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.....

Happy Crazy Me

Okay....this is more like it. I finally figured out how to make my blog readable. Sweet.

Currently, Reagan is screaming her head off and I'm getting ready to head to the gym and run, run, run off all of my stress.......and hopefully, eventually, my belly.

Have I mentioned how much I love staying home with Reagan? It may not seem like it when I talk about things like screaming babies and stress.....but this is my dream job. And it totally plays to my OCD tendencies. I love being on a schedule. Feed at 8, play, put baby down at 9:30....and then I have options, but I have to choose wisely. A poorly chosen choice can make for a grumpy me and a very short day. If I'm smart I stay up and clean, clean, clean. If I'm lazy, I nap. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE naps. But, napping takes away hours during my precious cleaning/ebay/reading time and that makes for a very grumpy me. You'd think naps would do the opposite, but no. And so we're on a very strict, lovely schedule. Crazy? Maybe. Happy? Definitely.

Birthin' Babies

Kev and I got up early for some IHOP the morning I was induced. I ordered some healthy harvest pancakes with bananas on top and drank decaf coffee. Kev got the breakfast sampler and ordered his coffee fully loaded. We joked all through breakfast about how this was our last meal.

At the hospital, the paperwork was quick and easy. They had me in one of those a-modest gowns before I was emotionally ready. Kev and I watched a little morning news before the family started showing up.

At 8:30am someone came in and gave me a little pill to start the induction. I was dilated 1cm at that point. The pill worked. I started having contractions right away....they were 2 minutes apart and didn't hurt a bit. I started making jokes about having a defective uterus that wouldn't allow me to be in pain during contractions....that was very wishful thinking, folks.

A little after 2:00pm I was dilated 3cm and so they decided to break my water. I was really nervous about this part, because I read that they use a hook. A HOOK, folks. INSIDE. Amazingly it didn't hurt a bit....didn't feel it at all. I did feel my water break, though. It was warm.

I should have asked for my epidural at this point. My contractions were starting to hurt a little bit, but I thought I'd try and wait it out a bit.

At 3:00pm the Ellen show came on, and before she could dance with the audience, I was in some pretty good pain. I called for the epidural and laid back with my eyes closed, concentrating on my breathing. The anesthesiologist will be here any minute, I kept telling myself. About an hour and a half later, my contractions were so bad that I wasn't really mentally present in the room anymore. The only thing I could do was breathe, and I wasn't doing that very well. Mom and Kevin took turns rubbing the base of my spine as I white-knuckled the side of the hospital bed.

4:45pm rolled around and I began to lose control of my body. I experienced something similar in college. I stole second base twice in our game against the Henderson Reddies and had a palm-sized raw place under my right knee to show for it. It was pretty nasty and oozed for a long time. To clean it, I would pour alcohol on it. Well, I did that once. It was such a maddening, hair-ripping pain, that I could not bring myself to pour that little capful of liquid fire on my wound more than once. But, I knew it needed to be cleaned, and so I made one of the boys from the basement come up and do it for me. The contractions I felt at that point reminded me of that pain, except worse..... My controlled breathing was no more. I was gasping and trying to hee-hee-hoo, but it was impossible. I managed to say to the nurse, "I think I need to push now." They say when it's time, it feels like you need to poo. They're right. The nurse panicked a bit and checked me. I was fully dilated without that stupid epidural. This was not the plan.

About 15 minutes later, the blasted doctor came and gave me the epidural. A little late now, Doc, I wanted to yell, but it's hard to yell when you can't breathe. He stuck me in the spine, which didn't hurt at all compared to the hell I was experiencing, and I immediately began losing feeling in my lower half. The contractions lessened, but they still hurt. They let me rest for a while, and let the epidural do it's thang, and then it was time to push. And push I did.....for 14 minutes. They brought me a mirror, because I wanted to see, and I pushed that little girl right out. It was blessedly quick, an explosion of baby, really. Don't think I'm lucky....I'm paying for it now in stitches and a busted eye vessel. She was born at 5:28pm.

Reagan Michaela Crow

Born 4/28/09

Weight: 8.5 lbs

Length: 20 inches

Preggo Picts

Our friend Laura took these picts for us. Thanks so much, Laura!!

Whaddya Think?

Is this background any easier to read, friends? I had a couple people suggest that I change the background so that their eyes weren't so strained.....so here you go! Love the cute birdies.

I think Reagan has a little marching band thing going on in my tummy. She's definitely handling all of the percussion section herself. And I think she's conducting the band, also. She is so
squirmy. It's like she knows there's more room out there somewhere and if she could just.....get...that.....leg....to.....stretch! Hang in there, little one. You'll have plenty of room soon.

Speaking of soon......we're due in 32 days. Yikes! So much to do! So little weekends to do them in! I need a baby suite and a professional organizer, I do. And a maid. And a masseuse.

We Are His Sheep

Check out Reagan's bedding! Phil's mom made everything for us.....she's AMAZING.
You can't tell here, but the sheep are felt and their ears stick out.....so cute!!!
Thanks Mrs. Dolce!

Pediatrician

Kev and I finally had our prenatal pediatrician's appointment today. It went much better than I anticipated. Parking was super-easy.....and it was free! A man (I think this was his job) stood at the elevator and punched the "up" button for us. Dallas!

We went straight to the office, but tried to go into the sick waiting room first, which was locked. And dark. We were confused. We looked around and saw another door with "well waiting room" and decided to try our luck there. Voila! There was the happy receptionist lady and colored tiled floors and cartoons and kids and toys and parenting magazines. Oh my. While we were waiting, one of the kids and her mommy were banished to the sick waiting room. It felt very exclusionistic. I definitely just made up that word.

Our doctor turned out to be a sweet lady with a cartoon character for a last name (I'll admit it...that's kind of why I picked her). She had kind eyes, talked really fast, and had great voice inflection. It was a really great meeting. I brought with me a "Top 10 list of things to ask your pediatrician" that I found online, since I had no real questions of my own (see previous entry), and she answered almost all of them in her introductory welcome speech. It was fabulous. She even gave me some ideas for childcare and told me I'd better get hopping on that one since a lot of places have wait lists. Dallas!

New Pictures

Here are some new belly pictures!! Also, some super-cute nephew-on-Valentine's-Day picts. Enjoy!

Mandy: 21 weeks Jenny: 29 weeks

Carter eating a heart pancake.

Carter eating a heart cookie.

Fancy

Today, my very generous boss took me and a professor out to lunch at a very fancy place called Truluck's . I was feeling the need for something healthy, so I ordered a salad....the Hot-House Tomato Salad. The menu description said it had bacon, cheese, red onions, and was covered with a buttermilk sauce. Sounded good to me! "I'll take one of those!" I said to the waiter. I should have known something was up when the waiter brought me a steak knife. A steak knife? For a salad? I thought maybe he was going to bring me the wrong order, but then he sat it in front of me. There it was......a HUGE tomato covered in bacon, cheese, red onions, and buttermilk sauce. No lettuce. Just a big 'ole tomato. It was surprisingly yummy and filling. I have a picture of it here for you......imagine this covered in buttermilk sauce (think Ranch).

Can You Think of Any Questions?

"Well, you're not anemic yet," my doctor's nurse said. And so the Iron supplements begin. You'll be happy to know that I passed my glucose test (I always want to say glaucoma). It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The red drink really did taste like Hawaiian Punch. AND when the nurse weighed me in I felt victory when she said, "Not as bad as last time." WooHoo! I did better. Which means I did nothing different except wear the lightest possible clothes that day. My work out didn't change, my eating habits didn't change, but somehow it was better. I'll take it.

We've decided on a pediatrician, because evidently if you don't have one when you go into labor, the hospital charges you out the wazoo to use one on staff. We picked a guy that some of our friends use. A referral by friends is good enough for me, but when I called the nurse wanted to know if we wanted to come in for a pre-natal interview. A what? I tried to tell her that wasn't necessary, but she almost insisted that we come in and meet the doctor and ask him questions. So, here's where my anxiety comes in. I'm not at all worried about some strange man I've never met checking out my daughter......wait a second. That came out wrong. I'm okay with not meeting our pediatrician before the baby comes, but to think of a list of questions is going to kill me. I don't know what to ask. Even if I knew what to ask I could find out on the internet or from friends and family. So, now I'm going to have to look online and see what kind of questions I'm supposed to ask and then act surprised and interested when the doctor answers them. Sheesh. I guess it's a nice service they offer to people.....maybe I'll ask Kevin to think of some questions.

We're officially in our third trimester today! It won't be long now!

Rounding Third

Well folks, it's official. The third base coach is waiving me home. There's no turning back. We just purchased and assembled a crib, which is now sitting in the baby's room, eagerly awaiting her arrival. After we put the crib together, it hit me - This is for real. Not that I didn't think this before. I am excited about our baby and can't wait for her arrival. However, having an actual crib in our house really, REALLY says "hey man your're going to have a baby." It is a bit surreal but super exciting! Hurry up baby ???? (insert name here).

Crib!

We had an ice day on Wednesday! The ice only lasted until about noon and so we decided to drive on up to Ikea where we bought our crib! Check it out!

Kev with the man buggy

Check out those muscles!

Monkey Business

Kev the Builder

Almost Done!

Baby Crow's Crib! (view 1)

Baby Crow's Crib! (view 2)

I Should Be Rich

Okay, so I found this cute website, http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/ and will probably change my background 20 times a day now. Sorry if this is annoying, but it's FREE decorations, people. I would change the decor in my house several times a year if it wouldn't drive my husband mad and break our bank. Sigh. I should have been an interior designer. I've looked at going back to school for some "credentials", but, dude, I can't do another four years. Especially now with little girlfriend Crow on the way. Plus, I think that if I were an actual designer, I'd only really enjoy it if I had access to unlimited funds. I'm not great at making something from nothing......those kinds of people amaze me. Put all the frills together for me and I'll buy it and stuff it in my house! I think I just really like change......which is tricky when you have things like jobs, family, limited funds. Those factors put limits on the amount of change that can happen in one's life. That's why I like haircuts and rearranging the furniture. They give me the little change-fix that I need with little disruption. Speaking of disruption.....where the heck is all of that ice the weathermen were predicting? They get a girl's hopes up for a school/work closing and then don't come through. Tisk.

Subway. Eat Fresh.

Well, www.babycenter.com says our little one is just over a pound and is almost a foot long. (Now I've got the Subway $5 foot-long song in my head). Lungs are developing and may have taste buds.....wonder if she likes jalapenos? I feel enormous. I've gained over 23 pounds and feel every single one of them. But, that's what pregnant ladies do, right? So, I'm trying to enjoy it. My next appointment is on February 6th and then I'll start going every two weeks!!! It won't be long now!!!