A day in the life....

I feel like this year really flew by. I am not talking about just moved at a faster pace than any other year, I am talking about closed eyes for one second during the middle of October 2011 and opening them to find that the month is now August of 12. (You know your old when you try and write the year and habitually say, "0-12" instead of just "12." Im officially "O-LD"). Its hard for me to grasp that in just a few years, i went from being single in the big city of Dallas to a married family of three (four if you include the dog, but after several bouts of stormy weather, he has been disowned for the time being.) in the suburbs. I often think back about those days and try and figure out what i did with all my time, especially now when i spend most of my time trying to figure out how to get more time, especially when it comes to the asleep time. If i really want to make my present self jealous of my past self, then i will remember all the way back to the college years of perpetual time. Endless time. Abundance of time. All the time in the (small and oh so unrealistic) world. Now days my schedule looks like the following:

5:15 am - Baby wakes up ready to take on the world and some much needed nursing. Me, not so much.

5:30am- After a record breaking nursing session because Reed feels like i tried to starve him by not feeding him through the night, I make some coffee for myself. 6 cups.

5:45am- Pry Reed away and try and get a shower. Not as easy as one would think.

5:47am- After worlds shortest shower, I have to get back in after forgetting to rinse out the shampoo

5:55am- Grab another cup of coffee.

6:00am- Get dressed, put on make-up, dry and curl hair (which really means half-way dry then throw in a bun), basically do everything in my power to look half-way presentable for work. I sure do set high bars for myself.

6:20am- Wrangle the baby into some clothes, pack his backpack full of last night's prep work, pack my work bag, load the car, and try and convince Reed to "get nicely" into his carseat. Reality: He is screeming and i am singing "you are my sunshine" on top of my lungs to distract him.

6:30am - Rush to the interstate just to sit in traffic for the next 40 minutes.

6:31am- Begin singing about every farmer, animal, light fixture, etc for the next 38 minutes to soothe a very angry back seat passenger.

7:30 am- Arrive at daycare and spend the next thirty minute trying to convince Reed that daycare is equivalent to Disney world. His teacher looks at me like I am insane. I might be.

8:00am - Finally make it in to work and start unloading files from my desk so that i can even see my computer screen. E-mails, meetings, behavior plans, staff schedules, revisions, and coffee make up the first two hours of the day.

9:15am- Break to pump milk for tomorrow's bottles. Nothing like being topless at your place of employment to really get the adrenaline pumping. No locks on the door to the pumping room really can make you more jittery then any amount of coffee could.

10:00am- Back to work and slip in a short phone call to daycare to check on the bambino.

11:00am- Realize I didn't eat breakfast and forgot my lunch although Reed made it to daycare with what his teacher informs me is a gourmet meal. I end up finding half a package of crackers and a piece of retirement cake in the break room. Score!

11:30am- Home visits, school visits, and more paperwork. Then more paperwork, And more paper work, followed by paperwork. I send a e-mail urging the building to go green. No response.

12:30pm- Break to pump again. Prop chair against the door this time and laugh at myself for not thinking of this solution earlier...as in 5 months earlier. Head back to the office.

3:00pm- Realize the day has slipped by and i didn't have enough time to get everything done. Shocking. Pump one last time and start in on the last bit of work for the day.

4:45pm- Leave the office looking exactly like it was when i got there, which is messy and overwhelming. Head to the day care to grab the wee one. As i walk in, i hear "reunited" play in my head and i feel like one of those slow motion commericals where the people are running to each other with their arms out ready to embrace one another. That is just how my mind works, except Reed is crawling towards me crying in relief that i came back to get him, and i look disheveled and like i got hit by a truck.  Heartwarming reunion for the next 10 minutes.

5:00pm- Reed and I say our goodbyes to his teacher and hit the interstate home. Another 40 minutes. The only time in our lives that passes slowly is the time spent in traffic. My Dallas acquired road rage wants to rear its ugly head, but i just sing "you are my sunshine" for the millionth time instead.

5:45pm- We arrive home and nurse, catch up on the husband's wild and crazy kindergarten stories, grab a drink and start debating on dinner. We always have good intentions to try all these new recipes and we end up with a random assortment of whatever is in the fridge and pantry, because we are both too tired to go grocery shopping. Reed gets 2nd gourmet meal. Hux conveniently helped himself to the garbage, so he gets to watch.

6:30pm.- After dinner, It is time for bath, jam jams, and father- son play time while I try to clean the kitchen. It somewhat reminds me of what my desk looked like from this morning. Messy and overwhelming.

7:30pm- The baby nurses for the last time of the night, while he tries to rally one more good "I am not tired and should get to stay up a little longer" smile before i snuggle him into his bed. I also throw in 5 paci's just for good measure.

7:45pm- Get the house picked up, pack Reed's breakfast, lunch, bottles, and snacks while trying to mentally calculate what needs to go on tomorrow. Give up on the mental math because it sounds like this: 6 reports + 3 behavior plans= 5 penguins on a summer day. Math makes no sense so i sit down and have a beer with the husband.

7:50pm- Realize that i have not watered the plants in three days and all the clean clothes are dirty. Water the laundry and clean the plants. At this point, that is about my mental capacity.

8:30pm- Finish the rest of the chores and finally sit down to finish the beer i had opened. Blue Moon is my absolute favorite.

9:00pm Decide that sleep is more important then finishing the laundry so i head to bed.

It may be a crazy life, but of all the life that i have lived (which has been 28 years of it), it is by far some of the best! Wouldn't change it for the world!

                                                                        Yum! Dinner

                                                         Bath time for Mr. Howse

                                                 Toad in a hole/ Blue Moon. Dinner of champs!

                                                    Play time after a grueling day of playing

Until Later,

C

Cha-Cha Changes

I don't do well with change. I am not horrible at it, but it is not my particular cup of tea. This week is a whopper of a change that affects not only myself, but my husband and my baby boy.

I am not doing well with it. Really. I am not.

Let me give a little back story for clarification on my impending panic attack. When I was pregnant with Reed, I was doing some part-time work in Dallas and had the luxury of parking my very pregnant rear on the couch or in the bed the rest of the time that i was not working. It was a lot of travel, but a great job and I loved it. Once Reed arrived, I soon realized how impossible the job had become with the one simple addition of an infant. After one very long and crowded work trip post baby, I had to cut the cord.

(excuse the pun)

I was offered a contract position that allowed the best of both worlds in the ever challenging baby/work juggling department. I also had the luxury of family watching Reed while i did the little bit of work i was being contracted to do. It was a fabulous situation. A little phrase about having cake and eating the cake comes to mind. I was set.

Phone rings. Changes calling. I wish i could have hung up.

One of those fabulous and endlessly helpful family members who watched Reed once a week was being transferred alongside her equally fabulous husband who just so happens to be in the United States Air Force.

Bummer.

My well-oiled baby/work balancing machine came to a screeching halt.

I decided that the transfer was a sign saying it was time to head back to the ole grind more then just the two days a week i was already grinding out. I never envisioned myself as the SAHM kinda of gal, but i will admit that one should not knock it until one tries it. It is a pretty great gig that i have loved for the ten months that i have been able to claim the title.

Change.

Like i said at the beginning of this small little rant of mine, i don't do well with change. Tomorrow will be full of it and i catch myself tensing in anticipation of it all. A new Kindergarten class full of giddy and exuberant children for my husband to teach, a brand new "school" for my handsome little guy, and a full time schedule for myself.

Change just seems to be beating the ever resistant daylights out of me.

Back in the Saddle

Ok. Please take pity on my poor, blog-neglecting soul. It has been close to a year since my last blog post. I think i am about two and a half months from it being one year since my last post and I swear to you i have a good and reasonable reason from the, um, silence. His name is Reed and he doesn't appreciate sleep the way you or I appreciate sleep, in fact, he doesn't want much to do with sleep at all. Hence, the crickets chirping, power outage style silence on the blog-es-phere. I must say that not sleeping through the night for what feels like 4 years, but has actually spanned about 10 months, will certainly take the "i need to blog about my day and scream at the computer while trying to crop photos," drive right out of you. What truly has blown my mind is how fast the past 10 months has gone. Not necessarily the night time hours, but the day to day happenings of our lives has really flown! Why am i back must you ask? That momentous occasion that every new mommy dreams of as they nurse their bouncing, bubbly baby for the 4th time in one night. The all night sleeping phase of baby-hood. Reed finally reached this milestone after 10 months of marathon night time eating, and started sleeping through the night this past week. So after a few nights of all night slumber, i have rebooted this bad boy (and myself) back up and fully anticipate to make regular and timely posts. Well, maybe i should rephrase that as semi-regular and in no way timely posts. I mean i do have a teething 10 month-er.

This cutie patootie is worth every late night and early morning and everything in between. He is certainly growing fast!

Until the next,

C

Baby Reed! Warning..birth details included.

Pictures of our new bundle of Joy!!!!

Baby Reed! Warning..birth details included.

Ok, so i know it has been a while but things went from cramped and uncomfortable to full fledged amazing since we welcomed Reed Haskell Howse on October 26th, 2011. He decided to grace us with his presence the day before i was to be induced. How Perfect!!

I went in for a pre-induction visit to my wonderful OBGYN and was saddened by the fact that i had not made much progress , but still had been having contractions. I was sure i was at least a 6 (just kidding), but my contractions had been pretty strong so i was shocked that i was only a 2. The weekend before my visit to Dr. Martin, i had spent in Heber Springs, Arkansas at a beautiful wedding for our dear friend Casie's wedding. I was fully ready to hatch our little chicken any time and decided the best way to speed up the process was to spend the evening dancing in high heels and on feet at the wedding. I was prepared to shimmy him out to the tune of celebrate good times on the dance floor. No such luck. The only thing i achieved were huge feet, cramps, and a bad mood. It was a great wedding, though. Nathan and I spent the next couple of days going and doing, prepared at any moment to drop what we were doing and head to the hospital, but still nothing was happening. I was continually getting more and more anxious about the delivery and pain of the whole event, but even more anxious just waiting around not knowing when or if anything was going to happen before our scheduled induction. I also was being watched like a bag of popcorn popping by everyone around me....i was over it!!! Nathan knew he needed to get all of his sub plans and parent teacher conferences done before everything happened, so he did some double duty in the classroom as i did double duty around our house getting things ready. I figured i had till Wednesday night ...and all night at that since the induction was on Thursday and i figured i would be pretty nervous. I went to the Dr. on Tuesday to hear all about the induction and get checked one last time. I was still a 2 and still bummed, but i figured at least i knew that Thursday was the day and that Nathan could get his parent teacher conferences done and be ready to become a daddy. Well lucky me, not so lucky him...after feeling pretty lousy all day after the Dr's, we ate dinner with our friends at Zsa Zsa's and decided to go to bed pretty early. Nathan had been asleep about an hour when i noticed my first really intense contraction. I laid there for another hour or so and felt like my insides were being ripped apart. It felt NOTHING like my braxton hicks contractions. Whoever Braxton Hicks is should be sued since real contractions aren't even close to what Braxton Hicks contractions are....those were easy compared to the real thing....REAL EASY!! I laid down and tried to take my mind off of things, but within about 5 minutes i felt like i had peed the bed...but just a little bit. I was so confused, since in the movies, a women's water breaks and everyone knows it. I wasn't sure if mine had or not. That's what i get for thinking anything would be like the movies. I am really not that stupid..I blame the hormones. I continued to lay down until i couldn't take it any longer and woke Nathan and told him what was going on. After some pacing the kitchen, a dog who knew something was going on, a call to Labor and Delivery, we decided to go in and get checked. I full-heartily felt like they would laugh and send me home, but we went anyway.

Howse was born into the world. He was absolutely the most beautiful thing in the entire world. He became our world the very second we heard that first cry. Nathan was able to follow him over to the warmer and count all the fingers and toes....absolutely perfect. My Doctor told me that I would never have a harder delivery since Reed accidental came out face up. She said that most of face-up deliveries end up in emergency c-section. I was so relieved that i was able to push him out without the need for a surgery. Throughout my pregnancy I knew i loved Reed, but it was nothing compared to the immediate overwhelming love i felt once I saw him. I must say, I loved the immediate feeling of weight loss as well...but that's another blog for another time. Our Doctor had to run to her child's halloween party, so the other Doctor i booted out had to come back and finish all that needed to be done to me. She was very understanding...whoops.

All our family and close friends were in the waiting room and got to come in to see him, before i nursed. The looks on their faces said everything as they all filed in one after the other. We so overjoyed and exhausted all at one time. It was such an amazing experience. A couple hours later we met with Reed's pediatrician and he delivered some news that had me scared to death. He warned us that Reed might have a condition called Cranial Stinousis and might need a cranial operation in the next couple of weeks. Basically, they thought Reed's scull had already fused together in one spot that goes lateral across the front of his head. He said that most babies sculls are flexible to allow passage through the birth canal and that Reed's did not seem to be flexible. Nathan and I were dumb founded. They said that time would be a better indicator, but that they would do x-rays the next day. He said that my delivery was so difficult because of this condition. Here is the example they gave me..."It was like you had a 14cm steel ball coming through a 10cm opening." Isn't that a pretty example?!! I was able to feel the full effects of that example once my epidural wore off later that afternoon. They had turned it back on for me due to all the damage i had going on. We stayed in the hospital for another 30 hours or so, but decided to go home the next evening so that we could get some rest.

As of right now and after a doctor's visit, the are hopeful that Reed's head might just have overlapping plates and not fused ones. They have not ruled out surgery, but they have given us the green light to put the thoughts and stress behind us for now and to just enjoy are little miracle. We are doing just that!!! Nathan and I sit and stare at him from basically sun up to sun down. We fall more in love with him everyday, as well as with each other. We are celebrating out 1 year anniversary tomorrow and we both think that our beautiful boy is the perfect present we could ever give each other. We are getting back to normal life, but still we pray everyday for the health of our baby boy and the progress of his little head. I don't know how i would deal with anything other then a good clean bill of health. We definitely would appreciate any prayers that anyone would be willing to say on Reed's behalf.

I can't believe he is here!!! Those long 9 months with all the ups and downs and everything in between was so unbelievable worth it....hands down!!!!

p.s....ignore any grammer errors...im sleep deprived!!!!!

Shower and Pumpkins and Pain, oh my!

So this weekend Reed had his first baby shower hosted by some of our closest friends as a couples shower. I was so excited about the upcoming festivities and apparently so was Reed since i had not slept in quite a while thanks to his late-night tummy parties and the ever so lovely Braxton-Hicks contractions that I have been having. I realized at this late point in the pregnancy that i would not feel great, but not feeling great is putting it lightly....and at this point there is nothing light about any of it!!! I have only gained about 15 pounds, but at this point i feel like i am weighing in at a little under 300 pounds. It is all baby belly too and so i sometimes think he might come out weighing 12 or 13 pounds, even though my doctor assures me he will not. I have about 5 weeks left if he waits it all the way out till November 2nd...which i have been trying to talk him out since about a week ago. The part I guess i never thought much about was how painful my stomach would be, but i guess it makes sense with 15 extra pounds all bundled up next to my now ever so creepy outie-belly button. For some odd reason I feel the worst in the mornings till about noon and then again in the evenings around 8:30 or so. In other words, i try to fit in all my daytime activities and chores in the 8 and 1/2 hours when i feel somewhat decent. Im telling you, not a day goes by that i don't try to talk him out already. We are talking full on bribery. After my last bi-weekly dr. appointment (can't believe we are about to start going every week!!) my doctor seemed to think he might be here a tad before the due date...so fingers crossed. The rest of the symptoms include headaches, arm and leg numbness, fatigue, and nausea. So in other words, if i didn't have 8 months of baby living in my belly i would probably be admitted to the hospital for having a stroke...same symptoms it seems!

On to the baby shower!!

We had a wonderful couples baby shower this weekend thanks to our wonderful group of friends. It was definitely a shower meant for Nathan and myself!!! We had wonderful chili and cornbread, a fire going in the fire pit, candle light, great friends and great conversation and to top it all off, a pinata in the shape of two very large testicles to represent our baby boy. Yes, you read that right!! The ever creative Ben Johnson and Luke Nipper fashioned us some very cute and larger than life pinata "itza boy" baby balls.  (pictures coming soon)! I had to litterly put on a blindfold and swing a bat to retrieve the presents inside. I must admit, it was a blast and I am pretty sure this activity was one of a kind!! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family joining us in celebrating the upcoming arrival of our 15 pound bundle of joy...just kidding

Don't forget the pumpkins....

To complete a weekend of fun festivities and since i have been itching to do this since the first leaf fell signaling the beginning of my favorite season...FALL, we spent the day pumpkin picking! Everything great is wrapped up so cozily in the next 3 months...including Reed's arrival! He is picking the perfect time to make a birthday for himself!! He will fit in with our little family so well! So this Sunday morning after Nathan had heard for the one billionth time that i need pumpkins to make this pregnancy a little easier, he took me to not one, but two wonderful pumpkin patches. We definitely would have loved a chilly day to stroll the fields, but the dreariness of the day did add some fall-like ambiance to our fun-filled outing. I am such a sucker for all things fall and halloween and pumpkins that we had to do the full pumpkin patch experience...petting zoo and all!!!

                                       (sorry, couldn't get the pic to stay rotated...im still learning!)
The petting zoo was one of my favorite stops of the day and the funny thing was that this horse kept going straight for my belly...Reed might be destined to be a cowboy! Nathan and I love animals and wouldn't mind having a small farm some day with some of these....

After our animal adventure, we got back to the dirty business that is pumpkin pickin!! We found a few biggins out at Johnson's pumpkin farm, but i had not gotten my fill of fall yet so we headed to location number two to gather a more unique set of pumpkin pretties! We ended up somewhere around 10 total, not counting the one im carrying around under my shirt for another month. We kept talking about how surreal it is that next year we will be carting around our own home grown pumpkin, Reed Haskell Howse. I have every intention of teaching him my enthusiastic need to start fall somewhere around September 1st. Who knows...pumpkin just might be his very first word and i might just be ok with that!!!  We are blessed and we can't wait to welcome Reed to the very best season of all!!!

Happy Fall, Yall!!! - Love, the Howses!

The Ten Week Itch!

I can't believe we are approaching that time of the year where summer fades to memory and fall becomes a welcomed relief from a summer that will undoubtedly be recorded in the record books. I love fall for so many reasons. I got married to the love of my life in the fall. The weather is so agreeable during the fall. The state of Arkansas becomes a painted picture in the fall...but most importantly, my baby boy will be born THIS fall. As i schedule my last bit of work before the inevitable "places i probably should not be when my water breaks" becomes foremost on my mind on daily outings, I realize that he will be here very soon!! I can't say that this pregnancy has flown by because of the unobtrusive nature of the pregnancy and its easy fit into my lifestyle. This pregnancy has been rated a 6 out of 10 on the scale of ease...and i might be over rating it simply because i am almost done. This blog is not intended to be a one sided rant of all the wrong in the world, but a truthful account of day to day life in our "Howsehold." That is why i feel so inclined to blog my pregnancy into cyberspace...

I am blessed and I know this with every kick and turn he does in my belly, but i can truly chalk up pregnancy to the likes of the movie...body snatchers...or alien. It has been a roller coaster of nausea, emotions, restlessness, discomfort, protruding body parts, congestion, and urine. I know there is more i am missing, but these were all experienced within the last 8 hours so i felt that they were easiest blogged about at this time. I hear so many women express their love of pregnancy...all nine months of it. I may understand this and even join the ranks of these women once my little bouncing bundle of joy arrives, but for the past 7 months and the next 10 weeks to come, i will just continue to let my jaw drop when i hear these women account for their nine months of glowing goodness. I will say now that I can feel him move around it is more enjoyable, but for the most part..it is just weird.

With all that said and complained about, i can not believe i have 10 weeks left. There was a point in the pregnancy where i thought i was going to be sick and pregnant forever, but the last couple of weeks have really flown by before our eyes. Nathan and I like to sit around and think about the beginning, when we both were scared out of our minds and i spent more time lying down "sick" then standing up doing anything productive. We also like to think about what it will be like being scared out of our minds when he decides to make his debut, which has led to what i affectionately call the "ten week itch." We are so not ready for Reed logistically, but we can't wait to meet him so we are in baby limbo. We think ten weeks will take forever to get here, but we aren't completely sure we can get everything done in ten weeks. Like i said..Limbo.

So for the next 10 weeks, we are going to prepare ourselves for the nine week itch, then the eight week itch and so forth and so on until he arrives. I think that each week will come with another set of fears, realizations, and pregnancy symptoms, but along with all of this will come fall. And what i know is that i love fall and everything that fall will usher in....including our little bundle of joy.