Poem for Moms

I've heard this poem before, but I don't remember most of it. The last two lines have always stuck in my head. I have said them over and over to myself since Isabella was born.

"I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep." Tears me up even now.

Enjoy!

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo.

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo;
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust, go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

I'm a Mom!

This is my first post-baby blog! So much pressure...where to start? Well, I don't even know if I have time to go into the whole birth story. I'm trying to squeeze this in while she's napping, and I have no idea how long that will last. If you're really interested, Matt and I recorded our versions of the birth story on DVD so we have it for posterity. SO glad we did. But it's way too long to post online, so I can burn you a copy if you want to hear it.

Isabella will be 4 weeks old tomorrow. It has been a long 4 weeks, but it's also flown by. Matt stayed home with us the first week, and we had a great time together. My Mom came the next week, and it was great to have her help. Now we've had 2 weeks at home "by ourselves." She still has yet settle into any kind of routine; some nights she'll sleep 3, 4, or 5 hours at a shot, and other nights she'll wake up every 1.5-2 hours. I never know what I'm going to get. The lesson of the first 4 weeks is...go with the flow. :-) I'm still alive, and so is she. So we must be doing all right.

I am dying to know what she weighs. It's been almost 2 weeks since we went to the doctor, and she was 6 pounds, 3 ounces then. I put on a newborn onesie today and it was still HUGE. Seriously. Huge. So maybe she'll grow into them in the next few weeks. I'm going to be hosed with all this winter clothing that will fit her...oh, sometime this summer. :-)

We have actually gone out 2 times without Bella already. The first time I didn't leave any milk, but the second time we left a little bit and she took it (yeah!). Tonight we're planning to go out again, and I have 2 2 oz. bottles to leave. Yeah again! It's so nice to have a good pump and to be able to get away. Although, after we're gone about an hour, I'm ready to see her again. It's this funny, you-drive-me-crazy-sometimes-but-I'm-your-Mom-and-I-love-you-and-miss-you-already thing.

We've also planned our first road trip with Bella (not including Waterloo/Cedar Falls). We are going to Des Moines for Mother's Day weekend. She finally gets to meet Aunt Steph, Uncle Jim, and cousin Hannah! Yeah! I'm scared to death that she'll scream the entire 2 hour drive, but I'm praying about it. Lord, please help us.

These are the ramblings of a sleep-deprived new mom. I probably should get something else done while she's napping.

Come on, Baby Bella!

I will be 37 weeks tomorrow! It has totally flown by, and I’m checking all my lists, but I think we are pretty much ready for Isabella to be here! At least, we have all the “stuff” to take care of her and to make taking care of her a little easier on her first-time mommy. I’m not sure I will ever be completely ready, but thank God that I only have to deal with one day at a time.

So, let’s see…here’s the update as of today:

1. The nursery is painted! I am so glad her room is finally ready to be set up. It's hard to tell, but we went with a light gray and I love it.

2. The crib is here, but I can’t put it together by myself (in fact, I’m not sure I’ll be much help at all). Hopefully I can convince Matt to work on it one night this week. I know a cookie recipe that might serve as a decent bribe…

3. The dresser is on its way and should be here sometime between the end of this week and the middle of next. Hopefully sooner!!

4. All her newborn and 0-3 month clothes are washed and ready to be placed in the dresser.

5. The changing table is here and in the room! Mom covered some foam for a changing table pad. It looks so great – I was so excited when I found it for $40 on craigslist (cherry baby furniture is hard to find used!), and I love it even more in person.

6. The rocking chair is here and ready to move into the room. Just one small task Matt has to finish before it can get moved in. He took a nice long nap in it yesterday, so I think it’s sufficiently broken in. I may have played some games on my iPod on it yesterday, too.

7. Mom and I installed the car seat bases in both cars on Saturday. I’m keeping the car seat in the house for now, but I may put it in the Denali next week.

8. Have I mentioned that I’m completely in love with her stroller and car seat? Mom found it on craigslist (another great deal), and it’s so incredibly nice. We went with the Chicco Cortina Keyfit 30. It’s similar to the color of the Adventure but a prettier, closer to lime shade of green (it's a discontinued pattern). I’m just thrilled with it. Yes, we checked the expiration date before buying and it’s fine. :-)

9. I put together her swing last week, so it’s ready!

10. I ordered the bunting bag (car seat cover) and bouncy seat last week, so they should be here by the end of this week, too. I decided it’s just too cold and windy to deal with covering her with a blanket, and who knows how long this winter will last at this point!

The list goes on, but I guess this is most of the main stuff. Wow…I am amazed that it all came together. There were moments I wasn’t sure what we would get and when we would get it, but we had some pretty great deals and great baby shower gifts, too. My bags are pretty much packed, and this morning I decided to throw in my makeup and glasses each morning in case I need to grab stuff in a hurry. I can’t forget those! There are a few other things that don’t fit in the bags, but my lists are ready for reference, too.

My Mom has been amazing. I didn’t know how much I would depend on her through the pregnancy, and I’m sure it will continue once Bella is here. I’m so grateful that she’s encouraging and supportive and helpful. My sisters are awesome, too – I wish they lived closer! It’s been fun to share the experience of pregnancy with Beth, and Steph has tons of great advice since she did so much research on stuff for Hannah. I can’t wait until Bella can meet them and both of her cousins, too!

Matt has been so great, too. What a ride it’s been! He has worked SO hard to get the bathroom done and has made some seriously amazing progress. In addition, having laundry has been, well, just fabulous. Don’t make fun of me until you spend 4 years doing laundry at the laundromat/other people’s homes! Nothing compares to walking downstairs and throwing in a load, especially in winter with a big pregnant belly. I know it’s been a stressful time for him, but he has dealt with it so well, and he has been incredibly supportive and loving. I am so grateful that we get to share the experience of first-time parenthood. There is no one else I would rather share it with. (I know that sentence ends with a preposition, but at 37 weeks, I’m less inclined to care. It’s just a blog, right?) I love you so much, baby, and I know you will be the best daddy Bella could ever want.

So…here we go! I don’t know when she will decide to make her appearance, but I am pretty ready at this point. As ready as I’ll ever be, anyway. So, Miss Bella, keep growing until you’re ready. But you can stop kicking me so much any day now. You are already one tough cookie!

To Bella

You are so active today! It’s not much different than normal, but I am enjoying it. At the same time, I am very anxious to meet you. You are almost 31 weeks, and 9 more weeks just feels like forever to me. I want to know what it is like to hold you in my arms. I want to touch your soft skin and see your beautiful face. I want to see your daddy hold you. I want to feel the love that fills my heart the first moment I hold you. It seems so close yet so far away. I already love you – I love feeling you and your gymnastic-like movements. I love reading and talking to you. I love thinking about how you will look and touching your tiny fingers and toes. I love imagining how you’ll look in all the adorable clothes I have for you. Some days the anticipation is so great, and today is one of those days. I hope the time goes by fast until we meet you, Bella.

Love,
Your Mommy

In Full Swing

I'm 21 weeks today! What a week it has been. I have definitely been more emotional during the pregnancy (thank you, pregnancy hormones), but this week has been off the charts.

Monday: We went home for lunch. I grabbed a few fun size candy bars to take upstairs with me. I was finishing the Twix when I looked down and noticed my M&M's were gone. I turned to my husband and saw the M&M's in his hand. "Are you eating my M&M's?" I asked. (It was probably more like, "ARE YOU EATING MY M&Ms??!?!?!?!?!" Or something like that.) "I was going to get you more," he said. "I think that's the last ONE!" I replied. I was starting to tear up, and I realized how ridiculous this must be. Crying over M&Ms? I can get more, for crying out loud. (Sorry. That was bad.) I sucked it up and went downstairs before we left. I found one last package of M&Ms, thank God. He was definitely watching out for me.

Tuesday: The computer guy comes in to work. I already have issues with this man. He is so full of himself. He loves to impress himself with his computer talk. Give me a break. Anyway, I don't want to get into the whole story, but suffice it to say that I was steaming after he had been in the lab for 5 minutes. I could barely keep it in...Tina and I exchanged many looks as I let him ask a few questions. Finally I left for lunch, but it took a couple of hours just to cool off. The best part of the day was that Tina brought me a bag of M&M's (plain AND peanut!) after lunch.

Then my husband ate one.

He's a brave man.

Wednesday: Nothing happened today. I just wanted to cry most of the morning for no real reason.

I'm not sure I want to know what tomorrow will bring. The emotional pendulum is in full swing here in pregnant-land!

Checking In

It's so hard to find time to post with no internet at home, but I wanted to check in today. We had our appointment today (ended up being a 19-week appointment). I love going to the doctor...for baby stuff. :-) I anticipate hearing the heartbeat, and today I met one of the doctors for the first time. I really like her. I asked a few questions, and she was great. I'm excited that I like her! I was a little nervous. Baby's heartbeat was 156, so almost the same as last time.

We also set the rest of our appointments. There are a lot left! Since my due date was off from what they thought (should have just listened to me... :-), we have an extra one thrown in to get me on the right schedule. And at the end there are 3 weeks in a row! It was fun to get them all scheduled. And now it's 10 days until the ultrasound! I'm so excited I hope I don't explode!

That's about it. I found out I get to see Hannah in November, and I thought I had to wait until Christmas. Yeah! That was super great news.

Ready or Not...It Will Come!

It was not long after I found out that I was pregnant before the big question entered my mind: "How am I going to get this baby out of here?"

I read almost all of What To Expect When You're Expecting in a matter of days, and then I decided I had plenty of time to worry about it later. Now I'm 17 weeks (well, I am tomorrow!), and even though I still have lots of time, I want to be a well-informed first time mother. A friend suggested reading the Bradley book, so I checked it out at my mom's library. I devoured it, too, but I am not completely convinced. Rather than get into all the gory details, I wanted to put it out there for my many mom friends: have you ever used the Bradley method of natural childbirth? Even if not, have you heard of it/read the book? I would be interested in any feedback or opinions from those who may be somewhat familiar with it.

I am by no means a "natural childbirth" freak. I am not a nature lover, a tree hugger, or a granola eater. I have friends who are all of these things, but I'm more of a Starbucks drinker and an "indoorsy" girl. However, the concept of natural childbirth definitely intrigues me. He has some good points. I'm just not sure about all of it. So if anyone's interested in engaging in conversation about it, I definitely am! I just thought I would throw it out there and see what I get.

Ho-Hum Summer

HA! Yeah, right! I haven't blogged for a while, but the three of you that read this now know why! I'm now 12 weeks pregnant (almost 13!), and I am greatly anticipating the end of the first trimester. I am absolutely thrilled to have survived it as there were times that I thought it would do me in! Matt and I have already had lots of fun telling our parents, families, friends, talking about names, finding a crib (already!), hearing the heartbeat at 10 weeks and an ultrasound, too. I have a pregnancy journal, so I enjoy keeping that up to date.

Our (amazing, incredible, so-good-to-me-I-don't-deserve-it) friends threw us a surprise baby shower last night. And that was definitely a surprise! I wasn't having a very good weekend, so when they sprung it on me...well, I was very overwhelmed by their kindness. I don't have any pictures yet since we didn't have our camera, but they took some, so hopefully I can post some soon. They wanted to throw one that Matt could come to, which I thought was so sweet. They had a baby food identifying contest for the guys, and everyone guessed the birthdate, weight, and sex of the baby. Most of the girls guessed it would be a girl...most of the guys guessed we'll have a boy. :-) It will be fun to see if anyone guessed right!

We have a few calm weeks, and then we will have some traveling fun at the end of September and middle of October! I'm excited to visit my sisters and celebrate Hannah's birthday in October. Hopefully, I'll be showing by then, too! The way I'm eating, it shouldn't be a problem.