Anne is a 30-something full-time SAHM mom of 5 ranging from 3 to 17 and grandma of 1 who resides in Ashwaubenon (Green Bay) Wisconsin. She started blogging in 2008 as a way to regain her sanity. She enjoys coffee, chocolate, cheeseburgers and vodka along with spending time with her husband and kids.
Every now and then we like to play dress up in our house.
No….not in the dirty way.
We have a 3.5 year old with a very active imagination who loves to play dress up and every now and then we like to catch him off guard by dressing up too.
Lately, the little dude has been referring to the Alex as Chef since he has been the one taking care of our meals lately.
It started one night while we were eating dinner and Alexander turned to Alex and said,
“Chef, what did you make for us tonight?”
Seriously, the kid is that cute!
A week later, AdultCostumes.com reached out to me and asked if we would like to review a costume from their site and they just happened to have a Chef costume.
This was perfect.
We ordered the costume and it arrived just in time for the Alex to wear while preparing a feast for the family to enjoy on New Years Eve.
So, right before he started cooking the Alex pulled a quick change on the preschooler and put on his Chef jacket and hat. When Alexander saw his dad donning that Chef jacket and hat his eyes were huge! And then he looked at his dad and said,
“See, I told you you were a Chef daddy!”
Since that night, every time the Alex begins prepping for a meal Alexander grabs him his Chef jacket and hat so he is properly dressed to cook!
I personally think the costume suits him just fine, I’ve always had a thing for a guy in uniform, even more when there is food involved!
I was also very happy with the quality of this costume. In all honesty I was expecting a cheap Chef jacket and hat to arrive and that I would have to sew buttons back on before he could actually wear it. I am happy that I was wrong and the costume is durable!
I also think the costume helped make dinner even better. Look at these NY strips!
Disclaimer: I received a free product in exchange for my complete and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Can you believe that little Miss Ellie is already 3 weeks old?
I can’t!
She went to see our family doctor, the fabulous Dr. J this past Thursday and we are proud to report she is growing like a weed. She weighed in at 6 pounds 8 ounces (that is a 12 ounce gain since her appoint the day after Christmas) and she is now measuring 20.5 inches which means she grew 2 inches since birth!
I cannot believe just how fast she is growing.
Yesterday we went to another appointment and had her weighed and she was up another 2 ounces now putting her at 6 pounds 10 ounces.
I am very proud of her and I am definitely not worried that my body is not providing for her properly because by these numbers we definitely know that it is.
It is also pretty neat to start seeing her fill out her clothes that she was drowning in a week ago.
Pretty soon we will be moving out of the newborn clothes and finally into the giant stash of 0-3 months clothing. I’m sure Ellie, being the little fashionista she is, is super excited about this. I can tell she is getting tired of wearing the same clothes over and over and over again.
We also received good news from the doctor that she doesn’t need to return until her 2 month check up since she has been doing so well at gaining weight.
Now if I could just keep her from spitting up all the time……
it’s a good thing the cuteness totally makes up for it!
My very dear and lifelong friend Natalie is currently facing a bit of trouble. She is 4.5 months away from finally graduating from college with a degree she has worked very, very hard for. Natalie was recently informed by her educational institution via letter over her holiday break that she has exhausted her allotted financial aid funds and will be responsible for covering her last semester of school out of her own pocket and she will need to pay for half of that semester by January 12th. The total for the semester is $3000.
Natalie is a single mom to 4 kids. She works over 40 hours a week in a residential care facility caring for adults with severe disabilities. Not only does she work 40 hours a week, she also goes to school for 30 and is a full time mom as well.
Needless to say, Natalie does not have the funds or the means of producing the money needed to cover the cost of her final semester of school and neither does her family.
Natalie’s brother Bob has started a fundraiser to help raise enough money to help cover the cost of her last semester.
If you can donate anything, even just $1.00 it will help.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you can help!
Pay it forward
It’s official.
Little Miss Ellie has graduated and is now able to use her pretty pink infant car seat!!!
We couldn’t be more excited about this news.
Now fingers crossed that when she heads in to see our family doctor later this afternoon she has a nice weight gain!
If you missed the first part of this story you can catch up HERE.
Now on to the rest of the story……
After seeing the nurse practitioner that Friday afternoon (12/16) the Alex and I scooped the kids from my parents house and made our way home. We were both so darn tired and the Alex hadn’t slept all day and was scheduled to head into work that night for mandatory overtime that once we returned to our house I sent him to bed so he could get a solid 4 hours of sleep before heading into 8 hours of work. He went to bed and I attempted to get things cleaned up around the house with the help of the kids.
A few minutes into my attempt to get things done around the house, Zack decided to give me attitude that I just was not in the mood to deal with so I called my parents (who live a few blocks over from us) and asked my dad to come get him for the night. After he left, I began to have stronger contractions and more pain in my back so I decided to lay down on the couch and try to get some rest while Libby and Alexander watched a movie.
I managed to nap on and off for almost 2 hours until I had to get up to use the bathroom. I looked at the clock and realized is was 8:12pm so I asked the Libby to get Alexander ready for bed and lay down with him while I went to lay down with Alex until he got up for work.
I crawled into bed with Alex and found a somewhat comfortable position to rest in but was in more pain. Again, I somehow managed to fall asleep. I do recall having felt a few weird things while I was sleeping. At 9:10pm I was jolted awake by a sharp pain and realized that I needed to wake Alex up so he could get ready for work. He got out of bed and went to get ready and I tried to maneuver myself to get out of bed to use the potty once again. At the moment that I started to get out of bed things felt very, very weird. I walked the 10-15 feet to the bathroom, sat down on the toilet and then realized that my water had broke while I was sleeping!
Here we were, minutes before Alex was supposed to leave for work. I grabbed my phone, called my dad and had him come scoop Libby and Alexander and then I called the doctor’s office, gave the after hours answering service all my info and waited for the doctor on call to call me back.
Ironically, the doctor who called me back was the same doctor the nurse practitioner has consulted with on my case earlier in the day. She was surprised to hear from me but told me to head to the hospital the minute I told her my water broke.
From there, the Alex and I made our way to the hospital. In the less than 10 minute drive to the hospital, my contractions became stronger and were getting closer. I called my mom for a portion of the ride just to talk and take my mind off of things and to distract me from the fact that the Alex was driving.
Finally we were at the hospital and I was being wheeled up to labor and delivery by the security guard on duty who made me promise that I wouldn’t deliver my daughter in the elevator.
I kept my promise.
I was wheeled right back into the little room that I had been in the day before so that the nurse could make sure that my water was indeed broken and that I was actually in labor.
Yep.
I was.
She checked me and I was now dilated to 4, almost 5 centimeters and now 90% effaced.
I had made progress.
(See…..I told them at the doctor’s office that I was in labor and I was having a baby before the weekend was over!)
Once we had confirmation that I was definitely in labor and we were definitely having a baby, we waited as they setup my hospital room and then they transported me to room 319 (this is the same room that Alexander was born in!).
By the time we made it into my room it was 10:30pm. The nurse worked quickly to get me hooked up to the monitors to measure my contractions, but once again little Miss Ellie didn’t want to cooperate for her part so of course we had to monitor by placing a probe on her head instead.
For the next two hours, the Alex and I talked with our nurse, made a list of the things he needed to run back home and gather up to bring to the hospital after Ellie’s arrival, laughed, and grew more excited. Yes, we did all of that while I laid in my hospital bed, blowing through contractions one after the other as things continued to progress. Shortly after 1am, things really got moving and I began to get the urge to push. Ellie was definitely getting closer to enter the world but decided that I was definitely going to have to work and work hard this time. She was still very high up so I had to work and push a lot before she was finally ready (this was a first for me as well). Finally, after about 20 minutes of pushing while on my hands and knees Ellie decided it was time. The nurse thought I should flip over onto my back but I was finally in a position that wasn’t causing me pain in my pelvis for the first time in months and decided it was in my best interest to remain on my hands and knees. After 2 really strong pushes, Ellie’s head was being delivered. As this was happening, it was myself, Alex and my nurse in the room. She told me to stop pushing as she paged for the doctor, however, I was not pushing, I had no control over what my body was doing and next thing we know, my nurse is delivering baby Ellie.
Yep.
The nurse.
The AMAZING Sarah had just caught my daughter and welcomed her into the world.
And then, the doctor finally walked into the room!
Baby Ellie was born on 12/17/2011 at 1:48am weighing in a 6 pounds 2 ounces and was 18.5 inches long.
She was born 4 weeks early at 36 weeks gestation and was considered a late term preemie. She scored an 8 and a 9 on her Apgar. Ellie did have a few struggles in the beginning, she was breathing rapidly, had issues gaining weight and maintaining her body temperature on top of being jaundice and required an extra night in the hospital after I was discharged however our hospital offers a bed and breakfast program which allowed me to stay in the same room I was already occupying and remain at the hospital with my daughter but I was no longer a patient. This was not covered by our insurance and we had to pay for it out of our own pocket but it was definitely worth it because it allowed me to be close to her and continue to nurse her, pump and deliver breast milk to the nursery.
Since she was jaundice, Ellie did have to spend a day in the light box and was only allowed out when it was time to eat. This was very hard for me….I had never had to spend so much time away from my baby before and I did struggle with it a lot. At shift change when my new night nurse arrived, she was kind enough to move Ellie and her light box to my room so I could at least be with her…she was a great night light and may I add the cutest little glow worm I had ever seen!
The next morning we were happy to learn that she had managed to gain weight over night and our family doctor was ready to discharge her and finally let us take her home. Ellie had to undergo 2 car seat studies while she was in the hospital and sadly, she failed both of them so she had to travel home in a car bed but before she could come home she had to sit through another car seat study while in the car bed to ensure that her oxygen levels were okay, and thankfully she passed and we were finally able to leave the hospital!
Ellie and I arrived home on Tuesday, December 20th. Since she has been home she has gone to the hospital once for a weight and billi check, both of which she passed with flying colors. She has also seen our family doctor twice and has been gaining weight. As of last week Monday, the 26th of December she weighed in at 5 pounds 12 ounces which was much, much better than her discharge weight of 5 pounds 8.4 ounces.
Today ( Tuesday 1/3/12) she will be heading back to the hospital in the afternoon to repeat the car seat study and we are keeping her fingers crossed that she will finally get to ride home in her pretty pink infant seat that I searched store after store for the day before she was born and that we can finally say goodbye to the car bed. She will also be seeing our family doctor on Thursday 1/5/12 as well for her 2 week check up/weigh in and we are very hopeful she will be over 6 pounds by then!
