Blogging Hiatus

So, my good friends, I've decided to take a break. I absolutely love blogging, but I've lost time & motivation for it. So for now, I will not be updating until further notice.

But don't fret! There are plenty of ways to keep in touch with me online!



First off, I'm on Facebook! Add me as a friend by clicking here.

You can catch me mini-blogging via Twitter. Follow me by clicking here.

I'm constantly streaming pictures to Twitter using Twitpic. See my photos by clicking here.

Also, keep track of me on Foursquare! See where my daily adventures take me by clicking here.

Until further notice... farewell for now!

Love, Rachael

Caption

Phil gave me this idea! He found a super funny photo of Emmett & Baiden & wrote a funny caption for it. So I'm going to do that here... with a few of my silly ones. If you wanna join in the good times, leave your caption in the comments, or comment on my Facebook Blog post!

Emmett & Baiden's first UFO sighting... they couldn't believe it! - Phil's

I didn't know there was nudity in Toy Story!

Emmett & Baiden singing "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey

You guys did what with my penis?!

Daisy Duke's sounded fun, but maybe we should of went with Monkey Joe's for our 1st month birthday...

Those can't be real... my mommy's aren't even that big.

Don't forget to leave yours! It's kinda fun...

It's already been a whole month?!

Holy hell, I can not believe it. I look at the calendar & it's already been an entire month since Emmett was born. Where did the time go? I don't want my precious newborn to grow up! I want my cuddly baby!

Anyway... I'd like to congratulate my friend Laura because she's having

A GIRL!

& her name will be Ava Lisabeth.

I'm super happy for you! & I have some clothes & stuff that Emmett has never worn because they were too girly, so let me know if you want them!


So yesterday Emmett hung out with his awesome friend Baiden. Baiden is my good friend Morgan's son, who was born a whole day after Emmett. The funny part of this story is that after I was told Emmett was going to be really small at birth, she was told Baiden was going t be really big at birth. Well, Emmett was 9 pounds 8 ounces, & Baiden was 7 pounds 12 ounces. Surprise?

This is only going to be a quick post, because I wanted to share these photos of their 'play date' with you!

Enjoy!







Feel free to create your own captions for them. Leave them in my comments if you think they're funny enough!

Ship in a Bottle

When the thought of giving birth finally sunk in for me, I turned it into a metaphor. Or an analogy... not sure which one it is. Either way, I thought of the baby inside of me as a ship being built inside a bottle. Tiny pieces slowly being constructed into a tight space. When the masterpiece is finally done, there would be only one way to get it out. By breaking the bottle. Except, the baby was the ship. & I, I was the bottle.

I just remembered this, so I'd thought I'd share that inane picture for you. & also these pictures!

Tubby time!





Everybody have a great Wednesday! I'll be working 3 - 10pm. Hooray!

Humidity makes everything smell like pee.

It's been awhile... so here I am!

Latest time consuming obsession...

Phil & I have finally indulged ourselves into the show Lost. I know, the final season just aired & now the show is over... but we really didn't have any interest in it till now. To be honest, a lot of these T.V. shows that have been made lately have been highly disappointing to me. So instead of getting halfway into one, just to find out it sucks, I've been avoiding them all completely. But Lost, man... it's an addicting show! I won't expel any of the theories I have quite yet, as we only begun the 2nd season, but if you'd like to tell me some of your 1st/2nd season beginners theories that you had during the show, leave a comment!

Latest non-time consuming obsession...

Beer. & not even the feeling of being drunk, which I've barely been since I've been un-pregnant. It's pretty much just the taste. I've craved it so badly for 9 months, that now that I can have it... I WANT IT! I'm so sick of Coke & juice & water & milk. It's all I drank while I was pregnant. Now that I have no fetus to worry about, I can't stop having at least one a night! It's probably not good for my post-partum dieting, but I've cut out pretty much anything else worth enjoying already. Don't take away my beer! I don't know what it is about the bitter, malty, hoppy taste that gets me!

How I am dieting...

So I cut out the normal snack type foods. No more sweets, cookies, or chips. Instead I eat whole wheat crackers & low fat popcorn. It's a super good & healthy alternative. Not to mention, not letting myself have those unhealthy things, it's really cut down on my snacking. I'm limiting my carb/pasta intake, as well. I'm trying to eat less of that, & more of a protein (steak, chicken or sausage) with a side of a vegetable (mostly dark green stuff, like green beans, snap peas, etc.) or a potato. I'm also refusing soda, with the occasional diet soda in it's place. But, we never buy diet soda, so that would be saved for eating out. Which, eating out is also something we rarely do. So it works!

Any of you guys ever had to lose a lot of weight? If so, comment with any tips or advice! I've never even had to lose a little bit of weight, so this sucks!

My first day on the job...

Yesterday, Monday, was my first day back to work & at HyVee! To sum it up to say the least, it was awesome to be out of the house, away from the little family (whom I love but needed to temporarily be away from), and out in the world of making money! It felt super good! I was worried about how my "sore-ness" would hold up through out the night, but I honestly didn't get too bad until close to an hour before we closed. That was probably the most activity I've done in a LONG time, & I loved it. The girls I worked with were super nice, which is a plus. I even made my first fruit pizza! Granted I'm sure it looked hideous & will rot on the shelf, it's still a start. I can already tell I'll like this a lot.

If you didn't hear the news, I got the job in the salad bar @ HyVee on East 53rd... I started yesterday! & I love it!

Latest pet peeve...

Just recently I heard something not-so-great about one of my family members. I won't go into too much detail, but I heard they purposely made another family member feel bad for their unfortunate circumstances. This hurts me pretty bad. I can not believe that a family could ever act this nasty to each other. I mean, seriously. Way to kick someone while they're already down, huh? Most normal families would send best wishes, or offer to help. No, my family publicly ridicules them, & makes them feel like shit... probably even more so then they did to begin with.

I mean, how could you be so cold, heartless, & cruel? It's always been like that though... some people in the family think so highly of themselves that they feel no remorse poking fun & hurting the feelings of others. Pardon my French, but it's FUCKED up. & honestly, I'm starting to have huge doubts about the involvement I want for my family.

I mean, I just had a son. & I've gotten recognition for it from maybe... 2, 3 family members? My own brother didn't even give me any congratulations. How is that supposed to make me feel? I mean, in all honesty he probably just thinks I'll screw this up, since he thinks I've screwed everything else in my life up. I'm just sick of it.

Even grown ass people need to follow this rule: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything. & Treat people how you would want to be treated.

Because I'm almost positive that if you fell into some rough times, you'd want encouragement... not ridicule.

Okay, that rant is over, & so is this post.

A Tight Squeeze

So upon the news that my son had emerged from my womb weighing @ 9 and a half pounds, I began to wonder. I know I was pretty huge by the end of my pregnancy, but what pregnant woman doesn't feel like a beached whale? So today, I'm going to post my belly photos, & I want YOU to tell ME if you think a 9 and a half pound, 20 and a half inch long baby could have been stuffed inside there.

@ 5 months if you had told me during this month that I was going to have a 9 pounder, I wouldn't of believed you!



@ 6 months even looking back at this month, now... I was amazed at how much I grew from the 5th month to the 6th.



@ 7 months it was this month they started palpitating my stomach to feel what the baby might be up to. This was the first time I was told they didn't think he was gonna be a very big baby.



@ 8 months it was around 37 weeks they started guessing his weight. The first time they guessed I was told between 7 pounds 5 ounces & 7 pounds 14 ounces by birth time.



@ 9 months it was at the very end when I was told that they thought he'd be on the higher end of 7 pounds, but probably no bigger than 8 pounds. I was also told that they were happy to feel that he was going to be over 6 pounds, because they were worried he'd be small to begin with, & that I would deliver early.



After 3 hours of pushing, & almost 45 minutes of him crowning, (ring of fire, anyone? more like ring of gigantic forest fire!) I finally felt the relief of pushing him out. The first few words I heard were, "Oh, I think he's a 9 pounder." I thought it was some sort of sick joke. Low & behold, they weighed him. I couldn't believe it, & to this day I still can't!



I can't even picture what kind of crazy contortion the child had to be in to fit inside my body!

So, I'll ask him when he's older. "Emmett, where on earth did you hide in there? I don't understand..."

3 weeks later...

How he's doing at 3 weeks old...

He's been letting us sleep a little bit longer through the night. Sometimes 3 - 4 hours. But during the day, well, don't count on getting anything done. He only takes short 45 minute naps & then when he's awake it's a mixture of entertaining himself for a short while & needing to be cuddled as well.

He's eating more. The other day I saw him polish off almost 5 oz's. He normally doesn't eat that much at one time, but he had been napping for like... 4 hours & only ate an ounce or so before going down. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure he pooped that day, too. So, that's like a double whammy.

He's much more alert! I like to play this game where I wave my hand to him, & he'll look at it. & then I'll hide it, & he'll look at me. We've been seeing much more of his eye's lately. Not as much of his eye lids!

During tummy time, he's able to turn his head from one side to the other at least twice. He screams & hates tummy time, but he can do it! We just have to learn not to feel bad for him cause he's not really getting hurt.

He's also still not usually waking us up at night by crying. We normally still have to listen for his chirping. Once he starts crying, I'll feel much more comfortable putting him in his crib, & not the pack 'n play.

Oh, & he's pooping much more often now. Not too often, but more than once every few days. Yay!

How I am doing 3 weeks postpartum...

I'm still having trouble waking up several times a night & getting back to sleep easily. It's bad enough that by morning I can barely get myself up. I wish there was a sleeping pill that will let you wake up, & fall asleep easily. There you go, scientists. How about that?

There is still some pain downstairs, but it gets better with a short break, or some pain medication. I haven't had time yet to take another warm bath. I don't seem to have time for anything these days. I'm sure once I get the chance, it will help.

I'm beginning to get bored with sitting at home all the time. A little overwhelmed, as well. Sometimes it feels like a struggle just to go to the bathroom. It's getting to the frustration period where I wonder, "Will I ever get to be alone ever again?" I need some me time. Badly.

Not to mention how freaking hungry I am all the time. I wish someone would cook for me.

I'm also excited to get back to working & hopefully soon working out. I want to feel normal again.

Besides any of the normal struggles from even being postpartum & a brand new parent, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm happy with myself, my baby, & how things are turning out. Sometimes, ya just gotta vent!

& now for some cuteness!



We try to keep the air conditioner off during most of the morning, since it's cooler outside. However, Emmett is a very sweaty baby... so we mostly hang out in our diaper.



He's so cute for the few seconds he lets us wrap him up.




I'm sure if Mama didn't need to eat, sleep, poop, or move around he'd sleep like this forever.

That's all for now! Sorry I can't write as much these days... should be obvious why.

Today is a GOOD day!

Let me first start at the beginning. I was a royal emotional mess during my pregnancy.

For almost a year I worked at a really awesome medical laboratory. I was a phlebotomist. That meaning, people, that I drew blood for a living. I made really good money, had really good hours, & really bomb ass health insurance. BUT, they refused to give me 2nd shift so I could go back to school. Well, I'm sorry, but I didn't see a good enough reason to allow someone to stand in my way of education. So I quit. Or, I guess I left.

Well, a few weeks into the 2nd shift job search, I found out I was pregnant. HUGE change of plans! I had to give up on going back to school, find a job, & well... be pregnant for 9 months. At first it was kind of a downer.

Well, my desperate attempt at finding a full time job in less than 24 hours led me to APAC, Inc. If you are not from my area, you wouldn't even begin to understand the rumors & reputation this place has. I can assure you, that most of the rumors & almost all of the known reputation of that place is true. I absolutely hated it. Not at first, but I grew to despise that place.

APAC is a call center. Several companies outsource their telephonized customer service to this company. I worked for Medco, a leading pharmaceutical insurance industry. & let me tell you one thing... talking to old people about why they messed up ordering their medication online & having them accuse you of trying to kill them because they did not receive their medicines on time is not my idea of a good time.

Anyway, dealing with pregnancy depression, anxiety, and a number of whatever other hormones that were taking over my body made working at this dreary place seem like I was stuck in a cubicle from hell. I finally had to leave, because I seriously think that place was making me sick. I was officially done there the 1st of March.

I spent the next few months working with a temp agency called Sedona. They helped me find temporary phone jobs to do until Emmett was born. Sadly, it wasn't consistent, & the pay wasn't that great. Around my 37th week, I was told to take it easy, because my blood pressure had sky rocketed, & they wanted me to be as close to 40 weeks as possible. So I stopped working.

These last few weeks I have been miserable with worry. How am I going to find a job? Will I find a job? What am I going to do if I can't?

I'm very excited to say that today I am officially employed! I couldn't be happier! On Monday, I start working at the East 53rd (Utica Ridge) HyVee. It's an awesome company that will allow me flexible hours & scheduling. I couldn't be happier! I'll mainly be back in the salad bar on 2nd shift, slicing & dicing fruits & veges, getting things ready for the salad bar, taking & making orders for vege trays & fruit pizzas, and cleaning & closing down the department. When I'm not doing that, I'll be doing some good old fashioned grocery bagging. Not a bad deal!

So today I will officially put that worry behind me, finish the rest of my short maternity leave loving on my son, & be excited to start back to work on Monday. God has truly blessed me these past 9 months, I just didn't know how much until now!