Maddie's First Shots

Well, we all survived the pediatricians visit yesterday with just a few tears and a bit of really red faced screaming. The visit started off poorly due to the fact that we got there an hour and fifteen minutes too early because I missed a voicemail asking me to bring Maddie in at 10 instead of 9. So by the time Maddie could see the doctor she was already over it and getting cranky before anyone even started examining her. I dont blame her though, who wants to be stripped down to their undies and poked and prodded by some stranger, poor girl. The doctor examined her and said we have a perfectly healthy little girl. She weighs 12.5 pounds which is on the large size (80 percentile) and is 23.5 inches long which is longer than average (75 percentile). I think my suspicions were right, I have been over feeding her! The doctor didnt seem concerned so neither am I but I am going to try to breast feed more and lay off on the formula a bit. So after the exam came the shots, oh it hurt my heart to hear her scream like that. My eyes welled up with tears but I didnt cry. The baby books say I have to practice being tough so that my fear doesnt "rub off" on her. Luckily Daniel was there to hold and comfort her. She got a shot in each thigh and an oral vaccine, to my surprise she really hated the oral vaccine. I guess because it was very cold and had to be administered in six doses. She screamed so loud and made the worse face, I suspect that it probably tasted pretty yucky too. One good thing about the doctors visit was that Madeline successfully sucked her thumb for the first time there. I was so happy. Up until the doctors appointment she had been able to get it in her mouth but hadnt really been able to keep it there and suck on it for an extended time. I have really been wanting her to suck her thumb so that she could learn to self soothe. I dont really like pacifiers although there have been a few moments of frustration where we have offered her one, but she really doesnt take to it so I have my fingers crossed that she will be a thumbsucker. Some people advise against thumb sucking but it seems to naturally soothe their urge to suck and I think it may help me to stop overfeeding her:) Unfortunately it must have been just the stress of the doctors office that caused her to suck her thumb because she hasnt been able to successfully do it since. Oh well I am sure it will happen in time.
When we went to the doctors office we were feeling particularly festive so we dressed her in her Christmas onsie which was a gift from Uncle Dwayne and Aunt Roberta in Oregon. I think it is so cute, it has reindeer on her feet and on her bum.


Here she is "waving" and smiling in her Christmas onsie, see those shots werent too bad!

Her little reindeer feet.

Speaking of Christmas, we put up our first Christmas tree. This is Maddie's first tree and the first tree I have had since I was four years old. At first I didnt really care if we put up a tree or not, but now I love it! I want to keep it up all year round. It a bit sparse on the trimmings but I suppose we will build that up in the coming years.

The weather outside is frightful...

..and Maddie turned 2 months old today! We all survived, yeah! It was so cold outside today and now it has started to snow which is quite exciting around here because this part of Virginia very rarely sees snow. Daniel and I decided to brave the cold and take Maddie to Target, I didnt really want to take her out since it was so cold but it was nice getting out of the house for once. I have been feeling a little stir crazy. Anyway, our little rascal is getting so big! She is really developing a little personality, laughing and smiling at her silly parents. She really loves it in particular when we sing to her. She has some favorite songs, such as "The Wrong Band" by Tori Amos, Owl City's "Fireflies" and the Pixies "Gigantic". I sing these and she kicks her feet and coos. Its so cute. She is also getting really good at holding her head up. Monday Maddie has an appointment to see the pediatrician. I have been totally dreading it. SHe is getting her first set of shots. Oh I just know its going to break my heart to see her get them. I asked Daniel to take some time off of work to go with me. I hate it when Cooper gets his shots, so I just know I am going to be a nervous wreck when Maddie gets hers. I hate to sound like a paranoid freak but I just dont trust the safety of all the preservatives that the food, drug and cosmetic industries are using. I just dont think they should be putting Mercury in shots given to children but thats just my opinion. Anyway, thats a rant that I wont start this evening. We will also find out how much she weighs. She is becoming quite the butterball, I am a bit worried that she has gained a larger amount than normal but we will see. So here are some pics of Maddie in her car seat with her snow suit on getting ready to brave the cold and go to Target.

Bath Time

I just had to post these cute pics of Madeline that I took after her bath. Both of us are learning that bath time isnt that bad.

Getting into the groove

Madeline sleeping in her favorite spot, on my chest.

I cant believe Madeline is already 7 weeks old. Even in that short time she has changed so much. She is more alert and stays awake a little longer now. She is also getting better at holding up her head and pushing up on her arms. And when she opens her mouth it is no longer just to let out a little raspy cry, she now has started to coo a bit. Motherhood at first was quite overwhelming but now I feel like I am getting into the groove. Its basically a routine of diaper change, eat, sleep and repeat. Of course there are other things to do in between such as wash bottles (I am doing a combination of breastfeeding and formula, who knew breastfeeding would turn out to be so difficult) and various other things but everything takes second fiddle to Madeline. One thing is for certain, I feel that I have become more responsible in the last 7 weeks than I had ever been in the past thirty-something years. Its crazy how much everything changes when a baby comes into the picture. I no longer live for me, I live for her. Instead of thinking that I want to eat healthy because I want to lose weight and look good, I think that I want to eat healthy so that eventually I can set a good example for my daughter and so I can live longer for her. Life now seems so much more precious than it did in the past.


Madeline's first bath.

Well, although I think that I am comfortably getting into the groove of motherhood, there are still a few things that elude me. Such as how to time the diaper change just right so as not to put a brand new diaper on Maddie before she has had time to finish pooping in the previous diaper. That never ends well. She either soils the brand new diaper that I just put on her or finishes the deed on the changing table. The latter is always my personal favorite. Another task that is giving me a run for my money is bathing the poor kid. As an adult getting into the bathtub is an everyday harmless event, but to an infant, its like risking life and limb. There are too many perils. What if she could gets too cold? What if I accidently drop her? I dont want to drown her. The water could be too hot or too cold. And of course as I am bathing her and worrying about all of these scenarios, it doesnt help that she is screaming bloody murder, making the situation all that worse. Luckily for me, Daniel has the nerves of steel and has bravely stepped up to the plate to be the bather, for now. I will get over my fear soon I am sure.

Time to catch up!

Its been six weeks since baby Madeline was born, I have been so busy adjusting to this life altering event that I have completely neglected this blog. Thats ok because I will back track and tell a bit about what has occurred in the last six weeks. So here it goes....My child birthing story or at least how I remember it.
Sunday October 18th, despite the fact that I was on doctor ordered bedrest, I was going stir crazy at home so Daniel decided to make me get off the couch and get dressed so that we could go to Micheals art supplies and I could get some things for a few projects that I wanted to do for the nursery(which I still havent done but will get around to it eventually). I had read that most women that are about to be ushered into motherhood go through a phase of "nesting" where they have a burst of energy right before going into labor and they run around the house cleaning and getting things ready for their new addition. I had been looking for my "burst", but I guess I didnt recognize it, I didnt realize it was going to come in the form of Micheals art supplies and burgers at Red Robin. Thats ok, I never was one for proper preparation anyway. After dinner, we decided it would be a night of movies and ice cream. As I waited for Daniel to return with the ice cream, I laid on the couch to get a bit of rest. The second he walked through the door, I sat up on the couch and heard the strangest little "pop" noise. I wasnt exactly certain what the sound was but for some reason I was afraid to move. Daniel came over to see what was wrong with me and I could feel a warm gush all over my thighs, I was too petrified to look down to see what it was. I guess I watch too many movies and was scared to death that it was going to be blood. Words of wisdom if you are pregnant: dont watch the movies Revolutionary Road or Benjamin Button, both have scenes where pregnant women start profusely bleeding. Anyway, Daniel reassured me it was not blood, and we knew it was time. After calling the doctor to let them know we were on our way, I got up, Daniel helped me into a change of clothes which didnt matter because in a few seconds they were wet too, I put my flip flops on and we ran out the door. Baby Maddie was on her way, 3 weeks early and completely unexpected. We hadnt even had a chance to pack a bag for the hospital stay.
It was a very crisp autumn night and my wet skirt and wet flip flops werent keeping me very warm. When we walked from the parking lot of the hospital to the ER I was struggling to keep my slippery soaking wet flip flops on my feet and I remember expecting to walk into that ER and that everyone there was going to have the sense of urgency that we had. I thought they would rush to me with a wheel chair and whisk me up to Labor and Delivery "STAT!". Much to the contrary, the women behind the desk moved at a snails pace, they barely raised an eyebrow at the fact that my water had broke and that I had a baby coming soon! I guess this was a fairly common occurance to them. I remember thinking I am about to have this baby any second and these women were more concerned with finding out if I had contacted my doctor! Forget the doctor, Lady! I am having a baby NOW! Yeah, right!
So we got up to the room, filled out all the paper work, put the silly gowns on and found out that I was 4 centimeters dialated, and 100% effaced, I couldnt believe it, we were just about halfway there. I figured I would be having that baby in a matter of a couple hours, and completely natural since I had gotten to four centimeters without pain, how much worse could it get, right? Oh how wrong I was. I had no idea it was going to take 16 hours of labor and 2 hours of hard pushing. It was both the most excrutiating and the most fantastic event of my life.
The funny thing is I had gone over this day a hundred times in my head and had planned it out to a T. Here is how I had imagined it: I was going to have a gradual labor and spend most of it at home. I had read that home was the best environment for a calm labor, being in a comfortable environment would help me with the pain. Then as the contractions got closer together, we would head to the hospital where I would have a painful, yet manageable, completely natural child birth, no drugs. I even was hopeful that I would have the baby standing up because everything I had read said that it was the optimal position to give birth. I was going to be calm and in control. I had done my research, I thought I was completely prepared. I was going to accept the fact that it was painful but that this pain was temporary and normal and that I could do it. Oh man, that birth plan flew out the window quickly.
Once my water broke, I knew that I couldnt labor at home. I thought "so what!" I can still have the natural child birth I had planned, I will just be laboring at the hospital instead. So I insisted on no medication. I am not really certain how long I labored without medication. I kept telling myself I can do it. I have huge hips built for childbirthing, I can do this. I mean come on, I arrived at the hospital at 4 centimeters, I can make it to 10. Every time the nurses checked me, there was no progress. They explained to me that my hips were shallow and that the baby was stuck. They had me laying on my side laboring, hoping to move the baby off of my hip bone. The pain was definitely getting worse and the fact that I wasnt progressing wore me down so I agreed to an IV of pain killer, I still felt the contractions but they werent as intense. I know it wasnt as planned but at least I wasnt getting the dreaded epidural. The idea of the IV painkiller was so that I could try to get some rest through the night to prepare me for the exhaustive end of the labor. The painkiller seemed to make me groggy and sleepy but I still felt the painful contractions so I really dont feel like I got that much rest, I just felt loopy for awhile. Anyway, when the painkiller wore off, I was in unbelieveable pain so the nurses checked me again to see if I had progressed, I think it was somewhere around 6 or 7am at this point. I only remember because Daniel had left to go let the dog out and I looked at the clock wondering when in the world he was going to get back. Anyway, so when the nurse checked me, I thought for certain she was going to say that I was 10 centimeters and that the baby was no longer stuck and that it was time to push. I remember thinking that Daniel was going to miss it because he was home letting that damn dog out. Unfortunely, when the nurses checked I had not progressed at all. I remember my heart sinking. At that point I was so discouraged and in pain that I didnt care what they did. I didnt care if I was going to be paralyzed by the epidural. Heck I didnt care if they gave me a C-section. I just wanted for it to be all over. The doctor told me that since I wasnt progressing that they were going to have to give me Pitocin to really get the labor going. The pain was going to escalate, so I agreed to the epidural. Unfortunately, the epidural wasnt really working and they really couldnt tell me why. I could still feel and move my legs and with each contraction I could feel the baby pressing against my sciatic nerve causing horrible pain down both of my legs. I remember being angry that I got the epidural just to have it not work. I think I felt the majority of what natural childbirth feels like, I might not have, maybe the epidural was working a bit but if it was working even a little bit,than I would have really hated to know how it would have felt without it.


After two hours of very hard pushing and many tears from everyone, baby Maddie arrived at 1:36pm Monday afternoon with Daniel, my sister and mom by my side. When they put her on my stomach, I forgot about all the pain. Daniel was amazing during the whole thing. He kept me calm and as focused as I was going to get. I watched Daniel cut the umbilical cord and I marveled at how much dark hair our baby had. I was completely expecting a bald baby! She weighed 7.1 pounds and scored quite high on her apgar. She was perfect.


Here we are minutes after the birth, with the new addition to our little family.



Dadhood seemed to come natural to Daniel, more so than me. She was so tiny I was afraid to change her diaper for fear of hurting her. Daniel on the otherhand jumped right in, I was quite impressed. he also perfected the art of swaddling which I still havent gotten.


Tiny feet tagged like an expensive purse in Nordstroms. No one was getting our little gem.


Here she is in my arms. She was so peaceful despite all the commotion that ushered her into the world.

Spinning Babies?!!

Yesterday Daniel and I went to our 36th week doctors appointment, I cant believe we our in our 9th month! Only 4 more weeks til our due date, although I am certain she is coming on Halloween. As for the doctors appointment, it didnt go as great as I thought it was going to go. I was hoping that they would say they everything is great and that I am 4 centimeters dilated and I would be giving birth in the next 2 weeks. Well instead, I am not dilated at all and my blood pressure is too high for their liking so I am now on doctor ordered bed rest. I love the idea of not working but it sure is nice to have a paycheck, I guess I should have thought twice about what I wish for. Besides my high blood pressure, I found out that the baby is in the wrong position. She is head down so I am not having a breech birth but as of right now she is posterior instead of anterior. Meaning that if she doesnt shift before birth her back will be up against my back during labor and it could cause very painful back labor. Unfortunately this doesnt sit too well with me considering the fact that I want to have an all natural, or at least no epidural, birth. Anyway, my midwife said that with certain excersises, the mother can rotate the baby into the right position. Basically if I spend enough time on my hands and knees everyday swaying back and forth like a drunken animal, my baby may get into the right position. Yeah sounds fun right? So today I tried it, not for the full 20 minutes that the midwife suggested because I was a bit worried that it didnt quite fit into the parameters of bed rest but just for a few minutes. And indeed the baby did move actually I think she moved quite a bit. My question si how do I know she moved in the right direction? Then I started to worry.What if she moved into a worse position? What if I swayed too much and spun her into a breech position? I would much rather have back labor than a baby that is breach and requires a C-section! Now I am wondering if I should try to leave it up to mother nature and see if she gets in the right position on her own...this birthing babies thing seems to be a bit more complicated than I expected:)

33 weeks!

Today, Daniel and I went to our 33 week doctors appointment. I have been worried about my blood pressure for the past few weeks, but at todays checkup, all seems to be well. My blood pressure is in the normal range and there were no signs of preeclampsia, yeah! So now we dont have to go to the doctor every week, our next appointment isnt until my 36th week of pregnancy, 3 weeks away.

We havent done much lately, for the most part I have been listening to the doctors and resting alot. Daniel has been busier than me. He finished painting the nursery, put together the crib, laid down the rug and hung the curtains and curtain rod. We still are planning to do alot more to the room but at least for now it is starting to feel like a nursery.

I was hoping to post some pics of the shower that my sister was sweet enough to throw for me but I dont have any pics yet. Hopefully I will write about that next time.

28 weeks!

I officially started my third trimester this weekend. Time is flying! I have definitely noticed differences in my pregnancy. My tummy is feeling very hard and round and the baby's activity has gone from a few thumps and bumps here and there to full on identifiable movement where it feels she is rolling over or something. I find it a bit creepy, it always brings to mind that scene in the movie Constintine when that demon was trying to get out of Rachel Weis' belly. Despite the creepiness, the movement is very reassuring that I have a healthy active baby girl in my belly.
This week I have my 7 month checkup and they will be giving me a diabetes test. I have to drink a bottle of flat orange sugary syrup before they test my blood. I am a bit nervous, I hope I dont have pregnancy induced diabetes. I am trying not worry about it.
On a better note, Daniel and I finally started painting the nursery! Well Daniel really painted the whole thing. I just stood around and offered to help. The color doesnt really look that good in these photos. The paint was still wet, and the lighting was very yellow, the green isn't as acidic as it appears in these photos. I will have to take better pictures later after we paint the trim and get some curtains on those stark windows.
Well we are finally getting the nursery done, now if we can only decide on a name. Daniel and I have made a list of about 25 names and now we are just going to have to narrow it down. I have heard alot of stories where babies names were set prior to delivery but as soon as the baby is seen and held, the name changes at the last moment. Maybe that will happen to us but I definitely want to have a name picked out going into delivery in case spontaneous name clarity doesnt come to us upon the birth of our daughter.





I

6 months!

I have survived the first 6 months of this pregnancy! Wow time flies, it seems like it was just yesterday when Daniel and I found out, now we only have 15 weeks to go. That doesnt seem very long at all. Overall the pregnancy hasnt been too bad there have been a few surprises along the way that I wasnt expecting, such as, I am surprised my face could get this fat (and I am sure fatter by the the end of all of this), I am surprised that Daniel and I could become even bigger procrastinators (we still havent worked on the nursery), and I am surprised I could become a bigger hypochondriac than I already was! The last one has been the worst, I really feel sorry for my family and especially Daniel for having to put up with me. Every little ache and pain and I swear I need to go to the ER. I am trying to relax, buts its been hard. I suppose it is just all new to me and up until now I have been relatively healthy, now all of a sudden I feel like I have to constantly look out for signs that something is wrong and I just want to make sure that I dont miss any of those signs. Anyway the pregnancy has been normal and healthy up to this point so I need to continue thinking that its going to continue that way. One very healthy signal that I am getting from the baby is all the movement that I feel now from our little girl in my belly. She takes after her parents and is a bit of a night owl. She starts getting active at around 6pm and doesnt stop until I fall asleep and I dont notice it anymore. Its funny because I am only supposed to be sleeping on my side preferably my left side. Alot of times my left hip kills me by the morning so I try to roll over onto my right side but as soon as I do, the baby starts kicking big time and doesnt stop until I roll back over onto my sore left side. Its like she cant wait until she comes out to torture me, instead she has to start now in the womb. So here are a couple of photos that Daniel took of me on the beach in the Outer Banks. We took a small road trip a couple of weekends ago. I am so huge!

Life after Pink!

When I tell women that I am having a girl, almost all of them respond at some point with "Oh you will have so much fun dressing her up". I smile and nod in agreeance but I know for a fact this may be a challenge. Everywhere I go, I usually peek in the girls section and am disappointed by all the powder pink and "too cutesy" stuff. So I have been scouring the net for some inspiration on how I am going to try to dress this little one. To my surprise I have found quite a bit of relatively affordable and absolutely adorable stuff. All the stuff above I found at the Gap. I just love the dark blues and oranges. So Cute! Target has some great stuff too, I think chocolate brown and animal/nature prints are a good way to go too. So maybe this wont be so hard after all, I already want to start buying some dresses now, although I think it is a bit early. I am also considering trying to actually sew something. They have some awesome fabrics available, check out these cute things that those crafty people on etsy.com made, if only I was that crafty:

Life after Pink?

This week Daniel and I went in for our 20 week ultrasound. We found out we are having a baby girl!!
It was a bit of a surprise for the both us, me probably more than Daniel. When I heard the news, I almost fell off the table. From the get go, I thought for sure I was having a boy, even kept calling the baby a he, we had a boys name all picked out, and I guess I have always seen myself raising boys. They seem less complicated and even a bit more rational. Girls are more sensitive and emotional and I am speaking from experience, my sister and I were both basket cases growing up. So on the drive home from the doctors, my mind was racing. I thought about every mistake I ever made in life, and every instance that molded me in a negative way and I thought how in the world am I going to raise this baby girl to prevent her from all of that. I also thought of pink frilly dresses, Barbies and Baby dolls. Yuck! Even before I was pregnant, Daniel and would go to the toy section of Target and play with all the "boys" toys and when it came to the "girl" toys we would just pass over the pink isles of creepy big eyed baby dolls staring back at us. Besides all that, I guess I have been imagining for the past 20 weeks a little Daniel running around the house rough housing with Cooper, with Daniels brown curls, blue eyes and freckles.
Now that the idea of having a girl has really sunk in, and I am over the initial shock, I am super excited. I think about all the things I can teach her, such as painting, photography, sewing, knitting, baking(all of these things i need to get better at and quick so I can teach it to her). I can see her helping me plant flowers in the yard and watering them and I can teach her all about different animals and plants and show her that worms arent scary. And we can take her camping and fishing and do all the "boy" stuff too, like Karate if she wants. And when she grows up a bit, I would love to buy her a horse like my parents did and teach her how to ride(she will have to share the horse with me of course). I realized its not about Cinderella and Bratz dolls and Coach purses and pretty little dresses, those are just marketing ploys by companies that just want to keep girls, young and old, dreaming about materialistic things. Its about the time that Daniel and I spend with her and instilling in her the things that really matter. Yes I still worry about the emotional teen years and her twenties, but I got through them and turned out just fine. Actually make that better than fine, I have never been happier in my life than right now at this moment.
Now as for wanting a little Daniel running around rough-housing with Cooper, I realized that most likely that is exactly what I am going to get, just in girl form. I pray that she has Daniel's curls and is not cursed with my straight hair (which she should because supposedly curly hair is dominant) and she should have both of our blue eyes and freckles.
So, I guess I am not going to worry about preconcieved notions of how girls should act and dress and the negativity that says that teenage girls are the worst. I am not going to worry about the future, instead Daniel and I are going to take a little bit of how I was raised, a little bit of the how he was raised and little bit of what we have learned on our own and do the best possible job we can do.
So here is our beautiful baby girl, who we just cant wait to share our lives with:

Getting a whole lot of nothing done

Well I was hoping that this next post would be all about how Daniel and I worked really hard on the nursery and we have it absolutely perfect and I then would include awesome "before and after photos", but the truth is we havent done a thing! Two weekends ago we picked out two cans of paint but thats it. Oh well, I am only 20 weeks pregnant, that leaves exactly 20 weeks to go, so we have some time. I do want to get as much done this trimester as possible because I have a feeling that when the heat of August sets in and I look like an overfilled water balloon, I am probably not going to want to do much. Anyway, in the meantime I will post a few pics from the Pungo Strawberry festival that Daniel and I attended a few weeks ago. It was a fun little local festival held in the last little bit of undeveloped countryside of Virginia Beach. I was hoping to pick a few strawberries while we were there but unfortunately the fields had been over picked by the time we got there.

Here I am standing in the middle of the strawberry patch. I was about 16 weeks pregnant but definitely looking more overweight than pregnant.

We got to park in a field that is owned by the Virginia Beach Polo Horse Farm. I made Daniel take a picture of this lovely guy. We tried all we could to make him come to the fence so we could pet him but he was too smart to fall for our tricks.

Well, its not the grey Mini Cooper that I wanted but its still cute. Our Tiguan yeah I know what a wierd name, but it sure beats driving my sister's mini-van.


And last but not least, I had to get a picture of the strawberries.

Pregnant Pause

I havent written since March, but I think I have a pretty good excuse. Its no mystery, I'm pregnant. Enormously, massively, immenesly, gigantically pregnant! Sixteen weeks and 5 days, that means 23 weeks and 2 days to go, ughh! Both Daniel and I are excited and a little nervous, ok I am alot nervous. Of course, the thought of pushing a baby out of any hole of my body completely freaks me out, but I have a feeling that if this pregnancy continues the way it is going I will be looking forward to getting this little guy or girl out of me. For me, pregnancy itself hasnt been quite what I expected. Sure I knew that you get huge and there might me a bit of throwing up now and then, but no one prepared me for this. Nausea, vomiting, heartburn, ear aches(who knew?), headaches, joint pains, sciatic nerve problems, fatigue, increased chest and head congestion...ect., ect....you name it and it can be a symptom of pregnancy. A couple of times I thought for sure I had the swine flu:) Thank goodness alot of the symptoms have decreased greatly, some have even gone away since I started my second trimester. Whew! So now I dont have to focus on my illness so much and I can focus on all the stuff we have to do before this baby comes! We have a million things to get and a million things to do. I think this weekend we might even start on the nursery. The above ultrasound was taken at our 12 week checkup, unfortunely the baby didnt cooperate at that time to let us know if it we could call it a he or she, although Daniel and I keep calling it a "he". I will be getting another ultrasound on June 26th and that one should definitely tell us. It would be nice to have a boy in the family since my side of the family is full of girls but we just want it to be healthy. And of course since I posted a pic of what the little jelly bean looks like from the inside, here is a pic of what he is making me look like on the outside. It took almost 1.5 years to lose 25 pounds and only a matter of 15 weeks to gain it all back. Oh well I guess thats my motherly duty, I can work on that later. Besides, its not all the babys fault, I would have taken any excuse to eat Ben and Jerrys on a daily basis.

Out wit the old, in with the new

I have never been so excited about a household appliance before, so I feel that our new washer and dryer deserves to be acknowledged with a blog. We didnt plan on buying a new set but when Daniel found himself with two wet loads of just washed laundry at midnight on sunday night and a dryer that decided that life wasnt worth living anymore, we had to break down and get new ones. The old ones came with the house and we knew it was only a matter of time before we had to replace them. I loved them at first, they were the first washer and dryer I had ever owned. I knew my nights sitting next to a homeless man at the laundromat fighting over a three day old newspaper were over. No more saving quarters, forgetting laundry detergent or trying to find the best dryer before the person next to you did. The washer and dryer that came with the house definitely had been around the block a few times but I loved them at first. It was so nice washing clothes in my own house on my own schedule. Unfortunately after the novelty worn off I realized how desperately we needed new ones because these barely were up to the task of cleaning clothes. So when the dryer crapped out on Daniel that night, he was cursing and I was acting upset, but inside I was ecstatic. I knew we wouldnt break down and get new ones unless we were forced to.
So here are the new ones, not only do they look great, we got them in "breakwater blue", but they clean great too! I never thought I could be so excited about an appliance before but man I love them! They sure can wash some clothes and save some water. Now I am going to keep my fingers crossed that the dishwasher decides to give up on life next.

Not Quite the Mini I had in Mind...

I have never been much of a car enthusiast, there has only been a handful of cars that have ever caught my eye. Most are older vehicles including the car love of my life, the Volkswagon Kharman Ghia (what girl didnt envy Molly Ringwald when she drove away in her pink Kharmen Ghia in Pretty in Pink). Despite my love of the european subcompact, it has always been in the cards for me to own large, inefficent, American built trucks. First it was my beloved Bronco II, a hand me down, which steadfastly took me from high school to my first apartment and college in Ohio and then back again to college in Virginia, that truck could haul some laundry, Right after graduating college, I was graced with another hand me down, my F150. Dont get me wrong, I was very much appreciative of my parent's castoffs, and I tried not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but those two trucks werent exactly the vehicles I dreamed of owning when I was 16. That one, which I remember dreaming of back whenI was standing in line at the DMV to get my first drivers license, was more like the 1966 blue convertible Thunderbird that Thelma and Louise drove off the side of that cliff out in Nevada somewhere. Now that I have grown up a bit, gas milage and practicality are a little higher on the list. So when my truck was demolished, the first and only replacement I could think of was the Mini Cooper S. Its so cute and fun to drive, not to mention it is pretty safe and reliable. So I was sold! Unfortunately, Daniel and I have to wait a bit until we purchase a new vehicle. So thank goodness my family yet again had a spare car ready and willing to be my stand in. My sister came to our rescue and loaned us her minivan. It isnt the ideal ride, but its another gift horse that I am very grateful for. A minivan, its amazing how much it fits into the sterotype of "mom" car. I feel like a mom just driving it. It doesnt help that it came equiped with a childs car seat, a bumper sticker that reads "I am a proud parent of a student at...", and a nifty fisheye mirror to keep an eye on the kids in the backseat.It was a nice gesture of my sisters but part of me wonders if she was trying to give me a hint, the only thing the minivan didnt come with was a kid. I dont know if I can handle that kind of pressure, there are alot of seats to fill in that minivan, i8 to be exact! Well, I dont have any kids to fill it just yet, but I was able to fill it with a Cooper and a Daniel. Cooper loved all the room and he just loved the children's car seat, I am sure there were a plethora of odors still in that car seat that only a dog's nose could pick up. I dont think it was quite the car that Daniel imagined himself driving but even he had to admit that it was nice to not have Cooper in our laps while we were driving, not to mention it is actually nice to go to Walmart without having to worry about the groceries sliding around the pickup bed. Not quite the Mini I had in mind but I kinda like it!

2009 is here!

Its been quite awhile since I have posted, last year to be exact, but I feel like I have a good excuse, I was in a car accident. I know, its been over a month since my accident but I am going to milk that excuse as much as I can. I cant go to work today-I was in an accident, I can't workout today-I was in an accident, I can't finish painting the kitchen trim-I was in an accident(Daniel isn't crazy about that one). As for me I am doing ok, my back is still giving me some aches so I am in physical therapy twice a week. I feel so wierd in physical therapy, I am not really into people watching my every move as I do excersises. Years ago I took an aerobics class and I always made sure that I was way in the back so no one could see that I have three left feet. Now its me doing excersises that seem to be more suitable for a retirement home, while someone is staring at me, encouraging me. "Can you lift this 2 pound weight over your head, good! Now not too high, you dont want to over exert yourself,good"- a 2 pound weight! I feel so silly! It also doesnt help that so far everytime I go, I am the only person under the age of 70. I am going to stick it out, it seems to be helping. Aside from feeling awkward in physical therapy, I also have turned into a terrible driver since my accident. Slow and apprehesive, its like I am 100 years old. Hopefully I will be driving like usual again soon, although I think it is going to take along time to get over my fear of intersections. What scares me the most is no matter how well I drive it wont make a difference. So many people are out there so preoccupied with something else that they arent paying attention to driving. The woman that hit me had no excuse, the weather was good, it was sunny, my light was green, she saw me coming, her excuse was that she was thinking about the deal she got at JCPenney, thats what she said to me! I was going 55 mph, when she hit me and spun my truck towards oncoming traffic, I could have been killed because some women was thinking about shopping! Freaky! Anyway, to say the least it was definitely an eye opening experience. One that makes you think about whats important in life and how precious it is.
Well, thank goodness I survived the accident, my truck on the other hand, didnt fair as well. After the insurance looked at it they decided it was a total lose. Its really a shame because it was a nice truck and I was quite attached to it. Yeah I talked shit about it all the time, like how crappy its gas milage was and how it was completely impractical but overall it served me well. So after the insurance totaled it, we had to go and get all of my stuff out of it, and I had a hard time saying goodbye. Here is a picture of me sitting in my truck for the very last time. I was very sad.

Unfortunately, the accident pretty much ruined Daniel and I's Christmas and New Years, but I did manage to get an adorable pic of Cooper donning his best Christmas bow: