Life on the farm…

Hi...my name is Anna and I'm one month old today!!

Awww…isn’t she so cute?  I can’t believe she’s already a month old! There are lots more one month old pics on my Flickr page. 

We’ve had a big week.  Anna was such an easy baby at first, but in the last couple weeks she had become quite a handful.  She had 3-4 hour bouts of screaming.  Not just fussing…crying a little bit…I mean all out screaming!  Day and night.  I finally called the pediatrician on Monday.  By that point I’d pretty much put it together and figured out she had reflux.  So I took her to the doctor on Tuesday morning and the doctor agreed.  She put her on some reflux medication which we started immediately.  So far, so good.  I think she’s still having some pain from it, but it seems to be a bit better.  Maybe it’ll save our sanity at least.  The reflux  doesn’t seem to be affecting her appetite…she’s up to 9-1/2 pounds!!

Her hair has gotten even longer and crazier…check this out:

and this:

Both were taken on the same night, but the second one I took without the flash so you get the full effect of the hair.  These were taken right after her bath, and I had just combed her hair all nice and neat.  This is just how it dries…doesn’t seem to matter what I do.  LOL

Tomorrow I’m driving to Hendersonville with Anna by myself.  3-1/2 hours in the car with her by myself.  I must be a nutcase (or maybe I will be by the time I get there!).  We’re going so Anna can meet her Aunt Katie and then we’ll be going on to Bowling Green on Saturday so she can meet some more family.  Most importantly her great-great grandmother.  I’m a little concerned about how she’ll be in the car for that long.  There’s no way I would’ve attempted it alone even a week ago, but since I’m not working I can leave whenever I want…and I have no set time that I have to be there, so if she screams, I can stop as many times as I need to.  Wish me luck!

Ok…a couple more pics from this morning because they are just too cute not to share:

And lastly…this one is from after  our “photo shoot”…she was apparently wiped out!  I didn’t pose her like this…she just flung her arm out to the side like that…

Wow…that’s almost a whole month!  Where has the time gone?  Oh yeah, most of it was spent feeding this little chunk! 

I haven’t taken nearly as many pictures as I would’ve liked.  I’m going to have to do better about that.  I’ve got a few to share later in the post.

We had a cookout with friends on the 4th…Anna did great and slept through most of it.  There is never a shortage of people that want to hold her, so when she did fuss, I had lots of help keeping her happy. 

On Sunday we drove up to Reelfoot Lake to go for a stroll…really just a good excuse to get out of the house I think.  Anna could’ve cared less, of course.  She slept through most of it.  We walked through the visitors center (we’ve both done this countless times and it never changes, so I’m not sure why we bothered), then we went outside and looked at the birds.  For those who are unfamiliar, they have a couple cages (for lack of a better word) with a few bald eagles and some owls…maybe some other birds of prey, I can’t remember.  The owls are always my favorite.  I think these are injured animals, they aren’t there just because.  Anyway…here are a couple pics…first is a barn owl…these were extremely annoying, screechy birds!

After seeing the birds we took a walk on the boardwalk…it’s a little nature trail loop that goes out into the water…kind of swampy, but it has it’s pretty parts…here’s one of them.  This is a nice pic that Mark took from the boardwalk of the cypress trees and stumps:

Lastly, here’s one of Anna and me…does the child even care where she is?  I don’t think so!

Let’s see, what else.  Monday Anna and I had lunch with Jimmie.  Anna slept through that.  Then we went to visit Anne before going to the grocery store.  Anne ended up keeping Anna while I went to the grocery store alone.  Apparently Anna started screaming the minute I left, but she was sound asleep when I got back.  Anne didn’t seem to mind at all…she seemed to enjoy it.  I was only gone about 45 minutes total.  Maybe small doses is the key. 

Tuesday, we did NOTHING.  Wednesday I had a haircut appt. in Milan (30 minutes away).  I barely managed to get a shower and get myself and Anna dressed in time.  Anna was quite uncooperative.  I ended up being 30 minutes late to my appointment.  Thankfully my hairdresser was understanding.  Anna had a nice meltdown on the way, but we survived.  She fussed a bit while I was getting my hair cut, but overall did pretty well.  So well I decided to be brave and drive to Jackson.  I had a Target gift card to use and that’s the closest Target (another 30 minutes past Milan).  Anna did GREAT.  She fussed a little in Target, but once she had the pacifier in her mouth, she was fine.  I was able to get everything I needed without feeling like I had to rush horribly.  I even managed to get a Frappacino at the Starbucks in Target on my way out.  I did have to feed and change Anna in the car once we were done in Target.  That was a bit tricky, but I did it.  I was so proud of myself (hey, it’s the small victories, ok?).  Once I got Anna fed, changed and strapped back in her carseat she started SCREAMING.  I don’t mean fussing or crying a little…I mean screaming!  I had just bought her a lullaby CD, so I broke that out and put it the CD player for her.  It worked like a charm…off to sleep she went!  I had to turn it off after awhile though, because I almost fell asleep too! 

Today we had lunch with Jimmie and Lynette and ran a couple small errands.  She’s getting more used to this running around thing I think. 

Ok…I leave you with a pic Mark took last night.  He had laid her on a towel on the dining room table while we folded some laundry.  Don’t worry, we were watching her to make sure she didn’t roll anywhere!  She’s really fattened up since she was born!  She’s starting to get those cute little arm and leg rolls and some chubby cheeks!  Her hair has lightened up considerably, but it’s still as unruly as ever!

I made it through another week as the mother of a newborn!!  That may not be much of an accomplishment for some, but for me it feels pretty huge!  It was kind a busy week too…

Monday - We had a pediatrician appt. at 8:30.  Sunday night was not a good night, so Mark and I were both very short on sleep.  VERY!!  We had both been up half the night.  Mark had inadvertently scheduled an appointment for his life insurance at the same time, so I had to break the rules and drive to the pediatrician myself.  I was looking fabulous…I hadn’t had a shower.  Just washed my face, brushed my teeth, put on some fresh deodorant and pulled my hair up in a ponytail.  Luckily having a newborn with you makes people excuse you for looking like you just rolled out of bed!  LOL  The appointment itself went well…Anna was up to 7lbs, 10oz…that’s a whole pound more than she weighed when we left the hospital!!  The pediatrician was very pleased, and commented that breastfeeding must be going very well for us!  She’d also grown 3/4″.  I had a nice, long talk with the pediatrician about Anna’s sleeping issues and she ended up prescribing some drops to help her little stomach not hurt her so much. 

Monday night went much better.  We started trying to implement a bedtime routine.  Bath, massage with baby lotion, feeding, give her a dose of the prescription drops, get her to sleep, put her in the bassinet.  Since then, it’s not been flawless by any means, but we’ve gotten more sleep than we were getting.  Monday night she was the model newborn (well almost)…we put her down in the bassinet and from there she woke up every 3 hours to eat and went right back to sleep.  Of course, she wouldn’t go back in the bassinet, but, hey, sleeping with a baby on me is way better than not sleeping at all, right?  Here is my sweet little Anna being held by her daddy after her bath on Monday night.  She’s wearing her frog sleeper…this is only notable because it’s the very first baby item I bought.  Katie and I picked it out back in December before we knew I was having a girl.  Also notice the slightly less crazy hair.  Rest assured the neatly combed hair only lasted about 5 minutes…I love this picture:

Tuesday was uneventful, Wednesday afternoon Jennifer, Madeline and Caleb got here.  We made a couple quick outings before Mark got home, then hung out at the house and had pizza for dinner.  The kids were so excited to see baby Anna!  It was so cute…here is Anna meeting 2 of her cousins for the first time:

Yesterday we went shopping for most of the day.  It went much better this time…maybe having another mother with me helped…at least one of us knew what she was doing!  After a bit of a hiccup at our first stop (trying to figure out how the stroller works) everything went great.  All the kids were so well-behaved.  Anna did fuss in the car, but did really well in the stores.  The one time she did get fussy, I took her in the dressing room with me and fed her before I tried on my new jeans (same size as pre-pregnancy, thank you!).  All in all, it wasn’t a stressful as I had anticipated.  Thanks Jennifer!  I really needed to build some confidence about being in public with a newborn!  Oh, AND Jennifer also got a couple sleeper than FIT Anna (this has been a problem) and a couple little outfits too!  AND Jennifer, Madeline and Caleb babysat last night so Mark and I could go out alone.  I had not left Anna ever…in all her 16 days of life.  That was WAY harder than I thought it would be.  If it hadn’t been Jennifer (or another family member) here watching her, I don’t think I would’ve left.  Anna hardly knew I was gone, of course.  She was asleep when I left…I went in to see her before I left and she looked so tiny lying in her crib.  As irrational as I knew it was…I felt SO guilty leaving her.  I got a little teary (getting a little teary now thinking about it), but Mark and I still left.  We went to the Opera House and had a light dinner (crab cakes!) and then to the Pub for a beer.  We were only gone about 2 hours.  I think we had fun, but I was ready to go home.  When we got there Anna had been up for 20 or 30 minutes and looked rather happy with Jennifer holding her (and a pacifier in her mouth!!  I’ve been trying to get her to take a pacifier for a week or so with no success).  This is what I came home to:

The kid didn’t miss me at all!!   That’s ok, though, I missed her!  There are a few other pics from Jennifer’s visit on my Flickr page.  There’s a great one of Caleb & Anna…I’m assuming Jennifer took that one while we were gone last night.  It’s really cute!  Caleb really loved baby Anna!  Well, how could you not?

Today we’ve been pretty lazy.  We’re going to a cookout at another couple’s house later…if it doesn’t get rained out.  Right now I’m getting ready to make the dreaded trip to Wal-Mart.  Alone.  I’m trying not to think about that part.  I’d much prefer not to take Anna.  Wal-mart is stressful enough for me without stressing about getting done with my shopping before she gets fussy.  I’ll make that leap later!  Mark needs to have Anna to himself anyway…he hasn’t ever been completely alone with her.  Still, I’m not looking forward to leaving her.  Ack! 

Ok…I must get going.  Baby to feed, Wal-mart trip to make, etc.  Have a safe and happy 4th!!

It’s been quite a weekend.  Yesterday Mark and I attempted our first outing with Anna.  We drove to Jackson…specifically to go to Target and have sushi for lunch.  I did my best to time when we left just after a feeding and make sure we had plenty of supplies in the diaper bag.  All in all it went pretty well.  I think the worst part of it was the heat. 

We left just after Anna’s second morning feeding.  She’s used to hanging out in her carseat/carrier at home, so I didn’t figure we’d have any problems there.  She slept the whole way to Jackson and through most all of our Target trip…By that point we were closing in on the time for her next feeding.  So, we finished up at Target and I changed and fed her in the car while Mark ran in Goody’s to get some shirts.  Feeding her in the car was no big deal really (I had a receiving blanket over us), but changing her diaper in the car was more challenging than I expected.  Of course, it might help if we had a bigger car.  After that I got her strapped back into her carseat and off we go to get lunch.  The sushi place wasn’t open yet…much to my disappointment.  It’s been soooo very long since I had sushi.  We ate at Red Robin…I’m not sure how I was convinced that Red Robin was a reasonable substitute.  Oh, wait…here’s how I was convinced.  We drove down Vann Drive, where lots of the restaurants are lined up.  By this time I was so hungry I was having a hard time deciding what I was hungry for.  While I’m trying to decide, Anna started screaming.  I mean screaming…the backseat was pretty warm, and I think that was a large part of her problem.  Mark took the screaming in stride (”babies cry” I think is what he said…like it was no big deal).  I, on the other hand, got a bit rattled.  If it had been me alone, I would’ve parked in the nearest parking lot and checked on her.  Yeah, yeah, I’m sure I need to learn to get over that.  I’m just not ready to get over it yet.  She just so new, I’m not ready to let her cry it out.  Anyway, at this point we had several not-that-fabulous options for lunch (because they were all right there lined up in front of us).  Mark suggested Red Robin…me being addled by the baby screaming, I agreed.  It’s not my favorite place.  Mainly because it’s so loud!  It was packed (and very loud, of course) and it was hard to have any sort of conversation because we could barely hear eachother from across the table.  Anna, who had quit screaming about the time we pulled in the parking lot to eat, just sat in her carrier and looked around.  I was 3/4 of the way done with my lunch before she started fussing.  I got her out of the carrier (I just hate to be that woman with the screaming baby) and held her until Mark finished eating.  I had a little bit of milk in a bottle (man, I hate that pump!) that I had brought along in case of emergency.  I’m just not quite prepared to nurse in public.  So I handed her off to Mark who tried to feed her that while I finished eating.  It worked out ok.  There was lots of screaming on the way back to Martin, but she’d stop abruptly after a few minutes and fall asleep. 

We went by to see Anne for a few minutes, then went on to the grocery store.  Again, we got 3/4 of the way through the store before she started screaming.  Again, I hate to be the woman in the store with the screaming baby.  So, we finished up quickly and got to the checkout line where Anna immediately stopped screaming.  We got out of there and went home.  I was sooooo very exhausted!  Of course, it was time to feed again by the time we got home. 

I guess it wasn’t so bad for our first time out.  It makes me very nervous to try it by myself, but I guess I’ll have to sooner or later. 

I’m hoping to get some good father/daughter pictures taken today, but Mark isn’t cooperating with me on that so far.  I wish I had some more exciting news, but my brain is just to tired to think of anything exciting that’s happened.  This week Anna has a pediatrician appointment tomorrow and then I can officially start driving again on Friday.  I’m sooo looking forward to that.  I don’t know where I’ll go, but it’ll be nice to have the option!   

First I want to thank everyone for their nice comments on my previous post.  It’s nice to read all the well-wishes and congratulations.  I’ve wanted a baby for such a long time, and now that Anna’s finally here, I couldn’t be happier.  I could be more well-rested, but I couldn’t possibly be happier. 

I can’t believe Anna will be a week old tomorrow!  On one hand it seems like she just got here and on the other it seems like I’ve known her forever.

She had her first pediatrician appointment today.  She weighed 6lbs, 12 oz at birth and lost 2 oz. while we were in the hospital.  She’s back up to her birthweight exactly today.  The doctor was very pleased and said that was really good, especially since she’s a breastfed baby.  Other than that there wasn’t much to this appointment.  The doctor just wanted to check her for jaundice, etc.  So far, so good! 

My parents and grandmother got here on Friday evening and left around lunchtime yesterday.  I was really pleased that my grandmother was able to make the trip.  How cool is it that she has a great-grandmother?  In fact, she has a great-great-grandmother too, but we’ll have to make a trip to Bowling Green later in the summer for Anna to meet her.  We had a nice visit and it was nice to have “backup” for a day or two.  I never dreamed a 2 hour nap could feel so good! 

Today was also Mark’s first day back to work.  I was dreading it.  Not because I don’t think I can handle Anna on my own, just that I was going to have to handle Anna on my own.  I didn’t have much choice!  We had a really rough night last night, and I tried to keep Anna as quiet as possible so Mark could sleep as much as possible.  We haven’t established any sort of schedule yet.  Not even a hint of one!  LOL  So, other than I know she’ll want to eat every 2-3 hours, I don’t know what to expect.  Anyway, I got almost NO sleep last night.  A few hours maybe, but it wasn’t a good, restful sleep.  Not sure I’m going to ever get that kind of sleep anymore.  I felt like I was sleeping with one eye open.  Around 3:30 Anna woke up to eat.  I fed her and then she was WIDE AWAKE for the rest of the night.  Mark had set the alarm for 6:30 and I had to get up then so I could get dressed for our pediatrician appt.  Mark had to drive me there since I’m not supposed to drive for another week (due to the c-section).  So I rocked her and bounced her and walked around with her.  Finally, as it was getting light outside, I took her out to sit in the pergola…hoping the sound of the waterfall would put her to sleep.  It was time to nurse her again anyway.  So I sat outside and nursed her until she finally went back to sleep.  I got a little bit of sleep in after that before it was time to get up and get ready. 

Today went pretty well other than that.  Anna was asleep when we got back home, so I took advantage of that time to take a nap myself.  I slept about 2 hours before she was ready to eat again.  I fed her, and she went right back to sleep.  So I got up and did some things around the house until her 3:00 feeding.  After that, she was once again wide awake, so we hung out on the couch for a bit.  And now…it’s about time for her 6:00 feeding, and I can hear her starting to stir.  Better wrap this up!  Here’s a couple of my favorite pics from the weekend.  I put more on my Flickr page…

Here is one after her first bath at home…Friday afternoon:

Hanging out in the pergola over the weekend…caught one with her eyes open!

And that’s it for now…it’s feeding time!

Isn’t she precious?  Mark and I are both completely in love with her.

Her birth, unfortunately, did not go to plan…at all.  Here’s how it went:

Mark and I went into the hospital at 7pm on Monday, June 16th.  The doctor was going to give me Cytotec (no idea if that’s spelled right) to ripen my cervix prior to the induction Tuesday morning.  Cytotec is a tiny pill they put in the cervix to help it soften before labor is induced with pitocin.  It wasn’t meant to put me in labor.  So, the doctor came in and administered the Cytotec around 8:00, but 9:00 I was having some contractions, nothing major.  They had me hooked up to an external fetal monitor to track Anna’s heartrate as well as a monitor to keep track of my contractions.  When we got to the hospital the nurse started an IV.  I’d never had an IV before and it really didn’t go well.  I more or less passed out during that procedure!  They started me on IV fluids which made me have to pee every hour on the hour.  So, I had to call the nurse, every hour on the hour to unhook so I could get to the bathroom.  By midnight I was in some pain.  My contractions felt like they were one on top of the other, but I think they were probably about a minute apart.  I had the nurse check my progress.  My cervix was thinning, but I had not dilated any further.  The nurse left and I cried for awhile…I was in a lot of pain and I wasn’t making as much progress as I felt I should’ve made.  I couldn’t sleep.  The nurse came in and gave me a small dose of Demerol to help me sleep.  This did relax me for an hour or 2, but I wasn’t able to sleep.  The contractions continued to get stronger.  At 5:30 they pitocin through my IV.  At this point I was 60% effaced and about 3 cm dilated.  I was already thinking about an epidural.  The pitocin regulated my contractions somewhat, but I had a lot of double and triple contractions where they would come one after the other with no space in between.  Eventually it felt like they were all one on top of the other.  Sometime just before lunch, the doctor came in to check me and started my epidural.  They made Mark leave the room for that which really didn’t make me happy, but at that point I would’ve done just about anything to get the epidural.  The epidural was nice and it allowed me to rest for a little while.  Then I started feeling the contractions again and they were STRONG.  The nurse thought the epidural pump had stopped working, so she brought in a different one.  It didn’t work either.  The doctor manually injected a booster dose into my epidural line, but it didn’t work either.  They decided the line had a kink in it somewhere, but it was too late to do another epidural.  I was at 7cm…the beginning of active labor.  I somehow made it from lunchtime to 3ish writhing around in pain.  Mark would try to rub my back, but I’d make him stop…every little touch was irritating.  I was extremely tired and hungry and in pain.  I was sooo ready to be done.  I started to feel like I needed to push, so I told the nurse.  She checked me…I was almost at 10cm…just a little bit of a cervical “lip” left.  She decided she could help me along by pushing this lip back out of the way as I pushed.  So we did that, but Anna wasn’t descending properly.  The nurse made me put on an oxygen mask…this further irritated me.  I was hot and the mask made it hard to breathe.  I kept pushing it off, they kept putting it back on.  Mark later told me he could see Anna’s heartrate dip everytime I pushed.  They didn’t tell me that at the time.  The doctor got there around 3:30…I had already been pushing some.  After a few pushes they decided to try the vacuum extractor.  So they got everything set to do that.  The doctor tried for a few minutes to get the vacuum cup on Anna’s head, but she was face up and twisted to the side.  He couldn’t get the cup positioned where he could turn her around, so he decided she was not going to be born vaginally.  At this point people were running around like crazy.  I caught a glimpse of the delivery room and noticed it was a mess…there was a lot of blood!  They prepped me for a c-section.  I was in so much pain and so exhausted that it’s all kind of a blur, but I knew there was some urgency to it.  They took Mark away to get him dressed for the operating room.  They took me into the OR to remove the epidural and give me a spinal (saddle-block) for surgery.  I had to wait a few minutes for a different doctor to get there before the anestheisiologist would do the spinal.  In the meantime, I’m still having contractions.  The doctor got there (thankfully the one I like!) and they did the spinal, which thankfully worked!  They put up the sheet in front of me and brought Mark in.  I didn’t even know they had started the procedure when I started to feel some tugging.  The doctor later told me as soon as she had cut me open, Anna reached her little hands out!  The doctor had to poke her hands back in so she could get her head out first!  I heard some weak little cries and one of the nurses commented that she was crying before she was even out.  Once they pulled her out she let out a bigger cry, which of course made me cry. 

Anna Christine Masco was born at 4:06pm on Tuesday, June 17, 2008.  She weighed 6lbs, 12 oz and was 20 inches long. 

They cleaned her up and briefly brought her over to where I could see her and took a couple pictures of the 3 of us.  Then they wisked Anna and Mark off and injected some pain medication into my IV while they finished the surgery.  The next thing I knew I was in my room with the recovery nurse.  I still couldn’t feel my legs (from the spinal).  By the end of my hour in recovery (neither Mark nor the baby was allowed in) I was just starting to be able to feel my legs.  When my recovery time was over, one of the nurses brought in a big flower arrangement and told me that Mark had gone home to take a shower, but he had asked that they give me the flowers and tell me that he loved me and he’d be back soon.  Awwww…Mark got back soon after that and wheeled Anna in the room with us.  I finally got to hold her and look at her.  That made it all worth it.  She’s so tiny and beautiful and perfect.  We didn’t keep her in the room with us that first night.  I still couldn’t get out of bed and we were both very exhausted. 

I woke up Wednesday morning and I wanted her in the room RIGHT THEN!!  It was almost a panicky feeling that she wasn’t in my belly and she wasn’t in the room.  Mark went and got her and I was able to nurse.  Soon after breakfast (I was finally able to eat!!) they took out my catheter and unhooked my IV.  I hobbled out of bed.  Ouch!  Mark helped me take a shower, which was WONDERFUL after such a long time without one.  I’m still extremely sore and I have a hard time getting up and down.  Mark’s been great.  When Anna cries he goes and gets her since I can’t get up quickly.  He’s an old pro at changing diapers already.  He had to change her very first diapers because I couldn’t get out of bed due to the spinal. 

Today is our first full day home, and so far, we’re doing ok.  I’m glad to be home…with our baby.  And now, I’ve got to wrap this up.  It’s time for a feeding…There are more pics on my Flickr page and I’ll add more as we take them!

She’ll be here tomorrow if all goes well!  We’re going to the hopsital tonight to start the induction process (yes, Jennifer…I know you warned me!).  They’ll give me a medication to ripen my cervix tonight and start the actual induction tomorrow!  I’m so excited/terrified/overwhelmed! 

One of the girls from work called me to ask me about it and said that Mark was practically stuttering he’s so nervous/excited.  That reminds me of our wedding day, he was shaking like a leaf.  Mark is usual so calm and collected, but man, when he’s nervous…he’s REALLY nervous!!  LOL 

I’ve got to finish up some last minute things around the house and make sure we’ve got everything we need packed.  Mark should have his laptop with him, so we’ll post pics ASAP.  Wish me luck!!

Well, according the doctors’ calculations.  I’m tired and antsy and uncomfortable, but nothing is happening just yet. 

Mark and I did make one outing yesterday…just to Rural Kind (woohoo) and to get some lunch.  I took him to the coffee shop I’d had lunch at the day before.  He’d not been yet.  We had a nice, pleasant lunch together. 

We’ve both slept alot today.  I’ve also gotten a couple things done around the house and finished the book I started on Friday.  Mark has gone to see his mother right now.  The garden has started producing more than we can eat (this always happens), so he went to take her some things.  We had our first squash from the garden last night…it was SOOOOOO good.  I’m trying to freeze some of the overabundance to use for baby food when Anna’s ready for it. 

And I officially have nothing interesting to say.  We’re just waiting…trying hard to not overanalyze every little twinge I feel.  I’ll update more when I have something to say!  LOL

Have a great week!

Yup…tomorrow is my due date.  At least according to my doctors.  I can not believe it!  It seemed so far away when I found out I was pregnant back in October.  I’m not terribly teary about it today, though.  I think Anna and I are both ready for her to be OUT!!  She has tried a few times today to kick her way out…the side of my belly is sore from it.  Thanks Anna! 

I got a terrible night’s sleep last night.  Between the lovely sinus headache I had and getting up to pee every hour on the hour.  So restful.  I got up today around 9am.  Not bad.  I had lunch with 2 women from work.  We ate at the only coffee shop here in town.  It just opened last year, but they just started serving lunch recently.  It was GOOD.  Like real restaurant food even!  I had a roast beef & cheddar sandwich on toasted ciabatta bread with lots of horseradish sauce.  Mmmmmm…and yes, it was heated for those of you keeping track of what I am and am not supposed to eat while pregnant.  Mark already asked…Funny, he used to make fun of me for avoiding all the foods the books tell you to avoid while pregnant.  For those of you who are unaware…you aren’t supposed to eat deli meat while pregnant due to the threat of listeriosis (caused by the Listeria bacteria) unless the meat has been heated.  It doesn’t hurt the mom, but it can hurt the baby.  Anyway, I saw Mark after lunch and he asked what I had, so I told him.  Then he asked me what kind of roast beef it was…uh, it was the deli kind.  Then he said, “you’re not supposed to eat that!”  Yeah, it was heated.  Thank you Mark for being the food police.

When I got done with lunch, I came home and decided I needed to document my belly at the 40 week mark.  On my digital SLR message board, several women have posted silhouette belly pictures, so I decided to give it a shot.  I think I did ok considering I was using my remote to take them.  I sent them to Laura who played with them in Adobe Lightroom…I LOVE the way this one turned out!  What do you think?

That’s about all I’ve got for today.  I’m going to go finish my 1 load of laundry for the day and clean the kitchen…not that it’s all that dirty since yesterday. 

Uh, no I’m not. 

I’ve had an interesting week.  It’s been quite awhile since I’ve not worked.  So this week has been has reminded me quickly of the pros and cons of staying at home.  Which I’m sure will ALL change once Anna is here.  I got pretty bored on Monday, but then I don’t think I did much to relieve the boredom.  I know I got up way to early that day!  Tuesday I did pretty much NOTHING around the house, but I had a doctor’s appointment, which got me out of the house and I went to visit Anne for awhile.  Yesterday I got things done, but I didn’t do everything I could find to do…I saved some stuff for today and tomorrow.  I’ve done a load of laundry a day, kept the kitchen clean, swept/vacuumed the floors, etc.  I’ve had one outing a day pretty much.

Today I went to the grocery store.  Woohoo!  I also did a load of laundry, cleaned the kitchen and put a sheet on the bassinet/pack n play.  The bed has gotten made every day too.  I’m terrible about that when I’m working, but I really do enjoy going to bed more if the bed is made up.  It just feels good. 

Tomorrow I’m lunch with a couple of women from work.  My usual lunch partners.  So, that will probably be my outing for the day.  I’d like to get the floors mopped tomorrow and that will take some time considering they ALL need mopped.  The Hoover FloorMate is fabulous for this, but it gets heavy after a few rooms.  So I expect that I’ll have to take regular breaks. 

The new hard drive for the computer came yesterday and I’m still working on getting everything loaded back like it was.  I haven’t worked on it all day or anything…just a little here and a little there.  After I load Microsoft Office we should be pretty close to back to normal.  Thankfully. 

That’s about it…Mark’s outside mowing the yard now so I’m going to start dinner.  My life is SOOOOO very exciting right now!