Chronic Ama

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Monday was Bella's first day of preschool. I thought I was going to cry, but all went perfectly well. Bella was happy and had fun. It was Wednesday and Friday that the tears came, but from Bella's end. It's still very new to her and she's also getting used to the schedule. One good thing is that she's started napping again. Yay! We all need a nap in this house. Some more than others, but at least we all get to take a snooze each day. Bella only has two more weeks before her winter break. Then, when she goes back in January, I'll also be back at work. I'm kinda looking forward to work because I think I need a mommy break, but I will admit that I'm ready for a job change. I'm a little anxious about January, but it's just one more thing to triumph over before we plan for the next best thing. Maybe a good vacation soon enough. Anywhoo... Bella really likes school despite a little anxiety over mom and dad not being with her. She gets to be in the same

Yeah, I've been cooking up a storm again. I think the kitchen is the place I feel best sometimes. Too bad it's messy as hell from breakfast still... But breakfast was delicious!! I bet you're wondering what we had, huh? Well, I guess I can share it with you. I found a delicious red velvet pancake mix at Cost Plus and I whipped up some of buttercream icing "syrup." I'm getting drooly just thinking about it. I hope you've stopped reading and have gotten in your car to go to Cost Plus and pick up some of that red velvet pancake mix. Pick me up another can while you're there, ok? I'll wait for you to come back.... ... .. . OK, so now you need to know how to make the "syrup." It's very simple. You need: 2tbs butter powdered sugar milk/canned milk/coffee creamer (whichever you prefer) Add all ingredients to a bowl and blend with a hand mixer. Add as much powdered sugar or milk as you desire. More milk makes it thinner and easy to pour, like

I had quite a few containers of cooked pumpkin from last year in the freezer and it was time to make room for this year's pumpkin.... so I started experimenting with a pumpkin bread recipe to see if the frozen pumpkin was still good. And it was good, so good. So good that I have made 4 batches of pumpkin bread and muffins. My favorite is the pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips, but the pumpkin break with cranberries (pictured here) was pretty damn good too. My neighbours are getting treats tomorrow when Bella goes trick or treating. I have four more loaves of pumpkin bread cooling as I type.... And here's the recipe if you'd like to try this yummy bread... (PS - it's also a little on the healthy side as I use real pumpkin, not the stuff in the can, so you can serve it up for a quick breakfast) 2 1/4 cups flour 1 tbs pumpkin pie spice 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs 2 cups sugar or splenda or half sugar/half splenda 2 cups cooked, pureed pumpkin (or 1 can if y

So it was Monday, September 5th. A day past my predicted due date, and still 10 days 'til C section. I had already spent the weekend with painful contractions and walking around at Walmart trying to speed things up. I got up that morning, made breakfast and then it all went down hill from there. Or, I should say, I went down hill from there. Mark took Bella outside to play and my dad came over to vis it and I laid on the couch feeling like I was going to throw up. My back hurt, my legs hurt, my butt hurt and I didn't want to throw up french toast casserole. I decided to take a shower. On came the lightheaded and dizzy. I r eally didn't feel good. So, I call Mark in to help me get dressed and I break the news that I th ought I should go back to the hospital to see if I was alright. Something was just not right and I couldn't put my finger on it. Mom got off work and picked up Bella and by 1pm we were back in Labor and Delivery. First, they hydrated me since I was dehydra

Seems like September would never get here! And now it seems like cooler weather will never get here... Nine days 'til Bella turns 4. Thirteen days 'til my scheduled C section. Two days 'til the predicted arrival of Baby Mark. I'm leaning toward the 2 day window after the week I've had. I've had contractions all week again, but none that were bad enough to call it a go until yesterday. I was napping with Bella and I woke up out of a dead sleep to the worst pain ever. I couldn't even get out of bed, and when I did, I woke up Bellini. I sat on the sofa for the next hour with Bella bringing me glass after glass of water and cuddling with me. I called Mom to pick up Bella and told Mark to get his ass home from work. Finally, it was time to go to the hospital. I got there around 5 with contractions every 3 minutes that hurt like hell in my back and legs. They decided not to stop them since I was so close to being full term. Today I'm 37 weeks. Instead, t

Today I'm 35 weeks, 5 days as my doctor has me down, or 37 weeks as I'm measuring. My doctor is still convinced that I'm going to make it to September 15th. OK, fine, but what about having to go to L&D last week again for the 5345132156th time thus far? Oh, what happened? Yup, that's what my doctor asked. I let her know that I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes lasting from 30 seconds to 1 minute and the shot of Terbutaline didn't really help much. It stopped them for 20 minutes and then they started again. Plus, I was 1cm dilated. Not much, I know, but still. So, another shot, this time of Toridol. (I may be spelling these wrong, but at least you can still Google the names) It just made me not feel the contractions. The doc on call decided to give me a sleeping pill and send me home, but not until they checked my cervix again. Yup, still 1cm with no change. The nurse there seemed really concerned. She kept telling me that I needed to come back in the mor