Monday, July 25

Our regularly scheduled programming
If there is one thing certain about the hours of approximately 2-5 a.m.: there is not jack on television. Unless you count the episode of Celebrity Fit Club 2 that I've already seen twice this week, and it premiered last night. Oh, and Girls Gone Wild commercials.

Dad just took the baby out for a ride in the stroller. He figured I could use a break, as today was my first day on my own at home. It went fairly well, actually. I even squeezed in a two-hour nap.

But I am wearing jeans that have TWO fresh pee stains on them. I figure, why bother to change them?

I'll leave you with a couple of pics before I am summoned to open the Milk Factory for business once more...

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Yes, I am a long, long way from MILF status.

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And our first family photo. He has on the cutest outfit EVAH in this picture but you can't see it.

Saturday, July 23

When Domino met Daniel ...
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Greetings from the Land of Little Sleep. The first night home from the hospital was the easiest, by far. We had a few three-hour stretches where everyone snoozed. Night two was the night of peeing and pooping. We had to wash our sheets, down to the mattress pad -- twice -- during the night. I had been feeding him in bed and he'd let loose during feedings. Smaller diapers were promptly purchased the next day, as he is too tiny for even size 1.

Last night he was ready to par-tay all night! We didn't get to bed until after 3, then woke up at 4, 5:30, 7, 8, and then we slept until 11. He just now went back to sleep.

Overall he is a joy, though, I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. He is really starting to take shape... his hair is growing, his skin is becoming less wrinkly, and his little cheeks are actually becoming a little bit pudgy! He looks less like Verne Troyer and more like a miniature version of my husband. People are telling me that he has my eyes, but I just see my hubby when I look at him. Except his toes. He definitely has my toes.

The cats are adjusting pretty well to him. They both come and stand guard when he is crying. Both have been sleeping near the bassinet at night. Molly came up on the bed and gave his little head a kiss; Dom has been much more tentative (see above). But I think they both realize that their new role in this household is as protectors.

While I have a moment of free time, I think I'll go see who Kaysar nominated!

More to follow in baby land...

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Wednesday, July 20

Daniel, you're a star
Meet the artist formerly known as Doodle.

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Daniel Evan was born Monday July 18, at 7:06 p.m. He weighed in at 6 pounds, 9 oz, and is 21 inches long. I was expecting him to be much larger but he is really quite a wisp! He has long skinny arms and legs.

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I must sing my praises to the epidural. Without it I don't think I could have done it. I had horrible back labor for the first few hours and once the epidural went in, I felt nothing, not even the pushing at the end.

We're home from the hospital and trying to get adjusted. I'll post more soon but I wanted to let everyone know that we're here, healthy and happy!

Friday, July 15

The end is near
I'm scheduled to be induced on Monday morning. I went to the doctor today and it seems that this baby doesn't want to be born anytime soon, at least not without some assistance. They don't want him to get too big.

I'll need all kinds of good vibes being sent my way on Monday so please keep me in your thoughts! Hopefully I'll be back with you next week to share my good news. :)

Take care everyone!

Thursday, July 14

Past due
This is CLEARLY my husband's fault.

I abhor procrastination. I have never been late to an appointment, never turned in a term paper late, never waited until the last minute to do something.

If you give me a deadline, I will make sure that I am two days early. Or if it's due at 5, you'll have it from me at noon. That is how much of an anti-crastinator I am.

So obviously this baby does not take after his mom when it comes to due dates. If he thinks he's not going to be reminded of this constantly throughout his life, he is sadly mistaken.

Wednesday, July 13

Zoinks!
I just went over to Hamster Time and there are SEVENTY-TWO pages of recaps. I think I last left off around, oh, I don't know, page 5?

There's no way I am ever going to be able to catch up.

Can some kind soul please tell me the essentials of this past week? E.g. who should I be hating, who is likely getting voted off, who has had meltdowns, etc.?

Tuesday, July 12

Boob
I just used the phrase "above the boobline" in a business conversation. As in, "You want me to crop your photo above the boobline?"

The only reason I phrased it so bluntly is because the client I had on the phone said, "Can you crop it so it doesn't look like my boobs go down to my stomach?"

I feel so ashamed of myself.

Monday, July 11

Lunch trauma
When your days of freedom are numbered and you've been on a restricted diet for six months, lunchtime at work tends to be a cherished event.

Today for me was no exception. I had leftover eggplant parmesan from the Macaroni Grill, where I dined Saturday night. The eggplant was awesome and I was looking forward to eating the rest of it today. (By the way -- a co-worker told me that eggplant induces labor. After eating it three times in the past week, I can say with certainty, IT DOESN'T.)

I heat up my lunch in the microwave and take the first bite. Hmm, I think. This seems a little bit chewier than I remember it. Maybe I over-nuked it. I take another bite and realize... it's freaking VEAL!

I don't eat veal. It skeeves me in the same way that eggs skeeve me. I can eat eggs as long as I don't think about what they really are. But veal, it's too hard for me to swallow, literally and figuratively.

So I enjoyed a delicious 6" turkey sub from Subway. A sketchy guy with huge cuts on his lip made it for me though. If I hadn't already been desperate, I may have refused to eat that, as well.

Then I found out that about five minutes after I left the kitchen to go to Subway, another department brought up four huge trays of subs, salads and cookies that were left over from some seminar they had.

It's just not my day, I guess. Not where food is concerned, anyway.

Sunday, July 10

Surreal
I'm getting ready to watch the premiere of the new season of "The Surreal Life" on Vh-1. I just want to say that the only reason I'm watching is because Balki Bartokomus is going to be on. Oh, and Omarosa, I guess. Really, this show hasn't been good since season one.
Just a couple of pictures ...
First of all, pregnant me, fresh out of the shower and looking lovely... this is from a couple weeks ago.
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And Uncle Dom awaits the arrival by making sure the changing table pad is nice and soft. He wouldn't let me practice swaddling him, though. The teddy bear pictured was a gift from the receptionist at work. Isn't it cute?

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Thursday, July 7

The tide has turned
I'm still babyless with one week to go. A curious phenomenon has occured at work: instead of everyone asking, "Oh, when are you due?" they are all asking, "You're still here?!?"

I can't even tell you how many times I said, "Yep, still here," today. I changed it up ever so often with a "Still hangin' in there."

In a shocking turn of events, Bad Lady got Doodle a gift. I guess there is some good in her sometimes.

Tuesday, July 5

Progress report
No baby yet. In fact, maybe not even this week. I saw a different doctor this morning and he wasn't as gung ho about inducing labor as last week's doc. So they are going to let me go and see what happens. I'm kind of disappointed, mostly because that means I'll have to be at work all week. And plus I had built up Thursday as the day when this would all finally be over, and when I would cease to be myself and instead become SOMEONE'S MOM. But for now, I'm hanging in there, so to speak.

Hope everyone had a fantastic fourth! I had a good one, despite the fact that my poor little Dom hid under the bed for most of it. My neighbors, they like the illegal firecrackers.

Friday, July 1

Adventures on the Ohio Turnpike
Part of the peril of driving home from work on the Ohio Turnpike during the summer is that my exit also happens to be the exit for a major outdoor concert venue. Throughout the summer, I am treated to an extra half hour to an hour of drive time home whenever a concert rolls into town.

Last night, I spent about 45 minutes trying to exit the turnpike with several hundred Tom Petty/Black Crowes fans. I didn't know what concert it was until I got home and checked the newspaper to find out what gene pool had driven from Cleveland to get to my little neck of the woods, but I usually like to guess. Last night's crowd was 20 something, frat boy-esque, and also had lots of 20 something blonde chicks in tight shirts and jeans. It was, frankly, a crapshoot. I was leaning toward a blah, innocuous-type pop band such as Three Doors Down. If I see frat boys in tye-die, I know it's either Dave Matthews or some sort of Phishlike band. If I see pickups, Confederate flags and W stickers, I know it's a country performer.

Anyway, in my 45 minute wait on the turnpike ramp, I must have seen about 15 frat boys get out of their cars to pee by the side of the road. They'd all do the same thing. They'd jump out and run about 50 yards closer to the exit ramp, then divert into the woods -- barely. There would be a row of peeing boys all along the side of the road. Then they'd zip up and run back to their car, which by this time had just about caught up with them. In my pregnant, constantly-peeing state, I was hurting, but not desperate enough for a road pee.

My greatest moment of humor was pulling up to the tool booth, where one of my usual booth workers, who I like to refer to as "Mr. Friendly," was collecting. In the adjacent booth, a large bus, painted black and full of 20 somethings, had pulled up. They were blasting some old Poison song and singing along. Mr. Friendly, who in the four years that I have been driving home on the turnpike has maybe grunted out two words to me, gave me a look of "can you believe this?" I really feel like we bonded.
Dear Canada,
Thank you very much for Michael J. Fox and the Barenaked Ladies and ... some other stuff.
Happy Canada Day everyone!

Love,
Kat

P.S. Sorry about hockey season this year.