Saturday, January 30, 2010

Merry Christmas '09


Ok, ok.... I know this is SO late, but here is one of my favorite photos of my two sweet children in their Christmas best! This was Iain's first Christmas, of course, so he wasn't quite as cooperative as Jaiden was with the picture taking (hence the pacifier).

(It took FOREVER to get this shot, by the way.... but I'll save that for another post, when I have a little time to show all the "fun" we had!)

Friday, January 29, 2010

Official Baby Announcement


Here is the baby announcement I created for Iain... using digital scrapbook elements. I printed them out and pasted them on brown, green or cream cardstock... of course, you can't see that part in this picture, but you get the idea! ;)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

My Pirate Teddy Bear



It's official. Iain cracks me up.

He makes the funniest noises and silliest faces, and he is SO wiggly!
(He was wiggly when he was "baking," too, so I guess this excessive movement should come as no surprise!)

One of the most entertaining faces that Iain currently makes is when he squinches up just the right side, half-closing one eye, which sort of resembles a pirate... or, at least, that's what I think when I see him do it! And one of the cutest moments of him making this face was actually captured on film
(not that we use film anymore; it's just a saying!).

Sean and I were getting ready to go out and about, and we dressed Iain in his warm, fuzzy teddy bear suit (complete with teddy bear ears... and tail). I wanted to get a picture, but Iain wasn't really in the photo-snapping mood. He was in the squirming mood. But it made for a GREAT photo! Don't you think?

Iain, my pirate teddy bear!
AAaRRRrrrrr!!!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

How to Make a Newborn Smile....

Iain is nearly 5 weeks old, and I've seen a few dimpled smiles come and go.... Of course, as most mommies know, a good majority of those smiles had more to do with tummy issues and gas pains than with actual moments of hilarity or joy. As well, a large handful of those remaining smiles appeared while Iain was in the midst of sound sleep.

But -- hey -- I'll take what I can get until the REAL smiles start to show up!

In the meantime, here is a story -- in pictures (with my iPhone, no less)-- of Iain's reactions to me trying to get a cute little baby smile out of him....

Why is my pacifier on mommy's head?


Wait... now she has my socks on her fingers....


Is there any more food left over here?


Is that my bottle?


Let me get closer for a good look.... and maybe a taste.


Man... that wasn't my bottle. Oh look -- a fan!


Arrgh -- quit tickling me with your hair, mommy.... or I'll have to keep doing this pirate impersonation.


Seriously... we're back to the pacifier trick again?


It wasn't funny the first time....


Now I'm bored. And cold. Can you put those socks back on my hands?


Now that's kind of funny!

Friday, January 22, 2010

And now a few words...

OK, this isn't actually a few words from my "sponsors," so to speak. But I wanted to take a few moments to share some "business news." So please bear with me!

As you may or may not know, I recently started up TWO new home-based businesses -- B's Purses and Shure Pets -- which will hopefully enable me to spend more time with my newly expanded family, meet financial needs (since the status of my full-time job has changed) and get to know all of you!

I haven't had too much time -- or energy -- to put into either business lately, so I'm off to a slow start... But I LOVE the products offered by B's Purses and by Shure Pets, and I'm hopeful that YOU will love them, too!



That's why I am asking for YOUR assistance! So let me know if you would like to host a purse party or a pet party! I am scheduling now for January and February! You can do one completely online -- a perfect alternative if you and/or your guests don't live near Birmingham, Alabama. You can do a catalog party... where I'll send you catalogs, and you can pass them out to your friends for their orders. Or, you can host a home party, and I'll bring the products and details to YOU!

Check out my B's Purses blog and Rowdy and Teddy's Shure Pets blog for more details about current specials! (i.e. B's Purses is offering DOUBLE hostess rewards through March 1! And there are a bunch of grrrrreat discounts for your Shure Pets orders in January!)

THANK YOU!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Daddy & Iain

To complete the set of pictures, I had to take one with Sean and our little guy!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

A few more pics of Iain....

Jaiden and Iain



Mommy and Iain

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Iain's story... it must be told!



You probably don't want to hear about Iain's birth story... BUT, isn't this what all mommies do -- share the long, drawn-out, gut-wrenching details!? Either that, or it's just something we mommies have to somehow capture before every last scrap of that memory has disintegrated into the oblivion.... (Otherwise, would we go through the torture again? And again?!)

At any rate, I'll make this somewhat short... and certainly less painful than the real deal.

Sean and I went in to the hospital on Monday morning, December 21, for a "final check-up." My OBGYN was out of town, so another doctor "did the honors." I wasn't progressing as much as they'd hoped, so they scheduled me to come in that night for "the procedure." (What's "the procedure?" Well, short and simple: the "substitute doctor" inserted two balloons. Not the party kind of balloon. And, believe me, it was no fun celebration. Enough said.)

I started having contractions after that... some of them pretty intense, but it was nothing "special." I was told that nothing would happen until the next day - when they induced me -- so I was instructed to "just get some rest." YEAH... right! Where have I heard THAT before...... could it be the FIRST time I did this -- with Jaiden? (I was also told that the balloons would fall out when I was 4 cm dilated. Hmmm.... Keep that in mind!)

Around midnight, having viewed a few "Lost" (season 5) episodes and having watched Sean play XBOX 360 games for several hours, the pain was getting a bit much (the labor pain, that is, not the headache from trying to figure out "Lost" or the eye strain from watching video games on a tiny hospital TV). The nurse brought me some pain medication, and I was somewhat "comfortable" for about an hour.... between contractions, that is. (I happened to notice that the contractions were pretty close together. Like every 2 minutes or so. But those dang balloons were still there, so I was convinced nothing was really happening.)

Suddenly -- and I mean suddenly -- everything changed. I went from somewhat painful contractions to whopping, intense, INSANE contractions. Sean immediately called for the nurse. She came in. Then another nurse came in. And another.... It was rather 3-ring-circus like for a few minutes, as my mind reeled and my body convulsed from the pain. Out with the balloons. Something must be happening here... oh, looky! We're 8 cm dilated! (I thought those balloons were good until 4! AGH! Stupid balloons!)

I was in full-blown labor and suffering by this point. And since it was about 2:30 in the morning, the nurses on duty had to call for the on-call doctor... which also meant that I could not get an epidural until the doctor arrived. I honestly thought I'd explode while we waited. Really. And I'm sure Sean and the nurses thought my bed would explode, as I held on to it while shaking violently from the pains. FUN, eh? (Oh, and the family was called by this time... and everyone made it quickly and safely to the hospital.)

The on-call OBGYN finally made her way in -- about an hour later. Let's see: yep. 8 cm. Let's break the water... and get that epidural... just in time. I nearly passed out. Nearly threw-up. Nearly lost my mind. Then the super-heroic anesthesiologist saved the day! Ha-ha! ;)

It's just too bad that we were so close to shift change. After my epidural, we sat and waited. And waited. And waited some more. No one checked me after 9.5 cm. My nurse kept telling me to "close your eyes and get some sleep!" Ummmm.... you're only supposed to go to 10 cm, and then you push! And you want me to SLEEP!??! Yeah. OK.

Sure enough, at 5 am, the new nurses were on duty. Mine came in around 5:13 and made a starling discovery: I was 10 cm and ready to push. Wow. Startling. (I was 9.5 cm 2 hours ago, people. Sheesh!) ;)

SO... around 5:30ish, the pushing began. But my very calm, mild, soft-spoken nurse was not the loud, gung-ho cheerleader type needed to help convince a very sleep-deprived, half-numb mommy to push a watermelon... well, you get my point!

I pushed. But not much happened. I pushed some more. Same results.

Iain started to stress out a bit, so they inserted a little doohicky on his head to track his heartbeat. And then they gave me oxygen. I getting WAY too tired by this time. Luckily, MY doctor arrived on the scene around 6:30. (And about 5 or 6 other people started roaming around the room, too. It was weird. But, I was out of it by that point and didn't much care anymore.) She told me the not-so-great news: we would need to use forceps. Maybe that announcement did it for me... 'cause the next few pushes did more than the whole lot that preceded them! And, lo and behold.... little Iain made his way into the world... at 7:06 am... while a very proud daddy (and a totally exhausted mommy) cried with joy and relief!

Ah, the miracle of life!
(And the miracle of forgetting how traumatic the miracle of life can be in order for your body and mind to reset itself and even consider going through the trauma yet again in order to experience the miracle of life more than once...)

Friday, January 1, 2010

Welcome, Iain Michael Alcazar!


Born: Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Time: 7:06 am
Weight: 8 lbs., 13 oz.
Length: 21 inches