365 days gone like that

happy new year's eve, everyone... and merry belated christmas... it's been a great holiday with the little one and i'm looking forward to 2011 and all that it brings... we have decided to stay in this evening and have plans of ordering dinner thru takeout taxi and watching paranormal activity... we also may try putting deck in the crib (overnight) and i'm trying my best not to think about it since him leaving our bed makes me very sad... it's been such a joy lately watching him discover his hands, coo, and stick-out his tongue when we go to bed - i will miss his cute little face that's for sure, but i know it's time... he starts going to daycare in 11 days!!! :(

christmas was good - we attempted the candlelight church service and deck was good for the most part, but he had his fussy parts so we took turns walking around (i think he enjoyed the music though)... on christmas morning, we had a quiet few hours here opening presents and hanging out before heading to my mom's for dinner... eric got me a new camera - the nikon coolpix s8100 - which is the one in that commercial with ashton kutcher... i haven't used all the settings yet, but it's fantastic in low-light and the continuous shooting is pretty cool... it can also shoot video in HD so i'm pretty excited... deck got me a necklace with his name and birthdate and i plan on wearing it everyday... eric loved the print i had framed for him and we'll be hanging it in the LR as soon as i take down all the decorations... :)

on sunday - my brother hosted the family christmas dinner so we headed to PA and spent the afternoon with my mom, my sister's family, and my brother's daughter and husband... deck got a lot of clothes, books, and this dog named scout that can be programed to play music, games, and read to him... it started to snow in the evening so we headed home and then hosted my nieces here since we were going shopping the following day... that was a fiasco, that's all i have to say - there's was a lot of miscommunication between where to meet and when... i had to feed deck in the nordstrom's ladies room, and then couldn't find my mom & sister because my nieces had her cellphone... ugh! when i finally found them - my mom said she had lost her purse in macy's for a time but thankfully, someone had turned it in and nothing was missing (thank god!)... it was a long day, that's for sure, and we were happy to get home and resume our normal schedule... :)

this past week went by pretty quickly and i only have 1 more left before going back to work... i can't believe it's gone by this fast and here i thought i would have nothing to do and be bored out of my mind... granted, i've had the holidays to keep me busy but really - i didn't do anything over what i normally do (though i didn't bake any cookies)... i did go to the foot doctor yesterday and talked to him about surgery #2 on my foot - it's been okay but during the last month or so, it's started to hurt pretty bad and i know the other tumor needs to come out... when, i'm not sure and will have to talk to my boss about being out another week sometime in february... they took molds of my feet for some orthodics and he said this should help relieve pressure on the bottom of my foot (esp. since i have high arches) - they should come in around 3 weeks...

today, we have lunch plans with my friend and then we need to find some dress pants for eric since he has an interview on monday... and we both decided that we need to hunker down and lose weight in 2011, so i'll probably do weight watchers again... i thought about nutrisystem since they upgraded their food, but it's not recommended for women that are breastfeeding... :(

i hope you all have a wonderful new year's and i'll talk to you next year! :)

santa is coming

merry christmas eve! i can't believe christmas is tomorrow... even though i've been home during the holidays, i'm not sure how much i've been able to take-in since i've been preoccupied with deck... eric is on his way back from pittsburgh and i'll be thrilled when he gets home... his mom's surgery went really well - they were able to repair both valves so things are looking good right now... she'll be in the hospital for another week or so and then will go to the nursing home to recover along w/his dad who's staying there... though deck and i have been alone, i'm glad eric was able to take the time to be w/his family at such a stressful and scary time... thanks for all the thoughts and prayers... :)

deck had his 2-month check-up on monday - he's up to 9lb 2oz but is still on the low end of the weight range (5%)... she said that was nothing to worry about since he's still gaining, but it worries me that he's still so small... i told eric that i want to do a 'test' feeding and while he gives deck a bottle - i'll pump and see how much i'm actually producing (roughly anyway)... deck has been doing this thing where he'll be eating for a bit, and then stop and just smile and make faces... he won't eat anymore regardless if i burp him or swap sides several times... he did this yesterday and i finally gave up, put him down, pumped for a bit, and then gave him what little i got plus some formula because i KNEW he wasn't full... eric is quick to blame the pump and says we may need a more powerful machine, but that still doesn't help me when i'm nursing... fact of the matter is, i don't want deck to go hungry... :(

tonight we will attempt the 10:00 candlelight service with deck - not sure how it will go, but if i feed him really well beforehand, he might sleep or at least be happy for most of the service... tomorrow, eric and i will be here and then will head to my mom's for dinner and then on sunday, we'll head to my brothers to see everyone else... my nieces will be coming home with us and depending on the weather (supposed to snow), we may go shopping on monday... if it's cold and yucky, i'd rather not go anywhere and just stay in my jammies all day... :)

well, i better get off here since it's almost time to feed again... i hope you all have a very, merry christmas and best wishes to you and your family... :)

growing like a weed

so much for keeping this blog up-to-date... the past week has been a blur with the holiday and all, and now we believe deck is going thru a growth spurt so evenings are rougher than usual and i'm feeding him constantly (or so it seems)... he appears to be okay during the day but as soon as 6:00 comes - he's a different baby... i hope it passes soon because it's taking quite the toll on me emotionally and physically... :(

thanksgiving was good - we went to my sister's in western maryland and spent the day w/them, my brother, and my mom... deck was out of sorts for much of the day - he made the 3-hour drive w/out waking up but as soon as we got there, all hell broke loose and he was a mess for the rest of the day... i had to hold him while eating so i don't remember much of the actual meal... on the following day, we headed to pittsburgh where he was a little better but still out of sorts - poor guy, so many new surroundings and people... we also had him sleep in this portable bed type thing and i didn't like the fact that he was on the floor and not between us like at home... people kept saying that he won't know where he is, but i did... unfortunately, the drive home from there is longer (4+ hours), we had to stop so i could do a diaper change and nurse... guess i'm not the only person who's done that in the parking lot of a gas station... we came back saturday night to beat the sunday traffic and had the next day to just chill-out and relax...

this week has also been busy with doctor's appointments - i had my 6-week OB checkup and he said everything looked good and that i can resume all pre-pregnancy activities (which have yet to happen because of the fussy baby)... i would LOVE to start exercising but can't w/the way things are going right now - hopefully next week will be better... i can't even think about starting WW again plus i heard there's a new plan so i'll have to do some research... i also went to the endocrinologist and was given the go-ahead to stop my daily lovenox shots - yay! so no more of those for me until we get pregnant again (if and when)... i also went to two different Targets to find a 3' tree, 2 grocery stores, and a dollar store... poor deck, good thing he likes his car seat...

tomorrow, eric's office is throwing us a baby shower so i'll have to drive in to his office - hope i can deck and myself out of the door in time... i've been able to work around his eating schedule pretty well this week, but the way things are going right now - it's anyone's guess how it will go... not much i can do at this point besides give him the boob and be patient...

and ontop of all this - i've been trying to decorate for xmas and it's not going well... i am so used to getting things out and getting everything done in a matter of a day or so, but the dining room has been a mess for days and i'm still only half done... i have to do things while deck's sleeping and if i'm lucky, that's about 2 hours during the day at this point... i keep wondering why i'm bothering this year, but damnit - it's decks first xmas and i refuse to do things half-assed (it's bad enough that we're not getting a real tree)... i've tried using the sling too and he's not liking it for some reason - maybe i'm doing it wrong but he seems really crammed in there... :(

sorry for all the debbie-downer stuff - its just been a rough few days... hope you had a nice holiday and here's some pictures from our family visits... enjoy! :)

to all my blogger friends

forgot to wear green

x o x o x o

i bought myself some flowers, while i was at the store this morning, and when i got home - eric said, "i was going to go out and get you some later"... i just laughed because i know that probably wouldn't happen - he's not big into holidays like this, or birthdays, or christmas for that matter, but i love him anyway... i got him a card and put a picture of bioshock 2 (an xbox 360 game) since it wasn't delivered in time... yea, i'm a good wife and treat my man well - what can i say... :-)

we don't have any plans for today really - i am doing laundry and plan on watching the daytona 500 (yes, i watch nascar on occasion)... romantic, huh... we went to the olive garden yesterday and met up with my mom, sister, and 2 nieces for lunch... my niece turned 14 last week so we gave her an old iMac - now both girls have a computer that can be used for homework and facebook... when we got home, they were FINALLY clearing our street of snow - it had never been plowed and was almost a foot deep in places... it's so nice to see pavement again and not feel trapped - now if only the snow would melt, but i think it will be a while until everything is gone...

well, i'm off to enjoy my sunday... hope you're having a good weekend!

are you wearing green today?

Happy St. Patricks Day!

i have on a green sweater today, and that's about all you'll be getting out of me for st. patty's day - never been my thing really... wasn't really the 'bar' type person in college and even after, i thought irish bars smelled funny and i hated the music (sorry!)... i don't even like guinness - never have, never will - just too damn bitter for me (you're talking to someone that adores bud light lime)... so for those that will be celebrating later - have fun and be safe... :)

sorry for the lack of posts - this weekend was a flurry of activity, though no moving was involved because of the weather, and sunday was pretty much shot because of my niece's bridal shower... i did take a car-full of stuff to goodwill on saturday though, and i mean a carload - even the front passenger seat had stuff on it... and just when i cleared out my DR, i cleared out my balcony closet and now the DR is full of bins and more boxes again... eric may come over tomorrow and take a load to the house, and that will still leave at least 3-4 loads til my place is empty... having 2 full weekends left is comforting to know, and they say it will be warmer and sunny on sat/sun so i think i'll be okay (crosses fingers)... i spoke w/the rental office on saturday and i have to do my final walk-thru on 3/30 with the head maintenance guy - i will have to make sure that any sign of max is gone since he's been living there illegally for 5 years... shhhh.... ;)

like i mentioned above - my niece's bridal shower was on sunday in harrisburg, which meant a lot of driving in crappy weather... it was your normal event with food, games, cake, etc. but not very organized or well-managed time wise... we got there around noon and i think she finally got around to opening gifts around 3:00... she got a LOT of pyrex but then again, you can never have too many mixing bowls or baking dishes, in my opinion... it seems like yesterday when i got the call, at my boyfriend's house, that she was born... 21 years sure goes by fast (sniff*sniff)... :)



happy tuesday...

how did this happen

i consider myself to be quite the planner/organizer/woman-of-lists but this year - i'm just plain behind with everything... that is SO unlike me so i'm blaming my meds and hope that next year is better (plus i already told eric that we are not waiting til the last minute to buy shit)... i did some more shopping last night after getting home from eric's - border's is closing a store near my house so everything in the store was 30% off... i picked up the calendar i've been looking for my mom, rachael rays big orange cookbook, dean koontz's latest paperback, and a travel journal for my niece since she's going to europe next summer... i have ONE more gift card to get tonight for my brother and then it's off to the grocery store so i can buy everything for christmas dinner and this weekend when my sister and 2 nieces will be staying with me... i dread going but i don't have a choice really and it looks like i'll be working a full day tomorrow even though we close at 2:00 (stupid research just HAS to post something on xmas eve - WTF?!?!)... ugh! :-p

this is what i've come up with for Thursday --> hashbrown casserole for breakfast (with eric) and and for dinner (with mom & eric): some sort of appetizer (TBD), pear, blue cheese, and walnut salad, herb-roasted turkey breast, potatoes (TBD), roasted brussel sprouts, rolls, and greek walnut pie... menu subject to change at very last minute... ;-)

so what else has been going on... my chiro appts are still going well - had one this morning and he commented on how tight my shoulders were... the other doctor told me the same thing on friday and i could feel the knots under her fingers... i did learn some more exercises so i've been doing those and laying on my pilates roll every night - the pain has lessened, that's for sure, so hopefully that's a good sign... :-)

i had a mole removed on my chest last week, that seems to be healing nicely (as best it can anyway)... they said they'd call me either way with the results so i'm hoping it's non-cancerous...

guess that's it for now - h0pe you're enjoying all the last minute shopping, prepping, and planning like me... NOT! ;-)

happy tuesday...