First Day of the Juice Fast

Today begins the first day (again) of the juice fast. Trying to keep it simple this go around to try to increase my chances of success. The easier the prep and planning are the easier it will be to stick with for ….
First day is A B C, Apple, Beet, Carrot. In general a sweet(ish) juice that is easy to make and drink. One of the other keys is to ensure that there is enough juice to drink. I notice that I am not hungry as long as I have enough juice available, but if I am not full of juice my mind starts wandering to the cookies and goldfish hanging out in my kitchen.
I am hoping that a plan of juice first thing in the morning and then my Amino Energy drink during the day will sustain me through a 30 day fast. I have had a hard time bringing juice to work (and actually drinking it) so I am trying to plan to make juice fresh at home 2x per day ( morning and evening) to ensure that I am getting enough juice but also that I prepare/drink what I have.
Wish me luck! I have established good working out habits since February with 5 days a week spent at the gym and I feel stronger and have list some considerable weight so far. Looking to jump start the weight loss through the spare tire in time for summer fun!

A whole year …. REALLY!?!?!?

Okay so I am really not that surprised that it has been a whole year since I have posted last. Although I love to read other people’s blogs I am none too consistent about updating my own. I suppose it is the perfectionist in me that says I need to have something witty or meaningful to say, or that I need to post a picture with every post (which btw takes me FOREVER)

I need to keep this blog because I need a place to document the things that we do every day and to track the growth of the little monster. With all the warts, bruises and imperfections. This blog is meant for me and for our family, no one else. I need a place where I can put things that I want to remember. It doesn’t matter if no one else ever reads it … I will read it and that is what matters. I just read the last post from last year and remembered the day that my little monster took that fall. Where are all of the memories in between.

Right now, DJ asks for “Builder” every day. He loves Caillou also, but Builder is the one that captures his attention like no other. He loves to play in dad’s work van and asks for it every single day. If you let him play in the van he will throw an absolute FIT when you try to take him back out again. He has a motorized Scoop toy

Michael’s score and "Love you"

So for fans of Eric Carle I scored these awesome story books from Michael’s on the clearance rack. These little versions were only $0.99 but there were larger books there as well. It is a make your own story book, how cool is that? I will need to hold onto these for quite a number of years before my little one or his cousin are old enough to use them. But I could not resist picking these up when I saw them the other day. I always wanted to be a writer when I was younger, I would have been ecstatic to receive a present like this where I could both write and illustrate my own story (although never much on the illustration side let me tell you)

I remember these stories so vividly from my own childhood and I have always loved Eric Carle’s illustrations in these books

And on a family note, the little man was sitting on my lap this morning being awfully snugly and cute. I looked down and said “Love you” and plain as day he said “Love you” right back at me 🙂

Unfortunately within an hour of that adorable incident he fell down while holding onto the stroller he has been using to walk with lately. The stroller fell on top of him and now he has a gash next to his right eye. Yes, the same eye that got the bug bite on it. Yes, within a week of the falling on the toy incident that messed up his nose.

My little bruiser seems to have a hard time ‘keeping his nose clean’ as they say. He has also been getting just grubby as all heck and loving every minute of it. He hates it when I try to clean him up for anything. He is getting better about the carseat though, I haven’t had to fight him lately (knock on wood)

We have Gymboree today AND tomorrow with the beginning of the fall season. Saturdays will work better I hope, and it will give Dave a chance to come participate too. Of course he has to work THIS Saturday, but that is allright we will get him playing at Gymboree soon enough.

I will post pictures from birthday’s and weddings as soon as I have them. I also need to post some vacation pictures and a quick entry about that week with Dave’s parents. Back soon ! No really … I swear! 😉

Michael’s score and "Love you"

So for fans of Eric Carle I scored these awesome story books from Michael’s on the clearance rack. These little versions were only $0.99 but there were larger books there as well. It is a make your own story book, how cool is that? I will need to hold onto these for quite a number of years before my little one or his cousin are old enough to use them. But I could not resist picking these up when I saw them the other day. I always wanted to be a writer when I was younger, I would have been ecstatic to receive a present like this where I could both write and illustrate my own story (although never much on the illustration side let me tell you)

I remember these stories so vividly from my own childhood and I have always loved Eric Carle’s illustrations in these books

And on a family note, the little man was sitting on my lap this morning being awfully snugly and cute. I looked down and said “Love you” and plain as day he said “Love you” right back at me 🙂

Unfortunately within an hour of that adorable incident he fell down while holding onto the stroller he has been using to walk with lately. The stroller fell on top of him and now he has a gash next to his right eye. Yes, the same eye that got the bug bite on it. Yes, within a week of the falling on the toy incident that messed up his nose.

My little bruiser seems to have a hard time ‘keeping his nose clean’ as they say. He has also been getting just grubby as all heck and loving every minute of it. He hates it when I try to clean him up for anything. He is getting better about the carseat though, I haven’t had to fight him lately (knock on wood)

We have Gymboree today AND tomorrow with the beginning of the fall season. Saturdays will work better I hope, and it will give Dave a chance to come participate too. Of course he has to work THIS Saturday, but that is allright we will get him playing at Gymboree soon enough.

I will post pictures from birthday’s and weddings as soon as I have them. I also need to post some vacation pictures and a quick entry about that week with Dave’s parents. Back soon ! No really … I swear! 😉

On to newer things

Not neccesarily better things, but newer for sure. I gues it is all a matter of perspective, I know that these are some of the best times of my life and I try to enjoy each and every day/moment to the fullest. I know I do not always succeed but I do forever try like crazy 😀

Little Boo is on the verge of crawling right now, he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Every once in a while he will launch himself forward and I just can’t help but crack up every time he does. He worked his way across the floor to me the other day just by ‘launching’ himself in the same direction over and over again. He gets his feet stuck under his body though and ends up doing this half standing thing that is kind of scary. He does seem to have control over it so I guess that is a good thing but it sure do freak his mama out. He will get up on hands and knees and then he will get his feet on the floor and just keep raising his butt to the ceiling. I will see if I have a picture of the whole thing, it is hilarious. I have some video of the rocking that I will put a link to here : Baby Rocking

Delivery – The Final Chapter

Well it’s about time (again) I know you all have been waiting with bated breath …. ok please tell me you haven’t, that’s a long time to go with no air 😉

The final chapter of the saga today as DJC allows. Then we can finally move on to bigger and better things, like what’s been happening recently.

Once they gave me the Pitosin the rest of my delivery was really quick. I think it took a total of 45 minutes once they had decided to go ahead and give me the dose. All of a sudden the urge to push him out was urgent. Mary helped me through this stage as it was almost time for him to make his appearance. The doctor almost didn’t make it in time, the nurses had to call over to his office to let him know the delivery was IMMINENT and he had better get there fast. He did arrive at the last minute to deliver the little man and sew me up (ugh!).

My precious little man arrived at 11:42am on November 8th, he was 19″ long and weighed in at 6lbs 2oz. His Dad’s little loaf of bread 🙂 He scored nearly perfect with a 9.9. Despite the long drawn out pre-labor I would still do it again in a heartbeat. Can I get an amen from other mothers out there? I thought so. Once you have done the deed once it just seems like no problem to do it again, no matter how difficult it was the first time.

We tried to do a little breastfeeding right off the bat but he wasn’t getting it right away. Too tired after fighting his way into the world for so long. I think it was about 33 hours altogether, but whose counting?! 😉 He picked it up later on with no problems, just too tired right off the bat. I got to cuddle my little man and talk to him outside my body for the first time and of course fell in love all over again. Then it was time for the nurses to take over for a little while.

So, he went off with his daddy (and the nurse of course) for his first bath and to take a long nap. Mommy was escorted to the bathroom and then whisked away to the recovery room. They have this odd wheelchair so that you don’t have to sit down, you pretty much ride around standing up with your rear hanging out to the world 😉

We had to stay the entire 3 days, and Dave couldn’t stay with me at the hospital so every night he would have to leave to come home. Although I had my little man to feed and cuddle I still missed having his daddy with me at night. Saturday around 1pm we were finally able to come home with the little man to start our lives together as a family.

In the story there are some details and emotions that are meaningful or special only to his Mama and I will keep those for now, but that is the story of the arrival of my little man.

Allright I will once again endeavor to maintain a more consistent presence on the blog. I need to keep a record of the things that the little man is doing these days

The tale continues many moons later

You see what I mean about the long drawn out pauses between posts, eh? Okay so I suppose I should finish the story that I started the last time and begin to move into new and more recent territory.

So, I finished up the laundry and the picking up of the house and I had been tracking the contractions that had started. They were far apart at first as I was milling about the house but got stronger as the night went on. I couldn’t sleep that night, I had work that I needed to get finished before the baby came and I was just generally uncomfortable and couldn’t find a comfortable position. I think I might have laid down for a little while early in the morning but that was it. Dave called in to work on the 7th to stay with me for the day to be there with me when it was time to go. Turns out he could have gone to work that day because the little man wasn’t ready to appear yet. I got to contractions that were 7 minutes apart and I just stalled …. I mean all day stalled …. Dave and I sat at home just sort of watching tv and waiting around while I kept having contractions. After a full day I must have gotten tired and lost count, around 7 pm I decided it was time to get to the hospital, we had not preregistered and I thought that the time was near, I had lost count and thought we were closer to 5 minutes apart.

We got to the hospital and got checked in and up to the labor & delivery ward on the 2nd floor. The nurse got me into bed and put the monitors on both me and the baby and told me I was only 7 minutes apart rather than the 5 I thought I was. Everything looked good, my heart rate was strong & so was his so they just let me go …. all night long! That’s right, I was in labor for the remainder of that evening. Poor Dave had to try to sleep on this bench thing under the window … poor guy, if I had known we would have just stayed home and I would have lived in the shower until it was really time 😉 I asked for the pain reliever that they offer, Stradol is what I think it was called. It helped a little, but it made me feel almost drunk, and when the meds would leave my system I would get sick. Once again poor Dave had to be the one to bring me the trash can so I could throw up both times.

The next morning came and we were both exhausted, neither one of us had gotten much sleep the night before. Obviously the discomfort kept me awake, but poor Dave had to listen to me in pain as well as try to sleep on the horrible bench. Into th room that morning walked our nurse for the day and we were both delighted to see that it was our neighbor Jodi along with another nurse Mary who she was training with. We had talked to Jodi about maybe having her as our nurse, we were so lucky to have her 🙂 She and Mary were wonderful, they both were very comforting to both Dave & I and in general made the end process as comfortable as possible.

I had decided that I would like to have the epidural after all. After so long I was tired and didn’t think I would be able to take it when the really rough stuff started. So they called for the anesthesiologist and prepped me for the shot. Well …. turns out I have a slight curvature of my spine that no one has ever detected before. Until now … it took 5 tries to give me the shot and then it only took on one side of my body. I am glad that I did it (I think) but I have a scar on my lower back to remind me of the multiple attempts. By 7 that morning when Jodi & Mary came on duty they checked to see how much I was dilated and I was about 7cm. After going strong all night the baby’s heartrate all of a sudden started to drop when I would have a contraction. So they decided to give me some Pitosin to help speed up the delivery process.

All right my friends well I will have to finish this up tomorrow, I am afraid that everyone else in the house is asleep and it is time for me to get them all off to bed and get the house picked up. Tomorrow is finally DELIVERY of the little man 😀

Baby Story – Ours

As promised, today is the story of the day my little man was born. The day our lives changed forever. It is such a strange feeling to go from being only responsible for your own life to being responsible for someone else’s life as well. So, since I only have 9 minutes or so left of my time this evening … on to the story.

I had a Doctor’s appointment on November 6th to see how far along I was. We were going to check that day to see if I was already dilated and if so how much. We were anxious for the little man to arrive, we had already prepped his room and his clothes were washed and ready for him. All we needed was for him to arrive.

My appointment was for 9am and then I was supposed to go out to a client to finish up before I went on maternity leave. That plan was not to be that day however. I got to the office and waited my turn, had my weight taken (170..omg), peed in a cup as usual, and then waited to find out how soon it would be for our little arrival. At the last appointment the Doc had said that he was “locked and loaded” in the birthing position. We knew that it was just a matter of time. At this point I was seeing the Doctor every week because my due date was coming quick.

Dr. Van Geem was very busy that season as were most doctor’s I imagine. There was a veritable baby boom going on around here around the same time we were giving birth. He was rushing through my visit as usual when he realized we were supposed to check to see if I was effaced & dilated. So he left for a minute and he came back and checked and told me that I was 80% effaced and 2 cm dilated. So once again we were at the any time now stage. I decided not to go on to the client since the process was already underway and headed home to finish up what work I could get done from home.

I didn’t feel well almost immediately after the visit. The Doctor was none too gentle when he checked and I was uncomfortable from the moment I got home that morning. There was also some discharge that hadn’t been there before I went to the Dr. I just generally felt uncomfortable from that moment on. That evening when Dave got home from work I suddenly felt better and felt the need to pick up the house and do some laundry. All of a sudden I realized that I was going into labor, that the nesting signs were there and that it was just a matter of time now.

Well that is enough of my blathering for today, I will finish the rest of the story tomorrow night. For now I will leave you with a picture of myself just before I gave birth, he had dropped down in this picture and I was at my biggest. More tomorrow … stay tuned :

Only 15 mintues a day!!

I am too much of a perfectionist. All this time away and only because I didn’t have the ‘perfect’ thing to say or the ‘perfect’ pictures to post. No one cares really. This is mostly about me and our family and what goes on in our lives. And I can post those little things in just 15 minutes a day . I don’t have to have a huge amount of time or a long story to tell .. it is okay to just pop on say a quick hello and then off again.

Well someday soon I will write down the story of the day that my little man was born but for now suffice to say he entered the world not long after I posted that last blog entry and our lives are forever changed. 🙂

In a good way of course, but there are days like today that being a mom is a bit challenging to say the least. I had a bunch of work projects due that I have not been able to do much with during the week since he doesn’t sleep during the day. So I ended up working all day today and taking advantage of having Dave around to get all my work done. In fact this is my last little piece of ‘work’ before I head off to bed myself.

As you can tell I love baby toes so I will leave with one of my favorite baby toes pictures. I am committing to posting once a day. I can do it for 15 minutes!! So tomorrow I will post the story fo the day he was born and we will see if we can get ‘caught up” on this online journal. So for now here is one of my favorite baby feet pictures. later skaters

Countdown to Baby Dale

Not that we haven’t been counting down to his arrival, but with 3 weeks (give or take) to go the time seems to be speeding up finally. Which is just fine by his mama! 🙂 I don’t know what has gone slower, the first couple weeks once we found out I was pregnant or these last couple of weeks waiting for him to be born finally.

We finished the stenciling on the walls of his room last week when Dave was home due to the fires here in Southern Ca. We were lucky that none of the fires (of which there were up to 24 burning at one time) were anywhere close to our house. The air quality has been horrible though and I was on house restriction last Monday. Lucky for me my honey had some masks in his work van so I was ‘safe’ driving to/from work. I must’ve been a sight driving through town with all my windows up AND a mask on inside the car. Here are some pics of the stencils on the walls of the little dude’s room 🙂

For more pics check out the photobucket album here

Please disregard the pictures of the pregnant woman she won’t be living with us much longer 😉

I attended orientation for school last Thursday evening. Turns out that ALL of my college credits will count towards my transfer degree. So even those classes I took that first semester out of high school will count towards my credits. I may be further along in this whole process than I thought which would be fabulous for everyone involved. It is the old catch 22 I need the degree to make more money so I can spend more time with my family, but at the same time that requires that I sacrifice some of my family time to get that degree. I have an appointment with a counselor at MC next week so we will see what comes out of that. No matter what I am committed to continuing the PACE program come spring semester. Wish me luck!