Home and Happy – Day 12 of our new life August 14, 2009

August 3, 2009

So I do not expect that I am going to be a Mommy-blogger, but I hope to remain sane by posting a few updates.

Here we are on Rina’s birthday. Yes, I am in love. Yes, I watch her while she sleeps. And yes, I stare at her while she is awake. I am fascinated. It is a new life.

I am recovering here at home. I am in week two of nine. It is going fast. Who wants to go back to work when you can stay at home? I get it. I do like to work, and I am sure I will be ready to go back to work. For now, I am happy at home- watching. I need the time to recover. My incision still hurts. I need to take it easy. I am still under instructions not to drive, do house work, or lift above ten pounds. I just get to relax at home and take care of Rina.

Rina is sleeping now. It is her long afternoon nap. I toil over waking her to feed. I let her take a longer afternoon nap every day. She makes for a happy baby in the evening. Nights are interesting. It is all going to take time to get the schedule. As soon as she can make her own melatonin, we can really work on it.

I hear Rina stirring. I thought I had a few more minutes to get this done, but not today.

Oh, and thank you Shelley for the dinner. Perfect!

What time is it? It’s Baby Time! July 30, 2009

I am at week 38.4. Every little movement is huge inside of this tight beach ball-sized belly. Last night, I swear the baby was trying to kick and claw her way out from the belly. She just kept on kicking and rolling. Ouch baby! But there may have been a few contractions at the same time. I think the evening drive stresses me just a little, but I only have a few more days of that!

I am definitely the size I wanted to be. I was hoping that I would carry front and center with a cute little belly. I believe that is what I look like. Everyone carries so differently, I had no idea what I would look like. From the front,  or back, you can’t really see the weight gain. When I turn sideways, there it is! The first sign of weight gain for me is my cheeks. You really do not see the weight gain there. I have gained just about 18 pounds total. I have eaten! Some days I was really hungry and some days I was not. I have enjoyed lots of ice cream with no guilt.

This pregnancy has been really amazing. The only complaints that persisted throughout are the horrible reflux and the lack of sleep. My only latest complaint is that my hands ache terribly, especially my right thumb knuckle. Just opening a water bottle is difficult. I will have to address this post-delivery. Otherwise, it has been really easy.

Speaking of amazing, my husband has been great. When I come home, I grab water, take my potty break, and then sit down with hopes that I can get back up. When I don’t, he gets me water refills and whatever else I need. He has posted a ton of stuff on FB about what is going on, and his friends say that is all he talks about. It is so sweet. Kids love him. He is usually that one person that is playing with all of the kids at family events. I can’t wait to see how this little baby will melt (and steal) his heart.

So Monday is the big day (as long as she holds out the next 96 hours). We finally get to meet her. I wonder if she will have my hair, or his eyes, or his lips. Who is she going to look like- my in-laws, or my grandma?

I know our lives will be so different. We have built this life together as husband and wife, enjoying each other. Now are going to add a little piece of him and little piece of me in this new life. Maw maw and Paw paw will no longer be. We will be come Mommy and Daddy. I am looking forward to this new life.

Hopefully, I can post more about daily life soon. There are decisions about cloth diapers, day care, pediatricians, and so much more that I can comment on. We will see if I have the time and when I actually post next. But definitely, our new baby will have entered in this world.

Weekend update March 30, 2009

I spend this Saturday glued to the sofa. After a nice night with Susan and sushi, I stayed in Metairie Friday night until the rain stopped. I had a rain-free ride across the Causeway, but I paid dearly. I got home around 11:30. I had to get up to pick Chris up from dropping his car off for maintenance at 8 AM! Yikes. I was so tired. I tried to nap, but it turned into me being stuck to the sofa instead. I learned my lesson. I can not stay up late and get up really early and expect to function pregnant.

And my eye was hurting. I thought I had pink eye, but I now think I have some allergy thing going on. I don’t know. It is not really even that red to call it pink eye. I might have eye strain. I haven’t been wearing my glasses… who knows?

Sunday, I was energized enough to hang up all of the clothes Shelly gave me,  make room in my kitchen cabinet for bottles etc, and install and hang up the baby room curtains. Susan loaned me a little bouncer and a swing. The swing is in the living room. The cats have checked it out. We put a clean plant pot in the seat. What cat wants to fit their fat ass in the planter, just to sit in the seat? Only time will tell. But it makes the house seem just a little more welcoming for the baby. It is kinda’ strange sitting there in the living room, waiting.

This week, I will be busy. I have to work a program at the Hotel Intercontinental. I get to sleep at my niece’s house on Wednesday, have an ultrasound on Friday morning, go to dinner at Mardi Gras World on Friday night and sleep at the hotel, and work all morning Saturday. Whoot! It is going to be an exciting week.

Last week was uneventful. The baby did acrobats all week. She even had the hick ups. That was so weird!

Diapers and Showers March 16, 2009

My belly is getting bigger. And inside, the mango-size baby grows. This is week 19. I felt the baby move late last night and early this morning, when I was most relaxed and half asleep. I have been waiting for these movements.

This weekend was busy as ever. Saturday, I spent the morning running errands in the pouring rain. By the time I was done, my hair looked like I had not washed it in weeks. I was a hot pregnant mess!

Sunday, I took a ride to Kenna’ for a baby shower. This was the first “drop-in” shower I have attended. I liked the concept so much that I called mom to tell her that we should do the same for my shower.  You know the older Italian family won’t like it, and may even stay the entire time. But the idea that you do not have to sit through the opening and passing the entire time is appealing to me. I stayed at the shower for an hour and a half. Perfect.

I started pricing diapers. I desperately want to contract this diaper service,  and needed to compare the costs. I compared the G-diapers (biodegradable), cloth diapering at home, the diaper service and regular diapers. Wow. We are going to spend a lot on trash! The diaper service is very close to the price of regular diapers. But, when we add in using the occasional huggie, then the price goes up. I need to see what the nanny wants to do as well.

Oh yes, I still need to contract day care this month.

March 9, 2009

Well, I know it has been many months. I have been busy. The last posts were about my attempt at graduate school, which made me cry, break out and want to hide my head in the sand. In early November, I decided to put off my application for the PMBA. I was so relieved to have time on my hands. During that horrible period of time that I was taking the GMAT, some how I had time to relax just enough to get pregnant. So here we are in March. I am growing a human.

This week, I am at 18 weeks. We have cleaned our extra room making it ready for our little baby. She is due August 10th.

Painting Sunday, studying, facebook November 10, 2008

Painting:I joined a group of friends for another round of Corks N Canvas on Sunday. We painted “The Prayer.” This one was so much harder than the house we did. I had a hard time matching the colors. My painting had hard outlines, funny faces and funny hats, and my fronds were not as plenty. But it came out just fine.

Studying: Continues.

Facebook: I am not sure why I did not want to join the social networks. I started with one network, started a second profile on yet another, and just started yet another profile on Facebook. I think I like it better than the rest. See you there.

Humanity and the Dalai Lama November 6, 2008

“Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others’ actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.

Nor is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic actions bring about happiness but they also lessen our experience of suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are motivated by the wish to bring others’ happiness necessarily meets with less misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our internal peace — anxiety, doubt, disappointment — these things are definitely less. In our concern for others, we worry less about ourselves. When we worry less about ourselves an experience of our own suffering is less intense.

What does this tell us? Firstly, because our every action has a universal dimension, a potential impact on others’ happiness, ethics are necessary as a means to ensure that we do not harm others. Secondly, it tells us that genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness and so on. For it is these which provide both for our happiness and others’ happiness. “

[Ethics for a New Millennium, by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama]

GMAT, Canvas and cake October 16, 2008

I finally took a break from studying on Saturday night. I had this great evening planned for weeks. Since I am typical Libra and LOVE celebrating my birthday, I planned a little party at Corks N Canvas. It was so fun! We painted “Uptown Memories,” drank wine and snacked on goodies prepared by my friend, Heather. Cs loved my painting. I like it more now than I did while I was painting it. We may find a spot for it in the house. It goes well with all of the NOLA art we have. I love that my friends and Mom were able to join me. They all loved it.

Yes, I am another year older. This year, I am 28 1/2! Maybe when I am 70 I will say that I am 30! I need to start exercising like I am 28, that is for sure! I ate too much in the last week. I especially loved the home-made cake that my Dad’s wife made. She was upset that it broke in half, but it was chocolate and very tasty!

So I am going to out myself again~ I started the big weight watchers. I want to lose a few pounds. I am at the top of my BMI. I am in week two of 17. My first goal is 15 pounds. This week, my exercise goal is move my exercise up a notch and one more time per week. I am glad that my birthday and chocolate cake was in the beginning of this trek.  I am sure my doctor will agree with my new plan. I see him Friday for my annual checkup.

So the GMAT test is 15 days away. I can’t tell you how stressed I am. This Saturday, I am going back to the library to take more practice tests. Depending on how I do, will determine if I move the test back to December 1. Ugg. This has been so stressful. I woke up in the middle of the night worried about how many more applicants there will be for the MBA program.

Photos disclaimer September 30, 2008

Since I love photography, I added the link to the right with random flickr photos. They are not mine, but enjoy.

Essays complete September 25, 2008

I toiled over these essays, but here they are. I plan to remove them by September 30. I have removed the previous posts with the essays.

rsliwinskiessayone

rsliwinskiessaytwo

<removed on 9/30/08. Thanks for reading;) >