Day to Day Schedule at Just under 3 Weeks

So having a child has been a huge adjustment.  Our darling 6 pound child rules our lives and is simultaneously wrecking whatever normal routine we may have had.

A normal day without any med appts goes about like this.

Wake up around 11:00 am (sometimes 1:00 pm) for the day

Crash around 4:00 or 5:00 pm for a nap after eating

Wake up around 7:00 or 8:00 pm

Crash around 10:00 or 11:00 pm

Wake up around 1:00 or 2:00 am

Wake up around 4:00 or 5:00 am

Wake up around 7:00 or 8:00 am

>Repeat<

The nurses told me that she can go one 6 hour period without eating, since we have left the hospital that has yet to happen, even with tummy time tricks and double swaddling. I'm really really looking forward to that delightful day when it comes to fruition.

Morning appointments are the bane of my existence. Insane July heat keeps us tucked inside.

I'm convinced more delivery places need to stay open till midnight. Past midnight would be good too.

Grocery shopping has never been so hard.

Typing complete sentences has never been so hard.

I'm tired of telling people how tired I am all the time.  I may be recovering well, but I still feel like I got run over by a truck.

Dixie is starting to be more awake (albeit still at night) and reaching out to us.  We survived the billi bed  -aka the tron bed, light treatment and love snuggling and cuddling her so much.

She's a doll and we love just staring at her and are just so entranced by her.

We love our Dixie Bug and can't believe she's 3 weeks tomorrow. I was a very proud momma when they said she'd gained 4 ounces since we'd left the hospital :).

Ryan's been above and beyond incredible. I'm so so grateful we're a team.  I don't know how I could do this without him.

So many people have come to our aid with making us dinner, getting groceries and other tasks for us.
I'm really truly grateful.

Read more...

Dixie's Birth

*I didn't hold back while writing this, blame my pain meds (they are actually pretty wimpy) or just that  this is unfiltered, down to earth Angie.


Ahem


Baby Dixie Ann Meeks was born June 23 at 3:41 in the morning. 6 lbs 2.9 oz 20 in. long. We are so excited to be her parents! Mom and baby are doing well.


Thats what we sent as a text and as a fb post announcing welcoming Dixie bug into our lives.  She's amazing!


Most of you know I was barely 38 weeks and planning on another 2 weeks, my child definitely had other plans.  


I got home from work Friday and went swimming for a few hours.  It was lovely. Got out of the pool, ate dinner, dried off from the pool and was totally relaxed.  Ryan took Link and Odin out and while he was doing so I moved slightly and realized I was totally wet.  I couldn't figure out if I hadn't fully dried from the pool or had an accident, or even if my water had broken.  It was a very confusing moment for me. That was around 7:30 pm.


I went to the bathroom and was held hostage until Ryan came back in.  


He got my phone and my papers and I called my midwife clinic. He packed my bag and we went up to the hospital.  I was in denial the entire time.  I really couldn't believe that I was having a baby.  It finally started to dawn on me when I was getting the epidural around 9:30 pm. 


He tells a much more entertaining version (which is the truth) but I figure I can save some face here on the blog. He started calling people and I think I told him not to because we weren't sure we were having the baby.  (see total denial) But I think its how I kept myself calm, because otherwise I had no idea what to expect.


The midwifes at the hospital talked to me and we figured it would probably be another 10 to 20 hours, but they'd check me around 2 am.


I woke up with intense pain around 1:10 am and the epidural wasn't relieving me of the pressure pain.   Nausea flooded me. And after calling the nurse around 1:30 am they saw that I was dilated to about a 6 or 7 cm.  They called the midwifes on call who got there around 2 and they saw that I was dilated to 9 1/2 cm.  I told them my body felt like pushing and they coached me through.  3:41 am and my baby girl was born.


The experience was harder than I'd ever imagined, but Dixie is totally worth it.  My midwife's were beyond amazing and the staff at the hospital were incredible.  I couldn't have done this without Ryan or them!


*Special Note: I'd always worried about what words would fly out of my mouth while I was delivering and I was surprised that my body, mind and mouth responded with guttural nonsensical grunts and moans.  I'd always thought I'd be swearing like a sailor.  Dixie is also a little grunter and likes to make all manner of sounds.  When she cries its high pitched 'like a mandrake' to quote a friend.  

Read more...

38 Weeks

So I'm 38 weeks.  I felt more pregnant at 35 weeks. She can come any time, which is beyond crazy.  But we are totally ready.  We have everything we need for the first few weeks.  I'm grateful to family and friends who have 'showered' us with gifts, love and support.

Maybe the next post will include pictures?

Read more...

It's been a while.  I'm in the last month and super excited for Baby girl.  There is no tired like pregnant tired. Seriously, I hope I'm a good mom to her.

Something happened today, someone who changed my life died.  He was an amazing man who challenged the norm in ways of thinking about sci fi.

I am of course talking about Ray Bradbury.  He introduced me to abstract stories and ideas regarding the future and horrified me at times.  He was a phenomenal story teller who inspired millions.

Writing is powerful that way, the text takes on power outside of the author's domain.  So while the world says goodbye, his books beckon and welcome people to know him.  Books are kindof incredible that way.

Read more...

29 Weeks and Counting

I'm 29 weeks along, 30 this upcoming Friday and there have been a lot of things that have happened in the last 29 weeks.  It's hard to believe that the 10 week countdown is just days away.

in the last 29 weeks I've discovered:

• Going through your closet full of clothes finding clothes that fit when your weight changes so frequently is a huge pain.
• No holiday has smells so strongly associated with it as Christmas
• My work is the best
• Chocolate whole milk is the nectar of the Gods
• Odin is trying to smother my child before she is born
• Body pillows and memory foam beds are truly the best inventions ever
• Too much Gingerale in a two week period can make one very, very ill
• Too many gingersnaps in a two week period can make one very, very ill
• Round ligament pain is not something to shrug your shoulders at
• My hair is growing thicker and faster than ever before (and it already grew super fast)
• Vanilla yogurt is one of my comfort foods, as is pineapple?
• Ryan is super super patient with me
• He is going to be an amazing dad
• My doctor is the best
• Nothing will get you doing "someday" projects like having a child.
• Sometimes you just have to let go of the reins, and step down from committees and boards in order to preserve sanity
• Hell hath no fury like a hot pregnant woman
• My balance is totally gone
• Nothing ruins food more than heartburn
• Contractions are so named because they contract, who'da thunk?

We got our crib this weekend, so I'm caving and starting to really get baby stuff now.  There's so much I have no clue about but its happening in just a little over 2 months.  I'm so excited.  Ryan read a book to her and it melted my heart.

He has a huge concert on May 12 at In The Venue, tickets are $8.00 from band members or $10.00 the day of the show.  I'm planning on going at this point armed with earplugs. Ryan is just excited to play on the same stage that we saw Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame.   

Last night I went to a stampin' up card party.  It was fun the demonstrator let us change things up if we wanted to and encouraged us to make the projects ours.  It was a very different experience than the last card party I went to 3 years ago.  I still remember the appalled look of the demonstrator and other attendees when I changed my project up a little bit.  But seriously whats the point of crafting if all we do is copy someone elses work? Where's the authorship in that?

Point being, companies evolve or change, just like people (Corporations are People, lol :) ).  If they don't change they will lose out on new audiences.  I didn't feel like stampin' up was all about matchy matchy-ness anymore, and I'm glad. I felt like it was about what crafting is supposed to be about, empowerment and freedom.  You should check out her blog, she's a new breed of a demonstrator methinks.

Pregnesia is taking a serious toll.  I tried to use a Big Shot and I looked pretty pathetic.  I haven't used my cuttlebug in months, the cricut I've used a lot more recently and of course my beloved Martha Stewart Scoring Tool!  I'm wondering how much of a learning curve I'm going to encounter when I pull them out again.  

Read more...

Book Reviews

So I've been quiet on the book front for a really long time, mostly because I alienated myself and a lot of friendships with my utter abhorence of Twilight.  But the thing was, I was a twihard until the movie came out and pointed out all the flaws my mind had protected me from in the book. Here is the thing, I'm opinionated, and I don't have to agree with you and you most certainly don't have to agree with me. 

I miss/crave classes where we critique our readings, your interpretations, the professors interpretation, etc.  That was always euphoric for me because not everyone reads them the same way.  I love when people point out things I've missed and I love returning the favor.

And I've waited a long long time to review any popular books because of the original alienation from the Twilight books.  Some of those friendships were utterly severed because of a book...  Seem silly to you? It does to me, but I get that some people don't like associating with people with different opinions and beliefs.

I relish in associating with people with different opinions and beliefs, otherwise life gets boring. Seriously.

Enter the rise of Dystopian Young Adult literature.  Now this is a bandwagon I can support and have been apart since I was myself a young adult.  Coming of age novels with the cajones to show real conflict in a setting that is both familiar and totally alien (the gateway to sci/fi and fantasy). My entire life this is the area of literature I comfortably gravitate to.

And enter Katniss Everdeen, in stark contrast to Bella Swan.  One has grit and obvious reasons for being angry whereas the other is a teen who doesn't have it bad.  She was never raped, never really emotionally vulnerable and she comes off as angsty and depressed for the only reason being that she is a teenager. 

>Yawn<

I know, I know, how can I write off her lack of character and strength so easily (clearly its made millions).  Well its because, its not much of a coming of age novel, it didn't reward me with feeling that I had bettered my understanding of humanity by reading it or even challenged my notion of what growing up is. All it did was make me choose a side between two boys who both have serious problems.

So with the movie out its long past due, the comparisson of Twilight to The Hunger Games

Growing up is painful and people don't always rescue you.  The Hunger Games was a beautiful read on what humanity is.  I felt, for myself, that the Hunger Games has a strong anti heroine and that was someone I would rather relate to than someone who is always rescued by her hero's.  Girls can be just as strong as boys, even stronger, and the rise of literature with strong female characters is heartening in juxtaposition to the vapid girl who has low self worth.

Katniss pwns Bella.

and you can disagree and I welcome it, just know if you start a conversation with me on it I will full heartedly (joyfully) participate.

*While I'm throwing out grenades here is one more item that irks me to no end.

Jane Austen would absolutely HATE the Kiera Knightley "Pride and Prejudice" because it is shot in a more macabre and gothic style. Yes the cinematography is beautiful, but you see thats what puts it in the above category.  Read Northanger Abbey (my favorite Austen novel) and you will totally see just how much disdain she had for the gothic.

Read more...

Valentine's Day Pinterest Censorship

So first and foremost, Happy Valentine's day to you. 

Now, on to the matter at hand.  *Disclaimer, I'm pregnant and highly hormonal, but screw that screw with any of my bill of rights and I will kick you upside the head.

I got an e-maill from pinterest (whom the masses are pissed about making money off of their pins) letting me know that my pin was reported to their terms of service.

This was the e-mail I received:

We had to remove your pin "It's true, I do love you" from your board "Snarky" because it was not allowed according to our Terms of Service. We don't like the idea of censoring content, but until we have a better filtering system, we expect all users to adhere to our "no nudity" policy:

Photographic images that contain full-frontal nudity or fully exposed breasts/buttocks are not allowed on Pinterest. This does not apply to illustrations, paintings, or sculptures.
So you have it, the original source of the removed image was:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR1lRFSQxpHR1s7KiyYo5NBHm00gi1j5b1b6yJGQEgWrkOl_G78UWX9Qb5jfL5S6B3BtQ-ViyhzwTkTf06Tb4PY5cKHX0ZT6fMC3t09ClGQx7FZHjiRYozru0kKY7cfKZWQ-7GLi5D4-U/s1600/hooker.jpg
Could you please delete any additional pins containing this sort of content and refrain from pinning or repinning similar pins in the future?
Please feel free to get in touch should you have any questions. Thanks as always for supporting Pinterest.
Ben & the Pinterest Team

You know what I did? I reposted it 5 times in various different places because as far as I can see my pin was not inappropriate. And of course made some noise on FB

What do you think? and What do you do when you feel censored?

For the record, whoever reported that as inappropriate is a derp and I do love Ryan like a back alley hooker loves crack. And if you think that is inappropriate what could be more inappropriate than a overload of cuteness, frosting and sprinkles? This holiday (or Pinterest) needs some more personality.

And for that I won't apologize, I'll just continue to repost the thing in question and gripe about it to the internets.

Read more...