Our New Family Car

Since Amelia is taking her morning nap, I figured I would at least attempt to update my blog this morning.  I've got a slice of homemade cinnamon swirl banana bread and a cup of pumpkin spice coffee.

We didn't plan on buying another car so soon, but since I had one hell of a time trying to get a hold of the school district regarding transportation for Carleigh... here we are.  Honestly, I spent an entire morning trying to speak to someone, but was met with automated phone recordings and got no where.  Since the school district waited until the last minute to send out school information, this whole transportation dilemma wasn't a surprise to me.  I do not understand how these schools can be such slackers, wait, yes I do.  They take our tax dollars and then beg for more because they don't "have any money".  If only schools were ran like businesses...

Anyway, Heath has been looking at Jaguar XJ's for awhile and really wanted one.  He found the perfect one, but we weren't sure if we wanted to spend the amount of money the dealership was asking.  Heath continued to search for other XJ's, but we went right back to the one at the dealership.  Heath made an offer and they somewhat agreed on the price discussed.  So Heath went to the bank, got a cashier's check for the amount discussed, and we went over to the dealership on Friday afternoon.  Heath test drove it and told the dealership we wanted it.  We had two different people come in to tell us that we were basically stealing the car from them.  They made zero money on the deal.  They bought the car from an Audi dealership for a lot more than what we paid to take it off the lot.  The sales manager had to call the owner of the dealership to get approval for us to even buy it at the price that we did.  Who was going to say no to someone coming in with a check?  Seriously... lol  We are now happy owner's of two (yes, TWO!) Jaguar's.

We bought a 2006 Jaguar XJ8 Vanden Plas.  Here's some picture of our new sexy beast.  And yes, this thing is a beast.  It came with the 5% tint all around.  Huge plus!  It's a long wheel base, so it's about a foot longer than my S-Type.  There is so much leg room.  I thought my car was large, but no, this new car is the actual boat.

The car has mink floor mats.  That's right, PETA.  Our Jaguar has MINK(!!) floor mats.  No one is allowed to put their dirty ass shoes in our car.  I took this car out to do my errands on Saturday.  Since I had to go to Sam's Club and Albertson's, I wanted to see just how much room this car had after I put all of the bulky stuff in it.  I might just "steal" this car to go get my groceries and Sam's Club runs done all of the time now.

On Sunday, we took the new car for a cruise through Red Rock Canyon.  It was the most comfortable ride through the mountains we have ever taken.  Amelia slept through most of it and Carleigh was enjoying the views.  We will definitely be going back up there in the cooler months to take a hike on some of the easier trails in the area.

These are just a few of the pictures taken during our scenic drive.

Now that we have our second car, I can give Carleigh a ride to/from school every day without worrying how the school district will screw it up.  I really hope things get better and the school can redeem themselves.  I am not very impressed with their track record so far.  But thanks to their inability to answer phone calls, we have a lovely new car parked in our garage.

One Car Family

Heath & I recently decided to go down to one car.  The decision was mostly made because we had one car rotting away in the garage.  We sold the GTO.  Heath's car was a two door and did not fit our family of four.  My Jaguar is a four door, so yeah, we kept my car.  Obviously!  Heath had an offer on his car about an hour after posting it for sale.  He accepted the offer and the car was gone the same day.  It was so weird to go down to one car, but really, why would we need two cars if I rarely drive during the day when I'm home with the kids?  The GTO was worth more money to us gone than keeping it.  We paid off three credit cards with the money we got from selling the GTO.  We are so much better off financially with having only one car.  We will get a second car when needed, but as of this moment, one car fits us best.  There's so much extra room in our garage now too.  No complaints!

We also recently got rid of our cell phones.  We've had T-Mobile for ten years, but over the last two months, our cell service had dropped exponentially.  We tried to work with them to get the issue fixed, but no matter what happened, it just wasn't going to work out for us.  There's really only one cell tower in our area with a lot of people trying to use it.  T-Mobile's coverage map shows us as "excellent", yet we would rarely have any service.  Heath's iPhone always showed "No Service" or "Searching" and my Galaxy S4 showed one or two bars and on the Edge network.  Totally unacceptable since we are supposedly supported by 4G LTE out here.  We had a land line hooked up on Friday afternoon.  Going down to zero cell phones was weird, too.  But really, it's saving us so much money per month not having smartphones!  We will pocket almost $200/mo now.  Seriously, saving money is boss.

Our next goal to save extra money per month is to refinance our house.  We want to get rid of our mortgage insurance.  When we bought our house, we got an FHA loan.  The mortgage insurance is on the pricey side and we'd like that money in our pocket instead.  I'll be making the phone call to our mortgage company tomorrow to see what could work best for us.  It would be nice to have so much more extra money every month.

We went to Carleigh's open house for school on Friday.  My little girl is getting so big.  She's on the school schedule that doesn't start until September, so while most of her friend's start school tomorrow, she has to wait a few more weeks.  She qualifies to ride the bus since we live a couple of miles from the school.  The only thing left for me to do is call the school district to verify the drop off times for after school.  Our school district only shows the drop off times for full days.  My fingers are crossed that they aren't doing screwy scheduling for half day kindergartners.  If they don't drop off for half day kids, then guess what?  We will be off to buy our second car sooner than expected.  Oh well.  ;)

This blog was a little bit every where and I apologize.  Heath & I shared a bottle of wine with our salmon dinner tonight, so I feel a little out of it while typing this up.  There's just so much going on here right now.  So many changes and it's just crazy.  A good kind of crazy though.  I'll update this again when I'm more sober and able to make more sense.

Homemade House Cleaners

I know... it's been awhile since I've update my blog.  While I was away, I decided to experiment with homemade cleaners for around the house.  Of course, I turned to that nifty little website called Pinterest to find good cleaners.  I started making my own homemade cleaners to save money and not smell the harsh chemicals from store bought cleaners.  So far, I've only made two different household cleaners.  A granite cleaner and a regular, 409 type cleaner.  Both have done an exceptional job at keeping my house clean.  I'll be making my own laundry detergent in the near future.

My granite cleaner is made from this recipe found on One Good Thing by Jillee, minus the essential oil.  I haven't bought any essential oils yet, but I probably won't because I don't feel that my cleaners need it.  So here's the recipe:

1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
3 drops of Dawn
Water

Every household should have these ingredients in their household already.  I really love this cleaner.  It leaves my granite counter tops very shiny.

My all-purpose/409 type cleaner was found on Macheesmo.  There are four different recipes for homemade cleaners at that link.  But I use the all purpose recipe for my sinks and toilets for the time being.  It works great, but I do want to try the Bath, Sink, Tile Cleaner recipe as well.  Here's the recipe for the all purpose cleaner if you don't want to click the link.

3 Tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon washing soda
1/2 teaspoon castile soap
2 Cups hot water

Cleaning my home has become more enjoyable now that I make my own cleaners.  Once I get my own laundry detergent made and run a few loads of it, I'll give it a review and post the recipe here as well.

Not Getting Paid

I started my part-time job a month ago.  It's an OK job.  Nothing spectacular.  I wasn't looking for a career job, just something to do to cover the smaller bills with my pay.  On my first paycheck, I only received 20 hours worth of pay.  I work 20 hours a week, so my paycheck was suppose to be more than 20 hours of pay.  When I talked to the office assistant (not sure of her actual title), she said that wasn't right (umm.. duh), and that she would tell the manager and get me a check by Wednesday with my missing hours.  Wednesday came and went and there was no check.  I told Heath I wasn't going into work until I got all of my missing hours.  I am 40 hours short.  Not one or two hours, but a huge chunk.  If it was just a couple of hours, I wouldn't be so upset.  The next pay period is the 27th and I'm afraid that my hours will still be short on that one.  So, I am refusing to work until I get all of the money that is rightfully owed to me.  I'm calling in sick on my scheduled days.  I've talked to other employee's and was told this kind of thing has happened to them in the past too.  This isn't a first time "oops!", this is an ongoing problem and that's why I refuse to go in until I'm paid for the work I did the past couple of weeks.  This is a company that's pretty much impossible to get fired from.

It's just beyond irritating.  If I don't see all of my money on the 27th, I'll be making a call to the labor department.  I'm currently looking around for a new job, but it's hard to find a place that will work around my silly schedule.  On weeknights, I can only start work around 5:30pm or 6pm.  The 5:30pm schedule would have to be for a place really close to our house.  Weekends aren't that big of a deal, it's the weekdays that I need to be very flexible.  I really do hope I'll see the correct amount of hours/pay on my check next week though.  I don't mind working where I do.  But I do mind when people try to screw me over.  We have bills to pay, you know?  If I didn't pay my bills, or didn't pay exactly what I was suppose to pay, I'd be charged late fees/interest.  It would be nice if I could charge this company a late fee and interest for paying me late.  That would be nice.

On Monday night, my in-law's fly into town.  Oh joy.  However, they already know they are not welcomed at our house when Heath is at work.  So I won't have to entertain them all day.  That's not my job.  You fly out to Las Vegas and not verify with us if those days work first?  Cool.  Enjoy casino hopping.  They will be here a few nights a week for dinner after Heath is done with work and then on Saturday & Sunday.  I don't want them here every night for dinner though.  I'm not going to entertain people who feel so entitled to believe they are welcomed in our home whenever they decide to fly out here.  What's so hard about calling someone and saying, "Hey, we are thinking about coming to visit you guys on X dates.  Do those days work for you?"  Common courtesy goes a long way.

Tailbone Injury

On Wednesday night, while getting ready for work, I managed to injure myself.  I always sit on the stairs to put my shoes on.  When I sat down that night, I missed the step somehow and slammed my tailbone right into the edge of the step.  Ouch.  It hurt so much.  It took awhile for me to get up and try to walk it off.  I went out to my car to head out to work.  When I was backing down the driveway, that small little bump gave me more pain.  I continued to drive, but every little bump I hit, I could feel the pain.  So I decided to turn around and go back home.  I was hoping if I just relaxed and slept it off, things would be fine the next day.

The next morning, I was still feeling the pain.  I had to text Heath and have him come home because the pain was so intense when Amelia fell asleep on me.  I could not move.  When I did try to move, I felt pain every where.  It was awful.  In order to get up, I had to roll Amelia off of me and then slowly move around until I could tolerate the pain just enough so I could stand up.  My pain doesn't hurt when I'm standing or walking, only while sitting or bending over.

Once Heath got home, I went to the ER to get checked out.  I got some x-rays done.  The results came back negative.  There was no fracture.  I ended up spraining/bruising my tailbone.  I was given some pain medication and a work note for 72 hours and sent on my way.  The hydrocodone I was given works, but it makes me feel nauseous.  I hate it.  But like I said, it helps with the pain.  I cannot wait until I don't feel the pain anymore.

I'll be going back to work on Tuesday.  I only work part-time, so my next scheduled day after my work note expires will be Tuesday.  At that point, I'm still going to avoid driving certain cars.  I have a hard enough time getting out of my car, which is a sedan that doesn't sit that low to the ground.  I have a feeling I would get stuck in the Corvette's, Mustang's, and Camaro's.  I think I'll try to stick to the SUV's and bigger sedans.  I just want to go back to work.  My job is only part-time as it is and I hate not going.

The Anxiety and Stress

This is another extended family related post.

I have been unable to shake the stress and anxiety I am feeling over the extended family coming out to visit.  I honestly don't want people here at all.  Everything nasty my in-laws have ever said about me before their two year cut out from our lives is coming back in full force.  At this point, I don't even know why we allowed them back into our lives.  I guess it was my "guilt" of wanting them to know their granddaughter.  We allowed them back into our lives about a month before Carleigh was born in 2009.  Since I know their true feelings about me, I'm trying to understand why I allow them around me at all and let them in my home twice a year.  If it wasn't for having their grandchildren, they would more than likely still be cut out of our lives.  I'm tired of having these two faced people in my home.  I'm tired of hearing about what Heath's dad doesn't like about our house, as if I'm suppose to give a fuck what he thinks anyway.  Examples, "I don't like your cats.", "I don't like your couch.", "Are you sure you can afford this house?", etc... First of all, I don't give a shit if you don't like items in my home.  Furnish your own home how YOU like it.  Second, mind your own business when it comes to our finances.  Obviously we can afford our house, you twit.  We don't own two brand new cars and don't rack up debt just to keep up with the Joneses.  We have one car paid off and another to follow soon.  And once the second car is paid off, we are not going to go out and buy another new car just so we can pay someone a monthly payment for the next three to five years again.  I'm sorry my in-laws chose to pay $900/mo for their brand new cars.  That's their deal.

Last post, I said I wanted visiting hours to be from 11am-7pm.  But as their visiting dates get closer, I'd love more than anything to move that time from 11am-4pm.  They don't need to be here for dinner every night.  Nor do they need to be here eight hours a day.  Since I start my new job tonight, my hours will be 6pm-11pm on the weeknights.  I'm only working 20 hours a week.  So I'd like to not have them here all day and deal with them up until the time I leave for work.  Right now, I have Sunday, Monday and Thursday off.  If my schedule stays the same, which it more than likely will, I'd only have Thursday off and away from them during their visit.  I'm not including Monday since they are getting in late that night.  And we're only getting Thursday to ourselves because Heath has to work that day.  Heath told them to find their own things to do on Thursday.

I'm also irritated because Heath wasn't home with me very long after Amelia was born.  He had to save up his PTO for when his parent's were going to come out and visit.  I wish we would not have chosen that route.  Who gives a crap if he didn't have enough PTO for their inconvenient visit?  Nobody asked them to come out to see us for an entire week.  I would have rather had Heath home for a week after Amelia was born to help out around the house.  Instead, he went back to work four days after Amelia was born.  It's not my problem if Heath didn't have vacation time when his parent's came out.  They need to learn that we can't drop everything going on in our lives just to cater to them when they fly out here.  Yes, we live in Las Vegas, but that doesn't mean we can drop everything and go and explore the city and do everything they want to do.  They can go vacation in a different state if that's what they want to do.

Then my mom seemed disappointed when I told her I had to work at least 20 hours a week, even during their visit.  I'm sorry that money doesn't magically appear in our bank account when I chose not to work.  We have bills to pay too.  This part-time job is to help pay off our credit card debts and get more money into savings.  I told her I could try to shift my work schedule around a little bit, but either way, I'd still need 20 hours a week and some of those working days would cut into their visit.  But honestly, I don't go into work until 6pm!  I told her they would still have the entire day to visit until I have to go into work.  It's not the end of the freaking world.  Or is it?

I just can't take it anymore.  I've been trying to lose weight since Amelia has been born.  That weight loss was going well until this stress and anxiety started.  I weighed myself this morning and I gained another two pounds.  Gained!  I got really poor sleep last night because my mind would not turn off from all of this stress.

My mom's crazy is showing again.  I swear she thinks she is psychic.  When I was pregnant, before my mom knew, she told me her and my aunt (her sister) had a dream that I was pregnant.  At that point, I wanted to deny it, but decided not to when I would just announce my pregnancy a few weeks later.  So I said, "Yes, it's me.  I am pregnant... but don't tell anyone yet."  My mom's response was, "OK."  Then a couple of minutes later, my mom said, "I'm texting your aunt right now to tell her her dream was right and that you are pregnant."  WTF?  I just told you NOT to tell anyone.  Then last night, my mom told me her and my aunt (again, her sister) had a dream that four people are pregnant.  My mom said, "I know Ashley (my best friend) is pregnant and I just found out a girl I work with is pregnant.  So we still have two other people not accounted for."  Ugh... So I flat out said to my mom, "you know, dreams are just that dreams.  It doesn't really mean anything."  She said, "I know, but those two other pregnant girls will turn up soon."  OMG, STFU.  I'm tired of it.

Honestly, I've had enough and I just don't want to deal with the crazy anymore.  I decided this morning that we (our little family of four) will celebrate Carleigh's birthday a week before her actual birthday.  Probably on June 22.  Her birthday is June 27.  We can give her her gifts, have some cake, and let her spend her day how she wants to.  The only thing I'll do on Carleigh's actual birthday is say, "Happy birthday!" and leave it at that.  She will be able to have fun and play with friend's before my in-law's get here.  Will that be a big enough hint that they (in-law's) don't need to be here on Carleigh's exact birth date every year?

I think I've vented enough, but I'm sure I'm not done.  I'd just like to go back to feeling normal again.

Family Invasion

It's that time of year again when our parent's fly into Las Vegas to visit.  I am so not looking forward to it.  We told both sets of parent's we didn't want visitors until Amelia was at least three months old.  Surprisingly, everyone listened to our request.  Shocker!  Heath's parent's booked a flight out here almost immediately after Amelia was born.  They chose the last week of June, which also covers Carleigh's 5th birthday.  Yes, they are coming out here for an entire week.  They never confirmed with us if that was a good time or if we even wanted to deal with them for a full week.  Honestly, I don't want them here that long.  Since it's the end of June, it's going to be hot.  Really freaking hot.  We won't be going anywhere.  Just hanging out at home and relaxing.  It's what we do all the time if we don't have any errands.

So now, I'm going to have the in-law's in my house for an entire week, driving me up the wall, and making me want to drink wine from the moment I wake up and until I go to bed.  I already told Heath I wanted visiting hours to be from 11am-7pm.  Eight hours is still too long to have people crowding up our house.  His dad even had the audacity to ask if he could fly Heath's brother out.  Yeah, not happening.  That dumbass called me a C-bomb many years ago when we wouldn't let him get HIS way for our wedding.  That's a whole other story.  I also don't want Heath's brother here because he has never acknowledged Carleigh, so why would I want him here ignoring Amelia too?  Forget about it.

I think Heath's dad wants his brother out here so he will have a drinking buddy at the casino.  Since Heath doesn't go out and get drunk all the time, Heath's dad probably feels he needs someone here to do that with.  His brother (in his mid-20s) still lives at home with mommy & daddy.  He would only want to come to Las Vegas on someone else's dime so he can get drunk on someone else's dime.  He would have ZERO interest in his nieces.  I just don't have the tolerance to deal with a moocher and his enabling parent's all at once.  Besides, anyone who has called me a C-bomb isn't welcomed in my house.

My parent's are coming out for four days the first week of June.  My mom insisted she come out and visit before Heath's mom because, her words, "I'm your mom!"  Okay... whatever that means.  It's not going to make any damn difference who meets Amelia first.  It's so childish.

I'm tired of having family out here for every birthday of Carleigh's.  I don't mind if people want to come out a week before or after her actual birthday.  I just want to be able to throw a party for Carleigh where her neighborhood and school friend's can be invited.  Sure, I could do that with family visiting, but it would be too stressful.  I don't think Carleigh would be able to truly have a good time with grandparent's chasing her around and wanting to hold her, hug her, kiss her, etc the entire time she's having her party.  I'm also putting my foot down for Amelia's birthday too.  Heath's parent's come out twice a year.  So I know they will start choosing both girls' birthday weekends to come out.  I just don't want to deal with it.  I don't care if it sounds petty, I just want to celebrate my daughters' birthday's without being stressed out because people invite themselves to our house for however long they want.

I already told Heath to tell his parent's from now on, the longest amount of time I want people visiting is four days max.  If anyone wants to fly out here for a week, that's fine.  Just find something else to do those remaining days.  My mom already knows these rules and she knows I'll enforce them.  The in-laws?  Who knows.  Boundary stomping is a hobby of theirs.

As you can see, I am totally NOT looking forward to family coming out to visit.

Three Weeks

Baby Amelia is three weeks old today.  It's crazy how fast those three weeks have gone by.  She's been doing really great sleeping at night.  The past two nights, I've only had to wake up once in the middle of the night, early morning for a feeding.  Last night, she fell asleep around 9pm and woke up around 2am to nurse.  She fell back asleep around 3:30am and stayed asleep until 6:30am.  Heath takes her in the morning before he goes to work if she's up early enough.  Once she falls back asleep, he brings her back upstairs and we sleep until 8:30 or 9am.  Carleigh sleeps in just as late.  So it's nice having a newborn at home and sleeping until almost 9am every day.  Of course, we won't be able to sleep that long when Carleigh starts kindergarten.

Speaking of kindergarten, I took Carleigh to the school to get registered last week.  While we were there, the little girl who lives across the street was being registered too.  So there were two little girl's being crazy in the school lobby while us parent's tried to fill out the paperwork.  I had to tell Carleigh so many times not to run in the school.  I told her that those will be the rules when she starts attending there, too.  It's hard to tell a little 4 and 5 year old to calm down when they are super excited to see each other.  I kept telling Carleigh they could run around and be crazy outside together since we live right across the street from each other.  We have a couple of other kid's on our street starting kindergarten this year too.  All of the kid's on our street are so close together in age.  They will get to go to school together unless someone moves.

It's been warming up here the last couple of days.  I had to turn our A/C on the other day.  Our high today is suppose to be 91 degrees.  I'd like to keep the A/C off, but having two little ones at home, that's impossible.  Amelia started to get really frustrated the day it was only suppose to be 88 degrees for a high.  I could tell she was too hot and uncomfortable, so I clicked the A/C on.  We did purchase a ceiling fan for our downstairs area to keep it less stuffy.  Here's a picture of it.  It looks so nice in our open floor plan.

This fan will be nice to have when all of our family comes out to visit and meet Amelia in June, too.  We usually have to kick the A/C down a couple of degrees to keep it comfortable with all of the people here.  This time, we can just kick the fan on, or up a level, without making our energy bill too much higher.

She's Here

Little baby Amelia was born 3/20/14 at 7:24am.  She weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long.  We got checked into the hospital around 5:45pm on the 19th.  Once I was comfortable in my hospital bed, the nurses started me on my antibiotics.  I had to have two doses of those before they could start my pitocin.  We found out around 7pm that Carleigh couldn't stay at the hospital past 9pm.  So I had to scramble to get in touch with our neighbor's to see she could stay with them overnight.  Thankfully they said yes, so Heath drove her over to their house and came back to the hospital.  Our neighbor's have two kid's around the same age as Carleigh, so it worked out perfectly.  Once Heath got back to the hospital, we watched Identity Thief, which was quite hilarious.  I'm so glad the hospital had some free movies to watch.

Throughout the evening, the nurse kept coming into my room to see how things were going.  She kept asking if I was having any pains.  Apparently I was having a lot of contractions at 6 cm dilation, but I didn't feel a thing.  I didn't receive my epidural until 3am, and even then, my pains weren't that strong.  They just wanted to get that over with since I was going to be induced.  The doctor who was on-call never made it by my room to break my water because she got stuck in another part of the hospital helping others.  My doctor showed up at 6am and broke my water for me.  That's when some of the real pains actually started coming.  There were some pretty nasty contractions that even the epidural couldn't save me from.

My doctor came back in the room at 7am for me to start pushing.  I had about three or four rounds of pushing and Amelia was born.  It took 24 minutes of actual "labor" for her to get here.  It was a very smooth birth.  I held her for a minute or two before she was taken to get cleaned off by the nurses.  Once I got her back, I was able to breastfeed her right away.  We did some skin-to-skin contact cuddling as well.  It was so nice and relaxing.  Breakfast was delivered to my room about an hour later and it was so nice to eat something other than ice chips.  Our neighbor dropped Carleigh off at the hospital around 1pm.  Carleigh had the cutest reaction when she saw her baby sister for the first time.  She walked over to my bed, looked at Amelia, and had the biggest smile on her face.  That same evening, Carleigh went back to the neighbor's house to stay the night since I wouldn't be released until the Friday morning.

I was released from the hospital on Friday afternoon.  It was so nice to get out of there a little after 24 hours after giving birth.  I'm not a big fan of hospitals.  I'd much rather sleep in my own bed.  Our first night home was a little rough.  We ordered some Chinese food for lunch and I ate a ton of broccoli.  Since broccoli is a green, I figured it would be really good for the baby too.  WRONG!  It breastfeed Amelia in the evening, but it made her so gassy and fussy.  We did not sleep at all.  Both Heath & I were up all night trying to figure out what the heck was going on.  Amelia would refuse to attach to my breasts completely during that whole ordeal.  Heath went out to the store around 6am to buy some formula just to supplement for the time being.  I really wanted to avoid formula, but I also wanted to make sure my baby wasn't starving.  I even pulled out my breast pump to see if I could get anything for her.  All I got was a small amount of colostrum.  So we mixed that into the bottle of formula to ensure she was still getting some really good nutrients.

We've had to supplement with formula off and on since then because my milk hasn't come in yet.  Thankfully, Amelia will still latch on to my breasts and try to get some milk out of me even after using a bottle.  Not much is coming out yet though.  Amelia will get frustrated and clamp on really tight and it hurts so badly.  She did some decent damage to my left boob.  I've been unable to let her use that one because it hurts a bit still.  This afternoon, I did pump and got a little under half an ounce of breast milk out.  So at least that's a start.  My milk is slowly starting to come in finally.  Yay!

Amelia has her first doctor appointment Wednesday afternoon.  So, I suppose I'll update again on Wednesday night or Thursday afternoon.

Induction Day

It's finally Wednesday.  I'm being induced at 6pm this evening.  It's crazy to think that in about 12-14 hrs I will have a brand new baby to hold.  I'm really hoping this delivery goes as smoothly as Carleigh's did.  We have everything I can possibly think of packed and ready.  When Carleigh woke up this morning, I told her that her baby sister was going to come tonight.  Her first response was, "YAY!!!!"  So at least she's excited for right now.  She even repeated to me what I've been telling her for a couple of weeks now, "the baby needs a lot of attention."

Heath & I have already told both sides of the family not to bombard us with text messages and phone calls for the first couple of days.  We want time for all of us to bond with the baby and we also need to make sure Carleigh is bonding well too.  When I had Carleigh, I had my phone going off every 20 minutes.  It was very annoying and such a distraction.  It was stressful too.  I mostly had an issue with my mom.  I remember one day, she called me when Heath had ran home real quick to take a shower and take care of the cats.  Carleigh was fussing a lot.  I was trying to get her fed, burped, changed, etc... When my mom called, Carleigh had made a mess of her diaper and threw up.  And, of course, Carleigh was crying a lot because that's what babies do.  My mom's response to my stress case at the moment?  Laughter.  Yes.  She laughed because I had no help and was trying to take care of my baby as quickly as possible.  It was so rude and I'll never forget it.  So I don't want to deal with that again.  My mom swears up and down that she understands not to call/text us for updates.  We will see how long that lasts.  We told everyone we will update them when we have the time to do so.  If anyone finds that rude, tough cookies.

I'm hoping to be released from the hospital after 24 hrs, but that's probably wishful thinking.  I don't like staying in hospitals.  My home is so much more calmer and relaxing.  We won't have to deal with visits from family until June.  We already openly expressed we didn't want people here a week or two after the baby was born.  That was so much stress last time too.  Our neighbor across the street said she'd drop off some dinner on Sunday night.  That's super nice of her to do.  One less thing for us to do that evening.  So really, only our neighbors will see the baby almost right away.  But they don't hang around our house and bug us all day.

I'll try to update again when I have some free time after we arrive home.

Maternity Leave

I am finally on maternity leave!  My last day at work was yesterday.  My doctor scheduled my induction for March 19 at 6pm.  I had my last prenatal check up with him this afternoon.  I was only 3 cm dilated today.  My doctor believes that I will have the baby delivered before midnight on the 19th.  That is if the baby wants to stay put until then.  Who knows for sure when she's going to make her grand entrance into the world.  I'm having some contractions right now, but they aren't that bad.

It's just nice to finally be out of that stress case of an office.  It has been nothing but one thing after another there since September.  Too many changes all at once.  The extra days of rest before the baby comes will be greatly appreciated.  I don't know how some women work right up until their water breaks.  I didn't do it with Carleigh and I knew I wasn't doing it this time around either.  I understand that some people don't get short-term disability benefits through their employer.  I'm so thankful that I do so I can take that extra time off before I pop.

Carleigh's last day at preschool is on Friday.  She will be home with me until she starts kindergarten.  I plan to give her worksheets and art projects to do while home.  I have all of her kindergarten paperwork ready to go since registration starts next week.  It's so crazy to think I'll be sending one kid off to kindergarten this summer.  Since our schools here are year-round, I'm going to pick the schedule that gives her the summer break around her birthday.  For kindergarten, it's not really a big deal since she's only doing half days.  And you can't even consider it a half day since it's only 2 1/2 hrs a day.  The full day kindergarten is "tuition based", even for public school, so you have to pay extra.  Forget that.  I'm not trying to brag about my kid, but she's really smart and she gets bored with preschool work sometimes.  So I know she will get bored with kindergarten if she went all day.  I plan on throwing some first grade lessons/worksheets in with some of her kindergarten work to see how she handles it.  On her educational websites, she likes to play math games directed at first graders and she does pretty well at it.  So the math worksheets will be some of my go-to's.

Nothing else exciting is going on here.  We're all just waiting for the baby to come and enjoying the warmer weather.  My next blog update will probably happen after we bring the baby home from the hospital.  I'm sure there will be a time in between feedings and nap times that I'll be able to update the blog.

Bed Rest

On Monday, I was put on bed rest after taking yet another trip to triage.  My bed rest was only for a week.  Unfortunately I will have to go back to work on Tuesday.  I was getting some sharp pains in my left side and contractions while at work, but by time I was in triage and hooked up to the machines, all contractions and pains had stopped.  I wonder why?  Couldn't possibly be the stress from work.  I also had another cough attack and bloody nose while in triage that afternoon.  So the laborist/doctor wrote me out for a week on behalf of my doctor.  Her main concern, I believe, was to help me get over my illness and to make sure I can relax until I am considered full-term.  Since I've been home, I haven't had too many issues with contractions.  I get them, but nothing like while at work.  They aren't as frequent at home.  There would be no surprise if I end up in triage later next week again.  I really hope I am wrong though.  I wanted my doctor to take me out of work completely when I was in his office Wednesday, but he wouldn't.  Guess I'll make another case to him if I do end up in triage again after getting back to work.

The doctor did mention I could be induced at 39 weeks if I would like to be.  I will let that all depend on how I'm dilating.  If I feel like it's progressing quickly, I'll figure out what day would be best.  I'd like to pick March 20, because that's the day Carleigh guessed her baby sister would be born.  I want to let her win our little household contest.  I picked the 17th and Heath picked the 22nd.  So if the baby doesn't arrive before 39 weeks and I'm 'OK' to be induced, then I'd love to have all of it done on the 20th.  It would make Carleigh happy.

My bed rest week has included watching a little bit of Netflix, but mostly playing GTA: Online.  I've turned into such a gamer since being at home every day.  I don't feel bad.  I should get all my play time in while I can before the baby is born.  I won't have much free time to play once baby A is here.  Carleigh will be out of preschool and home with me all day too at that point.  So no time for anything really.  Just taking care of the baby and helping Carleigh with some kindergarten prep.

I hope the next time I update this blog, it won't have anything to do with another trip to triage.  I'm kind of tired of being there.  I'd like to not go back to the hospital until it's time to deliver the baby.

Another Trip to Triage

On Friday morning, around 4:20am, I woke up with a really nasty cough.  It felt like someone was strangling me in my sleep and I woke up coughing trying to catch my breath.  The cough was so bad, I also got a bloody nose to accompany it.  It was such a nightmare.  I've had this cough off and on since January, but it was never that bad.  I finally decided it was a good idea to go to the doctor to get it checked out.  The walk-in clinic didn't open until 8am, so I went to work for an hour and then headed over there.  Since I am pregnant, they said they didn't feel comfortable treating me since they didn't have the equipment there to monitor the baby.  I was told to go to the ER.  Once I got over to the ER, they sent me upstairs to Labor & Delivery so I could be monitored in the triage room.  I was really only planning on being away from work for a little over an hour, but that hour turned into four hours.  I didn't get back to work until 12:30pm.

In triage, they hooked me up to monitor contractions.  I wasn't getting any of those, at least not as bad as they were on Wednesday.  I was given an IV to get fluids into me and some medication for my cold.  The nurse did a test to see if I had the flu.  They sprayed water up my nose and then let the fluids drip out into a cup.  It felt weird, but I was able to smell and breathe better once it was over.  I was also given some Robitussin to help with the coughing.  Once that was all taken care of, I was able to be discharged and go back to work.  I put myself on bed rest for the weekend just to try and kick this cold as fast as I could.

Yesterday afternoon, I took a two hour nap and that seemed to help a little bit.  I woke up feeling better than I had the past few days.  I took myself off of bed rest to start cleaning the house, but then I started getting contractions/cramping again.  So now I am relaxing again and gave up on having a clean house.  Heath said he would take care of the cleaning for me.  This house is just a straight up mess and needs a really good cleaning.  Obviously cleaning, and not even vigorously, is enough to make me have to go sit down.  How sad is that?

My next appointment with my doctor is Wednesday, and once again, I am hoping he will put me on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy.  This past week was so crappy.  Spending two days in triage was not fun at all.  I'm hoping this week will be much better.  My main goal right now is to get these contractions to stop so I don't have to make yet another trip to triage today.  At least it's 75 degrees today and I can enjoy some lovely fresh air while sitting on the couch doing absolutely nothing.

A Trip to Triage

This morning I had to leave work after being there only an hour.  I started to get frequent contractions.  They were a few minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 30-60 seconds.  Once I got to the hospital, they sent me into triage and told me to pee in a cup and put on my gown.  They hooked me up to track my contractions and blood pressure.  Heath showed up maybe five minutes after I got there.  The contractions kept coming.  The nurse and doctor told me it was probably a UTI.  Getting a UTI is very common in pregnancy.  The doctor (who delivered Carleigh) checked for dilation and found that I was only one centimeter dilated.  So I'm starting to open up down there, but nothing to be alarmed about.  I could stay that way for the next couple of weeks.  Once the doctor confirmed that I had a UTI, they gave me a lot more water to drink and some cranberry juice.  I was also given a shot to stop the contractions.  That thing hurt so bad.  It felt like the needle was still in my arm after the nurse took it out.  The shot did work and the contractions stopped.  I was released around 11:20am.  They sent me off with a prescription for the UTI.  It was so exhausting being in there.  It's quiet in triage and nothing to do in there.  Thank goodness for smartphones.

Heath & I went out to lunch after I was discharged.  We got some fattening Carl's Jr.  It was delicious and I am not regretting it at all.  After my prescription was filled, I headed home to relax for the rest of the day.  I sent a text to my manager and let her know I'd like to stay home to rest all day tomorrow.  Since I got approved for that, that's exactly what I am going to do.  While home tomorrow, I'm going to work on the baby's room a little bit more and try to get things ready.  Today was a sign that the real thing is right around the corner.  At least to me.  The nurse said she wanted to see me again in four weeks, which would put me at 39 weeks.  I'd really love it if baby A would stay in that long too.

It's Almost Time

It's almost that time.  Baby A will be here before we know it.  When I was at my 34 week check up, I showed my doctor my contraction counter.  Since I've been getting a lot of contractions, I wanted to show him and ask him when I needed to go to labor and delivery.  He said if I get more than six Braxton Hicks contractions per hour, no matter how long they last or how apart they are, that I need to go in.  He told me at this point, he will not give me anything to stop labor since I'm almost full-term.  He told me he didn't want to scare me, but I could go at anytime now.  I'm not ready for that.  I'm ready merchandise-wise, but not ready to have the baby yet.  I'd like her to come in March.  She's due March 25, so the earliest I would like her to come is March 11.  That would put me at 38 weeks.  Fingers crossed she will stay until 39/40 weeks though.

Last week, I had to take my cat, Baby, to the vet.  Last Friday night, she started to have a problem with her mouth.  I thought it was her jaw.  She started to drool a lot and could not close her mouth.  On Saturday morning, it was still happening so I called the vet.  They were able to squeeze us in that afternoon to get her checked out.  Turns out, she had an abscessed tooth and two other teeth that were really loose.  They did surgery on her and cleaned her teeth.  It set us back almost $500, but hey... that's my kitty we're talking about.  She was totally worth it.  When we brought her home, she was still coming out of her pain killer coma thingy.  She couldn't walk at all.  It was so horrible, yet funny at the same time.  I felt so bad for her, but she's better now.  We were sent home with some medication, of course.  She's a tough cat.  I'm glad we caught this issue in time before it lead to something worse.  Baby is 13 years old and I've had her since she was a kitten.  She really is my baby... in fur form.

This weekend, we paid off our water softener.  That's extra money in our pocket every month.  As soon as Wells Fargo let's us start paying on the GTO again, that will be paid off soon too.  Heath made such a huge payment on his car that the bank sent him a letter telling him not to pay it until May.  I understand they didn't want us to keep paying and paying no interest.  Heath told me he wants to pay $1,500 in May just to piss them off again.  I think these banks should just STFU and take our money.  At least we're paying our bills.  I cannot wait until the car is paid off though.  We will have two cars paid off.  It's been such a long time since we've been free of car loans.

The weather's been getting a lot nicer here, especially this weekend.  It's going to be in the high 70s, low 80s all weekend and into next week.  We have our windows open in the house and enjoying the fresh air.  I got my car washed today after letting it stay dirty for a couple of months.  Since I've been since last month and again last week, I wanted all of the germs wiped out of my car too.  I'm still trying to get over my cold from last weekend.  My nose is kind of stuffy still, but I can smell some things again which is nice.

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day.  Heath grilled us some steaks.  We do not go out to dinner on Valentine's Day.  It's so crazy out there.  We bought Carleigh some Crunch bars and Spongebob gummies in the shape of Krabby Patties.  Heath got me a ton of my favorite chocolates.  And I got Heath his favorite chocolates.  It was a fun Valentine's Day.  We all had fun, especially Carleigh since she got to exchange Valentine's with her school friend's.

Happy New Year

I realize we're 19 days into the New Year, but I haven't found the time to blog recently.  I wanted to update this last weekend, but I had a cold and didn't want to type in between my nasty coughs every three minutes.

Not too much has been going on here.  We've been shopping around for a new dining room set, but haven't found anything we liked yet.  We plan on waiting until President's Day weekend to purchase one.  Maybe then there will be better sales.

Carleigh switched classrooms at school because of a bully.  It's really sad that kid's her age bully other children already.  This boy calls her names and punches her.  The teacher's in her classroom didn't seem to do much of anything about it.  This had been an ongoing issue for a couple of months.  When we called the director to talk to her about the issue, she gave us the option to have the two separated or to change classrooms.  We tried the separation thing for a couple of days, but then that same boy decided to punch Carleigh in the stomach and call her names again.  So we called the director again and requested a room change.  Carleigh's first day in her new room was on Friday and she came home so happy.  Her new teacher said that Carleigh was well-behaved and well-mannered and she loved having her in her classroom.  Carleigh did all of her worksheets and had a blast with their art projects.  In her other room, the teacher's had a hard time getting her to complete her work or even start it for that matter.  I think it was because of that boy bugging her all the time.  I'm glad she's happy in her new classroom.  She gets to leave preschool once I go on maternity leave.  From there, we will just do some homeschool stuff until kindergarten starts in the fall.

Speaking of maternity leave, I plan on leaving when I am at the 36 week mark.  That will be the last week of February.  I'll be starting week 31 this week.  It's crazy how fast time flies by when you're pregnant.  I've had some Braxton Hicks contractions every now and again, but nothing that warrants a trip to the hospital.  Hopefully it stays that way until my 38th week of pregnancy, although I'd like the baby to stay put until my 40th week.  We shall see what happens.  Carleigh was born when I was 38 weeks.

It's been in the 70's in Las Vegas the past few days.  Heath was out in the backyard clearing out the rest of the rocks today.  We want to build our own fire pit back there and then get the dirt delivered to plant the grass.  Doing the backyard ourselves is nice, but it's really hard work and takes a long time.  We didn't want to spend $2,000 to have a company come in and do it when we could save money by doing it ourselves.  It will be so nice once it's all completed.  I'll purchase some really nice outdoor furniture and spend all of my free time in the backyard.

I have tomorrow and Tuesday off from work.  Carleigh is out of school tomorrow, too.  So we are planning on getting some lunch from Subway then taking it to the park for a little picnic.  After that, Carleigh can plan on the playground until she wears herself out for the day.