A Baby, Some Play Time, and a Boat Ride

We had some exciting times in August. Our good friends Keith and Angel had their second boy, baby Braylen, we caught up with some old friends at Jake's, and played at the park, and we went boating twice with Luke's parents. The second time we ate at Famous Dave's at Cedar Point. The girls LOVED seeing the roller coasters. I can't wait until they are tall enough to ride them. Luke and I have been together for a little over 8 years, and we haven't made it there to ride the rides at all. One day we'll get there.


Baby Braylen


Avery playing in a container at the hospital


Big brother Kaden giving Braylen a kiss with me and their grandma


Playing at the park with friends


Avery's first big swing ride


The girls with Papa Cowgar on the boat, with Bernie in the way!


Cedar Point


Do you see the look of fear on their faces? ;)


Pirate ships


The local wildlife on Lake Erie


Avery in her life jacket. Her first boat ride


Luke with Lexi and Lilly. It was Lilly's first boat ride too.


Papa Cowgar with Avery

Welcome Home

We were discharged from the hospital about 4PM yesterday (Monday), and made our way home. The girls were super excited to meet "The New Baby", and we caught their reactions on video, which Luke will have to upload a bit later. Lexi read her stories and shared Mo with her, and they both would "pet" her very gently and wanted to give her toys to play with. We just hung out for a bit before getting the big girls in the tub, and then they helped give Avery a bath. We had Avery in her little papasan chair in their bedroom during storytime, and as Luke picked up the chair to bring her out so we could shut their light off, Lilly lost it, screaming "No, my baby!" Apparently, she thought Avery was going to sleep in that chair on her floor all night, so we had to explain to her yet again that Avery sleeps in our room for now. They did just fine though.

Avery, on the other hand, doesn't seem to want to do things my way. She still isn't latching hardly at all, no matter what we try, so she has been eating formula, and any milk that I have been able to pump. She has also been doing some cluster feedings, so right now I am just working on a game plan to keep my milk stimulated, while still keeping Avery content.

Avery's discharge weight was 8lbs 8 ozs, and we go to see the pediatrician on Wednesday afternoon. I am good to go and have my checkup on the 21st of January.

Thank you to everyone for you congrats and well wishes!

So Much for a Play by Play...

Darn wireless internet, we couldn't figure out how to get it to work until now. Now for the birth story...

We arrived right on time at 8PM, and got put on an IV drip and the monitors, just to see what baby was up to. At 9PM pitocin was started on the lowest dose, and Dr. Laing came in to break my water. I was measuring at 3cm and about 70%. We got hooked up to the wireless gadgets so we could walk around, and made it a total of 3-4 laps before I needed to be in the room. Emotionally I was not ready whatsoever to go on with the induction. I decided I should do a nubain shot at 11PM, and I was check and at a 5 and about 80% effaced. I sat in bed because I felt loopy in between contractions, but it didn't do very much for the pain. By this time, I was seriously contemplating an epidural, and had asked the nurse tons of questions about it. I could have up to 4 nubain shots before they would suggest an epidural for pain, and would you believe it takes that guy a half hour to get here after you call for one? That's crazy! I decided I should try one more nubain shot, because a needle to the back terrifies me, so at midnight I had my second shot, and I was at a 7-8 and 90%. About 10 minutes til 1AM I started feeling like I needed to push with each contraction. I was an 8-9 and fully effaced, and the crash carts were set up and the bed was moved around. I had been shaking uncontrollably for awhile, and by the time the doctor sat on the bed, I was pushing out a baby while the other nurse was calling for an assistant nurse. I had 2 big sets of pushes and out came Avery at 1:11AM. She weighed a whopping 8lbs 15 1/2 ounces, and is 21 inches long. She had a little bit of a purple face, from bruising, and I needed 2 stitches (which I received without a pain medication shot) and so far we are doing well.

I had a little more bleeding than they would like, and so far she is not nursing at all, but eating well from the little bottles of similac they have here. Right now we are just hanging out, waiting for visitors and taking naps. Here are a few pics that Luke also has up on facebook...

For Your Enjoyment...

The title of the last post made me think of Europe, so Luke and I set out on a search and came across this.

Europe Video

Please take a few minutes and enjoy the hair, pink lipstick, jacket change, on stage slow motion, cheesy guitar solo, and flames. And make note of the date on the top of the building...1986. I was 2 :) Gotta love the 80's!

It's the Final Countdown! T-9 and ticking...

Well, tonight is the night. I didn't sleep worth a darn last night. Fell asleep about midnight, was up at 4:30, and didn't fall back asleep until about 8:30, just in time to wake up at 9:15 this morning. I had some contractions for a little while about 10 minutes apart, but obviously it was nothing.

I have the bed sheets in the wash along with other miscellaneous laundry. All of the floors have been swept except the kitchen. The dining room is ready to be set up into a studio for this double senior session that goes from 2PM-6PM (although the first part will be outside).

On my to-do list...

1) Make bed
2) Clean out car
3) Finish off kitchen trash and dishes after lunch
4) Finish packing hospital gear
5) Try to relax

My mother-in-law (Trish) is coming about 1:30 or so to help with the girls during the photo shoot, and she will stay tonight with them. My dad will be over sometime tomorrow and he will stay Sunday night with them since he is off work Monday.

The hospital doesn't have WiFi in the rooms, but they do in the reception area, so I will periodically type something out for Luke to post here on the blog, to keep everyone up-to-date with the situation.

The plan is to be at the hospital at 8PM tonight, and we will see how we start from there.

An Afternoon at the Hospital

No baby yet. I had contractions for 3 hours that were 5-7 minutes apart last night, that even lasted through a bath, but they weren't strong enough to keep me from falling asleep, although each time I got up to use the bathroom, I could feel them.

We had our ultrasound at 2PM for the AFI (fluid check) and it was like 13.6, which is great the tech said. Baby is head down (which we knew) and we saw a hand, which was blocking the goods shot, so even this late in the game, baby is still modest and won't give a clear shot. With the family statistics though, and the 4 techs thinking girl at the 20 week ultrasound, I can't imagine anything else in there but another little girl.

We went down to labor and delivery for the NST (Non-Stress Test), so I got to lay in bed for 30 minutes while they monitored the baby's heart rate and any contractions, and I got to push a little button whenever I felt the baby move. They had the stats they needed within the first 10 minutes, but had to keep us on for a half hour to make sure. After that half hour, apparently the baby had a heart deceleration, so they called Dr. Laing, and I got to stay on the machine and drink some water. All in all, I was hooked up for an hour and a half. Everything is fine though, and I even had some contractions show up on the monitor. Being in that bed for that long though, I have no idea how I am supposed to stay hooked up to all that equipment while going through pitocin contractions. I am going to need to move around, or this induction just isn't going to happen.

On another note, as we walked through the door, they had a sign posted that said no one under 18 will be allowed to visit patients, which means the girls won't be able to visit. Luckily Chris was off work early today, so we left the girls with him. This makes me very upset, because this whole H1N1 is getting blown way out of proportion, and now it's affecting a very important moment in my family's lives. I told Luke we are going to pressure everyone around us to get us discharged as early as possible. I don't want to stay the 48 hours I did with the girls...hopefully we can get out at 24. I don't want to rely on family for so long when in this economy, people shouldn't take off work unless absolutely necessary.

I'm hoping something happens this evening or tonight, or even tomorrow morning, even though it would ruin Luke's photo shoot. I just want to keep away from a pitocin induction if at all possible, but this baby is not helping this situation!

Finally!!! Some Baby Progress to Report...

Had my doctor's appointment late this afternoon (3:30). I went from nothing last week, to 3cm and 40% effaced, although the cervix still feels a bit thick she said. She went ahead and stripped the membranes which brought us to 4cm when it was all said and done. When I was 2cm and 50% with Lilly, we had the membranes stripped, and I went into labor 9 hours later, so hopefully this does something tonight or tomorrow, because I really don't want induced.

In the event that nothing has happened, we go to the hospital tomorrow at 2PM for a Non-Stress Test and an ultrasound to check fluid levels since I will be 41 weeks, and officially a week overdue. Luke has a senior shoot scheduled on Saturday, and our induction is scheduled for Saturday evening at 8PM, so at the latest, we will have a baby by Sunday!!

Since I am dilated and effaced, we will not have to start off with any gel, just pitocin (which I really don't want), and then we can break the water a little while after that. I hope it doesn't come to that, because I don't want to be stuck in bed hooked up to a bunch of monitors, especially when I won't have an epidural (I refuse to take a needle to my back), so I guess I need to think of some pain management techniques if I end up stuck in bed not being able to move.

Hopefully the next time I post I will be in labor or holding a baby!

Happy Late Turkey Day, and a Birthday for Luke!

Wednesday was our weekly doctor's appointment. We went to Orrville for this one, so Luke got his Ming Hing for lunch ;) Still no change going on in there, but she didn't want to poke too much, since she left Thursday for vacation and won't be back til Sunday evening. She doesn't want to miss the birth. We have an appointment on Thursday, and if there is still no change, we will be discussing induction options, which I really don't want to do. I think that she is thinking that weekend...which Luke has a double senior shoot scheduled that Saturday. Needless to say, I am very anxious and nervous about this induction thing, but I'm just taking it a day at a time, and hopefully there will be some change come Thursday.

Yesterday was the big Turkey Day, and we didn't do anything! We skipped my family's get together, for the sake of our health, and Luke's side was up in Cleveland, and we didn't want to travel that far from home in the event that the baby decided to come. Luke's parents brought a feast back to us in the evening though, so after the kids were asleep, we had a nice Thanksgiving Day dinner while watching "Major Payne"

Today is Luke's birthday, and we haven't done much at all. His mom had brought some old slides down, so we've been looking at those and starting to scan them in. We need to get a new tag for the car, and of course the BMV place is closed today. Not even a government holiday! Hopefully they will be open tomorrow. That's what we get for waiting last minute when his birthday is always so close to a holiday :)

Home Improvement/Organizing Weekend

We decided that having a working shower would probably be a good thing after the baby comes, so we started finishing the windows in the bathroom (both windows touch the shower surround). Luke primed them a couple coats, then caulked around everything on Saturday. On Sunday, he started painting, only to realize that the caulk we had bought is non-paintable!! Even after attempting to put primer overtop, we are just left with caulk, the paint will bead overtop of it. I told him, screw it,it's a shower, there is supposed to be caulk everywhere anyways, so he went ahead and did a couple coats of paint on the windows.

Fast-forward to the christening last night...

#1 The fabric shower curtain makes the shower a bit dark.
#2 Even though the curtain said you didn't need a liner, we will buy one anyway.
#3 Apparently semi-gloss paint hates being in the shower, and it started to bubble up on the window from getting wet.

The new plan...

#1 Look for paintable caulk and rerun a small bead overtop of the non-paintable, so it's less noticeable.
#2 Buy all weather indoor/outdoor white paint for the bathroom trim, so we know it can stand up to the constant water exposure.

The shower was nice though! Easier to wash hair in a shower than a bathtub when you're this pregnant.

I went through a small cleaning spell on Sunday, and got the crib cleared out, bedroom more organized, baby clothes more organized. All the floors were swept, 2 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away. Dishwasher is almost ready to run again, garbage was switched out, and best of all, we bought one of those 9-bin toy organizers for the girls, and went through all of the toys. They now have special places for blocks, animals, cars, track, food, and many other things. Clean up in the living room is now easier, because they don't tear everything out looking for a specific toy. It also helps Lilly tremendously, because when all of the toys are on the floor and we ask them to clean up, we believe she gets very overwhelmed and her brain just doesn't process taking directions. She gets so lost, and we have to give her specific tasks like "clean up the cars and put them in this tote" while physically showing her, and helping her out. She seems to be able to handle this organizer more on her own, so I'm sure she will adjust even further as they learn where all of their toys go.

Still no baby. I've had plenty of miscellaneous contractions, but nothing consistent...

NOTHING!!

Just got back from the doctor's appointment. NOTHING has happened! Cervix is still high and tilted back, and no dilation or effacement. So needless to say, so membrane stripping, since nothing is favorable. I will go back next Wednesday morning in the Orrville office and she will check progress and we will go from there.

It's a bit odd, since I dilated early with the other girls, but we were also going by estimated due dates. I know exactly when I ovulated for this pregnancy, so I know my due date is correct. I guess baby just needs more time to bake. Mom says Thanksgiving Day. The doctor said she normally wouldn't care, but since she is going out of town, she doesn't want to miss it, so maybe baby will wait for her and we will have a very late November/early December baby. Anything could happen though, we may not make it to Wednesday, since things can change rapidly. Dr. Laing says we won't worry about induction until after she would get back from vacation. I would be overdue by then. She said I have such easy labor and deliveries, there is no sense in forcing an induction when nothing is going on up there, so we won't go that route unless we are too far overdue and nothing has happened.

So that is where we stand so far. I guess I need to start scrubbing floors on my hands and knees and going for long walks ;)

Feeling Pooey!

I woke up this morning feeling like poo! I ate some cereal, which I in turn threw up, and took a bath, which didn't seem to help my overall state :( I feel crampy and tired and shaky, which is how I felt for 2 days before I decided to go to labor and delivery with Alexis, only to find out that we were 6cm and I was being admitted. If something noticeable doesn't happen by tomorrow morning, my doctor's appointment is at 11:15AM, and as long as things are soft and ready to go down there, the doctor will strip the membranes to see if anything starts.

In the meantime, I'm trying to take it easy, even though I have a 5 mile long list of things that need done between now and tomorrow, and we are trying to keep the girls from getting sick. Lexi's nose started bugging her yesterday evening.


In other news, Luke had his first print order and we delivered it yesterday, and he also got a phone call for another print order. Just waiting on the check from that one and we will have it on the way.

Today's Doctor Visit

So as you may have noticed, Thursdays are our weekly visits, since that is the only day the doctor is in Wooster and not Orrville. Just more convenient to drive 5 minutes up the road as opposed to 20 minutes to the next town. Everything went well. Weight is more than I'd like ::cough:: 204lbs ::cough:: but that is actually down a pound from last week. Blood pressure was 100/62, which is normal for me, and the baby's heartbeat was 148bpm, which is within normal range. She noticed that I'm swelling in the legs just a touch, but my ankles have been pitting for a few weeks now. No concern though.

If we don't have a baby by next Thursday, she will check me to see if I'm dilated and how the cervix is doing. If things seem favorable in there, we will go ahead and strip the membranes at that appointment. I had that done with Lilly, and I went into labor that evening. She is going on vacation for Thanksgiving, so she gave us the option to induce Tuesday the 24th if nothing happens by then, but I won't get induced unless my health or the baby's starts to deteriorate, or I go overdue too long. We just may not have her delivering the baby if we pop around Thanksgiving.

All and all, I'm hoping to not make it to next weeks appointment. Dr. Laing told me to do some jumping jacks, and I think we may hit some bumpy roads this evening. I guess we will see what happens :)

Jeremy's flight and My Pick!

Yesterday we had Kendra for a couple hours, and packed all the kids in the car and took off for Wayne County Airport. Jeremy (Luke's brother), got his pilot's license over the weekend, and his first passenger was his 3 year old Anne. They flew out of Skypark and met us at Wayne County for some Klondike bars, and Jeremy wanted some pictures...which of course Luke can resize for facebook, but not for my blog...

The girls had a blast though, and Lilly cried when we left. She absolutely loves airplanes. Nana found an airshow shirt that has some planes and helicopters on it, and that is all she ever wants to wear anymore besides her Halloween shirt with the ghosts on it (thanks to Aunt Angie).

As for today, well it was my pick for having this baby. The date is 11/10/09...and I believe that there are no birthdays in the immediate family on this day. Unless things get moving soon though, I don't think it will happen. Lexi was around 16 hours of labor, and Lilly was 12, so I am expecting at least 8 hours this time around. I just want labor to start after I get up in the morning, and not be in active labor overnight like with the other two. Tomorrow is Chelsea's pick, but it's Veteran's Day, and I really don' want to pop on a holiday.

I have Kendra for a few hours over lunch today, and I guess I should try to keep up with general house maintenance, so the house doesn't look completely trashed when someone comes to stay with the girls.

A long night...

Starting off with yesterday...it was absolutely gorgeous outside. I had no idea it was gonna hit 75 degrees in November!! And today the NOAA is calling for 72. I raked some leaves that Luke put on a tarp and took down to the curb for the next leaf pickup.

Last night I tried watching some Indy, but I felt so blah, so we must have been in bed by 10:30, only for me to wake up about 1:30 feeling tired but alert with a nice dull back ache. I decided to take a bath and by the time I got myself situated back in bed it was 2:30AM and I felt a contraction. by 3:30 Luke was up in bed downloading a contraction timer program so we could keep better track of them, although for the past hour they were about 5 minutes apart. They continued every 3-5 minutes for another 45 minutes - 1 hour before they just fizzled out, so we laid back down and got a little sleep before the girls woke up and Luke had to start his workday. I'm surprisingly up and about this morning for having so little sleep. The dishwasher is going, laundry is in the wash, and the kids have been fed, so I'm not doing too bad.

I'm kind of bummed they fizzled out, but my guess was the 10th anyways...not the 9th, so maybe it will happen again tonight, but stay constant. Either way...I guess this means we need to finish packing the hospital bag and getting a list of phone numbers together :)

Dear City of Wooster...

I thank you for taking a little pride in the city and scheduling the annual leaf pick up so the neighbourhood yards look a little better this time of year. It is also very nice for the environment, as I know the trucks take all of the leaves to be composted, so next year I can pay $5.00 a bag for mulch that came from my own backyard. However, why do you insist on picking it up at 7:30AM!!!! I understand that the majority of people are up with full-time dayshift jobs, but not in this house...or neighbourhood for that matter. I am ready to pop this kid out, and I have two toddlers sleeping that were woken up asking "What's that?", as they heard the huge vacuum truck pass by. I am fortunate enough that Luke works from home, and can help out with them in my time of need, and as for the neighbours, most are on some kind of assistance, so they have nowhere to be that early. 9AM would have been fine, just not 7:30! Ugh...it's gonna be a long day.

On another note, Halloween went well. We trick-or-treated in Burton City at Grandpa Perkins house, ate a bunch of candy, and continued eating candy on Sunday. The girls loved the princess dresses and pumpkin baskets. Still no baby, although I'm not considered full-term until Friday. My next appointment is Thursday morning. I had some throwing up and contractions on Sunday, but unless some fluid spills from my body, I feel tons of pressure, or an insane amount of pain, I plan to just hang out at the house as long as possible. Easier for the girls and myself.

A Week With Nana...and other updates...

On Friday the 16th, Luke had asked if I had heard from my grandma on whether or not she was coming up that weekend from West Virginia. I had emailed her the day before, so he suggested I call down there and see what the plans are. Low and behold, grandpa tells me she is already in Ohio, and will probably be over that day!!!!! Surprise to us. We got the dishwasher loaded and started wiping the microwave and in pulls mom and grandma. Luckily, the house wasn't too out of shape, but I wasn't expecting her until Sunday afternoon, not Friday.

She stayed the week and the girls had a ton of fun. They walked up to the Gault Family Learning Center and played on their "playground". We walked around the block and picked up some leaves that we put in clear contact paper to preserve. We raked some leaves outside to jump into. They did lots of puzzles and colouring.

Luke and I worked on the bathroom a little bit, cleaned the basement just a touch, and got my Geo Metro hauled off for scrap :( I got $180 out of it from the guys that took it away, but I cried as they hacked away at it on the trailer before they even left our house! I told Luke, I had that car longer than I've been with him. I will miss it, but the frame was beyond fixing.

Wednesday was Nana's birthday, but we waited until Saturday to celebrate, since Grandpa came up Friday and they stayed over at Uncle Rob and Aunt Taresa's house. We had lots of ice cream cake and cheese :)

My doctor's appointment was Thursday, and we didn't bring the girls since Nana was up, so the doctor decided to do some swab test and check things out in there. She said the cervix was high and closed, which is good, since I still have 2 weeks before I'm considered full term, and my belly is measuring at 38, although I really believe that I look smaller than I did with both girls. I'm hoping for the second week of November (the 10th to be exact), but we will see how things pan out.

Luke had a senior shoot on Sunday at Silvercreek. We dropped the girls off at Rob and Taresa's (for more ice cream cake) and I went and held the reflectors and flashes for him. They will be coming over later this week for the studio session. He actually left about an hour ago to do another senior shoot at Lake Anna, and then we will have to schedule a studio session for them as well, so needless to say I will be busy cleaning all week!!

Hopefully I can muster up the energy. There are so many little things I want to get done, especially before the baby, and how he will have two seniors to edit, and I just hope he can get the editing done before I pop. I actually think the baby dropped a bit, must have been the walking at Silvercreek yesterday. Hopefully we can get some things finished up...if anyone wants to buy me some drywall and put it up for me, I will love you forever ;)

As always, pictures will show up sometime, we have lots of senior pictures to go through, so I'm sure the first pictures that will end up getting posted on this blog will end up being whenever the baby comes, and then we will catch up with everything else one day....

Ultrasound Update!

Wednesday morning I was woken up by a call from the hospital asking if I could come in that day instead of Thursday for the ultrasound. Well yeah...I'll take a day early! I drank my 8,000 ounces of water before 1PM and did the potty dance while waiting to be called back. I had a student tech that did the ultrasound, so she had 2 other techs in the room with her, and a third that finished up at the end. They took all kinds of pictures of my insides...and of course the baby.

Gender wise...well, the baby wasn't nearly as stubborn as Lexi and Lilly. The glimpse we got suggests to all 4 techs in the room that we are having another girl!!! Oh boy! We are now accepting donations for weddings and shotguns.

I really cannot imagine 3 girls. Lexi and Lilly are so close in age that they can be in the same extracurricular activities. Same teams, same groups, etc... But throwing in another girl that is 2 1/2 years younger means I have a whole other set of activities to attend, and as of right now, she will be alone...which makes us contemplate one more baby. A girl would give us two groups of two, but if genetics failed in the Cowgar family and we ended up with a boy, then I would have 2 sets of girl activities, and then a set of boy activities, although they would be close enough in age that they could still be playing partners like Lexi and Lilly are now. I guess we will see how this pregnancy and delivery goes, and if we catch the baby fever shortly after like we did after Lexi was born!

Oh, by the way...the name we have for our new baby girl is Avery Sapphire!

Baby Checkup at 16 Weeks

Today we had a normal OBGYN appointment for the new baby, one day shy of 16 weeks. Blood work is all fine, and the baby's heart rate was 152 (it was 154 last time), so that is excellent. I think I lost a couple pounds, but I attribute that to sweating to death at the airshow last weekend. Hopefully I won't gain as much weight as with the girls, since the majority of this pregnancy will be over summer, instead of winter holidays filled with cookies!

We go back in 4 weeks for another checkup, but the big news is....AN ULTRASOUND!!!! It is scheduled in 3 weeks (July 2nd), one day shy of being 19 weeks along. The girls were modest during their ultrasounds, but we can't help but be excited that we could potentially know what this little bean is.

The plan is that if we can't find out, well, then so be it. It will be just like the girls' pregnancies were. If it's for sure another girl, we will definitely let everyone know, so no one has that boy hope lingering for the rest of the pregnancy. If the tech is pretty sure it's a boy, I think I will ask for a second opinion...lol. We will then keep quiet letting everyone know that we didn't find out, and secretly schedule one of those 3D/4D ultrasounds to get a second opinion, and after that place tells us it's a boy, I'm sure we will still tell everyone it's a girl, because we just won't believe it at all!

After having 2 girls, and Luke's brother having 4 girls, I'm pretty sure this one will be another girl. They both must have been contaminated as children, and therefore cannot produce boy swimmers. I think Lilly will be as close as I get to having a boy...but I guess we shall wait and see.

UPDATE EDIT:

Here is the ultrasound of the baby at 7 weeks 3 days. Can't see much but a blob...

New Baby Checkup

So...I had a doctor's appointment the beginning of May. Since we were heading into the second trimester, Dr. Laing said the risk of miscarriage decreases a lot (which we already knew), but that meant I could be off pelvic rest and continue as a normal pregnancy. The ultrasound at 7 weeks showed a little bit of blood behind the placenta, so I asked if another ultrasound would be done soon so check up on. She didn't seem to concerned, and said we will just wait until the normal 18 week ultrasound to see if it is still there, and if it is, it may present a risk for preterm labor, but other than that, we look good.

I still need to get my bloodwork done, but my next appointment isn't until June 11th, when we will be 16 weeks, and then an ultrasound soon after! We are starting to get anxious to know what we are having. I need to know whether to start buying boy and packing up the girl, or unpacking all the girl stuff. With our track record though, we probably won't find out. Lexi never showed herself, and with Lilly, the tech thought girl, but wouldn't place a bet on it. I guess our kids are just shy!

Happy New Year...I still have a job!

I worked 5pm-9pm today, and went in a bit early to talk to HR about my hours. Apparently she lost the note I wrote her about changing my availability to Wed.-Fri. 5pm-10pm and anytime Saturday. I may have an occasional Sunday in there when someone goes on vacation in electronics, therefore, next week I get register trained. WooHoo! (insert sarcasm here) I also had a verbal warning for my attendance for me being sick before Christmas. It's standard protocal for retail. I remember being so mad at Lowe's for going over my attendance because I missed the first week and a half of work because of a surgical complication and was placed on bedrest. Retail has no heart, they don't care what a doctor says. Unless you are dead, your lack of attendance is counted against you. So I guess I don't get to be that full-time stay-at-home-mom again...just yet. I will stick it out since they graciously started me out at more than minimum wage when I started. It will be slow the next couple of months, so I shouldn't get too many hours.

We took all of our Christmas decorations down today and packed them in the basement. The house looks a lot cleaner now. Looks like I'll be working on the living room the next 2 days to keep my deadline. We also plan to do grocery shopping tomorrow sometime...and hopefully soon, we will head up to Akron General for a baby. As it slowly approaches Tuesday, I'm afraid that we will have to sit through an induction, and all the induction stories I have from friends are bad. Hopefully it won't turn out that way.

We are staying on budget so far this month. Hopefully that won't change after the grocery shopping trip tomorrow. I'll check back in when I have more exciting news to share.