When I went on facebook this morning I saw wonderful pictures of a baby boy. It turns out my cousin and his wife are the proud parents of a new little one via domestic adoption!

Yay! I am so happy for them. I know they have prayed for a child for a long time and I am so glad they have welcomed this new prince into their lives.

I have been saying ever since I saw the movie Minority Report that I wanted to have access to that kind of technology. I want to have information at my fingertips for anything I need. And I don’t just mean like my blackberry (although I do love my berry)…
A friend pointed out to me that we have the technology and it is coming soon! Yay!
Check out this video…

Now we need to build a transporter so that we don’t have to waste time getting from one place to the next. Although, I think I might miss the journey…

Before I get started…I just need to say that I am so very glad that Nadie and I did whatever it took to have the Zerker. She amazes me every day. I can’t believe I am so blessed.

Now back to your regularly schedule programming.

Working from home is going well. I find that usually it isn’t the Zerker that distracts me, it is other things like, oh, Ellen at 11am and the internet. I am getting back into the swing of things. I think Zerker enjoys those days. She definitely prefers being able to nurse whenever.

Speaking of BFing, um, I don’t know that I ever mentioned how it ended up. After seeing the Lactation consultant many times and trying reglan and fenugreek, and doing the whole nurse/supplement/pump thing, it just didn’t seem to be working. I never got more than an ounce at a time in pumping. I am guessing the lil one wasn’t ever getting full after the second week either. So these days I nurse really just to try and give her as much of the good stuff (antibodies, etc) to keep her from getting sick, but she is really bottle fed when it comes down to it. We still bond through nursing once in the morning and a few times at night. It is so sweet to see her big smile when she realizes we are going to nurse, especially after I pick her up from child care. She looks up like, ‘I have been waiting for this all day!’ I wish I could give her more so that she actually gets full, but I can’t stress about it.

Nana and Papa were crazy about the video. Since they left for FL the week after she was born, they have had to live as grandparents vicariously through the internet. All of the Zerker’s grandpeople are in FL. We are hoping to take a trip there soon. Nana and Papa will be back in May, but she will be so different by then. It makes me sad (and my mom too) that they are missing this cute time.

Zerker is doing so well at sleeping. She needs to eat either at midnight or 4am. It depends on the day as to which it is. Last night I fed her at 10pm and she didn’t wake up until 5am. I know these things will change, but it is good right now. Also, she sleeps in her carseat, and I think that is going to have to change soon. We need to get her adjusted to her crib. I got a wedge pillow to keep her elevated, but it won’t be nearly like her carseat. She always spits up all over the place when she is laying on her back. It doesn’t seem to bother her, but I know she is much more comfortable elevated. Maybe we will also put a book under the edge of the crib.

Since Zerker has decided to start babbling up a storm, we felt it only necessary to record these things for posterity..So, last weekend we bought a new camcorder. I was going to pick up a flip mino, but we decided to get one of these instead. It is super easy to use. I can copy the videos over to youtube in a snap and the video is stored on an SD card so it is expandable. I bought an 8Gig one for now. Hence you will be seeing little vids on here every now and then.

Two of the sweetest things this week…
1. yesterday she woke up with a dirty diaper at 4am. I changed her and fed her a bottle. SHe went back to sleep. Around 730am I brought her into the bed with us fora bit. She was zonked out. When she is like taht she seems most like a baby doll. She stretches her arms and makes this face like her cheeks are pouting and her lips are stretching too. All I could think was that she wanted to say ‘Go way! Aws Seeping!’ just like the LOLcats. too. cute.

2. This morning when I put her back to sleep after a 5am bottle she was actually making her car seat rock…she was rocking herself to sleep. SHe has this thing where she takes her blanket and kneads it in her hand. She pulls the blanket up to her head. Now she is finding her feet and I think that is why she was getting the seat to rock….kneading with her toes….the lil rockstar….:) lol

Tomorrow night my sister is going to watch the Zerker while Nadie and I go out to celebrate St. Pattys day. We are spending the night at my sister’s house in B-town. I am so excited. I haven’t been out on the town in over a year. I am going to have a half-yard of Smithwicks I think. Woot woot!

PS Why does the lullabye station think babies are into Kenny G?

This is for Nana….

Last night I stayed after work a bit to hang with a few friends. This means nadie picked up the Zerker. I really only got home thirty minutes later than usual, but I still had a bit of down time with other adults.

One of my co-workers actually asked me if I was considering putting the Zerker in pageants. She asked this not because she wanted me to, but because seh was worried that I would because she knew I was in pageants when I was a kid.

I was in maybe three pageants, and when I did them I was older, and it was mostly so I could be in the talent portion.

I consider myself a feminist. I am NOT a fan of pageants. I don’t think people do them just for the experience and the scholarships. I think that is an excuse to dress up a pretty girl and make her prance around. I think the girls that I met in pageants were fake, their moms were fake, and the judges were fake too. I can’t say if that made me fake too. I don’t begrudge my mother for putting me in them, it was something we tried and decided it wasn’t for us.

My mom started me in dance and gymnastics lessons when I was three. I started voice lessons when I was five. I performed in talent competitions from five until 18. Dancing was a way of life, learning discipline, fitness, skill, artistic sense….it ended up being a good experience for me. It was tough at times, probably a little more pressure than I would have chosen, but I definitely grew from the experience.

I also did community theater. That was super fun.

So, when my co-worker asked me, of course, I said, um, no…she ain’t gonna be in no pageants…(I said it just like that! Then I went to the bathroom and teased my hair to make it bigger…LOL)…and she isn’t going to wear makeup. I told Nadie that I would be prohibitting her from wearing makeup until she has to sneak around and put it on in the bathroom at school.

When I got home I started to think maybe I was taking too many pictures of the Zerker. I love capturing how she grows. She is beautiful. I know I am biased, but I am amazed at her physical beauty. Of course, I am not really the person to judge. But that physical beauty is not the reason I am taking so many pictures. I want to capture her smile over and over again. I love her different expressions, and how she can convey different things without being able to communicate verbally. I enjoyed taking pictures before, she is now my favorite subject.

Perhaps this is coming across as vanity.

I don’t know what things we will get her involved in. It really depends on what she wants. I will let her try different things out.

Nadie hopes she is into Math and Science. I think that would be cool. We want to foster education for her so that she thinks learning is fun. The years to come will be so exciting.

In other news, I have been having trouble sleeping. The night before last I just kept staring at the clock until after 3am. And, before that I had been waking up every hour. I think it is from the transition of being up with her to listening to her throughout the night. Ugh. I don’t think I can manage much more. Last night I finally slept well, and the Zerker went to sleep around the same time with me. Bliss.

—no pictures today….:)

I took some pictures of the Zerker in her first Blue Gingham Jumper. It is actually way too big on her, but I could’t resist…

From 2 Months

She is two months tomorrow…here is a little video to celebrate…

Zerker just got her two month shots. Of course, I hated seeing her in pain, but I told her it was for her own good and that she wouldn’t remember it. She screamed like a banshee. Her face was so sad! She seemed surprised that anyone would ever hurt her and wondering what she could have done to deserve such horrible treatment!
The doc said it would have been fine to give her Tylenol before the shot. I didn’t before we left because I figured I should wait to see how she reacts. So the nurse gave me some sample Tylenol and we gave her about 20 minutes before the shots. It didn’t make it any easier, but perhaps it made it easier after we got to the car. She seemed sort of like a zombie and I was frightened that my grinning Zerker was gone!

She is pretty much in the 50th percentile on everything. She weighed in at 10 pounds 12 ounces and 23 inches. So she has gained 3 lbs 13 ozs and 4 inches in two months. A healthy baby girl….sigh of relief…

She smiles all the time and there is just the beginning of laughter…we won’t call it the real thing until we hear her rip a whole round of giggles.

Once she got home she did seem in better spirits….

(Hard to resist, right? Sometimes I have to just pause for a moment to realize how freaking beautiful she is, just take every sip of her in…and that came from me and nadie??? Crazy!)

She is sleeping right now, and when she wakes I am going to give her another round of Tylenol. She can’t tell me if she is feeling blah, and I would rather err on the side of caution.

I know there are parents out there against immunizations. Personally, I would never live with myself if Zerker got sick from something that was preventable. I do not believe that random the studies you read saying that they are harmful are correct. I have read studies using ‘online surveys’ to gather their information and then posting on supposedly reputable sites. I will not be responsible for allowing polio to resurge in our country. I think refraining from vaccinating your kid is somewhat irresponsible, not only to your child’s safety – but to the rest of the people around you. I do understand being hesitant and wanting to make sure you do what is best for your kid, but it is so easy to jump to incorrect conclusions. Anyways, it is just an opinion, and I don’t care to judge anyone.

Have a good weekend, my internet friends. I am hoping to get some outdoor time with Nadie, the Zerker and the dogs tomorrow since it will be in the 70s. She has never been out longer than to get to the car and back and the dogs are in desperate need of some running time. WOOT WOOT

And I am sure I will be bright eyed and bushy tailed on sunday morning when the Zerker wakes at 4am instead of 5am because we have to spring the clock forward. Ugh…

Hello all, as promised I am putting this blog on hiatus until we choose to concieve another child….Don’t fret! I have moved!
Follow along with my sometimes wacky, sometimes normal life (oh and keep up with how our beautiful little Zerker grows – because I know that is why most people read! lol)

This is the inaugural post of the BGJ blog!

I started blogging during our primary struggle with infertility. Since we now have a healthy seven week old little girl, I think it is time to move on to a blog that is not geared specifically to one aspect of my life. When we try for #2, I may go back to the old blog….until then this is where we roll.

My goal is to NOT make this blog a specific type of blog – like a family blog or a mommy blog or an infertility blog…this is a place where I can say what is going on in my life. It will include information about my little girl, my hubby, my job, and pretty much any part of my life….

So here we have the Blue Gingham Jumpers blog! A BGJ is what Dorothy wore in the Wizard of Oz. I have had a connection to Dorothy Gale and the Oz stories since I was a little girl. I sang ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ in a blue gingham jumper when I was seven. I was in the WOZ as a munchkin when I was six, a munchkin and a poppy when I was ten, the scarecrow and the student director when I was fourteen, and finally Dorothy in the Wiz in college….

Today is important. I have turned over a new leaf, or perhaps old leaf. I have begun excercising again. I have sworn off some of the bad things that I took back up. I am embarrassed that I was even doing them. I am going to try with all my heart to become someone that my daughter will be proud of….and someone that will be here for a long time to enjoy life with my Zerker (Daughter) and Nadie (hubby).