Meh. It's Late...

Hello all.... it is WAY past bedtime but Derek is playing with his new toy so here I am.

LOL.

He's done.

In a nutshell: Liliana is doing well, a little congested but otherwise awesome. She slept all thru the night two nights in a row last week. We loved her even more after that. Haha, I kid, I kid. Derek graduated last Friday!!! It was such a great day and we were glad to share it with family. Now he gets off work at 3 PM and we are sooooo loving that! I am well. Tired and always busy, but well. OH, the biggest news is that we finally have an official move date!!! We are leaving on June 5th. I think. Haha. We have to be there by June 15th but we're aiming for the week before so we can get settled. And where are we headed, you might ask??

Drum roll please....

We're going to Virginia!!!!!!!!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

And that's all folks!

Peace out homefrys!!

(PS I am going to make this blog private pretty soon, so if you'd like to keep reading it please send me your e-mail address and I'll send you an invite! thanks!)

Some Pictures

Here are some pics... I REALLY don't have time to update anything tho. Everyone is good and healthy... and busy!
I also can't figure out how to put captions on the pics... so here it is:
The top is Liliana in her carseat getting ready to go meet all kinds of people for the first time in Clearfield.
The second is Derek and Liliana sleeping at my mom's (which they are both doing upstairs right now :))
The third is Liliana in the dress that my parents took me home from the hospital in when I was born. She was crying b/c I was treating her like a doll and I think she finds it degrading. Hehe.
The fourth is Liliana in her bouncer. She loves it! Her binkie looks HUGE!
The fifth is Liliana all stretched out in her super cute footie pajamas! She's too long for them, but she looks sooooooo cute and cuddly that I put her in them anyway.
The sixth is Liliana in her Sunday dress. We went to church that day for the first time!
And the last is just a hilarious face she was making while being all cozy in her favorite blanket! Its sooooo soft and it makes me feel like cuddling her like a teddy bear when she's all swaddled in it. AND it's a gorgeous color and has her name on it. (It was given to us by Maggie, who knows my love of the color purple all too well!)

Just an observation... she's wearing different outfits in each picture. Hahaha, that's my girl!!

And, with that, I can hear a certain hungry baby calling for me!

Peace out homefrys!

Baby Liliana Is Here!

Hello all!!
Well, as you can see from the pictures and the title, our sweet baby girl has finally arrived. She was born on March 19th at 11:46 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds and 12 ounces and was 21 inches long!! That is one LONG baby coming from such a not long mama!!! I'll give you the labor and delivery story in a nutshell:
After having painful contractions for more than a week, I finally hit the big time on Tuesday night. We went to the hospital and they said that I was in early labor but not progressing fast enough for them to keep me. We got home from the hospital at 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning. I spent all day Wednesday having more and more contractions. Finally around 8 p.m. my mom called to see how I was doing. She heard me have two contractions in one conversation and said "I don't care what they told you, you need to go to the hospital!" and Derek said "I think we should go, love. You look like they do on TV..." So that was that. We grabbed the hospital bag and car seat and headed off. When we got to the hospital it was about 8:30. They checked and said that sure enough, I was in labor. I was dilated to a 4. They helped me get thru some really strong contractions and finally, after a few of my choicest words, I decided to get an epidural and just deal with the consequences of that choice later. They couldn't find the guy who was on call to do the epidural so I ended up waiting an hour and a half to get it. By the time I got it, I had dilated to a 5. I was only halfway dilated and ready to die!!! After the epidural, I was happy as can be. I didn't feel pregnant anymore, if that's possible. My water finally broke around 5 a.m. and I was fully dilated around 6. My doctor showed up and said that I could start pushing around 8 a.m. Well, push I did. And push. And Push. And PUSH. I pushed with all my might for TWO HOURS. Finally my doc came in and said "Either your baby's head is too big or your pelvis is too small. You can push for another hour or we can just do a c-section now." My biggest fear was a c-section. Of course, it is ME and I should have just planned on getting one b/c that's how I am. Nothing ever goes quite as planned with me. So I said "Dude, I couldn't push for another hour if I wanted to. Let's get this baby out of me!" And that's what we did. About an hour after I signed the paperwork to go ahead with it, Liliana was pulled out of me. THAT was one of the strangest experiences of my life!! I couldn't see anything (thank God!!) but Derek saw and I asked him not to tell me anything about it. It was... mentally disturbing. Anyway, they said it was a good thing that we decided to go ahead right then b/c Liliana was absolutely NOT coming out any other way. My pelvis is too small. I knew she wouldn't have a big noggin. She also had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (just like her mama!!) and there was a true knot in it. She was just about to start suffering if we hadn't got her out. I was so thankful for that. She is absolutely wonderful!
The first few days are sort of a blur what with pain meds and so much new information being handed to me every second. I'm getting to know this beautiful little girl that I am so blessed to have in my life. A few things about her do not surprise me.... Like her facial movements. I know they say that its mostly involuntary, but I know a few of them are not. She's gonna be like me in that way, I'm absolutely sure of it. Another thing that doesn't surprise me is that she is wiggly and very alert when she is awake. Huh, seems like I've been dealing with that for the last several months!! The funny thing about that is that I would swear she never slept while in the womb. But I see her sleep now and she will randomly kick her legs or throw out an arm. That sure explains a lot!! I am getting to know what certain crys mean and what she wants, slowly but surely. My mom is here with me this week and I can't tell you what a relief that is and how thankful I am for it. It is going to be a rough week for all of us... Derek is going to have to get back into the swing of things with work and school and still spend time with his baby. Which, by the way, makes my heart swell with so much emotion its hard not to cry. He is so wonderful with her and so loving and caring. He really stepped up and took control while I have been healing from surgery. I can't even begin to express how I feel about that... he's so amazing, its unreal. And to think that I get to share my life with him... I really am the luckiest lady!!

My whole life has changed now. All I can say is that I'm not sure what I was doing with my life before Derek came along, and now it seems like we were just wandering along together until Liliana Elizabeth showed up to give us direction again. I am getting all teary eyed just thinking about it. I am so happy. I am so complete. I know it will be hard at times, but I know that it will be so rewarding at all times. I thank God for this wonderful little blessing He has given us.

Peace out homefrys!!

Holy Spoiled Baby, Batman!!

This is EVERYTHING that we got from the showers! My mom set up everything on display so we could take a picture to show Liliana later. I can't believe how much stuff we got!

More gifts... Note the SUPER cute plaque! it says "One shoe can change your life" -Cinderella. How absolutely fitting is that, knowing my love for shoes?? Haha. I get the feeling that Liliana will be like me in that sense too...

Look at all those clothes!! These are the dresses and outfits and some pajamas hanging up... We also got like 50 onesies in all kinds of colors and prints! She really won't have to wear the same thing twice for a LONG while!

And last but not least.... This is me and Heather! Haha. She'll kill me for posting this... but I DID tell her I was going to so... whatever. She is one week ahead of me. I think I might have been a much meaner Patty Prego if I didn't have her to complain to! It has been so much fun to go thru everything with her! I'm so excited to meet her baby boy Jaxson too!!! Everyone said I look like I'm smuggling a basketball... I can't wait for that to go away! Hahaha

THANK YOU so much to everyone that helped spoil our baby girl! We are so grateful to have so much love and support from our friends and family. Hopefully she will come on her own sometime in the next two weeks, but if not then we are scheduled to be induced on the 24th! We think she won't wait that long tho!

Peace out homefrys!

One Year...

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." -Roger Caras

For those of you who didn't know him, this was my furry little brother Reno (not to be confused with my "Fuzzy" little brother Chance). He died on this day one year ago. It was certainly one of the worst days of my life and one of the worst days for my whole family. He really was a good dog. He had such a huge personality. He loved to wrestle and play with the boys and he knew that when he wanted some peace and quiet he could go to my mom. The thing I loved most about him was that he would let me cuddle him and love on him as often as I wanted and for as long as I wanted. Sometimes he'd act put out by it, but in the end he was always willing to give me a hug when I needed it. He was also such a little punk!! I can't tell you how many times we'd come home and he'd jump off the couch and lay on the floor acting like he hadn't been on the couch at all. Or all the times I'd walk in my room and he'd be sleeping on my bed, drooling on my pillow. I have photo evidence of that! He was a total spaz when it came to thunder and lightning and fireworks. He would climb into your lap and try to cuddle into a ball there when he was scared. Keep in mind, he was a good 80-85 pound golden retriever, not some silly little lap dog! I remember when we first brought him home... We were all eating ice cream cones and he was on the couch (even tho my mom didn't want him there...) and my mom turned her head for one second and he ate the ice cream right off her cone. When she yelled at him he actually barked at her! He always had an attitude like he was a person too. And we all really did feel like he was a part of the family. He was only 9 years old when he died, and I feel like we really didn't have enough time with him. But the times we did have with him were fun and it is fun to remember those times.

I know that one day I will own another dog, and I will have to go thru this all over again... But you know what? I think its totally worth all the wonderful memories we get. Dogs are wonderful companions and I think everyone should get the opportunity to have a furry brother in their life as I have for all of mine.

I suppose I should also give a quick baby update... She's still hanging out in the womb. Haha. We saw the doc on Monday and nothing has happened. We'll see him again this upcoming Monday and in the meantime be hoping she comes!! Well, maybe it would be best if she waited another week so I can get my house in order. I get to quit my job next week and I am THRILLED about it!!! That just means she's even closer to being in my arms and not hanging off my front end. Hahaha.

Peace out homefrys!

A Little News and A Lot of Whining!

Grawr. Sorry to all of you, but I'm pretty much just going to whine about being pregnant.

So tune out now if you don't want to hear it.

So I am 4 weeks away from my due date. Basically I feel like a solar system waddling around and trying not to run into things. I'm like an inch from my steering wheel and I'm not sure that I will even be able to drive in a few weeks if my belly keeps growing at the alarming rate that it is; and being as short as I am, moving the seat back is not an option. My back is KILLING me. Ever had a contraction in your back? It basically makes you contemplate chinese paper torture just to take the focus off of how unbearably painful it is. Which makes me wonder how in the WORLD I am going to survive this without drugs. What's that you say? How come I'm not going to get drugs? Well, for those of you who don't know this already, its b/c drugs make my body hate me and shut down all my vital systems entirely. Seems like I'm going to need all systems go to take care of a baby. Speaking of baby, she sure is a wiggly little thing. I swear she likes to rub her legs together like a grasshopper just to hear me make noises and to make me squirm. I still can't stop thinking about the Alien movies. I don't think she's all that little anymore. When I can feel her poking me on two sides at once, then I think she's outgrown her home. I will be considered full term in a week and then we'll be having long chats about how long she plans to stay in there. When I say "we" I mean me and baby. Derek hears enough of my whining to know how I feel about my current state. My ribs hurt. Not so much hurt as BURN LIKE THE FIERY DEPTHS OF... well, you know. I can't really explain it, but believe me, its not fun. Nausea has returned with a vengance. I have heartburn like only a Patty Prego can. And don't even get me started on my patience issue. And to top it all off, I. AM. SO. TIRED. ALL. THE. TIME.

And that's all. There are good things that are happening tho. I am getting lots of practice with contractions. Some are a lot more painful than others (see above) but most are just weird and a bit uncomfortable. I'm having issues timing them tho b/c my attention span is like half a second long. I'm serious. I'll be in the middle of a thought and see something shiny and that's all she wrote. I'm pretty proud of myself for making mostly complete sentences. We went to the doc yesterday and he said that everything still looks great and there's still no reason to worry that she might come early. Although "worry" isn't exactly the word I would use. More like "hope". But whatever. I'm not a doctor. Just a really whiney pregnant penguin/whale/solar system/insert-whatever-your-favorite-large-waddly-thing-is-here.

OK, if you tuned out the whining, you can tune back in for other news now.

*ahem*
Derek is RIDICULOUSLY busy with school and work. He gets up early and stays up late and I don't know how he does it, but he still manages to be the same happy-go-lucky guy I fell in love with. I wish I could handle stress half as well as he does! He's just awesome. He is taking a day off just for FUN coming up in a few weeks. I know he's pretty excited for that... and I am too! I am getting the feeling lately that he is just as excited to graduate as I am. We can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel! He also talks to the baby a lot and tells her how excited he is to meet her. It is SO cute!!! She wiggles double-time when he talks to her. And he asks her not to kick me in the ribs too much. I think it is funny when he talks to her like a person. I mean, she is a person, but he talks to her like an adult. Like I said, SO cute!!!

Well, I think that's about all I have to report on.... for now. :)

Peace out homefrys!

...I'm Not Feeling Creative Enough Today...

Hello all...

I'll give you an advance warning, I am like the walking dead right now. I'm soooooo tired!

It's been... slow for me but busy for Derek. All my days blend together yet the weeks seem to be stretching on forever... I don't know if that makes any sense at all. I feel like I've been pregnant for WAY longer than 7 (almost 8) months. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't growing exponentially now. This was news to me... Fuzzy freaked out when he saw me this weekend. I just saw him last weekend and yet he said that I was way bigger this weekend. *Picture a big frown on my face right now* I guess I don't see it b/c I see myself every day.
Hahaha... that sounds weird... but it could just be b/c I'm tired and everything is funny right now....

My belly is all wiggly....

Derek has been working and going to school... too much work and too much school, if you ask me. Actually, he probably has the same opinion. (That wasn't the word I was looking for, just so you know.) We are both so excited that its his LAST SEMESTER and that we're ALMOST out of this horrible place!!! I think we're both just a bit nervous about our living situation and hoping that it works out. I'd like to talk about that... but b/c I cannot be nice, I won't.

Um... we went to the doc today and everything seems to be good... There's no reason to think she might come early, as far as we can tell. That is both good and REALLY depressing at the same time. The next appt is in 2 weeks.... then it will be every week til I pop. Woo hoo! I am really quite looking forward to not having the appetite of a baby killer whale anymore....

I think there's really nothing else to tell....

Peace out homefrys...