Sign and Seal...

We had Lil Chick baptized last Sunday. It was a special tender moment in our little family.

My special life moments and events seem to be extra sharp and slowed down while they are occurring. On Sunday when she was getting sprinkled I remember thinking, "remember how you are feeling, what you are seeing, don't blink too fast or you'll miss something!"

What I DO remember...

We walked up to the front, Lance holding Lil Chick, me with a death grip on Bubbalu's hand, both of us praying he behaved. Bubbalu was (and STILL IS) sick and had recently taken to blowing his nose into his HANDS. Why, why, why, WHY would one do this? I have no idea. Extra moisturizing perhaps? After he does this he stares in wonderment at his hands probably curious as to why gobs of snot have now taken up residence on his hands.

Anywho, I was fully expecting him to blow his nose in his hands at the moment Pastor Pete baptized poor looked over Lil Chick. Not so.

What he DID whisper to me right after we walked all the way up?

"This is nice, Mommy."

Yes, Bubba, this IS nice.



A

Whining + Posting = RESULTS...

Apparently if you whine long enough and post a blog about it, you sometimes get what you want.

Check out what we now have in our garage:



Oh yeah baby, we got a freezer! An early birthday present for me. And Mom, I will come and collect all the miscellaneous frozen goods that I have stashed in your freezer.

Thank you Craigslist. And can I just say? We got a SMOKIN' deal on this beaut. Lance borrowed his Pa's truck and picked it up last night.

I am so excited because of this stinkin' appliance. Not that it actually stinks as it's officially been cloroxed from top to bottom. We're not animals you know. And bleach can be your friend. Especially if you are a garage sale, craigslist or thrift store patron. Just be careful about your clothes when handling the stuff. It only has to happen once...

I got right to work cleaning it out and filling it to the brim:

OK, maybe brim isn't exactly the best descriptive. Not very full, is it? And this is after my Mom donated a bunch of food that she didn't need.

So all I have to say is:

COSTCO HERE I COME!!!

A

Random Hospital Chatter...

We are just now getting the finalized hospital bills from Lil Chick's hospitalization. Apparently it racks up quite a tab. YEOWCH. However, we are feeling thankful that insurance is paying a good chunk of it.

Here is some random hospital chatter floating through my brain:

The hospital food was not super great. Now. I am a VERY unpicky eater. I'll eat most anything and say it isn't too bad. However, the food left much to be desired. Enter Becky, my cousin in law. She is a Registered Dietitian at the hospital and gave me some huge insider tips on what I could order on my meal trays. Every day I had a huge Naked juice smoothie, a vanilla or chocolate milkshake, protein bars, fresh fruit, fresh side salad and either a grilled cheese sandwich or Club sandwich. The nurses always said to me, "You have the BEST meal trays!". Hee hee hee.

Over the course of the 16ish days spent in the hospital I consumed close to 20 Club sandwiches. They we SO good! Really. They were. I would look forward to my lunch and a movie. When you're on bed rest in the hospital there's not much to look forward to. Eating and blood draws...woot it up! Apparently Club sandwiches were very exciting for me.

We had some amazing nurses, both in Labor and Delivery and the Pediatric unit. I felt comfortable in their care. The L&D nurses kept trying to recruit me, but I said I wanted to be lazy for awhile. Make pies and grow a garden. That sort of thing.

There really is no limit to how many Sudoku puzzles you can do in a row. I did so many of them my eyes started blurring.

One of my Obstetricians took pity on me in my laptopless state, and brought his personal Macbook in for me to use. GLORY. I wrote two posts before heading downhill.

That very same Obstetrician delayed a scheduled C Section so I could get my epidural. Once again...GLORY. Dr. M you are my friend for life.

When Lil Chick was in the hospital I still had bruises up and down my arms from my own hospitalization. I felt quite battered both physically and emotionally.

I realized that despite the dire circumstances we were in, I still felt very comfortable in the medical environment. I felt competent and sharp. Weird huh? Especially since right now I feel fuzzy and dull. But that's because I'm in a post chocolate chip consumption coma.

And of course, my family and friends love me. They showed love by visiting, calling, praying, cooking, cleaning, babysitting, loving on Bubbalu when I couldn't, shopping & returning, more praying, mocha delivering, hugging & crying, emailing, gift gifting, yet more praying and telling me they love me.

But they didn't have to tell me they love me. I already knew. It was shown to me over and over again.

And I love you all right back.

A

Happy Heart Day!

Happy Valentine's Day internets! I was woken up this morning (after sleeping in!) by 2 of my Valentines for breakfast in bed...although a certain really short Valentine of mine swiped most of my scrambled eggs.

My sweet husband once again made me my Valentine's Day card this year. It's kind of a tradition of ours. He goes and raids my scrapbook supplies and I pretend to not know what he's doing. He does an AWESOME job every single year and once again, he came through.

My littlest Valentine is sporting her very own handmade Valentine's Day bib thanks to her talented Great Auntie Jan.

Thank you Aunt Jan!

She gave me a HUGE smile after I took that photo. So I tried to capture it for you:

I missed.

In the spirit of hearts, love and all things cupidish Lil Chick is sporting a cute pink jumper from her Grandma. Of course, she was supposed to fit into it at Christmas, but she just curled up in one leg because she wasn't even five pounds.

I'm glad it fits now, and I'd say she looks pretty cute in it...or at least her backside does:



And you know my favorite gift of the day? Bubbalu said, "I Love You Mommy" for the very first time.

It doesn't get much better than that...

A

Milestones & Fart Commercials - A Perfect Mix...

Lil Chick is 2 months old today. I am so excited that she looks normal now, with appropriate chubbiness. There's nothing like a chubby baby and knowing your milk made them that way... a super ego boost.

I love Daddy and Daddy loves me:



Lil Chick being 2 months old means Bubbalu is now almost 2 years and 2 months old. He LOVES 'Baby Sithster' (he REFUSES to say her name) and tries to comfort her when she cries. He also loves her activity gym and will often hang out with her under it:



Of course, notice he still is holding a car. Or in this next picture, a random piece that goes with his tool set:



He is growing by leaps and bounds, learning new things daily. I would say he is an information junkie at this point, copying almost every word, phrase, or sentence we say. Time to crack down on our comments, jokes and adult metaphors. Cause you know when they whip those doosies out, right? Grocery store, Grandma's house, CHURCH. "Mommy said FART! Fart Fart FART!".

That SO makes me laugh. Why?

Well, this commercial, that's why:



Why why WHY do I think potty humor is so stinking hilarious? (Hee hee hee, ignore puns, really, for your own sanity.) I'm supposed to be all classy and refined, but this completely cracks me up! Please tell me I'm not alone in this.

ANYWAYS, back to Bubbalu...

He is obsessed with letters and numbers and asks to do his letters and numbers puzzles ALL DAY LONG. I am frankly quite sick of em, but he is so excited to do them I just can't say no to him. He is also starting to do more reading on his own:



And spends an enormous amount of time standing on the windowsill, freaking out the neighbors and just taking it all in:



He's only fallen twice...that we know of. And when he does, he's just so ticked off about the whole thing he jumps right back up there. No "get back up on that horse Son" from us. Actually, Mama is usually trying to distract him from crawling up there again.

So, two months ago? Here's where we were:



And today? Feeling 'completely and incandescently happy'...

A

One Month Ago...

Only one month ago Lil Chick was discharged from the hospital.

I was positively ITCHING to get out of there with her. I was pacing the room the entire morning packing up and getting ready to go. They did her last blood draw (note cotton ball and tape on head), gave her last IV antibiotics (note IV on foot) then took her IV out and finally FINALLY discharged us.

It already feels like it happened many months ago...or that maybe it was just a bad dream.



Never was I so happy than to take my Lil Chick home from the hospital for a second time. We gave her a bath right away to wash the hospital off of her:



You have to wash newborn babies in your sink...it's like a law:



She is healthy: eating frequently, gaining weight (just hit 8lbs!) and sleeping well. What more could I ask for?

A

One Year Ago...

Bubbalu one year ago:



It is SHOCKING how much they change in one short year. It reminds me to treasure these days of Lil Chick's infancy. To enjoy every second, including the 3AM wake-up calls.

A

She Has Arrived!!!

I see that my last post was Sunday December 7th. I was going a LETTLE nuts that day. Would have been nice to know I was delivering in 2 days. I might have been a tad more relaxed.

So here goes...

Monday the 8th I had an ultrasound which showed our little girl was not growing well at all. She went from the 18% to less than 10% in two weeks...NOT GOOD. So, they decided to induce me.

Then ensued a brouhaha over the state of my IV and the possiblities of any IV access. I am normally a very vascularly blessed person. Phlebotomists LUV me. However. Thanks to the pre-eclampsia my vessels were less than cooperative. Let's just say I'll have the bruises for a few more weeks.

The day proceeded without much fuss and they decided since things weren't moving along they would give me a sleeping pill and start afresh in the morning.

Anyone have Ambien before??? Me either. I'm SOLD. I've doled it out many a time to patients on hospital bedrest but had never tried it myself. No side effects, and NO drowsyness. I was very pleased.

So, Tuesday morning I woke up refreshed, got yet ANOTHER IV (why not, the bruising really should be bilateral, right?) and we got ready for a more eventful day. First off I got a lovely epidural from a stellar anesthesiologist (my OB's wanted to keep my blood pressure down during labor, which meant NO PAIN...um...OK!). I was 4 cm so I had my OB pop my bag, then took a short 20 min rest time and was ready to deliver. Woot woot!

I huffed and puffed until my OB arrived and Emmy was born a short 15 minutes later:



She was whisked away rather quickly for evaluation as she was not tolerating labor all that nicely near the end. She recovered well and weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs 2 oz. I know, HUGE huh? What can I say, I make pipsqueak children.

Mama is relieved her baby girl is OK:



Papa is proud:



And Emmy better get used to being kissed:



Bubbalu is not quite sure why Mama is holding a baby:



But check it out! We now have a daughter:



Merry Christmas to everyone...

A

Let The Holidays Commence...

Remember THIS post? My obsession with all that is peppermint mocha?

Yep, it's that time of year again, and guess what my lovely Mom including in a bed rest care basket for me?



Oh yeah baby! NOW the holiday season can officially begin.

And before you get all "it's not even Thanksgiving!" snarky on me, please keep in mind our holiday season will be a bit stressful for us this year.

Actually, my Mom-in-law pointed out that our last 2 Christmas seasons have been extremely stressful for us.

Last year we unexpectedly moved after our apartment flooded. The year before that we were going through with Bubbalu exactly what we are going through with baby girl now. Bed rest due to pre-eclampsia then having an early delivery. Oh yeah, and we have a snowy destination wedding for our brother and new sister-in-law 9 days before Christmas to throw into the mix.

But you know what?

I still love the Christmas season despite the last few years of Christmas chaos.

Remember the reason for the season, folks. Apart from that, not much else matters.

So, we are fully embracing an early jump on things with the majority of our gifts purchased and wrapped, lights up on the house (although we won't turn them on until after Thanksgiving), Christmas music playing throughout the house and 2 trees up above our door for seasonal effect.

Bubbalu desperately wanted to help Daddy put the trees up, but Mama quickly put the kibosh on that plan...



That boy is WAY to eager to climb tall dangerous things. Like father like son. Lance was incredibly thrilled to purchase a ladder. I love my nerdy husband.

Well? What about you? Ready for the season?

I'm off to put my feet up before I get yelled at...

A

He's Agrowin'...

I took Bubbalu to his well-child visit at his new pediatric clinic today. All is well and good.

I LUV going to Pediatric visits. I may be kinda nerdy that way. Or, maybe because I'm a nurse and like to chat with others in the medical field? Who knows.

I'm an information person. I like to know Bubbalu's growth percentages, weight gain, newly accurate acetaminophen dosaging and to have my finnicky questions answered.

I also see it as a way to validate how I'm doing as a mother. "Is my beloved offspring, the object of my continued attention and affection, thriving?"

I found it funny that they wrote directly on the growth graph: Father is 6'4".



He's just like his Papa.

Could it really be that I am THIS blessed?

A

Sugar & Spice...

...and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of.

Apparently I've been consuming A LOT of sweets, because we are having a baby girl! We we shocked to find out last week during our ultrasound that we will be parents of a girl. We thought it was a boy. We REALLY thought it was a boy. But no, the ultrasonographer gave us a 99.9% chance of a girl.

A sweet little baby girl.

Amanda's having a GIRL. See? I'm still in shock.

What will I do with a girl? I have NO idea what to expect. We are living in the land of boys. We thought our all access pass to boy land was one that was non-changeable and non-refundable. This baby girl will have 4 older boy cousins and an older brother to torment her.

She'd better be feisty.

I went out and bought the very first pink thing with flowers I could get my hands on. A cute five pack of onesies. Then my Mom and my Mother-In-Law went out and bought the very first girly things they could get their hands on.

I felt kind of lost in the baby girl section of the store, mostly because I have never been to the other side.

I kind of like the other side.

In honor of finding out that we will be welcoming a baby girl, I got bit. Meaning, I got bit by the sewing bug. I have long wanted to sew for a little girl. Dresses, skirts and rompers, "oh my"!

Here's what I whipped together this evening:

You can't tell from the pics, but it is an adorable denim with "jean-type" buttons down the back. I made the pattern off of a 9 month onesie, and left the back straps unsewn to fit when this little girl can wear it. I am guessing it will be perfect for next summer.

Lance about had a fit when I wondered out loud if Bubbalu could be my model.

I littered the floor of our bonus room with 10-15 fabric cuts awaiting my sewing machine and creativity to strike again.

Maybe the sewing bug will be in a biting mood during Bubbalu's nap time tomorrow...

A

One Year Ago...

August 2007, just lazying around :



I can't believe how quickly time goes by, and how fast a child can develop. To think my Bubbalu went from not being able to crawl to running all over my house. Just ONE YEAR went by. It just boggles my mind.

July 2008, hiking with Papa:



Sometimes I want time to slow down, but then I desperately want it to speed up. I can't rewind either. I have to remind myself that I don't own the remote control of life. God is the keeper of time.

However, wouldn't a mute button be handy every once in a while?

A

Ivory Blessings...

I am a closet piano player.

What that means is, I truly enjoy playing and singing, but freeze when I know others are listening. I get nervous, start hitting wrong notes and end up just quitting whatever it is I am playing. I am a decent player, but am NOTHING like my dear friend Ms. SmileWon, whose musical talent stuns me.

I took 5+ years of piano lessons as a child, and am the only one of my piano-educated siblings to continue playing into adulthood; notwithstanding my secret playing.

At any rate, I have been asking my husband for a piano for 8 years, and last week, my wish came true. My Mom and Dad gave me the piano I learned to play on, the piano my Dad refinished by hand.

Here are the guys unloading the hulking piano from my brother-in-law's utility truck (thanks Dust!) :



We greatly recommend renting a piano dolly for anyone considering moving a large unwieldy piano. And when I say "we" I really do mean Lance and everyone else in the pictures. Notice I'm not in any of the pictures? I was SUCH a big help.

Here is my Dad positioning the dolly under the piano for ease of movement (he wasn't allowed to do any lifting) :



Up the steps it comes...lift with your legs guys!!!



Also, lay down some plywood or some such material to protect your floors from being damaged.

Oh wait, there IS a picture of Mama holding onto Bubbalu, who was none too thrilled at not being allowed to play under the feet of the muscled piano movers:



See? Mama's VERY excited about her piano delivery!

Final positioning against the wall :



And there you have it, my beautiful piano. Sorry I cut your head off Lance, I was just so excited about my piano :



How to move a piano, VintageDutchGirl style:

1. Find LOTS of strong, nice friends and plan a piano moving party


2. Make sure one of these friends has a truck and utility trailer that can handle heavy loads


3. Rent Piano Dolly - cost us 10 bucks


4. Send hubby to Ace to buy many sets of work gloves (as pictured above, modeled by my headless husband)


5. Obtain necessary floor protection equipment - blankets under plywood prevent scratching on wood floors


6. Move piano...lifting with your legs!


7. After the muscled movers catch their breath, shuffle them into dining room to chow down on chips, salsa, and 7 layer Mexican dip and cooled soda pop.


8. Send them out the door with their parting gifts of work gloves and a set of stretching instructions.


9. Play piano to your hearts delight...once everyone has left, of course.
   
   

I've been playing musical scores, old hymns, praise and worship songs and a smattering of classical work.

My newest piano music desire is the Pride and Prejudice music book:

Maybe my husband will just happen to read this post and wish to treat me.

Actually, I am receiving a treat tomorrow. My sister and I are flying out to Phoenix for 7 days of sun, reading, resting and the privilege of watching a dear cousin walk down the aisle in a stunning white gown...sigh.

I will not be providing piano accompaniment at the wedding. My hands will be too busy mopping my face...

A

Energy-smenergy...

Guess who finally feels better?

Took long enough! The books all say by week 13ish you should be getting all your energy back and be a glowing beauteous pregnant goddess.

Uh, do old yoga pants and my husbands t-shirt count at appropriate goddess attire?

I'm not even going to mention the lack of makeup or any recognizable hairstyle.

So here we are at 16 1/2 weeks along, starting to feel that old familiar friend come back again...without the use of coffee! I'm finally getting some things done and not feeling bedraggled by 4 pm.

I'm actually running around playing with Bubbalu to chase and tickle him.

It's good to be back...

A

Sunglasses Are My Friend...

Guess who feels beautiful again!?

My eye is back to normal, THANK GOODNESS!

And NO, I won't post the picture...mostly because I can't find the camera cable, my ipod cable, the video camera cable and my cell recharge cable (and blue tooth earpiece and instruction book, which I now need to learn to use, thanks to the new law). We are in the land of lost cables. I keep reading the labels on the boxes hoping one will say:

ALL THE THINGS YOU NEED ARE IN HERE.

Anywhoo, my eye was nice and puffy thanks to a nasty mosquito bite. I am kind of allergic to mosquito bites. I mean, EVERYONE is allergic to mosquito bites, we all get some sort of allergic reaction, but mine is quite significant. I'm talking an inch wide lump of redness, not to mention itchiness. AND, they last almost 3 weeks. Yep, allergic. I have close to 10 mosquito bites at the moment, which I gladly show anyone, expect for the one on the side of my abdomen. That requires flashing a white expanse of belly that should be hidden.

The eye swelling did go down quite a bit, and is gone now. My sunglasses got a lot of action. I decided it is not rude to talk to people with your sunglasses on when you have major eye troubles.

Do you take your sunglasses off to talk to people? Keeping them on while talking to people makes me feel like I am hiding something or have the ability to be fake. So I usually take them off to talk to someone, except if I know the person really well, or if I am laying out on the beach. Which in that case means that I get wicked raccoon tan lines.

Thank goodness for sunless tanning cream and bronzing powder!

A

Onions Anyone?

Guess what I learned I may have at my OB appointment this past Thursday?

Oniomania.

Definition: for the compulsive desire to shop, more commonly referred to as shopping addiction or shopaholism.

I though it had to do with an obsessive need to eat onions. Which a certain brother-in-law of mine suffers from (you know who you are!).

And though I greatly like to shop, I usually don't purchase anything. What's the term for that? Noncommittoniomaia? Windowshoppyicism? CompulsoI'mjustlooking?

While waiting for my appointment to start my always entertaining husband picked up a Taber's Medical Dictionary and started quizzing me on medical terminology just for fun. Cause what else are you going to do while waiting for your appointment to start. Read a pamphlet about peri-menopausal symptoms or painful urination?

Anyways, we got to see our new little peanut wiggling around on the ultrasound screen, bringing bright smiles to our faces. I learned I need my blood drawn again, bringing a sad scowl to my face.

A

Superb Ice...

Yeah, I know, I've been gone for a bit.

A bit meaning 10 days. I DO have some good excuses though.

We finished packing up all our belongings (junk) and moved into our first house. Goodbye to nine years of apartments! We are thrilled to have such luxuries as a backyard (full of dirt and weeds, but I'm NOT complaining!), a garage to park our car in (we could finally fit it in amongst all the junk yesterday), and an ice and water dispenser in the fridge.

Seriously, the ice is a HUGE deal for me. I'm easy to please. I feel spoiled because I don't have to fill those annoying little trays with water to make ice. I usually would end up spilling half the water out of the trays anyways. So, I've been drinking a decaf iced vanilla latte this morning, and can I say, the ice is SUPERB.

See? Easy to please.

Bubbalu has been adjusting rather well. He's sleeping well, which I am certain is because of the endless running around he does, exploring every nook and cranny in our home.

How is everyone else? Any new news? I haven't been surfing the blogisphere lately, but WILL return soon...I promise.

A

Hello Cat, You May Now Exit The Bag...

Wanna know why I've been a slacker housekeeper, wife, friend, blogger and Mama lately?

Here's why:



That line is faint, but it's there! And by the way, the picture is dated 4-30-08, and we are eleven weeks along already.

Turns out blogging suffers a bit when you need a daily nap and spend all your awake time on the couch. Actually, almost everything in your life suffers a bit.

Bubbalu's been thrilled having Mama so close by all the time. I lay on the couch, he drives cars on my face. It's a good compromise.

A

So, We Bought Us A House...

And we're moving in a little over 2 weeks.

TWO WEEKS!

If I stick my fingers in my ears, squeeze my eyes shut and say, "lalalalalalala!!" I'm ok. If I don't? Then we are quickly boarding the train to freak-out land.

We have moved one too many times in the past few years. This house will be Bubbalu's FOURTH home. Yep, he's 18 months old.

After this move, I want to settle for a bit. Put down some roots. Finish unpacking from the last move. I don't like living in a constant state of turmoil and never knowing where "home" really is. I guess the good thing is that the people inside of whatever home we have been in these last 18 months have not changed. It's always been Papa, Mama and Bubbalu.

And that is what home really is.

A

Recipe for Yum...

Made this for game night with Nat n Megs tonight...

• Take one box of white cake mix.


• Stir the mix as directed, but add 5-6 Oreos to the mix and get em all nice and crumbly.


• Bake in oven as directed


• Frost cake after it is completely cooled


• Smash 5-6 Oreos and scatter over top of cake.
  

Perfecto.

It tastes good, is super easy, and you can snack on Oreo's the entire time you are baking the cake. What's not to like? Unless you don't like Oreo's, but then I don't know if we can still be friends.

What's your favorite recipe for Yum?

A