Don't Wait Until The Last Minute To Buy Diapers

The above mentioned lesson you think I would have learned three kids later, but apparently not. Apparently, this little gem of wisdom just didn't stick in my brain. Although, you gotta give it to me, I'm a sleep deprived new mommy. Sue me. I wen to change Grayson's diaper this evening so I could nurse him and get him to bed, only to reach my hand into the bag of huggies and come up with 6 diapers. SIX!! That wouldn't even get me through tomorrow evening with this poop machine. I mean, he is not as bad as Claire, not by a long shot. Claire could poopy with the best of them. If poo was an olympic sport for newborns, she would have taken home the gold. Grayson needs a diaper change every 3 hours, just because of the poo. You probably don't want to read about poo, but hey, everybody poops. Don't believe me. Read the book.

Anwyays, so I come up with six diapers. Now, I didn't go grocery shopping today because I felt like crap. I wasn't feeling so hot yesterday during out Thanksgiving celebration. My throat was killing me, I was exhausted and I had a headache. Toady, I don't have much of a voice. My throat is still sore. I've been talking super quiet all day. I've also developed a cough. When I came up with those six diapers, I was all, "Son of a BEEP!" I was forced to go grocery shopping at 9:30PM. Awesome. I took Grayson because before I left, he started crying, and I was all, "You know, the car ride would put him to sleep. He just ate. His tummy is full, and about an hour after we get home, he'll wake up to eat." So I loaded him into his carseat and off we went in search of diapers and sustinance. I was right. He fell asleep within 5 minutes. He slept all through the store. He didn't flinch once. I was wrong about him waking up soon after getting home, which is why I bring this post to you 1 1/2 hours after my return, at almost 12AM. I finished my shopping, filled up David's car with gas, and headed to home. On the drive home, I almost crapped my pants because a deer decided to trot out in front of the car. That'll wake you right up. I was all, "You BEEPing deer!"...My my, I'm a potty mouth today.

We now have an abundance (or 40) diapers to get us through to next week, when I'm thinking we'll be moving up to a size 2...Maybe. My little guy is a month old. He hasn't lost any of his hair at all. Shocking, since by this time Claire had lost almost all of hers, and, well, Ethan was born bald, so he never had hair. He's also started to smile. He smiles right at me when I come in to nurse him at night when he wakes up for his first feeding. He usually wakes up when I come in to go to bed. I say, "Hey handsome, ready for some food?" and that big gummy smile comes back. I want a picture of it so bad, but I always miss it. Here's an updated picture from Saturday:Claire always wants to hold him, so I put the boppy on her lap, and set him inside of it. She was excited, until I wanted to take a picture..Then I got this. Look how big and chubby my little man is! Maybe I can get a picture of Claire holding him when she doesn't do this another time.

Oh, and also:
Dear Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,
My husband feels the need to play you online when I am trying to blog. Maybe you can stop freezing my computer so I don't feel the need to break you, mmmkay? Thanks!
-Chantel

Sunday Stealing

So, while I have a tiny break from making our Thanksgiving dinner (Yes, late, I know, but we didn't have Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving, so today, we are) I've decided to take part in this Sunday Stealing bit that I've seen floating around on a few blogs. Today is Tell Me About Yourself. Here goes:

1. When is your birthday?
My birthday is March 24.

2. Where were you born?
Mesa, AZ...Super big.

3. Where do you live now?
Clear Lake, WI...Super tiny! The only thing my mom found exciting is that Gaylord A. Nelson, the guy who invented Earth Day, is from here, and buried here.

4. What is your heritage?
Hispanic and french. There's probably more mixed in there, but I don't know what it all is.

5. Tell us about a weakness.
If sparkling cider is on sale, I buy it.

6. What's a goal that you'd like to achieve?
Learn photography...Even if I have to teach myself.

7. What is the most overused internet phrase?
LOL

8. What was your first thought this morning?
Why is Ethan running in to tell me that Claire is awake at 5AM?

9. When do you usually go to bed?
About an hour or a little later after Grayson goes to bed.

10. Do you smoke? If not, did you ever?
I do not. Cigarettes are not my thing.

11. Do you like your current relationship status?
I'm married, so yeah, I do enjoy my current relationship status. What kind of a question is this anyways?

12. Do you (or did you) get along with your parents?
I get along with my mother. My father is a totally different story to be saved for a long and heated post at a different time.

13. How often do you drink alcohol?
I don't anymore. I've been pregnant or breastfeeding since August of 2007, and I really have no desire to drink anymore.

14. Have you ever tried drugs (that weren't prescribed)?
I have never tried any drug.

15. Have you ever gone skinny dipping? If yes, do tell.
Nope..Man, am I ever boring.

16. If given the choice, how would you like to die?
Quickly and hopefully, painlessly.

17. What did you want to be when you grew up?
A teacher. Nothing's changed.

18. Have you ever been dumped?
Many a time.

19. What's on your pizza?
I like anything but onions. Onions are gross.

20. Have you ever shoplifted?
Not intentionally. I've done self checkouts and found BBQ sauce in the bottom of the cart when I'm putting my groceries in the car. Oops.

Tree Madness!

We set up our tree on Thanksgiving day. So, at 2PM, Grayson decided that he'd had enough awake time for the day and passed out. Awesome. I put together the tree, and finished just in time to hear Claire waking up from her nap at 2:15. I went in, got her out of bed and was excited because this would be the first year she could actually put things on the tree. I couldn't wait to get pictures of it. It was going to be AWESOME!

Well, it didn't go as planned. I put wrote Grayson's name on a ball and got it ready for hanging and took a picture of it as made evident here.
Also, please ignore my messy couch. I had to rearrange that corner of the living room and that's where the stuff landed because Ethan was bouncing around me saying, "Are you going to clean the whole living room before we decorate the tree? Can I decorate yet? When can I decorate? Can I hang something now? WOW!! Look at all those lights!"So, Grayson's name was written on a ball, and hung. Then, I gave Claire her ball. She held it up for a picture:Then she hung it with care:And then she did this:Which resulted in a broken ball. I wasn't very happy. I tried to get her to hang more ornaments on the tree, but she just wasn't having it. So Ethan did the deocorating. He posed with his ball:
And then decorated to his little heart's content:

And, yes, he's in jammies. I was doing laundry. Forgive me.

The finished product:
I even let Ethan do the lights. That's why there are none at the top. That's OK though. It gives the tree character. And, I think it looks fabulous, and he had a great time decorating, which is really all that matters.

Today though, our tree didn't fair well agains the 19 month old wrath that is Claire. She broke two more balls, and pulled the lights. She wrecked havoc on our poor tree. So, tonight after the kids were in bed, I took all the breakables off the bottom of the tree and put them away, and put on the unbreakable balls. She can pull those off and throw them however much she wants, nothing will happen to them. Here's the tree now:
Hopefully, tomorrow, there will be much less "arguing". And, by arguing I mean Ethan yells because he is mad at what Claire is doing and tells her to stop. She, in turn, does that super high pitched squeal that makes your eardrums want to die and that could probably be heard in space. It might also shatter crystal. Then, he chases her for whatever she has, while she runs screaming, 'No No No' as loud as she can. And, here I am helpless to stop it because Grayson is nursing. Let's hope the arguing is minimal.

Writer's Workshop: An ER Moment....And Happy Thanksgiving!

First, I just want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you've all enjoyed time with your families and had some wonderful conversation and food!

Today is also writer's workshop day over at MamaKat's so head on over, check out the writing prompts and write something if you so desire. Then, link up and read what other people have written. Have fun! I have chosen the prompt An ER Moment. Let's begin!

Let's remember October of 2003. I was making dinner, and all of a sudden felt like I was stabbed in the right side of my stomach. I decided to ignore it. I ate dinner and carried on about my business for another couple of hours. All the time, I had this feeling like I was being kicked, stabbed, poked with hot irons in the right side of my stomach. After awhile, I just couldn't stand it anymore, so I called my MIL and she said she'd take me to the hospital. Just where I wanted to go..The ER. Seriously..It's October in Phoenix, which means the ER is PACKED...Six hour waits..Super. To my surprise though, it wasn't nearly as full as I thought it would be. I was triaged and called back in about an hour. Here's where the fun begins.

So, I'm laying in this tiny bed, chatting with my MIL trying to keep my mind of the hot pokers running through the side of my body. The nurse comes in and tells me that I'm going to need to change into a gown and get and IV. Super..So, I change into the gown and look down at myself. You see, at this point in the game I had honestly not shaved my legs in about 2 weeks. Totally disgusting, I know, but I was wearing jeans ALL the time, and pajama pants when I wasn't wearing jeans, and I really didn't care what David thought about my hairtasticness. This is where is gets awesome. So, the nurse comes in to start my IV, but she says she needs to check to see if I have swelling anywhere (legs, feet, ankels..blah blah) and pulls down the sheets to look. There are my hairy legs. She says, "Well, I see you haven't shaven your legs." Umm..Well, no, I haven't..Thanks for noticing.

In pops a medical student. He explains that he's a surgical resident, and he'll be examining me before the doctor comes in to see me. Super. He pokes around on my side. I'm wincing and getting tears in my eyes because it FREAKING HURTS!! He then needs to check for swelling and blah blah blah pulls down my sheets. There are my hairy legs. He also mentions them. That's people mentioning my hairy legs. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

In comes the surgeon. After poking me and telling me I have appendicitis and will need surgery, he needs to not only check for the swelling and blah blah blah, but also do a pelvic exam to make sure nothing else id going on. Super. He pulls down my sheets to check for swelling and there are my hairy legs. He also mentions them. Is there not a doctor in this hospital that will not mention my hairy legs? I mean, COME ON!! Yeah, they're hairy. I get it. I should have shaved. I wasn't expecting everyone in the hospital to come in and poke me and call everyone they know in to look at my legs. I mean, it's appendicitis, they're not removing a limb.

I tell you what though, after surgery, when I woke up back in my room and they allowed me to shower, I requested a razor and went to town on my legs. I could barely see straight, and was having a super hard time even staying awake in the shower, but I made sure my legs looked awesome so I didn't have to hear about it from anymore nurses and doctors for the next couple of days. Especially since they made me get up and walk around the pod on the floor I was on.

What I'm Thankful For

Tomorrow is T-Day..Thanksgiving Day that is. Our home here won't be filled with the wonderful smells of roasting turkey, screaming kids, family chatter and a crying newborn until Sunday thanks to Target and their crappy work schedule, but it will be filled all the same. Here are the things that I am grateful for this year.

-I am grateful that I had a healthy pregnancy that resulted in a beautiful and healthy baby boy. Although I'm struggling with having three kids, two of whom are 18 months apart, I couldn't ask for anything better.

-I am grateful that my body is cooperating with making enough milk for Grayson. It was a struggle with the last two.

-I am grateful for my handsome boy, Ethan and my beautiful princess, Claire. They make me laugh, even when I feel like I want to rip my hair out.

-I am grateful that I am learning to coupon better and save more money!

-I am grateful to the giveaways I won that helped me get things for Grayson.

-I am grateful that we have all avoided any major illness and been relatively healthy this year.

-I am grateful that my MIL came to help out with the arrival of Grayson. There was just no way we could have done it on our own.

-I am grateful for my family. I love them.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Messy House Is Driving Me CRAZY!!

I feel like I can't get anything done. I pick up the living room, but it desperately needs to be vacuumed. DESPERATELY!! The dog goes out and brings leaves in. Ethan comes home from school and drags leaves in, and also brings home rocks in his shoes because the school can't be normal and use something other than rocks on the playground. It's killing me. I can't even tell you how many times a day I put the video games, movies and shoes back in their proper homes only to have Claire come behind me and rip them out. My kitchen is in desperate need of a sweeping and Wetjet run over. My laundry from last week needs folding. My laundry from this week needs doing. My sink is full of dishes, and I feel like I can't keep up with them. I feel so far behind on it all.

Then, there's me. I'm all hairy legged and barely get a chance to brush my hair and teeth in the morning or even at night because Grayson demands food whenever I feel I might have a second to jump in the shower. Seriously, it's like he has a "Mommy Must Shower" alarm and it rings whenever I put a toe on my bathroom floor. I stare longingly at my shampoo and conditioner and VS body washes, and they wave at me across the linoleium while Grayson happily nurses away. By the time he's done nursing at night, I'm too exhausted to think about showering, so I usually wash my face and brush my teeth and fall asleep within 5 minutes of lying down. In the morning I'm even more of a zombie because Claire has decided that 6AM is the new 7:30AM and she must be awake to catch all the cool happenings at this hour. Grayson sleeps until 7:45 while I feed Ethan and Claire breakfeast and try and rush Ethan out the door to catch the bus. Last night I tried to take a bath with him, and he was so not having it. Bathing with Claire worked wonders. She was always calm and quiet in the tub when I bathed with her. I'd lay her on her back on my legs and use a wash cloth to run water over her. It was the only time, apart from the very few naps she took, that we would be free from her colic crying. I remember trying to stay in the tub with her as long as possible just to be free from the crying for a little while. Grayson was not that way at all. He started crying as soon as I got him undressed, cried all the way through the bath and didn't stop crying until I was feeding him and trying to get him to sleep. Good thing though, I was able to finish nursing him, get him into bed and watch a WHOLE movie with David before he was ready to get up and eat again. That was awesome. Hey, it's the little things.

On another note, we'll be having Thanksgiving on Sunday instead of Thursday. David has to work this year on Thanksgiving. He hasn't worked on Thanksgiving in almost 5 years, but this year they are making him. I'm not really very happy about it. I hate it when he has to work on holidays. A few years ago he had to work on Christmas Eve, and we have dinner and open presents at my SIL's house on that night, and when he showed up he was just exhausted. I felt horrible for him. But, at least we'll still have dinner with our family, and we'll still have a Thanksgiving. He's going to be switching his schedule back to weekends so he won't have to work on Thanksgiving again next year. Besides, he never sees Ethan during the week. He gets home from work when the kids and I are in bed, and leaves before Ethan gets hom from school. They always miss each other.

The Three Amigos...Sort Of..

I finally got a picture of all three of my munchkins together.
I just finished changing Grayson's diaper. Claire takes diaper change time as an opportunity to get close. She has to be right next to him, stroking his head or giving him kisses. Ethan had just finished holding him. Yes, Grayson is wearing a Halloween onesie. My SIL bought it and gave it to me in the hospital, on Halloween. He is a Halloween baby after all. I didn't get a chance to put him in it that day. I was worried about changing him out of his hospital garments and putting him in it. And yes, Claire is wearing Halloween jammies, but they were two sets of jammies on clearance at Target for $3.40..How can you beat that price for two sets of jammies?!And, just because it's just too darn cute, here's my little princess giving her baby brother a kiss. Awwww.....

Also, 2 week update, Grayson is now 9lbs 10 oz. Our doctor said he has blown way past his birth weight, so I must have some awesome milk...lol...He's also just under 21 inches now. Growing like a weed. He's also got himself an infection too. We're infection buddies! He gets this insane eye goop, so my doctor said it's either and infection, or clogged tear ducts. He's treating an infection first, and if the goop doesn't go away, we need to take him back in to get the clogged ducts treated. The medicine is an ointment that I have to put on the inside of his eye, three times a day. He HATES it! I wouldn't like someone peeling my eye open to put slimey crap in it either. Poor thing. Hopefully it's an infection, it goes away after 7 days of this medication, and I won't need to take him in the get the ducts cleared out. I'm afraid that's going to be torture for us both!

When Did Target's Customer Service Start To SUCK!!??

Let's remember April of 2008. I called April 5th to ask about The First Years Breastflow gift set of bottles I had ordered with a gift card and was awaiting the arrival of. When I checked my order, it said they were back ordered. I called and they said it would be about a week before the order would be filled and sent. Not a problem. I can wait. Fast forward to April 14th. Apparently Claire couldn't wait until her due date, and arrived 6 days early. Hey, she had things to do, like cry constantly and disrupt my sleep schedule, not to mention poop on every cute outfit I put her in. Let me tell you how much fun those stains were to get out. Anywho, the bottles have no arrived, so I call Target again, and they apologize, give me an extra $25 e-gift card and send me the bottles, FOR FREE...Yeah, for free. It was awesome. The guy who helped me was awesome. I couldn't have been happier.

Fast forward to Wednesday. After opening and trying the Hotsling here at home for a few days, I realize that it just isn't a perfect fit for Grayson and I. I LOVE IT, it's just too small. I need a size up. It's too tight on my shoulders, and he's squished into my chest and not happy about it. I call customer service to see what I can do to get the next size. This is what I get after explaining my ordeal to the representative.."Mhmm..Yes, we are sorry about that...OK...Mhmm..Yes..I don't deal with registeries, let me transfer you to them. Thanks for calling Target." And, I'm transferred. I never said anything about putting it on or buying it from my registry. I said, "This was a gift from my reigstry, I have the packing slip, how do I go about returning this item?" After a 10 minute wait, a person in registeries picks up. I explain again, and they say, "Mhmm..Yes, we are sorry about that. OK..Mhmm..I don't handle returns. Let me transfer you to returns. Thanks for calling Target." And I'm transferred back to returns. I kid you not, this happened about 10 FLIPPING times!!! I was beyond frustrated when someone finally started listening to me. Even then though, I was annoyed because they kept telling me to speak up. I was yelling already. What the crap do I need to talk louder for?! About an hour and a half later (oh yeah, that long!) they finally tell me that I cannot return the item for a bigger size, I need to return the item entirely, get a gift card and reorder it. So, I ask how to go about doing that. That takes another freaking 45 minutes to get through. First they tell me I have to mail it to them. Then they tell me that I need to call my mother, who ordered the item for me, have her call them and they will refund her the money so she can reorder it (Really? That's crazy.), then they tell me I can print a receipt and take it back to the store. Fine, I'll do that. That takes another 20 minutes for them to explain. Are you kidding me Target? I mean, really, are you? I was on the phone with you for well over 2 FREAKING hours to return one item? How ridiculous is that? And, the customer service was awful. I mean, really, really, awful. I've never had such horrible service. NEVER. David would have had a field day with them. I've never seen a guy rip apart bad service and get free stuff like he has. He once got free stuff from Best Buy because he bought something they put out that was streetdated, and when they tried to take it back, he yelled at them and then called their corporate office and 20th century fox to report them. That was a fun day..Long, boring and lots of yelling.

Anyways, be careful when you call Target now. It's awful. I'll be ordering my new hotsling tomorrow. Hopefully I won't have to deal with calling them again.

Writer's Workshop: A Thanksgiving To Be Remembered

I'm back on the wagon for Writer's Workshop brought to you by MamaKat. Head over, check it out, participate, read some other prompts. It's fun! I actually rather enjoy this, and am super happy that I can get back to it. Though, I've missed out on my TWOC (Twelve Weeks Of Christmas) post again this week due to not being able to get to the store to pick up the crafty stuff I needed to have the kids make Christmas decorations. Oh well, there's always next week!

Anyways, today I chose the prompt 'A Thanksgiving To Be Remembered'. Let's begin!

This is Thanksgiving 2007. David's dad had moved out, his sister has gotten engaged and has two families to split holiday's between, so we are given the Thanksgiving holiday, and they take Christmas Eve so they can spend Christmas day with Tim's family. I'm excited. I'm going to make a turkey. I can't wait. Oh, and did I mention I was pregnant with Claire at this time? Yeah, that comes into play..Wait for it. I call my mom and ask all the turkey prep questions I need to ask. See, a few years ago, I went to my mother's for Thanksgiving because David was working all week, and she was going to teach me to make a turkey for my family. Long story short, I got the flu and spent the afternoon passed out on nyquil on the couch while Ethan helped grandma make apple pie, so turkey prep class was cancelled. Fast forward to 2007, and I'm on the phone FREAKING out about this turkey. She's telling me tips and tricks and I'm calming.

My friend, Jamie, and I head an hour away to Super Target to get all of our Thanksgiving dinner essentials. I'm chatty and excited about this turkey thing still. I get all our Thanksgiving relish tray needs. I buy way too many eggs for deviled eggs, and I buy what Tim tells me we need to make sweet potatoes since he is coming over early to show me how to make them, and how to prep the turkey. Russet Potatoes are 98 cents for a 5lb bag..SCORE!

Fast forward. It's Thanksgiving morning. It's 8am. I get up and start getting all the relish trays ready. The cheese and crackers are out. The veggies look awesome. The deviled eggs are yummy, and I can tell big time since Ethan is devouring them faster than I can set them down in the tray. Yes, I have a deviled egg tray, and I love it! Tim and Kim show up at 8:30. Tim and I head into the kitchen where we set up the roaster, take the turkey out of the fridge and Tim opens it and starts explaining how to clean it. I look at Tim, I look at the turkey and that's when it happens. I cry. And I'm not talking small tears..I'm talking crocodile tears, big sobs. I, in my weird, hormone crazy, pregnancy state felt bad for the turkey and cried my eyes out. Everyone else laughed at me, and they laughed hard. Poor Tim ended up cooking almost all of the rest of dinner because I couldn't look at the turkey without crying. I managed to eat some of it, but I was a little misty. Why does pregnancy do things like that to you?!

Well, ever since then, whenever Thanksgiving approaches, I get lots of jabs thrown my way. Everyone has a good laugh, including me. The jokes began last week. Since I'm going to be 4 weeks post birth when we do Thanksgiving this year, David's been asking me about meltdown's since I've been known to be hormonal for a good 6-8 weeks post birth as well...Though, I think that's typical for most women.

And, there you have it, my Thanksgiving to be remembered.

My Name Is Chantel, And I'm Addicted To Twilight

Yes, it is true. I'm an Edward loving, Cullen family, Volturi fearing, jealous of Bella Swan kinda gal. I love Twilight. If I didn't have a newborn, I'd be in line tomorrow at midnight gossiping like a 12 year old with my friend and the rest of the Twihards. Also, like everyone else, I'm really hoping New Moon is better than Twilight. Don't get me wrong, I loved Twilight..There was just SO much in the book that they could have used, and didn't. I also think that when Bella runs from the hotel in the movie, it really should have been the airport. Sky Harbor International Airport is HUGE. I'm a native of Phoenix, and have flown into and out of that place DOZENS of times, and I always manage to get lost of walk out the wrong side of the bathroom that I came in from. So not my fault. Why the hell does a bathroom need two entrances? Darn interior designers.

The New Moon trailers look so good though. It looks like they took so much from the book. The birthday party scene looks like it's going to be amazing, and the scene where Jacob changes for the first time looked seamless. I can't wait to see that. Alas, I'll be waiting for DVD. Until then, I'm going to finish rereading Twilight, watch the movie and reread New Moon. By the way, is anyone bothered by the fact that Edward actually appears to her instead of being just a voice in her head? I've been wondering about that for awhile.

What I've Learned Two Weeks Post Birth...

Raising a toddler and a newborn is TOUGH WORK! I thought it'd be a piece of cake. Seriously, I did. I was all like, "Psh...I can do this. I did it before!" Umm..Yeah, I did it before, with a 5 year old who went to Kindergarten all day and a newborn. I was home with Claire, and Ethan went to school. If Claire needed a nap and I was feeling a little tired myself, all I had to do was go into the bedroom and lie down with her and we could take a little snooze. I didn't have to worry about much but being awake when Ethan stepped off the school bus and through the front door. Now, what do I have to contend with? Well, here's a list of what's happened in the past two weeks..

-Claire, in her need to be close to Grayson during diaper changes, was showered the other day when Grayson sprung a leak. She was mad, and stole the baby wipes, which resulted in Grayson pooing on the blanket I was changing him on, and also on me. Awesome.

-Claire got mad that I was feeding Grayson and couldn't get up to get her more animal crackers, so she threw her snack bowl at my head.

-Claire, Grayson and I took our first trip out alone to do some grocery shopping since my two week healing period ended on Saturday. I had planned to use my hotsling, but since I've only been using it around the house, I wasn't comfortable taking it out to the store yet. I had to put the car seat in the cart and drag it by the side, hold Claire's hand and pray that Grayson didn't wake up and want to eat. I had pumped milk that I had pumped the night before and that morning for this excursion in the cooler pack in the diaper bag, but that would have made my trip that much more challenging trying to feed him, hold onto her and get the cart out of the way. Double awesome.

-Claire likes to cuddle and watch Sesame Street. She threw a full out tantrum when I had to put her down to feed Grayson this morning during Elmo's World. Video games were thrown off the media shelf, legs were flailed, sippy cups were thrown and screams were uttered to break the non-silence, because Grayson was already giving out his hungry cry. That lasted a good 10 minutes. Exciting, isn't it?

Also, our trip to Target for pictures of the kids? My oh my was that fun. Grayson cried, the entire time. Ethan decided to get silly. He kept falling over and acting goofy and the photographer couldn't get a good picture of him. Claire didn't want anything to do with the photographer taking her picture..At all. Guess what though? As soon as the pictures were done being taken, Claire wanted the photographer to pick her up and hold her, and refused to let her put her down. Yeah...I'm totally serious. She became best friends with the photographer AFTER the pictures were done. It makes me think I need to take her in early to make friends before pictures next time, which is in 6 months for Grayson's six month pictures. Or, maybe by then, she'll be ok with photographers. So, of all the pictures taken, only 6-7 of them were good enough for me to purchase. I hope I got enough of them too..We have lots of people to send them to, and with all the post picture madness of Ethan running around the portrait studio, Trying to feed Grayson and Claire hugging our photorapher and also worrying we weren't going to make it to the H1N1 clinic on time, I couldn't think straight enough to decide how many and how big of each pose I wanted. I guess we'll see.

I Got An Award...WOO!

Tracie over at From Tracie bestowed upon me the Honest Scrap award earlier this week. I finally have the time to post it as Grayson sleeps and Claire climbs in and out of my lap before my first Pump And Dump session of the day. Nothing like posting an award before you torture yourself with a breast pump. You know you're jealous.

Anywho, here's the award:
And here are the rules:
1) Thank the person who gave the award and list their blog and link it.
2) Share "10 Honest Things" about yourself.
3) Present this award to others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged you.
4) Tell those people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award.

Honest Things about Chantel:
1. I do not drink pop. I prefer carbonated water. Perrier is my favorite. Lemon flavored preferred. Thanks for getting me hooked, grandma.
2. I've taken and enjoyed 3 snickers bars from Ethan's Halloween candy. I just had a baby. I so deserved them.
3. Parent's magazines "It Happened To Me" section annoys the CRAP out of me. I really don't know why.
4. I don't know how I lived without my Medela breast pump with Ethan and Claire. I want to Tango with this thing in my kitchen.
5. My hair has a mind of it's own, and that mind always says, "Today, I'm thinking Frizz..FRIZZ LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW!!"
6. I want to visit Paris..Even if people tell me that everyone there is rude. I don't care.
7. I love Jewel. I could listen to her all day, ever day.
8. I watch every season of Friends at least twice a year. I laugh every time. It never gets old.
9. A puppy really isn't the best Christmas present for a 5 year old. I don't know how often I can say this.
10. OJ is really the only juice I like.

There you have it. My honest 10. Here are the people I would like to give this award to:
Shea at Lovin' Every Minute Of It
Cathy at Antsy Pants
In Progress
Liberty Original

There you have it, the 4 I'm sending this award off to. Enjoy! I'm off for the pump!

NaNaNaNa NaNaNaNa HEY HEY HEY GOOD BYE!!!

Remember that craptastical oven I wrote about last month? The one I wanted to take into a boxing ring celebrity death match style and throw down on? Well, David finally broke down and decided that yes, we did indeed need a new oven STAT. All this stove top cooking just wasn't working. We (or I should say I) used the oven a lot. I baked. I made dinner. I baked some more. The oven was my friend. Then it broke and I broke up with it. We had a brief reconciliation, but that lasted about 3 days, and then I dumped that loser and his non heating ways. I looked up stove top meals to try, and some were actually pretty yummy, but I missed my oven.

So, David and his BIL went to Best Buy to shop for a new stove, and found one!! He called me, told me all about it, and I did a very small happy dance because, let's face it, I'm still recovering from childbirth here and things are still swollen and can't take the super happy dance I really wanted to do. My mini dance was enough though. I told Ethan about the new stove, and he said, "Now you can make cupcakes for my class Christmas party?" Yes, yes I can. He's excited. We didn't think we'd get a new oven until January, and Ethan didn't want store bought cupcakes. Does that make me a good baker? In his eyes, I guess it does, and I'm OK with that.

On Tuesday, I took the kids to Target to get pictures taken (which was an event in itself, but I'll write a post on that later), while David went to get the stove with his BIL. I also needed to take the kid's to their doctor's office for H1N1 shots and rush home for Parent Teacher Conferences (which I did not make it home for, but David went). When I got home, my kitchen was a lovely mess. There was boxes and wrapping everywhere, and a shiney new oven being put together and pushed into place. I was beyond excited, but I didn't get a chance to go in and take a peek around because Grayson decided it was time to eat, so I sat to nurse while David and Tim continued their work on the oven. And then, they removed the old one. Want to see?That's the oven in Kim and Tim's truck, ready to be hauled away. Peace out homie! We don't need your ugly old self and the non heating ways up in this house anymore!
And, my beautiful, brand new, Whirpool stove. It's white. The gas works better. The oven works (I made a pie!..It was a frozen pie, but I still made it..lol..), it's got a digital clock and it beeps when it's preheated!! AHHHH!!! I LOVE IT!!

Alright, so I might sound REALLY lame for being excited about an oven, but I don't care. It works. It's new. I can make food. I can bake. I LOVE IT!!

TWOC--Shopping

Grayson has decided it's naptime, so I have a few minutes to blog before I have to tick him off with a bath and get he and Claire ready for pictures and rush to pick Ethan up from school before he boards the bus home.

TWOC: Twelve Weeks Of Christmas is brought to you by Red Writing. Head on over, check it out and join, because it's OH SO FUN!!

Click here to check it out.

This weeks theme is shopping, so let me tell you about my first and last time Day After Thanksgiving shopping. It's a treat.

My friend, Jamie, and I decided that we needed to go Day After Thanksgiving shopping. We wanted deals. We wanted steals. We wanted carts full of half off goodness. I was 5 1/2 months pregnant with Claire, and out of my mind to wanting to be doing this in such a condition. The store we thought would be most beneficial to us was Toys R Us. If you've never been to Toys R Us during this day, DON'T DO IT..TURN BACK NOW..DO NOT PASS GO!!!! We got up to the doors, and there were people with carts in their hands and daggers in their eyes waiting for the deals to begin. At 4AM, the employees came to door, and everyone pressed forward in anticipation. The doors opened and BAM, people started running past us with their carts. It was insanity!! When we finally got in, I tried to make my way to electronics, only to be met by Toys R Us employees and a HUGE wall of boxes. We just grabbed a cart and started shopping. We would make it down an aisle, and there would be carts full of stuff sitting. We looked left. We looked right. No one. We came to find out that people were filling carts and abandoning them left and right because of the chaos in the store. There were women fighting over dolls. Men fighting over trucks. Couples squabbling over which high chair would be better for their daughters baby dolls. Jamie and I clung to each other like there was no tomorrow praying to make it out alive. Seriously, it was like cannibalism. If you got out, you were lucky. At one point, we seperated because there was an easel that Ethan wanted that was on sale, and I needed to go find. I get to the art stuff, and there on the floor is one easel and two couples fighting over it. I looked at one couple. I looked at the other couple. I looked at the easel. I said, "You can fight over it all you want, but my son is getting an easel for Christmas," picked it up and walked away.

Looks great in his room, doesn't it?

After 3 hours shopping and checking out at Toys R Us, we made it out alive. Some of the other places we stopped were not insane. Best Buy was calm, Circut City had a long line and Target was the best. All in all though, I got all my shopping done for just over $200. Great deals, but I will never do it again. That day is all for David. He can shop to his little hearts content, and I will stay home with the kids and look at the ads. I'd rather window shop the papers than get run over in the doorway to Toys R Us.

I Think I Feel Normal(?) And Other Things

Grayson turned a week old on Saturday, and very much unlike Claire's first week of life, I have had glorious amounts of sleep. This guy wakes me up twice a night to eat and contentedly goes back to sleep. There's hardly any midnight crying, and diaper changes are done quietly, without a lot of the newborn leg kicking and squirming, which I'm sure the sleeping daddy appreciates. Yes, he does sleep through them, but lets face it, he doesn't have breasts, so there isn't a whole lot he can do in the middle of the night to help. I don't see the need in bothering him. I don't need supervision for breastfeeding, and he goes back to work this week, so he better enjoy his sleep while he can. Besides, quiet time in the dark with Grayson is awesome. I can stare at my baby by the light of the nightlight and be content while he enjoys his meal. Also very much unlike Claire, he enjoys being in his bouncy chair and his swing. I have free hands to blog (GASP) and help Ethan with homework. When Saturday rolls around again, I'll be able to get back to grocery shopping and cooking. I'm excited to try out my sling, and I LOVE the Bebe Au Lait nursing cover I won. It is AWESOME!! I don't know how I did without it before. It keep everything perfectly covered, and I can walk around comfortably while he nurses without feeling overly exposed like with a blanket, and the terry cloth corners are FANTASTIC. I love this thing. I seriously suggest that any mommies to be out there invest in one, because they are worth it.

In growing weird bacteria news, I went back to the doctor yesterday, and found that I still have the weird bacteria, but I don't have to pump and dump like they thought. The feeding after I take the pill I need to dump, but all other feedings can continue as usual. I was able to pump 8 ounces yesterday, so he has 8 feedings in the fridge now. I plan to pump a feeding during the times that I don't have to dump and pop them in the fridge too. I can live with giving him 2 bottles a day, and I'm happy that they most likely won't be formula. Huge sigh of relief.

I've recieved an award, which I will be posting later, along with my TWOC post. Now, I've got a crying baby demanding food. More to come later!

Only I Would Grow Some Weird Bacteria After Birth

On Thursday I had to make a little trip to the doctor. I didn't get to see my OB because he didn't have any appointments available. I saw my old doctor, whom I love just as much, but didn't see this time around because she doesn't deliver after office hours anymore, and I loved getting to see her and know her throughout my pregnancy. I didn't get that during my pregnancy with Ethan, and I enjoyed it, so I wanted it again. That's where Dr. Stannard came in.

Anywho, so I saw her on Thursday. Wednesday night when I went to the potty, I got the intense feeling that I was getting a bladder infection. On Thursday, I found this to be true. She came in and said my urine was pretty darn ugly. I was given a prescription, and sent on my way. I happily filled said prescription, my MIL and I picked up a few things for Grayson and headed home. This morning, after Grayson's morning feeding, I got a call from the doctor. It seems that I don't just have any normal bladder infection. Oh no. I got me a special kind. It seems that some kind of bacteria that I can't even pronounce, that they don't usually see in urine, has taken up residence in my bladder and made itself nice and cozy. Now, I have two options with this type of bacteria. I can take a prescription pill, and not breastfeed for the next 10 days. I'd have to pump, dump, give Grayson formula and hope beyond all hope that he goes straight back to the breast after those 10 days are up. Or, I can check into the hospital for 3 days and be given an IV, pump and save. I don't want either of these options. All I want is to nurse my baby, not have this crappy bacteria and enjoy being a new mommy again. He's the only one of all the kids that took to nursing without any complications. He's the only one that has been exclusive to the breast since birth. Now, I have to break that bond and give him a bottle. I seriously cried when she told me that.

It's just my luck. Of course this would happen to me. It would have been to perfect for me to come home with a great nursing, awesome sleeping baby without something going wrong this week.

Presenting Grayson--Just The Pictures, Maybe Captions

I just finished pushing for the third time..Hell yeah! Labor looked awesome on me this time. Alright, so it looked awesome for the first 15 minutes of pushing..Then I probably looked like a crazy lady who wanted everyone to shut up so I could push this watermelon out.

We stared at each other for a long time.All 7lbs 8oz of him on the scale.I ain't afraid of no ghost! I had my own personal Ghostbuster to keep me safe! Ethan came to visit me in costume so I could see it on him.Then he told his new brother all about his ghostbusting ways.

Claire, on the other hand, wanted no part in talking or touching or meeting her baby brother. She SCREAMED when she walked into the room and saw me holding him. We were lucky to get this picture.She was OK with daddy touching Grayson though.

And, my boys!

At Home With A Newborn--Day Three

I braced myself bringing Grayson home. After what we went through with Claire, we were kind of dreading it. Claire cried the WHOLE way home from the hospital, which is a 45-1 hour drive. She had horrible colic the first 4 months. She cried for 4 hours straight her first night at home, and tried to beat that record every night for the next two weeks. She had a love/hate relationship with breastfeeding, and it was difficult for us to establish a breastfeeding relationship. I was exhausted. I was sore. I wanted to know what I was thinking when we decided to have her.

Grayson is the opposite. He nurses so well. Like a pro. With Ethan and Claire, they'd both had bottles by this point. Grayson hasn't. I'm actually quite proud of myself for that. Go me! That'll also help me lose this baby weight faster. I'm looking forward to that. I miss my jeans, but everything is still so sore from his birth that I've trapped in pajama pants. Not a big deal. They are comfortable, easy to move around in and I don't care if they get anything yucky from labor on them. Grayson is also a GREAT sleeper. He wakes up twice, sometimes three times to nurse during the night. I'm getting more sleep with him than I ever did with Ethan or Claire. Like I said, Claire was all about the colic, and Ethan was up on the hour every hour to eat. It's a wonder I was able to breastfeed Ethan at all.

Only downside is that Grayson's circumcison is terrible for him. Ethan didn't have a problem at all. My uncle (who was his pediatrician before we moved up here) did it, and said Ethan slept right through it. Didn't wake up, didn't flinch..Nothing. Grayson wasn't like that. I could hear him cry from the nursery. They brought him to me, and handed him to me, and I tried to calm him and feed him as best I could. They showed me how to give him Tylenol for the pain. Whenever I change his diaper, he cries so much. I try to go fast, and try not to get too close to his penis unless I have to. It looks a lot better than it did, and it seems to be healing nicely. Hopefully he won't need to Tylenol anymore in the next few days, and the redness will be completely gone with the none need for Tylenol. We'll see.

All in all, everyone is adjusting quite nicely to little Grayson being here. Claire has been slowly coming around to him. She likes to touch his toes and his hair while he nurses. When he cries, she comes running to see what she can do to help. She likes sitting in front of the bouncy chair while he sleeps. I think she's on the fast track to becoming a little mommy. Ethan, of course, is LOVING his little brother. He's already anxious about wanting Grayson to get up and play games. Seeing as how he's only 5 days old, it's going to be awhile, but I can see them being great friends..At least until Ethan hits 11, 12, maybe 13. We'll see.

I'll be posting more pictures soon. We've taken quite a few, but I just haven't found the time to upload. It's amazing I've been able to post a blog..lol..I'm hoping I can get back to doing the writer's workshop soon. I've also missed my Tweleve Weeks Of Christmas this week. I'll be picking that back up next week..Hopefully!

It's A Boy!

At 11AM on Friday, I started having contractions. They weren't bad. I was able to ignore the majority of them. I went about my business. At about 1PM, they started getting a little harder to ignore. They were 10 minutes apart. The whole time. I decided that if they hadn't stopped by 2PM, I'd call the OB nurse and let them know what was happening. In that time frame, David left for work. Well, 2PM rolled around and the contractions were still there, so I called. They suggested I try a warm bath and a glass of water and call back in an hour. Not a problem. I did it, and at 3:15PM, they still hadn't gone away. I called back, and they told me to come in. In I went. We stopped by my SIL's house and dropped off Ethan. He wanted to spend some time with Aunt Kim. I didn't have a problem with that. My MIL, Claire and I continued to the hospital. We got there at about 5:15PM. I went in, checked in and headed to OB. They checked me and I was 4-4 1/2. SCORE! LABOR! I called David at work, told him I was in labor and he headed towards the hospital. My doctor came in, confirmed I was in labor and they went ahead and broke my water. I looked at my belly and said, "Just stay in there 7 hours..7 more hours!"

At 8:30PM, my doctor came back, rechecked me and said I was 6. I opted to receive an epidural then. David and I chatted throughout the evening, checking the clock periodically. I was hoping for after 12AM, he was hoping for before. At 12AM, I was rechecked, and told I was a good 9. I opted to have my epidural turned off, so I would know when I needed to push. My legs were numb, but I still had pretty good control over what they were doing. At 12:30AM, my doctor came in, checked me and I was told I could start to push.

Pushing went so well. I was able to feel when I was having a contraction. It was painful, but it was not as painful as it was with Claire. And, the environment was so much more relaxed. My doctor and my nurses were laughing and joking the whole time, which really made me feel much more calm and relaxed. I was able to enjoy my birthing experience, which I feel made it that much easier. At 1:32AM, his head crowned. At 1:35AM, the rest of him was delivered and handed to me. So, he is a Halloween baby. Born at 1:35AM on 10-31-09. We named him Grayson Liam. He's 7lbs 8oz, and 20 1/4 inches long. And beautiful. So beautiful.

Grayson

My Ghostbuster meets his little brother.
Claire meets her new brother.