New Kitchen Stuff

My kitchen is great but it's a little boring so I've been working on jazzing it up. I started with new towels (I love C&B!!) and plants on top of the cabinets. I'm happy with it so far but I'm still working on finding things to go on top of the rest of the cabinets.

Mom suggested plates or more plants. My Grandmother has lots of fake plants and plates on hers. My sister-in-law has bronze pitchers and such on hers. I like that but bronze wouldn't go with our house.

Ideas?

Living Room Shelves.....Help!!

So I've been working on re-doing my shelves in my living room and here are some of the things I've come up with. Not sure why blogger won't upload the pics in the order I've selected them but we'll start with these:

Do we like green candles or blue candles on the white tapers? I'm trying to have a balance between blue & green.

Here is what I've done so far with my shelves. The new stuff I picked up is:

Green trio of vases (why aren't there more of these, maybe in blue??)

White candle tapers

Trio of grasses (I'm so in love with these!)

The fake grasses sticking out of the vases

Right side of the shelves:

I'm having a hard time with this side and I'm really not liking it. Any ideas? I can move things around from the other side too.

Left side of the shelves:

Thoughts??

Pretty Flowers

I'm feeling the need to blog about something non-baby related......

I planted these out on my deck a few weeks ago. They're a mix of trailing vinca, varigated vinca vine and sweet potato vine. I fell in love with the sweet potato vine at Lowes and had to have it! Hopefully it doesn't get too big for my pots :-)

Maddie is 5 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old.

5, almost 6 months late....

So we got a little carried away with being so in love with our new little one that we forgot to take a picture of her with the doctor who delivered her while we were in the hospital (oops!). Here she is with my OB, Kelly Owens, MD. She was an awesome cheerleader and really kept me motivated after  50+ hours of labor. Thanks Dr. Owens!! 

And she looks quite like someone I know all dressed up in her scrubs...... :-)

Maddie is 5 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old.

My Master Bedroom Walls Are Naked!

So this is the look I'm going for:

But I need it to match our bed linens:

(yes, my husband is wonderful and let me pick fun Lilly Pulitzer prints)

Here are some prints I like:

14x1111x1411x14

I like them but I'm not sure they would work since 2 are vertical and one is horizontal. Not to mention there is NOTHING else that goes with them. Why is that?? Do other people not want 6 prints that go together? Guess not...

These come in 16x20 (they're all the same size, not sure why the one is showing as bigger):

1.2. 3.4.  5.6.7. 8.

Which ones?

I love this but I'm not sure what I would do with it:

I like this too!

Oooooooo, I like this one! ANNNNND it comes in 16x20 too!

What about this (the bigger one is 24x31)?

  

**it's supposed to show the 2 hostas on either side of the back of the lily***

I really like this too:

16x20

Thoughts?

In need of a new name....

My blog is in desperate need of a new name and I'm so not the creative one these days. Here are a few ideas/options..... what do you think?

Original Name = My Baby Is Eating My Brain...

Cville Mommy

Charlottesville Chic (thanks Sarah!!)

KD Family Blog

Housewife Life (thanks Rob.....)

Maddie & Me (thanks Jen!)

Baby Brain (thanks Sarah!)

Baby on the Brain

Momnesia (something like that....?)

Some of these are taken on blogspot and of course they're taken by people who haven't blogged in over 5 years.....but I could always alter the address at little right?

Maddie is 5 months, 4 days old

I want a Beco Carrier!!!

This carrier was suggested by my sister-in-law because you can wear it on your front or back and she says it's way more comfy than the Bjorn.  I love my Bjorn but I would also love to be able to put Maddie on my back when I'm cleaning/cooking/anytime I need to see directly in front of me. Plus, this carrier comes in WAY fun patterns! This is the one I really want but even though it's pictured on their website (deceptive, I know) it's apparently not available.....boo!

Here are some that ARE on the website (www.becobabycarrier.com/collections) that I like:

I love this one but for some reason it's only available from some German website of which I can't read half..... why do they do this??? 

Also from the random German webiste (how come Germany has to get everything good???)

Only available in Japan according to the website....but I bet this one would get dirty easily with all of that white.

Suggestions??? I can't decide which one I like the best!!!! Thanks :-)

Maddie is 4 months, 28 days old

Crying it out

So about the middle of May my perfect baby who had been sleeping through the night (STTN) or nursing no more than once in 12 hours overnight decided that she was going to start nursing ALL NIGHT LONG. Not sure what happened but I'm guessing that since this coincided with our visit to the pediatrician that we must have brought home the wrong baby, right? Ha! Ok, maybe not but something's definitely going on, maybe teething? To top it off, my husband goes out of town for a bowling/golf tournament and she decides that during this time she won't sleep at all at night. I even tried putting her in bed with me and that went alright the first night. I mean I figured that if I was going to nurse her all night long I might as well be able to sleep through it right? We won't even talk about the second night..... It was a LONG weekend and I decided that I had to do something to get some sleep. So I called my sister-in-law (my baby encyclopedia) for advice and she tells me that she thinks we should go ahead and try to let her cry it out (CIO). Basically we let her cry so that she can learn to soothe herself and fall asleep on her own. We go in every 10-15 minutes and soothe her but don't pick her up or nurse her (we rubbed her back and gave her a pacifier). Here's how it went:

Night 1: She goes down with our normal sleep routine (diaper, jammies, nursing, rocking, bed) and I lay her on her back at 7:oo, no problem. By 10:00, when we go upstairs to go to bed, she wakes up and is screaming to be nursed and has flipped over onto her tummy. I flip her back over and put her pacifier in and walk out. She cries for 10 minutes and I go back in again, same deal and after 10 more minutes she falls asleep. I'm thinking there is NO way we could be this lucky? Our kids is a genius!

Night 2: She wakes up at 3am and cries for almost 2 hours. Not so much fun as last night but not surprising. I mean was I really thinking she'd just get it after 20 minutes last night? We were tired after going in and flipping her back onto her back every 15 minutes but she ended up falling back asleep for the rest of the night and we can't just stop now right?

Night 3: We've given up on flipping her back over onto her back....she just keeps rolling onto her tummy and she must be happy there because she slept through the night!!! Woohoo!! 

Night 4: Woke up again at 3am, cried for about 20 minutes and back to sleep. Not so bad....

Night 5: STTN!

Night 6: Woke up at 3am, cried for about 10 minutes and back to sleep. She's getting the hang of this.....

Night 7 & since: STTN!!! 

I can't believe how much easier this was than I thought it would be. I was so worried to do this and I really shouldn't have been. It was rough the first night and I felt so guilty because I knew all she wanted was me. She sounded so pitiful but we had to keep strong and stay with it or this was not going to work. We stuck with it and it's made a HUGE difference. I haven't nursed her at night in over a week now! The thing that surprised me the most was that we went from having a baby who couldn't stand her tummy time to one that prefers to sleep on her stomach. Every time we would go in her room to soothe her she would be flipped over on her tummy and we finally just gave in and let her sleep there and she's been sleeping soundly that way ever since. There's really nothing I can do at this point anyways, she's capable of rolling over (both ways) and even if I put her on her back she just rolls over to her tummy to sleep. Now if we could just get down to 2 solid naps a day......

Maddie is 4 months, 28 days old

Labor...Delivery.....a few months late!

First of all, I'd like to apologize for being a crappy blogger. Having a baby causes your brain to go through this process of liquification and I've still not quite come back from that.... so the last time I blogged (is that a word???) I was still pregnant so I probably ought to tell you that I had the baby (shock, I know......no I am not pregnant for an additional 5 months, ha!). Here's the story:

I was due on Sunday January 11 and by that day was still very much pregnant and ready to be done. It's funny how everyone tells you that "you'll know" what a contraction is as if you're going to have this made for TV moment where you are doubled over, hand on stomach and yelling "Honey, it's time!" (think Susan on Desperate Housewives with MJ.... along with every other pregnant woman on TV). Well, I'll tell you that had my friend, Tonya, not told me that all she ever felt was something similar to period cramps I would not have "known." There was no moment where clutching my rotund belly I told my hubby it was "time." I was just up from like midnight on with cramps here and there wishing that I had not eaten crab cakes for dinner because I was sure I'd be seeing them again soon. I was exhausted and uncomfortable and so over being pregnant. To top it off, that day our youngest puppy, Daisy, had gastroenteritis and we had to take her into the vet for IV fluids. Let me tell you, our vet (who we were so lucky would come in on a Sunday for us) was not too thrilled that I was in labor in his office but that's a whole other story. I spent the entire day having cramps/contractions but they were spaced out pretty far so I was thinking I was just being tortured and probably wasn't in real labor. After all, I'd been 1 cm and 50% effaced for 4 weeks now.... as if that wasn't torture enough, right? 

Well, after a long day and being totally exhausted from not sleeping the night before we go to bed hoping to get some sleep. No such luck because my cramps turned into full blown contractions and by 3am we were on our way to the hospital. I was hurting but I was so excited and so ready to be done being pregnant. We get to the hospital and they offer me a wheel chair but I opt to walk thinking it will help move things along. After all, that's what they tell you to do right? The nurse hooks me up to all of these machines and checks my cervix to find that I'm 2 cm dilated. Not quite the 4 cm I thought I would be after having contractions every 5 minutes for the last few hours (this is what they tell you in class people!) but it's progress and I'll take it! Yay! Things are definitely moving along and she says that I'll need to stay so they can monitor my progression. They tell me to get some sleep (seriously, are they kidding????) and that they'll have my doctor check me when she comes in in the morning. Well, if you've ever stayed in a hospital you know that it's impossible to sleep with all of the commotion and beeping and constant checking so by the time the doc came to check me that morning I was going on 2 nights with no sleep and was exhausted. She checked me and I was still 2 cm......what????!!! She said I was in prodromal labor where your body just stresses out and isn't progressing. At this point my contractions had slowed down and by noon when she checked me again and I was still 2 cm she sent me home. I was bummed but at least we got to stop by Spudnuts on the way home. I was not only exhausted but starving since they don't let you eat much while in labor. I spent the rest of the day (now Monday) eating donuts and watching recorded trashy TV with my hubby & brother (long story) and trying to breathe through my contractions. 

By that evening my contractions were much more painful (and by much I mean I definitely could not talk through them, I could barely breathe!) and getting closer together and longer. I tried getting in the bathtub (twice actually) and having my hubby rub my back, all of the positions and breathing (I just can't do the hee hee hee hoo thing, it annoyed me). Nothing was working and they were getting stronger and stronger. By this point my husband is on the phone with the OB asking when we should come back in and what he can do for me. She told us just to wait it out and come in if we absolutely couldn't stand it or if my water broke. He ended up calling a few more times and finally just decided that we were going back. My contractions were back to 4-5 minutes apart and I was dying. It was awful. Once we got in the car they were more like 3 minutes apart and we still had to drop our dogs off at the kennel in town. While waiting in the car for my hubby to take the dogs in (mind you it's 2 am, oh and he owns the kennel which is why that's ok) my contractions jump to every minute and are so intense I'm sure he'll be delivering this baby in the car. We race to the hospital and this time I'm ready to accept the wheelchair however no one offers (lovely huh?) and I waddle up the the maternity floor stopping every minute to grip my hubby's arm and breathe. It was a long walk/elevator ride. They get me into the bed and check my cervix to find that I'm..... still 2 cm! You have GOT to be kidding me! I was dying in pain and I told them they were going to have to do something for me or I wasn't going to make it. At this point I haven't slept in 3 days and I'm having contractions every minute. I'm not going to make it if I have to go back home. There is no way. They ended up giving me a shot of morphine which basically slowed my contractions a bit and allowed  me to crash and sleep in between in hopes of getting my body to finally relax so that I could progress past 2 cm. 

The OB came in to check me at 10:00 the next morning (now Tuesday) and I was fully prepared to tell him where to put it if he tried to send me home. All of my morphine has worn off and I'm back to dying in pain and am not someone you want to be messing with this morning. But I play nice while he's checking me and low and behold I'm 4 cm!!! Oh thank goodness I think and when he asks me if I'd like him to break my water all of the sudden all of my big and badness disappears and I'm scared. I've been so ready for this and now it's here and I'm just so worried that my contractions are going to be so much worse and I'm worried about how long it will be until I can get my epidural. The poor man is standing there waiting for me to answer him with his hand on my bag of water ready to go and was obviously expecting me to say yes since I was so big and bad just moments earlier. I say yea, go ahead and all of the sudden am now sitting in a puddle of fluids. Fun, yes, but even more fun... you get to keep leaking! I thought it was just one set of fluids and then  you were done, oh no, you keep leaking amniotic fluid until the baby is out. Let's just say it was an interesting trip to the bathroom after that one...

After that (around noonish) they hooked me up to an IV and called in the anesthesiologist to prepare my epidural. I know, I'm a wimp... but I had already felt enough pain and there was no way I was going any further without some pain meds. While I was talking to the anesthesiologist the nurse gave me a shot of fentynal and let me tell you it was GREAT. She said it was going to feel like a martini and I'm telling you it felt like 3. I was a little embarrassed when the anesthesiologist got a little blurry but whatever, I felt SO much better and at this point I didn't really care what she was going to do to me so long as it took away the pain I was in. Note, if someone offers you a shot of fentynal, take it! I was honestly more nervous about getting the epidural than I was about the actual childbirth but it really wasn't that bad. She had me sit on the bed and bend over (as far as a pregnant girl really can). She numbed my back and then put in the epidural. I never really felt anything more than a pinch and a little pressure and who can't deal with that for a painless childbirth, right? I even got to sleep for a few hours after that in between being checked every so often. 

By about 4:00 I wasn't progressing as quickly as they'd like so they gave me some pitocin and that really sped things up. I dilated 3 cm in an hour and then my epidural started to wear off on the side I wasn't laying on. So I kept switching side to side to relieve the pain. It was awful and I ended up hovering over a bedpan for about an hour totally nauseous from the pain. I went another 3 cm in the next hour. My hubby was running back and forth to the waiting room to give our family the news and by a little after 7:00 I was ready to push. The nurse assured me that pushing would relieve the pain I was feeling and I thought is she crazy? Does she really think that I am going to believe that pushing a small child out of my hoohaa is going to feel BETTER than this pain? Like she really knows what she's talking about as if she does this for a living (ha, I know but I was in pain and irrational). It did actually feel better to push but I'm a see it to believe it kind of gal. My doctor was awesome and she was such a great cheerleader. She was very motivating and made the experience really great. Plus, she looked just like my friend Sarah with her scrubs on and that helped calm me down. She had me push once to see what we were up against and could immediately see the baby's head. She said we'd be having a baby within the next hour and went off to get her stuff together. I kept pushing with the nurse and my hubby with each contraction. The nurse even let me watch with a mirror but I got so distracted that I couldn't push. No more mirror for me. The doctor came back in and it all went so quickly they almost didn't have time to get a baby nurse in our room. I pushed for about 30 minutes and she was out!  I swear it felt like an eternity before she cried but when she did it was the best sound in the world. They put her on my chest and she looked up at me, she was so perfect and so tiny! I actually asked where the rest of her was, ha!

Madison Grace Dofflemyer was born on January 13, 2009 at 7:48pm. She weighed 5 lbs 12 oz and was 18 in long with a full head of brown hair! She looks just like her daddy and she's absolutely perfect. We are so in love!

No longer pregnant!!!