goodbye 2011

It really is hard to believe that in 1.5 hours 2011 will be coming to a close.  Last year at this time I was 26 weeks pregnant, my anxiety was sky high, and I was anxious to meet my little girl.  This year my anxiety is still sky high but I have a beautiful almost 9 month old daughter to show for it.  Tomorrow I will gethave to say that my baby was born last year!!!  Last year.  That's crazy.  Maybe I'm just overanalyzing it all, but it's crazy to think that tomorrow it will no longer be Samantha's birth year.  It kind of means my baby isn't a baby anymore, haha.  Good grief, just wait until her first birthday and I'm balling like a baby!!

Tonight we went to a party at my cousins house and we lasted until about 9:45.  Samantha did really well but was suddenly just ready to crash.  We're home now, Samantha is sleeping, and Chris and I are anxiously awaiting the ball dropping and the beginning of 2012.

2011 was an amazing year and 2012 will have a hard time living up to it, but I'm sure it's going to be awesome anyhow!!  I can't wait to see what is in store for our little family.

lets get organized!

As we wrap up Samantha's first Christmas season it's pretty evident that we have a ton of toys and nowhere to put them.  Today, I set out to change that.  We are currently in the process of doing over our basement which will eventually have a little play area for Samantha so I had to keep that in mind.  After talking it over with Chris we decided to get storage bins for the play area and a toy chest for upstairs.  I ended up selecting a Circo storage set which just so happened to be on sale at Target.  Score!!

This was part way through my organizing and there are even more toys in there now!!  Her larger toys are all in the family room until the basement is ready for them.  As of now, the basement is still pretty unusable.  We bought the house with a finished basement but have never really made much of it.  Now that we have Samantha, it's super important to make it into a usable space.  A few weeks ago Chris painted the walls in the colors I chose.  All the walls are a medium shade of gray and there is a slight bump out on the ceiling that is a slightly darker gray.  Samantha's play area has a wall that we painted with chalkboard paint which I am really super excited about.  For Christmas, my Aunt Pam gave Samantha a set of foam alphabet letters so that the floor will be padded and then we will get a gate to close it off.  It's going to be super nice.

The other half of the basement will house a big screen tv and wrap around couch.  At some point I'm hoping to get a pool table or air hockey table for the area that divides the two spaces.  All in all, once it's finished it's going to be an awesome media/game/play room.  I can't wait!!

Merry Christmas!

Sorry this is a day late!  I was fully intending on posting yesterday but the day got away with me and I just never got around to it.  We slept in a little bit and got up around 8:30.  Must take advantage of these days while we can!!  We were all still exhausted from our hospital stay so it was nice to not have to rush around.  Once downstairs we checked out our stockings.  My favorite gift that Samantha got in her stocking was this absolutely adorable froggie hat!!

She looks SO cute in it!!!  We then moved onto our gifts.  Our tree was absolutely packed and there was a ton to open.  I'm not going to list each and every gift because that would just take too long, haha!!  Some favorites were as follows:

Chris: tons of work shirts, a daddy & me frame with a picture of him and Samantha, a drill

Me: video baby monitor, iPad keyboard, family calendar, ornaments, and Beco carrier (it hasn't come yet but I know it's coming, lol)

Samantha: two cell phones, tea set, piano, play home, ball dropper, tons of books and clothes

Seriously though, Samantha loves absolutely everything she got.  There isn't a single toy she doesn't want to play with.  We had such a wonderful Christmas and I am just so thankful that we got to spend it at home and not in the hospital.

many firsts!

So you know how you have that picture perfect idea of how your holidays will go and then it just gets torn to shreds?  Well, that's us this Christmas!!  All three of us have been battling colds for the past week or so and in the past 3-4 days Samantha developed a pretty bad cough.  Thursday, I went to the doctor and found out I have a sinus infection and I went on antibiotics.  Then that night as we went to bed, Samantha started making some funny noises while she was breathing.  I put my hand on her chest and could tell she was struggling.  Chris set up the shower in the guest bathroom for us and Samantha and I sat in the steam for quite a while until her breathing got more regular.  Even still, it was pretty rapid.  In the morning though she sounded better.  We decided to run errands and then put Samantha down for her afternoon nap.  Once she woke up I could immediately tell that she was burning up.  I took her temperature which was 101.3.  She normally is in the 97 range so this was very high for her and she has never had a fever before.  I put in a call to the pediatrician and they called back and said we needed to take her to the emergency room.

We quickly headed out to the emergency room and after talking to my cousin, headed to one a little farther away from home since it was likely that we'd be seen faster there.  We ended up only waiting in the waiting room for about 10-15 minutes so that was nice.  By the time we were taken back, Samantha's fever had climbed to about 102.9.  We got into a room and waited for the physicians assistant to see us.  He did a quick initial assessment and said she looked good but they were going to do an x-ray as well.  I got to go back with Samantha for the x-ray which she was not a fan of.  We then waited and waited for the PA to come back.  During this time they gave Samantha her first ever dose of tylenol.  Finally the PA came back and revealed to us that Samantha has pneumonia.  I couldn't believe it.  He then said they were going to put in a call to a pediatrician to decide what to do.  A bit later he came back and said that Samantha needed to be admitted to the hospital.  Unfortunately the center we were at was just an outpatient facility so Samantha and I had to be transferred by ambulance to another hospital.  Coincidentally we were brought to the one Samantha was born at!!  It's right down the street from our house so that was nice.  While I waited for the transport Chris headed home to pack a bag for me.  Before he left, however, the put an IV in Samantha's arm.  Unfortunately the first stick didn't take and they had to do it again and she was none too happy about that.  Poor baby girl.  She looked so little on the stretcher but she did so good.  The ambulance ride was pretty fun and once we got to the next hospital we got situated in a room in the pediatrics ward.

I went over everything with our nurse and we got Samantha somewhat settled and then Chris showed up.  While he was there to hold Samantha, I attempted to eat a bit and I also pumped since Samantha wasn't eating very well.  I forgot how nice the hospital grade pumps are, lol.  After I was settled Chris headed home.  Thankfully, there was a bed in the room for me and they allowed me to sign a consent form so we could co sleep like we do at home.  It was a long rough night however.  We got no sleep at all.  Samantha was up constantly fussing and the nurse was coming every so often to check vitals.  Plus since she was squirming so much her IV kept beeping.  Around 2:00am Samantha got another round of antibiotics.  At 4:30 we were checked again and then when the nurse came at 6:00 there was a problem.  Samantha had thrown up so I called the nurse to help me and when she came in she started looking worried about her IV.  Well somehow her IV got moved and it was in her arm rather than in her vein.  So for at least an hour the IV had been pushing fluids into her arm rather than the vein.  Poor baby girl.  Her arm was SOOOO swollen and puffy and just hard as a rock.  It was awful.  So, you guessed it, she needed a third IV.  Before we got the IV we gave her another dose of tylenol and right after she threw up a ton.  Somehow though, the vomit was all white (the tylenol was pink) so both the nurse and I were convinced it somehow stayed down.  Crazy!

We ended up getting the 3rd IV in her hand and then she went to sleep for a while since she was just wiped.  At that point, Chris showed up so I could relax a little.  I attempted to nap but the nurse was in and out again.  I was also kind of nervous because Samantha had a wet diaper before we left for the ER around 5:30 pm, then she didn't pee again until around 11:00 pm and that one was hardly damp.  So by 6 or 7am I was concerned that she hadn't gone to the bathroom.  The decided to flush her system and then she rapidly had three wet diapers...one of which was full of poop.  (That one was RIGHT after Chris walked in so he got to change her, haha!)  The doctor came in and said we could be discharged today!  We were so excited.  So now Samantha is on a zpac for the next 5 days and we'll go in to see our pediatrician on Tuesday.  I am so excited that Samantha will get to spend her first Christmas at home.  I hope she has a speedy recovery.

the countdown begins

The countdown is on!  With only 4 days until Christmas there is still SO much I have left to do.  I have wrapped all but two of DH's gifts, but Samantha's gifts are a while different story.  I have not wrapped a single one.  I've got great plans for her Santa gifts (am I allowed to post that?  I hope no kids are reading!!) which I can't wait to do.  I'm going to wrap them all in plain brown paper and today I got a clear stamp set to stamp her name onto handmade gift tags.  I'm pretty excited for my project.  Then we can keep it consistent every year.  I have a whole array of wrapping paper for the other gifts which I'm equally excited about...almost!  No matter what though, I am super super excited for our very first Christmas with Samantha.  I can already tell how magical it is going to be and just how much Samantha is going to enjoy it.

reindeer butts

Miss Samantha is wearing her first ever pair of Christmas pajamas today!!  They are SO cute!!

Earlier today I had to take one of our foster cats to an adoption fair and while Chloe was trying to get adopted, Samantha and I ran to Target and picked up some rainbow garland for our tree.  This evening while Samantha jumped in her jumperoo, I decorated the tree.  I still have a little bit to go but it looks so pretty so far.

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and I can tell it is going to be a million times better this year having Samantha around!!

ornaments

This morning we had a playgroup to make homemade ornaments!  It was so much fun and thankfully, Samantha pretty much cooperated.  I only had to do the handprint 3 times and the footprint we got on the first try!  I think they turned out great and I can't wait to hang them on our tree.

We're back!

Sorry I seemingly dropped off the face of the planet lately.  We are finally back in Virginia.  We've actually been here since Saturday but it's been go go go since then.  Samantha and I got up at 6:30 Saturday morning to be out the door by 7:00.  We got to the airport by 8:00 and my flight left at 9:15.  Thankfully there were 80ish empty seats so I got to bring Samantha's carseat on the plane with me.  The plane was pretty bumpy so I was about ready to have a panic attack, but thankfully we made it.  We landed around 11:45 and I already had my bags and was out the door before Chris got there!!  They were super speedy and efficient that day, I guess.  We got home and Chris dropped me off so I could hop in the shower and while I was showering, he went to McDonald's to get me some lunch.  I ate super fast and pumped at the same time and then headed to Tim and Nicole's to babysit.  I got there around 2:15 and babysat until a little after 10pm.  Ben was on fire, lol.  Tim and Nicole told me he's becoming a little terror and I half believed them, but WOW, he really is a little terror.  And he blames Luke for everything.  I had fun though.

Yesterday I was planning on going to church at 8am but when my alarm went off at 6:30 I just couldn't bring myself to get up.  I was wiped and Samantha was still sleeping so with being gone for 10 days and her schedule all out of whack, I decided we both should just sleep so we did.  We got up around 8:15 and just hung out.  At 11:15 we left to take Chloe to the vet.  Oh yeah, Chloe is back.  If you don't remember, Chloe was a little kitten we fostered last summer.  She got adopted by one of Chris's coworkers but unfortunately, he recently found out he has cancer and can't keep her.  So she's back with us.  I took her to the vet and she got all caught up on vaccines and then I took her to the pet fair.  She was pretty nervous and hissy but what do you expect?  She generated a little interest but no apps on her yet.  Hopefully she won't take long to get adopted out.  She's only a little over a year old so I'm hoping she's not super hard to adopt.  After the pet fair we raced home to drop off Chloe and then we went to our playgroup Christmas party.  It was really nice, but we didn't end up staying the whole time since we were all really tired.

This morning we had a Little Hands music class through playgroup.  It was fun, but I don't think something I'm interested in signing up for.  It didn't seem very structured and I don't know, I just didn't love it.  Plus it's $225.  That is A LOT of money.  So um, sorry Samantha, no music classes for you.

Then tonight, the mail came and we got a package from our friends Lindsay and Ethan!!!  

Samantha was super excited for her box.


Trying to open it.


Cummon Samantha.


You can do it!


It's a box!


An ornament!


Baby's First Christmas!!  SOOOO cute.


And a LUSH gift for me!  Looooooooooove!


Thank you SO much Lindsay!!!  Now I need to pick the perfect picture to put in her ornament.  :-)

we are here!

Sorry we've seemingly disappeared!!  Samantha and I flew to Chicago on Wednesday to spend some time with my dad and the rest of my family.  We have been busy busy and hardly had a chance to stop and sit at the computer, let alone post an entry!  We spent Wednesday with my dad and then at my friends house with her family before she left Thursday for her honeymoon.  (They got married back in June but are taking their honeymoon now.)  Thursday was basically a lazy day.  Friday we went downtown with my Aunt Pam and met up with my younger brother Brad and his girlfriend, Katie.  Yesterday we had our church Christmas program featuring me as Mary and Samantha as baby Jesus!!  We did pretty good if I do say so myself.  Today we had church and then an "open house" at my aunt's which, unfortunately, only one person showed up to, lol!!  Oh well.

I will do my very best to post some more for the remainder of our trip.  (We are here until Saturday)  I have been taking tons of pictures as well so I will try to get some of those up too.