Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Baby Update and more Random Wednesday

First things first- my new favorite person in the world (my ob-gyn) has ordered me to report to the hospital at 5:30am this Friday 25th to be induced. Woot! I'm so excited to meet Seeley (and admittedly no longer be pregnant) that I can hardly stand it. My boss is freaking out a little bit because he was counting on having me around that extra week (he was tossing out words like "irreplaceable" and really giving my ego a boost) but I assured him my internal deadline has always been this Friday in order to allow for contingencies and I WILL have everything situated for transition during my leave. He finally stopped hyperventilating when he realized that my OCD tendacies had once again saved the day. Ha!

This will be my second baby and second induction, and ladies, it's the only way to go. Granted, Emma was induced because she was a full week late, but there is nothing like having the time to prepare. Going into labor in the middle of the night and being rushed to the hospital by a sleepy and discheveled husband is all fine and great in the movies, but in real life you know that you're going to forget something or realize that you didn't shave your legs, etc. When you have an induction date (and don't accidentally go into labor before hand) you can make sure all that stuff is taken care of. And especially when you have a child already its nice to be able to make those arrangements ahead of time.

I had not dialated at all when I checked into the hospital with Emma and was only in labor with her for about 6.5 hours. I'm at a 2 now so I'm hoping Seeley will come a little sooner. I'm aiming for noon on the 25th at the latest! We'll see how well baby follows my schedule! Ha!

Moving on to Random Wednesday . . .

I've been having trouble sleeping lately so I've caught lots of new-to-me shows during my late night tv viewing. The latest, Police Women of Memphis, caught my attention this week because I have met one of the officers they are following. I flipped to this channel and there she was, Officer Olson, chasing down some hulking criminal. And this chick is tiny. So of course I had to watch the whole show and now have something else to add to the DVR list for late night baby feeding entertainment.

We actually met Officer Olson and some of her male counterparts on our recent trip to Memphis. We were grabbing a quick bite to eat at a fast food place for lunch and there were several members of the Memphis PD there as well; and as so often happens they struck up a conversation with the hubs. The conversations usually start something like this:

Police Officer: "Hey there, how are you? If you don't mind me asking, are you a cop?"

And they're off . . . .

Something about the hubs screams law enforcement or military to a lot of people. Yes, he keeps his hair cut short, but I guess it's his demeanor or something. He was a cop for a little while, but that was several years ago (thank the Lord). Maybe cops just have a sixth sense or something when it comes to identifying current or former police officers, because this actually happens to us quite often. And it still amuses me that my hubby, a self proclaimed people hater, will get sucked into random conversations like this with complete strangers all the time. And, when we're out shopping or something, it never fails that we run into at least 3 or 4 people that he knows. And at the most unexpected places. If you didn't know better you would mistake him for a socialite or something. Until he opens his mouth anyway! Ha!

Monday, June 21, 2010

I'm Melting . . .I'm Melting . . .

That about sums it up.

This weather is beyond ridiculous; 90-100 degrees in June?! Really? I'm very scared to see my upcoming electric bill.

I'm not a whiner by nature. I'm sure my sweet hubs could pick several unflattering adjectives to describe me; bossy, demanding, impatient, but whiny is not normally something I do. (And for the record, I don't necessarily think the unflattering adjectives above are bad personality traits. Just saying.) I put up with a lot of crap, turn the other cheek, and just generally deal with whatever comes sans whining. My motto is whatever comes, good or bad, the Lord will not give me more than I can handle.
But right now, I'm perilously close to breaking that hard and fast no whining rule due to this heat. It's turning me into a sweaty raving lunatic. Seriously. Walking from the front door of my house to the car causes me to break out into a sweat. I'm sweating going down the aisles at Walmart for crying out loud. According to Jeremy, the Walmart thing is just me. Sweaty, swollen me.

So in short, while pregnancy is a huge huge blessing and I try super hard not to complain about any of the unfortunate symptoms, I'm ready to have this baby already. I will gladly trade sleep deprivation for the ability to close my swollen fingers into a fist and to wear shoes other than flip flops without the dreaded "muffin top" foot. You know what I'm talking about. And of course I'm ready to meet the little guy. I'm so anxious to see who he looks like. (Please, please, please look like me. It will be a cruel joke if both of my children look exactly like mini-Jeremys.)
Speaking of Jeremy, I already mentioned that he received his Father's Day gift a little early. Abby the chocolate Lab is doing well and has already taken right up with Emma Lou. I guess Jeremy just thought she would be his dog. Ha! But check out this shot of my pale complexion look-alikes from the lake last week. I heart them both. Hubs is such a super daddy, it makes my heart melt on a daily basis.
I'm feeling especially sorry for hubby today; heat index is going to be 110. Yikes. I consider myself a lucky railroader. Yes, I have to get out in the heat quite a bit and inspect construction sites and do site visits, etc. But I still have the option to spend the majority of my day in a freezing cold office or an air conditioned vehicle. The hubs has to work out in the elements. Normally he's an Engineer. Good- not out in the direct sun. Bad- like most shortline railroads our locomotives do not have air conditioning. This means our shiny black engines turn into ovens sitting in the sun. Unfortunately he was working the ground last week as a Conductor in order to train a new hire. Our conductors typically walk around 10 miles per day doing their normal work. Good-great exercise. Bad-WAAY too hot for that crap in my opinion.
So, whenever I get the urge to whine I keep reminding myself it could be worse. I think I'm going to go out today and buy the hubs one of those little handheld fans. Probably woefully inadequate but just maybe it will create enough of a breeze he won't completely melt.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Another First . . . and complete Wednesday Randomness

This past Sunday we played hookey from church and took Emma to the lake. This was her first actual outing to the lake; the past two summers I've simply set up a pool for her in the yard. But, now that she's a little older we wanted to give it a try. And, the thought of being weightless in the water was super appealing to my hugely pregnant self. (It was heavenly by the way!)

Lake DeGray was up quite a bit from all the rain we've been having so the sandy part of the beach we went to was pretty much underwater. Emma was still super excited though. She wore her brand new Minnie Mouse bathing suit and her life jacket she had picked out the night before. All was fine until it came time to actually get in the water. She totally freaked out. I think it boiled down to not being able to see into the water (let's face it, lake water is not the crystal clear water found in a pool or exotic beach). So, I waded out with her clinging to me like a monkey the entire time. She absolutely refused to let go. Which is fine, I didn't rush her. We would stay out for a few minutes, then we'd go back to shore. This happened about 4 times before she actually decided that she liked the water. I think the life jacket threw her off as well because on the fifth trip out I carried her without it and she did much better, even started splashing Jeremy with one hand and having fun. I guess I can't really blame her, I hated life jackets as a kid too!

We only stayed about 2.5 hours; enough time to get her used to the water and to build some sand castles. My poor fair skinned hubs did not take my advice and wear sunscreen so he came home with a sunburn all along his back, chest, arms, and face. Yes, it happened after only 2.5 hours of sun exposure. I swear he's got some albino in him. Has to. I think poor Em may inherit his fair complexion and tendency to burn as well.
I sincerely hope Seeley takes after me; I rarely burn and can tan with the best of them. Back in the day when I shamelessly worshipped at the tanning salon I was often mistaken for Hispanic with very little time and effort devoted to tanning. Once or twice a week tops. I'll have to dig out a picture for proof, but Jeremy can verify.

Speaking of tanning, that leads me to my first bit of randomness for the day. Found this little beauty at Walmart and highly recommend it. Goes on well, no streaking, and has a very natural color. A very good alternative to tanning since I've decided to give it up cold turkey. Of course, I had to give it up due to Seeley, but I had already come to the decision that I would forgo the bed from here on out. I feel like I'm saying goodbye to a best friend. I managed a tanning salon for four years while I was in college and that's when my love affair began. Sadly though, its time to grow up and face the reality of cancer. I wonder if they have a Tanners Anonymous that I can go to for support? Seriously, very very sad.
Second bit of randomness- I watched a new-to-me television show the other night on TLC titled "I didn't know I was pregnant" WHAT?! Obviously this grabbed my attention and I sat spellbound for an entire hour at the stupidity of some people. There are some instances where I can see not knowing you're pregnant. One woman got pregnant immediately after the birth of her first child and since she was breast feeding and not having a period it never crossed her mind. She was barely eating and working out constantly trying to lose the weight and delivered the baby very prematurely at 2 lbs; technically the baby fell onto the floor of the hospital. Horrifying right? Baby had to stay in the hospital for several months but was ok. What I cannot understand is how a woman, especially one who has had kids before, can deliver a FULL TERM 7.5 lb baby and not know she was pregnant. Really? And its not like this woman was a "bigger gal" and might not notice a little extra weight. Speaking as someone who is almost at full term, even if your weight gain is not very much you STILL FEEL THE BABY MOVING! How on earth do you explain away the acrobatics going on in your uterus?

Final bit of randomness- Also watched Toddlers and Tiaras this week. I am very sad to say they featured two families from Arkansas; I have never even heard of these towns so am sure they are backwoods and tiny. One mother had her SON competing in pageants. Enough said. And the other said they spent around $3000 per pageant for their daughter; including dress, travel, entry fees, etc. Do you know what I could do with an extra $3k? And they compete in tons of these pageants every year. Poor dad didn't have a clue as to how much his wife was spending on pageants.

I may have to cancel TLC on my satellite. It's completely destroying my faith in humanity.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Etsy Seller

I completely forgot to include the link to the Etsy seller that I mentioned below. Sorry about that; especially since I've had several people ask about it. Here's the link to the sellers page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/enowotny1

She was fantastic to work with and willing to customize just about anything. Super quick turnaround also- a week at the most to send me a proof for approval.

Be sure and look for Seeley's and Emma's custom paintings!!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Operation Nursery-Mission Completed!!

We have finally, Finally, FINALLY finished Seeley's room. And only three weeks to spare-why was I so concerned? (please note the sarcasm)

I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I wanted something that suited a boy, but a baby boy if that makes any sense. I didn't want his room to feel too grown up so I opted for a blue and green color scheme with frog accents and we used Emma's white nursery furniture to keep the baby feel and also so it would really pop against the blue walls. I used two different shades of blue, along with some green and painted some stripes on one wall for some fun and whimsy. Note to anyone wanting to paint stripes on a wall-use FROG TAPE and run a wet rag over the tape prior to painting to ensure a good adhesion to the wall. I only had to do some minor touching up. Far superior to times when I've tried to use the blue painters tape. Jeremy thought I was nuts the entire time I was taping off the stripes. He just kept saying "But, they're not the same size! There is no rhyme or reason to your stripes!" Exactly.

Fun. Whimsical. Perfect.

When I decided on the theme I was not aware just how difficult it would be to find frog accents. Or rather, frog accents that I liked. I got the bedding from Target, and while I tried desperately to stay away from cutesy characters there just were not a lot of options. The plain color block bedding options in blue and green were not the right shades of blue and green. Then, once I decided on the bedding I had trouble with the mobile. The fabric "shade" over the mobile is actually from Emma's bedding because Seeley's did not come with a shade and it just looked naked without one. A little fabric paint, and voila! A pretty good match if I do say so myself.

Once it came to the artwork I also discovered a serious lack of good choices. So, I decided to make my own! This is one of my favorite pieces, and I think of it more as a keepsake that can hang in his room for years to come. Eventually I'm going to get it framed. I was so excited when I found this seller on Etsy because I had a very similar idea in my head but just had not had the time to sit down and paint it. Painting is so soothing to me, but unfortunately I have not had much time to paint since having Emma. The seller was able to customize this to my specifications, including the scripture and all the little details around it like the train and guitar, etc. The scripture is one of my absolute favorites and it just so happens to be from the Book the hubs was named after.

I think this would make a perfect baby gift for any new baby. Who knows, the next person I know having a baby may get a Stephanie original similar to this! Eventually my brain child will need to make it onto canvas!

I was so happy with the finished product I ordered a painting for Emma as well. She customized it also with the sign saying Emma's Garden and gave the fairy princess Emma's hair and eye color and the pigtails. I think it turned out too adorable for words.


I made the rest of the artwork. What's so great about it is that you don't need to have much time or artistic talent to do these- just a little creativity! Perfect for a busy mommy!

Now all we need is baby Seeley to make the room complete! I'm so ready for our little man to be here.















Saturday, June 5, 2010

The Zoo is expanding!

Last weekend we picked up the newest member of the Johnson Zoo.

Introducing Abby!

Jeremy's 6 week old chocolate lab. Isn't she precious?


She stayed inside with us for the weekend so that Jeremy could get her pen and house situated outside. (We have some holes in our backyard fence and are in the processing of replacing the fence.) Let me tell you, I had forgotten how destructive lab puppies can be. She chewed on everything! EVERYTHING!


1 example of 100- Saturday morning I get up early to take a shower before Em gets out of bed. Since Jeremy is at work I take the puppy into the bathroom with me and leave the door slightly cracked so Emma can get in if she wakes up. In the middle of shaving my legs Emma walks in the bathroom clutching lifesize Mickey. (Literally-he's taller than she is.) After about 2 minutes I hear Em screaming like she's dying. I whip back the shower curtain to see her standing there crying huge gulping tears and pointing at Abby. Abby has decided she likes Mickey too and is dragging him away by the foot. Not cool. You Do Not Mess with Emma's Mickey! Five minutes later I'm finally getting back into the shower to finish shaving my legs. Like I said- 1 small example of how the weekend went.


She is a great dog though and we all just absolutely love her.


In people news, baby Seeley will be here within the next 4 weeks. Yay! Jeremy is putting the cosmetic finishes on the nursery this weekend. Please Lord, let him finish!


And, to help all non-Zoo affiliated personnel, I've included a roll call on the blog now to make it easier to remember who's who. I don't think I forgot any of the 4 legged members . . .