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Feb 24, 2010

Nursery Update





Cameron's almost finished painting London's room. He just has the right side of the closet frame to do. We decided not to paint the baseboards as it would have been a long, drawn out process and we risked getting paint on the carpet or would have had to pull the carpet up. We also have two shelves that we are going to paint the same purple and put up in the room and possibly two side tables, depending on how the nursery furniture fits in the room.

Last night, Matt & Lynde came over and helped us build the dresser and crib. The dresser took some time, having so many pieces to it. The crib took a little less and would have been even easier if Cameron and Matt had put the first two pieces together correctly - first it was the back top and back bottom didn't match up and then the legs were on backwards. But its together now and all we need is the mattress and we can put the bedding on!

I can't wait for it all to be done, arranged and Little London to arrive!

In other news, I have a job interview today. I feel prepared and hope to report later that it has gone well. I don't think I'm one of those people cut out to be a stay-at-home mom. I also think a job would make the next 3 months go by quicker. But Cameron can confirm for me - our house is getting cleaner and more organized by the day when my back doesn't get the best of me.

Tootles,
Sarah

Feb 23, 2010

Another Chapter in the Tulley Files

We've been working on training Tulley since the day she arrived and she's caught on to a lot of things very quickly. One of the things we have been working on is her not eating until she is told it is OK. This involves placing her bowl of food on the ground in front of her and making her wait for the command.

The other day Cameron placed the bowl in front of her and walked away for a moment. He thought he heard her start eating before the command but didn't go back to her to confirm as he had some time-sensitive work to attend to quickly. He came back 10-15 minutes later to discover Tulley was still sitting there, salivating over her food, waiting for the command!

Then we have Melody who has been finicky on eating so we've kept a bowl of her food up in our room, as Tulley has yet to be allowed free roam of the house and is not left unattended in our room. Yesterday I forgot to put the baby gate up to prevent Tulley from heading upstairs while I was doing my pregnancy exercises. She's so load when she goes up the stairs any how, that I figured she had just found a corner to sleep in, like she normally does, when things got quiet, but I went to look for her any way, just to make sure. Tulley was no where to be found downstairs. I immediately sprinted upstairs (as much as one can with a baby bump in the way) after remembering the bowl of Mel's food lying out. There she was sitting in front of the bowl of food, waiting for the command! I convinced her to break away from it and come downstairs where she was rewarded with a treat, as it was not meal time.

Tootles,
Sarah

Feb 17, 2010

Whoops

Today we had our 24-week/6-month prenatal visit with the doctor. I was a little surprised to learn I'd gained 11 lbs since my last visit which brings my total pregnancy weight gain up to 20 lbs. With a good 3 months to go, I don't think I'm going to reach my goal of only gaining the required 25 lbs and I need to be careful if I want to stay within the 35 lb limit. Its recommended that the average woman gain between 25 - 35 lbs for a single baby pregnancy. Looking back on the last month and my eating habits, I should have seen it coming. My appetite definitely increased in the last month, but so did my sweet tooth. The doctor recommends I stick to a protein-rich diet from now on, and avoid simple sugars.

Goodbye to my Jalapeno poppers, chocolate chip cookies, mini Reese's peanut butter cups, Eggo waffles with syrup and English muffins with strawberry jam. Time for more fresh veggies and fruits, along with chicken versus white carbohydrates. And probably time for more walks. I've been walking Melody a good half hour about 2-3 times a week, but I'm thinking this needs to be daily and possibly twice a day - the doc recommended walking after lunch and dinner. Luckily we've been having gorgeous weather that a couple walks a day won't be a freezing ordeal.

As for my back pain, she suggested prenatal massage or wearing a pregnancy brace. Its similar to a heavy lifting back brace but specially designed for pregnant bellies. I think we'll have to give that a try before looking into prenatal massage.

In other pregnancy news, I'm glad the weather is looking up because its getting really hard to tie my shoes, which means I'm opting for flip flops most of the time. Last night when we were getting ready to go to our first neighborhood watch meeting I leaned over to put on my shoes and found myself very uncomfortable. I ditched the attempt and found my flip flops quickly.

The meeting was very informative. We learned that most burglaries happen within 1.7 miles of the robber's home, which basically means its someone who lives in the neighborhood, or its someone who knows someone in the neighborhood. Its also usually hoodlums, as most burglaries take place between 3 and 4 pm weekdays. The meeting also provided us with tips on how better to secure our homes and cars to prevent a burglary as best we can. Biggest thing recommended to us was get to know our neighbors and report anything suspicious. We've already gotten to know quite a few of our neighbors and hopefully we'll get to know even more on our street with the neighborhood watch program in place. The police officers recommended that each street get to know each other through get togethers and block parties, which we had just been talking about with a few of our neighbors the other day now that the weather seems to be turning. All in all, it was a good way to spend 2 hours of our evening last night.

Last, but not least, the last of London's nursery furniture arrived yesterday. Lynde and Matt are coming over tonight to help Cameron with the last of the painting. If they can get 3 good nights of painting in over the next week or two, we'll be in good shape in having the nursery ready for the baby shower. Unfortunately, its going to take 3 good coats of purple paint on the trim to make it look right, as the trim is already glossy and we're painting over it with more glossy paint. Can't wait until we can put the furniture together and arrange the room. At least the boxes are no longer in our front entrance!

Feb 15, 2010

A Little Yard Work




This weekend ended up being more relaxing than expected. Friday, Cameron and I headed to home depot, where I picked out two Mr. Lincoln rose bushes to be planted below the two windows at the front of our house, so I can see the roses when in bloom from my desk.

Saturday I got up and headed to Chico as planned for my hair appointment, but I went without Cameron or Tulley. We decided my handling a 1 and 3 year old I don't know very well along with a puppy for 3 hours was probably going to be too much for me, especially now that London is gaining real weight that I can feel and I end most days on the couch with my middle back hurting. Luckily only 3 1/2 more months and London will be here in my arms, not my belly! It's amazing to be carrying a human life and all, and I love feeling her kick all the time, but I'm definitely not one of those ladies who loves to be pregnant and therefore has child after child. Any who, I headed back home directly after my appointment. I arrived just as Cameron began mowing the back lawn. We hadn't mowed in quite a while because its been so wet. And while it still was really too wet to be mowed, Cameron did so any how. I spent the time going around with the pooper scooper picking up after Melody and Tulley and then picked up all the cut wet grass that didn't make it into the mower bag. Tulley had a grand old time running around in the fresh cut grass after Cameron. The above pictures are the result of her running around. Guess she thought the next day was St. Patty's Day, not Valentine's Day. She got carried upstairs to the shower after this little adventure.

Valentine's Day, Cameron went to work planting my roses and removing some bushes we didn't want in the front yard. Then his cousin Whitney came for a little visit, as we haven't seen her in ages and she just moved back to Yuba City after finishing school at UC Santa Barbara. We had a nice little visit over lunch. After that, we really just vegged out the rest of the day. We've never been too big on Valentine's Day any how, so it was spent exactly the way we wanted to spend it.

On the calendar this week is a neighborhood watch meeting. There's been a few break-ins so we're also having ADT come to install an alarm system. Then there's our 24 week/6-month prenatal visit. Just one more monthly visit (28 weeks) after this one and we'll be in the 3rd trimester so checkups will be increased to every two weeks.

Tootles,
Sarah

Feb 12, 2010

A Trip To The Vet

The pantry is done and my kitchen is clean once again.

This week's big adventure out for me was taking Melody and Tulley in to see our new vet. We thought we would stay with our vet in Elk Grove, but with London on the way and Tulley being a puppy and needing more trips to the vet in the first year, we felt it was best to find one closer to our new home. Luckily, the VCA Emergency Clinic we took Kelsey to last May when she decided to eat my hair bands is in Rancho and they offer well visit check-ups.

The visit was supposed to be Monday, but for some reason I wrote down that the appointment was Tuesday on one of my 3 calendars and proceeded to trust only that calendar until Monday, long after the appointment had come and gone, when I looked at another and saw it was for that day. Luckily, they were very understanding and were able to get me in on Thursday.

So yesterday, Cameron and I loaded Melody and Tulley into the car and headed for the vet. Little miss Tulley isn't as enthusiastic about car rides as Mel is, at least not yet. She sat on my lap and whimpered most of the way there and the way back. She was, however, thrilled to be at the vet and wanted nothing more then go see all the other dogs in the waiting room. Unfortunately, she had to be contained to one of our laps since she doesn't have all her shots and obviously, it being a vet, sick dogs do come in and spread their germs. Melody was also quite excited at the vet, wimpering and whining in the waiting room, but was ready to leave as soon as we went in to the exam room.

Tulley got a great review from the vet, saying her elbows and hips are nice and tight. He said she should be a great hunting dog. She goes back in in 4 weeks for her final normal round of shots and then a week later for shots only hunting dogs need since they are exposed to more out in the fields and water.

Melody is doing pretty good. She's exhibiting some signs of old age, which is expected since she'll be 9 this year. Mainly she has cloudy eyes and lower back pain. Explains why she prefers to lay down versus sit. For now, we just need to watch her and if she seems to be in real pain, then we will start her on an anti-inflammatory regime. The cloudy eyes part is not cataracts either, which is good. Some dots we've noticed in the color part of her eye are cysts, but don't cause any pain or bother her so they're nothing to worry about.

All in all, I love the new vet. He's good at explaining everything and doesn't want to take the drastic course of action to fix a problem.

This weekend we're headed up to Chico. I've got a hair appointment and Cameron needs to help Dave break down the blind from hunting season. We may bring Tulley with us so Dave can see her and so we can introduce her to his dog Suzy. While Dave and Cameron break down the blind, I'll be babysitter to his two boys, Nathan and Nick, as his wife Jen is getting in another great day of skiing before the end of the season. Nathan is 3 I think and Nick is just around 1. Should be some good practice.

Of course, Sunday is Valentine's day. We've never been big on celebrating the day, but Cameron has said he's going to take me to a nursery to pick out some rose bushes for our yard. Yippee!

Tootles,
Sarah

Feb 5, 2010

The Life of the Unemployed




Unfortunately for me, I was laid off at the end of January due to budget constraints. My boss fought to try and keep me on through the end of March, but such was not our luck. At first I was really bummed and felt like a complete failure even though I know my being laid off had nothing to do with my productivity or success at work. While they say the economy is bouncing back, its a slow bounce and still effecting many people out there. So for now, while looking for new employment, I'm doing what I can to stay busy, and prepare for London's arrival. I've been checking off to dos on my home check list left and right, started walking regularly as well as a pregnancy weight & stretching regime. But mainly I am tackling large home projects I would normally reserve for weekend projects and then not get done because on the weekends I'd be too tired or have other things Cameron and I needed to get done together.

So far I've been able to clean up and organize our closet. It's wonderful to be able to walk into it again. We have a tendency to fill small walk-in spaces to full capacity and prevent ourselves from being able to walk into them. This is the reason my current project is our organizing our pantry. I should have taken a before picture - we could open the door, and walk in 3 feet before getting stuck in food, recycling bins and small kitchen appliances. The pictures above are from when I took everything out and slowly started to put things away. When taking things out, I did discover a 7up can of soda was put in there with a small leak, resulting in mold in my 5-month-old pantry! After some bleach dowsing, done by Cameron, some sanding and painting, also done by Cameron, the mold appears to be gone. I've gotten a lot back into the pantry now, but still have a lot sitting out on the kitchen counters as well. Cameron's in the process of building another shelf in there, which will create more space for food and small appliances. Hopefully he'll have the shelf built tomorrow so that the pantry is in order before Super Bowl on Sunday. We're headed to Matt & Lynde's like most of our friends. Once again our TV will also be going so that there are two screens to watch from.

Next project - the downstairs hall closet - yet another space where the floor is completely covered.

Also on Cameron's to do list is painting the trim in London's room. We received her crib bedding in the mail last week and color-matched the dark purple in it at Home Depot for the trim. We've also just ordered her nursery furniture, so he'll need to get to the trim sooner rather than later, so that I can then put the furniture together and arrange the nursery.

Tulley is doing great. She's got sit and stay down perfectly. We still need to work on come when she's distracted. Potty training is in the bag and we've also got it so she runs and sits at Cameron's feet when he gets home from a day in the field. Melody's adjusted as best as I think she can. She likes spending time in Cameron's office when he's working from home and she gets to go on walks alone with me every few days when its not raining, so we're making sure she gets her own special attention. Jake and Kelsey are, for the most part, fine with Tulley's arrival now. Kelsey likes to keep watch over her, just from a safe spot from above. Jake just does his thing and when Tulley bugs him he hisses and swats her away. We're also working on teaching Tulley not to chase the cats, which is a 50/50 chance that she will when they are at her level. She's growing up fast, that's for sure. Cameron weighed her at 17 lbs the other night and we go to the vet for her second round of shots Monday.

Tootles,
Sarah