Wordless Wednesday

sweltering sunday stroll

after a full sunday - day of loafing around doing absolutely nothing, holding down the couch, taking it easy...i decided i wanted to go for a stroll with my 3 favorite peeps.

and we threw some rocks into the water at the drainage ditch

all in a day's work relaxation...

Daddy's Truck

I often tease Jarrett that this truck is his real "pride & joy".

He meticulously wipes all of the dust off each night. He keeps it nice & shiney. He works on it each & every weekend. He flips out when the roads are wet & his truck gets, as he says, spooge on it.

Here is my reflection in his shined-up fenders

Yet he is not afraid to let it be climbed all over, much like a jungle gym. Even the strongest man can't refuse this girl's request to sit on the hood by the bird.

Yep, Daddy may think that he is the boss...but she's got him wrapped around her little finger.

This is pretty random, but did you know diesel fuel is green???

all she wants to do is dance

As seen around our house - every night before & after bath time...

Miss Rachey's version of the baby/toddler dance...she's got some rad moves.

3 years ago

Where has time gone???

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I

♥

THESE

KIDS


SO


MUCH

ok, so...

I let Rachel watch Beetlejuice with me the other day...Guess which part really stuck with her?

what summer looks like

Olivia swinging from trees...

Rachel trying to eat a rock...

Countless vases of these...picked with love for me!

1 down - 12 to go

Kindergarten is OVAH!

Although, this is practically old news since the last day of school was May 28th. I just got around to blogging about it...

And Olivia is pretty darn excited to be off for summer break now! Mama is pretty happy too because, between you & me - this girl is a bear in the morning.

Seems like just yesterday that the bus took my baby for the first time. On the real - where did the time go?

That's right, I'm goin to 1st Grade Baby!

See, I'm not crazy...She has grown a lot!

Happy Birthday Olivia

only 29.5 hours

On this day, at this exact time 6 years ago - I was admitted to the hospital.

Let me give a little background...
At about week 12 of my pregnancy with Olivia, my Dr told me that he thought I would be at a greater risk for pre-eclampsia than most pregnant gals.

My reaction at the appointment - Oh really, ok.
My reaction at home - OMG! I read the entire section on pre-eclampsia in my What to Expect book, I googled pre-eclampsia, I web-md'ed pre-eclampsia. I called my Mom in tears, scared to death that my sweet baby in ute would not make it to full term or that he/she would be still born. I fuh-reaked out to the max!!! Ok, so if I didn't have high blood pressure to begin with, I certainly did from this point on.

I believe I had 2 appointments after that initial one where my blood pressure was border-line. It is normally 115/60, when I was pregnant with Olivia it was 140's/90's. Not horrible but not ideal for a pregnancy.

When I was at 32 weeks, the Dr ordered partial bedrest. My blood pressure was pretty high & they found protein in my urine. I worked half days & then came home & slept on my left side for the remainder of the afternoon. I cut out all salt. I drank water with lemon like it was going out of style. Anything I could do to keep my blood pressure & swelling to a minimum.

At 36 weeks, the Dr ordered no more work. I sat at home all day with my feet up. But the swelling in my legs & feet was bad even if I didn't walk anywhere but to the bathroom & back like 10 times a day.

I went to the Dr. on Thursday, June 10th. The nurse said & I quote "wow, the swelling is worse than last week. If it gets any worse than this you need to call & go to the hospital." So, on Friday I called because it was worse. They said "we will see you at the hospital on Sunday night at 6:00 pm. You are gonna have this baby." What, like I actually am going to have this baby, whoa - let me think about this. HaHa (nervous laughs)

*BIRTH STORY*
PROCEED WITH CAUTION :)

Jarrett & I arrive at the hospital Sunday, June 13th at 6:00 pm. We go up to our lovely private labor/delivery/recovery room. I get hooked up to monitors & IVs get started - oh I had group B strep so I had to get penicillin through my IV the whole time. Ever had that??? It burns like fire through your veins. Not.A.Good.Time. I got cervadil because my cervix was no where near ready for this baby to come out. And THANK HEAVEN they gave me a sleeping pill so I could at least try to get some sleep.

By 5:00 am I was up wide awake with contractions. Really bad menstrual cramps is what it felt like. I was all - oh this isn't bad at all. I can do this. Alas I was barely a 2. Enter pitocin (aka: the drug of Satan!) All before 6:00 am. WooHoo - baby will be here before we know it.

By noon I was at a 3...a 3. 4 whole hours & 1 measley little centimeter. Still I am perfectly content, not in too much pain. I'm thinking natural childbirth here I come. Enter the crochet needle to break my water. UHM...Really - that was a bad idea doc. Nowhere in my books did it say that once your water is broken your contractions will intensify by 1000. Did you guys know that, or am I dumb? Oh & they upped my pitocin - awesome!

Check at 1:30 pm -- 4
Check at 2:30 pm -- 4

By 3:00 pm I am complaining to Jarrett that I think I am going to die. I felt like I was going to split in two. I can't get up & walk because when they broke my water it was discovered the baby had passed meconium into the fluid. So, I had to stay in bed with the internal fetal monitor on. Hello bedpan! And another check -- 4.

Around 3:30 pm I asked for something for the pain. Actually Jarrett did, he may like me because he was all "this is ridiculous. get something for the pain already, I can't sit & watch you in this much pain when there is something that will help!" I was scared to do an epidural, so I got something in my IV. It was lovely...I was completely looped out. I felt like I was floating. I told Jarrett that we could probably leave because I was fine (he told me this later). Ha - I am sure this drug had no lasting effect on the baby.

5:00 pm -- still a 4. Enter the Dr - maybe you should think about an epidural. Looks like baby is stubborn & you may end up with a c-section. Since we broke your water, we really don't want to let you labor for a very long time with no progress. Plus you know, your blood pressure - it ain't good.

6:00 pm -- still a 4. We discuss it...if I end up with a c-section they are going to have to do epidural or spinal anyway...
6:30 pm -- Enter the masked man pushing the craftsman tool chest on wheels. Epidural time. Boy, nothing takes your breath away like a needle to the spine. Wow!

7:00 pm -- 4
I am angry - over 24 hours here & I am not holding a baby. Jarrett ate a bag of peanut M&Ms in front of me. I told him to leave because I could have nothing but water & ice for the entire time we had been at the hospital.

My sister visits - we watch a couple episodes of Friends. She smacks my numb leg at a funny part & we both laugh so hard because I felt nothing.

8:00 pm -- 4

9:00 pm -- 4

10:00 pm check - I said out loud for all to hear "If you check me & say I am still a 4, I will kick you. And if you think I'm joking, you're wrong!" annnnnnnnnd 7.

What do you know, epidural = no pain/lowered blood pressure from not fearing I will die from the pain of childbirth/Laughing & watching TV which all lead to some progress. YIPEE!

10:30 pm - I tell Jar I think I need to poo. He calls for the nurse not wanting to man up & run the bedpan for me. Ha! Nurse says may not be poo may be baby...lets check again. AND 9!!!

11:00 pm - Dr arrives looking nearly asleep. Poor on-call Dr covering my Dr's patients. He has been at it since last night when I was admitted & delivered 2 other babies.

Pushing starts at 11:00 pm - and what do you know, I am a good pusher. At least that is what the nurse told me. 4 pushes & there the baby is.

11:25 pm -- all Hell breaks loose in the room. STOP PUSHING! The cord is wrapped around baby's neck twice. STOP PUSHING! Nurses are frantic & Dr is yelling words I have no idea what they mean because of his really thick accent. But I get the gist of it - it's not good. The Dr had to cut the cord where it was wrapped around the baby's neck.

And plop, a gray little baby not moving or breathing is on my chest. Oh sweet Lord, my little baby - it's a girl!!! But she is not doing well. And then after what seemed like hours - but was probably just a couple of minutes. These 2 big blue eyes popped open & looked right at me - like "what the crap mom". They whisked her away to give her some oxygen & clean some of the gunk off of her. And I get stitched up.

I don't hear her cry for about 10 minutes. Then there it was - sweet sweet cries. My once gray little girl is all pink & is pretty ticked off.

Finally, all is right with the world. I get to hold my sweet little daughter. And her name is:

Olivia Grace Totten

11:27 pm
Monday, June 14, 2004
7 pounds 1 ounce
19 inches

So, yea I didn't exactly have the whole - Dr yelling out "It's a Girl" moment that you see on TV, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Today we had this little girl's 6th birthday party! How have 6 years already passed?! Pictures & lots of other great things coming tomorrow!

I love you, Olivia. You were so completely worth all the pain & waiting! I don't know what else to say, other than you have blessed my life in so many ways. Thank you for making me a Mommy!

this & that

I am home from work today, woot woot! 4 day weekend for me, I likey! Nothing in particular to post about. The girls & I are going to the spray park in town in a few minutes. That should be nice & crowded today, what with it being 90 degrees today.

Olivia is turning 6 on Monday, & she has been counting down for weeks now. I can't believe she is going to be 6, where did the time go? Her report card from school was very good. She is moving on to 1st Grade next year. I am so proud of her. She has joined the summer reading program at the library. I think this is fantastic!!! She loves to read & this will definitely do her good this summer. She is so independent now, she wants to do things by herself. She claims she doesn't need any direction from us anymore. She's a full-fledged kid now...I see no baby when I look at her. It's a little bittersweet to have your baby grow up.

Rachel is still Rachel. Definitely much different from Olivia. She is clingy & still wants to be a baby. We have not been successful with potty-training yet. She still has her nuk at bedtime & naptime. We are working on it. She is talking up a storm lately. She loves to sing in the car. And she is growing like a weed. Her eating has improved because she is not nearly as picky as she used to be. She enjoyed the fish fry Memorial Day Weekend...I guess she will be my date to Red Lobster from now on! Her personality is really starting to shine through. From what I can see, she likes to instigate trouble...she picks on her sister. And then when Olivia reacts, Rachel has to come tattle. She reminds me of....well, me!

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Things I have heard Olivia say this week:

• "Rachel, if you don't be quiet & let me get some sleep, I will have to be naughty in the morning. And then Mommy is gonna have to boss me around. And tell me to be nice & then it won't be a good start to the day" - let me add, both girls were laying in bed with me at around 4:00 am when this was said. I tried so hard not to laugh. She may have heard me say the whole good start to the day part before :)
  

• "Mom, when you tell me the same thing over & over again it makes me crazy. I will have to go to my happy place to calm down."
  
  
• while riding in the car..."Hey, Mom! That guy was right." uh what guy "you know, that guy" no babe, I don't know what guy. "You know, that guy. It is good because rain helps plants grow. You know 'Rain is a good thaaaaaang', that guy." ok, so that guy = Luke Bryan
  

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My weight loss is going pretty good. So far I am down 9 pounds. Who would have thought that exercising would be the key to losing weight? I have been doing Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred. And I feel better. It still hurts, but it is getting better.

I better peace-out, Olivia is getting quite impatient about going to the park!

Wordless Wednesday

I ♥ Summer