I'm All a Twitter

I'd heard about Twitter before but never really looked into it. I did some research on it tonight and I think maybe this could solve the issue with not being able to send/receive text messages from John and Michelea in Abu Dhabi. Adrian says I'm making things complicated, but you know me, I love the latest and greatest techy gadgets and applications! I'm a computer nerd--what can I say? So you may start to see some weird "twittering" going on near the lower left side of my blog. I'm trying to figure it all out.

In other recent news, on Friday I all up and quit pumping rather suddenly. Most of you will know what I'm talking about. I usually go to "my office" at work 3 times a day. Now, I like to call it an office, but it's more of a room with an electrical outlet that happens to have a lock on the door, happens to have a sink in it, but no window or anything fancy like that. It does have a slider plate on the outside of the door to let people know when it's IN USE. Most people tend to not pay attention to that sign even though I always am VERY SURE to slide the sign to IN USE and lock the door every time I'm in there. I still have nearly peed my pants in fright over someone attempting to come into my office when it's IN USE. Can people not read??? Can you imagine the horror of having to face my co-workers if someone did ever barge in there when I'm pumping?

So Friday I only got the chance to pump once all day. Lately I haven't really been feeling very motivated I must admit. It was getting to be a chore, Hadley is past 6 months old (my original goal), and I just wasn't really into it anymore. It was becoming very inconvenient at work. I don't know how I can say it's inconvenient when I'm not having to pay a whole lot for formula every month, but still. Right around when Hadley was 7 months old I started pumping only 4 ounces each time and then we were supplementing her bottles with formula. Her bottles were half and half. I guess I had gotten over my weirdness about Hadley getting formula. Why there is so much pressure put on women regarding what it is your feeding your child is beyond me. Like you need one more thing to stress about when you've just had a kid. Ridiculous.

My new plan is that I nurse Hadley for her first feeding of the day and then also the last feeding. I've cut out the middle three. I anticipated it being a lot more difficult than it has been. It's not so bad. What I didn't anticipate is the stupid guilt. Why the heck do I feel guilty about this??? She's still getting breastmilk, but she's not getting it as often. The kid isn't going to starve. (Have you seen her chunky thighs lately?) I don't know why I feel so guilty, but I do. But then again, I'm SO GLAD to pack away that pump. I know I'm not going to miss my "office" either when I go back to work on Tuesday!

I guess I needed to get all this off my chest. Pardon the pun. ;-) Let's call this my first TMI post!

And now to counteract all the TMI-talk, here are a few recent pictures of Hadley.

On Wednesday I was home sick with a sinus infection and Hadley greeted me like this in her crib. Can you tell she's grinning behind that bar and all proud of herself? She's also trying to use it as a teething ring.

Hadley grabs whatever it is you have in your hand and has to chew on it. On this day, it was Adrian's beer. I tried to tell her beer wasn't allowed until she was 21, but I'm betting she's going to be one of the youngest volunteers of the GABF since her Mom is a Brew Crew Captain!

All tuckered out, asleep in her swing.

Sweet & Innocent

The Joys of Being a Mom

Hadley was sick this week. We had nasty projectile vomit at our house. And yet, it was ok and we got through it. It was the first time Hadley puked like that but we got through it.

So Wednesday night I had just gotten done feeding Hadley. She was standing up on my lap and was over my shoulder. I was about to burp her but before I could start pounding her back (that kid STILL hates to be burped), she throws up ALL OVER EVERYWHERE. It was over my shoulder and on the back of the couch. It was all down my back. I looked at her and it was all over her face. Then she decides to make her raspberry noises and she proceeds to get nasty vomit IN MY MOUTH. So gross. So I'm just sitting there sort of stunned and Adrian is right next to me on the other couch. I said, "HELLO??? Can I get a little help here?" And he looks at us with this shocked look on his face and might've said something like, "What happened?" He missed the whole dang thing!! I don't know how he missed the horrible gagging and choking sounds she was making when she was throwing up. And I'm pretty sure I probably said something when I realized I had throw up IN MY MOUTH. But no, he missed the whole thing.

So we take Hadley upstairs and Hadley goes straight into the shower with Daddy. Now before you get all creeped out, Hadley showers all the time with Daddy and she loves it. It doesn't bother her one bit. She won't shower with Daddy forever either, so don't get all weird about it. Anyways, she continues to throw up in the shower. I get her out of the shower and try to get her lotioned up and diapered. She keeps throwing up. She had eaten carrots for dinner so it was this weird orange-y color. I take her temperature rectally (I know, can you believe I can actually do that?) and it was 102.1! At this point I'm getting stressed out. I can handle most things with her no problem. There are things that she does that stresses Adrian out and they're no big deal to me. But this was my "big deal" and my turn to be stressed. I couldn't handle the gagging and choking and the throwing up. It scared me. So I asked Adrian if he could take over and he did with no issues. It's such a relief to know that we really are a team and it's so nice to know that we can trade off on things and it's ok.

Adrian called our pediatrician's office whose on-call service then in turn calls the nurses at Children's Hospital. A nurse called us back. She said every kid in the state seems to have this stomach bug right now and it's every single phone call she's getting. She gives us very specific instructions on how to care for Hadley and I take copious notes. Adrian heads to the grocery store to get some Pedialyte because we didn't have any at the house. I guess that stuff is supposed to be a staple at your house when you have a kid, but guess we didn't realize we were getting to that point yet! At this point, Hadley's already passed out in her crib and sleeps all through the night until about 6:30 the next morning. She never threw up again. Adrian was off work Thursday and Friday, so he took care of her. She was fussy and clingy on Thursday, but understandably so. Her temperature was still 101 when I left for work that morning. Adrian got over his fear and disgust of the manner in which to take an accurate temperature and it was down to 99 that afternoon.

We survived Hadley's first stomach bug and projectile vomit episode. Ahhh, the joys of being a Mom and first-time parents, right? We wouldn't change it for the world!

Adrian took this picture of us on Thursday after I got home from work. Hadley took a nap on the couch with me and she drooled all over me. So, no, those aren't nasty pit stains! Can you tell she's still feeling a little under the weather?















Here's a little smile.















On Saturday, Hadley and I laid around in our pj's and took some pictures.















Getting kisses from Gus






























I could just eat Hadley up in this last picture. I love my sweet baby girl SO MUCH! Happy Mother's Day!

Houston...We Have a Tooth!

Dad flew us all down to Houston this past weekend to surprise Mom for her birthday. "Operation Birthday Surprise" was a success! Mom was shocked, to say the least, to see us all sitting there at the restaurant yelling "Surprise!" It was fun. We got the reaction we were all anticipating--Mom cried. No surprise there!

We had a relaxing time by the pool at Mom and Dad's. I went for a couple jet ski rides, too. Hadley spent a lot of time just hanging out and getting to know her cousins Cole and Katelyn. Unfortunately, Adrian couldn't go because he had to work. We really missed him. I really despise his work schedule at times. It's not all that fun to be a sometimes single parent!

Anyways, the weekend went by way too fast. It wasn't until we were getting ready to board our flight back to Denver that I realized that Hadley was getting a tooth! Jenny confirmed that what I was seeing and feeling was definitely a tooth. Hadley was really fussy the first hour of the flight and had a hard time falling asleep. She eventually quit fighting it and fell asleep for the last hour. When we got up on Monday morning the tooth seemed to have disappeared, but then reappeared at daycare. She had a 3-hour nap that day. I think that helped to explain why she was napping for at least 2 hours at Mom's house. It wasn't the pool or the sun that was wearing her out--it was trying to break that first tooth! It still hasn't completely broken through the skin yet, but we know it's on its way. I'll see if I can capture a picture of it.

In the meantime, here are some pictures and a video from the weekend.

Brown-eyed girl, Katelyn Elizabeth


Hadley finally got to wear some summer clothes (and a bow in what little hair she has)


A Baylor bow-head already??


Bath time for cousins