The Seven Spot

Merry Christmas!

Danny is One Month Old!

Dearest Danny,

Today you are one month old!  It seems silly to say, but I can't hardly remember what my life was like without you.  I do know that it wasn't nearly as happy and fulfilled.  Your daddy and I are just so in love with you and so happy that you are here.

Your first month has been momentous!  You surprised us and came 2 1/2 weeks early; mommy didn't even have a bag packed for the hospital.  What a great surprise though.  Your first few days were a bit rough on us all, as you had to spend them in the NICU away from your mommy and daddy.   The doctors said that since you came early your lungs weren't quite as strong as they had hoped, and that you also might have taken a big gulp of amniotic fluid on the way out.  You just needed a little help for a couple of days.  You were such a trouper!  We were able to visit you and we did as much as possible.  When mommy or daddy held you, your oxygen levels and respiratory rate would reach perfect levels on the monitor - it made us feel so good that you already knew us and were comforted by our presence.  

 

We were so happy to finally bring  you home after four days in the hospital.  Your daddy was especially nervous about how your kitties would react to your being home, but they have done great and we think they actually kind of like you!  

(Not a big fan of tummy time...)

Your first couple of weeks were spent almost exclusively sleeping.  Last week you started becoming much more alert and looking around at everything.  It is so much fun to watch you discover the world and mommy is so thankful to be home with you full-time and not miss anything.  

You love to snuggle!  You still sleep in your bassinet in mommy & daddy's room at night, but during the day you prefer to sleep in mommy's arms (and I am happy to oblige you).  At night you spend time alone with daddy, just the two of you guys hanging out.  You love to snuggle with your daddy.  This time is when mommy takes a bath or catches up on DVR.  I enjoy a little time to myself, but after about an hour I miss you so much that I can't wait to go downstairs and see you again.  Daddy and I both love to just watch you sleep; you are so peaceful and beautiful.

You survived your first Marsh Thanksgiving!  We couldn't believe it, since our family is so loud and boisterous (and we love it!) but you slept through the entire thing.  I think you were just happy because you were being held the entire time by all of your aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  You love to be held and everyone just loves to hold you.  

We waited for you for so long and we can hardly believe that you are here.  You bring so much love and joy to our family and we are so lucky to be your parents.  

Love, Mommy 

One Week Ago Today...

My sweet little boy made his (early) entrance into the world.

Daniel Joseph Marsh, III

November 7, 2010

5:19 am

7lbs 5oz, 20 in

Dan and I are absolutely overjoyed and in love with our boy.  

We had a pretty amazing labor and delivery experience, too.  More to come on that!

Unsolicited Belly Rubs and "You're Huge!" Comments

To which I would respond, "Yes Alex, what are 'Things that should be annoying the crap out of me right now but, for some odd reason, don't bother me at all."  And then I'd beat Ken Jennings' record. 

Last night, after an all-day childbirth prep class at the hospital (which is another post entirely but we were definitely the class clowns and I even feared we'd be kicked out at one point for our incessant giggling) we got all gussied up and headed down to the City Museum for Wedding #6 - the final one of the year!  

Let me tell you, this crowd was full of belly-rubbers.  I got at least 4 or 5 from people I had just met.  Now, I'm pretty big on personal space and had rehearsed politely saying "oh, please don't disturb the baby!" in my head a million times for when this inevitably happened, but oddly enough I kind of liked it.  And the "You're huge!" comments?  Well, I can hardly blame them.  For 33 weeks pregnant I am, well, HUGE:

I have 9 days of work left (HALLELUJAH!!) and about 3 work-appropriate outfits that still fit.  After that, it's leggings and t-shirts from here on out.  Hell, it might even be that for my last few days at the office.  I mean, what are they going to do, fire me?  

And finally, here's a classic Dan Marsh-ism for your enjoyment:

"I'd like our son to grow up watching Fat Albert cartoons like I did.  Do you think you can find them on DVD?" 

For you darling, anything.  Done and done.  I ordered them this morning.

Brush Your Teeth!

Baby Danny's nursery is still in complete shambles.  Boxes, old furniture, crap crap crap.  I have 3 weeks of work left and then I'm going to really bunker down and get it done.  In the meantime, I've been wracking my brain about what to do in the little bathroom upstairs that will be used as Baby's and for guests as well.  Right now it's your typical suburban bathroom, except that it has this HORRID acid yellow paint.  I did not pick out this paint color as I am not, um, BLIND.  But Dan and I don't ever use this bathroom so we've never bothered to paint it until now.   But since I will be spending some time in there in the near future, I decided it was time for a little makeover.  

Eventually, I want to gut this bathroom and put in a new tile floor, vanity etc. but it's lower on the home renovation priority list, so for now a new paint job and accessories are in order.  I want this room to be fun and kid-friendly but still appropriate for guests.  I am a huge fan of gray paint and have chosen Martha Stewart's "Cumulus Cloud" for the walls:

Towels will be these green polka-dot ones from Pottery Barn Kids:

 

I have a white waffle-weave shower curtain that I love that will stay in the room.  I've been trying to decide on some artwork for months now.  Dan and I are really particular about the art in our home.  We aren't ones to buy something because "it matches the couch" and prefer art that we've collected on trips or that has some other kind of special meaning.  This room is kind of an exception to that.  As such, I've not really "shopped for artwork," um, ever.  Everything in our home has been collected over the years.  

I figured my best bet for something fun was probably etsy, but it still took me a while to find something I loved.  But tonight I came across these prints and knew it was meant to be:

  

Aren't these so fun?!  They are 8x10 prints, so I'm just going to find some cheap oversized white frames.  Our home is very traditional, so I am loving having some non-traditional spaces to decorate.  I will post pics when it's done!

Sharp Lily is back!!

One of the first blogs I started reading back in 2006 was Sharp Lily.  Not only does she have great style (I basically adore everything she picks to post) but her witty commentary is the icing on the cake.  

Like all good bloggers, she's taken a hiatus or two.  Which, I am not one to throw stones.  I'm just thrilled to have her back!  I'm glad I kept her in my Google Reader because it made my day to see her pop up again.  If you're like me and an old SL reader, go check in.  If you're new, well, YOU'RE WELCOME.

On Pregnancy

I really want to write down my thoughts as this pregnancy reaches its exciting conclusion (I'm 30.5 weeks!).  I'm wracked with a serious case of pregnancy brain though, so expect this to be kind of  a brain dump and maybe not a coherent as my posts usually (?) are.  

I'll start with the negatives, since I want to end this on a positive note...  I've definitely not escaped too many of the cliched symptoms of pregnancy.  It seems that each trimester has had its own cross to bear.  The first trimester I had horrible nausea all day long, that even Zofran, the anti-nausea wonder drug, didn't completely cure.  Once that went away, right around the start of trimester two, I started getting those horrible migraines.  OMG I WANTED TO DIE.  I basically had a headache for three months straight.  Nothing at all helped, save for thinking about my sweet boy and knowing it would all be worth it in time.  But it still sucked.    And then the headaches cleared up!  AND THE HEARTBURN CAME.  I will confess, I have never head heartburn before and always thought that people that complained about it were just being wusses.  I was very, very wrong.  I am super-short with a super-short torso.  I am also carrying what I believe is a very big baby, and he is sitting very high in his mommy's belly.  This, it seems, is a lethal combination for heartburn.  I've once again tried everything from sleeping propped up on a billion pillows to eating small meals to taking Protonix and eating Tums by the truckload.  And nothing is really helping.  

My appetite has been really hit or miss this entire pregnancy.  Nausea and migraines don't really make for a hearty appetite.  It's picked up a little bit over the past few weeks, but still not what I had always heard about and expected.  I wasn't really gaining weight for a while and was a little concerned, but my doctor assured me that as long as I was listening to my body and eating when I was hungry that both me and my boy would be fine.  I've gained nine pounds so far, and I'm really really lucky that it all seems to be in my belly.  You never know how your body will react to pregnancy, so I know it truly is luck.  I've known girls that exercised and ate healthy throughout their pregnancies and still puffed up like the Michelin Man, so I'm tremendously grateful that my body has been good to me in that respect.  I'm really hoping that what I've learned about listening to my body's hunger cues will carry over after pregnancy; it's a skill I've been trying to master for years.   

I'm also getting really big and uncomfortable.  Nothing earth-shattering here, just typical pregnancy stuff.  My back aches, my legs are sore, blah blah blah.  I get up to pee incessantly at night which makes for some miserable sleep (when sleep comes at all).  My belly just aches all over as it continues to stretch.

And yet, despite all of the above, I can truthfully say that I have loved being pregnant.  

I love feeling so close to my boy - almost like it's me and him against the world.  I often think about how his survival is completely dependent on me and I can't even begin to understand how profound that is.  I love feeling him move around.  He is a very active little boy and the past few weeks I can even see him moving around in there.  I'm always telling Dan how his son is doing - "he's happy today" or "he says to hug daddy for me."  And Dan jokes about how the communication between the two of is amazing.  But I really do feel that way - that my baby and I are connecting more and more every day.  

I love feeling comfortable in my body.  Not physically, of course, but in that other, more elusive way.  I don't catch glances of myself in mirrors throughout the day and nitpick at what I see.  I could care less about flabby arms or jiggly thighs.  I truly feel more beautiful now than I ever have. 

I think about Danny all the time and what kind of boy he will be.  Will he wear his heart on his sleeve like his mommy & Grandpa Warren, or will he display the quiet strength of his daddy?  Will he be the life of the party like his Grandpa Marsh?  I'm pretty confident he will be loving and loyal like his Grannie and Great Grandma Max.  I am so excited to see what he looks like, and who in our family he looks like.  I know he will be his own person, but I also know that he will display traits of his family and I can't wait to see how that plays out.    

I love him so much already, and I know that once I meet him that love will infinitely multiply.  And I can't even imagine it.  I always want him to know how much he is loved.  My parents gave that gift to me and so did Dan's.  We will do everything we can to make sure our boy feels that same kind of love.

Okay, now I'm getting all schmaltzy...  So I'll end by saying that I'm going to try and get a good belly pic for you this weekend, and I also have plans to show some nursery progress.  Thanks for reading if you've made it this far!!

Unplugged

I'm getting into the final days of my life as a career girl - my company is making an offer to my replacement this week, and we are firming up my end date and notifying my clients of the change.  I wish I could say that it's bittersweet or that it's all happening so quickly, but the truth is that I'm done.  Over it.  I am 100% ready to close this chapter of my life and start the next one as a full-time wife and mommy.

One of the little things I am most looking forward to is being able to unplug.  I've had a company BlackBerry for years and years and have gotten used to being accessible around-the-clock.  If someone sends me an urgent email at 8pm on a Sunday night, well, I can't just ignore it.  They KNOW I got it.  Even on vacation I have my phone with me, and in my industry, people don't care if you are on vacation or not.  I can never really unplug.

I cannot wait to turn in my BlackBerry and become a little bit more unaccessible.  I will still have a cell phone, but I plan on getting the cheapest, most basic model that I can.  One that makes calls and doesn't do much more.  I'll still have email and my laptop (which, Hallelujah!  I love you MacBook Pro hallelujah!) but in my new life, I don't really need to be reachable, other then by phone for emergencies, 100% of the time.

I've even taken a step back (or forward, I would argue) and decided to keep our schedules the old-fashioned way: on PAPER (gasp!).  And yes, I totally broke down and ordered one of those adorable MomAgendas.  I got the turquoise one:

So, starting the middle of October or so, if you want to reach me, you can call or email (I promise to check it once a day), send a letter, or send up some smoke signals.  I'll get right back to you, I swear.

Checking In

So, this summer is absolutely FLYING by and before I know it I blink and it's August 12th.  Nuts.  I thought I would check in and give you a little update on what we've been up to the past few weeks.  And it's been, um, A LOT.  This big mama is crazy worn-out.

Cha-Ching!

My mom and dad and I drove down to Fort Knox in Kentucky to visit my brother, who is currently stationed there.  It was an easy drive, only about 4.5 hours, and we had so much fun just having a little road trip.  Ben is loving being in the Army and we are so proud of him!  He's gotten TWO early promotions and is just excelling at everything he does.

Fort Knox itself is really beautiful (the base, not the place where the gold is kept - that's pretty underwhelming actually) and looks alot like Mizzou's campus.

Baby Danny got a little souvenier, too!  Is this not the cutest?

 

Summer of Weddings 2010 - #4, Chicago

Between May and October we have 6 weddings.  Being a (fairly) recent bride myself, I LOVE weddings and love attending them.  This one was for Dan's cousin and was up in Chicago.  It was held at an old horse estate and was just lovely.  Wanna see my big ole belly?  Excuse the quality of the picture - forgot my camera and improvised with the BlackBerry:

Summer of Weddings 2010 - #5, Seattle

A couple of days after we got back from Chicago we packed up again and headed west for another cousin's wedding.  Neither Dan nor I had ever been to Seattle, so we went a few days early to do a little sightseeing.

Um,  when you are 6 months pregnant, being the quintessential tourist is like, NOT THE BEST IDEA.  It was fun, but holy exhaustion/back pain/constant searching for public restrooms.

I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti...

Baby Danny is the size of a papaya!

With my girls at the rehearsal dinner:

Runnin' on Empty

 

Totally cheesy title, but also FITTING.  Last night we went to see Jackson Browne at The Fox.  LOVE.

We got home from Seattle on Sunday night, and Monday night I had Junior League, so it's already been a full week.  Lately, I really like to just crash on the couch for the night when I get home from work.  Again, maybe not the best idea to try and cram in a concert, but Dan and I both love Jackson Browne and decided we didn't want to miss it.  It was definitely worth the extra effort and swollen feet (parking is a b!itch down there).

Nursery Progress (or lack thereof)

 

I have the nursery all planned out and ready to go!  IN MY HEAD.  In reality, I've done almost nothing.  I did purchase bedding, which I'll show in due time, and I took a very special piece of art to the framer; it is the inspiration for the room and will hang over the crib.  Much more on this later, but here's a little teaser:

This weekend I will be laying low and trying to recover from all of the activity!  Hope everyone is doing well.

 

 

The Diaper Bag Conspiracy

One of the first things I did when I found out I was pregnant was to start looking for a diaper bag.  Shallow, I KNOW.  But I love handbags and had always thought I'd have a super-cute diaper bag.  The more I looked around, the more I began to feel like I was being duped.  Is it just me, or are diaper bags REALLY JUST BIG PURSES (at least the cute ones, anyway)?

As far as I can tell, unless you are getting some hideous thing with Winnie the Pooh on it, the only things that "diaper" bags really boast are waterproof interiors, lots of pockets (sometimes), stroller clips (sometimes) and matching changing pads. 

I have semi-collected Longchamp Le Pliage bags for the past few years and have two that are large enough to serve as diaper bags.  I'm almost 100% certain I'm going to use one of these instead of buying something new.  One reason is that I love how they look and how durable they are, and the price is right (free for the ones I already have, reasonable to buy a new one down the line if I want another color.

Also, the only "diaper" bag I really love so far is this Burberry one that is EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS OMG:

 

Are we forgetting that this bag's main purpose is to haul around something that someone is going to POOP IN?

Anyway, the Le Pliage bags do have waterproof interiors, but lack the other things I mentioned above.  I'm not worried about pockets, because I usually carry several small pouches in my bags to seperate things, and will continue to do this.  The changing pad I know I can find on its own and I could care less if it matches.  The necessity of stroller clips is questionable, in my mind, because the stroller I've picked out has plenty of room to throw the bag underneath.

So to all you moms out there:  does this sound like a reasonable plan, or am I missing something and really do need a "diaper" bag?