Yum!

Eggnog is stocked here!!!!! YES!!!!

Demari Emanuelle's birth story

July 5th

I started feeling a lot of cramping in my stomach and back at around 1 pm. After an hour I realized that they could be timed to about 5 minutes apart. I just thought maybe I hadn't been drinking enough water or I over did it the day before at the Zoo, so I asked Chris to watch Diara for a little while so I could lay down and drink a big cup of water. 45 minutes passed and I still wasn't feeling any better so we decided to go up the Labor and Delivery triage just to make sure everything is okay. I figured they'd just give me some IV fluids and send me on my way. When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to the moniters and they showed that I was contracting every 3-5 minutes, so the nurse brought me a HUGE cup of water and left me on the moniters for an hour so see if that slowed anything. Then the doctor came in and they went ahead and did my GBS test and took some other stuff to send to the lab. Since the doctor was using the speculum, she said it LOOKED like my cervix was closed, but when she checked she was really surprised to find out I was already 4 cm dilated and 75% effaced. That's when they told me I was being admitted. They placed an IV and walked me over to my room in Labor and Delivery. The nurses wasted no time getting me started on Magnesium, IV fluids, and antibiotics since my GBS test wouldn't be back for a couple days. I also recieved my first steroid shot at 6 pm. Chris took Diara home and we decided to see how things went before we sent her to stay with someone so Chris could be with me during the birth.


July 6th

By 2 am, the contractions still hadn't slowed down. A doctor came in and checked me and I was dilated to 6 cm and 80% effaced. The nurse said they were expecting for me to delivery that night so I called Chris and he dropped Diara off at his co-worker's house and headed over. Before he arrived, I received my Epidural. By the time Chris arrived my contractions had started to slow down. We both tried to get a little sleep. I guess the Epidural helped slow down the contractions for awhile so when Chris woke up we decided he would go get Diara, bring her to visit me, and then head home. It was really frustrating for me because I wasn't allowed to eat and I could only have 85 cc of fluids an hour due to the magnesium they had me on. The whole day was spent waiting around. Since my contractions had slowed down we decided to cap off my Epidural. Again my contractions picked back up to 3-5 minutes apart and the nurses all thought I would deliver soon. Chris dropped Diara off at our neighbors and headed back up to the hospital. They hooked my Epidural back up and I received my second steroid shot. the Epidural slowed my contractions down again and we spent all night waiting and wondering if he would be born that night. When things became obvious that nothing was going to happen that night Chris went home to get some sleep because the cot he had was really uncomfortable.

July 7th

The doctor came in and checked me in the morning and I was 8 cm. They allowed me to eat breakfast and the decision was made to go ahead and take me off the Magnesium and if I went into labor again they weren't going to stop it. We also turned off my epidural again and went ahead and took my catheter out because it was irritating my bladder and I had blood in my urine. Once again the contractions picked back up and we thought for SURE he'd come now. They hooked my Epidural up once again and then tried to fix it because it was only working on one side of my body. They pulled the catheter out of my back just a little bit and that seemed to fix the problem. That night my contractions slowed down to one an hour and we again had a night of waiting.

July 8th

This morning was especially hard for me. I was really missing Diara and was getting frustrated about being stuck in bed. Again, they allowed me to eat breakfast. Chris went home for a little while and came back with Diara that afternoon. My Epidurals was completely taken out and replaced because it went back to only working on my right side. I was still only numb on one side after that. The Dr. came in and said that they decided that it's not healthy for me to just sit around at 8 cm any longer and they were going to break my water and start some pitocin to help my contractions be a little more effective. They broke my water at 2:43 pm and things started getting REALLY painful. Luckily, I didn't have very much longer to labor before I could start pushing. He was born at 3:49 pm after only 10 minutes of pushing (and feeling EVERYTHING on one side). Chris was very set in NOT wanting to cut the cord, but he changed his mind at the last minute. Demari's APGARS were 9 and 9. He weighed 5 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 1/8 in. He was doing so well that before they took him to the NICU due to his gestational age they let me hold him.

The NICU staff was very impressed by him and joked about him being able to beat up all of the other babies in the NICU. He spent the night in the NICU to be observed, but was allowed to room in with me the night of the 9th. He was discharged on the 10th and we were finally allowed to home with a list of things to moniter until his followup appointment. He was so small that we couldn't use the same car seat we used with Diara and had to go buy a new one that was made to accommodate smaller babies.

He has been doing really well since we've been home. His discharge weight was 5 lbs. 4 oz. and he was up to 5 lbs. 14 oz. at his 2 week appt. Diara took some time to warm up to him, but now she loves to give him kisses and help me change his diaper. I can't believe he's already almost 1 month!

It's a...

...BOY! There's no mistaking it and Chris guessed it before my eyes could even adjust to what was showing on the screen. He was really excited and had Diara screaming at the top of her lungs and clapping while the tech printed out our pictures.





We actually saw the Thumbs up before we found out it was a boy and Chris said it was him saying, "Yup, I'm a boy!!" I was measuring about a week ahead, so I'm hoping when I go see my Dr. next month she'll move my due date up.

In other news, Chris and I also celebrated our 2 year anniversary yesterday and I started another quarter of school. All-in-all...a busy, but happy day.

Wash your UNDERWEAR!!

This news story is completely unbelievable!! Please wash all of your new underwear and swimsuits before wearing them....

It's not illegal to sell used underwear!

Hallmark Love Comes Softly Series

So this weekend I recorded the entire Love Comes Softly series from the Hallmark Movie Channel and have been working my way through them. The first one is pretty close to the book, but as I get further into the movie series it's beginning to be NOTHING like the books. It's just so disappointing. The credits at the beginning of each movie state that it's based on the Janette Oke Books, but the only thing they got from the books is some of the names. I'd probably enjoy the movies if I had never read the books, but to say that it's based on the books might as well be an outright lie.

A late post all about Diara

I feel like I'm always behind. I know I didn't post anything for Diara's birthday so I thought I'd write a little bit about it now.

For Diara's birthday, I took her to run errands during the day. We bought decorations and stuff to make a cake for her birthday. I know that sounds really boring, but since we never get to leave the house she really loves going to run errands and seeing all the different people, and especially waving at anyone who will look at her. When Daddy got off work, we went to buy a TV for our living room. We also ordered Diara's new crib and crib set online which was her birthday present. Once we finally got home, we went ahead and sang happy birthday and gave her her cake (Chocolate with chocolate icing, of course). We must have her trained pretty good because it was right in her face and we were encouraging her to just put her hands in and all she did was sit there looking back and forth between us and signing "more" over and over. So finally I had to give her a little help and put her hands in the cake. She eventually got the hang of it though and went to town on it.








Daddy then whisked her off to a quick bath and then I helped her open her presents from her cousins, aunt and uncles, and grandparents before I had to leave for class since I had a test. All in all I think she had a pretty event filled day.

She had her 12 month check up the next day. She's now 20lbs. 7oz. and 28.5" long. Woo-hoo!! No longer is eh below the 5th percentile. The doctor was pretty impressed. I guess she's just a late bloomer. Now if she would only get some teeth!! The doctor said that they don't worry about not having teeth until they are 15 months so I guess we have a couple months so try to coax them out of hiding. Do they make dentures for babies?! lol!

Just this last week she's started to prefer walking to crawling so it's been a real struggle to keep up with her. She's also mastered climbing the stairs and if I'm with her downstairs and take my eyes off her for one second she somehow gets over to them and is halfway up. So the next thing on our to-do list is to get a permanent gate for the stairs. We also got her crib in and all set up. She LOVES it. It's so much bigger than the pack and play and she sleeps so much better in it.

This week I've been working on packing away things that don't fit her anymore and rearranging her room so that it will be ready for the second crib when we get around to buying it. I've also been helping her practicing being GENTLE. It's a work in progress I guess....

Not very good at this

So apparently I'm terrible at keeping this updated. I think I just feel like nothing all that important is going on here. It's just the same old, same old. Another day in the grind. But I know that Diara has changed quite a bit since I last posted anything. We're getting ready for her birthday on Monday. We're not really going to do anything for her birthday until Feb. 13th though. We decided to just have a party with us three. So nothing too fancy. I'm planning on making her cake and decorating the house. I think she'll really like seeing the house all done up and both of us making a big deal over her. Since she's almost one I thought I'd post a couple videos of her. One is of her walking behind her little push toy and the other one is her dancing. She LOVES to dance while she watches Yo Gabba Gabba. She'll stand up in front of the TV and just shake her arms and rock back and forth the whole time. It's just too funny.





Sorry they're not very good quality. I took them on my cell phone.

A much needed update

I know it's been awhile and I really thought that I didn't have much to write about, but as I'm sitting here typing this I just realized the last few weeks have been pretty eventful. I've been trying to let Diara feed herself. She does really good if I put the food on a spoon and hand it to her, but if I let her do it all by herself I think she gets more in her lap than in her mouth. Here's a video of her feeding herself oatmeal.



The quarter is finally over for me at the community college. I was really just hoping to pass my philosophy, but I ended up getting a 3.1 in that class and a 4.0 in my sociology class. Next semester I'm taking Black Thought and Culture as my Distance learning class and I enrolled in Sociology 101 by the same teacher as this past quarter for my night class. I think I'm pretty close to getting my Associates in Arts. I have to get my credits evaluated which I've really been putting off for awhile. I really need to get on the ball about that so I know what classes I have left to take.

We got a big surprise this week when I went to the doctor because I've been feeling really tired lately. I thought I might have developed iron deficient anemia again, but much to our surprise I'm pregnant again. We don't have an official due date from the doctor yet, but my calculation puts the due date at August 27th, 2010. So ready or not, here we go again. Luckily we should be getting a really big tax return this year and we now know where that will be going. We still haven't gotten Diara and actual crib, so Chris is insisting that we get 2 convertible cribs instead of a toddler bed for Diara and a convertible crib for the new baby. He has BIG plans for their room. So big that I'm not sure everything is going to fit in that tiny room, but I guess we'll soon find out.

Chris got really excited the other day because he realized that Diara will respond to certain words with gestures. Here's a couple videos of all of the gestures she can do.





(I'm not sure if she's actually saying Daddy. Because she makes the exact same sound for Mommy, Baby, and just about anything else you ask her to say.)

Diara's 9 Month Check-up

Not too much to report other than she's still small...big surprise there..NOT! She's 25 in. tall and a measly 16 lbs. 12oz. The Dr. is a little worried about her height because she's not really even making her own line anymore so she said it'll be something they need to keep on eye on. I guess it's not TOO worry-some because we don't have to go back until her 12 month check-up.

Diara also got her second, and last, flu shot today. She let out two short wails and that was it. She took it like a real champ. She's becoming a lot more independent too. When we were waiting for her turn to get her shots she was constantly reaching to be put on the floor so she could crawl over to a chair or the door. ::sigh:: They grow up so fast...

Disappointed in America

I've been following this story on the Fort Hood shootings that happened today and the more reactions and comments I read on the news stories the angrier I'm becoming. People can be so ignorant. They think they know anything and everything and really everything that's coming out of their mouth should just go straight down the crapper. Many people are jumping to conclusions that because he had a Muslim name he's automatically a terrorist. Some are even going as far as condemning the military for letting "someone like him" into the military and saying we should be more careful about who we enlist. This makes me absolutely furious. Just because someone is a certain religion and nationality doesn't make someone a terrorist. I thought our country was suppose to be a melting pot?? Where did all of this hate come from?

The other comments that really show stupidity are the ones that state that the military must be cowards since so many soldiers were killed and wounded and they're all carrying guns. You actually think that soldiers carry weapons around a post on AMERICAN soil on a daily basis???? Why would soldiers carry weapons around in a country where there is no local war? One comment actually had a theory that the shooter must have forced all of the soldiers in a room and shot them at point blank to have shot so many (she was also stating that soldiers are armed at all times). You really think a building full of ARMED soldiers is going to let ONE PERSON put them in a room and shoot at point blank?? He would have been dead after he fired the first shot.

My favorite comment is the one that is referring to the fact that the post was on lock-down and states that the soldiers are cowards for running and hiding. The post was on lock down to keep the shooters in and people on the outside of post safe. The emergency sirens were sounded to warn the thousands of family members to stay inside. The soldiers were sent to patrol the streets on post. How is that cowardly? These are the same cowards that spend a year or even several years of their life fighting a war to keep terrorism at bay.

America should be ashamed of it's self. If this is truly their reaction then many troops have lost their lives in OIF and OEF in vain. I wish I could slap some sense into every last one of those people and tell them to wake the hell up!!!

Escape Artist

Diara can't just outgrow her Bumbo like all the other kids. No, she has to learn how to get out of it.



She has also found alternative uses for her jumper....like rocking herself to sleep...

Happy Halloween!!

Chris got a few hours off for dinner from duty so we took Diara to a few houses here on post to trick-or-treat. I don't really think she knew what was going on, but she seemed to be really interested in all of the other kids in their costumes.






I think Diara may have finally started signing the word "more". It's hard to tell because it almost looks like she's clapping, but the only time I see her do it is when she's eating so I'm guessing it means more. I'm SO excited about it. She seems so proud of herself when she does it and I give her more food.

Battle scars

Diara got her first knot on her forehead yesterday. She was rolling around on the floor and hit her head on our cable box, which isn't something new since she does that pretty often, but I guess she hit and edge and her forehead now has this dime sized bump that sticks off her head. Ever try to put ice on a 9 month old's head? That's not an easy task. It kind of reminds me of bull riding because it's an accomplishment if you can keep the ice in place for 8 seconds straight.

We just ordered our couch from amazon.com and I'm SO excited to get it. Finally, we'll have some furniture in our living room. Maybe we can actually have people over with out being embarrassed that we have no where to sit. It was a really great buy too. It came with the decorative pillows and the ottoman. This place is going to feel a little more like a home instead of a roof over our head, and it's just in time for the holidays. (This isn't our house...this is just the picture from the website. I'll try to remember to take a picture once we get it all set up.)



Speaking of the holidays, we still haven't gotten a costume for D. Chris has 24 hour duty that day so we won't even really get to do anything fun, but maybe Chris can take her trick-or-treating on his dinner break. I think she'll like to see all of the other kids around here dressed up at the very least. I just can't wait until Halloween is over so I can start buying Christmas decorations and such. I saw they were stocking Wal-mart this weekend when I got groceries and I just can't help but have some holiday cheer already. I wonder how Chris will take listening to Christmas music for the next 2 months....

Here goes

Well, I broke down and finally started one of these things. I dunno how much time I'll have to update, but I'll try to keep up with it.

We're still recovering from Nasiya and her mother's visit. Poor Diara got a small black eye from her big sister when Naya hit her in the face with a toy, but it's almost gone now. I think it was really good for D to spend time with another kid for awhile. Chris and I are so busy from sun up to sun down she doesn't get very much kid interaction. Now I think she's getting sick. She's been spitting up again and having crazy diapers that somehow leak poop all the way to her neck. I think she's been through about 4 outfits today and it's only 1pm.

I'm almost halfway through fall quarter at Pierce College. We just took our first test in my Sociology class and I should find out what I made on Monday. It was a take home test, but I still haven't gotten the book so I had to do a lot of searching on the internet for answers I didn't know. I think I did pretty well, but I guess we'll see.

Chris is talking about applying for the Green to Gold program. If he's accepted we will be moved to a school of his choice (maybe USC) and he will continue to be paid while he earns his degree. Once he graduates he will become a commissioned officer. He seems pretty optimistic that he'll be accepted because he was told that ALL of the slots for Green to Gold up here are open so it's almost a given for anyone who applies.