YAY!

It's an exciting morning here! Yesterday afternoon we finally found a pacifier that Sam will take. We had considered not bothering with one, but he is so incredibly soothed by sucking on anything and everything. So finally FINALLY we found one that he'll take (MAM) and he loves it! The plan right now is to just use it for naps, or when he's super fussy in the car (which ends up being a nap anyway) WELL normally after Sam's first morning feeding, we play a little in bed, then he will play by himself in his crib while I eat breakfast til he gets fussy, and then I rock him until he's asleep for his first nap of the day. At night he goes right to sleep, but during the day he tends to fight his naptime. Today I gave him the pacifier, wrapped him in a blanket and rocked him for a few minutes. He was drowsy, but not asleep. I laid him in the pack n play and his little eyes popped open, but he wasn't fussy. So I left him there, and went to sit on the couch. Just a few minutes later I went to peek at him, and he was fast asleep! All by himself! I'm so proud of him! And it's so much better than him fussing and squirming while I hold him until he finally succumbs to a nap. YAY! That was a good 40 minutes ago and I'm hearing him move around now, I'm going to go get my little champion sleeper and feed him :) It's a good morning! :)

Birthday!

Today is my 24th birthday! Eeeek! I can't belive I'm 24... I mean, aren't I still a teenager? I apparently still look one lol. That's nothing to complain about though :)Here's what I've done so far on my birthday: Nursed Sam quite a few times, changed quite a few diapers, pumped and froze some milk, been both peed on and spit up on, watched Teen Mom that I recorded last night, and ate a turkey sandwich with a banana and peanut butter on the side. Woo! The exciting life of a mommy! It's been a good birthday though :) I've been enjoying reading all of the birthday wishes on my Facebook wall, some have even made me all teary eyed. I miss all my family and friends from home so much! In 3 weeks Sam and I will be making the long drive up north to spend some time with my parents, and hopefully we'll be spending at least one day in Annapolis with friends! :)

I've been thinking today of all my past birthdays. I actually haven't spent a birthday at home since my 15th! I remember all my birthdays... it's always been such a huge deal for me. Going backwards:

23- James and I spent the day before my birthday in Wilmington, NC. Toured the USS North Carolina and had an awesome dinner at a Tapas place. The actual day of my birthday James made me dinner when he got home from work and I made cupcakes.

22- Babysat in the evening and then went out in downtown Annapolis with Margaret. Nobody else was able to go out that night so the two of us went alone. We had a good time ;) The next week everybody else could go out so we went downtown to celebrate both mine and Scali's birthdays. We wore matching wristbands and took pictures pretending to be tourists. (We're cool like that) A guy at Federal House tried to hit on me. "I'm a pro-golfer" he slurred at me. I said, "Cool. My boyfriend is a Marine" and he went away. lol

21- Well... margaritas. 'Nough said...

20-Meg and Mark came to visit the day before and the day of we went out to breakfast. After they left Andrew and Shawn came to visit and we went to the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the bookstore/coffee shop where I worked

19- My roommate Sarah made me an awesome butterfinger cake. I spent the entire day at ballet (this was the summer intensive before my first apprentice year) my family came to visit the weekend after and we got ice cream downtown

18- I was at CPYB's summer intensive in Carlisle. My roommate and hallmates threw me a surprise party and my family came to visit the weekend after.

17- I was in DC for a summer intensive. My friends decorated the door to my room with birthday signs and we went out to dinner. Family came to visit.

16- In DC this year too. It was another girl's 16th birthday the same week so we did a lot of things! Friends and hallmates threw a double surprise party one night. A huge group of us went out to dinner another night. On the actual day we had ballet so we went out for smoothies on our lunch break and somebody brought in a little mini cake. Family came to visit

15- My last bday at home! I had a luau themed party

14- The first big sleepover I was allowed to have since my 9th birthday fiasco. Analyn and I decorated the family room with tons of Christmas lights and we had a lot of fun :)

13- Had a fancy tea party-type lunch and a pool party

12- Ballet friends over for a pool party

11- Pool party

10- Took 3 friends with me to an amusement park

9- Had a camping themed sleepover. My dad took us on a walk in the dark with flashlights. We were sleeping out in a tent in our yard. I remember there being a lot of talk about Jonathan Taylor Thomas. We all loved him. One girl fell asleep and we were convinced she was dying and so we tried carrying her in the house sometime in the wee hours of the morning... she was not happy when she woke up, and my parents were not happy to hear us traipsing in that early. We were all still awake when my dad got up to feed the horses at 6. After this party... I was told no more sleepovers for my birthday. By the time I was 14, after much begging and pleading, I 'proved' myself enough to be allowed to have another. lol

I can't remember specifics about birthdays before that. I know one year I had a carnival themed birthday which was AWESOME. Other than that it was pretty much having friends over, pony rides, hay rides (the perks of growing up on a horse farm), rainbow sherbert punch, and pin the tail on the donkey.

Plans for this year? I did all the houswork and errands yesterday so that today I can just lounge about in my pjs and cuddle and play with Sam. When James comes home we're going to order out so neither of us has to cook or clean up. Then I'm hopefully going to convince him to go and get me some Cold Stone for dessert. Oh how my birthdays have changed :)

OH! I'd like to include a recipe in this birthday post. I made this Chunky Tomato and Avocado Salad for dinner last night, and just ate leftovers for lunch. It's VERY good! More like a salsa than a salad, but a very light and refreshing side dish either way. Awesome for summer!

Chunky Tomato and Avocado Salad

1 avocado peeled, pitted, and cubed
3 plum tomatoes chopped
1/4 cup sweet onion chopped
1 Tbls. fresh chopped cilantro
3-4 Tbls. lemon juice (I used 4 and it was a bit too lemon-y. So unless you like 'lemon-y' I'd reccommend 3)

Mix gently and let sit in the refridgerator overnight. If you aren't able to let it sit overnight at least let it sit in the fridge for 2 hours.

Soooo good on a hot summer day :) We had it last night with salmon and baked potatoes, yum!

I'd include a picture... but it's already gone ;) hehe

Now I'm going to go take advantage of the last bit of Sam's long nap and read :) Happy Birthday to me!

Quiet Day...

Just a quiet, uneventful Monday here. We had a busy weekend.

On Saturday we did grocery shopping (I used to like doing that during the week since it's less crowded on weekdays, but now with a newborn and 3 loooong flights of stairs up to our apartment, I go on weekends so James can help) and we went to Babys R Us to buy a small breast pump and some bottles. There's no NEED for Sam to take a bottle since I'm not going back to work anytime soon, but we wanted to try it so that I will have options. I was able to pump a good bit of milk after Sam's feeding when we got home from running errands, and for his next feeding we tried James giving him a bottle. For the first couple minutes Sam just looked confused and kept pushing the bottle out of his mouth with his tongue, but it didn't take him too long to figure it out, and he drank a whole bottle :) I had such mixed emotions while he was eating! Part of me was happy because now I don't have to feel QUITE so tied down 24/7 (not that I mind it!) It's good to know that if I ever need to be away for a little while, little man can still eat. But at the same time I felt sad. Sad because I was missing the sweet bonding time we usually get while he eats. I definitely nursed him for a few minutes after the bottle was gone. He wasn't really hungry, I think it was just comfort nursing more than anything, for both of us! I love all the time I get to spend feeding him and snuggling him close :)

On Sunday we ventured out the movie theater to see Harry Potter 7 part 2. I was SO nervous taking Sam to the theater! I wanted to see HP SO badly and was praying so hard that he would cooperate! We had already pre-ordered tickets, so we got to the theater early and I fed Sam a bit in the car while James went in and picked them up. Sam got his belly filled up and fell asleep while eating. A lot of times during the day I don't worry to much about doing this that will wake him up after he eats, I like him to have awake time after eating. Not this time! haha he unlatched and I verrrrrry carefully and quietly laid him on my chest to carry him in the theater. Once in there I transferred him to James (he sleeps better if James is holding him. I think because he can't stay quite settled knowing I'm the one with the milk! lol) he slept hard through most of the beginning but then started squirming (still mostly asleep) and trying to eat his hands. So I latched him on quick as a flash and let himself eat his way back to sleep. A few times while he was eating I looked down and saw his big eyes looking up at me, but he was quiet and happy! By the time he finished eating he was back to sleep and slept in my arms for the rest of the movie! Little angel! The movie was fantastic and I'm so glad James and I were able to enjoy it together :) I cried my eyes out through the whole movie. It was so sad! Book 7 is my favorite, and now movie 7 is too! I can't believe it's all over though! Harry Potter was such a big part of growing up and it's just crazy that it's all finished! I feel old... lol

Today James had to leave for work at 3:30 for a range and doesn't know when he'll be home, probably not until 7ish. :( I shouldn't complain though since most of the other guys have to stay out there all week, night and day. Since he's a Sgt. he has the option of driving himself to and from the range each day. Some Sgts had to stay all week, but not him. I'm lucky that I've been able to have him around to help so much with the baby! Many (most) military wives are not so lucky!

Sam is taking his long nap right now and I've been getting a little housework done and just relaxing on the couch. I'm thinking later we'll go for a walk (we have a movie to return to the apartment office anyway). I don't think we'll leave the house besides that though. I need a few things from Target, but don't feel like going out really. In my opinion, Mondays are best spent at home :)

Just those ramblings for today. I'll end this post with some pictures of the cutest baby in the world :)

5 weeks!

Sam is 5 weeks old today! Where the heck did the time go! You know what 5 weeks means? 1 more week til my check-up where I will hopefully be given a green light to start working out! Wahoo! lol The pregnancy weight is gone, but oh man I need to tone everything back up! Very excited to start working out again! Going to try a few work out dvds at home. Sam and I already take walks (when it's not TOO hot) so that's at least SOME exercise!

That's really all I have to say today. Off to change a stinky diaper and play wth my crazy adorable little man! Maybe I'll bake some oatmeal cookies later... :)

Mommyhood :)

I always knew I wanted to be a mom. When my brother Billy was born, a family friend was filming the time while my mom was in labor, the birth, and after he came out. At one point, she's filming my brother Andrew and I sitting on the porch before going to the birth center. She asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. I was sitting there holding a swaddled baby doll and said, "A mommy." I always knew it was what I wanted and I always knew I would love it, and would love my future babies. But I never imagined I would love it all THIS much! Yes I'm tired, and yes it's been a pretty big lifestyle change for us, but even on a day where I'm completely exhausted I love every single minute of being a mommy!!

Our first few days at home James, Sam, and I did a whole lot of sitting around watching tv and movies. It was so nice to have a chance to bond as a family :) We were in a bit of a sleep deprived haze most of the time, but it wasn't too bad considering we mostly just laid on the couch in sweats in between diaper changes and feeding Sam. Once our visitors were all gone, and James had to go back to work, I had to do a little adjusting. There was at least one day where James came home to work to find me still in pjs, messy hair, sitting in the glider with Sam, ready to order take-out for dinner. But I'm happy to say that I've developed some sort of routine now :) My days go by so quickily (When you break a day up into 2-3 hour chunks for eating times, it really makes time fly!) but Sam and I have so much fun :) Usually after he eats we have some playtime, and every day he seems to notice more and more things. I'm loving watching him grow and learn each day. Sometimes I swear I can see him growing right before my eyes!! He was only able to wear newborn outfits for about 2 weeks, he's in 0-3 month outfits now

Updates!!

Figured I'd take this moment of quiet to finally update on here!

I'm very happy to announce that on June 7th at 6:23 pm we welcomed our little boy, Samuel James Maida, into the world. He was 8 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches long (although my mom and I think they measured him wrong, he looks much longer!!) I was in labor for 16 hours. It was the most painful, and yet rewarding experience of my life. I wanted to go all natural, and I was able to do so. Although I won't lie, there were definitely a few moments where I was totally ready to give up. I got through it though, and I'm proud of myself for that. I'll post my birth story on here, but don't worry, I won't go into any gory details ;)


Sam's Birth Story 6/7/11

Around 2:30am on Tuesday the 7th I was woken up by a crazy tightening, squeezing feeling in my stomach. I assumed it was a contraction, but having nothing to compare it to, I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. So I pulled up the contraction timer app on my phone and waited to see if these feelings would come and go in any sort of pattern. Sure enough, they were lasting 45 seconds to a minute and coming and going between 5 and 7 minutes apart. I let James sleep for a while (I love him, but he's a grouch if you wake him up) because I was kinda paranoid that the contractions would stop. It was 4 days past my due date, but I was seriously starting to feel like there was no possible way I'd EVER actually go into labor. Around maybe 4 o'clock (ish) I woke James up to tell him that I was definitely having contractions and that I wanted to walk around to make sure they weren't going to stop. He said that was fine, but that he wanted to go back to sleep for a little while because (in his words) he wouldn't be any use to me later in the day without more sleep. So I started to pace our apartment. The contractions were definitely coming stronger, I couldn't walk through them so when they would come I'd lean over a counter or whatever I was near and breathe through them as best I could. Sometime around 5:30ish I couldn't handle it alone anymore so I went in the bedroom and woke James up. He started packing himself a bag (mine was already packed) and called work to let them know it was finally time for the baby to come. He then called the hospital to tell them that my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart, but that I wanted to labor at home as long as possible. They told him since it was my first baby they'd be okay with me staying at home until my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart for 2 hours, and to call when we were on our way. I braided my hair (it took forever because I had to keep stopping to breathe through a contraction) and we turned on "The Office" I sat on my big exercise ball for a while and that helped, but it didn't take too long for my contractions to start coming 2-3 minutes apart. We called the hospital and left the apartment around 8:30. Having contractions in the car was TERRIBLE, I couldn't wait to just get there. Luckily morning rush hour traffic was over so it didn't take too long. When we finally got to the hospital we, thankfully, got a very close parking spot and headed inside. Had to stop twice on the way in for a contraction. Probably scared the crap out of a few Jr. Marines passing by outside the hospital. hahaha

Once in the hospital they put me in a wheelchair and put me in a triage room. They hooked me up to monitors and checked me. I was 8 centimeters already! But my water hadn't broken yet, and the nurse explained that it was possible that when my water did break I could go down to 6 or 7 cm, but I was definitely in (very) active labor. So I was admitted and taken to my room. It was the one room in Labor and Delivery with a tub, but I never did get in it. My contractions were strong enough that I could barely move, and I was already exhausted. When they told me that my Dr. was the one on call up on Labor and Delivery that day I nearly cried I was so happy. I continued to breathe through my contractions, almost breaking all of James' fingers in the process. At some point (I had no sense of time at this point) my Dr. came in to check me. He said I was at 10 cm! So he broke my water and said I could push if I felt the need to. I pushed for a couple hours, but no progress was happening so I was checked again. Sadly I was back at 9 cm so I had to stop pushing. At this point I don't even think it was quite noon yet. I was at 9 cm for a looooooong time. The nurse had to sit by me wherever I was (standing with James, sitting on the ball, on the edge of the bed) and hold the monitor on because since my belly was so round the monitor kept slipping off and we weren't getting good readings of Sam's heartbeat. My Dr. came in after a few hours and said they were going to start me on some Pitocin to hopefully make me progress a little. I was scared because I knew Pitocin would make my contractions stronger and closer, but I was determined to still not have pain meds. They hung some Pitocin for me and sure enough, I felt the contractions even stronger. I was having some trouble staying focused, and in between contractions almost felt like I was passing out a bit. The nurse said it was because I was hyper-ventilating a bit during contractions. I had to have short/fast/puffy-type breaths to keep myself from pushing. Suddenly the nurse was telling me I needed to lie on my left side and a bunch of Drs came into my room really quickly. They explained that the baby's heartbeat was dropping too much during contractions and not coming back up fast enough. So I had to stay in bed lying on my left side with an oxygen mask on. After a while of that Drs came in and started talking c-section. They were not happy with Sam's heartrate at all. They said he was definitely in distress and we needed to get him out as quickly as possible. At that point I just wanted the pain to stop and for Sam to be okay so I wasn't going to try to stop them from giving me the c-section. So in between contractions I was signing consent forms. (At some point in all of this, my mom, dad, and Tommy arrived. Dad and Tommy went to the waiting room and my mom stayed in with me and James) While signing the consent forms and trying really hard to focus on what the Drs were explaining to me about the surgery. But then the urge to push became way too strong to resist and I started telling the Drs and nurses that over and over. Finally they checked me, I was still at 9 cm but the Dr (I was on my 3rd dr. of the day at that point I think...) said she could "help me push past that last bit" I won't go into detail on how that worked... So I started pushing with everything I had. It was pain like I've never felt or could have ever imagined. I pushed for such a long time, and at this point I was beyond exhausted. I wanted to cry like a baby and I just wanted it all to stop, but I just kept trying to breathe and think about my baby. He just wouldn't come out. And so the Dr. said we would try the vacuum. We had 3 tries to get him out with the help of the vacuum and if that didn't work I'd be immediately taken for an emergency c-section. They were still not happy with Sam's heartrate so I was trying to take as many deep, full breaths with the oxygen mask as I could in between pushes. James and my mom say that watching them use the vacuum was the most horrifying thing they've ever seen. I couldn't see it, but I can tell you it felt pretty horrifying as well :/ I pushed with everything I had, and FINALLY he came out. I couldn't hold him right away because they needed to check him. I found out later that he had had shoulder dystocia (his shoulder got stuck in my pelvis) and the cord was around his neck twice. We are VERY lucky that he came out crying and kicking and nice and pink. Shoulder dystocia, especially with the cord around his neck, can be extremely dangerous. James was able to cut his cord and once he got all checked out and cleaned up, I was finally holding my baby boy. It was so amazing to finally have him in my arms, and to know that we created this little person and he had grown inside me all those months, and there he was! Right there in my arms! Truly amazing, and truly a miracle.

So there it is. There's my birth story :) We're home now and Sam is doing great. He eats like a champ, and so far he's been sleeping pretty well at night. We have to wake him for feedings! At his 2 day appointment he had already started to gain back some of the weight he lost after his birth. They told me to keep waking him to eat every 3 hours, but as long as he's gaining weight well at his 2 week checkup, we can start stretching his feedings out at night. I definitely hope we can do that because a little extra sleep will most definitely help. The 2 hours of sleep I get between feedings is definitely good because they add up to a good bit of sleep each night, but I definitely don't feel as rested as I would with a few more hours of straight sleep. All in all we really can't complain though.

I will definitely post some pictures of our incredibly adorable little man next time I post. And I'd like to start using this blog some more now. Sam keeps me pretty busy, but I can already tell that finding little things to do for myself will be helpful. And blogging is something I'd like to get into some more. So hopefully I will!

Next post... pictures :)

Busy Busy Busy!!

Can you say NESTING??!! Not only am I entering the 3rd trimester of my pregnancy and so wanting to make everything perfect for my son, but we're also into the home stretch of this deployment and I want to have everything perfect for my husband! You know what's terrible about this nesting?? We don't move into our new apartment for another month. All I want to do is set up the nursery, and make our home look generally amazing. But instead I'm having to tear the apartment apartment apart and box things up. At least once we move I'll be able to do all the nesting I want :)

Sometime in the past week or so I've been really realizing all these awesome things we have coming up, and how much I need to do to prepare for them! The first thing, I leave for a visit to PA on Friday! Almost 2 whole weeks to spend at home with my family. :) Then I head off to the first competition that my students are in. Then... James will be coming home!! Then we will be going away for the weekend to celebrate, a belated Valentines Day (since we weren't able to spend the actual day together), James' homecoming, Christmas (we're using a gift card that was a Christmas gift for the getaway) some good relaxation before moving to the new place, and our 'babymoon' (last vacation without our baby!) Definitely looking forward to that weekend! Then we'll be moving, and hopefully getting a new car. THEN it's baby time! :) So much to do, pack, and get ready. And SO much to look forward to!!

On that note, I should probably get off the computer and get to work! :)