Earth * Ocean *Baby

Losing my "dang" mind

2011-04-18T13:32:00.002-04:00

So Ma.ya has hit the terrible two's with a fierce pace. Suddenly everything has DANG put in front of it. (i.e) I just hurt my dang arm! and Where's my dang crayons. We are ignoring it and hoping she drops it soon if we don't make a fuss about it. She has also became suddenly shy around strangers. I can't say this is a bad thing. In the beginning she would just go to anyone who held out their arms. She remains to be friendly to everyone, but it is a sigh of relief for me (baba) at least, that she is beginning to shy away from total strangers. I guess its the protective gene in me that wants to keep her safe. On another note, mommy Da.ni has started working from home now, so she will be the caretaker of Ma.ya from now on. I am returning to the work world and still going to school. I have however changed my major, my school, and my mind. Architecture will always be a passion of mine, but with the economy the field is dead. I will be attending a local school here in the Fall for a Paramedics program. I'm excited, and the family is doing really well. We hope everyone has a great Easter and we look forward to uploading pictures soon of how big our Miss Ma.ya has grown.

Things my Toddler Says

2011-02-28T12:50:00.002-05:00

May.a is growing so fast. For her two year checkup recently, the Dr. was really impressed. Not only is she completely potty trained, speaking clearly and making full sentences, but she seems to be way ahead of any two year old he's ever seen! (I can brag, I'm her Baba) Here's some things that she says that are hilarious:

"I fall off" = she fell down
"fake" = everytime a Britany Spears song comes on the radio (she screams fake fake fake)
"upstairs" = downstairs and visa versa
"i have butt farts" = self explainitory
"i don't like that very much any more" = little timid in trying new foods
"delicious" = she really likes what she's eating
"fecicious" = i'm being a DB and she recognizes it and tells me....seriously! using it in the right context....

She's a pretty cool kid in my book. She is having a rough time with teething her K-9's. She has bits of grumpiness followed by time outs and the threatening of calling her Mommy! Time outs seem to work the trick when she's throwing those tantrums, but the terrible two's aren't that terrible. She's sweet and honest and I wouldn't have her any other way. Even when she tells me I'm fat and hairy....its true, I need a better diet and some Naire. lol

On another note, there are talks about a sibling for May.a. She just turned 2 so another child wouldn't be that much more on us. Da.ni needs to get checked out and look into some medical things first, but I think it may be a go sooner than expected....we will keep everyone posted.

Princess Panties & Booboos

2011-01-19T12:29:00.004-05:00

Wow it has been a long time since either of us has wrote about May.a, I think she deserves better than that! I will try to catch things up for everyone.
1. May.a potty trained in 2 days! We tried pull ups for about two weeks to get her out of her cloth diapers, but they are so expensive I (D.ru) decided to go ahead and potty train her. I threw away her pull ups in front of her and explained that they are too expensive and harmful to our Earth. I showed her, her new Princess Panties. I explained that they were for big girls and she couldn't go potty in them but had to sit on her potty and go in it. I also told her it was okay if she had an accident and went in her panties, because we could wash them. She seemed okay with it. I took her potty every 30 minutes for the next two days striaght. It is about three weeks later and I can honestly say May.a is completely potty trained. She tells us when she has to go, she can pull her panties and pants down by herself and up too! She sits and does her business and wipes and washes her hands every time. I am so proud of her. The only accidents we have is when she tells us she has to go and we don't get her to her potty fast enough. We found these foldable toilet covers for children. They are plast and fold out to fit onto public restroom toilets. We use this when we go out and she does wonderful with it. She's so smart!

2. May.a has had low iron for a while now. We had to use a supplement for a while but Dan.i didn't like it so we started researching alternative sources for iron. We switched out all of our cookware to Iron Skillets. They actually put iron into the food you eat when you cook with them. We also started feeding her more foods rich with iron. I took her for her iron test yesterday. The male nurse pokes her finger for the test and she just looks at him with her eyebrows pushed together. No crying, just kind of upset that he made a boo boo on her finger. She was fine when he put a bandaid on it. She calls them boobaids. I think it appropriate. lol. Anyways, iron was fantastic so we can continue what we are doing until her 2 year check up, which by the way is coming up fast and brings me to the third thing.

3. May.a's birthday is so close. February 18th our little girl will be turning 2!!!!! She has grown so fast and is so smart. I can't imagine a greater kid. (although i am biast) We are taking her to the zoo for her birthday. She is incredibly excited.

That just about wraps it up. Da.ni is overworking as usual, and I'm still trying to keep us all from going crazy. I think that humor helps all situations. Sorry for the long overdue blog, I promise to update more frequently.

Dru

The Earth

2010-10-17T14:21:00.003-04:00

I just put Mema down for a nap after going grocery shopping. Baby just headed off to work when we came home. Before she left I made her a quick lunch which consisted of:

Sandwich - 2 slices whole grain bread with light mayo, pepper jack cheese and natural turkey.
Fresh fruit salad with non-nitrate peperoni on the side.
Pickle Pack - mini dills

1 Reese cup, who says you can't have fun =)

We both have lost a good amount of weight during my hiatus from blogging. Baba has lost about 40 or so lbs, me about 10. We are doing a side step of the Quick We.ightloss Centers diet. Except we really don't follow a diet. We just eat less carbs but nowhere near cutting like At.kins. I mean hello, dude died of a heart issue. I can't possibly follow that diet. PLUS I prefer to be closer to vegetarian as much as possible. One thing that REALLY bugs me is FOOD. Or at least peoples definition of food.

My definition:
Homemade broccoli and cheese soup, made from half and half or cream, frozen broccoli, fresh shredded sharp cheese, chicken broth and a tiny amount of nutmeg. Very low fat if you do the cream/half and half right and very low carb generally.

Other peoples definition, yes they shall remain nameless:
1 can of premade broccoli and cheese soup, a slice of white bread, hand full of candy corn and a diet soda to drink.

Guess what, in that CAN of soup, there are TWO SERVINGS.

Yes almost every can of soup has two servings ( at least ) in it. You know those premade soups in the big microwaveable cans with lids? TWO SERVINGS, YES, two.

When I made my version of soup it was 4-5 servings total and I used the pan.era bread recipe online which tasted amazing. I also cut it down into containers so we knew what the portion was, I was a little generous because well we like soup.

I just think this kind of trickery is ridiculous and for anyone who doesn't, can't, won't read ingredients we wonder why were all chubby ( and cute of course ).

One thing I changed recently is our drinking habits. I ONLY drink water with the occasional side of unsweet iced tea. One in a while I will do half sweet and half unsweet tea.

My wife, Baba, loves diet Dr pepper and I don't blame her. I do too AND it does not have HFCS in it which is a bonus. BUT this QWL diet thing we are doing says no carmel colored sodas. Baba finally came around and we switched to the La Croix Sparkling water and OMG I love it.

It has no calories, no Artificial Sweeteners and is sodium free.

It does come in a can so those days where water just seems flat, we do this. Its expensive for a case but we make due by not drinking it all the time.

Lately, nutrition seems to be something weighing heavily on my shoulders. Mema goes from picky to non picky faster than I have mood swings ( and that says a lot haha ) so I have to be prepared.

We're also in the works to move her to ANOTHER new day care and they don't have a kitchen. I will have to pack her lunch. Wow, that would be fun! (not ).

Speaking of daycare, just to throw some DRAMA into this post. The old daycare which we left, well the lady who was mema's teacher is being investigated for possibly hurting a baby on purpose. AND the day care she is currently in is falling apart and I am trying to get her into a better place although its not so convenient, its workable.

The place she is in right now seems to not be cleaning her well after she uses the bathroom. Nothing makes me feel more sick that changing her diaper only to see remnants of the last potty time stuck in the folds of her little chubby legs. Mema also has a sort of deformed roll on her upper thigh because of the way she was in my belly ( Frank Breech and stuck behind a fibroid ) so I am sure that adds to the work...BUT I PAY YOU TO TAKE EXCELLENT CARE OF MY CHILD. The school even sent her home wearing pants with P.OO on them ( and told us she had p.oo on her ) while she had two clean outfits in her cubby.

Maybe the 3rd time is the charm.

ARGH~!

2010-10-17T10:12:00.003-04:00

Soooo I'm probably going to keep this blog going - mostly for nostalgic purposes.

I've tried to add some anonymity to it by removing our info in some place, so hopefully that helps.

Maya is doing amazing, she is 20 months old...doing EVERYTHING.

Give me a shout if you still read, I'm conjuring up some good posts so more to come! =)

Hellooooo world.

2010-08-21T01:45:00.004-04:00

Hey blog buddies, sorry its been a while. I have been in a whirlwind of work and finally got a moment to sit and write.

Some things going on with us..

Possible new jobs! a possible new city ( Don't fret, it will still be an earth conscience city like Asheville! ) and some family heart aches.

Dr.u's dad has come down with Parkinson Disease so we are hoping to move closer to them and help her mom take care of him. We haven't really told anyone this as of yet but its pretty much what our days look like.

What this means....

I am going to be working from home more often doing freelance research, IT and virtual assistant work. I may take up a part time regular job in IT or Administrative stuff to keep me busy as well. I do have to work but that doesn't mean it can't be fun!

I am also working on the domain I bought so I can move my blog over there. I have been working in Joomla and love it. I can't wait to publish it!

I start school ( online, come on now you know me and the web have an awesome love affair ) in a few weeks hopefully. I'm continuing on my natural sciences path and am super excited.

As for Miss Maya, she is doing AMAZING. She is talking in sentences now ( 18 months! ) and says the funniest things to us. Today she sang the French Fry song (she made it up) which was cute because she was eating Sweet Potato fries ! I have posted some new videos on Y.Tube and wanted to share this one...its ADORABLE!

2010-07-30T11:59:00.003-04:00

hey all! ok so I am going to move the blog over to wordpress, so stay tuned!

This weeks past craziness include:

Dru getting her foot run over and being on crutches

Me getting antibiotic restistant strep which of course included an awesome hospital visit!

and much much more!

Maya is doing fantastic and well, is a full fledged toddler.

and last but not least..

Click here for a giveaway!

2010-07-11T23:18:00.000-04:00

I am writing more in Live.Journal than on here, I just hate being exposed. Anyone else use LJ?

Vida Loca

2010-07-08T22:41:00.004-04:00

Hey world, hows it going?

Well we have had our share of ups and down lately and it looks like we won our case against our employer. They were found in the "wrong" by the feds and although that is a good thing it is still really really sad for my other half. She lost a job she loved and well is pretty soured on the entire agency. One issue for her is the job she had was so industry specific that this is pretty much the ONLY agency she can work for in any city in the USA! its crazy!! Alas, things happen for a reason though...I know there are bigger things coming for us.

We've been battling stomach virus hell and strep in our house. Exhausting!

On to something fun, my friend D over at Lil Family Blog is having a give away! I love this and think its so worth it to enter. Tell her I sent ya and GOOD LUCK!!

and I leave you with a pic of my big girl, she is so smart, funny and kind....AND CUTE!

2010-06-09T10:54:00.002-04:00

My wife woke me up last night telling me her wrist was swelling. She said she was going to the emergency room. It had been hurting for about a week and I guess it finally hurt her too much to sleep. They said its fractured......poor thing. We think she hurt herself at the gym last week.

I keep saying why does all this crap keep falling into our lap - I wish I knew.

The baby who weaned herself..

2010-06-08T12:38:00.005-04:00

When Maya started her new improved school we really were so excited. Lets see she started this school back in March I believe, yep March 1st. The old school was fine but it was a drive and they did not seem very engaged with the kids. When we moved to Asheville Maya had never been in daycare. We never really thought about getting her in one until we moved here. Dru stayed home with her and worked nights. I worked days. It worked out great. We moved here when Maya was about 8 months old. We got her into one day care that had an opening and it was the ONLY one that did not have a waiting list. The old day care was great about breastmilk. ALL of their kids were on formula but they encouraged me to stop by and b.feed maya anytime. They had rocking chairs and made space in their freezer for me. Now the drive was far almost 15 miles ( far when you live in a smaller city like this ) so that did not happen very often. There was a day when they said Maya seemed hungry and they gave her formula. I flipped my wig! I had worked so hard to keep that little girl fed with what came from my body. They didnt call me and ask me. A few other things happened that I did not like so we decided to find a day care near our jobs. I happened upon an ad on craigslist and saw that a local 4 star center had an opening in the 1's room. Maya was turning 1 that week! They also said they had an opening in the waddler room which was inbetween the baby room and the 1's. We were able to get her in the door of that room and that bypassed the waiting lists for the 1's room!

Alright I know this is getting long but bear with me, there is a reason for all this back story.

So we went to the new day care to do paperwork and the director tells me there is no brea.stmilk allowed in the wadd.lers and 1's room and up. I said excuse me? She said it was state regulation, no food from home. I remember feeling so sad and though well she would be across the street from my job so thats a bonus but no mommy milk? I said well what would she drink? She said they would supply any milk she wanted, goat, dairy, soy, rice and she could get a water or juice anytime she wanted. I was perplexed, this had never crossed my mind. There was some confusion as to what room she would start in but the 1's kids were so much bigger we decided on the wadd.ler room. At this point I was nursing her in the am before school, when she got home and overnight. I would say about 4 times on average a day. She was just about to turn one and I gave her a taste of dairy milk, she spit it out! The next day I tried soy, she liked it and drank some. I started sending her mommy milk bottles with some of the dairy or soy mixed in ( because she didnt have any bathroom issues when trying the milk I thought it was safe ) to the old day care so we could get her transitioned over.

I started reading books on weaning because I was completely stumped on how to do this. My wife although she meant well was pressuring me to stop feeding her and thought she was too big for nursing. I didnt agree and I stood my ground. I told her I would do this my way and it wasnt her decision. I knew I wanted to keep feeding maya at night and when she needed comfort but I did want to wean all the other sessions. I struggled so hard with this, I did not REALLY want to stop nursing I loved it. I had worked hard and I was so lucky to be able to have such an amazing experience. I remember my stomach hurting just thinking about how my daughter would suffer from the switch and get dehydrated! lol.

After a few weeks of mixing dairy and/or soy with her mommy milk Maya just started ONLY wanting water. Which is great in some ways but she was still nursing. She started nursing MORE before and after school and at night. She was keeping me awake all night nursing and I started getting seriously tired. Then came D-day, she started the new school and I sent her to school with 3 empty sippy cups and told them she likes water, hates juice and will try milk once in a while. They promised to keep her hydrated and I said call me if there are any issues.

Around this time I found out my old day care was giving her bottles of water throughout the day in the mommy milk ( playtex drop ins, they would wash them and put water in them still cloudy with milk! ) and thats why my baby loved water so much.

Can you say GRR?

A week passed at the new school and I realized Maya was not nursing as much as usual. I didnt really catch it because we were so busy getting our new schedule down packed that it just sort of happened. The new day care told me that Maya hated drinking at school and she mostly just threw the sippy cups on the ground after taking just a few sips.

Then they told me they put a mini cup down in front of her with dairy milk and she drank the entire thing. They also asked hey did you brea.stfeed maya. I said why yes I did, they said why did you stop when she came here? I said good lord your director told me no breast.milk they said yes thats for the 1's room not the waddl.ers room. Waddl.ers is where we transition them to the big kids milk.

seriously? are you kidding me? By this time I was panicked, can I get the nursing relation ship back? what can I do ZOMFG. lol. Another week passed and I realized Maya was no longer interested in nursing unless she was having a bad day. In the midst of all of this chaos my kid was weaning herself. She told me she no longer wanted/needed me to shove that ninnie in her face and she seemed too busy watching the world to want to stay still. She nursed here and there and then just stopped. I never once withheld it because she didnt ask for it. In the beginning of this she did nurse like crazy at night because I think she was reverse cycling and just really thirsty. Here I was trying to figure out an action plan and my kid did it on her own.

I think overall it took about a month and in the end she just wanted to sleep at night and didnt wake up as long as I gave her a snack/drink of water/milk before bed.

She loves dairy milk now and she started drinking full cups of it on her own. I credit her new school with being the ones that transitioned her to that.

++edit++ after thinking about it I see that several factors in our situation helped maya wean. I guess I can say I am grateful it was something she was eased into rather than a traumatic experience. I dont know how fond I am of CIO for us because anytime she cries like that I have a major issues hearing my kid wail. I am a softy I guess.

2010-06-07T22:15:00.003-04:00

I brea.stfed Maya for 13.5 months until she self weaned. Even now I forget that I am not boo.b feeding her and restrict my alcohol and bad food intake. I swear being able to BF her was one of the best experiences of my life. I guess I still feel like she is my little ninnie baby and thats why I forget she self weaned. I need to just suck it up and have a big ass glass of wine already! ha

The wifes birthday is this week. She doesnt read this ( at least I dont think she does ) anyone have any awesome inexpensive ideas? Im at a loss with all the non sense going on. Normally we do huge vacations for her birthday like a few years ago we did Sea World/Aquatica and that was amazing! This year she is turning 29 and were down to one job and its part time. I know its the thought that counts but I still want something creative fun and meaningful...whether its a gift or something to do.

I also want to post that I am praying for Delaney over at WBEM She is in the hospital....

The wifes putting on her CPAP machine better get to bed. hehe. xo

2010-06-05T22:11:00.003-04:00

Maya's surgery went well and although it was nerve wrecking to me it was a breeze for her. She did have a crazy violent reaction to one of the versed they gave her..UH UH NEVER AGAIN...she cocked her fist back and punched me (and herself ) several times....

Its been really hot here and today we took maya to the fish hatchery and had a ton of fun. She is growing up so fast!

My wife is thinking about starting a blog and we may combine the two of them so stay tuned. I do have a ton to write about. Im glad a few people still read this, I still read everyone pages but dont really have time to comment.

I have issues uploading photos to this damn site anyone have advice? They always format weird, all over the page...

2010-06-02T20:56:00.006-04:00

Its been almost a month since my last post...

Just some things that have happened..

My wife was hospitalized with congestive heart failure, she is only 28.
My MIL and I saw what we thought was my daughter having a seizure, sedated MRI done, perfectly normal, onto a sedated EEG. I thought I saw these same seizures since she was a baby but the dr's would blow me off. Finally someone else saw it happen.
Maya is having eye surgery tomorrow to fix a blocked tear duct in both eyes.
My wife lost her dream job a few weeks back and the circumstances are terrible.
I work at the same job my wife did so its really awkward now and I've lost my passion for the particular non profit.

Our beauty is now 15 months old and so beautiful I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love her.

Ahem

2010-05-02T18:29:00.003-04:00

Maybe I should update?

I have some reasons that I do not write in this blog. Mainly because I feel exposed and afraid to write daily happenings in my life. If anyone has any advice on this please do pass along.

Lets see, Maya is 14.5 months old!

She weighs 21.5 lbs and is 29 inches long.

She walks and talks. She goes to school and has music and art time. She loves playing dress up!

She just became a picky eater, whereas she would eat anything before. She loves cheese n mac, any shredded cheese, water, milk, bowls of cornflakes with milk, cheese puffs ( baby kind, but her mamaw gives her the adult kind! haha ) fresh steamed broccoli and cheese and well I think thats pretty much it. She needs cheese to wash most things down.

She is having surgery on her eye soon for a blocked tear duct, I hate that this has to happen.

Dru and I went to Gay prom and had a blast!

I cut my hair short. Love it.

Ash.eville is an awesome amazing place to live. Just saying.

On this day....

2010-02-18T07:43:00.010-05:00

On this day last year, at this very time I was anxiously awaiting my forced C-section. I had no choice in the matter. I had three strikes against me...

1/ Insulin Dependent Gestational Diabetes ( VERY well controlled! ).
2/ High BP because of anxiety, it was fine when I layed on my left side.
3/ 9 cm Fibroid Tumor.

Then they did an ultrasound and said "SHE IS STILL BREECH" were doing a c-section FOR SURE.

I was extremely disappointed. See we had gone with this particular dr group because they had midwives. That was my dream, a natural birth. In SC where we lived if you wanted a MW you had to have a home birth. So we went with a dr group across the border in NC, midwives could deliver at the hospital...I thought awesome this is something I am comfortable with.

The entire time I felt like the midwives group and dr's were not giving me their attention. They constantly looked at the wrong diabetic paper info ( my results from months ago instead of the current results ). They rushed me through every visit. The woman dr I did NOT like, I avoided like the plague. The male dr made my partner very uncomfortable. At one point we decided to have a Version performed to see if they could twist maya into position...turns out they were trying to turn my fibroid. Everyone kept telling me my baby was big, she would be 11 lbs because of my diabetes. They were feeling the fibroid not her head. yeah they sucked.

The birth itself was no better, I got their most inexperienced dr ( been a dr for 5 years, just out of the military )..but I had no CHOICE. My gut kept telling me god this woman is rude and just cold, go elsewhere...BUT I did not trust my gut and thought I had no other choice.

Throughout all of our visits I voiced the desire to have a natural birth. I always felt that because I was a little overweight they treated me different. Not to mention the gay factor. Somehow the dr ( the woman we did not like ) did not even know we were partners although its on our file and we told her. Basically I felt there was no connection between us and the dr's.

The day of the birth my in laws came down to stay with us. That helped me not be so nervous. Once we got to the hospital they did all the prep work and told me it would have to be a csection. Sad but reassured we waited. The section was supposed to take place at 9, 20 minutes before the dr came in and said she was running late that they would come get me in a bit but it wouldnt be at 9. At 5 minutes to nine they came in with a gurney and rolled my big ass to the operating room. I thought wow she must have been done quick!

Once in the anesthesiologist came in and had me sit on the table while leaning on his nurse assistant. I was huge, this was so very hard for me. He poked me with the needle for the spinal block and hit a nerve, my whole left side seared in pain. My left eye went white. My vision came right back. I screamed and fell forward, thank god the nurse was butchy and caught me. He told me I wasnt sitting right and asked what hurt. He demeaned me and made me feel terrible. I was shaking so bad from being alone and scared. When they were done they layed me on the regular table. They started to drape the sheets and put on the radio. All the sudden I heard the anesthesiologist screaming about why the dr was late and he stormed out cursing while throwing both operating doors open. I could hear everyone whispering around me. I could also feel maya moving a ton even though I had the spinal block. About an 30 minutes passed and they just left me laying there. I had one person in the room at most times but no one told me what was going on. Finally I said can you please tell my family I am ok, you told them you would get them in 5 minutes. They then told me the dr was unavailable. I cried asking if they would have to put another needle in my back. They told me no....

All the sudden BAM the dr comes charging in and ready! Dru followed her in. We were ready! They cut, everything was routine. We could tell they were having a hard time getting maya out because of the fibroids. It felt like forever but they finally got her out! I could feel her wiggling way back into my belly each time and was relieved to have that pressure gone once they got her out. Some people feel pressure during spinal blocks/epidurals...some are totally numb. I felt a little something....

Once they got Maya out they did her apgar and it was an 8 and a 9. FINALLY they brought her over to see me and I couldnt see her. I thought thats strange. Then I felt pain, I felt them cutting me and moving the placenta. My eyes went crossed and I started to scream. They were yanking on the placenta so hard and I could feel every bit of it. My anesthesia wore off. I wailed and they handed the baby to Dru and told her to leave. I was about to go unconscience and all I saw was the mask go over my face. I woke up to the baby breastfeeing.

A big sign in the operating room said GET EM IN AND OUT IN 20 MINUTES.....mine lasted 2.5 hours.

I had no memory of what happened at first, then as the grogginess wore off I just keep having these flashbacks. When I woke up and saw Maya breastfeeding upside down I was so happy. I did not care that they ruined the experience. Although this was my biggest nightmare. How could they be so careless? The Dr did not tell the nurse she was not ready. The nurse didnt check with the dr and just ordered them to prep me. The anesthesiologist was insensitive and I was scared to death. No one, except for my family, cared much about what I was going through.

Maya was healthy, I was battered but alive. I have more to post but I dont want to cause myself any more stress in regards to this experience.

Today is Maya's birthday, she is 1 years old and I cannot believe how absolutely amazing she is. We are lucky, truly blessed and most of all PROUD parents who love our little one year old more than anything.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAYA ISABEL!

OH NO YOU DIDNT MAMA hahha.

Happy almost Valentines Day!

2010-02-06T18:25:00.003-05:00

Cranky baby was cranky because she as about to get a terrible cold! Poor thing was so congested, we had to sit with her in a steamy bathroom several times to get her even comfortable. I should have known! I had to miss work monday and I put her in the steamy bathroom 3 times the whole day. She knocked out the cold in two days is back to normal!

Maya has been doing so many new things lately and my favorite is STANDING. Even if its just for a few seconds its great.

Here is a video we took the other night!

Thats our girl!

Currently her favorite food is cinnamon raisin bread. She sometimes goes through an entire loaf per week. She is pretty much eating the same food as we are. Im trying to load her up on more veggie though because Im a slacker. She loves cheerios, especially the multigrain ones. She loves pasta too! NO more soft baby food for us.

On the day care forefront we are moving her a new center on March 1st. It is ran by a les.bian woman who has two adopted kids with her partner. That is NOT the reason we decided to move her there but its helpful since some day cares will only teach MOMMY and DADDY! This place is awesome and I can see it out the front door of my job. They are even open 15 minutes later so all in all I will get about another 4 hours pay per week. Its 75 bucks MORE a month than the place were at but that is taken care of. They do an hour of child led art each day ( none of that teacher doing the artwork for the kid ) and an hour of music per day! Their playground is adorable and I just cannot express how great it is. Bittersweet for the old day care, everyone there knows and loves Maya but because of work circumstances we have to move her.

Lets see, not sure how much Maya weighs right now, She was 19 lbs at her last dr visit a month ago. My guess is she is around 20 lbs. We will know the 22nd when she goes for her 1 year visit. She will 1 on Feb 18TH!! ahhh!!

Her birthday is going to be at her aunts house and they are taking care of everything. Im kind of sad about that but were traveling 3 hours to get there so there is not much we could do. Its the only way to get everyone together.

For her birthday we got her this..

We try to get all her toys at local stores instead of big box when we can. This was 100 bucks at most stores around here! One day we went to our favorite baby store in Asheville. They were having a 30% off sale! The piano was 49.99 then 30% off! We lucked out and got to support a local store.

Were going to make her a little stool to go with it, painting it especially for her 1st birthday.

We did get her a birthday dress today, its yellow and funky pink. It will go great with the shoes grandma got her for her birthday. The dress is funky large plaid kind of pattern and has a little yellow sweater shirt that goes over it. SOOO cute.

Lets see what else is going on? Were going out on a date this week, tuesday night to a concert..Were going to see Amy Ray and Brandi Carlile. Best part is our anniversary the next week along with Valentines Day too of course. Maya will be with a babysitter, a nanny who also does swim lessons at the place we work at. She is great.

Were also in the middle of planning two trips, one to NJ in March and one to my hometown Ft Lauderdale at the end of July! Cant wait to see everyone.

Shop til you drop!

2010-01-30T19:37:00.007-05:00

I'm struggling to write on this blog, I feel like I can't express myself openly which is so silly. I would like it better if it were anonymous maybe. I have sooo many topics that come to mind daily. I use live.journal and love that it has privacy but thats just for ME. (PS if you LJ let me know!).

We've been dealing with the crankiest baby ever for the past two days. She has had a really terrible runny nose and just overall cranky pants attitude. Normally I can sooth her with the boob but she is kind of on a nursing strike which is making her constipated. I'm trying to get her to drink more water from her sippy which helps.

Ah! I was interrupted by my wife telling me Maya was ready to get me from the bathtub. When I did she immediately wanted to nurse. Good thing!

Our life is drastically different here in Asheville. It has changed for the better in EVERY way.

Ok on to the goodies...

I wanted to make sure all the mamas, daddys, baba's, wanna be mamas ect know about these websites.

http://mamabargains.com/

a GREAT site because they generally have adorable items. Once the item sells out they change it and put another one out until it sells. They do have repeat items a lot so thats good incase you miss something. I love the shoes they have on this site often.

http://www.babysteals.com/

I just found out about this site ( after forgetting it again ) and I really like it because they have items for SUPER cheap!

http://kids.woot.com/

Also good deals! one a day!

and my new favorite site for shopping for ME and the Baby.

http://www.6pm.com/kids

GOD. I found some C.Roc snow boots for 18 bucks! i need snow boots so bad and also found Maya some really great shoes too.

Maya needs shoes terribly. Her feet seemed to be way behind in the growth dept and then WHAM she just grew into them. She was wearing a size 1 still! then quickly moved to a 3 finally. Thats where shoes get CUTE and FUNCTIONAL.

Well hope you are having a GREAT weekend. We did, although we got about 10 inches of snow~!

=)

2010-01-24T22:13:00.001-05:00

half the battle

2010-01-12T12:33:00.004-05:00

http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/

I think I am going to sign up for this website and see if it helps motivate me to loose weight. I heard nursing moms can use it and it will show you meal plans that include the extra calories you need for nursing.

Right now I am 193 lbs.

I was 213 when I got pregnant and breastfeeding has helped me loose 20 lbs without trying.

and then I hit a wall.

I am gaining weight again! So before it gets too crazy Im back at the gym, since I work for a place that gives me a free gym membership, it shouldnt be hard!

I worked out once a week the last two weeks because I couldnt fit any time in.

I need to make MORE time before I get depressed because Im over the CRAPPY mark ( 200 ).

I am short and my weight is distributed evenly so I don't look as heavy as I am. I think I got up to 228 when I was pregnant.

Woo. Nothing like airing out stuff that embarrasses you to motivate haha.

man.

at least here I had a reason to be round!

Congrats!

2010-01-10T11:51:00.003-05:00

While I have a minute I wanted to post. Maya is taking a much needed nap!

First I want to say congrats to my sweet friends. I am so happy for them!

This actually helps lead me into the next part of my thoughts....I have baby fever, again.

I really cannot believe I said that, really, because I had the birth story from hell.

If it weren't for my wife and the near perfect baby we had, I would not have made it. I also feel selfish wanting another baby so soon especially with so many friends out there still trying. It just leads me to a ton of emotions.

I just cringe at revisting Gestational Diabetes again, which in and of itself is not SO bad, it helped control my weight and I got really creative with food...BUT freaking giving my self shots with insulin again. That humbled me to say the least.

I just love our little Maya so much and I want her to have a sibling. We want to adopt, but with all the $ we have spend on our first pregnancy, we just dont think we can afford it. Having another baby naturally is scary though!!! I just dont think my body can handle a second go round...

ahhhh! being clucky sucks.

but I do have this to be oh so thankful for~!

2010-01-06T21:56:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!

I suck I havent had any time to post.

We have battled some crazy winter weather here and with the holidays I have just been swamped.

Maya did end up at the emergency room a few times because of high fevers too.

But enough about that just wanted to poke my head in and wave hi and say I am still reading everyones pages and working on a big post of my own.

Have a great night!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

2009-12-24T19:01:00.005-05:00

Havent had much time to update....happy to say it is NOT because I've been running around try to get stuff for Christmas. We actually managed to not buy ONE gift from Walmart, Target ( online and brick and mortar ) ect. I did buy something from REI, but I dont know if that counts as much.

We went really low key on gifts and we like it like that. This year it was about giving, but we just couldnt go overboard. We made a ton of the gifts and I have YET to get anything out to my family in florida because of our crazy schedules.

Word of advice on daycares, pay attention to their holiday schedule..Most close at least 3 days plus the weekend during Christmas ect. Lucky I could bring Maya to work with me ( and Dru too ) to help offset the work vs babysitting time. We dont have a babysitter yet in our new city and that kind of stinks. There are a few prospects but I guess were just not ready for that.

We would LOVE an adult night out though, that would be awesome...oh and if that night fell a few days after pay day that would be even better hahaha.

Some updates on Maya:

When she cries she rolls her R. I would be lying if I said it didn't sound Puerto Rican....because it sounds exactly like their dialect. She says Waarrrrrrrrrrrrr(INSERT ROLL)...I think its hilarious and I will try to capture on video for all to see. I am Italian so maybe thats why she does it ? LOL.

She weighs 18 lbs 5 oz. She is 10 months old! she is 28 1/5 inches long good lord.

Her feet are TINY, she just outgrew newborn shoes. She is barely wearing a size 2 right now.

Clothes wise she is wearing size 12 and 18 months. Maybe a few 9 months.

She is STILL breastfed, WOW! She eats solids and loves all kinds of foods.

She says Baba, Mama, Hey, Bok Bok and a bunch of other little words.

She went sledding with her family in Sparta, TWICE.

She mimics everything we do.

She is still exclusively cloth diapered ( except last week traveling haha ). We use Fuzzi bunz one size, bummis with unbleached chinese prefolds and are trying out the new FLIP.

Here are a few pics.

Nanaw

2009-12-01T19:56:00.003-05:00

I just want to say we love you Nanaw....You will always be in our hearts...

Dinner

2009-11-28T21:44:00.009-05:00

Soooo Happy after Thanksgiving to everyone! We have been busy with the in laws visiting and Black Friday shopping. Maya is doing awesome! she is pulling herself up. We took a few photos of her the other day and I wanted to share...

My little sleepy bear.

She loves Bob the builder!~

and of course our view at dawn( I think lol )..

I also wanted to add a little more to the story.....

The night of our date I heard a knock at the door and I couldn't wait to open it. I was over the top nervous. My hands were sweaty, I couldn't stop trying to make sure my hair and make up looked good...I took a deep breathe and could see her silhouette through the glass front door. She looked like she had broad shoulders and short hair, she looked a lot taller than I thought. I took one more deep breathe and opened the door.

There stood an absolutely adorable teddy bear, I could wait to hug her. She smiled sooo big when I opened the door. She looked like she was relieved to meet me and have me look kind of like my pics. She seemed really surprised at how short I was and just kept staring at me smiling. She looked better than her pics I thought.... I guess I wouldnt need the fake call from my roomate to rescue to me during the date haha.

We hugged and talked for a few minutes and then we were off on our date! When I saw her truck I thought OMG lets PUHHLEASE take my car because Im wearing high heeled boots and there is NO WAY I CAN GET IN THAT TRUCK. hahha We did take my car and we talked the entire time in the car. I remember that night was FREEZING cold...I really did not bring a big enough jacket and she offered me hers several times.

We made it to Bucca and the wait was super long. We had to squeeze in really close by the front door to keep warm. I was glad because that helped break the ice. I had never been to Bucca and I was mesmerized by the place. Its definately a chaotic place to be. I was really.....realllllyyyy nervous. I was so trying to be non chalent about everything and not seem nervous. Little did I know that she ended up thinking that I didnt like her because I played it off too well! haha.

While we were eating a few waitresses kept coming up and saying they were happy to see us again...I was like um this is my first time..they kept thinking they knew Dru..Although she used to play for a certain womens professional football team so maybe they knew her from there?? Or maybe she had another date there recently ( thats what I was thinking haha ). They came up and said they had to move us to make room for a big party. They were so sorry and paid for part of our dinner and gave us a huge dessert for free. Dru just seemed to be rolling with the punches, she just played it cool and was really fun to talk to. I kept thinking I wonder where these people know her from? They swore they had met her before. It was really funny and at one point we just played along with it. Funny thing is this happens all the time to us now, even living in a different city!

Ok the baby is crying and Dru is ready for bed....I will write more later!!!!!!!!!!

MeMe

2009-11-18T21:34:00.003-05:00

Stolen from CIW at http://me-n-she.blogspot.com/

Outside my window are some beautiful mountains and lots of really cold rain.

I am thinking about my milk supply. Today is Maya's 9 month birthday and my supply has dipped so low I cant keep up.

I am thankful for my beautiful little family and breastfeeding for 9 long months.

I am wearing bright green flannel pants with reindeer on them, trouser socks leftover from work and a Grey long sleeve thin shirt.

I am remembering the days before we had a crying baby. I dont miss them.

I am reading ohhh embarrassing, I dont read much but I got Ed Begleys book Living Like Ed from the library. Im checking it out...

On my mind I wish Maya would stop crying because of separation anxiety.

Pondering these words eat more oatmeal and dark beer, it helps your milk supply.

From the kitchen Its dirty I cant even imagine my kitchen right now.

Around the house its cramped but finally looks like something that resembles the both of us.

Email, Talk, Shop

2009-11-15T21:00:00.006-05:00

Now where did I leave off? Oh yea right here....

So I sent that message to Dru, known then as Ton.ka. The very next day to my surprise she wrote me back. Her email was long and descriptive. She explained to me that there was a bunch of stuff to do around there and gave me names of places to see. I was delighted that she took the time to write me back and to be thorough. Hmmm I thought what a NICE girl. lol.

Her email made me laugh, it made me laugh so much I wrote her back with the hopes of making HER laugh too. We went back and forth for days on myspace email but didn't know much else about each other in the real world. One day I noticed her top friend changed to some girl and it said she was in a relationship.....I didn't let that bug me too much and I just kept writing. I was so happy to be engaging in fun conversation with someone, even though it was online. I had moved to this distant ( 700 miles away ) city where I knew only a couple of people. Chit chatting with Ton.ka was great. I thought wow finally A FRIEND.

So fast forward a month and I look at Ton.ka's myspace page and lo and behold I am her top friend and that girl is erased from her page. I thought whoa I made TOP FRIEND status. LOL. I realize now how silly that was. At this point we were still emailing back and forth and she asked for my phone number....I gladly gave it to her and we went on to have many long late night conversations that blew my mind. I loved staying up late and talking to her even though I had to be at work at 6:30am the next day. I didnt mind one bit!

One day she called and asked if I wanted to meet in person. MEET IN PERSON I thought, oh god I am way too fat and nerdy I cant do that! I told my friend Matt about Ton.ka and he said and I quote "Girl, you need to live a little, have fun and most of all do what makes YOU happy." So I took his advice and we agreed on a date! I told Matt about the upcoming date and we went out shopping for a new outfit to wear on my very first DATE. YES it was really my FIRST date. In the past I just became peoples girl friend and we never really went out...there was no date.

So Matt and I went to the mall where I tried on umpteen million pairs of jeans, boots and shirts. It was the middle of winter, how does a girl look super cute in bulky winter clothes?? I choose a $120.00 pair of black boots, some black vintage jeans and a black low cut sweater. That was the most I had ever spent on clothes. I was sooo nervous. We decided to have her meet me at my house ( I had a male roommate so I felt safe doing that ) and we would go out to Bucca Di Beppo's. She told me she had a big ole Black Dodge Ram Truck that was lifted and probably too tall for me to get into without help. I thought oh my god what did I get myself into! ha ha

Ok enough for now, more to come =o)

Time goes by....

2009-11-11T21:02:00.003-05:00

Ah father time, where did you go...every time I look for you I realize how fast you leave me and I get so sad! haha

I've been trying to muster up the strength to write up our story. I had originally planned to blog 90 days of our life.....We had NO plans, NO money, NO idea what we were doing when I came up with that concept.

I thought it would have been fun to go through the creative process of reinventing our lives. It all happened way too fast and well all I can do now if tell you the story of how we ended up here.

First I will start off with how I got to Carolina. I work in IT and had a great job in my hometown ( although not the only place I've lived ) Ft Lauderdale. It was fine and dandy until one day a few years ago our company got bought out. They handed me an offer to move to Charlotte and without much question I went with it. I signed the offer letter on my birthday. I did a little research on Charlotte and from afar it seemed cool. I visited the area ONCE.. ( FIRST MISTAKE ). I was moving with a few coworkers, my two male best friends being part of the move, so I was content. At this point I was single and thought hey what do I have to lose! My new company wanted me to move days before Xmas. I should have realized that was a sign. None of my family could come up with me except my cousin who could only spend a few days. I was sooooo very lonely.

One cold ( VERY cold for a Floridian ) night I turned on my Powerbook and decided to look on Myspace. I check out every lesbian within 50 miles of Charlotte and one caught my eye....she was dressed in a football uniform and her profile was so outgoing. The total and complete opposite of me! I am introverted, shy and do a lot of thinking inward. SO I decide to write this girl and ask her what cool things I should explore. At this point I was just looking for SOMETHING to do, I was bored, lost, lonely and just trying to meet friends. Ya it didnt hurt she was really hot. This was before I went on facebook so myspace wasnt a cliche yet. It seemed reasonably normal at that point!

Ok thats just a start but I hope to keep this story going......

Two views.

2009-11-01T14:48:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to share two things..

one is this awesome website for working moms who are breastfeeding. I am struggling with keeping up but determined to keep going!

http://www.workandpump.com/

and

this view...

School days...

2009-10-27T20:32:00.005-04:00

We just got the paperwork to enroll maya in a 5 star child care center here in town. There are huge waiting lists all around town and we are very very lucky to get a spot.

Our little girl is going off to school starting next week! Its bittersweet, she needs the social interactions and to be around other babies her age. The ratio is 3:8 which is awesome and the teachers have degrees in child development. What a hard thing to do and I have dreaded it but were lucky to get such a great center.

Ok on to the fun stuff. Check these out!

Runny nose better go catch it!

2009-10-20T19:57:00.004-04:00

Our whole house woke up with runny noses and just feeling S I C K. Poor Mema ( Maya's nickname) has just been upset and pouring boogers out of her face. Technically this isnt the first time she had a cold, she had one when she was 3 months old and we went to the beach for a vacation. All three of us got sick then but this time it seems that baba and mema are feeling this worse than I am. I hate seeing my little one not feeling good nothing sooths her except boob.

That leads me to my next though...

Maya is 8 months old now! She just passed her 8 month birthday! how awesome is that!!!!! She is crawling FAST now and standing up, its ADORABLE. She has a second tooth coming in now too!

Oh and that means I have been boob feeding for 8 months too. PAT PAT on my back if I do say so myself.....We have no plans on stopping anytime soon!

OK back to the not feeling so good thing. This morning we went into the bathroom and blasted the water and just sat in the warm steam. Its freezing out so it wasn't too hot just nice and warm and helped clear our sinuses. We may have to do that again tonight Maya just got up from an impromptu nap and her nose is just leaking. Any tips?

Hope you are having a great night!

and here is some art work from our new town....just another reason why we love it here!

Earthfare parking lot.

2009-10-18T11:12:00.001-04:00

Baby wearing is one of my favorite things!

one word

2009-10-13T21:07:00.000-04:00

hair

<3 Giveaways!

2009-10-08T17:25:00.004-04:00

A few things....

one is this!

http://johnandstevearehavingababy.blogspot.com/2009/09/hot-daddyhot-mama-giveaway.html

ENTERRRRRR and try to win. TOTALLY AWESOME BLOG!

Second..a tooth!

and my cloth diaper model ....

were trying chinese prefolds n bummi's! i like em so far!

We moved!

2009-10-05T23:12:00.003-04:00

So much to update but not enough time!

I am exhausted. I quit my crappy corporate job ( been there over 5 years ) and we took our life savings and moved to another city.

Not just another city, a more GAY friendly city...lots of other gay families.

Its an awesome eclectic mix of different people. MUCH more culture than stinky ole charlotte.

This city is so welcoming our neighbor left brownies on our doorstep.

Its just beautiful...

here are some pics of our front yard.

\

we will post more soon!

Another recall.

2009-09-24T16:39:00.000-04:00

Another recall, please check your cabinets..

A voluntary recall of several infant and children's Tylenol has been announced by the drug company, McNeil Consumer Healthcare. Twenty-one Tylenol products had been identified, due to possible contamination of one of the inactive ingredients used for making the drug. The recall was issued on September 18, 2009, for products manufactured between April 2008 and June 2008.

Examination of bulk raw material found the ingredient did not meet their internal testing requirements. The gram-negative bacteria Burkholderia cepacia (B. cepacia) was detected. No bacteria has been detected in finished products, but the recall was issued as a precaution.

Research shows that infection with B. cepacia has been reported after individuals have used pharmaceutical products such as nasal sprays and mouthwash that have been contaminated with the bacteria. Possible adverse effects related to infection with B. cepacia can be serious in patients considered to be high risk, such as those who have pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, or whose immune systems are otherwise compromised.

Here is the list of 21 recalled products and lot numbers:

Children's TYLENOL® Plus Cold MS Suspension 4 oz. Grape

SBM041, SBM067, SCM037, SDM027, SEM109

Children's TYLENOL® Suspension 4oz. Grape

SBM042, SCM015, SCM036, SDM034

Children's TYLENOL® Suspension 4oz. Bubble Gum

SBM043, SBM044, SCM029

Children's TYLENOL® Suspension 4oz. Strawberry

SBM045, SCM011, SCM030, SDM035

Infants' TYLENOL® Grape Suspension Drops 1/4oz.

SBM064, SCM033, SDM020

Infants' TYLENOL® Suspension 1/2oz. Cherry

SBM065, SCM005, SCM006, SDM032

Children's TYLENOL® Dye Free Suspension 4oz. Cherry

SBM066, SCM068

Children's TYLENOL® Suspension 4oz. Cherry

SBM068, SCM035, SCM070, SCM080, SDM005

Children's TYLENOL® Plus Cough & Runny Nose 4oz. Cherry

SBM069, SBM070, SCM081, SDM006

Infants' TYLENOL® Suspension Drops 1/2oz. Grape

SCM012, SCM067, SDM007, SDM068

Children's TYLENOL® Plus Flu 4oz. Bubble Gum

SCM013, SCM014, SCM069

Children's TYLENOL® Plus Cold Suspension 4oz. Grape

SCM016, SFM024

Children's TYLENOL® Plus Cough/ST Suspension 4oz. Cherry

SCM017

Infants' TYLENOL® Suspension Drops 1oz. Grape

SCM082, SDM039, SDM040

Infants' TYLENOL® Dye Free Suspension 1oz. Cherry

SCM083, SCM084, SDM008

Children's TYLENOL® Pediatric Suspension 1oz. Cherry

SDM064

Infants' TYLENOL® Suspension Drops 1oz. Cherry

SDM038, SDM009

Children's TYLENOL® Plus Cold/Allergy 4oz. Bubble Gum

SDM033

Infants' TYLENOL® Drops 1oz. Grape

SDM078

Infants' TYLENOL® Grape Suspension Drops H/G 1/2oz.

SCM034

Children's TYLENOL® Suspension 4oz. Cherry, Hospital Govt.

SDM028

Individuals can contact McNeil Customer Care Center at 1-800-962-5357.

Here is the official recall announcement. It contains information on the lot numbers of recalled products. Lot numbers can be found on the bottom of the box and also on the sticker that surrounds the bottle.

RECALLS

2009-09-23T16:49:00.007-04:00

Tonka heard maya choking yesterday and grabbed her and found a piece of silver stuff going down her throat. She pulled it out and it was a damn piece of a new Taggie toy we got her at a very famous baby consignment shop.

We made sure maya was ok and that she didnt swallow more by matching up the piece to what was missing. Our poor little girl vomited all over herself but was ok.

This is the toy..

Taggie Toy

Turns out the consignment shop sold us a NEW RECALLED toy..recalled a year or so ago.

3 other children have also choked on this piece.

We complained and the mgr said they dont sell recalled stuff, they check it through a database...in this case a new girl didnt put the name in right so it didnt come up.

What a scare and thank god our beautiful girl is ok. We were sitting right next to her when this happened ( we never leave her unattended ).

They asked if we want a refund..um no....what we wanted is for you to never ever sell another recalled toy again.

Lesson learned, we will check every toy, not just the ones we buy or get from friends.....this place told us they wouldnt sell a recalled toy and they did. WE HAVE TO CHECK THEM...as parents we have to look out for our little ones because it seems no one else is!

GRR.

Teething Fairy

2009-09-13T19:36:00.005-04:00

Maya has been extremely fussy this week. She has also been biting my boob REALLY hard. I couldn't really pin point what was going on with her. I know she was running a slight fever a few times this week but I didn't really think anything except teething.

Well Tonka just checked her mouth and low and behold she has her FIRST TOOTH! Its broken through and its on the bottom. Its SOOOOOO cute.

I cant believe our girl is growing up so fast!

Here are some pics I took today in the car.

Also we have a big move to announce soon so stay tuned!

Hugs to River and Raene's family, Cedar is home from the hospital!!!!!!

Prayers.

2009-09-03T13:19:00.003-04:00

I have so many things I want to post about.

First I want to say please pray and send healing thoughts to Raene and River's little girl Cedar.

http://riverraene.blogspot.com/

When I am having a bad day I have to keep things in perspective and remember that I should be grateful for each and every moment I have on this earth.

I have a lot more to post about but time just keeps flying. xo

Thank you to Allison Fowler~!

2009-08-25T23:12:00.002-04:00

Maya got her first professional photos from our good friend Allison~!

Allison's Webpage

Thank you Aunt Allison! They came out BEAUTIFUL!

Whalefit.

2009-08-17T22:07:00.004-04:00

More pics of Maya in her WHALEfit PJ's that Grandma got her while she was here!

YO YO Homey...

Food is great.

2009-08-17T19:28:00.009-04:00

So many big changes coming our way! We have some announcements to make BUT have to wait until a few more details are settled before we spill the beans.

I was just reading up on a few of my favorite baby blogs and came across this link. Weelicious . This is an awesome site that shares recipes for moms who like to make food for their WEE one. Maya has just started baby food, well by just started i mean she is going on about 4 weeks of food tastings so far.

She has tried..

Organic Baby Cereal, once a day every day 5 days a week along with her 3 boob milk bottles throughout the day.

Organic Pears, Winter Squash, Bananas and Sweet Potato! YUM.

She has also had a tiny bit of water ( made her have green poo ewww ! ) and DRUM ROLL PLEASE..

Yes I let my baby taste pickles. Everyone was shocked but I did it, and she LOVVVED it.

Another good baby food site is This. I'm also learning about Baby Led Weaning, but like I said learning....

Currently we are using this seat for a high chair and LOVE it...

It's the Chicco Hippo seat, Maya is still a wee bit small for it but it works!

I just came across this ARTICLE on Green and Clean Mom's website...and I'll be damned..I didnt realize Melamine is the same crap that was hurting babies in china's baby formula.....

WAKE UP PEOPLE.....plastic is the devil.

ok ok, enough bitching...

Tomorrow marks Maya's 6 month birthday AND I get a 6 month ribbon for still breastfeeding and pumping. Can I get an AMEN! lol. Damn...wow.

A cute video from a month ago..

Family Days

2009-08-11T21:54:00.004-04:00

I've been a bad blogger ! The only reason I am able to post today is I was out of work sick with some kind of crazy bug. I feel better but only after sleeping about 20 hours.

I've been trying to catch up on some blogs and came across this Family Style Love Post.

We ended up ordering our own kit and could not believe FSL's findings! This type of stuff has been so disheartening to me lately. Between that, all the BPA nonsense we keep finding out and things like the movie Food, Inc. its just making me loose my mind! Ok so maybe not loose my mind but it gives me way too much to think about.

Now on to some good news! My parents have all finally met Maya! My Mom and niece came last week and my Dad and my Step-mom the week before. It felt great for my family members to finally meet her.

Here are a few new pics of Miss Maya.

Awesome Baby

2009-07-16T22:16:00.000-04:00

Yeah I said it.

2009-07-16T13:06:00.003-04:00

I just did my rounds through a few blogs while on lunch of all the cute preggos out there and felt sad ( happy for them of course!) .....I miss being pregnant...

Even with the inslulin dependent diabetes, having to find a bathroom to shoot my insulin up in while going out to dinner, giant feet, groin pain, swelling, achy back, epidural wearing off during c section surgery, forced c section, the dr's leaving me alone in the surgery room, giant 8cm fibroid blocking the baby, worrying about her, NST's every damn week and 53 ultrasounds because they were worried about her.....

It is still an experience that sits in my mind, in this little spot thats reserved for the most special memories....

Happy July 4th!

2009-07-07T22:07:00.004-04:00

The old days.

2009-07-03T12:24:00.009-04:00

I was just reading through a ton of new blogs I fell into and I started thinking about little Maya and the journey it took for us to conceive. I remember all those days before we got our positive test where I would just cry in frustration, get angry at stupid things my family would say and overall just have a negative attitude about it. I also remember that one day where I took one of those Internet cheapie tests and saw this faint pink line. Then I left that test on the counter not really thinking it was a BFP...must have been a crap test. The next day at work I peed on a stick in the nasty bathroom stall at work. This bathroom is always full of people but this time there was no one at all. When I saw the plus on the stick I screamed in pure excitement. I cried, I called Tonka from the stall and couldn't believe what was before my very eyes.

Now, more than a year after we found out we were pregnant I have this freaking awesome 4.5 month old who changed our lives.

Just feeling a little nostalgic.

I sometimes think I want another baby but feel that would be selfish of me and that my body cant handle another one. Im just trying to enjoy these moments right now with Maya..she is growing so fast. I cant believe she is over 2 feet long already!

Citizen Science Projects

2009-06-29T16:13:00.003-04:00

I was reading my new favorite magazine (the paper not electronic version!) Mothering the other day and came across a great article. It was about Citizen Science Projects (referred to as CSP’s in this article). This was a new concept to me and I was delighted to see that something like this existed. I love anything that can help spark folk’s interest in volunteering. For those of you who have never heard of CSP’s before here is the official Wiki definition:

Citizen science is a term used for projects or ongoing program of scientific work in which individual volunteers or networks of volunteers, many of whom may have no specific scientific training, perform or manage research-related tasks such as observation, measurement or computation.

The article discussed how you can integrate CSP’s with your family time and anyone from any age group can participate. You get to spend time outdoors and do something food for the earth. To get started you figure out what your family likes to do in regards to the outdoors. If your family loves to spend time on beaches you look for CSP’s that are ocean related. Choosing a topic that is close to the heart will keep everyone interested. Choosing a topic can also help you learn more about a given subject and be able to participate in the growth of data that’s being collected. CSP’s have varying time commitments so be sure to chose one that fits your ability to work with them. The article goes on to say be sure and explain the CSP’s purpose to your kids so they understand what they will be doing and have fun with it!

The awesome aspect of CSP’s is it can make volunteering fun and interesting all while learning. You get to feel like a real scientist and possibly expose your kids (or groups of kids from a volunteer organization) to something they may enjoy in the future. As I was reading the article it was like a light bulb went off in my head and I realized this would be an awesome way to connect with nature too.

Here’s a list of some useful websites in regards to CSP’s:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=708

http://www.edutopia.org/getting-started-on-going-green

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/stories/be-a-citizen-scientist-in-2009

I thought it would be awesome to spread the word on something that is both positive and fun!

Sustain

2009-06-26T21:09:00.001-04:00

My new favorite website.

http://www.sustainlane.com

They have sooo much info from rankings by city on sustainability to green jobs. Check em out!

Abner.

2009-06-23T21:09:00.003-04:00

Our little girl is sooo flippen cool. I swear I never met a kid more layed back and awesome. Tomorrow she goes to the dr for shots ( GASP ) and her weight check. My guess is she is almost 15 lbs. We looked at some of her birth photos today and we cant believe how much she has grown.

Some of her new things:

Rolling over, confidentally..and all the time!

Trying to get her knees up to crawl...close but still working on it.

Putting her arms up for us to pick her up. This is soo cute.

Babbling and talking a lot. She says the word Abner repetedly lol. We think she is asking for her toy elephant.

Laughing. AT US...lol

Teething and drooling buckets.

I am STILL breasfeeding and pumping!! yay....She has had only one TBL spoon of formula so far! I work FT so this has been hard but totally worth it. Tomorrow we guess that the dr will allow us to start her on pureed fruits and stuff. We will see!

We love you Maya Papaya!

Happy 4 Months!

2009-06-18T11:26:00.002-04:00

Happy 4 month birthday Miss Maya Isabel!~

We love you!

Rolling Over!

2009-06-15T20:27:00.003-04:00

Maya is actively rolling over now, it seems like overnight she just "grew up"...every day she does something new and its so amazing. She rolls over all the time and hates laying on her back.

She is also eating her feet now and thats cute but gross ha.

She isnt even technically 4 months old. My little baby Genius. hahahha

Our Beauty

2009-06-12T15:45:00.001-04:00

We couldnt have asked for a more perfect sweet baby.

Time after time.

2009-05-21T08:57:00.003-04:00

Last night on AI Cyndi Lauper was on. She sang "Time after Time" with Allison. I LOVED this song as a little girl.

What a beautiful moment....

I sat with Maya and held her and rocked her while singing it to her. She seemed to just relax in my arms and really listen to me sing.

I know my voice is not that great but I hope my singing made her feel comforted and happy. Maybe she will remember me singing to her and it will be a happy memory for her.

What a beautiful little girl.

Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick, and think of you caught up in circles confusion-- is nothing new Flashback--warm nights-- almost left behind suitcases of memories, time after-- sometimes you picture me-- I'm walking too far ahead you're calling to me, I can't hear what you've said-- Then you say--go slow-- I fall behind-- the second hand unwinds chorus: if you're lost you can look--and you will find me time after time if you fall I will catch you--I'll be waiting time after time after my picture fades and darkness has turned to gray watching through windows--you're wondering if I'm OK secrets stolen from deep inside the drum beats out of time-- chorus: if you're lost... you said go slow-- I fall behind the second hand unwinds-- chorus: if you're lost... ...time after time time after time time after time time after time

This baby makes us smile always.

2009-05-19T23:14:00.001-04:00

Maya is greatness.

Weekends...

2009-05-17T20:26:00.002-04:00

We had a pretty good weekend dispite it raining all weekend. Here are some pics of us and the baby and some of her in her fuzzi bunz! ( which we love so far)

The bottle game.

2009-05-14T10:23:00.003-04:00

I think its safe to say we have won the bottle game. I heard from so many moms in regards to buying bottles and trying tons that their baby didnt like. My cousin warned me that she spent sooo much money only to have her baby like one bottle. We tried to limit ourselves and only buy one of each kind to try.

At first we had some NUK..
http://www.gerber.com/Products/NUK_Wide_Neck_Bottles_Nipples.aspx

Those were the ONLY ones she liked but we kept having issues with the nipples. The slow flow ones werent slow enough after a while and maya was choking a lot. We bought new bottles, they said they came with slow flow and well they werent.....

So we put some Soothies in our shopping cart and moved on...

http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Soothie-oz-Bottles/dp/B000BM8FRC

We liked these but were also duped by the nipples...package said slow flow and that wasnt the case..

Why didnt we just buy more nipples? Well we did, then we realized were spending too much money on parts for bottles that didnt really work.

Of course them being BPA free were the most important thing and also her not choking which drinking.

All of these were the 4 oz models....Next our good friends at
http://wannabeearthmamas.blogspot.com/ and http://purpleshellybeans.blogspot.com/ both recommended the playtex drops in. We tried them and maya still liked the NUK but we hated it!

Then for some reason she just started REALLY liking the drop ins, the original brown nipple ones...

http://www.playtexbaby.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?id=1009

and has been using those ever since. They are easy to clean but I hate that they make trash with the drop ins. I guess the trade off is Maya doesnt choke and they are pretty inexpensive if you buy the target brand drop ins instead of the actual playtex brand.

We had also tried the ventaires and they didnt work for maya either. I think we spend about 30 bucks total in bottles and have a good stash of the drop ins right now. 4 - 4 oz bottles pretty much covers the day while Im at work and then after she gets ninnie. We bought some extra nips for the bottles and that has helped too.

Basically, not all bottles work for all babies and its trial and error. I just want to help others understand that even though you want that super cute bottle that you love your baby may not! Your pockets will thank you if you keep this in mind and dont go overboard too.

Pull our your hair.

2009-05-12T15:17:00.002-04:00

Why is it my life got more stressful once I decided on living a more earth friendly healthy lifestyle? I just realized that last night. When I shop i now put so much time and research into the items I buy I end up stressed out and my hair falls out...ok the hair thing is post pregnancy hormones but its no fun to grab your hair and then it all fall out.

Anyhow, I wanted to share this link...

https://www.uddercovers.com/index2.php

If you use code freeone you can get a free ninnie cover for just the shipping. The colors are now limited but its a great deal!

Sweethearts.

2009-05-05T19:19:00.000-04:00

Two of my most favorite pics...

Motherhood

2009-05-01T13:18:00.009-04:00

Ok I know I know, I am one of those moms who just oogles over her baby and says she is the cutest most prettiest baby ever....But its true.

Pics!

In this one she is like oh god mom leave me alone already.

Then I started acting like I was smelling her feet and they stunk. She was smiling so big.

She loves to take baths in the sink. This time we messed up her hair and gave her a spikey do.

I love this girl. She is so amazing. For real, nothing is greater than motherhood.

Pics and fun.

2009-04-26T16:42:00.004-04:00

Maya has graduated to her crib and she loves it. Gosh time is just flying....

This weekend I breastfed in:

The car at a funky restaurant...it was too hot ( we ate on the patio with friends ) and maya was overheating, took her into the car and put the ac on and she was so happy.

In the locker room at a swim meet.

I love feeding my kid. She smiles so big and when she sees the ninnie coming her way hahaha.

Heres some new pics, I was hiding them because I sent them to my mom for her bday but she got them and now I can share.

9 week visit

2009-04-22T14:39:00.002-04:00

The dr didnt have the 3 - in 1 shot today which is what I wanted her to have for her vaccines. BOO! to the dr damnit.

She had to get a shot in each leg and the oral stuff.

They said she is 22 3/4 inches long now and 11.5 lbs which is smaller than I guessed. I used my scale to weigh her and it said 13 LMAO....ok ok, she isnt that big but 11.5lbs aint too bad!

She is in the 50th and 75th percentile too!

Momma Tonka did so great, I had to be at work so she took Maya to the dr alone. I was sad but knowing she was taken care of so great eases my mind while at work.

I cant wait to get home and cuddle her.

We give up.

2009-04-21T07:47:00.005-04:00

Yep, were giving up on the GDiapers.

Some of our qualms...

The fit, Maya doesn't "fit" right in them...we have to close them VERY TIGHT to get them to not have areas where she can leak. We don't mind a little leaking but its never a small amount. Maya pees a ton and its not containing it well. We feel like the diapers are squeezing her and when she sits up her belly hangs way over the diaper while the velcro waistband seems to pinch her pretty tightly. We hate the fit. Maya is wide so maybe that's the issue.

Finding cloth inserts.....We bought some from etsy, we've use the flushable inserts, nada...It just doesn't seem to work. The flushables are too expensive for us. I am tired of buying more and more stuff while having to still use my favorite disposable all the time to compensate.

Having them ready, this is NOT the lazy mans diaper. I didn't mind the extra work but I felt like all I did was prepare the damn G's even though we didn't use them exclusively. We used them all day yesterday and Maya seemed fussy all day. Coincidence maybe.

Now I think that G's are totally cute and love the way they "look" ....we even tye dyed one and its freaking adorable.

What diaper are we using? Natures Babycare natural disposables. They work really well. She doesn't leak. She is wearing a size 2 now and they fit perfect. They are not soft like swaddlers but they aren't card board like Seventh Generation. They are kind of in-between. I'm still researching the info about these diapers because Ive seen they are 100% biodegradable and they are 60% biodegradable....The package is even biodegradable. They contain no chlorine and no plastic and they are breathable so we get no butt rash. They seem to be working for now so lets see how it goes!

Id really love to find an inexpensive cloth diaper though so we can exclusively cloth...but I don't know if that's going to happen.

Cost comparison:

Gdiapers are costing us .34 cents a piece if we use the disposable inserts.
Natures Babycare are costing us .27 cents a piece.

At .7 cents a savings per diapers and about 10 diapers a day. That's .70 cents a day! At about 21 bucks a month saving, plus the extra woops times that Maya pees on a diaper when we change her I think its about a $25.00 a month savings.

Now compare the Natures Babycare to a regular disposable and it really is more expensive to use a more eco-friendly diaper.

Luvs - are about 14 cents a diaper here but I dont believe those fall into our eco-friendly mind frame.

We really like to go as natural as we can.

Maya is awesome.

2009-04-15T21:44:00.006-04:00

What a freaking smart little girl!!!!!!!!!! She has the hiccups its so cute.

This picture is maya and her nanaw in Sparta. Its one of my most favorite pictures.

We found out today we can do the second parent adoption in NC. We are so happy and relieved...we thought we werent going to be able to do it because of lack of laws here...Seems its done a few counties over.....YES!

boo!

2009-04-14T21:37:00.002-04:00

I go back to work tomorrow. I need to get my head on straight or else this is going to be seriously tough.

We took maya to the Mint museum to see the Andy Warhol exhibit. She was awesome and her favorite part was the tea pots and stuff in the room down the hall from Andy. lol. Ok I dont know which part was her favorite Im just guessing.

I love you miss maya....I love you more than the stars, more than the circumference of the earth times 1 trillion...

Thankfully my wife is a stay at home parent so no daycare....Everyone wish her luck with her new daytime gig...full time stay at home mommy. Thank god we have a web cam so I can see them both during the day. I will just keep chanting that over and over......

-danielle

Our lovely.

2009-04-12T22:54:00.001-04:00

The video is dark but you can check out our little lovely in action. This is the Baby Einstein play thingy that our friends B& A gave us. We were so surprised she let us put her in it! lol.

The gays.

2009-04-08T20:54:00.001-04:00

Anyone know the answer to this question....

DC now recognizes same sex marriage...

does this mean if you get a regular job in DC and have benefits and are married in a legal gay marriage state......your employer in DC has to allow your wife on your benefits plan since its legal?

HMMM.

Fun days with Maya

2009-04-06T23:12:00.009-04:00

Ohh the countdown to going back to work has begun. BOOO!

We took Maya out yesterday and had chinese food and then went to T'arget.

While at the store we needed diapers and got the Nature's Baby brand again. We like it but she is in between a size 1 and 2 and we got the 2's finally but we arent sure if they are wide enough for her. They are great though and she never gets diaper rash with them because they breathe.

Chinese food and babies = fun

Egg roll time! LMAO..NOT!

Here she is with her fortune cookie....hehe

Who doesnt love posing their sleeping baby with food and other fun object.

T'arget and shopping = fun until baby projectile vomits on wife in car.

Poor Tonka took her out to the car to feed her a bottle of boo.bie milk while she was waiting on me and bam...it happened.

Always a good mama! look at all that spit up.

And of course bath time is awesome now that we have this new sponge thing to put her in. We have two baths but no counter space to put them on!

OUR BEAUTY

Pics

2009-03-31T19:03:00.003-04:00

Just some cute pics, one of her thinking while she is sleeping, one crying with her pretty dress on, one of her "sleeping" in her mamaws bed and one of her just sleeping looking sooooooo beautiful.

Reliving the Birth.

2009-03-29T22:18:00.006-04:00

Im feeling nostalgic and since Miss Maya is growing so fast I wanted to get all of this out of my head finally.

Our Birth Story.

Everything was pretty normal except.....The dr came in before the birth telling me it would be a 2 hr wait because of an emergency surgery...Five minutes later they grab me and wheel me in to get the epidural....I thought wow OK I guess no emergency surgery....I didnt say anything I was just anxious to have the baby already..They wheel me down, I go through the doors of the operating room and think...hmm this isnt so bad..its not scary it seems very sterile and kind of calming with the radio on....everyone has a friendly face.......Once in there the "best anesthesiologist" on the east coast ( their words ) came in and started my spinal. He says sit up, hunch over and hold your knees.....While putting it in he hit something ( I felt a stabbing in my back bone ) and my whole left side seared with pain and my left eye went blind with white light...My sight came right back but only to him yelling at me saying what was hurting ( my left side damnit ) and telling me I wasnt sitting right.....OK how the FUCK was I supposed to know that sir....I fall forward off the table into the arms of the nurse anesthetist because of the pain..Thank god she caught me. I was so big although I only gained 16 lbs, I was ALL belly and very heavy in the middle...When I fell over I swore I was going to smack the ground.

SO I get all warm and fuzzy and numb and lay on the table and people come in and start freaking and whispering...Im thinking this numbness is great, this is easy lets do this!!....Finally I say wtf is up and they say Oh the dr isnt ready did you know she had another surgery..I say YES and they say why didnt you tell me..blah blah..well because I was so nervous and I thought you all would know better than me! I thought jesus its not my job to tell you the dr's schedule you should know better.... I asked them will you have to give me another spinal because that was terrible. They said NO it will last....and start yelling at each other saying didnt you know the dr wasnt ready blah blah..GOD people focus! lol.

So here I was lying on the table, wondering how Tonka was doing was she worrying.....feeling maya kick around ready to come out...I could feel pressure but I was numb...I layed on the table alone for over an hour....so many thoughts but most of all is maya ok in there...and where the heck is my wife.....I asked them to at least let her know what was going on so they didnt worry...as the dr walks in Britney Spears TOXIC is on the radio and Im already exhausted from laying there and also the pain from the spinal mess up...Tonka rolls in and were ready....they change the radio to Classic Rock and then begin. The surgery started fine, I could hear her saying there were some issues like the baby was behind a 7 centimeter fibroid and there were a few more smaller fibroids she had to negate through. I could tell she was having to use force to grab the baby and that Maya was curling up in the top of my belly hiding from her. I could feel them touching me but felt NO PAIN...I could wiggle my toes though at least I thought. FINALLY we hear..."oh here are the feet, and the legs, and the belly, its def a girl! and heres the head..." WAHHHHHHHH! She was screaming and perfect...I felt such a sigh of relief...So they take the baby to get her apgar score ( she got an 8 and then a 9 ) and brought her to Amanda to hold..Tonka and I were just in awe she was so little, I couldnt believe the GIANT baby they told me I was having was only 7 lbs and 14 oz......

After a few minutes of hanging with Maya I started eavesdropping and realized they were having some issues. She told two nurses to push ( Im guessing to press on my belly to get the placenta out ) and then the dr cut me more...Now how do I know she cut me more? BECAUSE I FELT HER SLICING ME..Yes, My anesthesia wore off....I was no longer numb. They asked me can you feel pressure or pain and cut me again, I felt pain and started wailing screaming. I tell Tonka I cant even see the baby as she keeps trying to show her to me..the pain was so bad my eyes went blurry. They tell Tonka to get the baby and leave the room and before I could even say anything a mask is on my face and they put me to sleep. I wake up later to them telling me I did great and that I was on my way to seeing my baby. I didnt even know I was knocked out I couldnt remember much....So much for being awake fully for the birth of my baby girl. My 20 minute ( thats what the wall says in the operating room, get them in and out in 20 minutes, its our goal!! ) c section lasted 2.5 hours!

Tonka says she doesnt want me to know what else happened because my memory is so vague from the crap they gave me. I purposely ignored a lot of the banter during my surgery, I knew it wasnt going as planned already and tried to focus on the baby and my wife to relieve my nervousness. I was trying to be strong for them. They did a good job getting me stable and the baby was healthy but I am scared to have another baby and go through that again. I dont want to know what they really did to me, I got to read the operative report and I saw I hemorrhaged twice, I lost 750cc of blood and when she went to close me up the last layer before my skin ( some kind of tissue or muscle I dont recall the name ) was missing so she had to close me up in weird layers. How a pc of me could be missing???? I DONT KNOW....I know I didnt hear everything they said I was so focused on trying to see Maya with my blurred eyes. The operative report was missing some info I knew about so I just dont know the complete story...probably all for the better.

All in all I was just glad to be in the room with my wife and kid, they plopped maya on my boob while I was still in and out of conscienceless and that was awesome...I was glad she got to feed.

The few days in the hospital ( 4 total with one extra because of the bad surgery ) was great. Everyone was nice and maya breastfed pretty ok for the most part. Tonka stayed with us all day and night and her parents and sisters and nieces and nephews all came to visit plus our besties Anna and Ben with their baby. I felt so calm once Maya was born, I worried so much for 9 months with my diabetes and high BP and bed rest, It was just a joy to have her in my arms. We decided not to have her frenulum cut for breastfeeding after consulting a pediatrician in the hospital. Other than that.....she was TRULY PERFECT.

My scar healed great and is barely noticeable. I do have numbness still and my bottom belly is distended from the fibroids in my uterus. I can also tell she sewed me up weird when I walk I can feel the big fibroid being tugged. At my post partum visit they did tell me I need a partial hysterectomy soon but to think about having another baby before they do it. I thought had the dr lost her mind telling me to get pregnant again? We arent even sure if we want to birth another child because of this experience. We may adopt but then again the dr also tried to push B.irth control on me too at the visit. Obviously she didnt remember I was a big gay married woman! LOL.

Thats the gist of my story, every birth doesnt go as planned. God knows I wanted an unmedicated natural birth but that didnt happen. I think personally I did great for being so scared and having so many bumps along the way and Maya is perfect and healthy and its all we could ask for. Id never had surgery before ( I had my adenoids out and tubes inserted but that isnt major ) nor any other hospital related thing so this whole experience was new to me. Im just glad its over and now almost 6 weeks later I look back and cringe at some of the details but thank my lucky stars for this beautiful little girl.

Maya.

2009-03-24T17:20:00.003-04:00

I love when I am BFeeding maya and she takes her little feet and wraps them around my elbow....or sometimes she just caresses my arms with her toes while she is feeding.

God it is beautiful.

She is so perfect and wonderful and amazing....

This kid is our life.

I feel soooo blessed to have our little one and Ive got my Fingers crossed for all of you out there trying......its just so amazing once they arrive.

I had my 5 week post partum visit today and everything went well. My uterus is still distended because of my giant fibroid but otherwise Im doing great. Ive lost a total of 30 lbs with 13 of that being from my pre pregnancy weight. Tonka and I are doing our own biggest looser and I must say were doing great!

I just took a disco nap so Im pretty coherent right now. lol.

2009-03-23T17:06:00.004-04:00

I turned in my hospital rental breast pump today and it was bittersweet. Happy to get off the cow pump but I still have a little one where I use it to do one boo.b at a time...a med.ela sw.ing...It worked better than the Med.ela Sym.phony I had rented! Its faster ( even if you have to pump each one separate ).

I go back to work on April 15th and dont know really how I will continue to pump at work. We have a gym locker room they will allow me to pump in but Im not really comfy with that. All of our offices are glass so I cant do that too. HMMMMMMM.

Sling

2009-03-20T17:21:00.004-04:00

Oh maya feels so much better...further proof that babies are unpredictable and you never know what mood they will be in that day..or moment...

We had eye dr appts today and she did so great! we even made it out to each lunch at our favorite pan.era..YAY.

Tonight were going to go get a wedding gift for a wedding tomorrow and that should be fun too. We will get to introduce everyone at my job to maya tomorrow.

We got our breathable bumper for the crib today ( a gift from my grandma ) and thats awesome...were going to move the crib into our room maybe. She has been sleeping in the cosleeper.

Oh and Im officially a baby wearer..YAY!

Sorry about the my.space bathroom shot..Tonka was at work LOL.

Its a beautiful day here...hope you all are having a great one. xo

No Sleep.

2009-03-19T17:17:00.002-04:00

Maya was up all night.....being up with a baby crying all night is like this......you go through cycles of pure exhaustion.....your eyes are heavy while you hold the baby up to nurse....she feels heavy and wiggly.....You can barely walk away to pee and your baby cries for no reason, she is fed, clean, burped, new diaper, given gas drops.....nothing soothes her..not even laying on your chest where its nice and warm. There is NOTHING you can do........she wakes herself up every two minutes screaming and ANY noise wakes her.....normally she sleeps through the loudest noises.

It used to be a fun "treat" to stay up late with Tonka, we would be all giddy and feel like rebels staying up to pig out and watch bad tv. Even staying out with friends was fun once in a while even though were like an old couple of farts.

Now we both look like zombies and maya just sits up bright eyed staring at us like ENTERTAIN ME MOMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today she had her 1 month visit...she weighs 9lbs and 9oz and is 21 inches long...what a beautiful big girl.

Are you ready?

2009-03-17T10:47:00.002-04:00

TV does no justice to how hard it is to take care of a baby. See Ive never really known anyone who had a kid, none of my friends I am close to had a little baby although some had older kids ( adopted ect )...Ive never really been around a baby for more than 15 minutes or so when we had maya....I did babysit our good friends baby a few times to practice and well she was so sweet, never cried ect...........

Having a baby is a huge life change.....They are unpredictable, they cry a lot, they consume almost every minute of your life, they eat poop and pee about 100 times a day. Once you have one you will not be able to take any more long showers unless your partner is kind enough to give you 15 minutes to do so and you will be scrubbing spilled milk off yourself the whole time instead of standing in the hot dreamy water...You wont be able to plan elaborate sweet dinners for just the two of you unless she is sleeping......and forget sex.y times.....that aint happening either.

Before maya came along amanda and I reveled in each other, we spend every moment together and still do......we made each other dinners, went "fiddle farting" around town to kill time and planned lots and lots of vacations..even if they were just a day to get away together.

Before maya our bank accounts were filled with debits from restaurants...stores from shopping all the time and buying everyone gifts....little places likes the zoo or some off the wall tourist place to visit.

Of course we still have the same bills now after the birth except add on about 30,000 in medical bills.....from the birth.

Having a baby is such a selfless decision and yet you cant even encompass what all goes into it...you just see the end result a little happy cuddly baby to hold on to and think hmmm, yeah I can do that....

Babies are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, they can help nudge you into realizing some great things about yourself....BUT they are the hardest work you will ever come across. There isnt anything easy about this part of your life once they come along, well except smiling at them when they smile at you....that comes really really easy.....

Having a baby is such a HUGE decision, some of us go through rigorous in.fer.tility treatments just to have the chance to have a baby....some of us go through horrid pregnancies where your perfect birth flies out the window....see the unpredictable part starts before they even get here...some of us having perfect pregnancies and births and then once the baby comes...reality sets in....The first time you say " I have no time to myself" out loud you will laugh at yourself and realize how dumb that sounds coming out of a new mothers mouth...because this aint about YOU...

Its about a beautiful little bambina that kept you and your other half up ALL NIGHT for no reason whatsoever....

YUM

2009-03-16T21:46:00.002-04:00

I just sent my wife out for ice cream. Earlier she said she had a sweet tooth for which I replied..."WERE ON A DIET"...then I took a nap and I guess reality of set in and I wanted ice cream. She ran out to get us some....without complaining. I know I really dont NEED ice cream..but I WANT ice cream.

Tomorrows another day, to start eating BETTER.....and for us to loose weight. Maybe we will do our own BIGGET LOOSER! lol.

Maybe.

~Bath Times~

2009-03-16T17:15:00.007-04:00

I just changed my my.space account from "expecting" to "proud parent"...I realize..wow Im a PARENT. How crazy. I saw a pic of myself pregnant and thought...awe........when was that? Its almost a month since I had her and I somehow forget all the craziness of my pregnancy. I do remember talking to her, tapping my belly, loving her before she even got here...She is so freaking awesome I swear.....I look at her and I just smile...I can be feeling terrible but as soon as I look at her...I smile and feel great...Tonka too, her face lights up when she sees 0ur beautiful daughter.

Here are some more pics! She turns one month this wednesday, my how time flies....Her umbilical cord finally fell off so we are able to use our g.diapers now!

3 weeks~

2009-03-11T23:17:00.012-04:00

Ohhh not enough time in the day....I wish there were more time, or at least I was better at managing my time maybe.....thats hard to say with a 3 week old baby.

YES happy 3 week maya~!

I took a few pics in bed the other day thought Id share....I finally got in some tummy time for her, I kept forgetting and realized ( thanks to kathy! ) that we really needed to get started with it. She did pretty good!

And in her cute PJ's sleeping.

My Life.

2009-03-07T06:15:00.003-05:00

Ok having a baby is H A R D......

My day..

Wake up at 4 ( were lucky maya sleeps from 10 or midnight til 4 am at least ) breast.feed maya. She usually stays up a bit..Change her and she goes back to bed....She wakes up by 7 to feed again so I wake up amanda since I have night duty. Amanda takes her and I sleep for another one or so.

Maya eats every 2 - 3 hours. That means with my ninnie or with a bottle and my breast.milk. I feel like a human cow.

We change her on average 12 times a day. She usually pees about 10 times a day and with that comes lots of poopie smears. Its fun times. Right now she cant use her G diapers because her little umbi cord is still coming off and it wont fit in the diaper so were using disposables. Poor thing..I hate disposables.

Ok so she poops, pees and eats...whats else does she do? Cry...not much but she cries a little. Were so lucky she really is a happy baby, entertains herself with things like the fan or her mobile on her swing or just the light shining through the window. We dont have to hold her all the time but we do. She is absolutely the best...

With all those things comes one more precious moment, her smiles and laughs...its the best thing ever i swear....Although its hard work it really is the most rewarding moments of our lives. You can bet on that....

Babies are so cute but what you dont see is the hardwork that goes into taking care of them.

Oh and a pic of her in her mismatched outfit but the CUTEST pose in the world.

My how our life has changed, for the better...

Pure Love

2009-03-01T21:39:00.002-05:00

I love her. So muchhhh. I cant even explain it.

Being a mom is HARD, for those of you TTC or pregnant. Get ready, this is amazingly hard and you cant even imagine how much love you will have for your little one.

Oh and this is the cutest onesie, its a hand me down from our awesome friends B and A. YAY...and her little Caterpiller toy her mommy Tonka got her hehe.

More Pics~

2009-02-26T17:43:00.011-05:00

Just wanted to share some more pics...Everyones doing good just time consumed with raising this beautiful little girl. Baby girl is stylin in her organic cotton give peas a chance shirt, tye dye socks and jeans! LMAO.

The Arrival!

2009-02-22T16:44:00.001-05:00

Were home. We actually got home yesterday but it was late and I was severely sleep deprived.

There is so much to write but I am truly exhausted as you probably have guessed!

Our baby is perfect, we decided to name her Maya Isabel. We went through so many names and finally that one just "fit" her. I cannot tell you how this little baby makes me feel..exhausted, exhilarated, in love, tired, happy and every other awesome thing I could possibly feel.

She was born perfect through an imperfect c section surgery that lasted 2.5 hours. I cry just thinking about it but hopefully it will be a distant memory soon. Words cannot express my gratitude to the dr's and hospital staff that took care of all of us since Wednesday.

Somethings people want to know...

She was born 7 lbs 13 oz, she weighs about 7 lbs now because she pooped 11 times the first day she was born lol. Hopefully she will not have lost much more tomorrow at her first dr visit.

She is so small none of her clothes fit! Who would have thought hmmfp.

She is 20 inches long.

Born Feb 18, 2009 at 10:33 AM.

She is healthy and happy, her cry sounds like a flock of geese. We can her gander for short. hehe. She only cries when we dont have what she wants at that moment then calms right down.

Im breastfeeding but her frenulum is really attached and it may be making it hard for her to latch right. She has fed off the boob a ton but my nipple comes out flat and feels like its being pinched. We will talk to the pediatrician about it tomorrow.

And finally some pics!

2009-02-18T06:02:00.003-05:00

I love my wife, I love my family and friends..today is the day we meet Miss Maya. I am so excited. We will hopefully post soon and want everyone to know thank you for all the positive energy. xoxoxoxo

Little Bear Turns 1

2009-02-16T22:20:00.007-05:00

Had to share this shot of us with our bestest friends baby. She turned one on Sunday. We ventured out after being inside for what seems like weeks and Im so glad I had a burst of energy and we were able to go. Bear ( her nickname) was ADORABLE and she looked like she had so much fun. Her awesome mama and grammy made her a bear cake and Bear tore right into it while her proud papa and friends all looked on. It was great!

Here's the pic, you get to see my big belly and the awesome tshirt Tonka showed me how to make and of course one of the cutest babies ever. I feel like a hippie mama. Also there is someone behind me that is not my hair sticking up so high..hahah.

Besides the big outing were just doing as much last minute things we can. Im starting to really like being home and dont think I will mind much being home a lot when maya comes. I really just want to spend as much time with my family as I can....they mean the world to me. My mom is having minor surgery tomorrow to remove some cysts, praying for her and I wish I could be there. My aunts taking care of her so it makes me feel better. xo

Love and Tie Dye

2009-02-15T12:44:00.001-05:00

A photo my wife took of my belly and some tie dye we made for Miss Maya...I love the G diaper tie dyed!!

2nd to last NST.

2009-02-12T23:44:00.003-05:00

I was hoping to post that maya is no longer breech...but that isnt going to happen. Today I am 39 weeks and 1 day or 38 weeks and 1 day depending which dr you talk to at our practice.

Maya is still breech, same position, this time feet above her head. The U/S went great, she is measuring at about 8 lbs ...she looks healthy, is doing her rhythmic breathing and has a great heartbeat. We even saw her hair flowing in the back of her head, it seems so long!

My exam went fine too, Im 2 cm dilated still but 70% effaced. I can go into labor anytime and if not wed is her birthday!

We have one more NST monday and then the C section is wednesday at 9 am.

Ive been pretty ok today with the thoughts but of course its settling in and Im getting all nervous again! It kind of comes and goes.

Im also having some issues with my short term disability company in getting paid for the bed rest and that seriously blows. I swear if I didnt have my best friend and wife by my side to keep me sane Id go nuts.....

The weather has been so great here, I hear it has been nice on the whole east coast....Im kind of over winter but I think thats just because im ready for the warm sun. Otherwise winter isnt SO bad.

For our daughter.

2009-02-10T17:58:00.002-05:00

oh whew what a day.

Only a week left, or sooner if she decides she is ready to come out and meet her two mamas and buster and brynne..

If you were her wouldnt you wanna meet these wonderful loving family members?

brynne the wonder dog!

Buster the super kitty!

Your loving parents. We love you!

Hmm

2009-02-08T17:26:00.001-05:00

I dunno if I mentioned this or not but there is only 10 more days max until we meet Miss Maya

Im just saying.

Bliss.

Baby clothes.

2009-02-07T17:28:00.005-05:00

I <3>

Some cute outfits that we couldnt pass up. Please let maya not be too big for them!

Tonka is a water baby, loves the ocean and FISH and sharks....We went to the baby consignment store and just couldnt leave these behind!

YES there is a whale on the backside!

This one we had to get it had the whole matching outfit, socks and shoes!!! Its kissing goldfish!

Imagine.

2009-02-06T19:29:00.003-05:00

Last night I had back to back contractions. Not quite 5 minutes apart, probably more like 10 minutes or 15. It felt amazing. I felt my hormones kicking in and my body was doing what it was supposed to.

Today we decided to go ahead and take the nurse and midwifes recommendation of Red Raspberry leaf tea and Evening Primrose oil. They wont put me into labor but will help me as I get further a long. If anyone has advice on this let me know!

There have been two babies born on our board in the same day! Thats so awesome and both babies are doing well as of last updates. Congrats J and S and MI and wifey!

Today we repacked mayas bag and changed out a few things...we got a package today from my aunt in NJ and it had some of the cutest baby stuff in it! YAY.

My sugars have been excellent, I woke up to a 71 today. They warned me that closer to labor I may need to not take as much nightly insulin because hormones can kick in. My meals have been great and I am eating pretty well. I lost two lbs at my visit thursday but its probably water.

Maya continues to roll around and kick.....I have a TON of energy and some pelvic pressures that feel different.

There is a full moon Monday...Im just saying 0_O

NST

2009-02-05T19:31:00.002-05:00

NST went great today, I had a huge contraction on the test though and it hurt! Im having tons of contractions each day but this was my first that I could feel from start to finish.

Were still on for Feb 18th unless she decides she has had enough. I am curious to see if she turned but we wont know that until the day of the c section when they check her again with an U/S. Its ok I dont mind the wait. If she turns we will try for a v birth if the dr's think its cool. I cant tell which way she is facing because my whole belly is just taken up by baby...I cant tell which part is where!

We need to do some belly shots asap thats for sure.

Oh My

2009-02-03T22:33:00.007-05:00

We've got TWO ladies in labor on our birth board and I wanted to send them positive vibes!!! One is past her due date and the other a little bit early. Im praying for both and cant wait to see their little ones.

Tonight I took pics of the awesome job Tonka did on sorting the baby clothes last night. She took everything that was 0 - 3 and hung it ect. I helped a little mostly from a little ottoman because I couldnt stand. Everything is so organized now and not all mixed up like before. We hung the Mei Tei on the over the door hook we picked up for a buck. YAY. Now that I look at the pics, she even arranged them by color. Goodness!

I also wanted to post a living room pic, I lit the candle amanda got us from Pier.one a while back and she had been saying how she wished we lit it. Its the one hanging on the wall.

Oh and a pic of the buddha vase she made and the little strange pink elephant plant she bought me....she got it for me because it looks like something funny. I aint saying what!@!!!!@@!!!

Ok I only had a moment to post, gotta give Tonka the computer because she has to do school work. xoxo

Feb 18.

2009-02-03T12:42:00.002-05:00

C - section date is set for Feb 18th. Our original due date. Long story short they think my due date was wrong ( should have been Feb 24.25th ) and want to do it this day.

Will Maya turn, most likely not, but there is always a teeny tiny chance.

In other news, I feel good today. Ive been feeling a little down, must be hormonal but I feel good today..

Happy Saturday

2009-01-31T10:59:00.004-05:00

Ohh now that makes sense. At my diabetes appt earlier in the week they told me my fasting sugars are too high. I was never told my nightly insulin peaks in 6 to 8 hours and I had to check it then. I had been sleeping wonky hours and not checking it in that particular time frame. It was more of oh whenever I got up and Ive been sleeping a lot.

For the past few days Ive been waking up within 6 hours of going to bed and checking it and its in the low 80's. Come on nowwwwww....Thats great~!

Today Im sore from the ECV, my stomach feels like it was stretched and its just burning in certain areas where I guess he pushed. I think I have one tiny bruise from it. All in all I would recommend it to anyone who was willing to try it. My experience was so so and I dont know if I would do it again. It did not hurt, it was uncomfortable though. They give you one drug to relax your uterus and one to help with pain. I got nausea from one of them and told them to grab something so I could puke. I didnt but it was awful feeling. I also got very very hot and they had to put wet towels on my head. The drug to relax your uterus makes you feel like your having a heart attack because you can feel and see your heart beating out of your chest. Very common reaction and they told me dont worry your not having a heart attack. For a moment I was like what the hell am I doing!!! That feeling went away pretty quick though.

During the procedure I did feel maya move a few inches as they tried to turn her clockwise. Her little butt is sitting way down in my pelvis so they started with that and it just wouldnt budge. She is wedged down pretty good. Ive always felt her low so it wasnt too much of a surprise to me. He tried for maybe a few minutes and stopped and said he knows he cannot move her. I appreciated that because I know some Dr's are stubborn and keep trying FORCEFULLY to move the baby. That wasnt what we wanted and when he explained what he would do and said that he would try and if there is ANY resistance he is going to stop. He had the midwife put her hand on maya's head to guide her, he put his hands on her booty to scoop her out of my pelvis and the other nurse used the ultrasound where he needed it.

Did I scream? no, but I did say ohhhhhhh and ahhhh and owwwwwww. They monitored maya with a doppler and ultrasound and she didnt even wink at the movement and pressure. After they stopped they monitored her for another hour and half and she did great. Tonka and I just sat watching cartoons waiting for the drugs to come out of my system.

There are more details but Im on my way out the door to meet my in laws for lunch.

Ecv update

2009-01-30T13:21:00.005-05:00

The ECV was unsuccessful, there is story to this but I am so tired I cant even begin to write it all down. I will aim for later today so I can jot it all down.

Maya, Tonka and I are doing good considering the stress we just went through.

++++PS no chance of her turning on her own, she is wedged way too low into my pelvic area.

ECV

2009-01-29T18:54:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow at 7:30 we are having an External Cephalic Version. They will try to move maya into the proper position for vbirth. Its exciting ( the part about the drs not wanting a c section ) and scary ( some risks involved ) all at the same time.

Ive had an anxiety freak out already about it and hopefully got it all out of my system.

Her NST and ultrasound went great. She weighs in at 7lbs 3 oz and is in the 67th percentile still. She was moving and grooving and making breathing motions which is excellent.

We have to bring our suitcase and mayas bag tomorrow and I have to fast just in case of the small chance that I have to have an emergency cesarean ( if they accidentally break my water or something else ). My hands get all sweaty just thinking about it but were hopeful.

Keep your fingers crossed and updates to come~!

Slacker

2009-01-28T21:56:00.005-05:00

We are blog slackers, more Tonka than I of course lol. JUST kidding.

I have been inundated with so many thoughts it been hard to jot them all down. I just got word my brother released himself from the hospital today. No answers as to why this all happened, waiting on more tests to come back including a GI scope that was done today. He wants to go home to his own bed, I dont blame him but I worry. Im going to make sure I hound him so he follows up tomorrow on the tests that were done today. After all isnt that what a big sister is for?

As for us, Tonka took on a few extra hours for work to make up for the fact we have no income from my end. Being put on disability early was difficult. I have to stress to my friends trying to TTC, plan well please. This was stress that not me, not amanda nor maya needed. We planned but in the end the early date put us in a difficult stressful place. The diabetes and all the extras we ended up needing for my health well they basically sucked us dry. Anyhow I cant look back only look forward right? We have food on our table, roof over our heads and gas in the car AND a baby that is healthy and going to arrive any day now. Thats my positive spin on all of this.

We got to see the labor and delivery section of the birthing center yesterday by accident but I wont go into that. I want to focus on the fact it was very soothing, relaxing, everyone was way nice and although we ended up there without the visit being planned..all worked out ok. I felt relieved after we left and less anxious about the place since we hadnt been able to take the tour to check it out yet. One of our favorite midwives from my dr office was on call and it was so weird to see her in scrubs and calling around orders. Weird in a good way though. Comforting that she knew who we were and our history. She even asked us if we knew another gay couple in our area with a few kids. That part was funny, we wanted to say yes we know all the lesbo.s in the area having kids....lol not.

Ive had way too much anxiety in this pregnancy and most of all have stressed out beyond what I think my tolerance for stress is. Nothing in particular to blame other than myself and my own coping skills.

We had our diabetes appt today and it went well. She upped my shot at night which is now 2 shots of cloudy insulin, each shot consisting of 24 units of insulin. She wrote my orders to give to the labor and delivery nurse. Thats how close we are! She did suggest that based on what we told her about our OB visits, we should expect to be induced or have a cesarean next week. I know she really doesnt know so I dont pay much attention to that. Tomorrow is our ultrasound, NST, Cervix exam and review for when we will get to see maya should she not decide on her own birthday. I know they wont let me go pass 39 weeks. Im 37 weeks today. Maybe it will be 38 weeks which is next wednesday....maybe it will be sooner, maybe it will be later. All of those things are just that right now maybes so they are out of my head until tomorrows visit. Im happy to see her again on the ultrasound, relieved we may know more, still hoping she turns so I can have a vbirth......but hey you cant control everything.

I feel like Im sort of in a dream right now with all of this, its becoming so real. She may be here next week, in a week we may be holding out little ( BIG ) baby girl. Im thinking she is about 8lbs or so right now...I cant wait to see her full head of hair tomorrow and maybe get to see her face and fingers and toes. But that aint nothing like the real thing, that is going to be the best feeling ever.

Lucky Stars.

2009-01-26T22:02:00.006-05:00

What a day, it started off good. We went to our NST and maya did great like always. The midwife said Thursday we will need to schedule a c section date and induction date. We both were like WHAT. Its that time already? lol..we took it all in stride..we can opt to do the External Version and see if they can turn her and hope she stays or just schedule a c section and if she turns we can opt out of it. Since the NST went well, I let the other stuff slide off my shoulders. Thursday is another ultrasound and that makes me happy too.

I have been on bed rest every day but left once for a few hours to go to our friends house. It was so nice to be up and sitting on someone elses couch at least. I got to see their beautiful little 10 month old and play with her. It helped me not feel so down. Being at home has given me cabin fever and made me feel a little depressed. Im over it now so Im feeling better in that dept.

After our visit I got a call that my brother had two heart attacks...he is my little brother, about 5 years younger than me. I swear this hit me like a brick.....he is still in the hospital, they did the catheter on him and saw no blockage. They are investigating a few things including an illness he had about 7 years ago to see if this gives them a clue as to what is happening. There are tons of details but I cant even go into it all I am so tired. I also found out my cousins little boy stopped breathing last night and had to go to the emergency room. Thank god both are ok.

Today was one of THOSE days. A few minutes ago I tested my sugar and it was 214 which means I have to call the dr at home. I almost peed my pants, then amanda said wash your hands and do it again. She was right, I did it again and it was safely at 111. I dont know how I forgot to wash my hands. Shuuu weeeeeee.

I just tried to call my brother, the hospital doesnt let calls in after 9 and he is resting so he isnt picking up his phone. I called my dad to check in on him and going to call my mom now. What a day...thank god everyone is ok.

Our little baby did so great today at her NST, she is strong and can kick like a champ. I thank my lucky stars for her every moment of the day.

Thats a lot of belly right there.

2009-01-18T15:35:00.002-05:00

And there is NO photoshop on my stretch marks like ususal.

Fridays.

2009-01-17T19:16:00.002-05:00

Ive been struggling since our visit Thursday. Maya is doing great but damn I cant keep up!

I ended up at the dr for an unscheduled visit Friday. Ended up with some liver enzyme and other lab tests. I had been feeling like I would pass out the night before and just felt sick all night. I waited it out and we called the midwife in the am. She asked us to come in so she could check us.

Internal exam went great, the babies heartbeat was great, I felt terrible. Not like I have a cold terrible. I was shaky, my feet and hands were dripping sweat on and off, I could feel my BP was weird, I had some cramping but couldnt tell if it was my uterus or bladder. The cramping was light but could be from the exam the day before.

Overall the only issue was some swelling with an initial BP of 170/80. Thats where the shaking, sort of out of it feeling and general crappiness came from. It went down to 154/70 after laying on my left side. The midwife called me out of work until atleast monday afternoon which is our next NST. The BP could have been from anxiety, if all the tests come back good. The liver enzyme will tell her in my BP has been high like that for a while.

Through this I thank god that maya is active and healthy. I think emotionally ive been a wreck because of all this medical intervention. It made me lose sight on the organic side of our birth and stop enjoying something that is so wonderfully amazing. I had lost sight of how strong I am and could only focus on all the things that worry me. I didnt see myself as a pregnant woman, I started seeing myself as a patient.

Tonka has been taking very good care of us and even more now that Im on bed rest. She is absolutely great. She is making me meat loaf tonight which is something Ive been craving for weeks now. YAY.

Ive been sleeping on and off, and we left to get some groceries earlier so I could walk for a little bit. Thats the only time Ive left or done anything besides the dr's. Not sure if I will be released back to work monday but I have my fingers crossed. I was able to work from home friday and that made me feel a little more normal. I guess the transitioning is beginning.

Oh and I REALLY lost my mucas plug yesterday, the first one was just a little bit. TMI alert, I pulled down my pj pants to pee and there it was....no denying it.

So on to better days and the transition into mommyhood. Tonka put the car seat base in the car, its so cool to see it sitting back there.