We love you, Conrad!

This picture above will explain my absence from the blog world.  For the past three weeks, I've been stage managing the senior summer camp show.  This year, we're doing Bye Bye, Birdie. It's been a lot of fun and very hectic.  Maged was in Morocco for most of it, which meant River was with a sitter.  I got food poisoning why he was gone.  THAT was a blast.  Anyhoo, on top of stage managing, I'm also on the technical staff which means I've also been doing tons of painting.  I just realized none of my painting is in this picture.  Of well.  Just believe me.  This pic was taken during our first and only music rehearsal on Thursday.  Musicians practice the music and the rest of us scurry to finish the set.  This was the first out of two 13 hour days.  We close the show today, so....more blogging later!

And now, to shower.





Does anyone even read this?

WHY IS IT SO HOT?

What a busy week we've had!  My brother came into town at the end of June from Dallas.  This was his first time meeting River, and he is so smitten with her!  I've really enjoyed having him here. 

Last weekend, our AC was out, so we spend a lot of time being cranky and leaving the apartment whenever we could.
On the 3rd, my nephew, Easton, and best friend, Staci, both came into town.  We all stayed at my mom's house, and it was a bit hectic.  We didn't even do much, just having all those personalities in one house was crazy.  We had a low key cookout on the fourth.  I think fireworks would have scared the pants off of River, so we'll have to wait until next year to take her.

Maged left for Morocco on Thursday, the 5th.  Morocco, you say? YES!  Maged was lucky (and talented) enough to be cast in The Eiffel Tower Wedding Party, by Jean Cocteau, at the university.  They are competing in the International Theatre Festival in Casablanca, and they'll be there for two weeks.  We downloaded this app called Tango to use to video chat.  The wifi connection isn't too great, but it's still nice to see his face, and I love watching River and him smile at each other.  Heart melt. 

On Friday, my mom, Bob, Stephen, Easton, Staci, River and I all went to the outlets.  It was hot.  Really hot.  The weatherman lied to me and said it was going to be cloudy, windy and possible rainy.  It was none of those things.  I wore jeans instead of my pretty dress.  I was mad.  The End.

Saturday I had to work.  It was casting for the senior camp show, Bye Bye, Birdie.  It went well, but it was a long day.  I stayed in that night to work on my stage managing book....and catch up on some Supernatural.

Sunday was a day for more shopping.  River was not so happy to cooperate this time, but we got it done.  My brother took her into Spencer's to look for Batman things.  She say Broby from Yo Gabba Gabba, smiled SO big, pulled him off the shelf and snuggled him.  How could Steve say no to that?  Uncle Stephen bought Broby for her, and they have been inseparable ever since. Above, you can see Broby and River telling each other jokes in the backseat.

River has been at my mom's (without me) since Sunday, and I miss her terribly. I pick her up Wednesday morning, and it cannot come soon enough. 

I'm going to write everything that's been going through my head today.

Topic One: Tattoos.
I love tattoos.  I already have five of them and I plan to get more.  I've been wanting something on my mid-upper thigh for quite some time.  I'm ready for something big, and that's where I want my first big one. River turned ONE YEAR OLD on Monday (more on that later) and I want to get something for her Her birth flower is a rose, so I think I would like to get that. In my quest for the perfect genre for my rose tattoo, I googled "Americana roses" and "watercolor roses" (very different, I know, but I was that torn).  Then I saw some work by Peter Aurisch and fell in love.  Love.

 To me, it's a great blend of the two styles I was looking at. The problem is, Peter Aurisch is in Berlin and I am not.  So I'll have to find an artist in the Atlanta area that can do work like this.  I already have a few in mind.  It'll be a few months before I can afford to do this, but hopefully when the time comes, I'll have an artist in mind.  I'm so excited about it already.




Topic Two: Dresses, and clothes in general.
I've never been very good at putting together super cute outfits.  But when I do, I feel absolutely amazing and just want to frolic!  This is mostly due to the fact that I'm always broke.  I also tend to get over whelmed when I go shopping and take much longer than needed.  Having a baby makes shopping even harder because my attention is always being drawn elsewhere....like to my cute baby.  I did manage to put together a cute outfit for River's first birthday party.  I'll have to take a picture without a baby attached to me so you can get a good look.  I wore a hot pink sleeveless blouse from H&M, trouser shorts from Target and blue strappy sandals from Target.
I've also been spending a lot of time drooling over everything on modcloth.com.  I've only owned one thing from the website, and it's long gone.  My most recent desire is the Kiss and Tell Dress in Neon Yellow.  It looks so fun and like it would be flattering for my body shape.  The only problem I see is the bra issue.  How am I supposed to wear a bra with this beautiful back? PS- Braless is not an option for me. Ever. 


Topic Three: River!

River has been a complete joy to have in my life.  I cannot believe she is already one year old.  This picture was taken on Monday (her birthday).  She was so happy to not be sick anymore!  Sunday was her birthday party and she was running a fever of 101.5 all day. This was her first fever, and let me tell you, she was absolutely miserable.  When her Tylenol would wear off, she would do this pitiful cry like when she gets her shots. It broke my heart.  She seemed to feel a little better before her party, so we didn't cancel, but she was so hot and tired and cranky.  You could tell she wanted to play with her friends, but just didn't feel up to it.  She wouldn't even touch her cake, but that didn't surprise me because she didn't want anything to do with cake for her photo shoot either.  I can't really complain about that.  She's walking (like a drunk Irish man) and drinking from sippy cups, and soon, she'ss be driving a car and hating my guts.... Until then, I'm going to cherish every single snuggle and wiggly diaper change and everything in between.

That's enough for now.  Good night.

hello again

It's been a while.

I've decided I want to start blogging again, but about everything in my life, not just a baby.  Although, I'm sure that'll still be the major topic of discussion. I'm hoping to blog at least once a week!

So stay tuned for a post with substance.  For now, I'm off to work.

River's Birth Story

It dawned on me today that I never shared my birth story on WTE or documented it anywhere.  So, here goes.

June 24, 2011, a Friday.  My husband had the day off of work and no class, so he was sleeping in.  I decided to go grocery shopping, so I got dressed and headed out.  Around 12:30, I noticed I was getting lower back pains that would come and go.  They felt like period pains.  I decided to time them while I was shopping, and they were coming every 4 to 6 minutes. When I got home, I told my husband about the pains and decided to go to the pool to take the pressure off my back. (First I had to wait for the creepy guy to leave).  I walked around in the pool for about 45 minutes and came back inside because I didn't want to burn.  I took a shower, and the hubby and I ran a few errands.  My back pains were still 4 to 6 minutes apart, but a little more intense.  Around 4:15, I called my OB's office and they told me to go on into the hospital.  We took our time leaving the apartment and got to the hospital around 5:00 pm. This part is boring so I'll skip it.  They ended up sending me home because my contractions weren't strong enough.  We got back home around 9:00, and went to a friends house for her birthday.  My husband was trying to talk me out of it, but I wanted to go.  I thought it would help take my mind off of things.  It did.  For about 2 hours. We left and went back home.  I took 2 Tyneol PM and tried to get some sleep.

I slept for about an hour.  The pain in my back was so intense.  I never had contractions in the front, only my back.  I wanted to give my husband some time to sleep, and I didn't want to be sent home from the hospital again, so I sat on the couch and watched Tosh.0 and King of the Hill and other cartoons I don't remember all night. At 5:00am, I couldn't take it anymore and decided it was time to go to the hospital.  I woke up Maged, let him take a shower and got dressed to leave.  We got to the hospital around 7:15am and got admitted into triage.  The nurse made me walk up and down the hall for an hour to try and regulate the contractions and make them stronger. Contractions were around 4 minutes apart and excruciating.  I would have to stop walking and lean against the wall during them.  I went to the bathroom in the middle of my walk and finally had my bloody show.  I was getting so dizzy and overheated about 45 minutes into the walk that I had to stop.  I have a nervous system disorder called P.O.T.S. so I'm extra cautious about dizzy spells.  Anyway, the nurse checked me, and I was between a 3 and a 4.  I was wondering why it was taking so long to get me into a room!  I told myself I didn't want to get an epidural until I was at 6 cm dilated, but I was ready at 3! I also didn't want to have any narcotic drugs for pain relief, but that quickly changed when I was stuck in triage for what felt like an eternity.  They gave me something that let me sleep for another hour.  Lots of pain and time passed and they FINALLY moved me up to labor and delivery at 3:00pm.

As soon as we got upstairs, the anesthesiologist arrived to give me the epidural.  Gods bless him!  After that, my midwife check me (4cm) broke my water and started Pitocin. My mom lives an hour away and told me to call her when I was at a 6.  Well, I went straight from 4 to 7! So she left work and drove straight to the hospital.  My best friend, Stephanie, and her mom arrived before my mom did.  We visited for a while.  When my mom got there, they left the room so we could have some family time. 20 minutes later, I decided to put on some makeup.  I felt so blah and figured it was gonna be a while and would have more visitors.  In the middle of putting on my makeup, the midwife checks me and says, "well, it's time to push." I asked, "...can I finish putting on my makeup?'  I had one eye done!  I would have looked foolish if I stopped.  The dumb nurse gave me a weird look when I asked her to stop putting my legs in stirrups so I could finish. Ha!  My mom left because my husband and I wanted to be alone for this.  She didn't help make the baby after all! I started pushing and it was easy peasy.  The epidural worked wonders.  I was so relaxed and calm during the whole thing. When she was crowning, the dumb nurse kept commenting on how much hair my daughter had and said, "I can't stop twirling it, it's so long!" I kept thinking, can't you wait until she's OUT?

After an hour-ish of pushing, River Lynne was born at 5:13 pm on June 25, 2011.  When she came out, it was like time stood still.  I have never felt anything like it.

 She is the best baby.  We are so in love with her and couldn't be happier. 

A Beginning in Blogging

I've decided to start a blog.  Mostly because I know not everyone on facebook cares about what I do with my daughter everyday. So anyway this is River! River is one month old today, and I can't believe how fast this past month has gone. I'm still learning what all her cries mean.  I know when she's hungry and I know when she's bored.  There's still a few more I need to decipher. 

Today, we are going to attempt grocery shopping and dress shopping.  My childhood friend is getting married on August 6th, and only 5% of my clothes fit.  And those 5% are only t-shirts.  We don't have a stroller yet, so hopefully Kohls has buggys for me to use.

Wish me luck!