It hasn't stopped!

Apparently the water at my school is still magic pregnancy water. I thought everyone that wanted to/could have kids got pregnant last year. You would think that 9 babies in a year would be enough, but noooooooooo. There are two more already this year! One of them is the teacher that teaches next door to me. We were pregnant together LAST YEAR! Her baby was born in February and now she's pregnant again and due in April. YIKES I say. Although she wanted them very close together, so she's happy with it.
Anyone out there want me to send them some water? ;) I personally am avoiding it. I don't want to miss a minute of time with my little one.

One year ago today

I woke up, peed on a stick, and my whole life changed. I went from being an infertile woman, trying and trying and trying for a baby, only to have my heart broken each month, to a pregnant woman. The fears and joys that came along with the journey changed me forever. I still think about the baby we lost every night. I whisper to Bridget as I put her down "Goodnight sweet baby. You're safe and happy. The angels will watch over you and I'll see you in the morning when the sun wakes up." I picture all the sweet lost babies of friends in the PL/IF world looking in on her and making sure she's ok. Especially her little lost sibling. It brings some peace to my heart. And it makes me so thankful to have this sweet little baby in my life. I couldn't ask for anything more.

New and improved

Well, upgraded at least. Mike got together with my mom and his mom and got me a new laptop! Hooray!!!! No more problems charging the battery, suddenly quitting and losing everything. No more fear of things getting lost and not being found again. I love it! So, I should be able to post again on a regular basis. I'll shoot for October being my month to post every day. ::fingers crossed:: that nothing happens.

We're good to go

**I apologize in advance for the TMI nature of this post. Feel free to skip to the next set of stars if you don't want to read about my girly stuff**

So, I am officially using birth control again. This is extremely weird as I haven't taken any birth control since before I got married. I stopped taking my pills about 3 month before we got married and never started them again. We used condoms for the first year and then started trying for a baby. So there has been no form of birth control used in this family for more than two years! And yet there's only one Bridget. That's what IF will do to ya folks.

Anywho, on to the BC. I react VERY badly to the pill. The adjustment to the hormones is truly frightening. I turn into an absolute monster and cannot control my emotions. I yell and scream at Mike for the tiniest things (ex: squeezing the toothpaste from the middle) and I cannot stop myself. For this reason, neither one of us was too keen on me going on the pill again. Everyone says that breastfeeding is a natural form of BC. Well, that may be true but I just can't trust it. Especially since I'm not exclusively breastfeeding. I definitely don't want an "oops" baby.

With all of this in mind, I talked to the doctor and we decided on Mir.ena. I really like the fact that it will last for 5 years and I don't have to remember anything (except to get it removed in five years!) There's no hormone adjustment period and the side effects are pretty mild (some cramping and bleeding for a bit.) It took about 2 minutes to "install" (although I waited for an hour and half past my appointment time to be seen but that's another story). And now, I'm all set. No more babies here!

Which again, is a strange thing. For so long, all that consumed every thought was getting pregnant. The timing, the CBEFM, the peeing on sticks, the disappointment, etc... And now I'm back to being a "normal" person who actually worries about sex leading to a baby. ::eye roll::

**It's safe now**

Look at the cute Bridget in her swing!


:)

The damn dog!

Ate my pants! Both of the pairs of maternity pants that I've been wearing are now chewed and unwearable. Arg!!!

A quicky

Quick post before bed.

So our new schedule starts tomorrow. I've gotten so used to driving with Mike in the morning its going to be weird to be without him. I enjoy our bit of time together. I also enjoy not having to drive in traffic. I really don't enjoy driving all that often so Mike always drives to and from work (and pretty much any other time we're in the car together). Now I have to drive alone. Boohiss!

I have to drop Bridget off alone too. No more kisses from Daddy in the mornings at daycare. :( She'll still have Mommy though.

Anyway, it's late and I have to get up in the A.M. 'night all!

What a difference a year makes

I was thinking this morning that last year on this day I was peeing on another stupid CBEFM stick and started jumping for joy when it FINALLY gave me a peak. Yes ladies and gent (I believe there's only one of you reading this), last year little eggy Bridget was released to make the trek down to her squishy little 9 month home inside of me.

And now look at her. Playing outside in this big wide world!

La la la la laaaaaaaaa!

We went to a Music Together baby class this morning and had so much fun! We danced and sang and played with instruments. Bridget loved the maracas and kept using it like a little microphone. It was too cute. And now we'll be going to baby music class every Saturday and I'm so excited.

Then we got to go have sushi for the first time since, well, about this time last year. Yaaaaaay! Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Screaming orgasm. Just what everyone needs on their birthday. Hahah!

Enjoying my spicy crab hand roll. Mmmmmmmm. Seriously, so happy to have sushi again!

It was a great birthday. I can't remember one I have enjoyed so much. Here's to hoping for a great upcoming year!

New beginnings

**Sorry I missed posting yesterday. I was so trying to post every day this month. Leave it to fate to screw with my plans. My laptop decided to die. I think Mike has revived it for a short time but if I go missing again, my laptop is probably dead beyond repair.**

BIG NEWS!! After more than a year of working at a job he HATED, Mike's last day of work was today. He starts his new job on Monday and both of us are really looking forward to it. Not only will it be a much less stressful job, it will be better pay and a reliable paycheck.

Up to now, he's been working in a small business with very few employees and things have just gotten worse and worse in the three years he's been there. Mike finally got fed up enough and seriously started looking for a new job when he walked into work 5 months ago and they announced that they were cutting everyone's pay by 20%. Yeah. We're just going to take away a day worth of pay each week. Because don't you know that that's just what everyone can handle right now? And it was especially great timing for us being that we were saving up because there was a baby coming. ::sigh:: Then for the past 2 months, payroll hasn't gone through. Which leads to us overdrawing our account and fees and bounced checks and all sorts of other badness. BooHiss!

But now, things will be better! His new job is with the county, so he'll be getting government benefits and he'll only be doing the job of ONE person (where before he had about 5 job descriptions). I'm hoping that this will lead to a but less stressed household around here.

Plus, we just got his truck fixed. It's been down for almost 10 months. It's going to be interesting getting used to having two cars again. What will I do with myself in the mornings now that I won't have to rush around to get him to work in time? I have a few great ideas. Many involve sleeping (which is probably wishful thinking since there's a little person called Bridget :)). They will probably include spending some quality smiley time with my Bridgey in the morning and watching the news again while feeding her.

I have a huge smile just thinking about all of this. ::Warm fuzzies:: Now off to bed. Fresh bamboo sheets call my name (that's a whole other post right there).

Magical mysical powers!

Apparently breastmilk has them. Bridget has had dry patches of skin on her cheeks for weeks now. It feels like excema (I know because I have it). Anyways, I talked to her pedi who gave me the completely useless information of "No lotions on babies under 6 months." Well thanks dude, that helps a lot.

So, I headed to the local crunchy mama store to look for homeopathic remedies or other ideas that could help. The lady at the store asked, "Have you tried breastmilk?" What? Breastmilk? "Umm, what do I do with it? She drinks it but that's about it." She said to squeeze a little out and put it on the rashy spot. Thinking to myself "well, it can't hurt" I went home and tried it. Lo and behold, within a day all traces of the dry spots were gone. Gone I tell you!

"Look Mommy. No Bumps!" Yaaay baby!

Amazing stuff this breastmilk.

What about the rest of the year?

I have 4 different spelling groups in my class. They are differentiated by color. When I was telling students which groups they were in today, I announced that T was in my pink group. He quickly stated:

"You're my March enemy!"

Hahahahahahaha!

Several students caught it and corrected him. I swear, the kids this year have great personalities!

My thighs are lifesavers!

Apparently. According to this, my thighs are keeping me from dying of heart disease and a horrible premature death. Thank god for one good thing about being fat.

So there you go ladies. Smile and be happy about your thighs for a minute or so. You're welcome.

She's growing so fast!

Well, today my baby is 3 months old. It's gone by so quickly. I'm sad to see it fly by, but I'm so happy to watch her grow. It's such a strange feeling. Bridget is meeting all of her milestones at the right times. Her newest tricks are blowing spit bubbles, rolling onto her side (and occasionally rolling all the way from her tummy to her back), and gripping things. The last one being her favorite at the moment.

We went out today and got her some new toys. She can have the 3+ month toys now. Hahhaa! So we picked up a few different rattles and such so try to get her interest. Her favorite is the O Ball (I think that's what it's called). Anyways, it's light and easy to grip and she had a blast with it on the floor today. Witness the gripping!

Yes, she has wrist rattles on too. :) I told you we rattled it up today.

And of course we had to take her 3 month photos. We chose a new location this month and I think we'll take all our pictures here from now on. I like the background better and Bridget can sit up on her own against the cushions. Oh my gosh, she's sitting!



Happy 3 months baby! I'm so happy you're mine. I can't picture my life without you in it.

I'm a party girl!

Ok, I'm ready. Mom bought a new bow for my hair and everything (happy Rach? lol) Where's the party girl?

Today was one of my best friend's 30th birthday. One of her other really good friends and her husband planned a surprise party for her. So, we all got dressed up and headed down to dinner to surprise her. And it was a success! She was so surprised she was crying. Hooray! We had a great time and some pretty good pizza. Yum!

Happy birthday Jamie!

You must be this chubby...

...to wear cloth diapers! Yes, Bridget FINALLY fits into the cloth diapers we bought. I am soooo excited! FLUFFY BUTT!!!

Worst.Morning.Ever.

Ugh.
Started out with a happy, smiley baby that just wanted to be held. She was cooing and smiling and kicking her little legs in happiness. Then I had to put her in her car seat and drive her to the sitter. She just screamed her little lungs out the whole time. This makes for a very sad mommy.

We left the sitter (Mike and I drive together) and got pulled over for "speeding." It's a completely BS ticket and Mike and I are planning to fight it. We were keeping up with traffic AND going the speed limit. In fact, when I called my mom and told her our speed and location, her first words were, "Oh, you got pulled over for going too slow?" Umm, nope. "Were you in a construction zone?" Nope, just an asshole cop.

So we leave that ordeal and continue driving to work (for which Mike is already 20 minutes late). Mike drops me off and I walk to unlock the gate to go into my classroom. OH CRAP! Where is my purse?! I turn to watch it driving off on the top of the car. I'm frantically waving and screaming, hoping Mike will see me. I'm running as fast as possible to catch him while carrying my breast pump bag, my school books, my lunch bag, AND wearing a dress. Lovely.

Sadly, I did not catch him and as I'm walking to the freeway (hoping that it may have fallen off as her turned the corner) I start crying. My camera is in there. My keys are in there. My ID is there. My phone is there. How in the hell am I going to replace all of that? Alas, the purse did not fall off before Mike got on the freeway.

I walked back to school and into the office to call Mike and see if MAYBE it had stayed on the car all through his drive to work. As soon as my principal saw me, she asked what was wrong. I explained though sobs and she dialed Mike's cell for me. Mike answered the phone with "yes." OH THANK GOD! Apparently, he saw and heard it fall off on the freeway and stopped to get it. Yes, people, he stopped to get it. On the freeway. In 7:30 traffic. Thanks be to whoever was watching out for him that he didn't get hit by a car.

He drove back to my work and gave me my purse. Everything was just fine. You would never know it had been on such an adventure. Then, he went to work 40 minutes late. Fabulous.
From that point on, the day was normal if not pretty good. But seriously, I don't think I can handle another day like that for a very long time. No one should have to. ::sigh::

Now I will end my day by giving a smiling Bridget a bath, swaddle her, and send her off to sleepytime. A good ending to a perfectly crappy morning. G'night all.

Are you ready for some?

Today we were discussing seasons. Students were thinking of which one was their favorite and why. Since I've had problems with kids not knowing their seasons, I wanted to clarify what the seasons were. Especially for my non-english speakers. Here's how the conversation went in my classroom...

Me: Ok, who can name one of the seasons?

Student 1: Fall.

Student 2: Snow. (Ummm, that's a type of weather. Let's try again.)

Me: What season were you just out of school for?

Several students: Summer!

Me: OK, so we have Summer and Fall. What's another?

Student 3: FOOTBALL season!

Bwahahahahaha! I couldn't help but laugh.