yes, i catan!

today was my first day on my own with maria in about 2 weeks. it was ok. i could really tell she missed her grandma bonnie. there was a little more fussiness than normal but we survived. i went to game night by myself since chris's back was still causing him a lot of pain. something amazing happened at game night- our good friend john beat all of us catan. it truly was a historic night.

all aboard

this morning we had to say goodbye to grandma bonnie- it was time for her to go back home. i had a grand plan of waking up early and making breakfast and we would all go to the train station to see her off, however, maria decided to stay awake half the night. needless to say my plan failed and chris drove her up to the station. she's been taking the train from ft worth to austin. she gets a good deal on the ticket plus she doesn't have to drive! we've enjoyed her company these past 2 weeks and we'll miss all of her help.

i know bonnie will be missing maria so here are some cute pix to help her get through the day!

dirty, dirty south

today we (chris) moved 5 yards of dirt. yeah- we're tired.

we woke up around 6:30am to get started before it got really hot. ok- make that 7:30am. it took an hour to get maria fed, changed and happy and to get us fed and awake. while bonnie and i worked on that, chris finished putting down weed block and got a couple of cart loads of crushed granite out. i joined him shortly after 8:30am. chris shoveled, carted and dumped and i spread. it took about 2 hours to get 2 yards of crushed granite spread around the veggie garden. bonnie was able to come out help once maria was asleep. it was really cool to see corner of our backyard transform from dirt patch and weeds to looking professionally landscaped!

no rest for the weary- when the granite was done it was on to mulch. 3 yards of mulch. we got a lot of it done and just when we thought we couldn't finish it, our next door neighbor came over and helped us finish it up. chris was very thankful for taylor's help. i really don't think it would have gotten finished with out his help. we used the rest of the granite to freshen up the walkway we made a couple of years ago. we got 2 wheelbarrows of mulch spread out in the front yard. note to self- when we re-mulch next spring we need 5 yards of mulch!


thankfully we were totally done by 12:30- before it was super blazing hot. the problem with being pregnant in the spring is that you can't get any yard work done and you have to wait until the hot texas summer to get started. so i don't know which is worse- yard work in the summer or being pregnant in the summer. i guess this was only one day of yard work versus days or weeks of being preggers so i'll take the yard work.

unfortunately, chris wrenched his back shoveling crushed granite. he was down for the rest of the day but bonnie, maria and i went outside to admire the landscaping every hour or so- just to make sure it was all still there!

three mile island and chernobyl ain't nuthin'

i don't even know how to describe today. before maria was born chris and i had such a quiet, calm existence and we didn't have to change clothes more than 2 times a day. today we both went through multiple changes and maria went through the most- currently she is at 4 changes.

yesterday i placed an order to have 2 yards of crushed granite and 3 yards of mulch delivered for sometime today. that sometime this morning shortly after 9am- just when chris had gotten into the shower, i had just gotten started with pumping and bonnie had maria in the living room feeding her a bottle. let me preface this by adding that when the dirt company called and left a message my cell phone would not let me retrieve that message. fortunately i got the cars out of the garage and parked on the street so they wouldn't be blocked in by 2 big piles of dirt.

after the dirt delivery, maria was fed and playful and super cute. bonnie and i gave her a bath and she was still super cute. then i got her dressed. all hell broke loose. i think some of her outfits are possessed. some cause diaper leakage, other cause spit up and this one little dress causes total level 10 meltdown, full on conniption fit. i have managed to identify all possessed outfits today.

 after i got her changed and calmed down, she went through her little feeding/ catnap stage until she took a long nap in the afternoon. she was all smiles when chris got home. she was cute, playful, we fed her and then there was a total blowout poop/ pee diaper. this made her upset, chris had to change clothes and we all questioned how so much could come out of something so little. after things got settled down (again) chris placed a to go order from chuy's. this gave us about 20 minutes to start some yard work. we got 3 shovel fulls of dirt down when we decided we needed more prep work for the area around the garden. chris weed whacked out as much grass as he could and i got the weed block tarp better situated. our neighbors came by to see maria so we took a little break. maria started to have a meltdown and they handed her back to me. she sort of calmed down a little and when they were leaving i turned her around because my shirt felt wet. i thought she had spit up a little. chris thought is was pee. if you said it was poo and then said all of the above- you'd be correct. chris left to pick up dinner after i got her cleaned up and changed and me cleaned up and changed.

we all sat down at the table to eat. chris was so happy to see his dinner completely covered in cheese after he specifically requested for no cheese on anything. i was being sarcastic on that statement- he limited his meltdown because his mom is here. i called chuy's and got the order corrected and went and picked it up. it was well after dark by the time we all got to eat. my plan to get half of the crushed granite in place tonight was totally shot- enter my meltdown.

right now maria is sleeping peacefully in her little "diableta" onesie. i'm just waiting for whatever it going to happen next. . .

smile!

more tennis, dentist and maybe a smile

this morning bonnie and i watched the conclusion of isner v mahut. what a match for the ages! maria mostly stayed asleep although she did raise hers arms above her head when bonnie and i celebrated isner's win. i got some housework done after the marathon match was over. our neighbor jessica and her son came over for a little bit. maria was awake for a while during their visit. after they left i got us ready to go to the dentist. it is getting a little easier to get her packed up in the car. i think i have every on-the-go baby essential packed in the diaper bag but it hasn't been tested yet. everytime we go somewhere with her she stays asleep. i guess i should enjoy this time and really try to get out of the house with her while she is 'easy' to carry. she slept the whole time chris and i were at the dentist. good news- no cavities! bad news- we both got the weird dentist. he isn't horrible, he just likes to repeat the same jokes over and over again. i don't know how his hygienist doesn't pull her hair out and quit! i have a little video to post that shows a nice maria smile at the end. it takes awhile for videos to upload so i'm going to do it as a separate post.

lady bug and the tennis bug

what a morning! maria woke up sometime after 4am. i changed her diaper, nursed her her, changed her diaper, gave her a bonus ounce bottle, snuggled with her, played with her very quietly, changed her diaper. she went back to sleep sometime after 6am but by that time i was fully awake. so i got up, emptied the dishwasher (this also  includes the 'getting very old' chore of drying all the bottle parts and assembling the bottles), ate breakfast, took daisy for a long walk, and watered the front yard. all of this early morning activity reminded me of advanced individual training at ft leonard wood. the difference being i went to back to sleep sometime after 8am and slept until about 10:30am. it really hit me today that my time to go back to sleep after an early morning will be coming to an end after the weekend. i've really been enjoying the company of my mother-in-law for the last 8 days. her presence here has been a god-send! i'm very thankful she has been here- i'm not sure how i will manage after she leaves.

maria took a very long nap this afternoon. she goes from a cycle of eating and cat napping to a long sleep cycle and then back to a catnap/ eating cycle. fortunately her long nap came during live coverage of isner v mahut. i can't believe that match has lasted so long! bonnie and i watched it from 11:30-ish until the match was suspended sometime after 3pm. i'm looking forward to (hopefully) watching the conclusion tomorrow. with that being said, i got the tennis bug. i'm feeling like playing again. i'm sure juan will give me a good beat down this weekend because i haven't played since october. oh well- it will feel good to get out and do something.

Maria, fish tank, and tennis

today i watched live coverage from wimbeldon for the first time in 6 years!!! the last time i got see live coverage was when i was unemployed after coming back from a year long tour in iraq. there was another fish death in the tank over the weekend- that leaves us with only 2 fish left. at one time we had about 30 inbred zebra mollies. the only 2 fish deaths i felt sad about were napoleon (the first father of all the zebra mollies) and the sunburst platy. i will be emptying and putting away the fish tank when these 2 fish hit the great beyond. i love having the tank but it requires a lot of maintenance that i just don't feel like doing anymore.

here is what you want- bonnie and i had a fun day with maria. she is getting more interactive everyday. she is really smiling at us now and enjoys kicking around on the play mat and looking up at the monkey mobile. just when i think we are getting into a regular sleep/ eat/ play cycle she changes it up on us. i am really enjoying her playful times and her quiet alert when she just looks around- i just wish we could get on some kind of schedule. any tips on doing this?

What time is it??

green cat thirty.

The Return of Game Night

On Monday night we decided to get adventurous with Bug and traveled up to north Austin to see our friends John & Lorielle and Juan.  A little over a year ago we began playing board games as a group.  It started when the cable went out and we were bored.  It developed into a weekly ritual, where we would play various board games.  Some games are so complex that it takes several weeks to get the rules down (ie Puerto Rico and Arkham Horror) and some are as easy as saying 'fact or crap' or goofy like coming up with a caption for a weird Domo picture.
Amelia, my mom, Maria and I made the trip up to their place.  We packed Maria's diaper bag with provisions, assuming that we would need food and diapers for the evening.   The goal was to show off our beautiful baby girl and her big baby eyes. Well. . . . she slept the entire time. Given that our adult social interaction has been very limited over the last 6 weeks, we let her sleep and we played RoboRally. The game was a lot of fun and a certain couple ended up with a new nickname- Cheaterson's (i think you know who you are.. . . ).  Amelia made it to the first flag with relative ease (her only goal). I would have finished second had we continued game play after the Cheaterson's won. All in all, it was a lot of fun to get out of the house and to see our good friends.

Happy Father's Day

Well, I got to have my first father's day today and it was awesome.  Amelia's parents were in town so I got to share the day with her father.  My day started at 5 AM when I woke up and saw that Amelia was still trying to get Maria to go to sleep after her 3 AM feeding.  I grabbed Maria and we rocked for 30 minutes.  Amelia has already done most of the work in getting our little girl tuckered out, so she was out after the rocking.
I got up at 8 AM.  There were some provisions that were needed to construct my father's day brunch.  I decided I wanted chocolate chip waffles, link sausages and an egg sunny side up.  While I was at the store, I also picked up some strawberry syrup.  For some reason, when I thought of the chocolate chip waffles, I was reminded of IHOP and my favorite flavor of syrup at the IHOP is strawberry.
Amelia cooked an delicious brunch.  I did not get my egg sunny side up.  She says she forgot, but I think she just thinks it is really gross. Honestly, I didn't mind because there was more than enough of everything else.

I got an awesome Kodak LCD picture frame.  Now, I can circulate through pictures of Maria at work.  Whenever I look at her picture up at work, I am reminded of the Simpson's episode where Homer keeps a picture of Maggie at work to remind him of why he is at work in the first place.

Maria and I were supposed to go  to an ice cream social that is held for fathers by the neighborhood association.  Maria had a very cute little dress on, just before we were set to go I decided to change her diaper.  Rookie mistake. Of course she decided to take a wee while I had her diaper off.  The dress was soaked.  By the time we got her changed she was getting hungry.  We didn't ever make it to the ice cream social, but I didn't mind because Maria fell asleep in my arms.

I decided my father's day activity would be to watch the Casino Royale blue ray that I have had checked out from Netflix for 2 months.  Maria slept through the entire movie.
Amelia grilled some chicken and I went and picked some weeds out of the veggie garden.  We just transferred Maria into her "I heart Dad" jammies.  This was a really great day.

Everyone should be as lucky as I am. I have such a great wife and cute baby.

Busy Day

Today began at 5:30 AM.  Bug woke up after sleeping for 5 hours.  Amelia fed her and they played dancing monkeys and spent some quiet alert time together.  Maria zonked out at 6:45 AM and Amelia could not go back to sleep because the sun was already up.  I have to be honest and say that I did not wake up when she cried at 5:30 and only partially woke when Amelia put her back in the bassinet, so I am kind of feeling like husband and father of the year.  Bug and I slept until 9, while Amelia and my mother worked on putting in some fiber edging around our vegetable garden.  It took a fair amount of effort, but with the help of my mom the work got done.  I guess I should add son of the year to the list.  When I finally got out of bed, I helped Amelia start the lawn mower. Amelia mowed the lawn (an activity she actually likes) while Maria and I played inside. Once Amelia was done outside, we cooked a large breakfast of blueberry pancakes, cinnamon eggs and maple bacon.  Once we had stuffed ourselves with breakfast I left to get the car inspected (only a month late).  I have been feeling very nervous because Amelia has been driving the SAAB and the last thing I want is for her to get pulled over because I was too lazy to get the car inspected.

The inspection place was relatively empty and the inspection only took 15 minutes.  I was feeling pretty good because I had banked that I was going to spend an hour on the inspection.  He walked me out and tells me that the car failed its inspection because the passenger side rear tire is too worn.  Generally, I am wary about these inspection places, but the guy was really nice and when he showed me the tire. I could see that it was too worn.  The SAAB dealership mechanics had told me the same thing back in December, but I had ignored them because we had replaced all 4 tired less than two years ago.
 Grimacing, I took the car to Costco to get new tires.  I decided that there is no way that I was going to get Pirelli tires again.  I have had two sets in 6 years and the car doesn't even have 65000 miles on it yet.  The previous set of tires that we bought, cost $1500.  At Costco, I got all 4 tires replaced with Michelin performance tires for $550.  Hopefully, this set of tires last for the remainder of the time we have the SAAB. The tire replacement took 2 hours after which, I went back to Inspection place, which now had a queue of three cars and it took an hour to get reinspected.  The inspection that I thought would take at most an hour has now taken four hours.  (Hooray for being a law abiding citizen)
By the time I was finished Amelia's parents had arrived from San Antonio, where they had attended a water board conference (the government group, not the torture technique).  All of the grands watched Maria while Amelia and went out to Hyde Park Bar and Grill for dinner.  Amelia had her first beer in almost a year. (Hooray beer)
Amelia felt like she was missing something.  In Iraq, she constantly carried a weapon.  When she got back to the states she would sometimes look around for her "missing" weapon.  The whole night Amelia was looking for Maria.  It was incredibly sweet. We had a great meal, but hurried home to Maria.

When we returned home Maria was screaming.  In the last couple of days she has developed a bad habit.  I usually burp her midway through her bottle in an effort to prevent any spit up.  Previously, she would stop eating, burp and then start again.  She has now started to scream when I pull the bottle away.  The screaming stifles her ability to burp, which makes her even more fussy.  Grandma Gray was trying to negotiate Maria's new trick when we got home so we jumped in and got her to burp.
After having a screaming fit, she crashed in my arms.  I put her in her swing at 10 PM and that is where she is right now.  By the time I finish writing this it will be after midnight CST, which means that officially it is Father's Day.  I can't wait to write about my first father's day.

End of an Era. . . .Hopefully

friday was my last doctors appointment with my ob/gyn. hopefully it marks an end of a 3 year struggle of battling uterine polyps and trying to get pregnant. i have been in her office at least once a month for the past 18 months and at least every 3-4 months before that. if you are in austin and are looking for a good ob/gyn that will listen to you and doesn't make you feel awkward then go see dr. gooch at austin regional clinic. the office itself kind of sucks a little- the practice has a lot of other doctors so the waiting room can be busy at times and can be a real nightmare for a germaphobe. she gets double booked from time to time but i would rather wait in a slightly icky waiting room than see a different doc- that is saying a lot because i hate waiting.

so, there is nothing like stepping on the scale at the doc's office to lower your self esteem a notch. .. the big push to lose the rest of the pregnancy weight starts monday. i kind of went on a ben&jerry's ice cream bender for the last 2 weeks but i'm saying it right now- i'm breaking up with them. i'm dumping those vermont hippies.

two more pix

i took these last night when chris was feeding maria. i just want to make sure that we totally overload people on maria pictures!

no sleep 'til brooklyn. . .

we had a very active today. it started about 8:30am and it is still going. chris and grandma bonnie took care of maria this morning and let me sleep for a little bit. my day started with pumping, followed up by laundry, baby care, cooking breakfast, cleaning the kitchen, giving a maria a bath, then we all went for a walk. i thought she would be zonked out when we got back from the walk but, no. she stayed awake long enough for her next feeding (noon-ish). did she fall asleep after that? no. at least she was in happy baby mode for the most part. i read her every baby book that was within reach of the rocking chair in the nursery. sleep? no. we changed her clothes after a pee incident on the changing table, cleaned her up, played with her on the bed. sleep? nope. she finally went to sleep about 4pm-ish. she woke up just a few minutes before chris came home from work (a little before 5pm) time for another feeding then she was out- not just any regular sleepiness but the kind where her whole body is just limp like a ragdoll. we were able to make dinner, eat and enjoy sometime after dinner then run errands. now it is getting close to midnight and guess who is still awake. . . .

tonight i went to target to pick up a few things. when i was checking out there was a family in line next to me. apparently the kids had a little money to spend and were trying to decide what they wanted. the girl wanted a watch but the mom was like- no- that's frivolous- there will always be someone to tell you what time it is. the boy wanted a toy  from toy story 3 and the mom was like- you already have toys from the first movie. this was right after i picked up the alien toy. then i was looking at all the frivolous things i had bought. i guess the difference between adult and kid is that when you are an adult you buy what you want.

picture crazy

ok- last 2 pix for the day.

ps daisy

just so you won't think we have completely forgotten about our beloved daisy- here is a super pathetic picture of her. yeah- we forgot her birthday last friday. hey!!! before you pass too much judgement i've been taking her out for a walk her everyday for the last 4 days!

bp isn't the only gas i hate. . .. .

she cried all day until she wore out. effin' gas bubbles!!!!!

she did wear her first little dress today- maybe that is why she cried so much. . . .

baby bjorn

tonight's walk wasn't so spontaneous- here are some baby bjorn pics and the closest picture to capturing a smile.

walks and poops

today maria is 5 weeks old!

hmmm. . . . what happened this weekend?

friday morning i took my first 'solo' walk with maria and daisy. we went about a half-mile and maria was awake for about 200 feet of that walk. on friday afternoon, my friend sara stopped by and brought lunch. she watched maria for a little bit while i took a shower.

on saturday i (amelia) mowed the yard and cut down some annoying vines that grow over the fence from our neighbor's yard. chris was super great about taking care of maria overnight and all day saturday and sunday. on saturday she got a bath. she is getting more comfortable with bath time and we are getting better about not drowning her. we took a little walk sunday afternoon so chris could use the baby bjorn that my brother gave us. chris was pretty excited about using the bjorn. he's been waiting years to carry a baby in front of him. it was the most spontaneous thing we have done in 5 weeks. so spontaneous that we didn't have the camera.

i haven't entirely given up on breastfeeding but i had to make the executive decision that i just can't provide anywhere near enough for maria. we've been giving her more and more formula. more formula has led to less poop but the poop that comes out is amazingly gross!! i'm doing my best to give her as much breastmilk as i can in hopes that her poo gets better. it probably won't. i haven't been grossed out by her poop until last night. it was really bad. it was the first time i wanted to wear scrubs and a surgical mask and gloves to change her. she was smiling the entire time. that little stinker.

rootin' tootin' morning alarm

very, very early this morning, maria ripped out a fart soooooooo loud that it woke all of us up. i got up to see if she was ok. her eyes were half closed and she was looking side to side and had the goofiest grin i have ever seen.

that's my girl!!!!

happy bug

here's a little video of happy bug at bedtime!

Rockin' the cache-bear jammy jammy style

alright- i have to add this one thing for today. bug was crying this morning and when i walked by the toadies poster we have hanging in the hallway she stopped crying. we stood in front of the poster for a good 20 minutes. she was mesmerized by it. she loved it. i love that she stopped crying. chris was so happy. all we really wanted was a healthy baby with a healthy appreciation for texas rock bands.

also- our good friends from www.podcacher.com sent her a super cute panda bear from the san diego zoo. thanks triple s- sandy, sonny and sean!! i can already tell she loves it!

tonight- she is sleeping in some jammies- the kind with footies! she looks really cute.

Bug Life: 1 Month

Hi Bug- its your Mom. Today you are 1 month old. This will be a long post because I want to tell you about the day you were born. Your due date was May 3, 2010 but that came and went. In fact, I went to work on your due date and the day after that! I was really hoping you would be born on May 5 so your birthday would be 5-5-10. Well, the fifth came and went. That was my first day of maternity leave. It felt really weird to be at home with not much to do. I can't even remember what that was like! I waited out the rest of the week for you but you wanted to stay in. Your Dad and I checked into Seton Central Hospital on the night of May 9. I have to tell you- I was really disappointed because that was Mother's Day! I'm going to have to wait an entire year to celebrate Mother's Day.

Once we got settled into the labor & delivery room, I got some medicine to help ripen my cervix. I also took 2 Ambien because I knew it was my last night of uninterrupted sleep for a looooooong time! I fell asleep right away. The next thing I knew, it was 6:30am and I was having a really strong contraction. The contractions just kept coming. The nurses shift change was at 7am. The new nurse asked me if I wanted anything to help with the pain (narcotic) and I couldn't say yes fast enough. Around 8am-ish I had a really, really strong contraction and my water broke. I thought I had peed because the same thing happened on the next contraction. Your Dad asked for the nurse to come in and she was totally shocked when she saw the my water had broken. She checked me and I was dilated to 6cm! This was happening a lot faster than anyone had planned. She asked me if I wanted an epidural and again- I couldn't say yes fast enough! The anesthesiologist came in close to 9am and gave me an epidural. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. By the time it kicked in though, I wasn't feeling anything and the narcotic had kicked in too. I was actually falling asleep inbetween contractions. Around 10am-ish my doctor came over to check on us. She wasn't supposed to be on call for another 2 hours but you weren't going to wait that long. Around 10:30am-ish I was fully dilated and you were ready to come out. I started pushing but nothing really happened for about 40 minutes. After that, everything happened really quickly. The nurse had to call my doctor to come in and then a whole bunch of people came in. You came out about 20 minutes later- 11:34am. It was all such a blur- I don't remember everything. I hardly remember holding you for the first time. Your Dad went with you to the nursery to get you measured and cleaned up. I don't know how long it was but after a little while you came back in with Dad and you were all wrapped up. I remember being shocked by how much hair you have! You were a little wiggly but mostly pretty sleepy- I was pretty sleepy too. You weighed 7lbs, 15 oz and were 21 inches long.

We spent the next 2 days at the hospital. Your grandparents (my parents) and your grandmother (your Dad's mom) came to visit you. There were a bunch of different nurses that checked you and the pediatrician came by twice a day to check you. The first night with you was really rough. I didn't feel very well and neither did you. You cried a lot and there was nothing I could really do to help you. Eventually the overnight nurse took you to the nursery and we all got some sleep. The next day you were a little more alert- you would open your eyes for a little while. We started calling you Bug because you looked like a little bug when you opened your eyes and looked around. The second night with you was a little better- you stayed in the room with us. On the morning of the of twelfth, your Dad and I were soooo ready to leave the hospital. We got released around Noon. We were a little nervous about your first car ride home.

Your grandparents were all at the house when we got there. Daisy threw up all over the living room rug with in five minutes of us walking in the door and then you started crying. I think I started crying shortly after that. We all took a nap for the rest of the afternoon.

So here we are- one month later. I have to say Bug, this has been a long month. It has been pretty rough. I'm having trouble feeding you enough to get you back up to your birth weight- you have about 5 ounces to go. You cry a lot and it makes me a little crazy. You also poop a lot and you've had a couple of blow out diapers. I was starting to think you had a butt on your hip because that is the only way you can get that much poop out the side of your diaper! Pee diapers send you into a frenzy- you really hate them. We get them changed as fast as we can. In one month, you have gone through approximately 275 diapers!

Sometimes you smile at me and my heart just melts. Sometimes you make little coo noises and sometimes you snore when you sleep (you get that from your dad!). You have super long eye lashes and big eyes. We laugh at how long your feet are- I hope they get a little more proportional as you grow. You have already outgrown your little newborn onesies. It makes me a little sad because you will never be that little again. However, you have a whole closet full of cute clothes and I look forward to getting you dressed everyday.

I love you Bug!

-Mom