2008 Blog

Lively Days Blog Posts from 2008 www.livelydays.blogspot.com Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 02, 2008 My grandma My grandma had a heart attack this morning! She was taken to the hospital in Coshocton and they were going to transport her to the hospital in Zanesville. My parents were heading to Zanesville to be with her. Grandma was alert and responsive, so that’s good news. I don’t know many details at the moment, but the doctor thinks this is her second heart attack in a week! Apparently she didn’t realize she had the first one. Once she’s in Zanesville, she’ll have a catheter put in (I think this is what they call the procedure) to determine where the blockage is and how to proceed. She also has a blood clot in one of her lungs that they’re concerned about. My parents will keep me posted. We went to my parents’ house for Christmas and I saw my grandma then. She’s 86 years old and not in the best health. Mom has been worried about her lately because Grandma has been breathing very heavily and hasn’t been feeling well. Grandma has diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, etc. She takes a variety of medications for her health problems, but unfortunately she doesn’t always remember to take her meds. She doesn’t think as clearly as she once did and gets confused easily. She lives alone in a two-story house (she’s lived there for years and refuses to move). We all worry about her because it’s the worst possible place for someone her age to live. Grandma has arthritis and bad knees and can hardly get up and down her stairs. We’re always worried she’ll fall. My mom said Grandma’s house is so dirty because she’s unable to clean it. But she’s so stubborn and won’t listen to anyone when they try to tell her what’s best for her. She’s my only living grandparent (my mom’s mom). My mom’s dad died when she was only 15 and my dad’s parents died a long time (my dad’s dad died the year before I was born and my dad’s mom died when I was 4). I just pray she’s strong enough to get through surgery if she requires it. I was off work the past 11 days and didn’t bother getting online much at home, so that’s why I haven’t posted lately. Andrew and Beth have been with us since Christmas Day (they go back to their mom’s tonight). We had a nice Christmas. We went to my parents’ house for dinner and to exchange gifts. We didn’t spend the night because we didn’t want to bring two dogs with us (since my parents don’t really like dogs). I felt like I was at a baby shower though! Everyone gave me baby gifts for Christmas. I got so many nice things! We didn’t do anything overly exciting with the kids over Christmas break. We took them to the movies and bowling and out to eat. Other than that, we just relaxed – stayed up late, slept in and watched a lot of movies at home. We went to El Vaquero’s for dinner on New Year’s Eve and then just came home and watched the ball drop on TV. Beth got out pots and pans for us to bang on at midnight, and we had a champagne (Sprite for the kids) toast. We also gave Goldie and Bailey some champagne to drink. It was funny to watch their reactions! The champagne must have gone straight to their heads because they acted like they were drunk for a while, which was quite entertaining. It was hard to come back to work this morning after having all those days off! I had an appointment with my OB this morning too (I’m 34 weeks now – hard to believe!). All is well. My blood pressure was good and my urine was clear this time. I didn’t have a UTI last time after all, even though they had me take an antibiotic as a precaution. I still have to pee all the time, but the doctor thinks it’s the way the baby is lying. Her position is also making it hard to breathe! I’ve been feeling very breathless lately, but my doctor said this is normal. I go back to my OB in another two weeks (January 14) and then I start going to see her every week. Once I’m 36 weeks, they’ll be checking to see if I’m dilated. It’s very exciting! I can’t 1 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog believe how close I’m getting! 2008 My sister’s husband is doing much better. He thankfully didn’t have an infection and was able to go home after spending a couple days in the hospital for observation. John and Karen couldn’t come down last weekend but are supposed to come over this weekend instead. We’ll see. We haven’t done any work on the baby’s room since the last time John and Karen came over. My goal was to have her room ready by the day of my baby shower (which is on January 12), but I seriously doubt that will happen now. Oh well. The shower is at my house and I just know people will ask to see her room – but there won’t be anything to see yet! We still have Bailey. We didn’t make it to Medina to see Leon’s family over Christmas. We were supposed to meet Becky for lunch on New Year’s Day, but unfortunately Becky has been sick so we didn’t get to see her. Bailey has been much better lately (no more marking or accidents in the house or tracking mud inside!), but I still hope we can send him home before the baby is born because it’s a lot to handle two big dogs and prepare for a baby too! POSTED BY AMY AT 12:26 PM THURSDAY, JANUARY 03, 2008 Update on my grandma I talked to my mom and got an update on my grandma's condition. She apparently had a heart attack within the last week and didn't realize she had one. But she didn't have a second one yesterday, like they originally thought. She was having pain in her chest because she has fluid around her heart. She unfortunately has congestive heart failure, which is what her mother/my great grandma died from (which is scary to think that it's hereditary!). The doctors were not able to use a catheter to see where the blockage in her heart is. They found out that her kidneys are not working properly and if they had performed the procedure, her kidneys would probably have shut down and she would have needed dialysis. I’m glad they caught this in time. She has diabetes so they think that’s why her kidneys aren’t functioning properly, although they seem to be working better today than they were yesterday. They’re giving her medication to try and break up the blockage in her heart. Her lungs look good (they thought she might have a blood clot in them, but that turned out not to be true). She was vomiting blood yesterday, which was most likely from the blood thinners they had to give her to transport her from Coshocton to Zanesville. They looked at her stomach through a scope today and didn’t see any blood, so that’s also a good sign. At this time, we don’t know how long she’ll be in the hospital. But the news overall seems more encouraging today, which is a relief. My parents have a very difficult decision to make now about what to do when Grandma gets out of the hospital though. She’ll most likely have to live with my parents, but she’s very stubborn – I can see her putting up a fight about having to leave her home. POSTED BY AMY AT 5:02 PM 2 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 FRIDAY, JANUARY 04, 2008 I wish I had better news I talked to my mom again. My grandma isn’t going to make it. Her heart is too weak and her kidneys are shutting down. The doctor said that she will pass away within 10 days since her kidneys are failing. I guess I’m in shock. This all happened so fast. I knew she hadn’t been in the best health the past few years, but she has gone downhill so fast since Christmas. Her heart attack was very unexpected. There’s never a good time to be sick or die – but I keep wondering why now? Why does there have to be death in order for there to be a new life? It makes me so sad that Elena will never get the chance to meet her great-grandma. My mom will keep me posted. At this point, I’m going to try and go to the hospital tomorrow to see Grandma. She’s in a hospital about an hour and half away from Columbus. She’s still in ICU, so her visitors and visiting hours are limited. But they’re planning to move her into another room within the next day so that people can see her. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:41 PM SATURDAY, JANUARY 05, 2008 Status keeps changing Yesterday afternoon my mom spoke to a different doctor at the hospital who told her death was not necessarily imminent for my grandma. They’ve been giving her medication to help her kidneys and it appears to be working. Her kidneys started functioning better yesterday. Her vital signs continue to remain stable. We’re trying not to get our hopes up, but we don’t know what to think. Yesterday we thought we’d be planning a funeral within a week and now all of a sudden it doesn’t appear that’s the case. It’s all very confusing. I think the fact is that even the doctors can’t predict how long my grandma will live. My mom is now hopeful that Grandma will get out of the hospital soon. The doctors said that my grandma will have to live in a nursing home though since she will require regular medical care. There’s no way she can go back to her home and live by herself. The doctors also don’t recommend that Grandma live with my parents because she requires more than just a home health care provider. I’m very thankful that Grandma seems to be improving. All we can do is wait and see what the next few days bring. Changing the subject…today is Darlene’s birthday. She would have been 31. I miss you, Darlene. POSTED BY AMY AT 3:18 PM 3 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 MONDAY, JANUARY 07, 2008 Latest news on my grandma My grandma is no longer expected to die within 10 days like they told us on Friday! The doctors started giving her medication on Friday to help her kidneys and they began to function again. My family is so thankful for this improvement in her health. I visited her in the hospital yesterday and she was acting like the grandma I know and love! She is very alert and talkative and aware of her surroundings. They’re actually releasing her from the hospital today and she’ll go to an extended care unit at the hospital in Coshocton. Then she’ll have to go to a nursing home. Unfortunately it’s extremely unlikely that she’ll get to go to her home again, so she’s pretty upset about that. But she needs quite a bit of care right now and she could never get that home alone, even if a nurse came to her home every day. She hasn’t been up walking around since she was admitted to the hospital last Wednesday so she’ll need some physical therapy to get her walking again. She also won’t eat much at all, so that’s a concern. The doctors won’t let her have water right now. She hasn’t been swallowing as well as she should, so they’re afraid she’ll choke on water and get it in her lungs. They give her something they call thickened water, but she hates that. Of course, they’re feeding her through her veins but she asks for water constantly. They’ll let her have ice chips though, so my mom and aunt were feeding her those yesterday. She looks really good. I was afraid to see her yesterday because I thought she might look really sick, but her color was great and she looks very much like her normal self. I can’t tell you how relieved I feel after seeing her yesterday and hearing about the improvement in her status. John and Karen came over on Friday night and didn’t leave until after 10:00 p.m. last night. They worked all weekend on the baby’s room. Her room is in such great shape! I feel much better about that. The walls are painted a pretty light green color called Limonata. We have new white baseboards in the room. Leon still needs to paint the baseboards this week. We decided not to replace the closet doors or her main bedroom door at this time. They pulled up her old carpet, so we’re going to order new carpet and hopefully have that installed within the next week. And then we just need to buy her furniture and decorate her room. We just might have the room ready before she’s born after all! I’m feeling so tired lately. I sleep worse than ever, which I didn’t think was possible. I don’t think I sleep for even one hour at a time. I’m not kidding when I say I get up every hour to use the bathroom. There is no such thing as a comfortable sleeping position, so I toss and turn all night. I’ve also been getting acid reflux really bad lately, so my throat seems to burn every time I lie down to sleep. I guess you reach a point in late pregnancy when sleeping is just not a possibility. I suppose I better get used to this no sleeping thing since I’ll have a newborn very soon! It really doesn’t seem possible that I’m 35 weeks now. The baby will be considered full-term when I reach 37 weeks, so I could literally have her at any time now. Of course, I could also be a week or due overdue, so I might still have another 7 weeks to go! I tell people that I feel like a beached whale. I suppose I don’t look that big, but I feel huge. It’s hilarious that there was a time when I worried about not gaining any weight. Let’s just say I’ve gained more than the recommended 25-30 pounds and leave it at that! ;) 4 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I never stop being grateful for this pregnancy, even though it may sound like I’m complaining right now. I thank God every day for this baby. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:42 AM THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2008 Getting ready for the shower My grandma was finally released from the hospital yesterday. She was supposed to be released on Monday, but her blood sugar has been extremely high and they needed to get that under control first. She has diabetes but has always been able to keep her sugar levels pretty stable. Her levels should be between 70-110 and a couple days ago her level was at 575! That’s very scary. She was finally taken to a nursing home in Coshocton last night. She was supposed to go to an extended care unit first, but there was no room for her there so she went directly to the nursing home. I talked to my mom last night, and she is still very worried about Grandma. She has so many different health problems and it’s unlikely she’ll make a full recovery at her age. In all reality, it’s probably just a matter of time. Of course, no one can give us a time frame. It’s just a day-by-day thing. I know this has really taken a toll on my mom though. I wish there was something I could say or do to make things better, but there never is when it comes to something like this. We’re still planning on having my baby shower at my house on Saturday. I told Mom we could postpone it until after the baby is born, but she wanted to go ahead with it. I had the carpet and furniture in our downstairs rooms professionally cleaned yesterday and I am so impressed with the results! We’ve been in our house for over 4 years now and have never had anything professionally cleaned. The company recommends that pet owners get their carpet and furniture cleaned once a year and I can understand why. There really is a big difference afterward. I’m so paranoid about the dog smell in our house. Leon and I are used to it, but I know when people come to our house they probably notice it. I hope the cleaning took the smell out for now! The carpet looks almost new. The dogs have been pretty hard on the furniture, especially in the living room, so they couldn’t get all the spots out – but it still looks better than it did. You’ll notice I said "dogs." We still have Bailey. He’s been with us almost 3 weeks longer than he was supposed to be! We didn’t go to Medina for Christmas, so we haven’t been able to return him yet. The new plan is that we’ll meet Becky halfway between Columbus and Medina on Sunday and return him at that time. I know Goldie will be glad to see him go. She is so grumpy with him all the time! I need to clean the house tonight since I’ll have about 20 people in my house for the shower on Saturday. I wanted to clean last night, but the carpet and furniture were still damp from being cleaned. We didn’t want to move everything back into the rooms we had cleaned until the carpet is completely dry. I’m a member of an online infertility support group and some of the girls from this group planned an "online baby shower" for me. It’s tomorrow night. We’ll chat in our online chat room while I open the gifts 5 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 they sent me. I’m so unbelievably touched by their kind gesture. It means so much to me that they would do this. We picked out carpet for the baby’s room on Monday. They’re coming over tomorrow morning to install it. We’re hoping to look at furniture on Saturday after my baby shower when my parents are in town. My parents have generously offered to buy the baby’s furniture for us and we’re so grateful for that! I can tell that my parents are really going to spoil this baby since she’ll be their first grandchild. I really can’t believe how close I’m getting to D-Day (Delivery Day)! I need to get my hospital bag packed. I still haven’t done that yet. I’ve been trying to wrap up things at work before my maternity leave. Technically I could go into labor any time, so I really should be prepared! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:50 AM TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2008 Shower weekend I’ve been so busy the past few days. I cleaned my house for what seemed like hours on Thursday and Friday and even Saturday morning! Everything is much cleaner than it has been in a long time anyway. Of course after the shower was over, my house was dirty again! So I spent some time Saturday night tidying up again. My shower was very nice. I think there were around 20 people there. My mom brought over a meat and cheese tray, a vegetable tray, chips and dip and a beautiful cake. After we ate, we played a few games. Then I opened all of my gifts. I got so many nice things. I meant to take a picture of all of my gifts, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. After everyone left, my parents took me to Babies R Us and bought us a crib and a changing table. We’re having the furniture delivered on Saturday. We even paid extra to have the delivery people assemble the crib for us. We haven’t found a dresser or bookcase yet, but we plan to look for these this weekend. I also need to wash the baby’s clothes and put everything away in her room once we get the furniture in there. And of course, I haven’t decorated her room yet. We had the new carpet installed on Friday and it looks very nice. It’s a light tan color and it goes very well with the green walls. I’ll have to take pictures of her room once we get everything in place. I had my 36-week appointment with my OB yesterday. I’m dilated 1 cm. I know you can walk around for weeks being dilated 1-2 cm, so that doesn’t really mean anything. But at least it’s a start! The baby is also head down, so at least she is in position to be born. I wasn’t expecting the cervix check to be painful, but it hurt more than I realized! When I got to work after my doctor appointment yesterday morning, my computer was dead! I kept getting a blue screen that said something about a "boot error." Our computer guy came in and was thankfully able to fix it. I was so worried for a while because I had some files on there that weren’t backed up to our server. It took several hours, but he got me up and running again – and then I saved all of my 6 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 files to the server in case the computer crashes again! But I didn’t get much accomplished yesterday at work. Leon and I met his mom and his sister Becky in Mansfield on Sunday. We had lunch at the Cracker Barrel and returned Bailey to Becky. I think he was happy to see his mama. Even though Goldie acted like she didn’t like Bailey, she has been sulking since he left! So maybe she actually did enjoy having him around. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:41 AM MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2008 Finally full-term My mom called me this morning. My grandma is back in the hospital. She has a pneumonia. The situation is just not very good. She has fluid around her heart because of the congestive heart failure, and her heart is weak. The doctor said that her kidneys still aren’t functioning properly either. They also think she had a stroke at some point because her speech is very impaired now. Mom is afraid that Grandma is suffering. She was crying when I talked to her on the phone this morning. I know how hard this is on my mom. I wish there was something I could say or do to make this better, but there never is. I’d like to go back to Coshocton to visit my grandma, but I’ve been trying not to travel very far since I’m so close to my due date now. It’s so hard. All we can do is pray for Grandma to get well again, although the doctors tell us that a full recovery is unlikely at her age. She keeps asking my mom when she can go home because she doesn’t like the nursing home she’s in. The crib and changing table were delivered on Saturday morning. On Sunday, Leon and I bought a white four-drawer chest that we’ll pick up on Tuesday. We couldn’t find a white bookcase, so I ordered one from Wal-mart online. It will be ready for pick-up in about a week. Leon put together all of the items that needed assembled like her bassinet, high chair, walker, swing and car seat. We still need to buy a few other things for the baby that we didn’t get from the shower. I realized that she needs a winter coat! It’s been so bitterly cold lately, and I don’t feel like I have warm enough clothes for her. I haven’t decorated her room yet. I was waiting until we got all of the furniture in place. I still need to wash all of her laundry too. I feel like I have so much to do yet to get ready for her and I’m running out of time! I’m 37 weeks today, so she is officially full-term now. I haven’t even packed my hospital bag yet! I suppose I better do that soon. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning. My doctor is on vacation this week, so I have to see a different OB. I’m not looking forward to my cervix check! Ouch! But it would be nice to hear that I’m dilated another centimeter or so. I’ve been trying to wrap up all the loose ends at work before my maternity leave begins. Since I only get six weeks off, I plan to work up until I go into labor! I’d rather have the time off once the baby is here as opposed to beforehand. My boss is letting me change my hours after I get back from maternity leave. I’ll 7 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 be working from 7:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. instead of 8:00 – 5:00. And since Leon doesn’t usually go into work until 10:00 or 11:00, he can drop the baby off at day care at that time and I can pick her up around 3:45. I know it’s going to be really hard for me to leave her in day care. Leon and I went to dinner at El Vaquero’s on Saturday night, and we ran into Darlene’s friend Sherri. She was eating in the booth behind us with her husband, her parents and her son. Aaron was born at the beginning of December. He is so precious. It was nice to see Sherri. I think the last time I saw her was at Darlene’s funeral. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:06 AM TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2008 Baby is probably staying put for a while That’s what the doctor told me this morning. My OB is on vacation this week, so I had to see a different doctor. My doctor is a female and the doctor I saw this morning was a male, but he was so much gentler than my doctor is. When he checked my cervix this morning, it hardly hurt at all! I really appreciated that. Unfortunately, he told me that he thought my doctor was being kind when she said I was dilated 1 cm. He thought I was dilated a "fingertip" – whatever that measurement means! He said the baby’s head is engaged, but he thinks she’s staying put for a while yet. Her heartbeat sounded good (157 bpm this morning), my blood pressure was good and my weight has tapered off finally (yay!). I had to have one of those group b strep tests last week and that thankfully came back negative. I’m a little bummed there’s no change in my cervix since last week, but it’s not really a surprise. For all I know, I could be a week or more overdue. I’m just starting to get really impatient now. I’m so ready to meet this little one! I called my mom this morning to let her know how my appointment went and she said that my grandma was doing better yesterday. She’s still in the hospital, but she told my mom that she felt much better last night. She was sitting up in bed and was very alert. Her condition changes every day, so it’s very difficult to predict how she’ll recover. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:12 AM 8 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2008 New Pictures of Andrew and Beth We recently received some new pictures of Andrew and Beth that I'm just now getting around to posting. When I look at these pictures, I can't believe how grown up they look! Andrew - 8th grade Beth - 6th grade Andrew - 8th grade football 9 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Andrew & Beth - Christmas 2007 POSTED BY AMY AT 12:36 PM FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2008 My grandma passed away My sister called me around 7:30 a.m. this morning. Grandma passed away around 7:01. I’ve since talked to my mom, and she said that the hospital called her around 6:30 and told her to get there. Grandma’s heart was beating very irregularly. She had already passed away by the time my mom got there. Mom said that Grandma looked very peaceful. It looks like her calling hours will be Monday afternoon/evening, and her funeral will be on Tuesday morning. I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday morning, and then I plan to work half a day. Leon and I will head to Coshocton Monday afternoon for her calling hours and stay the night so we can be there for her funeral on Tuesday. I didn’t go into work today. My family was all aware that this day would probably come very soon. Grandma’s health has gone downhill quickly after her heart attack on January 2. But of course you can never completely prepare yourself for someone’s death. We’re all very sad, and she will be missed very, very much. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:39 PM 10 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2008 Laura Anne Silverthorn My grandma’s obituary appears on the funeral home’s website and also on the local newspaper’s website. This is what the obituary says: Laura Anne Silverthorn Laura Anne Silverthorn, 86, of Coshocton passed away at Coshocton County Memorial Hospital on Friday, January 25, 2008. Laura was born to the late Arthur D. and Flora L. (Bible) Howe in Coshocton on June 30, 1921. She was retired from Pretty Products in 1986 and was a lifelong member of Central Christian Church. Survived by her two daughters Cathy (Joe) Kirker of Coshocton, Ohio and Ellen (Jeff) Howe of Fairfield, Ohio; grandchildren Amy (Leon) Lively, Julie (Jamie) Bryan, Kacey (Nicholas) Jansing, Jenna (Jason) Schaller, J.T. Howe and Whitney Howe; great grandchildren Cameron and Tylar Jansing; four step great grandchildren; three sisters Arline Scott of Coshocton, Thelma (Walter) Knapp of Stow, Ohio and Marjorie Clark of Coshocton; several nieces and nephews. Along with her parents, she is preceded in death by her husband Charles E. Silverthorn, to whom she married June 5, 1943 and passed away September 29, 1963; two brothers George and Donald. Friends may call at Given-Dawson Funeral Home, Monday, January 28, 2008 from 5-7 PM where funeral services will be held Tuesday at 10 AM with Rev. Philip Hunt officiating. Interment will follow in South Lawn Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be directed to the Central Christian Church, envelopes will be available at the funeral home. Here is a picture of my grandma that was taken a few years ago. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:32 AM 11 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008 2008 Grandma's service It’s so difficult to say goodbye to a loved one, but my grandma’s funeral yesterday morning was such a wonderful celebration of her life. The minister did a nice job during her service, offering words of comfort and telling stories about her life. She looked so beautiful and so peaceful. Before the funeral began, my aunt wanted the song "I Can Only Imagine" (sung by Mercy Me) sang. It made me cry so hard, but that song has such a powerful message. At the graveside service, the funeral director released a dove which was so touching. My grandma is buried beside my grandfather, who died in 1963. It’s so hard to leave your loved one behind in the cemetery, but I know it’s only her body – her spirit has moved on to a much better place. Her calling hours on Monday evening were nice as well. It’s unfortunate that the only time I get to see certain family members is when someone dies. But I did get to see a lot of family that I haven’t seen in years. After the calling hours, people came back to my parents’ house for dinner. My mom’s work sent her all kinds of food so we had plenty to eat. After her funeral yesterday, we went to her church for a lunch prepared by some of the women in the church. My mom is holding up as well as she can. I know she’s trying to be strong, but this is obviously a very difficult time for her. She saw and spoke to my grandma almost every day. I keep thinking back to memories I have of my grandma when I was a child. My sister and I stayed with her during the summers while our parents were at work. We were always so close to her and I know I’m blessed that I had her in my life for the past 30 years. I also know that she will live on through Elena since there will obviously be part of my grandma in her. Leon and I came back home last night. We had to go on a tour of the hospital we’ll be delivering at. It just opened on January 8 and it’s so nice! I’m thrilled to be delivering in such a modern hospital. I had an appointment with my OB on Monday morning. She said that I’m still dilated only 1 cm, but that the baby’s head is "right there" and I could technically deliver at any time now. That’s very exciting news! I’m very anxious to get this show on the road, as I like to say! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:36 AM MONDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2008 Yay for dilation! I’m feeling so excited right now – at my appointment this morning, my OB told me that I’m now dilated to 3 cm! This is a nice change, considering I’ve been at 1 cm for the past three weeks! Everything else looked good. My cervix is very thinned out and the doctor could feel the baby's head. 12 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I have another appointment scheduled for next Monday. My doctor said she wouldn't be surprised if I held out until next week, but she also wouldn't be surprised if I went into labor this week. She said she wouldn't let me go past 41 weeks and will induce if I don't have the baby by next week. She estimated the baby weighs between 7-1/2 to 8 pounds. My doctor actually doesn’t seem to mind inductions. She asked me if I wanted to be induced now! I said that I would prefer to go into labor on my own and only be induced if medically necessary. I’ve heard that contractions hurt worse when you’re induced since they come on harder and faster than if you had the gradual build-up of natural labor. I told my doctor I haven’t noticed any contractions – not the kind where your stomach tightens up. I feel cramps on a pretty regular basis and I feel a lot of pelvic pressure since the baby is pushing downward. I’m just thrilled to have reached 3 cm of dilation without even feeling it yet! We accomplished a lot on the baby’s room over the weekend. Leon still needs to put together her bookcase, but everything else is pretty much finished. I washed all of her laundry and put everything away. We went shopping on Saturday and bought most of the things we still needed. I need to try and clean the house tonight. I haven’t really cleaned it since before my shower. I get sore so easily now so I don’t feel like I can do much physical labor. We’ll see how much I can accomplish tonight. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:25 PM TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2008 Still here, waiting... I woke up during the night with some cramps and got excited, but they didn’t last long. I’ve definitely noticed that I have stronger cramps lately, but so far they don’t happen in regular intervals. Some of them are strong enough to take my breath away though! I cleaned the downstairs last night, but it was almost 10:00 p.m. by the time I was finished so I didn’t have time to start the upstairs. That’s my goal tonight. I get so sore when I do any type of physical labor though – my legs, back and hips get so stiff that I can barely walk! But I still feel the need to clean. Leon offers to help, but he never cleans up to my standards! Leon put together the bookcase in the baby’s room last night and hung the new window blinds we bought. I still need to hang some pictures on her walls. I’ll have to buy her some curtains at a later time. I bought some a while back, but now I decided that I don’t like them. They don’t really match the color of her walls and they’re too heavy. I need to take some pictures of her nursery and post them. The room turned out pretty cute, even though it was very stressful (on me!) to get it finished. I talked to my mom yesterday. She’s hanging in there. She’s back at work and she’s trying to keep busy. I think this helps her keep her mind off things. She and my aunt need to sort through all the things in 13 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Grandma’s house eventually, but since Grandma owned her house there’s no big hurry to get everything moved out of there. I told Mom I’d help her after the baby is here. I know it’s going to be difficult to sort through all of Grandma’s belongings because there are memories attached to everything. We have my favorite wedding picture hanging on our family room wall. It’s a photo of Leon and me coming down the stairs of the church after we got married and everyone is blowing bubbles. My grandma and Darlene are in the picture. It makes me sad to look at it and know that two people I love very much are now gone. So much has changed in the 5-1/2 years since we got married. My sister made a comment about how much has changed in the past year alone – Darlene passed away, Julie got married, I got pregnant, my grandma passed away, and now I’m getting ready to have a baby. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:57 AM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 07, 2008 No, I haven’t had the baby yet When you’re close to your due date, everyone is so anxious to find out if the baby is here yet. I know I’m not due until Tuesday, but any pregnant woman knows how impatient you get toward the end! Nothing new to report. I haven’t noticed any contractions and I don’t feel like I’m about to go into labor. I am really uncomfortable though. My huge belly makes sleeping almost impossible. I think I slept a total of two hours last night. I eventually got up and watched TV downstairs because it was driving me crazy to just lie in bed awake. Goldie whined a lot last night too so she kept me up. She must have had an upset belly because she threw up in the (recently cleaned) upstairs hallway. I haven’t had an overwhelming urge to "nest" recently. I managed to clean the downstairs earlier this week, but I never did get the upstairs cleaned yet. I’ve been so tired that it’s hard to accomplish much when I get home from work at night. So my lack of nesting means that it’s not quite time yet I guess. I’m just paranoid about being induced. I haven’t heard very many positive things about induction and the thought of having to be induced scares me. My doctor talked like she will want to schedule an induction date for the week of February 17 if I haven’t gone into labor yet by my appointment on Monday. Of course, I could still go into labor any day next week. I understand that they don’t want you to go past 42 weeks because that can pose a risk for the baby, but I won’t be in my 42nd week until February 25. Oh well. There’s no predicting when Elena will be here! All I can do is wait and see. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:30 PM 14 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2008 The real deal? I can’t be 100% certain of course, but I think I might be in the early stages of labor! I’ve been having what feel like menstrual cramps since about 3:30 a.m. this morning. The pain resonates into my hips. I tried to go back to sleep, but it seemed like every time I laid down the cramps would start again. I haven’t been officially timing them, but I’d say I’m having them every 10-15 minutes. They only last about 10-15 seconds each though. I went ahead and came into work. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay all day though. It’s very hard for me to concentrate. And every time I have the cramps (which I guess are actually contractions!), I have to get up and walk around. They’re even more uncomfortable if I try to remain seated when I have them. The cramps are uncomfortable, even this early in the game. Which most likely means I will be asking for that epidural! I know it could be hours or even a day or more before the baby is here. I’m sure I have a long road ahead of me. But it certainly seems like something is starting to happen! **TMI ahead – you’ve been warned** And this is gross I know, but I think I’ve been losing my mucous plug since Wednesday. I noticed more this morning, so I guess labor can’t be too far off now. This is exciting! We’ll see what the day brings... POSTED BY AMY AT 9:48 AM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2008 Elena's Birth Story I wanted to write Elena’s birth story while it’s still fresh in my mind (and while Elena is sleeping!). This is a very long story! I wanted to write down as many details as I could so I can always remember that day. But first I’ll give you the short version in case you don’t want to read my novel. Elena Marie was born on Saturday, February 9, 2008 at 12:33 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. She has brown hair and I think she looks a lot like her dad! I started having contractions around 3:30 a.m. on Friday morning and didn’t deliver her until after midnight. I only pushed for about one hour before she was born. I ended up having an epidural, which I was glad I did! Overall, I felt the labor and delivery went very smoothly. We stayed in the hospital until Sunday afternoon. Elena and I are both doing well, and I am feeling very blessed! Now onto the long version of the story...I woke up around 3:30 a.m. on Friday morning with what felt like menstrual cramps. They were different than other cramps I’ve experienced because the pain also 15 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 resonated into my hips, lower back and down my legs. I got up and watched TV. I tried to go back to sleep, but every time I Iaid down the cramps started back up. It was very difficult for me to sit or lie down when I was having contractions – I had to get up and walk around. I went into work at 8:00 a.m. as usual. I kept thinking I was having false labor, but the contractions continued. They were irregular for most of the morning and early afternoon, coming anywhere from every 10-20 minutes. Most of them seemed to last about 10-15 seconds each. By 3:00 p.m., I could no longer concentrate on work! I’m surprised I lasted that long! I went home. Leon had taken the day off just in case because I’d told him that morning I thought I was having contractions. By the time I got home, the contractions were much stronger. I started to time them more regularly. My doctor told me that I shouldn’t go to the hospital until I was having contractions every 5 minutes for the past hour or two. I didn’t want to go to the hospital too early and be sent home. I wanted to stay at home as long as I could. I tried to watch TV, I ate a Hot Pocket because I was hungry and hadn’t eaten much that day, and I sat on my exercise (birthing) ball because they told us in our childbirth class that this ball is supposed to help when you’re having contractions (I’m not sure it helped me all that much). By 5:00 p.m., I couldn’t take it much longer. My contractions were coming every 5-9 minutes and some of them were lasting about 60 seconds. At that time, I knew I wanted to get some pain relief! I packed the rest of my things and we left for the hospital around 5:30 p.m. Even though it probably took us 15 minutes to get to the hospital, it was a difficult car ride for me! There was a lot of traffic since it was Friday night. I had some really strong contractions in the car and it hurt to sit through them. We got to the hospital and were in the maternity ward by 6:00 p.m. A nurse checked my cervix and found that I was dilated 6 cm. They moved me to the delivery room after that. It was probably another hour before I could finally get an epidural. I had to breathe through the contractions, but it was difficult to get through them because I was lying in bed hooked up to monitors by that point. They were coming every 2-3 minutes by then and were lasting at least 60 seconds each. I didn’t think the epidural procedure was bad at all – not compared to the contractions I was having anyway! It was hard to sit still while they put the needle in place though because I kept having contractions. I felt almost immediate relief once the epidural was in place. My lower body felt warm and I could finally relax. I could still move my legs, although they wouldn’t let me get up and walk around or anything like that. My parents arrived at the hospital around 9:00 p.m. and Leon’s mom, John and Karen got there shortly after. Everyone was able to sit with me in the delivery room for a couple hours. I was feeling pretty sleepy and I couldn’t stop shaking. They said the shakiness was a side effect of the epidural, and it also made me feel itchy. But at least I wasn’t feeling any pain. It was amazing because I could feel my stomach tightening really hard and I knew I was having a contraction, but thankfully I couldn’t feel it. They were measuring the strength of my contractions on a monitor, along with the baby’s heartbeat, my heartbeat and my blood pressure. I was amazed at how strong my contractions were measuring – they were well over 100. My blood pressure was high at first, but after I got an epidural it came down. All the family except Leon left the room around 11:00 p.m. By then I was finally dilated to 10 and feeling a very strong urge to push. They tried to tell me not to push at first, but it got harder and harder not to! They finally allowed me to push when I had a contraction. They don’t call it labor for nothing! I had no idea how much work it is to push a baby into this world! I was so exhausted by that point that I almost fell 16 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 asleep between pushes. But the doctor, the two nurses and Leon were all very encouraging, telling me I was doing great and they eventually told me they could see the baby’s head and she had dark hair. After about an hour of pushing, Elena was born at 12:33 a.m! Even though I had an epidural, I was also surprised to find out how much it burns when you push that baby out! They suctioned her mouth and nose and she started to scream. They showed her to me and then they took her to a warming table to get her cleaned up while the doctor stitched me up. **TMI warning** I didn’t have to have an episiotomy, but I did tear some so I’m feeling pretty sore now. They gave Elena back to me and tried to get her to breastfeed. Finally, they allowed our family to come back in the room and see her. We were moved to the recovery room sometime between 2:00-3:00 a.m. I lost track of time by then. I know they gave Elena a sponge bath once we were in the recovery room. Leon hadn’t eaten dinner and was starving, so he ran out to McDonald’s. He brought me back some French fries. I didn’t get to sleep until around 5:00 a.m. so I’d been up for over 24 hours by then. I only slept for about two hours because I was awake by 7:00 a.m., trying to breastfeed Elena again. Unfortunately, the breastfeeding isn’t working out as well as I’d hoped. So far, I haven’t been producing much of anything to feed Elena. I’ve been giving her Similac in bottles to supplement her diet. I continue to try and breastfeed her too, but no luck yet. We’ll see if my milk comes in soon. They discharged us from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. It was absolutely freezing outside when we went home! The wind chill was below zero. We had to bundle Elena heavily. Elena is keeping me up all night right now. I’m definitely getting a first-hand crash course in newborn care! I haven’t been able to get much sleep, that’s for sure! Leon is off work this week, and it’s great to have him home with me although he is just as sleep-deprived as I am. My parents plan to stay with us next week and I know I’ll appreciate their help. It’s so hard for me to believe that I’m really a mommy! I look at my beautiful girl and can hardly believe she’s really mine. John took this picture of Elena. I'll upload more as soon as I can. Her hospital pictures turned out really cute too and once I get those, I'll post them on here. POSTED BY AMY AT 6:22 PM 17 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2008 Our first week This week has obviously been very crazy. The days and nights seem to run together. People told me that you never know the definition of "sleep deprivation" until you have a newborn and I think that's true! My parents and sister are coming over tonight to spend the week with us. Leon was off work this past week, so it was nice having him home with us too. Elena is doing well, although she has no real sleep schedule yet and probably won't for some time. She slept for about 4 hours in a row last night, and I was very grateful for the rest! The best advice I've received is to sleep when the baby sleeps. The pictures that we had taken at the hospital are available on a webpage now: Elena's Page. I doubt I'll be able to post much for the next few days/weeks. It's hard to get much free time when you have a little one! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:18 AM TUESDAY, MARCH 04, 2008 Busy days I apologize for my lack of updates lately, but Elena keeps me so busy! She’s sleeping right now so I thought I’d get online for a little while. It’s hard to believe she’ll be a month old this Sunday! She’s been sleeping pretty well at night. Sometimes she sleeps for 4-5 hours in a row at night. I know that’s really good for a newborn. Breastfeeding didn’t work out for us, so I’m bottle feeding her. I usually feed her every 3-4 hours, but I’ll let her go a little longer during the night if she doesn’t wake up on her own. Her doctor suggested that I switch her to a soy-based formula because she wasn’t having regular bowel movements on the milk-based formula. (I never realized how much I’d worry about poop! Motherhood brings a whole new set of things to worry about!) Most days I don’t even find time for myself to take a shower until 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. And it’s inevitable that every time I try to eat a meal, she’ll start crying! I guess that’s a good way to lose the extra baby weight. Elena’s been to the doctor twice now, and she has her one-month check-up next Wednesday. The doctor told me not to take her out of the house much right now so that she doesn’t get exposed to the flu (I guess this has been a really bad season for the flu). It’s also been so cold and I don’t want her out in that kind of weather. Aside from the doctor visits, the only other place I took her is to my work last week so my co-workers could meet her. 18 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 We had such a nice visit with my parents and my sister when they stayed with us a couple weeks ago. I really enjoyed having them here. They held the baby all the time and they took care of her so I could get some sleep. My mom also cooked for us, which was great! I can tell that Elena is really going to get spoiled since she’s the first grandchild. My time off with Elena is going too fast though. I only have three more weeks off – I have to go back to work on March 24. Elena is so adorable, if I do say so myself! ;) She makes the cutest little faces. She loves to play "Rocket Baby" with Daddy – Leon lifts her up and acts like she’s blasting off into space and she always gets the cutest look on her face when he does this. She seems to really enjoy it. She also loves her swing. If she’s crying, I can put her in her swing and she’ll stop. She loves her pacifier. When she cries, she sometimes makes these "e-e-e" sounds which are pretty funny! And she definitely has a set of lungs on her – she can scream loud when she’s upset! Here’s a picture of her in her swing... She’s awake now so I have to go! POSTED BY AMY AT 5:34 PM SATURDAY, MARCH 08, 2008 Some Pictures Elena will be one month old tomorrow. It doesn't seem possible! Here are some pictures I wanted to share. 19 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena in her new outfit 2008 Daddy and Elena Mommy and Elena Big brother Andrew and Elena 20 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Big sister Beth and Elena 2008 I thought this picture was funny – Leon took it a couple hours before we headed to the hospital. I was having contractions and walking around the house every time I had one. I can’t believe how big my belly was! Leon took this one when we first got to the exam room in the hospital, before they transferred me to the delivery room. This was before I got my epidural and I was pacing around the room every time I had a contraction. POSTED BY AMY AT 4:55 PM 21 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2008 More Pictures... I wanted to do a baby photo shoot today, but my digital camera batteries died after only a few shots! It's so much fun to dress Elena up though! Go Bucks! "Mom dressed me up like a bunny..." "Mommy likes to pose me and take pictures!" POSTED BY AMY AT 2:48 PM 22 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008 My baby is now 8 pounds Elena had her one-month check-up yesterday. She now weighs 8 pounds! My baby is already growing up so fast! I can’t believe she is almost 5 weeks old now. She had to get her second Hepatitis B shot. I felt so sad for her because she cried so hard when she got the shot. At her two-month appointment in April, she has to have four shots since they’ll be starting her immunizations at that time. The doctor said that she might be fussy after having the shot yesterday so he recommended we give her some Infant Motrin. I didn’t think she was going to need it, but last night around 8:00 she started getting really fussy and wouldn’t stop crying. So we finally gave her some Motrin and she calmed down and finally went to sleep. I talked to the doctor about her birthmark. She has a reddish/purplish circle which is about the size of a quarter on the palm of her right hand. I noticed it when she was born, but it’s become much more noticeable over the past few weeks. The doctor said that this is because the blood has finally come into it. I think he called it a vascular birthmark. He thinks it will fade over time, but if not we can have laser therapy to remove it someday. I just feel bad because I know she will be self-conscious about it when she gets older. I’m thankful it’s on the palm of her hand though and not somewhere on her body which is more obvious. I’ve heard the term "mother’s guilt" and I’ve already experienced this more than once! I feel as if I did something wrong to give my baby a birthmark. I’ve felt very guilty that breastfeeding didn’t work out for us – especially when her formula was causing her to have irregular bowel movements. I also felt sad when I found out she only weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces at birth – not that this is a bad size, but I thought 'Oh, I must have done something wrong to make her small.' I try hard to be a good mommy and I only want the best for my baby! POSTED BY AMY AT 7:54 PM MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008 Back to work Today is my first day back at work. It was so hard for me to come back! I feel completely out of the loop, but everyone has been really nice to me as I get reacquainted with everything going on here. Since my new work hours are 7:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., I had to get up at 5:00 and leave the house by 6:30. It was still dark out when I left so that was strange, but there was hardly any traffic which was 23 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 great! It only took me 15 minutes to get to work. Elena was still sleeping when I left – she looked so cute! She’s been sleeping really well at night. I usually give her a bottle anywhere from 10:00 – 11:00 at night and then put her down and she’ll sleep until about 7:00. Sometimes it takes her an hour to drink her bottle though. I wasn’t able to get her to sleep until around midnight last night, so it was hard for me to get up at 5:00! Leon dropped Elena off at day care around 10:30 this morning. I’m glad he dropped her off instead of me because I think I would have cried! It’s very hard for me to be away from her all day. She’s pretty much all I can think about! I keep wondering what she’s doing, if she’s crying, if she’s sleeping, if she’s eating. I’m going to make myself cry thinking about these things! I feel like I’m going to miss out on things and it makes me very sad. I wish I could stay home with her, but unfortunately we just can’t afford for me to do this. Maybe someday... I think Elena may have colic. She’s been a pretty fussy baby since she was born, but I thought maybe that’s how all newborns are. But it seems like it’s gotten worse in the past couple weeks. Some days she cries all day, and it’s almost impossible to calm her down or find a way to comfort her. I switched her back to the milk-based formula a couple days ago and that seems to have helped somewhat. I think the soy formula may have been upsetting her stomach. Even though she has irregular bowel movements on the milk-based formula, she didn’t used to cry as much when she was on that. I’ve also been giving her Mylicon Drops to see if that helps. I know if she has colic, there’s not a whole lot you can do to help – you pretty much have to wait for it to pass! Apparently most infants with colic start to calm down around 3 months of age. She has another doctor appointment on April 11. My parents, sister, her husband, my great-aunt, Leon’s mom and John’s wife all came to our house for Easter yesterday. Andrew and Beth are also staying with us this week since they’re on spring break. My mom and I made the food, and we all had a nice time. Everyone loved holding the baby. My parents bought a rocking chair for us and brought it over yesterday. Elena is going to love being rocked! One year ago yesterday Darlene died. It’s strange that the date fell on Easter this year. It’s really hard to believe that it’s been a whole year. And tomorrow it will have been two months since my grandma died. I think about Darlene and my grandma all the time – I wish they were here to see Elena. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:17 PM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008 Elena's first day of school Elena is doing well in day care. The past two days, her caregivers told me that she’s been in a pretty good mood and hasn’t cried much during the day. I’m thankful for that because she tends to get very fussy at night and will sometimes cry for a long period of time. So I’d hate to think that she was crying inconsolably all day at day care too. On her first day of "school" (as we call it) she did some painting! It’s so funny to think of a 6-week-old doing this! But the caregivers put her hand in yellow paint and put her handprint on paper and then put a 24 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 green stem and leaves below it, making it into a flower. It was the cutest painting I’ve ever seen! They also read books to her every day. When I pick Elena up each afternoon, the caregivers give me a sheet telling me about everything that Elena did that day including the times of her diaper changes, feedings and naps. So far, we are really pleased with her day care. Elena had a good night last night. She didn’t cry as much as the night before. I gave her a bottle and then laid her down to sleep around midnight. Even though I try to wake up around 5:00 or 5:30, that still gives me about 5 hours of sleep – which really isn’t that much when you think about it, but it’s 5 uninterrupted hours which is nice! Because when Elena was first born, it seemed like I was waking up every hour or two to tend to her because she would cry. So she’s doing very well sleeping for longer periods of time. Although I have to admit, I still wake up almost every hour just to check on her! She sleeps in a bassinet next to my side of the bed, so all I have to do is lean over to look at her. But I’m always touching her or putting my ear next to her face, etc. to make sure she’s breathing. I’m very paranoid about SIDS. I may have written about this before, but Leon had a baby brother die of SIDS back in 1970. And Leon has sleep apnea, which is also a condition where he doesn’t breathe normally when he sleeps, so I’m just afraid these things may run in the family. I’ve been talking to some of my friends and family members who have children and discovered something kind of funny – most of us can’t remember how painful childbirth was. I actually remember feeling this way the day after I had Elena. I know the contractions hurt and I remember thinking I didn’t know if I could do this and I was so grateful to get an epidural – but at the same time, I can’t remember just how painful the contractions were if that makes any sense! Maybe it’s a defense mechanism and a reason that women can go on to have more than one child. But it just seems so funny that my mind would so quickly forget how much the contractions hurt. I’m sure not all women feel this way – but I’ve talked to many women who told me that you quickly forget how painful childbirth is. And of course, every ounce of pain is worth it once you hold your child in your arms. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:49 AM FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2008 Survived my first week back at work I have the picture of Elena in her Ohio State cheerleading outfit on my computer desktop at work, so I get to look at her picture all day. I know everyone thinks their own children are beautiful – so of course, I think Elena is absolutely adorable! I survived my first week back at work. It really hasn’t been too bad. I like my new hours – I don’t have to battle traffic in the morning and it’s great to be able to leave early. By leaving at 3:30, I usually get to Elena’s day care around 4:00. She’s done pretty well this week. One of the caregivers said that she was crying for a while yesterday afternoon, but she calmed down after they gave her a bottle. She was asleep when I picked her up 25 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 yesterday, and she didn’t wake up until about 7:00 p.m. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get her to sleep last night, but she did well. I put her down around 11:00. I heard her stirring around 1:30, but she fell back asleep. She woke up and was crying around 5:30, so I changed her and gave her a quick bottle before getting ready for work. Hopefully she went back to sleep for Leon this morning after I left. I’m not breastfeeding at all anymore since I went back to work, so I’ve been drinking caffeine again. I’ve already had 3 cups of coffee this morning! I need caffeine in my system since I get up so early though. I also had a rum and Diet Coke a couple nights ago. I hadn’t had any alcohol for almost a year probably! We were doing fertility treatment last year at this time, so I wasn’t allowed to drink back then either. Andrew and Beth are on spring break this week, so they’ve been staying with us. I feel bad that I had to go back to work the week they stayed with us. They’ve just been hanging around the house, watching TV and playing video games. Unfortunately, we haven’t done anything exciting with them. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:37 AM THURSDAY, APRIL 03, 2008 Not getting much sleep Leon and I have been feeling sick the past few days – sore throats, headaches, congestion. I noticed Elena has had a slightly runny nose the past couple days too. She doesn’t have a fever and hasn’t been crying more than usual, so hopefully she isn’t going to get a full-blown cold or flu. Since she’s around so many kids in day care, I think she’ll probably be bringing home a lot of germs unfortunately. I’m wondering if she infected us instead of the other way around! Elena is still doing well in day care. She’s usually taking a nap when I pick her up every afternoon. She does cute little activities every day, like "playing" with color ribbons and toy cars. Most likely the caregivers put these items in her hands and let her feel them because she’s still too young to hold onto items and actually play with them like an older baby would. They also read to her and sing her songs. Here is a copy of the "painting" that she made on her first day of school! Her handprint is the yellow flower and her arm is the stem. 26 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 She hasn’t been crying as much in the evenings lately. She still has her fussy times, but she hasn’t had any of those inconsolable crying spells that she was having a couple weeks ago. If she does have colic, maybe she’s past the worst of it. It’s amazing how much she’s already seemed to change since she was born. She’s much more alert now than when she was first born. She even looks like she smiles on occasion, which is so wonderful to see! And she makes little noises. She seems to like making vowel sounds like "e" and "o." It’s adorable. Some nights she sleeps better than others. A couple nights ago, she woke up at 3:00 a.m. and again at 6:00 a.m. Those middle-of-the-night wakings are tough. The later we give her the last bottle of the night, the later she tends to sleep. Of course, it’s hard for me to feed her at midnight and then wake up at 5:00. So I’ve been trying to feed her earlier, around 10:00 or 11:00, but then she doesn’t always sleep through the night when I do this. I’ve been sleeping worse than ever since I went back to work for some reason. Ever since Elena was born, I’ve woken up several times a night to check on her and make sure she’s breathing. But the past week or so, I wake up almost every hour and sit up in bed and ask Leon "Where’s the baby?" You know when you wake up from a dream and you’re disoriented? That’s what it’s like. Even though we always put the baby to sleep in her bassinet before we go to sleep, I wake up thinking that she’s in bed with us – and that we rolled on her or dropped her – and I’m in a panic. I hate that I keep doing that! It takes me a few seconds to realize that she’s sleeping in her bassinet and all is well. It’s really disruptive to keep waking up like this. Maybe it’s the stress from work and knowing I have to wake up at 5:00 a.m. that’s causing this – but I wish it would stop! POSTED BY AMY AT 1:36 PM MONDAY, APRIL 07, 2008 Those first smiles In the past week, Elena has really started to smile at people. To see a baby smile is such a beautiful thing! She also tries to imitate the faces we make. Leon and I will stick our tongue out at her, and she’ll stick her tongue back out at us. It’s so funny! I’ve also noticed that she really seems to know who her mommy is! If other people are holding her, she turns her head to find me and will watch me. When I picked her up from day care on Friday, one of her caregivers was changing her diaper and she turned her head so she could look back at me. Yesterday, Elena and I went to Coshocton to visit my family. It was my parents’ 39th anniversary. My mom made lunch, and Julie, Jamie and my great aunt Arline came over. Leon stayed home with Andrew and Beth because they had church activities. It was nice visiting my family. This was Elena’s first trip to Coshocton. She slept the entire time she was in the car, both ways! I didn’t hear a peep out of her. She has her two-month doctor appointment on Friday. She has to get 4 shots that day so I imagine she will be really out of sorts afterward. Her nose has been running, so I’ll have the doctor check that out 27 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 (Leon and I are still sick too – my cold seems to have gotten worse). I also think she might have thrush – she has white patches on her lips, tongue and inside her mouth. From what I’ve read, thrush isn’t really serious and can often clear up on its own. She loves her "binky" and she has several different ones, but I wonder if this has caused the thrush. I need to do a better job of cleaning her binkies since she constantly has one in her mouth. She took a bottle around 8:00 p.m. last night and fell asleep. I let her sleep and didn’t wake her up for an 11:00 bottle like I usually do. But then she woke up at 3:00 a.m. crying! So even though it’s nice to have her fall asleep earlier, I guess I still need to feed her later so she’ll sleep longer. I’m really tired now from having to wake up at 3:00 to feed her! On the plus side, I've been sleeping a little better the past few days. I haven’t been waking up in a panic like I was before. I'm sure I’ll calm down and feel less anxious the older Elena gets. Everything is new for me right now, and there are still so many days where I wish Elena came with an instruction manual! POSTED BY AMY AT 11:01 AM FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008 Two-month check-up today I have to leave work early today because Elena has her two-month check-up at the doctor’s this afternoon. She has to get four shots today since they’ll be starting her immunizations. I’m sure she’ll be very fussy tonight as a result. The doctor recommended that I give her Infant Motrin before and after her appointment to help her. I’m anxious to see what she weighs now! My tiny little baby who was only 6.11 at birth is really filling out. She has chubby cheeks and a chubby milk belly. Sometimes I worry that I’m feeding her too much – I’ll see what the doctor says. She usually drinks 4 ounces every 3 hours, although she’ll go anywhere from 57 hours during the night while she sleeps without eating. She seems so hungry though. She often gulps down her bottle in 10 minutes! That’s a big change from when she was first born and it would take her over an hour to drink her bottle. I’ve been reading Elena books at night. My friend Sarah and her family bought Elena a book called "Love You Forever" and I read it to her for the first time last night. I was so touched by this book! I ended up reading it to her twice because I thought it was so beautiful. I actually cried as I read the book – that’s how much it touched my heart! The mother in the book sings "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." The end of the book made me think of my grandma – the mother becomes too old and sick to sing the song, so her son sings it to her instead. Thank you Sarah for buying Elena such a beautiful book! After reading Elena the book, she fell asleep so I decided to try and trim her fingernails and toenails. I’ve only attempted this once since she was born, and I only did one hand and gave up! But her nails are getting longer and she’s been scratching her face lately. I managed to trim her two big toenails, and I was on the second fingernail of her right hand when I cut her! I trimmed a piece of skin off the top of her 28 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 finger. Of course she woke up and cried and her finger bled. I felt like the world’s worst mom! She didn’t cry for long so she couldn’t have been in too much pain I suppose. I don’t know how people manage to trim such tiny nails! I didn’t attempt to trim her nails anymore after that incident. Leon and I gave Elena her first bath in her baby bathtub last night. Up until this point, I’ve still been giving her sponge baths. She hates bath time and usually screams the entire time I’m washing her. But she actually enjoyed her time in the baby bathtub last night! She kicked her legs and she was even smiling. It was so cute! Leon took some pictures, and I’ll have to post them here when he sends them to me. Here is a picture Leon took with his cell phone earlier in the week – he managed to catch Elena smiling. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:31 AM FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008 Bath time! Splish splash, Elena was taking a bath... 29 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 POSTED BY AMY AT 12:18 PM MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2008 My growing girl Elena weighs 9 pounds, 9 ounces now and is 22-1/4 inches long! My baby is getting so big. 30 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Three nurses were in the room when she got her vaccinations. One nurse held her legs and they had me hold her arms. The other two nurses gave her two shots at a time, one in each thigh. She had to have a total of four shots and she also had to drink one of the vaccinations (they used a dropper to put it in her mouth). She turned red and screamed when they gave her the shots – it made my mommy heart break! Elena was pretty fussy the whole weekend. She had a fever of 101 Friday night and Saturday morning. The nurse told me to call if her fever was over 100, so I called first thing Saturday morning. The nurse talked to the doctor, and he said it’s common for babies to get fevers after having their vaccinations. He just told me to keep an eye on her and make sure her fever didn’t go any higher. He also recommended that I give her Infant Motrin every 6 hours. By Sunday, her fever had gone down and she seemed to be feeling better. My parents brought lunch over to our house yesterday and spent the day at our house. Ever since Elena was born, we make an effort to get together almost every weekend. It’s so important to me that Elena has a close relationship with her grandparents. My grandfathers both died before I was born, so I never knew what it was like to have a grandpa. I was always very close with my one grandma (my mom’s mom – my dad’s mom died when I was only 4), and I’m so happy to have spent so much time with her growing up. I want Elena to have great memories with her grandparents too. Elena has also spent a lot of time with her Aunt Julie. My sister has been wonderful with Elena. She takes such good care of her. I wish Leon’s family got to spend more time with the baby. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see them as often as we see my family. I’m hoping we can get up to Medina one weekend soon because Leon’s two sisters still haven’t seen the baby yet. I’ll get to see my mom and sister again this Saturday because I’m having a candle party at my house. I really didn’t want to host this party, but the consultant kept calling me and insisting that I said I’d have a party (apparently I told her this when I attended a candle party hosted by one of my co-workers last summer, even though I have no memory of ever saying I’d have a party). At any rate, I got tired of this consultant calling me so I gave in and said I’d have a party. I have a terrible time saying no to people. I get suckered into things like this all the time, much to Leon’s dismay. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:16 AM 31 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2008 $$$$ Grandparents love to spoil their grandchildren and Elena's are no different! Grandpa slipped this $20 in her hand while she was sleeping on Sunday and Leon managed to take a picture of it. I'm sure she'll blow it on diapers and formula. POSTED BY AMY AT 7:19 AM TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2008 Diaper genies are dangerous Before Elena was born, I got my hand stuck in the top of her Diaper Genie as I was setting it up. I was trying to put the bags in there and I pressed down too far and couldn’t get my hand out. I was getting ready to yell for Leon so he could help me get un-stuck, but I finally managed to pull my hand free. I continue to injure myself on the Diaper Genie. It seems like every time I put a diaper in there, I push down too far and end up scraping my hand. I actually cut myself on it and bled the other day! Leon said he has the same problem. So even though the Diaper Genie is a rather dangerous contraption, we still love it. It’s amazing that it traps the odor so well. We never smell Elena’s diapers. It compresses the diapers in a way that you can fit a lot of them in there! I probably only empty it once a week, although by that time the bag of diapers is pretty heavy. The only downside is that the bag refills are expensive – almost $6 a container. My candle party on Saturday was lame. My mom and sister were the only ones who were able to attend. 32 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I’m glad to have it over with. I need to remember to say NO the next time someone asks me to host a party like this. After the party on Saturday, my parents, sister, Leon, Andrew, Beth, Elena and I all went to Johnny Rocket’s at Lennox to eat dinner. I hadn’t been there in several years. My sister had been wanting to go. We all enjoyed ourselves and Elena was very good during dinner. This weekend, Leon’s mom and John and Karen are staying with us. Andrew’s 14th birthday is on Saturday and his confirmation at church is on Sunday. Afterward, his mom invited everyone to Hoggy’s for lunch in celebration of his birthday and confirmation. I just hope Elena is good during the church service! That part makes me a little nervous. I still haven’t been brave enough to take Elena into a store with me yet. I always leave her with Leon if I need to go shopping. She’s been out to two restaurants so far and she was good both times. But I have a fear she’ll become very fussy and inconsolable while we’re out in public. She definitely still has her fussy moments, although if she did have colic she seems to be doing much better overall. I can’t really complain about her sleeping because she’ll sleep for 5-6 hours during the night, which I know is good for a baby her age. Last night I put her to bed around 9:00 p.m. and she slept until 3:30 a.m. No matter what time I put her to bed, she always wakes up sometime between 3:00 – 5:00 a.m. I change her and feed her at that time, and she’ll usually fall back asleep afterward although she’s always up for good by 7:00 a.m. She’s ready to start her day at that hour! Leon has been really good about waking up with her, despite his sleeping problems, since I’m already at work by that time. Elena takes 2-3 naps a day while at daycare, sometimes sleeping for 2 hours at a time. On the weekends, she won’t take long naps for me though. She takes little 15-20 minute catnaps throughout the day. She must not want to miss out on time with her mom and dad on the weekends! I’m just thankful that she’s almost always in a happy mood when I pick her up from daycare. She seems to be enjoying herself there, which makes me feel better about leaving her during the day. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:08 AM 33 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008 Elena Picture of the Day My sister took this picture of Elena on Saturday. Even though she looks like her dad, everyone tells me that she has my big eyes! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:13 AM MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2008 Binky Bear Isn’t it funny how quickly you come up with nicknames for your child after they’re born? Leon started calling Elena "Binky Bear" in the hospital, just hours after she was born – because she loved her pacifier from the start! We call her a variety of names stemming from Binky Bear – Binks, Bink-A-Bink, Binksters. It cracks me up. We had a busy weekend. Leon’s mom, his sister Tammie, his brother John and John’s wife Karen came down on Saturday and spent the night. Andrew’s 14th birthday was on Saturday. Even though it wasn’t our weekend with the kids, their mom let us take Andrew and Beth out to lunch at the Japanese steakhouse. They have the best food! Elena was very good in the restaurant. She slept the majority of the time we were there. Andrew’s confirmation at his church was on Sunday. His mom invited about 25 people from her side of the family and from Leon’s. Andrew had to get up and speak, and he did a great job. He looked so grown-up standing up there speaking! It was a very nice ceremony – but a long one. It lasted almost two hours. Thankfully, Elena was very good through most of the service. She started fussing at the very end, when communion started. Leon took her out to the lobby, and church ended about 10 minutes later. 34 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Afterward, everyone went to lunch at Hoggy’s. We celebrated Andrew’s birthday and his confirmation. I was a little nervous about the lunch because the kids’ mom and her family and friends were there too. And of course that makes it somewhat awkward since Leon is divorced from her. But it was fine. I know I have to do things like this sometimes for Andrew and Beth. Elena was very tired after her big day out yesterday. She went to sleep around 9:30 p.m. and slept until 4:00 a.m. Leon is working from home today, so Elena stayed home with him instead of going to daycare. I’m jealous – I wish I could be home with her too! But this will give me the chance to stop at the store on my way home from work. I can actually cook a "real" meal for Leon tonight instead of the frozen things I usually resort to. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:33 AM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008 Feeling emotional Darlene’s stepmom sent an e-mail the other day to let people know that Darlene (or Angel as her family called her) was finally at rest. I wanted to share what her e-mail said: "Just wanted to let you all know that on Saturday, April 26, at sunset we scattered Angel's ashes about a mile off the coast of Anclote Key, near Tarpon Springs, Florida, where she wanted to be. There were dolphins jumping around in the area, and there is a lighthouse on the key. It was absolutely beautiful. She would have loved the location. Let me say it was very hard to leave her there, but that is what she wanted. Tim (Darlene’s dad) and I will definitely go back there every couple of years and leave flowers. I just thought everyone would like to know." I’m glad that Darlene is where she wanted to be. Maybe someday I can visit her there. I miss her so much. I suppose you never stop missing someone you lose – you just get used to living without them. I’ve been thinking a lot about my grandma too. I wish she had gotten the chance to meet Elena, even though I know she lives on in my daughter. My parents, my Aunt Ellen and my cousin Kacey worked on Grandma’s house last weekend. Aside from her basement, her house is pretty much empty now. I haven’t been to my grandma’s house since probably last fall – it’s strange for me to imagine it empty. I’ve been feeling very emotional about Mother’s Day too. It will be my first one as a mom – I cry just thinking about that. I am so blessed to have Elena. I thank God every day for her. I remember all too well the pain that Mother’s Day caused me when I was in the midst of infertility and aching so badly to have a child of my own. I know that Mother’s Day will be very hard for my mom this year – she will really feel my grandma’s absence that day. I told Leon that he and I should have a little celebration on May 19 – that was the day we had our IUI in 2007 and conceived Elena! It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year already since I first found out I was pregnant. Time goes by so fast. POSTED BY AMY AT 2:19 PM 35 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 THURSDAY, MAY 01, 2008 Elena found her voice Elena found her voice yesterday. Leon said that she started making all these sounds yesterday morning, like she was trying to talk. I got to hear her do this last night. She was crying at one point and it’s like she heard herself crying and realized she had a voice – because she stopped crying and started cooing and making all kinds of sounds. It was so adorable! Up until this point she’s only said "eeee" or "oooo" here and there, but she hasn’t said several different sounds in a row like she’s doing now. She was doing this again this morning while I was getting ready for work. She was lying in her bassinet and she started to cry – and then she stopped and started talking. It was just the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard! It’s so much fun having a little one and watching their "firsts." They change so much, so fast, when they’re this young. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:02 AM THURSDAY, MAY 08, 2008 Another cold I think Elena must have caught another cold in daycare, and she passed it to me. Her nose has been running the past few days and she’s been coughing. Her left eye is red and has more matter in it than usual, so the cold must have settled in her eye too. I woke up this morning all stuffed up with a sore throat. I’m so tired today too. I didn’t sleep well last night. I never sleep soundly anymore, but some nights are better than others. Last night was one of those nights where I woke up every hour to check on Elena. I hate the paranoia that I have. Even though her bassinet is right beside my side of the bed, I always lean over and listen to make sure she’s breathing or I touch her chest. I’m probably overly obsessive when it comes to this, but it’s hard not to be knowing that Leon’s brother died of SIDS and Leon has sleep apnea. I’ve heard that the SIDS risk goes down when babies are around 6 months old, so maybe I can finally rest a little easier when Elena gets older. Elena has been pretty grumpy in the evening the past few days. I assume it’s because she’s not feeling very well. She still sleeps pretty well at night. I know some people whose babies wake up every hour or two at night, so I know I can’t complain since Elena usually sleeps 5-7 hours straight at night. Elena has lost so much hair since she was born! I know this is normal, but she was born with quite a bit of dark hair. She still has some hair in the back, but she’s almost completely bald on top. When I compare her newborn pictures with what she looks like now, it’s very noticeable how much hair she’s lost. My sister and I were bald babies, so I guess Elena took after my side of the family. When I finally did get hair 36 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 (probably around a year old or so), it was very blonde. I don’t think Elena is going to be quite as blonde as I was when I was little – she’ll probably have darker hair like Leon. Leon, Elena and I are going to Coshocton this weekend. Leon and I plan to help clean out my grandma’s basement. My sister is going to watch Elena while we work. It will also be nice to see my mom for Mother’s Day and hopefully help take her mind off the fact that my grandma isn’t here. I feel bad for Goldie. She was my "baby" for so many years before Elena was born. But after having Elena, I feel like I don’t have much time for Goldie anymore. I try to talk to her and pet her, but I admit there are some days when I hardly pay her any attention. It’s so tough when Elena demands my full attention most of the time I’m at home. She isn’t the type of baby who’s content being by herself. If I put her down for too long, she starts to cry. She wants to be held almost constantly. I hope Goldie doesn’t feel too neglected. When Elena gets a little older, I’m sure she’ll be really interested in playing with Goldie. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:45 AM WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2008 Still sick... I know I haven’t updated my blog in a while. I’ve been so busy at work during the day. We just finished up a remodeling tour last weekend and our Parade of Homes home show is coming up in June. And of course, it’s rare that I get online at home during the evening. Elena keeps me so busy. She doesn’t like to entertain herself for too long! She gets bored easily and wants someone to hold her. Elena and I are still sick. It’s been two weeks now! Leon took her to the doctor a week ago on Monday, and he said that she just had a cold. He gave her some eye ointment because the cold settled in her eyes and made them all red and gunky. She continued to cough all last week, so I took her to the doctor again on Monday. He said her chest sounded better than it did a week ago, but if she wasn’t better by this Friday to start her on an antibiotic. She also developed a rash on Sunday and it freaked me out – my first thought was chicken pox! But the doctor said that sometimes colds manifest themselves as rashes. Her rash is already starting to fade. She can’t seem to stop coughing though. She has these coughing fits where she coughs for minutes at a time and she sounds like she’s choking. She’s given me heart failure so many times over the past week with her coughing and choking episodes! I always seem to lose my voice when I have a cold, so I didn’t even have a voice last week. I started to feel better and then last night, it’s like I felt sick all over again! I don’t have a fever, but I was so cold last night. I was shaking and couldn’t get warm. My throat is sore again, my body feels achy and my left ear is hurting really badly. I wish I could have taken a sick day, but I already took Monday off to take Elena to the doctor and I have a lunch meeting today and another meeting at 6:30 tonight. All I want to do is go home and sleep! Even though I feel awful, I still don’t sleep well. I suppose I should try to go to the doctor too and see what’s wrong with me. Leon, Elena and I went to Coshocton on Mother’s Day weekend. We sorted through things in my Grandma’s house. Her house is pretty much empty now. I couldn’t stop crying while I was in her house. It 37 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 was the first time I’d been there since she passed away, and it made me so sad to see all of her things gone. I took a few things that had sentimental value to me. There were these three plastic wise men Christmas decorations. When my sister and I were little, we used to help Grandma decorate her house for Christmas. I remember setting the three wise men out every year. A few of the legs are broken off the camels, but we still set the wise men out every year anyway! We went to the cemetery and saw my Grandma’s grave. My mom put a Mother’s Day wreath on her stone. We were upset because they spelled my grandma’s name wrong on her stone! They spelled it Laura Anna, when her middle name was actually Anne. My mom contacted the funeral home, and they said they had to send the stone away to correct it. This upset my mom too because that stone had been there for 45 years, ever since my grandfather passed away in 1963. I hope they take good care of it and get her name fixed. Last Saturday, my parents, Julie and Jamie came to Columbus because it was my 31st birthday. We grilled hamburgers and had birthday cake. It was nice. I let Elena try a tiny bit of icing from the cake. I put it on my finger and put it in her mouth – she smacked her lips! It was so cute. Leon got me a really nice digital camera for my Mother’s Day/birthday gift. It’s one of those Nikon Coolpix cameras that Ashton Kutcher advertises on TV. Mine is red. It’s so much nicer than the Kodak digital camera I had. That one took really bad pictures. My new camera takes excellent quality pictures. I’ve already taken so many pictures of Elena! I’ll have to post some of the new pictures on here soon. It’s hard to believe Elena is almost 15 weeks old. I see so many changes in her. She babbles all the time. She holds her head up really well. She’s very alert and smiles when we talk to her. It’s so much fun watching her grow and learn things. She’s been sleeping really well at night. I usually put her to bed around 10:00 p.m., and she’s been sleeping until 6:00 a.m. most days. She hasn’t been waking at 3:30 or 4:30 like she was for a while. She’s so good about falling asleep. I give her a bottle at night and then lay her in her bassinet, and she falls asleep on her own. I still let her sleep in her bassinet by my side of the bed. It’s reassuring that I can look in on her at night. Although this does tend to drive me somewhat crazy! I wake up every hour or so to check her. I don’t sleep well, but I’m still too paranoid to have her sleep alone in her room in her crib. I’ll probably have her sleep in our room until she’s 6 months old or so. Although she’s getting so big and looks like she could outgrow her bassinet before that time! At her last doctor appointment, she weighed 11.15 pounds. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:05 AM TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008 Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease – sounds scary! I ended up leaving work early last Wednesday and going to Urgent Care because I felt so awful. The nurse practitioner I saw there thought I had a virus and gave me an antibiotic. On Thursday, I noticed that I had a rash just like Elena had – it seemed to be mainly on my hands and my feet. My throat was also very 38 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog sore. 2008 I made an appointment with my doctor on Friday. He told me I had something called hand, foot and mouth disease. It causes a fever and a rash mainly on the hands, feet and mouth. That’s why my throat was sore – I had the rash in my throat and inside my mouth. The rash on my hands was really painful. There was nothing that could be done for it – it just had to run its course. This was obviously what Elena had and she passed it on to me. It’s very common in children, especially those in daycare. It’s rarer in adults, but I managed to get it anyway! So far, Leon has managed to stay healthy. We had a three-day weekend because of Memorial Day. I stayed home the whole weekend to recover. I feel much better now, although my rash hasn’t completely faded yet. The doctor said it will eventually peel, and now my hands have all this gross, peeling skin on them! Elena’s rash is almost gone. She still has her cough though. She’s taking an antibiotic so I hope this helps her. I just want us to be well again! We’ve both been sick for too long. Andrew and Beth were with us over the weekend. Leon took the kids to see the new Indiana Jones movie yesterday. They liked it. I stayed home with Elena because I can’t imagine her sitting through a movie. She was pretty fussy all weekend. She probably still doesn’t feel that well, and I thought maybe the antibiotic was upsetting her tummy. Elena hasn’t laughed yet, but she does this thing now where she squeals. It’s so cute. It sounds like a squeal of delight. I figure it’s only a matter of time before she laughs. She babbles up a storm! I put her in her bassinet last night, and she must have laid there talking for at least 10 minutes before she finally fell asleep. It was so funny! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:52 AM THURSDAY, JUNE 05, 2008 It's been a year... I’ve been feeling very sentimental lately. One year ago today I took a pregnancy test and found out I was pregnant with Elena. It seems so hard to believe that a whole year has passed. I remember that day so clearly, like it was yesterday. I saved that pregnancy test (it was the first positive I ever had!) and I got it out to look at it last night. It still makes me smile. I remember thinking that time was passing by so slowly and Elena would never be here. And now she’s almost 4 months old already. Time goes by way too fast, that’s for sure. Before I had Elena, people used to tell me that you’ll never realize how much love you can have for someone until you have children. I know now how true that is. I have so much love for Elena that sometimes my heart feels like it will actually burst! I would do anything for her. She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me by far. 39 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I heard a song on the radio this morning called "Safe In My Arms" by Plumb. It was written by a woman after she had children. It’s such a beautiful song with such sweet lyrics. You can listen to it here. I think Elena must have inherited my allergies. She’s still coughing and her nose is running. I’m the same way right now though! I can’t quit coughing and my nose is stuffed up. I think it’s the weather and changing seasons. She has her four-month doctor appointment next Wednesday, so I can talk to the doctor about this at that time. She has to get more shots at this appointment – poor baby. Leon’s 39th birthday is on Friday. One more year til the big 4-0! Andrew and Beth will be with us to celebrate that night. Their last day of school is on Friday and then they’ll be staying with us for the first half of the summer. Even though they’ll be at our house, Elena will still be going to daycare during the day. It would be too much responsibility for Andrew and Beth to look after her, especially since she needs attention every waking moment! Beth’s 6th grade graduation is this afternoon. I’m leaving work early so I can go. And then tonight is Andrew’s 8th grade graduation. It’s so hard to believe that Andrew will be in high school next year and Beth will be in middle school! Today is supposed to be our first 90-degree day of the summer (well, I guess technically it’s still spring). It’s been so humid lately and has also been stormy the past couple days. It’s great to see the sunshine today. Summer is my favorite time of year – I’m so happy that warm weather is back again! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:04 AM MONDAY, JUNE 09, 2008 Hot & humid weekend My parents came over on Saturday and spent the night. We had a really nice visit. We took Elena shopping with us on Saturday. I’ve been nervous about taking Elena into a store by myself, but I figured I’d try it this weekend since my parents were with me. Elena did really well! She quietly rode in the cart (in her carrier) most of the time. She got fussy a couple times, but she was fine if I picked her up. We went to Babies R Us and bought quite a few things for Elena. I got her a Bumbo seat so she can sit up on her own. She seems to like it. My mom bought her a little swimming pool and a pink bikini. She looks so cute in her bikini! Unfortunately, she hates her pool though. I tried to put her in it yesterday and the moment her feet hit the water she screamed. I figured she’d like it because she seems to enjoy her baths. Oh well. I’m sure she’ll like her pool when she gets a little older. Elena has her four-month check-up on Wednesday. She has to get more shots at that time. She’ll probably be really out of sorts afterward and develop a fever like last time. I’m planning to bring her into work with me that day! There is hardly anyone in our office right now since our Parade of Homes starts on Saturday. So it’s the perfect time to bring Elena to work with me. That way, I can take her to her appointment straight from the office without having to stop at her daycare first to get her. 40 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 It was so hot outside this weekend! It was in the 90’s. It seems really early in the season to be having weather this warm. I love the hot weather, but I could do without the humidity. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:52 AM MONDAY, JUNE 09, 2008 Hangin’ tough...after all these years Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, I was a HUGE fan of New Kids On The Block. I was in junior high at the time (about 12 or 13 years old) and I adored them like I had never adored a band before and have never adored a band since. My room was plastered with posters of them that I would get out of the teenybopper magazines they had at the time like 16 and Tiger Beat. I had NKOTB shirts, buttons, bed sheets, dolls, jewelry, etc. My sister and I would watch their videos over and over again, and we knew every word of their songs. My favorite New Kids were Donnie and Joe. My parents took us to two of their concerts, and it was incredible to witness all of those pre-teen girls going absolutely crazy for them. I actually met my friend Sarah through the NKOTB fan club! We were pen pals and finally met in person when I was in college (she lives in the Columbus area too). Almost twenty years later, NKOTB have reunited and are performing together again! When Sarah told me that NKOTB is coming to Cleveland in October, I knew I had to go see them. Sarah, her sister, her friend, my sister and I are all going to see them on October 3. I am so excited! I feel like a junior high kid all over again. Leon thinks I’m a huge dork, but I can’t help it! NKOTB rule!! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 9:37 AM 41 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2008 Elena in Action I just realized I can post videos on my blog (I don't know why I never noticed this before), so I decided to let you see Elena in action! My new digital camera takes videos. I recorded this clip this past weekend. Leon taught Elena to say "Hi" recently. I think it actually sounds like she's saying it. POSTED BY AMY AT 7:55 AM FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2008 TGIF I guess I haven’t posted about Elena’s 4-month check-up last week. All is well. My little girl who weighed only 6.11 at birth is now up to 13.45! She’s 24 inches long now (up from 21 inches at birth). She cried so hard when she got her vaccinations, but she calmed down quickly and thankfully this time she didn’t get a fever afterward. The doctor said we can start her on rice cereal when she’s 5 months old and at her 6month check-up we’ll talk about starting her on baby food. That will be exciting! We changed her feeding schedule. She’s now drinking 6 ounces at a time, but she’s fed every 4 hours (as opposed to every 3). She was fussy the first few days as she adjusted to her new schedule, but she seems to be doing better now. She still sleeps so well at night. I usually put her to bed between 9:30 – 10:00 and she doesn’t wake up until 6:00 – 7:00. 42 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 John and Karen came over last night and are staying with us this weekend. I always enjoy their visits. I’ve been a member of an online infertility support group called Hannah’s Prayer since January 2004. I still visit their discussion boards almost every day. One of the members there has a little boy named Emerson who is not quite a year old. It was recently discovered that he has a brain tumor and it appears to be malignant. You can follow his story at the Caring Bridge website created for him. Even though I don’t personally know this family, I am just heartsick over this news. I can’t comprehend why a child would get cancer. It seems so terribly unfair. Cancer is such a terrible disease. I wish desperately that they had a cure for it. Hearing about something so awful happening to a child makes me hug Elena that much tighter and thank God for her health. I’m praying for Emerson and his family. If you get a minute to check out his website, won’t you please say a prayer for him too? POSTED BY AMY AT 8:13 AM MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2008 Kind of freaky?! What can you expect when you have a public blog, right? Your "diary" is online for everyone to see. I imagined that most people who read my blog were friends or family or somehow stumbled across my blog when they found a link to it somewhere. I recently put a feature on my blog from Feedjit that allows me to see a "Live Traffic Feed" – it tells me how people arrive on my blog and their location. I thought this was a cool feature, but then I started noticing that people are somehow arriving on my blog from a Google image search. I assume they must be searching for a dragonfly picture and somehow my blog comes up since I have a dragonfly picture in the sidebar. But for whatever reason, the post that comes up in their search is the one I did in October 2005 where I talk about infertility. I’ve been getting some recent feedback and comments as a result of that post I did over 2 years ago. Some people have been sending me messages telling me they hope I get to have a baby. Of course, if they paid attention to the date on the post they’d see that’s not the most recent entry and I do have a baby now. But it’s the thought that counts, I guess. At any rate, I thought it was bizarre that my blog is coming up on an image search! Now I think I have "blog stalkers." But that’s ok. I enjoy reading other people’s blogs a lot too. Sometimes I get so absorbed in the blogs I come across. I find it really interesting to read about other people’s lives. POSTED BY AMY AT 11:38 AM 43 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2008 Worth the wait POSTED BY AMY AT 12:19 PM TUESDAY, JULY 01, 2008 My baby is almost 5 months old My grandma’s birthday was yesterday. She would have been 87. Grandma’s house finally sold and the new owner took possession of it last week. The owner plans to do a lot of remodeling on the house – it definitely needs it. Grandma’s house is very old and not in good shape at all. Maybe someday I can see the house again after she remodels it. My mom is on vacation this week, so she, Dad and Julie are coming to Columbus tomorrow morning to spend the day with Elena. Unfortunately, Leon and I still have to work. Leon gets Thursday and Friday off this week, and I get Friday off for the Fourth of July. We’re planning on going to Medina this weekend to visit Leon’s family. We had planned to go last weekend, but Andrew and Beth ended up having too many activities and we couldn’t get away. Elena will be 5 months old on July 9, and her doctor said we can start her on rice cereal at that time. I actually bought some rice cereal yesterday and plan to start her on it this week. I wanted to feed her last night, but Leon had to work late and I wanted him to be home to see her first feeding with a spoon! Hopefully we can start her on it tonight. We also increased her bottles to 7 ounces because I read that a 14-pound baby should be drinking 37 ounces a day and Elena was only drinking 30. Sometimes I put food (like icing) on my finger and let Elena have a tiny taste. On Saturday, Beth and I 44 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 made "puppy chow" (Chex cereal coated with chocolate and powdered sugar). I put some powdered sugar on my finger and let Elena have a taste. She loved it! She kept licking her lips – it was so cute. I can tell she’s going to have a sweet tooth. It’s probably because I ate so much chocolate when I was pregnant with her! Elena is so much fun! Since she’s older now, she is so much more interactive. She smiles all the time and seems so happy. She reaches for everything. She’s getting so big – she’s almost too tall for her bassinet. I know I’ll have to start putting her in her crib at night soon. I was hoping to hold out until 6 months, but she may outgrow her bassinet before then. I’m going to miss having her in her bassinet next to my bed at night! I enjoy having her so close to me. Elena is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I can’t even put into words how much I love her. She means the world to me. I thank God every day that I finally got to be a mom. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:23 AM WEDNESDAY, JULY 02, 2008 Adventures with Rice Cereal Well, we gave Elena about a tablespoon of rice cereal last night. I think she only ended up eating 4 bites and I’m not even sure she swallowed any of it. She kept turning her head away, gagging, spitting it out (and on me!) and crying. She didn’t like eating with a spoon at all. I tasted some of the rice cereal and it’s so bland – I can see why she didn’t like it! We’ll try again tonight. She’s supposed to be eating rice cereal twice a day now. I read that it takes as many as 10 times of trying a new food before a baby will accept it. I realize this is all new to Elena and she doesn’t know how to eat from a spoon yet. Hopefully it all comes easier to her soon and she starts to eat the rice cereal. It was hilarious witnessing this though! I took pictures of course. I told Leon I’ll show her friends these pictures when she’s a teenager to embarrass her! :) 45 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 POSTED BY AMY AT 7:28 AM MONDAY, JULY 07, 2008 E-l-e-n-a I guess I have cursed my child with a name no one will ever be able to spell. I have already seen her name misspelled so many times in the five months since she was born. People usually spell it Elana or Alana or Alena. Oh well. I think her name is beautiful and I like the traditional spelling we chose for it. Leon, Elena and I went to Medina over the holiday weekend to spend time with Leon’s family. We had a nice visit. We hadn’t been there since Thanksgiving! Elena did really well on the two-hour car trip, although she started to get fussy right toward the end. Andrew and Beth’s half of the summer with us is almost over. It went really fast. They go back to their mom’s tomorrow night. On Wednesday, they leave for a two-week Alaskan cruise! We decided that we’ll wait another week or two before giving Elena rice cereal again. She threw such a fit when we tried to feed it to her, so we feel she’s just not ready for it. Maybe she’ll never like it. I don’t blame her – it tasted pretty awful, like eating paste. Her doctor said that we can talk about feeding her baby food at her six-month check-up in August. For now, she’s perfectly happy with her formula. Sometimes she chugs it! She drinks really fast, and then she ends up spitting up. Some message boards that I visit have really strong opinions about starting babies on food. I had posted 46 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 a question about rice cereal and some moms read me the riot act! I’ve read studies that babies develop fewer food allergies if you wait and start them on baby food at six months. Elena is almost five months old though (she will be on Wednesday), and her doctor just wanted us to get her familiar with eating off a spoon which is why we tried rice cereal. Some women on the board accused me of force-feeding my child and said that rice cereal is nothing but junk anyway and how dare I feed my baby this. Crazy stuff. Everyone has opinions on how to raise their children, but I hate when people act like I’m trying to harm my baby! Why on earth would I do anything to hurt her?! I had the same reactions when I posted that I formula-fed my baby. Some women are absolutely outraged that I’d feed my child anything other than breastmilk. But breastfeeding doesn’t work out for everyone. It broke my heart that I wasn’t able to breastfeed Elena and I spent so many hours crying over my failure to do this. But if I could go back in time, I’d tell myself not to beat myself up over this so much! I was a formula-fed baby and I turned out just fine. I realize that breastmilk is best, but formula isn’t terrible. Elena is growing and developing just fine on it. At any rate, everyone has their own opinions and there’s no use arguing with people over things like this. That’s why I rarely post my opinions about certain issues on my blog. I’m not going to change anyone’s mind and other people aren’t going to change my mind. My dad always says you can’t argue with people about religion or politics – and I think we should add raising your child to that list too. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:38 AM THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008 Busy lately I’ve been really busy at work the past couple of weeks and haven’t found any time to post. Leon had to pick Elena up at daycare yesterday because I had to work until about 7:00. I hate late nights at work – luckily, I don’t have many anymore since I changed my hours. I would much rather be at home with Elena than working late! Last Wednesday, Elena turned 5 months old. That night, we put her to sleep in her "big girl bed" – the crib in her room. I wanted to keep her in her bassinet in our room for another month, but she just got too big for it. She’s been sleeping great in her crib. She sleeps through the night and she has so much more room to move around. She’s so silly – every time I check on her, she’s sleeping in a different position! She likes to sleep on her side, but sometimes she turns around sideways and sticks her feet out the side of her crib. Here’s how I found her sleeping one morning this week: 47 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I actually cried the first night we put her to sleep in her crib! I’ve gotten so used to having my baby sleep beside my bed in her bassinet and I miss having her so close! She’s just growing up so fast and it makes me sad how quickly the time flies. We have an Angelcare Monitor for Elena, and I love it! It was pretty expensive (close to $100), but it’s so great because it monitors Elena’s breathing and movement. I worry so much about SIDS, but if Elena would stop breathing an alarm will sound after 20 seconds of no movement. There is a sensor pad that goes under her mattress and it detects even the slightest movement. We’ve had quite a few false alarms – if Elena moves too close to the edge of the crib and away from the sensor pad, the alarm will go off. It also tends to go off sometimes if she’s on her side because I don’t think the sensor detects her breathing as well in that position. But I’ve never panicked at the alarm (yet) because I figured Elena just moved away from the sensor. It gives me peace of mind during the night at any rate. Elena is finally getting more hair! She looks so cute (I know, I know, what parent doesn’t think their own kids are the cutest things ever?!). It’s so amazing to look at her and know that she is a part of Leon and a part of me. It’s such a miracle, having a child. I think she looks a lot like her daddy, but she has my big eyes and she also has my hands! I love looking at her little fingers and thumbs and seeing my own hands reflected in her. Andrew and Beth will be back home on Sunday. They’ve been on an Alaskan cruise with their mom, her boyfriend and his two daughters for the past week and a half. Leon, Elena and I are going to a Columbus Crew soccer game tonight. Leon got free tickets from one of his co-workers. We probably won’t stay that late though because it will be past Elena’s bedtime! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:40 AM MONDAY, JULY 21, 2008 Humidity and Poofy Hair It’s been so hot lately. Leon and I didn’t end up going to the Crew game last Thursday night because we didn’t want to have Elena out in the heat for too long. I love warm weather, but I could do without the humidity. Since I have naturally curly hair, my hair gets all poofy when the humidity is high! It doesn’t even do me any good to straighten it, although I still try. 48 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Leon and I went to Target on Saturday and bought Elena some new clothes. She’s growing so fast, and most of her clothes were getting too small for her. Target had some great sales on their baby clothes since they’re probably trying to get rid of their summer items. The most expensive thing we bought was $4.98! Yesterday I boxed up all of Elena’s newborn and 0-3 months clothing items to make room for her new clothes. It made me sad to put these things away since it’s a reminder of how fast the time is going. She didn’t even get the chance to wear some of these clothes! I’m going to save these things in case our next baby is a girl. Andrew and Beth got back from their Alaskan trip yesterday. Beth showed us pictures. They saw some beautiful sights. We took them out to dinner at Molly Woo’s. Elena is so funny in restaurants. She doesn’t want to sit in her carrier, she wants to be held! Leon and I usually take turns holding her while we eat. She reaches for everything now and tries to touch the food on our plates. We saw a couple in the restaurant with a newborn baby – he was so tiny! It’s hard for me to believe that Elena was once that small, although she only weighed 6.11 at birth. Everyone told me how fast kids grow, but it seems hard to believe until you actually have them and realize that the time really does fly by. I’m so proud of myself – I managed to clean the whole house, upstairs and downstairs, last week. Of course it won’t stay clean for long, but it’s still a good feeling when I can actually get something like that accomplished. Since Elena was born, I’ve neglected the house big time. I’m too embarrassed to admit how long I’d go between cleanings! It would be nice to be able to clean every week (or even every other week!). We’ll see. I really want to lose weight. Elena is about 5-1/2 months old, so the excuse of carrying extra baby weight is hard to get away with anymore. I’m still 20 pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight, and I wasn’t as skinny as I wanted to be when I got pregnant anyway. I’d be thrilled if I could lose about 40 pounds! I love food – I wish I didn’t enjoy eating so much! I need to eat better. I told Leon I wanted to start cooking healthier meals for us. It’s so difficult for me to get motivated to exercise – I’ve always been terrible about working out. I know walking is pretty good exercise and I actually enjoy it, so I thought I could start taking Elena for stroller rides around the neighborhood in the evenings. Remember how I posted that Elena and I had hand, foot and mouth disease a couple months ago? I haven’t been back to the doctor since then, but I can only assume that this resulted in my fingernails developing some kind of "fungus" afterward (I don’t even know what to call it). All of the nails on my left hand and three of the nails on my right hand got a yellowish-white line through them and split. Thankfully new nails are growing underneath and the gross parts are almost to the top so I can cut them off. But I think I’m going to lose the top part of my nails once they reach the top. It’s hard to describe – maybe I’ll take a picture. But it looks so disgusting and it’s embarrassing! I’ve never had anything like this happen to my nails before. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:53 AM 49 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2008 Elena Sits Up (for a few seconds anyway!) Elena can sit up on her own for a few seconds at a time before tumbling over. It’s so cute to watch! Of course she cries when she topples over. I took the video clip below last night. I think it’s hilarious! Elena was crying because she had just toppled over, but I sat her up again and filmed it. Even though she tumbles over at the end, I promise that no babies were harmed in the making of this video! ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 8:25 AM THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2008 It was time for a change! You'll notice I changed the look of my blog. I was tired of the same old, same old so I made some changes. I lost some of the elements I had on my other template so I'll have to add things back in. It's fun but time-consuming to get caught up in editing a blog! I've been playing around on my blog for quite a while tonight while Elena naps. It's after 8:00 p.m., so I better wake her up and give her a bottle soon or else she'll want to stay up all night! Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 8:03 PM 50 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2008 Our Home I’ve been blogging for almost 3 years and I’ve never yet given you a tour of our house! Since I love my new digital camera so much, I played photographer a couple days ago and went around taking pictures of all the rooms in our house. Our house is about 25 years old and needs some updating, but for the most part we do like it. It’s home! Front of our house Back yard Koi pond (We have about 20 goldfish in there!) 51 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Living room 2008 Dining room Kitchen Half-bath (off the kitchen) 52 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Family room 2008 Stairs Upstairs hallway (Pay no attention to the awful wallpaper - I hate it!) Our bedroom 53 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Andrew's room 2008 Beth's room Elena's room Upstairs bathroom (my bathroom) 54 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Master bathroom (Leon's bathroom) 2008 Basement (Remember when I cleaned it in the fall? It didn't stay clean for long.) Security provided by golden retriever! POSTED BY AMY AT 7:44 AM TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2008 Topics of the Day: Church and Cigarettes Leon, Elena and I went to a new church on Sunday. We attended a Lutheran church not too far from our home. I found this church a couple years ago and wanted to start going then, but it’s taken me this long to talk Leon into it! 55 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Leon was raised Lutheran and went to church for years, but he had some negative experiences within the church and became disillusioned with it. I can understand where he’s coming from – I’ve witnessed the hypocrisy of some people who profess to be "holier than thou." Leon and I both feel that you don’t need to attend church to believe in God. But ever since Elena was born, it’s become very important to me that she has the opportunity to experience church and religion. I want to have her baptized as well. I was baptized Methodist when I was a baby, but my family only went to church on holidays like Christmas and Easter. I don’t fault my parents for not taking my sister and me to church. They raised us the best way that they knew how. But I’ve struggled with my faith a lot over the years, probably as a result of not having a very strong foundation in church or religion. My hope is that Elena won’t have to question her faith when she’s older because she’ll have a better understanding of religion than I ever did. Leon wants Elena to be a Lutheran. I have no problem with this. In my experience, most branches of Christianity are similar. We really enjoyed the service at the church on Sunday. The pastor and the people we met were very nice and welcomed us. Elena slept through most of the service, so she didn’t make one peep! We plan to attend their service again this Sunday. I posted last week about how I planned to start a diet. Well, I didn’t end up eating well or exercising last week. So I started fresh this week! I ate well yesterday and have eaten well so far today. Yesterday evening, I took Elena for an hour-long stroller ride around our neighborhood. I really enjoyed the walk and plan to take Elena for another stroller ride tonight after work. I’d be happy if I lost 30 pounds, but I’d be THRILLED if I lost 50 pounds! I’d love to be as thin as I was in my early 20’s. Of course, back then I was smoking cigarettes and I truly believe that smoking must somehow boost your metabolism and keep your weight down (I think that’s why a lot of Hollywood starlets smoke). Not many people even know I used to smoke. I was a "closet smoker" I guess! I rarely smoked in public – just at home, by myself. I smoked about half a pack of Marlboro Lights a day. I knew even back then how horrible cigarettes are for you, but I quickly became addicted. I’m not even sure why I started – maybe to fit in with the crowd I was hanging out with at that time. I regretted ever starting because I had a horrible time quitting. I only smoked for about 2 years and was finally able to quit with the help of a nicotine patch. I’ve been smoke-free since November 2000, so it’s been almost 8 years now! I’m proud I’ve stayed off cigarettes that long because I know how challenging it is, even 8 years later. There are still occasions when I wish I could have a cigarette. I know I can’t allow myself even one though because I’d be right back in the habit again. I never plan to start again because I want to be healthy and I wouldn’t want my daughter to see me smoke. I hope that she never picks up the habit. My dad also deserves kudos. He started smoking when he was 14 and smoked for about 50 years! He finally quit cold turkey almost 2 years ago and hasn’t smoked since. POSTED BY AMY AT 1:08 PM 56 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2008 Who Are You? According to my blog counter, I’ve had 6,774 visitors. I wonder how many of those hits were me? I’d venture to say at least 6,000 of them. ;) haha Since putting Feedjit on my blog, I see that many people arrive here by doing an image search for a dragonfly picture. I seem to get a lot of hits when people search for basement organization because I had a post entitled this. (Sadly, if they come here looking for advice on how to organize their basement I won’t be of any help. My basement is in sad shape right now, although it looked rather fabulous when I cleaned it last fall.) People also arrive on my blog when searching for random words like third trimester – hand, foot and mouth disease – first day back at work – etc. I’m curious who reads my blog. I know who some of you are. But who are those anonymous readers? Let me know who you are – how you found me – and include a link to your own blog, if you have one. I love reading blogs and am always looking for new ones to check out. Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 6:28 PM WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2008 Enter to Win! (Bloggy Giveaways Carnival) I got this idea after reading Melody’s blog (one of my Hannah’s Prayer friends). There is something called a Bloggy Giveaways Carnival going on. I’m jumping on the bandwagon a little late since the contest started on July 28, but it runs until August 1. 57 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post, and I will randomly select a winner on Saturday, August 2. You have to leave a comment on July 30, July 31 or August 1 (before midnight EST) in order to be eligible to win. You don’t have to leave your real name or have a blog to post a comment – but please leave your e-mail address so I can get in touch with you if you win. I plan to print off the comments, cut them out, put them in a basket and have my almost 6-month-old daughter Elena pull one out! :) She loves to grab paper. So you can thank Elena if you win! (In case anyone is concerned about the amount of paper that would be used by printing off all the comments I receive, please don't worry. I'm going to copy and paste all of the names on one sheet of paper and cut them out from there. I'm trying to be "green" so minimal paper will be used in this drawing!) Oh and you’d probably like to know the prize I’m giving away? As you may or may not know, I used to sell Mary Kay. I still have A LOT of samples left over, especially trial-size lotions such as MK’s Satin Hands. I will mail you a gift bag with MK samples, free of charge. There is no catch! I just thought this giveaway carnival sounded like fun. And I’ve wanted to give my MK samples to someone who can use them. They’re not doing anyone any good just sitting in my closet. Post a comment now! I’ll contact you sometime on Saturday, August 2 if you win. Good luck and thank you for posting a comment on my blog! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:30 AM MONDAY, AUGUST 04, 2008 And the winner is... Congratulations to Victoria Nemecek (torinem)! She was the randomly selected winner of the Mary Kay samples I was giving away. I really enjoyed participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival. It was so much fun and I got the chance to check out lots of new blogs. I received 112 comments (which was a lot more than I thought I'd receive!). I printed them, cut them out, folded them up and placed them in a basket. (In case anyone was concerned about the amount of paper that would be used by printing off all the comments I received, please don't worry. I copied and pasted all of the names on one sheet of paper and cut them out from there. I tried to be "green" so minimal paper was used in this drawing!) 58 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 My almost 6-month-old daughter Elena pulled one of the comments out of the basket. Here’s a picture of Elena with the winning comment... And here’s a picture of Elena with the Mary Kay gift bag... I thought I’d list the blog/website links of the people who entered (some people didn’t post a link to their blog when they left a comment). Check out their sites – I’m sure they’d appreciate it! 11th Love 2 Kids & Tired Cooks All Grown Up? Another Day In Paradise Audra's Little Scraps The Bender House Big Blueberry Eyes Birth 2 Remember Doula Services Bishies are Bringing Sexyback Blueberries & Peanut Butter Christian Momma Christina's Take On Everything 59 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Classless & Lovin' It Comfort Joy Designs Conrad Creations Conversing With Crystal A Day In The Life Of Bella Flute Mom God Gave Me You The Good Stuff Grammy Janet's Place The Green Yak 2008 Journeys: Autism, Teaching & Trying To Be An Open Minded Woman Just So Millie Katrina's Creations The Kitchen Counter Life As I Know It Life From The Toaster Me & My Sister Meant To Be Mending Her Broken Heart Mike & Tanya's Corner Of The World MLK Assignment Modern Mama's Fabulous Favorites Mom Of 2 Dancers Mom Two Ways Mommy Minded Mommy's Got Green 60 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Natalie's Sentiments The Nebeker Family No I Can't Wiggle My Nose One Servant's Journey Parenting Tips & Ideas Parker Family The Paulsen Pages Planet Misty Polygenerosity Quilly Silly's Vintage Boutique Richelle's Reflections Roach Chronicles Samsakara She Became A Butterfly She Scribes Smiling Sally Starlight Cakes Stepping Off the Spaceship Tales From O'Toole Three Different Directions Thunderclouds & A Furrowed Brow Uniquely Yours The Wicked Life Of...Meeeeee With The Fruit Of Her Hands WSMFP 2008 61 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Yankee Mom 2008 Thanks to everyone who left a comment and entered the giveaway. ♥ POSTED BY AMY AT 7:30 AM FRIDAY, AUGUST 08, 2008 TGIF! I’ve been really busy at work the past couple weeks. Which I suppose is better than not being busy at all. I don’t mind. I’d rather have too much work than too little. There’s nothing worse than being bored at work. One of my co-workers is getting married tonight. She wanted to get married on 8-8-08 at 8:08 p.m. Leon and I are going to the wedding. My parents are coming over to spend the night so they can stay with Elena. Even though children are welcome at the wedding, I have a feeling Elena may have been disruptive if we brought her with us. She loves to "talk" and sometimes she babbles really loudly! I cleaned the house the past two nights after work (it usually takes me one evening to clean the upstairs and one evening to clean the downstairs). I’ve been so good about keeping my house clean lately and staying on top of chores such as laundry and dishes. I’m proud of myself! I think becoming a mom has caused me to use my time more wisely when it comes to getting things done around the house. And I’ve found if I do a little bit every day, things don’t become overwhelming when it’s time to clean. I used to have the tendency to let things pile up and become cluttered, and then it would literally take me hours to clean the house. I’ve also done really well with my diet the past two weeks. I’ve only lost 4 pounds so far, but it’s a start. I’ve eaten really well, and I've walked every evening except for the past two nights (cleaning the house was my "exercise"). I usually bring Elena along on my walks in her stroller, and she seems to enjoy herself. Sometimes she falls asleep. Elena will be 6 months old tomorrow. She has her six-month check-up on Tuesday. I want to ask the doctor about her spitting up. Sometimes I think she spits up more now than when she was first born. Maybe the 7 ounces I feed her at a time is just too much for her little tummy. She’s been rather fussy the past few nights and I wonder if she’s teething. I haven’t noticed any teeth in her mouth yet, but maybe the doctor will see something that I don’t. I better get back to work. Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 11:40 AM 62 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2008 Six months Elena had her 6-month check-up yesterday. She’s doing well. She weighs 15 pounds, 13 ounces and is 26-1/2 inches long. She had to get 3 shots and 1 oral vaccine. She was supposed to get 4 shots, but they were out of one of them so we have to go back within the next month when they get more of this vaccine in. She cried when the nurses gave her the shots, and she bled quite a bit from one of the needle sticks. I felt so sorry for her. But she recovered quickly. Since I had to leave work early to take her to the doctor, I brought Elena back to work with me afterward so I could make up the time. Elena enjoys being at mommy’s work! Here’s a picture of her sitting on my desk. The doctor said that we can start Elena on baby food now. He said we’ll work our way up to 3 times a day, but to start we’ll give her baby food once or twice a day. He said to give her orange foods like squash and carrots for a couple days, and then make sure she doesn’t have any reaction to them, and then move on to green foods like green beans and peas. He said to give her vegetables first and start fruit after that. I told him she didn’t like rice cereal at all, so I’m hopeful that she’ll enjoy the baby foods. Elena has been babbling for quite a while now, but she recently started saying things that sound like real words. She says "mom-mom-mom" and "daa-daa" and "baa-baa." It’s so cute. She talks all the time and sometimes she’s really loud! She was talking loudly in the doctor’s office yesterday. I thought it was funny, but I’m not sure how much the other people in the waiting room enjoyed it. The pastor from our new church came to our house last night to talk to Leon and me. He’s very nice. We’re really enjoying this new church. We want to have Elena baptized soon, and the pastor said we can do this within the next month. We just need to pick a Sunday when all of our family can be there. We’d like to become members of this church and in order to do so, we have to take a series of classes. Leon was confirmed as a Lutheran when he was a teenager, so it will be like a reaffirmation for him. But I have to actually be confirmed as a Lutheran since I was baptized Methodist. It’s important to Leon that Elena be raised as a Lutheran, and I don’t have a problem with this. I so rarely went to church as a child anyway, so I have no real background in the Methodist church as it is. I’m just excited to finally be involved with a church. I’ve wanted to get involved in a church for a long time, but it 63 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 just took me a while to talk Leon into it. Now that he’s been going to this new church, I can tell he enjoys it too. Andrew and Beth start back to school next week (I believe next Wednesday). Andrew will be a freshman in high school, and Beth will be starting middle school. So hard to believe! The kids’ sports have started up again. Andrew has had football practice almost every day for the past couple of weeks, and Beth has her first soccer games this weekend. I started feeling sick last night. I can’t believe I would have caught something at the doctor’s office and gotten sick that fast, but you never know. I had a really bad headache, my throat was sore and I felt like I was going to throw up (which thankfully I didn’t). I laid down for a while and felt somewhat better afterward. But I still don’t feel that great today. My throat is still sore and my head hurts. I hope I’m not having a relapse of hand, foot and mouth disease because this is how I felt when I was coming down with that. I’m sure I’ll be sick a lot over the next year or two. I know Elena brings home every germ she comes into contact with at daycare. POSTED BY AMY AT 7:34 AM THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2008 Elena likes her veggies We started Elena on baby food on Sunday. So far we’ve fed her carrots and sweet potatoes, and she loved both. She seemed to do fine with the orange foods, so we’re moving onto green foods tonight. It’s amazing how messy it is to feed a baby! Elena gets her food everywhere. Here’s a picture of her after eating carrots (she was so proud of herself!)... 64 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Last night I had a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone from UDF and I let Elena have a lick. She obviously loves sweets! Here’s another picture of her with ice cream on her chin... I’ve been really busy at work lately. Tonight I have to work until about 7:00 p.m. because we have a barbeque/networking event for our members. Leon will have to pick Elena up from daycare. Elena really seems to enjoy her "school." She does art projects everyday. I have a "portfolio" with all of Elena’s work. It’s so adorable! Most of the projects consist of finger painting, and then the teachers turn the painting into something like a turtle, frog, cloud, leaf, etc. We still haven’t picked a date to have Elena baptized. We want to make sure that all of our family can be there. Hopefully we can decide on a date really soon because I’d love to have her baptized within the next month. I thought Andrew and Beth started back to school yesterday, but they don’t actually start until next Wednesday. On Saturday night, Beth’s mom is taking her to a Jonas Brothers concert. She loves them. It reminds me of my obsession with New Kids On The Block when I was her age. I’m so excited about going to their concert in October! Speaking of New Kids, my sister said that she read on the Internet yesterday that Jonathan Knight is gay! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:51 AM THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008 Long post (to make up for not posting in a week) I’ve been busy at work again this week, so I haven’t been able to post much lately. Andrew and Beth started back to school yesterday. We talked to them last night, and they got along fine in their new schools. Andrew is now officially a freshman in high school and Beth is a 7th grader in middle school. Last Saturday, we met Leon’s mom, John and Karen in Mansfield (which is the half-way point for them and for us). We ate dinner at Steak n Shake. They hadn’t seen Elena since the Fourth of July, so they were surprised at how much she’s grown. 65 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 On Sunday, Leon, Andrew, Beth, Elena and I went to the Ohio Railway Museum in Worthington. I’d never been there before. There’s not really much to it. There is a one-room museum, and then you can look through old train cars and take a very short (as in, about 5 minutes) train ride. It was so hot that day though. Of course there was no air conditioning on the train or in the train cars on display, so it was stifling inside. We didn’t stay long. Here are a few pictures from the museum... Elena waving hello on the train Daddy & Elena on the train Beth, Amy, Elena & Andrew Beth, Elena, Leon & Andrew 66 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena & Mommy inside the museum 2008 I didn’t want to have Elena out in the sun for long at the museum on Sunday. Her doctor said that babies under a year old shouldn’t wear sunscreen because the chemicals seep into their skin. I’d heard that babies 6 months and older can wear sunscreen, but I decided to listen to her doctor. That’s why we haven’t done many outdoor activities with Elena this summer – we don’t want her skin to burn! Next summer we can do outings to the zoo and the fair, etc. Elena is really enjoying her baby food. So far, she’s eaten carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, applesauce, bananas, peaches and pears. She’s eaten all of them with no problems. I started her on halfa-jar a day, but I’m now giving her a full jar every evening at dinner time. Next week, I’d like her to have baby food twice a day. Her daycare will give her baby food at lunch time, and they even provide the food which is nice. I’m so pleased with Elena’s daycare. It makes me feel so much less guilty about being a working mom when I see how she’s blossoming there. She’s always in a good mood when I pick her up, and she does so many activities there. She even plays with the other babies. When I picked her up yesterday, she and my friend Sherri’s son Aaron (who also goes to Elena’s daycare) were playing with the same toy. Aaron was holding one end and Elena was holding the other – it was so cute! Elena babbles non-stop. She waves and says "hi" (she drags it out so it’s more like "hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii") and "bye-bye" (sounds like "buh-buh"). She also says "mom-mom," "da-da" and "ba-ba." She isn’t crawling yet, but she rolls and scoots. She moves all the time, so I have to keep a close eye on her! I don’t want her rolling or scooting off the bed or couch, etc. If I have to put her down to do something, I only feel safe if she’s in her crib or her playpen. She can now scoot out of her carrier and she flips around in her bouncy seat and rocks back and forth in her Bumbo seat! I’m afraid she’ll tip over if I leave her in any of those things. She is such a little ham though. She cracks me up all the time. I absolutely love being Elena’s mom. It’s my favorite thing in the world! We had trouble picking a date for Elena’s baptism that didn’t interfere with family members’ activities, but it looks like Sunday, November 9 will work for everyone. I’d hoped to schedule it sooner, but our church only does baptisms on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, and our families had something going on those days in September and October. But November 9 is a good date because Elena will be 9 months old that day. My friend Sarah recently posted on her blog about how she had what I call an "eye spell" on her vacation. She saw a black spot in front of her eye and part of her vision was obstructed. I knew just what she was talking about because back when I was in college in 1997, I had a problem with my eyes just like that. I was sitting in class and I started seeing a black spot as if I had looked into a bright light. I sat in class and tried not to panic, but it scared me so bad. I thought I was going blind! Afterward, I got a terrible headache. I think the eye spell only lasted about a half-hour, but it was terrifying for me. The only thing that kept me from completely losing it was that I knew my mom experienced these same spells. For 67 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog years, she’s had this exact same thing happen to her. 2008 I asked my eye doctor about it at the time, and he said this is a common symptom of a migraine and can also be brought on by stress. It’s so ironic that Sarah just posted about this because I had another "eye spell" last night while we were eating dinner. It wasn’t as bad as the one I remember having in '97, but it was still unpleasant. I saw that black spot as if I had looked at the sun and then I saw wavy lines around the edges of my vision. It went away within a half-hour, but it sucks that I went 11 years without having one and now I had one again. I hope I don’t have another spell anytime soon. I had a headache all day yesterday and I don’t know how to NOT be stressed, so it’s no wonder I had an eye spell I suppose. I think my parents are coming over to visit this Saturday. Leon and I have Monday off for Labor Day, so the three-day weekend will be nice. Alright, I've rambled enough for one day. By the way, my co-worker sent me this picture of Leon and me from her wedding on 8-8-08... POSTED BY AMY AT 7:49 AM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 03, 2008 Bad day for a 7-month-old Poor Elena had a tough day yesterday. Leon had a staff meeting at work, so Elena had to go to daycare earlier than usual. She got there about 7:30 a.m. And then I had a council meeting at work, so I had to stay until 5:00 p.m. and couldn’t pick Elena up until about 5:30. So she was at daycare much longer than usual. When I picked her up, one of her caregivers told me that there had been an "incident" that morning. Elena was in a bouncy seat and one of the little boys fell on her and hit his teeth on her forehead. Thankfully he didn’t break the skin – Elena just has a red mark on her forehead. Yesterday was the first day that daycare started giving her baby food. She had bananas and sweet potatoes. She was a mess when I picked her up! She got food all over her onesie and her shorts. 68 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 When I got her home, I decided to give her some peaches since her doctor said she could start having baby food three times a day. Well, apparently three different types of baby food in one day was too much. Later that night (after she’d already had a bath), I noticed the back of her onesie was stained – she had diarrhea and it was all over her! I had to give her another bath. When I finally laid her in her crib at bedtime, I noticed the pacifier she was sucking on was not hers! She has a green binky with a fish on it, but it also has her name on it. A binky that looked exactly like this (except it didn’t have her name on it) was in her basket at daycare so I took it home. I rinsed it off with hot water, but I didn’t boil it. It didn’t even occur to me that this was not her pacifier. When I put her to bed, I noticed her green pacifier in her crib – so I have no idea whose binky she had been sucking on all evening! I know that’s not sanitary at all. Now I feel bad for not realizing this wasn’t even her binky. Thankfully this other binky looks brand new so I’d like to think another baby had not been using it yet. I’ll see what I can find out when I pick her up from daycare this afternoon. I hope Elena has a better day today! On a happier note, she is getting her first tooth! Leon and I felt a bump on her gum, and when I looked in her mouth I saw a little white bud poking through her gum – the left front tooth on the bottom. She hasn’t been overly fussy (yet), although she drools all the time and is always chewing on her fingers so we thought for some time that she was teething. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:16 AM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 04, 2008 Elena’s first homework assignment How funny is it that a 7-month-old has homework?! Elena's daycare providers gave us a poster board last week and said that we had to create a poster about our child's life. I worked on it last night, while Elena sat beside me and watched (she was preoccupied with her toys and didn’t pay much attention to her homework!). I’m going to hand in her poster when I pick her up this afternoon. I took a picture of it – I’m proud of the way it turned out! (Elena better get an A!) ;) POSTED BY AMY AT 8:20 AM 69 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 05, 2008 Elena will be crawling soon! Elena won’t let me look in her mouth (she sticks her tongue out and licks me when I put my fingers in her mouth – silly girl!). But I think her bottom right front tooth is also coming through. I can see a white bump on the left bottom, but I also felt something on the right side last night. I think she’s in pain because she was very fussy last night. It broke my heart. I wish I could take the pain for her! I put Orajel on her gums and let her chew on a cold teething ring, but it didn’t seem to do much good. She is usually such a good sleeper. All I have to do is lay her in her crib and she falls asleep. But she kept crying when I laid her down last night, so Leon and I brought her into our bedroom and held her for a while and she finally fell asleep. Elena is going to be crawling in no time! She tries so hard. She gets up on her hands and knees and shakes her little butt – it’s so cute. I took a video clip of her attempt to crawl last night. (Please disregard my voice – it always sounds so shrill on video!) Since Elena was born, I have so many digital photos of her. I’ve been looking for a way to organize them so I can keep them in an electronic photo album. I recently discovered a free program that you can download called Picasa. I have no idea why I didn’t know about this before since this is the program Blogger uses when you upload photos to your blog. I made a web album of Elena’s photos from birth until now. I actually have a lot more photos, but I wanted the album to contain what I consider the best shots. Here’s a LINK if you’d like to view 100+ photos of Elena! Leon recently gave me New Kids On The Block’s latest CD "The Block." I’ve been listening to it in my car this week. It’s not bad – it has quite a few catchy songs. But it’s so different from the bubblegum pop they made in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Their new songs are very much hip-hop. It’s kind of funny. I still love them though. Once a New Kids fan, always a New Kids fan I guess. I’ll be glad when November gets here so we can get this election over with. I’m so tired of all the political ads. I try not to talk about politics on my blog because I know that’s one subject people can never agree 70 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 on. I will say that I consider myself a bit more "middle of the road" – I personally have problems with people who lean too far to the left or the right. I do feel that the media has a bias toward the left and doesn’t always give the right a fair chance. It makes me sad to see our country so terribly divided. The worst part is seeing the hatefulness of some people who feel very strongly about one side or the other. I don't see how our country can move forward productively with this kind of attitude from either side. Alright, I’ll get off my political soapbox now. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:33 AM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008 How To Tell If You Need To Pray At Work... One of my co-workers sent me this e-mail this morning, and it’s so funny that I just had to share it. For anyone who works in an office, I’m sure you can relate to the following things... (You might have to click on the images to make them larger so you can read them.) 71 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 72 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 POSTED BY AMY AT 9:17 AM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008 I remember... It’s hard to believe 7 years have passed since September 11, 2001. Thinking of everyone affected by that awful day. Elena and I are heading to Coshocton this weekend. My sister’s birthday is on Friday and my mom’s birthday is on September 17 so we’ll be celebrating birthdays this weekend. Leon has to work so he and Goldie can’t come with us. Elena likes to pull herself up on her knees by grabbing onto the side of her crib. I happened to catch her doing this the other day so of course I had to grab my camera! 73 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 POSTED BY AMY AT 8:05 AM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 Wind Storm! I’ve never seen a hurricane affect Ohio, but Hurricane Ike did! We had 60+ mph winds Sunday afternoon. Trees and limbs are down all over the city. Our neighbors across the street lost the tree in their front yard. We lost our power at home around 3:30 p.m. yesterday and it’s still out. Apparently over 300,000 central Ohioans are without power. I had to take a shower by candlelight this morning! Luckily the power is on at work, so I came in early so I could do my hair and makeup there. Leon stayed home with Elena because there is no power at her daycare either. If it’s still out tomorrow, I’ll probably bring Elena to work with me. I heard that it could take up to 7 days to restore power in some areas. What a pain! It’s incredible how dependent we are on electricity. Leon has a battery-powered radio, and he listened to the Browns game on that last night. Elena and I sat around in the dark. She finally fell asleep around 8:00 p.m. and I went to bed too since there was nothing else to do! Elena and I went to Coshocton on Friday night and spent the weekend there (Leon stayed home since he had to work). My sister’s birthday was on Friday, and her husband had a surprise party for her at my parents’ house that night. My mom’s birthday is this Wednesday so we celebrated her birthday too. We 74 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog had a nice visit. 2008 Elena and I left Coshocton around 4:30 p.m. yesterday, and my parents’ electricity had just gone out (they’re still without it today as well). It was a scary drive home because it was so windy! I could feel the wind pushing my car, and it felt like I could drift off the road. I was very glad to get home. I really hope our power comes back on at home soon! I took some pictures of the damage around our house so I’ll have to post them within the next few days. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:08 AM TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 We have power again Our electricity came back on around 4:00 p.m. yesterday. Thank God! I know a lot of people are still without power though. My parents still don’t have any so they spent the night at a motel. Leon cleaned up our yard last night. All of our neighbors were out raking up limbs and sawing trees that had fallen. I took a few pictures of the "Great Wind Storm of '08" on Sunday after the wind died down... 75 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Here are a couple pictures of Elena from our weekend in Coshocton. She liked playing with the balloons from Aunt Julie’s birthday party. And Grandpa Kirker took her for a ride on his mower and she really enjoyed it! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:25 AM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2008 TV Shows My parents were still without power as of yesterday. I haven’t talked to them yet today to find out if the power is back on. Seven days without electricity! That is just painful. I’m thankful our power was only out for about 24 hours. 76 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Elena almost has crawling down. She finally figured out she has to move her knees too. She only takes a couple steps on her knees and then she drops down to her belly and scoots. She scoots rather quickly! I left her in the middle of the living room last night and went out to the kitchen to get something. I was gone about 60 seconds and she managed to scoot into the dining room while I was gone. I have to keep a close eye on her because she’s already into everything! Even though Elena is only 7-1/2 months old, she has a favorite cartoon! She loves the Wonder Pets on Noggin. She actually dances to the songs the Wonder Pets sing. It’s so adorable! The show is really cute. We sing the songs all the time. ♫ The phone – the phone is ringing! The phone – we’ll be right there! There’s an animal in trouble – an animal in trouble – an animal in trouble somewhere. ♫ ♫ Linny – Tuck – and Ming-Ming too! We’re Wonder Pets and we’ll help you! ♫ ♫ What’s gonna work? Team work! What’s gonna work? Team work! ♫ ♫ Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets, we found a way – to save a baby (animal) and save the day! We’re not too big and we’re not too tough, but when we work together we’ve got the right stuff! ♫ I was happy to see that they sell quite a few Wonder Pets toys. They will make great Christmas gifts! I already bought her a Wonder Pets flyboat on Friday. It plays the Wonder Pets songs and Elena really seems to like it. She lost her balance and fell face first on her new toy yesterday! Now she has a bruise on her cheek from the Wonder Pets flyboat. Speaking of shows, my new favorite show is a soap opera – The Young & The Restless. I used to watch Y&R when I was in high school, but I quit watching it once I was in college since I was so busy. My mom has watched it for years and she got me hooked on it again when she stayed with me after Elena was born. Since I work during the day, I record Y&R on our DVR and watch it in the evenings. Sometimes I get behind though – I had a whole week’s worth of episodes to watch over the weekend. It’s a very addictive show and easy to get hooked on. I actually watch too many TV shows, although I rarely watch them when they’re actually on. I record them on the DVR and watch them after Elena is asleep. The new fall season starts this week. I’m looking forward to Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Law & Order SVU, My Name Is Earl, The Office, 30 Rock and ER. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with all these shows this year though since I have a baby now! Leon just renewed our DirecTV and they gave us three free months of Showtime too. Yay! I love DirecTV. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:07 AM 77 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2008 2008 Sick again? I feel like I’m getting sick...again! A few weeks ago, Leon, Elena and I all had a stomach bug for a couple days. Then Elena and I got colds a couple weeks ago. Last night, I started feeling achy and hot and my throat is sore. I didn’t sleep well at all last night. I woke up every hour or so because I was so uncomfortable. Elena’s nose is still running too and she’s coughing. We just can’t stay well! I’m sure it has a lot to do with the fact that Elena comes into contact with so many germs at daycare. Elena and I are heading to Coshocton tomorrow because we’re going to the Coshocton County Fair with my parents. Leon is staying home with Andrew and Beth since they have sports activities that they can’t miss. I think I’ve been to the fair every year since I was born. I always enjoy going home for it, even though it never really changes. We’ll probably spend the night in Coshocton because I don’t like to drive after dark. Next Friday, we’re heading to Cleveland since I’m going to the New Kids On The Block concert. Leon, Elena and I will spend the weekend in Medina at Leon’s mom’s house – even though we just found out that she won’t be home that weekend! She’s going on vacation, and she didn’t realize we were coming to visit that weekend. Elena is doing so well with her crawling. She finally got the hang of it and she moves her little legs too. She can also stand if I prop her up next to something, like the couch. She smiles and looks so proud of herself when she’s standing! She also has the most adorable smile since her little tooth came through on the bottom left. So far, that’s the only tooth she has. Speaking of teeth, I had to go to the dentist yesterday to get two fillings. It seems like I’m always getting cavities and it drives me crazy! I try to take such good care of my teeth, and I brush them at least 3 times a day. My dentist told me that cavities can also be hereditary – which would explain a lot. My parents always had problems with their teeth, and they both ended up with false teeth. Thankfully there is no reason to believe I will end up with false teeth too. I just unfortunately get a lot of cavities. And then there’s Leon who has never had a cavity in his life! I hope Elena takes after him. People often make comments on how white my teeth are, and it makes me happy when they notice! A few years ago, my dentist took an impression of my teeth and created trays for me. I think it cost somewhere around $250 - $300, but the trays last for years. I have to buy the bleach for the trays, but that only costs around $20 for 4 syringes of bleach. Once you do the initial bleaching, which is over a 2-week period, you just need to do touch-ups from then on – which means you wear the trays for about an hour a couple days in a row. The results are long-lasting. I only do touch-ups twice a year if that, and my teeth have stayed really white even though I drink a lot of coffee and Diet Coke. I’m very pleased with the results. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:21 AM 78 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 MONDAY, OCTOBER 06, 2008 Happy Anniversary and Blog-o-versary to me... My sister and I met my friend Sarah, her sister and a couple of her friends at the New Kids On The Block concert in Cleveland on Friday night. It was an absolute blast! I had such a great time. I have not had that much fun at a concert in a long time. NKOTB sang all their old hits as well as some of the songs off their new CD. Even though they’re 20 years older, they still put on a really great show. The concert was at the Quicken Loans Arena (formerly the Gund Arena) in downtown Cleveland. I was surprised that NKOTB can still fill an arena after all this time! There were so many people there, and it was really loud. Most of the people there were women my age who were most likely fans of NKOTB when they were popular in the late 80’s/early 90’s. I would definitely go see them again if they’re in concert nearby! My sister went back home after the concert, but Leon, Elena and I spent the weekend at Leon’s mom’s house in Medina. Even though Leon’s mom was on vacation, we got to visit with his sisters and brother. Leon’s and my sixth anniversary was yesterday. It’s hard to believe we have been married for 6 years already. We may try to go out to dinner one night this week. We drove home from Medina yesterday and ate Arby’s in the car on the way home, so we didn’t get the chance to really celebrate our anniversary. We both agree that Elena is the best anniversary gift we could ever hope for! Speaking of anniversaries, my 3-year blog-o-versary was on Saturday. So much has happened over the past 3 years. And my blog has had nearly 8,000 readers in that time! (Of course, there’s a very good possibility that at least half of those hits were me!) Leon and I are finally getting over our colds. We were sick for a couple weeks. Elena is better now too, thankfully. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before we’re all sick again though. I’m going to get a flu shot this year and I think Elena may be able to get one too (if she’s old enough, that is – I don’t know the minimum age for a flu shot). Elena is into everything now! She crawls pretty fast and instead of playing with the 20 toys I lay out for her, she prefers to play with knick knacks or the remote or open cupboard doors or pull on Goldie’s tail, etc. She is definitely going to be keeping her mama busy! But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Being Elena’s mom is my favorite thing in the world. POSTED BY AMY AT 7:50 AM 79 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2008 2008 Elena likes to pull herself up TGIF again! The weekends always go by so fast though. My parents are coming to visit tomorrow. They’re remodeling their kitchen and want to look for a ceiling fan at Andersons (they love that store). Andrew is staying with us since his mom and Beth are in Washington, D.C. Beth has a soccer tournament in D.C. this weekend. Homecoming at Andrew’s school is this weekend too. He plans to go to the football game tonight, and then he’s taking a girl (who he says is just a friend) to the homecoming dance tomorrow night. Elena was 8 months old yesterday. She has made so much progress in the past few weeks. She is a pro at crawling now, and she is able to pull herself up to stand. I took a few pictures of her last night. As you can tell, she is so proud of her ability to stand! In the third picture (where she’s smiling so big), you can kind of see her tooth on the bottom. Her smile reminds me so much of myself! Even though she looks a lot like her daddy, I can definitely see my features in her too. 80 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 My new favorite store is Babies R Us. They have so many great things, and most of the items are reasonably priced. I bought Elena a Halloween outfit there. She’s obviously too young to trick or treat, but I still want to dress her up. I bought her this cute jogging suit that looks like a pumpkin and has a stem on the hood. I’ll definitely take pictures of her in it! I also got her this adorable onesie and a pair of socks that say "My First Thanksgiving" as well as a headband with a turkey on it. It seems so surreal to me at times that I get the chance to enjoy a store like Babies R Us. There was a time, when I was dealing with the pain of infertility, that I’d avoid that kind of store like the plaque. I remember I used to walk by the baby section in stores as fast as I could, trying so hard to not even glance at it. Sometimes I hold Elena close to me and say "Thank you God for giving me this beautiful baby." I am so grateful to be a mom. Ok, I better end this post now before I make myself cry! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:12 AM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2008 Missing them... I think about Darlene and my grandma a lot. They show up in my dreams quite often. I miss them both very much. When I first moved to Columbus back in the summer of 1997, Darlene and I lived in Grandview. There will always be a special place in my heart for Grandview. We had some good times there. I don’t get over there very often anymore, but I always feel a tug at my heart strings when I drive through that area. Just reminiscing a little today. I know I don’t write much about Darlene or my grandma in my blog anymore, but there’s not a day that goes by that they don’t cross my mind. POSTED BY AMY AT 10:24 AM 81 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2008 Checking in... I haven’t been a very good blogger lately. It seems like the weeks just fly by. Elena is keeping me busier than ever! She crawls everywhere and is into everything. We still have some babyproofing to do, and we really need to do it soon because nothing is safe anymore! Andrew and Beth were with us over the weekend. We celebrated Beth’s birthday, which was yesterday. She is 13 now – officially a teenager! She and Andrew both look so grown-up anymore. Even at 8 months, I can tell that Elena looks up to her big brother and sister. Her face just lights up when they come in the room, and she smiles at them all the time. It’s so cute. A few weeks ago, Elena got her picture taken at school. They did three different poses. I was so happy with the way the pictures turned out. She’s actually smiling in them. I bought the whole package and plan to give some of the pictures to our family as Christmas gifts. I know this post is short and sweet, but I need to get back to work. And other than chasing Elena all over the house, I don’t have anything else terribly exciting to blog about. Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 8:33 AM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2008 A few pictures... I installed the baby gate at the top of our stairs all by myself last night. I’m usually not so handy, so I was proud of myself. Here is a picture of Elena in her "prison." I also wanted to post a couple pictures of Andrew and Beth so you can see how grown-up they look now. I took the picture of Beth when we celebrated her birthday on Sunday, and the picture of Andrew was taken before the homecoming dance at his school a couple weeks ago. (You can click on the pictures for a larger 82 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog view.) 2008 Here is another picture of Elena playing with an envelope from one of Beth’s birthday cards. POSTED BY AMY AT 12:02 PM 83 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2008 2008 Facebook Lately I’ve been obsessed with Facebook. It’s funny because I joined there back in 2006, but I only recently created a profile. My stepson told me that MySpace is out and Facebook is the "place to be." I still think I prefer MySpace, but I’m getting a kick out of Facebook anyway. I’ve found a bunch of old friends from school that I haven’t talked to in years. I believe you have to be my "friend" to view my profile, but here is the link if you want to befriend me: Amy’s Facebook Page. I only have time for a short post today. I’m at work and we’re getting ready to celebrate a co-worker’s birthday with some chocolate cake! POSTED BY AMY AT 1:21 PM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2008 My little pumpkin As promised, here are a couple pictures of Elena in her Halloween costume. I dressed her up last night and took some pictures. She kept pulling at the hood – I don’t think she liked that part of her outfit! In the second picture where she’s smiling so big, you can see her two bottom teeth. 84 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Elena gets to dress up at school on Friday too. The kids are going to parade around in their Halloween costumes – even the babies! Tonight Elena and I are meeting up with Sherri and Leslie and their babies. Sherri’s son Aaron is also in Elena’s class at school. He’s a couple months older than her. Leslie’s daughter Keira is a few days older than Elena. My dad’s birthday is this Sunday. We’re planning on meeting my parents in Newark (the halfway point) for lunch. Next Sunday, November 9, is Elena’s baptism. I still need to buy her a dress! My parents, my sister and Jamie, my great aunt, Leon’s mom, and John and Karen will all be there for her baptism. We also agreed to have Thanksgiving at our house this year. I don’t mind. I’m happy that both families can come together at our house to share Elena’s first Thanksgiving. I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is only a month away! Remember how I mentioned that Elena is such a good sleeper? Lately she’s been having trouble going to sleep at night. I used to be able to lay her in her crib and she’d fall asleep on her own. But now when I lay her down, she cries. I’ll stand there and rub her head to try and make her sleepy – but when I try to tiptoe away, she notices I’m leaving and starts to cry again. She’ll also wake up after she’s fallen asleep and cry. It’s as if she wakes up and notices she’s alone in her room. Maybe she gets scared. I think she’s experiencing some separation anxiety at night. I read that this is normal at her age. POSTED BY AMY AT 9:19 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2008 Election Day 2008 I’ve been busy with work and chasing after Elena, so I know I haven’t been posting on a very regular basis lately. I just wanted to say that I voted today! I got to the polls when they opened at 6:30 a.m. and I was out of there by 7:30 a.m. I was happy I only had to stand in line for an hour. I think I had to stand in line for at least two hours back in 2004. If you know me, you know who I voted for. But I don’t like to talk about politics on my blog because I know that’s something people can never agree on. People feel very strongly about one side or the other, 85 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog and we all have reasons for voting the way that we do. 2008 At any rate, it will be interesting to watch TV tonight as the results of the polls come in. POSTED BY AMY AT 8:12 AM THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2008 Behind in blogging When I came into work on Friday, my computer screen was blue (what one of my co-workers refers to as the "blue screen of death"). I tried to re-start it repeatedly, but I kept getting that same blue screen with an error message that said "Inmountable Boot Error." This same thing happened to my computer at work last fall, so I knew it meant the hard drive had died. Thankfully, all of my files are backed up to the server so I didn’t lose anything. But it’s still a huge inconvenience to be without a computer! Our computer guy ordered me a new hard drive and re-installed my programs, so I was up and running again yesterday. But I spent the whole day trying to get my computer back to where it had been before (re-arranging my desktop, installing fonts that I used to have, restoring my e-mail, etc.). I’ve basically lost a whole week at work, so I’m really behind. This is magazine week too! The magazine is due on Friday, but I haven’t even started on this issue. The only time I find to get online is usually at work, so I haven’t been able to post any new blog entries lately. We had a really busy weekend. Elena’s baptism was on Sunday so we had family in town. Her baptism went really well. I’ll tell you all about it and post pictures too very soon. But for now, I need to get back to work and get this magazine started! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:01 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2008 Getting caught up... I know I’ve been a bad blogger lately so I thought I’d take a few minutes to get caught up on my blogging before getting back to work! Thanks to my computer dying, I’m still about a week behind on my work. I tend to get stressed out when 86 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I feel overwhelmed. I know stress lowers your immune system, so I got a flu shot yesterday. Leon’s work gives them for free to employees and their spouses. I usually get one every year anyway, but I thought it was an especially good idea this year since Elena brings home so many germs from daycare. Her nose is running right now so I think she might be getting a cold. She had her 9-month check-up last Monday. She weighs 17 pounds, 12 ounces and is 28 inches long. Her appointment went well. She had to get two shots – one for Hib and one for the flu. She has to go back on December 19 to get a second flu shot. I guess they only give half the dosage to babies at one time, so they need to get two shots. As you know, Elena was a pumpkin for Halloween. The weather was unseasonably warm that night, so it was perfect for the trick or treaters. Elena sat on the front porch with me for a while and helped me pass out candy, but she started getting very fussy so I had to take her inside. Here’s a picture of Elena and Daddy before she turned into a grumpy pumpkin... Elena's baptism on November 9 went very well. My parents, Julie and Jamie, Leon’s mom, John and Karen, my great aunt Arline, and Andrew and Beth were all at the baptism too. The pastor baptized Elena at the beginning of the church service. Leon and I went up front with her, and Leon let me hold her. Elena started to get fussy because she wanted to reach down and touch the water in the font! But once I leaned her back so the pastor could put water on her head, she was calm. She didn’t seem to mind the water on her head at all. When I held her upright again, she reached up and touched the pastor's hand – it was so sweet! The congregation had a beautiful cake that said "God Bless You Elena" after the church service. Our families came back to our house afterward for lunch. Here are some pictures from that day... Elena's cake 87 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Beth, Elena & Andrew 2008 Mommy & Elena Aunt Julie & Uncle Jamie with Elena My friend Sherri (who was a friend of Darlene’s and whose son is in Elena’s class at daycare) had a gettogether at her house on Saturday night. Darlene’s dad, stepmom, brother and some of her friends were there. It was so nice seeing everyone. Counting Elena, there were four babies there (there were four of us who got pregnant after Darlene died and had babies around the same time). It was so much fun watching Elena play with the other babies. Sherri and Darlene’s stepmom gave me some pictures and some other personal items that they had from Darlene. After I got home, I looked through the pictures. Some of them were from high school. I cried as I looked through everything because it made me miss her. It still seems so surreal sometimes that Darlene isn’t here with us. She would have been such a great "Aunt Darlene" to Elena and all of her friends’ babies. I’m a member of a TWIG group (that raises money for Children’s Hospital). Our TWIG group hasn’t been very active this year, so we didn’t participate in the annual holiday bazaar. The bazaar was on Sunday, so I took Elena and met up with Linda (one of my co-workers who’s also in my TWIG group). Santa was there, so Elena had her picture taken with him! She wasn’t scared of him at all. She had on a bunny coat (that Linda gave her) so I put her hood up for the picture. 88 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog "Easter Bunny" Elena with Santa 2008 Elena loves bath time. I still put her in her baby bathtub and then I put that in the big bathtub. She’s actually too big for her tub, but I need to buy something to fit around her for the big tub so she doesn’t fall over. I took this picture of her playing with her rubber duckies last night. I’ve been depressed about my weight. Nine months later, I’m still 30 pounds heavier than I was before I had Elena. So I decided to start taking Alli. Even though I’m not sure I’d recommend it because it’s VERY hard on your stomach, I have to admit it’s working. I’ve lost 8 pounds in two weeks. Of course, I’ve been eating much better over the past two weeks so that might have something to do with it too. But I do think Alli helps you lose weight faster than just dieting alone. I haven’t started any kind of exercise plan yet, but I know I need to do that soon. Ideally, I’d like to keep taking Alli until I reach my goal weight and then (hopefully!) keep the weight off by diet and exercise. I’m not sure I could take Alli long-term because of the "treatment effects" if you eat too much fat! That part is not fun. But I was feeling desperate because I really want to at least be at the weight I was before I had Elena. Stay tuned to see if I can lose more weight! Well, I’ve written enough and I really need to get back to work now! Until next time... POSTED BY AMY AT 8:58 AM 89 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2008 My sick baby Poor Elena has the flu and threw up all day yesterday. Leon said she threw up a couple times yesterday morning, but he still dropped her off at daycare. Around noon, I got a call from her daycare telling me to come get her. She had thrown up twice more there. I took her back to work with me. I figured she could sleep in my cubicle. I’m still behind at work and I had to get the magazine finished. But I should have just taken Elena home! The poor thing had dry heaves all afternoon at my work. She cried every time she threw up. My heart just broke for her. She hasn’t thrown up since about 4:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon. I talked to her doctor and he told me not to give her formula last night, but to try and get her to drink Pedialyte or water instead. I picked up some apple-flavored Pedialyte and she did drink some of that last night. She also ate some Gerber puffs. She slept all night and was just waking up as I was leaving for work this morning. Leon sent me an e-mail and said he thinks he may stay home with her today because she’s still pretty fussy and she felt warm (she didn’t have a fever yesterday). When Elena was really little, she used to spit up all the time. But once she started eating baby food (around 6 months), she stopped spitting up. This is the first time she’s had the flu, so this was also my first experience with a baby vomiting. It’s so sad to see your child sick! I hope she’s back to her happy self very soon. I also hope no one else in the family catches her stomach bug! It’s amazing the things you do when you’re a mom – things I used to think would gross me out, but don’t bother me at all now that I have to deal with them! Before Elena was born, I was sure I’d gag over poopy diapers, but they don’t even faze me. And yesterday, I put my hand up to Elena’s mouth a couple times to catch her vomit so it wouldn’t go on the floor! Gross, right? ;) Not that these are my favorite things to do, but I’ve found that being a mom is often a very messy job! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:07 AM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2008 Thanksgiving Time Leon and I caught whatever Elena had. We were sick on Friday and Saturday, with all the same symptoms. We were better by Sunday, but yuck! That was no fun. Elena’s mood is better, but she still had diarrhea as of this morning. I stayed home with her yesterday and called the doctor again. He said that as long as Elena’s other symptoms have subsided (vomiting, fever, etc.), she is most likely fine. It can take up to a week or more for a baby’s stool to become firm again after having a stomach bug like she had. 90 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 Elena had so many "blowouts" (as we call them) the past few days – I’ve never done so much laundry in my life! Ok, enough poop talk. ;) (Sorry to get so graphic!) I get off work at noon tomorrow and I’m off Thursday and Friday. Leon’s mom, John and Karen are coming over tomorrow night and will be staying with us through Friday. My parents, my great aunt, Julie and Jamie are coming over on Thanksgiving Day. Andrew and Beth are with their mom for Thanksgiving this year. I have so much to do to get ready for Thanksgiving. I had planned to do things over the weekend, but I didn’t feel well enough. I’m working until 5:00 tonight, but I need to go home and clean the house – which any mom knows is no easy task when you have a baby! Leon has to work late tonight so he won’t be able to hang out with Elena while I clean. So we’ll see how much I get accomplished. I haven’t bought any groceries for our Thanksgiving meal yet. I plan to go shopping when I get off work tomorrow. Karen said she’ll help me cook and Leon usually does the turkey. My mom is also bringing some food, so it shouldn’t be too overwhelming. We plan to fix a lot of food though! So far, our menu consists of turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, green bean casserole, macaroni & cheese, pumpkin pie and apple pie. I’m sure I’m forgetting something... Leon’s family probably won’t get to Columbus until late tomorrow night. Leon, Elena and I plan to go to a 7:00 p.m. service at our church tomorrow night too. I’ve never been to a Thanksgiving church service, so I really wanted to take Elena. Well, I better get back to work now. I’m still behind from when my computer died a couple weeks ago. If I don’t post again beforehand...Have a Happy Thanksgiving! POSTED BY AMY AT 10:28 AM TUESDAY, DECEMBER 02, 2008 Hope of My Heart I apologize for being such a bad blogger lately. I was busy all weekend with family visiting and work has been busy lately too. I took some pictures of Elena’s first Thanksgiving, but I haven’t downloaded them off my camera yet. I’ll try to post them later this week. To be honest, I was kind of glad when Thanksgiving was over! It was a lot of work. My sister-in-law and I did the majority of the cooking...and everyone knows I’m not a chef! Cooking tends to stress me out. At any rate, the meal turned out well. We had a lot of leftovers though. Elena was fussy on her first Thanksgiving! She still had diarrhea that day so that probably contributed to her grumpiness. We gave her some turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn casserole, and macaroni and cheese...all of which ended up in her hair! She also had a blowout in her adorable "My First Thanksgiving" onesie, so she didn’t get to wear that for too long. I think she went through four outfits that day because of her diarrhea. It took a week, but her tummy is finally better thank goodness! 91 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 I feel so guilty though because we infected everyone with the flu! Elena had it first (she obviously picked up the bug at daycare). Then I had it...then Leon...then Beth...then Beth’s mom...then Beth’s mom’s boyfriend...then Beth’s mom’s boyfriend’s two daughters...then Andrew...and then my parents and John caught it! Although Elena still had diarrhea on Thanksgiving, we assumed the germs were gone by then. But my parents and John got sick a couple days later. My great aunt, sister-in-law and mother-in-law were also at our house on Thanksgiving, so I pray they stay healthy! The point of this post though is that I wanted to rave about the jewelry that one of my friends from Hannah’s Prayer, Melody York, makes! It’s called Hope of My Heart Designs, and her jewelry is absolutely beautiful. Another HP friend sent me a bracelet that Melody made shortly after Elena was born. It has pink beads and one of the beads has an "E" on it. It's so pretty. I recently purchased a "Priscilla" bracelet, which is a sterling silver mother's birthstone bracelet. Mine has amethyst beads on it, which is Elena's birthstone. It's gorgeous! I encourage you to check out Melody's website. You will not be disappointed. If you're reading this Melody – thank you for making such wonderful jewelry! POSTED BY AMY AT 9:52 AM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2008 Thanksgiving Pictures Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving... This is the only picture I got of Elena in her "My First Thanksgiving" onesie and turkey headband before she had her "blowout" and had to have her outfit changed. 92 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena tries her first taste of Thanksgiving foods. 2008 Messy Baby, Part 2 Not the best picture of the fam, but from left to right: My dad, my sister-in-law Karen, my brother-in law John, my mother-in-law, Leon, my great aunt Arline, Elena (hidden in the corner), and my mom POSTED BY AMY AT 7:27 AM 93 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2008 Busy...busy...busy... Maybe it’s just this time of year that makes me crazy, but I feel completely overwhelmed right now. It’s December 15 and I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping. We don’t even have our tree up! My job has been keeping me very busy lately. I know this is a good thing – job security, right? But I used to feel like I accomplished things at work, and lately I feel like I can never finish a task. I start one project and then get sidetracked by another project, etc. etc. I know millions of women work and raise families, so I have no right to complain. And not to take away ANYTHING from stay-at-home moms because I remember thinking what a tough job that was when I was on maternity leave! That being said, I do think it’s difficult having a job outside the home too. I have trouble getting much accomplished around the house as far as cooking, cleaning or laundry goes. Elena is such a funny little girl. I’m amazed at how she seems to learn something new everyday. She has always liked looking at ceiling fans and we have them in almost every room of our house. We’ll ask Elena "Where’s the fan?" and she’ll point up at the ceiling. We’ll also ask her "What does the doggie say?" and she’ll reply "Ooof, ooof, ooof." It’s so cute! She isn’t walking yet, but she can stand on her own for a few seconds before toppling over. She pulls herself up on everything and then side-steps whatever she’s holding onto. She’s eating more and more table food. I’ve been giving her little pieces of what we eat and she seems to be enjoying the new foods. I gave her some spaghetti noodles last week (no red sauce though!) and she gobbled it up. Here’s a picture... She scared me last week. I gave her some pieces of bread and even though the pieces were small, she stuffed a bunch of them in her mouth at once! I was putting dishes away and I noticed her face was red. I ran over to her and put my finger in her mouth to scoop out the bread that was in there. She started crying which was a relief because I knew she could breathe. I realized I can’t put very much food on her tray at once because she is bad about putting more than one piece in her mouth at a time. Elena was so ornery in church yesterday! Leon stayed home because he wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to take Elena by myself. She squirms and cries when you hold her because she wants to get down and crawl around. I let her sit on the floor, but then she kept trying to crawl under the pews! She pulled herself up and side-stepped across the pew we were in, but she fell backwards (twice!) and then cried. I finally took her out into the narthex until the sermon was over because she was being so disruptive. I really enjoy our church, but it’s not easy to listen to the sermon when I’m so preoccupied with keeping 94 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena quiet! 2008 We have December 24-26 off work for Christmas, so I’m taking next Monday and Tuesday off too so I can be home the whole week. Andrew and Beth are with us until 1:00 p.m. on Christmas Day, so I’ll be able to stay home with them and Elena next week. I can always do some shopping next week if all else fails. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! After the kids’ mom picks them up on Christmas Day, Leon, Elena and I are heading to Coshocton to spend Christmas with my family. We plan to go to Medina on New Year’s Eve to spend time with Leon’s family. It’s almost quitting time at work, so I need to end this post. I’ll write again when I have some free time (so you may not hear from me again until 2009!). ;) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! POSTED BY AMY AT 3:23 PM MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2008 Elena's First Christmas I’m back at work today after being off for 9 days. It was nice being home with Elena. Andrew and Beth were with us the first half of their Christmas break. We were very busy during my time off. When I picked Elena up from school on Friday the 19th, there was a sign posted that one of the infants had pink eye. Elena’s teachers told me that her eye had been oozing that day as well. I had to take Elena to the doctor’s office that afternoon anyway so she could get her flu booster, so the doctor was able to see her. He said that she had pink eye in her left eye, and he gave me an ointment to use on her eye for 5 days. I ended up using it on both eyes because the right one started to look red too. Thankfully, her eyes started looking better within 24 hours and no one else in the family caught it! Elena has had a cold too – her nose has been running and she’s been coughing. I think I caught her cold. My chest feels very congested – it actually feels sore. I think that might be because I pulled a muscle lifting Christmas gifts – or from holding Elena. At her doctor appointment on the 19th, the nurse weighed her and measured her – she is 18 pounds, 7.5 ounces and 28 inches long. So it gets pretty heavy carrying around an almost 20-pound baby! I waited until the last minute to start my Christmas shopping, but I did very well anyway. I went shopping the Friday night before Christmas and got most of my shopping done at that time. The next day Elena and I went to the mall and I finished up my shopping then. We went to a Christmas Eve service at our church on the 24th which was very nice. Afterward, Beth and I baked cookies and cupcakes and watched "A Christmas Story" (since TBS was playing it for 24 hours on Christmas Eve). Elena slept in until about 8:30 a.m. on Christmas Day, so we didn’t go downstairs to open presents until after 9:00 a.m. It was so much fun watching Elena experience her first Christmas! Santa Claus was very 95 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog 2008 good to her. She made out like a bandit. Andrew and Beth didn’t have as many gifts to open as Elena, but they know that Santa spends more money on their gifts! ;) Elena didn’t understand the concept of unwrapping her gifts, but we helped her. She seemed in awe of everything – it was so cute! She ended up playing with the wrapping paper and boxes more than her actual gifts though, and she was very interested in everyone else’s presents. After Andrew and Beth’s mom picked them up on Christmas Day, Leon, Elena, Goldie and I headed to Coshocton. My parents and my sister really spoiled Elena! She got so many gifts there. Leon left on Friday because he had to get back home to do a few computer side jobs. Elena and I stayed in Coshocton through Sunday. Leon and I have to work until noon on New Year’s Eve and then we’re heading to Medina to spend New Year’s with his family. At least it’s another short work week! I took about a hundred pictures on Christmas, but I’ll only share some of my favorites below. Happy New Year! ~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Christmas tree Elena's first look at the gifts under the tree 96 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena checks out her card from Mommy & Daddy 2008 So many presents to unwrap! Elena examines some of her gifts Playing with her new xylophone 97 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog A talking purse from Grandma Dunning 2008 Dancing to the Wonder Pets theme song, sung by Ming-Ming Presents from Grandma D. Andrew tries out his Guitar Hero hand-held game 98 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Beth helps Goldie unwrap gifts 2008 Elena looks at the Santa on Grandma & Grandpa Kirker's coffee table Mommy & Elena The first of many gifts to unwrap at Grandma & Grandpa K's 99 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena's first baby doll 2008 Elena touches her other baby doll's hair Grandma K. shows Elena another gift Crawl & Cruise Musical Jungle 100 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Walker Wagon 2008 Rock & Play Piano Grandpa K. makes Elena laugh My "famous" baby girl 101 Lively Days: Amy’s Blog Elena is going to have curly hair just like her Mommy 2008 Playing with the food in the cupboard at home - who needs Christmas presents when you have canned goods to play with?! POSTED BY AMY AT 8:22 AM 102