GO IRISH!!!!
Oct 31, 2012
Oct 11, 2012
Two Months Old
We FINALLY made it to Fort Rucker. 3,200 miles + four pets + a five week old = pure hell. But more on that later. Hazel is two months old! Where has the time gone? She is growing way too fast.
For the most part she is a very happy baby. She only cries when she's hungry or if she's overly tired (or if she's stuck in her car seat for five days straight--so glad that's over with!) She loves, LOVES to bounce--I guess maybe that has to do with all the time I spent on the birthing ball toward the end of my pregnancy? :) My legs will be back in shape in no time if she keeps this up but I don't mind.
Breastfeeding is still going amazingly well and she loves the ring sling and Ergo. I'm kicking myself for not bringing the mei tai with me on the move but we'll get to try that out soon enough. I can't say enough good things about babywearing--I love it! It saved my butt when the cleaning lady blew us off and Mike and I ended up having to clean our old house before clearing Fort Lewis.
Unfortunately she's spent the majority of this last month in disposable diapers due to the cross-country move but right before we packed them all up she was just starting to fit in the one size diapers. Thank goodness we haven't had any rashes or other issues but we can't wait to get her in cloth again!
She really looks at us now when we talk to her and in the last week she's started to coo at us. Sweetest sound ever! She is happiest in the mornings right after waking up and we'll just sit there and talk to each other for quite awhile.She will follow me around the room with her eyes now. Hazel still prefers me to anyone else and it's pretty funny how quickly she can turn off her fussing when Mike passes her to me--she's giving him a complex! Not really..
We're still bedsharing--I couldn't imagine sleeping any other way. I bought the Arm's Reach Co-sleeper when I was pregnant and had every intention to use it but even that isn't close enough to me. This is how we sleep most nights.
But how can I sleep when I have someone this cute next to me?
My sister gave us Charlotte's playmat last weekend and Hazel really seems to enjoy it. She doesn't reach for any of the toys yet but she spends about 20 minutes at a time there, happily looking at everything and swatting things with her little legs and arms.
I have no idea how much she weighs but hopefully we'll be taking her to her 2 month appointment in the next couple weeks once we get settled and find a pediatrician. She's growing like a weed though! She's going to be out of her 0-3 month clothes in no time!
We really are loving every minute of being parents, even when I was up with her from 0300-0500 this morning! :) She truly is a dream come true.
Breastfeeding is still going amazingly well and she loves the ring sling and Ergo. I'm kicking myself for not bringing the mei tai with me on the move but we'll get to try that out soon enough. I can't say enough good things about babywearing--I love it! It saved my butt when the cleaning lady blew us off and Mike and I ended up having to clean our old house before clearing Fort Lewis.
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| Babywearing at the Farmer's Market in Eugene, OR |
Unfortunately she's spent the majority of this last month in disposable diapers due to the cross-country move but right before we packed them all up she was just starting to fit in the one size diapers. Thank goodness we haven't had any rashes or other issues but we can't wait to get her in cloth again!
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| Helping mommy stuff diapers |
She really looks at us now when we talk to her and in the last week she's started to coo at us. Sweetest sound ever! She is happiest in the mornings right after waking up and we'll just sit there and talk to each other for quite awhile.She will follow me around the room with her eyes now. Hazel still prefers me to anyone else and it's pretty funny how quickly she can turn off her fussing when Mike passes her to me--she's giving him a complex! Not really..
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| Big Smiles! |
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| Celebrating Cousin Charlotte's First Birthday |
My sister gave us Charlotte's playmat last weekend and Hazel really seems to enjoy it. She doesn't reach for any of the toys yet but she spends about 20 minutes at a time there, happily looking at everything and swatting things with her little legs and arms.
I have no idea how much she weighs but hopefully we'll be taking her to her 2 month appointment in the next couple weeks once we get settled and find a pediatrician. She's growing like a weed though! She's going to be out of her 0-3 month clothes in no time!
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| Hazel and the quilt my mom made her |
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| Happy October! |
We really are loving every minute of being parents, even when I was up with her from 0300-0500 this morning! :) She truly is a dream come true.
Oct 8, 2012
Update
I know I have been terrible about blogging from the road. I have a little girl who has absolutely hated her car seat more and more each day we have traveled. We are finally one day away from our final destination and have a six hour drive ahead of us tomorrow. We will be in a hotel for a week unless we can sign for our house sooner, which I'm really praying for. I mean, who wants to stay in a hotel for a week with two huge dogs, two cats and a two month old? Aaah, I can't believe Hazel will be two months old on Wednesday. Where is the time going? I will try to blog about our cross country drive and upload some pictures whenever I can get my laptop hooked to WiFi again. I hope some of you can help pass along my new URL to other mutual blogging friends. Cheers!
Miracle Babies
I can only hope and pray that we're this lucky!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/infertility_n_1933500.html?icid=hp_parents_art_more
Sep 22, 2012
Road Trip
After a nightmare of a week clearing Ft. Lewis and housing, dealing with packers and movers and a cleaning lady who didn't show, we are finally on our way. We drove about four hours south to Eugene, OR so that Hazel could meet her great grandparents before we head east.
We've just been relaxing and taking it easy, which is much needed after this week. We are heading to the Eugene Farmer's Market today, which
I love! Not only is it full of awesome produce and products, it is full of hippies. Like braless, barefoot hippies. I'm not that hardcore but I half-jokingly told Mike, "I get to be one with my people!" haha
Hazel has been awesome this week, even when I was bumping her around all day in the Ergo when we were cleaning our house for the move out inspection. We have been using disposables since Sunday and neither of us are fans, we prefer cloth much better and it looks way cuter!
I will try to post from the road as I can but it's a PITA from my phone. I want to try to keep you updated as well as record our 3,200 mile trip with a six week old, two 75 pound dogs and two cats. What an adventure!
We've just been relaxing and taking it easy, which is much needed after this week. We are heading to the Eugene Farmer's Market today, which
I love! Not only is it full of awesome produce and products, it is full of hippies. Like braless, barefoot hippies. I'm not that hardcore but I half-jokingly told Mike, "I get to be one with my people!" haha
Hazel has been awesome this week, even when I was bumping her around all day in the Ergo when we were cleaning our house for the move out inspection. We have been using disposables since Sunday and neither of us are fans, we prefer cloth much better and it looks way cuter!
I will try to post from the road as I can but it's a PITA from my phone. I want to try to keep you updated as well as record our 3,200 mile trip with a six week old, two 75 pound dogs and two cats. What an adventure!
Sep 17, 2012
Life After Infertility
Before I ever got pregnant I would always see those struggling with secondary IF and think, "What are they complaining about? They've got one baby! Isn't that enough? I would KILL to have just one!" but over the past couple weeks I've seen it from both sides and have had to remind myself to be sensitive to those still struggling while also being humbled and realized that secondary infertility still hurts.
The first experience was in the infertility group I started for the military wives in my area. I started it when I was in a really dark place and felt like the only military wife in existence who wasn't a mom. I quickly realized that I wasn't and within a couple weeks there were over 20 women in the group. Over the past year the group has been a great sense of support and an outlet to vent my frustrations. We met up for lunch several times and it was so refreshing to be with women who understood what I was going through. Since that first meeting, several of us have moved on to pregnancy and motherhood but there are still many women who are struggling. When I became pregnant I kind of unintentionally abandoned the group because I didn't know how anyone would receive advice coming from someone who had moved on and was now pregnant. I know that when I was going through treatments it was always hard to be around or hear from pregnant women, whether they struggled or not. I guess I was just trying to be sensitive, afraid of hurting anyone. When so many of us moved on, the group kind of fizzled and died so last week I attempted to rectify that, still walking on eggshells because I didn't want to upset anyone with my profile picture of my new little family. It's hard, being on the other side. Just because I know what they're feeling and I sometimes feel guilty that I've found success and they haven't. But then I think about how long it's taken us to get to this point and it reminds me that I fought hard to get here and Mike and I deserve all the happiness that Hazel has brought into our lives. I've just been on the 'infertile and childless' side for so long that I'm still learning how to live life on the other side.
Despite having a beautiful baby in my arms, yesterday's experience took me right back to the 'infertile and childless' days. We were at a going away BBQ for Mike and were asked the question, "Are you going to have more kids?" Well hell, this was almost as tough to answer as the, "Do you have kids?" question when we were going through treatments! I explained that it took us almost four years to get Hazel and that she was an IVF baby, which was received with questions like, "What's IVF?" "Was it expensive?" "Does it make you more fertile?" That led to a discussion between the wives on how it only took them two weeks and two months to get pregnant and how extremely fertile they are. Well isn't that nice? Mike was nice and replied with a smile, "Well we're not that lucky..." while I ignored them and was starting down at Hazel in her ring sling, thanking God that I did not have to endure that conversation with empty arms. I had anxiety the entire time other people were holding Hazel and I couldn't wait to get home.
When one of the guys asked us how it was going with the baby he said, "It sucks, doesn't it?" I told him no. He said, "Come on, it sucks. Don't lie." Seriously dude? Guess it's easy to take it all for granted when your wife can get knocked up on the first try. Apparently the bitterness never leaves. Once an infertile, always an infertile.
And cause this post is a major downer--here's some new pictures of Hazel to lighten the mood.
The first experience was in the infertility group I started for the military wives in my area. I started it when I was in a really dark place and felt like the only military wife in existence who wasn't a mom. I quickly realized that I wasn't and within a couple weeks there were over 20 women in the group. Over the past year the group has been a great sense of support and an outlet to vent my frustrations. We met up for lunch several times and it was so refreshing to be with women who understood what I was going through. Since that first meeting, several of us have moved on to pregnancy and motherhood but there are still many women who are struggling. When I became pregnant I kind of unintentionally abandoned the group because I didn't know how anyone would receive advice coming from someone who had moved on and was now pregnant. I know that when I was going through treatments it was always hard to be around or hear from pregnant women, whether they struggled or not. I guess I was just trying to be sensitive, afraid of hurting anyone. When so many of us moved on, the group kind of fizzled and died so last week I attempted to rectify that, still walking on eggshells because I didn't want to upset anyone with my profile picture of my new little family. It's hard, being on the other side. Just because I know what they're feeling and I sometimes feel guilty that I've found success and they haven't. But then I think about how long it's taken us to get to this point and it reminds me that I fought hard to get here and Mike and I deserve all the happiness that Hazel has brought into our lives. I've just been on the 'infertile and childless' side for so long that I'm still learning how to live life on the other side.
Despite having a beautiful baby in my arms, yesterday's experience took me right back to the 'infertile and childless' days. We were at a going away BBQ for Mike and were asked the question, "Are you going to have more kids?" Well hell, this was almost as tough to answer as the, "Do you have kids?" question when we were going through treatments! I explained that it took us almost four years to get Hazel and that she was an IVF baby, which was received with questions like, "What's IVF?" "Was it expensive?" "Does it make you more fertile?" That led to a discussion between the wives on how it only took them two weeks and two months to get pregnant and how extremely fertile they are. Well isn't that nice? Mike was nice and replied with a smile, "Well we're not that lucky..." while I ignored them and was starting down at Hazel in her ring sling, thanking God that I did not have to endure that conversation with empty arms. I had anxiety the entire time other people were holding Hazel and I couldn't wait to get home.
When one of the guys asked us how it was going with the baby he said, "It sucks, doesn't it?" I told him no. He said, "Come on, it sucks. Don't lie." Seriously dude? Guess it's easy to take it all for granted when your wife can get knocked up on the first try. Apparently the bitterness never leaves. Once an infertile, always an infertile.
And cause this post is a major downer--here's some new pictures of Hazel to lighten the mood.
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| Look at that chub! She weighed 12 pounds at my last midwife appointment! |
Sep 11, 2012
So long, Farewell...
There's a saying, "There are no goodbyes in the Army...only see you laters." Well, no matter how you slice it--leaving sucks. It's always hard to leave a place where you've made good friends and it's even harder when you leave a place with family close by. The movers come next Tuesday and our final inspection is Thursday. I can't believe how soon it is! I sometimes feel like we just moved here. I definitely wasn't this sad about leaving Fort Drum but can you really blame me?
I said my goodbyes to some of the girls in my natural moms group last week. I've learned so much from this group about cloth diapering, natural birth, gentle parenting, you name it! It's also how I met my doula. I hope the crunchy moms group I joined for Fort Rucker is just as sociable and fun. I'm going to miss these ladies!
We said our goodbyes to Shannon's family at the last last weekend and on the way home I said to Mike through tears, "Why are we leaving again?"Remember it was our choice to leave--Mike re-enlisted for Fort Rucker. All week long I was dreading saying goodbye to my brother, sister-in-law and the twins. Ugh.
Shawn, Shannon, Arthur and Sadie came down from Seattle one last time this weekend. No one talked about us leaving until the very end. Shawn LOVES our dog Zero and he got choked up when saying bye to her. Once I saw him crying I lost it too. We're going to miss having them close by SO much! Mike and I feel like we're abandoning him here--we'll be back within driving distance of the rest of the family and he'll be out here all by his lonesome. We'll miss the babies growing up together too. Sigh. Mike and I were so bummed after they left! We tried watching Big.Bang.Theory. to cheer us up and when that didn't work we just went to bed--it was barely 9 o'clock!
Before we moved here I hadn't lived near my brother since I was in 2nd grade so it was really great getting to know him as an adult. We've had so much fun living here the past 2.5 years. Countless trips to Seattle for Seahawks and Sounders games, beautiful scenery, lots of beer drinking and tons of time with my brother and Shannon. It was great to have someone to commiserate with during IVF and pregnancy and new parenthood! We're going to miss them. I think my heart belongs to Seattle and the west coast now and I can definitely see Mike and I living here again some day.
I know it's a good decision for us--Mike won't have to deploy or even go into the field while we're at Rucker. We'll be closer to family and will see them more often. We're planning a trip to Disney World with my sister's family in March! It won't rain all the time and it will be better for Mike's career. Still...I hope we end up back here some day so I can see these three cuties together again.
I said my goodbyes to some of the girls in my natural moms group last week. I've learned so much from this group about cloth diapering, natural birth, gentle parenting, you name it! It's also how I met my doula. I hope the crunchy moms group I joined for Fort Rucker is just as sociable and fun. I'm going to miss these ladies!
We said our goodbyes to Shannon's family at the last last weekend and on the way home I said to Mike through tears, "Why are we leaving again?"Remember it was our choice to leave--Mike re-enlisted for Fort Rucker. All week long I was dreading saying goodbye to my brother, sister-in-law and the twins. Ugh.
Shawn, Shannon, Arthur and Sadie came down from Seattle one last time this weekend. No one talked about us leaving until the very end. Shawn LOVES our dog Zero and he got choked up when saying bye to her. Once I saw him crying I lost it too. We're going to miss having them close by SO much! Mike and I feel like we're abandoning him here--we'll be back within driving distance of the rest of the family and he'll be out here all by his lonesome. We'll miss the babies growing up together too. Sigh. Mike and I were so bummed after they left! We tried watching Big.Bang.Theory. to cheer us up and when that didn't work we just went to bed--it was barely 9 o'clock!
Before we moved here I hadn't lived near my brother since I was in 2nd grade so it was really great getting to know him as an adult. We've had so much fun living here the past 2.5 years. Countless trips to Seattle for Seahawks and Sounders games, beautiful scenery, lots of beer drinking and tons of time with my brother and Shannon. It was great to have someone to commiserate with during IVF and pregnancy and new parenthood! We're going to miss them. I think my heart belongs to Seattle and the west coast now and I can definitely see Mike and I living here again some day.
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| Like I said...beer drinking. |
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| Zero at Tolmie State Park |
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| Hiking at Tolmie State Park |
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| Shannon and I getting ready to go on a kayak adventure around the lake |
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| Michael Franti concert |
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| Zero's first time in the Pacific Ocean |
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| Camping at Ocean Shores |
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| Mt. Rainier on Veteran's Day |
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| Tailgating before the Seahawks vs Saints playoff game |
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| St. Patty's Day Dash |
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| Mariners game |
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| Seattle Sounders vs Manchester United |
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| Leavenworth |
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| After more beer drinking in Leavenworth |
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| Is there any place more beautiful? |
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| Camping at Canon Beach, OR |
I know it's a good decision for us--Mike won't have to deploy or even go into the field while we're at Rucker. We'll be closer to family and will see them more often. We're planning a trip to Disney World with my sister's family in March! It won't rain all the time and it will be better for Mike's career. Still...I hope we end up back here some day so I can see these three cuties together again.
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