As my 10th wedding anniversary approaches (next Friday) I was thinking about our awe-some honeymoon. Awe is the word for these big mountains in Banff, Canada.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday the 13th
It wasn't terribly bad or scary, I'm just a nervous pregnant nellie. I have a blood incompatibility with my babies, which I've written about before & its part of why I have to have a c section. My numbers have stayed very low, but they are shifting around a little up, down, up, and that is starting to stress me out a bit. I am trying to go deep and focus on the little tough guy in there getting through this OK. I'm in good hands, the OB's are all pretty smart about my issue, but its not my favorite thing to worry about. Feel free to send "low titer" thoughts & prayers my way, :) Thanks!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
I wish this was on American 60 minutes...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F91zuHAUoY&feature=related
The End of Circumcision
The End of Circumcision
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
My brother is married
to the most awesome woman, Keri is so chill, so calm, I am utterly impressed with her. I have always liked her but on her wedding day she never broke a sweat or looked the least bit nervous. She made it seem like the day she and my brother getting married was the most normal day in the world.
It was a beautiful day, cold and icy, but clear and gorgeous. It went by way too fast! We got to see tons of cousins and family friends and I miss them all right now. Here are a few pics of the weekend that I prayed so hard I would be in good health for. Thank God, I was, and I was thrilled to be a bridesmaid and even more thrilled to be able to watch the whole wedding up close, it was powerful.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Thursday, January 08, 2009
I'd like to point out that I have this thing on the side of the blog that shows where people are coming from who come to your blog. I can also check what they were searching for that made them end up here. There are some truly crazy things that have been searched for that brought people here by accident, as they were looking for something else. I'm about to ditch that feature, b/c I don't want to know!!
Weird wedding dreams
Last night before bed I talked to my youngest brother, who is getting married on the last day of this month. The husband and I are in the wedding and that should be interesting with my parents watching the kids. So, my brother is getting married to a beautiful and nice young woman and we are so excited for both of them. He was dealing with some last minute logistics yesterday and I was trying to help him relax about the details.
I remember the last month before our wedding, the details were overwhelming, I can handle a lot of stress, but between my job as a commercial property manager and the wedding, which was not small, I had to get a prescription for Ativan. But I read the package insert and it scared me so I only took it twice.
So, last night, I think my brother slept well ( I hope) and all the stress transferred to me. First I dreamed we were in 2 cars and his bride was in her dress in our car, and she was driving. She had cut her hair off, but it looked really good on her. She looked super tall and elegant in her dress. We kept telling her where to park & finally we found a spot next to the church. Meanwhile, my brother is in the other car & my mom keeps telling him not to look at his bride before the wedding.
The alarm went off, but I went right back to sleep and into the next dream, this time we are staying at huge high rise hotel and the church is inside of another huge high rise across the street. I am now in my bridesmaid dress and it doesn't look too bad, which is good news b/c I lose my family and spend hours walking between the 2 hotels looking for the church. I am just wandering in the dress and the silver shoes I ordered to wear with it never arrived so I am barefoot & looking for shoes. I walk into an OR and there is a surgery going on that is very disturbing, so I leave and keep looking for the wedding. I am so embarrassed that they are holding the wedding off until they find me & then I find everyone, all the other bridesmaids and my mom & my kids are in a room putting their dresses on.
In reality, we are very excited about the wedding. In my dream it brought a tear to my eye to see my baby brother getting married, it will probably be the same in real life. He was my wild baby brother, he never wanted to cuddle & be held, he was on the move the minute he could move. When he came home from the hospital my mom put his carseat on the dining room table & my parents went into the kitchen. My other brother and I just stared at the little guy, he was so new & different, we were 11 & 7 when he was born. Our baby brother didn't even look like a newborn, he was over 11 lbs and he just stared right back at us. He didn't look much like us either, blonder and more like my mom. Its hard to describe, but I'll never forget the first sight of him. I learned to do so much for him that my mom stopped hiring babysitters. We had parents that were kind of over the baby stage, which worked out well because he was kind of over being a baby, right from the start.
I could say a lot more about him, but I just think of him as a baby, our family baby, and now, a grown ass man getting married, its so cool!
I remember the last month before our wedding, the details were overwhelming, I can handle a lot of stress, but between my job as a commercial property manager and the wedding, which was not small, I had to get a prescription for Ativan. But I read the package insert and it scared me so I only took it twice.
So, last night, I think my brother slept well ( I hope) and all the stress transferred to me. First I dreamed we were in 2 cars and his bride was in her dress in our car, and she was driving. She had cut her hair off, but it looked really good on her. She looked super tall and elegant in her dress. We kept telling her where to park & finally we found a spot next to the church. Meanwhile, my brother is in the other car & my mom keeps telling him not to look at his bride before the wedding.
The alarm went off, but I went right back to sleep and into the next dream, this time we are staying at huge high rise hotel and the church is inside of another huge high rise across the street. I am now in my bridesmaid dress and it doesn't look too bad, which is good news b/c I lose my family and spend hours walking between the 2 hotels looking for the church. I am just wandering in the dress and the silver shoes I ordered to wear with it never arrived so I am barefoot & looking for shoes. I walk into an OR and there is a surgery going on that is very disturbing, so I leave and keep looking for the wedding. I am so embarrassed that they are holding the wedding off until they find me & then I find everyone, all the other bridesmaids and my mom & my kids are in a room putting their dresses on.
In reality, we are very excited about the wedding. In my dream it brought a tear to my eye to see my baby brother getting married, it will probably be the same in real life. He was my wild baby brother, he never wanted to cuddle & be held, he was on the move the minute he could move. When he came home from the hospital my mom put his carseat on the dining room table & my parents went into the kitchen. My other brother and I just stared at the little guy, he was so new & different, we were 11 & 7 when he was born. Our baby brother didn't even look like a newborn, he was over 11 lbs and he just stared right back at us. He didn't look much like us either, blonder and more like my mom. Its hard to describe, but I'll never forget the first sight of him. I learned to do so much for him that my mom stopped hiring babysitters. We had parents that were kind of over the baby stage, which worked out well because he was kind of over being a baby, right from the start.
I could say a lot more about him, but I just think of him as a baby, our family baby, and now, a grown ass man getting married, its so cool!
Saturday, January 03, 2009
The rest of the story...
So, since I've been in a lazy state this whole Christmas vacation, it was a challenge for me to scramble around my house cleaning before the reporter got here. I had to primp (top priority!;), dry my hair properly, wipe little faces, get boys dressed, clean the floors, put away the toys that were stacked all over the living room table & feed everyone.
At the same time I had to find one or 2 friends who were still nursing little babies, not huge 2 yr olds like mine. I found one friend who said sure, she'd be right there & one who said Oh hell no! The one who said sure showed up with her 15 month old and then 5 minutes later the other one showed up too. I was so happy to see 2 of my favorite mamas and they helped with the last minute stuff. I asked my mom to come if she could, and she showed up 5 min before the news people did. I was happy to pull it all off without needing my mommy though!
At noon on the dot the reporter arrived with one cameraman. She was very cute and easy to talk to. They wouldn't take any drinks or coffee, they had a plan, they stuck to it & they got it all done in exactly an hour, like they promised. They asked us questions first, I went first & tried to remembber what my bro the TV star told me, to make it look like a conversation--be normal. I'm petrified of public speaking & the reporter told me she is too, but she said that the camera is different. I think its about the same.
We talked about how crazy it is to still be talking about breastfeeding publicly in this day and age. I remembered what I wanted to say & it was all taped in one shot. My friends really rocked it though, they turned the camera on & these girls had it all come out so smoothly, I was impressed! Then, they took shots of us, my 2 friends nursing, me on the computer (my mom thinks I spend too much time here as it is). We chatted a bunch and then they left. It came on at 5:15 and it was pretty well done. First of all, the photographer made my house look so awesome! It looked perfect in every shot & you would never know, unless you'd been here, that all 3 of us were in the same house. We didn't look too shabby either & they only used about a sentence from each of us, but they were the better comments we had, especially my 2 mama friends, they had the perfect quotes from them.
It was definitely a fun, out of the blue thing to do on New Years Eve. I welcome any opportunity to talk about breastfeeding, after doing it for 9 straight years with no plans of stopping anytime soon, I think the more its seen as normal, the better for everyone. Ladies can feel free to nurse anywhere,they can nurse longer, they can get better support from their families & they can get help if they need it. Its still a crazy country when it comes to breastfeeding in public, and on Facebook.
At the same time I had to find one or 2 friends who were still nursing little babies, not huge 2 yr olds like mine. I found one friend who said sure, she'd be right there & one who said Oh hell no! The one who said sure showed up with her 15 month old and then 5 minutes later the other one showed up too. I was so happy to see 2 of my favorite mamas and they helped with the last minute stuff. I asked my mom to come if she could, and she showed up 5 min before the news people did. I was happy to pull it all off without needing my mommy though!
At noon on the dot the reporter arrived with one cameraman. She was very cute and easy to talk to. They wouldn't take any drinks or coffee, they had a plan, they stuck to it & they got it all done in exactly an hour, like they promised. They asked us questions first, I went first & tried to remembber what my bro the TV star told me, to make it look like a conversation--be normal. I'm petrified of public speaking & the reporter told me she is too, but she said that the camera is different. I think its about the same.
We talked about how crazy it is to still be talking about breastfeeding publicly in this day and age. I remembered what I wanted to say & it was all taped in one shot. My friends really rocked it though, they turned the camera on & these girls had it all come out so smoothly, I was impressed! Then, they took shots of us, my 2 friends nursing, me on the computer (my mom thinks I spend too much time here as it is). We chatted a bunch and then they left. It came on at 5:15 and it was pretty well done. First of all, the photographer made my house look so awesome! It looked perfect in every shot & you would never know, unless you'd been here, that all 3 of us were in the same house. We didn't look too shabby either & they only used about a sentence from each of us, but they were the better comments we had, especially my 2 mama friends, they had the perfect quotes from them.
It was definitely a fun, out of the blue thing to do on New Years Eve. I welcome any opportunity to talk about breastfeeding, after doing it for 9 straight years with no plans of stopping anytime soon, I think the more its seen as normal, the better for everyone. Ladies can feel free to nurse anywhere,they can nurse longer, they can get better support from their families & they can get help if they need it. Its still a crazy country when it comes to breastfeeding in public, and on Facebook.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Nice end to a challenging year
Wow, life is so funny. I was in the hospital a week ago & then yesterday I was revelling in the feeling of feeling fine. I slept in and got ready to make the boys french toast. The husband was at work and the whole day was ahead of me & I didn't have any pressures at all.
Then, while I was talking to my mom on the phone, the other line buzzed in and I was talking to a reporter at Channel 7 news. She had found my name online because of my volunteer lactation consultant website & asked me how I felt about Facebook banning breastfeeding photos. Personally, I nurse fairly discreetly, but definitely openly--my kids won't tolerate their heads under a blanket---and some of those pics show some mad boobage. Still, breastfeeding is normal, and even if you do see a nipple, is it the end of the world? I also am not a fan of censorship in places where you ahve to choose to see stuff anyway--so the reporter was happy to talk to me. She wanted to do an awesomely pro-breastfeeding story on how its Nutz to care about breastfeeding pics on FB in this day and age. And how 80,000 people signed a petition to get FB to stop being butts about their pics and let them post whatever they want.
So. it was 10 am. I thought she wanted just to chat on the phone, but she said she and a cameraman were coming over to get some opinions on tape...at noon! more later....
Then, while I was talking to my mom on the phone, the other line buzzed in and I was talking to a reporter at Channel 7 news. She had found my name online because of my volunteer lactation consultant website & asked me how I felt about Facebook banning breastfeeding photos. Personally, I nurse fairly discreetly, but definitely openly--my kids won't tolerate their heads under a blanket---and some of those pics show some mad boobage. Still, breastfeeding is normal, and even if you do see a nipple, is it the end of the world? I also am not a fan of censorship in places where you ahve to choose to see stuff anyway--so the reporter was happy to talk to me. She wanted to do an awesomely pro-breastfeeding story on how its Nutz to care about breastfeeding pics on FB in this day and age. And how 80,000 people signed a petition to get FB to stop being butts about their pics and let them post whatever they want.
So. it was 10 am. I thought she wanted just to chat on the phone, but she said she and a cameraman were coming over to get some opinions on tape...at noon! more later....
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Here's a good article about why GenX'ers like me are largely to blame for the current housing foreclosure drama, http://www.babble.com/Generation-X-nesting-to-blame-for-the-economy-housing-crash/
Sorry, you have to cut & paste, blogger won't let me link properly!
I have always found it weird that my generation expects to live at their parents level of affluence--same size house, same kind of cars etc, right away, with the very first kid. Even before the wedding, my peers are buying houses they can barely afford to be at their folks level right out of the starting gate of adulthood. Yet... their parents took sometimes decades to get to that size house, car etc. and we often forget that.
Sorry, you have to cut & paste, blogger won't let me link properly!
I have always found it weird that my generation expects to live at their parents level of affluence--same size house, same kind of cars etc, right away, with the very first kid. Even before the wedding, my peers are buying houses they can barely afford to be at their folks level right out of the starting gate of adulthood. Yet... their parents took sometimes decades to get to that size house, car etc. and we often forget that.
Christmas Eve
and I'm thankful to be at home. I have been in the hospital since Saturday, home for Sunday night & admitted again on Monday, finally released today.
I try to keep it positive on this blog, but I am a pregnant chick with problems right now! I have known I have kidney stones since last June, and I've had a few come through without problems.
Unfortunately I had the most unbelievably hellish experience with passing a stone starting on Saturday. I was given Demerol, percosets & flexeril in the hospital. None of them worked much, but I was able to sleep and then released in the morning. The next day the pain came back in the afternoon, but my prescriptions were sort-of working so I was able to fall asleep. At 3 in the morning I woke up thinking I was dying, I can't even describe the pain. Its kind of like somebody ripping your back open and then individually ripping each muscle in half, without a break, or any rest at all. It took another 12 hours before I got relief, in the form of being in-patient with a PCA pump full of morphine that I hit every 15 minutes for 2 hours before I could even speak. I have had natural childbirth twice for a total of 80 hours of labor, but it honestly does not compare. I used to think people who described kidney stones as worse than labor were wrong, I had had both & the stones weren't that big of a deal. This time I found out it really is was way worse than labor to have a stone!
So.. I was scheduled for surgery in the morning of Tuesday the 23rd, where the urologist would go in with a laser, blast the stone and then retrieve it out of the ureter --tube that runs from kidney to bladder. Then they would put in a stent that would keep the tube from collapsing after all of the trauma & I would have to keep it in for the rest of the pregnancy.
The good news is I avoided the stent surgery, the stone moved on its own, IV hydration & morphine helped it stop blocking the ureter and the pain is gone. I am just nervous now of its possible return with a future stone & nervous about possibly having the stent placed in the future. Can you believe the drugs you are allowed to take while pregnant? I am not so worried about a little wine here and there after hours and hours of morphine. Believe it or not, its safe & my little guy was checked every hour & he is fine.
I am happy to be here and grateful that it wasn't worse.
I try to keep it positive on this blog, but I am a pregnant chick with problems right now! I have known I have kidney stones since last June, and I've had a few come through without problems.
Unfortunately I had the most unbelievably hellish experience with passing a stone starting on Saturday. I was given Demerol, percosets & flexeril in the hospital. None of them worked much, but I was able to sleep and then released in the morning. The next day the pain came back in the afternoon, but my prescriptions were sort-of working so I was able to fall asleep. At 3 in the morning I woke up thinking I was dying, I can't even describe the pain. Its kind of like somebody ripping your back open and then individually ripping each muscle in half, without a break, or any rest at all. It took another 12 hours before I got relief, in the form of being in-patient with a PCA pump full of morphine that I hit every 15 minutes for 2 hours before I could even speak. I have had natural childbirth twice for a total of 80 hours of labor, but it honestly does not compare. I used to think people who described kidney stones as worse than labor were wrong, I had had both & the stones weren't that big of a deal. This time I found out it really is was way worse than labor to have a stone!
So.. I was scheduled for surgery in the morning of Tuesday the 23rd, where the urologist would go in with a laser, blast the stone and then retrieve it out of the ureter --tube that runs from kidney to bladder. Then they would put in a stent that would keep the tube from collapsing after all of the trauma & I would have to keep it in for the rest of the pregnancy.
The good news is I avoided the stent surgery, the stone moved on its own, IV hydration & morphine helped it stop blocking the ureter and the pain is gone. I am just nervous now of its possible return with a future stone & nervous about possibly having the stent placed in the future. Can you believe the drugs you are allowed to take while pregnant? I am not so worried about a little wine here and there after hours and hours of morphine. Believe it or not, its safe & my little guy was checked every hour & he is fine.
I am happy to be here and grateful that it wasn't worse.
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About Me
- clara
- I'm just a mom in the world. A crunchy Catholic mama of 6 trying to make sense of it all and stay positive. 5 boys here & 1 in heaven. One awesome man who I get to grow old with. I help new moms breastfeed. I`m happy. I don`t go to shows or dance clubs every night but I would if I could. Where`s the nanny? When I see her she`s SO fired! One of my boys is super sweet and sensitive, another one is a holy terror. I learn a ton from all of them daily. Like Nigella says, as any parent of small children knows,there comes a point in the day where you can`t go any further without a drink! I love cocktail hour. I`d like nothing more than to be with my family and some good friends surrounded by tropical plants drinking a margarita listening to the Eagles. I don`t care about trendy, I like that grungy 70`s vibe.