Merry Christmas!

The other night Steve was down in the basement staining our new mailbox post.  I decided to go down and start putting together the little house-thing that we were giving Evelyn for Christmas.  I'm sure you've heard this story before from other parents.  It's the age-old story of putting together the Christmas presents.  I figured we could work together once he was done the mailbox.

I opened the box and was met with about 50 pieces, all wrapped in plastic.  I started pulling stuff out of the box, piece by piece, as Steve watched.  It was when I pulled out a sheet of stickers that Steve told me I was on my own.

Fifteen minutes later, I had the window box, ball-catching device assembled.  The directions didn't say so, but apparently the placement of that little, purple plate at the bottom is crucial to the correct building of the rest of the window.  It was at that moment that I decided it was time to start photographing this endeavour for use in a blog.

After building the window, these were the pieces I had left to deal with:

Twenty more minutes later, and I had the door built and was ready to attack the slide.  Oh, and the mailbox post was finished being stained.

As I started to gather the pieces and scan the directions for building the slide I read that I would be using the six remaining piece X.  I flipped the directions back over to the handy-dandy diagram of all of the different components to this project to learn that piece X were the larger screw.  I began to dig through the bag of screws, sorting out the large ones.  After sorting, I discovered something that annoyed me even more than the nagging thought at the back of my head that Evelyn was going to like the very large box more than the toy I was building her.  What I found after pulling out all of the large screws was that there was a grand total of 5 piece X.  

So the question became do I deal with only having 5 screws and build the slide, knowing full well that every time she plays on that slide I would have a little panic attack that the whole thing was going to fall apart and she would fall the 2 inches the slide is off the ground (it definitely looked bigger in the pictures online!)?  Or, do I go to Lowe's or something and try to get a screw the same size?  Ultimately I made a compromise, the next day I went to my Dad and asked him for a screw that was comparable.  He found me two possible matches, one of which allowed me to complete the slide.  

From that point on, it was pretty smooth sailing.  All on my own I managed to build the whole play-set, and I only ripped one sticker when it came time to put them on.  The finished product looked great under the tree.  And the look on Evelyn's face when she walked in on Christmas morning and the fun she has had climbing through the window (not go through the door or down the slide) of her play-set is so fun to watch!

  

The obligatory Christmas morning, top of the stairs photo!

It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To...

Last week our sweet girl turned one.

I can't believe that she has turned from this...

to this...

Between the stress of having close to 50 people at our house for her birthday party, worrying about the snowstorm that was supposed to happen right in the middle of the day, and the emotion of her turning one, I spent the whole weekend on the verge of tears.  This was the moment when I almost completely lost it:

I am amazed at how fast, and slow, the past year has gone.  On one hand I can absolutely not believe that she has been around for a whole year.  When I look at how much she has accomplished in 365 days I am in absolute shock.  From just being able to cry, eat, sleep, and poop to now being able to walk, climb, point, say uh-oh, and more, it is just unbelievable.  It just seems impossible that she could learn to do all of those things in just one short year.  On the other hand, when I think about how exhausting the past year has been I wonder how it hasn't been five!

I don't really have any elaborate post planned, I just feel like I can't have a blog about being a parent without in some way acknowledging the birth of my child!  Someday, if she reads this, what I want her to know is that Mommy and Daddy love our little monkey, and she has made the last year the best year of our lives and we can't wait for each year to come!

PS-It's kind of fitting that this afternoon our neighbor stopped over to meet us for the "first" time.  Turns out she's the doctor who delivered Evelyn!

Christmas Card

I had two snow days this week.  And first thing Monday morning my fan club (ha!) gave me an assignment to post something.  I started brainstorming and crafting a post in my head.  Never got around to it because my almost one year old (OH MY GOSH!) has developed quite an independent streak in the past week.  A post on the snow days was just not happening.  Sorry fans.  But I did kind of like the idea that started floating around my head, and I hope I get at least partial credit for completing my assignment.

So, it's Christmas time.  I've always been that person who DOESN'T send out Christmas cards.  I think about it every year.  I look at cards every year after Christmas, when they are like 75% off.  I have bought great Christmas cards at these sales because "next year I will do Christmas cards."  I honestly can't tell you for how many years I have had these boxes of cards sitting in my bins of Christmas decorations.

This year I feel like we have no excuse to not send Christmas cards.  We have an adorable kid, and who doesn't love a photo card at Christmas?  PLUS I have endured basically 30 years worth of Christmas Card photo shoots, and it's time to continue the tradition with my own kid.

What's the best Christmas picture I've ever had to participate in, you ask?  I'm so glad you were wondering.  It would be this one, circa 1988.  The only problem with this picture is that my youngest brother, Charlie, wasn't around yet to be in it.  Please note the sweatshirts, turtlenecks, and ROARING fire directly behind me.  

Last weekend seemed the perfect time to take pictures.  Evelyn was in a great mood, my mom was requesting a picture of her in her Christmas onesie, and it was snowing so we couldn't really go anywhere.  This was going to be easy.  I practically take a picture of her everyday because she's so darn photogenic.  Let the photo shoot begin.

First I went for the religious tone and decided to set her up with the nativity set, which she loves.

That wasn't really going anywhere, so I decided to just go with the lovely snowy scene going on out the window.  

And while we're at it, Steve thought we should stick her hands outside in the snow so she can feel it for the first time!  Great idea!

I wasn't really digging any of those pictures, so I decided to give the popular baby-with-Christmas-lights a go.  

  

Well that wasn't working.  The lighting was off at first, so we decided to hold off until later in the afternoon.  At that point we couldn't use the flash, which caused blurry pictures.  What a mess.  Steve thought, hey, let's light a fire to add to the Christmas mood.    

  

When all was said and done, I had about 3 pictures that were in any way usable for a Christmas card.  So I logged onto my Shutterfly and started to play around with formats, phrasing, and the like.  Once I finally had something put together that I kind of liked, I started going through all of our lists of people we would want to send cards to and as the number started to increase, I started to realize how expensive it is to order these photo cards.  Then you throw in stamps and this turns into quite the expense.  For a card that I only kind of liked.  I said forget it and ditched the photo card.  Instead, I would like you all to consider this post The Lane Family Christmas card.  

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Steve, Betsy, and Evelyn

Single Parenting

I would like to start this blog by giving a shout out to all of the single parents out there.  I am amazed by you all.  Steve has been gone since Wednesday night and I am just about ready to throw in the towel.

Let's recount the past 24 hours...

Yesterday evening started out totally normal.  Evelyn had a good dinner, she made Kaylee, Charlie, and I laugh and laugh with all the funny stuff she's doing these days.  When it was time for tubby, we went up and played and played.  Then she started doing this adorable thing where she flopped down on her belly in the water and stuck her cute little tush up in the air.  And that's when things took a turn.

Suddenly out of that cute, little tush came some cute, little bubbles.  I laughed, she laughed, and kept on playing.  I reached for the towel and when I turned back, there was a brand new toy floating in the water.  And that's literally what I thought.  What on earth is that toy, and where did it come from??

I panicked.  I managed to realize that I had to get her out of there quickly.  I grabbed her and yelled for Charlie.  Thank goodness he was here because he took Evelyn to play while I dealt with cleaning the tub.

We managed to recover, get dressed, bottled, and tried to get to bed.  I think Evelyn realizes Steve is gone at bed time because she's been very difficult to put down for the past few nights.  The bottle and putting to bed is usually Steve's job, and she normally goes down with no fuss.  The past few nights have been rough.  And between that and the 4 teeth that are ready to pop through her gums, she's been waking up at various points during the night and fussing for minute or two and then falling back asleep.

It was no different last night, or so I thought.  When I went in finally this morning to give her a bottle and get ready for the day the first thing I noticed was the scent.  I swear it smelled like licorice.  I picked her up, started feeding her, and at some point began patting her belly, which I realized was damp.  When I unzipped the jammies and felt her belly, it was soaked.  Her diaper was absolutely saturated, inside and out.  Suddenly an early morning tubby was a necessity.  I did a quick tub, got her dressed, stripped her crib, threw in the laundry, and managed to get out of the house.

It wasn't until I was on my way to work, about the same time that I realized I forgot my lunch, that it dawned on me that I didn't even think to change my outfit, which was most likely covered with pee.  Awesome.

The First Few Weeks

One of my best friends had her first baby today.  Steve, Evelyn, and I are so excited for our friends Amy, Chad, and baby Anya!  For the past few weeks while waiting for this new sweet girl to arrive I have been thinking a lot about how I survived the first few weeks of new mommy-hood.  I've been meaning to post these thoughts, but it just never happened.  So today, on the birthday of a very special girl, I give the new mommy a few tips for making it through the best/hardest/craziest time of your life!

1. Take a shower every day.  I missed a few days here and there right at the beginning.  I thought I was doing myself a favor by saving the time of showering, dressing, combing my hair.  The truth was I just felt gross if I didn't, and it's amazing what a shower will do to make you feel like a real person.  If possible, take it at a time when you can actually enjoy 5 minutes alone.  Which leads me to...
2. Let ANYONE who wants to come over to "help."  Ok, not anyone.  But anyone who you would trust with holding your baby while you go take a shower.  Or pump.  Or take a nap.  Or...gasp...read a magazine!  You don't need to entertain.  They really don't want to see you.  They will listen patiently while you tell the birth story, but just hand over that baby and go do something!
3. About that magazine, subscribe to one.  Books seem daunting at the beginning, but a magazine article that you can skim or even just look at the pictures is great for feeling like yourself again.  
4. Set a goal for yourself everyday.  For the first few days, it might just brush your teeth.  Full confession, I had to make that my goal one or two days right at the beginning.  Soon you will be able to set bigger goals: do a load of laundry, write a few thank you notes, boil some pasta for dinner.  If you have a doctor's appointment, make that the day's goal.  Just don't put too much pressure on yourself on the days you don't meet your goal.  Unless it's the doctor's appointment, you really need to go to that.  
5. Get out of the house.  By yourself!  Feed the baby, and then go to the grocery store, Target, Starbucks, wherever.  Even if it's just 20 minutes, you will feel like a new person when you get back.
6. If you breastfeed, start pumping as soon as you can.  It will only make life easier later.  We STILL have frozen breastmilk and I stopped breastfeeding a month and a half ago.  
7. Get that baby used to a bottle!  It makes getting out of the house for a bit that much easier.  Plus, nothing is better than one feeding a day being Daddy's responsibility.  Good for Dad, good for baby, good for you!  
8. As soon as possible, start a bedtime "routine".  We started at 3 weeks: bath, jammies, book, bottle, bed.  The routine has had to be adjusted as Evelyn has gotten older, but she is the easiest baby to put to bed because of the routine.  
9. Follow Baby Sideburns and Mommy Shorts on Facebook.  They are hilarious and say the things you think deep down but are a little bit afraid to say outloud!  
10. Take all advice, especially mine, with a grain of salt!  Instinct kicks in and you will know what to do.  Don't be afraid to ask questions, but do what works for your new family!  

Look at that!  Made it to a top 10 list!  I could probably keep going, but it's really late and the morning bottle still comes pretty early these days!  We couldn't be happier for our friends, and can't wait to meet baby Anya soon!  

Teething, virus, and impetigo, oh my!

Just can't get into the swing of parenting, working, and blogging.  In my last post I mentioned Evelyn's first real sickness.  We've been to the pediatrician more in the past month than in her whole 10 months.  And you go to the pediatrician a lot in the beginning.  Everyone said it would happen once she started daycare, but you always hope it will be different for your kid!

I can't even really remember how it all started.  I think it was a fever.  Probably teething related.  But it spiked pretty high for the first time right after her teeth broke through, and between that and the lingering gunky nose, we took her in.  It was a "virus" because according to all of the nurses and doctors at the pediatrician's office, teething doesn't cause fevers or runny noses.  Talk to any parent and they'll tell you otherwise.

Unfortunately with the fever spike we couldn't send her to school the next day, naturally.  She had a fun day at home with Daddy for part of the day and Aunt Kelly the other part.  The fever went up and down a bit, but nothing crazy so we sent her back to school and things were kind of back to normal, with the exception of a little cough that came out of nowhere.  We made it through the weekend, and through Monday and Tuesday with Mommom Lane and Aunt Nan, Wednesday at daycare, and then Thursday rolled back around.  And in our short time needing childcare, we have discovered that when things go wrong, they always go wrong on our daycare days, not when she's with family.

My Thursday went fine, but when I checked in with my mom toward the end of the day to make sure she would be picking up Evelyn like she usually does, she told me I better check my phone.  It was exploding with texts and phone calls from Steve about having to pick up Evelyn and take her to the doctor, where she saw my former childhood pediatrician and was diagnosed with some kind of infection.  He prescribed some amoxicillin and called it a day.  I was so impressed with how Steve handled everything!  He made the appointment, took her in, picked up the prescription, and got our sick girl home.  Because she truly was sick this time.

I got to cuddle with her the next morning, and then she had another afternoon with Aunt Kelly.  Poor thing really wasn't feeling well.  Saturday and Sunday rolled around and she seemed to be turning the corner, and then we noticed a little rash developing.  She didn't seem itchy or anything, but it seemed a little strange, so once again Steve took her in to get checked out.  It was one of two things, a rash caused by whatever infection she had or a reaction to the amoxicillin.  The doctor seemed to think it was from the fever, said keep an eye on it.  By Thursday the rash was everywhere, and so I made the phone call again.  Talked to a great nurse, who said if her fever wasn't back and she wasn't irritated by the rash, then we should just keep an eye on it some more, but it was probably a reaction to the amoxicillin rather than the fever rash.

So the rash started to fade over the weekend, Evelyn's mood was improving, her nose even cleared up for a day or two!

Then a week ago she woke up with what I thought was a pimple right above her lip.  By Sunday evening her whole mouth seemed a little red and splotchy and she had a really bad diaper rash.  Mommom came on Monday and tried to treat the diaper rash with some A&D, but that just made her scream.  Some nice, warm tubbies were all that made her poor little bottom feel better.  Another call to the doctor by Steve, and the recommendation was given to use some hydrocortizone on her rash on her bottom, but that didn't help her mouth.

Sunday morning - just a little red bump!

Monday evening - ugh!  

 Tuesday was Evelyn and Aunt Kelly day, and Nurse Kelly was not happy with how the rash wasn't healing at all and decided that calling the doctor wasn't going to cut it and that a visit needed to be made.  I rushed out of work right at 3:45 and managed to make it to the doctor by 4:30, where we waited forever, and she was finally diagnosed with a yeast infection (apparently very common about a week after taking an antibiotic) and impetigo.  Awesome.  The treatment?  Another antibiotic and a cream for the rash.  And impetigo is contagious and apparently very common in daycares, so no school for Evelyn this week!  We probably could have sent her a day after being on the antibiotic, but her rash was just gross and if I were another parent and saw her in my kid's class, I would have been a little concerned.

But one week later and the rash caused by the yeast infection is clearing up well and the impetigo sores around her mouth are healing well, even though they still look a little red (which apparently could last for quite a while).  The good news is she's back to her normal, happy self.  Hopefully she's going to stay that way for a while, although Steve and I both think we see her top teeth starting to move down.  :)

It really looks worse than it is at this point!  

I'm still here!

So many ideas for blogging about, so little time!!  Or perhaps I need to make better use of my time, which is why I am blogging at 6:07 AM.

A while back you may recall that most of my blogs centered around sleep.  At the moment, knock, knock (that was me knocking on wood for those of you who didn't get it) sleeping is going fine.  Whatever couple months long phase she was in seems to have passed.  Now Evelyn makes it until generally 5:15 or so.  In anticipation of this, I have begun waking up at 4:45.  You know, in case I miss her screaming right across the hall or through the monitor my body makes sure I'm alert and ready.

She always falls back asleep after.  So the question is what do I do in the meantime.  Do I get back in bed, where I won't fall asleep because now I'm anticipating needing to get up in 20 minutes or do I just get in the shower and start my day?  Up until this morning, the answer has been get back in bed.  And instead of lying there for 20 minutes until my alarm goes off, that turns into 30 minutes.  Or 35 minutes, just in case I manage to fall back asleep for the last 10 minutes.

Today I made a change.  I was wide awake at 5:30 after feeding her, so I decided to just get in the shower.  It is now 45 minutes later, and I'm dragging.  Time to make the first cup of coffee I think.  Should of done this before I sat down to write.

Being up early today was not meant to be the focus of this post, but I'm starting to run out of time.  So here are some teasers about what I am hoping to blog about in the next week or so:

1. Evelyn's first REAL sickness.  (This is probably not going to be that interesting, I just feel like I should document it in case she ever really does read this someday!)
2. I went to a baby shower for a friend and started to compile a list of my advice for a new mom.
3. My thoughts on switching Evelyn's summer clothes out for her fall clothes.
4. How I gave up breastfeeding comletely.  

Happy Friday morning everyone!  :)

My name is Betsy...

And it's been 7 days since I last pumped.  And it feels GREAT!!

I quit cold turkey.  It just started to get harder and harder and take longer and longer to get a few ounces to make Evelyn's cereal in the morning.  It just made no sense anymore.

Of course, with the split decision to stop pumping, and then suddenly needing to use the few ounces that were thawed in the fridge to actually feed Evelyn, Steve and I found ourselves about an hour away from a kid who was going to need some cereal and nothing to make it with.  I absolutely refuse to thaw a whole bag of milk to just use a few ounces to make some cereal.  We made a split decision.  It was time to get some formula.

We found ourselves at Target at 8:00 am on Sunday morning.  Would you be surprised to hear that the only other people at Target as the doors unlocked were parents with a few kids in tow?

So there I was, in the formula aisle.  I had done no research, had no plan.  Sent a few frantic texts to some parents I know who use formula (they all answered basically immediately, no surprise there!).  We spent about 10 minutes reading labels, and then just basically went eenie-meanie-miney-mo to pick one.

And with that, I am free of the pump.  It has been so awesome to not have to clean all the parts every day and to not have to ask Steve to repeat himself five times over the noise of the pump.  It was also really nice last night when Steve opened a bottle of wine to go with the amazing dinner he made to not have to worry about having a glass.

And as we fly through our frozen breastmilk, I realize it's good to start to get her used to the formula little by little now.  Based on the smell, I'm sure it tastes different, and that frozen milk is quickly being depleted.  I'm sure we will have to switch to formula for just a bit to make it to her first birthday.

One downside to not pumping...it was always a good excuse for Facebook time or blogging time or Candy Crush time!

Daycare Thoughts

Ok, ok.  I know it.  I'm a bad blogger.  For those of you on my back about how it's been MONTHS since my last post, I counted.  It's been exactly 25 days.  So there.

I've had quite a few moments where I have thought, that would be a great idea for a post!  But then I get sucked back up into the task at hand, whether it is parent or school related, and I forget completely.  I'm going to start trying to keep a list.  You know I love lists.  I'm queen of post it notes at work, so I always have some handy to jot down ideas.  I'm going to try to get back into the at least one post a week mode.  Promise.

So, here are some thoughts about our first three weeks in day care!

1. Perhaps having Steve do drop off wasn't the best plan.  She LOVES getting there in the morning.  Crawls right in, goes to the teacher, plays.  Loves it.  She is often the first one there (but also the first one picked up!), and has a little one on one time with the teacher.  I like this because it gave her some time at the beginning to feel comfortable with her.

The problem is pick up.  Evelyn SCREAMS when she sees me.  It isn't that she doesn't like it there.  I know this because I peek in the door at her when I get there and she is loving life until the moment she sees me.  I can see the thoughts she is having.  "MOMMY!  You are so mean!  I didn't even REALIZE you were gone and how much I missed you until just now!"

2. The boys are making Evelyn quite daring.  We have gotten multiple "incident reports" for falls and bumps already.  It's because she is trying to stand up like the big boys do.  She climbs up to stand on the shelves.  She went from crawling to standing in days, and now is even moving between the couch and coffee table.

3. I don't want to talk about the day I forgot to put a nipple in her bag for the afternoon bottle...

4. The best part about daycare was when she immediately started sleeping through the night because she was so exhausted from all the playing and crawling and climbing she does all day.  Unfortunately that only lasted about a week and a half because then teething started (we have two bottoms!!).  On her first day she was completely passed out basically before I could strap her in the carseat:

5. A negative, her napping has gone seriously downhill.  Evelyn had just gotten into a great napping routine about a week before we started, and that has gone out the window.  She just can't get used to sleeping when all the other stuff is going on.  It makes for very short evenings with her.  :(

6. One of the best parts of being a working mom is that I am so darn tired when I do go to bed that I have become a great sleeper myself.  In general, I'm asleep within minutes of putting my head on the pillow and if she does wake up, most nights I fall back asleep relatively quickly.

6.  Finally, and the reason I knew it was time for a blog post, you know daycare has become a big part of your life when it enters your dreams.  Last night I dreamed that there were suddenly eight kids in her class (the maximum number of infants allowed) and also a bunch of toddlers there "visiting" some of the other kids.  Evelyn was in her crib trying desperately to take a nap.  There were the regular teachers there, but also a bunch of other adults there (some were people I work with) chatting and just hanging out.  I was furious because she was trying so hard to sleep.  So I guess the lack of naps thing is really on my mind.  

More to come.  Probably in about three weeks...

Back to School!

I am totally alone in my house for the first time in 8 months.  I don't think I like it.  Kelly's working and Steve left a little while ago to drop Evelyn off for her first day at day care.  This means it's really time to get ready to go back to work.

I've been very lucky during my tenure as a Stay at Home Mom to have grown very close to Theresa, another teacher whose son is Evelyn's best little friend, and if things don't work out with Prince George, maybe her future husband, too.

Theresa and I actually both had to go to work yesterday because we were asked to mentor new teachers.  When you've been home for over eight months,  or a year in Theresa's case, you really have to get yourselves mentally prepared for that first day back to work:

• 
  Betsy
  I should find a purse or something. I haven't carried a purse in 8 months! What goes in a purse?
  
  
  I guess I will go take care of getting my stuff all together instead of chowing down on leftover fruit dip! I'm going to have to stop pumping though.
  
  
  I swear I could eat this stuff with a spoon.
• Theresa
  

  
  

  too funny! i had dig my school bag out of the bottom of the closet, dust it off, and take out all the old student papers and packs of gum from over a year ago...
• hahaha! i am totally chowing down on chips and salsa!! at this exact moment!!

  
  

  Betsy 
• 
  

  I am literally licking the fluff off my fingers before I type.

  
  

So you can see where our priorities were the night before we went back to work.  

All kidding aside, people keep asking me how I feel about going back to work.  I know a lot of women say they can't wait to get back to work.  They are bored at home and want the social interaction.  I am not one of those women.  It's not that I don't want to go back to work because I do like my job, I'm glad to have a job, and I'm extremely lucky to have been able to stay at home for eight months.  I'm not against working.  The thing is, I just like being at home with my baby more!  

I'm not worried about other people taking care of her.  We are so lucky that we have family taking care of her for a few days and have found the best day care we could for the other days.  I'm really excited that she's going to get to spend some time with her grandmother and aunts, and some days with other kids.  If I'm not taking care of her, I feel really good about our child care situation.  

So this morning (after a night that she slept from 8:15 until 6:15, woot woot!  But I was lying in bed wondering if the milk was thawing properly in the fridge.) I fed her, dressed her, played with her, and took a page out of my dad's book.  I got out the camera and took some first day of school pictures.  

I did search my computer to look for pictures of myself on various first days, from kindergarten through driving away to college, but, alas, the only pictures I could find had other people in them who probably wouldn't appreciate their picture showing up in my blog.  

I would like to take a minute to mention something in this post.  I am going to try really hard as I go back to work to not complain about it at all in my blogging because even though I won't be spending all day, everyday with my sweet girl, there are people who don't get to see their kids at all.  Most of you know my family, and know that my brother is a Marine helicopter pilot.  He was deployed last week to Afghanistan and will be gone for seven months.  He will miss spending that time with his little man, Marshall, and he will also not be there when his next little man is born in November.  Every time I get overwhelmed or miss my girl I will remember that I get to go home to her every night.  Then I will send AJ an email, or Marshall a postcard, or Katie a text to let them know that we are thinking about them and can't wait until they are all together again!  

And to close, just checked in with Steve about how drop off went.  No problems whatsoever.  She started playing immediately and went right to the teacher.  We will see how long I make it today before going to pick her up!

The Hunger Games

Evelyn and I take a walk almost everyday.  I have a lot of time to think and observe while we are on our walks.  One thing I've observed is that there a lot of elderly gentlemen in our neighborhood!  Many of them are outside walking while we walk.  And I'll tell you what, elderly gentlemen LOVE babies.  They smile at her, laugh at her, and talk to her.  She soaks it up and hams at them.  It's adorable.

We met a nice man yesterday who was pruning a tree that was planted 21 years ago in honor of his wife, Barbara.  He assured me that Evelyn is just the luckiest little girl because she is growing up in a time where she will live to be 115 years old and be perfectly healthy.  It was really one of the sweetest things I've ever experienced.

The other thing about our walks that I've noticed is that I kind of feel like Katniss from The Hunger Games every time we go.  It all started with the birds.  I swear they are talking to each other and repeating each others' songs.  If I could whistle, I would make up my own little song to see if they start copying me.

There is also this band of hooligans screaming around the neighborhood, who chase us on their bikes.  Today they were even carrying weapons.  Ok, they were just Nerf guns, but still.  I've even seen them turn on each other when things start to get tough.

I scavenge for berries.  Well, once I did.  Because they were raspberries and they were delicious.

Last, but not least, I have my very own Little Rue...

The Cow

Since the moment I started blogging I have been mentally preparing a post about breastfeeding.  It has just never materialized for a few reasons.  Usually something else came up that I would rather write about.  Another is that breastfeeding can be a touchy subject.  Some people don't do it, some people can't do it, some people do it way too long, and some people are cows who were just made to produce milk.  I happen to fall into the cow category.

And I suppose because I started out as a cow I just assumed I would stay a cow.   I thought there would always be time to write the post about being a cow.  At the height of my cow-ness I fed Evelyn at least 5 times a day and was still able to pump twice a day, filling about three 5-ounce milk bags to freeze.  At the peak of my milk production I had close to 200 bags of milk stored in my freezer, my parents' freezer, and my in-laws' freezer.  On any given day this was what my sink looked like full of bottles and pump parts:

The freezer looked something like this:

I pumped so much that Kelly asked me on numerous occasions why I was pumping so often.  She said, you make so much milk because you pump so much.  My answer was that I wanted to be prepared for when Evelyn goes to day care.  I don't want her to have to go on formula if I can make enough milk for her.  She accepted that answer, but still thought I was crazy.  

I pumped so much that Steve actually said to me, "I think you're addicted to pumping."  He might actually have been right.  I wanted to stop, but I just couldn't.  Even though I was so sick of cleaning all the parts and trying to remember which milk was pumped on which day, still I pumped.  Some days I felt like some kind of mad scientist combining bottles to make up 5 ounce bags to freeze.  I was just so over pumping, but I still couldn't stop as much as I wanted to because I was just afraid we wouldn't have enough milk.  That in mind, I sat down one day during nap time and started doing calculations to figure out how long the currently frozen milk could last.  If she uses 3 bags of milk a day at day care I can get this many days out of the milk...  If she uses 2 bags of milk a day...  Using these calculations I determined that I needed to pump at least through July to have a chance of getting to Evelyn's first birthday before running out of milk.  

But then as I was pumping I started noticing a change.  I was spending more and more time pumping, but getting less and less milk.  There actually came a morning where I pumped for at least 10 minutes and got nothing.  Not one drop.  I spent a few days being sad that I wasn't making as much milk, until I realized that it meant I could stop pumping so much!  And the decision was out of my hands!  It wasn't like I was making a conscious decision to stop.  Suddenly I am down to one pumping session a day, and even though I barely get enough milk to make one bottle anymore, I'm at least not having to use the milk I have stored ready for daycare yet.  That will start next week.

Questions

When you reach certain milestones in your life people feel the need to ask you certain questions.  It doesn't matter who you are because your family, friends, acquaintances, and total strangers are going to ask you the same questions.  Examples:

High School:

What colleges did you get into?

Where are you going to go?

What are you going to study?

Do you have a boyfriend?  (Ok, that one might be reserved to just my family, but maybe not?  And for those who care, the answer was generally no.)

College:

How's your roommate?

Do you like your classes?

How's the food?

What's your major?

Do you have a boyfriend? (Again, maybe just my family? The answer during college was always no...I wasn't about to date any of those Salve boys!)

After college:

Do you have a job?

Do you have a boyfriend?  (I think my family was worried about me.  Eventually the answer was yes, and he was the best guy ever!)

After getting engaged:

When are you getting married?
Where are you getting married?
Did you get a dress?

What are your colors?

When are you going to have a baby? Not even joking.

While Pregnant:

When are you due?

Is it a boy or girl?

What are you going to name the baby?

After baby is born:

Is it a boy or girl?  See #6 on my list of things I will never understand.

Is she big for her age?  (If one more person asks me this, I seriously am going to ask them if they are big for their age.)

Each of these series of questions eventually gets so annoying that at some point you considered tattooing the answers across your forehead.  But there is a new question people ask that has become my least favorite question of all time.  Anytime someone asks I want to burst into tears and scream and rip my hair out, and probably because I'm totally exhausted.  

Does she sleep through the night?

I know I've blogged about this before, so it's probably not much of a surprise that my kid just doesn't sleep through the night.  She has a million other amazing qualities that I am incredibly grateful for.  She has an awesome personality, she eats like a champ and has the rolls to prove it (I guess prompting the is she big question), and she's just flat out adorable.  But O. M. G. she is the worst sleeper.  Every once in a while Steve and I get a glimpse of what life with a sleeping baby could be like.  We will get a night or two of pure, sleeping bliss.  It's almost hard to enjoy it, though, because we know that it inevitably means nights of torture to come.  For example, Wednesday night she went from 8:30 until 5:00 the next morning and it was glorious to get hours of uninterrupted sleep.  Last night, however, she was up every three hours.  

When people ask the question, I just never know what to say.  I've tried the truth, and that inevitably leads to  looks of pity and people telling me about their amazing kids who slept through the night at something outlandish like 3 days old.  Or I get advice on how to get my baby to sleep through the night.  Seriously people, you think I haven't tried that?

Then I try lying.  And that usually brings such a crestfallen look to the asking parent's face that I try to backtrack.  "Oh, wait, no.  Your baby doesn't sleep either?  Mine doesn't, I swear!  I just figured your does, so I wanted to fit in.  Honestly, she doesn't!"  I think it makes the other parent feel worse.  

So it's a no win situation.  Until my baby finally decides to make sleeping through the night a habit, I will keep drinking coffee every morning out of the biggest mug I have in my kitchen.  And as I revel in each sip, I will hope and pray that maybe by the time it becomes seasonably appropriate to use this mug, Evelyn will be sleeping through the night!  And if it happens much sooner, possibly before I go back to work in a few weeks, that would be even better!

Found two sips left when I picked this up to take the picture.  Merry Christmas to me!  

The Royal Delivery

I have a not so secret obsession with Kate Middleton.  She is my imaginary bestie.  To the extent that when I mention my best friend, Steve knows I mean Kate and not one of my actual friends.  I feel like this infatuation has to do with the fact that our lives seem to really mirror each other.  Steve proposed, Will proposed.  We got married in April 2011, Kate and William got married 6 days later.  I was worried for a while when they started talking about April for the royal wedding that it was going to be on the same day as mine making it hard to watch, and yes, I woke up early that day.  I even had it turned on in my classroom that morning to watch the balcony kiss.  I got pregnant, she got pregnant shortly after.  It has been so great being able to share the special moments in our lives together.

Our lives parallel each other so completely that I was convinced her baby was going to be a girl, too.  I actually had a moment of sadness when the news came that it was a boy, until I realized that now our kids can grow up together and get married some day!  

As I was watching all the hoopla this week, and loving every minute of it, I started to think about the similarities and differences between being pregnant as a princess and every other regular girl out there.  So here we go...

Similarities:

1. No matter who you are, people are super excited to find out what you're having:

A crowd reacts to the news it's a boy.  Took this picture from CNN.com...just want to give credit!!  

Evelyn's grandparents wait (phones ready to photograph the moment) to hear the news!

2. People give you suggestions about names and they don't take it nearly as serious as you do.  People in England are placing bets on what the baby's name is going to be.  I've heard that people are even putting bets on Elvis to be selected (took me a few to figure this one out...the King).  Steve and I often heard Penny or Lois as great names if we have a girl.  Har, har, har.  (Since starting this post, the official news has come that the baby is George Alexander Louis, big surprise there.)

3.  People you barely know give you gifts - people you know distantly through work, people your parents work with, etc.  Everywhere Kate and William go, people are handing them gifts. Prince Charles was even handed a gift for the baby the other day.  Did anyone else notice that it was a Sophie giraffe?  I hope that Sophie actually makes it to the baby, those things are amazing.  (Difference: the royals are apparently donating their gifts and asking people to make donations to children's charities instead of giving them gifts, we accepted anything people sent our way!)

4.  You are starving after you give birth.  Supposedly the royal couple had pizza delivered.  My family brought me a wedge salad.  With extra blue cheese.  And potato skins.  And some Christmas cookies.  And I might have even eaten part of the hospital dinner, too.  Child birthing takes a lot out of you.

news.com.au

5. Your parents are super excited to meet their new grandchild.  I will also add that my parents spent the night in the hospital waiting for Evelyn to be born and Steve's parents showed up at about 6 am the morning she was born.  The royal grandparents didn't show up until the next day.  Our parents must love us more.

people.com

usmagazine.com

6.  No matter who you are, you still look pregnant a day after giving birth:

usmagazine.com

I seriously love that she wore a dress that didn't hide her belly.  Difference: her belly will probably be gone in about 3 days, mine hung around for a while (based on my comments above, maybe it had to do with all I was eating).  I honestly would post a picture, but I can't find one.  Also, I give her tons of credit for walking out of the hospital the next day.  I could barely shuffle to the bathroom a day after giving birth.


Differences:
People don't make you pose for side shots when you are a princess.  Especially not when you are walking out the door to go to the hospital.  In addition, you don't get as big as a house when you are a princess.  

At the moment, that's all I've got, but I know there are about a million more.  I had more ideas when I started this hours ago, but my teething baby is really draining me of everything I have.  Help me out with your thoughts.