Our Hospital Stay

I was at the hospital from early Tuesday morning until Friday morning. My c-section was at 8:15 am on Tuesday, and everything went according to plan. My delivery experience was a million times better than my previous experience, and I'm really glad I had the doctor, hospital, lactation consultant, and nursing staff that I did.

Here's Sam only a few moments old. He inhaled some fluid on his way out, and had to spend the first few minutes of life clearing out his lungs. His first cries were a little gargley, but he quickly recovered.

He was then given a standard-issue beanie, wrapped up, walked over to his Mama for a kiss, and then sent off to the recovery room with his Papa and nurse to be weighed and cleaned up while my surgery was being completed.















When I was all put back together, I was taken back to recovery and reunited with Jake and Samuel. It was there that I really got to see my baby for the first time. After a while, we were taken to my room where we remained for the next few days.

That afternoon & the next day, we were visited by every one of Sam's grandparents, aunts, & uncles that lives near by. It was nice to have visitors and to have everyone meet the newest member of our family. It was also very nice for Cathy & my mom to bring Jake some food and me some peanut butter M&Ms when they came (side note: have you ever eaten an entire bag of M&Ms and lost 20 pounds in the same week? I have.).


Sam didn't have any problems passing his newborn tests while we were there, and was even a fashion-forward baby in the nursery, as I overheard the nurses talking about his oh-so-stylish green & yellow beanie.

(I'll have to post a better picture of his little PJs from the 1980's. They were adorable)

We were both released late Friday morning, and headed for home. I'm now focused on recovering and snuggling. Sam's focused on eating and sleeping. Jake has played the role of Super Dad/Husband and has spent the weekend cleaning, cooking, entertaining 2-year-olds, and making sure I can get up off the couch without too much pain.


We're all glad to be home.

Pure Heaven

One week old babies are pure heaven.

Did you know that?

This is how I try to spend most of my waking hours. Even if it is harder to type or eat or stand up (difficulty standing has more to do with the major abdominal surgery 5 days ago than the baby).

The deliciousness of a (my) one-week-old includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• He squeaks like a dolphin sporadically throughout the day
• His cry is a tiny, high-pitched hoarse squeal, which, unfortunately for him, we find to be absolutely darling
• His favorite place to sleep happens to also be my favorite place for him to sleep (see above picture)
• He's squishy
• It's fun to find different features of ourselves in him every day
• Every once in a while his fingers find his mouth, which he loves
• Newborn baby smell
  
• When his eyes are open, they are looking at your eyes
• Sleep, eat, squeal, repeat
  

This bliss is something I didn't appreciate with Sophie. I'm glad I have the opportunity to enjoy it now.

Baby Sam

We're pleased to welcome Samuel Jay to the world. He arrived at 8:37 am on Tuesday after a smooth delivery. He was 8 lbs. 5 oz., 20 inches, and completely healthy in every way. Abbie is doing well, trying to catch up on some much-needed sleep today. Everyone should be home tomorrow.

We named him after relatives from each side of the family. Samuel is from dad's side (little brother and great, great...grandfather Samuel Banner). Jay is from mom's side (Grandpa Jay). Like the name, we think his face has a little from each side.

It's the Final Countdown

We're counting down the days with ONE HAND now.

Foe Moe Gays!
(just ask Sophie)

Home Tour Part V: Pool

BEFORE:

During our very first visit to our new house, this is what the pool looked like:

After much heartache and even more money spent, we finally decided that major surgery was in order. So we disconnected it's cords, sucked the life out of it, and then brought it back to its glory.

And now we love it.

AFTER:

Home Tour Part IV: Nursery

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Finally, the nursery is complete.

I decided to go with a brown, green, & white nature theme. We traded out Sophie's old white crib for this new brown one, and bought leafy-patterned crib sheets to go in it. And then to accent with more brown, I spray painted the diaper baskets and recovered the changing table mat and a valance in a brown striped fabric. I also made new liners for the diaper baskets and the dirty clothes basket (not shown) with a cute bird & branch fabric.

The mural on the wall was painted by me. I followed Robin's lead and projected an image I liked onto the wall to trace & paint, and then hand-painted the grass and bird by myself. The whole thing was surprisingly easy to do.

The mobile is made of felt and a tree branch from our back yard. And the shadow boxes (there are 4 on the wall next to the closet, only one is shown up close) are filled with various branches & leaves from around the neighborhood.

I'm very happy with how everything turned out. Now we just need something soft and squishy to come sleep in the crib.

Pregnancy Update

So, I haven't posted a lot about this pregnancy. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's cause it's not as novel as the first time, or maybe it's because I'm busy with a new house and a 2-year-old, or maybe it's because we didn't have reliable internet for a while in the middle there, or maybe it's because our camera battery charger has gone missing, or maybe it's because I'm lazy and hot right now.

Take your pick.


Anyway, here's the update:

• My official due date is August 19th

• I have one shirt, one skirt, and one pair of pants that fit. Today I'm wearing one of Jake's shirts and a pair of PJ bottoms.

• I have no concept of "cold". As I sat for over 2 hours in our church's chapel yesterday, perfectly comfortable, I looked around and noticed women with blankets over their legs, and my husband trying to warm his icy fingers on my neck. I also sleep with 3 fans blowing on me.
  

• Due to my previous c-section, I have a scheduled c-section on Tuesday August 18th, bright & early.

• If I happen to go into labor before then, I will try for a V-BAC, but will not use ANYTHING to artificially promote labor (pitocin, stripped membranes, etc.) If it doesn't progress, I'll move on to a c-section. This is my own personal choice due to my previous experience, and the advice from my doctor regarding the safety of V-BACs.

So, in summary, I will have a baby sometime within the next 8 days. His nursery is 99% complete. I just have to get our drill out and hang up the valance, and then pictures will follow.

Picture Wall

Ever since I was inspired by this wall and this wall, I've wanted to do my own picture wall. So when we moved into our new house, I collected all the picture frames I owned, and tried to put them together. I tried every combination I could think of, but they just wouldn't flow with each other nicely.

And then I remembered that I had a bunch of identical matted frames, so I decided to use those instead. And here's what I came up with:


I think I like it.

Meet Quincy

All this year, I thought the next member of our family would be a baby boy. Turns out, it's a kitten.

This is Quincy.

He's tiny and skinny and has a thing for head scratches.

And he has 3 brothers & a sister, if anyone is looking.

Books and Life Transitions

In our house, we've been fortunate to have the world of children's literature to help us through the toughest of 2-year-old life changes.

Here's Sophie with her two newest books:

Sophie's Big Bed

and

Sophie and the New Baby

We've been reading Sophie's Big Bed ever since we moved into our new house. Sophie has been sleeping in the crib in the nursery, but last week, we finally got a mattress for her twin bed, and she decided one afternoon that she wanted to sleep there. So we read that book every night before bed to remind her what a big girl she is.

And then a couple of days ago, Sophie and the New Baby arrived in the mail, so we've started to read that and learn all about new babies. Sophie seems to understand that our new baby is in my tummy, and will come out some time soon (we'll see if she really gets it next month though). At one point in the book, the character Sophie doesn't like the new baby, and exclaims "I don't want that baby anymore!" After we read that page, Sophie turned to me and said "Mom, I don't want our new baby anymore too." I suggested we continue reading to see what happens in the book before she made that decision.

Dear Old Navy

Dear Old Navy Maternity Shirts,

Why are you the only shirts I own (in my maternity wardrobe) that do this:


Did you forget that maternity shirts are supposed to cover up a belly? Why do I have plenty of regular (non-maternity) shirts still in my rotation that do a superior job of covering my bump? Your only job in life is to cover a pregnant belly for a couple of months. That's it. And you're failing. And I still have a month of belly growth left. What's your deal?

Thank you for your time. I wish I could return all of you.

Regards,
Abbie

A Comparison (part 2)

8 Months, 1 Day

(34 weeks, 5 days)




















Pregnancy #1 .................................. Pregnancy #2
................................................... (today)

Pretty much identical.

Foodie Friday #15 - Fry Bread House

Welcome back to Foodie Friday.

(for an explanation of the ratings, see here)

Fry Bread House
4140 N. 7th Ave. Phoenix

Price: $$

Taste: * * * *
S&A: * * *
Value: * * * *

Jake and I make it to The Fry Bread House about once a year. This is due to the location being far away, and the ability it has to clog major arteries with one meal. But oh, is it delicious. (and owned/operated by the Tohono O'odham tribe, which is down near Tucson).

We each had a fry bread taco, but really came for the dessert (more on that later). I got the vegetarian taco (beans, green chilis, lettuce, tomatoes, & sour cream served in fry bread) and Jake got a regular Indian Taco (very similar to mine, but with beef instead of chilis & sour cream). The tables have bottles of red sauce to add to your tacos. They come folded in half, but unfolded, are the size of your plate. Just huge. We liked both, but agreed that mine was the better of the two.

When we ordered our meal, we also ordered a dessert fry bread to share, with butter, powdered sugar, and honey. They didn't make it until we were nearly done with our tacos, so that it would be piping hot when we were ready to eat it. I would drive to Phoenix weekly for this thing (if it wasn't 115 degrees outside). It is fabulous. This time around, the fry bread is about twice the size of your plate, and thinner than the taco shell. I couldn't find a picture that showed off its true enormity, but it's about the size of a medium pizza. It's crispy, gooey goodness just melts in your mouth and then rests heavily in your stomach for the next several hours.


Overall Rating: 3¾ Stars

Home Tour Part III: Family Room

BEFORE: (yes, they had it set up as a dining room)

AFTER:

Here is our Family Room.

For a really long time, I didn't want a fire place because 1) they don't get much use in Arizona and 2) they usually take up an entire wall, compete with the TV, and make furniture placement hard.


But I love ours. Our family room is nice because the fire place is offset from the center by a couple of feet (we think the room was opened up into the garage by about 5 feet at one point), but still looks centered due to a column set into the wall. (Hard to explain. Look at the pics if you're really interested). Anyway, my favorite part of setting up this room has been finding ways to decorate the mantle. It's not done, but I like it so far.

And as always, this room is still a work in progress. I hope to find a tall skinny bookshelf to go behind the green chair, and Jake wants to paint it a cool color. We're thinking blue.

Home Tour Part II: Play Room

BEFORE:

AFTER:

This is our playroom.

It was an addition off the back of the house where the back door presumably used to be (it's our Arizona Room). It's only 7 1/2 feet wide, but like 25 feet long. I knew right away when I saw the house that it would be a play room because it's right off the main living areas, but hidden enough to be messy all the time.

Some features include: Puzzle table, small (ridiculously heavy) metal desk with paper roll, kid chairs, pillows, books, stuffed animal drawer, rocking horse, the piano, and play kitchen.

This table (pictured right) is my favorite part.

It was $10 at a garage sale, but originally from Ikea. It houses all of Sophie's Little People, and has 2 drawers on rollers that tuck conveniently underneath for her people, cars, and other accessories.

Currently there is nothing on the walls, but I hope to one day do something like this:

But I'm always open to suggestions or new ideas.

Home Tour Part I: Living Room

I'm back online again! It took a while, but BOY OH BOY we have been super busy.

This home tour will take a couple weeks, if not longer. The truth is, the only room that is (semi) complete as of today is the living room.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The living room is directly off the entry way when you enter the house. Everything in the room is brand new (to us anyway), since we've never had a living room before. Since Jake was the most excited about this space, he adopted it as his own, and all design decisions were his. Actually, I got to pick the paint color, cause I've always wanted a light blue living space.

Jake chose an updated mid-century theme, complete with authentic vintage coffee table and record console (both purchased at an estate sale). I really love the room so far - isn't he doing a great job?


He hopes to trade out the wooden chair for two matching chairs and a glass-top side table in the near future, and maybe reconfigure the room. He also plans to hang the flower art above the record console, add a wall-suspended bookshelf, and paint some of the current accessories white (magazine rack, floor lamp, etc.)

17 Shirts

My husband bought me 17 shirts yesterday.

He spent $17.00 total.
Some for now, some for later. Nice.

You want some too? Head to Last Chance soon.
(they only had sizes small & medium though)

Life Keeps Getting in the Way of Our Life

Warning:

This post contains graphic pictures of real life.

May not be suitable for those who think people with blogs lead ideal lives.

This is our house. Although it feels like we've done nothing but clean it since Saturday, it looks the same. Maybe this is why:

Saturday: Instead of unpacking, Jake spent the day cleaning up the tree-sized branch that fell onto our roof.

Sunday: Met with a member of our church leadership, who promptly asks us to speak next Sunday. Sure, we have time to plan for that.

Monday: I washed a load of laundry and then found out that the dryer doesn't receive any power. All laundry is now on hold.

Tuesday: Still can't get the pool cleaner to work. Go to Home Depot and spend more money.

Wednesday: Jake tries to leave for work, but has a dead car battery. He takes my car and I stay at home all day instead of going to the old house to clean it up.

Thursday: Finally with a car again, I head out to the old house, only to discover that I have a flat tire (#5 or 6 in the last several weeks, I've lost count).

Friday & Saturday, what do you have in store for us? Bring it on.

2 Days til the Move

Here's my (old) house. The new house looks about the same. Life in boxes and empty closets - didn't I just do this last June? Oh yeah, I did.

And every year before that for the last 6 years.

Seriously.

(Here's the proof: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 x2)


Welcome to Move #7. May it be our last.

"Um Show"

"Um show, um show".

That's the phrase that comes out of Sophie's mouth most frequently these days. ("myself")


We are no longer allowed to help her wash her hands, brush her teeth (we help anyway), climb in or out of her crib, eat, get into her car seat, get a drink of water, put her pants on, put her shoes on, etc.

Not only that, but anything that I do now requires the help of Sophie ("Help Mama."). So now I can no longer do the dishes, look in the fridge for anything, walk into the kitchen, put laundry in the washer, move laundry to the dryer, turn on the TV, or leave the room without a helper.

On a Saturday night trip to Wal-Mart (our weekends are totally exciting right now), Jake and Sophie spent the entire time trying to buckle Sophie into the shopping cart. She had to do it "um show". But when she couldn't get it, she asked Jake for "help peeeeeeeeee", and then the instant Jake touched the buckle, Sophie grabbed it away and exclaimed "um show" to him. (Why would he even dare try to help?) Aaaaand, repeat.

We're having fun watching her grow, and are in complete shock at least once a day when she says a new word or starts to sing a new song that we had no idea she knew. An independent 2-year-old is a tough thing to adjust to, but really great too.