Sunday, May 31, 2009

Dora & Jillian

Jillian went to her first show on May 29th, to see Dora the Explorer.

(If you don't know who Dora is, she's basically crack for toddlers.)

Anyway, my mom took her to the 7pm show. She just loved it, smiling, dancing, and clapping her hands with everyone else. I wish I could have seen that! Once the intermission started, she got irritable and wanted to leave. Even when the show started up again, she was d.o.n.e. I think she fell asleep on the way home and proceeded to keep my mom up till midnight.

Saturday night was quiet. Chores during the day, and I'm pretty sure I was in bed by 9:30pm. And to think I used to wish I was an adult so I could stay up as late as I wanted to! HA!

Today, we spent the afternoon with Michael's sisters and their children. It was wonderful; great company, non-fussy and non-crying kids, and fabulous food. We would have stayed longer, but we needed to pick Jillian up. Got to spend time with Mom, but soon enough, we were back on the road home.

Well, it's 9:10pm now, so that leaves me about 20 minutes before my bedtime. Susan seems to think that waking up at 4am is a good idea. Yeesh. I guess I'm officially un-cool now.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Hair of the Dog

Most people think pregnancy lasts only 9 months. Yes, you carry the baby for that long, but the hormones like to party it up a big longer in the body, and now they are starting to realize that the party's over and it's time to go home.

My hair has started to fall out. This happened with Jillian too, and don't ask me why I'm surprised and shocked at the amount that falls out every day.

You wanna wig? Fake moustache? Beard? Lemme run my fingers through my hair a few times. There ya go.

Unfortunately Susan is going through this too, thanks to breastfeeding. I don't know if her hair would have fallen out any sooner had I been giving her formula from the start or not. Jillian's hair fell out and it looked like we shaved the bottom 1/2 of her head. Susan's heading in the same direction. I'm just glad it didn't happen in reverse, or she would be looking like a balding person with a mullet.

Luckily, Susan has fine, teeny-tiny adorable baby hair. You barely even notice when it's gone. Me? I look like I literally pull clumps out of my hair.

Monday, May 18, 2009

T minus 3 days

Susan's almost at the 4 month mark already. Holy cow!

Her sleeping habits are changing-again! She'll still go to bed between 9-11, but enjoys waking me up around 5:30-6. She'll eat her early breakfast, then go back to sleep for another 3 hours. Then it's eat, awake for 3 hours, eat, asleep for 3 hours, eat, repeat. I've had to be careful with her being in her swing, as she enjoys taking mini-naps, which can throw us off and makes for one cranky baby and one sleepy mommy!

She's enjoying her various play structures, including her exersaucer, which means that she can actually be upright, which she loves. She likes making stepping movements as soon as she gets in there. She's also getting a kick out of reaching for toys and putting them in her mouth. Jillian gets a kick out of spinning the exersaucer around and around while Susan's in it!

She's really upping her babbling with us, and I could have sworn a couple of times that she repeated what we said! Then I drank more imaginary Caesars....
She's also really starting to laugh/giggle with us, and when she's laughed too much, she gets the hiccups! Poor girl, but we love it, so we keep at it!

She's really interested in the TV now; when we move her away from the screen, she turns her head so she can keep watching the show. Michael didn't like that, so now we make a point of having her facing us instead, or playing with one of her toys.

Trying to get a picture of both girls is not easy. I usually get something like this:


But I'll get the hang of it one day.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Ultimate Garbage Day

Twice a year, we get to throw out household stuff. Like couches, appliances, etc, with a few exceptions. Why am I excited about this?

Last year when we moved in, we managed to get rid of a bunch of the previous owners' stuff, but our basement still had a lot of...random stuff. Then there was another large throwout day, but Michael was out of town, and I'm too prissy to be lifting heavy stuff. Oh yeah, and I was pregnant too!

I guess I feel like I'm on one of those TV shows where people de-clutter their lives and gain some real space and order in their home. Keep, toss, toss, toss. Yipee! Plus, it'll be our chance to finally make the basement 'ours'.

Does this mean that I'm going to finally get around to going through the boxes that are packed full of sentimental items? Noooo, but I swear that the next time to Costco, I will finally donate the glasses that I wore in university to charity. And the pair I had in high school. I'm pretty sure I threw out the pair I had in middle school...

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

You caught my eye across the crowded room. The attraction was instant; we had lots in common. I took you home.

Then I started to be afraid. Self-doubt crept in. Can we make this work? I turned away from you without explanation and stayed away for months, then years.

Then finally, I took a deep breath and approached you, ready for a new start and to leave the past behind. There were some mis-steps, but we're working through them. And slowly, we are getting closer. The knowledge that we can make things work between us. I don't need to be afraid anymore.

I can cook!!! Thank you, my cherished cookbook! Ours is not a monogamous relationship; there are others in your family that attract me, like your Thai cousin, and your Dessert-in-law. But I will always come back to you.

Love,
Me

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day even though I'm still uncomfortable from the surgery. Michael's been a huge help around the house, and has been making supper for me.

Mom took Jillian all day Saturday and returned her on Sunday. It was great to have Jillian spend time with her Abuela, but we still missed her lots.

Michael got the girls to make me cards for Mother's Day; they each have their footprints on the front page-I love it! Hallmark's got nothing on these! It's even got their toe-prints on there too! Also got a few SD cards for my new camera that Mom gave me for my birthday-Perfect! I've been a bit of a shutterbug lately, so it's nice not to have to download the pictures every few days.

Don't know how on earth I can top that for Father's Day... I remember making a card for Michael from Jillian.
Picture of an 'eye'
Picture of a 'heart'
Picture of Jillian pointing to the camera 'you'

Better get my thinking cap on!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mother's Day Quiz

How long have you been a Mom?
March 1, 2007

Girl? Boy?
2 girls

How old were you with your first child??
27 years old

How much did your child(ren) weigh?
6 pounds, 15 oz and 6 pounds, 12 oz

Do you want more kids?
Maybe...

How many times have you been peed on?
Too many to count...

Is your child named after anyone?
Jillian-I just really really liked the name
Susan-after Michael's mom

Did you really brush their teeth even when they only had one or two?
Nope. Only the fear of rotting teeth got me in line.

One thing you did give up now that you're a mom?
Skiing(I was preggo during 2 ski seasons), drinking(preggo or breastfeeding)

Where is/are your child(ren) now?
Bed!

Birthday(s)
March 1 and Jan 21

Who was in the room when baby was born?
Jillian-Michael and the medical staff
Susan-medical staff

Any hair?
Tons!

Was baby early or late?
Both were about 2 weeks early-thank goodness!

Who drove you home from hospital?
Michael

When did baby start sleeping through the night?
Jillian 1.5 years, Susan 3 months

Breastfeed? If not, what kind of formula?
Breast & Bottle for Jillian, so far just Breast for Susan

When do you want to have another?
*if* we do, maybe 2-3 years from now. Depends on my sanity at that point!

What was your pain management?
Breathing. They both came so fast there wasn't time for meds.

Anyone spend the night with you the first night in the hospital?
Michael

Friday, May 08, 2009

Surgery

I have to say that Thursday went pretty well, and I love the staff at the Montfort Hospital.

Mom got me there for 9:30, and a nurse checked me in at 9:45. I was told to remove my clothes (and dignity), and place them in a plastic bag. You know, like in those prison movies! I then went through several checklists by 2 or 3 nurses. It might have been redundant, but I was happy that they weren't interested in making any mistakes. Got my blood pressure, temperature and oxygen level checked too. There was a student doctor there too, who was learning the anaesthetic aspect. Very nice, and had a tattoo on her left wrist that said 'Breathe'.

They wheeled me in around 11:30 or so, and it was a downright festive atmosphere in there! I laid down on the table, laid out both arms on either side, and the team got to work. I was given something in my IV to 'help me relax', and an oxygen mask to breathe through. I remember saying "Bye bye", then the next thing I knew, my doctor was leaning over me telling me that everything went very well and that it was all done.

I spent the next little while in recovery, and Michael picked me up after 4pm. I was still drowsy after everything they pumped in me.

I'm off the painkillers-I felt too out of it yesterday and was nauseous on and off. It was a morphine-based painkiller, and I was also a bit concerned about how it was affecting Susan. She slept a lot as well, but it's not something I want her to get used to!

So I'm feeling uncomfortable, but only a minute amount of pain. Stubbing my toe would hurt more. I'm going to have 3 scars; 1 in my belly button, and 2 below the waistline(no, I'm not getting into any more detail than that!). Hopefully I won't have to go through that experience again though!

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Ovariectomy

I went to the hospital on Thursday for my pre-op appointment for the cyst that I have on my right ovary. Basically, they're taking out the cyst, and more than likely, my right ovary as well. The cyst is about the size of an egg, and if it bursts, it will be painful, as in labour pain-painful. There were no signs of it being cancerous when I was having my multiple ultrasounds.

So on May 7th, I'll be showing up, waiting around for 2 hours(much like an airport!), get sliced and diced, wait around for another couple of hours, then go back home that night.

My doctor says that it's still possible if we want to have more children, as chances are that Susan came out of my left ovary.

Am I nervous? Sure. Watching all those episodes of ER and Grey's Anatomy probably doesn't help! I suppose my biggest fear is them telling me, "Ma'am, we've found some rare disease/your twin/an alien in your abdomen." Or just not waking up. When I delivered my kids, I was just worried about the pain, not any possible complications.

In any case, I'll have lots of help when I get home. And hopefully I'll get some sweet, sweet drugs...ah, Tylenol 3's, here I come!!!

PS. If you want to see a video of the surgery, you can find it here. It's set to music for some reason...weird.