What a Year!

On July 23, 2011, I started my 365 photo challenge.   A picture a day for a year.  I was 33 years old.  I was a mother of one.  I was living in Virginia.  What a difference a year makes!  I am now 34.  I am  a mother of two.  I am living in the Pitty.  All things that I had no idea would change in 365 days.  This project has become so much more than I originally planned.  It started off as a way to encourage myself to learn to use my new camera.  It ended up being a place for me to share my thoughts, use my creativity, and chronicle my families memories.  I think I only missed about 10 days total throughout the year.  With all I have had going on this year, I am pretty proud of my self.  I have also found that this blog has become a great way to stay in touch with our family and friends.  They can check in and see what we are really up too.   Most importantly for me it has become a place that I can see my highs and lows.  I can smile and laugh and cry as I look back over the last year.  And although I can't promise to get a picture in every day, I am going to continue using my camera and the 365 formant to continue recording our mundane life!  Hope you will keep coming back to visit!
Here is the last picture of my 33rd year.  It is Doodle and I blowing out my birthday candels.  I was not really in the mood to celebrate, but  she insisted that I have a cake, we sing (even though she hate the birthday song and plugs her ears whenever it is sung) and that I have the first piece of cake.  We managed to find the tiniest cake at the store just so she could make sure I celebrated in style.  I have mentioned that I love that kid!  Unfortunately Sadie was already in bed and didn't get to participate in the festivities.

July 22 (365/365)

Tucked Tails and Feathered Nests

I have come to the time to discuss the move, and farewells.  I had this image of a picture of the girls sitting on the steps in front of our house.  I imagined pictures of the boxes with a baby sleeping on top.  I wanted to remember the move for the girls, and I wanted that time to be sappy for my self.  Well, pre-eclampsia had another thing in mind.  I totally missed the packing phase of moving.  In fact, I didn't even come home to my own house after leaving the hospital.  We all took up residence at Sisterwife's house.  She and the fam were out of town, so we had plenty of space.  I was to exhausted to tromp the girls down the hill to take my nastolgic picture.  In fact, I was so wiped out that I pretty much bypassed saying good bye to everyone.  Truth be told, I am glad Sisterwife and the fam were out of town and that we missed out on saying good bye.  I would have lost it.  I know I would have lost it because this is how my conversation with Landlord went

Me: I'm coming by to drop of the keys and give you a hug, but I can't do a real goodbye
LL: I'll be prepared
Me: (while hugging LL and crying like a baby) Thanks for being our VA family!  We love you guys!
LL: (unable to talk through tears so just hugs me tighter)
Me: If we don't stop hugging the neighbors will think we are lesbians
LL: (laughing while wiping tears from her face)
Me: by the way since you are no longer our landlord, your offical blog name will be Speed Racer
LL: Okay
And with that I walked back to the car and lost it.  I sobbed out loud.  I don't think I could have done that twice.  I also don't think I could have kept my cool in front of Doodle.  This way she wasn't present for my blubbering goodbye.   After my quick escape, I looked at this picture I took of Doodle at her last day of dance and it pretty much summed up my cowardly goodbyes.  I tucked my tail and ran!

July 16 (362/365)

So now that I have shown you how I failed at goodbye, I do have a deep thought to share.  It's a bit of a story, so bear with me.  When Sisterwife lived next door to us, each spring a bird would build a nest on the wreath on their front door.  I know it wasn't the same bird each year (because frankly what bird would be dumb enough to build their house on a door that is frequently opened year after year) but I liked knowing that each spring, I would need to be warry of the protective mama bird if I went to Sisterwife's front door.  It was a little strange this spring when there wasn't a nest on the door.  There was a nest in a nearby tree, but it just wasn't the same.  Anyway, while we were staying at Sisterwife's house, I happened to look up in the corner of the front porch and saw this

July 23 (1/365)

It made me think of the bird on the front door.  And that reminded me that home is truely where ever you are.  If you can "feather your nest" with the people you love most in the world, home can be anywhere.  I am reminding myself that if I choose to be positive about the Pitty, then hopefully I will come to think of it as another home.  I have to make our nest a happy, positive place for our girls.  Doodle will look to me and her daddy to see how to handle this giant change in our lives, and I want her to see the postive side of moving and not be too heart broken.  It is challenging and it is hard, but I have my family and that is all that matters right now!

Date With the Devil

So in case you missed the original plan involved in this whole Pitty move, let me refresh.
Parents arrive July 1st.- check
My Favoritest starts new job in Pitty July 2- check
My Favoritest returns home for Sadie's scheduled arrival on July 9- check
I come home from hospital healthy and only doped on on percocet- check
My Favoritest returns to Pitty July 15- check
The next part of the plan invovled a quick check in at the doctor's office the day before the movers.  This is where the plan went down hill fast!
I had been having a headach for about 4 days.  It wasn't a horrible headache, it got better with medicine, and let's face it, I was under a lot of stress.  Given all this, I had decided it was just a headache and nothing to be worried about.  So, when I went to the doctor's office for a quick blood pressure check and incision check, I was really expecting a 10 minute visit.  
The visit was 10 minutes, because that's all the time it took for them to determine my blood pressure was through the roof high.  The nurse practitioner sent me home and said she would call after talking to the doctor in the office that day.  I barely made it home before she called telling me to go to the hospital for labs.  Then, before I could even process that information, she called back and told me to go to the ER.  Now I was in a panic!  I called My Favoritest and told him to get back as quickly as he could.  
After a short germy wait in the "quiet room" of the ER (Where we overheard discharge instructions that included "do not drink and ride your bicyle any more", serious vomiting, and got to hear about a mans 3 week battle with constipation) we got put in a room on the pediatric side of the ER.  Sometimes, there are perks to the fellow lifestyle.  One of My Favoritest's coworkers got us put back on the peds side.  When OB came down to see me, they basically said they thought given my history and the symptoms that I was having pre-eclampsia.  They wanted to admit me and treat me with magnesium which will now be referred to as the devil's drug.   If you have never had the pleasure of this medicine, give a shout out to God saying thanks right now.  It is awful.  The minute it starts, you entire body begins to feel hot.  And by entire, I mean from the tips of your toes to the tips of your teeth.  It feels like you are laying on an electric blanket on a desert island at high noon.  And that is just the start of the fun.  The devil's drug relaxes all your smooth muscules, so your whole body feels like jelly.  They won't let you get out of bed.  This means a catheter.  Yippeee!  It also means that the strenght it takes to lift a fork to your mouth isn't worth the effort given the crappy food they bring you.  And if this isn't enough fun, there is the constant monitoring of vital signs.  This goes on for 24 hours.  It sucks the big one!  By the time the devil's drug was done running, my arm was bruised from all the bp checks and I was exhausted.
Did I mention that this all started the day before the movers were coming to pack our house?  that's right!  Chaos!  On that end of my life, My Favoritest got home late Thursday night and was there to help Bubbie with the girls and the movers Friday morning.  Lucky for us,I had already planned on sending Doodle down the street to play.  We are so lucky to have the friends and neighbors that we do.  The packers packed the house and when I arrived home from my second hospital stay, they were busy loading the truck. Definitely not the plan I had made.  But, at least we were all safe and happy and healthy!

July 19 

July 20

This is what the Devil's drug does to you.  Makes you look like a crack head who needs a fix!

Where Sleeping Baby Sleeps Best

What a couple of weeks it has been! I can't believe that so much has happened in our lives. I have a smattering of stories and pictures to share. They are once again out of order, because I have stories to go along with them. Also, I would like it noted that even with a newborn and an state to state move, I am only about 2 weeks behind on posting. When Doodle was born, my dear friend JJ gave me one piece of advice: Put that baby to bed sleepy but awake! We took her advice and also borrowed her copy of Babywise. We weren't rigid about a schedule, but did work hard to establish a routine of eat, play, sleep. Doodle was a great sleeper. We never had to cry it out or rock her to sleep. I have freely admitted that I think this miricale was a combination of her personality and our efforts. Along comes number 2 and we do the exact same thing. Only problem is, she is having none of it! Only other problem is, our life is in chaos. On top of the move, absent father, and healign from a c-section, I had a little issue with pre-eclampsia (more on that in the next post).So, here is where the baby likes to sleep best.

July 18 (364/365)


The second picture is one of where we would really like her to sleep. Overall, she is getting better at bed sleeping everyday. I can't really blame her. If I could sleep in a vibrating papizan chair all day every day, I sure would!

July 21 (somehow I got screwed up on my counting of days but this is still part of the 365 days)

Obsessed!

Doodle is OBSESSED with her little sister. That is the only way to describe their relationship. Unless i want to call my 3 year old a stalker which when it comes to baby Sadie, she might be. If Sadie makes a sound, Doodle drops what she is doing and runs for the baby. Don't get me wrong, I would much rather have her be obsessed and in love that jealous and mean. Here is a picture of the familiar scene in our house. Doodle is constantly wanting to peek in on her little sister. Love this picture!

July 15 (361/365)

FOURteenth of July

Apparently Sisterwife and Landlord are faithful readers of this blog.  It appears they noticed my sadness at our lack of 4th of July celebrations.  In my mind, the 4th festivities were always going to be our last hurrah with our friends.  It was a way to get together without focusing on our impending move.  So, while they were visiting plotting to steal Sadie at the hospital, Sisterwife and Landlord informed me we were cooking out over the weekend.  It was a perfect evening.  The kids were wild, the food was good, there was rain so we didn't stay outside and the boys drank beer.  Before the evening was over, I remembered to get a picture taken of the 3 of us.  I have to give a shout out to Sisterwife's husband (does that make him my brother husband?).  He was smart enough to realize that 5 days post-partum I would not appreciate a full body photo.  

July 14 (360/365)

I will not get mushy, but you girls know my true feelings for you!  You have made Virginia my home and you have been my family away from family.  Love you both!

Seeing Double

Just had to share these two photos of my girls.  Both were taken on the way to their first pediatrician appointment.  Doodle was about 6 days old and Sadie was 5 days old.  Just love that I can have a such similar pictures of my babies.  I think it will be fun for them to look at when they are older:)  Hopefully it will be the first of many outfits and moments that share:)

Doodle

Sadie