AVON

I will admit having a baby causes you to get a bit out of touch with pretty much everything around you. LOL Sophia is growing up so fast and getting so big already. Staying at home with Sophia so far has been a blessing, but with all good things, they must come to an end. I started back to work from my maternity leave last Monday....sigh! I miss her terribly during the day but praise God that Dan wants to be a stay at home Dad. Not that Motherhood doesn't keep me busy enough as it is, I have rejoined the AVON company as an independent sales rep. A lot has changed with them since I rep-ed for them in the late 90's. I even have my own website www.YourAVON.com/PamelaLeBlanc. Take a minute to check it out. I just launched it. If you happen to be interested in any of the products feel free to order direct from the website ( I can tell you it is a lot faster than what I can do right now face to face with a 2 and 1/2 month old ha, ha). If you know anyone who would be interested in AVON products if you would be so kind to point them in the direction of my website, it would be appreciated. And for all of you who like tangible things (like myself) if you would like a paper copy of the catalogs, just let me know and I will mail them to you. Feel free to contact me via my website, by cell 818-399-0185 or through my AVON email address: AVNchick@yahoo.com.

Dr.'s & More Tests

I went to the Dr. last week and had a full female check up and an ultrasound down on my belly. I wanted to check to see how I was healing from the c-section since I still hurt on my left side and to check to see where we stood with those cancerous cells from before the pregnancy. Fast forward a week and I got the test results back...... all negative! Praise God!!! No cancerous cells, no biopsies to be done, the pap came out negative and although my left side still hurts, I have pretty much healed up from the c-section. I just still need to take it a bit easy as my left side is still sore (and stubborn for that matter LOL). Good news all around. I love it!

Star Wars

I surprised Sophia and Dan and took then to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. They were having a special exhibition on Star Wars. We got a chance to see the costumes, equipment, vehicles and a ton of models used in the making of all 6 Star Wars movies. Dan was surprised. He thought my little day trip idea was awesome and relly thoughtful. Here are some fun pics.

My Big Toe Fell Off (well sort of)

I was being an idiot and trying to multi task while holding Sophia the other day. All moms do it, I just dont do it very successfully yet. I was holding her and trying to put away my mini paper/photo cutter machine
(I used to do a lot of scrapbooking and a lot of photography and this little machine would allow me to cut down photos and paper clippings). This was one of my bad ideas. I was bare foot and of course I dropped the machine square on my right big toe. Youch!!!!! Well needless to say I cried and went hoping around the house like the Easter bunny, crying then laughing at myself in my sorry state then crying again because it hurt. My toe is now bluish black and it still hurts. That's smarts for ya'. I won't be doing anything like that again any time soon. LOL

Hello Kitty

OMG! I forgot how much I love Hello Kitty. My mom used to shop at the Sanrio store all the time and get us Hello Kitty and Keropi stuff. I was reminded of it all of a sudden when my mother-in-law bought Sophia a Hello Kitty beanie and matching booties recently. They were soooo cute I was a bit jealous. So I have gone off the deep end and have started buying a bunch of Hello Kitty stuff (video recorder, stationary, band aids, water bottles, etc.). Even looking for a Hello Kitty Easter basket for Sophia and I. I think I am even going to make her 1st b-day a Hello Kitty party. LOL Obsessed..... YES! Living vicariously through my daughter.......ABSOLUTELY!

Barlow Girl Concert- The Fish: Women's Night Out

Once a quarter my favorite Christian radio station has a Women's Night Out. It is part seminar part concert. This time my favorite Christian all girl rock band was playing Barlow Girl. The group is made up of 3 sisters of different ages, very much so like myself and my sisters and our ages. They are awesome! I love their edgy-ness and their rock sound. Gone are the days of the choir in a church. I have a couple of their CD's and I really enjoy their music so I thought I would go. I took my neighbor Nikki and we had a blast. We stayed after wards and they signed one of my album covers. It was super cool.

And where was my sweet Sophia you ask? At home with my wonderful Hubby. This was the first time I had been out on my own without Dan or Sophia for more than 3+ hours. It was nice to get out thanks to the hubby, but I really did miss them. Is it bad that I want to be a home body and just be home relaxing with my family all the time. It's like I have sophia-itis. LOL

One Happy Baby

I just couldn't help but post these photos to my blog. I took them quickly in succession and this is what I got. She is just so beautiful. I am so lucky.

Shutter Bug

A friend of mine at work told me about Olan Mills. I vaguely remember them from my childhood. They are that photo company that used to come to my elementary school and take our school pictures. Well they now have locations inside Macy's, Kmart's and a bunch of other stores nationwide. She said they have a whole package for newborns for free and then you can get discounted pics for the remainder of your child's first year so I thought we would check it out. So off to the local Kmart we went and had a whole photo shoot done today. Sophia was fussy all day today and we almost thought it wasn't going to happen but right before it was time to start clicking away, she fell asleep. We took a couple of shots of her asleep and a couple of her awake. She was so cute and so well behaved. We were in and out in a half hour and will pick up the pics in about a week. I look forward to sharing them with all of you once I get them and have them scanned in. I look forward to going back each month and getting a new set of photos done to mark each milestone month during Sophia's first year. They said I can come in as often as I want, no minimum or maximum, no limits on the number of people who take pictures with her so we can get family portraits done as well as get photos done with the grandparents and cousins and I can go to any Olan Mills location nationwide to make it convenient for me. Pretty cool deal for only $20. Now I just need 900 more picture frames and I need bigger walls. Hee, hee.

Visit With The Smith Family

It's been quite a while since I have had a chance to spend some time with my BFF Shana and her husband Grant and daughter Krystina. So we made plans to meet up at the Smith compound and hang for the evening on Wednesday. It was a blast. It started out with me leaving on time. Sophia blew a gasket only 2 blocks from our house. I pulled over and fed her, burped her and then changed her diaper. Wooh! Dude! Not just any diaper. When they say 9 to 14 pounds that's all those things will hold. Sophia managed to stuff 15 pounds in a 9 to 14 pound diaper. Red alert. We had to bag all of her clothes. She destroyed them. Once the crisis was averted, we headed out again. Traffic. Shoot. Now it will take me twice as long to get there. We finally got there and got a chance to visit, catch up and touch base. Sophia got fed again and got lots of love and T.L.C. from the gang. We packed up and then it happened. Yawning in technicolor. Yup, she barfed up all 5 oz. of her bottle all over herself, her p.j.'s, her car seat oh and me!! And not just any barf. Projectile out of her mouth and nose. Poor thing was choking looking up at me as if to say where did that just come from? I got her cleaned up, changed her back into her spare set of clothes, Krystina got Sophia's face cleaned off, Shana got the car seat cleaned and Grant stayed out of the way- the women were on it!!! LOL So once again we got packed up and headed out. So much for an uneventful day. Upon arriving home, Dan cleaned and scrubbed down the car seat, threw all of the clothes including my jacket directly into the washing machine and Sophia and I headed into the bathroom- this was one chica who was in desperate need of a bath. Pee Eww! Yucky stinky. Checking the clock it was 11:30pm by this time. Yikes. Off to bed..... well not quite. By this time Sophia was bright eyed and bushy tailed. No sleep for the weary tonight. Wish us good luck.

More Shots....

Well we were back in the Dr.'s office this week. More shots. One in each thigh. Not a happy camper. Sophia got shot in the left thigh and then as she started to cry they whipped her around and gave her a shot in her right thigh. Ouie!!!! And boy did she scream. Crocodile tears like you would not believe. Took about a half hour to calm her down. And then she passed out from exhaustion from crying. Poor thing. Just wait until we get her ears pierced. Yeowie! That one will be a disaster. Yeah! Fun things to look forward to.

Mayim Bialik

Mayim Bialik, better known to many as Blossom from the early 90's hit sitcom series Blossom or most recently Amy Farrah Fowler from the hit sitcom series The Big Bang Theory is not only an accomplished actress but has a PhD in NeuroScience and as of 2012 a published author of a little book I picked up called Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide To Raising Confident Loving Children The Attachment Parenting Way. She recently debuted this book and one of her stops was the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. My girlfriend Nikki and I drove out and caught her appearance. She was funny, entertaining, smart, intelligent and informative. I purchased her book and stayed to meet with her personally and get it autographed. We were able to speak briefly about Sophia. She congratulated Dan and I and gave me some advice on lactose intolerance. She also warned me that many children who have lactose allergies also have Say allergies so to keep an eye on her. I was grateful for the advice and star struck by the opportunity to have the meet and greet. I am reading her book as we speak. I find it comforting. I want to raise Sophia the way I want to raise her. I know that sounds selfish or Diva-esque. I cant explain why I do what I do or why I want to raise her this way. I just know it is comfortable to me. It is refreshing to have a book that validates this and lets me know to keep going with my gut. Because it is the most natural instinctual way.

Mind Your Manners

My Mother always said for me to mind my manners. Please, Thank You, Your Welcome, Sir, Ma'am. You know, the usual. No elbows on the table at dinner and never any spitting ever, no matter what. I intend to teach my daughter these same basics. But I guess I am already too late. She is already burping and passing gas with the best fraternity brothers and now I get to add creating spit bubbles to boot. LOL Yes my daughter spits. Ha, Ha. There is no burp cloth, bib or towel for that matter, that can contain the drool produced by Sophia's over sized spit bubbles. Any bigger and the poor thing might float off. LOL I do have to admit they are adorably cute. And then she smiles mid spit and sucks the bubbles back in. Who wouldn't coo and awe at a kid this cute. What can I say. I am a proud Momma. Even if her only achievement so far has been creating a bubble. Hee, hee! 

T.G.I....... Vanessa & Kris!!!

One of my besties was in town this past weekend celebrating her 40th birthday. We had planned a big dinner at The Sky Room in Long Beach on Friday night to begin the celebratory weekend. One problem, no kids allowed. Ummmmm..... I got one and it is not so easy to get away from her. Sooooooo, Hay Auntie Vanessa do you want to come over and play??? My best friend Vanessa and her fiance Kris came over to hang for a bit and then watch Sophia while we were out for the evening. I have to tell you I was a bit nervous leaving her. Its one thing to leave her with family who know her temperament but it is another thing to leave her with someone who doesn't expect her temper tantrums. But to my surprise she was an angel and didn't even fuss. Thanks Vanessa and Kris. You guys are life savers. We had such a good time at dinner, I really appreciate it. You guys are the best.

Lactose Intolerant (better known in my house as rooty tooty booty)

Yup my daughter is lactose intolerant. Yuck! Babies can be lactose intolerant to breast milk as well as cows milk. Right now we don't know which one she is allergic to. As a result, I have stopped eating and drinking all dairy to prevent her from getting sick. We are also giving her gripe water for her colick and gas, semithicone drops for her colick and colief drops for her lactose intolerance. All herbal, non-medicated. It's really helping. She is less anxious, less gassy, less fussy. She has regular diapers and seems to cry less. She is starting to sleep 4-5 hours at a time. Thank goodness. At least we are on the right track. Hopefully this gets better quickly. Most people say she should grow out of it and be much better by 3 months old.

My House Isn't Clean But At Least The Baby Is!!!!

I dont have any time. My time is no longer my own. It now belongs to my 45 day old daughter. I have learned to multi task with one hand. My house isnt clean but at least the baby is. And I have managed to forget everything: my wallet, my purse, the diaper bag, my keys, my to do list, the mail and even clothing, yes clothing, BUT I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN THE BABY (yet). LOL I struggle to get enough sleep and I am walking a fine line between the sane and insanity. I am anxious, frustrated, angry, sad, happy, excited and tired all wrapped up in a big pink bow. This baby raisin' thing is hard. Harder than anything I have ever done in my life. I look forward to the 5 minutes or so I get a day to myself but unfortunatetly I waste it on other things like the laundry needing to be done, grocery list being written, house cleaning, dishes, even making meals is a waste of time. Sleep, ahhhh, sleep. So precious. Cant earn it, cant get enough of it. If you waste it you can not get it back. I definitely need more of it. And of course I say that as I write to you at 12:56AM.  lol

Needing A Little Miracle For A Little Miracle

I was born and raised Catholic. I am a God fearin' Christian woman and practice what I preach literally. God is in everything I do and I try to walk a straight path that would be pleasing to my Lord and Saviour. Since God has been taken out of schools, sporting events, work and the government you can be sure that he will not be taken out of my blog!

The Bible teaches "knock and it shall be opened", "ask and you shall recieve". And so here I am. I come before you Lord, I am knocking. Open your door unto your daughter. Here I am asking for you mercy and blessings Lord. Grant me this so I can receive your offerrings. I ask for a miracle, Lord. Not for myself but for my friend Lauren. I ask for healing, strength, patience and health. At 38 weeks pregnant, Lauren gave birth naturally to a 5 pound baby girl. Ashlynn's esophagus was malformed and she had to undergo emergency surgery to attach it properly to her stomach so she could eat leaving her in the NICU for 3 weeks. And while Lauren travels to her baby girl twice a day, she can not hold her or touch her. During this time, one of her lungs collapsed and they could not inflate it. So they did surgery again. Now stable, Ashlynn is in the fight of her life. Lord, why such pain and dispair for your little one? Why so much suffering? I need a little miracle for your little miracle Lord. Please grant me this. Please heal Ashlynn, Lord. Let her go home to her Momma. Let her be not affected by this and let her live a normal healthy life. The children are your special chosen ones. Is Ashlynn any different? And so I come before you today Lord and ask all of these things in Jesus' name.

AMEN

Cancer Update

Good news. The Dr. has decided to up my cancer check up from June to the end of March. This is much better since we will be able to check everything out sooner rather than later. This puts Dan's and my heart at ease since we were concerned as to what may be going on inside and since they didnt want to take immediate action who knows what it would have looked like in another 3 or so months. Now we just have to keep our eyes out on Sophia's mole. They have concerns that if it changes color or shape in could be cancerous and need to be removed.

Shots...Ouie!!!

This week was Sophia's 6 week check up and it was a doosy. It was her vaccination appointment. She needed 6 vaccines. 5 shots 1 oral. At least 1 of the shots had 3 vaccines combined. we decided to spread these shots out over a 3 week period so she didn't have to get all of them all at once. She didn't mind the oral vaccine which I am sure was nice and sugary for her. The shot on the other hand was totally different. Daddy took point on this one. The nurse gave it to her in her left thigh. She yelped and started to cry and then Daddy grabbed her and started holding and rocking her. She calmed down immediately and then just whimpered but she was all right. Wow what a trooper. I had expected her to scream her head off for hours after. No such luck, thank goodness. Now we have a repeat in 2 weeks. Wish us luck.

1 Successful Night & A Busy day

Well, I made it through the first night on duty all by myself. Sophia was a complete angel no problems what so ever. And today was even better. I got up, got ready, got Sophia ready and got out the door. We went to the gas station to get gas, we got the car washed, we went to Walgreens then CVS then Walmart. We picked up lunch, came home and had an appointment with Chris from Tender Impressions. Chris takes your child's foot or hand print and turns it into a work of art for your nursery room wall. We chose the hula girl. Chris put green paint on Sophia's foot, made an impression on paper (for the hula skirt) and she is going to cut out scrapbook pieces to create her body, hair, tank top and lei and flower in her hair and put it all together and frame it for us. How cool is that. What a wonderful "welcome to the world" gift from our friends Brad and Nikki. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I cant thank you enough. How awesome is this going to be to hang from our wall and show her later on down the line. Cant wait to get the finished product.

After that, we watched Spongebob and ICarly together, went through magazines, started dinner, worked on her baby book, worked on her photo album, cleaned the house and then Daddy came home. Phew. Ever feel like Super woman???? I sure did today and was so glad to get sooooo much done. Now lets see how tonight goes and whether or not I can have a repeat tomorrow.

Man Your Battle Stations It's Baby Duty Time

Dan is re-certing this weekend for life guarding. This is a requirement each year in order for him to lifeguard for the city or the county each summer. That means 2 days of back to back drills, swimming and classroom time. It also means 6am wake ups on both Saturday and Sunday. That doesn't bode well for a household currently being held hostage sleep wise by a colicky baby of only 38 days. So I am officially on baby duty both nights by myself. Yup, you heard it, BY MYSELF!!! No reinforcements whatsoever. Yikes. This could get messy quickly. For all of you who are squeamish, look away now, avert your eyes, don't look don't look. LOL I am up to the task and those of you who know me, know that I am a type A personality, so of course I am overly prepared to take on this task. Hee, Hee. I have a make shift changing station set up in the living room on the ottoman. I have snacks and water bottles prepared for me on the coffee table. I have extra sheets and blankets set up on the couch for me to crash if I need to. The night lights are on, the bedroom door is closed up tight for Daddy and I am waiting for the early morning infomercials to come on so I can order products I don't need that don't work. LOL We got this in the bag. Slam Dunk!!!!

Baby Explosion!!!!!

I have some congratulating to do. My sister Cindy had her baby a week ago. Please help me welcome to the world my nephew little Roy Lee Thurman.

My friend Lauren had her baby Saturday. Please help me welcome Ashlynn Rylee Lozon. We are praying for you little momma that you heal up quick and mommy gets to take you home from the hospital soon.

And my best friend from high school Shannon had her son a week ago. Please help me welcome the newest member to the Kolbjornsen family.

Naps... What are those????

Naps, they are over rated. Haven't had many of them, come to think about it have probably had about 4 the entire time I was pregnant leading up through until present day. I am one of those people who once they are up, they are up. I just can't seem to sleep during daylight hours. I also have a hard time falling asleep at night when I go to bed as well. I usually stare at the ceiling until I am tired enough and if that doesn't work, I usually read or play video games in the dark until I get tired and then it is easy at that point in time to pass out. I wish it were different. I am soooo tired all the time now. I definitely could use one. I keep getting reminded to sleep when the baby sleeps. Well, unfortunately it would take me the entire time the baby was sleeping to get to sleep and then by the time I am sleeping, she would be waking up. So much for that idea. So I use my time wisely and use that time to multi task. Do the dishes, clean the house, do laundry, write my blog, check emails, etc. That's just how things go around here. Now if Sophia could just sleep through the night mommy could get some real ZZZZZZ's. Here's to hoping it happens soon.

Big City Moms L.A.'s Largest Baby Expo

I went to the coolest baby shower on Monday night. It was called Big City Moms L.A.'s Largest Baby Expo. It was held at the Skirball Center in L.A. in the Sepulveda Pass. It was a beautiful event with a ton of vendors and spokespeople from all the major baby companies including seminars with celebrity moms like Ali Landry and Jessica Alba. It was fantastic. They fed us dinner: we had sliders, spring rolls, egg rolls, vegetable trays, fruit trays, cheese and cracker trays and they were busy serving up Mock-tails. All of your favorite alcoholic drinks just minus the alcohol (I know, I know, where's the alcohol right.....come on, remember this was for pregnant women and nursing moms)

I attended seminars by working moms (how to make the transition back to work), Pediatricians (baby's communication sans the talking) and Lactation coaches (breastfeeding and how to do it right). I got to speak with industry experts on car seats, carriers, breastfeeding, colic, lactose intolerance, baby food, making your own baby food, going green in your house for baby and just being green in general. It was such a God send. Just what I needed to answer all of my burning questions and current concerns. What a relief.

And that wasn't even the half of it. There were freebies galore and a swag bag at the end of the night. So here is what I walked away with: a Brittax baby carrier plus extender to re size the carrier to fit baby up to toddler hood, a boppy style pillow that included a vibrator to gently rock baby to sleep, clothes, burp cloths, sippy cups, food storage containers, full size containers of baby body wash, shampoo, lotion, baby oil, household cleaner, green dish soap, baby wipes, pacifier wipes, green house cleaning wipes, bibs, baby utensils, crib toys, teethers, baby's 1st dish set, rattles, pull toys, mobile toys, blankets, bath towels, beanies and caps, pacifiers, diapers, all different kinds of baby medicines both medicated and organic and herbal, bottles, formula, water bottles, diaper bag,..... there is just too much to list. Then to that add all of the small individual samples, coupons, free photo sessions and all of the creams, nursing pads, ointments, breast milk storage bags, body lotion, bath salts, candy, granola bars, prenatal vitamins and vitamin supplements they provided for the mommies as well, my entire back seat was full. It was a totally awesome night. Not only did I get a few hours off from the baby and some sanity time to myself, I got a ton of free stuff. No complaints here that's for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surprise........It's Date Night!!!

I received a wonderful gift this past Saturday night. My mother in law and father in law surprised Dan and I with tickets to Sushi Fest at their favorite sushi restaurant while we were in Northern California. It was a special event night with a band, all you can eat everything on the menu, beers and sake and raffles with prizes. And this included the in laws babysitting for us to boot!!! Wow!!! How surprised was I am how bad Dan and I both needed this.

We were dropped off at the restaurant and the band was already playing. The sushi chefs were chopping and cooking a mile a minute and the beer was flowing. They even imported a sake barrel which they opened the traditional ceremonial way by cracking it open with wooden mallets. The ambiance was great. It was definitely loud with the band but it was awesome. I wouldn' t have taken it any other way. The baby was taken care of and I was out with my other baby, life was good!

I ate my body weight in sushi as this was the first time I had had sushi since the pregnancy and delivery. I even went so far as to have a beer.....Kiran of course. It was great to get away, to sit and talk and enjoy each others company and be adults even if it was just for a few hours. And what was even more cool..... it was one of those sushi restaurants with the moat in the middle surrounding the sushi chefs table and it had the boats in it delivering our food. I JUST LOVE THAT!!! (insert sheepish childlike grin here- it doesn't take much to make me happy LOL)

All in all it was a good night and the baby was good for Gammie and Poppa too! Ahhhhhhhh. A little sigh of relief and a tid bit of relaxation. Just what he Dr. ordered.

Baby's 1st Road Trip (Part 2)

5 days later we are finally home. Phew!!! 5 days away from home, away from creature comforts and all the stuff you know at arms length is not only tough to begin with, it is even tougher when you have an infant who is still trying to take all of it in. But we survived................barely!!!!

We drove out to Gammy and Poppas house on Thursday afternoon and had dinner and spent the night. we got a real early start on Friday morning after packing the motor home. When arrived in Folsom around 5pm ish. A quick unpack and clothing change and we were off to Larry and Ritas house for dinner. Here is where the trouble started......

Sophia has been having a hard time with gas bubbles and producing a loaded diaper. Lets just say the plumbing is backed up. She literally screamed her lungs out for 3 hours while we were over there trying to have dinner. Dan and Poppa went to Walgreeens to get some Gripe Water to help settle her stomach. And although it helped slightly, it wasnt until shje made one of those Luvs diaper commercial diapers where the babies compete for 1-10 scores for how big they can poop in their diapers did she finally settle down. She then proceeded to stay up till 1am and Gammy took the first shift rocking her and trying to get her to dose off. Daddy and I took the rest of the night. Up 2 or 3 more times and we finally finished night number one.

While there we got to see my sister in law and her kids. Gabriel was so excited to meet his cousin Sophia. He remembers from Christmas that I had a baby in my belly. He asked if the baby had finsihed eating in my belly and that was why she came out. So cute, so innocent. Better yet when he saw Sophia, he patted my belly and said it was beautiful and sooooo small. Gotta love kids...... they never lie! LOL We also got to go shopping at the outlet malls. Lots of fun.

Night number 2 was a repeat of night number 1. Gammy was up till 1am on that shift and then Daddy and I took her again. More crying, more fussiness, more burps, farts, explosive diapers and hiccups. This poor kid. She is a walking gastronomic disaster. She can burp and fart witht he best frat brothers it is ridiculous. She clears a room even. Poor baby, her stomach has got to be in knots.

Daddy and Poopa did worl in the yard, what we call the back 40. It is an acre and a half estate with tons of trees, bushes, flowers, rose garden, vegetable garden, compost heaps, tool shed, patio and veranda for sitting under in the mid day sun. Just beautiful. I call it my happy place. It truly is the garden of eden.

Night number 3 was better. Sophia slept inb cycles and gave us little trouble. When she did finally wake up and was fussy I went our into the living room and let her sleep on my chest in the lazy boy recliner. It was actually kind of cute.

Monday was a quick pack and back in the motor home. Oh no!!!!! Severe weather alert. Snow in the Grapevine. We are trapped. Can't get home. Time to take the scenic route through Pao Robles, down to the 101 and around to Santa Clarita. It added 4 more hours to an already 7 hour trip but we had the motor home and it made it more comfortable. So off we went on our final adventure home. We stopped in Buelton at Pea Soup Anderson's for dinner and then it started. Crazy angry Sophia came out and she screamed the entire meal.  We all took turns taking her out side and upstairs away from the rest of the patrons so she didnt disrupt theor dinner. A quick toss of the food into to go boxes and we were out of there. The rest of dinner will have to be by over head light in a styrofoam box via motor home. No big deal we can survive. 3 hours to go to get home. And more crying and screaming. She fussed and screamed on and off the remaindser of the time. We got back to Santa Clarita around 10pm. Straight to bed we all went, even Sophia. She had cried herself out. Up 2 times in the middle of the night with mommy for diapers and feeding and our last night wasnt so bad.

Up early to unload the motor home and clean up. It was a good day. Going home tonight after dinner. Looking forward to my own bed and some staying at home time.

Baby's 1st Road Trip

The story of little Red Riding Hood is about a young girl who heads out to her Grandmother's house and the trouble she gets into along the way and when she arrives. We are living that fairy tale this week. Sophia's 1st road trip is this weekend. We leave on Thursday afternoon and in fact we ARE heading to Grandmother's house (that would be Gammie's house in Northern California to be exact). We seem to have packed everything but the kitchen sink. Literally. Thank goodness we are taking the motor home instead of a car. This gives us more room for our stuff and a lot more space for feedings, rockings, walkings, diaper changes, play time and anything else Sophia can throw at us. Keep your fingers crossed for us that it goes well!

Post Partum Depression

Many women suffer from post partum depression after having a child. While I do not feel that this pertains to me (at least not yet as I have not shown any symptoms), I can understand and sympathise with the women who do. Having a child is an emotional and physical roller coaster. You lose your identitiy in the process, you body is no longer yours, you experience emotions you never had before. There may be regret, fear, anger, resentment, love, hate, helplessness and the list goes on and on.

Having a fussy baby or a baby with colic can compound these symptoms. This I do know as Sophia has been exerting signs of colic but does not meet all the the symptom requirements to be diagnosed as such. Lots of late nights, 1 am feedings, screaming and crying. It is absolutely exhausting. I do not know how moms before me have done it. I find myself at wits end some nights just praying she will sleep even for a minute so I can get some down time. Only time will tell as to whether or not she has colic. I am hoping it is just a phase and it all blows over.

Baby's 1st Starbucks

Today we ventured out to Starbucks. Baby's 1st Starbucks that is. I ordered my favorite a passion fruit iced tea lemondae, Dan ordered a strawberry smoothie, we shared a Bistro box for snack and Sophia, well Sophia took her milk mommy made, full caf, full fat, frothed and warmed, no whipped cream, LOL. We hung out for around 2-3 hours. Dan and I got some much needed WI-Fi time to check emails, Blog and surf the web. Sophia on the other hand just slept. She does a lot of that during the day. We try to keep her up and make her sleep at night but that doesnt seem to work very well. I read somewhere that babies sleep as much as 18 to 20 hours a day. Wow! That is the exact amount of time that Bandit our dog sleeps. Maybe she would sleep better at night if I let her curl up next to Bandit in his bed??!! LOL They can be bunk mates. Last night was fantastic. If there was a reward program for 1 month olds I would be rewarding my daughter for allowing us to sleep last night. She went down at 10pm, was up at 12am to 1am and then up again at 4am until 4:45am and then up at 7am this morning. Wow! Up only twice last night. That is the most sleep Dan and I have gotten since she was born. I feel like a new woman today. What a little sleep will do for you. Thanks for all of the kind words and prays for Sophia to sleep. God is a good and soverign God. He hears our prayers and answered them. Now if we can have that every night. LOL I know it's unrealistic but a girl can dream cant she??!!

Colic

Colic is an evil word. It is an even more evil condition. While Sophia does not have colic per say, she has terrible gas bubbles that are excruciatingly painful and she has made this very clear to her Daddy and I. My little girl is in pain, she cant tell me where it hurts or how to fix it and there is not much I can do to help her. This feels debilitating. Dan and I are not getting any sleep. I rarely get a chance to blog and check email let alone feed myself or shower. She is so needy at night and stays up the entire time. She just wants to releive herself of these air bubbles but doesnt have the ability to do it herself so she constantly needs to be rocked, patted, burped, rocked, bounced and cradled. This is killing me. I feel like a failure as a parent. No parent wants their chikd to feel like this or to go through this. I feel like I am doing something wrong. We are not sleeping as a result of it, we are irritable, argumentative and frustrated. We argue more now than we have our entire marriage. And let me remind you, arguing at 4am after no sleep with a screaming crying baby in your ear is not the fair kind of arguing you want to do. You say things you dont mean, you are more vicious than normal and you dont remember a darn thing the next morning. Ooops! Not good, not good. Everybody keeps saying this will go away. People say it will be a month or two. Others say no big deal, this wont last. Great then why dont we just skip it all together and forget the whole thing rather than it continuing. This sucks. I have no idea how single moms do this. If it wasnt for Dan taking half the night and me taking the other I might just collapse. Please pray for us and Sophia that she gets over this quick and we survive.

Baby's 1st Valentine's Day

This year I am doubly lucky. I had 2 valentine's..... my hubby and my baby girl. My mother-in-law got Sophia a onesie that said baby's first valentine on it and Sophia wore it proudly. Daddy and I followed suit and wore red shirts for the day as well. We went out to dinner to my favorite Chinese restaurant and she slept the whole time. She is such a good baby she just has a hard time at night with air bubbles and it keeps her up most hours of the night.

I got a Valentine's card from my hubby and Sophia gave daddy a valentines day card and a custom mug with her picture on it.

All in all it was a great Valentine's day. Can't wait till next year rolls around.

Red Finger Nail Polish

I'm not talking about picking your favorite shade of red, or finding out what red goes best with your skin color. I am simply talking about plain old red finger nail polish. As a new mom I have found absolutely no time for myself. Not even for pit stops. I knew this was coming but I never knew to what extent or how bad and it is bad real bad! All I wanted to do was to paint my finger nails red for Valentine's Day. Not a huge request. And free at that since I was going to do it myself here at home. But to find the time???!!! What time. It took me 4 days to plan it and 2 days to finish accomplishing it. (I walked around for a whole day with only one hand painted). Yikes. How crazy is that. I sure hope I don't have anything important up and coming. I would never find the time, the resources or the ability to get anything done in preparation for it.

The Jealous Dog

We have a 20 pound Pug named Bandit. He is 11 years old. I have had him since he was 2. He was a rescue dog of sorts. He has always been good with other pets, people and kids and still is. He has been fantastic with Sophia and seems to be very protective of her so far. But I have to admit, I know he is jealous. Bandit normally curls up and sleeps right next to me at night on the bed. I have not been allowing him to do that since Sophia got here because of the c section. I am still very bruised and sore and my stitches are still hurting. I am afraid he will roll over onto me in the middle of the night and I cant chance that. So I make him sleep at the edge of the bed and I think he feels like he is being punished.

He loves to sit in my lap during the day as well. That got a little hard to do towards the end of my pregnancy as I got so big and there was little lap left! LOL Now there is more lap available it is just sore and I have to be very careful where he sits and how hard he leans up against me and my stitches. I get that Bandit does not understand any of this but he knows something is up. I just feel bad that things are not normal for him around here and he has a new alien in the house to deal with to boot. He has got to be jealous. So as I sit here writing this to you, Dan has Sophia and I have the dog..... curled up, in my lap, asleep. Its ok Bandit, mommy loves you!

Gripe Water... Nectar of the Gods

Sophia has been real fussy lately at night. She has been getting up all hours of the night and fussing with gas and hiccups. She will keep us up and hour or two at a stint and just wail her lungs out. It is heart wrenching for me to hear her be so shrill knowing she is uncomfortable and in pain. It hurts my heart.

Enter my sister Cindy and harmonious angel harp music here. Cindy taught me about gripe water when she had Faith. It helps with bubbles, gas, indigestion, colic and hiccups. Exactly what Sophia is fighting right now. So we picked some up at the store yesterday and make sure she got some before she went to bed last night. It worked like a charm. She only got up twice last night. She fussed much less and didn't have a lot of air bubbles. Thank goodness. We all slept well last night as a result of it. So incredibly thankful, so incredibly thankful!

So much to write, So little sleep!!!!!

Sophia is now 13 days old. Oh my gosh. It is already going by so fast. The days have blended together, I dont know what month we are in or what day of the week is. Dan and I have become so sleep deprived it is ridiculous. We are trying to take shifts at night when sophia gets up. Her usual routine is 10 or 11pm, 1am, 2am, 5am and 8am. Unfortunately this is not set in stone and she has decided to stay up indefinately from 1am to 5am and it is killing us. I am beginning to think that she is developing colic. Crap. Not good. This could get dangerous from Dan and I real quick. Looking for some help and some great advice. What do we do now????

My mom came last week to help out. Huge help. Gave me some down time and let me sleep a bit. A week by ourselves and then Dan's parents are coming out for 4 days to help. Thank God. I cant say how important all the extra help is. I would go insane. And I need my naps. Let me stress that...... I NEED MY NAPS!!!!!!

Now lets just hope the few nights we have her alone with no help she actually sleeps.

Babies 1st Outing (Well Sort Of)

My Mom is coming down starting tomorrow to spend the week helping me out with Sophia and around the house. She tried making reservations this morning but for some reason (they said security measures) they could not take her credit card number over the phone. She called me and asked me if we would be so kind to run over to the hotel (a block up the street) and finish her reservation for her. Not a problem I said. So we packed up Sophia and the diaper bag, got in the car, headed over to the Hotel and then got gas on the way back. Sorry, Sophi that your first outing wasn't more exciting. Quite anti-climactic huh? Oh well, there is plenty more to do and so much time to do it in.

Babies 1st Roller Coaster Ride (Not Really)

A friend of mine from work, Brandi, had given me a baby bouncer for my baby shower. She swore by the thing and said it would lull and angry bull to sleep. So we decided to try it. On Day #2 of being home, we put Sophia in the bouncer near the slider. It was open with a fresh breeze coming through. The sun was shinning and coming in right on the carpet in front of her. Bandit decided to curl up right in front of her bouncer and take a nap. So we decided to put her in it and try it out. What do you think? Do you think it works........

Bandit & The Baby

One of the first things we wanted to do when we got home was to get Bandit acclimated to Sophia. We laid her out on the couch and allowed him to come up and sniff her. He started at her diaper and sniffed and then sneezed. How appropriate. These 2 don't know it yet but instead of being Thing 1 and Thing 2 they are going to be Stinky 1 and Stinky 2. He then sniffed her legs and licked them a little. He got down to her feet and started licking between her toes and it just sent her reeling. Either too much stimulation or it tickled one or the other.

A little while later he came back and sniffed her face. He then made his way to her hair and started licking her profusely. He was preening her. Welcome to the pack Sophia. Bandit gives you 2 paws up.

Going Home Day

I was exhausted.Sophia had kept me up all night Thursday night. I had to sleep. I just had to sleep. So I took a nap around 9am and slept till about 11:30am. When I awoke, Dan was sitting at the edge of my bed starring at me. It was kind of creepy. He said are you awake I need to talk to you. I was instantly in a panic. He said Sophia was fine, then I asked about myself and he said I was fine. He said because I was doing so well recovering the Dr. had signed off on my discharge papers the night before and we were supposed to leave the hospital on Friday instead of Saturday. Discharge is at 11:00am everyday. It was now 11:30am. OMG!! Crap!! Pack the bags we've got to go. If we stay the insurance wont cover it. Oh no! Dan said to calm down. That because of the mix up and them not telling us we could take our time getting ready and packing up no big deal. OMG! What a scare. Dan had taken the liberty of packing his car with as much as he knew he could pack. Dan had been driving his car back and forth to and from the hospital since he slept each night at the house. The problem was the car seat was installed properly and was in my car. So while I finished signing paperwork, ordering my prescriptions, packing and cleaning up, Dan went back to the house, dropped off his car and unloaded it, picked up my car and headed back to the hospital. Lunch came and I took the liberty of sitting down to relax and eat. Dan finished packing the car, I packed up Sophia, we went down stairs to the pharmacy in my wheelchair, picked up my prescription, brought the car up from valet, packed ourselves in and headed home to start our new life as a family.......just the 3 of us.

Our Hospital Stay

Our hospital stay was awesome! If I could rate the hospital I would give it an "A+++". All of the nurses and volunteers were so nice and accommodating. They really did cater to our every need. They were so sweet. Given my c-section there is not much I can do about anything. They didn't want me out of bed the first day and a half. Someone had to hand me Sophia to feed her and take her away. Someone had to diaper her. Someone had to change my sheets, bring fresh linens, bring me my food and take my tray away, bring me my medicine and help me shift in bed so as not to have anything fall asleep. I was helpless and for this Type A personality chick this was hell on earth. Thank God for the staff at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance and my husband, they were such angels.



I started out on a clear liquid diet. It kind of sucks. They were afraid I might get sick from all of the anesthesia if I didn't. But eventually I was able to get back on solid foods. The hospital food was great actually. They even had a special celebration dinner for Dan and I. I ordered the Fillet Mignon and Dan ordered the salmon. It came with asparagus and yellow and orange carrots, twice baked potatoes and sparkling apple cider. And then to finish it all off, dessert was 2 tiny little pink cakes topped with white chocolate surrounded in white chocolate that read It's a girl. (This was my favorite part hee, hee!!!)

Poor Dan though, the fold out chair that they had for him pulled out into a twin bed. Our Postpartum room was 1/3 the size of our labor and delivery room and it was a bit cramped. Dan didn't even have the strength the first night to open it up. By the time it came to the second night and opening it up, we decided to send him home in the middle of the night to get some sleep. He would have been no good to me in the morning had we not. Plus, nurses were coming and going every hour on the hour to check my vitals, check Sophia's vitals, take blood, deal with lab results, deal with my I.V., give me my pain medicine (percoset, vicodin, Motrin- I.V. grade, and Demerol). Yeah, serious stuff. Could kill a body like mine- you know me I cut my Tylenol in half. Dan says I was so doped up during labor and delivery and then in the O.R. that I started telling jokes- really bad ones at that. I guess he told me to keep my day job and all the Dr.'s laughed.

When it was finally time for me to get up and down I was miserable. My belly and abdomen hurt so much. i don't wish this type of pain on my worst enemy. Thank goodness for hospital beds. I would have to incline the bed, use the side railing to roll myself over, lift myself off the bed with my arms, roll my legs off the bed and then sit there for about 5 minutes, until I could actually stand up. And then I would get dizzy and need another 5 before I could go any where. This got better day by day. Eventually I got the knack of it.

For a regular natural birth you get to stay in the hospital for 52 hours. For a c-section you stay for 96 hours. Our original check out was for Saturday but because I was making so much progress so quickly recovering the Dr. signed me off to go home early on Friday.