why does it always rain on me?

erinrenee @ 2009-07-23T09:24:00

2009-07-23T13:28:07Z

I'm so very happy to announce the arrival of my daughter, Hannah Elizabeth, born July 22, 2009, 7 lbs, 4.6 oz, 20 inches long. She's beautiful and absolutely perfect!!!

erinrenee @ 2009-07-17T20:18:00

2009-07-18T00:18:52Z

After my checkup today I am apparently dilated 2cm and 40% effaced. Since my baby girl is getting pretty big my Doctor scheduled labor induction for next Tuesday the 21st! I'll keep you all posted!!!

erinrenee @ 2009-07-07T14:18:00

2009-07-07T18:20:44Z

So it seems that Facebook is my internet drug of choice these days... I'm definitely on there way more than I get on LJ. If you want to friend me, you can find me at www.facebook.com/eringunderson

:-)

erinrenee @ 2009-06-29T13:31:00

2009-06-29T17:43:47Z

Just thought I'd post a progression of belly pictures!

11 weeks

12 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks

25 weeks

26 weeks and really bad hair.

29 weeks

32 weeks

35 weeks

erinrenee @ 2009-06-22T11:57:00

2009-06-22T16:05:17Z

I don't have a whole lot of time to write right now, but I wanted to give a quick little update. Pregnancy (34 weeks on Wednesday) is going well, in spite of a few medical issues. My Gestational Diabetes has gotten to the point where I need to inject myself with insulin 4 times a day. Not fun, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I go to the hospital twice weekly for fetal heart rate monitoring and I get an ultrasound every Monday, which is nice. I had a 4d ultrasound done last Thursday -- SO cool! Here are a few pictures!

a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/erinrenee/pic/0008dz65/"></a>

erinrenee @ 2009-02-11T22:40:00

2009-02-12T04:26:24Z

It's been a long time since I've written (as in really written) something in here. Not to say that I haven't wanted to, but I think I make it more complicated than it has to be. I think way too much when I write. That's why term papers in college used to take me ten times as long to write as the normal student. I don't know why I do it... I guess there's a perfectionist in me that likes to second guess every word.

A lot has been going on these last few months. Matt, Abby and I are gearing up for our big move to Maryland. I'm actually in a hotel room in Columbia, MD as I type this. We've been searching for houses for the last three days now. We've run the gamut so far... from a house we didn't even want to go inside, to a beautiful place that we would have put an offer on but were just not quite able to afford it. After all that though, we've decided that we need to take some time to get to know the area better. Columbia is so spread out and there are definitely areas you want to avoid. We're just not familiar enough with it all to make a committment as large as buying a house.

After some discussion, Matt and I decided to check out rental properties. We looked at the first one this morning and absolutely fell in love with it! It's a three level townhome with three bedrooms and two and a half baths. The kitchen was recently remodeled and has beautiful dark wood cabinets and recessed lighting. There's a big deck off the dining area and built in bookshelves in the living room. The basement is completely finished with a wood burning fireplace and separate laundry room. There is access to the back yard - level to the basement and with a patio and perennial garden outside. The bedrooms and both full baths are on the upper level. The master bath is amazing! The shower was recently re-tiled and looks beautiful... I can't wait to use it! There's also a dressing area with a vanity and walk in closet... built in shelves from floor to ceiling! I'm so in heaven! Matt and I filled out the application right then and there and were told on the spot that the place was ours. We move in April 1st. I'm so excited! Definitely a great consolation prize for not being able to buy.

In other news, I've been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes again. Not fun at all, but at least I know how to deal with it. I'm hoping this time around I won't have to go on medication and can control things with just diet and exercise. The next six weeks are going to be pretty busy, so I don't expect that I'll have too much time to be lazy. I've made it to my second trimester and my energy is slowly starting to come back. Thank goodness. The fatigue was really starting to get to me.

Abby's first birthday is coming up... where has the time gone!?!? I think, since she was a leap day baby, that we're going to celebrate on the 28th. It's a Saturday... good day for a birthday party! We havent't decided what we want to do yet; if we'll have a party or not. Most of our good friends at Fort Monroe will all have moved away by the time the 28th rolls around, so we may just end up doing a small family thing. I don't know though... we'll see what happens.

We were planning on staying up here in MD until the 18th but now that we've got our housing situation figured out, we are probably going to head home early. I miss my own bed... this crappy full size bed that they claim is a queen in just not cutting it. Not to mention that it's so dry, every time I roll over there's so much blue static, I'm afraid I'm going to catch fire! Abby has been a trooper, sleeping in her pack 'n play very well.

We had a bit of a health scare with her last week. She was taking Augmentin (antibiotics) for conjunctivitis and infections in both ears. Apparently it was such a strong dose that she had a severe reaction to it. She broke out in an angry red, itchy rash that covered her entire body, and then woke up one morning with her right eye swollen almost completely shut. Poor kid! She looked like she got punched in the face! We took her in to urgent care twice and the doctors told us that we'd just have to wait it out, that the rash would fade in a couple days. Not exactly bad news, but we had hoped there was something they could do to make her look and feel better. The physician's assistant suggested we try children's Benadryl, which we did. At first I didn't think it was helping much, but then all of a sudden the rash began to dissipate. Within a few hours her eye began to open up and she starting acting more like herself. It was nice too because the Benadryl helped Abby to sleep on our four hour drive up to Columbia. She looks like brand new now, thank goodness!

Baby Gender Pool!

2009-01-24T03:53:00Z

Please enter your guess!

erinrenee @ 2008-10-12T20:45:00

2008-10-13T01:40:45Z

We had some beautiful photos taken of Abby this morning!

erinrenee @ 2008-09-24T13:50:00

2008-09-24T17:53:20Z

Grandma sings Abby's favorite song!

erinrenee @ 2008-09-15T00:33:00

2008-09-15T05:20:50Z

There've been some big things going on lately! It's late and I'm tired, so I'm not going to drag this out, but I wanted to write a little something before I forget to do it.

First of all, Matt finally was sent to the promotion board on August 29th and passed with flying colors. Thank God!!!! He'll be pinning on SGT on October first. Yay!!!! It's been a long, long time coming and he worked so very hard for it. I am so proud of him! He wrote a lot more about it all in his most recent journal post (stargazer169 .)

Secondly, Matt applied for the Assistant Music Librarian position with the Army Field Band. I proofed his resume and then he sent it to his two former supervisors at the music libraries he worked at in the past. They both gave him some pointers and then wrote killer letters of recommendation! Matt submitted his application materials the Monday before his promotion board and literally an hour or two after he passed it, he got an e-mail from the Field Band inviting him to interview for the position. Talk about a great day!

On September 9th, I drove Matt to pick up his rental car. (The Field Band paid for everything for him to get there -- car, gas, food, hotel room. What a relief for us!) He left for Fort Meade, which is just between DC and Baltimore and a four hour drive from where we live. The following morning he got up bright and early and went to his interview. After a long, grueling process involving a written test and two interviews, one of which was given by a panel, the applicants were narrowed down to two, my husband being one of them. They were taken to lunch which must have been absolute torture. After they got back though, Matt and the other guy were called into an office and after a tense moment the Sgt. Major offered the position to my husband!!!!

It's hard to begin to express what this job means for Matt and our family. First of all, it means another promotion in rank. Literally five to six months after Matt pins on Sgt. he'll be promoted again to Staff Sgt., getting another pay raise. Even more than that though... and this is so huge... the job is permanent. As in we will never have to move again until Matt ends his service. PERMANENT!!!! No more worries about deployment or bad assignments. Matt won't even have to go to Korea. Our children won't be uprooted every three years, having to make new friends and adjust to new schools over and over again. We can actually buy a house and settle down. This is so wonderful, I get tears in my eyes every time I think about it! It's answered prayer, to say the very least.

He doesn't have his official report date yet, but we were told that it would be sometime in February or March of next year. We'll be moving to the Columbia, MD area, which we've heard is very nice. We're so excited! We've even started looking at homes online already! Now that we know Matt has the job, I think it's going to be hard to wait for it to start. Haha! This time of the year through New Years is always so busy and hectic though. I'm glad we don't have to think about a move until after the Holidays are over.

As for me otherwise, things are pretty great. My parents will be in DC this week, so Abby and I are spending Tuesday through Friday with them at their posh hotel in Arlington. I've gotten myself up and out of the house a lot more in general. I've joined the Y and am taking a Mommy and Me swim class with Abby. I've also been watching what I've been eating and I've lost 10.4 lbs so far! I'll be starting a mother's group at my church at the end of this month too... I'm looking forward to that.

Abby has two teeth now and will probably crawl any day. She makes all sorts of cute little sounds and I can't wait to hear what her first word will be! She 's just two weeks from 7 months... where has the time gone? I'll post some pictures soon...

Happy Birthday!

2008-08-04T20:33:20Z

These guys are four years old today!

Happy Birthday Rachy and Shosti!!!

This is pretty cool...

2008-07-01T05:04:59Z

Create your own! Hosted and ReWritten by darkman424

Abby's Birth Story

2008-06-25T22:14:19Z

So, now that my daughter is a few days shy of 4 months and is finally sleeping through the night -- which means I am too -- I have finally found the time and energy to write out my labor and birth experience. I hope I remember all the details...

On February 26th my husband drove me to the First Fighter Wing Hospital at Langley Air Force Base, where I was scheduled to have labor induced at 6pm. I remember being excited because I would finally get to see and hold my baby daughter, but I also remember shaking in terror. This being my first pregnancy, I obviously had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that some pain was going to be involved and pain is one of the things I fear the most.

Matt held my hand as we walked into the hospital and made our way up to Labor and Delivery. As soon as I gave my name at the nurses station we were whisked off to Delivery Room #4 (of 5 rooms total.) I got into my hospital gown and gave my wedding rings and watch to my husband to keep safe for me.  I got comfortable in the bed and a few minutes later a nurse came in to get my IV going. (Since I had Gestational Diabetes and tested positive for Strep B I unfortunately wasn't able to opt out of the IV.) Then she hooked me up to the fetal monitor and, after some adjusting, the familiar sound of Abby's heartbeat filled the room.

Matt and I hung out for a while and waited for the doctor to see me. After a quick pelvic exam, Dr. Dimofte determined that my cervix was still very high and not dilated at all. She explained that she couldn't start the Pitocin until I was dilated about 4 cm. To get me to that point there were three options. The first, which they started with, was a strip of what looked like paper that was placed at the outside of my cervix to remain for 12 hours. It apparently had something on it that would cause me to begin dilating. I wasn't allowed to eat at all during this time. After 12 hours and a very uncomfortable, sleepless night, I was checked again -- only to find that I hadn't dilated at all. Instead of starting the process over again, my doctor tried option #2. This was a pill that was disolved into a small bottle of water and was supposed to have the same effect as the previous method. Every two hours a nurse would come in and give me a tablespoon or two. I was having some pain and cramping and they gave me something to help with it. It made me throw up a couple hours later.  After another 12 hours of this I still had only dilated to 1.5 cm.  At this point I got a chance to get up, walk around and take a shower. Matt asked for clean sheets to be put on my bed and when I got back in I felt a lot better.

Still, I was exhausted and in pain -- Capt. Norcross, the midwife who checked me during the day, explained that my cervix was twisted around and was facing the wrong direction. She said it wouldn't complicate a vaginal delivery, but it made for some incredibly painful pelvic exams. By about 10pm on the 27th she decided to try option #3: a Foley Catheter. This is a balloon that gets inserted into the partially dilated cervix. Over the course of several hours the balloon slowly inflates, causing further dilation. With my cervix all twisted, getting this thing in place was almost as painful as labor itself. It took two tries but Capt. Norcross finally got it. One of the nurses gave me something else to help with the pain not the same stuff as before. It was the craziest thing... I actually felt it working seconds after she injected it into my IV.  I got a little bit of sleep, but kept waking up because the fluids they were pumping into me made me have to pee a lot. At 4 am I called a nurse to disconnect me from all the machines so that I could make another trip to the bathroom. The moment I sat down to pee I felt the balloon fall out. I remember thinking to myself that maybe we were finally getting somewhere! I had been in the hospital for 34 hours at this point and was feeling really discouraged.

A few minutes later, Dr. Dimofte came to check me and announced that I was 3.5 cm and could finally start the Pitocin.  She told me that as soon as I got to 4cm I could have an epidural if I wanted it. I told her right then that I definitely did! I went to sleep for a little while but at 6am on the 28th I was awakened by the burly, 6 ft tall, redheaded Dr. Alexander, the anesthesiologist who was to administer my epidural. He told me I was the first one of the day as he switched the lights on and wheeled a little cart into the room. I was so nervous... just the thought of a tube being inserted into my spine gave me the creeps. I had already begun contracting though and the pain of that was greater than my fear.

Dr. Alexander had me sit up on the edge of my bed and told me to hug a pillow. Then he had Matt (my sweetheart husband who stayed with me every minute thus far) stand in front of me and hold me hunched over. I can't even begin to say how comforting it was to have his arms around me right then and there. I felt the Dr. swab iodine on my back as he explained that he would be giving me a local anesthetic before he gave me the epidural. The shot in my spine hurt a lot and I remember the F word coming out of my mouth, much to the shock of my favorite nurse, Ms. Lopez. Then, quickly, Dr. Alexander inserted the epidural into my spine. I didn't feel a thing until he gave me a test dose to make sure the tube was in the right place. It wasn't. My ears began to ring and I felt light headed. He yanked the tube out right away, but my body began to convulse uncontrollably. It was the scariest thing to be unabe to control my limbs as they shook. I think it freaked Matt out too. After things calmed down a bit and I had a chance to take a few breaths, we started all over. This time everything went perfectly and I settled comfortably back into my bed. Dr. Alexander gave me what I referred to as "the magic button." Every twenty minutes I could push it to give myself a little extra burst of numbness. It was a funny feeling. It reminded me of getting a shot of novacaine at the Dentist. I could feel my legs with my hand but my legs couldn't feel my hand.

I was so exhausted and the epidural helped so much that I finally got some rest off and on throughout the day. Still, I hadn't eaten since the 26th so my energy never came back completely. I labored all day long on the 28th, progressing slowly but surely. At 8 pm I was about 8 cm when the fire alarm went off in the building. Dr. Bayer, who had come in for the night shift, came into my room to tell me that I didn't have to evacuate yet. He said that if we did that I would be put into an ambulance and taken over to the gym on post to deliver there. I remember thinking that there was NO WAY IN HELL that they were going to move me! Fortunately for me the fire alarm shut off and the Dr. came to tell me that all was clear and there was no fire in the building. Talk about relief...

At 10 pm Dr. Bayer checked me and said that I was 10 cm, and could start pushing. I remember thinking to myself that there were still two hours left in the day and that I could probably avoid a leap baby if all went quickly. But, as with just about everything else involved with my delivery, things definitely did not move quickly. I didn't want Abby to be born on Leap Day because I thought it would be hard to explain to her as a child why her actual birthdate only came around once every four years.

Ms. Lopez was back on duty that night and was at my side to coach me with my pushing. She flattened the bed out and told Matt how to hold my left leg, while she held my right one. Then she turned the epidural off, which I was not happy about. She explained that I needed to feel the contractions in order to know when to push. My contractions were coming stronger and much closer together and before I knew it I was feeling them in all their fierceness. Every contraction allowed me to get in three or four good, strong pushes. It amazed me that it actually felt kind of good to push. It seemed to sort of ease the pressure a bit -- and there was A LOT of pressure. After the first hour I felt as if I had made no progress, but Matt and Ms. Lopez assured me that I was definitely getting there and that Dr. Bayer would be in soon to help me finish. Then another nurse came into the room and told us that Dr. Bayer had just delivered a baby in the room next door and was stitching that mother up. While I waited for him, he asked that I stop pushing. I looked up at Matt and Ms. Lopez in disbelief! I had been stuck in that bed for 53 hours at that point. The last thing I wanted to do was NOT push! The next hour was seriously the worst sixty minutes I've spent in my entire life.

I was dazed, exhausted, hurting and scared. Every time I felt a contraction coming on I gripped Matt's and Ms. Lopez's hands and squeezed with all my might as I literally fought my body to not push. I would never have thought it would be so difficult, but when every muscle in your body is screaming at you to push as hard as you can, it's damn near impossible to control it. At several points there was nothing I could do but push anyway.  In hindsight, I wish I had said to hell with waiting for the doctor... there had to be someone else in that hospital who could catch a baby!

After an hour Dr. Bayer walked into the room and I was so angry that I just about bit his head off! But he said I could start pushing again, so I focused my energy on that. At one point I remember crying and saying to Matt that I didn't think I could do this. He gave me a sip of cool water, squeezed my hand and told me that yes I could. I honestly don't think I could have gotten through the delivery without him. After another half hour of pushing Dr. Bayer asked if I wanted a little help. I think I said something to the effect of YES!!! ANYTHING TO GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME!!!! As he was preparing to do a vaccum extraction I continued to push. I don't know if it was me or Abby, but suddenly we both knew it was going to happen without assistance. I pushed so hard that I could feel the veins in my head throbbing. The pressure intensified and suddenly I felt this sharp, intense stinging pain as I tore. I don't remember the words that were coming out of my mouth but I do know I was making quite a bit of noise. My next instinct was to stop pushing because of the pain but I knew that the pain was the gateway to finally being done. I pushed really, really hard one last time as I felt Abby's head and shoulders then the rest of her slide out. It was 12:57 am on February 29th when I collapsed back on the bed, relieved of all the pressure and a good portion of the pain.

The next thing I heard was Abby's cry and Matt saying, "Erin!!! Look! LOOK!!!" Dr. Bayer had laid Abby on my belly and she was staring up at my face as the nurses suctioned out her mouth and rubbed her body with towels. I looked at her and felt as though I recognized her. Even covered in all that goo, she was still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. A nurse took her over to the warming table in the corner of the room to give her an examination to make sure everything was ok. Matt kissed me and held my hand as Dr. Bayer began to stitch me up. Compared to the pain of delivery, being stitched up was a picnic. I sent Matt out to the waiting room to get my parents who had been waiting anxiously the whole time I was pushing. As soon as I delivered the placenta (and splattered blood all over Dr. Bayer -- haha!) they handed Abby back to me, all wrapped up in a little blanket. Matt brought my parents in and as I held my brand new daughter, tears began to fill my eyes. My dad snapped a picture -- it's the one in my user icon.

It's really amazing to me that, in spite of my riduculously long labor experience, I can't wait to have another baby. All the pain of labor, the discomfort of recovery, all the crazy hormonal outbursts and baby blues, the postpartum depression... all of it has been mostly forgotten because it seems so inconsequential compared to the little baby I hold in my arms.  She is the most wonderful, most beautiful little miracle and I am so in love!

erinrenee @ 2008-06-02T01:08:00

2008-06-02T05:10:25Z

I fixed all the pictures in the Day in My Life post for those who are interested...

A Day in My Life

2008-05-22T04:25:16Z

Inspired by dewgirl's recent post.

7am, making a bottle for Abby.

Here she is, having her diaper changed after breakfast.

Then I got to eat while she talked to the animals in the mobile of her pack 'n play.

Then I took her upstairs where she talked my ear off for a while.

Until she got fussy...

So I put little Miss Abby down for a nap.

While she napped, I got to pump. Woohoo!!!

And then I got to take a morning nap myself.

Abby woke up around 11, all smiles. (And looking eerily like her father in this photo.)

I made her another bottle.

Meanwhile, Matt came home and took over her feeding.

So I got a chance to check my e-mail...

Pump again...

And take a shower. This is probably the first shower in 3 months that I've taken before 11pm.

Abby went down for her afternoon nap.

And I primped for my date with my husband that evening.

Finished product.

Abby woke from her nap a little cranky. (This looks like one of my faces...)

But her grimaces soon turned to grins... isn't she cute?

We have the nicest little talks while she's on the changing table.

At 4:30 we took Abby to our friend Angie's house, so that we could go out on our date.

Sushi for dinner -- my first since before I got pregnant!

Mmmm... edamame...

Spicy tuna, shrimp tempura... I was SO in heaven.

Can't forget the Japanese beer! Yum!

Then it was time for the movie. Prince Caspian!

Alas, date night was over and we picked Abby up at 10:30. Notice my daughter was WIDE awake.

When we got home I pumped... again.

Loaded up the dishwasher...

Threw in a load of laundry...

Made a bottle for the munchkin...

And checked my e-mail one more time before heading up to bed.

This doesn't look like much but it's Abby's bassinet beside my bed at 1am. She wasn't asleep yet.

She still had a nice big poopy diaper for me to change. I think I got to sleep by 2am. *yawn*

erinrenee @ 2008-05-18T23:30:00

2008-05-19T03:33:57Z

Can we say Daddy's little girl?

erinrenee @ 2008-04-10T18:41:00

2008-04-10T23:03:39Z

glitterfaerie42 posted some cutie pictures of her daughter today, so I thought I'd do the same. Abby is doing pretty well. Still not sleeping through the night (not surprised about that one) so I'm still pretty tired most of the time. When she was two weeks old we took her on her first trip to Milwaukee for my grandma's funeral. I was nervous about it, but she was an absolute angel... slept through all the flights! It was good to see my family and all my relatives, in spite of the sad circumstances that brought us together.

I ended up getting a really painful breast infection that took me to the emergency room just after we got back from Milwaukee. After sitting in the waiting room for three and a half hours, it took fifteen minutes for the doctor to examine, diagnose and send me on my way with prescriptions for antibiotics and pain killers. I'm feeling a lot better now, thank goodness.

Now we're just trying to establish a daily routine so that we can eventually train Abby to sleep longer at night. I have a feeling it's going to take a few months...

Anyway, on to the pictures!

Look at all that fuzzy hair!

Me and my little girl!

Abby is here!

2008-03-07T23:14:28Z

Abigail Quinn was born on February 29th at 12:57am -- after 52 hours of labor!
6 lbs, 13 oz, 19.5 inches.

She is absolutely perfect and the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. There's lots to say about my experience with labor and delivery but I just don't have the time or energy right now. I promise I will fill in the details very soon! In the meantime, here are some pictures of our little peanut!

Here I am at the beginning of labor when I was still smiling.

Here I am three days later with my precious newborn daughter!

To give you an idea of Abby's size -- those two hands in the picture belong to a two and a half year old! (There was an actual adult holding her though.)

Too small for newborn clothes!? We had to go out and get her a couple preemie outfits!

This is my favorite picture so far!

Oh my goodness...

2008-02-21T03:47:46Z

I went in for my weekly checkup today and found out that it won't be necessary for me to go back next week... since I'll be induced on MONDAY NIGHT! Holy crap... I'm having this baby in FIVE DAYS!!!!

erinrenee @ 2008-02-14T16:52:00

2008-02-14T22:30:10Z

*sigh*

Today is just not my day. And that has nothing to do with the fact that it's February 14th.

Matt and I went to have our taxes done this morning and, to make a long, complicated story short, we owe an astronomical amount of money to the IRS. No way around it. Where we're going to get this money, I have no effing idea. I seriously want to cry...

The plan for the day had been that I would be meeting Matt in Portsmouth for dinner before his concert this evening. Obviously, since we now are going to have to scrimp and save every penny, going out for dinner is out of the question. We decided to skip it and to skip me driving to Portsmouth to save gas in the car. It's not that going out on Valentines Day was all that big of a deal to me, but it sucks because this was probably our last chance for a date night before the baby is born. Ah well... what can you do, right?

When we got home from our tax appointment, we found that our cat, Shosti, had puked several more times. For the last 24 hours, he's vomited at least six times that we know of. He's not a "puker" but he hasn't been holding down any food and is pretty lethargic. (Great... just what we need... a vet bill.) I took our poor kitty to see the vet this afternoon and got him checked out. His temperature is normal, he's well hydrated and nothing looks abnormal. Thank God. The Doctor suggested we still do x-rays and blood work just to make sure, but I asked her if it would be horrible for me to want to watch him for another 24 hours first. She thought that would probably be ok and offered a few suggestions for some things we can do to help him keep his food down. So far he's managing just fine on his own. I think I might go snuggle with him for a little while, since the car ride was pretty upsetting for him. I hope he's ok and that we don't need to go back to the vet tomorrow.

So anyway, that's been my day -- hanging out mostly by myself, trying not to stress out too much over finances. I know we'll figure it out, one way or another. I just wish it didn't have to be so difficult.

Here's my list of positive things, just so that I don't forget:

- We live in base housing and therefore don't have to worry about writing a rent check or paying utilities each month.
- We may not have to dip into our meager savings cushion to pay off the IRS.
- We qualify for WIC (yay for free cheese and milk!)
- The cat does not seem to have some crazy disease.
- We'll save a lot of money by purchasing our groceries at the commissary.
- Our credit isn't too terrible.
- Our health care is completely covered by the military.
- We're having a BABY in a couple weeks!

There are a lot of other things in my life that are positive, but these are the biggies that relate to my current stressors. I'm trying to focus on those to keep myself sane.

By the way, I did a spell check on this entry and the word "puker" obviously came up as misspelled... it made me laugh. I needed that. :-)

erinrenee @ 2008-01-28T14:53:00

2008-01-28T20:18:52Z

I'm still meaning to make a large post in the near future, but I just don't have the writing bug today. Instead, I'm going to post pictures of our makeshift nursery.

The reason it's makeshift right now is because we only have two bedrooms in our duplex and we need to keep the spare room a guest room until after Abby is born since we're going to be having lots of visitors during the first couple months of her life. Fortunately, we have a large walk-in closet that we had been using as an office that fits the two major pieces of furniture we need for Abby's bedroom. So, without further ado, here are the pictures!

Here it is, the mini-nursery in it's entirety! I'll be happy when we can move everything into an actual bedroom.

Abby's pretty pink crib. I want to paint her bedroom walls pale green to offset the intense pink-ness. It's hard to tell, but there are light green stripes on the bumper and green leaves on the cherry blossom crib sheets.

Lamb mobile. It plays a sweet little lullaby too... it's funny, but the sound of that really hit it home to me that we're having a baby.

Baby Papasan seat. It vibrates and plays music... apparently the magic thing to get babies to stop crying! This particular one is used - we bought it from someone on craigslist a couple weeks ago, but then karmaticbliss bought us the new one from our registry, so we're going to give the used one away and keep the new one. Thanks Amber! :-)

Our "travel system." Sounds so high tech, but it's just a stroller and infant seat combo. Looks kind of complicated here, but I put it together
all by myself.

All of Abby's bath gear. The little guys on the left are washcloth puppets that eelary and Sarah gave us at my shower. In case you can't tell, they're a cat and a dog... SO freakin' cute! I can't wait for Abby's first bath so we can use them!

erinrenee @ 2008-01-24T13:08:00

2008-01-24T18:09:05Z

Happy Birthday to ladymalai!

Hope it's a good one!

erinrenee @ 2008-01-22T11:07:00

2008-01-22T16:09:28Z

Oh wow, so much has happened since I last posted. I've been meaning to make an update but have been so pre-occupied. I'm really going to try to get something written this week...

I'm so proud!

2008-01-06T16:32:39Z

My sister's business with her handbags is really taking off. This week she is the featured seller at Etsy.com! If you get a chance, check out her interview and profile, not to mention all the beautiful bags she's made!

Here's an insider's tip too... she'll be posting about 20 more bags later tomorrow evening, each one different from the next.

erinrenee @ 2008-01-04T19:58:00

2008-01-05T00:59:37Z

Stolen from _scapegrace

You Act Like You Are 33 Years Old

You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!
You're responsible, wise, and have enough experience to understand a lot of the world.

You're at the point in your life where you understand yourself pretty well.
You are figuring out what you want... and how to get it!

What Age Do You Act?