I was TRULY suprised at my work this past Thursday, Feb 21st, when my work threw Amy and myself a baby shower lunch.
I had planned to go out to lunch that day with Amy Harris-Soloman, whom I work with. The way I'm situated at work, I should see everyone and everything that goes in and out of our office but I've been kinda distracted lately, so I saw nothing that was going on apparently in the background. When the time came to go to lunch, I headed for the door and the first suprise was (my) Amy standing there. What a nice suprise, Amy was going to meet us for lunch as well, I thought! However, I turned around and everyone from the office was standing there and they had set up, in the conference room, a beautiful lunch spread and I saw baby style gifts in there...they had TOTALLY suprised me with a shower for Amy and me!
We had great food and they all pitched in for a Baby Trend snap and go stroller, which holds the baby seat, and a big ol basket full of baby stuff! We had cupcakes and they also did a great Power Point (how work-like) of baby tips from everyone in the office. I think I'll post those later.
So me and Amy would like to give a HUGE thank you to my co-workers for the surprise and the wonderful thoughts for us. You can see from the pic above we were pretty happy!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
A true SURPRISE Shower!!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Happy Birthday, Papa!
Today is Jason's 36th birthday. I don't think I can say enough how lucky I am to have him for a husband and as a father for my baby. Happy birthday, Booty. I love you so much! You're going to be such a wonderful daddy.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Bad Mommy (baby update)
I've been feeling like a bad mommy for not posting much here, our version of a baby book. Jason is just a better writer than I am, so I've let him handle the posting. However, there are some things that he just can't express, like the crazy things that are going on with my body.
To update you all, I am in my 28th week of pregnancy (28 weeks and 2 days, to be exact). I have now graduated to biweekly midwife appointments, which is wonderful for a worrier like me - more chances for my questions to be answered. I absolutely love the Vanderbilt Nurse Midwives practice. I get lots of personal attention and more control over the birthing process, while still having access to immediate emergency care and painkillers. In case you're like my dad and think I'm seeing some hippie voodoo practitioner, here is more info on certified nurse midwives.
My pregnancy, so far, has been delightfully uneventful. The hardest part has been getting enough protein in my diet. I am a long-time vegetarian, so this has always been an issue for me, especially since I love junk food so much, and I'm not a very adventurous eater. Now, the difficulty is my lack of an appetite. It's just my luck that when I should be losing weight (pre-pregnancy), I had a voracious appetite, but can't seem to make myself eat when I need to be gaining. Mavis, my midwife, isn't worried, though. The baby is actually measuring a little big for her gestational age (30 cm fundal height) and she says my weight gain is right on track for someone who was overweight pre-pregnancy. I still worry, though, about the amount of protein I'm eating. I'm doing my best, drinking High-Protein Boost and Ensure at least once a day and picking out high protein snacks like cottage cheese. My little sister keeps promising to bring me homemade smoothies, but hasn't followed through, yet.
The coolest thing lately has been all the movement going on in my belly. People were right when they said you can't describe how it feels when the baby moves. It's just so amazing. My mom finally got to feel her kick yesterday, and Jason has felt her quite a few times, now. Sleeping well has been increasingly difficult. I didn't sleep well pre-pregnancy, anyway, so getting comfortable with my expanding belly is nearly impossible. Jason gets so irritated that it takes me so long to get settled, I imagine that he will banish me to the bed in the baby's room soon.
More updates to come, I promise. In the meantime, please give me, in the comments section, any tips on preparing pets for a new baby. I think Ruby will be fine, but the cats might be a different story.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Cut the cord.
This may not mean a thing to anyone who reads it but me but since part of this blog is to keep a diary of what happens as we welcome our daughter into our lives, I write it mainly for me to remember.
Today somebody older and wiser, in conversation about the baby being born, said to me,"Cut the cord." At first I took it as the metaphoric phrase I have heard meaning, give your child their freedom, don't keep them so close or smother them to the point they can't function on their own...and I thought, that's a strange thing to say seeing as she isn't even born yet. So I'm supposed to give her her freedom before I even know her...then of course,
I realized he literally meant, in the birthing room, at the birth, physically be the one that cuts the cord. You'll have to forgive me, things are moving at 99 mph lately and sometimes I haven't even got my shoes on yet.
No, cut the cord, he said because in that instant, the baby realizes that not only is she dependent on the mother, but you become a part of what the baby depends on just as much. Now, I don't know what scientific basis is there for that, or if he just feels that that is the way it worked for him or if he just read this, but it aligned itself with thoughts I had when we first heard the sex of the baby from the sonographer.
I have to admit that, as a new father and someone who comes from A LOT of women, I kinda had my heart set on having a boy. Really, my fear was I wouldn't be able to relate as much and ALL THESE WOMEN would smother her with attention and I'd kinda be left out of my own child's mind. GO on and laugh if you know that's not the case because you have kids or you're a father with a daughter, but...hey...it's what I thought and I am not ashamed.
But when this person said "Cut the cord" I just felt, yes, that's right. I'm gonna be relied upon and loved and needed just as much as mommy even if she's a girl. It's gonna be fine. I'm gonna show her what "Star Wars" is, and comb her hair. I'm gonna help her pick out outfits and get her into electronic gadgets. I have a feeling we'll both become more well rounded individuals together and one day when I do have to cut the cord we'll both be ready.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Our Families come through big time...
Amy and I want to express our deepest gratitude for all the help that our families have provided us with the baby's room. My dad and sister Colleen started it off with the painting and cutting in (don't worry, I'll have pictures of what it looks like as soon as we're complete) and Amy's sister April and hubby Jereme helped with second coats and Amy's mom helped all over the house with things we had to do Sunday. She also bought us all pizza because she rules and apparently decided that her son-in-law needed one more pizza in his life. So she's a little misguided--shhhhh. Anyway, families, we love you and as we've noted in posts before, we can tell how much you already love the baby. She couldn't be more welcomed in the world than she is now.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
To her
Soft as staying fast asleep
like an answer that needs asking
on the ways to somewhere where
all those rays have left her basking
never wanting
Pulling in to where your home is
as the sound of gravel crunching
rocks you deeper into sleep
keeping time with what you're dreaming
engulfed in arms that carry strongly
right into the sheets there waiting
Perfect rhythm of her breathing
helps us form a pretty picture
every wave that bounces back
like a message that she's ready
all those waves have sent her sleeping, unaware but
never wanting
An acrostic poem
By Jason
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Dear Sloan (?), your Mom really loves you.
As Amy said in an earlier post, there sure are a lot of things for someone who likes to obsess to obsess about when you're going to have a baby. Did you know there are a gajillion and two paint colors in the world? Not to mention finishes like eggshell or satin or semi-gloss, etc.? And I'm sure that somewhere in a laboratory, there is some evil baby scientist developing a stroller that has a slight difference than the other thousand and eight strollers out there and there's already five blogs with reviews for every stroller.
Yeah, so, you think to yourself. What else is new and what's the problem? Well, take a new mother with some obsession issues, some internet issues, a sprinkle of anxiety, a dash of informational diarrhea, an Emeril-like - BAM! - of exhaustion and raging hormones and you have the recipe of what I've been eating for the past week.
It's all good though. I am as awesome as Amy describes me in past posts so I've almost let it slide. Zen-like, it rolls off my back like snow falls from a cedar branch. I'm there with a comforting word, maybe a nice dinner taken to her at work from Calypso (some healthy protein for my vegetarian mama-to-be) and all is well with the world. Right.
Well, it hasn't been easy but maybe it's the voice in my head (or my mother or her mother or her sister) telling me to be cool. Maintain. She's a swirling sea of mood right now and even if she's wrong she's not. She's right.
What I do know is she wouldn't be having these freak-outs if she didn't care. She wouldn't be worried about lead dust in the air from paint that's cracked on some of our trim in the house if she was a thoughtless mother. She wouldn't have an anxiety attack over having a "used" crib if she hadn't read that that increase the chance of it spontaneously collapsing - most likely when the baby is gently asleep in it - if she was a nonchalant mama.
But she's right. She does it because she loves her baby, our baby, so much it scares her. That and she googles too much.
They're right. I give like that cedar branch, I don't break and so when the snow no longer weighs me down, I'll go on living and thriving.
I just need to wait till the spring, right?
