Thankful

My two favorite people

Just a reminder to myself--be thankful. Every day.

I have so much to be thankful for--the love and companionship of a WONDERFUL husband, amazing father to our daughter, and my best friend. A healthy, happy baby girl who is meeting her milestones, sleeping well, eating, growing, playing, laughing, and generally wrapping us around her tiny fingers on a daily basis. Incredible family that loves us to pieces, unrivaled friends that make life fun.

After reading about big tragedies, like the tornado that hit Joplin, MO, or small (in comparison to the rest of the world, but I'm sure not to them) of a friend of a friend who had to let their newborn go on to heaven this week, I just need to remind myself to be thankful every single day.

I'm a lucky girl.

Approaching the Half

I feel like I have no time to do anything--work is insane and I spend all my free time playing and snuggling with the most adorable baby in the whole universe. Hence, the lack of updates here.

Izzy is quickly approaching her first half-birthday! I cannot even explain how fast it seems like the time has gone by. I struggle with going to work each day and missing things--she changes so much every day.

Today, when we got to school, Izzy's teachers mentioned that they might be moving her up into the next class with the bigger kids a little ahead of schedule (they usually wait until the 6-month mark and then evaluate whether the child is ready). I think they need to shuffle kids around to accomodate new babies, but it really took me by surprise. First, her teachers are amazing--we love how much they love our baby, and they give us great updates about her days. Second, how is she possibly old enough to move into the next class??? My tiny infant newborn!

So I had a rough morning of it, just thinking about whether she was ready for all of that! I think she is--socially, she will be fine, and she'll learn a ton from the older babies. I will just have to adjust a bit.

In other news--we are starting to hear her laugh more and more! She thinks we are pretty funny--daddy more than me. It's almost impossible to keep from smiling when you hear her little giggle. So here's an example of Izzy's adorable giggle:

Mother's Day: Inauguration

Me and My Mom

Becoming a mother has felt a lot like joining a club. One where the other members aren't afraid to tell you the secrets, where it is okay to talk about things like relationships and bodily functions and sex like you have nothing to be ashamed of, and where, no matter what stage of motherhood you're in, there is someone who has been there and is willing to help you through whatever troubles you may encounter.

It's hard to explain--I have several girlfriends who I am comfortable enough with to talk about ANYTHING, but somehow with other moms, even ones I haven't met before, there is some sort of implicit trust and familiarity, and conversations start easily and flow naturally around subjects such as childbirth, breastfeeding, baby poop, fun toys, daycare, lack of sleep...the list goes on and on.

If motherhood is a club, Mother's Day is the official inauguration ceremony. I have been overwhelmed and surprised at the number of Happy Mother's Day wall posts, text messages, and in-person wishes I have received. It's almost more exciting than my birthday, because I realize I share this honor with so many other women, all on the same day.

There are so many things to learn upon becoming a mother. Some are things you learn by doing, and by spending time with your children, picking up their cues and habits, imparting tradition and ritual into their lives as you build your days. Some are things you learn by studying--like every new skill, I think the more research you can do, the better off you are, so books like Baby 411 or The Happiest Baby on the Block have given me lots of knowledge I can use on a daily basis.

Probably the best things I've learned have been things I've actually known for a long time, but didn't realize I knew them. These came from my own mother. Years and years of watching her, being taken care of by her, rebelling against her, and now becoming a member of her club have opened my eyes to so many things I didn't realize I knew. For example:

• I remember waking up from a bad dream and tiptoeing in to stand at the side of my mom's bed. I was SO quiet, because I didn't want to wake her up, but I really wanted her awake to tell me my bad dream was just a dream. I would stand there staring at her for a few seconds, and without opening her eyes, she would say "What is it?" and I would tell her I had a bad dream. "Did you go to the bathroom?" she would say. "Did you get a drink of water?" I would say yes, and she would tell me to go back to bed. I was always amazed at how she could know I was there. NOW I realize, when you're a mom, you never really go all the way to sleep--you keep one ear open for the sounds of your child in need. THAT'S how she knew I was there.
• I tried to be so sneaky, hiding candy or doing things I wasn't supposed to do, and somehow she would always catch me. I thought she must have some sixth sense, because she always knew what I was up to. NOW I realize that when you're a mom, you are hyper-vigilant, the mother bear protecting her cubs. She knew what I was doing because she was always watching over me.
• Mom's hugs always felt so good when I needed them, and they still do, better than anyone else's hugs probably will. NOW I realize that you pour your whole soul into those hugs you give your children--how could they NOT be amazing?
• I remember my mom kissing my face in public or at home, and thinking it was embarrassing or that I was too old for such silliness, but NOW I realize you just can't help but kiss your baby a thousand times a day, you love her so much.
• My mom wears gloves to wash the dishes, and I used to think that was so silly--you can go much faster if you just do it bare-handed. NOW I realize that she must have washed so many bottles and pacifiers and toys in addition to the regular dishes that her hands were exhausted. I've got dish-pan hands now, too.

These are just a few of the things I've come to realize--things I knew, but couldn't understand until I became a mom myself. It's the best, hardest, scariest, most fun, most rewarding thing I've ever done, and I imagine it just gets more wonderful and more difficult as the years go by.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, and to all the moms out there. Thanks for letting me join your club. 

Extreme!

So I have a new obsession...and it's a DORKY one.

COUPONS!

Have you seen this Extreme Couponing show on TLC? WILD. These people are getting thousands of dollars worth of merchandise for tens of dollars. It is crazy to watch. (Also a little disturbing--during each episode the "Up Next - Hoarding" ad pops onto the screen...I can't imagine that is a coincidence. The folks at TLC must get a little giggle out of that.)

Now, I don't think I need to have a whole storage unit to stockpile things that I will never use (like 100 bottles of antacid), but I would like to be smarter about buying the things we need at our house on a weekly basis. Yesterday I used TWO coupons on ONE item (one store coupon and one manufacturer's coupon). Saved me $6 on a box of diapers!

This type of shopping requires more planning than I am used to. I like to make a list, but now I have to plan further ahead based on coupons I get (or don't get, and find them). I may even start taking the Sunday paper (what? In this day and age of technology?) so I can get more coupons. Aaron likes to tease me that you have to "spend money to save money," but I don't want to spend so much that it's really not worth it!

On a side note--what has my life come to that this is what I'm blogging about? Hilarious. I'm feeling like such a mom today.

Four Months Old!

Photo by Aaron Blythe on the iPhone

Izzy had her four month checkup today--here are the stats:

• Weight: 12 pounds, 4 ounces (continuing right along her curve at the 25th percentile)
• Height: 24 inches (Aaron says he thinks it looked more like 25 inches--either way, TALL)
• Head: 15 3/4 inches (right in the middle of the growth chart for her age)

At four months, Izzy loves:

• Kindermusik (we go every Saturday morning)
• Putting everything in her mouth (including your fingers if you let her, and she's practicing biting!)
• Playing with her whale on the play mat
• Tummy time (kid can't get enough)
• Reading books at bedtime (she is learning to turn the pages)
• Standing (with help of course!)
• Baths in the big tub

Izzy does NOT like:

• Having shirts put over her head
• Having her nose cleaned out
• Staying up much past her bed time

That's about it. Every day at daycare they tell us her day was wonderful. She really only fusses if she is hungry or tired. Hearing the other kids cry doesn't seem to bother her at all, and she only cried for about 10 minutes today after her shots and then was happy all day. As I told Aaron the other day--we really do make a pretty great baby, the two of us.

Happy four months old, Izzy Bear! Here's a video of Izzy playing with her favorite toy (by the way, Izzy has a YouTube channel!):

9 to 5

Caution: a little bit of whining ahead. (Not from Dolly, from me.)



This is the 6th week I've been back to work after maternity leave. A month and a half. It feels at once like it has been so much longer and like it has only been a few days. (I think that is one of those phenomena of parenthood--as one of my favorite authors, Gretchen Rubin, puts it: "The days are long but the years are short.")

I am what is referred to as a "working mom," which if you ask me is nowhere near a decent description of what it feels like to be a parent who goes to a job outside the home every day. Being a parent is definitely the hardest (but also most rewarding) thing I've done ever in my life. In itself, parenthood is more than a full-time job. A full-time job is classified as 40 hours a week; being a parent takes every hour of every day of every week--when you are with your child, you are interacting with her and hoping you are giving her everything she needs to become an amazing person. When you're not with your child, you are missing her, worrying that she's missing you (or worrying that she ISN'T missing you), trying to get other things done so when you do see her you have quality time to spend with her, and when you're all sleeping, as a parent you aren't REALLY sleeping, because you keep one ear on the baby monitor to make sure she doesn't need you all night long. 

If you're working at a job (in corporate America in my case), you're not only busy trying to get your daily tasks done, but also keeping up with your colleagues, and worrying about your career advancement. You have to please your manager, keep up with team and corporate initiatives, interact with co-workers, and (on my team at least) manage a daily cycle of interruptions and struggling to come back to the task at hand. Now, since I'm also trying to breastfeed my kid, I'm taking breaks two to three times a day to pump. I'm also worrying about the fact that someone else is tending to my child (and possibly not doing it like I would if it were up to me all day). It's more than a little distracting in an already hectic workplace.

Oh yeah, and then there is the lack of sleep...

A few years ago one of my great friends (who also happened to do the same job as me and was on my team at work) told me she was leaving the job to stay home with her daughter. She told me that she felt like she was "doing a bad job at both being a parent and being a good employee." I scoffed at her when she told me this--she was clearly doing an awesome job at both things--she's a great parent and she did a wonderful job at work. But now I know what she means.

I know I'm doing a pretty good job at being a parent--I firmly believe that if you give your child all the love in your heart, try to make the choices that are best for her, stay informed on the things you need to keep her safe, help her grow and learn, and make sure she knows how awesome you think she is, she's going to turn out okay. I also know I'm doing a decent job at work.

My problem is that I've never been okay with doing "okay" or "pretty good." For my first job, I worked at a place called Discovery Zone. Sometimes I was assigned the snack bar, and it was my job to clean out the nacho cheese dispenser at the end of the day. A ridiculous job--but I'll be damned if I wasn't the best nacho cheese dispenser cleaner you ever saw. I've always taken pride in whatever job I have, and I want to do it to the very best of my ability. Having my focus split a million different ways in an already very disjointed daily schedule makes me feel like I'm NOT doing my job very well at all.

I've also wanted to be a mom as far back as I can remember. I was a babysitter (with certification from the Wilmington, NC public library babysitter course!) from way back. I always knew I wanted my own kids. And now that I HAVE a child (and maybe I'm biased, but she's pretty awesome), I can't think of anything I'd like to do more than spend every single moment of every day with her (or for her). It's next to impossible to think about anything but that little girl all day. I feel very distracted when I'm not with her.

I'm probably a typical working mother. I am probably not facing struggles any more difficult or intense than any other working mom out there. I should probably just realize that this is how life is going to be. It's just hard. Thanks for letting me vent, internet. Any advice you have would be appreciated.

Photo Friend

All photos by Rachel Porter

Some of our friends got engaged last year, and one day on Facebook popped up the most ecellent photographs of the two of them--a sort of engagement photo shoot, and I just loved everything about them. For one thing, the subjects are two fun, wonderful, adorable people, so you just can't help but smile as you think about them together. The photos were also so unique and so personal--they really capture the couple's personalities, and I'd never seen anything quite like them.

When we found out we were pregnant, I knew I wanted to get some professional photos done of me and Aaron and the baby bump--just not some of those weird, awkward photos like those pictured here. (Seriously, click this link. Be prepared to laugh for a bit.) So I sent the aforementioned bride a message and asked about her photographer.



And so we happened upon Rachel Porter! We set up some time with Rachel in October of last year to capture some of the great fall colors and shots of us around Kansas City. I knew I was going to like this girl when she emailed me a few days before the scheduled shoot to tell me not to be alarmed when she showed up at our house--she was going to be sporting hair extensions and covered in temporary tattoos because she was headed to a Halloween party as Kat Von D later that evening.

Rachel took us to 17th and Summit, to Hi Hat Coffee, and to Loose Park. She made us feel SO comfortable even though both Aaron and I felt a little silly posing for photos--she kept us chatting and laughing, and kept coming up with interesting backgrounds and angles for us. We were kind of sad when the afternoon ended, but the pictures are PERFECT.

A major bonus has been getting to know Rachel as a friend--she's one of those people who is so cool and fun you can't help but want to spend more time with her. She's creative, friendly, and she exudes positivity. As we've been getting to know her we've learned that her sweet little family (she's married and has an adorable one year old little girl) is raising funds to adopt a baby, and using her photography services is helping them reach their goal! Please let me know if you'd like to connect with her for your very own photo shoot--she's reasonably priced and the results are amazing.

We decided to book more time with Rachel to capture newborn Izzy, and we've just loved them so much we want to keep getting them done as Izzy grows!



You can follow along with Rachel's little family on their adoption journey at the Love is Rising blog, and you can visit the Love is Rising Etsy Shop for some great accessories that also help the Porter family in their efforts.

We can't wait to see what she captures next, and we're anxious for her family to meet their fundraising goals and bring home that new baby!

April Fools--a Little Late

Me and Izzy (1 month) with Amanda and Sarah Schumacher (7 months),
matching hats knitted by Amanda!

I have a great friend named Amanda Rae who I met the first day of high school when she agreed to eat lunch with the new girl who didn't know anyone at Kickapoo High. She helped me through calculus, went with me on church trips all over the country, roomed with me in college, met me overseas in England, and now talks with me about motherhood.

She's a great woman all around--wife, mom of three adorable kids, always positive and friendly. One of my favorite things about her is that she is great at commemorating events. In college as her roommate, I sometimes got a little overwhelmed with it--she kept every movie ticket stub she ever got in her wallet so we could reminisce about movies we had seen, and she had a large collection of turtles from friends in her sorority that sort of took over our room.

She would often stop us in our busy days and say, "Kate, do you remember what we were doing a year ago today?" I usually didn't remember, and she was awesome at reminding me to stop and cherish memories, and solidify them in my brain. Now I find myself doing this on a regular basis, and asking other people if THEY remember what happened "a year ago today." I feel so blessed to have been schooled in this activity--if you are lucky enough to know Amanda, maybe you have this habit, too. If not--set yourself calendar reminders, or look back through your day planner, or just reflect on the previous year. You'll be glad you did.

I was just thinking back to this post...a year ago last Friday, I got up in the morning and decided to take a pregnancy test. It was pretty awesome to wake Aaron up on April Fool's Day with such fun news! How do you count YOUR blessings?

Officially the Blythe Household

I have never had an address stamp, or even address stickers to put on my written correspondence, unless you count ones that come for free from my college or someone else trying to sell me something.

No offense to my alma mater, but I really have just never been excited about putting a William Jewell return address sticker on my envelopes (even for mailing bills).

I don't mail that many things, really--no bills for sure, since everything is online. When I do mail something, it's usually a birthday card or a thank you card, something that I already think is pretty and fun, so adding a cheesy return address sticker come company sent in the hopes I would buy some magazine subscriptions doesn't really fit.

SO, inspired by my friend Shannon, I knew I wanted a pretty address stamp that was unique and gorgeous, so I went searching on Etsy and found a great little company--Sweet Papery! When I received  my stamp I promptly mailed most of the last few thank you notes from baby showers, and then sent photo Christmas cards (also a first for me).

Aaron is not nearly as excited as me about the stamp, but I couldn't be more excited that we share our home and our last name.

A Production

Our friends Amy and Dave Stevens (FYI, internets, I have a LOT of friends named Amy) came over to meet Izzy when she was just a few weeks old. They also brought us some DELICIOUS pizza, which was much appreciated by our overtired selves. 

They told us they are expecting as well (YAY!) and gave us the most excellent personalized gifts--onesies! Since it has been cold (and also because Izzy looks SO FREAKING ADORABLE), I put a onesie on her every day (either under her outfit that doesn't cover her little belly or just as her outermost layer). I love how they look like tucked in shirts, and that they stay in one spot, and I especially adore how her little skinny legs stick out of the leg holes.

Side note: If you ask Izzy about onesies, she will tell you at first she HATED having them put over her head, but now she tolerates them--mostly because Aaron is the one who gets her dressed most mornings. He makes putting on a onesie fun by pretending he can see a baby INSIDE the onesie by looking at Izzy through the neck hole. He's such a great dad. :)

Short story long: Amy customized these long-sleeve onesies with a one-of-a-kind iron-on transfers that say "A Marek and Blythe Production." AWESOME. We loved them so much we dressed Izzy in them for a photo shoot with our friend Rachel Porter (more about her soon to come!) with rainbow-striped leg-warmers (!). TOO. MUCH.

Photo by Rachel Porter

* Apologies for the amount of parenthetical statements and capital letters in this post...my college writing professor may or may not read this post. I just have SO MANY THINGS to say, and I'm excited about it.

Personalized Presents

Our great friend Amy Stewart (who, incidentally, just started a blog about Kansas City--we can't wait to see what she writes!) gave us some gifts from this adorable little store in the Brookside/Waldo area called Pistachio Gifts for our Kansas City baby shower.

Aaron has known Amy for several years, and they have hilarious stories they can tell you about their antics--just maybe not on a blog about a baby! Amy is one of those people who knows all the secret and special things about Kansas City, so if you're looking for an event venue, a great new restaurant to try, or need something awesome to do on a weekend, she usually has the info you need. She's also VERY fun to spend time with, whether it's just hanging out or laughing over a great meal, so we weren't surprised at all that she gave us such a unique and fun gift for baby Izzy (known only as Cupcake at the time).

The lovely owner at Pistachio's (whose name has escaped me), provides embroidery services, so you can pick out an adorable item, then have it personalized for the recipient. Unfortunately for Amy, we couldn't decide on Izzy's name until she was hours away from being born, so she told us to take our gifts in when we made a decision and get them personalized!

I've spent some time with Amy working with her pups (in my attempt at amateur dog training), so one of the gifts is this great stuffed animal. It's sort of like a bearskin rug, but it's a puppy (because of the dog training) and so soft and cuddly. When I took it in to Pistachio's to have it personalized, I asked for chocolate brown and to use Izzy's full first name, Elizabeth.

The second gift is this cute little diaper cover--still a little big, but it will be great when Izzy is toddling around in a little fancy dress--I can't wait to see her in it. I asked for hot pink and Izzy's nickname across the rear.

I didn't pick the fonts, but they did a perfect job! I love that Izzy has these great gifts that are just for her! I can't wait to see her enjoy them. Thanks, Amy!

Flashback: Kansas City Shower

My lovely friends in Kansas City threw us a fabulous shower last October (incidentally, it was part of the First Best Day Ever--none of the shower guests knew that later that evening, Aaron Blythe and I were getting married in our living room).

It was a morning shower with delicious brunch food, yummy punch (one version with champagne and one without), and CUPCAKES from my favorite place in Kansas City for sweet treats, Cupcake A La Mode. The company was fabulous, and the hosts (Missy Thomassy, Aimee Morrison, and Renee Simcox, who offered her pretty new house as the location) were great!

Here are a few pictures of the event!

Our Tiny Music Lover

Playing with scarves and shakers at Kindermusik class!

Izzy LOVES music. At first I thought I was imagining this, because I love music so much. Aaron loves music, too, but we have very different tastes. I think we generally appreciate each other's musical leanings, but they are very different--he loves classic rock, but before we started dating I couldn't have named a single Led Zeppelin song (that's his all-time favorite band). I love bluegrass and singer-songwriters, and he'll listen, but probably wouldn't chose either of those to listen to. We meet in the middle with an affinity for pop music--don't tell anyone, but Aaron loves Britney Spears.

So we sing to Izzy a lot. I pick songs I know all the words to (at first Christmas music since she was born in December, now musical tunes and songs I remember from youth choir in high school), Aaron chooses songs from his Rock Band game or makes up his own songs. In the morning I usually sing "Good Morning" from Singin' in the Rain, and Izzy just lights up. Aaron sings a little number he made up called "Freshen Up the Baby" when he changes Izzy's diaper and she smiles a giant smile every time.

Thankfully, since we apparently created a little music lover, we have a great friend, Amy Pennington, who runs a Kindermusik business, and she let us know what a great learning opportunity (and how much fun) we could have in class! We started Saturday morning classes at InJoy Music when Izzy was less than 3 months old, and she has loved it from the very first day. The music is great (and we even got a CD we can listen to in the car and at home) and the interaction with us and with the other families is so much fun! Izzy loves to watch the other babies in class, and when we sing some of the songs at home she grins--I think she remembers the songs!

I recommend Kindermusik to ANY family with young children--they have classes for kids from ages 0 to 7--contact Amy at injoy@kc.rr.com for more information on previewing a class or signing up for the next session!

Izzy Tweets!

In case you're interested, Aaron created a Twitter account for Izzy--we (try to) post a picture every day for those of you far away who might like to see her more. Aaron has become a wiz at editing photos on his iPhone and has come up with some amazing shots.

I added a stream of the recent posts to the sidebar of the blog, and you can also check them out on the Twitter website at http://twitter.com/izzyblythe. You don't even have to sign up or create an account to view the posts.

Enjoy!

Flashback: The First Best Day Ever

The Second Best Day Ever was December 7th, when we got to hold Elizabeth Suzanne Blythe for the first time, but I thought it was worth mentioning that I had the First Best Day Ever not very long ago.

On October 16th, in our living room, Aaron Blythe made me the happiest I have ever been by becoming my husband. Our families were there (well, my sister and her husband, and Aaron's best friend and his wife, were in attendance via Skype, but they were pretty close to actually there) and our friend Larry was the officiant.

It was very simple--we rearranged the furniture a bit, and Aaron bought some mums to decorate the space. Larry spoke some beautiful words about us and our union, and there we were, husband and wife!

Aaron wore his flip flops, linen pants, and a blazer (probably the only time I've seen him voluntarily get that dressed up for anything). I wore the only really "dressy" shirt that fit me at 8 months pregnant and some black dress pants.

We wrote our own vows the week before--which was a wonderful discussion about the things that are important to us, and what we wanted to promise to each other in front of witnesses.

It was fun to surprise everyone the Monday after with the news. We are thinking about a reception sometime in the spring if we can get our acts together and plan it, but who knows how that will go with a new baby around!

Aaron is truly my best friend and my partner--it feels amazing to make the commitment to each other to support and love and laugh with each other for the rest of our lives. I'm excited about our future, and blessed to have him by my side on the journey.

The Nursery!

This post is long overdue (well, all of them are, sorry about that, I'm trying to catch up!). One of my favorite things about preparing for the birth of my child was the decorating of the nursery. I wanted it to be soothing and fun and beautiful and creative, and something the Cupcake would enjoy as long as we live in this house (and hopefully the elements can transfer easily to another location if we ever end up moving).

I didn't want to use pink--don't get me wrong, I LOVE dressing Izzy in pink--little girl clothes are just TOO adorable--but there are so many fun colors out there in the universe that I wanted to do something a little different.

The room itself was painted in a color called Taupe Tone from Sherwin Williams--we saw this color at a friend's house and loved how soothing it is, and we actually painted the room the fall before we found out we were pregnant. Since Aaron and I do such amazing painting work (and since we were SICK TO DEATH of painting all the rooms in this house) we decided to keep the color if we could.

Next step: fabrics! I have watched my fair share of episodes of Trading Spaces, and my favorite designers always pick one thing to base a room around, whether it is a piece of art or a fabric or an accent of some sort. At this great fabric store in Springfield, my mom and I found a line of fabrics from a company called Premier Fabric--it's hard to find one of their prints I DON'T love! I previously blogged about my fabric selections (purchased on fabric.com) here--I chose prints with a lot of orange, brown, robin egg blue, and sage.

My mom put these fabrics together to create AMAZING curtains, crib bumpers, and a crib skirt, plus a cute hanging organizer and sheets to match! It all turned out BEAUTIFUL, and Izzy loves to look at the curtain fabric when we are in her room. We purchased the crib from cribs.com--free shipping! The crib was selected in a color that would match the dresser and shelf (more on those items in a minute).



Gorgeous custom linens!

 The dresser/changing table (previously mentioned in this post) looks beautiful in the room! Thanks again to my mom, dad, and brother-in-law Cameron for the refinishing of this piece and the custom changing table topper (it comes off to turn this into a regular dresser).



Dreser with monkey decals above (Izzy loves to smile at the monkeys)

 My parents also finished a bookcase in the same color as the dresser, and we have it loaded up with toys, books, and stuffed animals (lots of monkeys and other friends).

Our friends Amy and Dave Stevens gave us the monkey wall art and decals, and Izzy loves looking at them.

I got this mirrored shelf with metal hooks from a co-worker who was selling it on our internal classified ads. Notice the cupcak themed stuffed toys, hats, and little tiny cupcake trinket box on the shelf.

The room also includes a rocking chair I bought years ago at an estate sale that has sage green cushions--it looks just perfect in Izzy's room. On the back of the chair is a little quilt made with some quilt squares I found at JoAnn's and pieced together, and my mom added the orange and brown minky fabric and quilted it together. Behind the chair is a fun lamp from Target that you can't really see in this picture--it has five bendy arms with different colored shades on the ends.



Such a cozy seat

The room turned out better than I could have hoped! It's officially my favorite room in the house--especially when we get Izzy ready for bed and read her books in the chair, sing her a few songs and put her to bed. She must like it--she falls asleep almost immediately after you lay her down in bed and she stays asleep 8 to 10 hours every night. We have a video monitor my mom found at a garage sale for $15 and we can look in on her without even getting out of bed. I look forward to seeing her grow and learn to play in her very own room.

Flashback: The Birth of a Blythe Baby

Elizabeth Suzanne Blythe, December 7, 2010, 7 lb, 10 oz, 19.75 in

So all three of you my faithful followers know that Izzy was born, but I feel like I must tell the story--it's all out of order and should have been done ages ago, but it wasn't, so the anal-retentive part of me is going to have to deal with the fact that this blog is not always going to be chronological (because let's face it, life is just going to get busier from here on out). So, without further ado, the story of Izzy's birth!

The Friday before Izzy was born (one week and one day before her due date), I said to my co-workers on the way out the door, "I think it's going to be Sunday night. I don't know why, but I think it." We all laughed, because really, who can ever know when nature will decide that baby is going to be born?

Aaron and I ran errands over the weekend, nothing too exciting. I was feeling to huge to spend much time on my feet, but on Sunday afternoon we went out to Best Buy because they had a small deep freeze on sale, and I wanted to get one for our house. This specific model was small enough to fit down our agent basement stairs and upright rather than chest-style, and it was a pretty good deal, so we bought it. It isn't huge and it isn't that heavy--Aaron could get it from the Best Buy shopping cart into the SUV by himself.

When we got home we decided we needed an appliance dolly to get it into the house and down the basement stairs (especially since Aaron was doing this all by himself since his over-nine-months-pregnant wife was going to be no help at all). We ran over to the Home Depot to pick up a dolly and then Aaron got the freezer into the basement, but it was late in the evening so we couldn't return the dolly till the morning.

In the course of moving things out of the way to get the freezer downstairs, Aaron pushed a trunk we have in the kitchen into the main walkway, and my big old pregnant self decided to step over it instead of moving it--I'm not really sure why. Maybe I felt a little proud of myself that I COULD still do such a thing...who knows. By the end of the evening, I started wondering if maybe my water had broken...I just felt a little like something was going on. I told myself it was because I had made that statement to my co-workers on Friday, so I didn't think much of it, but had a tiny bit of spotting so I called the doctor, who said unless it got more pronounced, just to stop by the office in the morning.

In the morning, we had to return the appliance dolly to Home Depot (or risk a late penalty), so we ran there before we stopped by the doctor. I fully expected to be told to head on to work after I saw the doctor, so I didn't eat any breakfast and called to let my boss now I'd be about an hour late.

Then we saw the doctor. "Your water might have broken," she said, and sent me over to the hospital to have a little swab test done that would tell us for sure. I still thought there was no way (I hadn't felt a single contraction and I still felt as awesome as I had the whole pregnancy) so instead of stopping for a bite to eat, we went over to Labor and Delivery. I still expected to be sent on to work in just a little while.

Well, lo and behold, the nurse does her little swab test and voila, my water HAS broken. They tell me I am staying and that they will get me started on pitocin ASAP since I'm not having any signs of laber. Aaron says he will go get our bags (which are at home). I ask the nurse if I can have some food. She says I can have a popsicle, and no, they do not have red. My choices are orange and green. I am irritated and hungry.

Aaron eats something and gets back just as I get into a hospital gown and get settled in my room (which is nice and big--St. Luke's has recently remodeled Labor and Delivery and it is really nice). Around 2 they start me on pitocin, and pretty much all I can do is sit in my bed--once they give you something to induce your labor, you're required to be on a baby monitor. Thankfully my sister has burned the entire season of Glee onto DVDs for me, so I have that to do. Then we wait.

Around 8, Aaron decides to go get dinner (at this point, I have not had anything to eat for 24 hours). While he is gone, I start to feel the contractions, so I call him and check to be sure he'll be back soon--things are getting a little uncomfortable.

I should mention that my "plan" was to try labor without any medication. When the contractions started getting noticeable, I thought to myself, no biggie, I can do this. Around midnight they were pretty intense, but I still felt good. They stopped my pitocin so I could rest (seriously? People can rest while they are having those sorts of labor pains?) and at some point I got up to go to the bathroom--and then the contractions moved to my back.

The baby must have moved into a different position--but after that point things got REAL. I have never felt anything like those back contractions. The nurse told me I was dilated to a 2, and that I would likely be in labor for at least 18 more hours. Just thinking about feeling that way for even one more hour made me start crying. I asked the nurse to please send in the anesthesiologist to answer some questions about an epidural--I was kind of afraid of the idea of that needle in my spine.

When the anesthesiologist finally arrived (it must have been around 2:30 a.m.) he started explaining the process to me, but I was in so much pain I couldn't even listen. Finally I said "I don't care, just give me the papers to sign." I though the guy was sort of unfriendly--as soon as he was almost set up, another guy came in, and I learned that the first guy is new at this--an intern or something. While he is sticking a serious needle directly into my spinal column, I am watching Aaron's face--he looks ready to punch the dude in the face. Apparently he had to reset the needle three times--I was focusing so much on breathing through my contractions that I didn't even notice.

Then the drugs kick in...and life is glorious. I felt SO much relief that I almost immediately fall asleep. Aaron says "I thought that wasn't supposed to make you loopy, since it doesn't go in your bloodstream?" I felt so great, I was giddy and giggling. They woke me up every hour or so to have me switch which side I am lying on, but mostly, I just rest.

They restart the pitocin around 5:00 a.m., and at 9:30, Mary (our great Labor and Delivery nurse) checks me and says I am now dilated to a 3. A THREE??? Seriously? That many hours later? Mary tells me that I should keep getting rest, because at this rate, it will be late evening before the baby arrives. She says she will come check me at 12:30, so Aaron goes to take a shower and eat lunch.

At 12:30, Mary comes in and checks me, just as we planned. "Oh!" she says, sounding surprised. "Well!"

Apparently, I am now completely dilated. I call Aaron.

"What are you doing?" I ask him. He's just about to hop in the shower. "Well," I say, "I'm a 10, so you might want to speed it up."

"Should I come now? What do I do?" Aaron starts to freak a little. Mary tells me that he can take a shower, but not to dilly-dally, so they get the room all ready and call the doctor while we wait for Aaron to return.

It's about 1:00 when Aaron arrives, and they page the doctor and tell him I am ready. In the meantime, Mary has given me a quick verbal tutorial about pushing, and I sort of start to feel the contractions enough to know it's time to do this. The doctor arrives.

At 1:20, I push for the first time. Five or six pushes later, Elizabeth Suzanne Blythe is born at 1:38 p.m. She weighs 7 pounds, 10 ounces, and is 19 and 3/4 inches long. She is beautiful and amazing, and I hold her on my chest and Aaron and I both cry. We are amazed and in love at once.

After about an hour, they give her a work-up--measurements, Apgar test, clean her off, etc. I eat the most amazing cheese and peanut butter crackers and have the most glorious Sprite that ever existed. (I hadn't eaten in 43 hours).

We did it! Silly me to think I needed to do it without the drugs--they were amazing! More power to you ladies who can do without them, but it made my experience SO much better. I can't believe my body is capable of such things.

So that's the story! Mainly I wanted to record it somewhere so I wouldn't forget. Hopefully it wasn't TMI. :)

I Suck at Blogging

Izzy agrees...mom is not good at time management these days.

The truth is out, folks--I suck at blogging. In fact, I am finding it hard to do much of anything besides get to work and get home and hang out with the baby, then get ready to do it again the next day.

Izzy would like you to know that lots of exciting things are happening in her life and she would prefer it if I would update the blog more frequently. I am resolving to do just that--so be watching for new posts (and several flashbacks to what has been happening with us since the Cupcake arrived!).

Hope you haven't all abandoned us!

Love,

Kate