Happy Halloween!

Never got around to carving a pumpkin, but we did go "Trick Or Treating", only instead of looking candy, Corinne looked for compliments and ooooohs and ahhhhs over how damn cute she is. People delivered!

The three of us went over to a friend's house who had two kids of trick or treating age. So, the men-folk and I took them around the neighborhood while I held Corinne in her little pea in the pod costume. People can't resist a baby, let alone a baby in a cute costume.

By the 3rd house, Corinne was fast asleep:

A warm costume + cold air on her face + being held + being walked = 1 sleeping baby

Before heading out

Costume-less, but still in holiday colors!

Our co-trick-or-treaters

A cake I decorated for said occasion

Holy Drool, Batman!

For the past two months or so, we have been awash (get it?) in drool. I think the drool has hit an all time high, as after wearing her in the Snugli carrier for about 3 hours the other day, the entire front panel was soaked all the way through. I need one of those dental devices that suck all the spit away.

Granted, in the whole "gross stuff the baby" does scale, this is a fairly minor offense. But, at any given time, I have no less than an ounce of dried drool and half an ounce of wet drool somewhere on my body/clothes.

October 25

The 1 year anniversary of my due date.

Thinking of you, sweet boy.

Halloween Decor

I bought pumpkins and candy today (the good chocolate kind, not the crappy Dum Dum pops). Now, the goal is to make sure the candy lasts until Halloween. Those little fun size bars go down too easily.

My original goal was to re-create this picture:


(Not Corinne)

However, doing that would require a few things:
1) A very large pumpkin (I don't think M would be too thrilled to learn I spent $15-$20 on a very large pumpkin for one photo).

2) The dedication to hollowing out that large of a pumpkin. If I have that much free time, I'm using it to take a nap.

3) The willingness of a fussy baby to sit in a cold, slimy pumpkin (highly unlikely).


So, I did the next best thing. Instead of "baby in a pumpkin", I present "baby in a cauldron" (same idea, much less mess, $$, and time).

Thank goodness I take fast pictures, because 90 seconds later:

On a side note, if I do end up carving a pumpkin, this is a GREAT idea:

And in the spirit of Fall (it requires capital letters due to the fantastic-ness of the season), here is "Team Spirit Corinne":

Painting of the deck

We put it off long enough (~7 months). It was time to weatherproof the deck that was installed earlier this year. This included washing it, brightening it and finally, staining it. We figured the staining part would take 4 hours, tops.

Bwhahahahahaha.....

We also thought it would take 3 gallons of stain.

Bwhahahaha...... (6 cans later)

We also really liked the redwood stain. Not knowing that when it went on, it was bright fire engine red.

Bwhahahaha..... (thankfully Home Depot takes returns; we swapped it for the cedar stain)

Evidently, home improvement is not our forte.

10 hours later, all is stained except for the interior. Plus, we need to add another coat to the outside floor since that part really gets the elements.

Corinne, supervising the cleaning process:

After brightening, but before the staining:

M, starting the staining process:

While Corinne took a snooze in the afternoon breeze:

Comparison picture:

Before:

After:

It takes skills to not get any on the stucco:

The outside is complete!

Kitty Zen Picture of the Day

Diaper delivery day is soooo exciting! New boxes to sit in!

31 years

Today is my birthday. I'm 31. And this birthday is soooooo much better than last year's birthday. My birthday wish last year (and in 2007, 2008, and 2009) has been to get pregnant/have a healthy baby. I now have that. I asked M what I should wish for this year, since I have everything I want. He looked at me like I had two heads and answered "You should wish to win the lotto so I can retire". So, my wish this year is to win the lotto, which will be hard, considering I only play the lotto maybe once or twice a year (when I go to the grocery store with my mother in law and I join her in buying a ticket). M told me that I need to win $20 million so we can be 100% comfortable (by his calculations, $10 milion is a good number to never have to worry about money, so winning $20m, after taxes and lump sum payout deductions would leave us with $10m).

Alrighty...my wish is to win $20m this year.

My first birthday present of the day was given to me by Corinne: the precious gift of sleep. Wonderful, glorious, from the bowels of Jesus himself, sleep. She slept from 11:30p-8:30a, only waking once to eat.

The last few days, she's been on a sleeping strike. Waking every 2 hours, not napping during the day (except for 10 minute cat naps here and there). Collectively, she couldn't have been logging more than 8 hours of sleep a day. She must be doing speed or Ritalin when my back is turned. Or, perhaps she read this.

Those three causes aside, apparently, this is due (I'm guessing) to something called the "4 month wakeful". Where the baby starts figuring out that the world is a happenin' place and wants to sty awake to take it all in. It occurs anytime between 3m-5m.

It suuuuuuuuuuucks.

Her nighttime sleep has gotten so bad, I had to re-break out the swaddle. The ESCAPE-PROOF swaddle, complete with dishtowel to pin her arms down since our little Houdini thinks nothing of a regular swaddle.

In other news...

I got my flu shot last Friday (Thursday? one of those) and on Sunday came down with a cold. I've spent the whole week employing frequent hand washings, steralizing, etc in an effort to not get Corinne sick. However, now I'm wondering if the "cold" I have was just a reaction to the flu shot, and not an -actual- cold. My cold symptoms have been incredibly mild: just a runny nose and nasal congestion. It hasn't been following my normal course of a cold.

I've been washing my hands and disinfecting them so frequently that the skin under my wedding rings has gotten all red and cracking looking. I'm now walking around town with a young baby and a naked ring finger while the skin heals. I've caught a few people who look at Corinne and then glance down to my ring finger and see nothing there. I guess that is what living in the Bible Belt gets you.

In other news;

A friend (who has a daughter two years older than Corinne) cleaned out her closets and gave me 9m-2T girls' clothing. Lots of it. Like, 7 large garbage bags full. So, I've been going through them and sorting by size. As we know, Corinne isn't a fan of being ignored and left to her own devices, so it's been a slow process to sort (and the cat keeps stealing my sharpie pen, which I'm using to mark to sorted bags according to size...M found it under the couch tonight). I can get through a bag a day (maybe). I put up a jumper-thingy (I'm sure it has an actual name, but jumper-thingy works too) to entertain her highness Corinne while I sort. She likes it so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ssc7joU-kA




In the jumper-thingy (an $8 consignment sale find!)

 

Sorting through (some) of the clothes

I had her try on hats to see what ones fit (the Gerber 0-6m were too small)

I also sorted through the footwear.
Corinne has large feet. She wears a 6-12m sock (the 0-6m sock is way too small).
Here, she is modeling size 1 shoes (which fit perfectly).

Ready to try on more stuff (dressing her is like working with a blank canvas: so many options; so much potential!)

5 months

Likes: Being held, sitting in the carrier facing outwards, nursing, ceiling fans, watching the cat
Dislikes: Falling asleep, not being held/paid attention to, most toys

Corinne has done nothing but sleep and eat all day (about the same schedule as the cat), so during the hour or two she was awake, I took advantage of her good mood and played dress-up:

Bald spot

October 15: National Pregnancy/Infant Loss Memorial Day

I went to a rememberance event tonight at a local park. About 40 or so people were there. Kids were welcome at this event, so I took Corinne. Poems were read, stories were told, songs were sung.

They had a balloon release, and each family wrote a message to the baby(ies) they were honoring on the balloon. I wrote a message on a white ballon to Luke and Baby October, thanking them for getting their little sister here safely, and that there will always be a special place in my heart for them.

I also lit a candle for them:

During the candle lighting, they read off the names of the babies, and for people who couldn't attend, their babies' names were read off as well. So many names. So much heartbreak.

After everyone was done lighting a candle for their angels, it created a beautiful sight:





There was a poem read tonight. I've heard it before, and it touches me each time:

"A Pair of Shoes" -author unknown

I am wearing a pair of shoes.
They are ugly shoes.
Uncomfortable shoes.
I hate my shoes.
Each day I wear them, and each day I wish I had another pair.
Some days my shoes hurt so bad that I do not think I can take another step.
Yet, I continue to wear them.

I get funny looks wearing these shoes. They are looks of sympathy.
I can tell in others eyes that they are glad they are my shoes and not theirs.
They never talk about my shoes.
To learn how awful my shoes are might make them uncomfortable.
To truly understand these shoes you must walk in them.
But, once you put them on, you can never take them off.

I now realize that I am not the only one who wears these shoes.
There are many pairs in this world.
Some women are like me and ache daily as they try and walk in them.
Some have learned how to walk in them so they don’t hurt quite as much.
Some have worn the shoes so long that days will go by before they think about how much they hurt.

No one deserves to wear these shoes.
Yet, because of these shoes I am a stronger person.
These shoes have given me the strength to face anything.They have made me who I am.
I will forever walk in the shoes of someone who has lost a child.

Tummy Time SUCCESS

The secret? A mirror.

I'm still really bad about enforcing the "30 minutes a day of tummy time". However, she has excellent head and neck control, so I'm fairly confused on WHY it's soooooo needed. It's supposed to help create the muscles and desire for rolling over and crawling, but I don't imagine we're going to send her off the college in 18 years and she still hasn't mastered the ability to roll over or crawl. And, I'm secretly hoping that she'll be one of those babies who bypass the crawling stage and instead go straight to walking.

Homegirl is vain, apparently, and really enjoys the good-looking baby looking back at her in the mirror.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylLhMxXVMXA

Baby Legs (and the needles that go in them)

There is a product called Baby Legs out there, which are pretty much baby pants without a crotch. This comes in handy for diaper changes (you don't need to take off the pants each time). However, they are sold for between $10-$12 EACH. Which is a rip off. No way I'd spend that much for them. However, they were running a sale for 75%. So, $2.50-$3 a pair is much more palatable. I bought 13 of them: 10 regular size, and 3 newborn size. The long sleeved onesie paired with baby legs is a much easier cool weather outfit than the sleepers with all their damn snaps. I'm drowning in sleepers, but I'm short on 3-6 month long-sleeved onesies. I'm thinking a trip to Target is in the my future.

I tried to go for non-gender specific ones so we can use them on a future child (but I did get a pink one).

I love the school bus one:

Corinne is modeling the newborn size:

And, the regular size:

On Oct 12, Corinne received her first Synagis injection. She'll have one monthly until next March. Synagis, according to one website:

"Synagis (palivizumab) is a man-made antibody to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a virus that can cause serious illness in children. Palivizumab inhibits the actions of RSV and helps to prevent the disease.

Synagis is used to prevent serious lung disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus in premature infants, and infants born with certain lung disorders or heart disease."

Each shot is $4,900. However, since we're now on M's insurance, his deductible has not yet been met (the deductible is $4k). When she was on my insurance, we hit that $4k deductible, no problem. Both plans are with the same group and insurance company, so hopefully they will just transfer the deductible. It's going to hurt if we have to pay $4k out of pocket for these shots for this year (not to mention, next year, we'll have to pay them too for a total of $8k...ouch).

She, oddly enough, didn't cry when the needle went in her thigh, but hoo boy! You should have heard the cries after the injection started. It burns going in. She was so upset, she couldn't even nurse for a few minutes. The nipple would be in her mouth, and she would just cry around it. However, within 5-10 mins, she seemed to have forgotten all about it.

I did my due diligence and got my flu shot yesterday. The pharmacist who administered the shot told me to look away, as the "sight of a needle going in can cause people anguish". I laughed. I've become so desensitized to needles at this point. 

Corinne and I will be needle buddies.

Before each injection, the nurse needs to know about how much she weighs (so the dose can be accurate). So, for the next 5 months, I have free use of a baby scale! It's not as good as the rental one from the hospital, but hey, it's free. Corinne is somewhere between 11lb 4oz and 11lb 11oz (she kept moving, so the number kept moving and finally settled on 11lb 11oz). This week, she's also officially moved up to size 2 diapers.

Halloween Costume

As you may recall from last year's post, I have been in love with the Pea Pod baby costume for years.

Finding it for $1.50 at a recent consignment sale appealed to my emotions and M's sensibilities, so it was a win/win situation (I don't think he would have been on board with the costume idea had it cost anymore than $5 "But she's not even going to remember it!")
However, since it was only $1.50, it wasn't exactly in great condition. The "peas" were falling off, but nothing that some green thread and a needle couldn't fix. So tonight, I sewed the "peas" back on, and good as new!

Of course, now that I had this pristine costume, I couldn't just put it back in the closet without seeing how it looked on a real live baby. Thank goodness, I had one of those (a real live baby) right in front of me! I think I may have sewed the bottom pea a little off center, but oh well. Peas in nature aren't perfect.