I fell off the blogging planet...

No guarantees guys, I'm not sure that I can keep up a blog but I did want you all to know that my sweet Callie Belle is here and she's amazing.  She was born April 18 and weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Here are some recent pictures...

Like I said, I will try...  but if not, I hope that you all are doing well and that your summers are as amazing as my has been!

Last Week Was a Rough Week...

Well, I think I'm almost recovered.  Honestly, I really just hope that I am.  Last week was a pretty difficult week for me.  I made an unexpected and pretty much un-Callie related trip to my ob's office which was followed three days later by a trip to the "Private Referral" portion of the hospital, followed by another trip the next day, followed by a trip to Labor & Delivery that afternoon.  It was definitely not awesome.

To make a very long story short, I had raging stomach issues (sorry for the TMI) for approximately 8 days which caused me to be extremely dehydrated.  The trips to private referral resulted in IV treatments with a liter of fluid each day.  I also had an ultrasound done to check the fluid levels in my uterus as well a Non-Stress Test done on Callie.  It was exhausting and when the OB asked me if I would rather stay over-night and continue IV fluids or go home and sleep in my own bed, I begged and pleaded to go home.

I contracted a bacterial information called C Diff which should basically be considered hell and will make you feel that way until you have been diagnosed and been on antibiotics for probably 36 hours.  The OB described it to Drew as basically a bacteria that makes your insides and gut "raw"...  He was trying to find food that I could eat (I lost 5 pounds during this period) and she told him that throwing food at me would only make me more miserable and shock my system.  I was eating jello and drinking Gatorade and that was pretty much it.

Fortunately, Callie Belle is doing fabulously and we did learn some exciting things about her through the Ultrasound.  As of Thursday, she is approximately 7 1/2 pounds (give or take a pound...) and has hair!  I'm sure that it will be dark brown or maybe even black and I just absolutely can not wait to see her!  Hopefully she will be here soon!

I was also told that I am now officially to be on maternity leave.  Apparently after all the stress to my system, I am supposed to be staying home and resting.  That has sort of worked, except for the fact that I've been waking up at crazy times in the morning.  This morning, I was out of bed unloading the dishwasher at 5:45....  Oops...  so much for rest!

Anyway, well, hopefully we will have a baby soon but I wanted to let you all know what had been going on with us.  Needless to say, it has not been fun!

****Also, I should add that my normal OB was on Spring Break through this whole ordeal in Cabo...  Lucky her.  Her instructions last time I saw her included that I was not allowed to have a baby because she wouldn't be there to deliver her.  Something tells me, she would have rather me gone into labor than almost be admitted to the hospital for some crazy raging bacteria!

KB & Baby - Week 37

How Far Along: 37 Weeks
Size of Baby: Miss Callie is about the size of a Swiss Chard...  Now, I have no idea what that is or what the size of it is so we will say that she is approximately 6.3 pounds and 19.25 inches (according to my iPhone app).
Total Weight Gain/Loss: By my scale this morning - 25 pounds (I am extremely pleased)...
Maternity Clothes: Everything is maternity!  Drew has a few t-shirts (that he says are too big for him) that I can still wear if we go walking or to lay around the house but everything else is maternity.  Now even the maternity clothes are even not working.  The waist bands in my pants are starting to slide underneath my belly which makes me pretty self-conscious.  I don't want to be one of those Mommy's-to-be who walks around with her bare belly hanging out.
Gender: G-I-R-L!
Movement: Her movement is now almost continuous.  Especially when I'm at my desk at work.  Its also starting to be a little painful.
Sleep: This one sucks.  Sleep varies from almost non-existant to interrupted.  Last night was interrupted, night before last non-existant... 
What I miss: Just the norm...  but we're getting so excited that it doesn't matter!
Cravings: no real cravings or aversions... I seem to be eating all of the same foods that I ate before pregnancy, which is nice.
Symptoms: Basically just exhaustion and body soreness.  Pretty much every night you can find me passed out on my couch by about 8.  I have been in bed asleep by 9:30 or so for the past few nights...
Best Moment this week: Probably packing hospital bags on Monday night.  I was really excited to get some of the stuff put together.  I still have a few of your suggestions (thank you for these, btw, they were very helpful!) that I need to get together and will probably work on those this weekend.  Also, the nursery is now completely put together and I absolutely love it.  I'm so proud of it and need to post some pictures for you guys.

Hospital Packing...

Ok, I need some advice.  I am usually a major procrastinator and that has gotten me into large amounts of trouble on more than one occassion.  I decided last night that I needed to do my best to not fall into that habit for the next three to four weeks.  I worked on laundry last night and even started to pack my hospital bag.  So far it includes:

• nursing tanks with pajama pants
• a nursing night gown because I figure I'll be much more comfortable in it than in a hospital one for at night
• house slippers
• flip flops
• fuzzy socks
• a fleece to wear if the room is cold
• a robe
• two sleep nursing bras and then another nursing bra
• I also packed sanitary pads and nursing pads
• I also have snacks for the dad, grandparents, and then for me to have in the room while we're there

I have also worked on packing for Callie, even though I don't think that she'll need as much...  She has:

• her going home outfit (w/ blanket, etc)
• boppy
• her baby book and a pen so that visitors can sign it
• a notebook so that if she is brought any gifts we can keep track of them

I have a few things that I know I'll need to pack closer to time so that I can use them up until the date.  They are:

• toiletries (even though I'd like to go ahead and get some travel shampoo/conditioner, saline solution, etc. and put them in a bag so that they're not forgotten)
• cell phone charge
• camera/charger

What do you guys think I'm missing???  I know that there are some Mommies and Mommies-to-be that read my blog and I'd love your input.  What did you take that was worthless and just took up space?

Lunch Date!

I was so excited to be able to meet up with two fellow bloggers for lunch yesterday!  Paige (from Mommy & Charli), Erin (from Howell's Happenings), and I all met at a great restaurant in BG for lunch on Wednesday!  It was such a great lunch and I was so glad to be able to hang out with these two great girls!

Erin and I went to school together but we were in different grades and had different friends and neither of us had ever met Paige, so it was great to be able to take that time to get to know each other a little better!

It is so fun to be able to meet people and already know so much about them!  We decided at the end of our lunch that we couldn't wait to get together again soon!

Girls, thanks so much for meeting up and I hope that you all had as good a time as I did!

Our Anniversary Present to Each Other

So...  Mine and Drew's anniversary was a little over a month ago and we decided that we would go together and buy each other one big gift.  My laptop was dying a slow cruel death so we decided that we'd get a new computer and Drew decided that we needed a Mac.  Personally, I wasn't sure, but since we've gotten it I have really enjoyed it and found it quite user friendly.

I still have no idea what all it can do, but the lady at the Apple Store assured me that I will love it and so far she's been right.

 This is the keyboard.  Actually, we got two because we wanted the little number pad on the side.  This little one is wireless and so far has been the only one that we've used.

This is the mouse.  Pretty crazy, huh?  I'm pretty sure it looks like a post-it note but it is the coolest thing ever.  Apple Girl demonstrated it and we were sold immediately.

Callie's Room Progress

Callie's room is actually making progress.  We have had all of our showers and now we are in the process of trying to put everything away and making sure that everything is organized.

In fact, my mom is coming this weekend to help me.  She is a much better organizer than me and I'll be glad to have her help.

Hairbow holders that I made with ribbon and horse shoes.  I'm actually quite proud of these and am so pleased with how they turned out.  At Mom & Dad's, we pretty much have a never ending supply of worn horse shoes.  Needless to say, these were cheap decorations.

 This is the only piece of furniture that we had to purchase for the room.  It doesn't match the crib completely but we really like it and think that it will be very helpful.  We are also planning to use it as a changing table.  There isn't a lot of wall space in the room for furniture, so we're multi tasking the pieces that we have.

The crib and window.  Like I said, we're making progress but we are not any where close to being finished.

And again.  These pictures were taken in the daylight so the colors are pretty accurate in these pictures.  I love them and think that all the pink accents look pretty darned cute.  Needless to say, I'm pleased :)