I am a BAD BAD Blogger!

Wow, seriously, I am a horrible blogger! I just NEVER find time to do it. So goes it with life with a 6 month old! Speaking of which my BABY is 6 months!!! She had her 6 month appointment is now 15 lbs. 2 oz. and 25 inches!

We have so much going on, we start ECFE classes on Monday September 8th. That should be fun, for both Dakota and I and Gwendolyn. And we are just generally busy raising our pumpkin ;)

Once again I just don't have the time to type all I want to....so I will leave you with some pictures....

oh yeah I forgot to mention she started on food!!! And we are doing BLW (baby led weaning), fascinating stuff! Its working great for us!

Avocado

Peach

Red Pepper

Plum

Food Post

I was inspired by our delicious dinner tonight, and decided to do a food post.

Presenting Teriyaki-Citrus Chicken and Sunflower Ranch Salad:

First I marinated two thawed chicken breasts in a Teriyaki-Pineapple marinade for an hour in the fridge. Second we grilled the chicken (it was lovely grilling weather today!). Thirdly I mixed a greens, carrots and cabbage mix with sunflower seeds (shell-less seeds) and ranch dressing. Fourth topped the grilled chicken with mandarin oranges and pineapple. It was soooo yummy! The perfect summer dinner :)

Daddy-Daughter Bonding

Is your heart melted yet?

Our Little Family

A few snap shots of my little family. The best part of these are the babes expressions in each one. For example: Picture 2, its as if she is saying "Wait! Don't take the pic, daddy looks drunk". Picture 3, What is this toy over here! (Total oblivion to a family photo being taken). Picture 4, Nice mellow, eyes closed shot, nope not for baby, I am gonna give the "big eyes!" look.

So there we are :)

So Long, To Long!

Not that my life is so packed with exciting vacations/outings, social events or anything really other than the "day to day". But life gets out from underneath you sometimes and the time FLIES by. I constantly have my mind on my blog, and say wow you should really post something, but something always comes up and I never get to that "moment". Well I finally have made that "moment".

Trying to recall what has happened in the past month or so. Well I am still working, despite the want to run away every day I get to work. I won't talk to much about it, but lets just say its beyond stressful and there are times were I go to the bathroom and cry. However, I digress. The only thing about it that has really bothered is me is my milk supply has severely decreased, from 1) the stress and 2) I am only able to pump twice a day. On the weekends I attempt to build it back up, but it never works, I have been having to supplement with formula. But what does one do. I drink a TON of water and mothers milk tea. My next step is to start drinking 6 oz of Guinness a night (which I hate beer, and especially dark beer, but if it works I will do it) and start taking funagreek as well. My plan is to purchase these items soon. I am doing my best and giving my all, that's all I can do. (this is exactly why maternity leave needs to be longer in the US)

We visited my Grandparents (on my Mom's side) in Fargo a few weeks (jeez possibly even a month ago!) and that was very special, I have lost both of my Dad's parents and it really hurts they never met my daughter. So it was very important to me that the grandparents I have left got to meet her. I hope we can do at least one more trip up there this year, however money has been really tight for us, but hopefully things will turn around soon. Here are a few pics from the trip:

Me, Gwendolyn and my Grandma Fern and Grandpa Merlin

Grandma Fern and Gwendolyn

Grandpa Merlin and Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn had her four month appointment on July 1st. She had an acute gastrointestinal virus, so we didn't do any shots that day (we got on the nurses schedule for the following Monday and got the shots then, she did great, but later that night ended up having a mild reaction to them and got a high fever, I stayed home from work with her and was able to get the fever down and get her back to normal in less than 14 hours). Her weight was 13 lbs 1.6 oz (the Doctor said it probably would have been more had she not had the stomach virus) and her height is 23 1/2 inches, to think my baby girl was born at 5 lbs 14 oz and 18 1/4 inches! She has gotten so big, and every day we enjoy watching her do something new and grow into such a big girl. Its really bittersweet, I love her development, I love "bragging" and watching all the new things she learns and does, but I can't help but miss the "newborn" stage and dwell on how fast it is going to go by. But I am also so excite for the future and to know one day I will have a little girl to go shopping with and paint our nails and play dress up, I really look forward to these days. I really want to have a close and very special relationship with her, I love her with all my heart and I want her to know that every day of her life.

We had our first "swim" in the pool over the 4Th of July weekend. Our Condo has an outdoor pool and they have a "kiddie pool" as well, its only 1 foot deep and they do not load it down with chemicals, so we felt safe bringing her. We put on the sunscreen, her little bikini and matching sun hat and sun glasses. She was so darn cute! She really enjoyed herself! She loves her bath time, so I was hoping she would like the pool as well and she really did. I love to swim myself so I am glad she has taken a liking to the water, and I know when we do Mom and Baby swim classes we won't have a problem with her taking to the water. Enjoy the pics of her first swim:

How cute is she!

I am so cool :)

In the pool.

Overall life is treating us fairly, things are tight (but for most it is right now, and thankfully my wonderful family has been a large help to us during these times), but the "crappy" things in life get masked when you such a beautiful healthy baby to love and adore. All you have to do is focus on that, and it makes you beyond grateful for the things you have. I hope I get more time to post updates and pictures of the babes and what she is up to more often.

Always,

~Steph~

P.S. I will be posting a bunch of picture blogs

Twofer Teefers

Yep that's right, baby Gwen has her first set of teeth coming in. The bottom middles. I can't believe it, she's such an over achiever ;) But she is "considered" an early developer in regards to teeth. So her toothless grin is going to be gone soon I am assuming. Well that was just a quick update, off to bed. ~Goodnight~

Great Product!

All thanks to Trish we got this in the mail on Monday. And my how Pumpkin loves it, and my how I love it also! Its light weight, so I can bring it with me places and it is like maybe 3lbs, so great to bring to Grandma's while she watches her. Pumpkin loves sitting up! So this is just perfect for her. She is happy in it, most of the time, unless she is feeling the need to be held or eat. And I can just carry it with me and her room to room.

I never thought we would get one of these, until we used the one at our story time night. And wow, I have to say we will be holding onto this for all future kidllets. I highly recommend this product!!

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure:

mmmm finners

Whoa! I am sitting up!

Hi, Mom :)

Whats over there!?!?

Awkwardly funny, lol.

What The....

insert your own word here....Sometimes people just make me wonder, how in the world are you allowed to be a parent!!! I have no words, no words!

Check this out, tell me what you think.

Head on over

Here, to see a hilarious video of the Pumpkin and some funny pictures of my hubby. Enjoy!

Thanks Trish!!

My Knight in Shining Armor

Just a brief little cute post about my hubby.

While at work the other day he was at a customers house and while doing his job he noticed that he had accidentally scared some baby ducks into a window well. The Mom was having a panic attack (naturally, now that I am a Mom I can sympathize with her). While they were attempting to jump out on there own but they were just to small to do it on there own. They started to get tired he said, he knew he had to do something....

He knew he couldn't pick them up directly, cause then the mother duck would have abandoned them (something to do with getting his scent on them), so he got one of his lawn flags, and one by one helped them jump out. Meanwhile, apparently mother duck was calling for her babies (to bad I can't post the sound of the imitation he made). This post doesn't do justice to this story, the best is hearing it directly from him, he is so adorable, it makes me smile :)

The clouds are starting to clear, good things ahead?

Wow, what to say. Last night was bad.....By the end of the day (after my very stressful job) I have had nothing left to give....I made dinner, put the baby to bed (after actually having to wake her up, so hubby and I could actually spend 15 minutes with her) and just sat on the couch, almost in tears as I looked around at the incredibly large amount of house work that needed to be done. Including things like dishes, clean laundry to be folded, general clean up/organization, mail to be sorted, bills to be paid, garbage to be gotten ready to go out, baby stuff to organize. I was breaking down, as my hubby tried to interact and make conversation with me, I couldn't even talk to him, I was so emotionally and mentally spent! I was frankly a complete bit*h to him! And he wasn't even doing anything to deserve it. I went to bed, he stayed up and we didn't speak until we started our morning routine of texting each other from work....

I won't get into details, but my job has become so stressful, so many things on my plate, so many unrealistic expectations, many details that no one can really understand without an explanation, that is well, frankly to damn long to even try and go into....yes I know we all have stress at our jobs, but this is more than anyone should have to deal with, especially when you don't enjoy your job and your dream is to be at home with your baby. Back to texting...

So I start with my text stating:
Me: I really hope you can find something (being a different job), I am on the verge of breaking down here. I cant take it any more, I am holding on with a string.
Hubby: I was just thinking that.
Hubby: Family is first and right now its third.
Me: I totally agree. This is not working any more the way it is. I am so stressed out and exhausted, and its ruining things for us and baby.
Hubby: Me to I think we need to make a couple of clear choices about our respective jobs and our lives with them.
Me: You have no idea how much I have wanted to hear those words come from you!

He then proceeded to call me at work, he talked about last night and how he feels like he is loosing me and doesn't even know who I am anymore. He is afraid if we go on like this any longer that its going to end in our relationship falling apart and eventually divorce. I tell him I feel the same way, and I was so desperate to seek relief of everything that last night I was seriously contemplating leaving so I could just get away, and that made me feel like eve a bigger failure then I already feel. That made him sad, and he said leave your job and that stress behind before you leave me and baby. I agreed and apologized for even having those thoughts.

He wanted me to walk out today, he said he was handing me the scissors and I just had to make the cut, and we would deal with whatever consequences followed. I told him he should know me better and that I could never just walk out, I am not a quitter. He said well were on a sinking ship, we either stay and die or jump and possibly die but possibly live. He said something has to change, you can't work full time anymore. He knows how much my heart is breaking everyday when I leave Gwendolyn, and that I have far to many household responsibilities to focus on it all and try and still have something left for 'us'. I said well I can't leave cause I carry the insurance, as my companies benefits are about 1000x better than his, were talking $110 a month for all three of us compared to $380 month for all three of us on his! Big difference! And it isn't just about me any more our life in the now and the future now includes this third little life.

We talked some more about options ec...about me finding something were I could bring the babes with, a nanny job, daycare at our home, or something just much more PT. But we both know before that can happen he needs to find a new job. His job now currently has him working 60-70 hours a week, every week, for the last 2 months. We never see each other and when we do, I can't even find the energy to give him anything of myself. So the plan was to focus on finding him something that a) pays better b) has better hours and finally c) has GOOD insurance coverage. Conversation ended with us talking about it later....

Well, needless to say I was feeling HIGHLY emotional after this conversation and found my self just breaking down and crying right there, at my desk. No biggie I can grab some tissue and move on, oh no! Right then my boss just happens to come see me, obviously she sees something is wrong. Now what do I do? Well I decided to "jump ship" and be TOTALLY honest with her. I pretty much told her everything, and that if something didn't change I would either need to leave said company all together or go to my old/previous position there, which has less demands. We talked for awhile and she asked if cutting back my hours would make a difference...I thought about it, and yeah it probably would! More time w/ baby, more time for house work, less hours there=less time to dwell on stresses of job, more of me to give to my marriage. So she said she would talk to her boss for approval. Well she came back and said that is fine, they both agreed they would much rather have me there for less hours then loose me all together cause I am a huge asset to the department and frankly they kinda like me :) I have a great boss, its nice I can be so honest and I think she feels the same way, she isn't afraid to say that her job sucks.

So its official next week I am down to 32 1/2 hrs a week, M-F, 8:30-3pm. *sigh* I think is going to be really good. I am little worried about the extra money we will be loosing each pay check, but Dakota is 100% supportive of my decision and said not to worry about it, it will work out, he will make sure it does, so lets hope it does, I guess that means budgeting more, cutting back on extras, eliminating a few bills (going to just basic cable), whatever it takes. But honestly my sanity and keeping my family together is allot more important than a few hundred dollars a month. This is the temporary/immediate fix I was looking for, and at least for now it should help. Once hubby finds something new, we can reevaluate the situation and decide whats best for the future. So now I just have my fingers crossed this decision doesn't back fire, and Dakota is able to find something new and better soon!

In the end we will make it work, we love each other, we love our baby, we love our life as a family, and nothing will change that! That is the one definite thing in our life. So here is to a hope full future, filled with laughter, love, hope and togetherness.

Story Time!

Babes and I received a "New Baby Visit" from the local ECFE (Early Childhood and Family Education) program affiliate called HUG (Helping Us Grow) last Friday. Any baby born in Hennepin county gets a mailing about this program. Minnesota is luckily one of the very few states that has funding of E-12 (Early Childhood to 12th grade) compared to just K-12. So the baby and I are signed up with classes and a Mommy Club and also a monthly story time and dinner program, to meet other families with babies. Tonight was our first Story Time and Dinner and it was a blast. An incredibly diverse group of people and so many CUTE babies.

Gwendolyn was the littliest one, the next oldest was 5 months, and Gwendolyn and her (Isabella) were very interested in each other and had a little chat, it was great to see her already interacting with other babies. Isabella took Gwen's socks of a few times which was totally funny and cute. There were only 3 girls and all the rest were boys. The average age was 7 months and then a 10 month old and one 11 month old. It was so cute to see the babies at the "playing with toys stage", Gwen isn't quite there yet, but I am sure she will be soon, she engages really well with books, toys ec..she just can't really hold onto them all herself quite yet. She is so wanting to sit up and I have gone back and forth about getting her one of these and Isabella had one and I definitely want one now and I really think Gwendolyn would love it, so hopefully we can get it soon, if the money falls into the right place.

I was really impressed with how engaged Gwendolyn was with the story time teacher, especially for her age. Not sure we will be able to go to the June one cause it is booked so were on the waiting list :( Hopefully something opens up, but were signed up for the August one for sure, so I am looking forward to that. We also registered for Mommy, Daddy and Baby classes starting in September, and I think it will be a total blast! Dakota thinks its so funny she is already going to "school", but I think its great, you can't start education and learning to early in my opinion. Oh we also get a free book donated from Barnes and Noble, we picked "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?", the story time teacher said rhyming books are great for her age level, it grabs there attention. And the food was really yummy! So double plus there. All and all a great experience and I look forward to getting involved and doing lots more with ECFE and HUG in the future!

Whats been going on....

Well not to heck of allot I have to say! Which is sometimes a good thing. Hubby is still looking for something new in the world of Jobs, he is being picky, cause it wouldn't make much since to go from crappy employer to crappy employer, something will come along, when the time is right and is meant to be.

My Shmunchkin is already 3 months, it GOES by SO fast, it just blows my mind! She is such a happy baby, I seriously just LOVE watching all her changes and new things she discovers and learns.

There are SO many people pregnant right now, between my work, family, friends, Internet world ec. Its great! But my heart breaks for the friends I have who still haven't gotten the pregnancies they deserve, I think about them everyday and just hope that they will SOON be blessed....

I am really excited for the weekend of June 14th, were going to see my grandma and grandpa in Fargo, and it will be the first time they have met there great-granddaughter, and I am SO SO excited. Unfortunately my other grandma (dad's mom) passed away in December 2007 while I was pregnant and never got to meet Gwendolyn, still to do this day breaks my heart, so I am hoping for some closure and repair during this upcoming weekend.

I am exhausted and little one has her first real cold (Got it from Daddy) and I feel so bad for her, and I feel even worse cause I kept her out to long today I think. It was my mother in laws big moving day, so I was over there for a long time today doing my best to help out and little one did take a 2 hour nap and a couple more 20 minute naps, but I think she got over stimulated, so tomorrow we are just hanging out at home w/ Daddy and having a family day, we ALL deserve that's for sure, hubby is STILL over there moving stuff and doesn't expect to be home until after midnight :(

Well I think that is all for now, so I will use you with some precious chunky monkey pics (courtesy of Trish):

Baby G and Grammy

After a good meal of Mommy's Milk

What another picture!?!

Ok I suppose I will give you a smile....

And now were serious....

Seriously the cutest baby ever, I am so not biased!

Rant......

I just need to rant, so many many things on my mind right now. I know with time it will all pass *I hope*

First off the biggest thing is the way my hubby is being treated at work, he is amazingly dedicated worker, and is not getting the treatment he deserves. They are playing head games with him or something. One day there telling him he is on the "list" for layoffs and is number 6 from the top, then the next day he is 4th from the bottom and is getting nothing but praise. He hasn't seen our daughter all week, tonight was the FIRST night since Sunday he has seen her. He has been working 12-14 hour days, no joke. And I won't even get into the pay crap, shady stuff going on, pretty sure it isn't legal....what does one do, just move on, or try and get legal about it? And they tell him the most hypocritical stuff, "don't talk to customers it takes up to much time" but "if you don't talk to customers your fired"......hmmmm really logical eh'? He is such a great person and deserves so much better, its all meant to be, but I hope something else comes along for him. I am tired of being a "single mom".

Secondly its like one bill after the other from the hospital, next time around seriously not getting any drugs, especially an epidural which we had to pay $900 of it, and that is after the insurance company paid over $4,000, and I only used for a total of maybe at the most an hour, worthless! Thankfully I have us on a payment plan to hopefully get it all paid off by July 31st. Maybe if we could actually spend our "stimulus check" on something other than paying it back in taxes, then I wouldn't be so worried. But no after we had over $9,000 taken out of our paychecks in taxes over the course of 2007, we then get our taxes prepared and find out we OWE money! Get this EXACTLY to the penny $1,200! So all of our "stimulus check" is going back to the state of MN and the Federal Government, hopefully it stimulates the greedy bastards in the Whitehouse, I know it sure as hell isn't stimulating me! OH AND there is a SCREW in my tire, so now we need new tires, which if we still want to go visit my Grandparents in Fargo in June we will have to either get fixed somehow or pull money out of our butts to get a new tire. The fun never ends.

Thirdly, I so wish I could be at home with my baby, I feel like I am missing SO MUCH! I figured it out and I am missing 42 1/2 hours of my babies life a week, and I get 38 hours a week to be with her while she is awake, I am missing over half of her life a week. Seriously depressing. Yet there is people out there having one baby after the other living off of the government (no wonder we pay over $10,000 a year to them) and have the opportunity to raise them and do nothing with that chance. I would give anything to stay at home w/ my baby and raise her with all the love I have to give!

Sorry this is a pitiful depressing post, but at the moment I feel pitiful and depressed, life is at a low and I just have to deal, doesn't make it any easier though, the one thing that puts a smile on my face is my baby girl, and I am close to duct taping her to my chest so I don't spend a second away from her, my heart misses her and I fear I am being replaced, I hope at the end of the day she knows I am her Mommy and I love her beyond anything she will probably ever understand. Everything I do, I do for you baby girl.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

A recent conversation between me and my Nephew Donovan:

Nephew: Was baby Gwen in your tummy?

Me: Yep

Nephew: Did she come out of your butt?

Me: No, she came out of my vagina.

Nephew: Did that hurt?

Me: Yes *chuckle*

Nephew: Well, hmmm, well, well, I just think her head was to big for your bagina (Yes that's vagina pronounced with a B) that's why it hurt.

Me: *LMAO* Your very intuitive Donovan.

Its Been Awhile and were good....

Haven't updated in awhile, thats life with a baby! Baby Gwen had her 2 month appointment on Monday and she up to 10 lbs 7.2 oz (so close to doubling her birth wieght) and 21 1/2 in. Her Pedi is SUPER happy with her growth, she went from being off the chart tiny to in the 45th-60th percentile for everything! I guess Mama's milk is doing her good :) She also had her first set of shots, HARDEST THING TO WATCH EVER, EVER! But she was fine by that night and not so fussy/sad.

I started back work on Thursday, I cried ALL day Wednesday, so I didn't shed a single tear on Thursday, plus work got me a big gorgeous bouquet of flowers, with pink tulips, carnations, tiger lillies and lots of other pink flowers (my favorate color by the way) so that was super nice, and we had a bagel breakfast and pizza lunch, nice! The only thing I didn't get was dinner ;) Today was alot harder then yesterday, which was werid, I cried on the way to work, oh well. And of course there was horrible traffic on the way home (apprentely its REALLY hard to drive in the RAIN) and all I wanted to do was seem by baby! Oh well it only took an extra ten minutes thanks to shortcuts. And this weekend I plan on snuggling my chunky monkey as much as I can! Well except for a few hours on Sunday were I will be bagging groceries to help raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help find a cure for Breast Cancer, and on Mothers Day I will be participating in the walk at the Mall of America.

Thats all she wrote.....

Are you KIDDING me!?!?

So I found this article* on a message board I go to. Well read for yourself. Pesonally I know me and my husband have this same argument quite often *eyeroll*. When I see things like this, it just makes me wish I had a 100 room house so I could take kids like these and give them the proper care they obviously aren't getting and deserve. One can only hope this child grows up and decides not to choose EITHER one of these.

Maybe the idea of parenting licenses isn't a bad idea after all.........



*all these cool links are brought to you by my blogger mentor, watch for more spiffy sparkly new things on my blog to come.

My Life In Pictures

I have seen this in quite a few blogs so I decided to do it myself, enjoy!

~Go to Google Images.

~Type your answer into the “search” box.

~Pick an image from the first page.

~Copy and paste answer into blog.

My Name Is...

(stephanie)

My relationship status is...

(married)

My Favorate color is...

(pink)

My celebrity crush is...

(johnny depp)

My Favorite Princess is...

(snow white)

My favorite adult beverage is...

(stoli vanilla vodka)

My dream vacation is...

(Fiji)

When I grow up I want to be...

(happy)

Thats all folks..............

April is National Autism Month...

and this hits close to home for me as my nephew Donovan has Aspergers. I have always felt a super special bond with this little man, perhaps because he is my first nephew (the first to born of all me and my siblings kids) and he is just so special to me.

We thought he was just a rowdy little boy and naughty like most kids are, don't listen well ec...But as the behaviors became more and more, "obsessive" might be the right word, the more the thought of perhaps there was something else going on. Well there was and he was offically diagnosed with Aspergers..he is pre-school now and from what I am told doing very well, which makes me very happy because I do worry about him, he may not be my child, but I love him so much and just want him to be happy.

Thankfully Aspergers from what I read and understand is a very high functioning form of Autism, and that is one positive that we can focus on. And I have high hopes that he will do just fine. He is soooo creative and artistic, I mean the kid can draw better than me, and well his writing even trumps my 24 year old husbands chicken scratches. And I think he will definitely end up doing something very artisitic and creative when he grows up, perhaps you will see his name on the big screen or in the creation of a video game or on a famous painting. No matter what he does, I love this little man very much, and no matter what "title" is put on him in his life he will always have a special place in my heart.

"Autism is treatable. Children do not "outgrow" autism, but studies show that early diagnosis and intervention lead to significantly improved outcomes." Hopefully with further discussion and openess on this issue more schools and peopel will have a better understanding of all forms of autism and hopefully it will be a good world for my nephew to live his life in.

For more info on Autism go to: http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer

One Month Old

I just can not believe my baby is a month old! Its so bittersweet, I have absolutely adored every moment I have had with her, but it has gone so so so fast. She has gotten so much bigger but is still such a little pumpkin, I just adore her.

Everyday brings me a little closer to going back to work, and while I truly don't mind my job, its means less time with her and that my friends breaks my heart. She will be with her Grandma, and that I am so thankful for, its the only thing that makes it a little more bareable.

She is almost holding her head up on her own, she has almost rolled over on her own so many times, she hates tummy time unless she is laying on mommy's chest, she adores her daddy and always has good burps for him (hehe), she loves her Grandma's voice (she lights up every time she hears her), she loves to snuggle with mommy after her morning feeding, she "talks" in her sleep, she is simply the most amazing little creature!!!!

3 years and 11 months till she turns 1 ;)

I got my hair did!

In celebration of motherhood I chopped my hair today. Here is a kind of before picture, it isn't right before the hair cut, but gives an idea of what my hair was...

And this is it now, about 8-10 inches later........

So yeah, the new me, "Mommy"...My hubby said "you look like a Mom, a cute Mom" hehehe, I heart him :) It was really nice to have some me time, while Grandma watched baby, and I think Grandma enjoyed it to, just a guess.

Baby and I had 3 visitors yesterday, that was nice, we like visitors, and she was of course a good girl the whole time! I am still in the midst of organizing my closet, brining out all my pre-preggo clothes and putting away the maternity clothes. I fit into almost all my pre-preggo clothes, so that is a good feeling! I have 12 more pounds to go to get to my goal weight, I gained 15 in my pregnancy and have lost 18, 12 more to go. Then I am going to work on toning and getting rid of this saggy skin belly, hahahha. In conclusion life is good, and I am soaking up every minute I can.

This, that and the Other

Today was a busy day for baby and I, well mainly me, baby just kind of slept and ate along the ride, what a life!

I accomplished ALOT at home, my to do is list is down to just simply a few things, go me! We went to Cub Foods to visit Trish (my sister in law and babies aunt), she was fantastic and helped us print some very cute birth announcements on the kodak machine, and holy cheap batman! I am very impressed and will be printing many a more pictures there.

We also went to the bank and met Daddy for lunch, that was nice.

Everday I realize more and more how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell of my baby!

Also on the way to the bank I came across many a grumpy people, and I did something I haven't done before and it actually worked, when I got home I just gave a very nice genuine smile to myself in the mirror and it actually perked me back up, at least I know there is one person who still smiles me...

Well you can choose what part of this was This, that and the other...good night folks.

Behind the name

One more thing, "Raising a Pumpkin", I chose this name because I call Gwendolyn "pumpkin", just thought I would give a simple FYI on the blog name, ok I am going to bed now, for real this time.

Midnight Showers

Being a new Mom I am discovering so many things, one being how you never knew how much you would come to appreciate things that are so simple. One for me being showers! I am a at least one a day shower girl, in the summer usually two a day, I like to be fresh ("so fresh and so clean clean"). Well now the hubby goes to work and I am at home with baby all day, when hubby gets home that is my time to get things done that I didn't have time to do, if I want a shower, I have to get up before hubby and baby and take one...well tonight for some unknown reason I have some energy! So after hubby and baby were in bed, I decided it was some me time.

Let me tell you, I had the most amazing shower I have ever had, probably because of how much I am able to appreciate it. I got a full hour to focus on me, not only did I get a shower, but I got to shave my legs, use my fancy body lotion, do a face mask, a deep conditioning treatment on my hair and simply just relax and let the hot water soothe my achey shoulders and back, let me tell you people it was fantastic!! I was in there so long I got prunie, prunie! Do you know how long it has been since I have had a chance to be in the shower so long I get prunie!?!?! I then got to take my time brushing my teeth and hair, use nice smelly lotion and body spray & put on my PJ's.

Its like I have a key to a secret garden, a secret place no one knows about, a place were my mind is free and my body is relaxed. I can't wait to go there again tonight, although this is going to mean less sleep, I really think is worth it.

Now I am going to go stare at my sleeping baby, and just take in how amazing she is and how motherhood is such a special gift and one I will try to never take for granted.

Sweet Dreams........

In the begining

This is a blog to talk about my baby and life, but mainly my baby girl since she is the light of my life right now and I want to document my journey, I am sure there will be some random rants about other things as well....

Well just a little background, my baby girl (Gwendolyn Elizabeth) was born on Leap Day (2/29/08) @ 4:34pm, she was 5lbs 14oz and 18 1/4 inches, little, but totally healthy, she got a 9/9 on her Apgar scores. She is a great baby and I am totally and completely in love...

She is such a good girl...seriously I fear the thought of having another one because I am afraid that he/she wouldn't be as good, I know that sounds bad, but she has us spoiled :) I love the days I have with her before I go back to work, and the thought of leaving her breaks my heart (a post for another day, perhaps my second post, lol).

Well that is it for now, if anyone is actually reading this!