Time sure keeps ticking by. How is it February already?!
2021 is off and running.
The new year brought such calamity in our country. Riots by extremist supporters of (former) President Trump on Capitol Hill. Swearing in of (current) President Joe Biden. The ongoing pandemic. Sometimes it really feels like it’ll never end.
It’s been a tough start, but we just have to keep moving forward and hopefully things will start looking brighter soon.
January didn’t bring a whole lot in the adventuring department. At least, not for this mama. It was a very big month for Little Man.
He took on his first cross country road trip to see my parents and meet his aunt for our “Christmas” holidays. It was a tough ride and took us longer than planned.
We thought we’d rent an SUV so we would have more room for such a long drive. That was our first snag. Right after we picked it up, the maintenance light came on. The Mister didn’t feel comfortable driving 700+ miles one way with the light on. As is our #WaidLuck, the rental company didn’t have a different vehicle. So we had to pile into the Charger with the dogs and got on the road way too late in the day.
Loaded up and packed in tight!
Luckily, we made it in one piece and apart from a very cranky boy, it was an uneventful drive.
Little Man got spoiled with all his presents and finally met his other aunt.
So many presents!
He had a blast with Middle Sister.
He was also blessed to meet my Grammys and Gramps (bonus grandparents – my mom’s aunt and uncle). We wore our masks and stayed 6 feet apart. They have been quarantining since last March.
Masks off for a photo.
It was a great visit, but it broke my heart that Gramps couldn’t hold Little Man. He’s a lot like my mom in the baby whispering department and he was always awesome with me growing up. We used to have the best visits as kids on their farm.
Little Man also got to experience a major first: snow! We got snowed in by a 10″ storm the day we were supposed to leave.
He liked eating it more than sitting in it.
We spent our extra time just enjoying our company.
Playing with my parents.
It’s really a lot more difficult to be so far away from family now that Little Man is here. I really want him to be able to grow up with a strong bond with his grandparents/aunts like I had. Lots of fond memories. Hopefully as he gets older, the trips won’t be so rough.
We all battled a little cold/sinus thing at the end of the month. No fevers or other symptoms, just sneezing and clear runny noses. That was a bit of a blessing as it kept Little Man sleeping on the ride home.
We made it back just in time to take his Valentine’s photos and his cold didn’t interfere.
When we got home, #WaidLuck struck again. We had a friend checking on the cats while we were away. We got word that the two indoor cats had decided our couch was a great litter box (they’ve never done that before!).
I’m currently hunting our protection plan paperwork because despite our best efforts, it’s still not 100% stain-free.
Other than that, we have just spent the last week trying to get back to our normal routine.
I finally got the Christmas tree/decor down and packed up and have started working on our taxes. Little Man is working on cutting his top teeth, with one already broken through. He’s also this close to crawling. So busy!
It always seems to take so long to get back to normal after being away. Maybe by March I’ll be more organized. Ha!
February is already a week in. 2021 is off and running. It’ll be interesting to see how things continue. We plan to make the best of it.
This month has been a blur. It seemed like I barely had my fall decor out and then it was time to put up the tree.
The whole year has been this way. Even with COVID throwing a huge wrench in things, it was a blink and you’ll miss it 12 months. I’ll try my best to give a rundown of the last month before I try to wrap up the whole year.
December
We started out December with absolutely nothing planned and ended up packing it full of as much as we could.
It was a strange month since normally, the Mister has block leave at the end of the year and this year, he didn’t have any leave at all approved. His unit did end up teleworking so the days he had to go in were only half days, plus two days of staff duty.
For the first weekend, we made spontaneously decided to take the doggos to see Santa on post. Usually, Petco has Santa photos, but COVID made that unsafe. With the MWR event, we had to call to set up an appointment for the dogs to see Santa so everyone could properly social distance/mask up.
At about 11:30 that Saturday, we decided to see if there were any spots left (the event only went until 2pm). We couldn’t believe there were still openings, let alone that we had time to hustle and get everyone ready and packed into the car.
Not our best effort, but it’s better than nothing! Photo credit: AT Photography
They each made their own paw print ornament and received homemade treats and a Snuggles bear (though Little Man decided he needed to have one of them).
The following week saw Little Man’s 6 month check up.
He hit all his milestones and only cried for the pokes.
We also got Santa photos done for him (how could we not after the dogs had theirs?). The same photographer we used for family photos offered mini Santa sessions, so we jumped at the chance.
He wasn’t very keen on Santa at first.
But goodness was he cute! And Santa was a real champ.
We checked out the German Christmas Market at one of the Lutheran churches in town. Didn’t buy anything, but it was a neat experience and the weather wasn’t freezing.
The huge Christmas pyramid or Weihnachtspyramide.
I slacked big time and didn’t get the tree up until right before Christmas. Literally, like 3 days before. Our usual tree was too big for the space in the living room, so I had to hustle and find a smaller tree I liked in our price range. COVID made that a bigger struggle than it should have been, but we found one that worked.
Normally I don’t do prelit, but this one had color changing lights that go from clear to multi. It fit perfectly in my corner!
Christmas was so special this year. I know Little Man didn’t understand what was going on, but we did our best to make his first Christmas memorable (at least for mama and daddy).
This little stinker! He was very interested in chewing the wrapping paper.
We also celebrated a late Christmas with the In-Laws over New Year’s. Normally, we spend New Year’s Eve going out to dinner and catching a movie before toasting at home, but since our movie theater is closed down and we aren’t comfortable dining in anywhere with Little Man, we rolled with the late Christmas.
Took him a little while to get used to Grandma and Grandpa again, but he came around.
We will hopefully be making a trek to Nebraska in a few weeks for Christmas with my side. It just seems like there wasn’t enough time for the holidays this year.
Year End Wrap Up
2020 was quite the year. So many changes and unexpected ups and downs.
We started out 2020 optimistic for what the year would hold and it decided to totally throw us for a loop.
The first few months were business as usual. We went to work and tried to venture out on weekends.
We saw surgery for Audie (the first one and the subsequent patch-up), announced our pregnancy, celebrated birthdays (the Mister in January and Indie in February), learned Baby Waid’s gender, and dealt with car troubles.
Then March hit and the whole world changed and kept on throwing curve balls.
I was furloughed from work and started going to baby appointments alone because of COVID. Then we found, closed on, and moved into our first home, celebrated more birthdays (mine and Hina’s in April, Taz’s in June), celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary in May, and suddenly it was June.
Despite the chaotic entry into the world, Little Man has given us the best memories of this strange year. He’s already grown and experienced so much in his short start to life.
July saw his first outing to the lake, his first holiday (4th of July), his best cat friend’s 10th birthday (Jack), his first smile, and another surgery for Audie.
Before we knew it, it was fall.
I decided not to return to work after the furlough, we celebrated Audie’s birthday, visited the pumpkin patch, enjoyed our first Halloween as a family of 3, voted during a pandemic, and visited Graceland.
We had so many firsts. Holidays, teeth, smiles, baths, boo-boos, solid foods, well-baby visits, family photos…
So as I sit here in my bed, cat in my lap, dogs at my feet, a snoring Mister beside me, and Little Man passed out on my shoulder while I try to type on my phone, I’d say for all the craziness 2020 brought, it was a heck of a year.
It definitely looked different from previous years and I have no doubt 2021 will bring so much more.
Here’s to tomorrow in all its new year glory. Make it count.
Normally, I don’t bring up politics (you know, the old adage “Never discuss politics or religion in polite company”), but it’s important this year. The country voted for our next president and in true 2020 fashion, the results were hotly contested. As recounts are triggered, we’ll just have to see how it goes.
On a more personal note, we took October’s momentum and kept it running.
Spur of the moment, we decided to go to Memphis to visit Graceland. The Mister is a huge Elvis fan and was singing an Elvis classic to Little Man one night before bed. I mentioned Graceland and how I’ve always wanted to go, and much to my surprise, he was all for it.
Exterior.
I thought I’d spend days researching tickets and other things to do and eventually, we’d forget about it. Not this time!
I wasn’t very keen on driving so far and being out and about with COVID still looming large, especially with Little Man, but I reasoned with myself that we couldn’t live in a bubble forever.
So, we masked up, social distanced, sanitized constantly, and explored.
Little Man did pretty well until the ride home. I think we disrupted his routine a tad too much. Still, he did great overall.
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’m not the biggest Elvis fan. I know a lot of his songs and movies, but beyond that one scene in Forrest Gump, I didn’t have much of an opinion about him.
But wow.
The man accomplished so much in such a tragically short life. He had talent like crazy.
Elvis during his drafted military time
Gold/Platinum records.
The next two weekends didn’t include any more adventures. We had to use our free time to get the house in order for Thanksgiving. My parents and youngest sister were able to come visit (thank goodness for negative COVID tests!).
We love it when we can have visitors!
With the holidays so different this year, it was even more special having most of my family here. That, of course, made it even harder to have them leave.
Little Man had a busy month! He struggled with teething and drool rash. Two teeth finally popped through but it was an unpleasant month of sleep for him. We’re still not back to our routine just yet.
He didn’t care for us trying to see his pearly whites.
He finally rolled over both directions and has started wanting to sit up without a prop.
It’s hard work learning to roll over. Especially when you get stuck.He likes to lean forward on his own once he’s seated.
Of course, we celebrated his first Thanksgiving — both for us as a family of three and in our own house. I thought the outfit was necessary.
What a cute little turkey.
He got to try some real, solid foods finally. He was definitely ready for them. He likes to grab at the spoon or use his hands to try things — all without prompting! So smart.
New textures and flavors.
Finally, we took the family to see the lights on the Cumberland River again. Little Man fell asleep in the stroller, but he handled the cold well.
All toasty and bundled up.
December will be a month of more firsts. I can’t believe in just a few days, my baby will be 6 months old officially…or that Christmas and the new year are just a handful of weeks away.
I have it in my head that we’ll be doing a few things in the adventure department, but we’ll see what comes to fruition. The Mister didn’t get his leave time approved this year, so we won’t be traveling much until January (if at all).
We’ll get Santa photos figured out and hopefully get to see some new light displays. There’s also a German Christmas Market that might be fun! We’ll see how it goes!
How can this crazy year really be this close to being over?!
We kept ourselves busy this month for a change!
The first weekend of the month, we went to a pumpkin patch just outside of Springfield, Tennessee.
The Mister and Little Man outside of the sunflower patch.🌻Isn’t he adorable next to those huge pumpkins?! 🎃It was a gorgeous day and he did so well!
We took some family photos the next weekend.
These are just a couple from our sneak peek. The whole gallery is fantastic.Photos courtesy of Briana Stafford of The Lovely Rose Photography
We hadn’t had professional photos done since our wedding (almost 8 years ago!) so we were excited to get some with our newest addition.
Even the doggos did awesome. We wanted to get some with Audie since he’s getting older and he’s such a good bub. Indie did fantastic as well, so it was a great experience. I’m really impressed with how everything turned out. We are already planning to schedule another session when Little Man is 6 months old.
The third weekend in October, the Mister and I got out and voted early. This was a huge deal as the Mister hasn’t voted in 12+ years. We masked up and did our civic duty. We’ll have to see how it pans out.
The Mister had his mask on inside and on line. Just not for the photo.
In other news…I’ve been having some anxiety flare ups recently. Mostly involving Little Man’s sleeping. He sleeps just fine in his pack ‘n play in our room (he has a mattress added so he’s not sleeping on the crappy, uncomfortable mat it comes with)–the anxiety is entirely unfounded. I find myself unable to sleep well despite him being right next to the bed, just like he was in the bassinet.
I’m constantly checking on him, making sure he’s still breathing. He’s never had any issues with breathing, he’s not quite rolling yet, and he’s 100% healthy. I’m not sure if it stems from him sleeping through the night now or if something in my head has decided now is the time to panic.
He has always been put on his back in an empty bassinet/pack ‘n play/crib. We’ve never let him cosleep. He’s always a comfortable temperature. I feel like we’re doing everything right in the sleep department but lately my thoughts have turned to worst case scenario.
The idea of SIDS terrifies me to my very core. Maybe it’s because I worried my entire pregnancy (I was petrified that something was going to go wrong or I would lose him–that’s why we waited so long to announce/confirm) and I’m still in that brand new mommy mode.
Why I’m just now consumed with these awful thoughts, I’m not sure. After all, he’s almost at the age where the risk drops off significantly.
Anyway, I am very tempted to call my doctor to discuss medication or something, because I’m frustrated with myself. He’s such a perfect baby.
Maybe it’s just my brain’s way of navigating all the changes recently — guys, he is growing so fast and I am so not ready for my baby to grow up; plus, being unemployed and his sole carer during the day is quite an adventure in itself!
Thank goodness we have been keeping busy. If we do enough during the day, my nights are a little easier. Basically, if I tucker myself out, the anxiety fairy stays away.
I did get to introduce Little Man to college football, something I wasn’t sure I’d get to do this season. He has no idea what went on, but he looked adorable in his Husker onesie.
Go Big Red! 🌽🏈
Speaking of back home, we’re sad to find out my parents both tested positive for COVID in the last week of the month. They thought it was just a normal seasonal sinus infection, but when Mom went to the doctor they had her get tested.
Dad is waiting for his official results, but he was having the same symptoms Mom did. We’re still hopeful they’ll be well in time to visit for Thanksgiving. Fingers crossed the worst is behind them.
As the holidays are coming up fast, I’m struggling to get in the mood. I found myself not enjoying things like I usually do — which is awful as Halloween is my favorite and it marks the beginning of the holiday season.
This pandemic has really taken its toll. I haven’t been inside a big box/grocery store since May. I’m terribly worried that my parents won’t be well enough to come for Thanksgiving — selfish maybe, but I really need to see familiar faces.
We didn’t get to shop for Little Man’s first Halloween costume like we’d have liked, nor were we able to dress up as a family or decorate for Trunk or Treat. I couldn’t even find my Halloween decorations (moving + baby = a lot of unfinished to-do lists).
We did come up with a cute costume for Little Man, despite the lack of shopping (thank goodness for Amazon Prime!).
Max from Where the Wild Things Are never looked so cute!
We only bought one pumpkin, thinking we’d be able to find more later in the month. Haha. Biggest lie ever. I’m still holding out hope that the Mister finds one more (I want to do a cheesy photo of Little Man sitting in one). We did get ours carved though!
We were inspired by the pumpkin from the Halloweentown movie.
October definitely passed us by in a flash. I’m hoping November will prove to be similarly packed with adventures.
2020 has been a long ride, but I’m determined to enjoy what’s left of it and make more sweet memories with my little tribe.
The first saw Audie’s 7th birthday. Can’t believe our nugget is already 7.
He’s been through so much this year with all his surgeries, but we are so thankful he’s still with us and doing so well.
Later, as a family, we took a little car ride up to Aurora, Kentucky to the Old Hitching Post general store. We love going there when we go to the lake, but this trip was specifically for their locally made apple butter and old fashioned sodas. Little Man did ok, but there were too many people milling around to want to stay too long. Maybe next time we’ll take the dogs and hit the trails at Land Between the Lakes.
In other news: I made the decision back at the end of July not to return to work. I wasn’t comfortable being face to face with college age students with COVID still looming large. I received the call at the beginning of the month that my company doesn’t offer an extended leave of absence for these circumstances, so my position was officially terminated. That was a bit of a bummer, but I wasn’t holding out much hope.
Luckily, the position is not being opened up at this time and won’t be filled. If they decide to open it, my (former) boss and HR lady both told me they’d let me know so I could reapply. Since we have a history of hiring back people who have left, I thought that was very nice.
We’ll see if our world has returned to normal if that comes about. If not, I am fairly sure we have put enough away to be alright for awhile. I’m just enjoying seeing my son grow and learn and am thankful for the opportunity to be home with him.
The rest of the month was relatively quiet. We had every intention to get out and about, but it just didn’t happen.
Little Man had some gas/tummy troubles for a week or two, so we had an unexpected trip to the pediatrician. It turned out to just be growing pains, but didn’t make it any less heartbreaking not to be able to help him beyond cuddling and trying to soothe him.
Thankfully, he is doing much better now. He’s growing so fast. He’s already 26 inches long and 18lbs 4oz! His doctor thought he looked like a 6 month old, not almost 4 months.
Isn’t he just a doll?! We did a great job if I do say so myself. 💙
The last weekend of the month, I decided to drag the boys out of the house for a quick antiquing run. I saw a gorgeous lamp a few weeks before at one of the shops and had been kicking myself for not picking it up, so I had to see if it was still there.
It looks even better lit up.
I have no idea where it’ll permanently be, but I am thrilled to have snagged it this time. And it was such a steal! The whole booth was discounted so I got it for $25! Well worth it. I also picked up a funky silver giraffe. It’s not old but definitely something you don’t see every day. It’s a nice addition to my collection.
Anyway…I’m hopeful October will bring something in the way of new adventures. At the very least, we’ll have Little Man’s first Halloween. Fingers crossed for a bit more than that before the weather gets too cold.
August got away from me and it seems September is going that direction as well.
I’d like to say we were busy but we know that wasn’t the case. This COVID business is really making it difficult for new adventures that are safe for us all.
But…on to what little updates we have!
Little Man received his very first Dolly Parton Imagination Library book.
I hope he loves books as much as I do.
He also had his 2 month check up and got his first round of vaccines. He was such a little trooper! Cried more because the nurse held him down than he did about his shots.
He is growing so fast. He was in the 96th and 88th percentile for weight and height and hasn’t slowed down since. He’s grown out of his 0-3month clothes and is all the way up to size 3 in diapers.
We celebrated National Dog Day with the pups on the 26th.
These two really love each other.
At the end of the month, the Mister’s parents came to visit and met their grandson for the first time. It was a nice visit, though very short.
We went antiquing and tested out the stroller for the first time. It was great to get out of the house and back to a sort of normal feeling.
We found a few great pieces and enjoyed the time together. I don’t know why I didn’t take any photos, but will for sure do so next visit!
September is bringing a whole different fall this year. Hopefully we can get out and about now that the temperature isn’t so hot and the bugs are on their way out.
We’ll hopefully have a better update for the rest of this month.
Another blink-and-you-missed-it month has come and gone.
July was a heck of a month, even though we didn’t really do anything out of the norm.
We started off wishing our oldest pack member a very happy 10th birthday.
I can’t believe my Jack has been with me for a decade now. Thankfully he shows no signs of slowing down.
Then, we “celebrated” the 4th of July by gathering the entire pack –Hina included– in the basement in hopes of getting some rest as we weren’t sure how our new neighborhood would celebrate (especially since all the usual area gatherings were cancelled).
Little Man decided sleeping was not in the cards but was happy to show off his (slightly too large) Americana romper.Hina enjoyed some rare indoor time. She will likely be allowed inside once the weather gets too cold. For now, she enjoys her screened in porch.
We also hit a few milestones in Little Man’s life.
He turned a whole month old…
He’s grown SO much.
…and enjoyed his very first sink bath.
This will be one of my all time favorite photos ever. The Mister loves his bonding time.
My parents were able to come back for another visit and we took on KenLake (which has become somewhat of an annual tradition). We took all the dogs and Little Man got to experience the water in his own tiny life jacket.
Indie would get in but was a little bit of a baby when it came to swimming.He actually fell asleep floating with everyone.
My mom was able to catch the best milestone of all. Little Man’s first smile!
Now I catch him grinning all the time!
Finally we finished up the month with another mass removal surgery for Audie. He is healing much better than last time and seems completely normal. We’re still waiting on results from the lab to see if this one was cancerous too. I’m just glad we got it off either way. Hopefully this is the last one for awhile.
He has been leaving his stitches alone and has been getting around on it fine.
That brings us to August.
Can’t believe it’s August already and our COVID precautions are still in place. Clarksville currently has a mask mandate in place and work hasn’t given us an official start date.
I, however, have made the decision not to return to work at this time. Little Man is too little/vulnerable and I don’t feel comfortable being face to face with students, regardless of mask use. I would be devastated if I brought something home and he got sick.
Also, after checking into the cost of daycare, it doesn’t make financial sense to return. I’ve never liked the idea of daycare either and from what I’ve heard, many are no longer taking new clients during the pandemic.
The Mister is still back to working normal hours, but has to wear a mask now as well. He’s been taking extra precautions when he comes home. It’s really a crazy world right now.
August will be an interesting month. Hopefully this virus gets under control and things start getting back to normal.
We are looking forward to a visit from The Mister’s parents at the end of the month and I would really like to get Little Man out and adventuring. At least outside beyond the back deck. He loves being outdoors. We’ll just have to see.
While we didn’t go anywhere new and exciting, we definitely had the adventure of a lifetime!
First things first. Miss Taz celebrated her 6th birthday with us. She has really come out of her shell since moving to the new house. She didn’t care to be left alone while we moved house and cleaned the other place.
She is such a sassy pants.
Since moving, Hina has been adjusting to living on the covered deck. The Mister doesn’t want her to mess up the new floor laminate/carpets in the house, so he screened in the deck for her to be safely contained. She loves being out there during the day, but I think she gets very lonely at night. For the 4th, I’ll be bringing her inside so the neighborhood fireworks don’t cause her stress. She’s done really well with the litter box since the transition. We’ll see if this has to be permanent.
Now for the best news of all…
Baby Waid arrived 8 June, almost 24 hours after starting the induction process on 7 June.
First family skin to skin. 💙
We were scheduled for induction on 7 June at 8am. I was a nervous wreck. Lots of scared/anxious tears. When we arrived we settled into our room and had a cervix check — that was brutal. Even the nurse would say afterwards it shouldn’t have been that painful, but it is what it is.
Thankfully I was already dilated to 4cm so we were able to start the pitocin. Unfortunately, that smooth start didn’t last.
Things didn’t progress as fast as we’d hoped and my blood pressure was at “stroke levels”, according to the nurse. We spent a good chunk of time trying to get that under control. It was incredibly frustrating that my body was working so hard against me.
I felt fine but the doc decided an epidural would help to calm that down and help Baby’s heart rate as well. It’s about 4pm at this point. I wasn’t having hard contractions at that point and I really didn’t want the epidural at all without trying to handle things naturally first, but it was necessary at that point. It was an emotional non-decision. I cried about it for quite some time.
As soon as I got it, my blood pressure leveled out and Baby’s heart didn’t have to work so hard to keep up. From there things still didn’t progress quickly.
When I was fully dilated, Baby still didn’t want to start moving down, so the doc decided breaking my water was necessary (are we seeing a pattern here?). That’s a heck of an experience, let me tell you! By about 4:30, the drugs had kicked in and they were breaking my water.
To make things even more difficult, when Baby started to move down, he was moving down at a slight angle. When the time came to push, he didn’t want to shift to make it easier. Poor kid ended up having some bruising on the top of one ear and his head from that, we’d learn later.
At about 8:30pm, I was finally dilated to 8cm. By then, we’d been in labor and delivery for over 12 hours. No rest for the wicked.
Around 2:30am, we finally started pushing. After about 3 hours with little to no progress, doc decided the best course of action was to perform a c section. Baby was just too big for me and my pushing just wasn’t cutting it. I lost it when he told me that. Everything I didn’t want to do, was happening.
To begin, I never wanted an induction. My poor blood pressure however made that a necessity. After that, everything felt forced on me, despite being told it was “my” decision. How could it be my decision when I’ve never experienced childbirth before?! I felt very hung out to dry. I wanted someone to tell me “this is what we should do because it’s for the best” not “here are the options, pick one.”
It was made even more emotional simply because COVID had turned everything on its head right when we needed some guidance the most. I felt very unprepared and even my choice of doctor wasn’t honored (all of my medical care up to that point had been with a female practitioner, both doctors during birth were male and I had never met them/been treated by them — luck of the draw there I suppose but still…).
Then the epidural before I’d even felt any real contractions…it was not how I’d wanted to start. It was absolutely for the best, given how dangerously high my blood pressure was (I wasn’t told just how bad it was until after I’d received the meds). In hindsight, that was definitely a blessing as it made the c section that much quicker. Still, emotionally I was unprepared.
Finally, the need for a c section was the icing on the cake. That’s a major surgery and recovery is a long process. I was so ill prepared for what it would be like as well. I didn’t expect how horrible the shaking would be in the aftermath. I could hardly hold my son my body was convulsing so hard. It was hard to breathe, I’m allergic to the medication they usually give to help with the nausea/shaking, and I lost a significant amount of blood (almost enough to need a transfusion — again, I wasn’t informed of this until after the fact), it was an incredibly scary recovery.
Then came all the nuances once Baby arrived. I was expected to feed him right away and felt awful when I could barely hold him to nurse thanks to the shaking. Plus my milk had not come in and we had no breastfeeding classes so I was flying blind and he ended up having a slight tongue tie, so his latch was not great. I was already experiencing so much emotionally and felt like an absolute failure.
Luckily, after a meeting with the lactation consultant, we got the feeding thing figured out, but those first two days were rough!
Recovery from the c section is still going on. I’m only a little tender now and still have some bleeding (TMI, but hey!). The incision itself seems to be healing nicely, but it was a long road to get to this point. Massaging my uterus back into place/to release built up fluids was no joke. I also started hemoraging the night before we were discharged from the hospital, which was another scary situation. Thankfully the nurses were on top of things and it was a false alarm.
Now if only my back would stop hurting so much, we’d be golden.
All in all, Baby Waid did not come into the world the way I would have liked, but he is healthy and perfect.
Still can’t believe he’s mine! 💙
The rest of June was a blur.
I am SO thankful my mom was able to stay and help for a little while after Baby arrived. It was so hard to have her leave. Just having someone who understood how I was feeling helped so much. The Mister has done great, but Mom knew how much I worried about Baby all throughout pregnancy and how emotional all my decisions were during his birth. Plus, she is the baby whisperer. Any time he’d fuss, she’d only have to pick him up and he was fine again.
I’m also glad my dad was able to come back to meet his grandson and help the Mister with a few projects. I just wish they could have stayed longer!
We celebrated the Mister’s first Father’s Day (of the two-legged variety that is), though we didn’t actually do anything.
It’s just been a lot of diapers, feeding, and lack of sleep. I can’t imagine life without the little guy though.
July is bound to be another adventurous month. I don’t anticipate us doing a whole lot. We’re still social distancing and I’m not taking Baby out in public any time soon. We’ll just have to see what pans out.
Despite still social distancing (and no word on when the work furlough will end), I feel like I was out and about more than I was in April.
Doctor’s appointments twice a week for monitoring, closing on our house, moving in, getting ready for Baby Waid…it was (and still is) go, go, go!
Baby Waid has had a heck of a month. He finally went back to being head down during week 34, but then was transverse for part of week 37. He is back to head down as of this post, so hopefully he stays that way.
I’ve never looked at these side by side before…I can definitely see him growing!
Unfortunately, my blood pressure didn’t cooperate and after changing medication dosing twice, we will have to induce labor. Thankfully it is only about 9 days shy of his estimated due date. That’s been scheduled for June 7.
I was pretty devastated when the OB told me that, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more I am coming around to it. It’s safer for the both of us to have it done and having a plan (unless he decides to come on his own before then) is comforting.
Still, I wish I didn’t have to force him to vacate. I really wanted my body to cooperate to try this naturally for the first time. But…as long as he is safe and healthy, I’ll be ok.
Over the last couple of weeks my ailments have switched up. The muscle pain in my upper chest has gone and been replaced with occasional, though still painful, sciatic pain. Thankfully that has subsided as of this post. I’m definitely at the sore back/heavy belly stage now.
I received a really sweet Mother’s Day gift from my in-laws. I don’t ever get flowers (the Mister says they’re for apologies only, haha) so these were extra special.
I still can’t believe I’m really going to be a mommy soon.
In other exciting news, we closed on our house and have moved nearly everything to the new place.
Our realtor gave us the tall Welcome sign after we closed. It’s perfect!
The cats still haven’t been introduced here, but we need to get some more stuff put away and organized before we bring them over. Plus, the dogs are enough to handle under foot right now.
My parents and in-laws have been over helping get things moved and working on projects since the Mister went back to normal hours at work. I honestly could not imagine not having their help right now. I’d probably still have nothing here.
Dad had to go back home for recruiting stuff, but Mom is staying to help get things put away and ready for Baby. (Gosh I can’t believe he’ll be here in less than a week!). Dad’ll be back a few days after Baby is born so that will be awesome.
I’m (not so) secretly thrilled to have Mom able to stay here until just after Baby comes. I am feeling so overwhelmed with everything and my hormones have been raging. I think I have cried multiple times a day for a solid two-ish weeks for reasons ranging from moments of panic to watching the Disney sing-along special to absolutely nothing. For that alone, I am ready to have my body back…just in time to have a brand new reason to cry all the time. LOL!
Other than all the fun we’re having with the move and doctor’s appointments, May brought the Mister and my 7th anniversary. We were so busy, we didn’t celebrate. He was home, so that is an improvement of most years.
June is going to be a very different, exciting month. Lots of new adventures to be had!
I have currently been furloughed since March 17. Despite still being cooped up at home, we managed to accomplish quite a bit.
April 1st brought miss Hina’s 7th birthday. It’s hard to believe she’s already been with us for so long.
Thoroughly unimpressed on the dog bed.
Then, possibly the best news so far this year (aside from finding out we’re having our little boy, that is): we finally found a house and went under contract!
Looks can be deceiving — this beauty is 2000+ sqft!
We happened on this one by pure chance. We were heading home from seeing a really disappointing house and I for whatever reason decided to check the listings. This one had just been listed maybe 30 minutes prior. I didn’t even look at all the photos before I was texting our realtor.
She was able to get us in to see it before we made it home and we knew instantly that it was the place. It had the size we were looking for, a big yard for the doggos, and a nice, established neighborhood with a short commute for both our jobs.
Then, we saw the inside. This place had been fully renovated. New floors, paint, roof, HVAC, gutters, windows…you name it. And best of all, it was on the low end of our budget. We didn’t hesitate to make an offer. We didn’t want to miss out on another place we loved.
Our realtor, bless her, kept the Mister reigned in on the offer as well. He was ready to offer quite a bit over asking right off the bat. Instead, she suggested we write a “love letter” to the sellers, detailing our house journey and how much we liked their home. I explained that we were expecting our first baby and could already picture him growing up in the house.
Turns out the seller’s wife is also pregnant and the letter really spoke to her. They accepted our offer of only $3500 over asking, no closing costs for us, pending the inspection/appraisal.
There is a little room for improvement once we close, which makes the Mister happy. He thinks if we just tweak a few things, we’ll be able to make a little bit when/if we move after retirement.
Thankfully, it’s nothing major and can be done over time. Removing the popcorn on the upstairs ceilings, swapping out some faucets/fixtures, putting up a backsplash in the kitchen, a better fence, paving the drive, landscaping, etc… will all add to the value down the line.
Basically, we’re so excited to turn it into our own. We are scheduled close on May 14.
I celebrated my birthday as best I could at home. 32 is going to be a fun year! Since we couldn’t go out like we normally do, we ordered take out from a local pub and came home.
Easter was celebrated without much change from previous years — just the furkids and us. I did manage to cook a good meal, so that helped not being able to spend it with family. One of these years we’ll be able to get together again!
We had more baby appointments. Had to make a mask since they’re required to wear on post now and the ones I ordered still hadn’t arrived.
Not bad for not using my sewing machine in years.
Baby Waid has been busy growing. His heart rate ranges from 130-145bpm and according to his last growth scan, he’s in the 97th percentile and weighs just under 5.5lbs! Growing boy!
I got my TDAP shot and breast pump prescription. Haven’t decided officially if I’m breastfeeding or not, but I figured it’s worth a try.
We started NST monitoring twice a week from here out (thank you blood pressure!). He had another ultrasound as well. The tech joked that babies scanned on Tuesdays were always 10+ lbs. Lord help me if that’s true! He was unfortunately breech for his last photos, but he still has time to flip. He had been head down every time before the most recent visit. Sadly, the Mister still can’t attend our appointments.
Our house inspection was the 14th. Everything went pretty smoothly. The inspector didn’t find a whole lot to fix other than minor things. We asked the sellers to fix what was found.
They agreed to fix nearly everything. What was left is really simple and the Mister can do it easily on his own, like swapping out an interior door, re-securing a toilet to the floor, and fixing a scratch on the tub. We’re now just waiting on the appraisal and VA inspection.
We definitely need to find a fridge that fits in our new kitchen. And in the true #WaidLuck tradition, our washer is acting up. I swear, we’ve used up the last of our good luck for the year with finding our house.
In other news, my unemployment started and we received our stimulus check. All those funds are being squirreled away for baby and house funds. Hard to believe how crazy this world is right now.
Never thought I’d have to draw unemployment or the government would have to send money to keep the economy afloat. We’re still being very cautious with any of the extra funds. Thankfully, the Mister is still getting a paycheck and we’re pretty comfortable without the help.
It does bring up some thoughts on life after Baby Waid arrives. I already know it will be difficult to return to work once I’m able. I have always hated the idea of daycare and the cost is definitely a deterrent as well. I’d never considered what I’d do once I had a baby, but seeing the real possibility of being able to stay home with him is very appealing. The Mister is all for it since my paycheck would only go toward daycare anyway.
Still… My work ethic clashes with the idea of not working. Hating my last job for so long and finding one that I don’t dread going to every day makes the decision even tougher. But…being able to stay home with my little one is weighing more on my mind these days.
We’ll see how things play out. Right now, I’m just focused on keeping Baby Waid cooking as long as possible and preparing for all the fun changes that are quickly approaching!
I am definitely feeling the time crunch these days. There is so much to do in such a short amount of time.
Between needing to pack the house, cleaning, and preparing for Baby, it’s overwhelming. Unfortunately, my body isn’t letting me do much to alleviate that anxiety. There is a muscle at the top of my belly/along my bustline that hurts whenever I try to do more than sit in the recliner. I can barely lean over to cook or find a comfortable sleeping position. It’s impossible to stretch properly so I’m trying to deal as best I can.
I’m 33 weeks and a couple days at the end of this month. We have roughly 2 weeks until closing on our house. And I have so little accomplished.
He’s a low rider!
No packing or cleaning done.
Haven’t done anything to prepare for Baby Waid other than cleaning his stroller, ordering my pump, and opening the carseat box. I need to wash some of his clothes and get his bassinet ready among so many other things.
Overwhelming right? Luckily right now I have nothing but time on my hands. Hopefully my body will let me accomplish something soon.
May will bring more appointments, closing on the house, and hopefully a more normal daily life. Fingers crossed!
The Waid Chronicles 
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