The Pioneer Woman

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Ohio!

A few weeks ago, Kevin and I decided to drive to Ohio to visit the grandparents. Here's the kicker, though.....we decided to make it a surprise!!! After a little detective work from Kev's sister, Susan, we learned that they were not going on any vacations themselves, and started planning. Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Highlight #1 Reagan was a TROOPER in the car.

She stayed on her schedule and was only fussy in the evenings and during that 4 hour traffic jam in Kentucky (Kentucky, we hate your roads....LOVE your country).

Highlight #2 Do not stay at Microtel in Memphis/Cordova.

This is actually a lowlight. Um, can you say, "nasty"? The first room they put us in smelled musty and the carpet was wet and sticky. There were black marks all over the walls and there was HAIR on the bed. GROSS. They moved us to another room sans musty smell and hair, but the carpet and wall markings were the same. And the toilet paper dispenser was in a weird place. It was on the wall directly in front of the toilet.....so, you had to r-e-a-c-h pretty far when you needed any TP. Would have been difficult for a short person. Kev and I were really disappointed, because we stayed at a Microtel in Raton, New Mexico last summer and LOVED it. Hmm.

Highlight #3 The grandparents were so surprised!!

They love Reagan. And she loves them! (She told me so).

Highlight #4 I got to see Lil and Reid!

Reid is the cutest little guy. He's got this bright orange hair (like his daddy) and a super-cute smile. Watch out ladies! No dating 'till you're 25, Reagan. And Lil looks amazing. It was really good to chat with her for a while. I miss you, Lil!

Highlight #5 I got to do lots of farm-y things while visiting: mowed the grass with a zero-turn mower (super-awesome), helped snap green beans fresh from the garden, watched fishies from the pond eat grass, saw lots of vermin: groundhogs, chipmunks, bunnies, lightning bugs.

Des let me mow a chunk of his 13 acres with the zero-turn mower. That thing was AWESOME. It took a little getting used to, but soon I was zipping all over the yard, weaving in and out of the trees in the orchard and trying to keep my lines straight in the long stretches. And here's the amazing part: I didn't sweat at all. Know why? Because the temperature was in the 70's the whole time we were there. Sigh.

Highlight #6 http://www.priceline.com/ rocks.

For our trip home, I booked our hotel on Priceline.com. I've never done this before, but a friend recently did it and got a good deal, so I thought I'd try it out. For those of you not familiar with Priceline, you go online and choose how fancy you'd like the hotel to be (1-star, 2-star, 3-star, etc.) and you choose the geographical location where you'd like to stay. Then, you get to NAME YOUR PRICE. That's right. You pick how much you want to pay and then Priceline finds you a hotel with your fanciness and geographic designations. It's awesome. Sometimes there aren't hotels available for cheap-o, but sometimes there are. For instance......we wanted a 3-star hotel in the western downtown Nashville area for $65 ($85 with tax). Priceline booked us with the Holiday Inn on the Vanderbilt campus. It was AWESOME. Right outside our balcony was the Vanderbilt stadium. How cool is that? And there was a songwriters camp going on in the hotel, so there were lots of guitars and big hair. And you know those information boards on the back of hotel doors that tell about evacuation plans and tell you the cost of the room? Our said that the room costs $345. I don't know if that's true, but the Holiday Inn online listed the cheapest room at the hotel at $119, so we definitely got a sweet deal. We will use Priceline for all of our future hotel bookings.

Highlight #7 We got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa on our way home!

We had to make the trip home to Dallas a 3-day adventure. And we're glad we did, because we got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa in Texarkana. It was so great! Grandma made us grilled cheese sandwiches at 8pm and let me do some laundry (Reagan made poopy). Grandpa was also a great host and made sure we had enough whipped cream on our jello-ladyfingers dessert. Yum! We're so glad we stopped and stayed with them. We love you guys!

All in all, a very successful trip. But, maybe next time we'll fly?

Car Game

Here are the things we took with us to Nashville (aka the alphabet game) See if you can guess who said what.....

Alpaca
Bovarian Cream Pie
Curdled Milk
Donkey
Estrogen
Frankfurters
Geraniums
Hydrogen Bomb
Indigo
Jukebox
Kalidascope
Log Cabin
Marionette
Neck Tie
Oompa Loompa
Patronis
Quartz
Rattatouille
Schnitzel
Tutu
Uvula
Vanderbilt
W (can't remember this one)
Xylophone
Yams
Zinnias

Better

Good news, Friends! Reagan is gaining weight. The doctor was much happier today when we took her in for the follow-up appointment.

New stats:

• Weight: 9.7 lbs
• Height: 24.3 in.
• Head Circ: 15 in.

Keep going, little chick-a-dee!

2 Month Appointment

BLAAAAAAGGGHHHH!! Super-stressor this morning. We took Reagan for her 2 month appointment. I dressed her in her super-cute cherry onesie and thought, "You're so cute! Let's go impress the doctors with how big you are!" When they put her on the scale, though, SHE HADN'T GAINED ANY WEIGHT. My baby weighed the same as she did when she was born. Not good. The nurse took us back to the room and we waited. She came back in and wanted to weigh Reagan again.....just in case the scale was messed up. Nope. The kid had not gained ANY weight. Immediately I was worried out of my mind.

When the doctor came in, she immediately wanted to know what the problem was. I didn't know how to respond, since I hadn't realized there was a problem until about 5 minutes ago. She asked about my milk supply, my eating habits, my exercise routine, Reagan's eating habits. She wanted to know if I was on a diet.........ummmmm, NO. She finally said, "I'm sorry to say, you have an insufficient milk supply." She gave me a chart and wants me to track boob feedings, wants me to feed her at least 3 oz. of formula after that, and wants me to track pumping and poops and peeps. We'll go back and see the doctor next week.

I feel AWFUL. Poor, poor, Reagan! She's been so hungry and I had no idea. Here are her stats:

• Weight: 8.3 lbs. 5%
• Height: 23.8 in. 96%
• Head Circ: 14.8 in. 26%

Oh, I'm such a terrible mother. But! Now that I know there's a problem and what to do to fix it, we are gonna feed that little girl good. Watch out tummy!! It is the most awful feeling in the world to feel like you've been hurting your child. I cried and cried today. BLAAAGGHH.

I Have a Headache

Okay. So, today I napped. During her 8am feeding I kept nodding off.....now I know where that expression came from....you really do nod. And so, when it came time for her 9:30 nap, we both laid down. It was awesome.

During this naptime, I cleaned the kitchen a bit. I'm always horrified when I clean my kitchen. There is always either black grime, or nasty crumbs, or little buggies that have been festering while I have NOT cleaned.

Lil R is screaming her head off right now, by the way. Any advice for me, mom's out there? She's driving me a little nuts.

Mandy had her little girl yesterday! Madelyn Faith Beck got here at 11:17am and weighed 7 lbs. and 13 oz. I'm going up to the hospital later when Kev gets home....he's going to watch lil R. Is it 5:00 yet????

Laundry Queen.....or Slave?

Today I've accomplished a lot. No nap for me. (Way to go, Jenny).

Today I have:

• washed laundry


• dried laundry


• folded laundry


• put away laundry


• cleaned our bedroom: made the bed, cleaned off my dresser, hung up/put away clothes, dusted the furniture, swiffered the floor


• pumped (sorry if there are any fellas reading this)


• cleaned pump


• sink-washed things......including a baby-pooped outfit from this morning. I've learned you have to attack these things before it's too late.


• washed dishes


• started dinner: a modified Spicy Pork Roast with Rosemary Potatoes.......think, non-spicy pork chops with rosemary potatoes. I like to modify.


• made a list of what to take with me tomorrow when Mandy has her baby: pump, baby clothes for Madelyn, book.

I love this staying home bit. And look! I'm writing! A miracle in itself. So, if you wouldn't mind praying that Kev finds a job that will let me do this long term, I'd be most appreciative. I might even bring Reagan over and do your laundry or something.....