Well, I Went

I went to the farm for the weekend after all. I still didn't feel the greatest, but Ryan and I set off after daycare and arrived at the farm about 8:15 pm (after a diaper-change pit stop at Heather's). Everyone was surprised to see how big and bright my Baby-Boo has become. He even slept in the crib upstairs and didn't wake up until 7:30 am! Saturday was mostly all Ryan and Marnie time with my parents, and I started eating real food. Yum.

Saturday afternoon, I even got to take a little trip while Grandma babysat. I met H and Christy at the scrapbooking store in Oelwein and then we took Christy for ice cream. She is a sweetie and is fun to watch because she buys her scrapbooking supplies based on what she thinks is cool, not because she has specific pictures to go with it. She bought some paper with chocolate bunnies on it and some Las Vegas stickers.

Saturday night was my grandpa's 91st birthday party. It was a huge success. Mom cooked a delicious meal. We had roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, broccoli casserole, cauliflower/bacon salad, and Wacky cake. Nicky even baked some banana bread for us. Heather and I were confused because mom put dishes of jam on the tables for the rolls, and we both thought it was cranberry sauce. We couldnt' figure out why the hell you would put cranberry sauce on roast beef! Ryan entertained the adults after supper and the Hansen kids watched Harry Potter. The funniest part of the night was when Ryan discovered the barrette in H's hair. He grabbed it and would not let go. Instead of helping her, I took pictures. Ryan was up until almost 10 pm, but he crashed 15 minutes after everyone left.

Ryan screamed with nightmares for part of the night, and my stomach woke me up early (not good) but Ryan slept until 7 am. We just hung out the rest of the morning, and we left for Des Moines at 1:30. It rained all the way back to Des Moines, but it was a good trip.

When I got back, Todd was home :) so we had family bonding and then we watched the Sopranos. I made waffle fries and chicken breasts with cream of chicken soup for supper, and Todd loved it. He proclaimed it was the best meal he had ever had since - last week. (He is only home for supper one night a week). He is easy to please. The more boring the meal, the more he likes it. I went to bed early and Todd crashed on the couch.

It was a good but tiring weekend. Now I hear H and Kurt have my stomach ick.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Forgot to mention that during Ryan's shots, Dad sat down so he wouldn't faint, and Mom held down poor little Ryan. Why do I always have to be the bad guy?

I am supposed to head straight to the farm after I pick up Ryan from daycare today, but I am still feeling ickish. I took yesterday off, but am at work today. I am not puking or pooping, no fever, but my stomach just plain hurts. I have only had crackers, toast, and applesauce for 4 days. Ugh. I don't feel horrible, but don't feel good. Should I stay or should I go? The car is all packed (you would not believe the amount of stuff needed for 2 nights. I gave up on diaper bags and used a giant rubbermaid.) and Ryan is healthy, but I don't particularly want to get my 91-yr-old grandpa sick. Hmmm. Should I stay or should I go?

Bragging

I am bragging about my Baby-Boo Ryan. He had an excellent 4-month appointment at the doctor's on Monday. The doctor said they don't get much healthier than Ryan, and he has the motor skills of a 6-month old! Brag, brag. He can roll over both ways, grab objects and move them from hand to hand, track things with both eyes moving together, and he has his first two teeth. He only cried for about 2 mintues when he got his shots, then fell asleep. He has been on rice cereal for a week and can start the green veggies after April 15th. And the pediatrician says he can't hear Ryan's heart murmurs, but he never can. We will have to wait until June 5th to see what the cardiologist (and his super-human ears) hears.

Ryan measured in at 15 lbs, 10 oz and was 24 3/4 inches long. This puts him in the 50th percentile for height and weight. However, he has a large noggin'. His head is in the 90th percentile! As Elaine on Seinfield would say, he's a walking candy apple!

Misc.

Well, the aforementioned coffee cake has been trashed. I threw it out as a precaution since it was the last thing I ate before I started praying to the porcelian god yesterday morning from 5 am - 10 am, then spent until 2 am this morning with a 102 fever. Then the fever broke, and I was good as new. I even went to work today. Ryan and Todd aren't sick, so I don't know what happened. I feel fine, but...

...the hives are back. Scratch, scratch.

Tales from the Kitchen

I have been having an intersting time in the kitchen lately. A few weeks ago, I tried to make Paula Dean's ooey-gooey butter cake from the Food Network. It was supposed to bake for 30-40 minutes. After 75 minutes, the top was still raw and liquid and the bottom was burnt. Disaster.

Then, last week I made homemade crab ragoons for poker. They were a success, but they may be what has led to my hive outbreak. After 7 days of scratching and itching I went to the doctor on Saturday. He said they will probably never know what happened, but since I ate seafood the day I got them, I may have developed a sudden seafood allergy! This is horrible, as seafood is my absolute favorite and is actually something I eat that is healthy. The ironic thing is that I was given a gift card to Red Lobster, and Diane and I were going to go spend it this weekend, but now I have to lay of seafood for a few weeks, so I had to call her and cancel.

Thursday night I made 3 pounds of macaroni salad for Stein's Free Food Friday. I preplanned and bought all my ingredients except sugar. I always have sugar, right? Apparently not. At 7:30 pm I had two pots of pasta boiling away on the stove. Ryan and I were both in our pj's and he was swinging while I chopped carrots, and I was covered head to toe in big blotchy hives. I needed at least 4 cups of sugar. I open the canister, and viola! I have 1/4 cup. Needless to say, I couldn't exactly rush out to the store. So, I "womped" it. I found a canister of sugar packets, and used about 50 sugar packets. It takes a long time to open that many packets! Then I found 1/4 can of Splenda, so I dumped that in. Then I finished it off with about 20 Equal packets. Suprisingly, it turned out well and was a success. Apparently, I am now famous in the Newton bar scene for macaroni salad. Whatever that's worth.

Yesterday I made a coffee cake. I always make it in a 9 x 13, but this time I decided to make it in a Bundt pan like the recipe says. I got the first layer of batter in the ban, then sprinkled it with the cinnamon/brown sugar/butter crumbles, then started to put the rest of the batter in. At this point, I realized that I forgot to put the 4 eggs in. I had noticed that the batter was awfully thick. So I scraped off the crumbles, dumped the batter back into the bowl and beat in the eggs, then put it back in the pan. So much for having a distinct brown sugar layer! Then, I baked it the correct amount of time, and it was nice and brown on the top. The recipe said to flip it over immediately, so I did. Well it turns out that the bottom was still raw, so when I flipped it over, the batter started gushing. So, I quick slammed the bundt pan on it, flipped it back over, and threw it in the oven and baked it some more. It turned out pretty well, but was kind of crusty on the outside.

I am a good cook. Really. I think I have two problems - my oven isn't heating exactly right and I lost two many brain cells during pregnancy!

Well, got to run, it is now 6:40 am, and time to wake Ryan back up. He woke up early - 5 am, so he and I have been ready for work since 6 am, but daycare doesn't open until 7 am. Luckily, he fell asleep in his swing so I could blog.

King Cake

One of my co-workers (now my boss) is from Louisiana, so 8 years ago he brought the tradition of having King Cake on Fat Tuesday of Mardi Gras to work. The King Cake is a traditional Mardi Gras treat, baked and covered with a poured sugar topping in Mardi Gras colors; Purple, representing Justice, Green representing Faith and Gold representing Power. Each cake has a plastic baby hidden in it, and if you find the baby you have to bring the cake next year. It is also supposed to bring you fertility. Well, last year I found a baby just before I found out I was pregnant!
I was too cheap to buy a cake this year, so I spent last Sunday making one. It is a yeast cake and has to rise twice for a total of over 2 hours, so it took a while. It turned out well, except it was a little denser than I expected, and a little lopsided. After I got to work, I found out that Hy-Vee was selling King cakes for only $5. I should have done that!

Poker Night: The Day After

Last night I hosted a very successful Ladies' Poker Night. Roni and Steph joined our group, so there were 8 of us duking it out. I was the first to go out, very early, and finally at 1 am Stephanie finally beat Alisa to claim the $40 pot. It was a great time with great food and it was nice to have Roni and Steph there. A great night.

The day after has not been so good. After the girls all left, I loaded the dishwasher and went to bed at 1:30. At 1:35 Ryan was up, hungry and wide awake. Finally I went to bed at 3 am. Then Todd came in at 6 am, and we talked until 7:30, and then Ryan got up. He has been alternating between extremely playful and cranky all day because he has only had 2 - 30 minute naps today. Hopefully he is falling asleep while I am upstairs typing this. But, Todd has been home all day so we have had some good family together time, and I made him his traditional box of Saturday Kraft dinner before he left for work.

The other lovely news today is that I woke up covered head to toe in hives. Very itchy. I have no idea why, and I don't think I ate anything unusual last night. I took some benydryl and it seems to be helping, sort of.

Ugh..Back to Work

Well, it was too cold to scrap upstairs at my cropping table, so I sorted and hauled stuff downstairs to the dining room. Despite Ryan taking a 4 hour nap yesterday, I only got 4 pages done! But, I also got his calendar up-to-date and divided all my pictures into scrapbooking or the photo album. I get doubles of ones I have scrapbooking ideas for, and then everything else goes in chronological order into the album. I have space for 6 more pictures in the album. I also made belated valentines to send out with his professional pictures ... so I guess I achieved more than I thought. Plus baby duty! I was trapped at home since Todd was at work and it was too cold to take a baby out.

Ugh..back to work. Having an ugly morning. We all have colds and I spent the night in the recliner so I could breathe. Ryan spent from 10 - 3 sleeping with me in the recliner too. I hate to do that, but I couldn't help it. I fell asleep!

You know it's cold when....

You know it's cold when...the chain on your garage door opener snaps in half!

Mr. Baldy

Tummy time is a flop at the Stein house. It never lasts more than 2 minutes because as soon as you put him on his stomach, Ryan rolls over to his back. This has been going on since he was 16 days old, so as a result he has a huge patch of hair missing on the back of his head (see picture).

This weekend I am going to try to scrapbook. It is going to be too cold to take Smiley anywhere, the house is clean, and the laundry is done, so we are just going to hang out and I will attempt to scrap while he bounces, swings, or naps.

The mirror in the picture is on loan from the Arndt twins. My friend Jeremy from work had twin boys, Collin and Nicholas, in June, and they lend us their toys when they get bored with them. It spices things up for Ryan. Thanks to them and the fast-growing Anthony, I haven't had to buy much for Ryan :)

Mom's Night Out

It was hard, but I let Todd's parents keep Ryan overnight Saturday night. After 3 weeks of being back to work, I am exhausted. It is hard to get everything done every night and take care of Ryan. Plus, I want to hold him and play with him all the time, since I only see him in the morning, and then from 4:30 - 8:30 each weeknight. Todd has been helping about 3 of 5 mornings and on his 2 evenings off, so that is nice. My back is killing me though, from bending and rotating to squeeze Ryan and his car seat into the Cavalier four times a day, and I am in the process of moving my cubicle at work from one side of the building to the other. Whine. Whine.

Friday night after Ryan went to bed I started cleaning the house, and then I finished on Saturday. I got everything done except the dusting. Todd's parents came and got Ryan and left about 4:30. Then, Gilk and Diane picked me up at 6:30. I went with them and some other AZX people to Stein's in Newton. I hadn't been there since September. I had a good time, and all of the employees were took extra good care of me :) I got home at 12:45 and then ate leftover Mongolian Beef and Belgian chocolate ice cream. Talk about your weirdo dreams! I got up at 8:30 and felt like a new woman. I was supposed to meet Mike and Sandy in Monroe at 12:00 to pick up Ryan, but I am enjoying my "break" and getting a lot done, so I called them and they are bringing him here at 3:30. I feel like a horrible mother, but if I get a lot done today, that will be more time to spend with him this week. I might even plan out some scrapbooking pages as if I will ever get time to scrapbook!

3 Months Old

Ryan turned 3 months old on Friday! He "talks" a lot, likes to stand up, and this week he started holding his bottle. This afternoon I am taking him to the mall to get his picture taken. I am very nervous about it. I'm trying to figure out the best time to feed him so he doesn't upchuck on his new outfit or cry because he is hungry.

We both survived our first week of daycare, but I think it was easier on him. He seems to be getting lots of love and attention, but we are both having problems getting up in the morning, and I miss him all day.

Yesterday we went to the "I'll Make Me a World In Iowa" celebration downtown with the Daniels'. It was fun and interesting, but not the best place to be moving around with strollers. The soul food smelled yummy, but it was time for Caleb's nap and he was very, very, crabby, so we left without lunch. Ryan and I came home and ate and then we both napped in the recliner.

Dreading Monday

I am going back to work on Monday. I am dreading it. It is going to be horrible. Ryan seems to sense that I am stressed about Monday, because he wanted to cuddle most of the afternoon and evening, so that is what I have been doing.

The good news is that Ryan has been sleeping in his crib for 11 hours a night about 2 weeks now. It is wonderful.

Here is Ryan in his Pooh outfit that Heather bought him. It is almost too small for him now.

A Small Victory

Ryan has been sleeping through the night for about a week. It is wonderful. Unfortunately, it is usually in his swing. However, last night he slept from 8:30 pm to 3:30 am in his crib! Hallelujah! I am victorious! Then I fed and changed him, and he slept in his swing next to me from 4:30 - 8:30 am. I told him that I needed some more sleep, put him in the swing, turned the lights out, and put my back to him, and he went to sleep like that. I was very appreciative. I think he was tired out from going out for Thai food with Diane. He was very smiley when he woke up, and he watched his aquarium for an hour while I folded and put away laundry.

I have been enjoying my last few weeks with him before I go back to work. We are now totally ga-ga over each other, which is wonderful considering my postpartum problems. I am dreading going to work on the 23rd. It will be the first time I have cried at work ever in almost 8 years. I survived the mean Snap-on man and my buddy Eugene in Keokuk without crying, but I don't think I will make it through Ryan's first day of daycare.

We are going shopping tomorrow with Heather. It will be the first time I have used the stroller. Then we are going to the farm for the weekend while Daddy works. I cannot believe the amount of stuff you have to haul home for a baby for 3 nights. Ugh.

Buddies

Last week I went over to Rachel's for lunch. It was fun. Chase was very sweet with Ryan, and Ryan and Anthony got to meet for the first time. There is about 4 months difference in age between the two of them. It will be nice for Ryan to have a playmate his age!

Update

Yesterday was Ryan's 2 month appointment. He weighed 12 lbs, 12 oz. and was 23 inches long. He cried for about 5 minutes when he got his shots. Then we came home and he slept for about 5 hours. Then I fed him and put him in his swing at 9:30 pm last night. He didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning. Must have been the tylenol!

AAAH!

Ryan has now been awake for 13 hours with no nap! Hopefully he will fall asleep soon. We are going to Humboldt tomorrow with Mike and Sandy, and I don't want to be a zombie.

Ryan's Morning Out

Yesterday was only Ryan's third trip out of our house. He had an appointment with Dr. Chandramouli, the cardiologist at 9:30 am. Ryan woke me up at 6:30, and it took until 8:45 am to get him fed, changed, bathed, dressed, and packed up. (You can tell this is only the third time I have done this.). It got Todd up, we threw on some clothes, and were off. We even arrived in time. Interestingly, Dr. Chandramouli's office is right next to the perinatoligist's and I had walked by it every time I had a NST or ultrasound and had never noticed it.

Ryan took the appoinment like a champ and charmed everyone. First he had an EKG and a chest x-ray, and he never made a peep! He has grown to 21 3/4 inches and 9 lbs 13 oz. Then we went to an exam room to wait for the doctor. We gave him a bottle while we were waiting. Them the doctor came and listened to his heart while Ryan kept guzzling his formula. The doctor could still hear the murmur, so he ordered an ultrasound. The technician put him on a pillow on my lap and he basically laid totally still and dozed a little through the ultrasound. The techinician was thrilled! She said it would be the easiest one all she did all day. The results came back and the doctor said that the first hole has closed enough that we don't need to worry about it at all, and the second hole is still there, but not to worry. We should take him home and enjoy him, and come back in 6 months. Then he gave him a little kiss :) Our reaction: This is great news, but yikes! we didn't know he had two holes in his heart, we thought he only had one.

Then we put him in the car and he slept while we returned the breast pump, ran to the courthouse to renew the license on the Vitara, ate lunch, and got gas. Then he slept some more. Not good. He was fussy all afternoon and night. Ugh. And Todd got stuck in Newton because of the weather. Oh well.

Sleeping Issues

Things were better, but now they have regressed again. I only manage to get Ryan to sleep in his crib about every 3 days. He either sleeps in his car seat, the swing, or if I hold him. Ugh. I have tried every tip given to me, with no luck. I did get his constipation issue worked out (sorry for the pun). I followed the instructions in the binder from the pedatrician (who says baby's don't come with users manuals?) and gave him several ounces of water. It worked.

Thanksgiving was ok. I spent all day cooking and cleaning up for Todd to eat less than one plate of food. He did eat a lot of cake though, and I made turkey and noodles at 11 pm, which he gobbled up. I guess if I wanted him to eat I should have served the meal at 4 am since he is on bar time. I did enjoy cooking though.

My mom is coming tomorrow. I am excited. It will be nice to have someone to talk to.

I'm Back

Hi everyone! I am finally back. Ryan sleeps best from 8 am - noon, and I should be sleeping, but unfortunately that is when I am most awake. To catch you all up...

I won't bore you with the all the details of my birth story, but it can only be described nothing went how I planned or dreamed it would. Who knew an epidural could feel so good yet nearly do you in? Or that Ryan would be one of the 2 of 100 babies that gets Group B Strep from his mother? Or that his heart rate could go so low? It was very, very scary for both Ryan and me, and very terrifying for Todd. And the four days that he was still at the hospital while I was home were horrible. Unfortunately very few people have acutally seen him since he was so sick, but we are starting to have visitors now. It is frustrating too that Todd has to take me to appointments because I can lift the baby, and I can lift the car seat, but I can't lift the baby and the car seat together. Can't vacuum either.

BUT.... THE GOOD NEWS IS I am feeling good (except for back spasms) and Ryan is doing fantastic. We are very thankful that everything turned out well, and we are very greatful for the Mercy NICU, and extremely grateful that my mom took such good care of us during this whole mess. Ryan is growing, growing, growing, and you can't even tell he was sick. All of his bruising and scabs from were the IV's were (belly button, foot, hand, forhead) are finally gone. He smiles and he rolled over from his stomach to his back last Saturday. We have an appointment with the cardiologist on Nov 30 to check on the hole in his heart, but the dr. is expecting it to close on its own without treatment.

Todd has been working a lot because one of his employee's baby has been in the hospital, so he feels like he is missing a lot, but he is a good daddy. We are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving at home, just the 3 of us. Of course, that means I am cooking, but what the heck!