So since we last “spoke” I received a job offer at B’s office. A job I have been secretly stalking. A job that has huge potential. A job that I’m still not sure I want to take. We decided before E came along that I would stay at home for at least a year, maybe more. So far it’s been awesome but honestly, it sure can get mundane. I know when she gets older and the weather gets nicer that it will all change.

There are pros and cons to every situation. The pros to this job:
Huge growth potential, extra “not necessarily needed” income, no break in my resume, ability for us to afford a house even more, a chance for E to become used to being with other people. I’m sure there are others that escape my mind at this point.

Cons:
Obviously missing out on E’s infant years (esp if we plan on only having one), chances of her getting sick more are much greater, it’s a temporary two yr position, I have to find daycare. I’m sure there are others for this too.

I can walk away at anytime, of course, if it just doesn’t work for me. I can have every other Friday off which is super nice and there are plenty of days B has off in a month. It’s not a hard job at all and I know I can handle it. But will I regret it when E is walking and I missed rolling over and crawling? Why, when I don’t have to work, am I seeking it out? When so many women who want to stay home, can’t, why am I throwing this oppurtunity away? Or am I?

Someone make this decision for me. When I look at my little girl I say no to this job but when I think of potential down the road, I have to say yes…ugh

Now I realize I’m a bit of a dramatic person. Definitely crabby when I wake up in the morning. And I really like things a specific way. I certainly didn’t expect all my horrible, none can put up with these traits, traits to trickle down and infect, er, I mean effect my child.

You are changed, fed, given your Zantac, shushed, rocked, not hot, not cold, not tired, not anything, and yet you still manage to scream so hard and so long that you hyperventilate. Hyperventilate the way a girl does when her first serious boyfriend breaks up with her. I know there are high maintence kids out there… I read about them while I was pregnant and thought “oh those poor parents. Bless their hearts…” Karma’s a bitch…

I’m pretty sure, like most parents to be, I thought my child was going to be easygoing. High maintence won’t happen to me. Ha! I read an article from Dr. Sears stating the 12 signs of a high need baby and big suprise E fit all 12 signs to a ‘T’. I guess the only comforting thing I got out of that article was that these high maintence babies are so in tune they can be very intelligent children. How is that suppose to comfort me when my baby is screaming her head off every other hour she’s awake? Yes, she’s getting enough milk. Yes, I’m trying to put her down earlier and earlier every night. I don’t know what else to do…

I know this will pass, it’s just a phase. A phase that hurts my ears and keeps me in the house for fear of an outburst in the middle if Target. I don’t want to be that parent…you know the one…

Eventually I will forget all about her fits when she moves onto something else I find completely confusing but until then, I shall be perplexed and simultaneously defeated by this obstacle. Like I said… karma’s a bitch…

Update the blog more often…Well I guess I could use the holidays as an excuse. We’ve been super busy here at La Casa de Archer. There was a lot of running around during Christmas time and it definitely feels good to finally slow down a little. B got me a gym membership for Christmas and I was so so happy he did. I’ve been going to the gym almost everyday since the beginning of the year and I’m starting to feel a little stronger everyday. The nice thing about the gym is that it has childcare and it’s right down the street. So not only can I walk down there but I can also leave E there while I workout! B has been a little busy with inauguration things but luckily he doesn’t have to work that day and why would you want to…DC is going to be an absolute mess. E has been growing more and more each day. Her sleeping kind of got out of whack while we went out of town for a few days over Christmas but hopefully she will regulate herself and start the whole sleeping through the night thing again (we were very blessed with her sleeping through the night starting around four weeks!).

I can never think of anything else exciting to put in here. I have joined a book club for the year. There are different categories (i.e. pick a book with the word ‘love’ in the title, pick a book you read in high school, etc.) and they are grouped together in a points system. It’s really a lot of fun and if you have time I encourage you all to go to this blog and check it out! I found it to be a lot of fun picking out books to read for this year. Also, go to Goodreads and you can track all the books you are reading currently, all the ones you have read, and all the books you want to read. You can also look up the best deals to buy books and great reviews on the website as well!

I have a job interview on Tuesday of this week for a job where B works. We’ll see how it goes. I am slightly hesitant to leave E with daycare and everything but that is honestly my only hang up about going back to work. It will look better on a resume though if I don’t have a huge chunk of time without work on it. Hm, it’s a lot to think about and sometimes I don’t think I’m up to the challenge with making such difficult decisions. I’ll keep you posted!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy holidays and keep to those New Years Resolutions!

Um yeah I totally need to update more! It’s been a whole month since I last typed in this blog and that is completely unacceptable! I guess I could sit here and say “a lot has changed” but we  are pretty much going about life as usually.

E has started cooing, “talking”, and smiling a lot. But only in the morning as I have found I get a cranky little princess by about 500 at night. She had a doctor’s appointment last week for shots and a weigh in. She came in at 9 lbs. 4 oz (she was 6 lbs 15 oz when she was born) and is in the 22nd percentile (pip squeak, for sure). Then came the dreaded shots…B was in Chi-town so I had to go about this appointment alone. Of course, like everyone says, this was probably harder for me than her. She did great…only cried for a minute and then slept. I decided to go up to Pittsburgh after the appointment while B was away. The drive went great. E slept almost the entire time and we made it there in five hours instead of four which isn’t too bad if you ask me. I had an awesome visit home! Very relaxing and everyone got to see E. I will post pictures here in a little bit so everyone can see. I definitely miss Pittsburgh and all it’s splendor.

I started to come down with a little sore throat this weekend and I hope it goes away in time for Christmas. There’s nothing worse than trying to bake and cook when feeling lousy. I still have to finish a few more shopping things and I need to finish wrapping. I did some shopping online this year which was great but not everything arrived yet. I hope it gets here in time for the 24th!! B’s family is coming down for Christmas and we are going to Pittsburgh that weekend. It will be busy that’s for sure.

B has been super busy with work but usually after the holiday season it slows down. I interviewed for a job but ended up not getting it. It’s okay though it just means it wasn’t meant to be a this time. Don’t get me wrong, I love staying home with E because I can control so much of what happens as she grows but the job would have been great too. Let’s just say I’m not actively looking for work at the moment. After the first of the year I really have to crack down on getting in shape. My goal is to do a triathlon eventually but I would be happy with a 5K or 10K by spring. Let’s see how I do. Wish me luck!

I guess that’s about it…I have o be more diligent at writing in this blog and maybe that will be my other New Years resolution!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone

One month, 4 weeks, 31 days, 744 hours, 44,640 minutes, 2,678,400 seconds.

E has been alive for one whole month. It went by quickly. As I sit here with her asleep in my lap, watching tv, I can’t help but look down at her and think so many things. This morning B said “it’s still hard to believe she is a real person”. How true is that? 

This tiny little girl…not even ten pounds yet (at least I don’t think so)…will someday grow up and just might be doing the same thing I am doing with her infant daughter, asleep on her lap, while she watches tv. But before I get ahead of myself, there are many milestones we have yet to go through together as a family.

The first word, the first steps, the first hug, the first ‘I love you’, the first ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy’, the first haircut, the first moment on the playground.

The first cold, the first sick night, the first broken bone, the first time we paint nails, the first time we play Barbies, the first time she rides a bike, the first time we all go hiking together.

The first day of school, the first time she rides the bus, the first time she has homework, the first band concert, the first soccer game, the first fight, the first trip to Disney.

The first time she goes to the mall with friends, the first date, the first school dance, the first boyfriend, the first grounding, the first bad report card, the first time she drives the car by herself.

High school graduation, the first year of college, the first broken heart, college graduation.

Of course, I’ve skipped some milestones because my brain is working ever so slowly on limited sleep. But it is worth it. It is worth being woken up after only three hours of sleep. Or the constant feeding and crying between the hours of 4 pm and 11 pm. Or being spit up on when you make it to the grocery store and instead of turning around to go home and change you decide to shop anyway.

It’s all worth it because when you look down at her, sleeping on your lap while you watch tv, you realize that you’ve created a precious miracle with the person you love. Your family and perspectives change and it’s all worth it for this tiny human being that you call your daughter.

(ps I’ll go back to funny posts immediately following this one:-))

Eventually, I will update more often but finding the time right now is slightly difficult. This past week E went through her little growth spurt. It was a constant feed fest and between the hours of 4 pm to around 11 pm she would super fussy and nothing would console her. Luckily, she is back to normal now…waking every two hours during the day to eat, playing for about a half hour, and then sleeping (and that’s the only time I have to do multiple things around la casa). The last few nights she has been great at sleeping from 11:30 to around 4 or 5 and then going back to sleep until 7 or so. It feels good to get a longer stretch of sleep at night. 

This past weekend was a lot of fun just hanging out and being the three of us. We had a photographer come over to the house on Saturday to take E’s first baby pictures! For those of you who didn’t receive the email I sent out with the link, you can see a sneak peek of her pictures here. I love the one with her over B’s shoulder. I can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures! We then went out to eat for lunch which went remarkably well. Of course this is the time to do it because she sleeps as soon as you get her in the car seat and in the car. 

B had a race on Sunday and E and I went to cheer him on. The weather was perfect and it was so much fun to get out of the house and go see B ride. I carried E in her new baby carrier and she slept the whole time. I did manage to snap a few pictures and will upload them as soon as I get a chance. I know I have definitely slacked off in the pictures department but I promise I will get caught up and you all will get a chance to see more

These next few weekends should be fun. My mom is coming this weekend (yay so excited!!) and my BFF Jen is coming the following weekend (yay so excited for that too!!) and then the next big event is Thanksgiving (mmmm can’t wait for stuffing…). I’m definitely on the lookout for cute holiday outfits for E and maybe, just maybe, we will do a family picture for Christmas cards (but I never seem to get them out on time…hopefully this year will be different)

That’s all for now…Hope everyone is doing well

Ok…so B and I have successfully sustained another life for two weeks and one day. So far…not too bad. I love love love my sleep and that has probably been one of the biggest adjustments I’ve had to make. Getting accustomed to being “rudely” awakened by a 7 lb pip squeak definitely takes some getting used to. Too bad they don’t sell “baby Ambien”…I’m pretty sure whatever drug company decides to market this would make a killing!

Yesterday, B’s parents left, B went back to work, and I had to venture to the pediatrician all by myself with E. It went very well (although I stare at the clock hoping she doesn’t wake up to be fed before I am in the comfort of my own home). She now weighs 7 lbs 3 oz and did really well when they pricked her foot for blood (no crying yay!…wish I could say the same for me). This poor little girl, laying on a cold exam table, just looking around, no clue that some scary nurse is going to stick a needle in her foot and extract, what seemed like a gallon, of blood from her little tiny foot. Ok, it wasn’t really a gallon but to me it certainly seemed like it. 

Today, B left for work and while I was changing my millionth diaper of the very new day, E decided to spit up all over the place (it even came out of her nose). The facial expression afterwards was “should I cry or just leave this stunned looked on my face”. I wish I had my camera, it was priceless. So it was my turn to give her a bath. B is the ultimate bath giver in the house so I am relatively new to the experience and I can tell you she really didn’t like mom doing the dirty work. She never cries with dad but I;m pretty sure someone was going to call CYS on me if I didn’t extract her from the (what you would think was scalding) tepid water. 

Ahh. The ultimate joy. I think I’ve resigned from bath duty and will stick with dirty diapers.

2 weeks. 1 day.

Mild contractions started at about midnight on Sunday night.  At around 2 am, the contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart, lasting about a minute long, but nothing consistent and nothing I felt was “hard” labor. I couldn’t talk but I wasn’t feeling doubled over in pain. I laid on my side and took deep breaths, trying to relax everything. B was great with stroking and rubbing my back and making me feel as comfortable as possible. At around 6 am, during a contraction, I felt a ‘pop’, a gush, and knew my water broke. I called Bethesda and they told me to take my time and come on in. I had a little oatmeal around 5 am and was feeling pretty good. We both got cleaned up, B loaded the car while I laid down on the bed and waited for him to come get me.

We got to Bethesda around 7:30 (we really took our time getting there) and went to triage. They checked my vitals and asked me if I wanted an epidural. I said no I wanted to try this naturally. In the middle of another contraction, the triage nurse told me to “hee hee haw” and the slow deep breathing I was doing was going to cause me to hyperventilate. At that moment I thought this was going to be the worst experience of my life. It turns out the next nurse on the rotation for a patient was pushed back and we ended up with a nurse who was very familiar with the Bradley Method and the only midwife at Bethesda was there that day working a shift!! I couldn’t tell you how incredibly happy I was when I found this out. At around 8:00, the midwife checked me and said I was 6-7 cm. I was so absolutely thrilled and was shocked I was that far already. When I got into my room, it really started to get intense, about a minute or two apart lasting about a minute. I ended up being really vocal throughout the whole thing but it seemed to help deal with the pain. All of a sudden I felt the “urge to push” (at about 9:30) and they told me to push when I felt I had to. I was laying on my side and wasn’t quite comfortable and that’s when the nurse offered me a bar so I could squat on the bed. Totally awesome! They never counted or directed me to push they just let me do my thing and after about 25 minutes of pushing, she was born. I couldn’t believe how fast it went and how soon you forget the pain afterwards and going natural was so totally and completely worth it.

The whole time I was there, every time my nurses switched over, the new nurse would make a comment about me being their “natural birth mom” and the “mom who squatted” and how that never happens there. The L&D nurse said I made their month because they never get a chance to do unmedicated births. The funniest part was, about ten minutes after I had her, the anesthesiologist showed up to ask me if I wanted the epidural! His facial expression was hilarious when he saw the baby and realized I didn’t use any medications.

Just wanted to share. I couldn’t have done any of it without B’s support and love.

Evelyn Grace Archer was born Monday, October 13, 2008. That makes her one week old today. She was 6 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 in long. 

Definitely haven’t gotten much sleep but B and I are certainly making it through as a team. I honestly couldn’t do it without him. He is so patient and calm and doesn’t get rattled. If it wasn’t for him, I probably would have lost my shit by now. Evelyn is definitely a sleeper, an eater, and a pooper. But what one week old isn’t. I think she looks like B…and so do most people who have seen pictures. I want to thank everyone for their well wishes and congratulations. They mean so much to B and I.

I will post a little more later but I just wanted to do a quick check-in and make an official announcement for our little girl (who I could have sworn was a boy). More pictures to come…

A.

I swear we will never decide on a boys name…and we don’t even know if we’re having a boy!! It was so simple for the girl’s name…I mentioned one that I’ve always loved to B and he has never waivered on his opinion of it (he loved it too, of course). So now, just when we thought we knew the name we were going with, we’ve begun to compile a list to end all lists…and it keeps growing. Ok, I will post it and you all can leave comments but that’s not saying our mind won’t change even 48 hours after this child is born (if it’s a boy of course). They all aren’t cookie cutter, normal names because those don’t appeal to us. So here it goes:

Aidan

Alexander 

Brady

Declan

Finn

Grant

Gunnar

Henry

Jake

Liam

Nicholas

Patrick

Reid

Rowan

William

Ugh…this child will never be named…and ps only 9 days left…