Pictures of Snow

So I promised you pictures of the snow in Crested Butte. Here you go - enjoy!!

Snow, snow and more snow

Sorry I am not blogging as often as I use to but it is hard with a newborn and a 2 year old! Gunnison has been receiving so much snow. I have lived in this valley for 10 years and Gunnison has never seen this much snow. With the first big snowfall of the year all of the willows along the creek bent over. I was upset because we lost our privacy - I could see the main road and they could see us. But now we have huge snow piles all around the house so I can't even see the driveway! We are planning on going up to Crested Butte this weekend so hubby can go skiing. I will take pictures for you - there is so much snow up there that some houses are hidden from the street.

Yesterday we decided to drive to Salida so Mikayla and Daddy could go swimming in the hot springs. We had to go over Monarch Pass which reaches 11,000 feet. At the top we stopped real quick to go pee. There is a store up there but when we got to the top we could not see the store. It was also snowing real bad and it was hard to see anything. As we were pulling away I noticed a corner of the store sticking out of the snow. That was all you could see was the corner of the building - everything else was under snow!

We had a fun time at the pool but WOW Monarch Pass and the whole drive way tough - 4-wheel drive the whole way.

All In Two Diapers

I believe these are called an All In Two - they do need an insert. They are white with a cream colored flannel inner. There is no staining. They come from a smoke free, cat free and dog friendly home. There are 3 diapers total. I am asking $4.00 per diaper and this does include shipping. Please email me with any questions - oconnellhouse@msn.com.

Jaundice

In higher elevations you have to watch out for jaundice. Normally all you need to do to prevent this is to put the newborn in the sun for 20 or so minutes per day. Mikayla was born in May so I would take her outside, take her sleeper off and we would sit in the sun for 20 minutes every day. I would also nurse her in the sun in the early morning.

With Lily being born in January it has been much harder. First I had to find where the sun comes into the house during the day. That was hard because since she has been born we have seen the sun 2 days. It has been snowing every other day since.

I took her to the doctor on Friday and they checked her billirubin levels and she was jaundice. We put her on a billi light blanket (it wraps around her middle) for a day and the levels dropped enough in 24 hours to be done with it. Good thing because it was very ackward.

I could not have asked for a better baby. I am suprised at how well this little one sleeps. I don't mean to brag but she only wakes me up once a night. The night she had the billi blanket she woke up twice. I am waking up more to check on her than she is waking up.

Mikayla is also really good with her sister. She also knows that when I am nursing her I am limited in what I can do for her.

My mom went home today so we will see how the next week goes. I think Mikayla might go to daycare on Monday and Wednesday so I can have some time to get things done (pay bills, blog and sleep!)

Lily's Birth Story

On Thursday, January 24th I had to go to the hospital to get some blood work done. I noticed that the hospital had warning signs about enter at your own risk due to the Influenza A virus and that they had confirmed cases of it. I thought no big deal. Well Thursday night I was really tired and slept horribly. I ended up only going into work for a total of 2 hours on Friday because I was still tired and very achy sore (typical start of flu systems huh!). I slept off and on all day Friday and Friday night. Friday night I was very uncomfortable with achy legs.

Around 1am I started to notice that the contractions were involving my back and they were starting to hurt. I was up with Mikayla from 1am to about 3:30 and then I did not go back to bed until around 4am. From 4am to 7am I slept off and on waking to some contractions and probably sleeping though others.

All day on Saturday my contractions were anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes apart. I was able to get the house cleaned like I normally do on Saturday which made me feel better. I knew I would come home to a clean house after giving birth. I called my mom and she managed to get cheap airfare into Gunnison.


We picked up my mom at the airport at 6:30pm and my mom was surprised that I came into the airport as well. Mom was worried that I was not actually going to have the baby because my labor was still manageable at this point. We all headed to the hospital to get me checked in. While I checked into the hospital, Joe, Mikayla and mom headed home.


I was at the hospital about an hour by myself and at this point my contractions started to come every 5 minutes and become harder as well. The doctor came in and tried to break my water the first try was unsuccessfully but the second one worked. At the point my contractions increased to every 2 to 3 minutes. I asked for the epidural around 9ish and it took a while to get it going and stronger enough. Around 10:30pm I finally had relief. I am just not the type of person to give birth without drugs. I was also getting pretty tired by this time and was napping a bit.


I started pushing around 12:15pm and I pushed for 1 1/2 hours without getting anywhere. The doctor said she would be willing to use the manual vacuum if I wanted. I said let me try one more time. With each push I really was not getting anywhere. I had the doctor use the manual vacuum and Lily arrived two contractions later. She came out totally sideways and that is also why I was not not making any progress with each push. I did have one small tear this time and needed stitches.




Lily never left my room from the moment she was born and she is a great nurser. The family came to see her the next morning around 9am and Mikayla was soo excited to see her.

We left the hospital around 2:30pm. I was ready for my own comfy bed.

Update

So far Lily has turned into a great sleeper - I am waiting for the newborn sleep stage to wear off and her to start waking up every 2 hours. Her first night home she woke up 3 times and other than the first 2 they were spread pretty far out so I could sleep as well. Then last night she slept from 9pm to 2am! Then she woke up again at 6:30am. I would love for this scheduled to stick but I know it is not going to!

Mikayla absolutely loves her baby sister. She loves to watch her and let me know what she is doing. Mikayla has been great - even when I have to sit down and nurse Lily and I am not able to get up and do what ever Mikayla wants me to do.

Lily Has Arrived

As you know from Jen's post Lily Anne arrived on Saturday morning. I will finish her birth story can get that posted very soon. Briefly everything worked out great with Mikayla and my mom coming into town. I checked in the hospital at 7pm on Saturday night and she was born at 1:29am on Sunday morning. I checked out of the hospital at 2:30 - I wanted to get home! She is still on the great newborn sleeping schedule - she only had me up 3 times last night and she slept for a very long time in between feedings. Everyone is doing great and Mikayla is a wonderful big sister.

The Sneak Peek

This is Tiff's friend Jen posting to give all you in the blogosphere a sneak-peek of the newest member of the Colorado Mama's household. Tiff hopes to be up and out of the hospital by this evening.

Lily Anne was born at 1:29 this morning weighing 6 lbs 3 oz. Tiffany and Joe's precious second daughter is 19" and born with a head full of brown hair just like her big sister.

Isn't she the loveliest little creature? She slept the entire time we were there visiting Tiffany and her family.

Don't you love that perfect little mouth?

And just one more picture of little Lily in all her 10-hour old glory.

And here's Tiff looking as beautiful as ever. Can you believe she birthed her second child just 10 hours prior to this photo?

We are going to have a baby soon.

The contractions have started and they are coming about every 10 minutes.

They started last night in the middle of the night, some woke up me and some I slept through. Now that I am up they are coming about every 10 minute or so. I called my mom because she was going to drive out once I went into labor. Well she called the airlines and she is flying out on an emergence airfare today so we will see her at 6:30pm! Which means that probably by the time I am ready to head to the hospital she will be here! Mikayla is taken care of.


Hopefully the last pregnancy pictures you will see of me. I am 38 weeks and 1 day.

Mikayla is ready to hold her baby sister.

Baby Sitter Anyone

Well we had a great plan for when the little one decides to come. Our friend Kelly would come over and watch Mikayla. Mikayla is comfortable around Kelly and has known her for awhile. On Monday night Kelly fell and broke her knee cap and tore some ligaments in her knee as well. Poor girl!! So she can no longer help out. Another backup was our friend Shawn. Mikayla has also known Shawn for awhile and she is pretty comfortable with him. She always has to give Shawn a hug and gets upset if she doesn't get the chance. Well Shawn's grandmother is not doing well and he is headed out of town today to Illinois to spend some time with grandma before she passes. Strike 2 for us! I have a friend, Jen, in Crested Butte that can help out but due to the distance (30 miles) it may or may not work out. If this was a perfect world I would go into labor at night (during the work week) then the next morning send Mikayla to daycare as normal and Joe and I would head to the hospital, have the baby and Joe could still pick up Mikayla at 5pm as usual. Joe and Mikayla would come to the hospital so Mikayla could meet her new sister and have dinner with me. Then Joe and Mikayla would head home for the night and pick me up the next day. I can dream can't I.

Pasty White

Normally at this time of the year I am over the cold and snow and ready to move to a warmer climate and in general just move someplace else. Try something new for a while. I have been in the Gunnison Valley for over 10 years and I would love to try something new. This year though I have not had the anxious feeling to leave because I am getting ready for a big change anyway with the arrival of a new baby due any day now. One thing though I have noticed is that I have lost all of my summer tan (and I had a good one this year due to all of my runs during lunch). My arms are so pasty white it is almost scary!! I know that pasty white is healthier than a nice summer than but I love the tan!! I could use a nice trip to a beach but I don't have a swimsuit to fit into!

What do you long for in the middle of winter??

Walking

For the last week or so I have been walking on the treadmill. It has been much to cold to walk outside. I started at 10 minutes and I have worked my way up to 20 minutes. I am doing this for a couple different reasons. The first is that I feel good enough to "workout" a little bit. I am "workout" because I am walking slow enough to read a book on the treadmill. Basically I am doing just enough to move my body. Also walking no longer hurts my back. The second reason is that they say walking is a good way to make the body go into labor - so far that is not working.

My goal is to walk for 15 minutes every day. Yesterday Mikayl and I walked about 4 blocks in the super cold weather. I did not time us but it took between 10 and 15 minutes. Today I did really good. I walked for 15 minutes (to the post office and back at work and I tried to keep a nice pace (not super slow, but slow). Then at lunch today I walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes. The most I have done in a while. It felt good because I took the pace up and I was also doing punches and arm exercises. If I feel good tomorrow I plan on doing another 20 minutes at lunch time as well. Hopefully I can keep this up until the little one is born.

-35 at 7am (Updated)

I think the title says it all.

-20 at 10:30 am

Am I crazy but -15 is not too bad outside. I put gas in my car at lunch time and I stood outside for the 5 minutes or so while it filled. Not too cold! I think I might take a short walk around the block today.

Bored at Work

I am sure you have heard me complain before but today I am super bored at work. On Monday and Tuesday this week my co-worker was sick so therefore all of the work came to me - which I loved it kept me busy (not stressed busy just busy). Well she is back and now I am bored. The attorneys don't give me enough work and I have asked too many times. I also have work for two attorneys to review sitting on their desks and with these guys who knows when I will see the work. This job is perfect one 1 1/2 persons not 2.

So I have been reading blogs and catching up but that can only take so much time during the day. These slow days really make me want to have the kiddo because that is all that I can think about.

Bored at work to - send me an email - oconnellhouse@msn.com

FYI - I spoke with hubby at lunch time and he said Mikayla only required 2 hugs and kisses this morning and of course the babysitter said that once Joe walks out the door she is fine.

Feeling Much Better

Yesterday and today I feel much better than Monday. On Monday I was sure I was going to have this little one on Tuesday. But by Monday evening the contractions slowed down BIG time and yesterday I noticed that I was having them less than normal.

On another note Mikayla is giving Joe a very hard time when he drops her off at daycare. Mikayla's two best buddies have moved into a preschool in town. I would love to have her go to the same preschool but right now the preschool is full and Mikayla is holding Lily's spot for the next few months. But it breaks my heart and Joe's heart when she cries when he drops her off. It use to be that Joe would drop her off and she would run off to go play but lately she needs a ton of hugs and kisses and still cries when he leaves. Then he has to go to work with a bad feeling. Oh well, what are you going to do? In the next month or two I hope to have her in a the new school.

Other than that not much is going on in our house lately we are just trying to stay warm. A few weeks ago it was nice to see another Colorado town, Alamosa, with colder temperatures than Gunnison. But now we are back to being the coldest town in Gunnison. Yesterday we woke up to -30 and it did not get past -6 all day. We did not even hit 0 yesterday!! Today it was a little warmer, I woke up to -20. It was trying to snow a little bit this morning but not much would fall due to how cold it was. When it is -30 outside it is hard to warm the house no matter what kind of heating system you have.

It made me think, what were Joe and doing trying to have a baby last spring??? We should have waited a couple of months so that when the baby was born it would not be so cold in the middle of the night when I get up for midnight feedings. Too late to worry about that now.

Good Days and Bad Days

This title says it all. These last few weeks I will have some good days and some bad days. It does seem as if the bad days happen on a Monday after I have relaxed all weekend. I am also understanding why some women choose to take the last week or so off of work. At this point I might consider that too, especially if I do not come back to work after my maternity leave is over.

Yesterday I was experiencing a lot of main in my lower belly and back. The nurse said it was probably round ligament pain. Then yesterday evening I was having contractions about every 10 minutes, while laying down relaxing. I was good last night and I took it easy, it took too much effort to straighten up the house so I let it go. Around 7:30ish last night the contractions slowed down a lot and I am not having nearly as many as I normally do.

So far today I feel much better but I have had trouble sleeping the last couple of nights - let the games of being super uncomfortable begin!!

Daycare

Cost the daycare is something many families have to live with. Very few families can afford to live on one income and if that is you, you are very lucky. I would love to be able to stay home with Mikayla, not full time but at least 2 or 3 days a week. Instead she goes to daycare 4.5 days a week and it kills me because someone else is raising my baby. But if I were to quit my job and stay at home that loss in income is too much and we would be in bankruptcy court before I could count to 10. I am luckily in the fact that I only pay $25 per day for her. I got into a home daycare shortly after they first opened. Now they have raised their rates to $35 per day which is about average for Gunnison.

But after baby number 2 is born I will be paying at least $70 per day for 2 kids in daycare. That means I am only taking home $50 per day. Is it really worth it?? I have given some thought to finding a waitress job in the evenings. I figure if I can make $400 - $600 per week by working 3 or 4 nights a week we will be much better off than me bringing home $250 with my regular job and I will be raising my kids as well.

I am going to have to make a decision in the next couple of months but first I would have to find that waitress job - they can be hard to find in Gunnison.

After all of that here is an article that makes me thankful for where I live. This article addresses the cost of childcare in other cities. I could not image paying $10,000 - $17,000 for one child in daycare.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/HomeMortgageSavings/ChildcareCrisis.aspx?GT1=10826#pageTopAchor

Delurking Day

Yesterday was National Delurking Day. So I am a day late but who cares!!! Post those comments and let me know who all is reading this blog. Let's see how many comments I can get.

(FYI - I stole this picture from my friend the Green Mommy - so check her blog out to.)

36 Weeks - 9 Months

I am now 36 weeks or 9 months. If I am luckily (because I am over being pregnant and I am gettig very ansty to have this little one) I will have this baby anywhere from 1 1/2 to 4 weeks.

Here are some pictures of my big belly!

Good Morning America Comes to Crested Butte

Around Christmas Good Morning America came to Crested Butte and we had a special parade just for them. I finally found a link to the segment they aired on TV. Here it is:

http://abcnews.go.com/search?searchtext=Crested%20Butte&type

I moved to Gunnison 10 years ago and I lived in Crested Butte from 2000 to 2004 and I would love to be living there now but the cost of living up there is too expensive for us. Crested Butte is only 30 minutes away so we head up there to see friends, have lunch and ski at least a couple times a month.

Antsy.

I have exactly one month to go until my due date and as you know I am hoping for an early arrival. I am getting soooo antsy!! Not in a nesting type of way but ready to have this little one. Her room is pretty much ready, I am waiting on 2 things to arrive my mail and then I am set. My mom is still working on her crib sheets and dust ruffle but if they don't come in time it is no big deal. Wow - I have really calmed down with the nesting instincts. It is getting so much harder to do things I am not worrying about how dirty my kitchen cabinets are.

I am also VERY tired of all of these Braxton Hixs contractions. I get them all of the time and especially when I am laying down on the couch relaxing in the evening. Isn't that suppose to make them stop. They don't hurt like a real contraction but they are getting stronger and sometimes they take my breath away.

Right now I am 35 weeks and 4 days.

I think if I was busier at work it would really help the days pass. My job does not keep my busy enough. I have been cleaning my desk and organizing old files for the attorneys in order to stay somewhat busy. The weekends pass quickly because I do stay busy.

What do you do to stay busy at work when you are slow? What did you did during your last pregnancy to pass the last month?

Lots of Snow

We had a snow storm yesterday where we received a foot or more. I thought the storm was done until I woke up this morning. We woke up to another foot that fell overnight. Right now Joe is up on the roof shoveling it and then he has to shovel the driveway. Our neighbor has a friend that plows our long shared driveway for free. Well the plow driver got stuck and could not finish the job! Here are some pictures of our winter wonderland!

Welcome to our home!

This snow right here is really deep due to Joe shoveling the roof off from an earlier storm. You can just barely see in the lower right corner the tunnel he and Mikayla are working on

This is a picture of our backyard. The dogs have their paths and if they try to do a new path they have to swim.

Another picture of the backyard.

On Friday Joe cleaned off a section our bridge's railing. You can see where the new snow is.

Mikayla and I went for a short walk.

The best thing about this storm is that we warmed up a lot. Last week we waking up to -20 and lucky if we saw 5 or 10 outside. But today it is almost 40!! I would go outside in short sleeves if it were not so windy.

Post of Nothing Much

I have not blogged in a while because there has been nothing too exciting to tell everyone about.

On December 31st we had one couple over for dinner. I was planning on staying up later than normal, maybe not midnight but at least 11pm. Well they ended up leaving at 9pm!! The girl was saying she was not feeling well (hey we had been dealing with colds all weekend long) but this is also someone who is ALWAYS sick - in fact she called into work sick today. After they left I stayed up until 10pm and Joe did make it to midnight. He is much more of a night owl than I am.

It is a good think I did not stay up late because Mikayla woke us up at 6:30am. She has been fighting a cold and it is causing her to wake up earlier than normal and play in her room. But we hear everything from her room.

We decided to head up to Crested Butte on the 1st. We saw some friends, had lunch, Mikayla got to watch the skiers and climb a mountain. (In the base area of the ski resort they had a huge pile of snow and her and Joe climbed the mountain and then ran down!).

I started the work year off with a bang on the second. First Mikayla woke us up at 5am. Joe dealt with her until 6am when I took over and he went back to bed for an hour. We also woke up to about -30. My truck would not start because we left the Sirus plugged in from our trip to CB. We finally got my truck started at 8am and I went inside to to dry my hair really quick. As I was leaving my driveway my neighbor needed a jump start. So I started the new year off 20 minutes late to work but I helped my neighbor so I think that is a great way to start the new year.

I am now 35 weeks pregnant and only 1 week left until I hit 9 months. Lily's room is almost ready to go. Mom is working on the sheets for her bed but Mom's sewing machine broke. Joe does need to lift up the mattress on the crib but I have not had him do that yet. Honey do for this weekend. I need to order the Sleep Incline and I have already ordered the Snuggle to Sleep blanket. So if this little one were to arrive tomorrow we would be pretty darn set.

Mikayla has been a bear the past few days and it is wearing on Mom and Dad. She has been extra fussy, whiny and just bad the last couple of nights. We want to pull our hair out and get the happy little one back. She did burn herself pretty bad two nights ago on the gas fireplace. She put her hand on the glass to warm them up and instead on getting close she touched the glass. She now has a second degree burn on the back on her hand and it looks awful. She also won't let me put any antibacterial cream on it. I am going to try and do that this weekend because I don't want it to get infected.

Nothing else exciting is going on in the O'Connell house but I am counting down the days until I have this little one. I keep saying anywhere from 2 to 5 weeks left and boy would I love to be closer to the 2 week window than the 5 week window. I already have plans to visit story time at the library and the tumble room at the rec center while I am on maternity leave.

How I Tackle the Nesting Instinct

It comes and goes. I am talking about the nesting instinct. Mikayla's dresser arrived today and Joe put it together. I am moving stuff around and slowly getting Lily's room ready. It helps me to make lists and I will cross things off as I get them taken care of. Most of the stuff I need to purchase.

* Bedding for crib - Mom is working on
* bath pillow
* Have Joe lift crib mattress
* From the garage grab swing, carseat, play mat and bouncy chair. - Need to wash these covers as well.
* curtains or blinds for windows - I decided at this time I don't need to worry about this.
* incline to sleep - Done - I purchased this today from Babies R Us.
* Cover for carseat - Done - Bought this on ebay and I am waiting for it to arrive - actually I bid on 2 my accident - I am hoping my other bid gets overbid! **Update - I was over bid on by $1 - that was close.
* Swaddle Blanket - Done - Bought this on ebay and I am waiting for it to arrive!!
* Lamp
* 3 tier draws (small) - Done - I grab one from my room and emptied it and put this in the babies room. I set the lamp on top.
* diapers - Done for now I have a stash of cloth diapers and disposables. If I decide I need more cloth diapers I will purchase them later.
* Music maker with lights
* binkies - Done - I purchased these today2 - nipples for bottles - This one is being put on the wait list as well. I am not going to worry about pumping for the first couple of weeks so I don't need to worry about this and numbers 3 and 4 until after she comes. 3 - breast pump 4 - parts for pump

I am ready for Lily to come even with a few things on the list. If she would arrive tomorrow we would be just fine.

-22

Yep - You read that right it was -22 this morning at 7:15am. So far this winter we have been very lucky normally we see a week of this type of weather around Thanksgiving but this is the coldest is has been this winter so far. Ever since we had that big snowstorm it has been cloudy and snowing lightly almost every day. Not enough snow to count just light flurries but with the cloud cover it has kept us warmer, around -5 in the morning warming up to about 10. This morning when I woke up I noticed how blue the sky was and not a cloud it sight (I thought this was wonderful because we have not seen much blue sky in the past few weeks and that in of itself is really odd for Gunnison - we average over 300 days of sunshine a year.) Then I thought if the sky is that blue it is pretty darn cold outside and sure enough it was -22! I have forgotten how hard it is to breath outside when it is that cold and don't even think of breathing through your nose - your nose hairs will freeze!!

8 Months Pregnant

I am 33 weeks and 4 days pregnant or in other words almost 8 1/2 months pregnant. I feel bigger and fatter every day!! I am so ready to have this baby but I keep telling myself that she still has to cook a little longer. I also keep telling myself I have anywhere from 4 to 7 weeks left. I had better not be overdue - I would not want to be around me that week.

I am going to be busy this week hopefully taking advantage of after Christmas sales and buying the few things that I need. Mostly it is items that I wish I had when Mikayla was born.

Okay - Take a look at these pictures - has the baby dropped?? I have been asking myself this question a lot lately - mostly because of how much time I spend in the bathroom. About 75% of my Braxton Hixs contractions are because I have to go to the bathroom - or if I didn't think I had to go I will get a BH and then have to do. Let me know what you think.

7 Months

7 Months and Then Some

8 months and then some

Looking at these pictures I got big in one month!

Christmas

Santa came last night and Mikayla had tons of fun opening presents. She even enjoyed handing out presents to Joe and I and the dogs for everyone else to open.

Don't you love the jelly on her lip! Here is a calender Grandma and Grandpa got for her. We put it on the wall and it is magnet so she can change the months as we go.

Poor Teo - Every year he gets at least one bow put on his head. As long as he has a bone to chew on he does not care. It was his birthday yesterday, Teo is now 9 years old.

This was the big present from Mom and Dad. Mikayla loves to help cook in the kitchen either with pretend or for real. Maybe we have a world known chef on our hands!

One last picture of Mikayla and mom. She just has to show her belly whenever we take belly pictures! I will post my belly pictures in a little while.

Ice Skating

In Gunnison hockey is a very BIG thing. We have two outdoor rinks - one with a roof and one without and we also have an ice skating pond. We decided to introduce Mikayla to ice skating. We went over on Saturday and she just played on the ice in her boots. Today we rented skates (for $3.00 - can't beat that!) Daddy had to hold her up the whole time but she loved it.

She loved it when we took the skates off so she could just run around in her boots.

Mikayla's New Room

Yesterday Joe and I spent the morning getting Mikayla's new room all ready for her. We had to clean out all of the junk in there since this room was the misc room. Here is a picture of her new room.

It is HUGE for a 2 1/2 year old but she has plenty of room to play. She also gets her own bathroom and front door (just perfect when she is a teenager!!) We did block the door with a blanket to keep the room warmer and a bookshelf in front of it. If you don't know our house has 2 front doors - one right next to the other. She also has her own bathroom. We are in the process of getting the tub cleaned out (another spot where I stuck the extra junk in the house!)

Mikayla loves her new room and has been busy in there.

Snow and Cold

After our large snow storm a week or so ago it has been cold. I am not talking about 20 degrees cold but in the morning we are lucky to hit zero before I leave for work. It has been getting down to -15 or lower at night. We are staying pretty warm, our house has single pane windows (but we did cover most of them with plastic) and drafts everywhere. This year we are using our gas fireplace and even though it is on the other side of the house it keeps the house bearable for when we come home and get up in the morning. Our house is heated with individual wall heaters that do not have thermostats so when we turn the heat off it is off. We are going to place a space heater in the living room for when the baby is born so when I get up for nightly feedings I won't freeze my butt off!

This nice thing is that it warmed up a little bit today, it snowed about 2 inches last night and it snowing VERY lightly. So this morning it was 4 degrees on my way to work.

I am now 32 weeks pregnant or 8 months. By this Friday I will be 33 weeks and have 4 to 7 weeks left. I am soooo ready. Amazingly I have been sleeping better the last couple of nights, last night I only woke up once to go to the bathroom - that is a first in a long time. We are in the process of slowly (the story of my life right now) getting Mikayla's room ready. I did pull out the baby clothes and I am getting them washed and sorted. Everything is taking about 10 times longer than it use to because I am trying to be better at resting more. Last night I did no laundry, left the dirty dinner dishes, did not empty the dishwasher and I did not pick up the house. I sat on the couch and relaxed all evening. This is HUGE for me - I always pick up the house when I get home from work and try to keep it pretty picked up in the evening, I always do the dinner dishes and make lunches the night before. I figured I can straighten up the house at lunch time today.

Sorry this is not an exciting post but nothing exciting is going on right now. I will try to post some pictures this weekend.

Green Christmas

MSN wrote today on how hard it is to stay green during the holidays. Click here for the article . To me it is always easy to make small changes that will eventually effect the greater good. (Do you like that term?). Here are some simple easy ways to make your Christmas a little more green.

1. Gifts - There are many ways to make Christmas more green with the gifts you give. First you do not have to buy brand new gifts. You can find great things at second hand stores, Craig's List, Paperback swap etc. Mikayla is getting some books I ordered off of Paperback swap for Christmas. Also instead of supporting the huge retailers you can buy locally. Mikayla is getting some great wood alphabet blocks I purchased at a local retailer. Finally instead of buying gifts you can make them (arts and crafts, sewing, knitting). In my case I am making a whole bunch of holiday goodies for the grandparents. Making these cookies has been so much more and more love has gone into these goodies than anything I would have purchased. Mikayla and I have been making cookies every night and she loves to help out. Even if instead of smashing the dough balls she is making snowmen instead!

2. Wrapping Paper - Instead of buying the regular wrapping paper you can use other items to wrap gifts. Old newsprint or the comic section from the newspaper. If you are giving towels or sheets use those to wrap the rest. I recycle my old gift bags that I receive. Finally you can also purchase recycled wrapping paper.

3. Christmas Tree - The best way to stay green is to buy an articical tree and use the same one every year. They last forever. If you have to have the real tree you can look into purchasing a tree that has a root bulb on it. Then after you are done with Christmas you can plant it. I recently heard about this and thought it was an excellent idea, except there is no where around here that you can do that. Look into your local tree farms to see if they do this.

4. Christmas Lights - Now you can buy energy efficient Christmas lights. This will save money on your electric bill and these lights put off less carbon than the regular lights.

5. Christmas Cards - I love them and I hate them! In order to be more green here you can email everyone the Christmas card instead of buying the cards and mailing them. You can also find recycled Christmas cards on line.

These are just 5 simple ideas to make your Christmas a little more green. What other ideas do you have?

Doctor's Visit

I had my regular doctor's visit today. The doctor was concerned about how often I am having the Braxton Hix contractions but I am not dilated and the cervix is nice and thick. So no concern right now about early deliver.

The little one is already upside down. Yes the doctor had fun pushing on her head - not fun for me! I was glad to hear that the little one has flipped because now there is no concern about a breeched baby. I was not worried about this because Mikayla flipped about this stage a well - but you never know.

Now I just have to be patient and wait 9 more weeks until my due date of February 8th - this is hard because I want to see this little one so bad. I know that if I was working on her room I would be happier but that can't happen until Mikayla is settled in her new room.

Mikyala is saying that her current room is baby sister's room and the other room is her room - so that is a good sign.

2 Year Old Chores

As Mikayla is getting older she wants to do what mommy is doing. Here is a list of chores that she helps mommy with and she actually gets upset sometimes if I do them without asking for her help.

1 - Make her bed
2 - Make Mommy and Daddy's bed
3 - She puts her socks, panties, PJ's and daddy's socks away on her own.
4 - She folds the kitchen towels and puts them away.
5 - Picks up her toys, this takes encouraging because usually when the toys get picked up it is time for bed.
6 - She also loves to help mommy cook in the kitchen.
7 - She feeds the dogs. She knows they get 2 scoops and where to put the food down for each dog.
8 - She also lets the dogs inside and outside but needs lots of help turning the door handle.

Mikayla is becoming a great little helper - let's see how long this lasts! What does your little one do around the house to help out?

The Snow is Over!!

It snowed Thursday night, all day Friday, all day Saturday and it finally stopped Saturday evening. All said we received about 2 1/2 or 3 feet of snow. Crested Butte, the ski area, which is 30 miles north of us received over 80 inches in 7 days. Joe went skiing on Saturday and loved it.

Here is a picture of our backyard .


This is another picture of the backyard. Since the snow was so heavy and wet all of the willows that line our creeks are laying down - now we can see our neighbors - yuck! We loved the privacy they gave us. Most people didn't even realize that our house is down here from the main road but you can sure see it now.

Its Snowing!!!!

I have to admit that yesterday when my sister wrote in an email that it was snowing where she lives in Kansas I was pretty jealous. Yesterday it was rainy all day, which is odd for living at almost 8,000 feet in December. By late afternoon the rain turned to a snow rain mix and by bedtime it was snowing big flakes.

Around 5:30ish the electricity went out. I was having trouble sleeping all night due to Bratxon Hix contractions so I was tossing and turning all night. Eventually I did notice that we had no electricity. It did come back on about 6:45am - good thing because I needed to take a shower.

I looked outside and this is what I saw.
The snow is a heavy wet snow so we have tree limbs all over the yard - large ones!

Last night we received about 18 inches of snow and it is still snowing. It is not suppose to stop until sometime tomorrow! This is what I love about winter!!!

In order to get to our house you have to cross a bridge and we share our island with one other house. Joe had to go outside and help the neighbor remove downed tree limbs from in front of the bridge. Then when I was leaving to go to work about 45 minutes later I had to remove a couple more in order to get out. As I was removing it I heard another tree limb crack and fall as well.

This is a cute picture of Mikayla wearing daddy's ski helmet last night.

Braxton Hix Question

This is for all you mamas - that haven't forgotten what it is like to be pregnant (sorry mom!)

Yesterday I was feeling a lot of pressure in my lower belly (below the belly button). It would feel as if the baby was putting weight in one place but it was spread across the entire belly. It would make my belly get hard - not my entire belly but from about an inch or two above the belly button all the way down. If I got up to go to the bathroom it would stop. It was happening a lot yesterday. Was this a Braxton Hix contraction?

Today - so far - when she puts weight in one spot it hurts a bit so it defiantly feels different than yesterday. Not a bad pain just an pain from her moving and pushing.

So am I have Braxton Hix or not? I did not really get them with Mikayla - or maybe I did. I felt this type of pressure with Mikayla as well.

Some People Are Just Crazy!!

As you know I live in Gunnison, Colorado and boy does it get cold here. This winter and even last winter has been unseasonably warm. This time of year you can normally expect the temperatures to be -25 in the morning - or close to that. It has just recently gotten cold but nothing close to the -25. In the morning it is between 5 and 10 and then it warms up to a cold 30ish degrees. To me this means, pants, heavy sweaters, puffy jackets, etc... I normally do not wear a hat and gloves if I am just running errands.

Well - back to the title of this blog entry yesterday I saw one person walking around town in a short sleeve shirt. At first I thought maybe she cannot afford a jacket, but then why wear short sleeves. The I noticed that she was walking a few blocks and it even looked like the cold was not bothering her. I would have had my arms crossed and been rubbing my arms to stay warm. Not her she looked liked she was enjoying a nice walk in the spring or fall! Then later yesterday I saw someone wearing shorts!

I guess some people are just crazy - or at least they look crazy to me!

30 Weeks - Only 10 left to go!!

Today I am 30 weeks pregnant or 7 1/2 months. I have 10 weeks to go or if I am lucky as with Mikayla I only have 7 more weeks - yikes I don't think I will be ready to have this baby in 7 weeks but I am ready to be done being pregnant. I just feel huge. I wish I would wear my yoga pants everyday and feel comfy. I am also very uncomfortable at work - I like being able to relax at home. Relaxing on the couch is much more comfortable than sitting in my chair at work. I do feel sorry for women who work and have to be on their feet a ton - I could not do that now.

I still have quite a bit to do before I have this baby:
1 - Paint Mikayla's new room - We are going to start this, this weekend.

2 - Carpet in Mikayla's new room

3 - Once number 1 and 2 - move Mikayla into her new room. I want this completed by the end of December.

4 - Organize the baby's room.

5 - Buy things for the baby - (Incline to sleep, bathtub pillow, Swaddle Me sleeping blankets) - My friend Jen is going to lend me her breast pump but I know that there is something I need to buy. Need to remember to ask her what it is.

6 - Buy a couple more All in One cloth diapers and some inserts

7 - Pull out all of Mikayla's old baby clothes, wash them and organize them.

Hey - looking at my list it is not too bad. The big this is getting Mikayla into her own room and we starting that process this weekend. But of course I want most of this done while I am trying to get ready for the holiday season.

Chevy Truck

I have a 2004 Chevy Trailblazer and we bought it in October 2005. At the end of December 2005 we drove to Steamboat, it was a 4 or 5 hour car ride from here. Just as we were getting to Steamboat the oil gage kept climbing and everything in the car manual mentioned the oil gage getting lower not climbing so I was not too worried. After that the oil gage slowly started to not work. I took it into the shop but they did not know what was wrong with it because they could get it to go wrong - at this time you had to drive a while to see that it was not working. Eventually it gave out all together. I took it into the shop a few months ago and had them take a look at it and the dealer said that I needed a new cluster (something electronic to do with the gages in the car). The fix was about $400 and I said don't fix it because I don't have $400 to make my oil gage work.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we got in the car to head up to my brothers and we were not even 20 miles from home and we noticed that the speedometer was not working at all. It said we were going 30 and we were actually doing around 60. Right now the speedometer doesn't even move. Oh and the RPM gage only works sometimes. The car went back to the shop so they could order the cluster. I asked the guy if they see this problem a lot. (In Gunnison it seems as if half the cars are the Chevy Trailblazer) The shop said that they see this problem all of the time.

This is really upsetting at the quality of workmanship in the US and the quality of workmanship that Chevy and GM is producing. When I buy a fairly new car I would except something like this to work for a long time. This was one of the main reasons for buying an '04 - I would not have to deal with maintenance issues like this for a long time. This cluster started going when the car was less than 1 1/2 years old. If I had bought this car brand new this type of thing (I would hope) would have been covered under the warranty. What kind of vehicles is Chevy creating? I don't think I will ever buy a Chevy again. I think I will stick with foreign cars.

At this point I wish I would have kept my 1997 Nissan Sentra. It was a great little car, no frills, no maintenance, great gas mileage. The one thing it did not have was room for me, Mikayla and 2 big dogs.

I think the next car we will buy will be something smaller, more gas efficient and another Nissan or a Toyota. Joe loves his Toyota 4-Runner that has about 150,000 miles on it and it is still running great with no special maintenance. What are your experiences with buying new cars?

Mikayla and Cats and Christmas

We are pretty sure that Mikayla is taking after daddy in the fact that she is mildly allergic to cats. We went to visit my brother and they have a cat. Mikayla is exposed to a cat at daycare but I think that cat in outside more and tends to hide when the kids are around. The first day one eye started tearing and the longer we stayed there her eyes were red and gooey. I kept thinking it was a cold and it would start to get worse. We left on Sunday on by the time we got home her eyes were just fine. Se she can never live with a cat but she can be around them. Joe is the same. He actually was never bothered by the cat this time but it has bothered him before. With about the same mild reaction.


Joe just made my Christmas giving season much easier. I always stress out what to get the in-laws, will they like what I buy, will they use it - and his dad is tough! I can only buy him Budweiser and black jeans from the Gap so many years in a row - but I know he will use those presents!! I am going to be making holiday cookies, treats and breads for everyone!! I really enjoy baking and I know his dad loves the chocolate covered pretzels. I also know that if someone sent me homemade holiday treats in the mail I would love it as well. Know I just have to think of things to get Mikayla and Joe for Christmas.