laciebug - my life, my designs

2008-09-04T22:57:00.001-07:00

http://www.watchtvsitcoms.com/Weeds/S04E01.php

Logan's Birth Story - Kelly's version

2008-07-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

Logan D.
June 10, 2008
8 lbs. 4 oz.
20 inches

Monday, June 9th, 2008

8:00 a.m. Lacie’s bag of water breaks!

11:14 a.m. Lacie calls her doula, Kelly, to tell her that she’s pretty sure her bag of water has broken.

12:00 p.m. Kelly calls to check in with Lacie as she leaves Beloit; Shawn picks up the phone and says that Lacie is on the phone with the Midwife, Rose.

12:45 p.m. Lacie and Kelly speak again by phone. At noon, contractions were between 3-8 minutes apart. The Midwife told Lacie that as soon as the contractions become regular, she should go in to the hospital for her IV dose of antibiotics. At the latest, they’d like to see her by 4:00 p.m., and will try to “hold off” on augmenting labor with Pitocin until 10:00 p.m. Lacie’s contractions have now stopped.

1:45 p.m. Kelly arrives at Shawn and Lacie’s house. Shawn has just arrived home from the store- having just bought more fresh pineapple. Ethan is excitedly running around while eating bits of his lunch.

2:45 p.m. Kelly suggests that Shawn and Lacie try some manual nipple stimulation to naturally bring the contractions back.

3:30 p.m. Lacie reports that her contractions have intensified and have become more regular. Lacie, Shawn and Kelly gather bags and organize for the trips for Ethan’s drop-off, then the hospital.

4:30 p.m. Lacie and Shawn drop Ethan off at their friend’s house.

4:55 p.m. Lacie and Shawn arrive at Alexian Brothers Medical Center, with Kelly following. Lacie walks through the parking garage and into the hospital like a woman with a mission!

5:02 p.m. Nurse Haley guides Lacie and Shawn into Room 1- the room with the tub! Lacie thrilled with this room assignment.

5:12 p.m. Midwife Rose arrives and introduces herself.

6:05 p.m. After paperwork is signed and IV is started, Rose arrives to perform the first check on Lacie. 3 centimeters dilated, 50% effaced and at -3 station. Way to go, Lacie!

Rose recommends nipple stimulation to get labor moving along more consistently, and Shawn and Lacie are given privacy.

6:50 p.m. Lacie rocks on the birth ball while Shawn sits behind her for support. (Lacie’s own mix of music plays in the background) This position works incredibly well for a while.

7:30 p.m. Shift Change! Nurse Stevie comes on for the night shift.

8:15 p.m. Nurse Stevie and Midwife Rose suggest Lacie walk the halls for a while. Lacie and Shawn do a long lap, but Lacie- and baby- do NOT like this! Contractions slow.

8:50 p.m.-
9:30 p.m. Lacie, now sitting in recliner- has been relaxing, taking deep, cleansing breaths for some time. Shawn pulls up a chair next to the recliner, and turns on the T.V. Lacie adamantly states that this is not the time for Shawn to watch sports. He pauses on CSI Miami and turns to Lacie, who agrees that this is fine. Aah, laboring to crime scene investigations!

Shawn and Kelly massage Lacie’s arms and legs. Lacie is having regular, fairly strong contractions again, but is able to rest for a few minutes with eyes closed in between each.

9:40 p.m. Lacie says she is really tired. Shawn continues to stroke Lacie’s arm gently as Kelly covers her with a light sheet and raises her feet onto a padded footstool.

9:50 p.m. Lacie’s contractions are now consistently 5 minutes apart, and are quite intense.

10:10 p.m. Midwife Rose checks Lacie’s progression; Lacie is now 5 centimeters dilated, 80 % effaced and at -2 station.

10:30 p.m. Lacie returns to the birth ball, while leaning on the bed. Shawn sits behind her and strokes her back rhythmically. Shawn uses “nukkles” on Lacie’s back softly for a while. Soon, she requests he use only his hands again.

Lacie continues to relax on the birth ball- leaning both back onto Shawn at times, and forward onto the bed and resting- for over an hour.

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

12:18 a.m.-
12:55 a.m. Music continues to play in the background. Lacie gets restless and says she needs to change positions. She stands up between contractions, and Kelly suggests she drape over Shawn’s shoulders and do a “slow dance” motion.

This slows contractions. Lacie moves quickly to sit on the edge of the bed and leans over Shawn, who kneels on the floor. This position works better, but Lacie REALLY wants to get into the tub if she can.

1:00 a.m. Midwife Rose comes to check Lacie before entering the tub. Progress: 6 centimeters dilated, 90 % effaced and -1 station. Lacie’s reaction, which is priceless: “Already? Cool…” (This is not something often heard from women in active labor!)

The tub seems to take an eternity to fill. Lacie’s anticipation- and tension- rise. Kelly gently strokes the tight muscles of her brow and tight shoulders during contractions to encourage these areas to relax. Lacie breathes through her contractions beautifully.

1:38 a.m. Lacie and Shawn enter the tub. “God, that feels awesome…” Lacie says, as she slides in opposite Shawn. Shawn massages Lacie’s legs and feet. Kelly puts a cold damp cloth on Lacie’s forehead.

Almost immediately, Lacie is rocked by an intense contraction and cannot get comfortable. She cries out with the intensity, and Kelly works with her to lower her cry, to moan deeply. This helps to control the intensity for the remainder of the contraction.

Lacie lowers herself to the lowest level of the tub so that her belly can be submerged under the water. With the next contraction, she shakily begins to moan, then blurts out “STOP TOUCH!”

1:58 a.m. Lacie has gotten very uncomfortable in the tub, and has stated a few times that she “wants to be done” and is “too tired” to continue. She gets out of the tub quickly with the help of Shawn, Kelly and a nurse relieving Stevie who is on a break.

2:15 a.m.-
2:45 a.m. Lacie is very shaky- though HOT from the steamy tub- and is not comfortable with any positions for laboring (all typical of the “transition” stage). There are spells of crying and not wanting to continue… but this passes.

2:45 a.m. Lacie drapes her upper body over Kelly’s for a few contractions, while Kelly tells her that this WILL pass and she WILL do it. Lacie has come so far!

Position change: Lacie sits on the birth ball again, rocking side-to-side, while Shawn rubs her back.

3:00 a.m. Lacie wants to try another position. She tries a side-lying position, which helps Nurse Stevie to get good EFM and Doppler readings. However, although this is a nice position for Lacie to rest in, it is a poor position for having contractions. As soon as Stevie has a good reading completed, Lacie sits up and goes to the bathroom.

3:11 a.m. “I’m feeling pushy!” Lacie says from the bathroom…. Nurse Stevie pages the Midwife, Rose to come to the room right away.

3:15 a.m. Lacie asks to be checked; she is now 10 centimeters dilated, 100 % effaced and at 0 station! “Can I push?” Lacie asks Rose, who replies, “whenever you are ready and feel that urge…” Lacie gets up to change positions, everyone watches as her intuition guides her.

Lacie complains of back pressure and pain. She leans over the birth ball balanced on the chair and sways back and forth, with Kelly’s hands guiding her hips. Kelly gently does a double hip squeeze to alleviate the pressure- which feels good to Lacie. Shawn gently strokes Lacie’s arms in a downward motion and tells her how great she is doing.

Lacie quickly shifts to a squatting position and makes grunty, pushy noises. Rose gets low to the floor with a special lamp and looks to see signs of the baby…

3:30 a.m. Lacie announces- as she moves quickly in the direction of the bathroom (pausing for a contraction)- that she needs to go to the bathroom. Rose and Kelly validate from the doorway that the toilet is a great position for the pushing stage, while Nurse Stevie enters to check the baby’s vitals.

Lacie starts to cry out loudly, but Shawn helps her to focus by mimicking her, then moaning deeply, encouraging Lacie to do the same. Lacie soon is moaning lowly through contractions with Shawn, and breathing a few deep breaths in between.

3:36 a.m. Lacie moves off the toilet and wants to rest her tired legs on the bed. Rose suggests the squat bar, and lowers the bottom of the bed. Lacie inches down towards the bottom edge of the raised section, grabs on to the squat bar, and heaves herself up- like a pro! She pushes thoroughly through a few contractions, then rests her bottom on the edge of the bed again.

3:42 a.m. Lacie adjusts herself into a supported semi-squat, with Shawn and Kelly on each side of her while she holds her knees and pushes. Lacie reminds Rose that Shawn wants to catch!

3:45 a.m. Rose directs Shawn to grab a pair of gloves-quickly- and come to her right side, as Kelly encourages Lacie to reach down and touch her baby’s head.

3:47 a.m. Happy Birthday, Logan! Great catching, dad!!

(Musical accompaniment at moment of birth: RENT Soundtrack)

Logan's Birth Story

2008-06-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

I woke up around 8am on June 9th to head to the bathroom, and as soon as I got out of bed I felt a trickle running down my leg. I was a bit embarrassed that I peed myself, but as the trickle kept on coming, I thought it might be something more than pee. I headed out to the living room to sit on my birth ball and bounce for a bit and see if I could get some contractions established. That didn't work very well, so I tried using my breastpump instead, and that did work. I had contractions on and off the rest of the morning and called my midwife around 11:30 to let her know what was going on. She said to keep up with the nipple stim and come into the hospital around 4 to start the antibiotics.

I called Kelly and had her start heading down, and we also called Shawn's mom to come and watch Ethan. When Kelly got there she had a few suggestions for other things we could do, including manual nipple stim, and that got some intense regular contrax going. We got ready to head to the hospital, and dropped Ethan off at Julie's house on the way, since MIL wasn't there yet.

When we got to the hospital, I hadn't had a contraction since we left home. I was a little worried as to what that would mean, but after I got settled in and hooked up to the antibiotics, Rose (the midwife) had us do some more nipple stim, and sure enough, it worked! Before we started (around 6pm), she checked me and I was 2-3 cm, 50% effaced, and -3 station. Long ways to go!

We dealt with the contractions for the next 4 hours, changing positions occasionally. Kelly was amazing - every time I got tired of a position she was right there to suggest other positions to try, and kept both Shawn and I encouraged to keep going. I surprised myself by dozing off between contractions - something I thought only people who had received pain meds could do. At 9:30, they hooked me up to the monitor to make sure Logan was handling the contractions well, and he passed with flying colors. After that, Rose checked me again and I was 5cm, 80% effaced, and -1 station. Progress!

After that the contractions were getting a little more intense and harder to breathe through. We were lucky enough to get the room with the big tub, and I decided to get in the tub around 1am. Contractions were absolutely brutal in there - I was thinking the whole time how it's total BS when they call a tub the 'midwives' epidural', but Shawn pointed out to me this morning that they could have been a lot worse if I wasn't in the water.

I got my second dose of antibiotics while I was in the tub, and when they were done I was SO happy to have that stupid heplock out of my hand. When that came out I was able to be on my hands and knees in the tub, which was much better than sitting, but still really awful.

At around 3, I had had enough of the tub and got out. I was a bit lost for a while - I couldn't decide where I wanted to be and decided to try the toilet. As soon as I sat down I had an uncontrollable urge to push, so they rushed me to the bed and checked me - sure enough, I was complete! Pushing was the best feeling ever - it still hurt, but it was a different kind of pain. The first couple of contractions I was standing up and leaning on the birth ball, which was sitting on a chair. At some point during the second contraction I remember dropping into a squat to push, and after that they put the squat bar on the bed. After one contraction on the bed I could feel that he was getting close, and with the next one he was crowning. I felt the 'ring of fire' but it wasn't as painful as I thought - I was probably so busy concentrating on pushing that I didn't care. Shawn didn't have time to wash his hands so he threw on a pair of gloves just in time to catch Logan as I pushed him out.

Logan Patrick came into the world at 3:47am on June 10. He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20" long. His Apgars were 8/9/9. I was in labor for a total of around 19 hours, with around 3 hours of active labor, 1 1/2 hours of transition, and 20-30 minutes of pushing.

I held him for a bit after they got him breathing well, and Shawn cut the cord. We cuddled for a while and then the nurse took him over to weigh him and do all that other fun stuff while I dealt with the pain of delivering the placenta and getting stitched up. I had a small first-degree tear and just a few stitches. Holy cow, those hurt, even with the local anesthetic. I don't remember third stage being as painful with Ethan, but of course I had an epidural with him so it wouldn't have been painful.

After Rose was done with me, they brought Logan over and we tried nursing. He was kind of poking around and exploring and looking at us, and not really interested in nursing, which was OK by me. It was so cool seeing how alert he was right afterward - he didn't cry or anything, just looked around. Eventually I dozed off and Shawn says he latched on and ate a bit, but I don't remember a thing. LOL

We moved to our postpartum room around 6:15, and Kelly left shortly afterward. The three of us napped until 9, then got up and started to get ready for visitors. We gave Logan his first bath, and tried nursing again without much luck. My mom and sister got here around 10:30, and MIL brought Ethan by around 11:30. They all stayed the day and Shawn and I dozed on and off while they cooed over Logan. We finally got in a few good nursing sessions, and were rewarded with a bunch of poopy diapers and his first wet diaper. Ethan was a bit rambunctious, but he seems to understand that Logan is his baby brother, and he gave him a few kisses and pats. I think it'll be a bit of an adjustment for him, but I'm sure he'll do fine.

Around 5pm poor Shawn went to change a poopy diaper and ended up going through about 15 wipes catching a never-ending stream of poop. It was kind of funny, actually. :) We had our 'celebration dinner' of filet mignon and other stuff from the hospital food service (don't be fooled, it really wasn't that good), and now the three of us are just hanging out in the hospital room watching TV. We'll be heading home around noon tomorrow. :) Here's a picture of our little guy right after his bath -

2008-04-28T20:21:00.001-07:00

So there's this chick in my pregnancy group that's driving me up the damn wall. First of all, she was on bedrest forever because of preterm labor - now she's being induced before her due date. I don't get that. Why go to so much trouble keeping him in, then kick him out at the end? There's no real reason for the induction, she's just uncomfortable. Give me a fucking break. We're all uncomfortable.

I started a thread a while ago for people that were planning natural births. She comes in and says that she's had the epidural twice but it didn't take either time. She wants one this time and thinks it'll be 'fun' to have a labor where the epidural actually works. Again, give me a fucking break. And stay out of my natural birth thread!

Now she's posting a couple of random breastfeeding things that are pissing me off. First, another girl in our group had her baby earlier this week, and he's jaundiced. Her ped told her to supplement with formula - surprise, surprise. *rolleyes* She posted a thread asking for advice on what to do about engorgement - she "can't" feed him all the time because she's supposed to alternate feedings. However, yesterday he had 4 poopy diapers and 4 wet diapers, so it sounds like he's getting plenty from the breast alone. I told her to tell her doctor to shove it, that formula doesn't have any magic ingredients that make bilirubin go away any faster. But this other chick is spouting off crap about supplementing. Just fucking shut up already!

Then she posts in the breastfeeding support thread, saying that she had an easy time of nursing her first two kids, but she liked giving the bottle better with her second so this time she just wants to go straight to the bottle, but wants to give as much breastmilk as possible, but doesn't know how to best go about this. Fine, whatever. At least she's not going straight to formula. But it's annoying the crap out of me that someone that had an easy time of nursing just doesn't want to. That on top of everything else that annoys me about her, and I just want to reach through the internet and smack her around a bit.

To top it off, she's naming her kid Wesley. I fucking HATE the name Wesley. As someone on another board said, it's the name of a sniveling little brat. Who names their kid Wesley in this day and age? Ick.

Contest!

2008-04-28T19:26:00.001-07:00

Win a Free Ergo Baby Carrier from Along for the Ride

More pregnant annoyances

2008-04-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

My pregnancy group has been talking a lot about inductions and c-sections lately, and it's driving me up the wall. At least one of the inductions is purely for convenience, and while I understand that it's nice to have childcare lined up for older kids, it still bugs me.

And I saw a post in another group tonight that's driving me up the fucking wall. Someone was induced at 38 weeks (no apparent medical reason, just because baby was big) and her baby was 9 lbs. 15 oz. And of course, along with that announcement came the "Good thing her doctor didn't let her go to her due date!" Because heaven knows, once a baby gets to 10 lbs. there's just no way they can be born vaginally. *cough*bullshit*cough*

For crying out loud. I'm sure if his lungs hadn't been fully developed and he was in the NICU, there would be no "Good thing her doctor induced early!" Actually, though, I'm sure there would have been some spin about how thank goodness they got him out when they did or he might have DIED. Hooray for doctors that stick their noses in where they don't belong!

You know what? I kind of hope our munchkin weighs 11 lbs. Because I want to push him out and tell everyone to kiss my ass. Then breastfeed him exclusively, and again tell everyone to kiss my ass. Because I would just be a goddamn medical miracle on BOLU!

Then again, I have some cute newborn-size stuff that an 11 lb. baby won't fit into, so 8 lbs. is fine, too. LOL

Pregnant Lady Ranting

2008-03-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

I'm a very strong advocate of natural birth. Inductions/c-sections out of convenience piss me off more than just about anything.

So it's really bugging the shit out of me that I'm in a pregnancy group with an assload of people who are talking about scheduling their inductions, and if their doctor won't go for that, scheduling a c-section. A couple of them came into my natural birthing thread to post about how they want an induction, or how they walk in the door and ask for an epidural. STAY OUT OF MY THREAD, FUCKERS! UGH! I don't want to hear about it! You don't see me going into the c-section support thread and talking about how I want to go natural (meaning sans drugs), do you? No! Because I DON'T BELONG THERE.

Rant over...for now. I'm very rant-y lately.

Reviving this

2008-01-19T12:23:00.001-08:00

Giving this blog a little kick in the pants - partially by request, partially because I want to bitch about things that I can't bitch about on my board-based journals.

First of all, I'm 18 weeks pregnant today, yay! My ultrasound is in 2 days, and I can't wait to find out who is in my belly! Things have been going quite well lately - still the odd bout of nausea, a few aches and pains, but nothing too horrible. I had to take the 3 hour GTT yesterday, so I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have gestational diabetes.

Ethan is awesome - learning new stuff all the time and cracking me up on a regular basis. We taught him how to play hide and seek the other day - he doesn't really get it, but he likes covering his eyes and counting to 10, then saying Here I Come! He's getting his last 2 molars in, so he's been chewing on his clothes like mad. I've been giving him Hyland's teething tablets, and he chows down on them like there's no tomorrow.

I've been in a total funk lately - one of the message boards I run has been depressing me. I feel so disconnected from it - there's a big inside joke that I'm not a part of, which sucks. I guess karma is biting me in the ass on this one. Can't say I don't deserve it, but it sucks anyway. I'm starting to doubt who my true friends are, which is an awful, awful feeling to have. I need to distance myself from it, but I'm at a loss for how - I'm slightly addicted. I've contemplated banning myself. We'll see how this week goes.

He's finally here!

2007-08-04T13:14:00.001-07:00

Announcing the arrival of...

Bryce Anthony!
August 4, 2007
1:22pm
7 lbs. 1 oz.
18.5 inches

Bryce Anthony made his appearance at 1:22pm this afternoon! Mandy said that it was a long, hard labor and her epidural wore off, but I'll let her share the details. LOL She'll be home from the hospital on Monday. Welcome to the world, Bryce! Congratulations Mandy, Tommy, and Lauryn!!

Recipe blog

2007-05-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

I started a recipe blog because I'm sick of storing my recipes on message boards and then having to login and read new posts, etc... just to look up a recipe. Feel free to visit. http://laciesrecipebox.blogspot.com/

La la.

2007-05-08T00:54:00.000-07:00

So, not much new around here. Still getting settled into the new house, slowly but surely.

On the babies front, I had 20 tubes of blood drawn last Thursday, and they're running an insanely long list of tests on said blood to find out why my uterus apparently doesn't like having babies in it. With Bean's due date quickly approaching (May 25th), my baby fever is starting to come back, and I just want to hurry up and get through the first 12 weeks of another pregnancy with no freaking drama!

Ethan is awesome, of course. He's starting to pick up on more words, which is so cool. His latest words are Cracker (cah-cah), Chicken (chi-chen), and Simpsons (sih-son). He got his hair cut while we were back in Postville a couple of weeks ago, and he looks so much older now! My little boy is growing up so fast!

Catching up!

2007-04-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

Long time, no post!

Well, the last month has been busy busy busy! We got all moved in to our new house, and we are LOVING it! We've been out in the backyard playing every single day (before it got cold again, anyway!)

The unpacking process is going slow, but we're getting settled in. I think I got the last of the kitchen stuff unpacked this morning, so at least one room is done. The bathroom is all unpacked as well, but it still needs to be painted. We got a nice new shower surround, so it looks much better than it used to.

Other than that, not much is going on. Ethan and I are going to my parents' house for a visit next week - my sister has proms on the 21st and 28th, and she wanted me home for both of them to take pictures. While I'm there, I'm going to get my hair permed again, because my stylist there is the only person I trust to do it right. :) Plus, she doesn't charge nearly as much as people do here!

I really need to work on Ethan's photo gallery - I guess my aunt and grandpa went to look at it last week and I hadn't updated since before Thanksgiving. Bad Lacie. LOL

AI Rundown - The Girls

2007-03-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

Jordin - Awesome performance! I really, really liked it, and I really, really like her.

Sabrina - I thought she did a pretty good job, but I agree with Simon that she needs to show some more personality.

Antonella - My GOD why is this bitch still in the competition? She is totally not in the same league as the rest of them. GO HOME! *insert snotty UH!* She can blah blah blah all she wants about wanting to be unique or whatever, but the fact of the matter is, she just isn't good enough to go any further. Period.

Haley - It took me 5 minutes to even remember she was still in this last night. She's not a bad singer, she's just not that good either. And she doesn't stand out even a little bit. Meh. I totally understand why Simon doesn't know her name - I think there's probably a lot of other people that don't either.

Stephanie - A good job. We were discussing how much Antonella sucks during it, so I can't give a more indepth critique. LOL

LaKisha - Man, I wish she'd sing something different than the same ol' R&B every week. She's a great singer, but I want to see her sing something different.

Gina - Hm. I love Gina. She did have pitch problems, and my god, it's impossible to sound like Amy Lee. But I think she did a pretty good job, and I totally think she needs to stay around. I think it's probably a pretty good sign that an hour and 15 min. after the show, I'm still having problems getting through on her line.

Melinda - I love her. I think she's the best singer in this competition, and I love her personality as well. I'd love to see her sing something different, too, but she's just great.

My AI Rundown - Guys

2007-03-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this out here because I'm watching it on Tivo and I don't want to read the OLU thread yet.

Blake - The beatboxing was better than the singing, for sure. But I still like him, and I think he's going to go a long way. And I can't believe none of the judges knew that song! Where the hell were they in the 90's?

Sanjaya - My god, he murdered that song, and that's the only John Mayer song I really like! And what's up with the woman hair? Seriously? PLEASE go home this week! PLEASE!!

Sundance - I thought he did a really good job. It sounded like he messed up the lyrics in a few places (though I'm sure the fuck=punk part was intentional). What does Simon mean by "indulgent"?

Chris R. - Started out like crap. Serious crap. And it never got better. Did the judges hear the same song I did? At least Simon caught the nasal stuff, but I thought it was pretty pitchy. Whatever. I like him, and obviously the judges do too.

Jared - He's a little painful to watch at times. I liked this song (moreso the fast part than the slow) but I'm tired of the guys singing songs like this. I think we need more rock in this season.

Brandon - Ethan liked him - he was dancing. LOL I think he's OK - I'm not a huge fan of this song, but I think he sang it well. I'm not sure if I like him for the finals or not.

Phil - You should see the look on my face right now! ICK! What the hell is up with his voice? He's hitting a couple of wrong notes, too, although his voice does sound a little better at the end - that seems to be a trend with him, that he starts out shit, and gets better. I wouldn't mind if he left this week.

Chris S. - My favorite of the night! I didn't know the song, but it sounded pretty good. In a night of mediocrity, he definitely shone. I do agree with the judges that he needs to pick better songs sometimes. But seriously, I don't think anyone was better than him tonight.

Mom's Night Out

2007-03-01T22:15:00.000-08:00

I went out for supper with some of the moms in this playgroup that I'm in tonight. I had so much fun! It's kind of sad, but I haven't been out with friends for such a long time. We were at Chili's for almost 4 1/2 hours, just talking about stuff, mainly our kids ;) but other stuff too. I hope we can do it again sometime.

In other news, I'm so sick of winter. It rained almost all day today, but yet there's still a lot of snow, and it's snowing now. Blech. So now we have a huge sloppy mess, which is like the worst type of winter.

We gave our current landlords notice that we're moving out today. Haven't gotten a response yet. I'm kind of curious to hear what they have to say. Interestingly enough, they weren't going to raise the rent. I guess the rental market is crap right now, though - a few months ago, our floorplan was going for at least $100 more than what we're paying, but I just checked the MLS and it's only going for $25-50 more than what we pay now. I think our apartment is in a lot better shape than some of them, though - our landlords looked at quite a few other ones before they bought ours, and they said ours was the best. Whatever, I hate it here and can't wait to leave. LOL

Tomorrow I'm hoping we can go up to Deer Park and get some paint chips from Restoration Hardware. I hear they have really nice colors, but their paint sucks. That's why Color Match is awesome. :D

To-Do List

2007-02-26T11:47:00.000-08:00

I hate moving more than just about any other activity. However, it needs to get done, and I am going to make a nice organized list of crap I need to do in the process. I'm going to include stuff I've already done so I can feel a little bit of accomplishment. LOL Bolding what's done.

*Clean bedroom floor
*Pack 75% of toys (sadly, I did this and we still have a ton out. Spoiled, much?)
*Clean hallway
*Clean utility room
*Go through our bathroom closet and throw out old/expired toiletries and medicines
*Go through Ethan's bathroom closet and get rid of boxes and other junk
*Go through non-perishable food and throw out old opened boxes
*Clean around my desk
*List magazines on Craigslist; recycle what's left
*List microwave, couch, grill, anything else still useful but not needed on Craigslist
*Go through our clothes, donate/sell what I don't want
*Go through Ethan's clothes, list on OLU/eBay
*Go through shed and throw away stuff in tubs that we haven't touched since we moved out of Lakeside (in 2003!)
*Gather tubs and buy boxes (partially done, I got a bunch from Craigslist but we'll still need more)
*Sort through books and list ones I don't want on Amazon Marketplace or similar
*Clean Ethan's closet
*Take bouncy seat and any other baby gear I don't want to keep to Once Upon a Child
*Go through gigantic pile of boxes in bedroom and decide what to keep
*Shred huge pile of credit card offers; opt-out of getting them in the future
*Change addresses on magazine subscriptions, bills, etc...
*PACK! (in progress!)

Are you on my list?

2007-02-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

If you read this and you have a blog that isn't in my list over there -->, please leave me a linkie. :D

A fresh start...

2007-02-24T23:36:00.000-08:00

So, try #5897013270 at keeping up on a blog. Let's see if this one succeeds. :D As if I needed another place to put updates about my life, but at least here you don't have to pay to see my ramblings.

If you don't know me or don't keep up on my life already, Hi, I'm Lacie. I'm 25 years old, married to Shawn, and I'm a stay-at-home-mom to Ethan. I like to pretend that I'm a graphic designer, and people tell me I'm at least decent at it.

I'm also a mommy to two angels, which sucks a lot. We lost baby #2 (Bean) when I was 12 weeks pregnant, back in November. Then we lost baby #3 (Wiggle) when I was 9 weeks in February. Miscarriages suck. Since I've now had two in a row, I get to have testing to see what the hell is wrong with me. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it - the testing could answer a lot of questions.

The biggest news in our lives right now is that we're moving! Yay! It's a 3 bedroom house with a nice big fenced backyard. The best part is that we get to move in early in exchange for painting the whole house - no more white walls!

That should just about bring you up to speed. Let's hope I can keep this updated a little better than my previous attempts.