rose maureen

so i've been on a bit of a hiatus, and it's because we had a baby!

little (well, not so little) rose maureen was born one day late at 10:07 a.m. on wednesday, october 27th.  she weighed 8 lbs 9 oz, and was 21 inches long. 

i had been desperately hoping she'd be born early, since this pregnancy, in a word, sucked.  and 5 weeks before my due date, i started dilating, so i had hope.  with oliver, i didn't progress one bit before i went into labor, and was in labor for 44 hours as i was hardly progressing during his labor, and he was born a week early.  so i was feeling confident that little rosie would be born early too.  i think she might be stubborn.

on monday, october 25th, i was dilated to about 2.5 cm.  that was the most uncomfortable exam ever, and i had persistent cramping all night.  by tuesday afternoon, the cramping had let up some, only occurring occasionally.  but by dinnertime on tuesday, the cramping was happening every 20 minutes or so, and i began to suspect that i may be in labor.  after oliver went to bed, we started timing.

 
by 10 p.m., i was having contractions every 5 - 7 minutes, so i called my doctor, who said it was fine to labor at home as long as i was comfortable.  we called my mom, who came over to spend the night with oliver and watch him the next day.  around midnight, the contractions were coming about 4 minutes apart.  they weren't screaming painful yet, but with them coming that close, we figured we'd better get to the hospital.

we arrived and they hooked me up to the monitors and checked me shortly thereafter.  i was excited, thinking surely as i had been dilating for weeks now and was in actual labor, i'd be dilating like crazy now!  not so.  i was still at 2.5 cm.  my ob instructed the nurses to keep me for 2 hours and check me again.

over the next 2 hours, my contractions strengthened in intensity quite a bit.  however, when they checked me again, i was still at 2.5 cm.  at this point, i started crying, because i was in quite a bit of pain and was very afraid they were going to send me home. i had flashbacks to laboring FOR. EV. ER. with oliver and didn't want to do that again.  however, they decided to keep me based on the level of discomfort i was in.

they got me checked in and put on an epidural almost immediately.  since i had had to wait for several hours before they had given me one with oliver, i was very happy.  this epidural experience was quite different, however.  with oliver, i was completely dead from the waist down.  i had expected a "my foot is asleep" type of feeling, but i was completely numb.  couldn't, couldn't feel a thing.  with rose, however, it was more like my legs were asleep.  i couldn't feel the pain of the contractions, but i could move my legs, and sense them slightly.  i could also, however, feel every inch of my catheter.  i honestly don't know which was worse.  i had been hoping to get some sleep once the epidural was in, but with the catheter driving me insane between contractions, there was no sleep to be had.

as i was still not dilating (WHAT THE HECK, BODY?!), they began giving me pitocin.  with the first pitocin induced contraction, the epidural stopped working entirely on the left side of my body.  it was around the same time it became clear that i was having back labor, which it turns out is the most painful thing in the entire world, i think.  i think i spent most contractions sobbing and the time in between feeling like i was going to pass out.  the anesthesiologist gave me another dose of the epi, which did nothing.  it was shortly thereafter that i also began puking.  and i still wasn't dilating.  in addition to thinking, "i will never do this again" and "why did i want to do this again" i also began wondering how i was going to do it now.  obviously i had no choice, but there was no way i could labor in this much pain (and more once my water broke) if i wasn't dilating.  there was no end in sight.

enter my savior.  the day anesthesiologist came on to his shift, and he suggested either another dose of the epi (and wait an hour) or removing my current epi and putting in a new one.  i took the latter option.  his method of inserting the epi was gentle, and he in general was just amazing.  and it worked!  the new epi took effect on both sides, AND i could no longer feel my catheter. best of both worlds.

after the 2nd epidural

my doctor then came in, and i had dilated to 5 cm.  finally some progress!  she decided to break my water and get the show on the road.  i dilated very quickly after that, and was ready to push by 9:30 a.m.  pushing was a very different experience than with oliver as well: since the epi was less numbing, while i couldn't feel the pain of the contractions, i could feel the baby when i pushed.  it made pushing both easier (since i could feel where she was) and harder (it felt like it took more effort).  but it was definitely an amazing experience, and i'm so glad i was able to feel everything.

as rosie was head up (explaining the back labor), it took a bit of pushing to get her out, but less than an hour later she was born.  with that first cry, i started bawling, both emotionally and physically spent.  at that moment, i felt our family was complete.  i got to hold her right away, and i thought she looked so much like oliver when he was born, though bryan disagreed.

oliver adores his new little sister.  when my mom brought him to the hospital to visit, it wasn't me he was interested in seeing.  he came in the room looking right for his little sister, wanting to give her kisses and talk to her.  when my dad came in, oliver said, "do you want to see my baby?"  he wants to hold her, kiss her, sing to her all the time.  i think he gets a little jealous when i have to feed her, but overall he couldn't love her more.

 

rosie is a good baby.  she sleeps pretty well, she eats well, and is generally a sweetheart.  let's hope that continues!

 

more pictures here and here and here.

oliver turns 3 (almost)

we had oliver's birthday party this past weekend. since the baby is due close to his actual birthday, we decided to aim early so that he could still have the celebration he was planning on (and he was in fact planning on a celebration - his words).

we invited mom, dad, shannon, gram & gramps, aunt mo & family, and uncle larry & aunt debbie over for brunch. we did make-your-own breakfast burritos - eggs, pinto beans, cheese (cheddar and pepper jack), arugula, cilantro, onions, tomatoes, roasted yellow peppers, pico de gallo, tomatillo salsa, sour cream. i had also made a spicy sweet potato chili, but with all the good fixins for the burritos, no one had much room for chili.

 oliver had requested a white cake with white candles and chocolate ice cream, so i had a pretty easy order to fill there.  i made a basic yellow butter cake (because cake with extra butter is way better than a plain white cake), and fluffy vanilla frosting.  this is my new favorite frosting recipe, because it actually worked.  (my history with making frostings isn't a good one.)  we found a spiderman / green goblin action figure pack at target for the cake toppers.


i think i hit the mark.

he was able to blow out the candles all on his own.  is it strange that this impressed me?  i consider him a "big boy" and yet i am always surprised by the things he can do.

after cake and ice cream came presents, which is always exciting.  he scored some pretty awesome stuff and barely knew what to play with first.  lucky kid!

with all the excitement, we weren't too hopeful that he would take a nap, but he conked out in seconds without so much as a peep.  which was good, because we had evening activities planned as well.

bryan's company had organized an outing to Apple Holler.  we drove down a little early so we could check out all the kids' stuff.  oliver had a blast, but i'm not sure i'd ever go again - what a racket.  $5/person to get into the kids' area (playsets, mazes, animals, etc.), and then any rides and games cost extra (we skipped those).  they do have a real apple orchard, but at $15/person to go picking, we did not partake in that activity.  we did venture into the pumpkin patch, where oliver had a BLAST running bryan ragged in order to find the perfect pumpkin.  so while oliver loved it, it's just not our kind of place - too touristy, packed FULL of people (i'm not a fan of people), and i'm not convinced they make anything on site.  there's a "country store" (which bryan confirmed just contains a bunch of crap), and their cider donuts come in boxes labeled "Pre-Fried Frozen Donuts - Ready To Eat."  we know actual farmers and can visit actual farms, so this was totally not our style.  but, it was still worth the $16 we spent ($10 to get in + $6 for the pumpkin) to watch oliver run around.

the one part that got me was watching oliver run around the giant "big kids" sized playground.  he was running around, climbing, and flying down the slides right alongside the older kids.  he didn't need my help, and i didn't feel the need to stand right behind him and make sure he wasn't going to fall (though that will never stop me from telling him to be careful!).  it really dawned on me that he is a kid, and not really a toddler anymore.  when did that happen?  it's crazy.  i can't believe he is turning 3 and becoming so much less dependent... bittersweet for sure.

 the pumpkin patch was a blast.  not sure if it's the actual field where they grow the pumpkins (didn't look like it), but there was a pretty big area where already cut pumpkins were spread out.  bryan chased oliver all over, as oliver felt it necessary to run through every stand, small and little, of timothy grass in search of the perfect pumpkin.  the weather could not have been more beautiful for it.  and while this was what i would consider a fake farm, the scenery was gorgeous nonetheless.

 after nearly 2 hours of this running around, we met up with the other IBM'ers for the hay ride to our bonfire.  it was a small group, and everyone had kids in the same range (ages 2 - 5).  the hayride (which didn't actually have any hay) was right at sunset, which made for a very lovely ride.

our hay ride ended at the back of the property, a wooded area with lots of bonfire spaces.  our fire was already going, which the kids thought was pretty cool.  our organizer brought out the food, and everyone proceeded to roast hot dogs over the fire.  oliver knew that there were marshmallows for dessert, but as i had told him he had to eat dinner before he could have any, he was more than ready to eat.  that, and all the running around, i think, made him pretty hungry - he ate 2 hot dogs!

once we had eaten, he kept reminding me that he ate TWO hot dogs, and could he please have his smarshmallow now?  i told him to wait until everyone was done eating, and asked him to sing me campfire songs in the meantime.  he told me, "i will sing campfire songs after i have my smarshmallow."  the little bugger is catching on.

once it got dark, they lit a bit stack of pallets on fire to create a very large bonfire.  all the kids (and let's face it, the men) thought that was pretty darn wicked.

we got a hay ride back to the gate, and were on our way shortly before 9.  i made a smart parenting move and brought pjs to change oliver into for the drive home (hey, sometimes i think i'm actually catching on to this mom thing!), and sure enough, he fell right asleep in the car.  another sign he's turning into a kid.  with all his terrible sleeping as a baby and even a toddler, i never thought we'd be planning activities past bed time, and relying on him to fall asleep in the car - and it actually happening.  and yet here we are!  (not that i'm willing to make a habit out of it, because i'm not so stupid as to tempt fate regularly!)

all in all, a pretty awesome birthday for the boy.

more pictures in the gallery.

2 years and counting

oliver turned 2 on october 31st (yes, i know that was nearly a month ago; i'm a horrid mom, k?!). hard to believe he is 2 already!

we started off the day with chocolate chip pancakes and presents. he finally got a boots to go with his dora, a mailbox (just ask him to wail about mail), a robot, paint with water, and his very own dora toothbrush with toothpaste (very exciting).

after all that, we geared up and headed to the zoo for trick or treat. i had made oliver his costume - a robot! i used a box, cut out the bottom as well as holes for his head and arms, covered in silver fabric, some old computer parts, and fun things ollie and i found at home depot (including a switch on the back!). it was so cute!! i was worried he wouldn't want to wear it, but he loved it. he was chilly so i bundled him up in long underwear and a fleece sweatsuit, a knit hat (which i had attached an antenna to), and gloves, and he was perfectly fine. everyone at the zoo loved his costume. too bad we didn't do the costume contest, because i'm pretty confident he would have won by a mile. we only saw one other homemade costume there, and ours was definitely the best regardless. it was his first trick or treat experience, and it took him longer to catch on to the candy part than i thought it would (probably a good thing).

after lunch, shannon and i took him to a few houses in the neighborhood, more so that the folks we know could see him in his costume. it was then he started to catch on to the candy thing. he helped hand out candy once we got home, and was very good at it, except he thought he deserved a piece every time he gave some out.




mom, dad, and shannon came over for birthday dinner and cake. we had tacos, one of oliver's favorites, and peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting and dirt (crumbled chocolate fudge cookies) and (gummi) worms. he got to open some more presents and play. all in all, i think he had a pretty awesome day.



more pictures from the day in the gallery.

my 2 year old is a wonder and a challenge. it is amazing to watch him learn, and grow. he is truly a little person now. his unique and charming personality in still firmly in place, and he now has the ability to communicate with more words. he's speaking in sentences, something i love and am still getting used to. he's incredibly silly. he's a pretty typical 2 year old - throwing tantrums and testing his limits. but he's incredibly intelligent (of course!), sweet, and fun. he brings joy to our every day.

i love you super oliver!

another 15 feet of pure white snow

life has been pretty crazy lately. my new project at work has started to go full swing (well, not really, but it is still taking up all my time), plus my previous project isn't complete, and there's normal day to day stuff as well. we always seem to fill up our weekends with running here and there. all in all it's been good, just very busy.

i've been wondering lately if life would be easier if i wasn't so smart. i don't mean that in a conceited way; sometimes it would just be easier, i think, to have blind faith and trust in things without needing to learn the truth for myself, and that it may be easier to toil away in mediocrity rather than feel the need to excel at everything. my job would be so very much easier if i didn't try to be better at it. couldn't i just stay mid level forever? that's not me, though. i as myself could not be happy doing that. sometimes i just wonder if life isn't easier that way, though. i think i've just been feeling drained lately, which i blame partially on the weather making my drives home from work very, very long.

enough of the heavy stuff! i'll get right to everything else, since we have a lot to catch up on. i'll try not to bore you with the last month's worth of stuff.

way back on sunday november 23rd, we had mom and dad over for pork souvlaki. bryan marinated the pork in a red wine marinade for 24 hours, imbuing it with the most wonderful flavor. we served that with tzatziki (of course), beans, warm fluffy pita bread, and squash fries. oh and red wine. the pork just begged for it.

tuesday november 25th, we had large, bone in pork chops, grilled on the cast iron grill pan. we made celery root and squash gratin with walnut-thyme streusel, because it is so easy and delicious, and homemade macaroni and cheese, for the same reason.

the following night, we had a lovely beef roast with some kind of sauce (i don't recall what kind), which bryan topped with one of my favorites - fried leeks. roasted potatoes and peas rounded out the meal. the fried leeks were a hit with oliver as well.

that thursday was thanksgiving. shannon spent most of the afternoon over at our house cooking with bryan. she brought oliver a birthday gift - a fisher price phone. phones are his favorite thing, so he was pretty pleased.

bryan and shannon did a great job with the food, as to be expected. everyone had a great time. it was nice to see shannon, katie, and kevin, and for oliver to get to play with them. they were shocked at how big he'd gotten just since august. kevin brought his sister, corrine, and it was really nice to extend the family and have her there.


shannon made a classic waldorf salad, which was one of my favorite dishes of the meal. she served it on whole romaine leaves. (the lettuce looks a little wilted, because my camera sucks, but i assure you it was not.)

bryan made brussel sprouts with plenty of bacon. oliver gobbled up the bacon!


instead of a standard stuffing, bryan made a mushroom bread pudding, which i thought was WAY better than stuffing.


bryan made corn budin, a must at our thanksgiving meals regardless of the rest of the menu.


we also had a green bean casserole of sorts, with fresh green beans, a wine sauce instead of a cream sauce, and plenty of fried red onions (which mom and i taste tested many times, just to be sure).


dad carved our salted roast turkey with herbs, which was incredibly moist and flavorful. bryan made a shallot-dijon gravy for it, which was a little sweet for my tastes, but a big hit with everyone else.


we also had cranberries with port, but of course.




mom made her delicious yeast rolls (both white and whole wheat), shannon made mashed potatoes, and aunt debbie brought a cheesy potato dish. aunt debbie also brought a few pies, my cousin andy and his wife marissa brought an scrumptious apple cake with cream cheese frosting, shannon made a pecan pie, and i made my apple and fennel pie. we had plenty of dessert. everyone left stuffed.



the next day, we made use of some of our leftovers, and served brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes with a pork roast. pork roasts are an ultimate comfort food to me: i remember my gram making them when we'd come over for dinner.

that weekend, we realized that we needed to get a move on making corned beef if we were going to have it for new year's day dinner. mom took us to sam's club so we could pick up a brisket, and i made my brine. it has been resting comfortably in the basement fridge since then, getting most delicious. we'll have that with greens and black eyed peas on new year's day.

tuesday december 2nd, we again hit up the leftovers, and had the green beans and mashed potatoes along with a bacon mushroom swiss meatloaf (based on this recipe, with a few changes). we all love meatloaf (it's one of oliver's favorites), so this was a great dinner.

saturday december 6th, i made a pork loin in a normandy style, with a brandy cream sauce with apples. some potatoes and sauteed cabbage completed the meal.

that weekend, i put up our christmas decorations. we decided this year to forego the full size tree, since oliver would be far too interested in it, and it seems he is a climber. bryan has been wanting a silver christmas tree for a very long time, so we found a miniature one at target, replete with fiber optic lights (which thrilled him, as you can imagine). oliver has been fascinated with both the tree and the stockings. i can't wait for christmas morning with him!

the following friday, the 12th, was my birthday. oliver bought me a purple coach cashmere scarf (he has great taste). i went to work, though bryan took the day off. for dinner, he made me salmon cakes with a dill shallot white wine cream sauce (my new favorite sauce), artichokes with a balsamic reduction, homemade potato chips, and a caesar salad. he even made me red velvet cake for dessert, and the man does not bake. everything was delicious.

that monday, we had veal and spinach patties for dinner. we used a recipe from marcella says, and served it with cauliflower and buttered noodles (with parmesan). very good, and very easy. oliver was pretty happy with the veal. who doesn't love a tasty baby cow?

the next day, as part of my continuing effort to use the crock pot a lot this winter, i made a bbq chicken with cornbread topping dish. i picked up a bottle of speed queen bbq sauce, which turned out to be a little spicy. however, it was so delicious oliver had stuffed nearly all of his dinner down his gullet before he realized it.


last wednesday, we had one of our favorites - leonora's chicken tostadas. fried corn tortilla, sour cream, avocado, shredded roast chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and pickled red onions. deeply satisfying. another food memory, this one from mexico.

friday for dinner, we had cod with braised kale and potatoes. bryan has never liked kale (a holdover from it being simply a garnish in the food industry), but he liked this.

saturday, we went to the milwaukee public museum. mom gave me a family membership for christmas. they have a live butterfly exhibit right now. oliver was very entranced by all the live butterflies! he was so excited we couldn't get him to move. he stood in one place staring. every once in awhile he would smile at us, point at the butterflies, and yell excitedly. we ended up having to carry him around. we had a lot of fun exploring the museum; oliver was pretty excited by all the stuffed animals. some additional pictures:








that night for dinner, i made my new favorite lasagna recipe - winter greens lasagne. this was insanely delicious. i used lacinto kale and swiss chard, and added some mozzarella to the layers, because i like cheese. that along with garlic bread was enough to fill us up. i wasn't sure how oliver would like the greens, but he had no problems scarfing them down.

today i worked from home. bryan is off today, and adrianne is hanging out with us as well. bryan made beef & butternut squash stew with rosemary and balsamic vinegar for lunch, which was absolutely delicious. i'm not a huge fan of butternut squash, but i think the balsamic tempered the squashiness of it. tonight for dinner, we'll be making our traditional christmas eve dinner: shrimp and grits. pretty excited for that. i have a lovely bottle of wine from portland, or to try with it.
we have been getting a LOT of snow. the last count i heard was 36" so far this month, and it snowed more yesterday and it currently dumping on us as i type. I AM SO SICK OF SNOW. hannah wanted to have a white christmas while she is here, and she will definitely get it. we took oliver out into the snow, and he wasn't too sure what to do with it. he looked pretty cute all bundled up in snow pants and his boots, though. hannah is dying to make a snow man, so assuming the weather stays relatively warm (it's up to 30 today, which positively balmy compared to the -30 it was here on saturday), we'll be able to take oliver out as well. that should make for some very cute pictures. my only fear is that the snow in front of the house is actually too deep to build a snowman in - it comes up to the bottom of the bay window (3, 3 1/2 feet?).

oliver can sum up how i am feeling about the snow:

we have been getting more and more presents in the mail (mostly for oliver). we got him a BUNCH of stuff, and i know my family has as well (my dad went to target today to get him MORE, just because he couldn't resist). he hasn't shown much interest in the gifts yet (save for one really cool bow, which i moved). tomorrow morning will be very interesting. christmas is my favorite holiday. we bought him a large stuffed blue (from blues clues), which he is surely going to pee his pants over. we'll be sure to catch his reaction upon seeing that one. i got bryan some neat stuff, including a subscription to martha stewart living magazine (his "other" woman), which showed up yesterday, much to his glee. we'll be hanging out inside most of the day, trying to stay out of the snow, then we'll head over to mom and dad's house for an early christmas dinner and gifts with the family.

hannah shows up friday. we are all SO EXCITED! it's going to be great having her around. she can't wait to play in all the snow, and to see oliver. we don't have many plans, so we'll try to keep it low key, but i'm sure we'll find things to do to fill the time (i'm sure she'll love the live butterfly exhibit as well!).

sunday is the christmas party for my mom's whole family, which is always a lot of fun. hannah usually misses this, but it's a week earlier this year, so she'll be here, and she is thrilled.

oliver has been doing pretty good. his walking has turned into kamikaze style running, and he has definitely been learning new words. he understands more than he can say, which is still pretty cool. he's what they call "spirited". he's definitely clever, mischievous, and loving. i thought we had another year before we hit the sassy toddler years, but apparently not. he's a handful but oh man, is he a blast. he is quite the goofy character, and can be such a sweet little doll when he wants to.

well, if you made it through all that, there's a prize waiting for you somewhere. i'm off work all next week so i'll have to be sure to get off my lazy butt and post pictures from christmas/hannah.

i'll leave you with some random cute oliver pictures:

















(he did actually try to put all the bags back in the box and the box back in the cabinet when he was done... hmm, i wonder where he gets his ocd from??)


good lord, he is a cute baby, even with that silly cheesy grin.

additional pictures in the november 2008 and december 2008 galleries.

merry christmas everyone!