May 21, 2009

  • The commencement of day shift

    Good morning all. Wow. I can't believe I haven't blogged since Sunday... but then again, Tancy's been off of work and we have been busy little bees.

    Sunday was fairly uneventful so that was good. I felt decent, no real discomfort but no great energy level either. I managed to make Tancy lunch when she got up, I really enjoy being able to do that for her when she works nights. It's so important too because she rarely has time, in a 12 hour shift, to eat once she gets there. Then again, there are the nights where they are slow and cook, eat, etc. Those seem to be fewer and farther between lately for them, they are soooo under manned. Anyway, she ate and then got ready for work. I sent an email (and left voice mail) to the lady that gave the puppy training class we took for Scout. We want to make sure we are doing what we should be doing to ready the dogs, and ourselves for life with baby and pups. We got caught up on the night before, like we usually do and before either of us knew it, it was time for her to go. I stayed at home, watched some TV, surfed the web and got in bed around 9:00 I guess. I didn't sleep well at all. Not sure why, but it was that light, restless sleep. I think it was around 3:00 before I even started to doze. I hate nights like that.

    So Monday morning Tancy got in around 6:30, I got up and sent the puppies out to her so they could potty. I could hear her making something to eat, so I drug my sorry butt into the kitchen to see what she was doing. She was starving, hadn't had time to eat dinner that night. I told her what time we had to leave for the doctors appointment and she said she would just stay up, so I stayed up with her, though I would have loved to crawl into bed. So she made us a pot of coffee and we chatted till time for me to get ready for my appointment. We got there right on time and went back fairly quickly. We got to see our favorite doctor in the group. My blood pressure was good, 118/80. I didn't gain any weight. Her heart rate was good, 135 I believe. They did my Strep B swab and I got a pelvic exam. I don't mean to be crude, but I swear she was checking my tonsils!! My cervix is that high. No change, still high and not dilated or softening. No surprise. We talked about the Braxton Hicks, breathlessness, nausea, etc. All is normal, as I suspected and what we want to be happening. The clusters of Braxton Hicks help to encourage her to move down and into place and ready my uterus for the "real deal". We told our doctor that we really want her to deliver for us, so we schedule our week 39 appointment with her (that's the first Friday in June). So, she signed off on my kick count and we were on our way.
    We left the doctors office and got a bite for lunch, it was about noon and Tancy was starving. We had canceled her physical therapy appointment, she just didn't think she could make it, I am sure she was right. So the game plan was lunch on the go and then home for a nap before the class with our pediatrician. That's just what we did too. Neither of us slept long, about an hour and a half. I woke up with headache, but caffeine quickly remedied that problem.
    The dog trainer (or more accurately people trainer) called and we set a time and date for her to come out and give us an assessment on the puppies, give us pointers and just make sure we are on a good path. We really liked her when we took her class and are happy that she'll be able to come out and see how things are going. We also have a few issues, unrelated to baby, that we'd like her input on, so it all works out. I talked to Mom for a bit, who had stayed home from work not feeling too well, and then it was time to get ready for our class. Wow, the day was so full already it seemed and now we had a 2 hour class. We left out a bit too early as it turned out, but it all worked out well. We were the first, and only, ones there for the class. So we won the door prize by default, a bag full of baby goodies!! There was food too and it was pretty good. We ended up with a 2 hour one on one about baby care, appointments, common issues with newborns, vaccinations, etc. It was great. If we weren't sure about him being our pediatrician before we certainly were after the class was over. He's also able to help with breastfeeding should I need assistance, and, because he's family practice, address post-partum care with me as well. That's handy, taking the baby in for a check-up and having the opportunity to talk to him about my concerns without needing a separate appointment.
    We left there feeling really good about our decision to have him care for Lillie. We also got to meet his three children, cute! There's something to be said about choosing doctors who you feel that comfort with. Anyway. We left there and got dinner. We've been trying to do better about not eating out, and we've done a good job. But at this point it was 8:15 and we were both too hungry to think about coming home and cooking something. So we had japanese hibachi for dinner. It was pretty good. From there we headed home and got directly into pajamas. The day had been very long and exhausting for both of us. It was all worth it, but we were ready to sink into bed and veg out. I think we watched some TV and were probably up too late anyway, but I think we both slept alright.

    Tuesday morning I had to get up earlier than I would have liked. I had a dentist appointment, just a cleaning, that was at 9:00. Ugh. I left Tancy in the bed and headed out. The cleaning went well, the girl who does it at our dentist office is thorough and gentle. No real changes from the last time I was there, but good to get in another cleaning before the baby gets here. They want me to get a night guard, both for my TMJ and because I am apparently grinding my teeth at night to the point of sharpening one of my lower "eye" teeth. But the guard costs $275 after insurance and I just can't see spending that. So, we will see. When I got home Tancy was up, hadn't been for long though. She talked to her Mom & Dad and then we were on our way to Mandy's.
    Tancy was going to work on the Durango and get it back up and running. Mandy was going to cook dinner for us that night. Tylor was also coming over to help Tancy. We got there around noon I guess. Tancy started to work pretty quickly and I decided to cut the grass for Mandy. Wow, the wind was terrible and I can't even tell you how much grass I breathed in, had in my ears, down my shirt, in my hair, etc. I itched all over! But I got the grass cut and enjoyed doing it, so I wont bitch too much. By the time I got done with that Tancy had done about all she was going to do on her on so we both took a break. Lauren called to let us know she was going to Wal-Mart and then would be home. Tylor arrived before too long. I started cutting up the onions and tomatoes once Lauren got there. Mandy called on her way home soon as well. The evening was moving right along. By the time Mandy got home it was 5:30 or 6:00 and the truck was done, they just were waiting on the keys to crank it and see how it ran. It ran well! Mandy and I started on dinner, greasy tacos. Now, for those of you who don't know about greasy tacos, they are a real treat. First you fry corn tortillas and fold them in the shape of tacos. Then you stuff them with shredded spam and cheese. You fry them a second time to melt the cheese and once they are all done you add your favorite taco toppings and eat. Greasy tacos is a very appropriate name! I can't eat them, tears my stomach up. I eat ground meat, I actually had a taco salad this particular night. But these tacos are a Dean family favorite. So everyone ate and visited. Tylor left shortly after dinner. Lauren left a little while later to take the kids home (she'd brought some of the little girls she sometimes baby sits for over to spend some time with Hemmi, part of his training). We left around 9:00? Got home, fed the dogs, I got a shower, Tancy got a bath. I took some medicine for my allergies and we both we sacked out by 10:30 I guess. I slept like a rock. I woke up at 4:30 with a full bladder and again at 8:30.

    The puppies finally got us up at 9:45, good thing too, Tancy had physical therapy at 11:00! I felt groggy from the medicine I had taken to allow me to breath and subsequently sleep. I hung out on the couch. I finally got motivated to put on some clothes, start the laundry and balance the check book. I got some bills paid too! Yay me! By the time Tancy called on her way home I had a game plan. We needed to finish up the front of the house which meant working in the flower bed... that was going to be a real bugger. I had some hanging baskets I wanted to put some flowers in and put up also. So, I first ordered the dogs new beds, yes plural. One for our bedroom, the one that is in there has seen much better days... and another for the living room. We will start teaching them that their "bed" is their space, hoping to keep them of the couch and love seat as much. Part of this is their "training" and part of it is because I am over all the hair that ends up on the couch and subsequently on our clothes. I love our dogs and I enjoy having them in the house, but I don't enjoy all the hair. The "bed" thing will also allow them their own space to go to if they are feeling stressed or don't want to be bothered. This works out well for everyone. Once that was done we lit out to first get Tancy some new bras and then to Lowe's. We made short order of the first errand and were soon on our way! We got to Lowe's and got the first items on our list fairly quickly: preen, grass & weed killer, weed eater string, and a hand tiller. But then we started looking for the flowers for the flower bed and hanging baskets. That took us a while. We had picked out flowers last time and couldn't find them this time. So we had to start all over. We finally found the original ones and decided against them, luckily there was one by them that we really liked, so that wrapped itself up nicely. Next the flowers for the hanging baskets. Wow, that took way too long. I needed something that wouldn't get too tall, something that would trail or be vine like, something that would flower and be ok with a fair amount of sun. Of course color was ALSO an issue. After walking the flower selection I don't know how many times we finally found the one we wanted and were out of there. I was having Braxton Hicks and having trouble with that so I was glad to be getting out to the car where I could sit down.
    We got back home and Tancy started working on clearing out the flower bed. It was full of grass (unintentional and seemingly the only place we can grow grass) and my bulbs. I cut the back yard and then the front yard. Riding mowers are wonderful things! The yard looked great! I then started helping her by cutting the bulbs back and silently hoping we weren't killing them. I love my gladiola's. Before we knew it, it was time to leave for our hair cuts (just after 4:00), we had worked right up until time and she would just have to be ok with us being dirty and smelly. There was no way around that with so much to do. We got there a bit early and she was working on someone else, but before long she was ready to start on me. Hair washed, eye brows waxed and moving on over to the chair to get my hair cut. I opted to have a bit more cut off than I had been, I had just a little bit of the yuck color left on the ends from where I stopped coloring my hair and I was ready for it to be gone. My hair cut took no time at all and then she was on to Tancy. I went to one of the other "stations" and blew my hair dry myself, no point in her fixing it, we were headed home to finish our yard work. But truth be told, I always dry my own hair. Tancy got her hair washed, eye brows waxed and on over to the chair. Tancy's hair cut always takes longer, she's got so much freakin' hair!! Cut it, thin it, check it, cut and/or thin some more... jeeze. But soon Tancy was done. We headed next door to get a bite to eat, not doing so good with not eating out, but we were busy girls and starving too! I got a burger, Tancy got a bar-b-que sandwich. We ate and headed back home.
    Once we got home I grabbed the shovel to dig a hole near one of my bird feeders to plant the bulbs... I wanted to get them back in the ground in hopes of not killing them. I don't think they will come back up this year, but I hope to keep them alive. Wow, that was alot of work. Our ground is pretty hard in places and rocky every where else. I finally got past the rocks and the roots and had a pretty good sized, u shaped, hole. I put some of the bulbs in... have a ton left and have to figure out what to do with them... and worked just as hard to get the dirt back in the hole. We have alot of clay, so it packs itself down pretty good. I finally got that done and went to help Tancy who had been planting the flowers (ground cover with pretty red flowers) in the flower bed. I was already pretty worn out and was having trouble being so low to the ground and having to bend even more. I wasn't alot of help, but I did the best I could. Once the flower bed was done we had a few flowers left so Tancy put them in with the butterfly bushes. I watered the flowers on the back deck and packed my Lily out to the front, Hemmi ate all the f'n flowers off of it, little bastard. Tancy watered the newly planted flowers while I was doing that. We sat for a minute on the back deck, I had to catch my breath before I could think about getting in the shower. I felt like I had run a marathon uphill!
    Soon we headed in and got showers... we were both WAY too grubby to get baths. It always amazes me how truly wonderful a good shower feels when you are that grimey. You are almost too tired to get one, but too filthy not to... you don't have any more energy after the shower, but you feel human again. It's great. Tancy grabbed the clothes out of the dryer for me and I put her uniform shirts and blue jeans in the dryer. We headed to the back. I had cookies and milk (I was hungry believe it or not) and she folded clothes for me... such a good woman. I folded socks once I finished my cookies and milk and she started putting it all away. Normally this isn't how it goes, so I was incredibly thankful to her for doing it, I was wiped out. I took some tylenol and some benadryl to help with the sneezing, itching, general allergy misery. We watched some TV, including the newest installation of the UFC house, awesome. Tancy had trouble going to sleep for some reason. I was tired and started to fall asleep, but to be honest didn't sleep much or very well. I was up often going to the bathroom. I was already sore, my back, belly, hands, legs... everything that I had used while cutting grass, digging the hole and planting flowers was revolting against me. Not to mention that getting out of bed is increasingly more difficult. I told Tancy if Lillie didn't come before night shift started again I was going to have to have someone come stay with me to get me out of bed in the middle of the night to pee, or I was going to have to get some "piddle pads" from pet smart to put in the bed in case of accidents! LOL.

    The clock went off at 4:30, Tancy hit snooze till 4:45, I laid there awake and unhappy about it (I had already given myself permission to sleep in). I finally got up and let the puppies out. The coffee was already made, yay me, and made Tancy a sandwich to take. After getting our coffee cups fixed I sat down on the couch and here I remain. I have a long to do list just for today, some work in the house, some more work outside... though I don't know how much I will accomplish from a labor perspective. My body is not real pleased with me today. I'll probably just take it easy and do things inside that don't require alot of physical exertion. Finish the laundry, get the dishes done, strip the back bed and remake it, dust, etc. That kind of stuff.

    I have something going  most days from today through next Sunday, it goes like this:
    Tomorrow - OB appointment
    Saturday - work on getting the house ready for all our company
    Sunday - work on getting the house ready for all our company (This will take more than one day b/c I can't get it all done in one any more.) Hemmi turns 3 years old.
    Monday - Tancy has off and I am sure there will be a list of things that I need her help with in the house before company arrives.
    Tuesday - take the dogs to get them groomed. Hopefully have dinner with Gary.
    Wednesday - grocery shopping
    Thursday - Mom and Larisa arrive and we have an afternoon at the spa
    Friday - OB appointment for me, Physical Therapy for Tancy, everyone at the house visiting and working on Lillie's room.
    Saturday - Jeanette and Luca get in, the baby shower, everyone at the house visiting (Tancy's folks probably wont make it in in time on Friday to visit).
    Sunday - everyone leaves, just spread out, so the day will be spent running people to the airport more than likely. (Not looking forward to everyone leaving so soon.) Britt & Ryan's 1 year wedding anniversary - Congrats!!

    Once the baby shower is over little Miss Lillie can get here as whenever she likes. I will probably start to get anxious about it at that point. Right now, I am good with her not being here yet.... but I will more than likely be "ready" once the shower is done. Don't ask me how that makes sense... it is what it is.

    Alright kids. It is daylight out and I think I am going to get up off the couch and get moving. I might be able to get a few things done today if I don't stay stuck to the couch. I hope you all have a great day today. For some the weekend starts at quitting time today, I hope you enjoy your extended weekend. For others, it starts tomorrow... still a long weekend. Aunt Judy & Daniele will be headed to Georgia tomorrow, I am wishing them a safe trip. I hope that they all have a great time. I know Casie is looking forward to it! I am sure I'll blog again before the weekend is up, hell, I'll probably blog again before the day is up! Haha! So, be good kids! Smile! Makes 'em wonder what you're up to!

    Love to all!