One Month

Dear Emma,
I can't believe that today you are one month old! It seems just like yesterday that I was begging Dr. Bashuk to induce me so I could meet you! I remember the first time I set eyes on you in the Operating Room. I was instantly in love with you. I couldn't wait to hold you! Finally I got to hold you in my arms after such a long wait! It was perfect. We are still getting to know each other every day, and I am so blessed to be your mommy. I promise to be the best mom I can be for you. We may not always agree, in fact, I know we won't, but I will always look out for you, love you unconditionally, and raise you in the image of Christ.

What are you doing at one month old? Mostly sleeping, eating every 3 hours during the day, and staring at things. At night, you can go about 4-6 hours without eating, which is great! You must love to sleep just like your parents.

You like my milk, your paci, being swaddled, riding in the sling, being held, sleeping with mommy in the bed on a pillow, staring at ceiling fans, and warm baths.

You dislike getting your diaper changed, getting naked, not being swaddled, and being burped.

You are starting to get a little personality. You can be a fussy girl when you are hungry, which I understand! :D You can be silly already! I swear you smile sometimes at me and daddy. You love to grip our fingers, and I know this is just a baby reflex, but I LOVE it! You react to me more because you are with me all day and night. You love it when I swaddle you, pop the paci in, and walk around rocking you.


You are sleeping in your great great grandfather's bassinet by our bed. You have not slept in your crib yet-and I don't know if I will ever be ready to move you into your own room! Sorry, Daddy!

I already DREAD going back to work because I don't want to leave you and let someone else see you do all of the special, cute things I know you will do. At least you are going to a great lady and not a big daycare!

Here are some pictures of you over the past month.

Becoming a Family

Laying on Mommy in the hospital

Photo Shoot in the dress Nonnie made for you

Laying on Mommy again-you love skin to skin

Looking at Daddy

Fake Sleeping for the camera at 3 weeks old


Emeline Sarah Edwards, I love you more than anything in this world, and I am so honored to be your mother. I look forward to our life together and cannot believe that one month has already passed. Slow down little girl!

Pray for your children!

Bring the Rain, an incredible blog, started 7x7 prayer with her children. Check her out, but take your box of tissues. I am starting this with Emma tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. I think it is very important for us to pray over our children daily, and why not start in their first days of life?

On another note, I want to give a shout out to Miss Fluffy and Fashionable and Famous, LyndsAU. She is about to have her precious baby girl. Also, the Wringing Out My Sponge author Laura is due any second with her baby girl! Lots of babies coming soon. Two other blog "friends" have just had their babies-check out their blogs-they are great too! Sarah and Mrs. Blight both just had boys! Yay for everyone! I hope you will all try the 7x7 prayers.

Has anyone done this or heard of it? I saw the original idea on another friend's blog-Bridget at Don't Blink. She has 5 kids, so she is praying NONSTOP!

Thoughts?

The Last Five Pounds

So. Yeah, I have lost 32 of the 37 pounds I gained while pregnant. I really want these last FIVE pounds off of me-plus 20 from before I was pregnant. Because we all know I was not exactly svelte before pregnancy.

So. I need you to give me tips, tricks, and advice to get these last five pounds off. Ummm, plus 20 more. I was thinking of doing Weight Watchers-I know a lot of people who have had great success with WW. I especially like the story of Mrs. Classic at Weight Watchers Changed My Life.

What do you think?

Welcome Visitors!

According to my live traffic feed, I am getting lots of traffic from all around the United States. Let me introduce myself and welcome you to my blog! I'm glad you're here and I hope you will stick around and follow me through my adventures in mommyhood!

I am Susannah, mom to Baby E, wife to hubs. We live in ATL, Georgia and have for almost six years. I started this blog at the end of my pregnancy to journal and chronicle my life and the new life of my baby.

I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama with my kick a** parents and awesome sister. I was raised orange and blue, and went to Auburn University in the summer of 1997. I graduated with a bachelor's in elementary education in 2001 and a master's in 2002. (I hope bachelor's and master's need apostrophes, because I am too lazy to google it-and I am a MAJAH grammar whore). I started teaching and have been doing it ever since. I met husby at Auburn in 2002 and we began dating, promptly fell in love, and married in 2004.

We have been married ever since, and we just welcomed our first piglet, Baby E. She's been a long time in the making. We started trying to get pregnant after one year together, and had some hard times. It took almost a year for me to get pregnant the first time, then I had a miscarriage. The second pregnancy was almost a year later, and that too ended in a late miscarriage. I was in a dark place with my faith and myself after that-it took me awhile to get over it and try again. I got pregnant in November of 2008 and was scared every second of every day for about 4 months that something would happen. Finally, Miss Emma was born and I could breathe a sigh of relief-ha! Now I just worry about HER and check her breathing every 5 minutes. I LOVED being pregnant and want to be pregnant again when Emma is about 6 months old. Yes, husby and I have discussed this, and NO I am not crazy. And do not leave me a comment telling me why this is a bad idea-I am 30 and want FOUR kids, so I've got to get busy. Hopefully, God will bless me with many more children!

So, I hope you know a little more about me and my family now, and I hope you will stick around. Who knows, maybe we can become friends! PS-see my earlier post about "friends" that you make in the blog world! :D

Oh, Miley...

You've done it again. Not only to teens and tweens alike, but alas, to me and the hubs. We are so deeply in like with your new song "Party in the USA," we cannot stop singing to each other. "Noddin' my head like yeah," "Movin' my hips like yeah."

Yeah, we dig it. Keep the hits comin'. And for all you out there who haven't fallen in love with the HIGHLY addicting hit, check it out!

Simple and Delicious

My colleagues at X Elementary School have been so kind as to meal plan and deliver food to us until mid September to celebrate Baby E's arrival. They bring food every other night, so we can eat leftovers in between deliveries. It is so awesome that I can just sit here and be lazy grateful for such good food and great friends. Anyway, last night we ate this incredible chicken and squash casserole with a nice salad. Well, we ate it all, so tonight was what I call Pantry Smorgasbord. That's where you get all the things you want in your dinner from the pantry and just create an awesome concoction. My concoction tonight was pasta with fresh herbs and cheese. Dee-lish! Let me tell you about it. You need:
-Penne Pasta
-Garlic, butter, Kraft Zesty Italian dressing
-Salt and Pepper
-Fresh Basil, chiffonaded
-Cherry Tomatoes, halved
-Fresh Parmesan and/or Asiago
Now, I don't have measurements because I just threw the things I wanted and the amount I wanted into the pot.

Cook penne pasta according to package directions. When it's done, return to pot and add a liberal (about 2 tbsp) amount of butter, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Add the cherry tomatoes and basil. Stir all to combine. Add about 1/8-1/4 C of the Italian dressing and about 1/4 C cheese. Mix well. Cover with lid and let sit for about 3 minutes (this was because I had to feed the baby!):D Plate it up and cover with more cheese, salt, and pepper. Enjoy with a glass of wine (wish I had some!) I didn't take a picture because I was RAVENOUS and inhaled mine! Now, for dessert: RUN-do not walk-to your nearest Publix and purchase their KEY LIME PIE frozen yogurt. FOR THE LOVE-you may eat the whole carton-it is A.MAZ.ING.

Now, you may have noticed I kept saying, "mine." Hubs is not home tonight. Where is he, you may ask? Well, he has bowling league. Yes, you just read that right-BOWLING LEAGUE-srsly? Yeah, Tuesdays from 6:30-9:30. Can I please leave the house today too? kthxbi.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Three Weeks!

I am a partier!

Time sure flies by with this little one around! She is three weeks old today. I can't believe it! Stop growing up little girl!

Revision to Previous Post

I should mention that my previous post entitled, "My Push Present-this one's for Johnny," should now be called "My CUT ME OPEN Present." Yeah, so that makes the new tires EVEN better and more special as a giving birth present.

Also, I have been working on a post for awhile now, and it's finally finished, so scroll down and check out "SJE's A Labor Story." Sure to provide you with some laughs-that is my goal after all. :D

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Tummy Time!

Look at my cute girl having some tummy time today! She is two weeks old today! We started out the day on a rough note (imagine no sleep last night, peeing in my bed this AM, non stop crying till about 11:00, etc) then we chilled out and have been sleeping all day with breaks for diapering and eating. I was about to ram my head through a wall cry! Maybe I did-don't judge. But now, she is all good and happy, and as you know, if baby ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

For the Love!

I am about to LOSE IT on some insurance peeps-srsly! I need a freakin' assistant to handle all of the BS insurance things I have to go through. Last night, Husby got the mail, and there were 3 letters in it-all from the HOSPITAL-
1. One for me for $14,000 for my business
2. One for Baby E for $2,500 for her business
3. One for $500 for my gestational diabetes class that was PRE APPROVED.

And 2 letters from INSURANCE-
1. We need your baby's social security number-HELLO, she is 12 days old-I don't have it yet!
2. Something else I can't remember, but I'm sure it was BS.

Now, the diabetic BILL is the kicker! The other ones will resolve themselves via insurance (but I sure as H don't like getting "billed" for them-it just stresses a woman out!) The diabetic class is about to put me in an early grave! Before going, I called insurance to make sure it was covered-it was. I go to the class, and then about a month later get a bill from the hospital. I call them, and they tell me they have submitted it and it is not being paid for. WTF?

I call my OB and talk to the billing lady (we're practically BFF's) and she's all like, "WTF?" I call insurance, and they say it is coded as something like a nutrition class, which is NOT covered. Oh for the love people, it is a nutrition class on GESTATIONAL DIABETES-it is always covered!
Now they are really pissed because I still haven't paid it-I am going to have to get on the phone tomorrow and deal with this, while keeping Baby E happy. All while extremely emotional, and trying not to cry to people who DON'T care!

Rah to the rah! Does anyone else have these types of problems? I really want to hire someone to deal with this shizzle for me, because I am about at my flippin' wit's end!
Thanks for listening to the rant!

Yesterday versus Today

This was our day yesterday.

Nothing would make Baby E happy-not feeding, holding, cuddling, swaddling, nothing! Husby and I were about at wit's end with the crying.

This was our day today.

Ahh, perfection!

SJE's, "A Labor Story"

We've all watched TLC's "A Baby Story," right? Well, this is my version of it-my labor story. So, if you don't want TMI, stop reading now.

OK, that was your chance. I'm bout ta tell it like it was.

I am a Mexican whore-I LOVE Mexican food-and all through my pregnancy, I ate Mexican like it was going out of style. Several times, I had myself convinced that I was in preterm labor because I overate cheese dip and taco salad and had ma-jah gas pains! MA-JAH (that's from my bestie Laura). Anyway, on Monday August 3, I was scheduled to be induced at 8:30 pm. So, hubs and my mom and I went for my last preggo meal, Mexican! We left at 7:45 and walked outside. Hubs was helping my huge ass into the car, when I felt it: trickling down below! Now I had myself convinced that I was NOT going to have all the normal labor stuff, because I was getting induced. So imagine my surprise when I feel what I can only assume is my water breaking! Ewww, it was gross interesting. For the whole 1 mile ride home, I attempted to levitate my fanny off the seat so I wasn't feeling it. Anyway, we get home, I do an inspection, and decide OK, this is really happening. Forty five minutes before I'm due to be induced, she decides she is coming out on her own!

Well then I get a contraction. I guess I had been having them all day, but didn't know what they were-they feel like period pains-cramps. Now, all of a sudden they were getting ramped up! Dude, like 3 minutes apart. Well, if you know me, you know I'm a drama queen bit dramatic, and I was all like, "We are not having this baby on GA 400, get me to the hospital STAT!" Cue hubs, driving 90 down GA 400 to get me there! We screech up to the L&D entrance, just like we practiced at our tour. I go in to the admissions desk while he parks the car. As I am standing there saying, "I am in labor," more water breakage occurs, splashing out on the floor, in front of a maintenance man and a Chinese couple. All are clearly not amused, and maybe even grossed out?? I can't imagine why. The admissions clerk gives me two towels (like, just birth it right here woman!!) and tells me to take a seat, a nurse will be right with me. OMG-srsly?? I am in labor and you want me to wait?!?! I begin texting the free world. This is where I could insert my need for an iPhone and/or Twitter. Ahem, hubs.

Ten minutes later, hubs and nurse come for me simultaneously. We go back to my "suite." Srsly, it is pimp tight. Very large and nice for a birthing suite. My nurse was freakin rad! Lauren was her name. She needs a shout out for dealing with me. And she got to learn my lingo~she was diggin it. Well, at this point when she checked me, I was 3 cm. And I was NOT down with much more pain. So, I requested my enema-ahahahaha! After that bathroom dalliance, I was ready for anesthesia. It was sometime in the middle of the night-I mean we didn't even get checked in and such till about 9:30. So maybe it was like 12:00-I get my epidural-BEST.THING.EVER. I am trying to rest/sleep, as is hubs, when I am greeted by my two long lost hoochie friends, Em and Laura. Am I hallucinating? I wish I had a picture of these two sketchballs rolling in my hospital room at 1:00 in the morning. They were "bored" and wanted to come see me before it got "too bad!" Ha! I was cracking up! Laura wrote some hilarious posts on all this at her blog, Groovin with the Grizas. They kept the laughs coming and I supplied the horror with my contractions/pain screeching. Laura may never give birth now, and I'm pretty sure Emily wants her fetus to stay inside.

So, we keep rolling, and it is the next day. At my next check, I was at 6 cm. It was probably about middle of the day on Tuesday. I was getting pretty miserable because all of my epidurals kept wearing off-yah, I said epiduralS. I got pretty cozy with the anesthesiologists-all 5 of them. Pretty sure that drug bill will be ENORMOUS. I kept losing the numbness on the left side. So anyway, by this point, I was about OVER IT. Plus, I now had a fever of close to 100-not cool-and the baby was not diggin it.

Fast forward to about 4:00-my doc comes in to check me-I was at 8 cm. I was starting to get excited-this is it, it's about to happen! He says, "Oh, by the way, you are not progressing fast enough. We may have to talk about options soon." Options in hospital speak for pregnant people =c section. My worst nightmare. Ask any of my friends, my fear was laboring then having to have a c section. I had been in labor for NINETEEN HOURS at this point-and now you want to jack me up and cut me open?!?! No thank you, I do not want to be bedridden and miz for 89 weeks. BUT, I am not down with laboring another hour, still being at 8, THEN having to do a c section. So I really suck it down and say, OK, for this kid whom I already adore, I will do ANYTHING. So cut me open.

Oh friends, so many misconceptions. Might I now add that a c section is THE.BEST.WAY.EVER to give birth. I will have 97 more c sections with all subsequent pregnancies. Srsly-my foof is still intact and I could use the bathroom without my insides falling out. Yeah, I said it.

Back to the story: I FLIP out on husby-he tries to calm me, then the nurse tech comes in to prep me-full on: new epidural, SHAVE the area, take blood, etc. All I know is once you give me a new epidural, you can pretty much do WHATEV you want to me. I vaguely remember telling the nurse when she is wheeling me to the OR, "I watch TLC, I know what y'all are about to do to me. I am so imagining everything. I'm scared!" She was damning television at that point (as well as my ability to talk.)

Enter the OR-of course just like on television, husby has to stay outside till I'm "ready." Once he comes in, the show begins. I am just imagining everything I see on TLC and slightly wigging. I kept asking the nurses what would happen if I barfed-especially once I was cut open. They were like, "Chill woman-we will give you a barf pan." So the doctor and surgical assistants are just chatting it up about BS, and I'm like, "Srsly, are you talking about this crap while you are CUTTING me open? Shutup and focus." Then I hear my OB say, "Hey dude!" I lost it-I'm all like, "Husband, it's a boy!?!?!? What the.....?!?!?!" (This was another BIG fear of mine-I was certain that all the ultrasounds were wrong and that I would have a boy named Emma with a pink and brown nursery.)

THEN-my little girl comes out! I see them carry her over my head to the little bassinet to do her check up-ahhh, she is amazing! I am so impatient waiting to see her! Hubs goes to take pictures of her and check on her. She is perfect, a gift from GOD. Long awaited.

Overall, it was a perfect labor. No complications, minus the late c section. Let me leave you with a picture of the event. Yeah, it was awesome. Pretty sure we will be doing this again soon.

My Latest Obsession

Do you see this face? How can you NOT be obsessed with it? I am SO.STINKIN.PROUD to introduce MY DAUGHTER. Do you know how long I have waited to say that? Four years-FOUR YEARS people. She is the light of my life (besides my darling husband-without whom, I could have NEVER done this.) This child is incredible. Let me give you some details:

Emeline Sarah Edwards (called Emma)

August 4, 2009 at 5:07 pm

8 lb 1 oz, 21 in long

Dark Brown hair, Blue eyes

GORGEOUS!

After all we have gone through to get this child here, she is here and she is perfect. A true miracle from God. HE is so good! She is such a good baby-she eats a lot, poops a lot, cries a lot, etc! :D She already has a personality.

She DOES NOT like the following things:

-being changed or touched with a wet wipe

-being naked

-being unswaddled

She DOES LIKE the following things:

-being held

-being held

-being held

-being swaddled

-eating

-pooping

She is the best thing that has ever happened to us. We still can't believe she is OURS. Today she is ONE WEEK OLD. Sob-I can't believe it. The time is already flying by.

We will be sharing more info and pictures soon-it's way harder to blog now! :D

Numbers

This pregnancy has been full of numbers. I thought I would share some with you.

40-how many weeks I am today!
264-the number of times I have had to take my blood since finding out I am gestational diabetes
66-the number of times I have had to pee on a "ketostix" to check my ketones since finding out I am gestational diabetes
280-the number of days I have thanked God for this baby!
200-bowls of ice cream I have eaten during pregnancy
17-the jars of peanut butter I have eaten during pregnancy
49-the number of emotional breakdowns I have had during pregnancy
5-the minimum number of times I get up in the night to pee
138-the number of times I have checked iPregnancy on my apps
195-the number of naps I have taken during pregnancy
77-the number of times she has woken me up for food
8-the number of times I have "thought" I was in labor
37-the number of pounds I have gained during pregnancy
<48-the number of hours left until we meet her!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have our final appointment tomorrow morning at 9:15, and then we will either A)go to the hospital for induction, or B) find out I am progressing normally and let me go (ha!).

Now, since this is a product of me and hubs, we know she will be A)stubborn, and B)late. So don't hold your breath on labor today/tonight. I'm not!

Thank you all for your support and love throughout this pregnancy! It means a lot to us, and we are ready to share our little angelina with you!

Hubs New Home

So, husband may have a new home. Have you ever heard of Aldi? It's a grocery store chain that has RI.DIC.U.LOUS.LY low prices-this works because you have to pay a quarter for a grocery cart, they don't bag ANYTHING, and they have all generic brands. Seriously, you want some Kraft cheese? No, they have Hidden Farms cheese. Campbell's soup? They have Right Start broth. Gatoradae? They have Lightening Bolt. It's hilarious.

We searched out our local Aldi today and set off for an adventure, neither of us with me not expecting to find anything worth buying. Sometimes I'm a name brand ho. First thing we notice (after we PAY for our cart), is that there are no shelves of any type. Everything is stacked on pallets and it's seemingly organized by "groups" like snacks, baking items, produce, etc. So within the first 3 feet of the door, the pallets start. Husby starts rolling with it-he's like, "Do we need granola? Fruit by the foot? Crackers? Allspice? Lard? Milk?" Hmm, we need milk-guess how much it is-wait for it: $1.49/gal! OMG-right! Now it's called "Milk Land's Best" or something, but OK, I'll try it. I pay $3.69 or more at Publix or Walmart. We keep going and he keeps calling out: "18 pounds potatoes? Cheese? Marrow bone? 4 pounds frozen shrimp?" In all, we got NINE items off of my grocery list. We go through checkout and it's $16.00! And you get your quarter back when you return the cart-sa weet! Look at what we got:

Salad in a bag 1.89

Grape tomatoes 0.99

Shredded cheddar 1.99

Biscuits 1.19

2 bags hashbrowns (like the "Real Potato" brand 3.00

Sausage 1.99

Skim milk 1.49

Peanut butter 1.39

Cooking spray (like PAM) 1.39

Tax 0.31

Total 15.61

Now, I am a LITTLE scared of the cheese and peanut butter-normally I only buy Kraft and Jif. But, I will try it. While we are going to checkout, husband says, "Dude, I could like SRSLY live here-I mean it has all the essentials. It's so awesome here." While I start having a mini panic attack about the lack of brand names, I have my epiphany. "But it's like 15 miles from out house, so we would really be wasting money coming here all the time for groceries." Yeah, he saw right through that.

On the way home, we stopped at Publix for the other 10 things on our list. Now the Aldi didn't have SOME things (like green onions, and their cucumbers were the size of my ARM), so we beebop into Publix and get:

Rolls 1.79

Jelly 2.29

Mayo 3.00 (because I wasn't about to use generic mayo)

Cheez-its 3.29

Splenda 4.29

Degree deodorant 2 for 4.00

Goldfish 2.19

Croutons 1.39

Ranch packet 1.49

Apples 3.46

Cucumber 0.65

Green onions 0.50

Tax 0.74

Total 29.07

Wow! Double the other price-but, I still don't see this store becoming a part of our future. But husband will be glad to know that I called ahead and reserved a bed for him in the back. Just in case he needs a fix of frugality. He can go there.