Wakeboarding Mama

Each Birth Has A Unique Story

2012-01-10T06:50:00.000-08:00

Ever since Lily was born I find myself comparing the births of my daughters. As time passes I think about it less but it is something my husband and I enjoy chatting about. Both birth stories are posted below but I wanted to write about the similarities and differences between them.

Labor. With V I got to the hospital at 8cm and although at that point I felt every contraction they were tolerable and I would just close my eyes through them. I could not sit so I would stand through them. With V there was no pitocin but since L was an induction there was pitocin from the start. Let me tell you that the word on the street is true...contractions with pitocin are 10 times worse than normal ones!!! I was in pain and with every contraction I would squeeze my husband's hand and would find myself screaming Matt, Matt, Matt very very loudly. They came fast and furious!

Pain relief. I got an epidural with V and it was not too bad to get other than my flinch when the catheter was placed. I just breathed through the contractions. Then my last few hours of labor were very peaceful and we just watched tv and chatted. With L getting the epidural was pure hell. I kept flinching and I could not get my back to curl just right and every contraction hurt so very very bad! I was near tears. I thought I was only a few centimers dilated so I seriously wanted some relief. Of course by the time it was push time the epidural was still not in affect and did not start to work until I was pushing and by then it was still only the tingly leg feeling of numbness, not the full blown feel nothing like with V.

Push time. With V I felt no contractions so they told me when to push. I did not like this. Pushing those 40 minutes was the hardest part. With L I still felt every contraction so I told them when I wanted to push. I actually liked pushing with L, I had the urge to push and until the doc got there I actually had to not push, no real pain just pushing with the contractions.

She is here. With V I screamed once when I pushed her head out and then the doc sort of turned her and she just slide out the rest of the way and I did a mild scream then. With L I did not scream when she came out. I pushed her head was told to then wait a second and then I pushed out her body. Both were placed on my chest immediately.

First look. With V my first thought was of pure relief that this human child was now out of me (did I mention I really hated pushing her out). Then I looked at her in pure disbelief that I now had a baby girl. It was very surreal. I just kept looking into her eyes that were looking at everything in the room while she took it all in. With L the first thoughts and feelings were of pure happiness and love. Not that I loved her more it just felt like I was more prepared this time around. I kept kissing her all over even though she was covered in goo.

Breastfeeding. With V she immediately latched on like a pirrana. It hurt! Chomped down as hard as she could. She breastfed great but those first few weeks were hard. I was tired, she hardly every slept unless she was nursing. I had the bruised and cracked nipples but I kept going and after that our breastfeeding journey was easy going for 15 months except for thrush around month 14 that was easily fixed. With L she immediately latched on gently and it never hurt. I did suffer from some awful thrush week 2-4 but we worked through it and it has been easy sailing every since. I do have to pump every morning before work so she has something to eat in the mornings but so far so good.

Sleep...so far. V has never been a good sleeper. From the beginning things were very HARD and my husband and I were very very very tired. Around month 9 I brought her to bed with us and I nursed her laying down on my side and we finally started getting sleep. L has been a great sleeper from day 1. Slept 5 hours a night from the day she was born and around week 6 she moved it to around 6-10 hours a night. Such a huge difference. We are not tired and feel very refreshed.

Overall V was a very difficult baby and a lot has to do with her sensory processing disorder which I did not know about till 18 months. Looking back there were lots and lots of signs (for a different post one day). L is so incredibly easy. She will play with toys, lay on her back and enjoy looking at toys of which V did none of. L is incredibly easy to take out and with V we did not take her many places for over a year...it was just too hard.

I still enjoy going over their birth experinces in my head. It is like this specialy memory that only I have and it always makes me feel good when I think about them.

I Now Have Two Flowers!!!!

2011-10-23T07:22:00.001-07:00

Lily Cora
October 20, 2011
11:14 am
8 pounds 1 ounce
20 inches
Born at 39 weeks

The past few weeks of my pregnancy consisted of daily migraines. For me that includes extreme nausea, mild headaches and extreme auras that make it so I can not even see anything for about an hour. I had gone in several times to my OBGYN practice to get my blood pressure checked and it was always great. So they just began monitoring me closely. I even had a non stress test (NST) at one when she did not move during the appointment. The test ended up just perfect. The migraines were not getting any better and my vision started getting blurry as well. Although migraines for me are not unusual the frequency was what was alarming and more than anything just annoying. When visiting the midwife (whom I just loved) in the practice she told me if I was favorable then we could schedule an induction because they did not want the migraines to turn into anything more serious. I was 2-3cm dilated and effaced (although I don't know how much). Despite wanting to go natural I decided to go ahead with the induction at 39 weeks.

My last meal was waffle house because in my small town literally nothing was open at 6am. Then it was off to the hospital at 7am. After waiting in outpatient and doing some paperwork we were called upstairs around 8am. I was immediately put in a room and they started the IV and getting all the paperwork signed and blood drawn. I was still 2-3cm and around 90% effaced. Around 9am Dr. Ross started me on a very low dose of pitocin to start contractions. About 20 minutes later he came in broke my water and hooked the baby up to an internal monitor. He told me he was going back the office and he would check on me later that afternoon. I have heard my share of horror stories with induction so I was mentally prepared for the long haul. Husband was even doing work on his computer. About 40 minutes after he broke my water contractions came out of nowhere and they were strong and powerful. I immediately told my husband if I was in for a day of contractions of that intensity then I needed my epidural and I needed it right now! The two nice nurses started setting my room up for the epidural. I was literally squeezing my husband's hand with all my strength at each contraction. At one point I asked the nurse if I should go to the bathroom and poop before the epidural since I knew I would be unable to get out of bed once it was in place and I had a silly fear of pooping on the delivery table. She told me I was fine and it was probably just the baby's head putting pressure down there. At this point all I could picture was the epidural and how I wanted some relief. I remembered from my first pregnancy how amazing it could be to relax once it was in place (although with my first it was only in place about an hour before push time).

The epidural part was the worst part of the whole birth. I was experiencing the most painful contractions I had ever had while he was working on my back. He had to keep re-threading the catheter in my back because he was unable to get it between the bone. Probably because I was not curling my back in the right way because I was seriously struggling through the contractions. It felt like he had to do it a dozen times although my husband said it was more like 5 times. Finally in place I laid down and waited for relief.

This is when crazy Katrina decided to come out. I started telling the anesthesiologist that he needed to re-do the epidural because it was not working! I was getting contractions about a minute apart and they were so strong. He told me it would take time but I was so impatient. The nurse and anesthesiologist tried to tell me it was fine and that it just needed time. I started telling the other nurse I needed to poop again. She said she would go ahead and check me. She said I was a 7. I was thinking awesome at least I was getting progress. What she did not tell me was I was actually a 9-10 and that she did not want to scare me. She told me she would go call the doctor so he could come back for delivery. While this was going on I was still telling the anesthesiologist it was not working and I needed more meds and I needed them NOW. They upped it all the way in the IV and said relief was coming.

I heard the two nurses whispering and I asked loudly what they were talking about. She told me that a doctor from another practice had just finished delivering a baby and he was going to wait until my doctor got there just in case he did not make it. Had I been thinking clearly this would have tipped me off. Instead at the time all I could think was I am at a 7 and he is 20 minutes away and that would be plenty of time. At this point the contractions were so painful and I started screaming my husband's name at each contraction saying...Matt Matt Matt Matt over and over through the pain. My doctor got there and he said lets have a baby. I am squeezing my husband's hand and the two nurses help me hold my legs. Finally the epidural started working but at this point it was practically pointless! Dr. Ross told me to just push whenever I felt like it. I liked being able to push when I was ready instead of being told to. Less than 15 minutes of pushing and out she came! They put her on my chest and I was able to just stare at this little baby girl that had been growing inside of me for 9 months. I just stared while I took it all in. They let me hold her for quite a while until I told them they could take her away to clean her up and check her out. It was no more than 15 minutes later when she was given back to me and I got to breastfeed her for the first time. Latched right on. I was able to just hold her and breastfeed her for as long as I wanted before they took her to the nursery to be officially checked out and cleaned up. Everyone at the hospital told me how lucky I was to have an induction and labor that only lasted 2 hours and I do feel extremely blessed. No tearing or ripping and no pooping on the table. Recovery has been much easier and quicker this time around. Another birth for me to treasure in my memory for the rest of my life. My heart feels swollen with so much love!

She was named Lily because we love the idea of having two girls with flower names. Her middle name Cora is also her Great Great Great Grandmother's name. I have a hard time believing that I actually gave birth to two amazing little girls. I feel like one extremely lucky Mama!

Three Years Old

2011-09-06T05:44:00.000-07:00

With Violet's 3rd Birthday Coming in just a month and the birth of my 2nd daughter not far behind I reflect on the last 3 years. I can definitely say they have been the best 3 years of my life. Violet amazes me every single day. She also has logic in situations that beats me out all the time. I love every single smile she puts on my face.

The other day she told me "I love you so much Mama that I will not throw you to a pit of snakes or to the big bad wolf." It does not get much better than that.

Violet's Birth Story

2011-09-04T06:43:00.000-07:00

Violet Kaitlyn
October 14, 2008
12:04pm
7 pounds 14 ounces
20¾ inches long
Born: 37 weeks and 4 days
Apgar scores: 8, 9

Background: My husband, Matt, got a great attorney position 2 hours from where we had been living in Orlando. Since I was in my last trimester I did not want to leave my OB office or change hospitals since Winnie Palmer is such a great hospital to deliver in (all 11 floors dedicated only to the birthing of babies). Matt moved on down to our new home and I stayed with my parents the last 2 months of my pregnancy. He came to Orlando to stay with me on weekends.

Monday October 13th I experienced mild cramps all day long. They were not painful and hardly noticeable. By nighttime they had subsided. That night I watched Halloween 2 with my parents (we had planned on watching them all by Halloween). When I went to bed around 11pm I started to experience the cramps again, just enough to be uncomfortable while lying down. I thought they might actually be contractions but by 1am they stopped and I went to sleep. At 4am Tuesday October 14th I woke up to go pee. I tried to go back to sleep but was extremely uncomfortable. About 15 minutes later I had to pee again. I tried again to go back to sleep but was unable to find any position that was comfortable. I began to have what I can only describe as cramps. They were keeping me from finding a comfortable position. I decided to turn on the TV because I knew I would not be able to go back to sleep. Not long after I had to pee yet again and the cramps were becoming slightly more uncomfortable. At 5am I called my husband because I was uncomfortable and I just wanted to talk to him. A few minutes later I heard a very loud noise outside my sliding glass door. My dog, Princess, heard it as well. I could tell Matt was tired so I hung up with him and used my cell phone to call my mother who was upstairs sleeping. I asked her to come down and sit with me since I was uncomfortable, unable to sleep and now slightly scared from the noise outside (after watching scary movies I tend to be jumpy). By 5:15am we got up to watch TV in the family room. Around 5:45am the pain started to get worse. I called Matt and he told me to go get a shower because these could be contractions and the shower could help. I took a shower and washed my hair but while I was in the shower the cramps started getting worse. I had an OB appointment at 10am so I was desperately trying to wait until the appointment to see if what I was feeling were contractions and to see if I had made any progress since last week when I was 3cm, 60% effaced and 0 station. Matt begged me to go in at 8:30am when the office opened instead of waiting. Then he told me I should go to the hospital to get checked out. I was scared of being sent home and told that this was not the real thing. At 6:30am the pain was so bad I could no longer sit or stand and the only way to alleviate the pain was tho keep walking and not sit still. I called Matt and told him I would go to the hospital. I spent a little time getting my things together and then my parents drove me to the hospital that is 15 minutes away. It was in the car that I knew these were actually contractions. My dad timed them and they were about 2 minutes apart.

At the hospital I checked into triage. By this time I was silently crying from the pain. I was lucky as there was only one family in the triage waiting room. I filled out a brief form (since I pre-registered) and under reason for visit I wrote: PAIN. I waited about 10 minutes all during which I could not sit or stand comfortably so I paced the waiting room. When I was called back my mom came with me and they checked me to see if anything was going on. I was 8cm. Within seconds I had 6 or so nurses in the small triage room hooking me up to monitors, stripping my clothes off and putting in an IV. I could not call my husband as there was no signal in the room. I was wheeled on a gurney to the 2nd floor, which is the labor and delivery floor. The triage nurse said I was by far the best patient she had ever seen that came in at 8cm. I enter my room around 7:30am. Asked if I want an epidural, I say yes (but in hindsight I realized I would have been fine without it). Immediately the anesthesiologist enters the room. I took the giant needle with little problem but when they stuck the catheter in and it touched my spine I jumped because it HURT! It felt like lightening running down my spine. Of course she had to reinsert it but she used more numbing meds and this time it hardly hurt at all. After it took affect the super nice nurse named, Casey checked me and I was still 8cm. At almost 9am Matt arrived after going through the worst traffic to get to me. I was so happy to see him. Not my OB but the more senior OB at the practice is already at the hospital for 2 other births so he would be my doctor. After one C-section and another quick birth he comes in to break my water. He checks me I am 9cm and he breaks my water. It is a massive flood of warm water. I sit for an hour to see what happens. When the hour is up I am checked and I am 10cm and ready to push. I was not a fan of the pressure and I had a hard time holding my breathe for the 10 second counts. I asked for a leather strap to bite down on but being the 21st century I used a rolled up hand towel instead. After 40 minutes of pushing with the nurse the doctor is called in to deliver. This is where I turn absolutely crazy. The pressure is too much for me and I start to flail my legs and grab hold of the bed with a death grip while saying I can’t do it. My husband describes it as I was a crazy person with my head spinning. I nearly kicked the doctor as the nurse and my husband hold my legs back. The doctor is casually putting on his gloves and tells me to do a preliminary push. After this I shut my eyes and push and I feel her head pop out and her shoulders slam against bone. I scream. At 12:04pm I feel the doctor grab her head twist and she just slides on out. Instantly the pain is gone. I lay there in disbelief as they place her on my stomach. I have no rips but I did have a giant bruise down there. Usually after 1 hour, mom and baby are transferred to one of the recovery floors. I had to wait 3 hours because of heavy bleeding. Nothing was wrong it was just more blood than normal so I had to stay on the labor and delivery floor until I was cleared. Overall as a first time mom I feel blessed to have had such an easy birth.

I get all mushy and happy when I think of her birth story.

Year in Review....We are so Ready for 2012

2011-09-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Started the year by cracking my dental bridge. Which meant paying for a new one (usually done every 10 years and it had been 11 so I was due). First bridge replacement broke which meant going through the entire removal and reinsertion process all over again. Complete with dental needles that feel like snake bites with venom coming out!

My daughter suffered a severe concussion by tripping on a ball at daycare. This meant an overnight stay in a children's hospital. My heart could hardly take it!

When she went in for her CT Scan they asked if I was pregnant. I laughed and said no. Then I said wait. I thought to myself that I was actually due with my period that very day but had not thought much of it. So I said I better wait outside and my dad went in with my daughter during her scan. She did great and it was super quick. He told me that she did not even move!

A few days later I decided to take a pregnancy test. Positive!!!!! Complete shocker for us both. Due date 10-27. Note: this is the best thing that has happened this year so far.

Leak found in our floor. Rip up very expensive laminate floor. Wait 12 weeks before insurance will let us put in the replacement flooring.

My husband's 11 year old truck stops going in reverse. For a month he drives and parks in a way so he does not have to go in reverse. We get him a new car through a lease 2 months before his firm starts paying for a car stipend.

I am deemed high risk for a hematoma in my uterus. Goes away by week 21. At week 24 found high fluid levels. Even higher risk and more peri appointments. I have had 2 echos on her heart (everything looks good) a long with at least 10 ultrasounds! I love to see her and to hear her heartbeat but I am tired of doctor appointments. They make me super anxious because I always fear the worse.

At 28 weeks I switched high risk doctors. First one had no bed side manor and was all doom and gloom. I now see an amazing group of maternal fetal specialists at a baby hospital 2 hours away. They said I am officially a normal pregnancy now but I they will let me see her just one more time to make me feel better.

The library I work at has been in complete construction mode for 6 weeks. It is officially done as of today. I can finally put everything in order so that it feels like a library. It is small but I do take pride in my work space!

Most current problems. This week we found termites in our custom cabinets that were put in 2 years ago. Next week the house must be tented for 3 days. We are currently eating odds and ends out of the fridge and cabinets since we will have to remove all food from the house.

Another upside is that I have won a lot of really amazing baby giveaways. This mama loves free stuff!

I do have multiple things to look forward to. Violet has a few birthday parties to attend. I have some baby showers to attend, including one for my best friend that I am co-hosting. Then my husband is in a wedding and my daughter will be one of the flower girls. Then the cherry on top is the birth of my 2nd daughter. I can't wait to meet her!

I think that is it. I am due in less than 8 weeks and I have done absolutely nothing except wash all of Violet's old baby clothes. As soon as the termite tenting is done then I am going into full nesting mode. Husband better watch out!

My Little Mermaid

2011-06-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

My daughter is only 31 months old and she rocks at swimming. She can swim all the way across the shallow end of the pool all by herself and just this last weekend she started swimming to the bottom of the shallow end of the pool and retrieving dive sticks all on her own. We call her our little mermaid. People are constantly asking where she learned to swim. It was all through Infant Swimming Resource which I also did 29 years ago. They really do teach swimming skills that will last a lifetime.

Please ignore the crappy resolution on the camera. Since I am huge into mommy blog giveaways I of course won a really crappy spongebob underwater camera. It is the only camera we have that can go underwater so these are better than nothing.

New Look

2011-06-14T07:04:00.000-07:00

I recently won a giveaway for a blog makeover and boy did I need it. The template I found online and had been using for over a year was just not cutting it. I just LOVE my new look. Simple and the perfect colors for me. A huge thank you to Emily Grace for all the hard work she put into it. Thanks so very much. I just love it.

I feel Something!!!

2011-05-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

For the last week I have felt the flutterings of baby girl #2. It is only the beginning of the best part of pregnancy...feeling baby move around in there. It has gotten me super excited!!!!

Just finished up father's day cards on shutterfly with new pictures. I am slightly obsessed with shutterfly and all I can do on it. No joke I have at least one annual photo book in progress and I make super cute holiday cards for every little holiday. Just a little something extra when sending pics to family. I ALWAYS have multiple coupons that I use. Heck I even have $20 in credit for baby announcements for when the baby gets here.

I decided to add a pic of my awesome husband throwing my daughter up in the air in the pool. My daughter is seriously a mermaid in the water!!!

Silver Lining

2011-05-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Our family has had one of the toughest years we have ever had. A couple of months ago Violet suffered a severe concussion while at daycare. Just this week my Granny Violet whom my Violet is named after suffered a major concussion complete with passing out in a pool of blood while shopping at the store. She is still in the hospital unable to walk or move much without getting dizzy. I have already made 2 trips across the state to visit her. She is my last living grandparent and she is very special to me so it has been really hard for me.

Our house issues include a leak under our wood floors that are only 2 years old. We have been battling insurance for over 12 weeks to fix it. It was only hours ago that it was finally fixed. No more living on concrete floors while waiting for insurance to pay for our new wood floors.

My laptop also broke after 2 and a half years so I am currently using my new and really fast pink computer. It is cute and I love it. Happy Mother's Day for me. If it has not been one expense it has been another.

The one bright spot is I am pregnant with our 2nd baby!!!!! I am currently 16 weeks and 2 days which puts me due on October 27th. Violet was due October 31st and came all on her own on the 14th. So I really hope this baby chooses any day but that one so they can each have their own day. We are super super excited and this will probably be our last baby. Of course nothing this year comes for this family without difficulties. I have a hematoma in my uterus which puts me at high risk. So that means twice as many doctor appointments for me and one nervous MaMa. An early ultrasound shows that this baby will be a Baby Girl!!!!! I will find out for sure on the 24th. It seems there is no stem on this apple.

First Real Injury Complete With Ambulance Ride and Hospital Stay

2011-02-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

Last month I got my first part-time job since having Violet. It is the position of librarian at a small college in the area where I am to build the library from scratch. Wednesday morning I had only been to work 15 minutes when I got the dreaded call from daycare. My daughter had fallen on the back of her head in the playground and had cried for 15 minutes but at that point she was only sniveling and they told me they were watching her closely. I was slightly worried but not too much at this point. Another 15 minutes go by and I get another call. This time the director told me that Violet said she wanted to go back to class with her friends and on the way there she threw up. Instantly I knew it was a concussion and I flew out of work to go and pick her up. When I get there I see her sitting with her sippy cup and her teacher told me she had just thrown up again. Violet told me she fell on her noggin and she tripped on a ball. I scoop her up put her in the car-seat and head out of the parking lot. While all this is going on my parents happen to be in town to help us with another issue with our house. They met me at the daycare and my mom hopped into the car to talk to Violet on our way to the pediatrician.

On the way she threw up again. I had my husband call the pediatrician back and ask if we should go to the hospital instead. They said we should and I immediately took her to the ER. When we walk in a triage nurse immediately takes me to the back room without even filling out paperwork. While giving them all the information she vomits again. We get back to an ER room and I lay down with her on the gurney. She vomits 2 more times and she is super lethargic. They order a CT scan and we immediately go back and get it. At this point we have only been at the ER for an hour. Since I am of child rearing age and you just never know I can not go back with her and my dad does instead. She is wrapped in a lead vest and sits perfect still through the whole thing. About an hour later we get the good news that her CT scan shows no internal bleeding or cracked skull. During all the waiting V takes a long nap in my arms. We are then told that they have called her pediatrician team and the trauma team and we will either get to go home while monitoring her, she will be admitted to the hospital for observation or she will be sent to a hospital with a children's ward an hour away. Two long hours later I find out that she is getting transferred to the other hospital. My husband is there at this point so I rush home to get an overnight bag for myself and Violet and I get back to the hospital after picking up a quick lunch for myself. While I was gone V had to get an IV put in for the ambulance ride, multiple tubes of blood taken and she had to have a catheter put in for a urine sample to make sure she was stable for the ride. Thankfully my husband and mother were there for her because she cried so hard. I felt just awful.

An hour after that the ambulance transfer team arrives. She is put into a car-seat which is then strapped to the gurney. All of a sudden at this point she starts smiling and she proceeds to chat away on the hour journey to the other hospital. First ambulance ride for her and for myself. I am not a fan of sitting sideways as I tend to get motion sick. We arrive at the other hospital and we go to the pediatric ER where we wait for hours till they decide what to do with us. The trauma team comes in and says that they are going to release us to go home and to monitor her. At this point I am just like why the crap were we transferred all the way down here then. They consult with the trauma attending and he disagrees. We are to be admitted. We wait a couple more hours and finally her room is ready. Complete with crib and bubble top because under 3 they have to be in a crib and the bubble top is so she does not crawl out in the night. Exactly 12 hours after the accident happened at daycare she is admitted to the hospital. Visiting hours are already over so my parents kiss her goodbye and head to my house. I lay her down in the crib after she tells me she is really tired. I had just got in the mail a woogie (which is a stuffed animal to hold an ipod touch with speakers inside) from a giveaway win and she cuddled right up with it while it played rock-a-bye baby music. Only one parent can stay overnight so my husband heads home for the night. I fall asleep right after he leaves. Every 4 hours they wake her and take vitals and check her pupils. It is an uneventful night.

In the morning my husband brings me a much needed sugar free vanilla iced coffee from McDonalds. Violet devours the fairly tasty hospital food and we sit and wait. Thankfully at 10 the playroom down the hall opens up and Violet spend her time playing with all the toys and puzzles. Then a nice gentleman comes in and shows her and 2 older kids some sea life. Violet gets to hold a starfish, whelk and poke an anemone. She loved every second of it. The guy let her touch and handle everything. Violet shows no fear. Then my parents show up with balloons. After playing for a while and a quick lunch and she is out for a nap. Matt and I go for lunch in the cafe while my parents watch her sleep. After lunch my husband heads back to work to prepare for a big case he has in the morning. Around 3:30 the trauma team checks on her and she is released. After all the tape that holds the IV is painfully removed and the tears fade away we scoop her and everything up and head out of there.

She is already back to her normal self as if nothing happened. I am more concerned with the radiation she received during her CT scan. In fact I cried about it once we got home and all was well. I have to look at it by seeing there is nothing that I can do now and she needed it to check for issues in the brain. It still scares me to think about her major dose of radiation but right now I am just happy to have my baby girl napping in my lap. 2011 is proving to have one surprise after another for our family. Hopefully all future surprises will be happy!

Christmas Family Photo

2010-12-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

So Violet was having none of it when it came to family picture day at the photo place this year. I only pay once a year for photos and she was a mess. Probably because she got so off schedule Thanksgiving weekend and we took them the following Monday. The only way all of us are smiling is in this pic. Which is exactly what I am mailing out on our Christmas cards this year.

Left is Right and Right is Left

2010-11-09T15:59:00.000-08:00

My daughter goes to Occupational Therapy once a week. For the last few weeks V's therapist has had a master's degree student working/shadowing with her (so she can finish her degree I assume). Today this very nice lady put my daughter's shoes on the wrong feet (they take off her shoes so she can use the toys on the play mat). I did not even notice until we got to the grocery store. Made me chuckle. The young lady has much to learn.

Sensory Processing.....What???

2010-11-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

I find it extremely hard to believe but my daughter is now two years old! She has changed so much in the last 6 months that she is almost like a different little person. At 18 months old she had next to no words and did not use the few she said right so I was beginning to feel concerned. So with the doctor's referral she got an early intervention evaluation. In the evaluation she did beautifully and all the evaluators loved her. (In the month between the referral and the actual appointment her word base had really grown). What they did notice was her inability to play even for 10 seconds by herself and after talking with me they discovered that she did not even come close to sleeping through the night, had some eating issues and was unable to be strapped down (car seat, high chair) for even 5 minutes without screaming. That along with several other small issues and she qualified for Occupational Therapy. They told me she was very bright and personable but that she displayed many Sensory Processing Issues. No actual label was attached to her but she did begin immediately with OT twice a week. They asked me if I knew about SPD or that therapy could help her function better day to day and I basically broke down and cried because I had no idea. I had always knew something was different with her than other babies but since she was my only child and I was not around other children I just figured that I had an extremely high needs baby.

Well after that appointment I immediately began reading every website and book about SPD that I could. Instantly I discovered that she was a sensory seeker and the most surprising thing I learned was that all my problems from my childhood could be explained by the fact I had SPD and I had it severe and I was a sensory avoider. There were many a tears about tags in my clothes, seems in my socks, crying with a change of schedule (even by something small), my inability to focus on homework and numerous others that would need their own dedicated post. When I talked to my mom about all this she was literally shocked that there was an actual disorder for what I had and that we had no idea. I could only imagine how therapy could have helped me.

After 4 months of twice a week we saw drastic improvement in her eating as well as being able to ride in the car or sit at a restaurant and actually finish a meal without taking a screaming toddler outside (we still choose very quick restaurants that are family friendly). Sometimes she is able to play by herself for 5 minutes but she is still all over me all day and has problems playing and most her toys go untouched unless someone is playing right next to her. She now has a bedtime that works most times but she still wakes up with uncontrollable screaming in the night but not every night. She has recently been dropped to once a week which is a little disappointing but Violet just loves to go to OT and we are still seeing improvements which is what matters.

Life has only changed for the better since that evaluation. She speaks in sentences (I think is unrelated to OT just a huge change from 6 months ago) and is generally a much happier child. People that say the 2s are a terrible age obviously do not have children with sensory processing issues because so far toddler life is way way way better than a baby that literally has to be held 24/7. We still have a long road and a majority of her toys go untouched but at least now I understand a little more of what is gong on in her head. Thankfully her situation is mild but I feel like things are looking up for us.

T minus 1 Day!

2010-09-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

In the morning I pack up and head down to Miami where I will fly across the Atlantic and be in Europe. To say I am excited is an understatement!!!! Oktoberfest is our destination! My husband and I along with 4 of our good friends will be celebrating the 200th Oktoberfest right in all the action. I am not even a beer drinker but this is the one beer event to end all beer drinking events. We will be spending several days enjoying the festivities and then we are off to Paris for several more days of being a tourist in a far away land. The one and only drawback is leaving my beautiful and fun-loving 23 month old daughter, Violet, behind for 10 days. I know she is in great hands with my parents a.k.a. Grams and Bear. She will have a blast with them. When I say goodbye tomorrow I will be a puddle of tears and I am in no way at all a crier. So of course my heart will ache for her. I hope to bring her some fun souvenirs and I have already promised to take her to Paris when she is 13. I will have a fun and exiting recap of my trip when I get back. I miss you already Violet!!! Mommy loves!!!

I am a LIBRARIAN!!!!!!!

2010-07-31T17:40:00.001-07:00

After 5 and a half long years I am finally a LIBRARIAN!!!! Part-time classes, late nights, lost weekends, research, web searches, books read for all ages and I am finally done. Despite what others think earning a Master's in Library and Information Science is no walk in the park. Lots and lots of research in and out of databases. I won't lie the classes for young adult and children's literature were pure fun. I will not miss writing papers at all. I guess that means I will never work in an academic library which is fine by me. I hope to one day work in a media center or public library with children. For now I am a stay at home librarian/mommy and I am loving every second of it.

I guess it is obvious that my daughter's book collection is pretty extensive for a 21 month old but thankfully she loves to be read too (especially right before bed every single night).

Libraries have always had a special place in my heart. Now to perfect my shushing voice!

I am not ready for a Toddler....

2010-07-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend my 20 month old daughter decided to climb out of her crib for the very first time. Which inevitably meant converting her crib over to her adorable toddler bed. The entire thing frightens me since she is not even close to sleeping through the night yet. She is still unable to soothe herself back to sleep despite trying every method out there, but that would be a whole other blog post. On night 2 of the big switch my husband put Violet to bed and left the room and shutting the door behind him. She ran after the door calling Daddy but moments later she was quiet. Fifteen minutes later I decided I just had to check on her (despite husband saying otherwise). When I enter her room she is sitting in the glider in the corner, holding her favorite stuffed animal, Brobee, with an empty bottle in her mouth that husband accidentally left on the nightstand, all while flipping through her Thomas the Tank Engine Board book. She just looked up at me as if to say "I was not ready for bed yet and if you will not read to me I will just have to do it myself." She does this with a room that is very very dark. She looked adorable. I walked her back to the crib and said she had to go to sleep. She cried and pointed at her book and I let her have it. She fell asleep holding the book. Every night this week she has fallen asleep with a book and Brobee. She definitely gets her love of books from me.

Side note: I never let her sleep in her bed with her bottle but that night I did not have the heart to take it. It was empty and she had taken it off the nightstand all by herself. I breastfed for 15 months and I never should have started the bottle but that will be a whole other issue in a few months to deal with.

Origins of a Blog

2010-06-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

The title of my blog is Wakeboarding Mama and up until this point I do not even think I have mentioned wakeboarding. It is just a sport my husband and I like to do with friends for fun and I felt every other mommy blog name was taken so I tried to be original. I have never been one to be very creative.

This past weekend was full of wakeboarding so I decided to post a picture of me and the hubby wakeboarding together. On July 2nd we will have been married for 5 years.

Down Here it is Hot Hot Hot

2010-06-15T10:14:00.001-07:00

I blinked and now Violet is 20 months old. Things have never been better around the house. V was not an easy baby so now that she can do some things on her own there seems to be more of a calm around the house. On the weekends we spend a lot of time in the water. We have been in the pool more times than I can count and we have been to the beach and boating on multiple occasions. Violet has started up her swim lessons again through Infant Swimming Resource. She is doing so well! Learning to swim to the wall to get herself out all on her own in case she ever fell in the pool. She does not even cry during lessons anymore although there is many "out" and "wall" being said so she can go to the wall and get out. ISR has taught over a hundred thousand swimmers and there have been no documented drownings from a student who graduated from their swim lessons. This is the number one reason I suggest them to anyone I know with a baby or toddler. Life saving skills are so important...especially here in Florida where there is water everywhere. I am an ISR swimming graduate from when I was a toddler and I feel right at home in the water. Even though Violet does not look forward to lessons each day I sure do. She also looks super cute in her little swimsuits.

Mommy blogging in the giveaway/freebie/coupon world has been going really well the last few months. Multiple $100 value wins and even a few gift certificates. I even got a shutterfly order of $116 for a penny, because apparently they tax you on $0. I had collected multiple freebie coupons, including a few giveaway win coupons and bravo, 5 packages of picture awesomeness. I even got Violet's 2nd Birthday invitations done because they were free....doesn't matter that they are done over 4 months early as long as it saves me some money. I just won a giveaway of a $60 giveaway to CSN stores and I am going to use it towards a super cute play kitchen for Violet for Christmas. I also won her a video game bike and she will be getting that for Christmas too. Combined with over 2 huge buckets worth of free stuff, including books, clothes, hats, toy blocks and more, that I have won her for when she gets a little older. Even my husband has been getting to reap my rewards since I won him a History Channel duffel bag full of history channel swag. He graduated from college with a degree and History and he just loves the History Channel. Which on a side note is the only channel that is not working on our TV right now.

Matt and I are currently trying to finish our planning for our big trip to Oktoberfest in September. Seriously how cool is it that we will be at the 200th anniversary of one of the most famous festivals in the world. We are planning on visiting another country besides Germany we just have to decide which one. The only thing booked is the hotel in Munich since you have to book practically a year in advance.

Looks like next year we will be doing a family vacation to Stone Mountain. It was always one of my favorite places to go as a kid and it is a fairly easy and cheap vacation. We try and do some planning in advance but next summer seams so far away.

My child fears no wave. Even after a huge wave knocked her over she just jumped up for more. She especially enjoyed jumping into the waves when they came up on the beach.

For her second birthday her Daddy and I will be taking her to her very first concert, Yo Gabba Gabba! She really loves it since there is a lot of singing and dancing. Daddy even splurged and we will be going VIP style so we get to meet the characters. It's Dancey Dance Time!

Scrubbing Down the Fort

2010-05-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

One of my major duties as a SAHM is cleaning. Thankfully I love cleaning. Not other's people's houses...only my own. I get satisfaction out of seeing the dirt inside the vacuum and the way everything looks so nice after I am done. That is why when I won a recent giveaway on A Mom Can Dream I got super excited. It was for a whole set of seventh generation cleaning supplies.

• Disinfecting Multi-Surface Spray
• Disinfecting Bathroom Spray
• Disinfecting Wipes
• Liquid Laundry Detergent
• Liquid Fabric Softener
• Dish liquid
• All- Purpose Cleaner Spray
• Dishwasher Pacs
• Glass Cleaner Spray
• Natural Paper Towels
• Seventh Generation Recycled Bag

I received the set and got right to work. The house was already picked up from the weekend and this allowed for me to work on the nitty gritty. I was a little skeptical using cleaning supplies that is supposed to be better for the environment but I have been pleasantly surprised. They cleaned great....no more grime. I especially liked the dish soap as it seemed to really get my dishes clean. My favorite part is the lack of harsh odors. I get migraines sometimes and they can often be triggered by harsh cleaning products. These products had such light smells that there were no headaches for me. I also like that the products are safe to use around my Princess Pooch and Baby Violet. I am an avid addict of Clorox wipes but with more use I may find myself permanently switching over to seventh generation.

Now if only my toddler who hates when I am doing anything but playing with her would give me more time to keep this castle clean.

I was offered nothing in exchange for this review. I won the products on another blog and was so pleased with the product that I decided to blog about it.

Summer is Right Around the Corner

2010-04-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

I know I have been slacking on posting lately but with Easter and the end of the semester looming I have been really busy.

I have won a few giveaways lately and I can't wait to receive them and share them with Violet. I am most excited about my recent win on Familylicous. I won Mary's Soft Dough from Terrapin Toys. Should be a fun activity for us to do one afternoon.

I will get back to blogging as soon as the semester is over. After the summer semester I will officially be a librarian!

Cookie Monster

2010-03-18T16:13:00.001-07:00

As a child I just LOVED watching Sesame Street. That and Reading Rainbow were my absolute favorites as a young child. As I got older I progressed to other masterpieces like DuckTales, DarkWing Duck and others that were part of the after school line up. Back to the good old street. My favorite character was and always will be Cookie Monster. I loved everything about him, the fact that he was blue, his googly eyes and of course his love for cookies!!! I have only recently started watching shows on television with my daughter and Sesame Street is one of them. I find that on the newer episodes Cookie Monster is not nearly as common...or so it seems. I guess this is because Elmo has become the new favorite and probably because moms across America didn't like a puppet conveying the message "eat tons of cookies!" Perhaps he should be eating celery??? I like it when they show some of the original episodes. Lo and behold they recently played my favorite song every...I Lost My Cookie at the Disco!!!!!! I have attached the video so you can be reminded of your youth and how awesome Cookie Monster is!!!!!!!!!!

Spring is Coming

2010-03-11T07:03:00.000-08:00

Since Easter is coming I decided to take Violet out back and take some pictures of her in her new tutu for an Easter card to send to friends and family. The pictures turned out pretty cute especially since it was so cloudy. I also find it almost scary how much she looks just like me. Some of my friends and family even joke that she is my "mini me." It is true that I was hoping to only have boys but she is showing me how much fun it is to have a little girl to dress up and play with. The morning this picture was shot she had found her hair ties on the floor and she brought them over to me and held out her hair on the side. She does not talk yet but I knew what she wanted and pigtails she got. Sooooo cute!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also in the background is my loveable pooch that would not stop making me throw the frisbee and she would not get out of the pictures. Silly pooch. I still got some great shots without Princess Peach in the background.

CSN Review

2010-03-11T06:12:00.001-08:00

I was recently introduced to CSN stores. They literally have thousands of quality items across their sites. CSN is a Boston based online retailer that has grown to become one of the top 3 online US retailers of home and office goods with over 200 online stores. Some of their stores include www.d iningroomsdirect.com, www.cookware.com, www.moremailboxes.com, and more!

Some of my favorite items are their super cute toddler beds! What child wouldn't want to sleep in one of these cute beds.

To top it all off all of the prices are super reasonable.

They offered me the chance to do a product review of one of their great children's toys and I jumped at the chance. My daughter's favorite time of the day is bath time so I decided to choose a new bath toy for her. It was so hard to choose just one thing because they had such a wide variety of stuff you can't find at your local toy store. I chose the octo-sorter bath toy.

She had a great time trying out her new toy. It never hurts that it was slightly educational and lately she just loves to sort shapes.

She would also work intently on it with her tongue sticking out which is what she does a lot lately. I personally think it is a cute little tongue.

It worked exactly as described and was colorful and lots of fun for my daughter. Her favorite part was the one tentacle that could squirt water. She just loves to splash around.

A huge thank you to CSN for allowing us to review one of their bath toys.

I would definitely recommend the company to anyone with online shopping needs....which is almost everyone.

Edited to add: After using it a couple more nights I discovered the numbers are out of order. They go 1,2,4,3,5. I do not know if it was a mistake with mine or if it is manufactured that way. Since the toy is also educational I would see this as a drawback to buying it.

Mom of the Year I am NOT

2010-03-05T10:01:00.000-08:00

So for the last few weeks Violet will wake up from a nap or in the middle of the night (no she is not sleeping through the night) and just scream bloody babe-let murder screams and there is nothing I have found that I can do to help her until she screams through it. Not everyday but probably every third day. I could not for the life of me figure out what was wrong with her. She has never been a good sleeper so her sleep patterns have never been "normal" to me. The other day I decided to feel around in her mouth to see if she was getting any new teeth since she had not gotten a new one since Thanksgiving. She has been living with the basic 8 for months. Well lo and behold she had 2 new teeth (not in order but scattered but this is normal for her). She also has a HUGE mound where a molar is coming through. All I could think is DUH MOMMY.....WHAT GOOD AM I????????? Of course she has been crying she has been teething like crazy. She woke up from her afternoon nap screaming and this time I notice her putting both her hands in her mouth while screaming. Poor thing was in pain. After a dose of Motrin things were back to normal. Just goes to show myself that I can read all the books and blogs in the world but I can still miss the obvious. I feel awful but I bought her some stuff from BabySteals to make up for it. And the Easter bunny is going to need a wheelbarrow to tote all the goodies she is getting.

CSN Websites

2010-03-01T06:36:00.000-08:00

With my daughter turning 16 months and the fact that she is a climber I have recently begun my search of toddler beds.. I have looked in stores but the selection is so incredibly limited. That is when someone showed me all the toddler beds available through CSN stores. WOW, the selection is amazing and the beds are super cute too. The only hard part is trying to pick out just one.

They also have so many different websites that there is literally something for everyone. The main CSN store has a wide array of stuff for children but my favorite website of theirs would have to be Toys and Games Online. They have a extensive selection of toys from baby up through the teen years. Heck I even want to play with most the stuff on their site.

Not into toys? That's cool too because they have tons more websites to choose from. There is the ever popular barstools website...with you guessed it everything barstool related! Mailboxes more your style? They have a website for that too. Check out their list of websites and look around. Go ahead browsing is free.

You can literally get lost on their website for hours. I know I was.

UPDATE: I lied my favorite of their websites has to be all the stuff they have for water sports! My friends and family are avid wakeboarders and tubers. That website has more tubes and water toy accessories than I have ever seen. They even have trainer skis for the little ones. I hope little Violet grows up with the love of water like we do.

Be on the lookout for a great product review courtesy of CSN coming soon!

Book Giveaways

2010-02-27T16:13:00.001-08:00

I probably win anywhere from 3-10 books a month depending on how much time I spend entering contests. At least 90% of the books I win are for adults...meaning the books are all mine!!! I find most of my book giveaways on West of Mars which is a site that tells you where all the good giveaways are located. I just love the layout of the site. The site gives you the book title, basic giveaway rules for the particular book and a link to the giveaway. So if you love to read and you love FREE books then go check it out. Now I only need my daughter to sleep through the night so I will have more time for my reading!

Name Your Tune: Review and Giveaway - WINNER

2010-02-26T15:36:00.001-08:00

I know I know....way late but the winner of the Personalized CD from Name Your Tune is:

Entry #6

Ch4ttyC4thy said...: It has to be "The More We Get Together". I remember singing that song in elementary school!

I have heard of these personal CDs before, and I thought "what a fun birthday gift!!" I just never really checked it out till now.

I will be sending Name Your Tune your contact information and they will contact you regarding your prize. Thanks for all that entered!

Old Granny Tales

2010-01-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

Everyone has heard of old wive's tales involving everything from how to get pregnant to how to get better from illnesses. My Granny is full of them and everytime she tells me a new one I usually drop my jaw because I am so shocked by the craziness of it all. I decided that I need to document some of her more crazy tales. A quick background of her is she is 83 years old, of relatively good health, on husband number four and the first three are dead and she grew up in the backwoods of central Florida, right down to the horse and buggy and outhouses. I love her dearly and I even named my daughter after her, Violet.

Whenever she spouts one of her Granny Tales it is always out of nowhere and rarely involves the topic of conversation. Thus making the tale that much funnier for those listening in. This one involves thrush in babies. I know first hand what thrush is as my daughter and I experienced it when she was 12 months old. Here is how this particular Granny Tale goes. To cure thrush in a baby all that has to be done is for a man that has never met his father has to blow in the child's mouth. The story is a relative of mine his father died when his mom was 6 months pregnant with him (in fact the father died at 21 years old). His whole life people everywhere had him travel great distances to blow in their sick child's mouth. It would cure them every time. If a person tried genetian violet (remedy used at the time and at times still is used as a homeopathic remedy) it would turn everything the liquid touched purple for days and clothes permanently. Instead mothers would search out this man in my family and have him cure their young. My Granny firmly believes in this remedy today and will fight you back if you mention science or absurd propaganda that it does not work. She will then go into detail about how people her whole young adult life would come up to her and tell her how (I believe her great-grandfather) he cured their children. She will tell you exact first and last names of those that told her it worked. She says it is not used much anymore since it is hard to find a man where his father died before he was born. She believes it so strongly which is what makes me chuckle.

Don't get me started on how she proved my daughter would be a girl before she was born.

For next time....how to cure warts...trust me this is the weirdest one yet!

Disclosure Policy

2010-01-25T12:48:00.000-08:00

This policy is valid from 25 January 2010

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Wakeboarding Mama.

This blog does not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Yo Gabba Gabba

2009-11-10T10:53:00.000-08:00

Violet has never been one for TV. She never glanced up at it in her first year of life. Starting a few weeks ago I would put on different TV shows for little ones (I don't care about the whole no TV till your 2 rule seeing as she literally watches a few minutes a day) to see if she was interested and finally I that I have found one she will watch....Yo Gabba Gabba of course. I mean she only watches for a few minutes and glances at it while she plays but I just love it when she moves her butt to to the music. We joke that she has a "groove thing." When she hears music she can't help it but to dance. I actually like the Yo Gabba Gabba shows because they are educational without being annoying. I especially like the music. I seriously catch myself singing them. I hope as Violet gets older she will watch more of DJ Lance. And to go with the theme here is a pic of Brad Pitt as DJ Lance for Halloween this year.

I think Yo Gabba Gabba has a music CD out. I should probably buy it for Violet for Christmas.

Name Your Tune: Review and Giveaway

2009-11-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

Name Your Tune: Review and Giveaway I am super excited about my first review and giveaway. It is a Name Your Tune personalized CD!!!!

With the love of music, arts, children and creativity, Candace Alper founded Name Your Tune. The award winning Name Your Tune is a compilation of many popular children's songs on one CD. What makes this CD special is that it is made to order with your child's name. Your child will hear their name more than 80 times while listening to this CD! Violet has very few things with her name on them since her name is not that common so it is a special treat for her to have something with not only her name on it but her name sung on the CD. We travel in the car a lot and as soon as we got the CD I was excited to try it out. What a fun CD! The songs were super catchy and I know it will be a CD that will be played in the car for many years to come.

Since the CDs are personalized upon receipt of your order (including a personalized label), you can include one, two or three names and they simply alternate the names among the list of songs. Although Violet can't really understand the songs yet she still loves the melodies on the CD and she hears and understands her name when it is sung in the songs. I just know that as she gets older she will love it even more. I can’t wait to hear her sing along with the CDs.
You can also get to personalize the label! It will have your child(ren)'s name(s) on it, along with a brief message. I had ours personalized to say

"Special Songs for You
Violet
Love, Mommy & Daddy."

These make absolutely wonderful gifts! They are so unique and fun, any kid of any age would just love this!

A huge thanks to Name Your Tune for offering this review and giveaway!
Buy It! Stop by Name Your Tune to find out how to purchase a personalized CD for the special child(ren) in your life! They also have other products including placemats and lunchboxes. Even better Name Your Tune has offered the coupon code, 'wakeboardingmama' for $5 off for your Name Your Tune CD order.

Win It! The very generous creator of Name Your Tune CDs has offered to give one personalized CD to one lucky reader!

To Enter: Simply visit Name Your Tune & pick your favorite song from their playlist, then come back and leave your pick in a comment. This is mandatory and must be done before any additional entries are done.

For additional entries:
--Follow my blog publicly (+2 entries)
--Write a blog post and link back to this contest on your blog (+2 entries)

RULES:
--An email address is required to enter. Please leave it in your comment, or make sure one is visible in your blogger profile. Write it out to avoid spam bots ex. (your email at gmail dot com) --Make sure to make a new comment for each entry.
--A winner will be chosen using random.org.
--The winner will be contacted via email and will have 72 hours to reply before a new winner is chosen.
--Open to US & Canada addresses.
--Ends on Wednesday 11/18/09 @ 11pm EST. Good Luck!!!

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!!!

2009-10-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

I will be hosting my first giveaway soon! Be on the lookout for your chance to learn about a great company and your chance to win a product of your very own . I am incredibly excited and I hope you are too!

1st Birthday Party Planning

2009-09-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

As a stay at home mom it takes very little to get me excited about things. One of those things is my daughter's 1st birthday that is coming up. Another thing that gets me excited is coupon and bargain shopping. Put them together and I am in heaven. Over the last few weeks I have been shopping around for the best deals and it looks like everything is coming together.

I got super cute invitations from Tiny Prints that I won for free from Mom Giveaways.

The party theme is (plates and cups):

and I searched high and low on the internet until I found the absolute best price.

For toddler entertainment I got a small indoor ball pit on clearance at WalMart:

and I got 250 extra balls for it from Toys R Us and I used a birthday coupon (sign up for the Toys R Us birthday club and they send a coupon for the child's birthday and they get a balloon at Toys R Us).

The day of the party I will be going to Sams and getting food for everybody (between 20-25 people but that includes kids). This is mainly a family and close friend event.

For Violet's birthday her Daddy and I got her a ride on Little Tikes Coupe:

And we got it brand new in the box for 50% off from T.J. Max.

And finally we got her a leap frog learning puppy:

We mainly got it because the dog's name is Violet and of course it was on sale. It looks cool too, apparently you can plug it into the computer and add songs and stuff so that your child can interact with it.

All that is left to do is order the birthday cake. I am so excited....my baby is not a baby anymore!

Breastfeeding in Public

2009-08-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

Water Baby

2009-07-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

Violet is just now finishing up on week 3 of swim lessons and I am super proud of my little girl. A better term would actually be swimming survival skills. Her lessons are through Infant Swimming Resource which is the same company that I learned to swim with 27 years ago. The founder of the swim technique taught me when I was just a baby. My mom had actually taken me to two other classes before she found ISR and she felt that the methods they were using were not teaching me anything. Then she found Dr. Barnett and ISR and she knew she had found the right method for us. Even though Violet is only 9 months old I knew I would not use any other way but ISR. I know this sounds like a paid endorsement but I have not received anything for this glowing review. I just feel it is important for every baby to learn how to float should the unthinkable happen. Violet is already floating on her own for a few seconds and over the next 3 weeks or so I know that her skills will get even better and in the end she will even be put in the pool fully clothed and she will roll to her back and float. Since we live in Florida we felt it was extra important since we are literally surrounded by water.

Big Titty Commitee

2009-07-08T06:06:00.000-07:00

So I will be going on a 3 day trip with my husband's firm without dear child. I will be wearing dress clothes and such so I have been shopping to find the perfect outfits. I also had to go and get a new non nursing bra. That was an adventure all by itself. I absolutely hate when the bra ladies try and help you with finding a bra so decided to go at it by myself like I always have. After having huge nursing boobies I kept picking bras with too small a cup size. I decided to let my guard down and have the sales woman help. She ended up being awesome and she even nursed her son for 4 years. I must have tried on ever single huge boobie bra in the whole store....which amounted to about 30. I ended up with 2 that fit good and should look good under my outfits. The grand total was a size......DDD. Ugh....thankfully the size G was too big.

Like mother like daughter.

2009-06-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

So Saturday my mom, baby Violet and I attended a family birthday party at a park in Lakeland. While I was there I breastfed V in the car in the same spot my mom breastfed me in many years ago. It is the only pic of my mom breastfeeding me and I let my mom take a picture of me in the same spot. I thought it was sweet.

Silence your phones and leave your baby at home!

2009-06-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

I got into some online arguments today about bringing babies to the movie theater (excluding children's movies). Seriously that is my biggest pet peeve on earth! If your baby cries even 2 seconds it has already disrupted my movie experience. Movies are expensive and I found a responsible sitter to watch my daughter and you should do the same. All it takes is one cry and a critical line in the movie can be missed. Coughing I can handle, people getting up to pee can get up all they want but please be considerate and leave your baby at home. It is loud and can not possibly be good for their hearing anyway. The only little kids that should be in a movie should be sour patch.

My nipple is not a teether!

2009-06-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

So V is now 8 months old. Sometimes I still think it is weird to think of myself as "mom." But Mom I am. This also marks 8 months of breastfeeding and let me say that I NEVER thought I would last that long. I have officially surpassed any other member of my family in terms of breastfeeding the longest. When I was pregnant I would say I hope to breastfeed to 6 months but we shall see what happens. The more I read and researched the more I realized that 6 months was not enough and my ultimate goal is to make it to 12 months. I do look forward to my boobs being "mine" again. V got her first tooth on June 3rd and proceeded to bite down on my nipple. It even left a tooth mark...yikes! Hopefully the rest of her teeth will come in slowly so that I can finish up my breastfeeding goal.

At the end of next month I will be going on my husband's firm retreat and I will be away from her for 2 nights. I do not look forward to it. We are not ready. V still takes naps on my shoulder and spends half the night sleeping in bed with me while nursing. Agh....must not stress as a weekend away from daughter should be a stress free relaxing time. I have noticed that she nurses a lot less than she use to and she no longer nurses for comfort during the day. If she is not hungry than she does not want boob. All bets are off at night though and all she can think about is BOOB!

When she is finally weaned I want a nice cold bud light. I do miss social drinking at gatherings. One thing I do have to look forward to is college football!!!! Go Gators! I know that has nothing to do with what I was talking about but it is my blog and I will send out random shoutouts to my school if I want to :)

Rubber Ducky Your The One

2009-05-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

What is sad is the fact I have at least 40 more rubber duckies that are not in the picture. I hope to take a pic of her with all the rubber duckies she owns one day this summer. Needless to say her bathroom is completely done in ducks.

Breast is Always Best

2009-05-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

"Suess" for Nursing Mothers
from The Compleat Mother Magazine

Mother's milk is just the thing!

Would you nurse her at the park?
Would you nurse him in the dark?
Would you nurse him with a Boppy?
And when your boobs are feeling floppy?
I would nurse him in the park,
I would nurse her in the dark.
I'd nurse with or without a Boppy.
Floppy boobs will never stop me.

Can you nurse
with your seat belt on?
Can you nurse from dusk till dawn?
Though she may pinch me, bite me, pull,
I will nurse her 'till she's full!

Can you nurse and make some soup?
Can you nurse and feed the group?
It makes her healthy strong and smart,
Mommy's milk is the best start!

Would you nurse him at the game?
Would you nurse her in the rain?
In front of those who dare to complain?
I would nurse him at the game.
I would nurse her in the rain.

As for those who protest lactation,
I have a perfect explanation.
Mommy milk is tailor made
It's perfect food, you need no aid.

Some may scoff and some may wriggle,
Avert their eyes or even giggle.
To those who can be cruel and rude,
Remind them breast's the perfect food!

I would never scoff or giggle,
Roll my eyes or even wiggle!
I would not be so crass or crude,
I KNOW that this milk's the perfect food!

We make the right amount we need,
The perfect temp for every feed.
There's no compare to milk from breast-
The perfect food, above the rest. Thos nursing smiles are oh so sweet,
Mommy milk is such a treat.

Human milk just can't be beat. I will nurse, in any case,
On the street or in your face.
I will not let my baby cry,
I'll meet her needs, I'll always try.
It's not about what's good for you,

It's best for babies, through and through. I will nurse her in my home,
I will nurse her when I roam.
Leave me be lads, leave me be ma'am.
I will nurse her, Mom I am.

Hobby Turned Obsession?????

2009-04-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

My other motive for starting this blog was to continue my hobby/obsession for freebies. For the last three years I have in my spare time at work entered contests and signed up for freebies. My biggest wins have been a free year of Netflix, 3 ipod shuffles (I returned 2 for a nano though) and some $100 leather shoes I won for my husband. As for freebies I get anywhere from 10-20 magazines in the mail a month, and tons and tons of small samples of deodorant, toothpaste and such. I also belong to a company where I test products for them and afterwards I get to keep the product. Finally, I belong to a survey company where I get paid $3 a survey and I usually get to do around 2 a month. It adds up though because I have bough stuff for V’s nursery using the money.

Since becoming a stay at home mom I have found more time to devote to my hobby and I recently uncovered mommy blogs. Many have giveaways for free stuff. They blog about a product/company and you go to the company website then comment back on the original blog post describing an item you saw to prove you went to the website. I love checking out the websites because it tells me about products and cute items revolving kids/babies. I usually enter these contests while V is boob feeding. Maybe 2 hours a day tops. So far I have won somewhere around 16 contests and I have only done this for maybe 2 months.

My loot thusfar:
A organic newborn outfit for a boy (will make a great gift)
$50 gift certificate to tinyprints.com (where I will make V’s first birthday invitations)
Around 10 different books
A huge box of organic cleaning supplies (stuff I had wanted to try anyways)
Pillow
New kind of toothbrush
Super cute pink hair clips for V
A toy watch
2 baby/children’s CDs
Napkins
Toy wrangler (too keep V’s toys from falling out of the stroller)

Back to my original point. I started this blog because if you post a button for the blog on your blog some contests then give you an extra entry. Therefore on this blog I will have a blogroll of my favorite blogs (that offer giveaways).

No Food and Drink Allowed

2009-04-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

So today after 6 months in my new town I finally have my library card. As a future library professional this is very exciting for me. It is a smaller library than what I am use to. Coming from Orlando and their massive downtown library it is very strange to see such a small library and small book selection. I will make do and as soon as Violet reaches 18 months I will have her there weekly for toddler time. I am seriously excited to share my passion of books to my offspring.

I also experienced my first session of nursing in public. I picked the back corner of the library put a blanket over her and let her get some lunch. I got a few double takes from some library patrons but it was more painless than I thought it would be. My mother was with me and reached out to the nearest shelf and pulled a book off so we would have something to do while she ate and it was a giant history/picture book of my college (UF). We laughed at the odds of that happening. We also laughed at the no food or drink allowed in the library rule. Should I have checked my boobs at the door?

Population Control

2009-04-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

One sure fire way to ensure that my dedicated bachelor brother never has children is to inform him that diapers do not always contain poop.

Six Months!

2009-04-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

Today my baby turns 6 months old. For a birthday treat she got 3 vaccinations, poor baby. I did nurse her immediately after to help take the edge off. Now to the stats. She is 90th percentile for length and 50th for length. My baby is growing right before my eyes. Although she can't sit up or crawl yet she melts my heart with every toothless smile. Poor baby is a little extra tired from the shots so she gets lots of extra boobie today. Rest up little Violet, the next 6 months will bring so much more for you.

UPDATE: All day I have had a very tired and cranky baby. Shots do not a happy baby make.

First Time Mom, First Time Baby Blogging

2009-04-11T08:22:00.001-07:00

I decided with a new baby comes a new blog. One to talk about the craziness that is raising a child. From cute toothless smiles to explosive poop I feel the need to share these stories with others. It could be nice for moms to know they aren't the only ones out there for these things to happen to and for those without children these stories could be a WARNING. Enjoy.