I'm snoozing, in more ways than one

My apologies for not blogging lately.
It has been steady around here, and we're all trying to establish some sort of rhythm to our daily lives.
Ellery is sleeping pretty well, but is WIDE awake form midnight to 5 a.m. like clockwork....

My mother in law was in the city for the last few days, and we appreciated the help while I was at work. It's now my mom's turn to offer a hand for the next couple of days.
I got to thinking about all of the single mothers out there, or just any of the moms who do not have the supports that most people take for granted. I have a new found respect for motherhood, not that I ever thought it was easy, but it truly is a 24 hour per day job.

Our baseball season is now in full "swing" (pardon the bad pun) and luckily, I've made it out for our first week, but have missed the last few. I'm a little leery to play as often as I'd like, because I don't know how my back will hold out. Lately it's been feeling ok, but I think I'm due for another visit to Igor my Russian mafia masseuse...

After six long cold months, Blue Bomber training camp officially starts new week. This, as my readers may know, is my favorite summer past-time. I look forward to taking my daughter to games when she's older. This will be "our thing" until she begins hanging out with her girlfriends at the mall, or dating. I'll be sure to keep my shotgun close. Alright, change of subject, I just panicked a little.

I just thought of one of my bad habits that Ali truly hates. You know when you have "something" in your nose and a good hard blow just doesn't get rid of it? When this happens to me, I twist up a tissue and use my patented corkscrew technique which is 1.) highly effective and 2.) a better alternative than my finger.
Ali hates this, and I think she even gags once in a while. That remind me, I saw another lady picking her nose and then eating it in her car yesterday. I'm going to start keeping a count of how many disgusting people drive to work each day. Blech!

For my next few blogs, I'm going to give a special "thumbs up" to a person/people who I am thinking about or noticing a lot of lately.

Today's blog will include my best friend Mike, Ellen Degeneres, the Mallard ducks living in our pool, and our moms.

Stay tuned to see if you make the next list...

I've got a staring problem

Since the first day we brought Ellery home, I find myself unable to peel my eyes away from her.
If we're watching TV, Ali and I both jump up a commercials to check on the baby as she sleeps.

It is such an awesome feeling to have her right in front of us, after many years and countless heart breaking nights, thinking of the prospect of never having kids.
I now know what all fathers feel when they talk about their kids, and how they want to nourish them and protect them for the rest of their lives.
The funny thing about this whole experience is that I'm the one who tears up when I hold her, or say anything related to my little girl. I have never been so emotional. It's so bad I bawl when I see a certain commercial, or hear a certain song. I'm such a girl....

One of the thing that I enjoy most is watching our parents hold Ellery. I remember my mom running into the hospital room for her first visit. She immediately started crying, and kept repeating "Oh my God, she's beautiful." At one point, she actually stomped her feet and flailed her arms a little. I think she might have a bit excited to finally become a grandma. Again, I cried, but so did everyone else in the room.
Our parents now look for any excuse to come into the city, or give us a call to see how she's doing.

I am so thankful to finally have this little miracle baby here in our lives. Now our family is complete.

Update

While I sit here at home, fresh from the shower and two whole hours of sleep, Ali is at the hospital right now with our little Bean....

Bear with us people, I want Ali to handle the introductions. Think of this as a final "teaser" until you get all the details tomorrow when we return as a family!!!


I hope you can handle the suspense!

(And sorry for leading everyone on, but you had to wait this long, what's one more day?)

Now, try to get some sleep before the grand announcement. I didn't.

I guess I'm not as patient as I thought

Yesterday consisted of getting an early morning call to the hospital, only to wait, wait, and wait some more.
After almost 7 hours of monitoring, walking, and more monitoring, they sent us home to hopefully have contractions and maybe even some labor symptoms....

It's easy to see that nothing has happened so far, and I can only imagine the stress that our parents and friends (and fellow bloggers) are experiencing. Every time the phone rings, we're hoping it's that call back to the hospital. I've done this trip so many times already, I think I can set the cruise control on our car and it can find it's own way there. I hate waiting by the phone.

To add to my impatience, daytime television is full of programs such as Bringing Home Baby or Baby Story. We're surrounded by babies, just not the one that matters to me the most.

So here we sit, bags packed, list of phone numbers I have to dial after the bean's arrival, MP3 player to listen to music, magazines to read, and snacks to enjoy.

All we need now is for that phone to ring.....and some comfy seats for support people in the hospital rooms.

Hug a nurse

This week in the U.S., and next week here, it's National Nurse's week.
I've been nursing for almost 4 years now, and I can honestly say that this is the best career choice that I have ever made.
With nursing, some people think that we just hand out pills. I can assure you, in my workplace alone, we do way more than that.

The one thing that people may not consider about nursing, is that there is plenty of patient teaching, and counselling that goes unnoticed. We explain the patient's medical condition, common treatments for the same, possible options and expectations for their hospital stay.
We also advocate for our patients. Many people are afraid to ask a doctor to repeat him/herself, and say "yes, I understand" only to have more questions than when the doctor first arrived.

I think I enjoy the patient teaching the most. In a previous post, I mentioned that I would love to be a nursing instructor one day, and my everyday work experience will help me along the way.

I watched Martha Stewart today while waiting in the hospital lounge. I had to laugh when she appeared on camera wearing nursing scrubs. If only she knew what kinds of debris hits those pink scrubs, she would not think that "was a good thing...".

So this week (or next) hug a nurse. Tell them you appreciate them, and that they are doing an excellent job. And then buy them cookies.

So, that's the name you picked...

A while back, Alison ordered a necklace with our baby-to-be's name on it.
Seeing it for the first time printed on something really made me happy. Even as we make lists now, and write down the name, it gives me goosebumps. This is the necklace to the right, and don't worry, the name has been blurred out.

We keep telling everyone that the name we have selected is uncommon, but hardly weird.
Probably the weirdest name I've heard from a friend was a co-worker naming her daughter Zuzu. Yes, Zuzu. That's not a nickname, as it was in "It's a Wonderful Life", but her actual first name. I hope for her sake, they call her by her middle name - Kaleigh.

When we were first selecting names, we had a laugh at the author when it was obvious that she had exhausted her baby name bank. After a while, it was like she wasn't even trying with names such as Post, Den, and Hall.

So far, the pool at work is about 50/50 with guessing if it's a boy or girl. My colleagues have suggested some pretty interesting names, but I am trying to listen to their parenting tips.

I have 13 shifts left until some much needed holidays. This is the first year I was able to get a 2 week stretch off together, and with my regular days off, it works out to be almost 3 weeks off.
We're planning on having lots of family/friends time (Hello Mike/Irene) and even a trip out West to visit my favorite cousin.

Bring on the warm weather, sandals, and of course, the diaper bag....