"C" is for Cockerham

"C" is for Cloud

2012-02-10T20:14:00.002-06:00

I recently asked my FB friends if they used Apple's iCloud email and if they liked it. I got two positive responses and one negative. I tried using my @me.com account for a couple weeks. Here are my pros and cons:

Pros

cool @me.com email address (I had my firstname.lastname, which I really liked)
seamless integration with my other Apple products and one less username/password to remember

Cons

In the tabs of my internet browser, it shows the number of messages in my inbox instead of just the number of unread messages in my inbox. Super annoying.
I would need to update all of my other online accounts to send mail to me.com instead of gmail.
Some online accounts use email as the username and don't allow me to change my username. For example, to login to my account for mail order prescriptions I have to use my Gmail account and not my @me.com account because the site doesn't allow me to update my username, so now even though I would be using my @me.com account for communications with medco, I still have to log on using my Gmail address.
Apple doesn't let me change my password to anything I've used previously (in the last year?). (No one has ever compromised any of my accounts. I want to set my password to what I want it to be.)
I couldn't figure out a way to read messages below instead of to the side. Illustrations below.

side view in iCloud. read messages to the right.

Outlook example of reading messages below.

The final verdict? I'll be keeping my Gmail. I am a little miffed about the new Gmail layout though. I've done well with their other aesthetic changes, but I really hate the new look. It's all scrunched up, and the buttons for replying and deleting aren't in good places. Luckily, I am able to keep the old look for the time being.

To end on a positive note, I do love the concept of iCloud. Having all of my Apple devices backed up online and synced wirelessly is a huge plus. Changes I make to my calendar and contacts on my phone show up on my computer and vice versa within seconds, and it's all saved on the cloud too. Another bonus is the ability to find and remotely lock or erase my Mac or iPhone using iCloud from any computer.

So overall I still love Apple...just not their email. Hopefully now that they've launched iCloud instead of MobileMe, they'll make some improvements with email, so I can convert completely.

"C" is for Cucumbers

2012-02-08T15:44:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend we got to visit some of my favorite people on earth in Dallas. I LOVE when we get to go to Dallas. We traveled there about once a month before Tully was born, and now that he's sleeping through the night, it makes the trip easier and enjoyable again. While I was in town, I stopped in at my favorite nail place, Mai-Le Nails on Greenville. It's the most ridiculous hole-in-the-wall looking salon inside, but the girls there do killer pink and white acrylic nails. Thin, smooth, sculpted, and natural-looking. I have yet to find anyone who can replicate the excellent work they do with acrylic there.

There was an hour long wait when we arrived, so we hopped over to The Hawaiian Nail Bar just across the shopping mall for pedicures. I had never been there, but it was really nice. Clean, friendly, and fast. I must say I was a little surprised when I looked down and saw this though...

I didn't think I'd have real cucumbers all over my legs like chicken pox when I asked for the cooling cucumber pedicure. Salad anyone?

"C" is for Child (cont.)

2012-02-02T01:04:00.000-06:00

This week's special? Three for one: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas! Here are Tully's seven, eight, and nine month updates. In all of the holiday madness I missed the eight month photo. Oopsie!

7 months

9 months

Milestones
7 months:
Gaining an entire pound in 10 days. Tully jumped from 45% to the 60% for weight. Helloooo growth spurt!
Crawling. Grammy and PawPaw were at our house to see his first moves!
Pulling up

8 months:
Cruising
Waving bye-bye
Crawling up the stairs

9 months:
Sleeping through the night (woo hoo!)
Crawling up and down the stairs
Standing up and almost walking (soooo close)

New foods: avocados, bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, oatmeal, broccoli, chicken, pork, beef, squash, scrambled eggs, whole wheat teething cookies, and anything on the floor. Baby-led weaning (solids, no purees) is a success!
Favorite food: acorn squash, butternut squash, any kind of squash
Nursing regularly during the day and before bedtime
Total diapers: 3262
Six teeth: two bottom, four top

With all the new spaces he can explore by crawling and crusing, he is officially into everything. He especially enjoys opening and closing the baskets with our shoes in the entry hall and untying shoestrings. The kitchen cabinets and drawers with plastic-ware are also favorite finds during playtime. Several "toys" have been added to his toy basket too:

Fun-sized Skittles packages leftover from Halloween
Big plastic bowls for handing out Halloween candy
An empty Coca-Cola box
Plastic bottles (spice, water, etc.) filled with some dry pasta

Pretty exciting stuff and a lot cheaper than buying new things at the store.

We spent Halloween bundled up on the porch handing out candy to the local kiddos. No fancy, over-priced costume, no trapsing around the neighborhood. We have plenty of years ahead of us for that.

Thanksgiving was low-key too. Grammy and PawPaw came over, and after Thanksgiving dinner we watched the Aggies lose to the Longhorns. Tully cried and so did Mommy.

We enjoyed Christmas in Texas at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's new house with the rest of the Cockerham family. They had THE perfect layout (1-story, bedrooms on one side of house, living room on other) for Tully to sleep. Our house has a very open layout which means sound travels. It was so nice to be able to talk, yell, laugh, and make noise without worrying about waking Tully. We spent the entire trip relaxing by the fireplaces, especially when the heater wasn't working! The house was built in the 50's, and the heater was having some issues. Luckily a guy came out who knew what he was doing. I think they'd had several other maintenance men out who weren't able to fix it. So we had plenty of heat by the time the snow arrived for our white Christmas.

We received lots of wonderful gifts this year. Several really surprised me. Here are some of my favorites:

Burlap Tom's for me

Tiny Tom's for Tully

Pandora bracelet from John

V-Tech discovery table

Imaginarium walker for cruising around the house

Robeez shoes - I'm obsessed with these, and they stay on.

Robeez socks - I want to buy a million pairs of these socks. They are thin (in a good way, not bulky with shoes), and they stay on!

Teavana stainless steel travel tumbler - AMAZING! This thing keeps tea HOT, not just warm, for HOURS.

And this photo pretty much sums up our Christmas. Tully loved the bows and ribbons!

"C" is for Cooking - November Edition

2012-01-04T21:18:00.003-06:00

This is the second in my series of posts on our monthly menu planning. We try to do a beef, pork, chicken, and seafood meal each week with plenty of veggies.

Here was November's menu.
KEY: Yummy, Favorite/staple in our house

Week 1:
Eggs with peppers and onions (Real Simple)
Chicken and citrus salad (Real Simple)
Lemony tuna and pasta (Real Simple)
Chipotle beef and beer chili (Real Simple)

Week 2:
Crab and corn chowda mac (Rachel Ray)
Dinner Out!

Bacon and blue cheese burgers & sweet potato fries

Make Your Own Take Out (MYOTO, Rachel Ray)

Week 3:

Beef Tacos

Nanna's spaghetti & salad

Salmon with leeks and bacon (Rachel Ray)

Greek Pitas

Week 4:
Rosemary pork chops (Rachel Ray)

Bacon Leek and Tomato (BLT) soup (Rachel Ray)

Steaks & rosemary potatoes

THANKSGIVING! Ham, chipotle sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, pecan pie, pumpkin pie

Week 5:
Hamburger helper & salad

Porkloin, potatoes, and salad

Chicken with cabbage slaw

Turkey sausage & Zatarain's rice

Trend this month? Real Simple--FAIL! Rachel Ray--yum-o!

"C" is for Connecting

2011-11-16T18:42:00.002-06:00

I'm connecting up today with Allison for "Way Back When-sday." Her post testing out baby gear with her pup, Rocky, inspired this one. Apparently we weren't alone when we tried to put our dog, Zach, in the stroller when I was pregnant with Tully. Zach's game for just about anything and totally trusts us, but he thought getting in the stroller was just plain silly. I'm not sure what the stroller weight limit is, but I can attest that it will hold up to 55 lbs.

Get me outta here, Dad!

And since I've really only been posting pics of Tully for the past seven months, I'll leave you with a few more shots of our favorite fur baby.

John and Zach hiking in TX - Jan 2011

Snowpocalypse - Feb 2011

Relaxing with Daddy and Tully - April 2011

Hanging out on the patio - July 2011

Lounging at my parents' house - July 2011

July 2011

"C" is for Cooking - October Edition

2011-11-14T08:34:00.000-06:00

I'm putting this under the "Recipes" label, but I'm not really planning to link any recipes, so my apologies in advance. A few months ago Nanna came into our lives to care for Tully. In addition to being a fabulous nanny, Nanna cooks. She makes dinner the days she is here (M-Th), and we usually have plenty for leftovers for lunches and over the weekend. We are so, so, so spoiled with Nanna. She makes everything delicious.

To make Nanna's job easier, we implemented monthly menus starting in October. John and I sit down at the end of the month and plan the next month's meals. One of us goes shopping on Sunday night each week. John usually does this while I nurse Tully to sleep. Every week I print my calendar that includes appointments for Tully, meetings for me, and the menu, so Nanna knows the plan. We've been doing this for two months, and it's working out great so far. Nanna can prep food during Tully's naps and have dinner ready when she leaves at 6. We haven't eaten the same meal in over a month! I really love that we are eating new foods each night, and I get to try recipes that I wouldn't normally attempt myself.

My goal is to post a list of our menu each month to give other people ideas on what to make. The recipes come from various places, so I can't promise there will be a source for each one. Google should be able to help you out there. The concept started from Real Simple magazine's October edition with recipes for a month's worth of meals. We try to have a beef, a chicken, a pork, and a seafood meal each each week to keep it interesting.

I will say that although we plan a meal for every night Monday through Thursday, there are rare occasions when we decide to eat out or have other plans that evening. Also, I can remember one day when Tully needed extra snuggles, and Nanna just didn't have time for the kitchen. Life happens, right? But for the most part, we have a steaming hot delicious meal waiting for us after work.

Here was October's menu.
KEY: Yummy, Favorite/staple in our house

Week 1:
Pork Chops with Beets & Oranges (Real Simple)

Salmon with Green Beans and Bok Choy (Real Simple)

Tomato Soup with Roast Beef Paninis (Real Simple)
Chicken with Potatoes, Bacon, and Cabbage (Real Simple)

Week 2:

Pork Loin with Rosemary Potatoes (pre-seasoned, packaged pork)

Chicken with Rice & Grapes (Real Simple)
Steak with Sherry & Salad (Real Simple)

Nanna's Spaghetti & Salad (Nanna's secret)

Week 3:
Chicken, Veggie, & Quinoa Salad (Real Simple)
Shrimp Tacos with Black Beans (Real Simple)
Pasta with Sausage & Tomatoes (Real Simple)

Beef Tacos & Corn Salad (my made-up versions)

Week 4:

Pork Loin with Cauliflower & Capers (Real Simple)

Lamb Chops with Broccoli & Feta (Real Simple)
Tuna & Pasta (Real Simple)

Pasta alla Vodka (Pioneer Woman, We add Italian meatballs)

Happy menu planning!

"C" is for Carrier

2011-11-08T02:34:00.005-06:00

The Ergo Sport baby carrier is SO much more comfortable than the Baby Bjorn Synergy one. Why didn't someone tell me this sooner?!

I've been wrecking my back muscles toting around Tully for 6 months in the Bjorn, even going so far as to visit the chiropractor for the pain. Shoot me now. The Bjorn is great as far as being hands-free goes, but I could only last about 30 minutes in it. Obviously it was easier to use the Bjorn carrier than to carry him with my arms, but my back and shoulders seriously paid the price.

Tully in Baby Bjorn - 4 months

Enter the Ergo. Last week a few moms were over for a kiddie play date, and I got to try out the Ergo Sport. One word: heaven. The weight that was previously on my back and shoulders in the Bjorn was now being distributed across my hips in the Ergo. The difference was night and day. I could tote Tully around for hours in the Ergo. I had read reviews before but was afraid that Tully wouldn't like the Ergo because he couldn't face outwards like he can in the Bjorn. The neat thing about the Ergo is that in addition to the inward-facing front carry, the baby can be carried backpack-style or on the hip, so Tully can see everything he's used to seeing from my hip.

We've tried the Ergo for a week now, and it's been hit or miss with Tully. I think most of the "miss" was because he hasn't been feeling well and/or didn't like shopping at Target. He was pretty fussy at Target when I used the hip carry. If shopping was the issue, we've got a problem. Who doesn't like shopping at Target? Ugh. Boys. I did take him on a walk to the park backpack-style, and he really enjoyed it (read: we made it two laps AND around the neighborhood w/o a peep). As a benchmark, if he's in the stroller, we're lucky to get one lap at the park. Apparently there isn't enough to see at stroller-level.

Fabric-wise I like the Ergo better too. It is cotton instead of mesh. Ergo does make a Performance carrier that uses mesh, but it was more expensive and had more material overall. I liked that the Sport was cotton, had a big breathing slit, and was less material. Also, the Sport hood was removable, which made room for other items (e.g. keys, cell phone) in the pouch.

Another plus for the Ergo is that Tully's weight sits on his bottom instead of on his groin area. When I would take him out of the Bjorn, his inner thighs and diaper area would all be red. I don't think it was painful for him, but it might have become uncomfortable after a long period of time. I don't see this being a problem in the Ergo.

There are only two downsides I can see for the Ergo.

1) It is probably best for a baby 5-6 months or older. They need to be able to straddle your torso. Ergo makes an infant insert, but I'm not sure this solves the straddling problem. Maybe a newborn could tuck their legs up inside the carrier and not have them out at all? I dunno. I'd have to try it.

2) The Ergo is more difficult to put on with the baby. The back carry was the hardest to put on, followed by the hip and then the front carry. The hip and front carries aren't especially difficult to do, but the straps have to be moved into different configurations for each. Also, I'm still getting used to the Ergo, so maybe putting it on will be easier in the future. For the back carry, I really needed a second person to slip the baby down into the carrier after I got it partially on.

I ordered my Ergo Sport from Amazon on a Friday, and it showed up on Monday. Looking now it was the same price direct from the Ergo website, but you'd have to pay shipping. I'm a huge Amazon fan, and I like the one click shopping. Precious seconds added to my day. Free shipping with Amazon Mom is nice too.

John stole the carrier for a few minutes over the weekend, and I snapped this pic before he realized what I was doing and bolted out the door. I will surely get a phone call as soon as this post hits his email inbox. The Ergo did get daddy's stamp of approval over the Bjorn though.

Tully in Ergo Sport carrier - 7 months

"C" is for Cords

2011-11-01T08:31:00.000-05:00

I've recently discovered that there are many other bloggers with self-diagnosed OCD who post about their little projects, so I thought I would share this one that I've been using for a while. You know all of those miscellaneous cords that get crammed into the it-doesn't-have-a-home kitchen drawer? Well I found a nice home for mine.

All of our cell phone, computer, and various other electronic cords get neatly wound up and placed in plastic baggies. I label the plastic baggies, so I actually know what cords go with which electronic item. Then I put all of the baggies into the zippered bag from our king-sized sheets. It's not very pretty, but it does the job. Most importantly, I can find what I need and none of the cords get tangled. Am I the only one that organizes silly stuff like this? I hope not.

"C" is for Coat Tree

2011-10-31T08:59:00.000-05:00

A coat tree in the bathroom? Why yes. Doesn't everyone put their coats in the bathroom?

Tully is on the move army crawling, and it never fails that he heads straight for this coat rack in the corner of our entry hall. I was putting away groceries today, and he made it from the middle of our living room to the coats in about three seconds flat. I always know when he's about to get into something he shouldn't because he stops banging whatever it is that's OK to play with or stops babbling. Instead of worrying about him pulling the coat rack on his head, I decided to move it to a room where I can close the door. So, if you come to visit, you'll have a place to put your coat when while you use the restroom. Genius.

P.S. Check out John's furry weird hat on the top right of the rack. This hat, complete with ear flaps, totally cracks me up but is super functional in the winter. I'll have to remember to sneak a pic next time he wears it.

"C" is for Consumer Safety

2011-10-27T10:05:00.000-05:00

Tully (June 2011)

I received a notification recently about the BOB stroller "recall", which turns out not to be much of a recall at all. I'm amazed that BOB has to put out notifications like this to prevent litigation. I had to register my email address and all sorts of other personal information to get the full details on said "recall," but I eventually found out you need to take a pair of tweezers and pull the paper-like backing off the inside of the canopy embroidery (see photo above), so your kid doesn't tear it off and choke. Two seconds and some tweezers. Problem solved. Now you know.

Full details on removal instructions here.

"C" is for Cycles and Crocheted Hats

2011-10-24T13:12:00.000-05:00

My aunt and uncle drove in from Colorado last week, so they stopped by the house to meet Tully. While they were visiting, we showed my aunt the new crocheted hats we got in for the little business venture my mom and I are doing to sell baby stuff. I'm helping my mom out in my free time (ha!), so my dining room is serving as the inventory tagging space until we get everything set up. Tully will probably kill me for this one day, but I think he makes a pretty cute girl.

Aunt B and Tully

We're also selling vintage pedal toys, so Tully gave the junior trike a test ride. He is obsessed with watching the pedals. Even when we take him off the trike, he finds it in the corner and inspects the pedals over and over again. I can already hear him saying, "M-om (you know, the two syllable version), why did you put me on a PINK trike? And more importantly, why did you blast it all over the internet?!" Sorry, baby, I loved watching your little legs kick with joy while you were riding it and just had to share.

"C" is for Child (cont.)

2011-10-13T10:37:00.000-05:00

It's been a month already? Sheesh. I've written a lot of posts in my head, but sadly none of them made it to print. I can't miss Tully's monthly update though, so here goes.

6 month stats (WHO Charts)
Weight 17 lbs 6 oz (48%) (49% last month)
Height 27.5 in (85%) (73% last month)
Head 17.13 in (55%) (49% last month)

He's right on track, happy, and healthy, but for some reason our pediatrician is strongly encouraging weaning. Um, hold up! We are nowhere near ready to wean--we're just getting good at this! So now we're on the hunt for a new pediatrician. This reminds me of my decision to change from my Ob-Gyn to a midwife at 34 weeks pregnant. Am I the only person that does this? My whole life I've gone to regular doctors and never had a problem, but these issues seem to be deal-breakers. So I called a pediatrician recommended to us by my Bradley childbirth class instructor. Unfortunately Dr. Ross is only taking maternity/newborn cases. Boo. My next thought was to see if my lactation consultant had a good recommendation. I didn't realize she was in the same building with Dr. Ross, but she's offered to see if he'd make an exception and take Tully as a patient. Fingers crossed! (Update: Dr. Ross took Tully as a patient! My lactation consultant is truly an angel.)

While I've been busy worrying about which doctor we'll see, Tully's been busy with the following:

Army crawling
Teething
Laughing
Grabbing everything and putting it in his mouth
Babbling, especially when he first wakes up
Playing and laughing at himself in the mirror (this never gets old)
Continuing to wake up every 3 hrs or so at night
Enjoying watching cars/trucks/buses/people

Here is his army crawl in action. Check out the old man hair in the back too.

He got his first tooth while we were in DC in September, and the second one came in a week later. And based on the lack of sleep we're all getting, I'm guessing #3 is going to appear any day now. For the most part, Tully is a trooper with this whole teething business, but sometimes I can tell they really hurt him. Poor baby!

Look, Ma, two teeth! And yes, he is standing in his crib. Time to lower...again.
Oh, and see his little birthmark on his middle finger? It's a dark spot where a ring would be.

We get the best laughs out of Tully when we hold him out in front of us, facing the ground and chase Zach around in the front yard. I need to get a video of this, but he thinks chasing Zach is the most hilarious thing in the whole world. He also went crazy babbling and squealing when he would wait on me at the top of the metro escalator on a recent trip to DC. He LOVED the buses, cars, trucks, horns, and people. I've never seen him so excited. He had a great week with Grammy while I got work done in the office. He even came to the office to visit me one day. The only downside was the RIDICULOUS amount of luggage required to travel with a baby.

This was the luggage for all three of us, but still...that red bag on top of the black suitcase was dedicated to only diapers. I used to travel to DC for a week with only the green suitcase and a purse that was large enough to carry my laptop. (L to R) We had a large suitcase, small duffel with diapers, a roller-board carry-on, cooler with milk, carry-on for under the seat, infant carrier, and stroller. In addition to all of that, I carried the baby. Thank goodness Grammy was traveling with us! We never would have made it.

Of all the stories I can think of from DC, the one that stands out the most was when "momma bear" came out on the plane ride home. Tully and I were intentionally the last ones to board the plane, so Grammy had all the bags put away, and as soon as we sat down the plane took off. As planned, Tully immediately nursed to sleep and was resting quietly in my arms. Next thing I know he's jumping out of his skin because the lady in our row is opening her heavy duty double velcro bag. Repeatedly. Like 10 times repeatedly. She would get out a pen and then put it back. Get out chapstick, put it back. Same for her ginger chews (two of them), magazines, kindle, cell phone, notepad, pen (again), and finally another ginger chew. Tully woke up each time but luckily settled back to sleep for the most part. My mom and I looked at each other like, "You've GOT to be kidding me." I said to my mom, "If she does it one more time, I will say something." Sure enough...RIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPP! I politely leaned forward and told the lady my baby was being so good and quiet, and asked her if she knew that each time she opened her bag, it was startling him. Maybe she didn't know, right? She looked at me with the most pathetic, snotty look I've ever seen and said in a high-pitched voice, "Well, I don't know what to do!" I informed her that she could get everything out she needed the first time or not get it out at all. (Hear my momma bear roar?) She quietly put her bag down, left it open, and didn't make much noise the rest of the flight. I don't expect complete silence on an airplane. I mean, c'mon, you've heard the flight attendant announcements, right? Tully is a champ at sleeping through most of those, but the velcro was just too much.

Read about Tully's other DC adventures with Grammy here:

Day 1 - New tooth, hotel room, and stroller rides
Day 2 - Bethesda Row adventure (Mmmm....cookies!)
Day 3 - Laundry day and tour of Bethesda in pajamas
Day 4 - Tully visits NRC, rides the metro and meets Ms. Virginia
Day 5 - Strolling in the rain
Last Day - Grammy's version of the snooty velcro lady

Once we made it back home, we got into our regular routine again, and we introduced Tully to apples. We're doing a "Baby Led Weaning" approach to introducing solids. This was the first time he showed real interest in solid food, and it was pretty funny when he was smelling the apples. Near the end of this clip, he actually gets some juice in his nose, and you can see his sour face. This continued for about 20 minutes, which is an eternity on Tully Time.

We've also tried bananas, which have been hit or miss. The little net nubby thing keeps the mess to a minimum, but sometimes we just let him go at it and paint his high chair tray with food. He also grabbed a baby carrot from my plate this week and enjoyed chewing on it. Carrots aren't exactly on the top 5 list of first foods to introduce, but they're still a "whole food" so I figure I'll let him eat them. Avocados aren't in season right now anyway, and we never have pears because I don't like them. Here is a good website I've used for Baby Led Weaning: Momtastic. The site lists readiness signs and gives good ideas for introducing solids, which are mainly fruits and veggies. If you're interested in skipping puréed food and spoon-feeding, check it out!

Tully has also really gotten into jumping in his jumperoo. He's always liked this thing, but he's recently taken it to a whole new level.

For comparison, this was Tully in the same jumperoo a couple months ago.

Time flies when you're having fun!

"C" is for Child (cont.)

2011-09-11T23:43:00.000-05:00

Taken Sept 11, 2011

Tully's visit to the doctor isn't until next month, so the only stat I have for September is his weight: 16 lb 9 oz (57%). I would note that the charts used in the US are set by the CDC, and they differ significantly from those of the World Health Organization (WHO), which are used internationally and specifically for breastfed babies. The CDC charts show his weight to be declining (62% --> 57%) since our last weight check, but the WHO charts show him to be consistently on track (49% --> 49%). In any case, he's happy and healthy, so I don't really care what the charts say. It's interesting to me that there's a difference nonetheless.

Interesting things in Tully's world this month included:

Rolling over and over and over to get from point A to point B (10 ft+)
Sitting up unassisted!
Sitting up and facing me to nurse instead of being in a cradle position (weird!)
Waking every 2-3 hours to eat at night (shoot me now)
Arching back and pulling arms out of car seat straps when we put him in it
Showing much more interest in our dog, ZachZach (Grammy's blog post on that here)
Sitting in the high chair for dinner (eats his toys for now)
Still loves bath time (I can hear him squeal with delight upstairs EVERY night)
Sits in the portable chair with us at restaurants (looks like pic below)

Tully had his first sickness this month. I'm not sure what it was, but it lasted about three days, and of course those days fell on a weekend. He was acting out of sorts on Friday, being fussy, not sleeping (not unusual), and not nursing. Fussy I can handle. Minor cough, OK. Snotty nose, no big deal. Not eating?! I draw the line there. Since he usually gets bottles of pumped milk during the day with Nanna, I thought he was trying to hold out for a bottle on Friday. I can't imagine why I thought nipple confusion or a preference for the bottle would rear it's ugly head this late in the game, but I am always questioning my ability to sustain this little being. Since I'm off work on Fridays, I usually don't give him any bottles on Fridays or the weekends. Turns out his disinterest in food had nothing to do with the bottle. He just didn't feel good. Teething? Allergies? Cold? Virus? I dunno. I told myself I would take him to the doc, if he was still sick on Monday but by the time Monday rolled around he was back to better, so I saved myself a trip. I did call my local LLL leader, and she was super helpful in reassuring me that he would come back to nursing and that I was doing the right things to take care of him. We got a humidifier as a baby gift, which I thought we wouldn't need until winter when the air is dry, but we actually got it out and used it. I think it really helped with his cough. As any mom knows, having a sick baby is the pits. And having a sick baby who can't tell you what's wrong is even worse. Glad we have that behind us, and it didn't require a doctor or any meds.

Since Tully isn't sleeping through the night at all, it's been a rough month. Getting up every two hours or so is exhausting and reminds me of how things were when he was a newborn. The good news is that I think we're moving past this phase for a bit because he made it until 1 am a few nights ago, then 2, 3, and last night 4 am before waking up. I'll take it! Fingers crossed we continue on this path until teething or some other major milestone interrupts his sleep again.

We have our first major trip planned to DC this coming month, so that should be fun and interesting (read: I'm TOTALLY freaking out!). I have to work at NRC's HQ office for a week, so Grammy and Tully are going on an East Coast vacation with me.

We're also starting baby sign language with a couple other moms and babies. They come over on Fridays, so the kids can have a play date, and eventually we'll all be learning sign language from videos. We know the kids won't sign back to us for months, but Tully does listen and tries to mimic what we say, so I know he's at least aware that something is going on. I'm really excited for him to be able to communicate with us. And in true Mommy Brain fashion, I left our TV on the DVD home screen this past Friday because, well... I don't know why. I just did, and it burned into the TV screen. John found it the next day. Awesomesauce.

"C" is for Compulsive

2011-08-28T20:35:00.000-05:00

It started in the garage and ended in the kitchen. My OCD has completely taken over! Before Tully was born we started reorganizing the garage. We've been a little preoccupied since his birth, but this was still on my to-do list. I asked my parents to watch Tully one Saturday while John and I got things in order. It ended up that everyone in the family pitched in, and we traded shifts with one person inside with Tully. The previous owners of our house installed these great shelves, so all we had to do was add the bins and put things in the right place. The before pic below is really more like a half-way done pic, since we started this in March. We were doing good to put things on the shelves, but the stuff on the floor had completely taken over, and John was having to park outside. No bueno. Also, take note of the pile of stuff on the black storage unit on the far left side. Junk heaven.

Before

The biggest disorganization pitfall in our entire garage was the black storage unit. This is an old pic when it was cleaned off. It looked nothing like this when we started clearing the garage.

This storage unit was left by the previous owners, though I wish they had taken it with them. All we did was pile stuff on here. There was about one foot of space for John to open his car door and walk to the house door. So he would park as far away from possible from it, which meant he was halfway on my side of the garage. I griped about this stupid black storage thing all the time. So we decided we would give it away on Craigslist for free the weekend we tackled the garage. We put it at the end of the driveway, and before I could even create the post, a kid rang my doorbell and asked if we were looking for someone to haul it off. I told him he could take it. Good riddance!

After

After adjusting the shelves (multiple times...don't even get me started) to fit everything we needed, the pic above was the final result. The left side looks a little more chaotic than the right. Everything on the shelves on the far left is for a future garage sale. Since we don't need access to those items, I slid John's golf organizer in front of them to make more room along the wall to walk. The golf stuff may need to eventually go back on the left wall though. For now, I like the extra walking space. We'll see. We also managed to move all chemicals, hardware, and tools to middle/upper shelves, so anything Tully can access in his toddler years will be paper or plastic. The most important thing is that we can fit both cars with PLENTY of room between them in the garage. That is what the garage is for after all!

I may have gotten a little over ambitious with the label maker, but at least I'll know where everything is.

Also, I think I put this on a previous post, but I'm adding it here for good measure. We have two bins (plastic tackle boxes) full of hardware, and I love how easy it is to find everything. Here is a pic of one of the hardware bins.

Speaking of tackle boxes, I saw a battery storage idea on Pinterest, and knew I had to do this. The box on Pinterest was deeper, but ours works even though most of the batteries have to lay down.

still label-making happy

Lastly, we move on to the kitchen. I got this idea for pan organization on Pinterest as well. Of course, John gets sucked into all of these projects with me. He joined me on trips to Wal-Mart and Bed Bath and Beyond, so I could finish this one. I don't have any before shots, but try to picture only the pots, pans and lids spread out (no nesting) throughout the entire cabinet. After buying two types of pan storage organizers and a dish drying rack, I was able to add my baking tins.

ta da!

Here are better pics of the racks I used.

Top left (muffin tins): Bed Bath and Beyond Organizer Rack

Top Right and Bottom Left (baking tins, skillets): Rubbermaid #1H42 Pan Organizer

Neither of the above racks did a good job holding the lids for the pots and pans (the handles kept getting stuck), so we improvised and bought a dish drying rack at Bed Bath and Beyond. They fit perfectly. (You bet I'll be pinning THAT.)

I also moved things around in another cabinet and added a couple organizers. This is how it turned out.

Pyrex baking dishes behind the mixer

If you notice in the top picture with the mixer, there's a colander folded up in the same rack with the cutting boards. This is probably one of my most-used and favorite kitchen items. It totally does the job of draining foods, fits in the sink on two legs, and folds up nice and tidy in my cabinet. I did away with all of our bulky bowl-like colanders. I bought it at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Thanks for tuning in for my OCD post, and if you want an invite to Pinterest, let me know! You can see my pins here.

"C" is for Chelonian Part II

2011-08-22T15:56:00.000-05:00

Zach is definitely the little scavenger--he put a present on our porch this morning.

Boy was he proud of his turtle!

Zoomed in--right by his foot.

My mom posted about his turtle friend at her house last week (story here), but this week he found a turtle in our back yard.

It was just a little one, and I'm pretty sure half of his shell is missing on the bottom. Aren't they supposed to close up around their feet and head? When Nanna got here this morning, Zach tried to bring it inside to show her his new prize. Ew!! Not in my house.

In any case, since Zach could easily get to his skin, so we told him to "leave it." He sat right there by Mr. Turtle without touching it the rest of the morning. But every time he goes outside, he tries to sniff it out. I've notice he's been sidetracked with the bunny that lives under our play set and the squirrels along the fence and trees though. Poor Zach has been running around the yard all day frantically sniffing for all three critters at the same time!

"C" is for Child (cont.)

2011-08-19T00:50:00.000-05:00

Happy (very) belated 4 month birthday, sweet Tully Bear!

He checked out A-OK with the doc this month. Here are his stats:

Weight - 15 lb 5.5 oz (62%, up from 53%)
Height - 26.5 in (92%, up from 74%)
Head - 16.38 in (34%, up from 29%)

So in summary he is growing like a weed and still has a bean head. I am so happy and relieved that all of our supply issues are behind us: he is nursing like a champ. Here are some other exciting things in Tully's life:

Rolling over front to back and back to front
Not sleeping through night (more on this later)
Scooting backwards several feet while on his belly, inchworm style
Grabbing EVERYTHING and promptly putting it in his mouth
Showing frustration when he can't get his hands on something
Pulling ZachZach's fur and ears
Starting to sit up unassisted
Smiling all the time
Laughing lots, especially when we hold him in the air airplane style and move him up and down like we're doing an arm work out

DIAPER COUNT = 1857

Last month Ms. Jordan took care of Tully during the day because I went back to work. Ms. Jordan was a LIFESAVER! Tully loved playing with her, and we were sad to see her go. She set the nanny bar really high. She helped out until we could find a long-term nanny, and now that school has started, Ms. Jordan is back at her full-time teaching job. We plan to do a date night, so she can come back to visit soon.

We miss you, Jordan!

My mom also helped out for a week until the full-time nanny (aka Nanna) could start work in August. (Thanks, Grammy!) So now Nanna is at work with us full-time, and I'm feeling pretty spoiled. In addition to taking excellent care of Tully and playing with him all day, she sings to him, does our laundry, AND cooks! Get out!!! Right?! (I'm picking myself up off the floor now.) We had this "wish list" when we interviewed nannies, and she has exceeded all of our expectations. She's offered multiple times to do our grocery shopping and run errands, but John and I are continuing to take care of those things for now. And even though I can hear her entertaining Tully upstairs, she still makes notes in our BabyConnect app, so I know what toys, books, and activities he likes or dislikes. This is SUCH a relief. We started the nanny hunt back in October, which was waaaay too soon, but I was freaking out this summer when the girl we selected quit/got fired (long story) three days before she was supposed to start. I told myself over and over again that things would work themselves out, and thankfully they did. We just had to wait for the right person!

Nanna even loves our fur baby, Zach. We actually had one lady we interviewed tell us she wasn't interested in the job because "the dog was all over her and the baby." Zach's worst offense is licking the baby, and he immediately looks at us with apologetic puppy-dog eyes every time he does it. It's like he KNOWS he's not supposed to lick, but he just can't contain himself. In any case, I would never allow Zach to be "all over" anyone. Who do these people think they are accusing my dog of these heinous offenses? If we're FB friends, you may recall the neighborhood self-appointed dog patrol lady accusing Zach of being a duck killer. More recently, she yelled at another couple for letting their dogs chase the ducks. One dog was named Taco and was about the size of my shoe. Pretty sure he's not effecting (affecting? ugh I can never remember and do not feel like Googling this) the duck population. But I digress...being a dog lover was on our nanny wish list, and not only does Nanna love dogs, she works with a nearby rescue. Win-win, as Zach was a rescue too.

I mentioned Tully stopped sleeping through the night. Oh sleep, how I miss thee. At only a few weeks old we were able to easily get 5 and 6 hour stretches of sleep out of Tully. We even got to a point where we knew he would stay down for the night and could relax. Not so much any more. Since the three month mark, sleep has been hit or miss. Mostly miss. Three month growth spurt? Traveling? Four month sleep regression? I'm almost to the point I don't know or care what the reason is. All I know is I'm severely sleep deprived. I know it comes with the territory, and sadly my body has adjusted to waking at odd hours of the night with Tully up shortly thereafter. At least I know my baby, right? I will appreciate when he starts sleeping better though, and I'm sure John will be happy when I'm not Ms. Crabby Pants due to complete. total. utter. exhaustion.

Other four month highlights include Tully's first airplane ride and the Houston Tour de Tully. We traveled to Houston my work, stopping in Dallas for layovers, and then visited friends in the Houston-area over the weekend. It was great to see everyone BTW, and congrats on the house, ZandA! In addition to meeting friends, Tully also got to meet several of my co-workers. They even made an official name tag for him at the meeting.

Back to to the plane rides--Tully fussed a little before takeoffs but NEVER cried. What a relief! If you weren't in the row beside us, you probably wouldn't have even known there was a baby on the plane. I nursed Tully during takeoffs and landings, and he didn't seem to have any problems with his ears. We even made it through a 30+ minute delay on the runway with minimal noise. I can't say the same for the kid (1 y.o.?) behind us who SCREAMED for the better part of the plane delay and ride. The water bottle and straw the mom offered just wasn't cutting it for the upset kiddo, and both mom and baby ended up in tears. So sad. August is Breastfeeding Awareness Month, so I've seen a few articles here and there about mothers who were "harassed" or made to feel embarrassed for breastfeeding in public and specifically in airports/on airplanes. Now don't get me wrong, I do my best to be modest, but nursing a fussy (and sweaty?) baby under a cover isn't always an option. I wore my best "nursing-friendly" clothes, so it wasn't like a strip show every time I tried to feed him. Thankfully no one seemed offended when I nursed Tully throughout our plane rides, and hopefully they realized they could have had TWO screaming kids on the plane, had we not nursed the entire time. I also made it through security without any hassling from TSA regarding my cooler full of milk. I didn't know what to expect with this being my first work trip, so I wanted to make sure John had plenty of ammo in the fridge, but I was nervous that TSA would try to take it away. It turned out I could run upstairs in the hotel to nurse on breaks, so we came home with a lot of milk too. We accidentally left it in the car overnight, so I had to dump about 20 ounces of precious liquid gold down the drain. Tear. But I'm OK with it. There's plenty more frozen should we need it.

So anyway, I'll step off of my breastfeeding soapbox and leave you with a sweet pic of John and Tully at bath time. In addition to being an expert diaper changer, John is in charge of bath time each night.

Look at Tully's old man hair style! I love it.

"C" is for Chelonian

2011-08-15T18:52:00.000-05:00

che·lo·ni·an [ki-loh-nee-uh n]

noun
a turtle

My parents kept our dog, Zachry, while we were in Houston this past week. They live in the country, so Zach's always out scavenging, and he loves to run and play on their acreage. My mom posted a fun story on his adventures with a Mr. Turtle here. Check it out!

"C" is for Cosmetics

2011-08-10T10:46:00.000-05:00

I mentioned that Katie wrote stories on the contents of her purse and and cosmetic drawer in my previous post. I thought it was really interesting to see, so here's a sneak peek into my makeup bag.

Burt's Bees replenishing lip balm
Mary Kay medium coverage foundation (ivory 200)
Merle Norman luxiva xtra length mascara (black)
Mary Kay blush (nutmeg)
Studio Gear concealer (warm beige)
Studio Gear wet/dry powder (natural beige)
Studio Gear brushes
not pictured: Mary Kay eyeliner (black)
not pictured: Nutrogena Oil-free Moisture SPF 15

I love my Mary Kay foundation: coverage when I need it but doesn't look like caked-on makeup. Studio Gear isn't my favorite concealer or powder, but I'm trying to use it up before I go back to my Mary Kay staples. I think the concealer makes my mascara run. (If that's possible.) I do like the Studio Gear brushes though. A+ for those. I despise my mascara. Merle Norman changed the formula and brush this year, and I cannot figure out why I continue to use it. It's smudgy and smeary after only a few hours of wear, and it doesn't lengthen or plump any more. In any case, I need a new mascara recommendation. Criteria: thickening, lengthening, prefer non-waterproof, NO flaking, NO smudging.

What do you use to "put your face on" every day?

"C" is for Carryall

2011-08-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

I've been lacking blog motivation lately, but my bloggy friend, Katie, did a couple posts this past week that totally cracked me up. First she did Take a Look Inside My Bag. Next was her makeup drawer. I loved seeing what she had, so here's my purse!

From top to bottom, left to right (sorta):

fuzzy bee book
diapers
sling
boudreaux's butt paste
hand sanitizer
my wallet
extra romper
sunglasses
pencil
peppermint wrapper
old grocery list
wipes

Tully 6. Ashley 6. Pretty bad that the peppermint wrapper and old grocery list have to count to even things out. Can you tell I'm a mom?! At least I didn't have four pairs of glasses like Katie did. I do love my aviators though.

So what's in your bag?

"C" is for Coupon

2011-08-02T14:34:00.001-05:00

Shutterfly is doing a promotion through August where you get a $10 coupon when you share your project on your blog. (Limit one coupon per person.) Even though I already got my coupon for posting his photo book, I figured I would post the birth announcement I did a few months ago too. We took this "special delivery" photo of Tully, and Shutterfly had the perfect postage-themed announcement. It took about 10 minutes to put this together, proof, and order. Quick and easy! They even had the option to address and mail the announcements to my friends and family, but it was easier for me to print labels from my address book. It took a little extra postage, but I loved these square announcements!

Special Delivery Blue Birth Announcement

Turn your favorite photo into a birth announcement.

View the entire collection of cards.

"C" is for Capture

2011-08-02T14:09:00.001-05:00

I've been on a hiatus from blogging because I've been busy working on this photo book for Tully. Shutterfly sent me a coupon for a free 8x8 hardcover book, and I knew this would make a great gift for family. I ordered one for myself too. We've captured a lot of special memories over these past few months, and I can't wait for the book to arrive!

Click here to view this photo book larger

"C" is for Confusion

2011-07-13T16:04:00.000-05:00

It's official. I have "Mommy Brain." I am constantly forgetting and confusing things. I have to laugh at myself sometimes, as it is getting more ridiculous every day. Here are a few examples.

MB Moments #1 and #2
I drove to the mall a couple weeks ago to exchange a few clothes for Tully that weren't the right size. This was one of my few "alone" outings with Tully. Usually I can talk my mom into going with me, which is super helpful. So we get to the mall parking lot, and Tully decides he is hungry. I nurse him in the back seat. Twenty minutes later I unload the stroller, diaper bag, and Tully. I get him strapped in the stroller and do a last minute check to make sure I have everything. Diaper bag? Check. Baby? Check. Water for me? Check. Wallet? Check. Cell phone? Check. Diaper bag and baby? Just making sure. Then I look for the bag with the clothes I need to exchange. I realize they are at home. Ugh. So I reload Tully, the diaper bag, and the stroller and head home. I decided it wasn't worth another trip again that day.

Two weeks later. Repeat. I wish someone would have strapped the bag with returns to me, so I would have stopped forgetting it. Luckily I had my mom with me the second time, so we did go back home and eventually made the exchanges.

MB Moment #3

Two days ago I had the great idea to download a book to listen to while I jogged, like a book on CD but on my iPhone. I've been lacking motivation to get back out there, so this seemed like the ticket. So I get on my iPhone and start browsing iTunes for good books. I find one I like, and $10 and 10 seconds later it's on my phone. Excellent. I plug in my headphones, grab the dog leash, and quickly realize I just downloaded a book book, not an audio book. What am I going to do? Read while I run? Geez.

As a side note the book I downloaded is called "The Help" (coincidence? I think not. I need help in more ways than one.) I've been mostly reading it on John's iPad, since my iPhone screen is pretty small for reading. It is an excellent book so far!

MB Moment #4
As a little back story for this one, "Nanny J" is helping us out with Tully in July while I'm back at work full-time. She has to return to her regular teaching job in August, so we are looking for a long-term nanny and are setting up interviews this week. This was part of my phone call with a potential new nanny yesterday.

ME: Can you come in for an interview one evening this week?
NANNY X: Sure.
ME: What is today?
NANNY X: Tuesday.
ME: And what day is good for you this week?
NANNY X: Thursday
ME: OK. What time? How about 6:30?
NANNY X: Sure.
ME: (to John in the kitchen) Can you be home before 6:30 tomorrow?
JOHN: Sure.
ME: (to Nanny X) OK. Tomorrow at 6:30 is good for us.
NANNY X: Well, I have something Wednesday, so Thursday is better.
ME: No problem. So tomorrow at 6:30?
NANNY X: Tomorrow is Wednesday.
ME: Ugh! Sorry.

MB Moment #5
This morning. This one takes the cake.

ME: (opening fridge, looking at empty spot where milk should be) Are we out of milk?
NANNY J: I don't think so. You had a whole gallon on Monday or Tuesday.
ME: (peeking into recycle bin, seeing an old empty carton) How in the world did we finish a gallon of milk in a day or two?
NANNY J: (pointing to half full gallon of milk on kitchen counter) What about the milk you have out by the cereal box?
ME: Oh, the milk I got out and had ready to pour on my cereal? Right. Thanks.

John has confirmed that I do these types of things repeatedly throughout the day. I can only imagine what my co-workers think when they talk to me on the phone or read my emails. I am sure I don't even know my mistakes more than half of the time I am making them. I am undoubtedly losing my mind.

"C" is for Caper

2011-07-12T12:18:00.003-05:00

ca·per [key-per]

noun

1. a playful leap or skip.

2. a prank or trick; harebrained escapade.

3. a frivolous, carefree episode or activity.

Tully got quite a kick out of playing with John on his playmat. His eyes got huge every time John blew air in his face.

He also had fun with Grammy frantically looking at the lights on his new toy.

I promise we have clothes for the kid. I happened to catch these two videos just before bath time in the evening.

In other fun news Tully rolled from his tummy to his back today! John got to see it, so I'm jealous, but I'm really excited that Tully continues to develop new skills every day.

"C" is for Country Living

2011-07-10T00:03:00.001-05:00

Extreme Moving: Home Edition

This is what I followed on the way to my parents' house the other day. I wonder if they had to use a U-haul or could leave everything boxed in the house. Ahhh, country living!

"C" is for Child (cont.)

2011-07-09T01:12:00.002-05:00

Tully turned 3 months old this week, so we took the obligatory photo with Lambsy.

At one point Tully decided he no longer wanted to share the chair. Move over, Lambsy!

Here are some of the exciting things in Tully's life:

Cooing
Smiling
Laughing
Making eye contact
Recognizing mommy (!)
Watching the fan
Sleeping through the night (8:30pm - 7:00am)
Outgrowing clothes
Getting excited when someone talks to him
Batting at toys with hands and feet
Grabbing toys with hands and feet (He has his daddy's crab toes!)
Putting toys/anything he can get a hold of in his mouth
Being more content in car seat (whew!)
Protesting when milk is taken away
Throwing a fit when he is full or sleepy
Drooling, drooling, and more drooling (I'm guessing teeth are coming soon!)

Total diaper count = 1398

"C" is for Car Trip

2011-07-09T00:42:00.004-05:00

We traveled to John's parents' house for the 4th of July weekend. This was our first long car trip: 9 hours. We cheated a little bit and stopped at his sister's apartment in Dallas. This made for a nice break/half-way point. I didn't have a total meltdown, and neither did Tully, so overall I'd call it a success.

4th of July at Lake LBJ

Tully didn't mind the swing. I bet he really gets into it next time we visit.

John found a lizard on the fence who put on a little show for us.

Tully played patty cake with Aunt Sassy. He loved it.

Tully had his own mini-bedroom, complete with light and vent. The closet in our bedroom was nice and quiet for him to rest, and it kept me from hearing every little noise he makes in his sleep. We didn't lock it, so you won't have to report us to child services.

"C" is for Checklist

2011-07-06T22:34:00.037-05:00

I started this list for a friend, but I figured other moms-to-be might find it useful as well. Most items were on my Amazon.com registry, which can be accessed here for easy reference. A big caveat is that every baby is different, so some items may or may not apply. I am a breastfeeding mom and my friend is planning to breastfeed, so many of the items on here are specific to that. Moms feel free to post your favorite/most used or not used items in the comments.
----------------------
* = I own it but don't use it yet, so you could buy this later.
RED = Consider buying consignment to save $$. I highly recommend checking out a "Just Between Friends" sale near you. Click here to find one.
UPDATES are in yellow.
----------------------

Things you need/stuff I use every day:

DIAPERS - We use roughly 15-20 per day. I strongly prefer Pampers Swaddlers over Huggies Little Snugglers. Newborn size was useful for the first 6 weeks. Size 1 shortly thereafter. Amazon has the cheapest prices by far. I use Amazon Mom and Subscribe and Save programs to save 30%. Shipping is free and fast--2 days, even though they don't always guarantee it.
WIPES - I like Huggies Natural Care Fragrance Free wipes. They are thick and don't smell. Again, save 30% by purchasing from Amazon using Amazon Mom and Subscribe and Save. [UPDATE: Trying out Pampers Sensitive wipes to earn more Pampers rewards in conjunction with diaper purchases. Price for Pampers and Huggies wipes are the same. Will update if there's anything negative to report about Pampers wipes.][UPDATE: Pampers Sensitive wipes are slimy. Huggies feel more cloth-like. We are going back to Huggies.]
DIAPER CREAM - I like Boudreaux's Butt Paste Natural. It works, goes on smoothly, and doesn't smell medicine-y.
CONVERTIBLE CAR SEAT - This will hold the baby up through toddlerhood. We use the Britax Boulevard 70 CS.
BREAST PUMP - Sadly I didn't like the first one I bought (Philips AVENT Duo), since it was not efficient or comfortable. I do highly recommend the the Medela Symphony, which can be rented from the hospital ($2/day) or purchased on Amazon.
BOTTLES - I like Dr. Brown's. Lots of parts to clean, but they seem to work nicely when we do use them. No major gas problems or nipple confusion.
BOTTLE DRYING RACK - Especially for Baby. This one is totally functional and just the right size (small). I didn't register for a drying rack originally, but decided I needed one once I started pumping and doing some bottle feeding.
STERILIZER BAGS - Munchkin. Cheap and get the job done.
MATTRESS PAD COVERS - Try to avoid "waterproof" ones or the kind with plastic. They made Tully sweat.
BREAST FEEDING SUPPORT PILLOW - My Breast Friend recommended over the Boppy. Your arms and back will thank you.
BULB SYRINGE - Gotta have one for that runny nose.
DIAPER BAG - Or any regular bag that can serve as a diaper bag. I like my Petunia Pickle Bottom "Cake" bag for day trips, since it's cute and doubles as a purse. It holds 5-10 diapers, wipes, changing pad, two burp cloths, a blanket, nursing cover, extra outfit, sling, my wallet, sunglasses, water bottle, cell phone, and lots of miscellaneous items (e.g. chapstick). A bigger bag is needed for trips lasting more than a few hours or a day. I received a monogrammed, plastic coated canvas bag at my shower, and it's really useful for longer trips.

Petunia Pickle Bottom "Cake" Society Satchel

Canvas Bag

STROLLER - I LOVE the BOB Revolution for jogging and walking. It rolls like a dream and is very easy to control. Cons for BOB: minimal under storage, purchase accessories (cup holder, infant carrier adapter) separately, and doesn't fold/travel well. Ideally we'd have a regular stroller for non-exercise outings that folds into a small space and has lots of under storage.
SWADDLE BLANKETS - This one is really baby dependent, since not all babies like to be swaddled. Tully loves it, and I love our Petunia Pickle Bottom swaddle blankets. They are lightweight and have the perfect amount of stretch. Runner-up: Aden and Anais. Also lightweight and over-sized. Con for AandA: my wedding ring catches on the fabric and causes loops/tears.

Petunia Pickle Bottom Swaddle Blankets

Aden and Anais Swaddle Blankets

CLOTHES - Enough clothes for an entire week without doing laundry. Outfits for daytime and for nighttime. Rompers are my favorite daytime outfits, since they make diaper changes easy (like onesies) but look more like a complete outfit without having separate shorts. I don't do shirts that don't button at the bottom: they ALWAYS ride up. Long-sleeved, button-up, footed pajamas are my preferred nighttime attire, since they help keep Tully warm at night (no blankets in the crib, remember?!). For newborns, anything that buttons up the front is 1000x easier to put on and take off than those items that have to be pulled over the head. I think as they get older this changes: buttoning 15 buttons on a squirmy baby is tough! Ralph Lauren clothes run almost 6-months too small, and Carter's run 3-months too small. Other brands (Gap, Gymboree, OshKosh, etc.) seem to run true to size or slightly small. Tully is not a very big baby (50th percentile for weight).

BURP CLOTHS - My favorite kind are handmade (Thanks, GiGi!) and seem to be the most practical. They aren't too thick, are absorbent, and can be used as a bib or to wipe up spills, spit up, or anything else. Also, they fit nicely in the diaper bag.

CANVAS TOTE - I got two of these as gifts, and we use both (one upstairs, one down). It holds diapers, diaper cream, and lots of other miscellaneous baby items. They are also nice to take when traveling to see the grandparents.

Here are some things that are nice to have. I've listed the actual brands we own as a reference/recommendation.

VIDEO MONITOR - Summer Infant Day and Night. I intentionally registered for this older model monitor because it runs on the 900MHz frequency. The newer monitors run on 2GHz but so do most other wireless electronics. I get little interference with my older monitor, while there are significant complaints about interference on the new models. Also, the display on this is great, and the mic is super sensitive.
SWING - Fisher Price My Little Lamb.
BOUNCER/ROCKER - Tully loves his Fisher Price rocker. When he kicks, the toys move. Tully does NOT love his Baby Einstein bouncer, which is similar to this.
NURSING COVER - Hooter Hider. I like the structure at the top, so I can see down, but I mostly wear "nursing friendly" clothes, so I don't have to use this at all.
HEAD SUPPORT - Kiddopotamus. This kept Tully's head from flopping around in the infant carrier and stroller.
BABY SEAT - Bumbo.
HOODED TOWELS - Bearington Baby Collection "Lamby"
BATH SLING - Tully slides down on the one I own, but it will only be used for a short time, so I'm not buying a new one. This one has better reviews.
WIPE WARMER - Especially for Baby. I didn't originally have this on my registry, but Tully is not a fan of cold wipes. We do use this and have not had any issues with it turning the wipes brown like other reviewers have stated.
BOTTLE BRUSH - Haven't found the ideal one yet.
BABY CARRIER - BabyBjorn Synergy carrier (most useful for 2 mos+) and Petunia Pickle Bottom sling (most useful after 3 mos+).
CHANGING PAD and COVERS - I registered for the Nightstar Eco Friendly changing pad, and it does the job. [UPDATE: The store brand one we bought at Babies R Us works just as well. ] Boppy or Carter's changing pad covers are big and fit nicely on the pads. Suggest at least two covers. We constantly have to wash these.
DIAPER GENIE - Love the Diaper Genie II Elite. Compact and easy to use foot pedal action. Get some refills too.
DIAPER BAG DISPENSER - Munchkin Arm and Hammer Bag Dispenser. This dispenser is great to keep in the diaper bag to temporarily dispose of diapers when you're on-the-go. Get some refills too. [UPDATE: I found Sunshine Kids Bag It Bags. Save a dollar and get 12 more bags.]
SEAT COVERS - Kiddopotamus. I wanted to protect my leather seats.
PACIFIER - Playtex Binky. Not a huge fan of pacifiers, so these could wait or not be purchased at all. I prefer to comfort with the breast or to let Tully self comfort by sucking his fingers, but I have found a use for these during car rides. Tully is not a good passenger.
PACI CLIPS - Bella Tunno. It's nice to have these to help keep track of the pacifier.
BIBS - Plain cotton bibs with a small neck hole. Embroidery and appliques look cute but take away from the functionality IMO.
BATH SOAP and LOTION - Johnson and Johnson.
CAR SEAT MIRROR - Brica. It's nice to be able to see his face while I'm driving.
CLOTHES HAMPER - Koala Baby.
PLAY GYM - Infantino Boogie Woogie Bug Gym. This thing is awesome.
CD PLAYER and CDs - I like to rock Tully to sleep at night, and we listen to Fisher Price's Twinkle Twinkle Little Starfish CD. I really like it. Also, we needed white noise for a short period of time to help Tully sleep, and I made a 75 min CD from a blow dryer mp3 that we could put on repeat.
VITAMIN D - Breastfed infants are supposed to have a Vitamin D supplement. The Enfamil sample my pediatrician gave me was terrible for several reasons. It smelled and tasted bitter, and one dose was an entire dropper full. Tully would not take the large dose from the dropper, so this meant we had to mix it with a bottle of milk, which seems a little counterproductive when you're trying to breastfeed. Get the Carlson brand: 1) doesn't smell and 2) one drop on the nipple, and you're done.
BABY CONNECT iPhone APPLICATION - Baby Connect. Good for tracking feeding, diapers, medicine, sleep, and growth stats. Input = output, and unless you're pumping you have no idea what input is in those early days, so you have to keep track of diapers. I'm not a pencil and paper kind of gal, so I LOVE this app. Also, I could never remember what time I took my meds or what time I gave him his in those early days, so this was a lifesaver. The app syncs wirelessly to an online server for backup, and other caregivers can download the app and input info for your baby too.
JUMPER - Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo. Tully loves this. We started using it at 3 months old. We put a pad or box under his feet, so he can push off to move the bouncer.
PACK-N-PLAY - Eddie Bauer "Charter" Atlantic Blue. This one is easy to set up, and it comes with a very handy attachment, which acts like an adjustable height crib. You don't have to bend over and pick up the baby from the bottom of the pack-n-play when they are too little to pull up or stand up.
*TRAVEL SEAT - Chicco.
*PLAY MAT - Imaginarium Foam Puzzle Mat
*BOOKS - board and cloth books are nice for when they are little
*POTTY CHAIR - BabyBjorn.
*SHOPPING CART COVER - Buggy Bagg.
*HIGH CHAIR - Eddie Bauer "Charter"Atlantic Blue

Things you don't need to buy:

INFANT CARRIER - borrow this or buy consignment. We only used it for the first two months. Tully's too heavy to carry in it now. [UPDATE: Most car seats expire after 6 years, so be sure to check the manufacture date.]
EXTRA INFANT CARRIER BASES - Infant carriers fit in cars without the base, so I kept the base that came with the carrier in my car, but I did not purchase a separate base for John's or my mom's.
INFANT CARRIER ADAPTER FOR BOB STROLLER - Obviously this only applies if you use a BOB stroller. Since you only use the infant carrier for two months, you'll only need the adapter for the BOB for two months, so borrow this, if you can.
BOTTLE WARMER - We heat up water for 1 minute in the microwave, and then warm the bottle using the hot water for a minute or two.
THERMOMETER - The hospital gave us the one they used in the room. It's a basic thermometer that reads in Celsius, which is what the doctors and hospitals use.

Hope this is helpful. I'll try to update and add items, as needed.

"C" is for Convenience

2011-06-23T21:39:00.000-05:00

For those that "follow" other blogs, I found a really helpful tip from an iheartfaces post. Previously I read all of the blogs I followed one of two ways: 1) by clicking each post link from my Dashboard individually, which opened a new tab or 2) reading them in Google Reader, by expanding or collapsing each post, which still didn't take me to the actual blog or allow me to see all of the formatting. Neither option was ideal, so I followed this tutorial on iheartfaces, and reading my blogs is much faster and easier now.

Here's a summary, if you already have a Reader account:

1. Go to Google Reader Settings
2. Click the "Goodies" tab
3. Scroll down to "Put Reader in Bookmark" and drag the "Next" button up to your toolbar.

Now you can click the "Next" button from your toolbar at anytime, and it will take you through all of the unread blog posts for any blogs that you follow. iheartgoogle.

"C" is for Challenge

2011-06-20T13:59:00.003-05:00

Photo Challenge | Let’s Hear It For The Boys!

I snapped this photo of my son in our back yard after he finished playing in the pool, hence the little water droplet under his chin. My husband held him up in the air, and the sky and our redbud trees made the perfect backdrop. When I emailed the photo to my mom, she immediately noticed the reflection in my son's eyes: it was my husband holding the baby with me taking the photo over his right shoulder. I love the detail of my little angel in this pic.

Visit iheartfaces to view more photos or enter one of your own!

"C" is for Cards

2011-06-20T11:22:00.001-05:00

Friday night we were enjoying playing cards on the patio with my family, and Tully started getting in on the game! He sees high contrast colors, so the black/white and red/white cards were perfect "toys" for him to practice his fine motor skills. It was an exciting moment, and I immediately thought, "We're in big trouble when he can actually get a hold of these cards!"

I love watching my little boy develop new skills every day. Link up with Marie at Pouty Pink Princess to share what you're loving this summer.

"C" is for Centennial

2011-06-11T23:52:00.004-05:00

This is my 100th post!

Tully turned 2 months old this week, so we went to the doctor for his immunizations (not fun!) and well check-up. Grammy posted pics from the visit on her blog here.

weight 11 lb 14.5 oz (53%)
height 23.75" (74%)
head 15.4" (29%)

So he's happy and healthy with long legs and a bean head!

My angel

Here are a few more pics that I'm loving this week:

Taking a tummy break while Grammy and I try to get the perfect 2 month photo shot.

So funny and always moving!

My little nerd in training. Thanks for the bib, Laura!

Baby pool time. Staying cool on a summer afternoon.

Zach relaxes poolside.

Snuggling with daddy.

Link up with Marie at Pouty Pink Princess for more Summer Luvin'!

"C" is for Cones

2011-06-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Did you know pine cones opened and closed depending on the weather? I didn't! Our neighbor has a pine tree with TONS of pine cones. For some reason they didn't fall off last year, so there are at least two years worth of cones on her tree this year.

Tree with too many cones. Hard to see them, but there are too many!

It was raining the day my mom took this first photo, and it was warm and sunny when I took the second pic.

Closed Open

From wikipedia:

"...cones are open when dry and closed when wet. This assures that the small, wind disseminated seeds will be dispersed during relatively dry weather, and thus, the distance traveled from the parent tree will be enhanced. A pine cone will go through many cycles of opening and closing during its life span, even after seed dispersal is complete. This process occurs with older cones while attached to branches and even after the older cones have fallen..."

Neat-O.

"C" is for Car Seats

2011-06-06T08:00:00.007-05:00

Did you know kids are now supposed to be in rear-facing car seats until they are two? My pediatrician mentioned this to us when we interviewed her back in March, and she posted a blog on this topic in April.

"On March 23, 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated their guidelines for car seats to make car travel even more safe for babies and children. They are now recommending that children be placed in rear facing car seats until they are two years old..."

Read her blog post here.

"C" is for Control

2011-06-05T23:59:00.027-05:00

THIS is what I'm loving this summer! They make my heart go pitter-patter. Here are my boys during tummy time working on Tully's head control. Isn't Zachry cute getting in on the action?

Link up and share your Summer Luvin' every Saturday this summer with Marie at PoutyPinkPrincess.

(Sorry I'm a day late, Marie! The photo was from Saturday though!)

"C" is for Curry Chicken Salad

2011-06-01T22:04:00.000-05:00

This is the chicken salad recipe John and I have been living on for the past two months. My mom made it when she was helping with Tully, and it's been a staple in our fridge since he was born. She doesn't measure anything, so most items are "add to taste."

Curry Chicken Salad

Makes ? servings.
Prep time: 15 minutes.
Cook time: 0 minutes.

Ingredients

1 can diced pineapple
1 can chicken breast
2 eggs, hard-boiled and diced
red grapes, halved
celery, diced
walnuts, chopped
mayo
curry powder

Directions

Drain pineapple. (Make sure you get all of the juice out by pressing pineapple in a strainer, or the chicken salad will get runny.) Drain chicken. Add pineapple, chicken, eggs, grapes, celery, and walnuts to a bowl. Stir curry powder and mayo together in a separate bowl. (The curry will stick in clumps to the other ingredients otherwise.) Add curry/mayo mixture to bowl with chicken and stir. Refrigerate. Serve with crackers or as a sandwich.

"C" is for Cache (cont.)

2011-05-26T15:03:00.001-05:00

The milk monster is back, and so is my supply! YAY! I had to give myself a break from Tully updates on the blog last week and earlier this week until things were back to normal. It was really rough these past few weeks. There were days when Tully wouldn't nurse more than a few minutes because I didn't have much milk. I pumped like a madwoman though, including getting up not once but twice (2am and 5am) each night, while Tully slept peacefully. This made for one very tired momma, but it was SO worth it. I have three, count them, THREE bottles of pumped milk in the fridge, and just recently I have been able to give Tully a full feeding without the bottle at all. When I started out, Tully was nursing for a couple minutes and then getting 3-4 oz of formula. Then when I started pumping we would give him breastmilk from the bottle and then formula. He was still taking 2-4 oz or more from the bottle. Breastmilk can stay room temp for up to four hours, so my milk rarely made it to the fridge.

In addition to pumping I had lots of support from John and my mom, and a neighborhood girl started coming by for a few hours on MWF to help with laundry, dishes, and dinner. This reduced my stress tremendously, which definitely helped my supply increase. I bought Fenugreek supplements and saw an immediate improvement too, but now I smell like maple syrup! I also went to another LLL meeting to talk with other breastfeeding moms and visited the lactation consultant a couple times, which made me feel so much better. The lactation consultant also raised a really good point while I was visiting with her. I was doing an elimination diet (no milk, nuts, eggs), but Tully was getting cow milk-based formula. If he had a problem with cow milk proteins in my milk, he should exhibit the same problems with the formula. Since this was not the case, I reintroduced milk, followed by nuts and eggs, into my diet. It was SO hard not to eat things with milk, so I'm happy to be eating "normally" again.

It's been three weeks since our last doctor's visit and my baby boy has gained another pound and a half (we stopped by for a quick weigh in with the lactation consultant last night). It feels so good to have him nursing again, and I can't wait for our 2 month appointment next week! I'm also happy to not be mixing up stinky formula or washing 500 bottles a day. It was such a pain to pack up all of the formula and bottle supplies just to leave the house. Nursing him is a thousand times easier for sure!

1 month

Here is Tully's one month photo with Lambsy. He looks so tiny here. He'll be two months next week, and it will be fun to compare the pics. He has outgrown all of his newborn clothes, shoes, and diapers. We're on to size 1 now!

"C" is for Cure

2011-05-17T00:00:00.031-05:00

Last weekend we took a road trip to Texas for Head for the Cure 5K - North Texas. The event was organized in honor of my friend, Stevie, who was diagnosed with brain cancer last year (See "C" is for Crowder). They expected about 500 people to run and fundraising of about $25,000 from registrations, donations, and sponsorships. The primary beneficiary of Head for the Cure is the Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative (BTTC), a group of highly respected and dedicated doctors in a network of renowned medical centers. Led by MD Anderson Cancer Center, the BTTC has grown to more than 15 member institutions and has experienced unparalleled advancements in the research of alternative treatments of malignant brain tumors. Research studies, also known as clinical trials, are being conducted to learn of promising advances to cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatments that are safe and effective. Funds raised through the Head for the Cure Foundation provided the seed money to help launch the BTTC, and Head For the Cure remains committed to supporting the BTTC and its mission with ongoing financial support.

Registrants were able to create teams and do team fundraising too. We wore our pink and black shirts to support Stevie. Many people were inspired to run in honor of someone they knew, and they had a nice ceremony after the event to honor several survivors, including Stevie. It was very touching, and TEAM STEVIE had the largest team and raised the most funds! Hopefully some of the money raised at this event will help researchers find a cure! I also have to give a big shout out to Shari, Dusti, Tyler, and Tricia for making the event such a huge success. Your hard work really paid off, ladies. The event was awesome and so well organized!

The final results for the Head for the Cure 5K - North Texas event were astounding:

2,219 registered runners (500 expected, remember?!)
126 volunteers
283 TEAM STEVIE members$11,415 TEAM STEVIE fundraising
$152,000 total fundraising for brain cancer research at MD Anderson (a little more than the $25K they hoped for, right?!)

This was Tully's first 5K to complete, and we definitely didn't set any records. As a matter of fact, we walked with John and Grammy, but it was a lot of fun. I'm hoping to restart the Couch to 5K program I was doing during my pregnancy (See "C" is for C25K) and complete a 5K sometime this year. I was able to jog easily starting a couple weeks ago, but Tully's hectic schedule hasn't allowed for much free time for exercise. Hopefully that changes soon!

Here are some more photos from the event. John did an awesome job capturing everything, especially when we were doing the actual 5K. Thanks, sweets!

Starting line

Me and Tricia, the TEAM STEVIE captain

Helping Tricia with TEAM STEVIE shirts

Stevie (pink shirt w/ mic) kicks off the event

After kicking off the event, Stevie put in her earbuds and got serious running!

Walkers and runners

My dad ran the event. Go Paw Paw!

Mom and I about to cross the finish line with Tully

Stevie gets a sneak peek of Tully after the race

Sonic was one of the event sponsors

Hanging out at the TEAM STEVIE picnic after the race

Me and Stevie after the picnic

John took a nap

Head for the Cure will be an annual event in Frisco, TX, so mark your calendar for May 19, 2012!

"C" is for Cache

2011-05-10T17:04:00.000-05:00

I have good news, and I have bad news. First, the good. My content baby is back!! No more crying, and he's sleeping 6+ hours through the night again. A quick visit with our pediatrician, Dr. Alka Sood, and the problem (See "C" is for Crying) was fixed. After listening to the story of Tully's last couple weeks, Dr. Sood determined that Tully was not getting enough to eat. No overfeeding. No gas. No reflux. Simply hungry. She noticed Tully wasn't gaining weight properly, and I told her I had just fed him while we were waiting, so she came back with a bottle of formula. My mom saw my jaw hit the floor. I was not ready for bottles, and I was definitely not interested in giving him formula. Dr. Sood assured me that one bottle of formula would not undo all of my hard work over the last month, and she needed to see if he would take it to help determine if her hunch that he was hungry was really the issue. It took him a few minutes, but once he figured out the bottle, he sucked down the formula like he hadn't eaten all day. Poor little guy was so hungry. Since I was exclusively breastfeeding I've carried around a lot of guilt after finding this out. Tully was really thriving the first few weeks, and he was still putting out lots of dirty diapers. He was gaining weight like a champ, but all of that changed in a matter of days, which leads to the bad news. My supply is low. I think several factors contributed to this decrease with stress being #1. In order to increase my supply I have to nurse as often as possible and pump in between. I can barely find two free seconds to go to the bathroom or feed myself much less an extra 10-15 minutes to pump a minimum of 8 times per day. I won't mention all the time it takes to clean pump parts and bottles. And after Tully peed all over himself and my living room, and my dog, Zach, puked up some small dead animal on the rug yesterday afternoon, I was convinced I needed help. So in my attempt to eliminate as much stress as possible, I called in for backup from John, my mom, and a neighborhood girl who will start helping during the day until the nanny starts full-time in June. Fingers crossed that my cache of milk returns, and I can do away with the formula for good. I'm okay with some bottle feeding using breast milk, especially since it gives John and my mom a chance to feed the baby, but I'm really missing all of the one-on-one time Tully and I had during our nursing sessions. He has to work super hard to eat, which makes him sleepy, so our time together is limited for now.

I should also mention when all of Tully's fussiness started, I eliminated dairy, nuts, and eggs from my diet on the off chance that he had an intolerance to one of those things. He also had some really bad infant acne that was on his face and neck. Looking back now I'm now I'm not sure that my diet had anything to do with his fussiness, and I'm left wondering if the lack of protein and calcium isn't contributing to my low supply. I'm leaning towards reintroducing at least milk, so I can eat regular food again. (Milk is hidden in EVERYTHING!) I'm hoping his little face stays clear. If not, no milk for me.

On another note--if someone needs fire kindling, I have a copy of the Babywise book that you're welcome to have. We will no longer be implementing any two or three hour schedules in this household, and there will be ZERO more days of crying it out in the crib. It felt wrong when I was doing it, and my instincts were right. Demand feeding is the best option for our family. I know I can't blame a book for my decisions, but the concepts we implemented from Babywise definitely contributed to Tully's unhappiness and weightloss. I think it's a good idea for new moms to read the book to arm themselves with as much information as possible, but boy do I regret the days of trying to make Babywise work.

Also, a huge thank you to all of the moms, friends, and blog followers who provided encouraging words when I was trying to figure things out. It was a rough week, and I really appreciated the comments and messages. I was also really encouraged when I took Tully back in for his follow-up appointment yesterday. Dr. Sood informed me he had gained AN ENTIRE POUND in three days. This is huge! Now that all the crying is behind us, I need to snap a one month photo of the little guy. He's already 5 weeks old!

Here's a sweet pic my mom took of me and John during Tully's newborn photo shoot few weeks back. John has been really patient and supportive through all of the craziness. I know he's relieved to have our happy baby back too!

"C" is for Crying

2011-05-02T18:15:00.002-05:00

We survived the newborn photoshoot a couple weeks ago, but it didn't happen without some tears from both mommy and Tully. Poor Tully was so cold during the session that he just couldn't get to sleep. Every time we'd take him out of the blanket to snap the pics, he'd tense up and cry. I broke down after we left the studio the first day too. As a new mom I'm constantly bombarded with advice, which I think I take pretty well, but when your baby is crying and someone's trying to convince you you need to bottle feed and give the baby a pacifier, it's tough. So I had to go back the next day for a new session. Luckily the room was much warmer, and the photographer was able to take some good photos without us using a pacifier or bottle. Here are a few of my favorites:

Although I was enjoying 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep last week, there was a trade off: nursing every hour during the day with a fussy and gassy baby. It was exhausting work, and Tully was clearly uncomfortable, so I knew something had to change. I read enough of the Babywise book to get an idea of what a schedule could look like for a one month old. The concept was that baby nurses every 2.5-3 hours, so I figured it was worth a shot. The trade off for longer times between nursings during the day? The return of 3am feedings and some 20-minute cry sessions before going to sleep. I do not fare well when Tully cries. It's heartbreaking. I feel worthless. I feel like a mommy failure, but the schedule Tully chose was negatively affecting his health (green diapers, gassiness), so I had to make the difficult decision to change something. John constantly has to reassure me that we're doing the right thing, but it sure doesn't feel that way when I have to listen to Tully cry. I told myself I would give this process a try for at least a week. I can't wait until Friday gets here, and I hope to see more improvement. The green diapers and gas are gone, but I want the crying to stop too. I also picked up two other books for ideas of feeding/sleeping schedules.

I'm not totally convinced the Babywise concept will work for us. Sometimes I just can't handle it. For example, earlier this afternoon instead of letting him cry himself to sleep I rocked that sweet baby until he drifted off to dreamland. It was so peaceful. Speaking of dreamland--I need a nap. Being a mom is HARD WORK!

"C" is for Content

2011-04-26T18:03:00.000-05:00

I've got three weeks under my belt as a new mom, and time is flying by. I had 19 days of absolute bliss, and BAM! day 20--fussy central. I think Tully had some major gas or growing pains because he let out high-pitched squeals and cried from 2:30 am to 9:30 pm. Poor little guy. But everything seems to be better now, and he is back to his content self . He really is a good baby, and I've enjoyed learning all about his likes and dislikes. He slept for 7 hours two nights ago and 5 hours last night. I'll take it!!

My mom has done an amazing job keeping track of Tully's adventures (and helping me keep my sanity) these first few weeks, so instead of duplicating her work, I'll let you visit her blog, which has tons of photos and stories. Here are several great posts on Tully:

Waking Up
Poopy Time
Daddy Pics
Newborn Photoshoot
Grammy and PawPaw Visit
Mailbox Story
Trip to Grammy and PawPaw's

As a new mom it takes a lot of effort to make complete sentences and paragraphs, so I'll give you a random list of my thoughts and answers to frequently asked questions instead.

My ideal ratio of adults to newborns for first ~~two~~ three weeks: 3 to 1.
Number of hours of sleep between feedings at night: 2 to 7.
Number of diapers changed so far: 249
Diaper brand of choice: Pampers Swaddlers > Huggies Little Snugglers. Better fit and less leaks with Pampers for us.
Average frequency of diaper changes: Every 2 hours
Time spent nursing: 4-6 hours per day. I'm like a walking, talking milk factory.
I really like the Baby Connect app for my iPhone: it tracks feedings, diapers, stats, meds, and everything else I need for the baby, and it syncs with the website.
Tully's nicknames: Milk Monster, Tully Bear
Tully loves to stare out the window and at the overhead lights.
He is a master at escaping mommy's swaddles but not daddy's.
He started cooing. It's so sweet.
He hates cold wipes during diaper changes.
It's amazing the things you can do with one hand or a foot: change TV channels, type on computer, eat, etc.
La Leche League meetings and Susan, the lactation consultant at Saint Francis South are both are excellent resources.
I never have enough CLEAN burp cloths/swaddle blankets/onesies WHERE I need them WHEN I need them.
I think my washer and dryer are on repeat. They haven't quit running in three weeks.
I'm starving all the time!

Books I'm reading:

These two books are nearly polar opposites as far as parenting styles go, but with all the advice I get as a new mom I figured I better read about both sides. So far I'm leaning towards attachment style parenting and demand feeding (LLL/Womanly Art of Breastfeeding), but I am considering implementing pieces of parent-directed feeding (Babywise). We will eventually need a schedule, so we'll see how it goes. For now I'm on Tully's schedule, and Tully says it's time for nap, so I better get some sleep while I can!

"C" is for Crowder (cont.)

2011-04-21T17:21:00.004-05:00

Remember my friend, Stevie, who was diagnosed with brain cancer last year? If not, see my post, "C" is for Crowder, from last May. Stevie successfully completed radiation therapy and has had several "clean" follow-up scans. Woo hoo! Head for the Cure has organized a 5K race which will take place on May 14 to honor Stevie for her faith, strength, and courage. I am really excited to take part in this event and raise money for TEAM STEVIE. Please join me in Stevie's fight against brain cancer by donating to Head for the Cure. All proceeds will benefit the Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston where Stevie received treatment. Our team goal is to raise $10,000, and we are almost half way there. My personal goal is to raise $100, and these funds will go towards the team goal.

Click here to donate!

To hear more about Stevie and her story, view the video below or visit her blog, http://prayforstevie.blog.com/.

"C" is for Childbirth

2011-04-14T11:19:00.001-05:00

Tully is here! He was born on April 5 at 6:13 pm weighing 8lb 2oz and 20 inches long.

John Tully Cockerham

My birth experience was everything I wanted it to be. My husband, John, was there from start to finish, and I couldn't have done it without him. He was so calm and supportive. He was exactly what I needed, when I needed it, even if I didn't know I needed it. The Bradley childbirth classes definitely prepared us for the whole process, and I am grateful to have had my best friend and companion by my side the entire time. He has proven to be a great father!! My mom has also been a major player this past week, and I would be lost without her too. From labor and delivery to cooking, dishes, laundry, diaper changes, rocking, talking, and kisses for sweet Tully--my mom has done it all. When I've thrown in the white towel from complete and utter exhaustion John and my mom have been going strong. Thank you both!

Birth Story
I woke up at 5am on Tuesday and told John it was "go" time. Contractions were underway, and we notified parents, co-workers, and our midwife around 9am. We labored at home until contractions were three minutes apart for two hours and arrived at the hospital around 11am. The staff at St. Francis South (SFS) Hospital was amazing and so supportive of all our decisions. We did intermittent fetal monitoring, and it was SO much easier to labor without the monitors on my belly. Also, I only had the hookup for the IV in my arm but no IV tube was linked or running. I was a "don't-touch-me-don't-talk-to-me" laborer, so the less things on me, the better. After arriving at the hospital Tully went into a sleep cycle, and they gave me the option of eating/drinking juice or starting a small amount of pitocin. To stay in line with our natural childbirth plan I opted for food and water. Tully woke up within a short period of time, and I vomited up everything up. Awesome. We accomplished the goal of progressing labor without drugs up to that point, but I did end up requesting an epidural, which was administered when I was 7cm. (Soooo close to 10!) I'm sure I hit the transition phase of labor, which is where you think you can't go on, and when I did John asked if I wanted to wait 20 minutes to see if I could get through it. In accordance with our plan, I waited the 20 minutes, but I still wanted the epidural. Although I was disappointed that I didn't deliver naturally, I had done the best I could do, and we all agreed I made the right decision for some pain relief. Tully arrived a couple hours after the epidural and managed to inhale a huge amount of amniotic fluid on his way out. Silly boy just couldn't wait to take that first breath of air. The nurses quickly suctioned off the fluid and gave me my sweet baby boy. We bonded in the hospital over the next 24 hours with minimal interruptions from staff. I really was amazed at how little time they took him away for standard screenings and the circumcision. He stayed with me almost the entire time. This was really important to me, and we had chosen SFS because they didn't have a nursery, which meant they intended for the baby to room in with me too.

Funny story about the sleeping arrangements overnight in the hospital--in addition to John, my mom was there to support me during labor and for Tully's birth. I asked her to stay that first night in the hospital with us too. There was a fold-out couch and the hospital bed. Two sleeping spaces for three people. Hmmm...So John and I crashed on the fold-out couch, and my mom took the hospital bed. Every time the nurses came in to get my blood pressure or temperature, they would walk over to the bed and start talking to my mom. I'd have to wave from the couch and show them my hospital band, so they could tend to me instead. I was released just after 24 hours of delivery, and I know my support team was happy to sleep in regular beds that second night.

This past week has been a blur with lots of learning, but most of the time I've been too "drunk" on feel-good mommy hormones to notice anything but my precious baby. Breastfeeding my little milk monster takes up the majority of my day. He goes on these binges where he feeds every hour, which is more exhausting than not getting sleep. It's SO worth it though. I was worried that he wouldn't latch or that my milk wouldn't come in, but everything has worked out just fine. The bonding experience with breastfeeding is something I can't even describe. It is the most rewarding, heartfelt thing I have done in my entire life. It can be frustrating at times (in the middle of Target while shopping!), but I love, love, love it.

We've gone on several family walks with our dog, Zach, and he's adjusted well to the baby. He was overly excited and liked to lick at first, but after 48 hours he settled into our routine (or lack thereof), and he politely sniffs the baby when he wants to see what's going on. He's going to be a good big brother.

Here are a few pics of sweet Tully's adventures this past week.

After the first bath

Listening to daddy

Making faces for Grammy

Hanging out with PawPaw

Trying to decide whether to go fishing or golfing first with PawPaw

Snuggling with mommy

Taking a nap with Great Papa Jim

Ready to leave the hospital

Tully's visitors, Lauren and Lacey, helped us load up and leave

Tully and his big brother, Zach

Tully is a little confused here--he thinks he is a Baylor bear. Right state, wrong school, Tully!

"C" is for Credulous

2011-04-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

I pulled a really good April Fools joke on John last week. A couple hours after we'd eaten lunch together on Friday, I got an email from our friend, Ben, with several funny ideas for pranks to pull relating to the baby. I set a plan into action late that afternoon by leaving a note on John's car at his office. Then I headed home to wait to make the phone call to falsely tell him I was in labor. At 9+ months pregnant, John knew I could go into labor at any moment, so I was fairly confident he would go for it. I've had lots of irregular contractions, so I opted to tell him my water broke instead. It was hard to lie to him, and he sensed the unease in my voice over the phone but mistook my uneasiness for real concern that something was happening. I was hoping he'd tell his co-workers it was "go time," but he quietly left the office and called me again when he got in the car. I could tell he didn't know it was a joke, so I didn't want to ruin it just yet. I asked him if he'd gotten my message, and that's when he saw the note on the windshield. He told me I was sweet for leaving what he thought was a love note, and we hung up. When he called back less than 20 seconds later, I knew he had grabbed the note at the next stoplight and read my message that said, "APRIL FOOLS! I'm not in labor." He said I got him good. I'm hoping he doesn't get any crazy ideas for paybacks any time soon!

"C" is for Contamination

2011-03-31T18:59:00.014-05:00

NOTE: This post reflects my personal views and opinions. It does not represent the views of my employer (NRC) or any organization with which I am associated. Furthermore, I am not an expert on nuclear reactors. I have a degree in nuclear sciences, and my full-time job involves writing policy to protect public health and safety.

When the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, it wasn't the missing persons or death tolls that made headline news shortly after--it was the status of the nuclear power plants. After several days I could no longer tolerate watching the news, reading Drudge, or even looking at posts on Facebook regarding the events in Japan. The sensationalism from the media and overreaction by the general public was too much for me to handle. To say the stories reported by CNN, Fox News, and many, many others were absurd is an understatement. I'm not saying the nuclear situation in Japan isn't serious and doesn't require attention, but the media has taken the nuclear scare to a whole new level. By the way, the purpose of this post isn't to discuss the status of the reactors in Japan or the response in the U.S., so if you'd like to read about these things, I suggest the following sites:

International Atomic Energy Agency Alert Log
U.S. Government website
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission website

What I would like to address is the most recent nuclear scare with "radioactive milk" in Washington and California. If you haven't heard about this yet, here's the first article that came up from a Google search: Radiation ‘Far Below’ Risk Levels Found in U.S. Milk Samples. A friend posted a witty remark regarding the radioactive milk on Facebook earlier today. The post wasn't meant to promote fear or spread inaccurate information--it was funny, and I took it as such.

"The fact that we are finding radiation in our milk supply in the states doesn't alarm me--what alarms me is why exactly are we needing to get milk from Japan in the first place."

The responses that followed were not funny and insinuated that acceptable radiation levels, as determined by the EPA, were not, in fact, safe. Here was the first response:

"It is a little more scary than that. We aren't getting milk from Japan, the radiation has traveled that far. It is in levels 5000 below what the EPA deems safe though, so it shouldn't be too bad......"

My response:

"Every food has a small amount of radioactivity in it. Common radionuclides are potassium, radium, and uranium. So while the iodine found in the milk is unusual, the amounts found do not pose a health risk. If anyone is that concerned about the milk, they should probably stop flying and sleeping next to others too, as these activities also increase your exposure to radiation. The media is doing a poor job putting these types of issues into perspective."

A short time later, a second response appeared from an individual with the initials, D.A., which was fitting IMO:

"What is disturbing to me is that the people that tell us how much radiation we are being exposed to are the same people that determine what "acceptable" levels of radiation are... And there is really not a way of us knowing any different, so we just buy it. Lame."

The insinuation that a level of radiation 5000 times below what the EPA allows is something to worry about is totally uncalled for. The amount of radioactive iodine found in the milk was reported as 0.8pCi/L. The fact that we have the ability to detect such low levels of radiation is impressive. To put that 0.8 number into perspective, a banana has approximately 3,520 pCi/kg of radioactive potassium. The conversion from pCi/L to pCi/kg is essentially 1/1 for milk, so the banana I had for breakfast this morning was over 4,400 times more radioactive than the milk on the west coast. Nearly the same numbers apply for carrots and potatoes, which also contain radioactive potassium. Also, the iodine in the milk will be almost completely decayed away in a few weeks, and the radioactive potassium in bananas, carrots, and potatoes will stick around for billions and billions of years. Why isn't the media reporting on the insane amounts of radioactive bananas sold in the U.S. every day? And at over 9 months pregnant, if anyone should be concerned about radioactive foods, shouldn't it be me?!

I don't typically do political or religious debates or debates in general, especially not online, but there is plenty of science to back up this milk thing, which just set me over the top.

Here's the moral of the story:
1) Yes, they detected radioactivity in milk in the U.S.
2) No, you are not at risk of being harmed from the radiation.
3) Don't try to contradict someone and end your argument with "Lame." You lose all credibility.
4) If you don't want to "buy" what the government is "selling" you, there is plenty of information available to do independent research to make your own decision.
5) Don't believe everything you read or hear in the news.

"C" is for Connecting

2011-03-30T18:21:00.000-05:00

I started two other posts this week, but neither one of them developed into anything interesting, so I'm scrapping both and linking up with other bloggers for "What I'm Loving Wednesday."

1. I'm loving that the high school softball team in my hometown is doing a dinner fundraiser on Sunday, and the food they are serving is from Taco Hut. Taco Hut was THE place to eat when I was in high school, and they were famous for their cheese sanchos and tacos. Sadly, the restaurant closed shortly after I graduated, so it's a really big deal that they're making tacos and sanchos just for this event. I have a feeling it's going to be a massive, multi-year, high school reunion. I live an hour away, and I'm willing to drive back just for this, which is unreal.

2. I'm loving that we've made major progress on the house to-do list. We're down to a few minor items like putting boxes away, changing air filters, hanging some wall art, and steaming the curtains (yes, they're still wrinkled from when I wrote about hanging them in January.) John worked really hard on the yard, so we have all new mulch in our flower beds. If you live in the Tulsa area, you should check out the Greenwaste Site! Tulsa residents can drop off tree branches, grass clippings, and leaves for free, AND you can get free mulch. They'll even dump the mulch into your truck bed for you. It's great.

3. I'm loving that I figured out The Pioneer Woman (PW) lives just up the road. Okay, not like one mile up the road...more like an hour away, but it's THE Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. I tried to explain to John how famous she is, and the first people that came to mind were Rachel Ray and Oprah. Now I know Oprah is in a league of her own, but PW is a big deal too with her blog, books, etc. How did I not know she lived in Oklahoma?! Two other Tulsa bloggers I follow, Marie @ Pouty Pink Princess and Katie @ It's in the Details, wrote about PW's local book signings, and all of a sudden I started making these connections. My parents grew up in a small town called Hominy where many of the Drummond family members lived, and I've heard my mom talk about the Drummond home, which is now a historic site. A quick Google search on the Drummond family let me know the original Drummonds had roots in both Hominy and Pawhuska, which is where PW lives now. I don't know why I find all of this so intriguing, but it really is a small world.

4. I'm loving that in a few short weeks (days?) my sweet baby, Tully, will arrive. His bag is packed for the hospital, and I started my bag too. It's kinda hard to pack when you only have three or four items that fit though. I need to wear them now--they can't be in a bag! I can already see myself frantically doing laundry when it's go time.

5. I'm loving that my work Inbox has zero, count them...zero, emails. I do a pretty good job keeping emails sorted into folders and/or moved to the task list, but at the end of the day I always have a few that require special attention and must stay in my Inbox for a while longer. After my paper is finalized and submitted to the Commission on Friday, I consider myself home free, as far as work is concerned. I can't believe things are winding down enough for me to feel comfortable taking off work for the baby. The feeling is surreal, and I am SO looking forward to these next few months.

"C" is for Ceiling Fan

2011-03-22T08:00:00.002-05:00

John checked off a major project on the "honey-do" list this weekend: hanging the fan in our living room. I think I purchased fans for the house in 2009, but it's taken a bit of time for us to get around to this particular one. We actually had a running joke that the goal was to have the fan hung before all of the lights on the existing chandelier burned out. Out of 16 lights we were down to three.

Now I know hanging a fan sounds like simple enough task, and more than one person told us to just lean a 24 foot ladder against the ceiling--but if you've ever seen our living room, you know you'd have to be certifiably crazy to attempt the installation with just a ladder. Even a contractor that bid the project wasn't comfortable with a ladder setup for our 18-foot ceiling, so John rented scaffolding from Home Depot. It was 45 bucks for a week, which isn't too bad for a DIY project. My dad came by to help too, since I'm pretty worthless when it comes to heavy lifting or climbing. Although my nurse midwife hasn't specifically prohibited these activities, I'm going to make a reasonable assumption that they are are off limits at 9+ months preggo.

So here's how the project went.

First tier of scaffolding. I helped with this one.

Second tier. You're on your own, John.

Third tier. Please excuse my fat feet in the bottom left corner. I had some swelling issues.

Wiring for the fan

Ta-da! The remote and fan work.

"C" is for Convex (cont.)

2011-03-17T08:00:00.041-05:00

I'm nine months pregnant, so it's time for another belly pic update!

I wish nine months pregnant meant the baby was about to make his debut, but it's looking like he's happy in his home for now. Without going into the details, my certified nurse midwife expects I will carry to full term, which is 10 months. [Note to other moms-to-be: No matter how important you think your cervix stats are, very few people want to read about them online, especially on your blog or as a Facebook status update.] Besides being significantly larger around the midsection, I'm not feeling much different than I did at seven or eight months, so I'm mentally prepared for another 4+ weeks of toting him around. I also have a huge project due at work April 1, so I told Tully if he stays put for at least the next couple weeks, I'll let him stay up past his bedtime one night or buy him a new toy. We'll see if he goes for it.

Tully spends most of his time stretching, punching, kicking, and hiccuping, so he's a very busy boy. He especially likes to do these activities when it's time for bed or while I'm writing my paper for work, which is due April 1. (Did I mention that already? It really has me stressed...ugh!)

Outside of work, John and I have been busy attending childbirth classes, going to doctor appointments, and preparing the house for the baby's arrival. I'm very happy that we changed from my original doctor to the certified nurse midwife, Kim. I feel really comfortable at our appointments, and we had a chance to visit both hospitals where Kim delivers. Based on our visits, the decision to deliver at St. Francis South was an easy one. They don't really have a nursery where they keep the babies, so it's pretty much a given that the baby will room in with you, unless you call the nurses. Also, they were able to walk us through a typical labor and delivery in their hospital without saying things like, "Once you get here, you'll pretty much be hooked up to everything while you're in bed," or, "When you get your epidural..." So I feel like we can easily follow our birth plan with their support and resort to Plan B (or C...or D), if needed.

Tully's room is almost finished, and although I'm sure most boys don't have chandeliers hanging from their ceilings or in their armoires, I think it turned out beautifully. I figured by the time he has an opinion, we'll be moving on to a big boy bed and redecorating anyway, and I'm the one who has to look at it every day until then. I didn't have a theme per se, so there's a crazy mix of stripes, plaid, dots, gingham, and paisley prints with celery green, aqua, slate blue, black, cream, and pewter. Basically, if I saw something I liked, I bought it and made it work in the room.

Tully's room

Crib detail. Love, love love.

My rocker/glider. I've already fallen asleep in it once. It. is. glorious.

Chair detail.

Gutter bookshelves. Thanks to our family and friends for filling them with books!

I got the idea for gutter bookshelves from another blog I follow, A Teacher at Heart, and the step-by-step tutorial can be found at Raising Olives. We bought a gutter at Lowe's, cut it to the sizes we needed, and painted it green to add some color to the room. Sadly, we didn't use a primer coat, so the paint comes off really easily. I'm sure we'll be sanding and painting them again soon, but they work for now. Lesson learned.

The artwork in Tully's room, which I absolutely adore, is from Mary Jack Studios. The canvas prints have hand embellishments, which show up better on their website than in any photos I took. Click the images or links below the images for details.

Own Making

The Tree

My favorite helper decided to join me for the nursery photo shoot too. He actually posed like this on his own, perky ears and all.

On the nanny front, we found a good match for our family and hope to have the contract signed in the next couple weeks. We're planning for her to start in June while I'm still on maternity leave, and I'm really excited to see if working at home with a full-time nanny turns out OK when I go back to work in July.

Stay tuned for next month's update. It's either going to have a photo of me with a HUGE belly or pictures of Tully from the hospital. His official due date is April 11. Any guesses on what date he'll arrive?!

8/26/11 update: Since I have all of Tully's nursery photos in this post, I thought I should add this one.

"C" is for Cupcakes

2011-03-08T08:00:00.004-06:00

Several of my friends hosted a baby shower for me and John over the weekend. It was more like a big party, but it included gifts and yummy, perfectly-decorated cupcakes, so I can technically call it a shower.

The sweet hosts who went all out! See the T's on the cupcakes for Tully?!

Highlights included:

delicious appetizers and desserts, including antelope sausage from New Mexico, pork sliders, my favorite chicken wing dip, fruits, veggies, cupcakes, and homemade oreo "lollliops";
a mad-lib game that had us all rolling;
an excessive amount of drinking (for the non-pregnant attendees, of course);
hangout time around the chimenea for the guys;
gossip time on the couch for the girls;
a very adventurous, yet extremely short road trip; and
rockband

Soon-to-be dad and mom. Ahhhhhhhh!

Lacey and Jake

Lauren and Michael

The girls!

Although talking about and celebrating the upcoming arrival of Tully was probably the highlight of the evening for me, I think the most fun part of the shower was an unplanned, one-mile roadtrip to one of the host's previous rental houses. They still had an active lease on the house for the month of March, even though they are already moved into a new place, and they had discovered a squatter on the premises the day before. What do a bunch of intoxicated people want to do when they hear this story? Go see the squatter, of course. So we took the party on the road and piled into our SUV to visit the rental house. The dude was still there and totally shocked to see a crowd of people. The girls safely watched from the car, while the boys interrogated him. Apparently he was "house sitting." Riiiiiiiight.

In any case, I think everyone had a really great time. Thanks, girls, for an AWESOME baby shower. I can only imagine what's going to happen when we do a sip-and-see when Tully arrives. Should I schedule to have Grams pick the baby up before we get out of hand?!

"C" is for Clean

2011-03-04T11:27:00.002-06:00

I'm in nesting mode, so my theme today is clean--clean house inside and clean yard outside. First for the inside. I decided to wash my sheets, duvet, duvet cover, pillows, pillow covers, and mattress pad. The sheets get washed weekly, but after seeing the cheese prank on Jersey Shore last night (video clip here), I figured I'd go all out.

Now onto the outside. In 2009 we found a local service, Tulsa Clean Paw, to pick up the dog waste in our yard. The guy showed up every week, and I didn't have to pick up poo, which was awesome. Then out of nowhere, he stopped coming. We had some crazy weather in January, so I thought he was just waiting until the snow melted, but several weeks went by, and the poo continued to pile up. Literally. When I called, the phone line was no longer working, and now the website is down. Thanks for telling me you were going out of business. So I found a couple other local companies that provide the same service and had them stop by for estimates. We have Zach trained to only make messes along one side of the house, so I always ask for a discount, since they don't have to pick up the whole yard. Doody Free Tulsa gave me a great deal ($3 off per pick up), and they do email invoicing. I can't stand snail mail for bills, so this is really nice. If you are looking for a dog waste service in the Tulsa area, I highly recommend contacting Doody Free Tulsa.

"C" is for Compression (cont.)

2011-03-02T19:45:00.001-06:00

Last week I had my second prenatal massage at the Skin Care Institute. As I mentioned in a previous post, Paul, the Ukrainian masseuse, does an awesome job. I think I walked out with a full spine realignment this time, which was a relief, since I'm carrying a little extra in the front at 8 months pregnant. The day after my massage I felt like I'd done a P90X workout. Maybe I'm crazy for liking deep tissue massages, but the Swedish or regular ones just don't cut it. What's weird is that even though the massage was intense, I still found myself drifting off to sleep and drooling. My next massage is scheduled for later in March, and I cannot wait.

Oh, and in other random news, John and his dad fixed the dryer a couple weekends ago. (Thanks, guys!) The vent line does some crazy turns behind the washer and dryer, and what looked to only be a small amount of lint build-up was actually limiting the airflow enough to cause the gas to turn off. So it appears every three years or so we'll have to clean out the area of the vent line where it makes 90-degree turns. At least it turned out to be a $5 fix and not a $500 fix.

"C" is for Certified Nurse Midwife

2011-02-23T00:11:00.010-06:00

Well, it's official--I changed my obstetric care over to a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). On Monday, Kim, the CNM, completely put me at ease and provided answers to questions that I hadn't even asked yet. She was very personable, and I felt like I could trust her with my care and Tully's delivery. One neat thing we discussed is how Tully is positioned in my belly. He kicks/punches/pushes in the same general areas, which I pointed out to Kim. She confirmed his head is down and pointed out where his shoulders, back, butt, and legs are located. There's not a lot of room to roll around, so he'll probably stay in his current position, which is similar to the picture to the right. I could go on and on about how great Kim is and how she relieved all of my anxiety, but I'll spare you the details.

After deciding to use the CNM, we needed to choose a new hospital for Tully's delivery, either St. Francis South (SFS) or SouthCrest (SC). Kim called both hospitals to see how busy they were. Since SFS wasn't too busy, we toured the labor and delivery area.

For moms-to-be and future moms-to-be, here are a few questions you might want to ask when touring the labor and delivery area at your local hospital.

Is there a nursery?
If there is a nursery,

how soon is the baby taken to the nursery after delivery?
do babies room in with mom, or do they stay in the nursery until mom calls?

How long does mom stay in the labor and delivery room before being transferred to the postpartum recovery room?
Is there a NICU?
If there is no NICU,

where will baby be transferred, if needed?
will mom be transferred with the baby? (There are cases where baby will be admitted to a different hospital for NICU care, and mom will not be discharged from the hospital where the delivery took place.)

Other questions to ask that are related specifically to natural childbirth are:

How do you feel about patients who request a natural childbirth?
How do you feel about intermittent vs. continuous fetal monitoring?
How do you feel about patients who wish to only have a hep-lock (i.e. IV hookup only) vs having the actual IV fluids connected?

SFS definitely had a different vibe than St. John (SJ), which we toured last weekend, and I felt much better when I walked out of SFS. No tears. No frantic phone calls. I know the information we get and experiences we have are highly dependent on the nurse(s) we talk to, but since all of the nurses work together in a particular hospital, I would think the mentality and culture for care is somewhat the same. SFS did not have a nursery like SJ, and SFS's policy was that the baby rooms in with mom. (Rooming in was important to us!) The only downside at SFS was that they do not have a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). In the event NICU care was needed, all of the nurses at SFS are NICU certified to care for the baby until it can be transferred to the main St. Francis Hospital, which is a few miles away. A small percentage of babies require NICU care, and we haven't had any complications so far, so I don't have any big concerns with SFS not having a NICU. Hopefully this weekend we can tour SC Labor and Delivery to compare it to SFS to make a final decision on the hospital where Tully will be born.

For those who are curious and may be considering a midwife instead of an obstetrician, I found the following info online. I would also note that CNMs can also provide basic gynecological care, so I am considering Kim for this as well.

A Certified Nurse Midwife is an Advanced Practice Nurse who has specialized education and training in both Nursing and Midwifery. CNMs function as primary healthcare providers for women and most often provide medical care for relatively healthy women, whose birth is considered uncomplicated and not "high risk," as well as their neonate. CNMs in most states are required to possess a minimum of a graduate degree such as the Master of Science in Nursing or Post-Master's Certificate. CNMs must also hold an active Registered Nurse license in the state in which they practice. They practice in hospitals and medical clinics and may also deliver in birthing centers or attend at-home births. They are able to prescribe some medications, treatments, medical devices, and therapeutic and diagnostic measures in all 50 states. While their specific scope of practice will vary from state to state, in most states they provide medical care to women from puberty through menopause.

"C" is for Candles

2011-02-21T13:37:00.002-06:00

My in-laws came to visit this past weekend. I made dinner for everyone Thursday night and managed to burn my thumb with a flaming bag of shredded cheese. My biggest fear while being pregnant is that I'm going to fall, cut off a finger, or injure myself in some way that requires a visit to the ER and major pain medication, which would be less than ideal for the baby. The bag of cheese was accidentally set on top of the lit candle, and for some reason my instinct was to grab it. Bad choice. The plastic melted to my thumb, which was pretty gross, but it all eventually came off. I kept it bandaged with Neosporin at night, so I just have a couple blisters now.

Thankfully there weren't any candles involved on Saturday when several of the ladies in my hometown and one of my dear friends from high school hosted a shower for baby Tully. Below are a few of the photos. I was overwhelmed by everyone's generosity. Thank you to those who stopped by!

Several of the hosts. Thanks, ladies!

My friend, Stevie, who also hosted. Thanks, Stevie!

My mom and me

My MIL and one of the ladies from my hometown

Some of Tully's prezzies!

FOOD and a cute diaper cake!

"C" is for Cupid

2011-02-17T08:33:00.001-06:00

Valentine's Day was fabulous and productive at the Cockerham household. My day started off with breakfast in bed, which included oatmeal, oranges, and heart-shaped pancakes. Yum! I got full pretty quickly, so a couple of the pancakes got stashed in the orange bowl until lunch. I also got a very sweet card, a new plant (lilies!), and more of my favorite Godiva dark chocolate mix.

I gave John a new Canon 50 mm f/1.8 lens for the DSLR camera, so hopefully we'll be able to post even better photos in the future. This lens is seriously awesome and totally affordable in comparison to other lenses. It mimics the field of the human eye and can make people feel like they're "in" the moment. It's great for portraits, candids and low-light situations. I originally took my 8-month pregnancy update photo with the 50 mm lens, but since it has a fixed focal length, I couldn't stand in the right place, which made the shot look too different (i.e. made me look too LARGE) when compared to the other baby bump pics I had taken. I was actually standing several feet back from where I usually do, but the 50 mm photo still appears much closer. The bokeh a.k.a. blur for the 50 mm lens is amazing, but I had to switch back to the 18-55 mm lens to keep my baby bump series consistent. Here's a comparison of similar shots taken with the two different lenses.

The detail is great in both photos, but see how blurry the bed and rug are in the 50 mm photo?! I love photos that look like this--super crisp subject, blurry background. I have to admit though that the comparison isn't totally fair here. The 18-55 mm photo was taken at night, and the 50 mm photo was during the day, which is why the colors are off even though I'm wearing the same thing and standing in the same area. I attempted to cover up my lack of ability to adjust the colors by going black and white, but sadly my Photoshop skills are about as good as my photography skills. Both still need work.

So anyway, back to Valentine's Day. My mom was in Tulsa running errands, so my dad drove over for dinner, and we all met at my house. We ordered takeout from John's favorite Chinese place, Kit's Takee-Outee, and then I put both of my parents to work ;) Dad helped John troubleshoot the dryer (See "C" is for Clogged Vent), and mom and I worked on the nursery. Not exactly a romantic way to spend Valentine's Day, but I do enjoy spending time with family, and I really appreciated the help with our household projects. Thanks, mom and dad!

"C" is for Clogged Vent

2011-02-16T10:24:00.000-06:00

I knew we wouldn't make it out of Snowpocolypse without some sort of house issue or appliance malfunction. First it was the frozen water pipe scare. Next? The dryer.

I did several loads of laundry over the weekend, but I noticed the sheets took for.ev.er. to dry. Then I washed Tully's first load of outfits one evening and woke up the next morning to a bunch of damp blue onesies in my dryer. Grrrr. I can't imagine the price someone would charge to come out to fix a dryer, so I was on a mission to fix it myself.

Step 1. Make sure lint screen is clean.

Check.

Step 2. Pull dryer away from wall to make sure vent, gas line, and power are all correctly connected. I hooked the washer and dryer up when we moved into the house several years ago, so I actually knew what I was looking at. (Go me!) Lines looked good.

Step 3. Call dad before taking anything apart.
Step 4. Brainstorm possible problems.
Step 5. Conclude that vent line may be blocked somewhere, since the dryer is still getting some heat, just not enough to dry anything.
Step 6. Go outside to check vent outlet.
Step 7. Find vent outlet COMPLETELY covered in 3+ feet of snow. (Technically I had already dug out the area on the right where the vent was located when I took the photo, but you get the idea. This whole area was solid snow when I started.)

Step 8. Clear snow from area around vent.

See the little off-white vent under all those black and gray lines? The individuals who designed and constructed our house need to have their heads examined. I had to dig this area out by hand.

Step 9. Play with dog in snow. (Okay, so this step isn't really necessary, but my little helper was just dying to have some fun.)

Step 10. Go back inside, restart dryer and check for high heat and lots of air flow.

~~Mission accomplished!~~ The dryer worked once and then quit again. Boo. I had this post typed-up and ready to publish, but unfortunately my dryer has decided it has bigger problems--something about the gas not staying lit. I dunno. John and my dad spent several hours reading manuals and testing out every possible problem. The result? I'll be hang drying clothes for a while...

"C" is for Convex (cont.)

2011-02-15T12:29:00.003-06:00

I've successfully completed eight months of incubating baby Tully in my belly, so it's time for another update. The little Lilypie ticker on the side of my blog has vegetable-sized representations of the baby, and I think the watermelon is accurate. Last week the ticker said Tully is doing more sleeping. Lies. Sleep is not on Tully's agenda: kicking, punching, rolling, and giving momma major heartburn are. He also proved he was pretty tough when we both survived a nasty virus the week Snowpocolypse hit Oklahoma. I was barely able to keep anything down for about seven days, but Tully still managed to pack on the pounds. Good boy!

In other baby news, I put Tully's crib together on Superbowl Sunday. Normally, I'd be glued to the TV, mainly for the commercials, but I wasn't interested this year. Putting together a 200 lb iron crib sounded like a much better idea. We're also working on some gutter bookshelves, which is an idea I got from another blog I follow. Once the lighting and decorations are complete, I'll do a post on the nursery. Until then, here's a sneak peek.

The biggest change this past month doesn't have much to do with my growing belly or the nursery, and it hasn't actually happened yet. Remember when I said I was thinking about changing physicians? (See "C' is for Child, Week 11) Well, it looks like it's going to happen. Strike three with the current doctor's office occurred when we took the childbirth class at St. John's Hospital over the weekend. Long story short: two qualified and well-meaning nurses led the class; there was a heavy emphasis on epidurals; they gave a great demonstration of all of the monitors that will be hooked up 24/7 during labor, even though my physician has assured me that I can have all of them unhooked or off during most of the labor process; they clearly described the snowball effect of interventions that follow a request for an epidural (additional meds for blood pressure, additional pitocin, catherization, etc.) and, most importantly, the nurses clearly stated that they may come into my room to intervene in any way they see fit and can tell me about it after the fact. Ummm, hold up. Run that last one by me again...where's the informed consent? To top it all off, the video they showed at the end of the class was of a natural childbirth that didn't show any IV's, fetal monitoring, epidurals, or C-sections. John specifically asked what the "take away" was from the video, since it didn't match what they had spent the past three hours preaching (epidurals and interventions), and they let the class know that the video was filmed in Colorado where things are more "granola" and "liberal." I think their next statement was something along the lines of, "We don't do things that way here at state-of-the-art St. John's Medical Center..." Then they mentioned something about the Bible Belt and being more conservative. I don't consider myself a hippie, and I definitely don't line up on the left as far as politics go, so I don't see how choosing an unmedicated birth makes you granola or liberal. I've said from the very beginning of the pregnancy that my goal was education. I've read enough to know I'd really like to give natural childbirth a shot because it's best for me and my baby. I'm also a realist and have stated to more than one of my family members that I may walk away from Tully's birth with an epidural, a C-section, and anything else they can legally give me in a hospital. If that's the case, so be it. But I will do so on my own volition and with consent.

I left the childbirth class Saturday in tears, mainly tears of frustration. I felt like I only had two options: the medicated birth at St. John's or going totally natural at home with a midwife. I didn't want either of those. My solution? 1) Talk to John 2) Call my sister-in-law and 3) Call my Bradley (aka natural childbirth) instructor. Thank goodness for all three of these people. John told me simply that he supported whatever decision I made. My sister-in-law has been a great resource during this whole process, so it was comforting to talk to her, even if I wasn't making the same decision she did to have the baby naturally at home. The biggest relief came when my Bradley instructor told me about a certified nurse midwife who delivers babies in a hospital and has a physician backup. YAHTZEE!! So I called my insurance Monday to make sure there's no issue changing everything this late in the game, and they gave the green light. My next call will be to the midwife to see if she'll take me as a patient. If everything goes as planned, I'll deliver Tully naturally at SouthCrest hospital fully covered by insurance with a certified nurse midwife. To make things even better, the pediatricians we are planning to use do rounds at SouthCrest (they did not go to St. John's), AND SouthCrest is less than 3 miles from my house (St. John's is about a 25-30 minute drive). I'm hoping my anxiety over all of this will disappear in the next couple weeks and that everything will work out for the best before sweet baby Tully gets here!

"C" is for Conversation

2011-02-11T12:13:00.000-06:00

I learned a new word today.

somniloquy
Pronunciation: sŏm-nĭl'ə-kwē
Function: n
the act of talking in one's sleep

I always go to bed after John, and if I time it just right, he'll be awake enough to talk to me but asleep enough to have no idea what he's saying. Usually he just mumbles incoherently, but last night we dialogued! When I crawled into bed I really needed to ask him about the car situation for today. One car has a clear pathway out of the garage, and the other car is completely blocked by a huge pile of shoveled snow. I knew we would need to share the one car today, so I woke John up to ask him what time he was getting up the morning. My plan was to take him to work and to keep the car. He told me he was getting up at 6am. I thought that was odd, so I asked why he was getting up at 6am, and he told me he had a duet...or a duel. He wasn't sure. When I inquired further, he "confirmed" it was a duet...with his piano teacher...at 6am. John doesn't have a piano teacher, and no one at our house gets up at 6am, especially on a Friday, so this totally cracked me up! I hope to get more fun stories out of him in the future.

PS. I didn't hear anyone playing our piano at 6am this morning, so I guess he slept through his lesson.
PPS. Don't kill me for posting this, John!

"C" is for Cheesy Potato Soup

2011-02-10T09:20:00.001-06:00

Cold weather = warm soup in my kitchen!

Cheesy Potato Soup

Makes 6 servings.
Prep time: 5 minutes.
Cook time: ~30 minutes.

Ingredients

6 medium potatoes
1 stick butter
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup flour
16 oz (1 small box) Velveeta
½ cup shredded colby jack cheese
Salt
Pepper

Directions

Cube potatoes with or without skins, boil in a pot until tender (do not overcook), drain
While potatoes are boiling, sauté onions in butter in another large pot
Add flour to onions and butter and stir to thicken
Add enough milk to make the base for the soup and heat until warm
Add cooked potatoes
Add cubed Velveeta and shredded cheese and heat until melted
Salt and pepper to taste

If soup is too thick, add more milk. If soup is not thick enough, mash some of the potatoes. If all potatoes are gone and soup base is left, cook more potatoes and use for another meal.

"C" is for Cold

2011-02-07T10:45:00.000-06:00

Soooo, have you heard about Snowpocolypse in Oklahoma? We received 14" of snow here in Tulsa last Tuesday, plus another four inches or so on Friday. John had cabin fever, but I was happy and warm at the house, especially since the temp was in the single digits outside! We had a little scare with some frozen pipes upstairs, but the water is running again, and it's not all over our ceilings and walls, so I think we got lucky this time.

The snow isn't going anywhere anytime soon, but our pup, Zachry, doesn't seem to mind.

John got Zach to sit in the snow for a couple photos. We usually make little noises, so he'll look at us and perk his ears up, but he was intentionally ignoring John in this pic.

I'm ignoring you, dad

Then out of nowhere he pounces. Too funny.

Surprise ATTACK!

And here's Zach bouncing around in the snow like a bunny.

"C" is for Celebration

2011-01-31T17:46:00.003-06:00

Last week John and I spent four days at my favorite place on earth, Texas. I love Texas. Anywhere in Texas. Especially Dallas, Houston, or Austin where we have lots of family and friends. John and I took off work Thursday and Friday for an extra long weekend, since it takes about 8 hours to drive to his parents' house. We drove into Austin on Thursday to buy a mattress at Babies "R" Us. One of their mattresses was on sale for $100 off, so it was actually cheaper than a less expensive one we bought a couple weeks ago. I had checked the Tulsa store on Wednesday before we left town, but they were completely out of the mattress that was on sale, so I had them check inventory in Texas. The lady looked at me like I was crazy, since she thought I was going to drive to Texas just to buy a mattress. Thursday afternoon we also grabbed lunch with one of John's buddies in Austin and then headed out to Marble Falls where my in-laws live.

Hiking along the stream

Friday morning we went hiking on some land about an hour away from the house with John's parents, sister, and the two dogs, Bailey and Zach . We tried to follow a creek to hike, but we kept coming across areas that had too much water, so we'd have to navigate through the woods with lots of brush. The dogs had no problem, but it didn't take us long to figure out we weren't going very far through the woods.

When we were done hiking the dogs were wet and covered in dirt, so we wanted to towel dry them before putting loading in the car to make the hour-long drive home. There was a house on the land about a half mile from where we parked the car to hike, so we had the dogs run behind the car back to the ranch house. I think they really liked it--zig-zagging behind the car, running full speed. It was quite a sight to see. We didn't hear a peep from either dog for the rest of the day, as they spent hours napping after our little adventure.

There were also a couple donkeys at the ranch house that we fed carrots.

Feeding the donkeys, Jack and Jill. Zach was very curious.

When we got home John's sister made some Hello Dolly bars for my 29th birthday. About half the pan was gone the first night, and I think I was responsible for eating 90% of what was missing. Calories don't count on your birthday, right?

Although I really enjoyed hiking and eating large amounts of graham crackers, coconut, and chocolate, the best part of my birthday happened late on Friday evening. John received an email from the daughter of the lady who adopted our sweet pup, Logan. Last year we decided it would be best to find him a new home (See "C" is for Canine). We checked in with Logan's new mom a couple times after his adoption, but we had been meaning to call her again after Christmas. There's no way her daughter could have known it was my birthday on Friday, but her email update with photos of Logie Bear was the best birthday present I could have asked for!! She assured us that both her mom and Logan are happy, and based on the pictures I can tell they are spoiling him sweet. He looks perfectly content snuggled up with his new family. It warmed my heart to know that he is well cared for and loved.

Logan and his new little brother, Rue

Saturday we did another little hike with the fam through the trails around the lake house. The weather was too gorgeous to stay inside. John and I also tested out our skills with the camera in the manual settings. There wasn't much along the lines of color to photograph, but we found some little tid bits here and there.

Random Tree

Working on my depth of field

Cactus Heart

Cactus Flower

Please ignore the t.u. shirt. We didn't realize it was going to be almost 80 degrees, so John had to borrow it from his dad.

My response to John's t.u. shirt. Burn it. Saw 'em off. Something.

I also got to see my friend, Laura, to celebrate her upcoming wedding. Her bachelorette party was in Austin on Saturday night, so I joined the group for dinner before they hit the town. Congrats, Laura!

Dinner At Trudy's

"C" is for Class Project

2011-01-26T00:23:00.000-06:00

We made it! Today is our last photography class, and we (mostly) finished the final assignment. The objective was to take 15 photos of a list of items. Since the sun is usually down before we get off work, it was difficult to shoot everything we needed. We were able to take the night photos a couple nights ago, and John took the daytime shots during his lunch hour yesterday. It would have been nice for both of us to take daytime pics over the weekend, but I was in Dallas shopping for baby Tully. (Muy importante, right?!) So anyway, here are my favorite pics. We're by no means professionals, but I really think we learned a lot in the class. Most importantly, I'm happy to be be able to take decent photos in the manual modes on my camera.

American Flag

Motion

Neon Sign

Tall Building

"C" is for Convex (cont.)

2011-01-20T08:00:00.005-06:00

Another month down and less than three to go! I've officially hit the 7 month mark. We're getting lots of stuff done around the house (See "C" is for Completed Tasks), and the child birth classes we started a few weeks ago are going really well. Right now the class is focused on nutrition, so I'm making sure my ~~rear-end~~ diet is well-rounded. I feel like it's nearly impossible to get everything on the food list into one day, but I've done OK so far.

Last weekend John and I watched The Business of Being Born, and it was actually a decent movie. Graphic...but informative. They say all modesty goes out the door during labor and delivery. They aren't kidding. I've also started reading Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way and The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.

I started feeling Braxton Hicks contractions about two weeks ago, so that has been an interesting change. When they happen my stomach gets all tense, but they're not painful at all. Also, for the third trimester my doctor appointments have increased in frequency: since last August we've been going in monthly, and now we're on a bi-weekly schedule. Thank goodness we don't have to pay a co-pay every time we visit. Geez. We'll be scheduling a pre-admission visit and a hospital tour soon, and somewhere between child birth and photography classes I need to take a breastfeeding class.

We've also started scheduling interviews to find a nanny for li'l Tully. This is SO overwhelming. We posted a job ad on Care.com several months ago and received a very positive response. We are planning to spend the next couple months talking to many of the girls who applied. It's a little odd to be hiring someone, since I'm technically at the house all day, but clearly I can't work a full-time job and take care of a baby. After Tully arrives, I'm planning to take a few months off work and then go back full-time. Hopefully, in addition for caring for the baby, the nanny can help with errands and household tasks, like laundry and dishes, which will allow me to spend more time with my family in the evenings and on weekends. Fingers crossed that we find the perfect match for our family!

"C" is for Compression

2011-01-18T17:06:00.005-06:00

In December, John received a gift certificate at his company's Christmas party, which he generously gave to me for a prenatal massage at the Skin Care Institute and Medical Spa here in Tulsa. I told myself I could have a massage every time I hit a month marker for my pregnancy. I'm not in any pain at all, but these past few months have been the longest months of my entire life. I've tried not to complain, except to John and my mom, but I've quickly discovered I am not one of those people who enjoys waddling around with extra weight, acne, or any of the other glorious side effects of pregnancy. I know that bringing baby Tully into this world will be amazing, and I will love him more than life itself, but I'm pretty sure there's no rule that says I have to like this whole process. Am I wrong? Maybe, but I'm sure there are other moms and moms-to-be out there who feel the same way. Unfortunately, the only moms talking to me are the ones who either don't mind or really enjoy pregnancy, and everyone else seems to think this is going by really fast. News flash: it's not. Oh well...back to the story on my "reward" for successfully completing 7 months of nurturing little Tully in my belly.

Paul, my Ukrainian masseuse, started out with some serious pressure on my toe joints and heels, followed up with some vigorous shaking and major thumb work on my calves. The craziness proceeded all the way up to my neck and shoulders, where he found my tension knot on my left shoulder that I hadn't even mentioned. Brownie points for Paul. I guess I'm used to the relaxation-type massages with long, slow movements, where I tell the masseuse multiple times throughout the session that they can, in fact, push harder. I've never had a massage where I've been on the brink of pain but still felt relaxed.

On the downside, I did have to listen to some some pretty far out stories about his energy healing for one client with gangrene and another who wanted to be the #1 ranked 800m runner instead of #8. According to Paul, after several massage and energy sessions, the gangrene was healed, and the runner did move up to #1. Wikipedia says the world record holders for 800m from the last 30 years have been from Kenya, Denmark, and the UK, so maybe a) I misunderstood due to Paul's accent or b) he has no idea what he's talking about. Either way, I'm going back for an 8-month massage, and I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you the same stories, if you want to visit him too.

Update: 8-month prenatal massage.

"C" is for Curious Dog

2011-01-17T13:47:00.003-06:00

Last year we heard our pup, Zach, howl along with a fire truck for the first time. When he hears sirens, he begins to howl and looks at us like he wants to stop but just can't control it. It's pretty funny. So last week we tried to get him to howl along with a fire truck on YouTube. No dice--he only likes the real thing.

Our next idea was to see if he would react to a howling dog online. Zach didn't bark or howl, but he was very interested in the computer. I wish we would have gotten the camera out sooner. At one point when we first started playing the clip, I thought he was going to turn his head completely upside down.

"C" is for Completed Tasks

2011-01-14T13:53:00.001-06:00

We kicked off the new year with a bang and made some serious progress on household projects after we returned from vacation. Here are our 11 completed tasks for 2011:

1. Toilet fixed. This leaky thing had me losing sleep at night. $3 and a few minutes of TLC was all it needed. Thanks, John!

2. Light bulb replaced over toilet. I couldn't reach it, even on the step stool, and I can't lift the 50+lb, 22' ladder anymore. Another John project: done.

3. Hole in wall patched. I'll spare you the story about how mad I was about the leaky toilet and burned out lightbulb. (That poor toilet paper holder...)

4. Shelves and cabinet doors installed above toilet. This is a project we started last January. We have a TON of storage in a tiny area now, and, most importantly, the medicine cabinet is out of Tully's reach. John is 3 for 3.

5. Drapes hung in office

6. Drapes hung in master bedroom (Could someone please come steam all my drapes now? The wrinkles aren't falling out on their own.)

7. Family photos hung in hallway. The collage has officially started. Two years down, many more to go!

2009

2010

8. Installed magnetic door stops. We have two doors that liked to close themselves. $12 later and my door problems were solved. Ashley 2. Doors 0.

9. Organized hall storage closet. Put away Christmas decorations and moved garage sale items from closet to boxes in garage. I really hope the neighborhood garage sale isn't in April when Tully is due, so I can participate this year. My mom and I both have lots of stuff to sell (again).

10. Fixed miscellaneous broken items in house like large wall art hanging in bathroom and wooden blinds throughout house. Everything is functional for now, but I feel like our house is a never-ending project. (I can only imagine what John thinks about my honey-do lists.)

11. Organized hardware and tools. This project totally surpassed all of my OCD hopes and dreams. We sorted tools to make primary and secondary toolkits for upstairs and downstairs and sorted hundred of nuts, bolts, nails, screws, and other miscellaneous hardware into plastic bins. Oh happy day.

"C" is for Construction

2011-01-11T01:54:00.000-06:00

I wanted more space on the blog for my thoughts and for larger photos, so I decided I needed to modify the width of my template. Simple enough, right? Wrong. I know a little HTML, but I really didn't want to scroll through pages of it on the template designer and then teach myself what to adjust or, more importantly, what NOT to adjust. So I gave in to the pre-made templates on blogger to make my life easier. I knew these templates would mess up my header alignment, but I also thought I could make a new header pretty quickly. Unfortunately, Adobe had other ideas for how I would spend my evening. Fingers crossed that I receive the serial code to update my trial version of Photoshop to the real deal tomorrow...I mean, they have my money. What else do they want?!

"C" is for Copter

2011-01-10T00:43:00.003-06:00

While we were in Colorado over Christmas, John got to fly a little remote control helicopter. I think he played with that thing more than the 2 year-old there played with all of his toys combined. When we returned to Oklahoma, John made two trips to the mall to find the perfect remote control helicopter for our home. Apparently every kid in Tulsa got one for Christmas this year because there were none to be found in Woodland Hills Mall. We ended up ordering one online, and John asked me about 10 times throughout the week, if it had arrived yet. The day UPS delivered it was the day John left for the Cotton Bowl, which I thought was funny because I'm pretty sure he would have left two hours later for the game had he known it his toy would make its appearance at our house that day.

Here's a little clip of him playing with the helicopter. I apologize in advance for the poor quality of this video. I should have used our camera instead of my iPhone, but the iPhone was on the couch with me, and the camera was not.

"C" is for C25K Week 6

2011-01-10T00:10:00.001-06:00

According to the baby, "Couch to 5K" training is officially on hold until further notice. The jogging was good while it lasted. Stay tuned until April...

"C" is for Classes

2011-01-05T23:36:00.003-06:00

Less than one week into the new year, and I have A TON of homework. "How?" you might ask. Because I signed up for not one, but two classes a week. The first class is for child birth. The second, photography. Two things I'm very interested in right now. (Obviously the first a little more than the second.)

The child birth classes are called The Bradley Method or Husband-Coached Natural Childbirth. John heard more the first night than he wanted to, including a story from one of the girls there about peeing when she sneezed or something, but I told him that's only the tip of the iceberg.

Funny story about our first class--we went around the room introducing ourselves, and John and I were the first ones to go. John starts out with, "Well...I've been sober for 8 days..."

(crickets)

Obviously, I get the joke and start cracking up, so we laugh about being at the "wrong" meeting. I don't think the other students have any idea what they're in for with John in the class.

All joking aside, I really think we will learn a lot, which is my whole purpose for taking the class. My goal is to have a natural child birth, but I know myself well enough to know that plans change, so the real goal is to be able to make educated decisions to ensure I have a healthy baby.

On to the photography class. The first hour wasn't too exciting: when we got home, John and I both said we looked at the clock about 40 minutes into the class. But the second hour FLEW by. The class is exactly what we were looking for: tell us about all of the modes on our camera, and then focus on manual settings. After just one class I know what adjusting the aperture, shutter speed, or ISO will do, whereas before I would just push buttons until something turned out OK, or I could always default to the fully automatic settings. I know it will take way more than 4 weeks to learn about my camera, but this class is a great start.

So clearly the downside to taking these classes is homework. Between work, exercise, travel, and getting the house ready for the baby, I don't have a lot of free time. But the upside is that I get to spend quality time with John, which I really enjoy. He's way more into learning about the camera than I am, but I'm happy just to be there with him.

"C" is for C25K Week 5 Repeat

2011-01-03T22:50:00.001-06:00

5:00 jogging
3:00 walking
5:00 jogging
3:00 walking
5:00 jogging

Total Distance: 4.7 miles (- 2.8 from previous week)
Average Distance: 2.3 miles (- 0.2 from previous week)
Longest Distance: 2.46 miles (-0.07 from previous week)
Average HR: 132-141 bpm
Average Pace: See "C" is for C25K Week 1

Cardio-wise this week was no problem, even after taking a week vacation, but I did have to cut back, since I can feel some tightness in my lower ab muscles after my jogs. I substituted two days of walking, hence only two runs this week. In any case, we're moving on to Week 6 of the program. I plan to keep doing what I can and cutting back when needed.

"C" is for Colorado

2010-12-28T00:15:00.002-06:00

We spent last week in Steamboat Springs, Colorado with one of John's buddies from high school and his family. They own a great cabin right on the mountain, and we even had our own little guesthouse. It snowed 15" while we were there, and 10" had fallen just before our arrival. We were lucky our plane even landed. The six flights before us were diverted to Denver. Since it was snowing most of the time, there was low visibility on the mountain, and John only skied two days. I spent one of his two ski days at the spa. It was so relaxing. We also did a little snowshoeing, which was awesome, since neither of us had ever done it before.

View from the cabin

Snowshoeing in Routt National Forest

The only bad part of the trip happened on the second day. I woke up early that morning with some serious stomach issues. Apparently so did everyone else who ate salad the night before. It was pretty terrible, but I didn't mind taking it easy for 24 hours while it passed.

Steamboat was a quiet little town, and we had a delicious lunch at Winona's. The massive chocolate chip cookies from Winona's were to die for! We also had dinner at Mahogany Ridge Brewery and Grill. John tried a dunkelweizen beer that had hints of banana and clove. Ew! I think he was glad he only got the taster-size glass.

Yampa River downtown

Just before lunch at Winona's

Another highlight of the trip was feeding the elk. They visited a house not too far from the cabin, so we stopped by while they enjoyed an afternoon snack of hay and carrots. The elk shed their antlers every year, and the family we visited had last year's antlers mounted. They were HUGE!

Our gracious hosts made our trip so enjoyable, and we can't wait to go back!

"C" is for C25K Week 5

2010-12-28T00:15:00.001-06:00

Couch to 5K training didn't happen last week. I was on vacation! I did go snowshoeing (See "C" is for Colorado) and hit the gym one day, so the week wasn't a total waste. Back on C25K this week!

"C" is for C25K Week 4 Repeat

2010-12-20T02:58:00.002-06:00

I killed it this week doing C25K. Well...I know "killed it" is a relative term: I didn't finish a marathon, and I didn't set any world records. But I did set new Personal Records (PRs) for distance and pace thanks to my awesome husband! We had some great workouts last week, so I'm hoping to carry the momentum through the holidays this week. We're headed to Colorado to visit friends, but apparently I will have access to a gym. John's going skiing, and I plan to make the most of my down time by working out. And for anyone reading this and thinking, "She's crazy for running while pregnant," you can rest assured that a) My physician is aware of it and b) I'm exercising in moderation. There's a good reason I keep track of those "bpm" numbers listed below. I've been listening to my body to know how hard to push and when to rest, and my heart rate monitor confirms that I have a pretty good feel for 75% of my max heart rate, as shown by the 14x bpm numbers I put up week after week. My range is 125-163 bpm with a target of 144 bpm.

Here's last week's summary for C25K.

3:00 jogging
1:30 walking
5:00 jogging
2:30 walking
3:00 jogging
1:30 walking
5:00 jogging

Total Distance: 7.5 miles (+ 5.3 from previous week)
Average Distance: 2.5 miles (+ 0.3 from previous week) PR
Longest Distance: 2.53 miles (+ 0.33 from previous week) PR
Average HR: 143-145 bpm
Average Pace: See "C" is for C25K Week 1 PR

Moving on to Week 5 of the program.

"C" is for Concert

2010-12-20T02:27:00.000-06:00

We went to the Transiberian Orchestra concert last week. It was entertaining to say the least. I've never seen so many washed-up, 90's hair band dudes rock out on stage to Christmas music. We had great seats, so maybe the theatrics were less obvious from further back, but I was about ready to throw something at the blond guitarist, who kept putting his fist in the air and waiting for the crowd to do it back. His cheesy smile really set me over the top. You'd think after 2 hours and 45 minutes he'd be tired of acting like an idiot, but he stayed in character the whole time.

This photo isn't from the show in Tulsa, but here's exactly what the guitarist was doing. Maybe Transiberian Orchestra and the kids from Jersey Shore could hook up for an MTV Christmas special.

Here's a picture from the concert in Tulsa. The lights and fireworks were over the top!

Transiberian Orchestra - Tulsa 2010

"C" is for Convex (cont.)

2010-12-20T02:09:00.002-06:00

Tully is definitely growing, and so am I!

I knew the nesting bug would kick in sooner or later, and it did a couple weekends ago. I held John hostage on a Sunday afternoon to help me reorganize the kitchen cabinets and pantry to make room for Tully's future stuff. Now it might seem like a simple task to clear out one area for plastic-ware, but I've grown pretty attached to my stemware and stoneware. I also had to think about where Tully's stuff would be located in reference to the refrigerator, pantry, sink, etc. and how much cabinet vs. drawer space he would need. In addition to creating more cabinet space for Tully, I had to get the rest of the stemware out of storage boxes and into my cabinets. I'm sure I'm way over-thinking all of this, but the last thing I want to do when the baby gets here is have a cluttered kitchen or wedding presents that need to be unpacked.

Stemware in cabinets on right reduced to only what we need. Empty space on left.
Stemware on countertop being moved to cabinets above refrigerator.

So after the three-hour reorganize-a-thon we managed to get all of our stemware out of boxes; create one huge empty cabinet, a large empty drawer directly below the empty cabinet, and an empty spot in the pantry; and provide better access to the items we use most every day.

I also got started on Tully's room. The dresser and armoire are (sort of) in place, and I can't wait for the crib and bedding to arrive. It's a work in progress, and he definitely won't have a white lamp with crystal beads on it in his room when I'm done--I just needed some task lighting to work on the dresser area.

Tully's Room

"C" is for C25K Week 4

2010-12-13T23:51:00.000-06:00

3:00 jogging
1:30 walking
5:00 jogging
2:30 walking
3:00 jogging
1:30 walking
5:00 jogging

Total Distance: 2.2 miles (- 4.5 from previous week--oops!)
Average Distance: 2.2 miles (- 0.02 from previous week)
Longest Distance: 2.2 miles (- 0.07 from previous week)
Average HR: 140 bpm
Average Pace: See "C" is for C25K Week 1

I have a thousand excuses for only running once this past week. I'll give you two of them:
1) It's too cold to run at 6:30 am. (anything below 30 qualifies)
2) The wind has been out of control, and I mean patio-furniture-demolished, trash-from-neighboring-yard-in-our-yard, knocked-down-tiki-torches-everywhere out of control.

The good news is that I'm back on the running bandwagon, even if I'm doing another repeat week. I set new PRs for both pace and distance already!

"C" is for Cluttered News Feed

2010-12-09T16:41:00.002-06:00

For those on Facebook, you've seen your share of status update and profile picture fads lately. October was breast cancer awareness month, and the girls posted "I like it (insert where you put your purse)." My news feed was flooded with "I like it on the kitchen counter," and "I like it in the closet." Next was child abuse awareness in November and December. Little icons of Strawberry Shortcake, Smurfette, and Starbrite popped up everywhere when people changed their profile picture to their favorite cartoon character. The icing on the cake was the "numbers game" which took over Facebook yesterday. Apparently you were supposed to send a number to your friends in a private message, and they would post a status update with a memory about you along with your number. Clever, right? I don't think there was any "awareness" associated with the numbers game--just a bunch of trash posts that clogged up my news feed, followed by me hiding and/or permanently deleting everyone who participated.

I'm sure many other people are as annoyed as I am with this kind of Facebook abuse. I mean, I really like Facebook. I check it almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and I post pictures and status updates fairly often. I like being able to see who moved where, how they're doing, who they married, if they have pets, kids, etc. It's interesting to me, and it's a great way to keep in touch with friends, especially since our generation has spread out across the U.S. and abroad for school and jobs.

So back to my cluttered news feed--I was thinking about ways to show awareness without terrorizing the entire Facebook network. Here are a few ideas based on my personal experiences:

Breast cancer awareness
Back in college I led efforts in my sorority to collect pink lids from Yoplait yogurt to raise money for Susan G. Komen. It's called the Save Lids to Save Lives program. For every lid mailed in Yoplait donates $0.10 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation up to $1.6 Million. I still collect those lids and mail them in today. I don't think I posted about it on Facebook, but next October when I see the fad-of-the-month roll out, maybe I'll remind people that they can make a bigger difference by taking real action instead of changing their Facebook status. Why not donate your time by collecting lids or your money by making a donation directly to Susan G. Komen? If you wanted to really get into it, you could sign up for your local Komen Race for the Cure.

Domestic Violence
Next on the list: domestic violence. For the past few years, John and I have sold our unwanted items in the neighborhood garage sale. This year instead of boxing up the leftovers for use at next year's sale, we donated everything to Domestic Violence Intervention Services, Inc. (See "C" is for Charity.) I'm not going to lie--the tax break for our donation is a great perk, but we donated our stuff because we wanted to give back to the local community and to support a good cause. I know there are plenty of national and local charities out there to support, so consider donating your time, money, or unwanted items before you change your Facebook profile picture purple next November.

Multiple Sclerosis
Last on my list: multiple sclerosis. In 2008, I raised money for the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society. (Thanks to those who donated!) Every year the National MS Society raises money and holds bike rides throughout the U.S. where people ride about 150 miles in two days. It's a daunting endeavor for most, but I was really into bike riding, so I figured, "Heck, why not?!" I completed all of the training rides, but the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through Oklahoma on the first day of the official ride. Although I didn't complete the 150-mile, 2-day ride, I know I raised money and awareness for a good cause AND got into great shape physically. So next May during MS Awareness Month, consider getting out on your bike instead of updating Facebook!

P.S. For all of those Facebookers who participated in child abuse awareness in November and December, you might be interested to know that according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Child Abuse Prevention Month is officially observed in April.

"C" is for Cinnamon Banana Pancakes

2010-12-08T14:17:00.000-06:00

This morning baby Tully told me he wanted carbs, so I whipped up some cinnamon banana pancakes. They were delish!

Cinnamon Banana Pancakes

Makes 1 serving.
Prep time: 3 minutes.
Cook time: ~5 minutes.

Ingredients

¹⁄₂ cup Bisquick
1 egg white
¹⁄₃ cup milk
¹⁄₈ teaspoon cinnamon
1 banana
syrup

Directions

Mix Bisquick, egg white, milk, and cinnamon.
Mash ¹⁄₄ banana and add to mixture.
Slice remaining banana and set aside for topping.
Pour batter into skillet making three small pancakes and cook over medium heat until pancake edges turn brown. Flip pancakes and brown other side.
Remove pancakes from skillet. Place banana slices on top and add syrup to taste.

"C" is for C25K Week 3 Repeat

2010-12-06T13:09:00.000-06:00

Since I was such a slacker the week of Thanksgiving, I repeated Week 3 of the C25K program.

1:30 jogging
1:30 walking
3:00 jogging
3:00 walking

Total Distance: 6.7 miles (+ 0.4 from previous week)
Average Distance: 2.22 miles (+ 0.13 from previous week)
Longest Distance: 2.27 miles (+ 0.12 from previous week)
Average HR: 128-149 bpm
Average Pace: See "C" is for C25K Week 1

Moving on to Week 4!

"C" is for C25K Week 3

2010-12-01T22:18:00.001-06:00

I was such a slacker last week. I only managed two runs and some time on the elliptical.

1:30 jogging
1:30 walking
3:00 jogging
3:00 walking

Total Distance: 6.3 miles (- 2.6 from previous week)
Average Distance: 2.09 miles (+ 0.3 from previous week)
Longest Distance: 2.15 miles (- 0.02 from previous week)
Average HR: 127-143 bpm
Average Pace: See "C" is for C25K Week 1