here and I am taking a million pictures of her) so please bear with me.

Now for the update...baby and I are both doing great. I'm midway through 34 weeks and it's a little scary at how soon she will be here. It kind of hit home when the first question the doctor asked at my appointment this morning was, "Are you having any cramping or contractions?" Obviously indicating that this could be likely at this stage. Thankfully, it is not. Then we listened to the heartbeat (strong and in the 140s) and he measured me (right on track for 34 weeks). Due to my aforementioned problem of everyone telling me that I'm huge (and baby too), I was a little concerned that maybe she is really big. This is a valid concern considering that my Mom gave birth to toddlers. The doctor asked, "Well, how big were you at birth?" I told him my older sister weighed 9 lbs 9 oz and I topped the scales at 10 lbs 7 oz. "And my Mom is really petite and only 5'2"!" Can you believe that he says, "Wow, and you're a good bit taller so you could have an even bigger baby!" as though that is amusing?? I was not amused. He then explained that if they think she is getting way big towards the end that they would do an ultrasound just to check. Whew!

So things are moving right along in our house. Over the weekend, we got lots done: we ran errands, Troy finished sheet rocking our garage and put up an over the garage door storage rack and I cleaned out some closets in the house. We were feeling so good about things that while out on Saturday, we decided to go ahead and buy the flat screen TV and media console we'd been wanting for the bonus room. Everything was great...but then Monday came and brought it's gloom and back-to-reality stress. I think this mostly affected Troy. He has quite a lot on his plate right now. For the next three weeks, he is going to drill in Burlington each day. He is the Company Commander at the Armory (so he's the boss) and there is much to do. He's also trying to get his long overdue promotion to Captain. Plus, he still owns his own business so he's trying to stay on top of that and work remotely as much as possible. And did I mention our baby is due soon? Yeah. Poor thing...I knew he was really stressed when the other morning I brought up the picture issue (see top of this post) and suggested maybe we buy an inexpensive desktop so we can manage the pictures from home? He totally flipped out and had the audacity to say something about finding the money to do that. Um, hello...we have a 3 day-old plasma TV still in the box. Plus, he works with computers and so it's kind of silly not to have one at home (and we probably have enough parts around the house to build one). He then left for work without turning off the soaker hose so we watered our plants for 12 hours yesterday. Whoops!

So please bear with us if we're a little frazzled lately. Troy has since calmed down and his new soccer season has started back up (because we have tons of spare time) and that has given him a good exercise outlet. And I'm happy because the checkout lady at Harris Teeter today told me that I don't look big at all. It's the little things. :)

June already?

2010-06-03T10:46:00.004-04:00

As much as I have been waiting for this time of year to get here and thinking it would be forever, it has somehow managed to sneak up on me. I can't believe it's already June and that we're just about 6 weeks away from our due date. Wow!

Things haven't been too exciting around our house lately. Troy has been doing a lot of tinkering and organizing & reorganizing the garage. You would think the baby would be living out there with all the time he has devoted to that project but I'm just glad he's happy and getting it done. I have been doing a lot of...who knows. The days go by and I feel like I'm so busy but I haven't really managed to tackle much on my to do list. Troy was saying this morning, "Babe, why did you wait until you got so big to want to do everything? It's only gonna get worse." This is true. I suppose it's just my nesting gearing up or maybe just the panic setting in that this baby will be here soon but I am finally getting motivated to get stuff done.

As far as a baby update...she seems to be doing great! She is definitely bigger now and I can feel her taking up a lot of room in my stomach instead of just feeling her in one corner or another. I don't think she's ready to come out yet because lately she has been trying to crawl up under my ribs and stay as high as she can. For awhile I thought she would be a mellow baby because she didn't move around a whole lot but now I see she was just fooling us. She kicks and moves quite a lot and it's endlessly entertaining to me to watch limbs and lumps and bumps move around just below the surface of my belly. One of her favorite things to do is to stick her rear end out (she gets that from her Daddy) and she also does a happy dance after eating (she gets that from me). She especially likes Mexican and anything sweet. I bet she's gonna be a handful. :)

Also, as I am scurrying to get things done, I am shamelessly taking recommendations for anything from vets, day care and infant photographers in the Raleigh/Durham area to advice on bathing, swaddling, sleeping, etc. Maybe I'm crazy but I will let you tell me how to properly bathe my baby and let you feel the belly! ;)

Baby Jorts

2010-05-24T10:19:00.003-04:00

I received this email from Target:

Apparently, they are trying harder than ever to compete with Wal-Mart by letting as young an audience as possible know that it's okay to wear jean shorts.

Eight Months

2010-05-24T09:40:00.006-04:00

Wow, I can't believe we're here already! She will be here in no time...I just hope we are prepared. As I am getting closer to the end of this adventure, I started to reflect back on the milestones and the things I've learned...

At 12 weeks I started showing (well, at least to me...I knew that wasn't all just holiday eating that was forcing me into larger and more elasticized pants!).

At 22 weeks I started feeling her kicking inside me. What a weird sensation. It definitely feels just like there's a small animal squirming around inside you.

Now that I'm 32 weeks, I just can't believe I'm already at this point. It's been a really great experience (true, I have been lucky not to have any real complications or sickness or anything). Now we're just eager for the next step. I mean, I think we are. Yes...yes, we are.

I guess the biggest thing about being pregnant (besides your uterus, natch) are all of the sacrifices you make. This cannot be taken too seriously...you have no idea! Of course there is giving up alcohol and any other bad-for-you things that you do. But you also lose your waist and your mind. You forego an intimate knowledge of your feet or the condition of your pedicure. You also must graciously alter your diet for the benefit of the baby. I selflessly increased my calcium intake just for her. This involved many bowls of queso at Los Tres and countless quarts of ice cream. All for you, baby. Just today, I have loaded myself up on antioxidants by helping myself to the blueberry coffee cake that a coworker brought in. Just be prepared all you potential moms out there.

You should also be warned about all of the pregnancy literature and theories out there. I would definitely advise taking in this information with a mound of salt (except that it will inevitably make your feet and ankles swell). The raising of babies is such a careful art that it changes constantly. What was best for baby yesterday is now surely the thing that could lead to their harm today. My best example of this is when Troy and I attended our Baby Care Basics course last week. We were told that swaddling is bad and can lead to SIDs and our teacher refused to show us how to properly swaddle our fake baby. When I later posted this on Facebook, it caused a little bit of a ruckus. You don't have to tell me, people. I know lots of babies who loved being swaddled and made it out okay. Just know as a new or soon-to-be parent that people have been having babies long before sleep positioners, swaddling, pacis, bumpers and all that other stuff. Babies are pretty resilient and I hope ours will be (and that I will be able to accept this fact once she's out). I'm not sure if this is advice to my readers or just a pep talk to myself but I hope we all feel better now.

I think it's time for more coffee cake! Baby needs some blueberries.

All Kinds of Showers

2010-05-18T11:28:00.006-04:00

We have finally been getting some much-needed rain here. It went from being totally dry to torrential downpours. Nothing like easing into things. Yesterday it rained cats & dogs. Really, I saw some guy step in a poodle. Get it? Poodle??(Bah-dum-ching!) The saddest part about that joke is that I stole it from a guy on the radio. Anywho...at least it's been great for the yard. Here's a pic of the front yard that doesn't even do it justice since everything is now blooming like crazy:

The other kind of shower was a baby shower that one of my oldest & dearest neighbors threw for me last weekend. I say oldest because she has lived across the street from my parents for about 30 years now. I can't believe it's been that long!

It was a really nice shower with some friends, family and family friends. We got all kinds of great things for Baby Girl (or BB as my Mom calls her for Baby Benton) and it was awesome getting to see everyone!

Very yummy spread and the cake was pink lemonade from Dewey's Bakery. So cute! But maybe that explains this spread:

2010-05-12T13:12:00.002-04:00

So I know you're sick of my lamenting about how big I am and how other people love to point out that fact. Well, too bad. I just had to share my latest little episode with you so bear with me. ;)

Yesterday I went to the mall on my lunch break. They have combined our Motherhood Maternity and A Pea In the Pod stores to create one store, Destination Maternity. I thought I'd check it out and see if they were maybe having a grand opening sale (they weren't). I have been on the hunt for a cute (and cheap) maternity dress that I could wear to work and on the weekends. My main requirement is that the thing have short sleeves. Apparently this is too much to ask. I just want to know...who are these pregnant ladies prancing around in strapless bras?? There is no way my girls would be supported and my heavy-duty nursing bras just won't look cute under a little summer sundress with spaghetti straps.

But I digress...I found what appeared to be a cute green, black and white dress with cap sleeves that was $35. Perfect! I took it home and tried it on last night. When I came downstairs to show Troy, he took one look at me and started laughing. So I did an about-face to go back up and he sputtered, "No, no...I'm sorry! But, seriously, that is just...ridiculous. You can't wear that." It seems that the green polka dots over my chest weren't doing anything but making things look larger and the floral patterned skirt was doing a pitiful job at camouflaging my belly. Oh well...it was worth a shot. But this attempt had me very frustrated. I was started to get on board with my friend Shay's philosophy that us pregnant ladies need a self-esteem boost, even if that means buying nicer and more expensive maternity wear. For her first pregnancy, she got by on Target & JCPenney. I have been doing the same (except with a heavy dose of Old Navy). But maybe nicer clothes is just what I need. I mean, after all, it's not like I'm only going to be in this stuff for 2 more months. I'm realistic enough to know that I'll probably be in maternity wear for a month or two after the baby comes out. And as I expand, it seems that buying bigger pants is going to be easier than shedding a few pounds.

So what did I do? I went to JCPenney and bought an outfit on clearance. Some habits are hard to break...

Babymoon

2010-05-11T10:54:00.011-04:00

Well, here we are folks...30 weeks. I can't believe it's here already and that I'm 3/4 of the way through this pregnancy. As you can see, I am looking rather ripe these days.

(So, I realize my belly looks oddly squared off in this picture. Again, I think this shirt was doing weird things.)

That picture does absolutely nothing for my boobs. I swear they're not that saggy...that shirt just has a drape-y front. But you can see that Baby Girl is getting bigger (about 3 lbs now) and poking out more. She kicks and bounces around a lot, especially after I eat.

Things around the Benton household have been rather uneventful. Not that we've not been busy, but we've not really done anything exciting or gone anywhere in ages. So that's why it was so nice to get out of town last weekend. Troy's cousin was graduating from the College of Charleston so we decided to make the trip and have that be our little "babymoon." It was so nice! I had forgotten how refreshing just a long weekend could be and it was nice to go somewhere besides just Greensboro or Goldsboro and really get out of town.

Troy had never been to Charleston and I think he was pretty smitten with the town. Course, I think that may have something to do with all the cute college girls running around, especially when he's sitting next to a swollen something in a large pink sundress. Anywho...it was a great weekend and we basically ate and walked around which was perfect. Here are some of the highlights:

I had to have some shrimp & grits while we were there!

And no trip to the Battery would be complete without seeing the Piggly Wiggly house.

In case you're not familiar, this is the house of the owner of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain. There are two large stone pigs at the base of his front stairs that they often dress up for the holiday or season. Guess they'd already tossed their cap from graduation.

So that was probably our last trip as just a couple. Hard to imagine! The next time we go on vacation, it'll likely be with loads of baby gear and it'll take 3 hours to pack and leave the house and then we'll have to stop every 30 minutes. We can't wait. :)

Our rare non-baby-related projects

2010-04-30T16:21:00.010-04:00

So, this is a bit delayed but I have been telling people about all of the yard work we did in our front yard and have had requests for pictures so here goes! A couple of weekends ago, Troy's Mom and stepdad were nice enough to come for the day on Saturday. They brought with them a truck bed full of compost, some tools and their green thumbs. I provided drinks.

Troy got up really early that morning and started ripping up our existing plants in the front so I wasn't able to get a good "before" picture. It wasn't much to see...we had a few half-dead boxwoods in a row in front of the front porch with some pinestraw.

Here is Troy breaking up the clay so we could till in some compost:

The truck was FULL of compost...

...and we used most of it tilling it in with the clay.

It took several hours to do the tilling so then it was off to McDonalds and Lowes for food & plants. When we got back, we lined the bed and around the tree with slate from his Mom's house. It looks awesome! Then it was just a matter of getting the plants in the ground.

By this time, it was starting to get dark (this was a 12-hour job!) but here is the finished product:

We are really pleased with the results and I'm so glad it's done! Hopefully we can keep it all alive...

Welcome to the End

2010-04-28T10:23:00.003-04:00

This past Sunday, I hit 28 weeks and the third trimester. I can't believe it! It's gone by really quickly. Here is a lovely pic of my blossoming belly:

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday that included a follow-up ultrasound. Good news...I no longer have a previa! The doctor said my placenta has moved out of the way and everything looks totally normal. I was very relieved to hear that. Then the technician checked on how Baby Girl is doing. Troy & I were really excited to get to see her one last time before she arrives! :) She was squirming and kicking a good bit (maybe I should have skipped the juice that morning) so she didn't get a great picture of her face but here it is:

It's a little hard to see but her head is tilted (chin towards the bottom left). In the second one, her mouth looks like it's open. It was kinda weird looking because now you could see her eyeballs instead of what just looked like sockets previously. But we still think she's super cute!

In other pregnancy-related news, I had my first leg cramp early this morning. I shot out of bed at 6 a.m. and hopped around the bedroom until Troy got up and showed me how to stretch it. Unfortunately, that was not my first time being up last night. I also woke up about 2 a.m. because my back was absolutely killing me. I got up (and used the bathroom, of course) and then spent about an hour tossing and moving pillows around trying to find a reasonably comfortable position. So now I'm at work and totally dragging and my back still hurts. But I can't complain...it's been pretty smooth so far!

The Update

2010-04-20T11:39:00.003-04:00

I have truly enjoyed my pregnancy thus far but...as my final trimester looms on the horizon, I can see why they say the second trimester is great and by the third you'll probably be uncomfortable. Oh yes, I can see it coming. It is already becoming increasingly difficult to bend over. I will soon be totally ignoring things like untied shoes or anything that falls off my desk. I also feel like I have to pee about 87% of the time. Then you go and it's just a few drops. It would almost be easier to start diapering myself (and hey, good practice, right?).

I still feel great though, considering, and am getting bigger and feeling her moving around. She has definitely given me a sweet tooth. I want dessert after every meal and I especially want ice cream. I was never a big ice cream person before but now I could eat it every day. And oh my gosh...I am totally addicted to the Chick-fil-a peach milkshake. I read online that they will only be offering these until sometime in June and I am just not sure how I will handle the last few weeks of my pregnancy without them. I am writing corporate and urge you to do the same if you have also sampled this summer-y deliciousness!

My main gripe still is people constantly telling me how huge I am. I do not understand why this is okay to do just because I am pregnant. The UPS guy yesterday incredulously asked me if I was having twins when he found out I'm just 27 weeks along and let me say that I could easily have asked him the same thing. People, please do not antagonize us pg ladies by telling us how enormous we are or pointing out things that have clearly occurred to us like the fact that yes, it will be very hot in July when I am at my most rotund! I get it... I will be one big, sweaty pig by the time this is all said and done.

And speaking of pigs...here is a pic of me with some bacon at the CRG roller derby this past Sunday:

Baby likes Bojangles

2010-04-07T10:49:00.003-04:00

This has been a fun week because I've started really feeling her kicking (it's cool...I told her she could but only while she's in my belly). As I said earlier, I had my glucose test on Monday. Well, you have to drink this orange drink that is somewhere between Tang and Sunkist (no bubbles but not horrible). After I got to work, she was all amped up. I've been feeling her moving around the past couple of weeks but not really discernable jabs or kicks. These were definite kicks. Even my coworker could feel them. Then yesterday, not a whole lot of action. I guess baby is just picky about what I eat. I had a Bojangles chicken biscuit this morning and she is now apparently doing some Flashdance in my belly (I like to imagine the song "She's a maniac" playing and her pumping her little fists and feet). I also had some fruit so I guess it could have been that but I'm betting it was the Bojangles. You go, baby!

Preggo Update

2010-04-05T14:01:00.002-04:00

Here I am at 25 weeks:

Growing by the day, it seems! All I know is that I am in desperate need of some warm-weather maternity clothes (for work & play). I was not expecting summer to arrive on April 1st so I haven't stocked up on any new clothing items but that will be happening soon. Because I have been SO HOT. Thank goodness for A/C.

I had my glucose test today. It really wasn't too bad except that you had to sit around for an hour after drinking the orange drink. The best part about today was how active the baby has been! I've definitely felt her kicking and you can feel it by putting your hand on my belly now. She kept kicking the same spot so I watched and I could even see it! Pretty wild. It's the little things, but that pretty much made my day. :) Hopefully the doctor's office won't ruin it by calling and telling me I have gestational diabetes or something. But I'm feeling good so I'm not going to worry about that!

Soccer Mom

2010-03-29T14:51:00.003-04:00

24 weeks (6 months)

I've been getting weekly emails from BabyCenter.com about my pregnancy. You know, the ones that tell you what fruit or veggie your baby resembles at that period of gestation. This week we have an ear of corn (she's a foot long a little more than a pound) but the most surprising bit of the email was the fact that my uterus is apparently the size of a soccer ball. Seriously?? Even though I'm definitely growing (I'll post new belly pics when Troy uploads them), I didn't think I could be big enough to fit a soccer ball in my abdominal cavity. Guess I was wrong!

Coincidentally, I will be going to a soccer game tonight. Troy has joined CASL, Raleigh's co-ed adult soccer league. I'm glad he's found a fun new activity and that he's getting to play soccer again. It's quite a workout and I'm a little jealous that he gets to run around and play while I just sit on the sidelines. I guess now I'll just be hoping they don't think I'm smuggling the balls out under my sweatshirt.

It looks like we're having a baby

2010-03-23T16:33:00.011-04:00

As in, our house now looks like it is ready to take on a little bundle. :) Here is what the nursery looked like before:

And that was after we got the guest room furniture out of there! The gate that you see is something we purchased and put up to keep the cats out of the room. So far, so good (knock on wood).

Here's the room totally cleared out:

And here I am at 22 weeks:

Then Troy did the painting. FYI...he picked out the colors and the pink was totally his idea. He is "embracing girl stuff." I think he did a great job! We also finally got nursery furniture after deliberating on the topic for a couple of months and countless trips to Buy Buy Baby (my favorite baby store).

You can see our new ceiling fan in that last one. I read an article about how ceiling fans are the new weapon against SIDS so I had to have one in there. We also ordered the bedding set. We love it! I wish you could feel how soft it is through these pics. We will be ordering more from the set but this is a good start.

So all in all...I'm pleased! Troy has taken to calling this room "the happiest place on earth" (or HPOE for short). All that's left are the glider and about 10 tons of plastic stuff. Oh yeah, and the baby. Seventeen weeks to go!

So...much...stuff...

2010-03-10T14:26:00.003-05:00

I was just wondering if anyone out there has any wisdom (or opinion) on baby bottles? There seem to be so many choices out there and about all I know is that they're all BPA free (or by now should be). Feel free to expound the virtues of any other tried-and-true baby products while you're at it (swings, bouncers, diapers, pumps, etc)!

Thank you in advance for the comments! :)

Baby Face

2010-03-09T09:58:00.003-05:00

This is a picture of Baby Girl Benton's face. Troy calls them her "teddy bear" shots but I think she looks more like Skeletor...sorry baby! When the tech was pointing out her features in this one, Troy solemnly stated that she "Looks like she has a nice-shaped head." Umm...okay. I thought it was a funny first reaction to seeing your daughter!

These are kind of small but the top picture is my favorite. It's of her cute little foot! You can't see it but the technician wrote "Tarheel baby" on the picture. ;) The bottom two images are of her body (her head is the left and she's looking down and then you can see her spine and chest).

Chalk it up to the hormones...

2010-03-05T10:11:00.003-05:00

So Troy mentioned the other day that he had read my blog and he goes, "Wow, you were really kind of rude about the name thing." Was I?? I'm sorry readers. I intended to come off funny but perhaps it was lost in the blogosphere. Please don't feel you have to walk on eggshells with me about the baby name issue. We honestly don't know what we want to name Baby Girl so when people ask if we've picked out names, I've just been saying no. I was just trying to make the point that sometimes people can be a bit too forthcoming with their opinions on names.

I like our neighbors' approach. They are having a little boy and are in our same boat about the name (they have some in mind but don't really want to share) so they made up a fake name to tell people when asked. Their fake name is "Dijon" (or "D'John"...that spelling was my idea. I think an apostrophe really makes it, you know?). [Apologies to anyone out there named Dijon or D'John...it's a great name, really.] But it is always amusing when people excitedly ask them if they've picked out names and they deadpan that they are really leaning towards Dijon. It takes people a second but then they catch on and change the subject. I think Troy and I like Ma~ (you know, pronounced "Matilda"). ;)

Halfway Mark

2010-03-02T11:44:00.003-05:00

We're halfway there! I'm in my 20th week...I can't believe it! The time really has gone by very quickly. I'm sure the second half of my pregnancy will as well (which is a little scary because then we'll be taking care of a baby!). I still am not really feeling any fetal movement but am hopeful that that will begin soon. Troy says I'll probably be complaining about her kicking me all the time in a month but right now I'm pretty anxious to start feeling her moving around. I go back for a follow-up ultrasound in 3 weeks so they can check on the placenta previa. Hopefully it will look good and I won't need to plan on a C-section.

Next up...clearing out the nursery!

Stomach Sensitivity

2010-02-25T21:26:00.002-05:00

Don't worry, this isn't going to be a recap of my digestive troubles (although I did eat Mexican tonight...but that's another story). No, what I'm talking about is the fine line you have to walk with pregnant ladies about their bellies. We are excited to be pregnant and always want you to notice. However, beware in saying too much (or too little). When you're early on, say, 3 to 4 months, you are finally out of that awkward "I just look thicker around the middle" stage and are actually getting a little bump. If you have friends in this stage, please don't exclaim to them how you totally can't even tell that they are pregnant. Most women are pretty excited to be in this predicament and are equally (if not more so) excited to finally feel like she looks it. Then as you move along to the middle phase of your pregnancy you will really start to more noticeably show. This is basically where I am now. As everyone knows, we found out on Tuesday that we're having a girl (yay!). Since my appointment was on Tuesday morning, some of my coworkers decided to make last-minute predictions on the gender. One coworker told me to turn to the side so she could see how high I was carrying. Then another had me turn with my back to her. Now, she really is a very sweet person, but she proceeded to guess that it was a girl because "With a boy it's all in front and you can't tell from the back but with a girl you kind of spread out." Umm...guess that means my fears about the peanut M&Ms have come true. :-P She also asked how far along I was and when I said 19 weeks, was told, "Wow. That's a lot of baby for 19 weeks!"

Basically, the lesson is this: this whole body-changing is new and different and also exciting. So please be gentle in your observations and gracious in your compliments as we adjust to this strange period. Thanks!

Pretty in Pink!

2010-02-24T13:33:00.002-05:00

Sorry to the majority of you who voted "boy" on the poll but we found out yesterday that we are indeed having a GIRL! Troy & I were both a bit shocked I think. Don't get me wrong, we're happy with the news that we're having a girl. I had just always assumed that we would have a boy. Everyone always said they could see us having a bunch of little boys like Troy. An idea which I quite liked because, well, I married him so I kinda like him and thought it would be cute to have little mini-Troys. But now we're switching gears and getting ready for all things girl! I am excited about the shopping and cute clothes and all that stuff. :)

Here are a few updates & answers to FAQs:

- I still feel great!
- Baby looks really good according to the doctor. She's currently breech (actually, she's basically horizontal) but I'm sure that will change.
- I still don't think I've felt her moving around yet. A couple of times I thought maybe but nothing strong or consistent yet. I know she is though because we saw her rolling around and stretching yesterday!
- I'm fine except they said I have placenta previa. It shouldn't be a big deal and usually corrects itself as the pregnancy progresses. The upside is I get to have another peek at Baby Girl at 28 weeks.
- No, we do not have a name picked out. I want to see the baby and see if the name fits before we start putting it out there. Also, some people (no names) feel the need to offer their opinions and we don't really want to deal with all of that. I mean, if we've taken the time to pick out a name that is special to us and that we think we want to name our first-born, please don't ruin it by saying that you don't like it (probably because that girl who stole your lucky pencil in the 3rd grade had that name). Please keep this in mind around others who are pregnant and pass it on. You're welcome. ;)

I'm sorry I don't have the pics of our little girl to post yet but Troy's got to the get scanner working (it appears to not be compatible with Windows 7 so he'll get that straightened out).

Thank you so much for all of the prayers & well wishes!! It really means a lot to us and we're excited to get to share this experience with everyone. We are so so excited about becoming parents and can't wait to meet our girl. :)

Valentine's Weekend

2010-02-16T10:25:00.004-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's weekend. Ours started off with a very pretty but short-lived snow. It was perfect: couple of inches of fluffy crunchy snow that was on the ground and trees but not at all on the roads.

Saturday we did some running around and then went to dinner at Maggiano's with our friends Ryan & Kim. It was delicious as usual! We also saw Wayne Ellington eating there with what looked like his family which was pretty cool after the 100 years of basketball festivities and the win over State. Troy had a beautiful bouquet of flowers sent to me at work on Friday and they have been pretty & fragrant all weekend (and into this week)!

Also, I'm now 18 weeks along and we find out a week from today the sex of Baby Benton. Can't wait!

Pregnancy Update

2010-02-11T11:45:00.005-05:00

I am halfway through my 17th week and everything is going well! We can't wait until our next appointment on the 23rd to get the ultrasound. Don't forget to vote in the poll to the right about whether you think Baby Benton is a boy or girl!

Latest stats:
- Still feel good. In fact, most days I wouldn't even say that I really feel pregnant.
- Tired but not as much as in the beginning. Although lately I seem to have some weird pg narcolepsy in the evenings where I will just conk out on the couch even if I'm trying really hard to stay awake (totally did this at our neighbors while watching the Hurricanes game...I just can't help it!).
- My cravings have still been mostly dairy. Haven't really liked chicken since I tried to eat Chick-fil-a on my birthday in December. I mean, seriously, who throws down their Chick-fil-a sandwich halfway through?? Apparently this girl.
- Need to put down the peanut M&Ms. Really...I have a giant bag that I keep in my drawer at work and I am nearing the bottom. Speaking of bottom, I think they are settling in that general area. Hmmm.
- My chest is still sore but I only notice it conveniently in the middle of the night when they wake me in pain as I roll over. Fun times.
- Troy & I are endlessly fascinated at my belly's new texture. It feels like an exercise ball...very tight (a new sensation for me in the belly area...haha!). It's kind of fun to poke. Not too hard, of course. Troy gets nervous when I do that but the doctor practically pushes through to your spine so I'm sure my light poking isn't doing any harm. Right...RIGHT?? I'm sure it's fine.
- I have been in maternity clothes for a couple of weeks now. FYI...Old Navy has awesome maternity pants. They are "real waist" pants...no stretchy panel. However, why is it that maternity pants seem to be so long in the crotch? Is that in case you actually have the baby while wearing them? I just don't get it. Also, they must really expect your rear end to become huge because they are also very generous in that area.

That's about it for now! Our latest thing is shopping for nursery furniture so hopefully we'll get that ordered soon. Then it will be time to paint and pick out bedding! I'll post pictures of everything as we get them. Stay tuned!

Snow Days

2010-02-08T20:56:00.005-05:00

My, this is a lot of winter weather we've been having! I like the snow and the other weekend was really fun getting to get out and play in it (well, as much as a pregnant lady can). However, I think I'm just about ready for spring to roll in. It has already been nice leaving for work and it not being totally dark outside. But I guess we'll see what happens. If that old groundhog was right, we'll probably have a few more snow days ahead of us. I just hope they're as much fun as the last ones! Here are some pics from our adventures in our neighborhood:

Voting is now open...

2010-01-26T18:35:00.002-05:00

Please note the poll on the right side where you can guess what Baby Benton will be!